ResetEra Anime of the Year 2018 - Voting Thread (READ THE OP) [Ends Midnight January 31 EST]

[Printer Paper 8 X 11]

Welcome to ResetEra's second Anime of the Year (AOTY) voting thread. This thread allows us to look back on the various anime's that came out in the year of 2018. We use this thread to celebrate those that stood out in the crowed rabble of the medium that is anime. As well as to help guide both newcomers and veterans of the medium towards interesting anime they may have heard of but haven't delved into that came out this year.

For better or worse anime can be a difficult medium to get into. Whether it be from the lack of knowledge of what shows are out there; to certain stereotypes (both true and falsely equated ones) associated with anime as a medium making one uncertain if they want to try it out. The overall goal of these community AOTY voting/results threads are to both celebrate the quality works of the year, while also being a reference in helping someone find a better example of the medium to watch.

Please read the rules below, failure to comply with the rules can lead to your ballot being disqualified. If you are uncertain about any aspects of the rules, please PM me and I'll do my best to clarify on the subject.

Voting Rules

Cut-Off:
The vote will be closing on January 31st, 2019 at 11:59PM EST. Any vote posted or editing of previously posted vote after said time will not be counted.

Categories:
Like always there will be two main categories for AOTY:

Anime Series of the year – Top 10
Anime Movie/OVA of the year – Top 5

You will be able to vote up to 10 TV Shows. You May vote up to 5 Movies/OVA. You can include any number of Honorable Mentions. Honorable Mentions can be shows/Movies/OVA from this year that didn't make the list, as well as any anime you watched in 2018 that may of not came out in 2018 but you felt others would enjoy. When listing Honorable Mentions, please include the words Honorable Mentions above said list so we don't accidentally confuse them for your main voting ballot.

Eligibility:

Anime Series – Any series that was broadcast in Japan in 2018 can be included on your list. This includes ONA releases like Devilman Crybaby and any shows distributed via the internet only. This also includes long running shows that started prior to 2018 like Dragon Ball Super or double course shows from Fall 2017 season like March Comes in like a Lion S2 who's second 11-episode run was in Winter 2018. Any show that began in 2019 is not allowed.

There is one exception to the aired in 2018 rule: If a Netflix anime that originally broadcasted in 2017 in Japan, but Netflix did not release said anime in your region until 2018. You may include in your top 10 list.

Anime Movie/OVA – Due to the nature of how Movies/OVAs are distributed, the rules for this section differ from the TV shows. If a Movie/OVA released in Japan in 2018 you may include it in your list. If a Movie/OVA became available in your territory in 2018, you can include it in your list. Any work that can viewed via a film festival screening / theoretical screening / or was released for the first time on home media in 2018 is eligible.

Not Anime/Fake Anime/ Etc... – If it's not anime you can't vote on it, only Japanese productions. Any western produced shows animated by Japanese studios are not allowed either.

There is one big exception this year: Like how we allowed it in 2016 in the place we migrated from, Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 2 is the one exception to this rule. You will be allowed to include Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 2 in your Top 10 list. Thunderbolt Fantasy is more anime than anime, thus like in 2016 it is inconceivable to deny everyone the right to include it in their AOTY lists.

The exclusion of other countries works is not to be elitist, nor to belittle the animated works of other countries. This thread's purpose is to focus on Anime (and Thunder Bolt Fantasy S2) and the quality works produced this year from the medium. Though you can't include non-Japanese produced works in your list, please feel free to include them in your Honorable Mentions section.

Voting Format:

All votes should look like this format:

1. My Hero Academia (Season 3) – We got a buff naked Tintin in this anime, what more can we ask for?
2. Yuru Camp △- Cozy and warm. The most fun I've had watching people doing something that's miserable in years!
3. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online – Best thing to come from the SAO franchise to date.
4. Hanebado! – While I'm not sure if badminton is really this intense, this was the most fun with a sports anime in years. Also, the anime's Opening is amazing visually.
5. Bloom Into You – One of the best romantic drama anime's I've seen in years. It also tackles a subject most anime falter on.
6. Planet With – While the animation may have been rough to put nicely, Planet With is still one of the best Mecha anime to come around in years.
7. Pop Team Epic – I'm not sure what I watched…but I think I liked it.
8. Overlord (Season 2 + 3) – Filled my edgy Isekai itch that had been itching since Overlord Season 1 ended.
9. Zombie Land Saga – Came for the weird comedy, stayed for the Yamada Tae.
10. Skull-face Bookseller Honda-San – A skeleton working at a bookstore is a premise. It was fun, weird and yet had a lot of heart even if Honda doesn't have one.

• Please have your list numbered in the same way as show above. Do not do 10 to 1, if done that way your ballot may be tossed. A visual example of what not to do will be shown below.
• Please do not include a Power Gap. If you only have 5 shows you want to list simply list them 1-5, do not do 1-3 (POWER GAP) 9-10. If included your ballot may be tossed, a "Eye Catching" visual example of the power gap will be included below.

• Please include a comment about each show for your ballot to counted. You don't have to write an essay (you can though), a few words on why this show appealed to you will suffice.
• Please use the English name of the show (not the synonym name) when listing your shows in your list. The English name is the one that the streaming service like Crunchyroll/HIDIVE/Etc. use on their platform. Also, please use the full name of the show, do not use nicknames/shortened names like Bunny Senpai for Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai.
• For shows that have multiple seasons that aren't continuous like Overlord or Attack on Titan, please include Season # after the title. This can either be done as Attack on Titan Season 3 or Attack on Titan (Season 3), either of these ways are acceptable.
• For any show that had multiple seasons in the year of 2018 the show for both seasons can be included in a single ballot vote on your list. For example, instead of doing Overlord Season 2 at the 3rd spot and Overlord Season 3 in the 5th spot. You can simply just list Overlord Season 2 +3 in a single spot on your list.
• Please do not post open, un-tagged spoilers anywhere in this thread.
• Please do not do a 'Reserve' post to hold a spot in a thread to eventually post your ballot. There is no need to do this, just post your ballot when you are finished writing it.
• You can edit your ballot until the deadline passes.
• Feel free to include images to your ballot, please try to avoid using too many gifs and make sure your images are well formatted.
• Points are in descending order, with your #1 being worth 10 points, your #2 being worth 9 points and so on until your #10 which is worth 1 point. For films your #1 is worth 5 points and your #5 worth 1 point.

Example Template
Please check the below example before posting your list. Thank you!

Anime TV Series
1. Series A - Your thoughts on Series A.
2. Series B - Your thoughts on Series B.
3. Series C - Your thoughts on Series C.
4. Series D - Your thoughts on Series D.
5. Series E - Your thoughts on Series E.
6. Series F - Your thoughts on Series F.
7. Series G - Your thoughts on Series G.
8. Series H - Your thoughts on Series H.
9. Series I - Your thoughts on Series I.
10. Series J - Your thoughts on Series J.

Anime Movie/OVA Series
1. Film/OVA A - Your thoughts on Film/OVA A.
2. Film/OVA B - Your thoughts on Film/OVA B.
3. Film/OVA C - Your thoughts on Film/OVA C.
4. Film/OVA D - Your thoughts on Film/OVA D.
5. Film/OVA E - Your thoughts on Film/OVA E.

Honorable Mention
x. Honorable mention - Your thoughts on it.

The winning Anime of the ResetEra AOTY Voting thread will get the coveted ResetEra Pipimi Dictator of Earth Award shown below!

Award visuals are subject to change. If said Anime that wins does not pick up the ResetEra Pipimi Dictator of Earth Award by February 5th, 2019, the award
will be given to BGBW for safe keeping until 2019's AOTY winner is crowned and picks up said award.​

Remember to get your votes in before the deadline of January 31, 2019 at 11:59 EST. Also, once again if you have any questions please PM me.
Have fun writing up your lists and watching through your anime backlog to get your list finalized! Good luck, everyone!

 

[Dedication Through Light]

Wow thats a weird reason to put HeroAca as number 1, but then again, the best parts of s3 was everything in the 2nd half of the season.

 

[Deleted member 2802]

Anime TV Series
1. Attack on Titan Season 3 - Some crazy fucking shit went down, plot is complete batshit insane and throw in that fuckballs animated sequence in epsiode two. Well worth a few months of Crunchyroll

 

[Cornbread78]

Will be tough this year

 

[Printer Paper 8 X 11]

Wow thats a weird reason to put HeroAca as number 1, but then again, the best parts of s3 was everything in the 2nd half of the season.

Click to shrink...

That ain't my list DTL, just an example list.

 

[Aaronrules380]

Anime TV Series
1. Planet With - I'm a sucker for Mizukami's manga, so when I heard he was making an anime I was hyped, and Planet With did not disappoint. It's not necessarily Mizukami's strongest work, and the production values aren't anything special, but the storytelling is unique, fun and heartfelt, and I just love this show
2. Rascal Does not dream of bunny girl senpai - I'll be honest, I initially wrote this off due to the misleading title, and that was a mistake. The storytelling is emotional and well done, and it has one of the best romances I've seen in an anime period
3. Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 2 - Thunderbolt fantasy continues to be great. The characters are amazing, stories are fun, and puppet action is on point
4. Aggretsuko - A surprisingly endearing and relatable story about the working life as told using a bunch of sanrio animal people
5. Gintama Season 4 - Gintama is always great, and this season was no exception. While we weren't able to get a proper ending due to the way the manga is being handled, the last episode making fun of that was amazing and perfectly in line with Gintama's tone and humor
6. My Hero Academia Season 3 - I love My Hero, and this was another great season of the show. Great Shonen
7. March comes in like a lion S2 - I caught this show late, but it really is fantastic and a great show on both depression and healing. Even if the shogi stuff pretty much always went over my head
8. Hinamatsuri- A fantastic comedy that also had some surprisingly great emotional moments.
9. Zombieland Saga - I didn't expect to like an idol show this much, but Zombieland Saga genuinely surprised me. Characters were a lot of fun and humor was on point
10. That time I got reincarnated as a slime - Sure it's an isekai, but it's a lot of fun and it just genuinely gives me good vibes

 

[Gentlemen]

The official localized name of one of my faves is "Asobi Asobase - workshop of fun -"

Will this flummox the parser into thinking the name of the anime is 'Asobi Asobase' and my comments on it are 'workshop of fun'

 

[Aiii]

1. A Place Further than the Universe - This show about achieving ones dreams despite things seeming impossible, while also hitting hard with emotional beats as one girl and her new-found friends sets out on her goal of following in her deceased mother's' footsteps of going to Antarctica. The cast of characters in this is so absolutely wonderful, it's hard to put in words how much you root for them to achieve their goals. Impossible to keep your eyes dry during this show, absolute gem.
2. Yuru Camp - Often described as a comfortable show, this was absolutely a surprise gem this year. Like it's title (Laid-back Camp) suggests, the show oozes that feeling throughout, while following the general CGDCT tropes, the shows focus on winter camping just makes everyone feel comfortable. The cast was likable, the characters as cozy as the theme. All in all, the feel-good show of the year, for sure.
3. Devilman Crybaby - Interesting art, combined with great storytelling and a terrible bleak world-destroying view of humanity. This kicked off the year on Netflix and became an instant hit for a reason. Definitely the most artistically interesting anime that came out this year, and surely something people will consider a recommendation for years to come.
4. Zombieland Saga - The best thing this show did was make people believe it was a parody instead of a comedy. That said, the comedy was on point. From the infamous cold open and subsequent zombie shenanigans, this show had me from the first minute. You could tell the VA's had an absolute blast with the (excellent) script and it was just really enjoyable. I'd recommend this show to pretty much anyone, but I'm sure it'll be good go-to for when someone new to anime comes a long and asks for a recommendation on what to watch.
5. March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2 - Season 2 outclassed the first season in every way, which is amazing given how good that season was. So San-gatsu makes it into my list for the second year in a row. The bullying arc was absolutely stellar, and as someone who went through similar experiences in high school, hit very close to home. This show remained tear-jerking, yet inspiring all around. Artwork and animation elevated this even further, remaining consistent throughout.
6. Bloom Into You - Not your average yuri show for sure. The characters in this show are complex and layered and they each have a very good reasoning for their dependency on the others. Looking forward to getting more of this show, because I'm hooked on these characters more than any other show this season.
7. Hinamatsuri - A wonderful cast of characters helped by a great script that made the comedy in the show really hit, while also perfectly pulling on your heartstrings when things mattered. The conflicts in the show felt real, while also making sure the comedy never took a backseat. Masterfully done, and absolutely one of the shows to watch this past year.
8. Uma Musume Pretty Derby - Horse girls that attend a special riding school so they can compete against other horse girls in horse racing, with the top three performing a good old idol show at the end of the race. Absolutely ridiculous premise that never should have worked as well as it did. But it did, because the writing gave each character enough weight to make you care about them, and while presented as a dumb gacha vehicle, it was actually one of the top sports anime in a while, with the races and the struggles depicted very well. This should not have been as good as it was.
9. Chio's School Road - After Hinamatsuri another great comedy show this year. Funny, ridiculous, and just a lot of fun to watch each week. However, it didn't deliver the same emotional beats as the aforementioned show brought us. It was kind of just there to make us laugh, and that's fine, too.
10. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - Like a lot of people, I almost didn't watch this show based solely on its basic isekai premise. But the way this show is made is something else. The comedy is on point, the battles are fun to watch, and all in all it's just a fun ride all around.

