Summer is here, and that means 2025 is at its halfway point. The year has already seen some big anime news, and the Bam Smack Pow team is here to recap the key stories that you may have missed.
To help simplify things, we've broken it down into sections dealing with some of the major anime trends of the year so far, including the major announcements of what's in store for the rest of 2025 and beyond.
Debuts & returns (and where to watch them)
We've wrapped up the year's Winter and Spring anime seasons, which means some of the year's anime series have wrapped up their run. On the other hand, other series are continuing, returning, or have been confirmed to return in the back half of the year.
Here's a quick summary of some of the can't anime series of 2025 to either catch up on or look forward to.
• Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective — aired Winter 2025, streaming on Crunchyroll.
• Anne Shirley — began airing Spring 2025, continuing through the Summer reason, streaming on Crunchyroll.
• Dan da Dan is slated to return with its second season on July 3, streaming on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
• Dragon Ball DAIMA English dub — the Japanese version of DAIMA aired through the Fall 2024 and Winter 2025 anime seasons, the first episode of the English dub premiered on January 20, 2025; the English dub is exclusive to Crunchyroll, but the series can also be streamed with the original Japanese voice track on Crunchyroll, Netflix and Hulu.
• I'm Living with an Otaku NEET Kunoichi!? — aired across the Winter and Spring 2025 seasons, with the English dub premiering June 25, streaming on HIDIVE.
• Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX — aired Spring 2025, streaming on Prime Video.
• My Hero Academia: Vigilantes debuted Spring 2025 and continues into the summer; streaming on Crunchyroll.
• My Dress-Up Darling returns for a second season in July 2025 on Crunchyroll.
• Pokémon Concierge returns for a second season in September 2025 on Netflix.
* Sakamoto Days — the series's first cour aired Winter 2025, a second cour is slated to premiere July 2025 on Netflix.
• Witch Watch — debuted Spring 2025, continuing into the Summer; streaming on Crunchyroll and Netlfix.
Fans can find more thorough breakdowns of the upcoming Summer 2025 line-ups for both Crunchyroll and HIDIVE on each streamer's respective website.
Also of note for anime fans is the announcement out of Netlfix's 2025 Tudum event that a second season of the live-action adaptation of One Piece is slated for some point in 2026.
Finales & endings
The first half of 2025 has also since announcements that several prominent anime, manga, and light novel series will be wrapping up their runs this year.
Following the end of the original manga's storyline in August 2024, it was subsequently announced that the eighth season of the anime adaptation of My Hero Academia would be the last, closing out the remaining plot lines from the original manga. The final season of My Hero Academia has been announced for October 4, 2025, and will stream on Crunchyroll.
In terms of manga that have either ended in 2025 or are slated to end within the next few months, My Dress-Up Darling published its final manga chapter in March and Kaiju No. 8 was announced as ending its run in early July. Notably, both My Dress-Up Darling and Kaiju No. 8 have second seasons of their anime adaptations slated to debut in the Summer 2025 season.
Finally, the original light novel story that is the basis for the popular Isekai anime That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime will reach its conclusion with the publication of a final volume either late this year or early next year.
Theatrical releases
2025 has also been a busy year for anime movies. In addition to new releases, either serving as early looks at upcoming anime seasons or standalone stories, several classic anime movies have received remasters or re-releases thanks to new deals with distributors.
Throughout the summer and fall, Crunchyroll will be bringing the first part of the conclusion of the storyline of the Demon Slayer anime when Infinity Castle premieres in theaters, following the Japanese premiere on July 18. Crunchyroll will then stagger global releases based on region. Crunchyroll's full list of dates and regions can be found here.
The second movie in the Mononoke anime trilogy, Ashes of Rage (known as Hinezumi in Japan) debuted in Japan in March. Like the previous movie, Phantom in the Rain, Ashes of Rages will be released internationally by Netflix. The movie is slated to begin streaming on Netflix around the world on August 14.
Throughout the first half of 2025, global distributor GKIDS brought 4K remasters of several iconic movies back to theaters, most notably an IMAX run for Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke. Other 2025 remasters from GKIDS include Wolf Children, Summer Wars, and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, as well as a 4K remaster of 2016's live-action Shin Godzilla coming to theaters in August.
As part of this year's Anime Expo Cinema Nights, HIDIVE (along with sister streaming site Shudder) brought a remastered and redubbed 40th anniversary version of Vampire Hunter D to North American theaters for a special commemorative run. Additionally, the Horror anime movie is now available to stream on both HIDIVE and Shudder.
The year's biggest award-winners
In case you missed our coverage of the 2025 Anime Awards back in May, the Bam Smack Pow team has given a special spotlight to the four big winners from this year — along with the winner of the first-ever Global Impact Award — which we've shared below, along with where to watch them.
• Solo Leveling was the biggest winner of the night, with nine wins including Anime of the Year, Best New Series, Best Main Character and Best VA Performance in three languages.
• Frieren: Beyond Journey's End won four awards: Best Director, Best Director, Best Supporting Character, and Best Background Art.
• Dan Da Dan won three awards: Best Anime Song, Best Opening Sequence, and Best Character Design.
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba won two awards: Best Continuing Series and Best Animation.
The Anime Awards' first-ever Global Impact Award was handed out this year. The recipient of the new award was the iconic action series Attack on Titan in recognition of its status as one of the most popular and influential anime series of the 2010s. Attack on Titan is streaming on Crunchyroll.
As always, you can expect the Bam Smack Pow team to bring you the biggest anime news of this week, so be sure to check back on the weekend and keep following us as we bring you the biggest anime and comic news for the remainder of 2025.
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