Recently Bleach and Ken Tensei announced their new seasons will begin in 2026. Ludicrously, Ken Tensei S2 is slated for the fall of 2026, so basically 2027. This is in addition to Sousou no Frieren, Oshi no Ko and Honzuki already being scheduled for 2026. The next Love Live! Nijigasaki movie airs in Japan in late 2025, so for us that means 2026. Fate/Strange Fake still doesn't have a set air date, which implies most or all of it will air in 2026.
Basically we're screwed. Aside from Spy x Family S3 and Boku no Hero Academia Final Season, nothing new is going to air until next year. Even in Academy's case the Vigilante spinoff is scheduled to resume in 2026. It's laughable.
2025 is shaping up to host 15 great anime franchises over the full year. The last time the number was that low was 2005, so 20 years ago. And just look at 2005's lineup vs. 2025's:
1. Nanoha A's
2. Bleach - Introduction arc ending + Soul Society Infiltration arc
3. Major S1 ending + S2
4. Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid
5. Basilisk
6. Air tv + ovas
7. Shakugan no Shana S1 1st half
8. Da Capo Second Season
9. One Piece - Foxy Pirates arc ending + Water 7 arc beginning
10. Futari wa Precure ending + Max Heart
11. Seikai no Senki III
12. Guyver tv 1st half
13. To Heart 2
14. Samurai Champloo ending
15. Tales of Phantasia ovas
There's no comparison. Nanoha A's, Bleach's Soul Society Infiltration arc, Major S1 and S2, Full Metal Panic, Da Capo S.S., One Piece's Water 7 arc? Are you kidding me?
Most of 2025's new content is puny -- a singular episode of Fairy Tail, an oav of a spinoff of Yuru Yuri, a spinoff of Uma Musume by a different author, a spinoff of Grisaia, a bad cg singular oav of the worst season of Idolm@ster, a lone Love Live! movie, a handful of DanMachi eps finishing off its previous season, a handful of new One Pace Egghead eps, which isn't even a good arc. It's absolutely miserable.
The 15 series of 2025 aren't worth 5 series from 2005. Honestly this is the worst year in anime since the 1990's. It's like some shitty anime leap year. There's plenty of good content in 2024 and 2026, but nothing in 2025.
Thank goodness for Heaven Burns Red and Yuzusoft visual novels, they've redeemed what otherwise would have been a completely blank year. (No World Cup, no Olympics, no anime, no elections, 2025 is completely empty.) Now we're being told the Prince of Tennis manga is slated to end in 2026. Even the new Pac-12 college football league doesn't start playing until 2026.
Meanwhile, Dead Rock literally disintegrated Yakuto's head in the latest chapter, meaning the manga no longer has its protagonist. I would assume it's some sort of lame fakeout and actually Yakuto is fine somehow, but Frey is treating it like he's really dead and if there were some scheme to pretend he was dead she would have been in on it. So I see no way out of this -- Yakuto is dead. The manga henceforth will be about Frey, which I guess is okay, albeit totally bonkers. But without Frey's love interest how interesting is Frey? It was their budding romance that made the story work. This plot twist has me totally bummed out. If Yakuto somehow survives even with his head blown to smithereens I'll despise the series for a completely different reason. There's no way out of this authorial cul de sac.
Akatsuki no Yona has separated Yona and Hak, making the series impossible to end for another long while. It just keeps dragging the story on and on well past its natural life cycle. We can only hope it, too, will end in 2026.
At least Vinland Saga's manga is supposed to end this month. But without an anime adaption the ending isn't truly satisfactory. Everyone loved the Vinland Saga anime, so why didn't it get a season 3?
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