Omega-Beta (Season 5)

The fifth season of the British-Japanese anime series *Omega-Beta* aired from June 18 to October 1, 2025 for a total of 16 episodes in a variety of regions, including TV Tokyo in Japan, BBC Two in the United Kingdom and Adult Swim in the US. The season was written and directed by Jay Stevenson, the series' creator, and produced by J-Animations. The season is a slice-of-life drama, and features a soundtrack composed by Kōtarō Nakagawa. The season's opening ("Ishindenshin") and ending ("Hana") themes were performed by Orange Range.

The series takes place in a near-future society where androids are common place. One major use for them is the ability to have files containing data of a human uploaded into them, which will give the android the appearance, personality and memories of said human. These files can also be fabricated, which allows the protagonist McCulloch to assume various original identities. The fifth season follows McCulloch as he assumes the identity of Lionel Culloch and lands the position of a radio-host on Finnigan FM, a local radio station for a town just on the outskirts of Sandleson. Hosting a show from 5pm-7pm on weekdays, McCulloch becomes relatively popular with local listeners, and forms friendships with his sound technician Alice Corn, runner Prince Gait, Finnigan FM's receptionist French Glasken, and fellow radio show host Miss CK. Midway through the season, as McCulloch begins to gain nationwide recognition, Finnigan FM hires an intern to co-host with him on his Wednesday show, though McCulloch is shocked to discover the intern is Thomas, McCulloch's first love from South Martin. Whilst Thomas does not recognize McCulloch, McCulloch has to cope with the feelings of pain, paranoia and loneliness he has suffered with as a result of Thomas betraying him in season one. Despite vowing to maintain a good working relationship with Thomas, the task ultimately becomes too much for McCulloch who reveals himself to be Toro from South Martin to Thomas and confronts him over his actions. Despite Thomas apologising and explaining how deep his regret runs, McCulloch cannot deal with facing him and thus runs away from Sandleson.

Griffin Burns returns for his fourth season as McCulloch, and Yuri Lowenthal reprises his role as Thomas. The season's supporting cast includes Karen Strassman as Alice Corn, Johnny Yong Bosch as Prince Gait, Michelle Ruff as French Glasken and Queen Latifah as Miss CK.

The fifth season of *Omega-Beta* released to critical acclaim. Critics lauded the return of Thomas as "dramatic" and helped to tie together the overarching narrative of McCulloch running away from the problems that Thomas caused in the past few seasons. The supporting cast received positive reviews for making Finnigan FM "feel alive" and appreciated the cast's prominent but not intrusive roles. The setting of Finnigan FM was praised as being small-scale, similar to Berskon Hammer. The season's narrative was cited to feel authentic, noting "there isn't tons that happens in [season 5], but enough to keep viewers engaged." The season's animation and art direction was praised, as was its soundtrack: the season features numerous original songs from Japanese artists, including Gesu no Kiwami Otome, BUMP OF CHICKEN, Polkadot Stingray, Eve and Tatsuya Kitani.

*Omega Beta*'s fifth season's trailer premiered on YouTube on May 12, and brought *Omega-Beta* to the forefront of the anime community as both fans of the series and those who had never seen it understood the impact of Thomas' return, and the trailer went viral on social media. As a result, the season is the commercial peak of the series, gathering an average of nearly 60 million viewers, a near 20 million increase on the previous season. The season remains popular amongst fans, voted the 2nd best season in a 2033 poll, behind season 3. It was nominated for a variety of awards, including Anime of the Year. The series was collected into two blu-ray volumes, and began streaming on BBC iPlayer, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video the following year. It was succeeded by a sixth season in 2026.