My 2025 Anime New Year’s Resolutions didn’t quite work out according to plan. Some of this was on me in terms of scheduling – I could probably have slipped Golden Boy in pretty much anywhere (and I’m writing this in 2025, so I still might slip it in). Others less so, as for example, I’d put the first season of Mushi-shi on my list, only for the license to have expired by the time October came around, or for A Silent Voice only to be available on HBO Max. So, I’ve learned my lesson and will be dialing back my resolutions this year to 6, which I’ll try to do across podcasting and personal viewing.
Monster (In Progress)
I’m already watching this show – I’m going to finish it. Even if the rights expire for streaming on Netflix, a physical release is forthcoming from Discotek. I’m going to watch this show in its entirety. I’m also not counting this among the 6, because I’m going to make my way through this with everything else.
Yona of the Dawn
I’m picking this up from the 2025 list, as I think this is going to be a good March Pick for the podcast, as it’s got some shojo romance elements to it, without being a more conventional romance series.
Demon Slayer
Look, of the big Shonen Jump properties, this is the one that I’m in the best position to jump in on, in terms of the quantity of work to watch – One Piece is a “I got diagnosed with cancer and am going through chemo and need something to watch while I’m going through the process” level commitment at this point. I’ve got plenty of other long runners to work through instead. Demon Slayer is more manageable.
Vision of Escaflowne
For the shows I’m not carrying over, I’m taking the tack of either “These are things I have on my shelf in case the rights expire”, or “These are things that I think are significant enough that I’ll use Other Means if they’re not streaming. Escaflowne is in the first of those categories, and is beloved enough that if it wasn’t, it would be in the second.
Gunsmith Cats
This also falls into both categories for me. I backed this on Kickstarter, and I’ve been a fan of the manga since middle school – my taste in the kind of fast cars I’ve enjoyed driving in video games and wanted to own when I was younger were informed by this series – I still have a soft spot in my heart for the Shelby Cobra Mustang GT. I’ll get to that this year as well.
Queen Millennia
There are four anime that define a particular era of Leiji Matsumoto’s work. Star Blazers (which I’ve discussed through the remake), Space Pirate Captain Harlock (1978), which I’ve already reviewed, Galaxy Express 999 (which is stupid long, and I’d like to knock another stupid long show out before I revisit this) and Queen Millennia. At long last, this show has finally been licensed by Sentai Filmworks, so there’s a legit way to watch it, and it’s about 36 episodes long – longer than your modern 2-cour series, but at a shorter pace than Galaxy Express, which I’d want to pace myself on anyway.
Mikagura School Suite
Not going to lie here – this was selected at random from my Anilist Watchlist – but sometimes it’s worth it to grab something that isn’t my normal stuff. That’s how I ended up watching Blast of Tempest, and I loved that.
This is a shorter and more reasonable number of anime from last year, but hopefully I’ll be able to get through all of them.
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