In line with consistent policy on my part, not going to include any series which began in any previous year prior to 2025 and either ran continuously into 2025 or returned with a new season in 2025. If I were, then my favorite entries to the anime-verse as a whole this year would be Arknights season 3, The Apothecary Diaries season 2, and Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon season 2. Probably in that order.
Also not including films as I don't like mixing them in the same lists with series and when it comes to anime I have in the past watched and actively still watching many and multiple times more series than I do of them, so don't want to muddy the waters by introducing that element (incidentally, I don't believe I've even watched any this year which were released this year - still waiting on an adequate subbed version of the fourth entry in the Princess Principal Crown Handler film series, which was originally released all the way back in May).
I do create rankings of series from each and every individual season I watch them from, but sometimes if I have fewer than 10 for a season or just at 10 or over but very close like 11, 12, 13, I may even shorten it to a Top 5, or not, but the Top 10 sometimes feels a little meaningless when there are only 10 or 11 series watched and so every title or almost every title has to be included.
I could post my ranking of each set from each season, but since this isn't a year where I either watched an extraordinary abundance of seasonals from each season compared to some years and seasons from other years, and because I found the year as a whole comparatively a little lacking and weaker than 2024 and 2023 (better than 2022 though) in terms of the amount and variety of series I watched and rated well as well as my individual top favorite choices from this year compared to those, I think for now I'll just make it a total Top 10 for the year as a whole and give an honorable mention to some close call ones. Maybe in the future if I end up watching more series released from this year I'll feel like I have enough to want a definitive Top 10 from each season.
1.) Tasokare Hotel
2.) Ruri no Houseki
3.) Ameku Takao no Suiri Karte
4.) Sorairo Utility
5.) Gnosia
6.) Kowloon Generic Romance
7.) Kijin Gentoushou
8.) Apocalypse Hotel
9.) Ballpark de Tsukamaete!
10.) Debu to Love to Ayamachi to!
Runners-up/honorable mentions: See You Tomorrow at the Food Court, Leviathan, Uchuujin Muumuu, Shabake, Fermat no Ryouri, and A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace.
Notes:
*List, as always, subject to change and future revision as some series, like two on my Top 10 list, are still airing, some series I'm behind on, or I made a note of for later but have yet to get around to starting yet.
*All titles on the list are or likely will be (for those still airing) rated 7/10 by me - no 8/10s or higher as my last one from a seasonal was AI no Idenshi in and from 2023.
*As of now, Tasokare Hotel and Ruri no Houseki were the only two series I selected to be set aside as potential entries and contenders for my building and ongoing long-term project of a Top 50 of the 2020s Decade list construction - Last year, for comparison, I had triple that amount with six titles deemed fit for selection - T.P BON, The Fable, Girls Band Cry, Dungeon Meshi, Boku no Tsuma wa Kanjou ga Nai, and Raise wa Tanin ga Ii; the year before of 2023, five titles)
*Still need to get around to starting/trying Takopii no Genzai, Necronomico no Cosmic Horror Show, Witch Watch, Wandance, Sanda, Lord of Mysteries, and Wei Miao Rensheng. Behind on Uchuujin Muumuu, 9: Ruler's Crown (can finish at any time really, as have only two episodes left, but this has been a rather weak series), Summer Pockets, Hotel Inhumans, Shirohiyo - Reincarnated as a Neglected Noble: Raising My Baby Brother with Memories from My Past Life (this series could even make the top list as I only got three episodes in before I realized that I should probably prioritize finishing other stuff first - I probably wouldn't be behind on it if I had watched it as a seasonal when it aired in spring, but only tried it in October), Let's Play, and Ninja to Gokudou.
Maybe there are even some titles (of prospective watches) which eluded my notice.
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