Honorable Mentions
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - More than the supernatural aspect of the puberty syndrome, I really enjoyed the human aspect of this show, the characters are dealing with pretty normal puberty stuff and the way the show portrays them as they struggle, as well as how the two main characters interact with each other and the rest of the cast really did elevate this show, even if they did seem to rush through each arc a bit too much.
Goblin Slayer - Controversy aside, the fantasy setting in this show is fascinating, the world seems natural, the comedy is on point, the action scenes are fun and while some of the plot points are just terribly convenient I did find myself looking forward to this show each week.
Aggretsuko - Cutesy office worker tale that is actually a damn brutal depiction of being a woman in Japan's work culture. Aggretsuko deals with harassment by co-workers, both male and female, and lets off steam through Death Metal karaoke as she tries to navigate work and love life. The short episodes make it a quick binge on Netflix, and one that's definitely worthwhile.
My Hero Academia Season 3 - The best arc too date from MHA was translated extremely well to screen, the story was paced well and all the cast did magnificent of bringing the story of One For All versus All For One to life, the passing-the-torch moment especially was perfectly executed, as was Bakugo's arc throughout. Enjoyed this thoroughly.
Megalo Box - Going for a throwback style made this a very interesting show to watch, even though the deliberate down- and upscale made it look worse than it could have, while still maintaining that old-school look. A good rendition of Joe's story and definitely a lot of fun to watch, shame it wasn't two cour's, it felt too rushed at times
Steins;Gate0 - Definitely could have done with taking out a few drawn-out episodes here and there, as the show stayed focussed too long on Rintaro's depression before returning to his old Kyoma Hououin ways, which is when the show is much much better. The time travel bits are what make this show and there's not many anime that do cliffhangers better than Steins;Gate.

 

[Printer Paper 8 X 11]

The official localized name of one of my faves is "Asobi Asobase - workshop of fun -"

Will this flummox the parser into thinking the name of the anime is 'Asobi Asobase' and my comments on it are 'workshop of fun'

Click to shrink...

Nah, we will know that workshop of fun part is just the second part of the name. Just do Asobi Asobase - workshop of fun - comments...For weird names like that, I'm more then willing to give slack of just using the after fun - to show the seperation of the title and the comments rather then doing double - -.

 

[Gentlemen]

Anime TV Series
1. March comes in like a lion - The best written, animated and acted ongoing anime of the last decade, at least. Peerless tempo of deeply felt personal anguish and a goofy look at the personalities inhabiting the world of competitive shogi.
2. Asobi Asobase - workshop of fun - Runaway champ of comedy in 2018. The setup of girls who are internally terrified of adolescent humiliation but sprint right past the point of giving even a single fuck is an instant classic.
3. HINAMATSURI - I have a love/hate relationship with this show. The comedy is well done but sometimes the show asks a bit much of me to watch children be miserable, homeless and alone a lot of the time.
4. Golden Kamuy - Unique setting, great lead characters, high stakes adventure. Can't ask for more.
5. Thunderbolt Fantasy - Wuxia puppets with ridiculous production quality!
6. Aggretsuko - Unexpectedly sympathetic look at the plight of office workers in contemporary Japan.
7. Devilman Crybaby - This is a hard sell to anybody who doesn't see what's coming considering the subject matter, but it remains an unforgettable ride through a dark fantasy story about the demon apocalypse.
8. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - The first and only isekai I've endured more than one episode of so far. Makes it here on the relative charm and ambition of the protagonist, sits in the lower half because it ends up pretty tropey all the same.
9. ZOMBIE LAND SAGA - The first and only idol show I've endured more than one episode of so far. Janky 3d cuts aside the zombie humor elevates this above the rest of the rubbish heap.
10. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - An unfinished-feeling poor man's Monogatari is still pretty okay!

Anime Movie/OVA Series
1. Night Is Short, Walk On Girl - Got a surprisingly wide release this year and comes out on blu ray this month. Do not miss this reunion of the creative team behind Tatami Galaxy, creating another freeform dive into the supernatural worlds controlling Kyoto University nightlife from the night book market to the endless chain of drinking at afterparties to guerilla stage show musicals to a citywide cold epidemic. Masaaki Yuasa is easily my favorite animation director working today.
2. Mirai - A charming story about family, the uncertainty of sibling relationships and the struggle to mature as an older brother.

 

[Jexhius]

You might say that the real anime of the year were the friends we made along the way.

 

[zulux21]

This was a tough year for me to choose, and not because I feel it was a great year of anime. In fact part of my problems were this was the first year in a long time there just weren't any stand out shows to me. Plenty of good ones, but no truly great ones.

1. Hinamatsuri/ Hina Festival

What can I say. I like comedy shows, and I like when comedy shows punch me in the gut. There are a ton of great moments that make you laugh in this show, and then it manages to make you feel things, like how leaving your friends behind can be hard. How working hard can feel good. And how Anzu should be the chosen one not Hina.

2. High Score Girl

This show likely only fell to second because of the CG animation. At times it looked fine, at other times it made me cringe, but the show is good enough that it makes up for that. What at first seems like it's a look into the 90s arcade scene quickly makes it clear that there is a lot more going on. Bonds made over games, the thrill of competition. The story as a whole is a fun view of how games can bring people together, and how love can be complicated and painful.

3. My Hero Academia season 3

I don't really feel like I have to say much about this. If you like MHA, then watch it, if not don't. It's more of the same, but at the same time it's still great. Normally I try to focus on new series instead of returning, but given my enjoyment of this I really can't justify dropping it below this.

4 - Aggretsuko

This is a Hello Kitty spin off and it looks like it, which is part of the reason it is so great. It doesn't take to long for her to sing about how shitty of a boss she has, which makes you realize that despite how this looks, it's actually aimed at people entering the work force. An easy to relate story about having to deal with crap bosses, with charming characters (for the most part, a few are annoying), death metal. It's just a lot of fun.

5- Cells at Work!

I'm always a sucker for shows that pull of pretending to teach me things well. Add in the studio that makes Jojo and basically a bunch of villains that would be fitting from Jojo into a show about the body and you end up with Cells at Work. Part of what made this one reach this high for me is just the simple fact that it didn't feel like every other show. The setting was so odd that it stuck with me, so while the show had flaws, it's a show I know I will remember years from now.

6- Overlord (season 2+3)

Season 2 had lizard sex, characters I really didn't care about, and then finally had a little bit of interest going on. Season 3 made me start caring about those characters from season 2, and got very dark at times. This show is all about overpowered characters toying with mere mortals, but it does it well, and is interesting to watch. It has issues from time to time, but if you are looking for a darker anime with some decent writing there are far worse places to look.

7- Zombieland Saga

So if you ever want to make sure that I will stick to a 3 episode rule, there is one simple thing you can do. Kill someone with a vehicle in the first 10 minutes. I in general hate cute girls doing cute things. I'm not into idols. I feel zombies are one of the most boring monsters out there and have been tired of them for decades now, and yet, I quite enjoyed this show. It is just the right amount of ridiculous to keep me watching. The CG for the songs could have been way better but most of the songs were fun, and some parts drug on, but if the idea of zombie idols interests you at all, I would say give this a look.

8- Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

I'm really hoping that as time goes on we will get more adult based RomCom anime. Maybe the charm will wear off if we get more, but it's always nice to have actual adults dealing with romance issues instead of high school students.

9- Violet Evergarden

This show is very beautiful at times. It also has some really great episodes. That being said I would have been perfectly fine if this series had just been cut down to a 90 minute movie covering the content of those great episodes involving Violet's past. A lot of the other episodes I just didn't care. I typically take a while to warm up to characters, combine that with the fact that while Violet's history and journey is interesting, the character herself is pretty boring, and you get plenty of moments I just didn't care about at all.

10- Bloom Into You

This show has the honor of being the first yuri show I can honestly say I enjoyed, and recommend to people who like romance. Too many yuri shows treat it as a sexy taboo and usually involve characters forcing themselves on others, usually with it being a trigger point for someone to realize they are into girls. While a kiss was stolen, the show in general treated the characters as characters in a unique romantic situation instead of as something sexy like Citrus did this year (seriously don't watch Citrus, it's bad). The cast was solid, the story was interesting, so why is this at the bottom of my top 10? When you spend half a series setting up something, and you end before you hit that something... well that just isn't a good feeling, and really soured me on the show. I'm on board to watch a second season, but the end just came off as really disappointing to me.


Honerable Mentions
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - enjoyable series, but since it's not amazing, and is still airing an easy one to cut since it can be on my 2019 list.

Goblin Slayer - Does this show have issues? Absolutely, it's why it's down here. That being said it's still entertaining a lot of the time, and the ending was quite satisfying.

Tada Never Falls in Love - This one just missed the cut, but I decided to cut it because while it's an enjoyable romance which doesn't do anything wrong, it doesn't do anything amazing either. If you are wanting a romance show it's a solid watch, but a year from now you likely won't remember most of the plot because it doesn't really leave a lasting impression.

Dragon Ball Super - This was just stupid fun, and even though I knew how it was end for the most part, was still a lot of fun.

 

[Breqesk]

You might say that the real anime of the year were the friends we made along the way.

Click to shrink...

*the friends we made along the way to Antarctica!

 

[Kansoku]

1. A Place Further Than the Universe — I don't even know what to talk about. It's only flaw is that it's too good.
2. March Comes in Like a Lion 2 — For once, 3gatsu doesn't take first place. It's still fantastic and one of the better show's I've seen. The second season is great and while this second half moves on from Hina's arc, the stories that come are still fantastic.
3. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai — I guess I'm a rascal because this show was made for me. Sakuta is a great protagonist, his relationship with Mai is incredibly well done and the show's serious moments were very poignant, specially in Kaede's arc.
4. Hinamatsuri — Not only did we get a fantastic comedy which nails comedic time and has a bunch of great characters, we also got a moving story in Anzu. Best daughter forever.
5. Asobi Asobase — I expected nothing and got one the funniest shows I've seen. Some of the latter jokes didn't land as well as the earlier ones, but otherwise it's hilarious. It also have the best ED of the year.
6. SSSS.GRIDMAN — GRIDMAN has some problems with pacing but I found it easy to overlook this due to it's strengths. I love how stylistic this show is, I love the character designs and the sometimes quirky directing. And I also grew up watching Ultraman so, while not the original Gridman, it also has the plus of nostalgia for me.
7. Planet With — This was my introduction to Satoshi Mizukami's works and having rea his mangas after the fact, unfortunately to me Planet With is the worst of the bunch. However even at his worst it is still a really good show.
8. High Score Girl — Super charming and nostalgic. I was expecting a nice SoL about gaming in the past and got a nice, down to earth romance that keeps me wanting for more.
9. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online — Extremely fun, much better that SAO have ever been. I could've gone with a toned down Pitohui, but LLEN and Fukaziro are so good I can overlook this.
10. Cells at Work! — Was quite fun. The characters in particular were very charming and had great designs all around. It was also quite educational, which makes sense. Unfortunately some episodes felt a bit like a drag and the ending could've been more interesting.

Honorable Mentions:

• Layton Mystery Detective Agency: Kat's Mystery-Solving Files — Boy this is really fun. Kat is an amazing character and Hanazawa Kana does a fantastic job voicing her. It's hard no to smile whenever she is on screen. Trying to figure out the cases along with the show is quite fun and the cases themselves are quite nice and varied.
• Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These — As someone who haven't watched the original, this was pretty good. I like the new character designs, and the show seems to retain what makes this series great. Shame it will take a long time for it to end. The season's ending was pretty lackluster and the followup movies will take a long time to come out =(
• Steins;Gate 0 — Was pretty nice, but didn't capture me like the original did. It also took a really long time for things to get going.
• Yuru Camp△ — Really comfy SoL. Characters are endearing and there were some nice funny moments here and there.
• My Hero Academia Season 3 — First half of the season was really good, and it's my favorite arc. Second half was pretty weak tho. The source material for that part is OK, but animation quality took a dip and there were some pacing issues, which made something that wasn't already as good as the rest, worse.

No movies vote because I'm a filthy 3rd world country resident and not able to watch anime movies in the year they come out.

 

[Shard Shinjuku]

Top 10 Anime of 2018:

1. A Place Further Then The Universe:

I think this might be the third or so year where my Anime of The Year was decided in the Winter season of that year; in fact, i believe this was like the first anime production that started the year of 2018. Indeed there were strong contenders this year for the crown but at the end of the day I don't think I watched a more inspiring and phenomenal series this past year then A Place Further Then The Universe. The particulars of what made this series work are quite in depth and I will leave the nuts and bolts to the likes of Youtube but from my perspective this is the program, or one of them, that can showcase how deep and packed with emotional content a CGDCT entry can have.

2. Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

What we have here is the adaptation of a stage play that at first appears to be a typical high school thing and then it get bathed and perhaps deep fried in the tropes and imagery of Kunihiko Ikuhara as well as the sheer what the fuck spectacle and also thankfully leaving the problematic parts at the door without delving into spoilers. This almost made it to the very top of this list but ultimately I did have to give the nod to the above entry because Revue Starlight almost requires a bit of a working knowledge of the Takarazuka tradition to really get what this work is trying to say.

3. Bloom Into You:

This would have made the list alone for being a good adaptation of a good queer focused manga series, let alone being the arguable best adapted yuri work seen to date. What really elevates this production is using the new medium to elevate itself to even higher planes of excellence as well as exploring complicated situations of sexuality without having to resort to cheap and gross taboos. What drags the recommendation down a bit is since the manga is currently ongoing the series just stops and not at good point either.

4. Laid Back Camp:

I am about a surprised as perhaps anyone that Laid Back Camp ended up on this list given how in general I am to loathe the CGDCT genre for often times become bored very quickly as I usually need something beyond surface level cute and maybe a gimmick. If you want to see how it all can go so very wrong, watch the dreadful Ms. Kobayashi Eats Ramen Noodles as it contains pretty much everything I hate about the genre save for maybe obnoxious character designs as well as the dangers of leaning in on a premise that is so much thin soup. Laid Back Camp by contrast strikes the balance by having a subject matter that is both varied and broad enough to fill a single cour show without becoming dull and also has characters who move beyond the archetypes, at least main characters, so that watching them doesn't become tiring. Also, yes, this show is the definition of comfortable.



