Anime Expo 2025: Premieres and Screenings
As one might guess from the name, Anime Expo 2025 had no shortage of opportunities to watch anime in all its forms–feature-length to shorts–from all different genres. This year, the majority of the screenings took place at the JW Marriott ballrooms which have a better setup for viewing shows than the rooms at the Convention Center with screens often too low to see the subtitles, but which also require more transit time. While there was no way for anyone to see all or even most of the offerings, there were still a choice lot of options available.
Crunchyroll brought their usual plethora of premieres for the new and upcoming seasons of shows.
One of the highlights was the new show Dekin no Mogura: The Earthbound Mole.
“A shady, self-proclaimed hermit named Momoyuki Mogura is banned from the afterlife. Now, he collects spirit-possessed will-o’-the-wisps in his lantern, hoping to make a comeback. Oddly enough, it seems that all those who encounter Mogura begin to see peculiar things. A mysterious and comedic story begins where the lives of the living and ghosts interact in the here and now!"
Sporting a different, slightly scruffier look from a lot of the other mainstream shows out now, Dekin has a lot going for it. It initially comes off as a ghost story, but winds up being more of a comedic diatribe on capitalism as its quirky protagonist explains that even death doesn’t rid you of problems like health insurance. The two students who find and help him, Magi and Yaeko, aren’t the naive, trusting main characters often portrayed in anime, but are immediately skeptical of this sketchy dude from the outset. That they continue to want to help him despite his clearly abnormal afterlife-style, is a credit to their altruism. This show looks to be one part supernatural mystery, one part comedy, and one part economic tirade, and is worth a watch.
Next was the adaptation of the popular manga May I Ask for One Final Thing?
“An engagement broken off at a ball.
It was supposed to be a cliche scene condemning a villainess...
In the middle of a ball, Second Prince Kyle unreasonably announces that he is canceling his engagement to Scarlet, a duke's daughter. Furthermore, he announces that he has a new fiancée, and they make baseless accusations against Scarlet. Scarlet had endured years of torment from Kyle ever since they were young, all for the sake of their engagement, but she could hold back no longer...
"This is my final request. May I send this stupid bitch flying?"
The fair duchess Scarlet clenches her fist and dances!"
This villainess-revenge-fantasy tale appears, from the first episode, to be a pretty standard representative of the popular genre, which is to say, pretty awesome for anyone tired of meek, self-sacrificing, people-pleasing heroines. Protagonist Scarlet El Vandmion has spent most of her life putting up with unfair treatment from her boorish fiancé and trying to be the lady that her family and status demands, but when she is publicly castigated and discarded, her carefully created facade cracks and her natural pugilistic talents emerge. For anyone tired of getting maltreated because they refuse to pretend they are less than what they are, this is the show for you–where all the bullies and powerful morons of society get to deal with a main character who is here to chew gum and kick ass, and has just run clean out of gum. Scheduled to stream on Crunchyroll later this year.
In the opposite vein was the season 2 premiere of A Couple of Cuckoos.
“On the way to meet his birth parents, super-student Nagi meets brash Erika, who needs a quick favor. Pose as her boyfriend at dinner so she can avoid an arranged marriage. But things get tricky once they realize they’re heading to the same spot, and her parents still want them wed. How does he ask out his school crush, keep his grades up, and hide his pending nuptials? No one said love was easy!"
Possibly more engaging for those who have been following the story through season 1, A Couple of Cuckoos feels like your typical harem story with an aggressively average guy conveniently obligated to live with a bevy of busty girls whose only purpose in life seems to be to pursue him as avidly and obviously as possible. A reasonable choice for those who enjoy these kinds of male-gaze-wish-fulfillment tales.
Utilizing the Peacock Theater as the new Main Events stage, Studio TRIGGER presented the world premiere of New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt.
“Panty and Stocking are obscene angels who were banished from the pearly gates for being foul-mouthed, sex-crazed, sugar-addicted bad girls! Now they spend their days hunting ghosts in the lecherous abyss between Heaven and Earth."
–Crunchyroll
Taking up right where season 1 ended, back in 2010, this new season of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is just as unrepentantly raunchy and obscene as the original. This completely family-unfriendly show is certainly not for everyone, but if you’ve been waiting 14 years to see how the cliffhanger it ended with back then resolves, you probably won’t be disappointed.
Later in the weekend, animation studio Science SARU and mangaka Paru Itagaki presented the world premiere of SANDA.
Notoriously private, Paru Itagaki typically wears a chicken mask to her appearances.
Paru Itagaki, along with director Tomohisa Shimoyama and producer Sohei Sakita, presented episode #1 of the show, and then gave some commentary and discussion on the creation of some of the scenes. Paru Itagaki also treated the audience to a live drawing!
“In a near-future Japan, Christmas has faded into myth, and the birth rate has dropped so dramatically that children are now the most precious commodity. Society has artificially extended adolescence to preserve their youth, and traditional holidays, like Christmas, are a mere legend of the past…Sanda Kazushige, a middle-school student unexpectedly becomes entangled in a strange and dangerous mystery. When his classmate, Fuyumura Shiori, accuses him of carrying a curse that could help find her missing friend, Ono Ichie, Sanda’s life takes a dramatic turn…"
–Titan Manga
I actually thought this was the highlight of the shows I saw this year–the concept of a boy, cursed with the ability to turn into Santa Claus who is also a super hero, roped into a missing-person case is both innovative and unpredictable. The stylized, yet adorable, character design really makes it stand out from the mass of anime shows being released this year, and the action sequences have a great cinematic quality to them. The story takes the somewhat ridiculous premise just serious enough to keep the stakes of the plot significant, but also never loses sight of the many hilarious issues that would arise from any schoolboy who periodically, and sometimes violently, turns into a super-powered old man without a lot of warning. SANDA starts airing on Friday, October 3, 2025 on Japanese TV with global streaming announcements still to come.
Over at The Novo performance venue, a variety of concerts, both real and virtual took place. Returning this year were the Obey Me! Boys, from NTT Solmare’s popular Obey Me! Series in their second virtual concert “Dawn’s Embrace."
The seven demon brothers performed many of the songs from the hit mobile otome game to enthusiastic digital and in-person audience members.
The quality of the video was sharp and clear, and while the presentation was intended to closely mimic a real concert experience, the nature of the animation allowed for effects that would clearly not have been possible IRL.
Folks lucky enough to watch it in person were also treated to a stage greeting with the actual voice talent preceding the show: Kazuya Yamashita (Lucifer), Hirotaka Kobayashi (Mammon), Satoshi Kada (Leviathan), Shinya Sumi (Satan), Miura Ayme (Asmodeus), and Kyohei Yaguchi (Beelzebub.)
The original Obey Me! game, along with its sequel Nightbringer are still downloadable from the appstores but are no longer updated. A recent kickstarter successfully met its goal towards the development of a new Obey Me! game in the works–updates are available on their Instagram account.
