Going back to 2021, I have made it a tradition at The New Leaf Journal to ring in the new year by celebrating our most-visited articles of the previous year. Readers will find my past reviews of the years that were in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. In this post, we add 2025 to the list in what will be our biggest year-end review yet. In my 2024 review,

A faded red watering can sitting on a concrete window ledge with the nozzle sticking through iron window bars.
It was a year of growth at The New Leaf Journal. I took this photo of a watering can on an evening walk in Carroll Gardens on April 20, 2025.

I set as a threshold a number of recorded page visits an article needed in order to be included in our year end ranking. 79 articles made the threshold in 2024, and I added two additional articles for a list of 81. In 2025, 109 articles hit that same threshold, and I deemed an additional three articles to have made it for a total of 112. We will go through all of the articles, in reverse order, below.

Notes on the Ranking Methodology

My stats for our 2021-2024 article rankings came entirely from Koko Analytics, an entirely local and privacy-friendly analytics solution for WordPress which I reviewed here on site. My 2020 stats were mostly Koko Analytics, but I had used Google Analytics for the first two months of that year. This year’s stats are also mostly Koko Analytics, but there is a non-Google mix.

  • All stats from January 1 through August 29 come courtesy of Koko Analytics.
  • All stats from September 5 through November 30 come courtesy of Statify, which, like Koko Analytics, is also an entirely local and privacy-friendly page-counting solution for WordPress.
  • All stats from December 2 through December 31 come courtesy of Koko Analytics.
  • I included estimated visits for the periods covering August 30-September 4 and December 1 based on external data, namely from Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Portal (note that data only covers clicks in those search engines, I do not run Google/Microsoft trackers or scripts on site).

I explained why I initially switched from Koko to Statify in my August 2025 Review article. I ultimately decided to switch back to Koko in December (I may write about that in a future article). Because our stats come from multiple sources, there may be more room for error than in previous years’ rankings, although individual article stats between Koko and Statify were generally consistent, granting that Statify probably over-counted slightly relative to Koko. To the extent the ranking may be different than it would have been had I used Koko Analytics all year, I suspect it may have slightly affected the relative positioning of articles further down the ranking (where more articles are closely bunched together) than at the top, where we typically see some larger gaps.

Ranking Introduction

I will list our 140 most-visited articles, but articles 113-140 are “honorable mentions” in that they did not meet the page visit threshold I set for inclusion in our 2025 ranking (which, as I noted, is consistent with 2024). I will then work through the articles in groups, this year focusing more on notes about what the articles are about than how they accrued page views. For 2020-2024, I included commentary from our fictional dialogue duo, Justin and Justina. This year, I will write a separate companion dialogue with their always-valued insights on our most-visited articles.

Glossary

I have published lists of our 24 most-visited articles for every month of 2025 (see January, February, March, April, May and June, July, August, September and October, and November and December). I also included our most-visited articles over the three month period ending in every month through August (I did not publish three-month rankings for September-December due to the Koko-Statify situation, but I know the top-two articles for all four months). I will reference these rankings where appropriate.

I publish lists of our top-five visited articles from Saturday-Friday in every edition of our official newsletter, The Newsletter Leaf Journal. I will also reference these newsletter week rankings where appropriate.

Ranking: The Honorable Mentions

Only 112 articles met the page visit threshold for inclusion in my 2025 most-visited article ranking. However, because I have data for all of our articles and some interesting ones fell just outside the cutoff, I decided to note the articles which came in 113-140.

  1. Expert Gamer’s 1999 Yoshi in Pokémon April Fools Prank (NAF. April 1, 2021.)
  2. Reviewing Three Boutique Guitar Strings (VVG. June 25, 2020.)
  3. Blondes in “I’m Getting Married to a Girl I Hate in My Class” (NAF. February 6, 2025.)
  4. Adding custom search shortcut for Wayback Machine (NAF. January 11, 2023.)
  5. Building a Big Joe Williams-Inspired Nine String Guitar (VVG. March 12, 2022.)
  6. Takaki’s Memories in 5 Centimeters Per Second (NAF. May 2, 2022.)
  7. Pacman (Linux) Update Issue (NAF. March 7, 2025.)
  8. The Knuckle Method for Days in the Month (NAF. November 7, 2022.)
  9. Follow The New Leaf Journal Pixelfed ATOM Feed (NAF. January 18, 2021.)
  10. May Sky – Visual Novel Review (NAF. May 31, 2022.)
  11. EDDA Café – Visual Novel Review (NAF. February 14, 2024.)
  12. Brave Pumpkin in a Hat (NAF. January 20, 2025.)
  13. Reading Tea Leaves: The Symbolism of the Guitar and Other Instruments (NAF. January 4, 2022.)
  14. Our “Safe” Norton Safeweb Rating (NAF. December 20, 2024.)
  15. Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki S1 Anime Review (NAF. December 29, 2023.)
  16. Cycling Doping Fallacies (NAF. January 5, 2024.)
  17. A Dream of Summer – Visual Novel Review (NAF. September 26, 2023.)
  18. Crimsoness – Visual Novel Review (NAF. May 25, 2023.)
  19. Reviewing Keikai Launcher (Android) (NAF. June 5, 2023.)
  20. On an Android-based PocketBook ereader (NAF. July 27, 2023.)
  21. A Walker’s Review of BLUPOND’s Knight Vision Night Driving Glasses (NAF. November 13, 2021.)
  22. Moonshine – Visual Novel Review (NAF. December 22, 2023.)
  23. Anime Review: Endo and Kobayashi Live! (NAF. April 12, 2023.)
  24. Masonic Portrait of George Washington (NAF. February 22, 2022.)
  25. Days With My Stepsister: Anime Review (NAF. September 27, 2024.)
  26. Pokémon Cursor Theme For Linux and Windows (NAF. September 23, 2022.)
  27. Our Town: “Pretty Enough For All Normal Purposes” (NAF. May 11, 2022.)
  28. Finding the Best RSS/ATOM Feed (NAF. August 6, 2025.)

One reason I felt the need to do honorable mentions was because of our 124th ranked article, Brave Pumpkin in a Hat. Thanks to being shared by Caroline Crampton, it was our most-visited article of the fifth weekly ranking of 2025 and our 12th most-visited article in January 2025. Unfortunately, it did not attract many visitors on its own, but that one surge of views was enough to put it in our honorable mentions.

None of my 29 al|together visual novel reviews nor my additional articles on al|together made the cutoff for inclusion in my 2024 ranking. They did better in 2025, especially in the latter half of the year, with my reviews of May Sky, A Dream of Summer, Crimsoness, and Moonshine all making the honorable mentions. One al|together review did even better,, but we will get to that in the ranking proper.

Victor V. Gurbo did not publish any articles in 2025, but two of his older articles made our honorable mentions at positions 114 and 117. Fortunately, we will see that Victor is also represented above the cutoff.

Our most-visited article of 2024, Cycling Doping Fallacies, fell to number 128 in 2025. This is not too surprising since its 2024 victory was based on a surge of views from being shared in the Browser newsletter and making Hacker News page one. It may well have missed the honorable mentions had it not benefited from a new 2025 cycling article doing well (more on that later), which gave it one newsletter week ranking appearance in 2025. Four other articles in our honorable mentions had made the cutoff in 2024 (Victor’s Building a Big Joe Williams-Inspired Nine String Guitar and my Reading Tea Leaves: The Symbolism of the Guitar and Other Instruments, Anime Review: Endo and Kobayashi Live!, and Our Town: “Pretty Enough For All Normal Purposes”).

Free, but not Garbage, and Happy to Be Here: 112-85

Our first batch of articles cleared the ranking threshold by no more than 25%, save for articles 112-110 which technically just missed the threshold but were allowed in by the grace of yours truly (note two articles were also included in 2024 that had just missed the threshold.)

112. Garbage and Free Stuff in Red Hook, Brooklyn (NAF. August 7, 2025)

I had taken a photo of a discarded coffee cup on a corner in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in April, Months later, I photographed more garbage at the corner. Upon reviewing the photos, I noticed that the coffee cup appeared to still be there (and worse for wear). I did not expect anyone besides perhaps our feed subscribers to see this article, but it was picked up by the Newsbreak App, giving it such a surge of views that it finished 4th in our August ranking.