5. Lupin The Third Part 5:

I will admit I choked on this one a bit when the series was airing and I still on balance despise Ami, even more so now I have finally finished The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, but her aside this might be the best Lupin series that is currently in existence. Not just because it spans all the Jacket Eras but also provides the best examination of the complex relationship between Lupin and Fujiko. I think the aspect I enjoyed the best about Part 5 was all of the social commentary on the state of the world though perhaps that is an aspect that will become its most dated given that this Lupin has things to say about Facebook, social media, the god damned social credit system and even the income inequality gap among other things and is shockingly insightful to boot.

6. Planet With:

If you ever need a lesson in economical storytelling this is series to watch as it manages to cram a mech anime series that would have in times past been given a 52 or so episode run into a one cour space. The amazng trick that was pulled off is the execution of the story beat and pacing actually works so you get a show that is all killer, no filler. I am aware that this is a production that will probably be in a higher position on other rankings but the overriding element that dragged down Planet With for me was the flat production values. I can't say anything was bad save form perhaps some of the CGI but god damn this is some steak that needs some sizzle to it.

7. Devilman Crybaby:

To put it simply this is perhaps the shining example of how to modernize a series in a radical direction while still keeping the key ethos of the old property. Though that last part does carry of the caveat of elements that are creaky and dated to the whims of modernity still being that, a warts and all adaptation. Indeed, some the new adaptions highlight the issue. Still, probably the best Netflix anime going currently that was actually made for Netflix and indeed keep that in mind as this is a senien series full stop.

8. Skull Faced Bookseller Honoda San

This was a series that just needed more love as you will learn all about how a big retail manga bookstore will work as well as learning to hate retail and customers even more if that is possible. Indeed I rather enjoy having the absrud premise become a series of teaching moments about how some very boring material works and I do sympathize for the entire staff.

9. Pop Team Epic

I would imagine if we were doing a worst anime list that many people would have selected Pop Team Epic and that is understandable as this is a flavor of anime you are either going to love or hate for the most part. Personally I am mixed on the series but that has more to do with the fact that it is a sketch show and no matter how weird or random or whatever they get, they will always have good bits and bad ones. That being said I really enjoyed the anarchic creativity that went into everything from the humor, the the art, to even the voices, I can respect that on the whole.

10: Double Decker! Doug & Kirill

Not going to pull punches here, this show is messy and not in a good way, it attempts to tackle some very deep issues, like alternate sexuality and falls on its face in the best of times and it is downright offensive at the worst of times. Moreover, this is a series that was clearly cut in half as it rushed plot threads; for example, multiple revelations are handed out in one episode that would have been their own episode and other such unfortunate developments. The stunning thing is somehow the series manages to be mostly coherent and indeed was building most of the plot threads and threads the needles a lot of the time. The thing though that made me add this show to the list is the characters and their interactions, both the core cast and the supporting cast are rock soildly entertaining and I wish they had ditched the greater density plot so we could have had more stupid episodic fun.

 

[xEik]

Anime TV Series
1. Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 2 - It has flair, hype battles, interesting twists, likeable protagonists and hateable antagonists.
2. March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2 - For a protagonist that seems to often be on the verge of depression, the series has an exceptionally warm heart.
3. Devilman Crybaby - When you think shit has hit the fan and then shit really hits the fan. But even after that, shit REALLY hits the fan.
4. Bloom Into You - A well written romance that doesn't need to fall in the rapey tropes that too often plague yuri.
5. Golden Kamuy - I love how deranged character of the week never fails to outdo last week's deranged character of the week.
6. Kokkoku - It does interesting things with stopped time. The family members have good chemistry.
7. High Score Girl - A love letter to arcades and videogames of the 90s and it still manages to have a really nice love triangle.
8. Space Battleship Tiramisu - I love parody and I'm a mecha fan. What is there not to like?
9. Dragon Pilot: Hisone and Masotan - A series carried by the optimism and honesty of the protagonist who adheres to the way she sees things despite a hostile environment.
10. Asobi Asobase - Reaction faces galore. At its best when absurdity goes up to eleven.

Honorable Mentions in no Particular Order

After the Rain - Visually striking. It's nice that they kept it sensible.
Attack on Titan Season 3 - A guilty pleasure. I enjoy it the most when it revels in despair.
Chio's School Road - The banter between the two friends is priceless. Unapologetic geeks are always a bonus.
Darling in the Franxx - Overall a bit disappointing but it has a few points when it really shines.
Gundam Build Divers Prologue - The only good part of Build Divers which is one of the worst Gundam ever.
Gundam The Origin VI: Rise of the Red Comet - A nice space battle and it does a good job at placing every important character where it needs to be so that the story in 0079 can begin.
Hinamatsuri - Good laughs but the protagonist is the weakest character in the series.
Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san - The escalation of double, triple, quadruple, etc. guessing keeps it fresh.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - I cannot say no to space opera. If anything, it's a bit annoying how almost everyone except the main characters are profoundly incompetent.
Nobunaga no Shinobi: Anegawa Ishiyama-hen - Jokes that are just historically inaccurate enough to be good fun.
Overlord Season 2 + 3 - If you must have Isekai, at least a true villain as a protagonist makes for an interesting change of expectations.
Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - A protagonist who is not interested in having a harem and is not indecisive about who he wants as a girlfriend. What a rarity.
SSSS.Gridman - The overall narrative wasn't all that but most of the fights were hype enough.
Skull-face Bookseller Honda-San - For a series where none of the main characters show their faces, their reactions are just too good.
Yuru Camp - Comfy is a word that it is often misused but here it's completely justified.

 

[Jexhius]

2018 wasn't the best year for anime, but there's still a few stand-out works worth celebrating:

TV

1. Devilman Crybaby
2. March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2
3. Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 2
4. Bloom Into You
5. Aggretsuko
6. Baki
7. Zombieland Saga
8. Planet With
9. After the Rain
10. Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online

Movies

1. Maquia
2. Mirai

 

[erd]

Anime TV Series

1. Devilman Crybaby
The first thing that immediately makes the show stand out is its artstyle. Like with Ping Pong, Yuasa's previous show, I imagine this might be a turn-off for some but for me it's one of the shows biggest strengths. I'm just a sucker for weird anime artstyles I guess. The lessened focus on realism allows the animators to go all out on crazy character animation that makes the show feel distinct, and the show uses this to great effect. An early example is using Akira's exaggerated running animation to show his body is no longer human. Aside from that, the show also knows how to use its artstyle to deliver some beautiful visuals:

It's just a very nice looking show overall.

The shows music is superb as well. The show's composed by Kensuke Ushio, who also composed Ping Pong, and who's about as good as an anime composer gets. There's several songs that stand out due to playing at some of the shows best moments and the show's superb sound/music direction ensures the animation is synced perfectly to the music. Even more impressively, the calmer, less bombastic tracks also deliver, creating a nice sense of atmosphere and dread that permeates the whole show. Another thing I like is that the show isn't afraid of immediately following up tense or sad scenes with happier, nicer moments accompanied by the appropriate music. It's a bleak and depressing show and it understands that bleakness works much better if it's contrasted by occasional moments of happiness. The show follows up its most heartbreaking moment with this, for example: https://giant.gfycat.com/EachImportantCottontail.webm. (Please excuse the terrible gyfcat quality. I really don't know what a good place for uploading webms is). It's a brief moment of beauty immediately preceded and succeeded with the show at its most depressing. And boy does it work.

The show also has the best ED transitions in all of anime. Well, second best I guess since Flowers of Evil exists and nothing is ever going to beat that. For starters, there's this part from episode 6, which is pretty much the perfect example of ending the episode on a hype cliffhanger while syncing the ending music so that it kicks in at exactly the right moment. Not watching the next episode immediately after that is pretty much impossible. But the example from episode 7 is even more impressive. Seeing one of the main characters break down like this, with that unnerving music playing, and then dropping the credits like that? That's just perfect. And it comes completely out of nowhere too. It's a major turning point for the show's story and it's depicted about as perfectly as it gets.

It's probably a really minor part for most, but man do I love a good ED transition.

Another thing I really like about the show is how it handles character animation, and how it handles animating human emotion. Few shows really manage to directly portray emotion well through animating character faces. It's just hard to do. Devilman: Crybaby doesn't shy away from portraying emotion through facial animation even in the most ordinary scenes. Like this example, which is taken from the most boring, dry, expository scene imaginable. And despite that, the upbeat music and the incredible expressiveness of the characters make the scene feel energetic and fun. The show manages to take something as unappealing as a group of people talking and turns it into one of my favorite anime scenes of the year. Considering how dry and unexciting conversations usually look in anime, this had a huge impact on how much I enjoyed the show. And when the show is tasked with portraying a character's pivotal moment, it gives us this very spoilery scene. It's a bit melodramatic perhaps, but seeing the character's facial expression change into something so disturbing left quite an impact on me. I can't think of many other shows that could even approach such a raw display of emotion.

And lastly, I just really enjoy the direction and editing of the entire show. It's not surprising considering how famous and well-regarded Yuasa, the show's director, is but it's still worth pointing out. I particularly enjoyed the lightning-fast pace. The whole show just feels really energetic and manages to maintain tension without ever really letting go. It's a thoroughly gripping show and I'm glad Netflix just released every episode at once, because waiting a whole week between each one would reduce the impact the show had on me. I also really like how dedicated Yuasa is to focusing on the story's characters. The fundamental story doesn't really lend itself to this as well as Ping Pong's did, but there's still a nice focus on the relationship between Ryo and Akira, and Akira and Miki. Most of the show would fall completely flat for me if I didn't really care about the characters, but the show is really good at ensuring that doesn't happen. Despite the fact that the characters aren't particularly deep, they are still interesting, believable, and just really well realized.

It's a fantastic show overall and it easily takes the #1 spot this year.

Oh, and I really want to post how good a specific moment in episode 10 is. Very spoilery, but it's just so good:

Spoiler: EP 10 spoilers

Seeing Ryo's smug face get obliterated is the most satisfying thing in the entire show. Going over it frame by frame really shows how much detail they put into this roughly 1 second of animation to deliver the best punch in all of anime. I never get tired of looking at it. Absolutely superb:

Honorable Mentions
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Only the last episode of this came out last year, and since I haven't watched that one yet I would feel a bit dishonest voting for it. However, since I did just spend an entire paragraph talking about how good Devilman's character animation is I'd still like to mention this show. Because man does it have good character animation. The following few clips demonstrate this pretty well.
https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/14034
https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/14036
https://www.sakugabooru.com/post/show/14037
And it looks like this pretty much the entire time. It's incredible. I had originally written the show off since looking into it mostly just showed crappy 3D battle scenes, but those are barely in the show. It's amazing how a Gundam show manages to deliver such great character animation, because that's the last franchise I'd expect something like this from.

 

[Deleted member 29249]

1. Goblin Slayer
2. Golden Kamuy
3. My Hero Academia S3
4. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
5. After the Rain
6. Angoimois: Record of Mongol Invasion
7. Overlord 2/3
8. Watakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
9. Megalo Box
10. Hinamatsuri

 

[janoGX]

I believe this i the hardest year for me to pick a Top 10 on Anime. So many great series and only 10 to pick. It will be hard but lets try.

TOP 10 ANIME OF THE YEAR 2018

1. March Comes in Like a Lion (Season 2)

Talking about series that made me cry, this one's personal. I suffered bullying during mid-high school, I was being ignored by people, no one to talk to, I just got names, blamed for everything, you name it. I found a light by getting with people who support me and value me for who I am, and now I'm in a better place, still with some sequels from that bullying, but much better.
This series made me cry because I could relate with Hinata's struggles with bullying, she's strong man, she went head on against it, and she got immense support from every character, even Rei who also grew as a person trying to re-connect with society.
The art is beautiful, the soundtrack is in another level, this is one of the series that makes you reflect on who you are, that some moments are designed for you and you get the message of what's happening. I love it man, incredible work by SHAFT.

2. A Place Further Than The Universe

What a special series, the characters and their motivations felt real, the trip, real, the occurrences, real. The show had the story, pacing, everything on point, it knows how to balance comedy and drama. This is basically going on a trip with friends: you will cry, laugh, enjoy the time looking at them, and have an experience you'll never forget. The animation, the art is sublime and MadHouse shows again why they're one of the top studios around, they did everything perfect except the CG helicopter from episode 13. Overall, it left a smile on my face, if March wasn't on 2018 this could have taken the top spot. Anyway, bravo.

3. Devilman Crybaby

I need to talk about this series and how it hit me, It was the beginning of the year and the anime dropped on Netflix, went full binge, and it destroyed my heart. By far, one of the most stylish series of 2018, Yuasa did it again and gave us incredible artwork, animation and visuals. One of the best soundtracks of the year, combining 80's synths with some rock and orchestral. The story, I knew what I was getting into, I read the manga, never expected the twists on this series and made me feel worse than reading the original material. It's a watch that you either go full on and endure, or take a few days after an episode to let it sink in, either way you'll come out stronger by watching this.

4. Goblin Slayer

And here's the controversy. Many people trash this series because of the first episode and try to invent excuses without even watching the series, or try to not mention it here so it doesn't spark a big problem in a discussion, but let me get it straight: Goblin Slayer is the best LN based Anime since Re:Zero. The way White Fox does this thing with Light Novel adaptations is incredible and they know the formula to bring scenes from the LN (and manga to an extent) into full motion. The protagonist is a case of someone that has a natural progression over the 12 episodes of the series, you learn this person is a goblin killing machine, and then by the end of episode 12 he's transformed. Yeah, it has the harem sin, but how the cast works as a support system for the protagonist makes it not a problem to watch.

