Ones to Watch: Q1 2025

Alright, so peak summer is still underway for those of us in God’s Chosen Hemisphere, and the first batch of seasonals for the year have had a few weeks to make their case for everyone’s attention. Except the problem with that is there are entirely too many seasonals airing at any given time to parse through and settle on the handful of shows that anyone will even still remember by the end of the year. This post is my attempt at helping you out if you wanna pick up something current but weren’t able to hop on to the seasonal trend in time to know which shows to avoid and which ones would be a must-watch.Obligatory disclaimer that this post does contain plot spoilers for the shows discussed, and that I’m not going to be talking about shows like Orb, Daima, or Blue Box that are carrying on from last season (but are still worth watching !),,,,, or sequels for that matter, because if you (like me) couldn’t sit through the first season of Unnamed Memory last year there’s no reason that’d change for season two.

First up on the list, the easiest pick for anime of the season and The show from this season I will be returning to when thinking about anime of the year contenders: Medalist. This one initially only made its way to my list because Kana Ichinose is involved as the voice behind Hikaru, but I ended up completely won over by the end of just the first episode – which didn’t even involve that character! This is, at least so far, the story of two characters driven by an unreachable dream, a scenario where passion overrides reason and drives them both forward when their own doubts and all signs suggest that it’s too late for either of them to make anything of their lives – at least insofar as ice skating goes. Inori Yuitsuka and her elderly (i.e. +25 year old) coach Tsukasa both get their start in the rink later on in life than their peers, and have to go through the struggle of convincing themselves that their passion and their effort will amount to something despite how far behind they obviously are.

What made this stand out right away for me was how strongly and quickly it gets across the idea that you should never give up on yourself, the idea that you have something meaningful to contribute no matter how far short you think you’ve fallen of the vision you once had for yourself. For Tsukasa, his immediate belief in his student and commitment to supporting her dream and her potential without crossing the line into imposing his own dream on her is the kind of guidance and care that I think a lot of fellow senior citizens might’ve wished we received, but that Medalist goes out of its way to show you can still offer if your heart is in the right place. I don’t know if I’m just not looking for it but it feels like there aren’t a lot of shows that have such a compelling and constructive dynamic between characters in this sort of setup, without sacrificing the believability of either of them. My focus on Tsukasa shouldn’t be read as a poor reflection on Inori’s strength as a character though ! It is a genuine highlight of my week to see her progressively strengthen in resolve, clarity and skill as she gets started on her journey to becoming: a medalist. I could and would go on (I haven’t even said a Word about the character who’s the reason I started this! And who I already feel a resonance with)  but I really strongly feel like this is a story you owe it to yourself to experience first-hand and you Can ! only 4 episodes have aired as of my writing this post.

The second anime up on the block is,,,,, The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World. Now look, I know the title is a dead giveaway that this is yet another isekai, and I probably have a(n earned) reputation as an isekai enthusiast, and I have written about the genre in general before. But that’s actually not what I’m watching this show for, or what I’m recommending it for! This show takes the most stereotypical, over-the-top sentai character and tosses him into a relatively typical generic fantasy world, and all the fun that I have with this show is a direct product of him being his entirely unrealistic, unfailingly optimistic, and sometimes poorly composited self. Everything from the design of his costume to the literal megazord transformation and the random explosions just screams prime power rangers, and that would probably be enough to enjoy this off of nostalgia alone. However: something I really appreciate and what I tune in for weekly has more to do with what the show is trying to impart, behind the goofy, flashy exterior which is nonetheless fun. Maybe I’m just a little too corny at this point in my life, but having an anime character constantly trying to emphasise and point out all the kinds of bonds people can have, and the Ways we bond which we might take for granted, just does something for me. Like yeah, you know what? We really should be valuing the time we’ve spent with people more, and the conversations we’ve had. You don’t need an overhead affinity-meter to know someone’s not a stranger anymore and you shouldn’t be shy about showing people that you care about them. Make Sincerity Cool Again in 2025, idk.

