#silent witch

Monica (モニカ) from Silent Witch

I like when someone looks at me from the side like this... feels kinda special 🥰

It's time to talk about the great anime I watched last year and give my top ten along with a few bonus recs!

If you get tired of clicking on the links to the reviews, just check out my anime overview collection for all of them here.

You can also check out my favorite books of 2025 here and my favorite manga and comics in 2025 here!

(Note that there's still 2025 anime I want to watch but haven't yet, like A Mangaka's Weirdly Wonderful Workplace. But we've got a good selection here.)

The Summer Hikaru Died

Yoshiki is a closeted gay teenager. One day, he realizes that his best friend and crush Hikaru has died and been replaced by a strange monstrous being who is imitating him. Missing his loved one and desperate to cling to any piece of him, Yoshiki decides to keep on having a relationship with this mysterious entity.

Lovers of queer monsters ate good last year! TSHD is a sublime horror anime focused on the intimate connection between a monster and a boy who feels like a monster. Both Yoshiki and Hikaru have to hide who they really are. Yoshiki has a deep bond with Hikaru, yet at the same time Hikaru is unknowable and terrifying to him (you know, like any first crush! But with more potential murder). This show is visceral and gorgeous in it’s creepiness- especially its body horror. The animation and artistry is top notch, the unsettling, oppressive summer atmosphere is impeccable, and the characterization is wonderful. It’s an exploration of grief, relationships, otherness, and sexuality that hits just right.

Read my full review here.

This Monster Wants to Eat Me

Premise: Hinako is an extremely depressed girl who’s been searching for death. She runs into Shiori, a mermaid who wants to eat her, and is happy to be her meal. But Shiori is a gourmet who wants her dinner to be as delicious as possible. So she declares she’s going to help Hinako be happy before she eats her, since happiness apparently enhances a human’s deliciousness.

Talk about a delectable story. It’s a top tier yuri horror, but it’s also so much more than that. The show is full of ongoing mysteries and endless twists. I was on board the second a monster girl covered in the blood of her enemies seductively told the protagonist she wants to tear out her intestines and devour her, but the story just got better with each big reveal and compelling backstory. The juicy conflict and gay yearning is perfect, and the exploration of Hinako's depression is heartbreaking. I adore good drama, I adore actually scary monster girls, and I adore messy queer relationships between deeply unwell women-- and this series is masterful at all of that.

This was one of the best anime of the year and I recommend it to absolutely everyone. Unhinged sapphic romance like this is a true delicacy.

Read my full review here.

Apocalypse Hotel

A disaster has forced humanity to abandon the earth and try to find refuge in space. Though there are no humans left, the robot staff of the Gingarou hotel take pride in keeping the place going, with the “acting acting” hotel manager Yachiyo eagerly awaiting humanity’s return. But their first guest since the apocalypse isn’t exactly a human…

Apocalypse Hotel is a gorgeous anime full of both philosophical melancholy and whip-smart humor. It has a vibrant cast of characters, from lovable robots to tanuki aliens. It’s truly unpredictable from episode to episode—will we see a child attempt to fight a monster with a chainsaw? Will we see the main characters try to cover up a murder? Anything can happen. But the themes are consistent throughout-- this anime explores what it means to be left behind, and what it means to adapt, and if it’s possible to move on in the ruins of grief and loss.

 One of the most memorable episodes is when Yachiyo explores the city around the hotel for the first time—we go on a journey with her and admire the haunting beauty of the remnants of civilization now reclaimed by nature. It’s breath-taking, and that really just sums up the whole show.

CITY THE ANIMATION

This anime is based on a manga by the creator of Nichijou, and it has the same gut-busting absurdist humor and incredible animation that anime was famous for. Following a quirky cast of characters in a certain city, we see them get up to all kinds of zany adventures, from kidnappings to discovering new species. There’s even a musical episode. It has strong ensemble writing and I especially enjoyed the trio of 20-something disaster gals, one of whom had a locket plotline that was... Revolutionary Girl Utena-esque. If you know you know. A couple warnings: the first episode involves a gag where a boy is laughed at and feels humiliated when he’s talked into wearing a skirt, and a minor running gag implies a cop (and possibly some other guys) has a crush on a girl who is still in high school. ACAB representation, I guess.

Anne Shirley

An absolutely delightful adaptation of Anne of Green Gables. Many of you already know the story– after a mix up, an imaginative orphan named Anne is adopted by the Cuthberts and her adventures begin. The anime is truly charming. It does a great job representing Anne in in all her dramatic precocious literature nerd glory. The animation is adorable and gorgeous, perfectly capturing the cheerful and pastoral vibe, the voice acting is on point, and both the happy and sad emotions hit hard. The relatively fast pace also means we get to later books in the series that a lot of adaptations don’t cover, and it’s great all the way through.

Read my full review here.

ZENSHU

Natsuko Hirose is an animator and director lauded as a genius, but she’s struggling with her newest movie.  Then she’s transported to the world of the flop anime movie that inspired her career. Natsuko finds she has the power to literally draw and animate beings that will then fight the monsters attacking them—can she use her power to save the day and avoid the movie’s tragic ending?

Zenshu is a love letter to animation, artistic inspiration, and stories in general. I’ve been waiting for an isekai anime that uses the “transported into the world of my favorite piece of media” in a creative and meaningful way, and Zenshu finally delivers. And Natsuko is such a refreshing main character, a nerdy, acerbic adult woman in a baggy sweatshirt with cousin It hair. The show explores the pressures of being a creator, the impact stories can have on fans, and what makes fiction inspiring. It features a ton of lovable characters to root for, killer animation, and even some light-hearted subversion of misogynist narratives. It’s a can’t-miss anime for any fan.

Read my full review here.