111. 1997 Otis Thorpe trade and the 2003 NBA Draft (NAF. June 27, 2023.)

Back in 2023, I wrote about an ill-fated 1997 NBA Trade wherein the then-Vancouver Grizzlies ultimately gave away the second overall pick in the loaded 2003 NBA Draft for half-a-season of Otis Thorpe. This article had never garnered a notable number of views until May, when it led our 20th Newsletter Week ranking and finished 22nd overall in May. Its strong showing coincided with the 2025 NBA Draft Lottery. (Related: Should the Pistons have drafted Carmelo?)

110. Anime Network on Demand (TWC) Memories (NAF. October 14, 2024.)

I published this article in 2024 as a companion piece to my review of a 2006 anime series called Living for the Day After Tomorrow (which just missed our honorable mentions at 149th). In this post, I managed to use the Wayback Machine to determine when exactly I first watched Day After and Hidamari Sketch all the way back in 2010. I suppose this article’s unexpectedly decent performance suggests that I am not the only person with Anime Network On Demand memories.

109. Let’s Look at the Gibiru Search Engine (NAF. July 20, 2022.)

This is a short “Leaflet”-form post on Gibiru, which is an odd front-end for Google Search. It checked in at 51st in 2024 and continues to attract visitors.

108. Building an Airline Res-O-Glas Guitar Copy (VVG. August 26, 2020.)

Victor V. Gurbo’s 2020 article on his first-ever guitar build returns to our ranking after missing the cutoff last year (it was 36th in 2022). It is the first of a handful of 2020 articles to appear above the cutoff.

107. A Look at ProxiTok, a TikTok Frontend (NAF. May 14, 2022.)

TikTok was sadly not banned in 2025, but perhaps that helped my 2022 look at ProxiTok (which I never used beyond testing it on Victor’s TikTok account for the review) make our ranking cutoff. This article placed 15th in 2022 and 21st in 2023, and 43rd in 2024, but it just narrowly made our cutoff for 2025. (Note that I have no idea how well ProxiTok works today, if at all.)

106. Red Shift Visual Novel Review (NAF. November 16, 2022.)

My 2022 review of Red Shift marks the first time one of my al|together visual novel reviews has made our ranking cutoff, and like many of my al|together articles it performed best in the final third of 2024. I ranked it 5th best out of the 31 al|together visual novels, so it is a worthy review to break the al|together ranking glass ceiling (perhaps some of the al|together pieces in the honorable mentions will join it next year).

105. Setting Up Mullvad’s Free Public DNS (NAF. April 8, 2022.)

My very short “Leaflet” post pointing to a guide for using Mullvad’s free public DNS service makes the ranking for the first time since it came in 44th place in 2022. Mullvad’s public DNS service still works well, so my pointer remains relevant.

104. The Last Stand of Constantine XI (May 30, 2020.)

This was once one of our top-performing articles, placing 2nd in 2020, 8th in 2021, 7th in 2022, and 10th in 2023. It showed signs of slippage last year with a 47th place finish, and it needed a decent December performance to just clear the threshold for 2025. Is this Constantine XI’s last stand? We will see in 2026. (Related: Constantine and the Last Vespers at the Hagia Sophia.)

103. Itsuomi Nagi’s Hair Color Experiments (NAF: March 12, 2024)

The anime adaptation of A Sign of Affection aired in early 2024. I ended up writing five articles about hair color in the show, all of which did much better than I expected (the first two placed in the top-12 in 2024). Of the five, only this one—the fifth of five—missed the 2024 ranking. One may have thought 2024 was its best chance to rank, but it unexpectedly improved on its performance and made our cutoff for the first time in 2025.

102. The Best TV Anime of 2024 (NAF. January 31, 2025.)

It took me until the end of January to publish my best of anime review of 2024 (I will be lucky to have 2025 done by the end of February, but that is neither here nor there). It posted strong numbers in February (12th place) and did just enough throughout the rest of the year to make our cutoff. (Related: 2024 TV Anime Category Awards.)

101. Christmas Countdown Clock in September (NAF. October 3, 2025.)

My “report” on a very early Christmas countdown clock in Brooklyn finished in third place in October thanks to the Newsbreak App (see our 112th-ranked article). This article has the distinction of being the most-recently published article to make the cutoff. (Related: Snowman Christmas Countdown Clock.)

100. Anime Recommendations of the Decade (2011-20) (NAF. December 29, 2020.)

Back at the end of 2020, I celebrated the real end of the decade (always 0-to-1 decades) with a list of anime recommendations for shows which aired 2011-20. It placed 25th all the way back in 2021, but had its best year in terms of raw page visits in 2025 (go figure). A few of the shows I recommended in 2020 received new seasons after publication.

99. Classic Pokémon Strategy Guides from Nintendo Power and Japan (NAF. May 23, 2021.)

In 2024, my look at an interesting article about a Japan-only strategy guide for the generation one Pokémon games and my story about my first Pokémon strategy guide unexpectedly made its first newsletter week ranking but did not hit our threshold for inclusion in the year-end ranking. In 2025, it did not have a stand-out week, but hit the threshold for inclusion in our year-end ranking for the first time.

98. Searching for Caterpie in Viridian Forest (NAF. August 6, 2024.)

My nightmare story about spending a very long time trying to catch a Caterpie in Pokémon Red achieved its first year-end ranking appearance at 98th. I do not want to re-live the trauma, but I am glad that others are apparently enjoying the story of my suffering.

97. Imagination in Pokémon Red and Blue (NAF. November 18, 2022.)

Imagination in Pokémon Red and Blue makes it three-consecutive Pokémon articles. I wrote this essay based on my own memories of having played Pokémon Red in 1998-99 and an interesting contemporaneous article by a father about his son’s experience playing the original Pokémon games. This is one of my better video game essays (if I dare say so myself), so I am glad to see it making its first-ever year-end ranking appearance.

96. A Sign of Affection Ep 7 Hair Color Notes (NAF. February 20, 2024)

Hair color in A Sign of Affection continues to be a hot topic as we approach two years since the anime aired. My notes on hair color in episode 7 finished 45th in 2024 and makes the cutoff for the second consecutive year,

95. Installing and Running Bodhi Linux on a 2007 MacBook (October 3, 2021.)

Back in 2021, I wrote about installing Bodhi Linux on Victor’s 2007 college MacBook. It was the last article to make our 2024 ranking (81 of 81), but it improved in 2025 in terms of actual page views, notwithstanding the lower relative ranking of 95th. I recently installed other things on that same MacBook, so you can look forward to a follow-up posts.

94. Understanding Hair Color in the Kimi ni Todoke Anime Series (August 19, 2021.)

My hair color study of Kimi ni Todoke had made every year-end ranking going back to 2021, and it makes it five in a row with its 94th-place finish in 2025. It did not match its page views from 2024 (28th place) and 2023 (23rd place), but it continues to be a solid performer.

93. Review of the Teracube 2e Smartphone (NAF. November 19, 2021.)

My now very-outdated review of the Teracube 2e smartphone made its fourth consecutive year-end ranking, albeit falling from its 37th-place finish in 2024. I doubt anyone sells the Teracube 2e new anymore.

92. RSS as a Facebook Alternative (NAF. February 21, 2021.)

Our most-visited article of 2021 (thanks to Hacker News) makes the year-end ranking for the first time since 2022. It also made its first weekly-ranking appearance since 2021, which in turn helped secure its spot in the 2025-ranking. (Related: Against Twitter as a Content Curator.)

91. Sources On Ai Ai Gasa (Love Umbrella) (NAF. February 13, 2024.)

It is always nice to see an article which required real time and effort to produce in the year-end ranking. I put together my research article on ai ai gasa (roughly “love umbrella”) for Valentine’s Day in 2024. It improved on a quiet year-one to make its year-end ranking debut in year two.

90. The Dangers in My Heart S2 Anime Review (NAF. April 28, 2024.)

My review of the second season of The Dangers in My Heart placed 72nd in 2024 and returns to the ranking with similar numbers in 90th in 2025. Coincidentally, this was also my selection for anime of the year in 2024 (see our 102nd ranked article).

