io9’s Favourite Replays, Rereads, and Rewatches of 2025

This 12 months was jam-packed with firsts and must-watch experiences in streaming and on the silver display screen. But, we creatures of consolation are wont to return to the devils we all know: media artifacts that we are able to’t assist however expertise once more to really feel one thing. Within the spirit of sharing and placing people on to media we cherish sufficient to revisit, listed here are io9’s favourite replays, rewatches, and rereads of the 12 months.

A Goofy Film

Okay, so admittedly, it’s because I now have a child, however hey, I began as a type of childless millennials obsessive about the present. Seeing the Heeler household adventures over and again and again to the purpose the place my daughter’s third phrase after mama and dada was “Bwooey!” simply hits completely different. Being a working mum or dad is tough, however seeing the Heeler mother and father embrace the imperfect moments and profit from their time with their children by means of play is tremendous inspiring. Additionally, they’re nice position fashions new mother and father can aspire to be like, however even when we are able to’t be similar to them, the present reminds us we’re doing nice. – Sabina Graves

Borderlands

There’s some franchises you simply can’t stroll away from, and for me, a type of is Borderlands. Earlier than 2K put out a fourth important recreation this previous September, I jumped again into Borderlands 3 and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands for some good ol’ shoot-and-loot enjoyable. Then, when Borderlands 4 lastly got here out, I did the very same factor, however with new Vault Hunters, a brand new world, and new weapons to blast enemies with, and I can’t look forward to DLC to drop so I can do all of it once more. – Justin Carter

Crucial Position

Even when the Mighty Nein animated collection hadn’t just lately dropped, I’d been which means to re-listen to the Crucial Position marketing campaign of the identical title for the primary time because it ended again in 2021. The arrival of a brand new marketing campaign in a brand new world with a bigger solid is its personal little bit of enjoyable, and I’ve had fun listening—and in Nein’s case, watching—by means of them each. – Justin Carter

Ultimate Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy IX is my favourite Ultimate Fantasy recreation of all time, so between its twenty fifth anniversary this 12 months and my favourite little Black Mage Vivi managing to tear up Magic: The Gathering‘s meta for just a few months, I knew I used to be due for a replay, regardless of how far I ended up making it into the sport (I don’t precisely have time for 100+ hour JRPGs on the common like I did as a child). It was a pleasure to envelop myself in its charming fantasy world once more, to re-experience the arcs of characters like Freya, Zidane, and Dagger, and simply sink into the whimsy of all of it once more. We’d nonetheless be ready for that long-rumored remake, however I’m more than pleased to maintain leaping over to Gaia every now and then, simply because it was on the unique PlayStation. – James Whitbrook

Halo

Xbox’s shooter franchise will all the time have its hooks in me, even in its worst moments. I spent half the 12 months enjoying by means of Halo Infinite on and off all through 2025, leaping and blasting my manner by means of Workforce Slayer, goal, and Firefight watches prefer it was the Xbox 360 days once more. After my Recreation Go sub ended, I received bit with the Pink vs. Blue bug and rewatched parts of a key contributor to Halo’s continued existence. It’s been a brief, however worthwhile return to formative elements of my childhood, and a visit down reminiscence lane largely price taking. – Justin Carter

Hunter x Hunter

I’ve hit the purpose in my life the place, with uncommon exceptions, I’m not prone to enterprise into new-age large tentpole shonen anime. I’m a type of who served their time watching the big three (One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach) after they got here out and don’t have the time so as to add one other sprawling, seasons-long epic into my rotation once I can in any other case take a look at newer, digetable (non-shonen) series. That being mentioned, I’ve all the time received time to spin the block on an absolute traditional like Hunter x Hunter once I can vicariously expertise it for the primary time by means of my mates (which is most definitely what I did this 12 months). Rewatch Yorknew Metropolis and the Chimera Ant arc within the large 2025? Don’t thoughts if I do. – Isaiah Colbert

Kill La Kill

Second verse, similar as the primary: one other anime collection I’ve no downside including to my queue 12 months in and 12 months out is Studio Set off’s Kill La Kill. In loads of methods, Set off is arguably my favourite anime studio if I actually sat and thought of it. Lots of that has to do with Kill La Kill reviving my love for anime, watching it in highschool after the medium had turn out to be a ardour of the previous. Like Gainax’s Gurren Lagann was a celebration of the mecha style, Kill La Kill is that after which some for the magical lady style. It’s brash, goofy, bombastic, rebellious, and full of a stunning quantity of coronary heart beneath all of its scantily clad visible gags. Plus, its soundtrack nonetheless bangs all these years later. – Isaiah Colbert

