The 5 Best Anime Premieres of Winter 2025, Ranked
Photo courtesy of Crunchyroll
Coming off a year that began with some truly outstanding anime like Delicious in Dungeon, The Apothecary Diaries, and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, this winter season had an incredibly tough task in matching that stacked lineup. So, does this new batch live up to last year’s impressive starting output? Honestly, it is still a little too early to tell. While there are some great returning series this winter, like the continuation of Paste’s 2024 Anime of the Year and a follow-up to 2023’s biggest surprise, most of the promising series this time could easily go south for one reason or another. But while few of these have won my total confidence, thankfully, there’s a sizable number of contenders. On top of this, there are also some great ongoing shows from last season, like Dragon Ball Daima, Blue Box, and Orb: On the Movements of the Earth. With all that in mind, here are the best anime premieres of Winter 2025.
Honorable Mentions
Going into this season, Sakamoto Days was simultaneously one of the most anticipated and skeptically awaited premieres: it’s based on a popular action/comedy manga, but the quality of the promotional trailers had many concerned this adaptation would be a trainwreck. At least based on the first episode, the show has fallen somewhere between these expectations. While it’s not a particularly visually impressive series due to occasionally limited animation and an ugly-looking filter placed over every scene, it still mostly captures the humor and ultra-cool battles of the source material thanks to some strong storyboarding. That said, it’s hard not to wish that this one received a Spy x Family tier adaptation that fully brought out its manga’s strengths.
Some will say that Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective is basically just House starring an anime girl. They’re wrong. It’s House starring an anime girl if there was also a character who looked and behaved exactly like Columbo. As its title implies, this series is about a genius doctor who solves crimes, and while it’s quite silly, it’s also pretty dang good at setting up Holmesian medical mysteries (although there’s admittedly a show later on the list that does this better).
Although I would only recommend The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You to those who are hopelessly deep in the weeb mines, it continues to gleefully parody the kind of romance anime where a milquetoast dork is inexplicably hit on by an army of attractive women. The show may thoroughly trample on any sense of good taste, but its unhinged approach generally lands thanks to whip-smart localization, maximalist animation, and a tendency towards outright absurdity. Again, you have been warned that this one has some content that many will find objectionable, but even as someone who generally despises this type of show, the pervading wackiness and intensely genuine protagonist mostly make it work.
My Happy Marriage is back and off to a solid start, thanks to its impressive animation and heartwarming central romance. We continue to follow Miyo, a Cinderella-type recovering from an oppressive upbringing, as she settles in with her husband-to-be. While this episode couldn’t resist introducing another cartoonishly evil lady, Miyo’s mother-in-law, at least we’ll get to see more of this charming relationship.
Flower and Asura is one of the few shows that really surprised me this season, but admittedly after becoming more familiar with its credentials, its boons make perfect sense: this is an adaptation of a work by the author of Sound Euphonium! animated by the talented (but normally very degenerate) folks at Studio Bind. This union resulted in easily one of the best-directed premieres of the season, boasting sharp visual metaphors and evocative imagery that captured its protagonist’s passion for her hyper-specific hobby of dictation—I didn’t know that this pastime had a competitive scene, but there you go. While its drama hasn’t fully snapped into place yet, deft aesthetic execution has picked up the slack.
Dr. Stone simultaneously remains the smartest and dumbest show around, as Senku, a teen scientist, comes up with ingenious solutions to seemingly impossible problems. As our gang gets closer to discovering why almost all of humanity was petrified in stone thousands of years ago, they are forced to make one of humankind’s greatest leaps: to travel to the moon. This first episode back was a good reminder of the series’ strengths, delivering a high-stakes game of poker laden with overly dramatic presentation and science-themed tricks.
5. Zenshu
While there are plenty of shows out there about making anime (Shirobako, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun, etc.), Zenshu begins with this premise only to quickly take a sharp turn. Natsuko is an animator who became famous after her directorial debut, but she’s struggling with a follow-up, causing her to take her frustrations out on her co-workers as she grows her hair out and generally behaves like a little art freak. [If you don’t want first-episode spoilers, skip to the next paragraph]. But then, after eating some bad clams, she suddenly bites it and gets reincarnated inside the world of her favorite movie. Although the show’s initial premise seemed more interesting than this played-out isekai setup, thankfully, a handful of showstopping bits of animation roped me back in.
Specifically, there’s a stunningly animated transformation sequence where Natsuko uses her peg bar to unleash the power of creativity (and an extended Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind reference). And beyond that visual showcase, we also got some real pathos as our protagonist found her resolve to save this group of doomed characters who inspired her to become a creator in the first place. While only time will tell if this one fully delivers beyond this impressive introductory sequence, Zenshu is off to a strong start.
4. From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!
While there may be approximately one billion anime series where the main character dies and then gets reincarnated as the villainess in an otome videogame (these are dating-focused visual novels typically aimed at women), as long as these keep being good, like My Next Life as a Villainess, Endo and Kobayashi Live!, or I’m in Love with the Villainess, then I will keep watching them. From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated! is another take on this tried-and-true formula, but there’s an important twist: this time, the person reborn as a haughty villainess is a middle-aged dad. While the concept of this balding businessman being thrust into the shoes of a ringleted rich girl could have easily boiled down to a single repetitive joke, it works because our former civil servant Kenzaburou Tondabayashi, who has now become the noblewoman Grace Auvergne, is simply a genuinely good person who’s parenting skills have very much carried over.
