Winter 2025 Wrap-Up

Due to some production delays, not all Winter ’25 series that aren’t continuing into the Spring ’25 season have wrapped at this point; both My Happy Marriage and I Left My A-Rank Party still have episodes to air as of 3/31/25. However, with the Spring ’25 Preview Guide getting underway, I have decided not wait any longer, so those two will have slightly incomplete evaluations.

Because of the high volume of titles I followed, covering every one of them here would make this post cumbersome. Hence I am only covering those titles for which I have updated my grade since the Mid-Season Reports and/or have additional commentary to offer. I will also not be covering DanMachi or The Apothecary Diaries here, since I have covered those thoroughly in episode reviews, and Magic Maker and Guild Receptionist have gotten separate full reviews. Additionally, there will be no additional commentary on 100 Girlfriends since I gave up on that one after the Mid-Season Reports.

Other series from Winter Mid-Season Report part 1 which don’t get additional coverage here include Beheneko, Headhunted to Another World, I’m a Noble on the Bring of Ruin, andShangri-La Frontier. Please refer to the Mid-Season Report for evaluations of these.

Other series from Winter Mid-Season Report part 2 which don’t get additional coverage here include Arifureta 3 (which aired no additional content), Even Given the Worthless “Appraiser” Class, Sakamoto Days, and The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World. Please refer to the Mid-Season Report for evaluations of these.

Best of Season: Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

Rating: A

The end of the series brings the story of Orb to completion by transitioning from fictional characters to a real-world one: Albert Brudzewski, a polish astronomer and diplomat who would go on to influence Copernicus. In the process it cycles through additional protagonists and brings back some familiar faces (some more obvious than others – the priest in the last two episodes showed up in the first half, for instance), one of which may be meant metaphorically rather than literally since the story would require uncharacteristically accepting the supernatural otherwise. But the overall thrust of the plot – to show how the theory of heliocentrism struggled to grow in 15th century Poland – never wavers, nor does its focus on compelling characters and their widely differing beliefs. I also loved the irony that Badeni and those who followed in his path were ultimately proven right that Oczy’s book was a key to advancing heliocentrism, just not in the way that any of them expected. This is both a complete series and one of the most cerebral anime to come along in years, and despite some very harsh content, it gets my highest recommendation.

Other Titles

Bogus Skill <<Fruitmaster>>

Rating: C

My evaluation of this one hasn’t changed significantly since the Mid-Season Report, but I felt I had to bring this one up because of the odd turn it takes in its last third: it shifts the focus almost entirely to Lena and, unexpectedly, Dratena, who was the villainess in the undead affair. Taking villain characters and reforming them has been a standard anime practice for decades, but this is such a whipsaw turn (Dratena showed no hint of being a sympathetic character in the previous arc) that it’s hard to swallow. Stepping away from the titular character for a whole arc is also abnormal, but I have less of a problem with that since Lena is at least as interesting a character as Light and acquits herself well enough in the leading role. Some of the season’s weakest technical merits also continue to be a big negative here.

From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!

Rating: B+

This was one of my two favorites among new series at the halfway point, and nothing in the second half of the series changes that. Through to its end (which is hopefully just a season break point!), it remains a remarkably clever and funny take on the otome game villainess genre. I especially liked how it shows the Elegance Cheat that Kenzaburo has been relying on throughout the series turns out to be a problematic limitation during the play, and the continued regular attention to the real-world side featuring Kenzaburo’s wife and daughter serves well, too, to provide an alternate perspective and framing device. There’s also the mystery about how much Grace’s mother actually knows about what’s going on and who (or what?) she’s talking to in the carriage scene. If another season of this gets animated, I will happily be back for it.

I Left My A-Rank Party

Rating So Far: B

Episode 9.5 certainly felt like an unplanned break, and a “next episode” preview is given at the end of episode 11 (to say nothing of being in the middle of something but not at a cliffhanger), so at least one more episode is clearly coming. Given how things are going at the end, though, I wouldn’t mind if we got another whole season of this one. While there’s nothing especially dynamic about this series, this has mostly turned out to be a remarkably wholesome, pleasant view (with one notable exception on each of those attributes). While one clear romantic attachment has developed, the series still shows no major sign of going the harem route, and the probable eventual addition of one or two new cast members is a plus. The cast is a delight, and there’s even enough mystery and world-building elements to keep the plot rolling even after a major early resolution, too. This is one of the season’s minor surprises.

I’m Living With a NEET Kunoichi

Rating So Far: B-

If the second half of this series’ first season proves anything, it’s that the series fares much better when it doesn’t take itself seriously. The low point of the season is when Shizuri has to temporarily abandon her NEET ways and the whole gang has to muster to fight off some demons (who are apparently becoming regular cast members, effective episode 13). The entertainment value improves markedly once the series goes back to being silly, enough so that I found the season’s last three episodes to be some of the most entertaining. The second half run also includes a startling revelation about the true “nature” of one of the established characters and introduces another semi-regular cast member in the form of Kanae’s younger sister, who’s appalled at how thoroughly Kanae has fallen into being the tsundere maid at the ninja-themed maid cafe. By the end of the season the series has settled into a good enough comedy dynamic that I can justify raising the series’ evaluation a notch. It’s going to be continuing into next season, and I’ll probably continue to watch, though I still can’t see it raising above a low-priority view.

