The Screen Awards reveal the five nominees for Best Anime Series of 2025, including Solo Leveling, Gachiakuta, and more.
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Renan Fontes
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Christy Gibbs
Published 2 hours ago
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2025 has been a memorable year for anime, prompting ScreenRant, CBR, Collider, and MovieWeb to officially team up to find the best anime series of 2025 in Valnet's very own inaugural Screen Awards. This year marked major milestones for long-running franchises like Dragon Ball DAIMA which wrapped up Akira Toriyama’s final contribution towards his legendary franchise, Solo Leveling which became one of the biggest anime in the world with a hyped-up Season 2, and My Hero Academia finally concluded a legendary run nearly 10 years in the making.
At the same time, 2025 also featured the premieres of several new anime that quickly made their mark and will be sure to go down in history as some of the medium’s absolute best (pending they don’t fumble with any follow-up seasons or sequels). Gachiakuta has made a name for itself as one of the greatest Shonen series of the year, The Summer Hikaru Died wowed fans with its existential horror, and City the Animation’s brought the slice-of-life genre back into the fold in exceptional fashion.
Here's a closer look at the five nominees for Best Anime TV Series of 2025 as voted on by a jury of experts and critics.
City the Animation
Of all the entries to be nominated this year for the best anime series, City the Animation might be called the black sheep of the family. An absurdist slice-of-life comedy (and best anime comedy of the year) revolving around the inhabitants of a fictional city, it’s created in the same vein as something like 2009’s Nichijou (also by anime studio Kyoto Animation), with perhaps hints here and there of other surrealist comedy-parodies such as Daily Lives of High School Boys or My Deer Friend Nokotan.
While ultimately a more emotionally satisfying experience than all of these, City the Animation largely went under the radar for mainstream anime fans, at least in North America – with Crunchyroll, Netflix and Hulu continuing to dominate anime streaming, the Prime Video-exclusive City may never have stood the same chance at fame as some of the heavier hitters. Nonetheless, the sheer craft of the good folk at Kyoto Animation speaks for itself, making this 13-episode gem well worth the investment for those willing to branch out in the Summer 2025 season.
Gachiakuta
One of the freshest takes on Shonen anime in years, Gachiakuta feels destined to go down as one of Studio Bones’ greatest series, which is saying something considering their already stellar track record. Stylish, weird, and narratively gripping, Gachiakuta manages to balance everything that makes a shonen anime shine with some surprisingly poignant commentary on societal injustice and class inequality.
Gachiakuta’s world building, character development, and action take center stage, but there’s something deeper to protagonist Rudo’s quest for revenge and to reshape his “trashy” world. Covering roughly the first half of the manga, Studio Bones’ Gachiakuta rises above its station as a wonderful adaptation and one of the best series to debut in 2025.
Solo Leveling Season 2
The series that barely needs an introduction at this point, Solo Leveling season 2 was the dark fantasy anime to watch, whether that was out of true enthusiasm or merely getting swept along in the fevered hype. The adventures of Sung Jinwoo continued as he battled countless dungeon monster bosses, unwittingly swept young maidens off their feet, and otherwise made a name for himself while searching for a cure for his comatose mother.
Clearly knowing its audience, A-1 Pictures upped the ante this season, delivering even better visuals and tense action sequences that kicked into overdrive across the show’s final episodes. Although plenty of criticism has been aimed at Solo Leveling for its relative lack of character depth — a result of ensuring Jinwoo gets the lion’s share of screen time, while more minor characters seemingly spend most of their own time fixated on him — that doesn’t make the series any less of an exciting watch. Love it or hate it, Solo Leveling’s influence in the anime space has become an undeniable force to be reckoned with, and this will likely remain the case for years to come.
The Apothecary Diaries Season 2
While most of the biggest names in mainstream anime are best known for fitting more neatly into standard genre boxes - isekai, mecha, battle action, romantic comedy, dark fantasy, and so on - one of The Apothecary Diaries’ selling points is that it deftly weaves together political mystery, slice-of-life period drama and romance, forming a compelling and cohesive whole rather than a scattered tone or narrative (or, worse, an anime that throws away good storytelling in favor of audience pandering or tropey fan-service).
Continuing to follow the story of Maomao, a young yet highly observant apothecary who has been kidnapped and sold into servitude in the palace of a pseudo-Imperial China, The Apothecary Diaries may occasionally be difficult to follow if you’re not paying close attention to all the socio-political names and relationships. However, it more than makes up for this through the considerable appeal of not just Maomao but also its impressive ensemble cast, allowing the anime both complexity and the kind of widespread charm that truly only comes about once in a blue moon.
The Summer Hikaru Died
If there’s any genre that anime seems to consistently struggle with in terms of making an emotional and long-lasting impact, it’s horror. The Summer Hikaru Died finally broke that trend with its slow build-up of lingering existential dread, psychological terror, and often entirely unspoken romance that was far from subtle, yet still felt simultaneously (heartbreakingly) genuine and chilling.
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