Third anime getting a shoutout will have to be Zenshu. I promise the fourth one won’t be an isekai too,,, but this is the story of an animator getting reincarnated (really more like “teleported and resurrected”) into the world of her favourite anime, and in the process reconnecting with her creative spark and love of the craft after years of having to approach her art as a matter of Work rather than Passion. I think joking about whether this might be a cry for help seeing as it’s an original work produced at Mappa,,,,, might be a bit in poor taste, but it is certainly relevant not just in the anime industry but at a societal level. Snake oil salesm- uh, I mean AI companies,,, Continue to chip away at creative spaces and art in general, reducing everything to a series of inputs and outputs without a second thought about the entirely human experiences and impulses that give birth to all forms of art, and how that forms the root of what makes so many connect with it. That’s not the focus of this anime, but my mind can’t help but go there when another iteration of corporate shortsightedness led indirectly to our protagonist Natsuko Hirose’s untimely death. So there’s an extent to which her getting isekai’d is an instance of escapist fantasy, getting away from the hell of being ground to dust trying to@create something, anything that’ll satisfy audiences as well as her corporate overlords, but I feel like it has more to say than that, it’s about more than that.

I can look at Natsuko bringing the God Warrior from Nausicaa to rewrite the world of a story that was her favourite escape and enjoy it at that level as both a matter of spectacle and appreciation for anime at large, which is great, but beneath that is a story I’m genuinely appreciative of at this moment in my life. The world she gets thrown into is that of “A Tale of Perishing” and as the title suggests it is every bit as bleak for its cast of heroes as her life was back in Japan (okay, so maybe More bleak), and they all find themselves confronted with the question: how do you move forward in a hopeless situation? How much you connect with the answer is up to how much you connect with Natsuko, Luke, “Mem Meln” and everyone else in the cast, the show doesn’t Always stick the landing,,, but it’s clear that rather than pure escapism, this is the sort of story that’s gonna drive you to look outwards, rather than retreating into despair, and sometimes that’s all you need.

The final anime I will talk about here because I am getting tired of typing is Not Flower and Asura, which I actually wish I liked a lot more than I do, but Honey Lemon Soda instead :p. Now, this anime is going to be an automatic no for some people, not just because it’s a romance, but because it’s a distinct brand of femcel romance that is just always going to be at least a little grating to deal with. You’ve seen the story a hundred times, a socially awkward girl gets bullied and sidelined by her peers and she’s too scared to do anything until eventually her prince charming shows up and overlooks his many suitors to instead place the glass slipper on Her foot, where it belongs (I guess I’m calling cinderella a femcel here, but the outline is pretty much the same tbf). What makes it worthwhile to me is that the protagonist (Uka) actually feels believable, she’s not just all “woe is me” and fainting into the male lead’s arms (I guess she might as well at some points,,,), I just find myself consistently resonating with her experiences, her thought processes and her continued struggle with self-doubt when trying to learn to assert herself more. It helps that she’s voiced by Kana Ichinose (are you noticing something here?) who’s the best voice actor to sell me on an emotionally and socially stunted character, lacking any frame of reference for a Normal childhood but who does her best to be a good person anyway. I lowkey don’t think there’s a better (non-sequel) romance anime airing right now that’s not just Blue Box from last season. I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons is a horror story, Anyway, I’m Falling in Love with You is potentially frustrating for other reasons and Fruits Basket did it better anyway. If Flower and Asura lives up to its yuri potential then I guess I’ll have to circle back to this, but that’s really it as far as competition goes. Y’know what I didn’t realise how dire the romance situation is this season until I typed this,,,, wow. I mean by this time last year, if I remember correctly, we had both Cherry Magic and 7th timeloop and now we have,,,,, this, which isn’t Bad, but that I enjoy much more for Uka individually and her arc at large than I actually enjoy the literal romance between her and the male lead whose name I don’t even remember.

Anyway, there ya have it, four anime that are Hopefully worth your time if your tastes happen to align with mine. This season is actually relatively unremarkable when you look past all the sequels and stuff, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing at all that’s worthwhile if you’re receptive enough.