89. Kaga no Chiyo Autumn Haiku on Unrequited Love (NAF. December 14, 2020.)

My December 2020 look at a beautiful 17th century haiku by Kaga no Chiyo makes the year-end ranking for the fourth time in the five full years it has been online, just slightly under-performing its 2024 numbers, which were good for 53rd place.

88. You Can’t Fix Stupid – King Baby (NAF. April 15, 2022.)

My reporting on sticker-based commentary on KING BABY graffiti in Brooklyn made the ranking for the second consecutive year after finishing 58th in 2024. (Related: The “King Baby BKF” Sticker in Gowanus, Brooklyn.)

87. The Sega Dreamcast Controller Joystick (NAF. June 14, 2022.)

My nostalgic look back at the Sega Dreamcast controller joystick (and shoulder buttons!) returns to our year-end ranking after having finished 34th in 2023 before missing the cutoff in 2024. (Related: Sega of Japan’s Yukawa Dreamcast Commercials.)

86. “Casey’s Revenge” – Grantland Rice’s 1896 Reply Poem to “Casey at Bat” (NAF. August 26, 2021.)

Casey at Bat is perhaps the best-known American sports poem. Somewhat less well-known is Grantland Rice’s grim reply poem, Casey’s Revenge. (Note: Grantland Rice himself is well-known.) It returns to our ranking for the fourth consecutive year after finishing 62nd in 2024, 50th in 2023, and 34th in 2022. Its actual view numbers have been relatively stable since 2023.

85. Sending SMS Messages From My Computer With XMPP Through JMP (NAF. September 8, 2021.)

Back in 2021, I wrote about using JMP Chat, which is an SMS-XMPP gateway. I stopped using JMP in 2023 or so, not because it is not a good service, but because it was not worth the price for my use-case. It last appeared in our year-end ranking in 2022 (26th place), and it now returns after a lengthy hiatus to our 2025 ranking (JMP is still around and has seen improvements.)

Middle-Tier Articles: 84-57

84. Comparing DuckDuckGo Lite and Qwant Lite (NAF. September 8, 2022.)

My 2022 comparison of DuckDuckGo Lite and Qwant Lite made its year-end ranking debut last year in 69th place. It performed similarly in 2025, returning to a more competitive ranking in 84th. I have not used Qwant in a while and only seldom use DuckDuckGo Lite, but the review is probably still relevant.

83. Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki – S2 Review (NAF. April 5, 2024.)

My review of the 2024 second season of the Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki anime made the 2024 ranking in 55th and performed steadily in 2025 to return in 83rd. While the second season was a mild disappointment in my estimation, we can cross our fingers that the third (I suspect it will come at some point) will feature better material. (My first season review was relegated to the “honorable mentions” for 2025.)

82. Trying Droidian on a Google Pixel 3a XL (NAF. October 2, 2025.)

In October, I wrote about briefly using Droidian on my Google Pixel 3a XL before swapping it out for Ubuntu Touch (which will be the subject of a 2025 review). Despite only being online for three months out of 12, its 6th-place finish in October combined with solid numbers in November and December made it our second-newest article to clear the view threshold. (Related: Pixel 3a XL Goes from DivestOS to Ubuntu Tou…Droidian?)

81. Familiar Song in the Angel Next Door Anime (February 6, 2023)

While watching The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten in January-February 2023, I had this feeling that I had heard the ending song before. My investigation led to this article (and eventually a review of the anime). It finished 41st in 2024 and 40th in 2023 and held up fairly well (all things considered) with a third consecutive year-end ranking placement.

80. Pokémon: Pathways to Adventure (1999) Review (April 21, 2022.)

This is a review of a 1999 adventure novel/strategy guide for Pokémon Red and Blue. After doing nothing of note in 2022 or 2023, it debuted in our year-end ranking in 2024 with a 57th place finish. It returns in 80th (perhaps it will do better in 2026 once I publish my own novel-strategy guide for Pokémon Red and Blue).

79. Searching for the Figure Behind the Blob Dylan Tags in NYC and Florida (NAF. October 24, 2021.)

BLOB DYLAN graffiti has been a fixture in our year-end rankings, most notably in 2021 when two different BLOB DYLAN articles placed 11th and 18th respectively. The success of those two BLOB DYLAN articles helped inspire my research piece on BLOB. It makes its third consecutive year-end ranking after finishing 41st in 2024 and 44th in 2023. (Related: BLOB DYLAN Collection.)

78. Failing to Try Airport Illy Coffee Vending Machine (NAF. May 30, 2025.)

I did not expect much from my article about airport Illy coffee vending machines, especially since I missed two chances to try a coffee. But my “report” did unexpectedly well in the seven months it was online, earning it a place in our year-end ranking and some expectations for 2026. Imagine if I actually get to try a coffee next time. (Related: Learning About William P. Hobby at Houston Hobby Airport.)

77. Heights in “The Dangers in My Heart” Anime (NAF. April 2, 2023.)

After watching the first episode of the first season of The Dangers in My Heart in 2023, I wrote a short Leaflet post on the height difference between the prospective main couple. It did very well, placing 13th in 2024 and 11th in 2023. It fell back in 2025, albeit still out-performing my comprehensive reviews of the two seasons of the anime and my year-end reviews featuring those seasons.

76. The Quarantine Sessions: “Seven Spanish Angels” (VVG. April 10, 2021.)

Victor V. Gurbo has published numerous articles featuring his music recordings. For the first time since 2020, one finds its way into a year-end ranking, this one featuring his cover of Seven Spanish Angels. (Related: Learn more about Victor’s music in Interview With Victor V. Gurbo On Outrun the Invisible Man.)

75. ACE Academy – Visual Novel Review (NAF. June 29, 2022.)

ACE Academy is a full-length visual novel produced by a Canadian studio and available on Steam. I reviewed it back in 2022, before reviewing its follow-up Kaori After Story. Kaori After Story burst into last year’s ranking at 36th (becoming the first visual novel review to place), but ACE Academy, on which it depends, was nowhere to be found. This year, ACE Academy did well enough, especially in the second half of the year, to earn its first year-end placement. It actually out-performed the Kaori After Story review in the second half of 2025, but second half of 2025 is a significant qualifier. (Related: Remembering the Kendo Crush! Demo.)

74. Breaking Rules in GBC Pokémon TCG Tutorial (NAF. May 23, 2024.)

While on vacation in 2024, I took it upon myself to challenge the rules of the guided tutorial in Pokémon Trading Card Game for Game Boy Color. The resulting article quietly put together a solid 2025, debuting in the year-end ranking at 74th. (Related: Telling Southwest I’m On Vacation.)

73. Review of /e/ – An Android Alternative For Mobile Phones (NAF. November 21, 2021.)

Our most-visited article of 2022 and of all time (thanks to Hacker News) had its weakest year since directing massive traffic to our servers, sliding in to the ranking in 73rd after finishes of 30th in 2024 and 13th in 2023. While /e/ OS is still around and being developed, my 2022 review is probably a bit dated at this stage. (Related: What is an “Android Alternative”?)

72. Basketball Team Donation Scams in Brooklyn (NAF. November 29, 2024.)

Being a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, New York City, allows me to share stories of what it is like living in Brooklyn for our global audience. In late 2024, I shared with readers readers my knowledge about “please fund my high school basketball team” scams. I wonder if I saved someone from being robbed.

71. Best Record vs Best Net Rating in 51 NBA Seasons (NAF. December 30, 2024.)

It was a good year for NBA research articles (as we will see much later in this article). In this article, I took a look at whether having the best regular season win-loss record or the best Net Rating is more predictive of playoff success (result: inconclusive).

70. DecSync Review (NAF. March 30, 2023.)

I used to use DecSync, which is, or was, a neat project which allowed for syncing contacts, calendars, and RSS feeds and read states using Syncthing. I reviewed it in 2023 shortly before discontinuing my use of it when I started having some issues. As far as I can tell, DecSync has not been actively maintained since 2021, so this review should be taken as a piece of historical interest (and, I hope, inspiration for someone to take up a new DecSync-like project). It finished 54th in 2024, so there is clearly some interest in the concept.

