Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer covering games, manga, and animation with bylines at io9, Kotaku, IGN, and more. For tips and professional inquiries, email him (email protected),
By all accounts, last year was Notable for animation across the boardSomehow, 2025 is already poised to become an even more important year for animation in terms of the quantity and quality of shows and movies being released. As the old saying goes, those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. So, in anticipation of the highly anticipated animated show we are all set to watch in 2025, let’s check out Industry trends and persistent problems over the past years And how they might impact next year’s animated projects.
top story:
Like most recent years, the trend of takeovers and mergers will continue in 2024, while workers fight for fair rights. The former will temporarily see positive results for the industry and the animation community. Toho is acquiring Gkids After the box office success of Godzilla: Minus One and Hayao Miyazaki’s boy and heronAgainst of Sony’s acquisition of Kadokawa is pending Continuing to monopolize the anime industry by going band-to-band Layoff-heavy acquisition of Activision Blizzard by MicrosoftIt’s hard not to see the benefit of these two juggernauts, who have previously collaborated on global releases of feature animated films promaare And weather with youContinued to bring greater reach to the anime as a serious contender at the box office. Hopefully, the initial investigation into the deal will not yield any disappointing warnings.
A further look at the top industry-facing stories from the animation industry’s constant fight for fair treatment. While the Animation Guild struck a blow three year deal Fan-favorite Japanese studios like Mappa are still struggling to create big marquee shows, while ensuring increased health and pension funds, salaries, and security against the ever-widening rise in AI (Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, without disturbing their animatorsrollout of J.J.KShibuya Incident Arc Saw the animators take to X/Twitter to broadcast the harsh conditions they faced to bring the show to audiences. This is all moving forward as the anime community becomes more conscious of how animators are treated. At the same time, studios such as East attack on Titan Studio, Wit, are collaborating With partner studios to stop the crisisWith so many shows set to be released in 2025 (many of which are under the same studio *cough cough Mappa*), it’ll be interesting to see how the anime industry produces shows without burning out its talent.
what are we waiting for
As mentioned earlier, 2025 is packed with shows and movies that are worth the wait. Here are some shows and movies that we think are worth adding to people’s backlog of leftover shows from last year.
second season of dispensary dairies Crunchyroll is bound to captivate audiences with its drug-filled period drama. Next year will also see the long-awaited comeback fire forceseason two kaiju number 8, Studio Trigger’s New panties and stockings with garterbelt, solo levelingSecond season on Crunchyroll, and spy x family‘S third season,
Netflix also wants to maintain its hold in the animation field with the second season Castlevania: Nocturnal, Devil May Cry (Whenever a Capcom animated series is ready to wow its devil-hunting show pizzazz on the streamer), The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep Starring Geralt voice actor Doug Cockley, and summer hikaru died (From what we hear it’s actually messed up in a good way).
Mappa looks to put his name at the forefront of the anime community again with his upcoming film Chainsaw Man Rage Arc film; cowboy bebop Creator Shinichiro Watanabe’s upcoming anime (with) john wick Director Chad Stahelski) LazarusAnd zenshuIt’s an anime about the process of making an anime.
Science Saru will compete with Mappa next year including its own shows and movies interior colors, day and daysecond season ofand its anime adaptation Animal Producer Paru Itagaki Sanda Manga.
Movies and shows from Warner Bros., Disney, and Prime Video are also trending in 2025 the day the earth exploded, Ilio, zootopia 2, star wars vision season threeand this the third season of invincible (with Promise of less gap between upcoming seasonsThe animation sector will include the presence of DC and Marvel aztec batman clash of empires, harley quinn Season Five, marvel zombies, Andyour friendly neighborhood spider man,
We’ll also see the rise of some new shows that are redefining the industry, such as legendary shonen series demon slayer And my hero academia Wind to close. Chief among them are sakamoto day, Gachiakuta, Kowloon Generic Romance (which is getting an anime and a live-action movie on Prime Video), Witch Hat Atelierwitch clock, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuxto become hero x (with a mix of CG and 2D animation), My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, original sin of takopiAnd whatever the upcoming space-time crossing film from Mamoru Hoshoda and Studio Chizu is, RedWill be in store for us.
