My Favourite Anime of 2018
Last year, 2018, turned out to be a pretty darn good year for anime programming. When I first thought about it, I thought that there were are few good shows, but when I started going back through a list of shows that aired, it turned out to be way better than I thought. Shows were staggered all the way through the year in the winter, summer, and fall seasons so there was always something good to watch.
My Top Five Shows
This was actually really hard to pick, and the list should probably be a top 10. I enjoyed a number of these shows immensely, and I guess these were the ones I really looked forward the most to every week
I have 33 great shows! This is nuts. There was an amazing amount of entertaining anime where trading away the hours of your life was totally worthwhile. Aggretsuko was a fun show about a red panda salary lady who belts out death-metal to relieve stress. Darling in the FRANXX has interesting mech designs and world building with an intriguing relationship between Hiro and Zero Two. The show was epic in a Gurren Lagann kind of way. The time travel esper show, Hinamatsuri, was pretty darn funny with yakuza and interesting bartenders. Golden Kamuy was a great gold rush adventure in early 20th century Japan. Goblin Slayer was a good dungeon adventure show in which they kill goblins. Holmes of Kyoto was a cool show about appraising antiquities in Kyoto and the city is gorgeous too. Angelmois was another great historical drama with samurai fighting the Mongols who invaded Japan. Record of Grancrest War could have been a poor game adaptation, but it was so much better than that. SSS.Gridman was a great Ultraman type story and Attack on Titan finally started wrapping up loose ends. Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens was a good crime / vigilante series too. Violet Evergarden was also an amazing character driven show where a child warrior learns about emotions which have been repressed.
Fun Shows
These were shows that I watched for fun and cute, but turned into something better than I expected. Between the Sky and Sea I almost stopped watching, but the show actually got better as time went on. It was about space fishing in big orbital tanks which is kind of ridiculous, but the characters and story were actually okay once you decided to just enjoy the ride. Katana Maidens was good too in a similar way, but was a much more straightforward adventure story.
Runners Up
My biggest disappointment here was the animated Godzilla trilogy of movies. I love Godzilla, but it was just plain odd, and didn't tell a good story. There were human refugees in a big colony ship with aliens also fleeing Earth (talk about a complicated situation) and they return thousands of years later. I mentioned in another post that it would have been easy to kill Godzilla by bombing him from orbit with big rocks, but that would be too easy. At at least I get what they were trying to do by the end of the final movie and it was ... interesting and different.
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My Top Five Shows
This was actually really hard to pick, and the list should probably be a top 10. I enjoyed a number of these shows immensely, and I guess these were the ones I really looked forward the most to every week
- Full Metal Panic! - Invisible Victory.
Mecha action from a series I started watching in 2003. The continuing adventures of Sousuke Sagura and the whole robot arena battle arc was pretty good. - Hanebado! A badminton anime with real drama.
This was actually really good with the character dynamics and I liked the role reversal that happens. - Laid-Back Camp. Who doesn't like curry cup noodle from episode one?
I want to go winter camping after watching this show. It was so relaxing, about good food cooked in the outdoors, and introduced camping in Japan. - March Comes In Like A Lion.
The continuing saga of Rei Kiriyama and his friends in the world of professional Go playing. Love the characters and the bullying arc was really well done. - Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai.
This show was lots of fun, playing with quantum physics and it reminded me of Haruhi Suzumiya a bit and it was just good to watch.
I have 33 great shows! This is nuts. There was an amazing amount of entertaining anime where trading away the hours of your life was totally worthwhile. Aggretsuko was a fun show about a red panda salary lady who belts out death-metal to relieve stress. Darling in the FRANXX has interesting mech designs and world building with an intriguing relationship between Hiro and Zero Two. The show was epic in a Gurren Lagann kind of way. The time travel esper show, Hinamatsuri, was pretty darn funny with yakuza and interesting bartenders. Golden Kamuy was a great gold rush adventure in early 20th century Japan. Goblin Slayer was a good dungeon adventure show in which they kill goblins. Holmes of Kyoto was a cool show about appraising antiquities in Kyoto and the city is gorgeous too. Angelmois was another great historical drama with samurai fighting the Mongols who invaded Japan. Record of Grancrest War could have been a poor game adaptation, but it was so much better than that. SSS.Gridman was a great Ultraman type story and Attack on Titan finally started wrapping up loose ends. Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens was a good crime / vigilante series too. Violet Evergarden was also an amazing character driven show where a child warrior learns about emotions which have been repressed.
- A Place Further than the Universe - a top 10 show - could have been top 5.
- Aggretsuko
- A.I.C.O. -Incarnation
- Angolmois: Record of the Mongol Invasion - a top 10.
- Attack on Titan
- Blame!
- Darling in the FRANXX - a top 10? It had plenty of interesting ideas.
- Flavors of Youth
- Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma
- Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card
- Full Metal Panic! - Invisible Victory. A top 5 for me personally.
- Goblin Slayer
- Golden Kamuy - a possible top 10.
- Hanebado! - a top 5.
- Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens
- Hinamatsuri - a top 10 with some incredibly funny moments and good story arcs.
- Holmes of Kyoto
- Iroduku: The World in Colors - Iroduku Sekai no Ashita kara- a top 10?
- Isekai Izakaya
- Kakuriyo - Bed and Breakfast for Spirits
- Laid-Back Camp - a top 5.
- Legend of the Galactic Heroes
- March Comes In Like A Lion - a top 5.
- Ms. Koisumi Loves Ramen Noodles
- Overlord
- Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Sempai - a top 5.
- Record of Grancrest War
- ReLIFE
- SSS.GRIDMAN - a top 10?
- Sword Art Online - Alicization Arc
- That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - a top 10? This show has way more depth than the typical I'm stuck in another world show.
- Tsurune - about Japanese bow shooting - a top 10.
- Violet Evergarden - a top 10.
Fun Shows
These were shows that I watched for fun and cute, but turned into something better than I expected. Between the Sky and Sea I almost stopped watching, but the show actually got better as time went on. It was about space fishing in big orbital tanks which is kind of ridiculous, but the characters and story were actually okay once you decided to just enjoy the ride. Katana Maidens was good too in a similar way, but was a much more straightforward adventure story.
- Between the Sky and Sea
- Dragon Pilot - Hisone and Masotan
- Encouragement of Climb
- Harukana Receive
- Katana Maidens - Toji No Miko
- We Rent Tsukumogami
- Today's Menu for the Emiya Family
Runners Up
My biggest disappointment here was the animated Godzilla trilogy of movies. I love Godzilla, but it was just plain odd, and didn't tell a good story. There were human refugees in a big colony ship with aliens also fleeing Earth (talk about a complicated situation) and they return thousands of years later. I mentioned in another post that it would have been easy to kill Godzilla by bombing him from orbit with big rocks, but that would be too easy. At at least I get what they were trying to do by the end of the final movie and it was ... interesting and different.
- Double Decker!
- Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters
- Gundam Build Divers. I liked Gundam Build Fighters but I couldn't get into this one.
- RErideD - Derrida
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Follow me on Twitter a @Tostzilla or my feedburner for this blog.
More cup noodle / instant ramen reviews and Japanese pop culture.
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