2025 was phenomenal, and perhaps one of the best years anime has had in quite some time. Many big anime series came back with a brand new season, and some new anime series started with great success. With so many great anime series out there, fans will surely have a hard time choosing the best anime. That said, at the end of the day, only one can come out on top when it comes to fan ratings. With 2025 over, fans can now get a clearer look at the top rated MALs voted for by themselves, and the winner is none other than Apothecary's Diaries Season 2.
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While The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 was the biggest TV animeone series beat it overall, and that is the 2025 blockbuster Chainsaw Man: Reze arc. Regardless, The Apothecary Diaries is still going strong, with major new projects already confirmed for 2026, notably a new movie and a third anime season. Fans can't wait for what else Apothecary's Diaries has in store for them as it cements itself as one of the biggest new anime series.
The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 is 2025's highest rated TV anime
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It has a high score of 8.91/10 on MAL
The Apothecary Diaries is a fairly new anime series that has experienced monumental successboth in Japan and abroad. Apothecary Diaries first started in 2023 with its first anime season. Although a relatively unknown anime at the time, the series was an instant hit and ended up being one of the biggest successes of 2023 and 2024. On MAL, fans rated it 8.86/10, making it one of the top 30 highest rated anime seasons ever.
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She is no longer the fading, weak woman waiting for her life thread to break by itself. ― Maomao
While that was impressive enough on its own, The Apothecary Diaries then topped that as well in 2025 with its second anime season. The Apothecary Diaries season 2 was even more amazing, and fans loved it. On MAL, this season scored even higher, with a score of 8.91/10. This score now makes it the 20th highest-rated anime of all time, as well as 2025's highest-rated anime TV series.
The Apothecary Diaries is the highest rated TV anime, but not the highest rated anime overall
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Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc was the highest rated animated medium
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It was rated 9.12/10 by fans
The Apothecary Diaries was quite easily the highest rated TV anime series of 2025and no other anime has been able to top it since. The closest series to it, in terms of points, was Kingdom Season 6. But even then, it only managed 8.79/10.
The real truth is…I'm tired…of eating things like toast with jam for breakfast…! What I really want…is to eat steak for breakfast every morning! I know I shouldn't! I know it's terrible! But it's the same when it comes to girls too! Deep down…I want five!! No, ten girlfriends!! I want lots of sex!! That's why…that's why I…I want to be a chainsaw man! – Denji
It might seem like The Apothecary Diaries was undefeated in 2025, but that's not exactly the case. Although it dominated in the TV anime department, when counting all anime content, including movies, one series surpassed it, and that is one of Japan's biggest 2025 movies, Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc.
The Reze Arc movie was a huge box office hit, and fans have rated it very highly. Its quality was such it blew everything else out of the water as it managed to secure a score of 9.12/10. This was huge, and not only makes it the highest rated anime of 2025, but it makes it the second highest rated anime of all time. The only anime currently ahead of Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc is the iconic Frieren: Beyond Journey's End.
2025 had many other highly rated series
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My Hero Academia Season 8, Takopi's Original Sin and many others were huge successes
Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc was the highest rated anime overallwhile The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 was the highest rated TV anime. With that said, many other series also stood out hugely in 2025 with their high fan ratings.
My Hero Academia Season 8, the series finale, was monumental. Overall, it scored 8.77/10 on MAL, but on IMDb, all of its episodes were rated 9 or higher.
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Takopi's Original Sin was also a big hit with fans. With only 6 episodes, this series has managed to become one of the highest rated series of 2025 with a score of 8.78/10.
2025 had other big hits, such as Kingdom Season 6, Solo Leveling Season 2, Dandadan Season 2, Lord of Mysteries and Gachiakutaamong many others. All these series have managed, at least, to get a score of 8/10.
Despite all these incredible anime, none of them actually managed to top The Apothecary Diaries, which shows the immense quality of the story. This is even more impressive knowing that The Apothecary Diaries doesn't feature the flashiest animations, nor does it have a lot of action, which other series have at a much higher level, and fans seem to value a lot these days. The Apothecary Diaries securing such a high score means fans have even higher expectations for what's to come for the franchise in 2026, and hopefully Natsu Hyuga's work will surpass them.
Apothecary Diaries returns strong in 2026
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The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Part 1 will be released October 2026
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A new Apothecary Diaries movie is scheduled for December 2026
Fans can't get enough of Maomao and her adventures in The Apothecary Diaries. Lucky for the fans, Apothecary Diaries already has major projects confirmed to be in the works for 2026.
To begin with, The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 is confirmed to be on the way. This new season will be split into two courses, the first of which will arrive in October 2026, while the second will be released in 2027.
Yet there are fools who let their emotions rule them, to the point of serious mistakes. ― Maomao
It doesn't stop there for this franchise as far as 2026 is concerned. The Apothecary Diaries is also getting a new original filmwritten by original creator Natsu Hyuga. Fans are definitely excited to see Maomao on the big screen, and hopefully it will get even higher ratings.
The Apothecary Diaries is an anime you must watch right now. When the series gets a third season announced, fans who haven't caught up yet have the opportunity to watch the first two seasons, which have a total of 48 episodes. All these episodes can be accessed and streamed on Crunchyroll, the largest anime platform.
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