unconventional intelligence
Like last year, the animation industry’s ongoing unionization efforts, production delays and layoffs will make 2025 another year where fans unite to protest executives promoting AI as the ultimate solution to all of the industry’s problems. Will have to happen. Whether it’s resisting the urge to burn down rainforests by doing AI edits of anime characters and funny voice edits of said characters in viral clips (that The voice actors have already made it clear that they are against it), or people who say embarrassing things AI as the democratization of hard-earned skillsFans will need to make their feelings known about the human element of animation that makes the works unique. If there’s so much people can do by shaming C-suite executives to the sidelines and halting production of animation studios who blink their eyelashes at AI when studios fail to meet their unattainable goals of maximum profit , then that would be great too.
Companies to Watch
Animation companies to watch in 2025 are Mappa and Science Saru. As we’ve mentioned above (several times), Mappa is set to put itself back on the map as the anime studio of 2025, if not because of the quality of its output, but rather the number of projects it releases in the calendar year. Due to huge numbers. On that same merit, Science Saru, which is far from the new kid on the block, will see a continued rise to prominence with its series of killer anime titles. While Mappa has five anime confirmed for 2025 rose of versailles film, Lazarus, Cooking over a campfire in another world with your absurd skills season two, chainsaw man rage archAnd zenshu-Science Cypress has only three interior colors, day and day season two, and SandaMappa and Science Saru also going to release soon in 2026 hell’s heaven season two more Ghost in the Shell reconstruction,
It will be interesting to see whether the upcoming year’s reports will perpetuate Mappa’s reputation for overtasking its employees or whether the studio has developed a permanent solution to its past issues. Similarly, it will be interesting to see whether Science Saru, the anime studio acclaimed for revolutionizing the industry like Mappa, will fall into the same losses as Mappa or by producing all of its shows without exploiting its staff to meet deadlines. Will set a new standard.
Big story from Bloomberg on Crunchyroll’s recent decline in the anime business. @cecianasta And @6d6f636869,
Just yesterday Parrot Analytics shared data on the contribution of anime to streamers’ revenues. Netflix is ahead of Crunchyroll, and Hulu and Prime Video are moving ahead. https://t.co/RxUJfvXt2g pic.twitter.com/GLmPkkBERS
– Richardson Handjaja (@rhandjaja) 20 December 2024
Streaming companies worth looking at are Crunchyroll and Netflix. While it’s long been believed that Crunchyroll remains king of the streamer mountain through its anime catalog, a recent report from Bloomberg confirms this that’s not the case anymoreNetflix blows Crunchyroll out of the water. Even without empirical data to support the report, an examination of streamers’ seasonal output over the past three years revealed that Crunchyroll’s lineup of shows is filled with so many titles that it isn’t able to attract anyone. . Retaining power as smart exclusive choices made by streamers like Netflix and Hulu. Prominent among them are memorable shows like of difference, Castlevania, devilman crybaby, Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War, heavenly illusionAnd Summer time rendering.
important anime trends day and day, Zom 100: bucketlist of the deadAnd chainsaw man Being exclusive is fast becoming a thing of the past due to shared releases on each streamer, leaving it up to the streamers to promote each title as the premiere destination to watch. Crunchyroll was reportedly against doing this day and dayArguably the breakout anime of 2024. Time will tell if Crunchyroll is there or not Paywalling subsequent arcs a pieceWhose competition is slowly backfilling will pay or inspire fans to fly to the seven seas to watch long-running anime.
a longshot bet
While it’s already challenging to consider moving to 2025 due to these industry-related concerns, it would be beneficial if the future of anime could reflect these conditions by exploring storytelling in ways that aren’t entirely typical of a high school. Are not based on the student fulfilling his power fantasy with a group. Of super powerful friends. Non-shōnen (boys) anime are taking a back seat to allow shōjo (girls) anime, seinen (young male) anime and josei (young female) anime to share equal prominence in the mainstream, creating an audience for storytelling. Appreciation will grow that is not dependent on power scaling and tournament arcs. It would also make room for more subtle and mature stories of interpersonal relationships and navigating the world, which anime fans would do well to explore with their wish-fulfillment fantasies.
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