Everyone has shows they love, though with how many great TV shows are released yearly, it can be hard to pick favorites. So, I’ve taken the liberty of compiling a list of my favorite shows I watched this year. Some of them are new releases, but most aren’t extremely new. They may not be new, but I highly recommend watching them anyway. I tend to be very picky about the shows I watch and actually pay attention to, so here are 5 series that I managed to keep my attention and meet my standards.
1. Gachiakuta
This show is an anime released this year about a young boy who was wrongly tossed out of his home and onto the Ground. He meets a group of people who call themselves Cleaners and decide to take him in, teaching him how to survive, if not thrive, on the Ground. The artistic visuals and animation style are entrancing to watch, with humorous frames and adrenaline-filled fight scenes. The soundtrack is quite different from most anime I’ve seen, featuring songs that tend to border on or fully fall into the heavy metal category. The animators seamlessly integrate the soundtrack into the animation style, adding intensity to certain areas. This is the first show that I highly recommend watching, especially if you’re a fan of anime.
Where I watch: Crunchyroll
2. The Pitt
The Pitt is a medical drama-based TV series that focuses on an ER in Pittsburgh, hence the name. The difference between this show and other medical dramas is how accurately The Pitt represents the chaos of working in the ER. Each episode in the season is an hour-long episode that shows the doctors and nurses at work that day. The episodes follow a doctor named Robby working a 15-hour shift on the day his mentor died a few years back. This marks the first year he would come in to work that day. A group of residents shows up to learn, and the ER grows more chaotic by the hour. This is a show I wouldn’t recommend watching if you get squemish at the sight of blood, gore, or if you grow uncomfortable with mature topics ranging from deaths to births and more. Otherwise, it’s a series I definitely recommend watching, especially before the second season comes out in January 2026.
Where I watch: HBO Max
3. The Apothecary Diaries
The Apothecary Diaries is an anime about a girl named Maomao who was raised as an apothecary by her adoptive father. She works at a brothel in the pleasure district where she grew up, only to get kidnapped and brought to the rear palace. She works as a servant girl, doing laundry and pretending to be illiterate, so her kidnappers won’t be paid more. Only she can’t resist the calling to be an apothecary. Two of the Emperor’s concubines gave birth around the same time, and both newborns fell sick. She leaves a helpful note, thinking nothing will come of it, only to be found out by a eunuch and forced to help. She ends up becoming a taster to one of the concubines, and the adventures in the rear palace pick up from there. The animation style of this anime is stunning, the storyline is addictive to watch, and the characters are fleshed out extremely well. I highly suggest this anime, especially if you are watching it with your family.
Where I watch: Crunchyroll, Hulu
4. Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is a TV show about a group of FBI agents who are profilers, meaning they profile the criminal they’re trying to catch. The show follows this group through the cases and the difficulties they face outside of their job. What puts this apart from other TV shows about law enforcement is definitely the characters and their backstories. They really make you empathize with the group and why they do their job as profilers. The cases are really entertaining to watch, and the plot twists will keep you hooked. There isn’t much more I can say about this show without major spoilers, so I suggest you just watch it and find out for yourself.
5. The Bear
This show follows a chef who worked in a high-end restaurant until his brother died, and gave his restaurant to the chef. The chef leaves the high-end restaurant to take over his deceased brother’s restaurant. Once he does, he runs into major issues that he has to fix. The Bear follows this chef on his journey to make his brother’s restaurant a success. It highlights all the challenges he faces in trying to run this beaten-up restaurant and the issues with the staff who work there. This show is definitely for more mature audiences due to the amount of profanity, but the storyline is extremely good nonetheless.