5. Megalo Box

This was a wild ride, one of those series where I didn't expected much, but ended up liking it a ton, paying homage to the 480p era and bringing the artstyle of those ages back, Joe, is that protagonist you like because he's a badass who wants to fight and nothing else, he knows he's better than many but he's held back by his manager, add to that a compelling story, a great cast, a sublime soundtrack and that it doesn't overstay the welcome, this celebration anime from Ashita no Joe's 40th anniversary passes with high grades.

6. Violet Evergarden

This is like watching a real soap opera, but animated, it's done in such a nice way, it can bring emotions that even the "hard guys" can't resist. Kyoto Animation bringing their A-Game to the art and movements of the characters, it feels like a movie budget on a weekly series. Violet is on a quest of finding her true self, you can feel her struggles, her past memories, and her fight to leave her past behind. The story is masterfully crafted and without a doubt deserves a place on this list.

7. My Hero Academia (Season 3)

Here it is, many of the most significant moments of the manga are here, and it paid off in spades, Bones went all out on the series, gave us some of the best fights of the year, and someone of the best moments ever on Anime, I don't need to talk too much about it, excelent sountrack, characters that have progress over the story, animation that delivers, and those OPs are incredible. Just watch the series, binge the seasons if you haven't and enjoy one of the best shounen's in recent memory.

8. Pop Team Epic

One of my weirdest picks in Anime, but one of my favorite, the way this absurd comedy goes makes your head spin, but at the same time it makes you laugh so hard, and then it repeats the plate with different ingredients to add to the absurdist comedy you have, and you laugh harder because it's so ridiculous that you already lost all damns to give about. This is my experience with Popputepipikku, and I wouldn't change it for anything. Best comedy since Konosuba, and I mean it.

9. Zombieland Saga

This is what happens when you make an idol anime without catering to idol fans, one of the most popular series in Japan, it's just great, you have laughs, you have dance, you have singing, you have crying, and you have the LEGENDARY TAE. You have ridiculous situations where the protagonists try to "live" and deal with their situations and make the best of it, and it's just a much better made 'Wake Up! Girls!', the fact that they used real locations for this series, exact locations, and they've done their research it's a plus and it means they haven't been lazy with just another idol series.

10. Attack on Titan (Season 3, Part 1)

This is low because it was cut in two parts, still Top 10, but not on the high spots. As a manga reader I know what is coming, Part 2 will be insane af, probably will jump to Top 5 next year. But let me be clear, this was gorgeous, the way the anime rearranged the Uprising arc from the manga, the pace, the fights, everything made this top notch, it is still the weakest arc of the entire story, but not by much and it leaves the series at the best position ever, ready to just wow the entire audience waiting for what it is in my opinion, the best arc.


HONORABLE MENTIONS:

All of these series could have ended on my list, but only 10 can reach those spots, those 6 series DESERVE a mention because they've been great and fun. Jojo and DBS bringing the hype of fighting every week, Slime and GGO by bringing one of the most OP protagonists ever but in such a twisted fun way, Bunny and SSS bringing one mindbending adventure. Go watch them, you will be a fan of those, enjoy them.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR:

You knew it was coming. How do the same studio that made SSS.GRIDMAN made this clusterfuck? The story was incredible until chapter 13, then we get 15 and it was alright and I would have loved it ended when Zero Two got rescued. BUT THEN? Fuck, what a way to fuck up a Top 3 contender of the year, how to ruin it in 8 episodes. How? How?

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

1. March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2
2. A Place Further than the Universe
3. Gegege no Kitarou
4. Jojo Part 5
5. Bloom Into You
6. Today's Menu for Emiya Family
7. Zombieland Saga
8. Lupin The Third Part 5
9. Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san
10. Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 2

Another chance to vote for the MASTERPIECE that is March comes in like a lion is always welcomed.

Also a lot of you need to watch Gegege no Kitarou, I also need to watch more of Huggto Precure as I've heard it's incredible.

 

[Deleted member 11985]

Anime TV Series

1. Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles - The single minded obsession of Ms. Koizumi and her love of ramen is an inspiration for us all. I wish I could be that motivated about something.
2. Aggretsuko - I identified with Retsuko and her plight. It was refreshing to see her day to day life play out.

Honorable Mentions

• Attack on Titan: Season 3 - It got good towards the end, but the shift away from the main characters towards a bunch of boring politics crap kind of made me mad. Everybody kept saying to wait for the pay off, but I honestly would've preferred a possibly less politically deep story that still revolved around the main characters.

 

[Pellaidh]

I had a pretty hard time getting a list up this year. Mostly because there just weren't all that many shows that interested me.

And just to check, we don't need to use the ordered list function like we have to for GOTY voting right? Because that thing is pretty broken for me when posting slightly longer lists

Anime TV series

1. A Place Further Than the Universe -
I went into A Place Further than the Universe with very low expectations. From the synopsis and from reading other people's opinions, it seemed to be nothing more than another one of those moe cute girls shows that are all the rage these days. Thankfully, the show turned out to be so much more than that, and easily took the spot for my favourite show of the year (not that there was much competition this year).

At it's core, this is a story about loss, acceptance, and moving on. And while the actual story is a bit outlandish, the themes it tackles are strong and relatable enough that it doesn't really matter. Surprisingly, despite the all female cast, the show manages to threat these themes with the respect they deserve. Which means that my initial worries about things sexual "fanservice" or fetishization turned out to be unfounded. The story is also carried along by a pretty good cast of characters. They aren't perfect, and there's a couple of plot points in particular that the show could have done without. But in general, the characters in the show are just a joy to watch. This also extends to the comedic moments, which manage to actually be pretty funny.

In addition to the strong writing, the show also has some pretty incredible production values. First, there are the rich backgrounds and interesting storyboards that make even the most mundane scenes visually interesting. Then there's the surprisingly great voice acting and good use of music.

And finally, the show is pretty well paced. There's a couple of slow spots near the middle, but all in all, it packs a lot of punch in its short 13 episodes runtime. It manages to accomplish much more in that time frame than most shows do in 50 episodes or more

2. Devilman Crybaby -
Devilman Crybaby is an absolute visual spectacle, which is to be expected given it's directed by Yuasa. It might honestly be his best looking work yet, simply because his rough, aggressive and unpolished style works really well with the kind of story Devilman is trying to tell. The soundtrack is also exceptional and really manages to elevate a couple of key scenes.

Unfortunately, the writing has a couple of issues. The rampant violence and hyper-sexualization work somewhat okay at the start of the show. But as it goes on, the show just keeps getting more and more depraved, culminating in a climax that just kind of feels so overdone it goes from simply being edgy to just being in poor taste. The last couple of episodes, and particularly the ending, are also kind of nonsense.

But none of that is bad enough to overshadow just how good the show looks.

3. Asobi Asobase - workshop of fun -
Reviewing comedy always seems pretty stupid to me, as people's sense of humour is so different. In any case, I found Asobi Asobase to be by far the funniest show this year.

It would be easy to call it's style of humour "dumb", and in a way that would be totally accurate. Because this is one very dumb show.But there's actually a lot of internal logic that means the jokes make sense and aren't just randomness for randomness sake. The show has a habit of introducing seemingly throwaway punchlines that seem to just be meaningless, only to expand upon them later down the road. And I feel like that makes it stand above other "lol so random" comedy shows that came out this year.

Visually, the show's okay. There's nothing spectacular here, but the direction and visuals are all on point and make the jokes work

4. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind -
At this point, you're either already watching JoJo, know you hate it, or should go watch JoJo right now. This season continues being the best battle shonen/seinen you can find in the medium.

Personally, I feel like this season is the weakest since the first one. Mostly because the stand abilities have gotten so crazy that a lot of the battles don't make a lot of sense any more. The protagonist, specifically, has a power that seems like it can do whatever the story demands at any given moment.

But it's still JoJo, so it's still good. Particularly in a year that doesn't really have a lot going for it.

5. Cells at Work! -
I feel like Cells at Work could be a really great show, but it unfortunately seems to be stuck in the duality that seems inherent to the kind of show it is. On one hand, it tries to be a sort of educational documentary about the human body and the cells that inhabit it. But on the other hand, it also wants to be a character driven drama. And it feels like these two ideas are in conflict with each other every step of the way. On one hand, you want to have character development. But on the other hand, cells are literally one of the simplest organisms out there that exist only to perform one specific task for the entirety of their existence. Change isn't something they're capable of. As a result, everyone except the protagonist just seems incredibly one dimensional, because they kind of have to be.

It's a good thing then that the protagonist, Red Blood Cell, is just good enough to carry the entire show. Watching her is just delightful, and that's mostly down to the great visuals and voice acting. You can tell the studio is working with pretty limited resources here. There's no extravagant sakuga moments, and a lot of the show is just pans over still images or incredibly limited animation. But they still manage to make the most of it, creating something that's just fun to watch.

As for the negatives, I just don't think this show really works in terms of education value. The information presented is incredibly limited. At best, you learn the names of the cells and their basic functions. At worst, the show teaches things that are at best misleading (laughter isn't really going to help much against cancer) or at worst just plain wrong (I'm pretty sure red blood cells don't really transport nutrients, despite the show bringing this up like every episode). After every episode, I had to go read stuff on Reddit just to figure out which parts of the show are actually real. And that's not really how an educational show should work.

6. HINAMATSURI -
There's an arc in Hinamatsuri where one of the protagonists spends some time living with Japan's homeless population. Usually, stories about the homeless have a way of being pretty exploitative. Like telling people that the homeless are actually better of than rich people because they don't need money to be happy. Hinamatsuri isn't like that. Instead, it portrays them simply as people, with their own problems and worries, but ultimately in a very positive light. It's a good arc, and it's particularly important given just how poorly society in general, but Japan in particular.

The rest of the show is fine too. As a comedy, it's never really all that funny, but it does manage to be pretty heart-warming at times.

7. Revue Starlight -
Going into Revue Starlight, all I knew was that it was the directorial debut of Tomohiro Furukawa, a long time collaborator of the legendary Kunihiko Ikuhara (Utena, Penguindrum). So clearly, my expectations for this were probably unreasonably high. The good news is that visually, the show does somewhat manage to capture the feeling of Ikuhara's shows. It even features some very impressive action scenes in the early parts, although sadly the show cannot sustain this level of quality throughout. I was also very impressed with the show's use of music. It felt like every episode of the show was accompanied by a soothing piano soundtrack that deliberately matched the action on screen, somehow becoming more than just background noise but a deliberate part of the scene. Like music theatre, which was very much intentional given that the show is in fact about one. Sadly, every episode also featured some pretty awful idol music accompanying every action scene, because this is also an idol show.

Unfortunately, the actual writing part of the show is a mess. There's a gigantic cast of main characters, and most just get an episode focused on them and then become totally irrelevant. With only 13 episodes, there just isn't enough time to even come close to anything resembling character development, and as a result most characters are just super simple one note things. The show even takes up some time to set up a really interesting plot twist, only to basically forget about it in the next episode because there's not enough time to actually explore its implications. And there's the ending, which is just pure nonsense.

So in the end, you end up with a show that's pretty to look at and listen to, but not much else.

8. Planet With -
Planet With is an okay super robot show. The one thing it excels at is the pacing. Every episode does something new, and the story just keeps escalating in new ways all the way to the end with very little downtime.

But aside from that, there just isn't that much here. The characters are pretty basic, the overall conflict is just barely touched upon, and the visuals and overall production is unspectacular at best. The show was good enough to make me watch it to the end, but it didn't really make an impact aside from that. But that's still more than I can say for the wast majority of the shows I watched this year, including everything on this list that follows it. So it gets on the list.

9. Today's Menu for Emiya Family -
I don't even know if this counts as a show or an OVA. Anilist says it's an ONA just like Devilman, and Crunchyroll just has it up as a normal show. So it goes here I guess.

Anyway, this is unironically the best looking Fate show Ufotable has ever made. It ditches the studio's traditional CG post-processing heavy appearance and instead opts for a more traditional, warm, hand drawn look. And it works shockingly well.

Plot wise, this is just the cast of Fate cooking food. It's not going to win any awards, but at the same time it means it's still better written than a lot of other Fate products. It's only really on this list because I found this year to be pretty lacking in good anime.


10. ZOMBIE LAND SAGA -
A decently fun idol comedy show that manages to have some actually positive trans representation, which isn't something I'd expect to see in an anime. Sadly, it's still an idol show, and I don't really care about those. It also has a pretty terrible taste for humour at spots. Almost every episode has a scene where the protagonists get insulted and berated by their manager. It's supposed to be funny, but it's really not. Production wise, it's a pretty good looking show, minus the really ugly 3D dance sequences.


Honourable Mentions

Steins;Gate 0 -
In the very first scene of the show, the protagonist, suffering from heavy depression, is seen visiting a hypnosis therapist. Which is I think literally the only time I've ever seen the words therapy used in any anime dealing with depression. Sure, it's hypnosis, which maybe doesn't even really count, and it doesn't seem to have any real effect. But given the stigmatization of mental illness (particularly in Japan, and super particularly in anime), it still feels like some sort of progress.

Even after that, I found the way the show handled the protagonist's depression to be pretty interesting. In my experience, anime has a couple of ways of handling depression. There's super heavy-handed melodrama, victim blaming, telling people that the best way to cure it is to just get some friends, or just using it as a punchline to a joke. (Well, at least the ones I've watched were like that. Quite frankly, they were so bad I prefer to ignore shows that handle this topic these days. So this is clearly a pretty biased look at it). Steins;Gate 0 isn't like that, and instead takes a much more grounded approach to it, creating a protagonist that actually feels like a human being. Which is doubly impressive when you realize you're talking about Steins;Gate.

