#tomoroll

so! i'm trying something new this year, and idk if it's going to work or if it's going to pressure me more, but we'll just have to do it and see how it goes ^^

for my winter 2025 anime, i wanted to limit new shows (excluding sequel seasons) to 3 titles at a time since that seems most doable for me. i don't really like putting so many things "on hold" so i figured this would help while i knock out the other titles i've paused recently. so while i've picked out a whole list of shows that i might be interested in, i'm only committing myself to watching 3 of them and will only put them on my "currently watching" list if i manage to watch the first 3 episodes.

the list:

Flower and Asura (hanashura)

Honey Lemon Soda (hls)

I May Be a Guild Receptionist, but I'll Solo Any Boss to Clock Out on Time (girumasu)

Medalist

Momentary Lily (momelily)

My Happy Marriage Season 2 (watakon)

Promise of Wizard (mahoyaku)

Tasokare Hotel

The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 (knh)

Unnamed Memory Season 2 (unmemo)

here are the anime i'm going to try keeping up with this season + reasons why i picked them:

busu ni hanataba wo — it feels like it could be a nostalgic watch and hayami saori is voicing the MC! also i apparently have this in my 'plan to read' list, so if i like it, i might end up reading it, too

secrets of the silent witch — the trailer looks so good!! also the plot <3 i have high hopes for this tbh

the fragrant flower blooms with dignity — i've been reading this since 2021? or 2022? it's very sweet and cute and i've grown fond of it over the years

bad girl — yuri but also lol it seems so funny! i'm anticipating acro trip levels of humor and loserism

there's no freaking way i'll be your lover! unless... — i like the look of it! also more yuri! but mostly because i'm curious about how this will resolve

kizu darake seijo yori houfuku wo komete — the animation style of the trailer feels more game-like than an anime. but omg the plot?? also the seiyuu (saitou souma! asami seto! ura kazuki! maeno tomoaki!)

captivated, by you — bl with some of my fave seiyuu 👀

WINTER ❄

A Sign of Affection

it's an absolutely stunning show with such a warm and gentle core. i especially love how the medium lets us into yuki's perspective by effectively depicting how yuki experiences the world. all the characters are nicely written; yuki is especially absolutely adorable and itsuomi is an absolute dream <3

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!

probably one of my favorite stories of the year tbh! the characters are so smart and dynamic, and the story unfolded in a really interesting way. my favorite parts are still whenever arnold is extremely down bad for rishe tho <3

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

the feels! from this show! were absolutely insane! i truly did not expect to like this as much as i do. adachi is my guy for reals and kurosawa is adorable pls i really need to get started on this manga already lol

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SPRING 🌸

Tadaima, Okaeri

for my first omegaverse anything, this was truly outstanding. it was warm and full of love, and all of the characters were so engaging and so easy to fall into. the fujiyoshi family is the best but hehe i've got my eyes on matsuo and yuki 👀 i hope the manga updates soon because i genuinely need to know what happens with them 👀

Bartender: Glass of God

gosh this was such a comfort show through and through. it felt like i saw this at just the right time in my life and i'm really glad i took a chance on it. sasakura's sasakuraisms ranged from very wise to sort of corny, but it's an easy watch for when you need a hug (or a nice drink)

A Condition Called Love

my second favorite shoujo release of the year because hello?? i get people not wanting to give this a chance because of the premise but i swear it's really soooo good and very worth the watch for the story! hananoi is my son and hotaru is an absolute darling who can do no wrong in my eyes ^^

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SUMMER ☀

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to be Archenemies

when i say that a show was made for me, i'll probably point to this one as an example because it has so many of the things i love? it was the perfect mix of funny and heartwarming, with really pretty art and wonderful animation. such a big thank you to studio bones for picking this up and doing it justice <3

Twilight Out of Focus

hehe :> ichikawa and jin :> definitely my favorite sons from this show, but this was overall a beautiful watch and i really enjoyed how this was all centered around a film club and how that was reflected in how each character's perspective was considered

Senpai is an Otokonoko

okay so i know i've been calling everyone my babies but the three main characters here are truly my children and i want nothing more than to hold them and guide them to a queer role model so that they can sort themselves out huhu i can't wait to see the movie even tho it'll probably be long months after the japan premier before i can ever get the chance TT^TT

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FALL 🍁

How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer

another one of those shows with a great cast, with just the right amount of comedy and juuuuust the right amount of emotion to really sink its claws into my heart and leave their marks. suo and tokiwa are my favorite ship plotwise, but fuji and asagi are too iconic not to love. and then kohaku and hagi are just so darn cute ahhh truly a gem <3

Nina the Starry Bride

my favorite shoujo release of the year!! such an amazing story fhdsjkfhdsk hate how they ended the season, but i think it's all the more motivation for me to actually read the manga and get properly obsessed. nina is so lovely and sett is my bias, so i need to see them end game for reals!!

