Kick off 2025 with the overlooked feel-good anime of 2024

Modern anime fans have it so good that it’s a surprise when an excellent show falls through the cracks.

If you want to stream a new show, chances are it’ll be on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or Hidive. If the show is popular, episodes could even be streamed in the US on the same day they debut in Japan. We’ve come a long way from the dark days of paying a fortune for a handful of poorly subtitled episodes on VHS and DVD. What brought us here? Media companies are finally recognizing the voracious appetite for new anime, creating fierce competition among distributors over licensing new productions regardless of their quality.

Girl band cryinghowever, is an anomaly: an excellent anime that took months to find a suitable home.

The anime grew out of a mixed-media music project and follows a group of young women who form a band in the Tokyo area. The numbers are killer – nine charted Japan’s Billboard Top 100 And one broke the Top 10. Jukki Hanada, best known for adaptations of beloved shows Sound Euphonium And A place beyond the universewrote the charming original story. And Toei Animation’s art serves the show’s fast-paced and colorful atmosphere.

But Girl band cryingdespite its origins and native success, it took months to reach the United States. The show premiered on Tokyo MX in early April 2024. It became available in the US six months later on Microsoft Movies & TV, Fandango at Home, Hoopla and Prime Video. And even then, curious viewers had to purchase episodes via VOD.

Remember when I said that modern anime fans have it right? That can be a challenge for modern anime shows like Girl band crying. Who spends money on an anime they’ve barely heard of that’s available on streaming services they (excluding Prime) have probably never used, especially when their subscription services offer dozens of other shows? Only the most obsessive anime completists.

Girl band crying finally made its way to a traditional streaming platform, debuting in full on Crunchyroll in November. It fell in the middle of the fall season and competed for attention with a variety of popular shows, such as Dan Da Dan, Dragon Ball Daimaand more.

This is the perfect time to give Girl band crying an opportunity. As the new year approaches – which is usually a slow period for games and movies – anime fans can watch one of the best shows of 2025. Yes, it took a while for the stars to align, but compared to the past, we’re still living in an age of anime wonders.