Another year comes to a close and so here are my top 5 anime of 2025, manga discussion, and a brief Hundred Lines talk. Life’s pretty busy right now so this is going to be a bullet point list this year.
1) Umamusume Cindrella Gray - Umamusume became my newest obsession in 2025. I watched all the anime entries (season 2 is the best narrative, Beginning of a New Era has the best animation). Cindrella Gray is a shonen style sports manga that focuses on Oguri Cap. Unlike the other entries since this is a long running manga serialization so there is a lot of space to build up rivals for each race. The races are so high tension that you feel like it's anyone’s game even if the result is set in stone from real life history. The game is pretty good too!
2) Sorairo Utility - Cute girls play golf the anime. I find a lot of entertainment in watching someone discover a new obsession and the rabbit hole of knowledge that comes from constantly discovering new things about the obsession. This one was very well animated and had a lot of personality. It was a lot of fun to spend a cour with Minami and the group last winter.
3) Ruri Rocks - Another anime about a girl discovering her newest obsession: rocks. Ruri Rocks places a heavy emphasis on curiosity and the joy of learning new things. The world around us came into its current state through a series of processes that are actively still ongoing. There’s always something new to discover if you look around. The staff sure went beyond to make everything look so pretty in the show.
4) Dress Up Darling season 2 - Season 2 took everything that was great about season 1 and enhanced it to a brand new level. You couldn’t ask for a more perfect adaptation of this manga. My favorite parts are when it shows the work Marin is about to cosplay. I’m hoping they give it another season to finish out the manga. The last arc is my favorite.
5) The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You Season 2 - This series continues to be extremely committed to the bit of a 100 girlfriend harem. Season 2 added many new fun characters and more whacky scenarios to navigate. It never fails to make me laugh and you really never know what kind of girlfriend will be next. I have to read the manga at some point.
Manga Section: Jump+ Cleans House
I previously talked about a few titles that ended in January, so below I will continue the list.
Dress-Up Darling - It ended on its best arc yet. The Haniel arc culminates everything about Marin’s journey thus far and has some of the best art in the series. The ending was a little abrupt, sure, but I am more than satisfied with where it ended up.
Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective - Never a favorite of mine, but geez the final arc was especially awful. Ron’s dad was alive this whole time and then a meteor came down to destroy the island. Nothing about that final death game ultimately mattered. Complete waste of what I thought was a decent villain up to that point.
Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. - Adult magical series tend to be violent and oversexualized while Magilumiere actually respects the genre. Working girl series where the profession is magical girl and the fight is against deregulation threatening to upend the industry. It's a very thoughtful take on magical girls that I felt speaks to its young adult audience. I miss Sakuragi and the gang.
Kaijuu #8 - Extremely cool action scenes that only lacks substantive character writing considering it had an adult cast. It was written like a shonen manga who’s only unique aspect is that the main characters happen to be in their 20s/30s. However, watching them hack up kaijuu was the coolest I saw each week a chapter dropped. I bet it reads really well by the volumes.
Tying the Knot with an Amagami Sister - Harem series using the Kyoto backdrop which I thought makes for a unique flavor for this type of story. I liked seeing the sisters, who are not blood related, go above and beyond for each other. I’m not a fan of individual endings, but at least in Amagami it felt on point thematically. Above Average harem rom-com.
2.5D’s Seduction - Similar to Dress-up Darling but a little more battle-like in its writing style. This was a very passion filled series where the characters learn there’s nothing wrong with liking what you like. The childhood friend won in a surprising turn of events at the end. 2.5D was always a highlight of my Fridays when a new chapter dropped.
Hundred Lines Last Defense Academy:
Kazutaka Kodaka hasn’t stopped making games since Danganronpa finished. Rain Code was a fun adventure in a mysterious city where nobody escapes and there are secrets abond. Akudama Drive was a very cool anime original project whose legacy is underestimated I feel. Tribe Nine was a gacha that existed for a minute. However all of these pale in comparison to the monster of Hundred Lines. A visual novel story that boasts 100 endings. They promoted it by saying each ending was fully fleshed out and unique, but to be honest there are really about two dozen endings and then mostly variations of those. I would argue only 12 or so endings give you a full complete story. It took me 175 hours to play the entire game. Between Hundred Lines an Shuten Order (I haven’t finished at the time of this writing), Kodaka sure seems convinced that AI will bring about humanity’s downfall right now. Playing Hundred Lines was a major highlight of the year. I eagerly await any future DLC content.
Looking ahead: 2026 is going to be the year of Akane Banashi. Its my favorite Jump manga (besides One Piece) and its finally getting an anime in the coming spring. I’m hoping they do it justice and it gives the manga a big sells boost. The other major anime I am looking forward to is the final course of Bleach the Thousand Year Blood War. I’m expecting a lot of new material and possibly a better fleshed out ending. It's no secret that Kubo burned out near the end of the manga. While his involvement with the anime has only increased with each cour. I think Bleach is finally going to have the ending it deserved.
Lastly on the Weekly Shonen Jump front, it appears Someone's Hertz will be the hit of 2025. It's an enjoyable rom-com where the main duo is bouncing one liner jokes off each other. The series is a very chill that I think hit its stride very quickly. I think the biggest surprise this year was Nue's Exorcist completing its transition from boring exorcist manga to a 2010s era battle harem series. I can't believe I can say that I am currently where the story is. The wonders of manga serialization. In 2026 the magazine will likely see several long runners end so it might be a turning point for a new generation of hits to emerge.
