Inside Anime's Record 2025 — The Playbook for a Decade of Dominance
Anime dominated 2025, from global breakouts to record streams and box office heat. The chase is on: can 2026 raise the stakes and top a banner year?
However you slice it, 2025 belonged to anime. Close to a billion at the box office, multiple breakout TV hits, and a year where the mainstream finally stopped treating the medium like a niche. If you felt a shift, you weren’t imagining it. Anime isn’t just in the conversation with comic-book and video-game adaptations anymore — it’s pulling up a chair and ordering lunch.
January told on the whole year
The first hint came fast: South Korea’s Solo Leveling exploded out of nowhere (at least outside its home turf) and started rewriting platform history. On Crunchyroll alone, it became the most-liked, most-reviewed, and most-watched series — a clean sweep for a show that basically pitches itself as 'what if the weakest guy in the room just kept leveling up until he wasn’t.' Simple hook, massive payoff. And it set the tone: 2025 viewers showed up, engaged, and stuck around.
Streamers finally got the memo
Across the first half of the year, anime didn’t just show up on homepages — it parked in streamers’ top 10s and dominated timelines. Netflix leaned into supernatural comedy with Dan Da Dan. Amazon went big and metallic with a new Gundam entry. Adult Swim brought the sci-fi heat with Lazarus. Different vibes, same outcome: there’s an audience for all of it, and producers looked more willing than ever to bet big instead of treating anime like a side quest.
The heavyweights kept swinging
Even with Attack on Titan in the rearview, the familiar titans did not blink. Demon Slayer, Chainsaw Man, and My Hero Academia all delivered, with MHA bowing out in December without the kind of finale blowback that usually swallows social media for weeks. When your long-runners stick the landing, the whole ecosystem looks healthier.
The box office breakthrough
Then theaters happened. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle wasn’t just a win — it was a detonation. It became the top-grossing anime movie ever, sliding past 2020’s Demon Slayer: Mugen Train and outpacing capes and spandex along the way, including Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps. Five years ago, calling that would have sounded like a bit. Now it’s just the scoreboard.
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc didn’t trip over its tongue-tying title either. It played as a canonical continuation of the series, let newcomers get a taste of the darker, more adult side of the medium, and centered a genuine love story. Its $175 million worldwide haul looked modest next to Infinity Castle’s mega-take, but the signal was loud: audiences will show up for these universe-expanding theatrical chapters. Don’t be surprised when more TV juggernauts try a movie detour between seasons. At minimum, expect more compilation films — streamlined recaps with a tease of what’s next — because those proved to be easy wins with minimal spend.
Anime-adjacent and proud
KPop Demon Hunters isn’t anime by strict definition, but its anime DNA didn’t hurt. It landed with younger crowds who are clearly more open to wild, stylized, East-leaning animation than old industry wisdom used to assume. That broader comfort level is a big part of why 2025 popped.
The mess we could leave behind
Not everything was a triumph. Prime Video’s Banana Fish briefly wore an AI-generated English dub that sounded exactly like what you’d fear from an AI-generated English dub. It went over terribly, for obvious reasons. Meanwhile, the chatter around One-Punch Man’s animation quality reminded everyone that you can’t budget-cut and crunch your way to great work, not sustainably. If the industry wants 2025’s momentum to last, the fix is boring but necessary: time, money, and care.
2026: the follow-through
The next 12 months look loaded. There’s probably going to be more live-action adaptation activity than some fans want, but the anime slate itself is stacked and, crucially, being paced smarter in a few corners.
- Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End season 2 are set to spark early-year heat
- One Piece is taking a slower, more measured release approach
- A new JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series is on deck
- Oshi no Ko returns
- Sekiro makes the jump to TV
- Ghost in the Shell stages a comeback
Put it all together and 2025 didn’t just win — it sketched out a playbook. Broad genres, confident theatrical swings, smart crossovers, and fewer corners cut. If the industry sticks to that, next year won’t just keep pace. It could be the start of a long run.