Acro Trip

i saw chizuko hit chroma with an umbrella once and never looked back lol. the highlight here is really their friendship, and it's genuinely so lovely to see how much they care about each other. but their shenanigans? very funny, will definitely watch again if i have the chance ^^

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better late than never? :P

the 2023 stats were a comparison between 2022 and 2023, but i figured i'd try comparing 2024 with the cumulative numbers. overall, i'd say i didn't deviate much from the overall trends, it's just that i watched primarily seasonal releases last year (n=22, 91.7%), especially at the start of the year (n=9, 37.5%).

other observations:

romance, comedy, slice of life, drama, and fantasy were still my most watched genres, but i had higher ratings for genres with smaller samples like mystery (9.5⭐, n=2), sports (9.5⭐, n=2), mahou shoujo (9⭐, n=2), action (8.5⭐, n=2), and supernatural (8.5⭐, n=2)

summer (9⭐, n=4) and fall (9⭐, n=6) shows had higher ratings compared to winter (7.9⭐, n=9) and spring (7.6⭐, n=5) shows. i feel like a lot of it had to do with me getting pickier about what i watched as the year went on

NOTES: "Titles" collectively refer to TV anime, movies, specials, ONAs, OVAs, etc. and the number of titles are based on what's indicated on Anilist and MAL. Two seasons are counted as two titles, and two cours of a single season could be counted as two titles if they're entered on Anilist and MAL as two separate titles. All information except for the ratings and demographic were taken from the title's entry on Anilist, although I did also record my ratings on Anilist and MAL. Information on demographic was based on what I could find on the internet, and the "Unk" category would refer to titles whose target demographic I couldn't exactly confirm.

it's the final season of the year~

i did my seasonal window shopping and... well... i put too many titles in my basket lol. but! i'll just put here the ones i genuinely believe i'll pick up hehe

Murai in Love

How I Attended an All-Guy's Mixer

I’ll Become a Villainess Who Goes Down in History

Negative Positive Angler

Blue Box

365 Days to the Wedding

Orb: On the Movements of the Earth

Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii

Haigakura

Nina the Starry Bride

Ao no Miburo

browsing through the upcoming seasonal anime lists felt a lot like window shopping, which i feel is the healthiest way i've approached a new season so far. just interested but non-committal, since this isn't one of those things i need to put too much effort in anyway ^^ i've put a lot in my basket, most of which i'm unfamiliar with but i guess we'll see where the season will take us!

are you planning on checking out any of these titles?

Tasuketsu -Fate of the Majority-

Oshi no Ko Season 2

Twilight Out of Focus

I Parry Everything

Senpai is an Otokonoko

The Elusive Samurai

Narenare -Cheer for You!-

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to be Archenemies

No Longer Allowed in Another World

Bye Bye, Earth

ATRI -My Dear Moments-

Delico's Nursery

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You Season 3

In all honesty, apart from A Condition Called Love and the next season of Demon Slayer, I wasn't looking forward to anything in particular this season, especially since there were a lot of sequel seasons coming out for shows I haven't seen before. So I went on a hunt for titles that seemed interesting or for shows made by studios whose previous work(s) I liked (enough). I make no promises that I'll truly, actually watch everything as they come out, though. Maybe the first three episodes or so just to get a taste of it? But I'll definitely make a more active effort to put less pressure on myself to continue watching a show I don't vibe with.

Are you planning on checking out any of these titles? (I'll be using the hashtags in parentheses to track my original posts + reblogs on the title, if any)

A Condition Called Love (#hky anime)

BARTENDER: Glass of God (#bartender anime)

An Archdemon's Dilemma: How to Love Your Elf Bride (#madome anime)

WIND BREAKER (#winbre anime)

Karasu wa Aruji wo Erabanai (#yatagarasu anime)

Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night (#yorukura anime)

Vampire Dormitory (#vampdorm anime)

Unnamed Memory (#unmemo anime)

Tadaima, Okaeri (#tadaoka anime)

The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio (#seiyuuradio anime)

Kaii to Otome to Kamikakushi (#totokami anime)

Whisper Me a Love Song (#sasakoi anime)

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Hashira Training Arc (#kny anime)

So... I made a thing lol. Or a couple of things.

NOTES: "Titles" collectively refer to TV anime, movies, specials, ONAs, OVAs, etc. and the number of titles are based on what's indicated on Anilist and MAL. Two seasons are counted as two titles, and two cours of a single season could be counted as two titles if they're entered on Anilist and MAL as two separate titles. All information except for the ratings and demographic were taken from the title's entry on Anilist, although I did also record my ratings on Anilist and MAL. Information on demographic was based on what I could find on the internet, and the "Unk" category would refer to titles whose target demographic I couldn't exactly confirm.

I made these partly because I was curious, but mostly because I thought it'd be fun to sort of look into my preferences based on the numbers? Because that's a totally normal thing to want to do idk 😂

Other things I noticed:

Even though Romance, Comedy, Slice of Life, Drama and Fantasy were the genres I gravitated towards, my highest rated genres (for 2023) were actually Action (10⭐), Music (10⭐), Adventure (9.3⭐), Mystery (9.3⭐), and Supernatural (8.6⭐).

I'd rate shows released in Spring (8.2⭐) or the Fall (8.2⭐) a tiny bit higher than those released during Winter (7.3⭐) or Summer (7.1⭐) regardless of release year.

The most common studios whose works I watched this year were Production I.G (n=9); Kyoto Animation and feel. (n=6); and Brain's Base, MADHOUSE, Studio DEEN, and TMS Entertainment (n=5). But in terms of episodes, I've seen more episodes from MADHOUSE (n=99, mostly from Chihayafuru), Production I.G. (n=97, mostly from Haikyuu), and Toei Animation (n=85, mostly from One Piece).