The long runners keep ending so I figured why not write down some thoughts about them
I cover the following series:
1. Misson: Yozakura Family
2. Undead Unluck
3. Wonderful Precure
4. Komi Can't Communicate
Spoilers below!
1. Misson: Yozakura Family
Misson: Yozakura Family was never among the most popular series in the magazine nor one of the highest sellers, yet against all odds it completed a 5.5 year run in Weekly Shonen Jump. It spent the first year or so doing mostly single chapter stories to introduce the family members and how they play off each other. From there it shifted into battle manga mode for the remainder of the run.
Ultimately, I consider it a very "safe" series. It doesn't reinvent the formula and it doesn't push the genre boundaries, but instead carves out its own niche in the magazine for knowing exactly what you would get week to week. Yozakura Family had the classic shonen power ups in the middle of fights which also had the classic 1v1 action sequences. Every character gets the spotlight against someone. Kiyochiro was my favorite character. Futaba was great too.
The Momo arc was where the series peaked, but the Asa arc did have many cool moments as well. Yozakura performed a seamless protag switch to the twins Alpha and Hifumi which I thought brought some new life into the late stages of the story. The scene in chapter 257 when Kiyoichiro opens his eyes and acknowledges Taiyo's effort was the exact payoff this series needed. Taiyo earned that level of mutual trust and respect after overcoming everything during the story. It felt extremely earned!
I always believed that if Yozakura Family had come out 15 years ago it would have been a long running daytime anime with abundant filler episodes. It's a great all-ages type of manga that was enjoyable to read every week. Gondaira delivered on the potential I saw in his writing from the Poro days. Hope they return again in the future.
2. Undead Unluck
Undead Unluck is another series that really should have been more popular. It's a fantastic series about characters who live life in a world that hates their existence. The negation powers were super creative and you never knew how their abilities would be applied in battle. There were some amazing highs like the battle versus spring and against Language. Undead Unluck also performed a seamless protag switch-up. Fuuko was a great main character to follow in the back half. I think it sufficiently fleshed out a lot of characters between seeing them in the Union and experiencing their power origin stories in the post-loop.
However, the pacing is quite uneven across the series. Tozuka always moved the story at a breakneck speed. Billy's betrayal early on is an example of how the story suffers from quick developments. The post-loop arcs were also a mixed bag depending how attached to the star characters I was. However, I also have to give Tozuka credit for switching up the setting in nearly every single arc. From space, cooking, idols, and battle tournaments, it became a different type of manga in basically every volume.
Usually I'm on the side of saying final arcs/final battles aren't as rushed as they seem but not in this case. Ouch! I really wanted proper 1v1s against all the master rules. Instead it came down to an all or nothing battle against Soul. The previous fights against Sick, Beast, and especially Language were some of the biggest highlights post-loop. Anyhow, I’m sure Tozuka has learned a lot from this serialization and he’ll come back with a stronger series in the future. He’s got a creative mind that I hope to see more from.
3. Wonderful Precure
This is mostly a continuation of what I said in my 2024 Anime Post. I thought the bonds between animals and humans were shown really well. We get to experience the positives of having a pet through Iroha/Yuki, Mayu/Yuki, and Satoru/Daifuku. While Gaou and Subaru show how loss can mess up someone. It's a theme that doesn't hit particularly hard for me. I thought the strongest aspect of Wonderful was the main cast interacting with each other. They get along really well and constantly have funny moments. The secondary mob cast also added some flavor to the series. Mayu is my favorite character (probably no surprise to anyone). Thankfully Satoru didn't devolve into a Tuxedo Mask type.
However, that's about where my praise ends. The lack of battles, the dog main character, and a very razor thin plot makes this different compared to most other Precure seasons. Iroha and Komugu divided the main character space which means both lack sufficient character development. Mayu goes through the “shy character becomes more comfortable with friends” arc that we've seen a few times recently. Satoru and Daifuku transformed should have been mainstays in the series instead of limited appearences.
I wouldn't call it the worst Precure, far from it in fact. This kind of super pacifist writing simply isn't what I watch Precure for. I will add that the Wonderful movie is pretty decent. You get all the best parts of this series in a nice 70 minute package. Luckily I'm already much more optimistic about the 2025 series. Precure is long overdue for an Idol themed series.
4. Komi Can't Communicate
I started Komi later than most people since I waited for the official English release to start. I read chapters by the volumes starting in 2019 up until when Viz started the simulpub and then I caught up to those chapters. So I only spent the final year of the series reading it weekly. However, Komi sure is a long series, no denying that. But I think it's one of the best at covering all 3 years of high school that you'll see in manga.
Its got that Sunday pacing of putting characters before story progression. A lot of chapters are just Komi being Komi by reacting to whatever the scenario is. Additionally there are plenty of chapters for the side characters to have their moments. The cast grows in a natural way over Komi’s 3 years of high school. Komi starts as a kouhai and later becomes the senpai to a whole new class. It grows into quite a lively series by her 2nd year and 3rd year. Komi also has the Reiwa rom-com element of going beyond the confession. Overall, I can't say I ever got that bored of it.
I think it's a little disingenuous to magazine readers for a good number of the friends to get formalized in the volume extras. Where were the last 2? Getting that 100th friend should have been a big moment. My favorite part of the story was the Rumiko arc in the middle. She really got Komi to be more forward about her feelings and stop being hesitant about taking action. Komi's growth is gradual and the payoffs are so rewarding when they happen. In her 3rd year it can be easy to forget just how timid she was at the start.
