The official answer is now known: My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON won Anime of the Year at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. But before the ceremony settled the question, nine other series had compelling cases built on drama, horror, originality, visual design, action, and long-form storytelling. Here are the ten strongest 2025 contenders, compared by what each did best.
Update: This debate is no longer an open race. The 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards ceremony has taken place, and My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON won Anime of the Year. Still, the original 2025 question remains useful as a comparison: these were the ten series with the strongest arguments based on craft, influence, ambition, emotional impact, and year-specific significance.
The six official Anime of the Year nominees were The Apothecary Diaries Season 2, DAN DA DAN Season 2, Gachiakuta, My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON, The Summer Hikaru Died, and Takopi’s Original Sin. The other four titles below broaden the discussion to include action spectacle, original anime, franchise reinvention, and the importance of long-running series. This is an editorial ranking, not a claim that awards represent universal critical agreement.
How to compare 2025’s Anime of the Year contenders
A fair comparison needs more than a single question such as “Which one looked best?” Each series was judged through five lenses:
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- Direction and visual identity: Does the series have a recognizable way of staging scenes and building atmosphere?
- Writing and character development: Are its conflicts, relationships, and character choices convincing?
- Animation and staging: Does the production use movement, layouts, effects, and timing effectively?
- Emotional or thematic impact: Does it leave the viewer with something beyond spectacle?
- Year-specific significance: Did it represent a breakthrough, a major ending, a franchise shift, or an important continuation?
The ranking below prioritizes a different strength for each entry. It is not an objective scorecard, and a viewer who values action, horror, comedy, or long-form storytelling may reasonably order the list differently.
1. My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON
Best case: the defining “end of an era” contender—and the eventual official winner.
My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON had an advantage no new series could reproduce: nearly a decade of accumulated investment in its heroes, rivals, mentors, and villains. A final season is judged not only by individual episodes but also by whether the conclusion gives earlier choices and relationships meaningful payoff.
That longevity does not automatically make it the year’s best anime. A finale must still deliver effective direction, clear action staging, character resolution, and an ending worthy of the material that preceded it. In the 2026 awards, however, the series’ overall culmination was recognized decisively: it won Anime of the Year and also received recognition for major character work, ending-sequence production, and the broader achievement of bringing the franchise to its conclusion.
Why it was a credible contender: emotional history, franchise-scale payoff, and the cultural weight of closing one of the era’s most prominent superhero anime.
Important qualification: finale status can amplify a show’s impact, but it should not be confused with proof that every episode is stronger than every episode of a newer series.
See the official 2026 Anime Awards winners.
2. The Apothecary Diaries Season 2
Best case: the most complete prestige-drama contender.
The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 makes palace intrigue feel like a form of investigative storytelling. Maomao’s practical knowledge, skepticism, and unusual perspective allow mysteries to unfold through observation rather than conventional action. The series also understands that a deduction is more satisfying when it reveals character, power, and social structure at the same time.
Its strength is control. The direction gives rooms, costumes, courtyards, and court rituals a specific atmosphere, while the writing balances individual mysteries against the larger political and emotional pressures surrounding Maomao. The series received nominations across drama, background art, character design, directing, character, song, score, and voice performance. The final results strengthened its case further: its directors won Best Director, and Maomao won Best Main Character.
Why it was a credible contender: precise mystery construction, exceptional atmosphere, and a protagonist whose intelligence is expressed through behavior rather than grand speeches.
Trade-off: viewers seeking constant action may find its most impressive sequences quieter than those of the season’s battle-heavy nominees.
For US viewers, the official nominee viewing guide lists the series with Crunchyroll; availability can change by territory and date, so check the current listing before watching.
3. DAN DA DAN Season 2
Best case: the year’s most technically elastic series.
DAN DA DAN Season 2 is difficult to reduce to one genre. It can be a paranormal action series, an absurd comedy, a romance about awkward teenagers, a supernatural horror story, or an emotionally sincere coming-of-age drama—sometimes within the same episode.
That tonal range is its greatest risk and its greatest accomplishment. The show needs sharp timing for jokes, energetic staging for battles, visual imagination for its paranormal threats, and enough emotional clarity for its relationships to matter. Its broad awards presence reflected that versatility, with nominations spanning action, comedy, romance, animation, background art, directing, character, music, and opening and ending sequences.
Why it was a credible contender: it combines kinetic production with genuine tenderness and refuses to let its strangest ideas flatten its characters.
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Trade-off: its deliberately chaotic shifts in tone will appeal strongly to some viewers and test others.
The official viewing guide associates Season 2 with Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix in the relevant US listings. Confirm the current service lineup because streaming rights are temporary and region-specific.
4. Gachiakuta
Best case: the breakout series with the freshest visual identity.
