CBR’s Official Fall 2025 Anime Series Power Ranking (Week 1)

Heading into the Fall 2025 anime season, the outlook has never been more exciting for fans of Japanese animation and manga. Huge film releases like Demon Slayer and Chainsaw Man are making anime an even more widely accepted medium of entertainment in the West. There are some great upcoming anime series in the Fall Season, though many of the most popular and talked about current anime are those just celebrating their season finales.

Both Jujutsu Kaisen and Dandadan fans have been celebrating (and sometimes, debating over) big manga moments, while My Dress-Up Darling and Call of the Night enjoy upswings in attention thanks to major season finales. From trending new anime gems to surprising plot twists that have fans rethinking established series, the top-ranked anime heading into the Fall season are the best and most popular series right now every true anime fan needs to catch up on.

Chainsaw Man Hits #1 in Japan With Its Reze Arc Anime Film Debut

Tatsuki Fujimoto’s hit shonen manga about a boy who makes a contract with a Devil to gain the ability to sprout chainsaws from his body has had a rough past few years. Following Chainsaw Man’s earth-shattering anime debut and the end of Part 1 of the manga, sales and popularity surrounding the series, while steady for its core fanbase and still a top 3 manga release weekly, has nonetheless wavered in terms of manga volume sales. Against that backdrop, the past few weeks have been absolutely huge for the series.

Its first feature film release, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc, debuted at #1 at the box office, dethroning Demon Slayer in the process. The film still remains number 1 in Japan at the time of writing, and it’ll only feasibly get bigger following its Western release on October 29. Building off the hype, the Chainsaw Man manga has settled into its climactic final battle with chapters that can only be described as pure cinema. Chainsaw Man is having a huge moment right now, and it deserves all the hype.

Demon Slayer Just Became The Biggest Anime Film of All Time (Again)

Whether anime fan or otherwise, it has been virtually impossible to avoid Demon Slayer. Telling the story of a boy who will do whatever it takes to save his sister who was transformed into a demon, Demon Slayer’s blend of rich storytelling and beautiful animation have made it one of the biggest anime franchises ever. The first entry in the series’ final film trilogy, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Castle – Part 1: Akaza Returns, climbed its way up the box office charts to eventually become the highest-grossing anime film of all time.

Numbers don’t lie, but sales aren’t everything, either. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle hasn’t just reached this huge milestone off hype alone. The new Demon Slayer movie has also been lauded by critics and anime fans alike for its incredible animation quality. The film truly raises the bar for shonen anime films.

Gachiakuta Becomes a New Shonen Treasure Under the Guise of Trash

Perhaps the biggest surprise hit of the Summer 2025 anime season was new shonen battle series Gachiakuta. The series follows a boy named Rudo who is condemned to a trash heap called the Pit. There, he discovers a new source of power, as well as horrors beyond imagining.

Gachiakuta quickly shot up the charts on Crunchyroll’s rankings to become one of the most popular anime of the Summer season. It currently sits at the number four spot following its Season 1 finale, only surpassed by established shonen giants like Demon Slayer, Kaiju No 8 and One Piece. The series is also one of the top trending anime on anilist, and Rudo is a top 20 male character on anitrendz, proving the series’ crossover appeal among multiple facets of the anime fandom.

Dandadan’s Season 2 Finale and Latest Manga Arc Collide For an Unforgettable Moment in the Series’ History

Dandadan was a huge anime of the year contender for its first season, and Season 2 of the hit anime was even better. The anime’s ridiculous premise, about a boy who believes in aliens and a girl who believes in spirits who stumble through the uncertainties of teenage love, barely scratches the surface of Momo and Okarun’s unhinged antics.

Coming off its season finale, Dandadan had everyone talking about Okarun’s shocking kiss that (quite literally) blew Momo’s mind. Not only has Dandadan been making waves across the web for its major cliffhanger season finale, the manga just hit another major milestone that had fans talking. Without spoilers, Momo has found herself in a situation that has proven extremely divisive for fans of the series, calling into question where exactly Yukinobu Tatsu is planning to take her and Okarun’s love story next.

My Dress-Up Darling Isn’t Just Cosplaying as a Hit – It Actually Is One

My Dress-Up Darling has always been a surprising cross-over hit that transcends its romance genre to hit the mainstream anime fandom, and its Season 2 finale did not disappoint. The drama has never been more intense as the anime’s conclusory episode introduced a surprising love triangle fans never expected, complicating Gojo and Marin’s love story more than ever.

In fact, with the anime’s second season ending on an anime-original scene and no third season confirmed, some fans fear the beloved cosplay-themed series may have come to an abrupt end. Either way, My Dress-Up Darling Season 2 remains one of the most popular anime on Crunchyroll a week after its finale aired, and has consistently remained the top trending anime on anitrendz.

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity Becomes One of the Most Hyped New Romance Anime

The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Diginity was one of the most highly anticipated romance anime releases of the season. Its delinquent boy meets privileged girl narrative is a tried-and-true formula, but its depth lies in how realistically the characters grow over time. Cloverworks has once again achieved acclaim for its adaptation of Saka Mikami’s original manga, proving why the popular studio is one of the best one it comes to romance anime.

