Fall 2025 Anime Season Roundup

Written by Rei Caldombra 12/13/25 Video: TBD

Four of the five anime I watched in Fall 2025: Tojima Tanzaburo Wants to Be a Kamen Rider, UmaMusume Cinderella Gray, This Monster Wants to Eat Me, and My Hero Academia Final Season

Hello everyone, Rei Caldombra here. We have come to the end of new anime for 2025! I’ll be giving my thoughts on the anime I watched in Fall and what I plan to watch in Winter of 2026. There will be no spoilers for any of these shows.

Fall 2025

My Hero Academia / Boku no Hero Academia Final Season

The day has come. I’m really glad I stuck with My Hero Academia over the last 10 years. This season brings MHA back to its peak levels, wrapping up this story at its best. When it comes to shounen it’s definitely on the upper end for me. I think MHA had various peaks and valleys, but for me the bottom was not as bad as it seems like other people thought. I don’t think any seasons truly sucked, but seasons 4 and 5 are the weakest to me due to pacing and lacking focus. You have to give MHA credit though as in my opinion, if you can only peak in 2 out of the 3 parts of the story, the beginning and the end are the best places to be at your best. My favorite aspect of MHA has always been the very strong themes such as optimism, acceptance, extending a helping hand, etc, which it stuck with from beginning to end. I feel there is a lot of maturity involved with how many parts of the story are wrapped up. It walked the tightrope of keeping its positive messages without going too far into the immersion breaking territory of blind optimism or “the power of love cures all” sort of stuff. The changes and additions to the finale are a big improvement over the manga. I have zero problems with the details of the ending for the anime, I think it is fitting and satisfying. I could see myself writing about MHA in the future, going more in depth on the themes of the show that I really like.  

Tojima Tanzaburo Wants to Be a Kamen Rider / Toujima Tanzaburou wa Kamen Rider ni Naritai

This show is pure, unbridled, ridiculous fun. Every episode left me smiling and feeling giddy from the excitement and passion these characters show towards Kamen Rider. I think this show can connect with anyone who is passionate about fictional media and has characters they have been inspired by. Even if you aren’t a Kamen Rider, there is plenty to enjoy here if you can empathize with characters geeking out over being able to live out their dream of fighting the enemies of the fictional characters they’ve spent most of their lives fixated on. The voice acting, soundtrack and style are all really great. I will be doing a full review of the anime soon so please keep an eye out for that!

This Monster Wants to Eat Me / Watashi wo Tabetai, Hitodenashi

This show is a great slow, moody character drama mixed with girls love and yokai. I really connected with these characters and the emotional journey being told here. If you really liked The Summer Hikaru Died, consider checking this one out too as there is a fair amount of overlap when it comes to subject matter. I will be doing a full review of this one too!

UmaMusume Cinderella Gray Part 2

Part 2 of Cinderella Gray was more action packed UmaMusume content. The art and animation of the show is absolutely stellar. I still love many of these characters who are focused on, particularly Oguri Cap, Super Creek and Tamamo Cross. The content of this season is great, though I still think the show peaked for me when they were in Kasamatsu. And out of all the seasons of Uma Musume anime, season 2 of Pretty Derby still hasn’t been beat for me due to how it has a bit more focus on character development while Cinderella Grey puts more focus on the hype moments and aura of the races. Don’t take that as an insult though, as I still like Cinderella Gray a lot despite it being a traditional sports anime through and through. I’ve never really cared much for sports anime outside of a few exceptions like March Comes in Like a Lion and UmaMusume. I’ll excitedly be waiting for season 2 and will continue saving my carats for Tamamo Cross’s release on global in the meantime.

Isekai Quartet Season 3

Isekai Quartet is pretty much more of the same simple isekai crossover fun; except we got an actual plotline for the season through the addition of the Eminence in Shadow cast. Isekai Quartet falls into the category of just being modestly enjoyable, but still a fun comfy watch. This was never something especially exciting or laugh out loud hilarious, but I’m still sad to see it end. I must admit that as an advertisement, it has made me want to check out some of the seasons I didn’t watch just a little bit more. Isekai Quartet made me feel the Dragon Ball Z Abridged line of “Never in my life have I needed something so much and never known until I received it”. I really hope Isekai Quartet’s success (at least enough for it to get 3 seasons) will inspire more genre or categorical crossover shows. Give me the shoujo version, shounen version, etc. of Isekai Quartet. They can be just like this one, just a simple chill comedy with cheaper production value. Have fun with the characters, give some service to the fans, and encourage people to check out more series of that category. I think it’s a win for diehard fans, people who have only dabbled in it and want to explore more, and for the creators behind these series. Thank you for making me realize we should have more of this kind of official content Isekai Quartet.