Gachiakuta turned a trash-based setting into an aggressive, textured shōnen world. Its production design gives discarded objects, damaged spaces, and social division an aesthetic purpose rather than treating them as background decoration. The result is a series that feels visually authored from the start.
Its awards record supports the breakthrough argument. It was nominated for Anime of the Year and won Best New Series, Best Animation, Best Character Design, and Best Background Art. Those wins point to a strength broader than isolated action cuts: the show established a coherent visual language across characters, environments, and movement.
Why it was a credible contender: distinctive worldbuilding, energetic design, and the sense that a new shōnen property had arrived with its own artistic vocabulary.
Trade-off: a visually exciting premise still has to sustain its character and plot development over time; novelty alone is not the same as a complete Anime of the Year case.
5. The Summer Hikaru Died
Best case: the strongest horror-drama argument.
Spoiler and content note: the series deals with death, grief, identity, psychological distress, and disturbing horror themes.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Netflix describes The Summer Hikaru Died as a Japanese horror, mystery, thriller, and drama anime based on the manga. Its premise begins with an intimate impossibility: a boy appears to have returned, but the person who came back is not quite the same. That setup creates dread through emotional proximity rather than relying only on monsters or sudden shocks.
The show’s candidacy depends on tonal control. Its quiet relationships and familiar rural spaces make the supernatural intrusion more unsettling, while the mystery works because the personal consequences matter as much as the explanation. It was nominated for Anime of the Year, Best New Series, Best Drama, Best Background Art, Best Director, and Best Anime Song.
Why it was a credible contender: sustained unease, psychological intimacy, and a willingness to let atmosphere do the work that spectacle does in other nominees.
Trade-off: this is not a conventional action showcase, and viewers looking for rapid answers may find its slow-building dread demanding.
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The series premiered on Netflix on July 5, 2025, according to Netflix’s official title and announcement materials. Check Netflix for current availability in your country.
6. Takopi’s Original Sin
Best case: the most concentrated and emotionally severe contender.
Content warning: discussion of this series involves child abuse, bullying, suicide, trauma, and other distressing themes.
Takopi’s Original Sin uses a deceptively simple premise to examine painful human problems. Its cute visual surface creates a deliberate contrast with the harshness of the situations its characters face. The result is not an easy or comforting watch, but it is precisely the collision between innocence, limited understanding, and irreversible consequences that gives the series its force.
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Its official nominations included Anime of the Year, Best New Series, Best Drama, Best Animation, Best Character Design, Best Director, and “Must Protect At All Costs” Character. That range captures the show’s unusual position: it is emotionally difficult, visually distinctive, and structurally compact enough to make its themes feel concentrated rather than diffuse.
Why it was a credible contender: high emotional impact, difficult subject matter, and a premise that invites discussion beyond ordinary genre categories.
Trade-off: its intensity and subject matter make it a poor choice for casual viewing and a challenging comparison with more broadly entertaining nominees.
The official viewing guide lists Takopi’s Original Sin with Crunchyroll in the relevant US guidance. Verify the current catalog before subscribing or beginning the series.
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Best case: the clearest pure-action and spectacle contender.
Solo Leveling Season 2 -Arise from the Shadow- builds its appeal around momentum. Its central pleasure is watching Jinwoo’s power, resources, and battlefield presence expand, with each escalation designed to make the next confrontation feel larger than the last.
That focus was reflected in its awards profile: nominations included Best Continuing Series, Best Opening Sequence, Best Ending Sequence, Best Action, Best Animation, Best Main Character, Best Anime Song, and Best Score. It won Best Animation, giving the season a strong formal endorsement in the category most closely associated with its appeal.
Why it was a credible contender: polished action staging, immediate visual impact, strong musical presentation, and an exceptionally clear progression fantasy.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteTrade-off: its character and thematic case is more dependent on power progression and spectacle than the quieter dramas on this list.
The official viewing guidance lists the season with Crunchyroll for the relevant US audience. Availability should be checked directly before publication or viewing.
8. Lazarus
Best case: the strongest original-anime argument.
Original anime deserve a separate kind of consideration. They cannot rely on an established manga readership, a familiar cast, or years of audience attachment. Lazarus therefore represents ambition in a field otherwise dominated by adaptations, sequels, and major franchises.
The series won Best Original Anime at the 2026 awards, making it a natural inclusion in a retrospective shortlist. That recognition is meaningful, but originality is not an automatic quality guarantee. The relevant questions remain whether its premise is developed effectively, whether its direction gives the project a distinct identity, and whether its execution fulfills the promise of its concept.
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Why it was a credible contender: it brought an original-project perspective to a crowded year and demonstrated that a series did not need preexisting franchise momentum to enter the awards conversation.
