#1 Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun 2

Another year ends, another Kouhaku Uta Gassen, another LiA Anime of the Year. head over to YouTube to check out this year’s #1 series!

#2 – Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu

When I put these year-end “best of” lists together, there’s almost never any real drama attached to the final post. At that stage most readers have already figured our what the #1 series will be, because there’s no way I was going to leave it off the list altogether. That means it’s this edition that has whatever suspense there is, in some years more than others. This is a year where I genuinely considered multiple shows for the top spot, and this one was a serious contender for a long time.

Along with Gachiakuta, Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu got what for me were the best adaptations of the year. The difference in placement comes down to the fact that for me Hikaru is simply a better manga, as good as Gachiakuta is. I was a bit worried when Cygames Pictures was announced as the studio for this one. Their track record was fairly thin, and what their was hadn’t impressed me much. But then Apocalypse Hotel came out. An original, yes, but a superb and fabulously inventive production (even if the writing did kind of jump the shark for a while).

Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu started drawing attention basically from the first chapter. Including from me, when as is so often the case it caught my eye in a bookstore and I started to see it getting more and more attention from shops and booksellers (a definite leading indicator). Over the years it’s piled up a ridiculous numbers of award nominations, including a Manga Taishou nom. And overseas nominations as well (it was nominated for the Harvey Award twice). Like Chi.: Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite it’s an acclaimed manga first serialized when the mangaka was still in high school. But The Summer Hikaru Died is even better, and – so far at least – hasn’t lost the plot.

Samu and I did a podcast episode about this series almost exactly a year ago, which allowed much more in-depth analysis than I can provide here. But the gist of it, Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu is just really, really good. There are two parallel tracks running through it, more or less. A stellar rendition of the countryside fantasy-horror subgenre that’s so popular in Japan (for reasons we discuss in that podcast). But it’s also a coming-of-age story about a teen whose entire life is a lie, and for whom living that lie in a place where everyone knows everyone else is incredibly suffocating.

We don’t know how Mokumokuren is going to end this series, but I’ve always felt it had a strong air of tragedy running through it. There are a lot of uncertainties at the point where the first season ends – up to and including whether this is a fantasy story at all, or a science-fiction one. But it does seem clear that the anime will adapt the manga faithfully right up to the end. It was announced very early on that the manga would run ten volumes, and S1 adapted exactly five. Two seasons was always the plan, clearly – the manga is a very strong seller, and they were obviously greenlit in advance. We’re going to have to wait a while (late 2027 at the earliest would be my guess) but if Mokomokuren manages to stick the landing, Hikaru could go down as one of the best debut series of its generation.

#3 – Boku no Hero Academia: Final Season

We now commence the part of the list consisting of series I considered for the #1 spot. That can be interpreted to mean that the 3-slot is another tier, just like #8 was. This was not a year (like 2024) where I knew going in what my top series was going to be. That seems to be roughly a 50-50 proposition, but this year was definitely not such a case. But Boku no Hero Academia: Final Season, along with the final two shows I’ll list, were the only ones ever in contention.

You can infer from that statement that it was a close call for those three spots, and you would be correct. To be honest I found the idea of choosing HeroAca Final Season appealing for its poeticism and symmetry – after making the list seven times running but never claiming the summit, to finally do so with its final attempt. It would have felt right and good. But in the end, I didn’t want to make the decision based on that reason. And when I looked long and hard at my options, this spot was the one that fit. Too bad, but it’s the right way to do it.

As  you know, I don’t like to write extensively about Top 10 shows that finish in winter, as I’ve just done series review posts on them. I did one of my longest write-ups in years on BnHA when the series ended, and that covered pretty much everything I had to say about it. But it ended early so it’s been a couple weeks, and it’s worth re-iterating – this was a great, great series. A stellar adaptation of one of the greatest battle shounen in history. And the final season may very well have been the best.