Sadly, this doesn't last for very long, and it isn't long until the show is back to just being Steins;Gate again. And the depression plot-line doesn't really go anywhere, so even that aspect of the show is wasted. Well, maybe it does later on, but I could only stand about 6 episodes of the show before dropping it.



Anime Movies/OVA
1. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms -
I don't really watch a lot of anime movies. Part of that is due to their availability, but a lot of it comes down to the fact that so many of them are so incredibly overhyped that it's hard to tell what's worth watching, particularly in recent years.

Maquia was one such movie, but thankfully it more than lived up to the hype. This is probably the best anime movie I've seen since Sword of the Stranger. A touching story of motherhood that somehow manages to free itself from the writer/director Okada's love of overwhelming melodrama and questionable moral messages.

It also looks absolutely spectacular, from the beautiful character designs (courtesy of Square's/Cygames' Akihiko Yoshida), incredible background art, smart direction and lively animation. None of those factors aren't really the best the medium has to offer, but they combine to create a wholesome artistic image that works every step of the way and makes the fantasy world of the movie feel real.

Story wise, there's a lot of the movie that doesn't really work all that well. The main villain is super weak, and there's a lot of plot points that don't seem to go anywhere or aren't really needed. But none of that matters because the core relationship of the movie (between Maquia and her son) just works so well. There's just so much genuine human emotion packed into this movie, both good and bad, that I can forgive all its problems. Especially since that's something you so rarely see in anime.

2. Susume, Karolina. -
Susume Karolina is a 3 minute web short about the first non-Japanese professional Shogi player, featuring absolutely lovely backgrounds from Mateusz Urbanowicz (whose work you might have seen in Your Name). He also directed it, which is pretty cool, since both him and Karolina Styczynska (the player featured in the short) are Polish. I could say more, but in the time you'd read that you could just watch the entire thing on Youtube. Which would be a much better use of your time.

Two minutes in, you'll also realize you've actually been duped into watching a Japanese nutrition drink commercial, but at that point you probably won't really care. Because this is probably the best looking anime commercial I've seen.

3. Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note - A Grave Keeper, a Cat, and a Mage -
The rules asked for full show names, so that's what the monstrosity above is.

This is a bit of a weird one, since it released just before New Year. And it's basically the sequel to Fate/Zero, although probably not in a way most people wanted it to be. Instead, you get adult Waver basically being a wizard professor/detective. As far as Fate setups go, you could do a lot worse.

It's hard to really say much more about it, since it's basically just a short teaser episode before the full anime starts next year. But so far, it seems decent if not particularly good. At the very least, Waver seems like an okay protagonist, and I just want more anime featuring adult protagonists in general.


Honourable mentions
The King's Avatar Specials -
I'm probably not allowed to put this on the actual list, because it's made in China, and as such, isn't anime.

The original King's Avatar was one of the bigger surprises of last year. The King's Avatar OVA is basically just a short mini series that will hopefully act as a bridge between season one and season two. There's not really that much here other some pretty good looking duels between the characters introduced in season one. But it's nice to see those characters again. And the action scenes still look great, so it's worth a watch just for that.

 

[sinonobu]

It was a very good year for anime. Had a hard time coming up with just 10.

TV

1. Hugtto Precure - Fure Fure. Hugtto Precure is what motivates me throughout every week.
2. Aikatsu Stars - While Stars has some glaring flaws, it's still a very enjoyable ride. Season 2 also fixed a lot of the issues S1 had, and made the cast even more likable. Aikatsu is the best.
3. SSSS Gridman - For quite some time, I was disappointed with many of Trigger's work, and I expected the same for Gridman. However, what I got was something that I never could have imagined. Easily my favorite show from Trigger.
4. Revue Starlight - I didn't even know about the existence of the show going in. But then, I heard some murmurs about it, which hooked me in to watch it. And I don't regret that for a single second. What a phenomenal show it was.
5. Aikatsu Friends - Aikatsu Friends is different from OG or Stars but it's great none the less. I can't wait to see what eventual S2 will bring to its table.
6. Zombie Land Saga - 2nd biggest surprise of the year for me. Had no expectation and was completely blown away. Franchouchou forever!
7. A Place Further Than the Universe - While there are parts where I find problematic, I still thoroughly enjoyed Yorimoi.
8. Bloom Into You - The best romance anime of the year.
9. Yuru Camp - I don't like to use this phrase, but Yuru Camp is the "Comfy" anime.
10. Planet With - Whew a good original mech anime. Been a while since I last saw it.

Movies & OVA

1. Liz and the Blue Bird - Fantastic movie with great directing and story. Just as I expected going in.
2. FLCL Alternative - Was bit worried going in but they did a good job. While I prefer the original, Alternative brought a lot new to the table, which I enjoyed/liked.
3. Hugtto! Precure Futari wa Precure movie : All Stars Memories - Seeing Cure Black and White fighting alongside Cure Yell was an emotional experience.

 

[Deleted member 9305]

Anime TV Series
1. Bloom Into You - near perfect adaption of the manga, endearing story and characters

 

[Kewlmyc]

Haven't watched enough to participate this year, but looking forward to getting some recommendations from this thread.

 

[CheapJuice]

Anime TV Series

1. March Comes in Like a Lion S2
2. Golden Kamuy S2
3. Nanatsu no Taizai: Imashime no Fukkatsu
4. Thunderbolt Fantasy S2
5. After the Rain
6. Devilman Crybaby
7. My Hero Academia S3
8. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
9. Asobi Asobase

 

[Zelenogorsk]

Anime TV Series
1. Attack on Titan Season 3 - Still the best series going right now. Great characters, great action, everything I want in an anime.
2. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. 2 - Hilarious, I love every character.
3. After the Rain - Best looking show of the year, and a very touching story.
4. Hinamatsuri - Funny and cute.
5. Devilman: Crybaby - Very stylish, a fun watch.
6.Back Street Girls: Gokudolls - Way better than I thought it would be.
7. High Score Girl - Very relaxing watch.
8. Goblin Slayer - Badass and fun.
9. Pop Team Epic - Pure entertainment.
10. My Hero Academia 3 - Great.

 

[EnronERA]

GOD FINALLY

 

[OwOtacon]

1. A Place Further Than The Universe - This show came to me at just the right time. A bittersweet tale about exploration and breaking boundaries, this resonated with me... hard. Also the ending ;_;
2. Violet Evergarden - Fuck me this show is beautiful
3. Zombie Land Saga- Trans representation AND zombies AND Idols? Actually this show is better than it has any right to be on a non-ironic level
4. Pop Team Epic - The funniest show of the year because it's also the boldest show of the year in terms of how it presents itself.
5. Dragon Pilot - I don't know why I liked this show so much but I really did. Maybe the dragons were cute.
6. Laid Back Camp - This show really is laid back.
7. Megalobox - Cool is the word I'd use to describe this show. Its style is cool. The fight scenes are cool. It's an old story, but it is told with real style
8. Cells At Work! - I have a thing for semi-educational anime, and this had some surprisingly good fight scenes.
9. Aggretsuko - A little too empty at points, but this was a good character adapted well.
10. Devilman Crybaby - Loved the style, disliked the substance.

 

[EnronERA]

Anime TV Series
1. A Place Further Than the Universe - Does it all. It's cute, the characters are believable for the most part and compelling, lots of humor, the drama is a bit overdone but enjoyable, and it will make you smile and make you check that all your curtains are drawn, doors are shut, and blinds are closed so that no one can see you cry. I love this show so much. It reminds me a lot of Love Live! but without the ridiculousness and the silly idol crap. Also the best ED of the year.
2. Yuru Camp - Like everyone else will say, this is cozy. It's comfort food. It's a big bowl of homemade mac n cheese or your grandma's green bean casserole in anime form. You would think that a show about girls camping would just be some boring throwaway moe trash thing designed to sell character goods without a lot of effort put into it, but you'd be wrong. The backgrounds are fantastic, the entire score is wonderful, and the opening is one of my favorites of the year with its big bold visuals.
3. March Comes in Like a Lion Season 2 - Even though s2 comes in at #3 on my list, the "franchise" as a whole (if you can call it that) is probably my favorite animated thing from the last several years. The drama in this is one is laid on REAL thick but you don't mind. So much time and care is taken on each of the main characters and so many of the side characters that there's bound to be something in one of them that the audience can identify with and think "yes, i have felt like this before" and it makes you root for them even more. I don't want to know how many times I fucking cried watching this show. A lot of people are turned off by SHAFT doing SHAFT things, but even though its present here it's not as prevalent perhaps due to the nature of the show and a nearly 1:1 adaptation from the manga.
4. SSSS.Gridman - Trigger animating giant robots that kick ass. Usually not a fan of Trigger shows, but this one is surprisingly free of some of the crazy shit they pack into their shows. Its not going to win any awards but damn its fun
5. Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai - I thought going in that this was typical light novel garbage, and yes the title fooled me too. But then I saw several people in several different discords and twitter going on about how great it was. I had heard someone call it "Monogatari Lite" which made me think twice because i don't like the -Monogatari series, but I gave it a shot anyways and i went through all the available episodes in one night. At first it seems like a very trite premise, high school dude with all these hot girls with supernatural issues and using some bs physics to solve them but you realize after 1 episode that its not some typical harem garbage.
6. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - Complete surprise. Was expecting more Light novel garbage from the title until someone told me to watch it anyway and hah. What a ride. This show is just fun. There's nothing really standout about it, other than its not brain-dead like most isekai stuff that either relies on bog standard action, fanservice, or both. The pacing is not the greatest but you won't care. The sum ends up being greater than its parts. I love this show.
7. Hinamatsuri - You laugh your ass off every episode. Seriously.
8. Aggretsuko - Everyone that works in an office will enjoy this one. Obviously all of its situations are way over the top, but there's enough there for us to latch on to and try and match up our own workplace experiences with Aggretsuko's. I appreciate the not-so subtle social commentary as well (like the recent xmas episode about social media)
9. Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san - I've never worked in a retail job so i can't say i can relate to anything, but it seems authentic at least. The reactions of the staff and customers they serve are all hilarious, especially the caricature of foreign customers. YAOI BOOK
10. Hi Score Girl - This caused a revision to my list. I just finished this, and oh man ;_; ;_;


Anime Movie/OVA Series
1. Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin VI "The Rise of the Red Comet" - I absolutely loved this entire OVA series that takes a look at Char and Sayla's story and the events prior to the start of the One Year War. The direction can be a bit choppy at times but those familiar with Mobile Suit Gundam will have no trouble keeping up. The CG is not quite Unicorn quality, and it was kind of odd at first but you get used to it by the 2nd installment.

Honorable Mention
1. Megalobox - Im running out of steam typing up these thoughts so i'll just sum this one up quickly. This shit is badass. Style, charaters, music, everything. Fuck yeah
2. Zombieland Saga

 

[Grexeno]

Anime TV Series

1. A Place Further Than the Universe - What initially appears to be just another CGDCT show, although one with more out-there premise than you would expect for one of those, is actually one of the most well-written shows in actual years.

2. Aggretsuko - Bitingly relevant to today's current work hellscape.

3. Bloom Into You - A breath of fresh air in a medium that is mostly still content to keep same-sex relationships just plausible enough to check a box on an "audiences pandered to" form, but not willing to actually explore them in depth. This show nails it, even without a proper ending.

4. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind - Mmm, that's some classic grade-A JoJo bullshit right there.

5. Planet With - Starts off looking like a pretty standard mecha, throws all your expectations right in the garbage in Episode 1. Ends up as the most unique and fun mecha/hero show in years.

6. Hinamatsuri - A show that is frequently hilarious, but also heartwarming in ways I didn't expect.

7. Asobi Asobase - workshop of fun - Speaking of shows that shattered expectations, this show takes even your expectations of what it is and disintegrates them with a butt laser.

8. After the Rain - An anime. About this subject matter. I'm still flabbergasted that it pulled it off.

9. Zombieland Saga - Come for the crazy zombie idol comedy, stay because you're watching the Lily episode through your tears.

10. Laid-Back Camp - I never want to get out from under this extremely comfy blanket.


Honorable Mentions

My Hero Academia Season 3 - The training camp attack and All Might vs. All for One are some top tier shit. The license exam, not so much.
High Score Girl - Actually pretty adorable, if you can look past the somewhat off-putting CG.
Hakumei & Mikochi - There should be more slice of life shows in fantastical worlds.
Revue Starlight - Could have been something really special if only they had more time to spend on the Revues instead of desperately trying to keep the production afloat.
Devilman: Crybaby - This show's strength is Masaaki Yuasa with no oversight. This show's weakness is also Masaaki Yuasa with no oversight.

 

[YukiroCTX]

1. A Place Further than the Universe - I had low expectations at the start of the show and no idea I would end up bawling my eyes out by the end. Love the characters and the journey they embark.
2. Hinamatsuri - Absolutely love the manga and it's great that the anime does a great job of adapting it. Absolutely hilarious with the voice acting and animations just on point.
3. Attack on Titan - Solid season. Fun Action sequences and edited well enough to moving past one of the weaker arcs without issues.
4. March Comes like a Lion Season 2
5. Yuru Camp - Really tranquil and peaceful kind of show that works so well for me.

 

[Dedication Through Light]

I'm a mecha fan. What is there not to like?

Click to shrink...

odd, where is gundam build divers on your list? Give gundam the representation it needs, I cant be the only Divers fan :(

 

[EnronERA]

odd, where is gundam build divers on your list? Give gundam the representation it needs, I cant be the only Divers fan :(

Click to shrink...

Divers wasn't that great. Definitely the weakest of the Build Fighters shows so far. I feel like Bandai needs to shelve this series for a bit.

I dont think Build Divers would even make my top 20, which is kinda sad.