The Final Starfighter

I’ve written about this 1984 cult classic a lot however, in that point, it was largely primarily based on watching it at residence. In 2025, I used to be lucky sufficient to see The Final Starfighter on the massive display screen for the primary time in most likely 40 years. And what was already one among my favourite motion pictures ever didn’t simply solidify that spot, it confirmed how creativeness and ingenuity in Hollywood are lengthy forgotten. This story was so forward of its time, so good, so enjoyable and thrilling, that it simply gave me hope for all the things motion pictures can and needs to be. – German Lussier

Neuromancer

The hype round Apple TV’s upcoming Neuromancer adaptation jogged my memory I hadn’t picked up the guide in years and barely remembered something that occurs in it. First launched in 1984, the version I reread was the 2000 launch that includes a foreword by creator William Gibson that wryly feedback on the guide’s legacy. His pioneering work of what we now know as “cyberpunk” nonetheless feels audacious and authentic. The high-tech heist and surrounding thriller that propels Neuromancer’s storyline is undeniably thrilling, however the actual delight is available in its worldbuilding, which crafts a dirty, unsettling model of the long run that feels ever extra eerily inside attain. – Cheryl Eddy

Stand By Me

The 12 months 2025 had a bunch of nice, new Stephen King diversifications (The Long Walk, The Life of Chuck, and many others.) however this 12 months I additionally discovered myself revisiting arguably the very best one ever. This 1986 Rob Reiner masterpiece is a movie we’ve all seen and possibly all love. However watch it once more. It’s stunning simply how lovely and emotional the movie is, and what Reiner and his solid have been in a position to get away with all these many years in the past. It’s a uncooked, vulgar movie, that makes use of these issues to construct an authenticity that also rings true. – Germain Lussier

Star Trek: Voyager

Rewatching a Star Trek present is one among my favourite previous instances, and with Voyager celebrating its thirtieth this 12 months, going again to its early seasons for each work and pleasure earlier this 12 months was a delight. Maybe greater than another Trek present, Voyager has the struggles of attempting so laborious to speak the potential of its charming premise in these first few seasons—when it hits, it hits, delivering some top-tier Trek, however as a rule, Voyager‘s a present the place there’s charms in its mishaps or this sense of by no means managing to fairly reside as much as the power of its concepts. That’s form of why I like it a lot although: a lot better a present that tries, than one which doesn’t strive in any respect. – James Whitbrook

Stranger Issues 3

The Battle of Starcourt actually solidified Stranger Issues as this technology’s present. The youngsters have been coming of age, the motion was thrilling, and the supernatural stakes have been so excessive in the summertime that Netflix dominated. I keep in mind the Fourth of July it dropped, going to Baskin-Robbins for the united statesS. Butterscotch (nonetheless higher than the official branded one which got here out later) and heading residence to binge. The 12 months 2019 was a time, and what a flip we took that mirrored our world heading into an Upside Down of its personal. I believe that’s why re-watching it earlier than season five actually hit, as that season mirrored the excessive hopes we as soon as had and the way we’re going right into a time the place, like Hawkins heroes, we’d must band collectively extra tightly to beat what’s subsequent. – Sabina Graves

Thirst

With my love for vampire media and my goat Park Chan-wook coming again with No Other Choice this Christmas, I felt the annual pull to return down reminiscence lane to an oddity in his filmography: Thirst. Not like his hallowed Vengeance Trilogy, Thirst is a uncommon swing into the supernatural, by which a priest (performed by Track Kang-ho) is become a vampire and strikes up a romance with the spouse of his greatest good friend (performed by Kim Okay-bin, of The Villainess fame, which you must also watch). I am keen on the movie. It’s deliciously catty, carnally attractive, and poignantly meditative on the thrills and pitfalls of feeding one’s cravings. – Isaiah Colbert

Thriller

My family picked up a field set of Thriller this 12 months, a present I’d by no means heard of prior that aired within the UK from 1973 to 1976. Not each entry is supernatural—satan worshippers do pop up every so often—however many are, and because the title implies, each episode places its important character (both hapless or deserving, relying on the setup) in grave hazard. Serial killers, evil twins, stalkers, licensed weirdos… you meet all method of enjoyable people in Thriller, which has very “film of the week” manufacturing values—together with jarring breaks that allow you to know while you’ve reached the top of act one and two—but additionally surfaces all method of recognizable stars. That features a younger Helen Mirren, who pops up as a lady with an elaborate scheme to unmask a dastardly assassin, and Denholm Elliot as a person who turns the tables on a pair of escaped convicts who choose the precise incorrect home to interrupt into. – Cheryl Eddy

Flip A Gundam

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