Now that in itself is an interesting question. Was this final season the best? Its main competition, I would say, is Season 3 – which is the only season to rank higher in the year-end list (it was #2 in 2018, a pretty soft year). I would still say that season had the best cour of anime in the series’ history, and the best moment (“You’re next…”). But the second cour of that season wasn’t as good as the final season, so it’s a tough call. Enough to say that the show ended on a splendidly high note with some of its best material, and a fan of any long-running series should hope for that.

What makes me happy as much as anything is that the final arc in the anime was met with almost none of the crushing negativity that seemed to permeate the manga fanbase. I’m still not 100% certain I understand why, though the linked post takes a stab at it. But whatever the reason it’s just wonderful to see this true masterpiece of battle shounen finish its run showered with the praise and fan affection it richly deserves. We’ll bee getting an OVA depicting the “other” final chapter, #431, this coming year (which should surprise no one), but the stage basically passes to Vigilante now – and that means the Boku no Hero Academia anime legacy is in very capable hands.

#4 – Kuroshitsuji: Midori no Majo-hen

If you don’t count the second and anime-original season – and really, it’s an abomination so why would you – Kuroshitsuji has made the LiA Top 10 every year it’s been eligible. It took Okada Mari to ruin Black Butler in anime form, but if I’m honest Toboso Yana can sometimes do that pretty well herself. But not for whole seasons – just for short stretches where the characters who bring out the worst in her as a writer (like Grell and Lizzie) are around for too long.

The thing is, that’s been happening less and less over the course of the anime (and presumably the manga, which the anime has now adapted past the point I’ve read). And as a result, the series has been a resolute triumph. I can’t say “it’s getting better and better” when I’d still put Circus-hen at the top of the pyramid. Yet funnily enough, this season is placing higher – both Circus-hen and Gakkou-hen finished at #8, in fact. Now, 2014 was a pretty terrific year in anime, and reviewing that list kind of brings home the fact that the overall bar is considerably lower now whether I want it to be or not.

But still – it’s an interesting gap in perception. I think of 2025 as a pretty decent year and I thought Gakkou-hen was pretty close to level with Midori no Majou-hen. But here we are, and I certainly have no misgivings about ranking the “Emerald Witch” arc as high as I am. It was terrific on every level, with no real down episodes (which is pretty unusual for Black Butler). I felt like this season cut closer to the heart of the premise than “Public School” or even “Book of Circus” – Ciel’s storyline seemed intrinsically tied into everything that was happening in Germany.

It’s been eclipsed now by Jibaku Shounen Hanakko-kun as GFantasy’s top seller, but Kuroshitsuji remains the magazine’s flagship in much the way One Piece did with Weekly Shounen Jump even when Kimetsu and JJK were outselling it. Hanako-kun is no mere babe itself now – it was serialized in 2014 – but Black Butler will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary next year (damn, that makes me feel old). Both those series represent the very particular aesthetic of that excellent magazine, so different from any other shounen imprint out there (and Tokyo Aliens, if its inexplicable lack of an anime is rectified, has a chance to make a big impact too).

Ciel Phantomhive remains one of the best protagonists in shounen, with one of the best character arcs. He, like the series itself, is a study in contrasts. For all that she can indulge some extreme silliness and grossly excessive camp, Toboso is a serious writer and this series trades on some fascinating and challenging themes. In his interaction with Sieglinde I think we saw a different side to Ciel this season, and along with the tantalizing clues dropped about a certain theory that makes me more anxious than ever to see how Toboso-sensei intends to wrap up Ciel and Sebastian’s story. Not that there’s any indication she plans to do that soon.

#5 – Kowloon Generic Romance

In a sense, Kowloon Generic Romance is a similar case to Chi.: Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite. It’s a show that was, for much of its run, sublime. And then kind of lost its way towards the end. The difference is that there’s a very specific reason for it here – it was adapting a (barely) unfinished manga and didn’t have the episode count to do it faithfully or the ending in-hand. That, and the drift was nowhere near as bad as it was with Orb.

