I’ve been a big time anime watcher since I was a kid and I’ve come across many different types of anime. One day, I encountered the “Best Anime from Every Year” and found there’s more shonen anime than the niche anime. For those who don’t know, shonen animes are shows that target young teens, typically 12-18 years old, characterized by action-packed stories, coming-of-age themes, and intense battles. The shift began during the beginning of 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, people had a lot of free time, so they would binge on any popular anime at the time. This, in my opinion, invited a lot of uninvited people to rate what anime is good and what anime won the “Best Anime of The Year.”
One anime that I was really salty about winning was Solo Leveling back in 2025. Like, why did they win over Dungeon Meshi? For those who don’t know, Solo Leveling was originally a web comic released back in 2018, made by Jang Sung-Rak. It’s about Sung Jinwoo, who was the weakest hunter and ended up surviving a high-level dungeon. He gains the ability to have a video game-like system that lets him level up, making him the most powerful hunter alive. Now comparing that to Dungeon Meshi, which is about Laios and his party navigating a dungeon to rescue his sister who’s been eaten by a dragon. Due to the lack of food and funds, they survive by cooking and eating monsters. It became this comfortable anime with beautiful animations, having serious moments and peaceful moments. Now, Solo Leveling was cool when it came out on WEBTOON, a digital comic app, back in 2018, I read it and thought it was alright at the time, and it would have been fine if the anime adaptation came out around then. However, Solo Leveling anime adaptation coming out in 2025 makes me realize how shit the writing is and I completely disagree with its “Anime of the Year” victory.
Looking back on the past “best anime” there were so many different unique anime that won like Devilman Crybaby or Made in Abyss. Now, we have Jujutsu Kaisen or Demon Slayer. It feels like since the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are into shonen and mainstream anime rather than the niche and cool anime. With that being said, I realize back then people who watch anime were called weird. I remember specifically when I mentioned that I liked One Punch Man back in middle school and someone called me a weeb and weird for liking anime. Like damn, why you gotta say that about something I like. Fast forward after COVID-19, I see people saying they watch anime and all those popular people agreeing with it. Like back then you wouldn’t expect an athlete to say they’ve watched Mob Psycho 100 (really good anime, definitely check it out if you’re curious). COVID-19 really did change people’s perspective on anime, as you would expect athletes to exclusively watch sports channels.
You know what also sucks, new people coming to different anime fandoms. I’m not trying to sound like a nerdy, “erm actually, according to my calculation” kind of person, but I really didn’t like people who’ve never watched the anime, and make fun of that fandom for it. Either that or people being posers and acting like they watched it. I AM TALKING ABOUT YOU, DRAGON BALL FANS. I know you ALL never watched a single episode or read a single word out of the manga. All of the Dragon Ball fandom is saying Gohan, Goku’s son, should have been a fighter like his father instead of becoming a scholar. WHEN THAT IS COMPLETELY WRONG!!! GOHAN LITERALLY SAID THAT HE DOESN’T LIKE TO FIGHT AND IT WAS HIS DREAM TO BECOME A ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON AT THE AGE OF 4. But nobody in the fandom has read or watched Dragon Ball. Either that or they don’t understand the characters.
I ended up ranting about anime for this issue…
Type shit.
Photo by: Dex Ezekiel on Unsplash.