Komi will finish as a generational title for Weekly Shonen Sunday. It was the much needed international hit that the magazine had been so desperately seeking for years. Frieren has also helped a ton for them. I will be back for whatever Tomohito Oda does next. (It should have ended at chapter 500!)
It’s that time of the year again. Below is my overview of the anime I watched and the manga I read throughout 2024.
There will be spoilers and remember it's just my opinion.
1. Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End
When I make these yearly lists I consider anything that ended within the year to be eligible so of course the top anime of the year is without a doubt Frieren. I’ve been following the manga since it began and I knew right away that it would be a massive hit someday. Frieren is about the passage of time with an Elf who realizes how short the human lifespan is. She comes to realize that despite always being with Himmel and his party for 10 years, she barely knew a single thing about them nor treasured the time together. So with a new party and a renewed goal of reaching Heaven for one last conversation with Himmel, she sets forth on a quest that is part making new memories while retracing old events.
I thought the anime was the most perfect adaptation I’ve seen in a long time. They nailed the atmospheric slow pacing, they went all out on the action scenes, and the seiyuu cast brought out the best of the characters. I would even argue it’s an overall improvement on the manga. The manga is good, but the paneling isn’t the most exciting and the art can be plain looking. I can’t possibly recommend this anime enough. I’m eagerly looking forward to season 2.
2. Hibike Euphonium Season 3
A running theme in 2024 was new seasons for anime that I highly enjoyed from several years ago, the strongest of which was without a doubt Hibike Euphonium. The new season gave me a good reason to watch the recap movies and then the 2023 special to get myself back up to speed, and let me just say WOW. Hibike Euphonium is just as good as I remember, maybe even better since I’m older now and appreciate some of the finer storytelling techniques. Liz is also worth watching. I’ve been on Tumblr for so long that I have my thoughts on record about season 1 (poorly written) from back in the day.
Season 3 is all about Kumiko’s 3rd year of high school. She’s now club president and must deal with all the responsibilities that come with managing the underclassman. However, her Eupho position comes under threat from the transfer student Mayu whose skills on the Eupho are just as good as Kumiko, if not downright better. This stirs up tension throughout the season which continues to build and build to the climax. Kumiko and Mayu are presented as foils to each other in a few aspects. Mayu is good at the Eupho while not seeing herself as someone overly committed to the club. Kumiko in contrast feels inferior to Mayu yet feels earning the coveted position on the Soli is a given her seniority status in the club. Everything comes to a head when Kumiko and Mayu have to compete against each other for a spot in the nationals performance. The club had to vote for which was best, and it came down to Reina’s tie breaker. Even though she couldn’t deny Kumiko's music from sound, Mayu was obviously the better player. We then had a super emotional scene on Mt. Daikichiyama that mirrored season 1 (I visited this location earlier this year). Easily one of the best anime moments this year.
So with this season, Kumiko’s story has come to a close. I couldn’t believe KyoAni actually changed the ending of this arc. In the novels it was Kumiko who won the competition. The change to Mayu was so seamless and honestly always felt like that’s where the story momentum was going. Also Shuuichi was more or less banished from the story so season 3 had plenty more Yuri baiting. Anyhow, KyoAni anime only comes out 1-2 times a year and everytime I’m quickly reminded why they are the best. I can’t wait for City and the Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid movie in 2025.
3. Monogatari Off & Monster Season
Speaking of long awaited new seasons, this year also featured a new installment of the Monogatari series. This season covers 3 stories from Off Season and the first volume of Monster Season. Right away it was obvious that the direction style was changed to be a blend of the original Bake era and the style used in later installments. I can only describe it as a return to form of what made the anime so attractive in the first place. It's an approach that still perfectly compliments Nisio’s out of the box writing.
The first major arc this season was a Nadeko retrospective story where she has to literally confront her past selves. It was the closure to her previous arcs that I didn’t realize I needed. From shy to outgoing to becoming a god, then reverting back to normal, Nadeko has been on a journey like no other. In Nadeko Draw she comes to accept every aspect of herself and how each moment played a role in bringing herself to where she is today. Ironically she’s become more in-tuned into the world of aberrations than ever before. The second major arc revolved around Shinobu and her backstory. We learned that her beauty brought death wherever she went until she encountered the vampire Deathtopia. It's a very Nisio concept to explore the interaction between someone who can kill all and someone who can’t die. It really put into perspective why she treasured Seishirou and Araragi so much later in life. This backstory was a prelude to Shinobu Mustard. A story about Araragi trying to figure out the vampire targeting Kanbaru’s basketball team.
It was great seeing Araragi again after all these years. Between more Monogatari anime and Cipher Academy, I’ve been spoiled on experiencing more Nisio writing lately. The man is a non stop writing machine yet he still has the magic touch to make compelling stories.. Surely there will be another installment of Off Season and Monster Season since there’s still plenty more to cover.
4. Too Many Losing Heroines
I am no stranger to the losing heroine archetype as someone with over 15 years of experience watching my heroines lose over and over. This Tumblr blog is themed around Kosaki Onodera, the losing heroine of Nisekoi. So when a series comes along that follows the pov of losing heroines from various archetypes then you know I’m in.
Too Many Losing asks “What happens afterwards?” We follow Yanami Anna, the stereotypical blue hair losing heroine who took too long to confess and loses her standing to the new pink hair transfer student with large breasts. It’s a troupe as old as time which even Kosaki fell victim to. The story begins at what would be the climax of Yanami’s story. She is pushing Sosuke, the male character of her story, to see the heroine one last time before she departs. It's the exact moment when so many losing heroines formally lose to the new heroine. We then meet Lemon (the athletic tomboy) and Chika (the shy bookworm type) along with the cast of characters for their respective stories.