I often find myself wrestling with this dilemma when compiling these year-end lists. Which to favor, series with the highest highs, or the ones that are less revelatory at their best but more consistent? There’s no single right answer to that, and it always comes down to a case-by-case decision. But I do think it’s interesting that both Mayuzuki Jun adaptations – Koi wa Ameagari no You ni was the first – were shows that wound up higher in my eventual ranking than they were when I started compiling it. In fact I actually changed the 2018 list post-publication because I realized I hadn’t placed it high enough.

So yeah – there’s something about Mayuzuki that just stays with you. Her characters are off-the-charts interesting and complex. She’s also a master of world-building, and that was really on display with Kowloon Generic Romance. This show is many things – among them a romance of course, but also a mystery and a sci-fi and even a thriller. Kowloon itself – as reimagined by Mayuzuki – is very much a character in its own right. In reality of course, none of us who never experienced this bizarre and fascinating enclave will ever have the chance to. And Kowloon Generic Romance brings it to life to exquisitely that the pain of that realization is acute.

What we never got from KGR, in fact, was an explanation of how all this happened. Some readers decide to watch a show based on lists like this, so I avoid going into specific spoilers in them. But it’s fair to say that the ending here makes sense poetically, but not practically. Is that a flaw? I think a case can be made either way, and I have no idea if that statement would also apply to the manga. For me it is – I did feel like I was owed more after sticking with the series for thirteen episodes. That’s one of the reasons it’s not even higher on the list.

In any given top 10 list (and even some years’ second 10) there are series which were, at some point during their run, ones I thought of as potential year-end #1’s and some which I didn’t. Kowloon Generic Romance is unambiguously the former – halfway through it was definitely a contender. While it didn’t have the lavish production of Wit or the sheer auteur genius of Watanabe Ayumu as Koi wa Ameagari did, this was still a stylish and smart adaptation with a wealth of fascinating visual touches which embellish both the mystery and the character aspects. It’s a shame it didn’t have the time to adapt the manga in its entirety – it would likely have been a #1 contender if it had – but Kowloon Generic Romance was still one of the best and most impactful anime of 2025.

#6 – Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan – Kyoto Douran

One thing I’ve noticed in the reboots of old anime franchises that are all the rage in anime now is that the reboots are usually more faithful to the manga than the first anime was. That’s interesting in and of itself. Have tastes changed, or has the industry soured on the idea of directors putting their own spin on a source material? But it’s also interesting from the perspective of the individual series’ themselves. One tends to think more faithful is always better – Hunter X Hunter 2011 for example. But then you have something like Fruits Basket, where Akitarou Daichi smoothed over a lot of problematic tendencies in  Takaya Natsuki’s writing.

It’s trickier with Rurouni Kenshin. Its first director was the same as HxH’s first director of course, Furuhashi Kazuhiro. I’m very strongly of the opinion that the more faithful remake is the better work there, but with RK it’s harder to say. Furuhashi didn’t change as much of course – the anime only really went rogue in the third and final season, with produced a lot of indifferent original material instead of adapting the superb “Jinchuu” arc. But he did tonally tweak things pretty significantly at times. And further complicating things is that the remake has made a few changes of its own, but most prominently by including some of Watsuki Nobuhiro’s material from later in the timeline.

I’m of the opinion that the two adaptations are extremely close, each doing some things better. And of course that means both are great. I do prefer the casting and music in the first series, and Furuhashi has more of a distinctive style than either of the directors (Komada Yuki helmed this season) in the remake. But the modern version feels more authentic to the manga in many ways, and that does speak to the longtime Kenshin fan in me. I love the gravity this version puts face forward, and the pacing feels more natural than the first series did at times.

