Japan Has Revealed Its Top Anime for 2025, and Solo Leveling Doesn’t Even Make the Top 50

Solo Leveling Season 2’s release this year is undeniably one of the most popular anime launches of 2025 around the globe, but fans in Japan have a different opinion. The global phenomenon failed to gain traction in Japan last year as well, when the anime first debuted, despite drawing viewers from across the world. Japanese fans have continued to keep their distance from the series even as its popularity rises elsewhere. With a stronger and more polished second season, Solo Leveling Season 2 was expected to change Japanese viewers’ opinions, but once again, fans in Japan have made it clear that the anime is not as popular there as it is in other regions.

The latest information comes from the Tokyo Anime Award Festival’s Top 100 list, where participants in Japan were asked to vote for their favorite anime released from October 2024 to October 2025. Voting was open from November 1 to November 30, 2025, and the results have unfortunately placed the acclaimed Solo Leveling Season 2 at rank 61, failing to even break into the top 50. This outcome is very different from what fans in Western regions would have expected, as Japanese voters crowned Dr. Stone: Science Future as Japan’s top anime of 2025.

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Dr. Stone: Science Future winning the top anime at this acclaimed fan celebration may seem like an odd choice at first, but it becomes more understandable when considering that similar sci-fi anime, such as Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX and Milky Subway: The Galactic Limited Express, also ranked high. This highlights that the sci-fi adventure genre was the top pick in Japan this year. Meanwhile, long-running staples like Nintama Rantaro and Mr. Osomatsu also performed well, showing that Japanese fans have a distinctly different taste in anime compared to Western audiences. However, that does not mean Solo Leveling’s future in Japan is lost.

The fact that Solo Leveling Season 2 even made it onto the list, when its debut season did not earn that privilege, indicates that the anime is gradually becoming more appealing to Japanese viewers as new seasons are released. There are many possible reasons why the series still isn’t resonating with Japanese audiences the way it does elsewhere, with the controversial portrayal of Japanese characters as villains often being part of the debate. However, it is still difficult to pinpoint why the anime’s popularity in Japan lags behind other regions. Regardless, Solo Leveling is steadily rising in recognition. Even though it failed to rank within the top 50 of the Tokyo Anime Award Festival’s Top 100 list, it is slowly climbing the ladder, and perhaps with the next season, yet to be announced, it may gain even more attention from Japanese fans.

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