Anime Roundup - Winter 2025
The season of Isekai!
The premise is the same as ever - a bunch of us gathered to watch through each and every new series of the season to see what’s good and what’s trash. This is summarizing our general thoughts on each of the shows, along with some indications on whether we think a show is worth to keep up with or not.
After going through each of the shows, I’ll list the ones we felt were the ones to keep an eye on the most this season
Babanba Banban Vampire
A very hungry vampire has spent 10 years grooming a now 15-year-old boy, and is now desperate to make him keep his virginity so his blood will taste even more sweet when he turns 18.
“Problematic” is a word that came up a lot when watching this.
Skipping.
Momentary Lily
We meet a group of girls in a near-future postapocalyptic world, as some sort of creature (aliens?) have made most humans vanish. These girls somehow have access to big weapons that can defeat the creatures though.
Your typical GoHands production; lots of big sweeping camera movements, 20x more hair strands individually animated compared to other shows, overly gaudy VFX and lens flares galore. Storywise it seems bland, though some high-octane action.
Very trash. So much jiggle that even the characters complain about it.
Sorairo Utility
Cute golf anime! Meek girl wants to find something to pursue, but sucks at all extracurricular activities she tries, until one day she stumbles upon a driving range (golf) and gets hooked thanks to a seemingly dependable senpai.
Looks cute, might continue watching.
Beheneko
Ecchi.
Person in fantasy world gets reborn into a small Behemoth, gets mistaken as a cat and picked up by a lonesome elf adventurer. Most of the rest of the episode the “cat” is being carried on her chest. It’s that kind of show.
Very trash. If you like isekai and ecchi you’ll probably like this, otherwise it’s whatever.
Kinomi Master
Boy and childhood friend girl are going to get their one and only Skill, but their dream of adventuring together with strong abilities is cut short as MC-kun (MC-kun/chan = “the Main Character”) gets the non-combat-oriented “fruit master” as an ability.
Typical “my bad ability is actually OP” story, it looks like.
Not much more to say. Will likely pass on this.
Salaryman ga Isekai ni Ittara Shittenou ni Natta Hanashi
Demon Lord knowingly summons an Overseas Manager to be his fourth General for the Demon Army. Just a plain old human. Other generals complain, but with the powers (not actually powers) of DELEGATION and CONVERSATION, MC-san manages to impress one of them, with the others likely soon to follow.
A decent watch, might continue! (would continue for sure if there wasn’t too many others that seem even better)
Class no Daikirai na Joshi to Kekkon suru Koto ni Natta
Two classmates seemingly can’t stop hating each other, but their respective grandparents (who seems to be filthy rich and powerful) force the two to marry, or else they can kiss their inheritance goodbye!
Seems like a decent rom-com, might pick up.
Kuroiwa Medaka ni Watashi no Kawaiiga Tsuujinai
Medaka is the epitome of beauty (according to herself), and while everyone else seemingly agrees, there’s this one boy who doesn’t immediately fall for her charms.
Cue her trying everything to get him to fall for her!
Romcom. Her kansai-ben inner monologue is fun, could be a fun watch, but nothing overly great or anything!
Tasokare Hotel
The hotel where lost souls end up as they try to remember if they’re actually headed for the afterlife, or just needed to sort their thoughts before returning to the world of the living.
MC-chan ends up as a guest here, and while she manages to remember her own name, not much else comes back to her, and in helping one of the other guests realize what has happened to them, she finds it so much fun that she asks to be employed at the hotel, for however long she’s staying there.
Seems like it’ll be a “mystery of the week” kind of show. Intreaguing enough, and the setting definitely stands out from the rest this season. Almost “Death Parade” vibes.
Might continue watching.
I have a Crush at Work
Office romcom, where our two MC’s have just recently started dating, but keeping it a secret at work!
We follow along, seeing them trying to suppress their urges at work and them being cute about it.
Could be a fun watch.
Akuyaku Reijou Tensei Ojisan
Potential anime of the year material here!
52-year-old salaryman gets transported into the body of the villainess of an otome game.