Trade-off: an ambitious original premise can expose structural or pacing weaknesses more clearly than a familiar adaptation with established audience goodwill.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.9. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX
Best case: the most ambitious franchise reworking.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is a particularly interesting candidate because it operates simultaneously as a new entry point and as a conversation with Gundam history. The official Gundam site identifies it as a new Gundam series centered on Amate “Machu” Yuzuriha, Nyaan, Shuji, and the GQuuuuuuX mobile suit, with a 2025 broadcast and streaming rollout.
Its appeal lies in the meeting of traditions: the long-running mecha franchise’s political and military science-fiction vocabulary alongside the distinctive sensibilities associated with Studio Khara and Sunrise. That makes it valuable to assess not simply as another robot show, but as an experiment in how a major property can reinterpret its own identity.
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Why it was a credible contender: ambitious alternate-history science fiction, striking mecha design, and the creative tension between franchise continuity and reinvention.
Trade-off: its references and franchise context may land differently for longtime Gundam viewers and newcomers.
Japanese announcements document a wider rollout that includes Prime Video, but US availability should not be inferred from the Japanese schedule. Check the service listings for your territory.
Collector’s pick: HG 1/144 GQuuuuuuX model kit
For viewers who connected with the series’ mechanical design, the official Gundam announcements also document related merchandise, including the HG 1/144 GQuuuuuuX model kit. This is a title-specific collector recommendation, not a claim that every anime on this list requires merchandise. Check the current US retailer listing, seller, stock, and price before buying.
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Best case: the year’s most significant continuing institution.
ONE PIECE presents a different comparison problem from a compact original or a single-season adaptation. Its 2025 material is part of an enormous accumulated narrative, so judging it only by isolated episodes can miss the value of long-form setup, payoff, character history, and cultural continuity.
The series was nominated for Best Continuing Series and won that category at the 2026 awards. That recognition supports its inclusion, but it should not be treated as evidence that a long-running series and a twelve-episode newcomer are competing under identical conditions.
Why it was a credible contender: extraordinary narrative memory, long-term emotional payoff, and continuing importance within anime culture.
Trade-off: its scale creates accessibility and pacing barriers that do not affect shorter contenders in the same way.
Where to watch the 2025 anime contenders
Streaming availability is both geographic and temporary. The official Crunchyroll nominee viewing guide associates the following titles with these services in its relevant US listings:
| Anime | Reported US viewing destinations |
|---|---|
| The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 | Crunchyroll |
| Takopi’s Original Sin | Crunchyroll |
| DAN DA DAN Season 2 | Crunchyroll, Hulu, Netflix |
| Solo Leveling Season 2 | Crunchyroll |
| The Summer Hikaru Died | Netflix |
Use the official where-to-watch guide for the 2025 anime contenders as a starting point, then confirm each title in the service’s current US catalog. The Japanese Gundam announcement’s Prime Video information applies to that rollout and should not be presented as proof of US availability.
So which one was 2025’s Anime of the Year?
With the benefit of hindsight, the official answer is My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON. It won the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards’ Anime of the Year award, making it the clearest retrospective winner.
That result does not erase the other candidates’ strengths. The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 offered the most controlled drama; DAN DA DAN Season 2 was the most versatile; Gachiakuta delivered the sharpest new visual identity; The Summer Hikaru Died made the strongest horror case; and Takopi’s Original Sin concentrated the year’s most difficult emotional material. Solo Leveling, Lazarus, GQuuuuuuX, and ONE PIECE represented spectacle, originality, franchise reinvention, and long-form significance respectively.
The best personal choice depends on what “of the year” means to you: the most complete production, the most ambitious new idea, the strongest finale, or the series that stayed with you longest.
Streaming services, regional catalogs, product availability, and prices can change. The award discussion refers to the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards ceremony and its recognition of 2025 anime eligibility.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which anime officially won Anime of the Year for 2025?
My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON won Anime of the Year at the 2026 Crunchyroll Anime Awards. The award cycle is complete, although the other nine series remain credible editorial contenders for different reasons.
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The six official Anime of the Year nominees were The Apothecary Diaries Season 2, DAN DA DAN Season 2, Gachiakuta, My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON, The Summer Hikaru Died, and Takopi’s Original Sin.
Where can I watch these 2025 anime?
Availability varies by country and changes over time. The researched US listings associate The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 and Takopi’s Original Sin with Crunchyroll; DAN DA DAN Season 2 with Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix; Solo Leveling Season 2 with Crunchyroll; and The Summer Hikaru Died with Netflix. Confirm the current catalog before watching.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: My Hero Academia FINAL SEASON was the official 2026 Anime of the Year winner, but the 2025 field was unusually varied. Choose The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 for precision and atmosphere, DAN DA DAN Season 2 for range, Gachiakuta for visual freshness, The Summer Hikaru Died for horror, or Takopi’s Original Sin for concentrated emotional impact.
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