From here we basically get the aftermath to each one. Our losing heroines can’t simply let go of their feelings after seeing their guy hook with another girl. They all join the school’s literature club and take comfort in knowing each other. I’ll be the first to admit the writing could be stronger, but I think the series works with a solid base. Yanami is one of the funniest characters from this year. The author recently confirmed how they were inspired by Darling in the Franxx’s Ichigo who certainly had an attitude on her shoulders, just as Yanami. We can only imagine how the losing girls act when they’re off-screen and this series provides a glimpse into the characters. It’s written with earnest love for the genre. I’ve picked up the LNs so maybe I’ll have more thoughts to report in the future.
5. Girls Band Cry
Lastly, we have a show that came out of nowhere. Girls Band Cry might initially turn off viewers for its CG, but I assure you Toei is the one studio you can trust to give a CG model the personality it needs. Just see all the Precure EDs, some of the movies, and DB Super Hero as recent examples. I too was foolishly dismissive at first as well, but I should have known better. This quickly became one of those shows that defined the odds and grew rapidly in popularity during the season it aired through word of month alone.
Girls Band Cry is about Nina moving to the big city in hopes of changing her life. She wants to get away from her strict family and rediscover herself through the escapism of music. There she meets Momoka, Subaru, and a couple other band members to fill out the group. Nina is quite a bundle of rage who always seems ready to blow at any moment. She gets easily misunderstood by everyone around her. Nina is the type who often times believes she is always right to a stubborn degree. A major point of her character arc is getting Momoka to be less dismissive of her own music as Nina struggles to convey how much it changed her own life. They argue, they fight, and in the end they become closer.
This better get another season. The Nari character designs are charming. I want to see the group make it big plus Rupa had no episodes for herself. There’s plenty of room for the band to grow and many more challenges to overcome. The CG allowed the series to stand out in a way that I think surprised a lot of people. Between this, Bocchi, and Girl Meets Rock on Jump+, there’s been a strong streak of girls playing bands lately.
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Best OP/EDs of the Year:
1. One Piece Opening 26 - Perfectly captures the energy going into Egghead and teases everything that will happen in this set of episodes. Also directed by Megumi Ishitani like the previous OP.
2. Tying the Tie with an Amagami Sister ED 1 - Sung by the main seiyuu with pretty visuals. Better than usual for a rom-com ED
3. Bleach TYBW Cour 3 ED - Rare case of ED being better than the OP. I love the stills of each character + there are 3 versions
4. Nadeko Draw OP - A visual adventures in Nadeko's imagination with Yotsugi is very cute. Felt like a continuation of her previous openings
5. Hibike Euphonium Season 3 OP - The Perfect kind of opening that got me in the mood for the episode each week. KyoAni visuals perfect as usual.
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Wonderful Precure:
Precure is usually on my top 5 list, so what happened? Put simply, after 20 years its gone to the dogs.
I know how some years of Precure are better than others and the 2024 series had especially big shoes to fill so I had to keep my expectations tampered. Initially I was not pleased with the animal theme or the lack of fighting and minimal plot. However I come out not completely disliking Wonderful Precure. In my All Stars F post I mentioned how one of Precure’s overarching themes is Bonds. This year we explored bonds between pets and their owners through Komugi/Iroha, Mayu/Yuki, and Satoru/Daifuku. On the opposite side we have the wolf Gaou-sama who completely detests humans after being betrayed and seeing his species nearly go extinct. Its got more depth than you might think from the start. The 2025 series will be idols so that’s already promising.
While I wouldn’t list these in my top 5, this was a generally good year for Weekly Shonen Jump (and Jump+) anime adaptations. My Hero Academia came and went with another season. Same issue as usual but I’ll give them credit for improving the drawings. We got a shaft-like experience with Undead Unluck that made the anime stand out in ways I didn’t expect. Unfortunately there were pacing issues in the middle and the back half wavered compared to the start. There will be a 1 hour special in a year so we can only hope for another season after that. Dandadan from Science Saru came out swinging. It was always going to be impossible to adapt Yukinobu’s spread compositions to screen yet that made up for that with superb character animation and voice acting. Dandadan Episode 7 was one of the best this year. Bleach TYBW Cour 3 added several much needed scenes for Uryu. Each week I remember how much I enjoyed Bleach and how we didn’t appreciate Kubo while he was around. The Elusive Samurai is definitely one of the best looking Jump anime in a good while. I never would have expected that one to get such strong animation direction. Matsui was overdue to have one of his manga adapted with such style. It's only held back by there not being more right now.
Lastly, I wanted to mention the single best anime episode this year was One Piece Fan Letter, directed by Megumi Ishitani. She honestly might be too good for directing normal episodes at this point. The special was framed around the normal people within the world of One Piece. How do they see those with crazy powers? How is the shifting times affecting them? Do they engage in power scale conversations? It’s a side of the story focused on a point of view that we never experience. It was such a treat to revisit that turbulent time after Marineford within the world of One Piece. Toei please give Megumi Ishitani a full length movie to direct next.
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Manga Section: The Year of Long Runners Ending
As for manga this was a major transition year for Weekly Shonen Jump. My Hero Academia ended an impressive 10 year run in the magazine and Jujutsu Kaisen concluded just weeks later. As of the time of this writing Undead Unluck and Mission: Yozakura Family are looking to likely be ending in the first weeks of 2025. This will put Me & Roboco as the 2nd oldest series in the magazine and its only a 5 year old title.
