Winter 2025 Mid-Season Report, part 1

The Winter 2025 season is wrapping up its seventh week, so it’s time to see how several of its series are doing.

Like with the past few seasons, I am mostly or entirely keeping up with a massive number of series this season (25 this time around), so I am once again splitting this endeavor into two parts to keep it from being too cumbersome a read. The titles in this part are ones which have reached at least their seventh episode of this season by 2/16/25. The second installment will cover titles that are hitting episode 6 or 7 in the period of 2/17-2/23. Neither will include The Apothecary Diaries or the delayed episodes of DanMachi (both of which I’m episode-reviewing separately), and Re:Zero will likely not be included in either since it’s only aired a couple of episodes so far; it will absolutely be covered in the season-ending wrap-up, though!

So without further ado. . .

Beheneko

Rating So Far: C+

The promise of the first episode wasn’t exaggerated: this is a prestige fan service title, with every one of the first eight episodes finding some excuse for defined nudity. It also eventually reveals itself to be a harem series, with no less than three of the ladies having some degree of sexual interest in the cat-presenting MC. (It makes sense in two cases, as blacksmith Vulcan is a cat person and Stella is a reincarnated dragon home Tama defeated. Aria, OTOH, just has some kinks.) If you can deal with that aspect and the possibly-offensive gay stereotype that is Anna, though, then this is a fun RPG-styled fantasy series which requires little mental commitment. Just don’t expect too much for consistent artistic quality, which is the main reason I’m not rating this one higher.

Bogus Skill <<Fruitmaster>>

Rating So Far: C

This one isn’t so much bad as just very, very ordinary. Its biggest mistake is having Light immediately get a super-strong second skill, rather than having to cycle through a few minor ones first. (This does happen later on in the midst of the series’ biggest fight of the first half, and how lame some of the skills are is one of the most interesting occurrences in the first half.) At least it does have some intrigue going on, and the presentation of Ayla’s Appraisal skill as invaluable is a marked contrast to one certain other series this season. This one does have a little bit of fan service (thankfully not involving Ayla) and doesn’t look bad, but there’s just not much here to get excited about.

Headhunted to Another World: From Salaryman to Big Four!

Rating So Far: B-

This one is taking a distinctly different trajectory compared to other isekai titles this season, in large part because Uchimura isn’t personally powerful; in fact, that he has no magic, special powers, or fighting skills at all makes him a major outlier among isekai protagonists. He’s just a businessman, but it’s his business acumen that the Demon Lord needs to grow his kingdom, and the series does a good job of finding ways for him to impress others by applying those skills. Basically, he’s the kind of guy that any major organization needs behind the scenes in order to grow and advance. The bar scenes where he does his personal reflections are neat, too. I could do without the somewhat harem-y lean, though, since at least one of the other generals is clearly romantically interested in him and the other two are gradually showing to be favorably disposed to him, too, and that gives the series a more ordinary feel. Still, it does enough to stand out as different enough in an overloaded field. The explanation for why demons dress so skimpily (it’s partly a fashion statement but not just that) is also a neat touch.

I’m a Noble on the Brink of Ruin, So I Might as Well Try Mastering Magic

Rating So Far: C

There are a handful of isekai power fantasy series this season where the protagonist gets stupidly-powerful super-fast, and this is definitely on of them. By episode 7 he’s become betrothed to a princess (in a political marriage), founded his own village, is being pushed to found his own nation, gathered a cadre of powerful followers from assorted races (who all evolve for making familiar contracts with him), and oh, yeah, he has an ancient dragon within him, too – and that’s without factoring in the two pretty girls who are close confidants and wouldn’t necessarily object to him taking advantage of them even though he’s only 12 or maybe 13. Some of the dynamics here aren’t too much different from Farming Life in Another World, but this one doesn’t have half the charm that one does, and even Liam’s explorations into expanding his magic aren’t all that interesting. Coming up with things to keep legitimately challenging Liam is going to be a challenge, as is just finding things that will keep the viewer’s attention. At least it looks pretty decent.