Now to wrap things up. The best show of the season is definitely the final season of MHA. I cannot deny its extremely high-quality on all fronts, ending a long running series in stellar fashion. My favorite new show is Tojima Tanzaburo, for the previously mentioned reasons of it being an absolute delight. He is my favorite main character of the season; I loved seeing the zest of life for this jacked middle-aged geek be reawakened. I wouldn’t say I have a waifu type character for the season, nor a character who I want to be my child. The latter has plenty in UmaMusume but they’re not in Cinderella Gray. My favorite opening also belongs to Tojima for being extremely hype, while the best ending goes to This Monster Wants to Eat Me for being beautiful while fitting into the story as well. This was a solid season where I liked everything I watched and had no disappointments.

Also wanted to mention it since I brought it up in the Fall Roundup, I did not end up watching One Punch Man or Spy X Family season 3. With the season now over, I can definitely say that I don’t feel like I am missing out on them. I don’t think they suck or anything to be clear, but I’m considering them officially dropped out of lack of interest.

Now onto some shows that I am interested in watching in the upcoming season.

Winter 2026

Like I started doing in the last roundup, I’ve put official YouTube trailers / PVs for the new shows below. Now I’ll also be including MyAnimeList links, for both your convenience so you don’t have to go searching and mine, so I don’t have to bother making my own summaries anymore (lol).

I’ll start with the magical elephant in the room; I am extremely excited for more Frieren. I don’t think you need a trailer and summary for it. I believe it deserves the hype and popularity it has. Frieren has been an incredibly engaging show that was very refreshing for Japanese fantasy (especially paired with Dungeon Meshi) that to me also offers the all-encompassing viewing experience. As in it has good comedy, drama, action, light romance, slice of life, comfy vibes, etc. It gives you the whole spectrum, which for me tends to be what puts an anime or manga towards the very top of my favorites. There are a lot of sequels this season, but this is the only one I am watching. I will eventually get to MHA Illegals, but I am saving that for later.

Now onto the new shows! For all of these I am going in blind outside of the summaries and promotional material.

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk / Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki TVアニメ『うるわしの宵の月』ティザーPV│2026年1月からTBS系全国28局ネットにて放送開始 / Uruwashi no Yoi no Tsuki (In the Clear Moonlit Dusk) - MyAnimeList.net

My appreciation for shoujo romance got reawakened in recent years through shows like A Sign of Affection, so I’ve got another one lined up for next season. I like the female prince archetype, so I am interested in seeing where this one goes.

The Invisible Man and His Soon-to-Be Wife | Official Teaser | Crunchyroll / Toumei Otoko to Ningen Onna: Sonouchi Fuufu ni Naru Futari - MyAnimeList.net

Now for an adult romance that also looks like it could give me my comfy wholesome fix for the season too. I’m intrigued by the premise. I recently made a romance tag btw, it is not on this one because it’s a roundup but feel free to check that out for my fellow romance fans.

TVアニメ『違国日記』PV第2弾 / Ikoku Nikki (Journal with Witch) - MyAnimeList.net

This sounds to me like it could be a compelling slice of life drama with a focus on coping through writing. As someone who now writes as a hobby and believes it has had an overall positive impact on me mentally, I want to dive into shows that focus on the writing experience more.

THE DARWIN INCIDENT - Official Teaser Trailer / Darwin Jihen (The Darwin Incident) - MyAnimeList.net

For our second drama, we have what I think sounds like an interesting sci-fi show about biology and sociology.

Tamon's B-Side | Official Trailer | Crunchyroll / Tamon-kun Ima Docchi!? (Tamon's B-Side) - MyAnimeList.net

Ending off on another shoujo in the comedy and romance vein. I’ve been enjoying a lot of media that gets into stuff like the idol experience and fan culture. This one looking to give the male idol and female fan experience while focusing on wearing the idol personality mask. Some recent examples of ones I’ve watched and enjoyed are VTuber Legend: How I Went Viral after Forgetting to Turn Off My Stream and Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night. This looks like it could be cute and funny, so I’ll give it a try.

If you want to hear more about my thoughts on this year’s anime as a whole, please stick around for my year in review. And if you want to hear more about Tojima Tanzaburo Wants to Be a Kamen Rider or This Monster Wants to Eat Me, please check out those reviews which are coming soon. Thanks for reading!

My Patreon if you would like to support me and the website: patreon.com/ReiCaldombra As a free member you can get notified about new uploads on Blog Under a Log and my YouTube channel. You can also become a paid member to financially support me, but any support is greatly appreciated! If you’d like to follow me on any socials, you can find them on the About page.

Rei Caldombra

Lizard Vtuber whose the main writer and owner of Blog Under a Log! See the About section for more info about me.

https://www.blogunderalog.com/
Next
Next

Economic Analysis on Gacha Game Pricing - Part 4 - Simulating Consumer Spending