Quick thoughts rundown of numerous long runners that concluded this year:
1) Edens Zero - Basically FT in space, could have ended better but I liked the adventures
2) Call of the Night - The kind of romance story you could only get from Kotoyama, loved the atmosphere
3) Twin Star Exorcist - Finally one of the long running Jump SQ series ends after 10 years. Didn’t hate it, but still long past its prime
4) Orient - Got better as it went along. Shame the objective switched to finishing the serialization after it went monthly
5) Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable - Hokkaido Gals are indeed adorable. Very heartfelt harem series with a lot of color pages to enhance key scenes.(Best girl was Sayurin)
6) Jujutsu Kaisen - The battles were 10/10, the plot was confusing nor reached its peak for me.
7) Oshi no Ko - Great journey and I think the ending is misunderstood. Ruby has surpassed Ai by being more relatable to her fans. Everyone knows her mom and brother are dead, so they find her performing with a smile to be endearing and inspiring.
8) My Hero Academia - I wrote a long piece on this ending
Looking at the Jump graveyard, as always we lost a couple of series that I thought had promising potential. Mamayuyu’s Yoshihiko Hayashi is a mangaka to remember for the future. Their design work and page compositions are already far beyond the skills of a rookie. He only needs to make his writing easier to understand. Green Green Greeens from Kento Terasaka was surprisingly endearing despite some writing faults. It was about discovering how a new passion can completely change your life. Martial Master Asumi from Kawada was just too cultured for normal readers to understand with character writing that was perhaps too nuanced for a shonen audience. And finally my favorite series to die early, Cipher Academy from Nisioisin and Yuji Iwasaki. It was another instance of “Nisio still has it”. Weaving character development and world building through puzzle solving is the most Nisio thing ever. Solving the puzzles on your own as a reader wasn’t important, the hook was how the characters approached each one. However, that did sort of defeat the purpose of having puzzles in the first place.. Overall it lasted just over 1 year and finished the story fairly conclusively. Iwasaki’s art was crazy good and I hope they find themselves drawing on a major hit someday.
Bonus Section: Catalog reading
1) Fire Force - I should have finished this sooner. It has very strong highs late in the series and tying it into Soul Eater is a fun touch
2) Bakemonogatari - Oh Great was maybe a bit overly ambitious in trying to bring all the Hanekawa arcs together, but they are still one of the best weekly artists around. Very much a unique take on the story that differs from the anime and original LNs
3) Tokyo Ghoul - Its alright and I got what Ishida was going for. I’m simply glad to check it off after all these years.
4) MHA: Vigilantes - This is definitely one of the best spin-off series I’ve read to a popular main story. It holds up surprisingly well on its own while expanding the MHA world in substantive ways. The upcoming anime will be a must watch.
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Looking to 2025:
The future's looking good for Weekly Shonen Jump. Kagurabachi has risen to become a new flagship title for the magazine. Osamu Nishi and Shiro Uzasaki have teamed up for Ichi the Witch. A manga about the first male witch in a world where only females are supposed to have magic. Ichi overcomes challenges in absurd ways and Uzasaki’s art has already reached new highs within these first several chapters. I’m excited to see how the story unfolds. Tokyo Revenger’s Ken Wakui also showed up in Jump and his series is pretty decent. Astro Royale a yakuza story about unifying the gang after an apocalyptic event. Himaten looks to be holding its own. I hope the characters can become deeper overtime. Nue’s Exorcist is a series that still exists. Kill Blue is an underrated title in the magazine that has grown on me a lot. I will be hoping that Tsutsui Tashi’s Syd Craft: Love Is a Mystery can defy the odds and survive.
Weekly Shonen Jump also has plenty of anime to pump out throughout the upcoming year. I hope the Witch Watch anime gets the series more traction. I’m weary of Sakamoto Days from the trailer so far, so we’ll see. Akane Banashi is on deck for an anime announcement next. Please Please Please be in good hands. Jump+ is doing fine by coasting along with anime based on the hits from the last several years. Kindergarten Wars will likely join the ranks by the end of 2025. Girl Meets Rock is doing well, but I think in the grand scheme they’re in a hit lull right now from the new titles.
Cheers to another year in the books!!
I have been an avid reader of Weekly Shonen Jump manga since I was a child, and later started following the magazine closely since around 2009. In that time I've witnessed countless titles start and finish. My Hero Academia is the rare kind of series that connects us from the previous generation of the magazine to its current era. It started in Issue 32, 2014 and finished in Issue 36-37, 2024. That makes it the 2nd oldest series in the line-up at the time of ending. Below is my review of the series. I give my thoughts on several of the story moments and give my final impressions. There will be spoilers and it's a long discussion.
Let's first flashback to the summer of 2014. I was in college preparing to spend my Junior year abroad in Japan. My Tumblr was very active and about to reach new highs with my presence in the Nisekoi fandom. In the Weekly Shonen Jump world, a generational shift was about to occur with the new debut of a new battle manga from a previously 2 time canceled author, Kohei Horikoshi.
Looking back on the issue when My Hero Academia started, we can clearly see how it was a completely different era of Jump. Naruto was still running at chapter 683. That is near the end of the 4th Great Ninja War arc. Naruto would later finish that fall in Issue 50, 2014. Additionally, Kuroko was just a couple of issues away from wrapping up and cementing itself as one of the best sport manga Jump had seen in a decade. One Piece was in the middle of Dressrosa, where little did we know that chapter 752 would only put us halfway through the arc. Gintama was just about to make a major pivot into full time battle manga mode. This issue also saw the conclusion of iShoujo at 20 chapters. (It would later get rebooted on Jump+ as a launch title and run for 14 volumes). It's very clear how My Hero Academia started in a complete era than where are now.