 

[ninnanuam]

1. Hinamatsuri - Great comedy with a fantastic cast, Hina being the blandest helped all the others shine.
2. Gintama - I felt like this year was a return to "classic" Gintama. There were heavy themes and serious action but the jokes still came thick and fast.
3. Pop Team Epic - The structure was kind of annoying but 95% of the gags hit.
4. March Comes In Like A Lion - Rei and Co's struggles are still worth watching. Hopefully it returns soon.
5. Chio's School Road - Again a really good gag anime, however its let down by running some good gags into the ground.
6. A place Further Than The Universe - I ended up watching this well after it aired after reading some recommendations and I was not disappointed.
7. Devilman Crybaby – Looked fantastic and drew me in.
8. Asobi Asobase - The characters bounce off each other well, the set ups for jokes are good and the pay off usually works. In a less filled year it might have made my top 5.
9. GeGeGe No Kitaro – I don't know if this will resonate with everyone and it's a bit kiddie but this year I really got into yokai and yurei stuff and this show was a fun part of that.
10. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime - If you had told me I'd be putting an Isekai on my like even six months ago I would have laughed. Sure it's filled with tropes and power fantasy and its boring in a lot of sports but I really want to see where that small goblin village ends up.

 

[Deleted member 2793]

TV

1. Revue Starlight - Was all in since the PV reveal. I love Takarazuka and Ikuhara influenced stuff, but the show itself surpassed my expectations. The action scenes are the best in the year thanks to the way they integrated theatrics/music in them in settings representing the mental state for the characters dueling -- the animation and direction are simply amazing as well, and make these scenes spectacular to watch.
That said, what got me the most in it was the story. We see the girls struggling with their "fates" and it's basically a social commentary on Takarazuka's (and Japan's ) competitive culture and how much it holds people back in several ways.
It's an anime that pays tribute to theatre and actresses, while not shying away from showing its darker side. All wrapped in a show with lots of effort and heart put in, from writers to animators (including the foreigner ones that helped the staff when they needed them).
It felt like Starlight was tailor-made to be everything I like in anime, while still managing to surprise me in positive ways.

2. A Place Further Than the Universe - Almost any other year and this would be number 1. Yorimoi is a fantastic inspirational story that doesn't fall in clichés of similar stories. It lets you doubt the characters' aspirations and dreams, while at the same time making you cheer more for them. The way they get to their goals doesn't feel cheap at all, as the show tries to be a bit grounded and you're able to see step-by-step how they get over every obstacle in their journey.
The characters themselves are very charismatic, with Shirase being the best one thanks to the way the anime shows us both her strenghts and weaknesses -- she looks like the strongest outside, but inside is the most fragile one and the ways she develop are very interesting and touching.
To finish, Madhouse did a great work in this one, the visuals are stunning and fit the general feeling perfectly -- a 'realistic' look bordering on the fantastic. Atsuko Ishizuka's usual great direction is even better than her previous works and it feels great to see her succeeding in an original anime like this. I'm very excited for her future projects!

3. Hugtto! Precure - A huge aspect of the Precure franchise carried from the Ojamajo Doremi series is how it doesn't shy away from tackling social issues even though it's aimed at small kids. With a Precure finally directed by SatoJun, one of Doremi's original creators, I was wondering how well this season would be in this aspect... and it's fantastic.
From the start we get to see characters struggling with their personal problems and doubts. Hana, Saaya and Homare weren't chosen to be superheroines because they're perfect, but because they're able to get up and after failing (not easily though, which makes it feel even more earned) and Hugtto never backs away from it, giving depth to the mid-season Cures, the villains and even the secondary cast.
We see them tackling gender roles, parenting (from both men and women perspectives), bullying, depression, social expectations, etc. And even then it gives a positive outlook to things, it tells kids they'll face these problems but that they should always stand up for them and others.
It's a weekly dose of much needed positivity and hope put in an overall very fun show. The best side character ever in Precure (Henri), young animators doing crazy creative things in some episodes, series direction by one of the best in the industry's history. It's one of the best Precure season ever and if you want to get into the franchise, this is a great starting point.

4. Bloom into You - Best romance this year. Yagakimi's main strenght is in how it manages to be both beautiful, but realistic. We see several characters with different views about love and how it's related to their identities and social pressure. Yuu has a problem with idealization and glamourization of romantic relationships, Touko's problems relate to how she views herself as a person, Sayaka's story goes more in-depth about sexuality itself.
At the same time, the anime doesn't get too dark and exploitative like other several romances. We get to see them developing and growing as characters. It deals with these social issues in very warm ways, not wanting to overdramatize them for cheap reactions.
It's a show that feels good to watch, with good direction, beautiful animation and gorgeous designs. Really hoping for a sequel, I want to cheer more for these characters.

5. SSSS.Gridman - I'm not a big Trigger fan and never enjoyed their shows as much as I wanted, so Gridman was a very good surprise and it's my favorite by the studio.
Gridman is basically a good mix of tokusatsu, social criticism and a somewhat meta story. It's hard to describe it well without ruining the great twists that elevate it to something special and unique (that said, episode 2 already had a very good surprise that managed to get me hard into the story).
An aspect I really like is how "realistic" it feels, the characters don't scream or overreact. We get more grounded reactions and (great) acting that help setting this realistic tone to the "normal day" parts, contrasting with the bombastic-hypesoundtrack-filled action scenes where Gridman fights huge kaiju and we get to see Trigger paying homage to several tokusatsu and mecha series.
Following it was a great experience. Theorizing and discussing it was a lot of fun and to this day I can do this thanks to the show not relying on infodumps and giving enough to make a compelling story, not giving answers for everything and letting fans speculate. Gridman ended many days ago, but I still talk/discusss about it almost everyday since then and that's something only special series manage to do to me.

6. Aikatsu Friends! - The wholesomeness of Aikatsu always get to me. It's a franchise that basically only cares about giving its characters the most fun and absurd scenarios and let them play there. They run around volcanic islands, paraglide, make vlogs, etc and in the end it's still all "Aikatsu".
Friends has a big focus on pairs as well, different from previous series that had more of an individual or unit focus. It makes us care more about character interactions and how they develop together. Seeing Mio and Aine growing to know and trust each other more is a good thing to do every week.
It still didn't reach the high peaks of previous entries (which isn't an easy thing to do at all!), but I have a soft spot for the simple fun that Aikatsu gives me.

7. Zombie Land Saga - What a crazy show. Zombie Land Saga basically started without ever telling people what it was about, the PVs said almost nothing and all we had was the title and a few character arts. I went completely blind into this and couldn't believe what it actually was after I finished the first episode.
Zombie Land Saga IS an idol show. And it's also the craziest idol show of the year. It has a pretty good comedy that swings constantly from light to dark, a great cast of goofball as the main characters and actually pretty good more serious/dramatic bits that still don't lose the feeling of absurdity that the whole thing has.
I never expected to see MAPPA doing something like a story about zombie idols doing crazy stuff to promote a random rural city in Japan. And I'm so glad they did it with such great execution. While I feel like the few last episodes could be better, they were still good and make me glad that a second season is basically guaranteed to happen.
Also, Mamoru Miyano was a god in this.

8. Comic Girls - Somehow this is my slice of life show of the year. Yeah, I like Yuru Camp a lot, but Comic Girls stayed more with me months after it finished.
The best thing about this show is its cast of characters. They're very fun and, most of all, relatable. Kaos is just a mess of anxiety and mood swings, but she's also very hard-working and funny; Tsubasa is a big nerd with a big heart; Koyume is the much needed more social friend; and Ruki, oh, she's great and actually is a hook to explain why I liked this so much.
Ruki's main problem is related to how anxious and nervous she feels to be an author of a more erotic josei manga. It's not what she initially wanted to do and not very fitting of her actual personality. The episode where she struggles the most with it is the best in the series by far, for a good half minute we just see her looking at a mirror struggling to create a good image of her. We just see that, no words, just character acting and yet it shows everything we need to understand what she's going through.
Comic Girls isn't a super unique anime, but it's a very well made one and Nexus put a lot of effort in making these characters feel alive thanks to a strong good direction.

9. Hinamatsuri - It's a comedy that is absolutely hilarious. Does it need more than that?
Ok, it actually gives even more than that. Hinamatsuri manages to be both a show capable of breaking me into laughter, while almost breaking me to tears with some of its dramatic bits (that also have some social commentary).
The characters rotate at the spotlight and each one of them gives something different to the viewer. Hina episodes have a humor more related to her lack of social awareness and dynamic with her yakuza "father" Nitta, Hitomi episodes are more cynical humor mocking adult and working culture, Anzu ones have a more innocent childish feeling and where most of the feel good moments are (she's such a nice person!). When we mix all of them together, we get even crazier episodes and situations.
It's a full menu and these loveable misfits make this the funniest anime of 2018.

10. Sanrio Boys - Actually struggled a bit to make a pick for the tenth spot as I liked a lot of stuff, but I think this one deserves a bit of praise.
A show about cute boys that enjoy Sanrio characters. It could just be a fanservice commercial, but Sanrio Boys does something actually interesting with its premisse as it tackles of themes like expectations based on gender and age and how toxic masculinity can hurt guys.
These highschool characters all share a love for these cute mascots, but all of them had different problems thanks to this. Prejudice from family members and classmates, struggling to accept or outright trying to deny these feelings (prejudice doesn't come only from outside). It's a story about guys that bond to surpass these issues and learn to love themselves.
While flawed (animation and direction could be much better), it's fun to watch an anime about guys being able to be emotional, liking whatever they want no matter what prejudiced people think and bonding together in a natural way.

Honorable Mentions

Yuru Camp - I liked this so much I feel sorry for not having it in the top 10. It's a feel good anime that highlights the good sides of both doing things alone and with friends. That alone makes it unique. Rin and Nadeshiko are just way too much fun as well and the opening is great. You can't go wrong with it, slice of life fans.

Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues - Fukumoto stuff is already too niche in the west, so announcing a comedic spin-off of one his works got this even more ignored, sadly. Don't skip it, FKMT fans, this show has crazy analogies, characters with corrupt morals and a lot of fun references for his other works. It's also somehow a pretty great more adult office comedy that manages to develop several black suit characters into actual loveable fun personalities. By the end you'll remember their names just like Tonegawa did. It's a lot of fun to cheer for the bad guys for once (and to see their soft side).

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind - It's Jojo. It's good. It's also better than the manga by a mile.

Double Decker! Doug & Kirill - Actually pretty a good cop show, respects its internal logic a lot, does some cool stuff with comments on poverty and class. It's a bit messy, but is also self aware of it. It just works and is a fun watch.

Tsurune - Violet Evergarden and Free! Season 3 hurt my confidence in KyoAni's writing a lot. So Tsurune being pretty good is a relief. Good cast of male characters that have interesting sensible interactions with each other, actual good drama and a more "philosophical" and emotional look at sport. Great show so far.

March Comes In Like a Lion - One of the best anime ever. Just read the other recommendations and watch it if you haven't yet. Just not on my list because I feel strongly about the 2017 part of this season.

MOVIES

1. Liz and the Blue Bird - A fantastic coming of age story by Kyoani's director Naoko Yamada. While simple (but touching), the story is told in an interesting very minimalistic way, not using much dialogue and focusing completely on the school setting -- a perfect fit to the fairy tale and music themes present in the movie. I think my favorite aspect is how well edited and integrated sound is, there's a flow to everything with the animation and the sound/music dancing together, and even (should I say especially?) common sounds of footsteps add a lot to the narrative and overall tone.

2. HUGtto! Pretty Cure♡Futari wa Pretty Cure: All Stars Memories - Yeah, it's fanservice. But it's very good fanservice. All Stars Memories is one of the best All Stars Precure movies because it knows what people want in these movies and delivers: great animation, cool moments for older Cures and a serviceable story. The fact that they remade the "stock animations" for Honoka and Nagisa already makes it worth of praise.

3. Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin VI: Rise of the Red Comet - Actually a neat ending to the series. I like how it focused more on the political side this time. Everything involving Revil and the political struggle in Zeon was very well done and interesting and adds layers to the conflict of the One Year War. While not a fan of a few things that The Origin does (like trying to tie way too much stuff together), it was a good ending and the series is worth the watch for any Gundam fan.

4. KiraKira☆Pretty Cure A La Mode: Paritto! Omoide no Mille-feuille! - I actually liked how silly and cartoonish this was. Plot isn't anything to write home about, but the battles are very fun to watch. The Eiffel Tower is used in a great way!

 

[Qurupeke]

Thanks for the thread Printer Paper.

I'll update my list with comments soonish, I hope.

Anime TV Series

1. Devilman Crybaby - I'm a huge fan of Yuasa's works and I was very excited about its release. Thankfully, it was everything I hoped it'd be and much more. Devilman Crybaby is a show that oozes with style, that isn't scared to make fun of itself and that is able to still deliver devastating emotional moments. It's a fantastic modernization of its source material, as it keeps the themes and the core concept of the original Devilman, but still adds a lot to it. Actually, as I learned, a lot of the characters were new and I thought the show handled their story lines really well. Moreover, Yuasa's splendid direction and the unique art style, elevate the series even further, some scenes are just an incredible visual trip. Bonus points for delivering the best meme of the year, the devilman running. The OP is really catchy too.

2. A Place Further than the Universe - A cute and unique premise of a bunch of girls deciding to explore Antarctica for their own reasons. The show hooked me with its first episode, and its very energetic and motivational aura. I enjoyed every minute of it and I can certainly see why this is such a promising entry for AOTY. While the start is more or less a bit "standard", as the group ensembles, through their interactions and their development, the show starts to truly shine. Also, I didn't expect it to pack such an emotional punch!

