The Spring 2025 Anime season has ended, and I finished 9 series this season, with 1 show (Witch Watch) continuing in to the Summer season. Overall I felt this was a good season for anime, with only a single show I found to be disappointing. I decided with the end of this season to start posting quick thoughts on each show I finish. So below you will find ratings and mini-reviews of each of the anime series I finished from Spring 2025.
Catch Me at the Ballpark! – Rating: 4 / 5
Honestly surprised at how much I came to love this series. It’s just full of charm, and I love seeing how everyone at a ballpark in Japan, whether worker or fan, makes the spirit and soul of the stadium come alive during game times. It does a great job of making all the characters relatable, and while many moments are cute and humorous, it nailed even emotional ones as well. I don’t even really enjoy baseball as a sport as I’ve gotten older, but this was great! I really hope we get a second season for this one!
From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman – Rating: 4 / 5
I expected this to be a show that didn’t really get a lot of investment budget-wise, but it impressed me. I’ve been reading the light novels, and this series did a great job of portraying the story and characters I’ve been enjoying. The fight sequences definitely use some CG, but they seem to work well with the cel shading, and it never looks particularly jarring compared to the normal animation. In fact some of the sword duels are really funny to watch. Looking forward to season 2.
Food For the Soul – Rating: 4.25 / 5
Cute Girls doing cute things, but in college! Thankfully the show is not just about the girls enjoying cooking and eating, which would have still been fun, but is essentially about growth with friends. Each character has some connection to at least one other girl in the club that is started, and the show builds around them all becoming closer with food as the common theme. What I really enjoyed by the end was seeing how much they cherished the memories they created in their first year of the club, especially Mako who found a place where she belongs and the comfort that comes with it.
I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! – Rating: 2.75 / 5
This show was as disappointing as Loner Life In Another World from last year. This adaptation basically took the first volume of the light novel, and maybe half of the second, and just drug everything out over 12 episodes. The show did a decent job with the characters, but the story just becomes a slog with so much filler. The director of the show wasted so much time on plot points that should have been merely there to introduce more cast. The terrible pacing, just left me disappointed, and immediately went and read the latest light novel volume to cleanse myself if this.
I’ve Been Killing Slimes for 300 Years and Maxed Out My Level 2nd Season – Rating: 3.75 / 5
New studio and slight change in looks aside, this is more of the same of Azusa and the family and friends she has built around her, all while adding more cast members. The season isn’t as cohesive as the previous one either, but honestly the light novels themselves become more a compilation of stories the more the series has gone on. So it’s not a surprise that season 2 of the anime mirrors that. In the end I don’t think it was as good as the first season, but it was still a fun relaxing time as expected.
mono – Rating: 4 / 5
This show was really interesting, because unlike Laid Back Camp and its focus on camping, the premise of the girls being in the CinePhoto Club is not as prevalent. It’s definitely there, but it takes a back seat to the cast’s adventures often. The show focused more on touring around to see sites and food, than really get in to the nitty gritty of photography. In the end it didn’t really take anything away from my enjoyment of the show, and I had a lot of fun with the characters and the places they visited.
Once Upon a Witch’s Death – Rating: 3.5 / 5
Overall enjoyable, but I felt like too often the show just set the whole death curse and Meg’s need of collecting tears of joy to cure the curse to the side like it didn’t matter. Even with that complaint, this show does do a good job of showcasing Meg helping others and emotional moments that result. Another positive is the growth of Meg as a witch, and how we see her become not just more powerful, but smarter too. Still I would have liked them to focus more on the urgency of her curse than they did.
The Brilliant Healer’s New Life in the Shadows – 3.75 / 5
This show had one of the worst starts I’ve ever seen. Kicking off with an anime original episode that did nothing to help introduce the characters was insane. Thankfully the show got to the true adaptation in the 2nd episode and did a good job overall, even with the limited animation budget it obviously had. It managed to overcome stilted animation, to focus on the story. This is another I’ve been reading the light novels of, and I found myself satisfied. Be wary of my rating as I am super biased from my love of the books, so your mileage may vary compared to my experience.
The Shiunji Family Children – Rating: 3.5 / 5
This show looks great, and the voice actors of the characters absolutely nail it throughout. The premise itself will definitely turn off many, and I will not fault anyone for that. Personally I enjoyed Arata’s, and his siblings, struggles with the revelation of most of them not being related dropped on them, and the subsequent questions of is this sibling love or real love. The pacing of the show was inconsistent at times, and it felt like they weren’t sure of a good stopping point. In the end it left me feeling unfulfilled as a viewer of how they handled some of the girls admissions about their feelings of Arata, and it obviously left it open for a season 2.