69. Persona 3 FES Reaper Strategy (Infinity) (NAF. February 17, 2024.)

The 2024 release of Persona 3 Reload, a remake of Persona 3, made me nostalgic for the original Persona 3 for PlayStation 2 (technically Persona 3 FES in my case). In early 2024, I wrote about my strategy for taking down the optional Reaper boss, in part because my method was different than the most popular method. It did not rank in its first year, but it checks in at 69th for 2025 (I hope people note that my guide is only applicable to FES since Reload has materially different battle mechanics).

68. Additional Thoughts on A Sign of Affection (NAF: May 26, 2024.)

This was one of the two articles I published about the A Sign of Affection anime in 2024 to not make our 2024 year-end ranking. To my mild surprise, it improved significantly in 2025 and, like Itsuomi Nagi’s Hair Color Experiments, makes its ranking debut one year after the conclusion of the A Sign of Affection anime. I wrote this article as a supplement to my review of the anime, and I would say it is best enjoyed by people familiar with the anime and/or manga.

67. Why Vintage Guitars Sound Better (VVG. January 4, 2021.)

Victor’s top article in 2025 is Why Vintage Guitars Sound Better. It improved on its 2024 finish (80th) and has now made four out of five year-end rankings (42nd in 2023 and 13th in 2021). Come for Victor’s arguments in support of vintage guitars and good wood, stay for pictures from his collection.

66. Peekier Search Engine Review (NAF. February 26, 2022.)

Peekier was a neat search engine/front-end which relied on Bing and presented results in a unique way. I say was because it was discontinued in early 2023. Being dead did not stop it from finishing 3rd overall in 2023, better than its 15th place finish in 2022 when it was alive. Peekier, having been dead more than a year, finished 39th in 2024 and hung on for another placement in 2025. (Related: Peekier redirects to Kagi Search.)

65. A 2021 List of Alternative Search Engines and Search Resources (NAF. June 13, 2021.)

Speaking of dated search engine posts, my 2021 look at alternative search engines (which includes Peekier) makes its fifth consecutive year-end ranking, performing broadly similarly to its 44th placement in 2024. This is probably a sign that I should write a new alternative search engine article. Soon (probably). (Related: Review of Wutsearch, a Search Engine Launchpad.)

64. Mario Party’s Joystick-Wrecking Rotation Games (NAF. November 3, 2022.)

I have not-so-fond memories of the mini-games in the original Mario Party which required players to rapidly spin the joystick. I was prompted to revisit these memories when Nintendo decided in its infinite wisdom to include them in a Nintendo Switch Online re-release of Mario Party. While much commentary about the mini-games focused on purported hand injuries, I keyed in on a different issue: Damaged controllers. I wrote a follow-up article on these mini-games, but we will get to that in due course.

63. Return to Shironagasu Island Review (NAF. October 31, 2022.)

Return to Shironagasu Island is a Japanese mystery/horror visual novel which is available on Steam and Itch.io. I published my review on Halloween in 2022. In 2025, it makes its first year-end ranking and is the third visual novel review to rank thus far, ahead of Red Shift and ACE Academy. It came close to making the 2024 cutoff and, given its presence on Steam, I am not surprised to see my review find some success.

62. Persona 4 Golden Digital Artbook Review (Steam) (NAF. November 15, 2020.)

My 2020 review of the Persona 4 Golden Digital Artbook makes it six consecutive appearances in the year-end ranking, having finished 6th, 4th, 18th, 12th, and 32nd from 2020-2024 (in order). The artbook is available as an add-on for Persona 4 Golden on Steam, so my review should still be useful if you are purchasing the game. (Related: Review of the Original Persona 4 Artbook.)

61. Itsuomi’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection (NAF. February 5, 2024.)

We now have four A Sign of Affection articles in the ranking with my first detailed look at the hair color of Itsuomi Nagi. This article topped our February 2024 ranking and finished 12th overall for the year. While it did not come close to replicating its 2024 performance, consider me impressed that a short hair color analysis piece about a character in an anime that concluded more than a year ago is still landing in our year-end rankings.

60. Thinkbot Visits The New Leaf Journal (NAF. August 28, 2025.)

AI scrapers and crawlers have been a persistent annoyance in 2025. At the end of August, I covered one particularly annoying AI bot. It did well enough in just over four months to finish 60th in our year-end ranking, so I take it that I am far from alone in having these problems.

59. Kazuya’s Hair Color in Rent-A-Girlfriend (NAF. August 9, 2025.)

I had previously joked in the pages of The New Leaf Journal about wading through multiple seasons of the painfully mediocre Rent-A-Girlfriend anime for some unknown reason. But the fourth season, which aired in summer season 2024, gave me a reason in the form of a new anime hair color study. This 59th-place finish is impressive in that this article only started performing well in late October, meaning the vast majority of its views came during a brief period. Look for this one to challenge for the title of top anime hair color article in 2026.

58. “Uncle Susan is a Wolf” – A Graffiti Photo and Research Project (NAF. December 29, 2021.)

My report on Uncle Susan is A Wolf graffiti made the previous three weekly rankings at 66th in 2024, 41st in 2023, and 32nd in 2022. It was on place to miss this year’s ranking until it had a big stretch in November, which appears to be tied to its having made the rounds on Facebook. Uncle Susan finished 4th overall in November (which was our best month of the year), which in turn was responsible for nearly half of its total views in 2025. (Related: New Uncle Susan is a Wolf Sighting in Montana.)

57. Shin Iryū’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection (NAF. March 1, 2024.)

My study of the hair color of Shin in A Sign of Affection is the 4th A Sign of Affection hair color article and 5th A Sign of Affection article in our 2025 ranking, both of which match the 2024. This article finished 48th in 2024 and just about matched its performance in terms of page views in 2025.

Secret Article Garden: 56-29

56. Bill’s Secret Garden – A Pokémon Generation 1 Urban Legend (NAF. April 6, 2022.)

This is one of my favorite video game essays wherein I share some Pokémon anecdotes from 1999 which tie into a very different internet/media environment than what we have today. It made its first year-end ranking in 2024 at 67th, but it had a much better year in 2025, highlighted by its not only making its first Newsletter Week Ranking, but doing so in first place (its Newsletter Week record still stands at 1 appearance and 1 first-place finish).

55. The Dangers in My Heart S1 Anime Review (NAF. December 28, 2023.)

I only reviewed the first season of The Dangers in My Heart (aired in early 2023) to set up a review of the 2024 second season. My review of the first season was decidedly mixed, especially when compared to my review of the second season, which earned my nod for 2024 TV Anime of the Year. But the first season review out-performed the second season review for the second year running after having finished 25th in 2024. (Related: 2023 Anime Year in Review.)

54. Installing Non-Listed Programs in PlayOnLinux (NAF. July 8, 2023.)

I do not use PlayOnLinux these days (it is a WINE front-end for running Windows games and programs on Linux), but I had reason to write some documentation in article form in 2023. I take it some people still use PlayOnLinux from its 26th place finish last year competitive 54th place finish this year.

53. Presidents Who Went By Middle Names (NAF. February 19, 2024.)

I had hopes for my research article on Presidents who went by middle names when I published it in 2024. To my disappointment, it did not make our year-end ranking last year, but it debuts this year with a solid 54th place finish. Perhaps we will see some improvement with 2026 being the 250th anniversary of America’s Independence. There is plenty of good reading here for fans of Hiram ULYSSES Grant, Stephen GROVER Cleveland, Thomas WOODROW Wilson, and John CALVIN Coolidge.

52. The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten – Anime Review (NAF. March 30, 2023.)

Back in 2023, I published my full review of The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten right after the first season finished airing. It finished 17th and 16th in 2023 and 2024 respectively. It may have been “hurt” in 2024 by the unexpected success of a joke article I wrote about the announcement of a second season (more on that later). While it did not perform as well as it did in the previous two years, I can see this review having a stronger 2026 coinciding with the second season this summer.