3. March comes in like a lion - Another year, another vote for this from me. While most of the show didn't air this year actually, I feel that its second half was consistently great and much stronger than its first half. A lot of highlights just this year, with the "Burnt Field" episodes showcasing some strong emotions during a very intense match, and even the final episode had a very nice scene of Rei's old life. I think it's a bit hard to get into this show, especially as it's like 45 episodes long, but its art style, its depictions of the emotions displayed during a shogi match and its SoL moments are good reasons to do so. Shaft can produce some really fine shows when they try.

4. Revue Starlight - A very Ikuhara-esque show, with girls (literally) fighting for the lead role of a play and a talking giraffe behind everything. I think it's kind of a controversial show, as it didn't manage to grab a lot of people, despite some stellar fight scenes and intriguing mysteries, but after the first 3 episodes or so, I think it hit its stride for me. There's an episode that compares a character to a potato, a fun yuri duo and a very satisfying plot twist leading to the conclusion of the main scenario in a very otherworldly and impressive way. And as I mentioned, the fight scenes are really good. The best of them are lengthy, with reality and over the top theatrics blending to create some magnificent scenes. Unfortunately, a remarkably troubled production, along with the staff being overly ambitious, led to a few disappointments. Still, I think it's an incredibly strong series.

5. Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online - The good SAO. While it still fell for some bad cliches, SAO Alternative managed to amaze me with how much fun it managed to be. I was watching it and I was saying to myself "Wow, this can't be happening", as things just kept getting crazier. The main heroine is very likable, while the supporting cast is entertaining in their own way. With Battle Royales being very popular this year, that was the perfect time for something like this, that kept throwing over the top scenarios again and again. There were fights with guns, with cars, with hands, without hands. Even if it's not perfect, as far as the fun factor goes, it delivered everything in my book.

6. Hanebado! - Another show that is far from perfect, but turned out to be a very fun watch because of its energy. The badminton scenes are very intense and really well animated, creating some very captivating matches. The star of the show is Ayano though, the main character. While Hanebado seems to be a standard story about inherent talent vs hard hard work, and it kinda is, it eventually turns to family drama that is handled in a very over the top way. Ayano's switches of personality because of her problematic past led to some intimidating smug faces and some hot burns to her teammates, which gave a lot of character to the show. The drama can be overbearing but I think if you don't take it that seriously, the series is just very, very entertaining.

7. Zombie Land Saga - A huge surprise this year, as it was totally out of my radar. An idols show with a zombie twist, and Mamoru Miyano being his usual self. While some episodes can be hit or miss, I think a huge part of the show was consistently funny, in its own black humor way. Furthermore, while not every character's past is explored, which I suppose it's material for a second season, I thought that what they showed was really effective. A very successful ploy for revitalizing Saga. Its OP is also my favourite this year.

8. Planet With - While it may look like a kids anime, it might as well be one of the better handled mecha anime recently. Mizukami delivers as far as the storytelling goes, with a lot of hype moments, mature themes and great characters blending nicely. The pacing is also fantastic, which was the demise (or part of it lol) for shows like FranXX. I'd rank it even higher if it wasn't for the abysmal CG animation, which I feel it led to some subpar action scenes.

9. Today's Menu for the Emiya Family - Very nice SoL anime. The Fate/stay night cast drops their weapons for a moment, for more casual activities, like getting a part time job, playing volleyball, going for shopping and, of course, cooking. While it's not as fun as Carnival Phantasm, it was very soothing and the art was really nice. Bonus points for having recipes that you could easily recreate on home, unlike Shokugeki no Soma.

10. Pop Team Epic - I was contemplating whether I should include this, but I decided to do so based on its sheer creativity. It's a very weird show full of popular and non popular references, inside jokes and meta humor. Outside of that, it also has some very cool segments of more traditional stories. The list of voice actors that worked on this is really impressive too. It's something that some people definitely hated, but I thought it was pretty cool. Oh, and its OP is really great.

Anime Movie/OVA Series

1. Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel I. presage flower - This has probably the best action scenes I've witnessed in an anime. A sheer display of Ufotable's talent, the movie is a fantastic introduction to the trilogy. It calmly sets up the protagonist duo's relationship, which is the first time it is explored in the animated part of the Fate franchise, and after skipping a fight already shown in Unlimited Blade Works, it becomes a wild ride with a good sense of mystery and stunning action. I can't wait to see what the second movie will bring to the table.

2. Liz and the Blue Bird - That might as well have been the first entry on my list, as it's equally great to Heaven's Feel. The highly anticipated Euphonium movie is really captivating with its unique artstyle and its very personal story, told through comparing with the titular fairy tale. Yamada's direction is phenomenal and the music blends really well to everything, adding rhythm to many scenes. A very beautiful film.

3. Maquia - When the Promised Flower Blooms - And another movie I thought that was excellent too. Strong direction and beautiful art, along with a very cool and emotional story, led to one of the year's stand outs. The heroine's struggles were really something to watch.

4. Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note - Cool OVA about a new Fate spin-off coming this year. Not much to say about it, other than I generally liked it.

5. Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple - Some cool moments, but pretty dumb overall.

Honorable Mention
x. SSSS.Gridman - I liked it a lot but it's plagued by its fair share of problems. Nevertheless, it delivered one of the strongest episodes this year, I really loved it.
x. Attack on Titan Season 3 - Not as good as S2, though the source material is also to blame for that, but still entertaining. One step closer to the basement.
x. Hisone and Masotan - It's a very well animated show with great character designs, but it's unfortunately plagued by a subpar story with some very questionable content.

 

[Zonic]

"Any western produced shows animated by Japanese studios are not allowed either. "

Where does FLCL Progressive/Alternative fall considering it was co-produced by Adult Swim & premiered on Toonami/Cartoon Network, but was still made by Production I.G. & Toho?

 

[SliceSabre]

Top ten TV Anime Series

1. Laid-Back Camp - I love cute girls doing cute things shows but this had the added benefit of making me want actually go camping and was educational.
2. Hakumei to Mikochi - Little inchlings living their lives in the forest. The two main ladies were a interesting duo to follow and it was a fun show to watch them do mudane things but from the aspect of being so small.
3. GARO -VANISHING LINE- - Screw the previous Garo season, the show came back with a vengeance. A colorful cast of characters set in the United States along with more demon killing than you can shake a stick at.
4. Hugtto Precure - Probably the best precure season since Smile. If you love precure you owe it to yourself to watch this.
5. Miss Caretaker of Sunohara-sou - I have two large reasons for liking this show. Actually it's more than two when I think about it...
6. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime - Hey leave me alone I like isekai shows and the angle of this one hooked me.
7. Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gal Online - You know, Sword Art Online is actually an ok series when you get rid of Kirito and Asuna.
8. Harukana Receive - "Ah I see you are a man of culture as well."
9. The Ancient Magus' Bride - I love the way magic is done in this show and all the individual stories this show went over I found interesting.
10. Steins; Gate 0 - More Steins; Gate is always a great thing, I found the more dour, depressed and scared Okabe all the more interesting.
    
    Honorable Mentions:

Takunomi: 20something ladies living together and enjoying alcohol, why wouldn't I like this?
Mitsuboshi Colors: Loved the manga, the anime did it justice.
Hinamatsuri: Anzu is precious and the best daughter.
Cells at Work
Asobi Asobase: Workshop Of Fun
Baki
A Certain Magical Index III
Slow Start
Killing Bites

Though my top ten is ordered that is only because the rules demand it. In actual quality it's hard for me to say that I enjoyed my 1 more than my number 10 on the list. I think all of the shows on my honorable mentions are excellent shows as well.

 

[Zonic]

Top 9:

1.) Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Part 5: Golden Wind: It's more Jojo, which is a-ok by me. Honestly, despite reading all 7 parts, I probably remember this part the least due to the very dry/dull fan translation, so it feels like I'm going into this fresh, and my god, I'm so glad, because it has been one hell of a ride so far. Not to mention the production value at times is even higher. Also holy crap, that main theme (not the OP) is so damn good.

2.) Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku: It feels so nice being able to watch anime that focuses not only on actual adults, but rom-coms anime that isn't set in your cliche high school setting & with people closer to my age. I personally felt more of a connection to this compared to Aggretsuko and I really hope they make a 2nd season. Between this & last year's Recovery of a MMO Junkie, I'm really glad we're having more adults as the main focus, especially when it comes to romance.

3.) Hinamatsuri: I had no idea this was a comedy & by god, I'm SO glad I checked it out. Some absolutely great moments and even more so in the manga, which I hope leads to a S2. Has a surprising amount of actual heartfelt moments

4.) FLCL Alternative: I didn't dislike FLCL Progressive like other people, but even I could recognize it really failed to have a satisfying ending and nowhere near as good as the original, which makes me all the more grateful Alternative turned out much better than I expected. I still slightly prefer the original due to my bias of seeing it at the right age of puberty, but I can clearly see why some people would prefer Alternative with its cast of characters & maintaining its craziness while holding back just enough to make more sense overall.

5.) Asobi Asobase: Workshop of Fun: "Oh, another cute girls doing cute things show, meh" *hears people talk about how hilarious it is* "Huh, okay....OMG THIS IS SO FUNNY" I almost skipped on this for the same reason I almost missed out on Nichijou in that you think it's just a generic moe-blob show, but in reality, you get a rather funny & sometimes crude show. There are so many great animation styles used and out-of-nowhere jokes. There's a few jokes that feel a bit...offputting when you remember they're middle schoolers instead of high school, but I still found myself laughing at each episode

6.) Grand Blue: Some of the jokes can start to get old, but it felt kinda refreshing to laugh at a comedy focusing on college students instead of high schoolers. There's some great facial expressions and the timing for some jokes is spot on. Remember: This is totally a scuba diving anime.

7.) My Hero Academia S3: Yup, it's more MHA. A bit slow at times, but still delivers some great action moments and remains one of the few long runners that I keep up with.

8.) Skullface Bookseller Honda-San: The fact this show is based on actual events the mangaka went through makes this show all the more hilarious to watch. It's a bit on the short side, with only 10 minutes per episode after cutting the (surprisingly good) OP & ED out with 12 episodes, and the animation can be a bit stiff at times, but for what they have to work with, it's still a good comedy to check out.

9.) Zombieland Saga: Probably the biggest surprise of the year for me. I think the show peaks with its first two episodes, but there are still some great moments like the episode focusing on Lily and the fact they actually handle the subject matter rather well considering the medium, and a rather interesting look at not only the modern day idol culture, but previous generations of idols. There was a few moments of CGI that looked a bit off-putting, but the show managed to keep me entertained to watch it all the way through.

P.S. I've yet to see Laid-Back Camp, Devilman Crybaby, Bunny-Girl Senpai, Reincarnated as a Slime, Hi-Score Girl (read the manga), Place Further than the Universe, Steins;Gate Zero.

If FLCL Alternative doesn't count due to being co-produced by a western company, I'll edit my list.

 

[Vareon]

Series:

1. A Place Further Than The Universe
2. Dragon Pilot Hisone & Masotan
3. SSSS Gridman
4. Planet With
5. Asobi Asobase
6. My Hero Academia
7. Pop Team Epic
8. Violet Evergarden

A great year for anime.

 

[Deleted member 3208]

Was waiting for this. Let's go.

TV Series

1. Grand Blue: something that animes lack are series set in college. Grand Blue falls in that category... kind of... I mean, it is a diving series... Nah, who am I lying? Grand Blue is mostly about alcohol and drinking and crazy faces and... Needless to say, Grand Blue is so damn funny that all the episodes I was laughing. There wasn't a single episode that the jokes felt old. The opening is awesome too.

2. Hinamatsuri: if Grand Blue didn't air, this would be my first one. Another crazy anime that makes you laugh. But it also has so many heartwarming moments, especially after Anzu is adopted. Nitta was right, Anzu is the perfect daughter.

3. Asobi Asobase: by now I should say 2018 top animes for me were comedy. This one is quite misleading, you would think it is high school girls do cute things. No. The trio is actually quite vicious and they don't think twice in backstabbing themselves or doing crazy stuff just to have fun. Another solid comedy. Bonus point for the ending song.

4. Zombieland Saga: another idol anime. Well, it actually is, but the premise of zombie idols is quite unusual, but it worked well. The songs were good and the main cast too. Mamoru Miyano did a superb job voicing Kotarou, even more than Okarin for me. Adabana Necromancy is also the best opening song of 2018 for me.

5. Love is Hard for an Otaku: another anime in which the main cast are adults. Strangely, the secondary couple is more interesting than the main one, but despite that, Hirotaka and Narumi were good leads. Also felt a connection with the main cast, especially since Narumi has the same age as me.

6. March Comes in Like a Lion 2: I loved the first season, but the second season is even better. Not only they continue developing Rei, but we also see Hina's life and her burdens in middle school. The studio (and the mangaka) also tackled many issues that affect children these days like bullying, and they did a good job portraying it.

7. Violet Evergarden: KyoAni continues doing beautiful animes. Story isn't it's strong point, but there were some episodes that seriously made me cry.

8. Steins; Gate 0: after the original anime, it was quite hard of White Fox and 5pb to surpass it. Sadly, they didn't, but Steins;Gate 0 is still a solid spin-off. It was quite interesting to see how the story unfolded after Okabe failed and didn't travel back in time again. Something that really felt off, although understandably, was Okarin's crazy antics and Christina.

9. SSSS.Gridman: this one caught me by surprise. At first it seemed a boring and cliché anime, but later, it turned out to be interesting. Not an impressive story, but serviceable. Most importantly, all the fights when Gridman thought against the monsters kept me hooked.

10. Bloom into You: one of the best romances of the year. The interactions between Yuu and Touko were quite good, and also how their relationship developed.