So, how was My Hero Academia in the early days?
Well, quite honestly I thought it was a very middle of the road title. I was already familiar with Horikoshi through Barrage (the very first simlpub in the digital Jump era that Viz started from chapter 1). He always had a good sense of perspective and the way he draws mouths with depth is a distinctive feature. The series also wore its Naruto inspirations quite openly, while taking advantage of the popularity in superhero movies to add some visibility in the eyes of readers. I thought it was riding the coattails of current trends.
The early chapters were standard fare in modern day shonen. Speeding through character introductions and establishing the setting. Shigaraki made an early appearance with the mob baddies called Nomus but it was hard to get invested in the central conflict so soon. However Shigaraki’s eerie design of being covered in hands certainly stood out at the time. I was curious but not necessarily invested right away. (of course in retrospective its clear how Horikoshi used the early events as building blocks for what was to come later)
But you know what sways me the most: Tournament Arcs!
This Sports Festival tournament was where I finally started feeling invested in the series. In part because tournament arcs provide an easy to use template for establishing character relationships, create unexpected match ups, ground character arc trajectories, and provide payoffs if used later in the story. The big plot point introduced in this arc was the #2 Hero Endeavor and the relationship with his son, Todoroki. If All Might is the honest public face hero, then Endeavor is the power obsessed guy. He destroyed his family and took extreme measures to produce a child that can beat All Might. Todoroki's story begins with him outright rejecting his father. However, this changed during a fight with Deku.
Deku and Todoroki are both foils and yet mirrors of each other at the same time. They were both blessed with powers that were not obtained naturally. Deku was given a quirk on the spur of the moment from All Might. Todoroki was given his abilities in service of someone else’s goals. One accepts their reality and the other does not. Deku showed that Todoroki accepting the power is not the same as acting in father's wishes. He should use the powers gifted to him in whatever ways he sees fit. This moment comes with the first end of chapter title drop and the moment when Horikoshi’s writing clicked into place for me. The scene when Todoroki uses his flames for the first time is powerful because I loved how they were depicted coming out so naturally. These flames are a part of himself and always have been. Todoroki has at last accepted that side of himself going forward.
After the tournament, it shifts into a short arc with the Killer Hero Stain. He brings up the idea that Heroes should be more than symbols for people to worship, and instead Heroes should practice what they preach. He sees All Might as the only authentic hero to follow. This is the first time we see a villain figure making a valid point that pins down one of the faults to hero society. Stains describes how everyone is doing it for fun, out of obligation, or for making money. All Might is someone whose confidence is so strong that his hero persona and outward personality are one in the same. Sadly this arc was too short to fully explore the idea, but it would come up again later.
Jumping ahead, the series quickly reached its first major story climax: All Might vs. One For All. I went into this fight thinking All Might was going to die and was very surprised when he didn't. The master passing the torch to his student through a death scene is such a common trope (which yes, it made me even more surprised how All Might survived the entire story). I was on the edge of my seat when reading this weekly and consider it a high point of the series. This fight ended up marking the beginning of the end to the Hero Society. All Might's retirement shakes the very foundation of the Hero world. Who can possibly replace someone who inspires people from all walks of life? From this point on, Deku and Shigaraki are now walking similar paths as the heirs to this conflict. The following arcs saw the league of villains poking at the cracks and expanding the seeds of distrust.
When manga serializations are constantly one-upping itself on story climaxes, it can be hard to return to any semblance of a daily life in the aftermath of major moments. This middle section of the manga from about volume 12 to 24 is a boring stretch of the series. First getting the provisional licenses felt unnecessary in the grand scheme since there's really nothing stopping them from fighting the bad guys other than technical loopholes in the writing. Then the Shie Hassaikai arc was almost like canon filler to me. It amounted to very little at the time and came off like a side quest. (This arc also marks the beginning of frequent breaks). Afterwards the U.A. school festival was a refreshing turn back into school life but still, Gentle isn't the fodder we need to see. Lastly, the worst offender of this stretch by far was the class A vs. B matches. A tournament style arc just for show. No stakes. Nothing of consequence. It basically paused the story for about 2 volumes. Thankfully Horikoshi would resume the plot right afterwards with a bang.
My Villain Academia is exactly what the story needed to get itself back together. The League of Villains seemed like they were supposed to be foils for class A-1 and yet any comparable character development just wasn’t happening. This was finally going to change. This arc focused exclusively on the villains and each member would get a quirk power up, while Shigaraki received the rampaging ally Gigantomachia. We also have the Tenko: Origin chapter to put his past into perspective. While I still have issues with the villain writing, it felt like the villains could finally stand on their own in the story.
The momentum continued into the Paranormal Liberation War. An all-out fight between the heroes and villains at their peak across multiple areas of Japan. The countdown to Mirko stopping Shigaraki from reaching his true form was thrilling. Then came the first real clash between Deku and Shigaraki. However, the star of the show for this arc was undoubtedly Dabi who effectively canceled Endeavor’s entire career. Dabi exposed the past of Endeavor by explaining his own story. He showed that Heroes put up a public positive face to hide their power hungry desires motivating them behind the scenes. This makes Heroes no different from villains in many regards. These words brought an end to Hero society as we knew it. The public was already feeling uneasy after the retirement of All Might, and signaling out Endeavors’s past showed how the system was built on an image, not human understanding. Japan was left in ruins, numerous convicted villains were released back into the wild, and the people have nobody they can trust.