Case in point, there’s a scene in the otome game where after the villainess Grace meets this game’s protagonist for the first time, Anna Doll, she’s supposed to offer a withering, classist indictment of this plucky heroine. However, as Tondabayashi gears up to do the same and play their part, they can’t help but slip into Dad Mode, instead complementing Anna’s family for doing an excellent job raising her. It’s a moment that’s both deeply wholesome and very funny thanks to Ajia-do studio’s (A Sign of Affection, Ascendance of a Bookworm) very solid production value and some great comedic timing. Although I’ll admit that the series’ gimmick could eventually wear thin, its refreshingly likable protagonist has me optimistic that it won’t.
3. Medalist
With the recent cancellation of the long-awaited Yuri on Ice film, fans of figure skating anime have been left out in the cold for quite some time. While I don’t imagine Medalist will be a cultural lightning rod in the same way, it’s off to a great start, thanks to how well it communicates sports-related passion and the nuances of this particular pastime. The story follows Inori, an 11-year-old who dreams of one day becoming a figure skater but is quickly approaching the cut-off age for when she will be “too old” to start and still be able to eventually go pro (apparently, most top competitors begin when they are five or six). However, before long, she runs into Tsukasa, a former competitor and first-time coach inspired by Inori’s drive.
The premiere does a great job conveying Inori’s isolation and troubles at school contrasted against how her aspirations give her purpose; when she’s on the ice, she finally gets closer to who she wants to be. Similarly, the series has already dug into the many downsides of chasing greatness in this sport, including the tiny competitive window, massive financial and time investment, and the possibility of all this hard work being derailed by a random injury. These pitfalls ground the action and set the stage for this underdog tale. However, if there’s a reason to have some mild reservations, it’s that while the source material is well-regarded, the studio in charge of this adaptation, ENGI, has a track record of starting strong before petering out. Hopefully, they will be able to give this story the spotlight it deserves.
2. Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast –
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that BanG Dream!! It’s My Go!!!!! was the the biggest anime-related surprise of 2023. There were plenty of reasons to write it off: it was the latest iteration in a long-running mixed media franchise with little cache outside Japan, it relied entirely on 3D animation, which is often derided by many anime fans, and it had an admittedly ridiculous name. But despite all this, It’s My Go!!!!!’s unforgettable cast and boatloads of band-based turmoil made it a one-of-a-kind music story. And now, a little over a year later, we have a direct follow-up in Ave Mujica – The Die is Cast –, which doubles down on the last season’s melodrama and emotional devastation as we follow Sakiko, the “villain” from the previous arc, after she forms the angstiest gothic rock band you’ve ever seen.
With screenwriter Yuniko Ayana back at the helm, Ave Mujica continues where its predecessor left off, digging into a group of messed up, disaster teens. As for Sakiko, get a glimpse at why she continues to push her bandmates to the brink, and the reasons are grim enough to match her gloomy musical output. It’s no mistake this series is titled after a Julius Caesar quote (which is hilarious) because, much like that Roman dictator, Sakiko is willing to do anything to achieve her ends. Overall, while this follow-up is a different kind of setlist, so far, it still has a great sound.
1. The Apothecary Diaries
While I’m still only cautiously optimistic about most of Winter 2025’s anime slate, luckily Paste’s favorite anime of 2024 is back, and through the first episode of its second season, The Apothecary Diaries continues to offer an excellent mixture of imperial court drama and medical mysteries. The story follows Maomao, a whip-smart apothecary serving in a fictional equivalent of Imperial China’s inner palace, as she diagnoses strange ailments and deduces political headwinds. However, despite the sometimes grave stakes, this premiere was a succinct reminder of this tale’s many other charms. Maomao looked after a toddler princess, cared for a cat, and helped spread literacy among the ladies-in-waiting as the show delighted in its loveable extended cast and their fun relationship dynamics. Small moments like our heroine bonding with the child she saved (who could not have been animated to be more adorable) build on last season’s resolutions. And despite being a somewhat low-key reintroduction, there was a hint of lingering menace, like when Maomao noted that the kid she was looking after would come of age in a viper’s den.
While I was a little worried if the show would be able to maintain its immaculate visual consistency considering how quick the turnaround has been since last season, OLM once again delivered expressive animation that sold punchlines and gorgeous background art that placed us in the past, all bound together by sharp direction that communicated both danger and levity. The fact that The Apothecary Diaries delivered such a pleasant opening episode without getting into its usual detective work demonstrates just how varied its charms can be. Welcome back, Maomao!
Elijah Gonzalez is an assistant Games and TV Editor for Paste Magazine. In addition to playing and watching the latest on the small screen, he also loves film, creating large lists of media he’ll probably never actually get to, and dreaming of the day he finally gets through all the Like a Dragon games. You can follow him on Twitter @eli_gonzalez11 and on Bluesky @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social.
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