The first quarter of 2025 features a complete anime lineup, and the key standouts are mostly shows that have already been aired in previous seasons. If you think that 2024 has been a great year in the history of anime, think again. Some of the best anime of last year are returning with new seasons.
If you’ve been keeping up to date on current anime shows, you would know that some of the biggest hits of last year are getting additional seasons. The list includes:
Apart from that, new anime like Lazarus is creating new records with its viewership. The best thing about these anime shows is that they are all trending in the right direction so there is a lot of great content being produced for this year. Even highly anticipated movies like Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle are set to come out later this year.
The following are the best anime shows of 2025 (so far) that you must watch to take your experience to the next level:
The anime director Shinichiro Watanabe has made history with Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo. Primarily, the best thing about Watanabe is that he fuses action, jazz, noir, and westerns in the most unique way possible. Even well-known American directors like Rian Johnson and Quentin Tarantino have praised his work from time to time.
Watanabe’s latest anime, Lazarus, is a story set in the future. In the story, a task force is focused on hunting down a doctor that has betrayed the world with a fraudulent medical drug.
Currently, the series is just in its early phases and has a chance of becoming Watanabe’s magnum opus. You can find multiple stock images available for Lazarus.
There are many examples of long-running anime franchises becoming stale and boring. However, The Apothecary Diaries offers a new touch to it as there is a new medical mystery every week or so.
The story features Maomao and her job as an apothecary to the Mind Dynasty’s imperial palace. There are multiple interesting twists and turns along with wise and innovative solutions. All these factors made The Apothecary Diaries one of the best hits in the last two years.
After Akira Toriyama’s passing, the Dragon Ball team (Goku and friends) is still popular. In fact, with Dragon Ball Daima, the creators mixed Dragon Ball GT elements into a new story. Basically, the Super Saiyans travel to a new demon world to eliminate a new threat.
This Dragon Ball story is the last one that Toriyama wrote before his death. In terms of animation, this is one of the best that the series has experienced till now.
Despite having some clichés, sports anime shows have everything to offer for everyone. The same is true for Blue Box.
As you watch all the episodes of season 1, you will feel that winning the game does not always matter in Blue Box. However, you’ll likely cheer for Chinatsu in basketball and Taiki in badminton even when they lose. There is romance in the story as well that adds a new dimension to the sports focused anime.
One of the best things about Devil May Cry is that it brings material from untraditional sources. The story is heavily influenced by a popular Capcom video game series with the main theme revolving around getting revenge and tracking down evil terrorists.
It’s particularly notable that Adi Shankar is directing this series. He was the executive producer of Castlevania: Nocturne and he is currently producing Assassin’s Creed for Netflix.
Season 21 of One Piece involves the highly anticipated Egghead arc. Even though the series is one of the most popular anime series of all time, Egghead arc is one of the best according to One Piece manga readers.
Unfortunately, the anime had announced a hiatus in October 2024, so the beginning of 2025 featured a remastered version of Fishman Island arc instead. Apart from that, Netflix is preparing for a Season 2 production of One Piece.
The above anime shows are the best I’ve watched in 2025. This doesn’t mean there weren’t other great shows that were aired this year. Two honorable mentions are Sakamoto Days and Season 2 of Solo Leveling. If you haven’t been watching anime recently, I recommend starting with Lazarus since it’s a new show without the need to watch previous seasons of other shows. Otherwise, I would suggest watching One Piece instead since it’s one of my favorite anime series of all time.
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