I consider the spread page above to be my favorite from the entire series. Horikoshi’s art reached new highs throughout the Paranormal Liberation War arc. His ability to depict Shigaraki as a real force of nature against the Heroes was crazy good. You could really feel the impact behind every attack on each individual and the surrounding environment. Shigaraki ability is something that alters landscapes wherever he goes.
The final stretch of the story begins with Deku acting like a vigilante. Hero Society at-large has hit its lowest point where the institution of Heroes who maintain public safety is no more. The public is scared for their life. Heroes have largely abandoned their post. One for All and the strongest villains are on the loose, and Deku has been completely worn down by the burden of his role. His mind has entered the idea that only he alone can fix this. The Lady Nagant storyline was awesome. She is someone who had to adapt to survive in these precilous times. A hero and a villian is only matter of perspective after all. Sometimes people will do what they need to in order to survive. If even our main character can be swayed then where is the line hero and villain?
The Dark Deku arc is when Deku is stripped down to his core convictions: the desire to protect his friends and defeat One for All. However it's the very friends that he was trying to push away, who ultimately reached out the hand to save him. Deku has touched each of their lives in ways he can't even begin to imagine. Now it was time for them to return the favor. This brings the story to a touching scene where Uraraka yells to an audience of scared citizens to remind them how Heroes are people too and Deku is one of them. This section is my favorite part of the entire story. It felt like everything had changed. We didn't know where the story was going next nor where to begin tackling the awful state of the world. Everything was so raw. It was an exciting time to be reading weekly.
After reaching a new series high, we drop down to one of its lowest points in my opinion. Star & Stripe vs. Shigaraki was an absolute shame. There should have been a study abroad arc so Deku could meet and experience heroes around the world. So when the Number One American hero is introduced, with death flags, I was skeptical about why. I don't like when characters are introduced just to die immediately. The whole point was to artificially weaken Shigaraki so the heroes would stand a chance in the upcoming final battle. Similarly, I would have liked the traitor reveal if it had been more important throughout the story. Barely came up after the training camp arc in volume 9. It came off like Hoirkoshi just needed to check off that box to appease readers before entering the final battle. But, finally seeing Hagakure’s face was a very nice reward.
Despite the stumbles to set up the final battle, I thought it was incredible. One of the best in recent memory from Jump. A fight with the future of Japan on the line across numerous locations. In shonen manga style, it pulled in every single character from throughout the series, used all the mobs to their fullest, and pitted villains vs. their foil villain character. Iit definitely checked off all the boxes of what you need for a grand finale to a long running battle shonen. I think Dabi and Todoroki got the thematic ending it needed. Spinner could have used a little more focus. Himeko and Uraraka reached an understanding at the very end that was probably the safe end for their storyline. I loved seeing the floating stage slowly descend to the surface as the climax approached, while the fighting began to center around Deku and Bakugo. Horikoshi once again reached new artistic highs I couldn’t even imagine throughout the final battle. I like to think the frequent breaks allowed him to pace it better than you typically find in Jump manga final arcs.
As the series comes to close, I am left very pleased with where character arcs ended up. Deku is someone who had to grow up almost overnight. From a quirkless boy to saving all of Japan in the span of a year. He has something that All Might lacked. The spirit to never give up on leading a hand to someone in need. If All Might presented himself with confident bravado, then Deku was the honest human type. Shigaraki is someone who was beyond saving, and yet even if for a moment, Deku wanted to give the respect he deserved as a person. Deku losing his powers cements the story as being about a moment in his life. That he never took the powers he was blessed with for granted, and used them to the fullest throughout the story.
I appreciated that Horikoshi made no effort to justify the villain's actions (besides partly Himeko). They are a product of unfortunate circumstances and deliberate choices which brought them to this point. Their actions speak for themselves. This applies to the heroes as well. Endeavor is a complex man with a storyline that reads more mature than you'd expect at first glance. He is a man who drove his family to ruin for the sake of strength, and those choices came back to haunt him in the form of Dabi and Todoroki. He's effectively lost everything. I think Horikoshi stuck the landing by giving readers the final judgment if he should be redeemed or not. The family members were left mixed, and Endeavor is prepared to rebuild from nothing.
Shigaraki’s death is best for the sake of tying a bow on the story. Deku indirectly caused it, but he doesn’t beat himself over it that much. The world is the same as it was before the conflict. Heroes will remain in people’s lives. The systemic issues of a Hero society that sells certain images of people and casts aside those who don’t fit will persist. Another person or organization like the league of villains could easily rise up again in the future. However, Horikoshi presents a simple solution. Leading a hand to each other is a good starting point towards making the world a better place. Happiness can spread from person to another, and lead to a better understanding of those we don't know. It takes collective action to make the world a better place for everyone and that can begin with a single person.
So overall, what do I think of My Hero Academia?
Ending at 430 chapters is an incredible run for a weekly manga in this current era. Horikoshi covered a lot of characters and topics, many of which I still didn’t cover at this post. I think the series has some of the strongest battle manga highs we’ve seen in the past decade, and of course some parts could have been better. I take issue with pacing and writing choices at times. The villains collectively speaking were the weakest aspect, but the genuine passion for Heroes shines through in every aspect of this work. He used that as a lens to look at problems of the world. Naruto is very optimistic with how communication is the key to bridging differences. My Hero Academia in comparison says that is only a piece of the puzzle. Everyone needs to make a conscious choice to reach out to others. We all can be a hero to someone out there.