51. Iroha Isshiki’s Hair is Brown, as Expected? (NAF. February 12, 2021.)

My first-ever anime/manga hair color article had a renaissance in late 2024, finishing at 52nd place in the year-end ranking after having not made any ranking since coming in at 23rd in 2021. It performed similarly in 2024, trading some of the previous highs for more consistent visitor numbers throughout the year. (Related: Kaori Orimoto’s Hair is Blacker than I Expected.)

50. Honey Lemon Soda – Anime Review (NAF. April 4, 2025.)

I had planned to write a hair color review of Honey Lemon Soda, an anime which aired in winter season 2025, after learning about the series (based on a manga) a year earlier. Having gone through the trouble to put together resources for a hair color study, I figured I might as well review the anime as an anime. Here, my anime review out-performed the hair color study, making our April and December month-end rankings en route to a solid finish in its debut year.

49. My OpenWrt NETGEAR WAX 202 Access Point (NAF. February 26, 2025.)

In early 2025, I converted a NETGEAR WAX 202 wireless router into an OpenWrt-powered wireless access point and turned it into an article. I thought it may do well and sure enough, it makes our cutoff in its first year.

48. How to Find Substack RSS Feeds and Other Notes (NAF. June 19, 2021.)

This was one of our strongest articles in 2021 and early 2022, posting finishes of 7th and 10th in those years. It is no longer a top performer, but its 48th place finish in 2025 comes on the heels of 42nd in 2024 and 24th in 2023, so it remains solid. It also made its first weekly ranking appearance in a couple of years. Substack RSS feeds still work how I described them back in 2021.

47. Outline Guide to Persona 3 FES The Answer (NAF. February 8, 2024.)

9 days before I published my guide to taking down the Reaper in Persona 3 FES, I shared my outline guide to beating The Answer epilogue game in the same. This was fun since I wrote the guide for a friend all the way back in 2011. It finished 49th in 2024, so it slightly improved in 2025 in both ranking terms and absolute visitor numbers. Note that this guide is probably not very helpful for the The Answer chapter in Persona 3: Reload. which was made available as a DLC several months after I published this article.

46. The Last Nintendo Wii Games (NAF. August 1, 2023.)

My research article on the last game for the Nintendo Wii makes its third consecutive year-end ranking after finishing 51st in a short debut year in 2023 and 15th in 2024. With the recent AI-driven increase in RAM prices, maybe there will be more interest in Wii games in the future.

45. Installing GrapheneOS on a Google Pixel 6a (NAF. May 15, 2023.)

In this post, I detailed how to use the GrapheneOS web installer to install the security-hardened Android-based operating system on a supported Google Pixel device. Despite its age, the article remains relevant since the web installer is still the best way to install GrapheneOS. It under-performed its very strong 11th place finish in 2024 and 15th place in a partial 2023.

44. Searching for School Days’ Nice Boat (NAF. May 6, 2022.)

On May 6, 2021, I wrote a “review” of the School Days anime, which aired in 2007, and the infamous “Nice Boat” meme it spawned. One year later, I wrote a small research article about the “Nice Boat” which appeared in the Japan “replacement episode” for the final violent episode of School Days. It had its best year yet after finishing 64th in 2024.

43. Performing Site-Specific Searches With DuckDuckGo (NAF: August 8, 2021.)

My explanation of how to search specific domains using DuckDuckGo (I would use “domain” instead of “site” these days) makes its fifth consecutive ranking after finishing 15th, 16th, 48th, and 29th from 2021-2024 (in order). While it performed about as well in 2025 as history would suggest, it made a single Newsletter Week ranking appearance in 2025, its first in several years.

42. Using an Amiga OS-Inspired Window Theme In XFCE With XFWM4 (NAF. January 2, 2022.)

My first regular 2022 article after my 2021 year-end review focused on an AmigaOS-inspired theme for the XFWM-4 window manager for Linux. It makes its fourth consecutive year-end ranking and in so doing, improved on its 2024 placement of 46th. I have not used the theme in a while, but I suppose I should not be surprised that there is some Amiga nostalgia among Linux and BSD users.

41. Using Web Archives To Get Around CAPTCHAs (NAF. August 12, 2022.)

CAPTCHAs are one of the banes of my internet usage. Back in 2022, I detailed how to use the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine to (sometimes) circumvent CAPTCHAs. It is making its third consecutive year-end appearance after finishing 35th in 2024 and 29th in 2023. Give it a read if you too hate CAPTCHA puzzles.

40. History of the Mario Party Gloves (NAF. November 6, 2022.)

In my discussion for our 64th-ranked article on the joystick-spinning mini-games of the original Mario Party, I noted that I wrote a follow-up article just a few days later. I now present the follow-up, which had a break-out performance in 2025 after finishing 68th in 2024. I learned that Nintendo settled a lawsuit related to those terrible mini-games in the original Mario Party and made available gloves to people who had bought the game and then requested the gloves within a specified time period. In this research article, I dug into the matter and was able to present the story.

39. Japanese Language Env in Steam (Linux) (NAF. July 14, 2023.)

After having written about how to configure a Japanese language environment in PlayOnLinux, Lutris, and Bottles (Linux tools for running Windows games and programs), I decided to look into and demonstrate how to do the same in Steam on Linux. This article had a breakout year, making the October and November rankings en route to its first year-end placement. (While I do not use Steam for this purpose, the guide should be helpful for Steam Deck and SteamOS users.)

38. Aegis Authenticator and Linux Authenticator (NAF. September 8, 2025.)

It has not been common in recent years to see an article published as late as early September earn a high placement in our final ranking, but my explanation of how I use Aegis Authenticator (Android) and Authenticator (Linux) to create and view my TOTP authenticator codes came out of the gates strong and was consistently one of our top articles in the final months of 2025. It finished 6th in September, 12th in October, 10th in November, and 17th in December en route to finishing 38th with just four months of work. I expect to see this one improve on its position with 12 months to work with in 2026.

37. Usagi Drop: A Complicated Anime Pick (NAF. January 19, 2021.)

My 2021 review (of sorts) of the anime adaptation of Usagi Drop, which aired in 2011, made the 2021-2023 rankings with a best placement of 19th in 2021 before missing the 2024 ranking. It cleared the threshold for making the 2025ranking in August before posting its best months of the year in September-December to not only return to the year-end ranking after a one-year absence, but also to do so in 37th place.

36. Tiki paralogue trick in Fire Emblem Engage (NAF. February 3, 2023.)

My anecdote/strategy guide for a challenging map in Fire Emblem Engage finished runner-up in the 2023 year-end ranking and a respectable 23rd in 2024. Fire Emblem Engage is now two years old and Nintendo is already talking about the next entry in the series, but my little strategy guide had another solid year in 2025 (I suppose it is still useful if you come up against the map I covered).

35. Pogačar Chases Riis on Hautacam (NAF. July 20, 2025.)

Tadej Pogačar posted some monstrous climbing performances en route to winning his second consecutive Tour de France and fourth overall. Back in July, I wrote about how he climbed Hautacam almost as fast as Bjarne Riis’ infamous (for doping-related reasons) record ascent in the 1996 Tour. My post appeared as a pingback in an article I cited to and I believe it was shared on some cycling fora, leading to it unexpectedly being our best-performing article of July. While it did not do much for the rest of the year save for having a decent August, its July performance ensured that we have a professional cycling article in our top 35 for the second year running. (Related: Ventoux Too: Pogačar’s New TDF Climbing Record.)

34. The Nice Boat: A Look Back at the School Days Anime (NAF. May 6, 2021.)

Finishing 10 spots ahead of Searching for School Days’ Nice Boat is my first article about School Days, this one functioning as a full (spoiler-filled) review of the anime and discussion about the “Nice Boat” incident. It has made all six year-end rankings for which it has been online, posting a best finish of 9th in 2023. Its 2025 showing was closer to last year, when it finished 22nd overall.