A huge thing that sets Rurouni Kenshin apart from a lot of these reboots is that it actually is truly essential – the entire third act of the manga was skipped the first time. We may or may not get to part of “Jinshuu” in the third season – if it’s two cours we certainly will. But it’s giving the Kyoto arc all the space it needs to breathe, which is a good thing as it’s one of the finest in all of shounen manga. The first season of the reboot came in at #9 in 2023, and part of the reason this one comes in higher is that it’s simply better – it adapts better material. But given how strong 2023 was, that was a pretty impressive showing for what is, after all, RK’s weakest third.

“Kyoto” is, plain and simply, great. Kenshin has probably the best character arc in shounen and both it and “Jinshuu” are overflowing with pathos. It’s not as if this anime had to reinvent the wheel to also be great, but still – it’s a lot harder than it seems to make that transition. Everything was pretty much spot-on here, and the anime even included a backstory episode that fit perfectly despite being a one-shot Watsuki wrote decades later. When you’re adapting material this good you have a lot more to lose than to gain, and Lidenfilms deserves immense credit for getting it right. And the best is very much still to come, even if we don’t know when just yet.

#7 – Dekin no Mogura

Simply put, I love Dekin no Mogura. I should have expected the anime to be great based on Eguchi Natsumi’s track record and how much I love Hoozuki no Reitetsu. But I got faked out by the relatively tepid sales and reviews I’d seen on the manga. That’s no one’s fault but my own (the same thing happened with Sanda, though both Eguchi series are better than both Itagaki series). And the fact is, Dekin’s sales are actually very good – it’s just not the blockbuster Hoozuki was – and even Hoozuki never made much of an impression with English-speaking audiences.

In the first place, Mogura Momoyuki is an absolutely stellar main character. He’s mysterious yet amiable and approachable. The depths of his kindness seem limitless, yet he  does nothing to flaunt it. And he’s surrounded by a great cast of oddballs in the classic Eguchi vein, starting with Magi-kun and Yaeko-chan, who beautifully capture the essence of that peculiar time in life when you first leave home for college. I described what Dekin no Mogura evolved into as Justice League as if it were told in rakugo form, and I really think that fits.

Another thing I love about this show is it’s really a production triumph for Brain’s Base. Once upon a time they were probably my favorite studio of the post-Gainax glory days era, but then the Shuka schism happened and it hasn’t been the same. They’ve produced some good if humble series, but Dekin no Mogura is really gorgeously executed. It captures Eguchi’s unique whimsical spin on classic Japanese art perfectly, and there are a lot of little directorial touches that really add to the viewing experience.

As I noted in the series review, the upside of whiffing on my expectations was that this show ended up being the biggest pleasant surprise of 2025 in anime for me. I expected to sort of like it but not to love in unreservedly as I did. As I said the manga does sell quite well – certainly better than a lot of inferior manga that have gotten multiple seasons lately. With Eguchi’s track record of commercial success I certainly haven’t given up hope on a sequel.

#8 – Kingdom 6

We now commence the portion of the list where every series was locked in just about from the start. That means my decisions are confined to order, not inclusion, and that inherently feels less stressful. Not that it’s easy – even within the elite eight there are mini-tiers, and within them some of those decisions are pretty close. And this was one of them.

Kingdom is, to say the least, a fixture at LiA – and a fixture on these year-end lists. It’s now passed Hunter X Hunter for the second-most episodic posts – which means, ironically, that the two most-reviewed series in LiA history aired side-by-side this fall. Not every season has made the top ten but most of them have. And even though 2025 has turned out to be a pretty decent year for depth, there was never much doubt that Season 6 would be one of them. It’s been pretty much impeccable, and delivers the essence of what makes Kingdom one of the top-selling seinen of all-time.

Not all of it, I would say. We’ve had more thematically varied seasons of Kingdom – the mix of politics and military action has been close to even over 154 episodes. This season has been basically all warfare, and I do love the other elements of  the story too (character drama is a smaller one of them). But the military stuff has been tremendous all season – there hasn’t been a down episode in the bunch. This is basically the photo-negative of the “Coalition Invasion” arc – possibly the series’ best – with Qin on the offensive this time with an excursion into Zhao. That means going up against arch-enemy Li Mu, who always represents an interesting foil (I really don’t think you can call him a villain in this morally ambiguous story).