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

Rating: C+

The addition of the fourth girl (who turns out to be the younger sister of Akane) adds the fairly standard Sexually Aggressive Girl to the the quasi-harem mix, but she doesn’t end up shaking up the dynamic much. The series still comes down to Akane struggling to strike a classic tsundere balance between being standoffish and possessive even as her feelings for Saito clearly continue to grow. (Or have her feelings actually always been that way? That’s also a standard tsundere gimmick, and the late episodes certainly seem to be pointing in that direction.) My main problem with the series, aside from Saito’s general blandness, is that any of the other girls seem like a better match for Saito than Akane does, and that’s a fatal flaw for a harem romcom with a clear intended favorite. Despite that, the series turned out to be fairly popular (it was 6th for the season on MAL, in line with 100 Girlfriends and ahead of both ZENSHU and My Happy Marriage), so an eventual continuation seems likely, but it’s not one I will be eagerly anticipating.

Ishura s2

Rating: B

At some point this series is going to conclude its set-up and actually get to the tournament that it’s now been building towards for two seasons, right? The characters introduced over the last two seasons who still survive do finally seem to be gathering in the last episode, but given the way this series has operated so far, we’ll see. Even after 24 episodes, it still feels like the story is just concluding its set-up, and the number of characters, mysteries, and plot threads which have been established requires a score card to keep straight, not the least of which is who or what the True Demon Lord we see in a last-episode flashback actually is. Many of the individual vignettes are done well enough that I’d love to see how this whole thing comes together, though I doubt that can be accomplished without a shonen action-length run. Hopefully more animation is forthcoming here.

My Happy Marriage 2

Rating: B+

While the artistry (especially on character designs) is always lovely, this series shines brightest when Miyo is at her most confident and showing the strength she’s gained over the course of the two seasons, which made episode 11 one of my favorite episodes of any series in the Winter 2025 season. On the downside, Naoshi Usui seems a little too generic as a villain, despite attempts to show that the way he is now was formed by his association with Miyo’s mother, and none of the big plot twists here are going to surprise anyone. That episode 12 was not available by the time I posted this (despite the schedule saying it should have been) and the season finale is delayed further also interfere with this one getting a full evaluation, hence the more conservative grade given here.

Solo Leveling

Rating: B

The biggest surprise of the season for me may well be how much my opinion of this one has improved over the course of the season. I still think it has a fair amount of issues, and its story execution is as generic as ever, but it executes very well on what it’s trying to do and never lacks for dramatic staging. A fair amount of the credit for this goes to its strong musical score, but it also continues to make quite the spectacle out of its featured action sequences and definitely hits on shaping Jinwoo into the ultimate cool stud. I can even give it credit for being at least a bit emotionally affecting in the business involving his mother, too. On the downside, Cha Hae-in is being almost criminally underused; she’s supposed to be among the most powerful hunters, but she doesn’t display anywhere near the sense of strength that the other S-classers, do. (In fact, in general the series seems to have issues with making its female hunters seem too strong.) The last episode drops a number of teasers for potential future plot threads, and this series is still among the most popular titles of the last couple of years, so presumably more will eventually be coming.

Übel Blatt

Rating: D

I almost let this one ride on my mid-season comments, but those do not provide a full appreciation of how badly this one drops the ball. The series does show at least some potential, especially in its setting design, but Koinzell is never convincing in his emotional displays and attempts to justify the behaviors of the Seven Heroes just make them look like even worse scum. And wow, it’s been a long time since I have seen a series be so inept in its use of humor as this one is. The production effort shows little expertise in disguising how limited the animation is, and even a decent musical effort doesn’t give the series the gravitas it aims for. This one is a major disappointment on almost every front.

Unnamed Memory act 2

Rating: B-

The first season was a disappointment, but the way the series ends calls for at least a bit of re-evaluation on the storytelling front. This is one of these stories where what happens early on doesn’t make full sense without the context brought about by the end, and once you find out what’s really going on, it casts a lot of what happened early in a new light. This doesn’t forgive the first season’s editing issues, but this is a more cohesive story than what it may appear to be, and by the end, the series’ title makes a lot more sense. However, the critical revelations come so late that I can completely understand someone giving up on this one early.

Welcome to Japan, Ms. Elf!

Rating: B+

While I wouldn’t go as far as naming this series as a favorite, I absolutely adored it nonetheless. Maribelle and Kazuhiro are one of the most charming anime couples to come along in years, and in the second half of the series Wridra makes more regular appearances, becoming a perfect complement as a motherly figure pushing them together (when she’s not throwing a fit about missing out on prime food or hot springs!) rather than being romantic competition. There is some action and a couple of bits of fan service in the second half, but those are and always will be secondary to the joy of the central relationship. The one ongoing negative is that this is far from the best-looking series of the season, but when it can lead to scenes like the one shown above, it doesn’t really matter much.

ZENSHU

Rating: B

All along, ZENSHU felt like it was building towards some kind of grand message, but what message does it actually send in the end? For all of its dramatics, for all of the efforts to avoid the somber fate of A Tale of Perishing, it ultimately seems to come down to just “Natsuko learns about love, and that allows her to make her next movie,” and frankly, that’s disappointing. It’s too clean, simple, and convenient an ending, and given the kind of movie Perishing is, it’s entirely too happy, too. This was always a series I more respected for its quality than actually liked, and this stumble at the end lowers it a notch overall. I will say, though, that the flashback episode was actually the series’ high point for me, as I loved the irony that a person struggling to tell a love story because she hasn’t experienced it inspired so much love from others as she grew up. And the series always does look great. Kudos also for a quality simuldub effort.