AnimeJapan 2025 has announced the winner of its yearly poll of which manga series deserves an anime adaptation. This year’s winner is Nue’s Exorcist, achieving the top rank of nearly 160,000 votes. Fans across the globe were allowed to vote in the polls, which officially closed on February 12th, 2025. AnimeJapan broadcasts the winner on the AnimeJapan Goods Japanese website, Nue’s Exorcist earned the top spot from over 40 other anime series. The manga is about a boy who can see spirits and has gained the powers of a wandering ghost in his school to fight off evil. Second place was Liar! Gokuo-Kun and third place was Firefly Wedding. The poll results are a wonderful prologue for the larger AnimeJapan convention on March 22nd. The convention will take place in the Tokyo Big Sight and lasts until the 25th.
While the winner is not guaranteed an anime adaptation, past victors have received animated projects after winning. Previous poll champions include Dangers In My Heart, Senpai Is an Otokonoko, and Komi Can’t Communicate, all of whom have had animes since winning. All previous champs were highly popular and acclaimed manga series that became hugely successful anime shows as well. Komi Can’t Communicate became one of the most popular anime in 2021 and 2022, transforming into one of the biggest hits on Netflix. Even if a Nue’s Exorcist anime isn’t in pre-production, an anime adaptation is likely to come sooner rather than later.
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The Top Manga That Deserve Animes According to AnimeJapan
The top ten in the poll include:
- Nue’s Exorcist
- Liar! Gokuo-Kun
- Firefly Wedding
- Phantom Busters
- Kindergarten Wars
- Ugly Duckling of the Entertainment District
- Gokurakugai
- The One With the Villainess
- Junket Bank
- Love Bullet
The full list of available manga ranges from action shonen to oddball comedies to fun romances. For example, The One With the Villainess is a popular isekai about a woman reincarnated as the antagonist of an otome game and becomes possessed by the real villainess’ spirit. Contrastingly, Gokurakugai is a popular action manga about hired men who fight off against “beasts” in the working class district of Gokurakugai. Meanwhile, Firefly Wedding is a romance manga between the daughter of an upstanding family and an assassin, whereas Kindergarten Wars is an over-the-top adventure series about Kindergarten teachers trained to fend off would-be assassins from their students.
Nue’s Exorcist Getting an Anime was Inevitable
Even though Nue’s Exorcist was the only champion at the AnimeJapan 2025 poll, that doesn’t mean the other nominees don’t deserve anime adaptations or won’t get one eventually. Dozens of anime are produced each year with many being adaptations of popular manga series. All the nominees for this year’s AnimeJapan poll are some of the most popular manga titles currently on stands, making them all ideal stories to adapt.
The decision to turn a manga series into anime is oftentimes predetermined long before the poll results are revealed. Shows like Senpai Is an Otokonoko and Komi Can’t Communicate received animes after winning and could be chalked up as coincidental. They were popular manga series beforehand, meaning getting anime adaptations was inevitable. However, the AnimeJapan polls are always good insights to see what fans consider the most popular manga.
H/T: AnimeJapan News
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