Here at ComicBook.com, we’re always aware of what strikes it big when it comes to what’s in the news. 2025 was a giant year for anime, with plenty of stories that changed the game forever for the medium moving forward. In reviewing our analytics for the year, we wanted to share with our readers what you were reading the most in the anime world and which stories were the biggest when it came to making waves. While you might be able to predict some of the biggest stories of the year, you might also be surprised at what made the list, garnering the most attention from our readers.
Videos by ComicBook.com
10.) Controversial Adult Swim Anime Renewed For Two Additional Seasons
In June of this year, Adult Swim announced that not only was Ninja Kamui returning for a second season, but a third as well. The Cartoon Network original anime series had a strong start, but many viewers were taken aback when the show decided to lean far more into robot/mech-style battles instead of the ninja tactics it had employed. The Ninja Kamui renewal was announced at this year’s Annecy Festival, and while there hasn’t been word on when we can expect season two to arrive, Adult Swim is seemingly still on board with the controversial series.
9.) Solo Leveling Producer Teases Good News About Season 3
Shockingly enough, despite Solo Leveling’s wild success for its first two anime seasons, a third season has yet to be confirmed by A-1 Pictures. With the original manwha still having plenty of stories for Jinwoo Sung, along with his offspring in the sequel Solo Leveling Ragnarok, In April of this year, Solo Leveling producer Atsushi Kaneko playfully shared a message on social media stating, “Greatful FOOKIN’ happy news coming!” Unfortunately, this didn’t refer to a possible third season, though we have to imagine that an announcement for Jinwoo’s return will arrive sooner rather than later.
8.) Star Wars Introduces The Jedi Version of Darth Vader (And He’s Even More Terrifying)
We can assure you that this major Star Wars story is also anime-related. Earlier this year, Disney+ released the third season of Star Wars: Visions, the anthology series that focuses on the familiar sci-fi universe by bringing together some of the biggest studios in the anime game. Kicking off the third season, the premier episode, “The Duel: Payback,” brought back the ronin, who was one of the most popular characters from season one. Animated by Kamikaze Douga, the protagonist had quite a bit in common with Vader, though his time as a Sith had ended. A fourth season has yet to be confirmed, but Visions helps to show how the anime medium can translate to any universe.
7.) Black Clover Hypes 2025 Return With Special New Year’s Promo
Perhaps the earliest article on this list is from Black Clover, which rang in 2025 with a special promo. In preparing for Black Clover’s manga finale and the eventual return of its anime, shonen creator Yuki Tabata shared a new promo that hilariously recreates Asta while also taking some key moments from the manga. At this year’s Jump Festa, Black Clover confirmed that it would return with new anime episodes in 2026, with the manga in its final saga. Needless to say, next year is set to be one of Asta’s biggest to date.
6.) Dragon Ball Daima Reveals Official Name For Goku’s New Super Saiyan Form
Dragon Ball Daima changed the world of the Z-Fighters forever, and while the original anime series might have yet to confirm a second season, it was still making quite a few headlines. The biggest Dragon Ball headline of 2025 was the confirmation of Goku’s biggest form that he received in the spin-off, aka Super Saiyan 4. In unleashing the transformation while fighting the Demon King Gomah, Goku’s new form was accompanied by Vegeta, also hitting Super Saiyan 3 officially for the first time. Should Dragon Ball Super return with its manga, we have to imagine that these transformations might play a role in the future.
5.) Netflix Just Released Its Controversial New Live-Action Manga Adaptation
In May of this year, Netflix once again entered the world of live-action anime adaptations in a new way. Recreating the anime adaptation Kakegurui as a new series titled “BET,” the series ran for ten episodes and has already been renewed for a second season. The original series focuses on a school where gambling determines a person’s social status, sometimes to truly disastrous results. While Netflix has yet to reveal a release date for season two, there is plenty of material left to adapt from the manga, which is still releasing new chapters to this day.
4.) Crunchyroll Just Dropped Its Darkest Anime in Years
This past summer, Crunchyroll released a dark anime series that doesn’t get the attention that it should. Takopi’s Original Sin focuses on an extraterrestrial attempting to bring happiness to the planet Earth, but might have met their match when encountering the character Shizuka. The schoolgirl suffers from a level of bullying that is often difficult to watch, and if you are up for it, the first season is available to stream on the anime platform. Here’s how Crunchyroll describes the series, “Happy alien Takopi, lands on Earth with one mission: to spread happiness! When he meets Shizuka, a lonely fourth grader, he vows to bring back her smile using his magical Happy Gadgets. But as he uncovers the pain in her life, Takopi learns that true happiness may require more than gadgets.”
3.) Demon Slayer Returns to TV With Special Anime Release
Demon Slayer had plenty to celebrate in 2025, with the first entry in its film trilogy, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle, growing to become the biggest anime movie of all time. Before the movie hit theaters, Japan celebrated the shonen franchise’s success with a special seven-night broadcast that got fans back up to speed. Airing the anime adaptation in its entirety from the Mugen Train Arc, Fuji TV followed Tanjiro through Rengoku’s demise, the Entertainment District Arc, the Swordsmith Village Arc, and the Hashira Training Arc. While the next cinematic entry for the shonen franchise has yet to be confirmed, there’s a strong possibility that the future entries could overtake Infinity Castle.
2.) Black Clover Finally Sets a Date For Its Big Spring Return
Black Clover taking a break was no big surprise for those who have followed the manga game for some time, as many creators need time away to recharge their batteries and/or deal with more real-world issues. In April of this year, it was confirmed that the series would return to Weekly Shonen Jump with new chapters on May 2nd, once again getting the ball rolling on the final saga. While the manga hasn’t released its final chapter as of yet, it has given readers some of the biggest moments of the shonen series to date in 2025. With the manga most likely ending in 2026 and the anime returning, Asta’s set to have a big future. And the number one entry for the biggest anime story of the year is…
1.) The Beginning After The End Fans Start Petition to Cancel Controversial Anime
The Beginning After The End aired its anime adaptation in April of this year, and many fans weren’t exactly thrilled with what they received. Many viewers felt that the animation from Studio A-Cat was unable to hit the same heights as the source material, with over ten thousand fans signing a petition to share their frustration. The demands from fans of the source material want the latest anime adaptation to be canceled, and a new remake immediately begun. The petition, for those who haven’t checked it out, reads as such, ““As an ardent fan of the TBATE (The Beginning After The End) light novel and comic series, I am utterly disappointed and disheartened by the poor quality of the recent anime adaptation. The current representation of this beloved series is not only terrible but downright disrespectful to the original material and its fanbase. It is a degradation of the epic power fantasy that originals portray and a smear on the reputation of peerless fiction.”
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of HBO Max