I haven’t done a count-up recently, but the last time I did Studio Pierrot (Kingdom is now their Signpost imprint) was the most-represented studio on LiA Top 10 lists. They’re not Bones or Wit – they don’t blow you away with sakuga and stunning backgrounds. They just do adaptations right, in their straightforward manner. They respect the source material, and a lot of the source material they adapt is really good. Way back at the beginning Kingdom was so rough visually – tons of terrible CGI – that it was hard to watch. Now those days are happily long gone, and this adaptation is one of the most consistently praiseworthy properties in anime. I miss the multi-cour seasons of those days but with a show this good, I’m happy to wait as long as it takes for more.

#9 – Gachiakuta

As I noted yesterday, these last two spots in the Top 10 are among the toughest calls I’ve had to make in over a decade of writing these lists. It’s not just that there are five shows effectively tied in my esteem, it’s that they’re all good enough to be top 10 entries in many a year. And which I chose simply came down to what I prioritized. I’ll say this much – it wound up being two shows I didn’t initially pick, and only changed to on long reflection (yes, I do take this seriously). And two of the ones in that dogpile are Fall series (maybe you can guess the other), so it would have been nice to wait until they both finished to decide if they were in. But given we’re looking at #9-10, that wasn’t an option.

I went into some detail yesterday about why Chi.: Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite got one spot (after not being chosen originally). So why Gachiakuta? I think because in looking at this pool of series I mentioned, it struck me as an all-rounder – it’s really good in every aspect (though it may not be the most original of the bunch). It’s a great example of an absolute pillar of the animanga world, the battle shounen. It reveres the titans that came before it, and forges an interesting new path. And in anime form, it’s another example of why Bones is pound for pound the best studio in the anime TV business.

I have a soft spot for Gachi, having picked it out as a rocket ship right from the first few chapters. The launch has been slower than I expected – more Lear jet than Apollo 11. But it’s starting to come together, with a big spike in manga sales, a second season, and stuff like stage plays and game adaptations. I could have taken the easy way out and said Gachiakuta was ineligible because it got that sequel announcement, but that would be cheating. We have no idea when the second season will air, and given that Bones would just barely have enough chapters for two cours if they started it soon, I suspect it’s going to be Fall 2026 or Winter 2027 at the very earliest. So, eligible it is.

I just wrote the series review post on Gachiakuta, and as you know I don’t like to rehash those shows at too much length in the Top 10. Everything I said there applies here – both the manga and the anime are superb. Bones doesn’t do a great job producing series – they do a great job choosing what to produce. I can’t think of any studio I’d rather have adapting a manga I cared about, and I can’t think of any battle shounen I’d rather see in their hands than Gachiakuta.

#10 – Chi.: Chikyuu no Undou ni Tsuite

Not gonna lie – this was one of the tougher decisions I’ve had to make on these lists. Every year has tiers, and of course it’s rare that they break down conveniently for me (“like “10” or “20”). This year the first cutoff was was eight – that group of shows was ironclad top 10. The next was thirteen – meaning, in effect, I have five series vying for two spots. And they’re all basically tied, and extremely varied.

At that point it comes down to prioritizing what qualities I wanted to reward. I often default to which shows(s) I have the most personal affection for, but to be honest if that were my criteria Orb wouldn’t have made the cut. So what else – originality? Execution? Ambition, or production values? Consistency? Everything was pretty much coming out a five-way draw. So why Chi.: Chikyuu? I guess in the end because it’s so different from typical anime, because it asks incredibly complex and important questions, and because at its best it was truly great. Of course at its worst it’d be outside the top 20 altogether, but that’s something I just had to weigh up.

