The second ten in any anime year is always an interesting lesson in perspective. For the second year in a row this is a good list – in fact 2025 anime is stronger than 2024 in this respect. The top 10 was fine too – not great but at worst average. But for the second year running the #11-20 list was the strength of the year. What I think I can conclude here is that, broadly speaking, we’re getting more good anime and less great anime than we used to. And indeed, that fits with the bloat on anime schedules and the trend towards formula. We’re getting a bigger pool of possible good shows every year (well over 200 now), but with less risk (as they see it) being taken by production committees.

As I noted earlier, there was a big-time tier at 8 and another at 13 – so the top three shows on this list were effectively tied with the last two on the top 10 list. That said, though, I certainly didn’t have to scrounge to come up with 20 series – and in some years I have. Every show on this list feels like it belongs there, and there were a few I left off that do as well. Definitely a very good anime year in terms of depth, and that’s not insignificant. I’d still take a few true masterpieces at the top over an abundance of good to very good series, but it’s nice to at least have one or the other (and only the very best anime years have both).

That’s look at a very solid group of series:

11. Wandance – This show was penciled it at #10 for a long time, and barely missed the cut in the end. I have a great deal of affection for Wandance, and strictly in terms of writing it’s absolutely a top 10 series. While the animation issues were not the most critical factor for me, they do matter in a case like a “best of” list. Even with that factored in this show would have made the list in many years, and it did a lot of things extremely well.

12. Dandadan 2nd Season – I enjoy the Dandadan manga but the anime is absolutely the definitive way to experience it. I just find it less exhausting on the screen, and Science SARU has really done an exceptional job capturing what makes the manga unique using the tools of anime. Dandadan is the best of all the Fujimoto family tree of long-running series IMHO (including Fujoimoto’s own catalogue). A third season is coming in 2027, and I’ll be interested to see if the fatigue I experience with the manga becomes a factor with the anime too.

13. Vigilante: Boku no Hero Academia Illegals – The last of the shows I seriously considered for the top ten, and really hated to leave out. Vigilante is such a worthy addition to the Boku no Hero Academia franchise. It adds to the mythology, it’s faithful in spirit to Horikoshi’s original work, but is also very distinct and does its own thing. A more intimate, more character-driven take on the theme, set on the wrong side of the tracks – it was a great idea for a spinoff, and a very well-executed one. Season 2 premieres this weekend.

14. Uchuujin MuuMuu – Yeah, I loved Me and the Alien MuuMuu to bits. It’s just so weird, so random, and so sharp when it comes to cats. This is the sort of thing you just don’t get outside of animanga. It also had extremely clever and witty visuals and a terrific soundtrack by the always-delightful Kuricorder Quartet.

15. Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Season 2 – The first season of The Apothecary Diaries just sneaked into the top 10, one of  the very few LN adaptations to ever do so. The sequel misses, partly because this was a stronger year but also because it wasn’t quite as good. There was a lot of really strong stuff here, but the ending pretty much whiffed for me. Nevertheless I really do like Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, which is a good thing as it’s a true kaijuu with an absolute shit-ton of source material, and it’s going to be a prominent presence in anime for many years to come.

16. Yofukashi no Uta Season 2 – Another sequel that misses out on the first list after its predecessor made it. In this case, comfortably – Call of the Night S1 was the #5 series in 2022, and would have made any year’s top ten. This season not so much, I just found that for me the story choices fell flat. I did not need an entire season splashed on Anko’s preposterous revenge plot. All the themes that made Yofukashi no Uta great were still there, but they just didn’t get nearly as much exploration. Will we ever see the adaptation completed? A very difficult question to answer. I hope so, and just as much hope that the series gets back on track in its latter stages.

17. Trillion Game – I’m not that nuts for Dr. Stone, Inagaki Riichiro’s biggest series (though Eyeshield 21 was a hit, too), but I really loved Trillion Game. The dynamic between the two leads is really interesting, with Haru basically playing the role of battle shounen protagonist in a seinen business drama. The way it observes the rot at the core of corporate Japan is very interesting, and overall it’s a rollicking piece of entertainment. The live-action (which features Tsuda Kenjirou in the same role) is likewise very good.

18. Okitsura: Okinawa de Suki ni Natta Ko ga Hougen Sugite Tsurasugiru – Periodically I do rank a series I didn’t blog, and this is one such series (though I did a series review). I got into Okitsura late and by the time I did, I just wanted to enjoy it in totally carefree fashion. It’s utterly lovable with a great trio of MCs, and provides a highly entertaining crash course in Okinawan culture. The music is great too – it turned me into a Begin fan. I’m making my first trip to Okinawa next week and it’s fair to say Okitsura is part of the reason why.

19. Apocalypse Hotel – I’ll be blunt – Apocalypse Hotel went through a 3-4 episode stretch where it was really pretty bad. But it recovered some by the end, and the main reason it’s here is because from a production standpoint it may be the most inventive series of the year. It stamped Cygames as a studio to watch – an impression confirmed when Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu followed it.

20. Kao ni Denai Kashiwada-san to Kao ni Deru Oota-kun – The first cut may be the deepest, but the last is usually the hardest. I have shows that belong here – Witch Watch, Sanda, Takopii just to name a few. But I havre to choose 20, and I can’t leave Kao ni Denai Kashiwada-san to Kao ni Deru Oota-kun off the list. Why? That’s just how much I love it. Middle school romcom is one of the best genres in manga right now, and this show captures all the charm that explains why. Absolutely adorable, and maybe more smiles per week than any series this year.