33. The Story of Billy Possum, President Hoover’s Pet Opossum (NAF. November 30, 2021.)

I want to take a moment to ask if you can think of any other site on the internet where an article about the School Days anime shows up right next to a piece on Herbert Hoover’s White House pet opossum, both by the same author. I am doing something special here. In any event, my Billy Possum article has a tendency to see spikes in views when it gets shared somewhere or other, while otherwise picking up views steadily but unspectacularly. 2025 was no exception, with Billy Possum posting its best month with a 6th place finish in December to jump several spots in the final ranking, finishing on par with its 27th-place spot in 2024. Its best year came in 2023, when it finished 14th overall and nearly won the December ranking (what is it about Billy Possum and December?).

32: Recommended F-Droid FOSS Apps For Android-Based Devices (2021) (NAF. November 28, 2021.)

I joked about the prevalence of out-dated tech reviews in our 2024 ranking. They are back this year, but the problem is less severe. My 2021 review of open source Android apps in the F-Droid repository is certainly dated, but most of the apps remain viable options (with a few exceptions I noted after the fact in the article). This has been one of our strongest articles, finishing 14th in 2021 (despite being online for just one month!) and then 4th, 6th, and 4th in 2022-24 respectively (note it had vastly more views in 2022 than in the other years, despite the same ranking). I dare say 32nd is a more appropriate ranking given how many years have passed.

31. Futaba Igarashi’s Hair Is Naturally Green? (NAF. November 23, 2021.)

This relatively early hair color study was prompted by the anime adaptation of My Senpai is Annoying, which aired in 2021. I never assumed that the show was exceptionally popular, but my hair color study performed solidly, finishing 30th in 2023 and 50th in 2024. Although it missed its best numerical ranking by one spot, it had what was by far its best year in attracting visitors, punctuated by its best-ever monthly placement of 12th in a very competitive November. The underlying manga ended in 2024 and there is no new anime season on the horizon, but people apparently want to get to the bottom of Futaba’s apparently natural green hair. (Related: The Best Anime Series of 2021.)

30. Hair Color in The Apothecary Diaries Anime (NAF. November 15, 2023.)

Speaking of green hair in anime, my 2023 review of hair color in The Apothecary Diaries anime, which has as its protagonist the green-haired Maomao (note that I do not think Maomao is understood to have green hair in the show’s world, unlike, apparently, Futaba in My Senpai is Annoying), improved on its 38th place finish in 2024 with a 30th place finish in 2025. I predicted that The Apothecary Diaries would have a good 2025 based on the fact that its second season aired in the winter, and it unsurprisingly performed best while it was on the air, led by a 10th place finish in April. (Related: A “Well-Liked Anime” I Didn’t Care For.)

29. Japanese Environment in PoL, Lutris, and Bottles (NAF. June 16, 2022.)

Back in 2022, I wrote about configuring a Japanese language environment in three graphical programs for running Windows games and applications on Linux (relevant to my al|together visual novel review project). This article makes its fourth consecutive year-end ranking appearance after finishing 60th in 2024, 46th in 2023, and 39th in its partial debut-year of 2022. Notably, it not only reversed its gradual ranking decline but posted its best year in numerical terms, thanks largely to posting a majority of its visits from September-December, including a best-ever finish of 9th place in November.

Using Ghostwriter But Not Ghost-written: 28-22

28. Ghostwriter Markdown Editor Review (NAF. October 8, 2021.)

I am drafting this entire article in Ghostwriter, so I suppose my 2021 Ghostwriter review is an evergreen article if there is one. This has always been a steady article. It did not finish better than 16th in any individual month, but it performed well throughout the year in adding a 28th place finish to its list of year-end rankings, following 21st in 2024, 20th in 2023, 17th in 2022, and 45th in an abbreviated in 2021.

27. Calvin Coolidge Describes His Mother, Victoria (NAF. March 13, 2021.)

This was the oddest article of 2025 in a ranking sense. Its only prior appearance in a year-end ranking came in 2022, when it finished 41st after strong run in October and November. After mostly disappearing from the charts, it posted a couple decent months at the end of 2024, but fell short of the year-end ranking. It then unexpectedly began 2025 on a tear, finishing 6th in January, 11th in February, 2nd in March, and 4th in April, and it ranked 2nd overall for the three-month period from February-April. It also notched three Newsletter Week top placements in this stretch, a feat accomplished by just three other articles (we will not get to those for a while). However, April was both the high-water mark and the turning point. This article built a big lead in April and looked like it was set to secure first place for the month, but in late April its views fell off a cliff and never recovered. Strange. This article is a personal favorite of mine, so I hope to see it perform well again in the future.

26. An Early Review of Pixelfed – Instagram Alternative (NAF. November 13, 2020.)

This article is of historical significance to The New Leaf Journal since it was the first to gain real search engine traction en route to leading our 2020 ranking. It finished 6th in 2021 and 11th in 2022, but gradually declined to 28th in 2023 and just barely making last year’s ranking at 79th. In January 2025, it came from nowhere to have its best month to date, nearly taking the top spot in January with a runner-up finish (which included two Newsletter Week top placements, its first since 2021) and a strong 10th in February. It may have kept the momentum going had I not seen the opportunity to publish a more up-to-date Pixelfed review in January, which (as intended) undercut my 2020 review. 26th place in 2025 for a 2020 review is not half-bad.

25. Umineko When They Cry Red Truth Guide (December 7, 2022.)

Speaking of strange articles in the ranking, this is not really an article. Back when I was reading the classic Umineko: When They Cry novel, I found a resource which helped me get back up to speed after a long break. I shared it in a short Leaflet post. This post sneaked into last year’s ranking in 71st place, but it shattered all of its previous performance records by finishing 25th in 2025, including five monthly top 24s with four coming from September-December, and one Newsletter Week top five. I think the people and search engines are trying to tell me that I should review Umineko.

24. Yuki’s Hair Color in A Sign of Affection (NAF. February 2, 2024.)

This is our sixth article about A Sign of Affection to make this year’s ranking cutoff, breaking the record of five from last year. My study of Yuki’s hair color, which was my first Sign of Affection article, finished 9th in 2024 after leading two monthly rankings and six Newsletter Weeks. It had a much less exciting 2025, but finishing 24th more than a year after the anime that prompted this article concluded is commendable. For anyone interested in anime hair color, this is my foundational article for the A Sign of Affection series.

23. Enabling Charging Optimization on GrapheneOS (NAF. January 12, 2025.)

Early in the year, I published a short primer on enabling charging optimization in GrapheneOS, which I noted earlier is a security-focused Android-based mobile operating system. I expected this article to do well and my expectations were ultimately well-founded, although the article was a bit of a late-riser, posting its best results toward the end of the year (3rd in September, 9th in October, and 6th in November).

22. Victory Chimes Schooner in Brooklyn Bridge Park (NAF. December 5, 2024.)

This is a research article about a boat I first saw docked at Brooklyn Bridge Park in 2024. It proved to be a little bit more search-friendly than I expected, posting four consecutive monthly top-9s (including two 4s and 5) from June-September and also notching one Newsletter Week top placement. If you read and enjoyed my history of the Victory Chimes schooner, be sure to also read my less-loved (as of now) history of the Governor Alfred E. Smith, which is docked right next to it.

A Sign of the Upper Class: 21-15

21. How the Forget-Me-Not Flower Found Its Name (NAF. March 11, 2021.)

This article is a model of consistency, having posted year-end finishes of 22nd in 2021, 20th in 2022, 12th in 2023, and 19th in 2024. We can now add 21st in 2025 to the list. Perhaps unsurprisingly for an article about a delicate flower, the forget-me-not post traditionally performs best in the spring, and that trend continued this year with placements of 7th in April and 5th in May. It unexpectedly popped back up with a 10th place in December, which helped it gain a few positions in the final ranking. This post is worth reading for fans of poetry, flowers, and flower lore.

20: A Sign of Affection – Anime Review (NAF. March 28, 2024.)

My full review of A Sign of Affection is the seventh A Sign of Affection article to make the 2024 ranking cutoff, a notable feat since there are only seven articles. While five of the six other articles focus on hair color in the show, this is a serious and largely positive review of the anime itself, which came in at 5th place on my list of best TV anime in 2024. It did not do quite as well as it did in 2024 when it came in 17th place despite only being published in late March, but I will spoil that it is our top-ranked anime review of 2025 after missing the honor by one spot on the 2024 ranking. It is not, however, our top-ranked anime article of 2025, but we will get to that a bit further down.

