Japan’s 2025 Anime Champion Leaves My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer and Solo Leveling in the Dust
Global hype meets a Japanese reality check: despite dominating abroad, Solo Leveling, Demon Slayer, and My Hero Academia were largely snubbed in the Tokyo Anime Award Festival Top 100 Favorites, as 120,995 votes lifted other series to the top.
Japanese fans just made it crystal clear: the shows that trend worldwide are not always the ones Japan is obsessed with. The Tokyo Anime Award Festival polled fans on their favorites of the past year, and the hometown verdict is... pretty brutal if you were expecting Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, or Solo Leveling to dominate.
The poll, in plain English
Here is what was measured and how: the Tokyo Anime Award Festival ran its official Top 100 Favorites fan poll from November 1 to November 30, 2025. A total of 120,995 votes came in. Each voter picked their top three anime released between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2025. That window matters, because it filters out older seasons and locks the results to the most recent cycle.
Japan's top picks
At No. 1 is 'Dr. Stone Science Future' — and yes, the rest of the list sticks mostly to domestic darlings and left-field choices you probably have not seen trending on your feed. A couple of the titles are so niche (or so oddly named) that they read like deep cuts. Here is the Top 20 exactly as the poll landed:
- Dr. Stone Science Future
- Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX
- Milky Subway: The Galactic Limited Express
- Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
- Nintama Rantaro
- Let's Go Karaoke!
- The Apothecary Diaries Season 2
- Mr. Osomatsu Season 4
- Medalist
- From Bureaucrat to Villainess
- Everyday Host
- Takopi's Original Sin
- The Summer Hikaru Died
- Dekin no Mogura
- Dandadan
- Maebashi Witches
- Apocalypse Hotel
- Black Butler -Emerald Witch Arc-
- Natsume's Book of Friends Season 7
- My Dress-Up Darling Season 2
Global favorites... not so much
Here is the part that is going to fry your algorithm: My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, and Solo Leveling did not crack the Top 20 here. MHA Season 8 has been a big deal overseas — the U.A. kids and Pro Heroes piling in against All For One is the exact kind of event TV that trends every weekend — but Japanese voters clearly had other priorities. Demon Slayer and Solo Leveling Season 2 have both been massive abroad, yet neither showed up high on this list. Solo Leveling Season 2, specifically, landed way down at No. 61.
What this says about taste right now
The split is real. Japan leaned into smart, character-first storytelling and long-running staples over the loudest action blockbusters. 'Dr. Stone' topping the poll makes sense in that lens, and 'The Apothecary Diaries' being up there tracks too. Titles like 'Orb: On the Movements of the Earth' and 'Medalist' are strong at home despite limited buzz outside Japan. Even bolder swings — 'Takopi's Original Sin', 'Dandadan' — found plenty of love. Meanwhile, the hyped action fare got pushed to the backseat in this particular vote. Different markets, different cravings.
If you want to catch the snubbed hits
In the U.S., 'My Hero Academia', 'Solo Leveling', and 'Demon Slayer' are all streaming on Crunchyroll.