I’m Living With a NEET Kunoichi

Rating So Far: C+

I fail to understand why this series is structured the way it is, as they’re literally airing two half-episodes together, complete with separate OP and ED for each. Why not either combine it into a true full-length episode or else just air each half as a separate episode? Are they using the extra plays of the reduced-length OP and ED to chew up time? (They do seem to be rotating through varying EDs, though.) That issue aside, this one started out as just a silly romp whose humor was mostly rote, predictable jokes that were very hit-or-miss, to the point that my interest in it was seriously flagging. A decidedly more serious turn in episode 6, followed by strong indications of an actual ongoing plot, have contributed heavily to renewing my interest in the series, however. It’s still a low-priority view in any given week, but I’m definitely grading it higher after episodes 6 and 7 (6a/b and 7a/b?) than I would have before.

I’m Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class

Rating So Far: C+

In some senses the marriage gimmick has provided a slightly fresher angle on what is otherwise a bog-standard harem romcom (three girls are now clearly romantically interested in Saito, with Akane being the tsundere, and the end of episode 7 indicates that a potential fourth is incoming), but in other senses it weights the series down, limiting its more free-flowing energy. Doesn’t help that the writing feels like it’s forcing along Akane much more than Saito, either. But the series is being remarkably fan service-light and I can give it credit for at least trying to build more involved character dynamics. Right now it’s one of the two or three series closest to my cut line, so hopefully this newcomer will keep things interesting.

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

Rating So Far: A

Despite killing off core cast members on a semi-regular basis, the series doesn’t miss a beat as it progresses through two time skips to advance the timeline a total of 25 years. That brings the printing press and the Protestant Reformation into play and leads to the story focusing on Draka, a young Gypsy (?) woman whose conviction is tied to money rather than God or heliocentrism but nonetheless finds herself bridging the past and future when she comes upon Oczy’s book. She’s every bit as involving as the series’ previous leads (albeit in a markedly different way) and finds herself in no shortage of philosophical discussions as she interacts with the knights of the Heretic Liberation Front. Welcome returns by a couple of familiar faces are highlights, as is one of the most biting bits of irony ever put into an anime series, and production values on all writing and technical fronts continues to be high. This one will easily compete with The Apothecary Diaries for seasonal honors and will probably again be a top 5 series for the year if it continues what it’s doing so far.

Shangri-La Frontier s2

Rating So Far This Season: B+

This series was the reigning champ of video game play-throughs coming into this season, and nothing which has transpired during this season changes that. The first few episodes wrap up the encounter with Lycagon, and the series doesn’t dawdle long before pushing into the next big unique monster scenario: Ctarnidd of the Abyss, which is implied to be some kind of Kraken. That gives the series an excuse to set out on a boat before transitioning to an underwater scenario in an inverted city and allows for the introduction of a potentially interesting new recurring PC, all while keeping a few familiar faces from the Lycagon affair in the mix. A long-term plot were Rakuro getting invited to a video game tournament outside of SLF also gets thrown in. The series continues to reliably deliver on its action, technical merits, and dramatic OPs.

Solo Leveling

Rating So Far: B

In a season stocked with naked power fantasies, this is one of the purest and most edgelord of the lot. It’s all about Jinwoo being an ultimate badass at this point, and any semblance of a personality he had has largely been lost. That being said, the series does at least execute at a fairly high level, with a strong musical score, well-staged action scenes, plenty of flair, and at least a modicum of intrigue. The twist about Jinwoo’s long-lost father briefly showing up also promises interesting future developments, as does Jinwoo now officially being recognized as Rank S, and the thing about the flying monsters looks like it’s finally more than just foreshadowing. And hey, Jinwoo’s even getting a female groupie, too, in the form of the sexy female S-ranked Hunter! For all its faults, it’s genuinely one of the best series of its type right now.

That’s it for now. Come back next week for part 2!