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My friends, I have a confession to make. I am weak and predictable. Earlier this year I stood before you saying that I would be limiting the amount of anime I watch each season. And now, I am here, in June, less than half a year later, telling you that I am going back on that vow because the Summer 2025 anime season is basically loaded with shows designed specifically with me in mind. Crunchyroll and Netflix are coming for me and my rapidly dwindling free time and I can’t/won’t stop them.

Let’s talk action, folks. This season is giving us new episodes of some heavy hitters of the past year. Kaiju No. 8 is back for its second season, providing a gore-filled superhero anime that we all need. Then Sakamoto Days Part 2, which picks up at one of the better parts of the manga, comes for my love of overpowered dudes punching bad guys to protect their families. And then we’ve got Dan Da Dan season two, which opens up with the Evil Eye arc.

I’m up-to-date with the Dan Da Dan manga and I have to tell you that this arc is easily the best the show is ever going to be. There is action. There is drama. There is a shockingly ripped young man in his underwear threatening to kill all humans. It is also one of the parts where the romance aspect of Dan Da Dan shines through most clearly. The series goes off the rails a bit in later arcs but this bit? This bit is the good stuff. Even if watching anime wasn’t part of my job because I made excellent life choices, I’d be glued to this season of Dan Da Dan when it comes to Crunchyroll and Netflix (provided they can play nice together).

Speaking of romance, My Dress-Up Darling is (finally) back for the second season of the anime. After the controversial ending of the manga and the long gap between seasons, you’d think I wouldn’t be excited about it, but nothing has ever really managed to scratch the same itch as Marin and Gojo’s awkward progression toward romance. I know I shouldn’t, but I’m a sucker for them.

Okay, so that’s four shows that I need to watch. But wait – there’s more. After more than a decade away and leaving a big, weird hole in my life, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is back for the long-long-long-awaited season two. There is no manga to go off of here; it is all original stuff that is going to surprise us in weird, wonderful, and probably messy ways. This was one of those shows that got me excited even when I had fallen out of anime as a whole. I owe it to Trigger and these two debaucherous angels to watch their second outing.

And that’s just the shows that are returning. Sometimes after a long hiatus but still. That isn’t including new shows like Leviathan, which is one of the strangest anime I’ve come across. Not in its subject matter but in its source. It is an anime made by the Japanese studio that made Trigun Stampede and Beastars based on an American young adult novel and directed by a Frenchman. The book was praised for its Ghibli vibes, which I assume means it has wholesome slice-of-life moments mixed with harrowing depictions of trauma. All the stuff I am here for.

Finally, The Summer Hikaru Died is finally getting its anime treatment this summer and the trailer for it looks like it is injecting some much-needed cosmic horror into the Boy Love genre. How exactly am I supposed to say no to that?

So that’s a lot, but it still isn’t the end of my troubles because there are still movies coming out that require my attention. KPop Demon Hunters, which isn’t really an anime but certainly feels like it, is out on Netflix in June. Then we have the first movie in the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle Arc coming out in July in Japan, with an overseas release happening in September. Finally, just before the Summer 2025 anime season ends, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc will be out in September, with an October release date coming for the US.

Okay, still with me? Because that is just the stuff I know I’m going to watch this season. Other anime could catch my eye and demand my attention. Sports anime about bowling? Sounds intriguing. We got more Rent-A-Girlfriend coming; it isn’t like I don’t love terrible romantic comedies. It has been a long time since I’ve seen an anime season so laser-targeted on destroying any semblance of free time I might have had. So forgive me as I relapse into trying to fit way too much anime around work, family, and other hobbies I’m meant to find time for.

Basically, I’ll see you all in the fall – hopefully.

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