While The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Diginity’s first season aired throughout July into September in Japan, the anime’s English Dub didn’t debut in the West until its Netflix streaming release on September 7. This release was controversial for fans to say the least, as it only premiered with two episodes, breaking Netflix’s normal trend of releasing larger batches of episodes at once. Still, that hasn’t broken the anime’s stride. Not only has the series consistently remained in the top ten of anitrendz for weeks, its male lead, Rintaro Tsumugi, is the most popular male character on the platform. It’s also currently the most popular anime on anilist, proving The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Diginity a can’t-miss anime at the start of the Fall anime season.

Call of the Night Season 2 Marks the Return of a Beloved HiDive Classic

Call of the Night is one of HiDive’s biggest anime darlings, and Season 2 of the series has been as well-received as expected. The series follows the story of a boy named Ko, who – while on a late night walk one fateful evening – meets a mysterious girl named Nankusa, who also happens to be a vampire. Call of the Night is absolutely dominating anitrendz right now, with the series continuously remaining at the number 5 spot for 2 weeks, and slowly inching up.

Call of the Night is actually the top anime of the platform in the current voting period, looking to dethrone My Dress-Up Darling by the time polls close ends. Likewise, Ko X Nazuna is the top-ranking anime ship on the platform, and both Nanakusa and Ko sit at respectable #4 positions in the male and female popularity polls. It also sits in the top 20 on anilist, still riding high on the popularity of its season finale on September 19.

Kaiju No 8’s Big Controversies Only Contributed to Its Recent Popularity

Kaiju No 8 recently celebrated its Season 2 finale, helping secure its place at the top of Crunchyroll’s popularity rankings just under One Piece. While some fans (and rightfully so) expected Season 2 to end with 12 episodes, Kaiju No 8 Season 2, Episode 11 marked the definitive ending of the anime’s second season. It also didn’t help that the episode left fans on a massive cliffhanger that certainly felt deserving of one last episode to help smooth things out.

Additionally, Kaiju No 8 has been receiving added attention due to one particular frame from the anime going viral. The scene depicts Kafka turning his head with a green aura emitted from his eye. Fans have been quick to point out how different Kafka looks in this shot between the anime and the manga, and the difference truly is jarring. The anime went for a more mature-looking take on the character, and the gambit has yielded mixed results. Despite that jolt of negative attention, and partially because of it, Kaiju No 8 is one of the most talked about anime series on the tail-end of the summer season.

One Piece Enters a New Era With The Series’ Final Saga

It would be rarer to see One Piece out of the spotlight than in it. Despite being the most popular anime in the world, One Piece has recently gotten some added attention due to the fact that the anime adaptation has reached a special turning point in the story. The anime is at the climax of the Egghead Arc, finally heading into the highly anticipated Elbaph Island Arc, of which the manga is currently adapting.

Toei recently announced that a special One Piece Elbaph Arc reveal for the anime would take place at the upcoming NYCC event. The highly anticipated anime arc is slated for a January 2026 debut. One Piece is a modern manga epic of grand proportions, but an end may finally be in sight for Luffy’s journey to become the King of Pirates.

Jujutsu Kaisen’s Surprising Manga Reboot Has Fans Excited For the Anime’s Return

Jujutsu Kaisen remains one of the biggest new-gen anime, and it isn’t going anywhere. In fact, thanks to the impressive debut of Gege Akutami’s sequel series to the original manga, Modulo, JJK fans have been eating particularly well lately. The massive hit series about a boy named Yuji Itadori, who eats a powerful cursed object that inadvertently condemns him to death, feels like it’s on the verge of another explosion in popularity.

Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo has regained the manga throne for JJK, as it consistently sits at the top of Shueisha’s MangaPlus rankings above both Chainsaw Man and One Piece. JJK’s own recent film release of the Hidden Inventory / Premature Death Arc may not have done Demon Slayer numbers at the box office, but it was nonetheless lauded by critics and fans. Most promising of all is the anime’s recent announcement of an upcoming JJK Season 3, set to premiere in January 2026. This will adapt the epic Culling Game Arc, ramping the series up for some of its biggest battles yet.

The Summer Hikaru Died Became an Unexpected Smash For Netflix With Widespread Critical Acclaim

Summer 2025 was the season for emotional, heartbreaking anime stories, and The Summer Hikaru Died was an important part of that. Through artful animation and cinematography, The Summer Hikaru Died tells the story of a boy named Yoshiki, who discovers that his close friend Hikaru was possessed by a dark spiritual entity. Following its Season 1 finale on September 27, the series remains in the top ten of both anitrendz and anilist.

The Summer Hikaru Died also maintains a solid 8.3 rating on MyAnimeList and an even better 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. The anime even spent some time as the #1 series on Netflix in Japan, proving its widespread appeal. With a second season already confirmed to be in production, fans of dark, thought-provoking fantasy anime along the lines of Takopi’s Original Sin cannot miss The Summer Hikaru Died.