19. Planning and Angel Next Door Season 2 (NAF. November 5, 2023.)

This article bizarrely finished 3rd overall in the 2024 ranking despite being a joke article about my having had good foresight to guess that The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten would receive a second season when I reviewed the first. After being a non-entity in the first four months of 2024, it ended up leading two monthly rankings and four three-month rankings. It continued its torrid pace in early 2025 with a 5th place finish in January and top-10s from March-June, but June would prove to be its last appearance in a monthly ranking (potentially coinciding with more news about the upcoming second season of Angel Next Door). It did enough early in the year for a high year-end placement, but I hope that my actual review of the first season receives more benefit from the upcoming second season in 2026.

18. Installing LineageOS on a 2013 Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi) (NAF. July 28, 2021.)

Back in 2021, I wrote about installing LineageOS on a 2013 Google Nexus 7 (Wi-Fi) tablet. LineageOS no longer supports this tablet. My tablet is now slow to the point of being non-functional. But this article persists. People keep finding it, reading it, despite the fact that it is not really useful anymore (although I will note one LineageOS developer has an unofficial up-to-date build for the device, for those who are interested). Unlike 2024, in which it posted its best-ever finish of 10th, it did not have any stand-out moments, but it performed steadily well throughout the year (it also previously finished 19th in 2023, 22nd in 2022, and 49th in a partial 2021).

17. Reviewing FrogFind: A Search Engine For Vintage Computers (NAF. July 24, 2022.)

FrogFind is a minimalist search engine/front-end based on DuckDuckGo and intended for use on very old computers. I looked at it out of curiosity in 2022. It finished 42nd in our 2023 ranking and a then-best 24th in 2024, but it had what was clearly and beyond doubt its best year in 2025, notching several monthly placements (including one top-10) and its second-ever Newsletter Week placement. At the rate RAM prices are going up thanks to AI, we may all need FrogFind soon.

16. Hair Color in Raven of the Inner Palace (NAF. November 15, 2023.)

Our top article about anime hair color for 2025 is my review of hair color in Raven of the Inner Palace. I do not know how to explain this article’s success. The anime aired in 2021. It is based on a novel series that I believe is ongoing, but I am not sure why this particular hair color review does so well in search. To the best of my knowledge, there has not been any breaking news about the series. I was surprised when this article finished 20th in 2024, and it did quite a bit better in terns of placement and visitors in 2025. It was strong throughout the year but best early on with consecutive 9th place finishes in January and February and two Newsletter Week placements during the year.

15. My Logitech Washable Wired Keyboard K310 (NAF. January 20, 2024.)

I used a Logitech K310 keyboard for more than a decade through the first part of 2024. Shortly before I ended up switching primary keyboards, I reviewed the now-very expensive (due to being discontinued long ago) K310 (I still have my K310). It finished 2024 strong beginning in August and closed the year in 31st. It continued its late 2024 performance into 2025, improving its final position to 15th. While I do like the K310, I doubt one could find it at an acceptable price these days.

Differences in Article Romances: 14-8

14. Fixing Refresh Rate Issue on 4K TV Monitor (NAF. July 26, 2024.)

This is a troubleshooting story involving my switching the HDMI mode for one of my TV inputs. It was the most-recently published article in the 2024 ranking, coming in at 34th place with a very strong performance late in the year. It carried some of that momentum into 2025, posting 9th place finishes in January and February and generally performing solidly throughout the rest of the year.

13. January 2025 Look at Pixelfed Social (NAF. January 29, 2025.)

I had thought about publishing a “new” review of Pixelfed for years after my original 2020 review was successful. I was kicked into gear when my 2020 review landed consecutive Newsletter Week top placements in January and nearly took the top spot in the January ranking. My timing was good: The 2025 article largely supplanted the 2020 article, finishing 2nd in February and 3rd in March before the spike in interest in Pixelfed began to fade. During its strong run, it landed 8 Newsletter Week placements, most of which were runners-up, but missed following the earlier 2020 review in securing a top finish.

12. An In-Depth Look at Norton Safe Search (NAF. October 18, 2022.)

This was the dominant article of 2024, leading the monthly rankings from September-December and 14 Newsletter Week rankings. While it finished 2nd in the overall ranking for the year, it only missed out on first thanks to Hacker News (noted in my discussion of the 2025 Honorable Mentions). This was not a one-time occurrence since it was coming off a solid 7th place finish in 2023. This article entered 2025 with a head of steam, and performed well early in the year with notable finishes of 3rd in January, 4th in February, and 2nd in April, to go along with 9 total Newsletter Week placements, but it faded as the year went on, posting its final monthly top-24 in July. I always considered this article’s success to be peculiar since I am not under the impression many people use Norton Safe Search. (Related: Norton Browser Search Referral.)

11. Height differences in anime romances (NAF. March 22, 2023.)

My study of height differences in anime romances broke out shortly after being published in 2023, finishing 8th thanks in part to the fact that the anime which inspired it (which I never watched, mind you) aired that summer. I expected it to fade, but it performed solidly in 2024, finishing 14th. Now, for the second time in three years, it is our top-placing article about anime, posting its best-ever total view count (albeit not as many views per day as it had in 2023). It did its best work in the second half of the year, finishing 5th in July, 9th in August, 4th in September, and 8th in October and November. I often refer back to this essay for some of my thoughts on how anime characters are written, so it is something of a foundational post in my anime writing corpus.

10. Installing Ubuntu Touch on a Google Nexus 7 (2013) (NAF. July 5, 2021.)

While this is now the king of my unexpectedly successful outdated tech articles, I will have readers know that I actually featured my Ubuntu Touch Nexus 7 in an October 2025 article, its first genuine article appearance since July 2021. 10th represents its worst year-end placement after finishing 9th, 5th, 5th, and 6th from 2021-2024, but that says more about how consistently successful this article continues to be despite the fact that we are now two Ubuntu Touch versions past the one which last supported this device. In a fun extra note, it posted just four Newsletter Week top placements in 2025, but those four appearances brought it to 101 total going back to 2021, making it just the second article to clear 100 (the next closest has 63, so it may be a while yet before we see another article in the 100 club).

9. Kaori After Story – Visual Novel Review (NAF. December 31, 2022.)

Kaori After Story is a spinoff follow-up visual novel to ACE Academy. Having reviewed ACE Academy, I reviewed it as a follow-up. It had no presence in any ranking until mid-2024, when it became the first visual novel review article to appear in a Newsletter Week ranking. Little did I know that it would go on a “rampage” in late December, gaining more than 10 positions in the final days of 2024 to end the year in 36th. That rampage continued into January 2025, when it led the first two Newsletter Week rankings of the year and ultimately led our January ranking with what was at the time the best monthly performance since the previous January. While January proved to be the high water mark, it also finished 3rd in February and 5th in March and ended up totaling 11 Newsletter Week top placements, which was 6th most for the year. It faded badly in the second half of the year, ultimately being out-performed by my ACE Academy review in later months, but it was second overall for 2025 at the end of July and had enough views in the bank to become the first visual novel review to make a year-end top-10 after having been the first to make a year-end top 40. For those who may be interested: Read the ACE Academy review first.

8. The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei (NAF. March 14, 2021.)

This was one of my early major-research articles, examining the legend behind Natsume Soseki’s purported translation of “I love you” into Japanese as “tsuki ga kirei, desu ne” This is our best-performing article of all time (albeit second in total visits thanks to Hacker News), and it had its worst year to date, which resulted in its finishing 8th. Before finishing 6th in 2024, it had finished 2nd, 2nd, and 1st in 2021-2023, and it was actually much stronger in 2021-2022 than 2023, only to be thwarted by Hacker News-boosted articles. It is no longer the same article that once led the Newsletter Week ranking for 25 consecutive weeks or made the weekly top-five in all 52 weeks of 2022, but it is still a top-performer. It made 11 of 12 monthly top-24s, including four top-10s.