My Hero Academia will be remembered as the generation-defining Jump series of the past 10 years, In the same way its beginning overlaps late Naruto, perhaps in the future, Kagurabachi fans will remember how it started at the end of My Hero Academia’s run. My Hero Academia will finish as the 9th longest series ever in the history of Weekly Shonen Jump. This is a position it will hold long into the future. I don’t expect anything in the current line-up to come close in length. I've considered Horikoshi to be the best artist in the magazine for the past several years. He always kept improving right up to the end with insanely detailed panels and spread pages. His presence in the magazine will be missed.
Thank you Kohei Horikoshi. It's been a long ride. I'm glad you could finally cross the finish line. I look forward to whatever you might do next in the future!
Truly sorry to bother you, but would you happen to be able to post images of the Nisekoi bunko bonus comics in higher quality? Not a scan or anything, just something more legible. I would like to translate them. Totally fine if you can't or don't want to, though!
Sorry, I think its going too tricky to get good pictures of all the pages.
The end of January is always a bittersweet time to be a Precure fan as the currently airing series comes to a close and the next series begins the following week at the first of February. I have been watching Precure on a weekly basis for 6 years ever since Hugtto in 2018 and I watched the entire backlog of episodes over roughly 2 years. I wanted to write a post about why All Stars F and Soaring Sky Precure were the perfect anniversary projects.
The staple of any Precure milestone year is a new All Stars movie. They used to be yearly until there were simply too many characters to sustain the purpose of the format so now its saved for special occasions. I'll start by saying All Stars F was phenomenal! The action has never looked better and unlike Memories, it was almost completely in 2D. It's hard to miss when they distill the franchise into its purest form of magical girls beating monsters. The main point I want to focus on is the film's antagonist Cure Supreme.
(note the fake logo, Supreme is merely going through the motions)
They are an unworldly existence who completely destroyed all the cures. Kind of like an end of series boss character. Yet on a whim Supreme wanted to learn more about where a Precure's strength comes from such as why did they try so hard. Supreme recreated earth, gave themselves a mascot, a ton of monsters to defeat including a boss figure, all to essentially live as the main character of a Precure series. It's a very cynical way of looking at the franchise with its repeatable formula. She sees all the parts as simply something they have.
In the climax of the film Supreme is faced with Precure being more than the sum of its parts. They see the hardships, trials, moments of happiness, and the moments of sadness that have occurred in the history of the franchise. A Precure is someone who puts their best foot forward and looks to make a better tomorrow regardless of any obstacles. By splitting part of their power into a mascot and trying to imitate being a cure, Supreme has already taken the first step of their redemption story. In the end, All Stars F uses Supreme to show the audience why Precure is such a long lasting franchise. It might be a repeatable formula, it might appear silly, but ultimately what defines a Precure is someone giving it all their to improve themselves. That is something that can resonate and inspires an audience of all ages which even Supreme is not immune from. The film concludes with Supreme and they're mascot Puka realizing that perhaps together there is more to life when they share experiences.
(Manatsu grinning with happiness as her first encounter with Laura replays before their eyes. You can feel how proud she is of having a friend like Laura. It completely changed the trajectory of her life for the better)
If All Stars F is a refresher of Precure's overarching themes, then Soaring Sky Precure is a throwback to the duo dynamic of the early days with a theme of Heroes. We have the central duo of Sora and Mashiro. Sora is an outsider and the team lead. She befriends Mashiro, the human character, who is a kind person who doesn't always have the best self confidence. Together they teach other how to exert themselves more. Both Mashiro and Sora come to learn how acts of kindness come in many forms. Similarly, Tsubasa (first male cure, aspiring knight) and Ageha (adult, nursery school teacher) form a secondary duo. They're mostly stuck in supporting roles for most of the series, but both show anyone can embody the qualities of a Precure in their life. Super heroes don't always wear fleshly capes after all. Elle is a somewhat of a throwback to Luminous as a supernatural entity in the group. She's mostly the insert character for Precure's young target demographic. By becoming Cure Noble it adds to the idea of people in supporting roles being heroes in their own right. Even if they are fallen nobility. Precure's don't let their past define them.
This brings us to the main antagonist Kaiserin. If Sora finds positivity from those around her, then Kaiserin is her foil as someone who has a pure heart but became tainted by negative surrounding circumstances. Kaiserin had been told over and over that strength is everything. These ideals were forced upon her through fabricated events. At the climax with Kaiserin wavering, the dark power went into Sky because surely a hero with strong convictions would desire the ultimate power at all costs to save a friend. But turns out Sora's bond with Mashiro is even stronger than that. Power for powers sake can only go so far and Mashiro never stopped believing in Sora. They both push each other to new heights that senseless strength could never obtain. Kasarin sees this and rejects the power. Giving in to those desires has only stunted her ability to cultivate relationships. She can now get a second chance with her loyal followers now seeking to redeem themselves as well.
The franchise began as "Futari wa Precure" (We are Precure) for a reason. It's about how people can connect and push each other. Whether its someone from another world and a human on earth, an alien being destructive powers, or.... a dog and her pet owner? Sometimes the larger group dynamic and gimmick is more important in modern precures, but going back to those roots from Futari wa Precure every once in awhile is a good reminder of how it runs through every installment to this day.
Tldr - I'm thinking way to hard about a children's television series whose main goal is selling toys. We're lucky it consistently has such strong character writing. I really like when the lead can shout their dream at every turn and grows to embody that ideal. We got spoiled by having a full 50 episode series this year. The power of 4 cour is amazing. Late night anime could only dream of having that much time.
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