The Top 10 Anime of February 2025 in the U.S.
Welcome back to Anime by the Numbers!
Chloe and I are in Tokyo for AnimeJapan preparing to bring you back all the best insights, so this week’s newsletter is abbreviated. We’ll be back next week with a full issue!
- Miles A.
Chart of the Week
Every month, White Box ranks every single anime being broadcast that season using a special formula of carefully selected metrics, including viewership, online engagement, and more. Each month, we’ll be sharing the top 10 of that ranking in this newsletter as our Chart of the Week!
The second month of an anime simulcast season typically has a drop in viewership across all titles. While this is mostly true for February, Dragon Ball Daima, Dr. Stone: Science Future, and Solo Leveling all saw increases in viewership. Major mid-season reveals and marketing efforts helped drive increased engagement with these shows, while the rest saw expected levels of drop-off.
For context on just how big Solo Leveling is, it’s 35 times MORE popular than the median simulcast of the season (currently Ishura’s second season).
Two isekai broke into the top 10 this month: Re:ZERO season 3, the fan favorite which just started airing episodes again after a short break, and Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time, which has strong viewership despite extremely low social discussion and title awareness.
- Chloe C.
Entertainment At Large
When Did Japanese Light Novel Titles Become So Insanely Long? (Unseen Japan)
I love Unseen Japan’s articles on Japanese culture and news outside of entertainment, but this was a great analysis about one of our favorite tropes in Japanese media, the insanely long light novel or isekai title. It breaks down the history, trends, and numbers behind the trope in a great way! - Klaudia A.
JAPAN MANGA MARKET SLOWS AS DIGITAL CAPTURES 73% SHARE (ICv2)
Our friend at
, , wrote this great analysis of Japan’s domestic manga market. What was most interesting for us were his analyses on the implications for U.S. comics retailers. - Miles A.Ones to Watch
READ: Surviving Romance
If you’re looking for another manhwa to read after Solo Leveling, try Surviving Romance! There’s zombie stories all over the place right now (like The Last of Us), but Surviving Romance is different. Our protagonist becomes the main character of her favorite romance novel, but she has to survive the day without a zombie outbreak ruining her big confession moment. Surviving Romance brings a refreshing twist to both isekai and zombie tropes, features iconic character designs, and really delivers on the horror elements. Hopefully one day it will get the anime or aeni adaptation it deserves! - Malu Arantes, White Box Director of Marketing
WATCH: Master of Diabolism
This is actually a donghua from China, rather than an anime, and one I'm so glad has finally come to Crunchyroll so that more people will watch it. While it is based on already very popular source material (MXTX's danmei web novel Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation), the animation has gone unsung both in and outside of the fandom because the live action C-drama adaptation, The Untamed, took the spotlight instead when it hit Netflix internationally.
In my opinion, the donghua is one of the best adaptations of the source material, and really stands on its own as an animated series, with some absolutely fantastic action that stands beside a lot of great anime. I hope it will get an English dub one day so more people will give it a chance, but even so, the original Chinese dub is incredible! If you like political maneuvering, doomed yaoi, solving mysteries about disembodied zombies, and an impeccable examination of the real meaning of reputation and truth, it's a must watch. - Klaudia A.
Animanga 101: Japanese vs. U.S. Viewership
As the spring 2025 anime season approaches, I wanted to highlight my piece at Anime News Network about last year’s spring anime season, comparing what was popular with Japanese anime viewers versus U.S. viewers. Looking forward to doing this analysis again this year! - Miles A.
Re:Zero is one of my favorite anime series of all time! I really enjoyed Sakamoto Days, Solo Leveling, and Dr. Stone as well.