Go watch it, it’s absolutely hilarious and one of te highlights of the marathon for many!
Medalist
A young girl wants to do the one thing she is passionate about - figure skating - but have to sneak into the rink for practice because her family is not allowing it. One day she’s caught by a soon-to-be-coach, but as he see’s her passion and skill, decides there and then that she will, no must, go to nationals in the future.
Based on a very popular manga, and the anime seems to hold up to very high expectations by fans.
Something to at least give a few episodes. Prepare tissues.
Aparida
The only one without “combat skills” in the famous A-rank party is being mistreated, so leaves in hopes of finding a better party to team up with. Just as he is about to sign the papers, he stumbles onto some old students, who immediately asks him to join upon hearing about his situation. He’s now instead the strongest, but guides his newfound party to even greater heights then before.
Typical fantasy “I can’t believe it’s not isekai” series with potentially some minor revenge subplot.
Take it or leave it, I’m likely skipping just due to lack of time.
Ameko Takao Suiri Karte
Dr. House, but an anime girl who works at a big hospital which has been run by (and still is owned by) her family of doctors. Also some Sherlock Holmes-type mystery afoot?
100% watching more of this.
Sakamoto Days
Former great assassin Sakamoto fell in love, started a family, retired from the underworld, owns and operates a convenience store, and got fat.
Now all he’s interested in is keeping his daily peace, but the underworld does not forget so easily…
Fantastic animation, great humor.
Potential anime of the season!
Around 40 Otoko no Isekai Tsuuhan
It’s another isekai where the main character has a online shopping superpower!
This one really speedruns the whole “establish the isekai” part for the first 5 or so minutes, which was appreciated!
Overall not doing much special, but could be a decent watch if you’re a fan of these kinds of show.
Undecided on whether or not to skip!
Ubel Blatt
Proper fantasy with plenty of thought-out worldbuilding. Based on a popular but slightly older manga.
Gritty and gore-y, so not for everyone, but if you’re into more darker themes then this is likely your best bet this season!
Botsuraku Yotei no Kizoku dakedo, Hima Datta kara Mahou wo Kiwametemita
We’ve seen this kind of anime before. Salaryman isekai’d into the fifth son of a noble, and quickly finds that he has a knack for magic and becomes strong almost immediately after.
Call it a guilty pleasure, but probably catching up with this if I have time!
Magic Maker
Oh no.
Also isekai, but this world hasn’t heard of the word “magic” - at least not his family. But after encountering a very magic-like phenomena, MC-kun and his older sister tries to understand how it happens. Turns out you need some sort of Bond between two people to create magic, which people of this world might not have figured out yet. And what bond is stronger than one between siblings…?
Some problematic results from that, so uuuh likely a skip.
Zenshuu
Potential anime of the season!
Famed anime director is stuck in a rut for creating the storyboard for her Next Big Thing, but after eating some spoiled food gets isekai’d into an animated movie.
She finds that she has new powers - the ability to add animation to the world, and thus change the flow of the story to what she wants.
Extremely well-animated, good characters, fun meta-ness of the events in the show.
Can’t recommend enough.
Douse, Koishite Shimaunda
Soon-to-be-17 year-old girl with 4 handsome male friends life starts getting complicated as one of the friends suddenly starts showing more affection for her than the rest. How will this shake up her youth?
Some problematic “signs of affection”, but otherwise a fairly standard romantic drama? First episode didn’t give much to really go on, but seemed okay production-wise?
Not a fan of the way the boy decides to pursue his affection for her despite her not agreeing to it, so likely not continuing to watch more.
Fugukan
A fantasy world with skills, and “appraisal” is deemed one of the lowest tiers of skills, so users of it gets badly treated. MC-kun is one of them, and after his party is put into a dangerous situation he’s cast aside as death fodder to let the others escape.
Through pure luck, he’s able to escape, and literally falls onto the supposedly dead “World Tree”, where he’s healed by a mysterious woman, and potentially given more powers.
One more on the “watch if it’s your type of show” pile!
