The Most Popular Anime of The Winter Season
After sharing our engagement ranking with clients, we can now share a part of it with you!
The spring anime season is well underway, but the final numbers for Q1 are ready! We’ll share the most popular titles that released new episodes from January to March based on estimated viewership, general interest, and fan engagement.
But first….
- Miles A.
Entertainment At Large
Why is There an Overlap Between Moe and the Alt-Right? (Anime News Network)
We often have to explain to clients how anime is used in western culture wars, from the recent Ghibli AI horror slop posted by the Trump administration, to Elon Musk’s extremely stupid pro-MAGA anime edit in November. Jerome Mazandarani’s recent Answerman column gets into why this happens, and how we can begin to address it, in a really insightful way.- Klaudia A.
Otaku Apocalypse: Good Smile Restricts US Purchases Amidst Trump Tariff Chaos (Unseen Japan)
In our issue about Trump’s tariffs, we predicted that the biggest impact on U.S. anime fans would be an increase in anime merchandise prices, because a lot of merchandise is made in China. But we didn’t see this, that companies would halt U.S. orders entirely (for the time being). And it’s not just Good Smile - “Other retailers, like USA Gundam Store, report that Japanese sellers such as Kotobukiya and Bandai’s Tamashii Nations Collectibles are following suit, pausing or holding shipments until the tariff situation settles down.”
TLDR: Even with Trump’s temporary tariff pullback, the uncertainty they guaranteed has already damaged sales. - Klaudia A.
Ones to Watch
READ: Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You
One of the most common complaints I hear in focus groups and general conversations about romance in anime is “I’m sick of all the romances being about middle or high schoolers.” And while that is not all the romance out there, it certainly is a majority of the well-known romances that have anime adaptations.
If you’re willing to pick up a manga, the quiet slice of life seinen series, Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You has solved my adult romance seeking woes. As a regular reader of the series for the past year, I have fallen in love with mangaka Jinushi’s characters and manner of depicting the beauty in mundanity. The story centers on a salaryman and the employees of the supermarket he frequents. It’s a simple premise that places importance on the simple things in life: a smile that brightens your day, some encouraging words, and time spent with people whose company you enjoy. - Chloe C.
WATCH: The Tatami Galaxy
When you think of Kyoto, you probably think of places like the Kiyomizudera or Fushimi Inari Taisha, but for a different perspective on the thousand-year capital, check out The Tatami Galaxy. This surreal show follows an unnamed Kyoto University student across several parallel universes in his quest to experience his rose-colored campus life.
Bemoaning his life as it is, each episode ends with him wondering what would have happened had he simply chosen differently, only for a familiar cast of characters and events to come about. Trapped in an endless cycle, he cannot appreciate what is obvious to the viewer; namely, that instead of trapping ourselves in a single-minded pursuit of an idealized existence, we should learn to open our minds and hearts to what is already in front of us to find that simply being is enough.
Illustrator Nakamura Yusuke’s unique art style really makes this show shine, even after all these years.
For a less heady and more whimsical experience, make sure you also watch its sequel film, The Night is Short, Walk on Girl. It features the same production staff, a few returning characters, and is based on the next novel in the trilogy the original series is based on.- Miguel M.
The end of a simulcast season regularly sees a few shifts. Viewers may be finally catching up on the shows they love but fell behind on, or maybe they are bingeing a show that weekly viewers praised to be worth the watch. As many shows’ stories progress, exciting plot developments and climactic moments spur online conversation, which gets more on-the-fence viewers to catch up and binge as well. Here’s a few things we noticed in March:
Zenshu, a returning entrant to the top 10, started the season in an uphill battle. The show began with something of a mixed reaction due to concerns that the title was not going to do much to separate itself from typical isekai fare. But its fans were consistent and sang the show’s praises to the community at large. The online animation-loving audience (sometimes referred to as “sakuga” Twitter/TikTok) was a particularly vocal community in defense of the show. The hype worked, and more viewers picked up the show by the end of the season.
Solo Leveling’s popularity is at a level previously unseen by us here at White Box Entertainment. It is 45.5x more popular than the median anime of the season. For context, The Apothecary Diaries, sitting at #2, is 14.5x more popular than the median anime of the season.
The Apothecary Diaries continued to stand strong in the winter season, especially towards the end when its female audience, who tend to binge-watch, started to catch up. Season 1 being put on Netflix brought new fans to the IP and increased online discussion, contributing to modest audience growth since January.
Sakamoto Days did well overall, but still fell below expectations. The series is one of an exclusive handful to receive proactive promotion from Netflix (90% of anime rely on the platform’s algorithmic recommendations and emails to reach users). But a sizable portion of the audience went in expecting the next Jujutsu Kaisen, and instead were treated to a serviceably animated show with a bigger focus on humor than most. For the majority of viewers, something in the vein of Spy x Family was a welcome treat, but for those spoiled by ufotable’s glossy production values in Demon Slayer, they were left wanting by a more by-the-books adaptation.
Dr. Stone: Science Future had a built-in dedicated audience, and once the Solo Leveling campaign was out of the way, a fair bit of marketing love from publisher Crunchyroll. But it failed to maintain the interest from its third season, with a longer gap between that season and this one than many titles can bear.
100 Girlfriends had reasonably good viewership, but suffered an even bigger drop from its previous season than Dr. Stone. Exclusive licensor Crunchyroll seemed to avoid promoting the title despite its successful run on the service during season 1 just a few years ago. This was perhaps due to its embrace of tropes famous amongst harem series, which may make Crunchyroll’s increasingly broad audience blush.