Article Safari: 7-4

7. Broken Optical Audio Cable Door “Fix” (NAF. September 18, 2023.)

This is one of my more useful articles, wherein I demonstrate how to use a Post-It Note to “fix” a broken optical audio cable port. It finished 7th in 2024, and it repeated its 7th place finish in 2025 (talk about consistency). It made all 12 monthly rankings, peaking at 3rd place in April, and added eight Newsletter Week top fives. If you happen to use optical audio cables (not a given these days), consider this potentially valuable reading. (Related: Finally Solving My HDMI ARC Problems.)

6. Misleading ARRIS Modem Login Instructions (NAF. June 12, 2024.)

I purchased an ARRIS SURFboard SB8200 moden in 2024. I tried to log in to the modem following the instructions, but discovered that the packaged instructions were wrong. Fortunately, I was able to find the correct instructions on an online forum. I did not expect my article about this story to do well, especially since most people do not buy their own modems, much less log in to them. But consider me surprised. After missing the 2024 ranking, it comes in 6th in 2025, with a notably strong run of monthly finishes of 8th, 3rd, 2nd, 6th, and 6th from April-August. Its 13 Newsletter Week placements were 5th most for the year and it also had one top-finish. (Related: A Positive Experience With Spectrum.)

5. The Pokémon Special Split in Generation 2 – Statistics and Analysis (NAF. January 18, 2022.)

Back in 2022, I examined the surprisingly long-term effects of how Pokémon split the unitary “Special” stat in the generation 1 Pokémon games into Special Attack and Special Defense in the generation 2 games. It has been a consistently elite article, finishing 12th, 4th, and 8th in 2022, 2023, and 2024 respectively. Its 2025 finish is in line with its 2023 and 2024 performances in terms of total views, although it was less impressive in other respects (8 Newsletter Week placements in 2024 vs 39 in 2023). Consistency was the name of the game this year: It made all 12 monthly rankings and finished in the top 10 in 10 out of 12.

4. Dragonair Safari in Pokémon Yellow (NAF. October 5, 2023.)

Back in 2019, I expended unnecessary effort trying to catch a Dragonair in the Pokémon Yellow Safari Zone. In 2023, I decided to look into the odds I was up against when I did so (they were not good). I put time and effort into this article, but I did not expect anyone to read it. Fortunately, my expectations were wrong. It finished 2024 strong en route to an 18th place finish, and it was much stronger in 2025. It started the year slow with finishes of 15th and 14th in January and February, but went on to finish no lower than 8th from March-December. It landed in 17 Newsletter Week top fives, which was fourth most for the year, and it came close on one occasion to a top placement. (Related: Dragonair’s Catch Rate in Pokémon Yellow.)

The Elite Three: 3-1

Before continuing, I will note for your reference that the top-three articles separated themselves from the pack this year (similarly to how the top-two did in 2023 and 2024, exempting the Hacker News-fueled winner in 2024). The difference between 3rd and 4th place was slightly more than the significant difference between 4th and 32nd place (and 4th had a decent-sized gap over 5th at that), so our top-three set themselves apart. Of course, as we will see, it is also accurate to say that our top article set itself apart from the top three: The difference between first and second is bigger than the total number of visits for the fourth place article.

3. Examining Whether Defense Wins NBA Championships (NAF. July 9, 2024.)

My survey of the relative offensive and defensive ratings of NBA champions from 1973-74 through 2023-2024 finished 2024 strong enough to land in 33rd in the year-end ranking despite having been published in early July of that year. That did not prepare me for what would happen in 2025, when it was the dominant article for the first half of the year. I believe its success was tied to being linked to in the New York Times’ Athletic and other notable sites early in the year. It broke out in February when it had one of the best non-Hacker News aided months we have seen and took the lead in our yearly ranking (which it would hold until October). It also led the March and April rankings, posting what was the at the time the second-best performance of the year in April. Although it faded in July and August, it had close to double the number of views of the second place article at the end of August and looked like a strong favorite to lead the year-end ranking. Of course, it was not to be – and it was ultimately surpassed by not one but two articles — but it finished the year on a good note with a 2nd place finish in November and 5th place in December. It made 29 Newsletter Week rankings (2nd most) and had 11 top placements (also 2nd), and its visitor count would have been good for first place in 2023 and second in 2024.

2. Amazon “Cargo Bikes” in Brooklyn (NAF: April 9, 2025.)

I like the little Amazon eCargo bikes that began zipping around Brooklyn recently (although I still do not think they are “bikes”) and decided to undertake a research article on the endearing delivery vehicle phenomenon. I had some reason to believe that this article would do well, but I did not expect it to lead the monthly ranking in May after having been published in April, much less to repeat the feat in June. While it did not lead any monthly rankings after June, it finished no worse than third in any month and thanks to being shared in an apparently popular Reddit thread had one of the best New Leaf Journal months of all time in September (still not enough for the top spot in the September ranking). It led all articles with 35 Newsletter Week ranking appearances and finished first in eight of those weeks. It performed better than every article in 2023 and 2024 save for the Hacker News-fueled Cycling Doping Fallacies in 2024, but what if I told you that there was an article published eight days later that was even stronger? (Related: Broken Wheel on Amazon eQuad Cargo Bike in Brooklyn Heights.)

1. Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search (April 17, 2025.)

Back in April I was reading through my new feed items when I came across an article about a Google Search-based Pokémon game. Apparently, if you searched for a generation one Pokémon in Google, the Pokémon would appear and you could catch it, ultimately working toward catching all 151 Pokémon. As a veteran of the original Pokémon games who has also written extensively about search engines, I saw an article idea here. I had planned to record my “play-through” on the computer, but I ran into a problem: The game only worked on mobile devices. Fortunately, I knew how to be too clever by half, so I spoofed my user agent to play on a desktop web browser, recorded the play-through, and turned it into an article (the recording is on the Internet Archive).

The article started out strong, making a Newsletter Week ranking in its first week and finishing 20th in April. But its missing the May ranking followed by a 17th place finish in June did not suggest that we had the eventual top article of 2025. It broke out in July, when it landed its first of what would be many Newsletter Week top placements, it and came close to taking the top spot in the monthly ranking, defeated by the strange circumstances surrounding Pogačar Chases Riis on Hautacam. Throughout most of August, it was in a close race against Amazon “Cargo Bikes” in Brooklyn for the top spot. Near the end of August, it “blew up” in Google Search, posting our best Google numbers since Cross-posting from Mastodon to Twitter in late 2022, pulling away to win the August ranking late.

It had our best month of the year in September, very narrowly edging out Amazon “Cargo Bikes” in Brooklyn for the top spot in the ranking after the latter benefited from a Reddit surge. It went on to dominate the rankings in October, November, and December, winning every month and every week by wide margins and ultimately posting four of the five best months of 2025 (Amazon “Cargo Bikes” in September was the other article in that top five). It finished 2025 with the best run of success since The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei in late 2021 and early 2022. Five consecutive monthly top-placements (four by big margins), 27 Newsletter Week rankings and 21 top placements (19 top placements in the last 21 Newsletter Weeks of 2025). It had the third best year-end performance of any article that did not benefit from being shared on Hacker News (trailing only The Mystery of Sōseki and Tsuki ga Kirei in 2021 and 2022). I suppose I made the right call in documenting a play-through of a gimmicky Google Search Pokémon game.

Conclusion

2025 was our most well-rounded year in terms of attracting visitors, and we seem to have had our best-ever months (exempting Hacker News surges) from September-December. It was good to see two new 2025 articles lead the ranking, and Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search appears to be our most promising new article since early 2021. I published several articles from October-December that performed well but were not online long enough to make the year-end ranking, so I expect to see some of those articles feature in 2025. Assuming we see more growth in 2025, I may change the criteria for official inclusion in our year-end ranking last year in light of the fact that we went from 81 articles to 112 in just one year.

Barring unexpected sharing events, Catching 151 Pokémon in Google Search should be the early favorite going into 2026. I would expect it to build up a decent-sized lead in the first few months of the year, so it will start the year as the article to beat. While it would be neat to have our first-ever repeat year-end champion, I hope to publish something in 2026 that will be of enough interest to take the top spot in the ranking.

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