There’s precedent here – shows which started out great, maybe legit #1 contenders, then kind of fell apart. Fumetsu no Anata e Season 1 barely sneaked into the 2021 Top 10 (in a bad, COVID-decimated anime year), Ousama Ranking just missed in 2022. Chi: Chikyuu just makes it in 2025 (which was better when reckoning up than I expected). I don’t want to understate just how badly it slipped in the last few arcs – it was pretty rough. Basically everything after Badeni and Oczy left the story ranged from mixed to baffling. And the whole ending with Rafal still, to this day, strikes me as a write-off.

Yet here it is. When I finally forced myself to choose it was actually the first of the five contenders that I cut, but the more I ground the gears the harder it was to leave it out. Simply put the first half or so of Orb is transcendent, and the serious way it took on no less than the very nature of existence was truly admirable. Almost every episode contained epistemological debate of the highest caliber. It ventured where fiction, never mind anime, rarely goes and did so sure-footedly and thoughtfully (for most of its run, at least). It then tripped over its own feet and face-planted in a manure pile, yes. But the fact that Uoto was basically a kid when he wrote it mitigates my irritation. In the end there was just too much that was great here for me to leave this series out, no matter how much detritus it bought with it.

Honorable Mention – Leviathan

Yes, it’s another Netflix series in the Honorable Mention slot. That’s not a conscious decision on my part, but Netflix shows do seem to fit my mental image of what this category is. They’re (the batch released ones) rarely part of my blogging calendar, but I often enjoy them very much. Plus, they tend to fly under the radar for hard-core anime fans so it’s always nice to call attention to them.

As for Leviathan specifically, I did a series review post on it but to sum it up, it’s just really damn good. A textbook example of YA fiction at its most charming. It’s full CGI but Orange is the studio, which means it’s going to be about as good as CGI gets. It also features an OP and ED by the great Joe Hisaishi. Leviathan is actually based on a trilogy of books by Scott Westerfield, of which Leviathan is only the first, and because it adapts all three in 12 episodes it leaves out some fantastic material from the novels (which the anime inspired me to read). Nevertheless, it’s wholly engaging from start to finish.

This series is a sort of alternative take on the events leading up to World War I, with a cast comprised of a mix of real historical figures and Westerfield originals. Westerfield is American of course but Leviathan has a clear anime (especially Ghibli) influence. The aesthetic is steampunk, basically, but spun in an inventive and original way. It also features an absolutely adorable protagonist pair in Alek and Deryn. By all means read the books for the full experience, but the anime is an excellent production and a very winning take on the story.

It’s that time of year again – no, not Kentucky Fried Chicken or strawberry shortcake, but the LiA Top 10 list. 2025 was another anime year that looked quite a bit different in retrospect than in did as I was covering it. As always there are some tough decisions to be made, both for this list and the #11-20 one to follow. And while there are some definite tiers, it’s (spoiler) not one of those years where the order at the top of the list is clear cut.

A reminder – once more I’ll be revealing the #1 series via an “Anime of the Year” video on the LiA YouTube channel (a video which I will of course link here).

A Refresher on Eligibility:

I’m going by the same eligibility standard I used for the 2012-2024 lists – that is, shows that finished airing during the year or split-cours that finished in 2025 are eligible. Split-cour series which finish in 2026 are not eligible for this list, but series that ended this year and weren’t officially confirmed as split cour when they did are eligible.  Shows that aired for the entire year (there weren’t any in consideration for me this year) are also eligible.

This means that in effect, the only shows not eligible for this list are the multi-cour series that began airing from Spring 2025 onwards and are still airing into Winter 2026, or true split cours that will finish in 2026.

As you know I always like to do a little contest, so here we go… The winner will be anyone that guesses my Top 10, in order. If no one does that, I’ll go with the closest guess. Guesses made by 2200 JST 12/22/25 will be eligible. Here’s the prize: same as last year, I’ll do a “Top 5” list or haiku on any anime theme or topic you choose. Dealer’s choice – you make the call.  Please post your guesses in the comments below!

As LiA regulars know I like to start these lists off with an “Honorable Mention”, so without further ado…