Girumasu
A guild receptionist is very fond of her stable and boring desk job, but hates any sort of overtime, to the point that she ends up diving into dungeons alone to solo any boss that is ending up giving her too much paperwork to deal with.
She’s able to hide her identity during her solo kills, until the leader of the top tier party connects 1 and 1 together to figure out who the mysterious solo adventurer actually is. Is this the end of her peaceful stable career? Not if she has anything to say about it!
Funny and decently animated - definitely giving this at least a few more episodes to watch more of it!
Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku
Reading and recitals the anime
A young girl is inspired by a TV broadcast hosting a reading competition(?), and decides to get better at readubg aloud. Later, as she’s entering high school, she’s still awkward socially, but pushed by a senpai to join the local Broadcasting Club to further her interest and passion.
Seems like a neat and cute drama. Want to see more.
NEET Kunoichi to Nazeka Dousei Hajimemashita
A powerful ninja that loves to laze about and play games, and being supported by a salaryman that she helps out by defeating the monsters that causes inconveniences in his life.
Very ecchi. Very weird. Half-length episodes.
YMMV. Wouldn’t recommend unless ecchi is your cup of tea.
Honey Lemon Soda
Almost like “Skip and Loafer”, but less happy-go-lucky.
Meek girl makes her high-school debut, but runs into old bullies who digs up old trauma. A rough boy with a heart of gold steps in and supports her. Drama and romance could start from that.
Decent school drama thing. Not necessarily for me, but mostly skipping for time to watch other things this season!
Izure Saikyou no Renkinjutsushi
Accidentally summoned alongside some to-be heroes in a fantasy world, MC-kun gets some prefential treatments and buffs in his new-found isekai life, and sets out to hopefully live a quiet life away from the action. But signs point to that not being the case for long.
Once again, if isekai is your thing then it’s def worth a watch, but it’s getting hard to keep all these apart this season!
Might continue, if time allows.
I want to escape from princess lessons
Young lesser noble gets bethroed to one of the princes of the country (I think, it’s not really explicitally stated until late in the episode), and as part of that need to go through years of etiquette lessons to learn to behave as a “proper lady”. MC-chan does not approve, and would want nothing more than to break off the marriage.
Seems like it could be fun, but need to see more than the first episode to confirm it.
Has potential.
Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku
A young woman is isekai’d to a world where humans and magicians are fighting, and she ends up being of interest to both parties. But before the humans can snipe her away, the magicians sweep her away to apparent safety.
One again, there’s not much to go on in the first episode, just a lot of ikemen and establishing the premise!
Likely a skip.
Nihon e Youkoso Elf
Cute reverse isekai where an elf is taken into our world through the dream-connection a human has had with another world for most of his life.
Seems really cute and harmless?
Will continue to watch more.
Okitsura
Tokyo-born MC-kun has recently moved to Okinawa and fallen head-over-heels with his classmate. The only trouble is that she only speaks in local okinawan dialect that he has no chance of following. To his rescue comes her best friend, who happily will translate anything she says into normal Japanese. Of course, the best friend is herself crushing over our MC-kun. Let the triangle-drama begin! (maybe, MC-kun’s crush seems oblivious about anything to do with love)
Fun to watch, cute, and educational!
Will continue watching!
Sentai Red Isekai de Boukensha ni Nani
Wouldn’t you know it - ANOTHER ISEKAI.
This one’s really good though!
Basically Power Rangers Red is isekai’d but keeps his powers of friendship, and this world filled with magic is fascinated by his mysterious powers and where does that music come from, and what’s with the explosions behind him after declaring his moves????
Absolutely hilarious.
100% watching more of this.
Farmagia
Based on a game that has character designs from the Fairly Tail mangaka.
That’s it, that’s the show.
Skipping.
Our favourites:
Akuyaku Reijou Tensei Ojisan
Sakamoto Days
Zenshuu
Ameko Takao Suiri Karte
Sentai Red Isekai de Boukensha ni Nani
Medalist
Girumasu
Nihon e Youkoso Elf
Okitsura