Anime OVA/Movie

1. Dragon Ball Super: Broly: this movie was awesome. Storywise, it was quite light and didn't expand too much Dragon Ball, but at least we got to see more about the saiyans before Frieza destroyed planet Vegeta. But all that matters is the awesome fight sequence after Broly, Paragus and Frieza landed on Earth. That was sublime. The best battle in all Dragon Ball history. It also made me care for Broly, a character I used to dislike with such a passion. The Latin American dub was superb, like always. When Super anime returns, they need to keep that art style.

2. Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel Part I: all I can say is that Ufotable did a better job here than in Unlimited Blade Works. In many ways, it reminded me of Fate/Zero. Not surprising, considering Heaven's Feel is the darkest route of FSN. Looking forward for Part II.

3. Flavors of Youth : since it was made by the same studio that did Your Name, of course it was quite a beautiful. That said, of the three stories, the one that resonated more with me was the last one.

Honorable Mentions

Attack on Titan S3. Will probably be in my top 10 when it airs this year.
Planet With
Iroduku: The World in Colors

Biggest Disappointment

Card Captor Sakura: Clear Card: I mean, by now the title says it clearly: Card Captor. But I was expecting something new, something different. It is the same formula that Clamp used for the original series. More than 20 episodes wasted doing the same stuff Sakura did when she had to capture the Clow Cards. That said, I'm still interested to know how this will end, so despite how angry I was, I will surely watch the second season.

Best Moment
Dragon Ball Super: Goku, Frieza and 17 vs Jiren. What else to say? That was the best fight Dragon Ball has ever had for me. You could see how, despite how tired everyone was, they did their best to win the Tournament of Power. Add to that Goku and Frieza coordinating their movements (something that he and Vegeta couldn't) and Ultimate Battle playing in the background, and you had one of the hypest fights in the entire franchise. Props to Masako Nozawa; despite her age, she is still the best Goku.

 

[Printer Paper 8 X 11]

"Any western produced shows animated by Japanese studios are not allowed either. "

Where does FLCL Progressive/Alternative fall considering it was co-produced by Adult Swim & premiered on Toonami/Cartoon Network, but was still made by Production I.G. & Toho?

Click to shrink...

Yes it is allowed since it is produced by IG/Toho and is a Japanese created franchise. The rule is mainly there to stop people from posting stuff like Neo Yokio or Avatar.

 

[jonjonaug]

1. Devilman Crybaby - Yuasa and company reimagine Devilman in a modern setting and pull things off pretty much perfectly. Not much to say on this one, it's just superbly well done and memorable as heck. The last few episodes had me on the edge of my seat, dreading to continue even though I knew exactly what was coming. This is a tie with Zombie Land Saga, I just flipped a coin to decide which would be on top here.
2. Zombie Land Saga - A show that constantly defied expectations in the most amazing ways while sticking the landing every time. It dethroned season 2 of Utapri to become my new favorite idol anime. This is a tie with Devilman Crybaby, placement here is the result of a coin flip.
3. Bloom Into You - Pitch perfect adaptation of an already great romance manga.
4. Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 - Gen Urobuchi's wild puppet ride continues. Urobuchi's ability to write excellent villains is on full display in this season, with three different villains all with hugely different motivations and goals who are all interesting and entertaining in their own unique ways. The action, direction, and voice acting are all as good as ever.
5. Pop Team Epic - Best animated shitpost since Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt.
6. Planet With - Not Mizukami's best work, but still a really great show. The characters and the music are the highlights here.
7. Fate/Extra Last Encore - I'm pretty sure I'm this show's biggest fan. I'm a big fan of Fate/Extra and Type Moon in general, and Nero's my waifu, so I loved this show.
8. SSSS Gridman - A big love letter to toku with some superb direction backing it up.
9. Magical Girl Ore - Good show that subverts genre cliches in funny ways.
10. Grand Blue - Really funny show, we need more college slice of life.

 

[Deleted member 5535]

Quite difficult to make a list on order but here we are

TV/ONA series

1. SSSS.Gridman - I'm not a tokusatsu fan but Gridman made me really appreciate the genre and to look for more of it, including it's original series produced by Tsuburaya. That was a anime that I had no expectations. Zero. Nada. It had a nice key visual and interesting synopsis while also being made by Trigger so I picked it but I wasn't expecting too much over it. Well, how much I was surprised that I began to really like the series and that at the end of the year it was my favorite anime and one of my favorites in all time? Gridman is a anime that have a excellent composite on it's own. The direction, storyboarding and animation are all fantastic. The team at Trigger with the director of the anime Amemiya getting amazing takes and scenes during the entire show, much like the episode directors having such a high level, with episode 9 being a big stand out and one of the very best on this year. Beyond that aspect, Gridman had a excellent main character that surpassed my expectations, made me care about and also broke many parts of the story with their function. Going on about the story, the show begins in a way but then after a certain reveal it changes and subvert your expectations. Anyway, I could talk more but I would need to enter with spoilers, which in the case of this series it's the worst thing to happens. Great show, a masterpiece to me.
2. Hugtto Precure - Precure is a series that was on my radar for quite some time. I discovered the series in 2016 and it interested me a bit but it wasn't until 2018 that I began to watch it since a new Precure was just coming. And oh boy, I just entered the franchise on one of it's best iterations according to more older fans and as my first Precure, I have to agree on it. Hugtto already began picking my attention to the superb character designs of the main cures which I loved. That was probably the main reason for why it brought me attention to begin watching it and It just shows how much I liked it. Now going to the anime per se, the series have really charismatic characters with really good relationships developed for and between them, comfy episodes every week with a good feeling and very different themes that you would be surprised to see on a anime made for young girls. It's sincerely a fantastic series and franchise that much more people on the west should watch and valorize.
3. Aikatsu Friends - I love idol anime. I really do. Or at least the biggest ones which are also the best. I began to watch Idol anime in 2016 with Love Live which I loved. Then, one year later I watched Idolmaster, which I also loved. Then in 2018 looking at the animes of the season, I saw Aikatsu Friends there. The designs seemed really endearing to me and I really loved the artstyle so looking for a new idol anime yet again, I gave it a chance and I couldn't be more glad. Aikatsu is a bit different than Idolmaster and Love Live but this isn't a bad point to me. That's actually a great point and I love the fact that those three anime have the same theme which is idol but all three have noticeable differences between. Aikatsu much like Hugtto is a anime made for young girls and much like Hugtto, I feel embraced and warm when I'm watching it. Don't ask me why but those two anime just make me happy when I'm watching them. With Aikatsu Friends which was my first iteration on the franchise, we have a pretty good story about growing as a professional and idol but at the same time, development and evolution of those many characters during the entire anime, at the same time that performances on the anime are just great and the CG on the anime are definitely one of the best and more natural as it really blends with the 2D design. Fantastic show and much like Hugtto, the west needs to watch and valorize it more. And licensors need to pick both Precure and Aikatsu to streaming.
4. Zombieland Saga - Another anime that I had no expectations. And how could I have? There was almost no details on what the fuck Zombieland Saga was except the main characters and that it was related to zombies. The first PV didn't show anything worth to give a hint and I thought until episode 1 that it would be a surviror horror series or something like that. Boy, how wrong I was and how glad I was that they only began to market the series after the first episodes because the first episode was one of the great surprises that I had. Zombieland Saga is a idol anime. Yes, it is. It's not a normal one and it focus more on comedy and absurdity since the characters are zombies but it has it's own arcs, performances and such. The characters are really charismatic, the comedy is crazy funny, the arcs of most of the characters are really good and the moments are also amazing on their own which can only be made due to them being zombies like a idol from the 80s and 2000s disagreeing with each other because of how much the industry changed since they died. Excellent show.
5. A Place Further Than The Universe - Another anime that I hadn't too much expectations when I began to watch. Hell, it wasn't even on my list initially until I saw people talking about the first episode on twitter and how it was so great. Then I gave it a chance and began to watch the series and I really loved it. It's a story about coming of age for 4 highschool girls and how they reach this discovery of their life with new places, a travel, new friends and much more. The characters are really well developed and well established in a great story that is really wholesome but at the same time very emotional in many of it's moments. The animation is really good, the designs are quite amazing and the direction is a strong point on the anime which made me a fan of the director.
6. Devilman Crybaby - This new adaptation of Go Nagai's Devilman by Yuasa is a great interpretation by him. Yuasa is a director that have pretty obvious characteristics which you can see in all of the anime his part of with artstyle, animation and direction being really characteristic of him like in Ping Pong, Kemonozume, Tatami Galaxy and others which even in case of adaptations, he made those within this framework of him. Devilman Crybaby wasn't different. Yuasa directed a anime based on one of the most influential manga of history which was published in the 70s by Go Nagai and with his interpretation, he modernized it in many aspects, gave it his own ideas but he never forgot about what the original Devilman manga was about. This merger of different aspects had a great result in the end and I loved to see it. Animation, designs, direction, everything was so amazing and incredible that I wasn't surprised to see many people impacted by the series. It's probably the best adaptation of a Go Nagai work.
7. That Time I Reincarnated as a Slime - I don't dislike Isekai. This is just another genre to me with works that I like and others that I dislike. With Slime, this is a anime that I really liked. I always knew about it since as a manga reader, I always saw people talking about it's manga adaptation. When I saw the anime announcement, I thought that I would give it a chance and I couldn't be more right to do so. Slime is a anime that is a really great adaptation. The anime picks the content for both the Light Novel which is it's original media and also the manga adaptation which have differences and put both in one. The result is a great version that picked my attention since episode 1 with it's really charismatic protagonist, charismatic supporting characters, the comedy of the anime, the concepts introduced on it and the overall story. The animation is also really fluid and slick which made me love so much that I just wanted more and began to read the manga to get more.
8. Run with the Wind - I really like sports manga and anime even if I watched and read few of them (but tbf, many are on my list to watch and read) so a new anime based on a novel for sports was a delight to see. The anime is about running and it's really great. Each character is a full individual with their own aspiration, choices and lives. The progression of them as runners and as a group is also really good, much like their relationship and the comedy. Really like the anime even with just 11 episodes.
9. Revue Starlight - Another big surprise to me this year. It was on my list but as a original and seeing the PV I didn't thought too much about it. But, after episode 1, the anime really grasped me with it's concepts, imagery, takes and exploration of themes that we didn't see that much on the media. Besides, it's a anime about acting in teather and fighting at the same time with a beautiful soundtrack and great designs. Honestly, it was the more innovative anime of this year, even if it wasn't my favorite.
10. Sword Art Online: Alicization - My relation with SAO is quite confusing. I began to watch the series in 2016, 4 years after the anime had it's debut. I watched season 1, liked the first arc and hated the second arc. Then with season 2 I dropped it on the first episodes since I thought it was quite boring at the time and never came back. Two years later, I gave SAO Alternative a chance because of the protagonist design and in the end I really liked the anime which was very good to me. Since this and Alicization were announced together, I already knew that a new season was coming and I thought to give it a chance to the first episode which I really liked. This and the fact that I had to wait one week made me return to season 2 and watch it since the beginning. I thought Phantom Bullet arc was fine when I completed and I loved Mother Rosario which is to this date my favorite arc and piece of media from SAO. Then, I watched the movie Ordinal Scale and really liked it. This made me like the franchise and valorize it unlike before where I liked some parts of the first season but while not hating the series or anything, I couldn't say I was a fan either, even more because I teased other people for liking it. The irony is that years later I would be in that position. lol Now going to Alicization per se after this background of me and the series, Alicization conquered me because of the concept of the arc, the world and all the backstory of the Underworld. I find everything on that too interesting in how everything works, the overall concepts of that world and the plot really interest me. Besides, I never disliked any character on the series (outside of villains) and Kirito with Asuna was my favorite part of the first season so I never had problem with them here either, even more now that the studio is actually putting internal monologues of Kirito unlike in past seasons. Anyway, Alicization is really interesting to me in pretty much everything right now and I wait for it every week. It made me like the franchise going back to past episodes even if I don't like everything on it and it would be more higher if it wasn't a sequel and had 50 episodes.

Movies:

1. Maquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms - I'm lazy right now after writing so much but Maquia is a masterpiece of movie. I cried like a baby over it and loved the story.
2. Dragon Ball Super: Broly - Best Dragon Ball movie to date by far. Animation is amazing, the artstyle and shintani designs are amazing, composite is quite unique, the backstory and lore was really nice and Broly is finally a character that I like. Amazing movie.
3. I want to eat your Pancreas - Really good movie that didn't made me cry but made me quite emotional. I really liked the story that happened there even if as a movie, the productions values weren't what we generally see.
4. Shikioriori - That co-production between Haoliners and ComixWave Filmes is really good. Besides the artstyle, pallet of colors and general animation being quite good, the movie had three stories that I really liked. Another point that I loved was how it had the setting of different parts of China instead of Japan since it was a movie for china/japan which gave a new look to modern china via anime in which we don't see that much.

 

[aceface]

1. A Place Further than the Universe- best Anime I've watched in years.

 

[Oldmario]

Anime TV Series
1.Asobi Asobase
2.Dropkick on My Devil
3.Chio's School Road
4.Grand Blue Dreaming
5.Double Decker! Doug & Kirill
6.Hinamatsuri
7.Yuru Camp
8.That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
9.Darling in The FranXX
10.SSSS.Gridman


Honorable Mention:
Beatless
Watakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-san
Happy Sugar Life
Attack on Titan Season 3
Comic Girls
To Be Heroine

 

[TheZodiacAge]

1. My Hero Academia Season 3 : Manages perfectly to mix funny and serious events with really good character growth.
2. Black Clover : Probably some of my favorite Characters of all time and basically non-stop fighting.Episodes too short though + that long Intro etc.
3. Attack on Titan Season 3 : Liked the Story and next season will be more about fighting again
4. Baki 2018 : Simply demorphed batshit crazy nonsense
5. Goblin Slayer : Would be higher but some episodes were slow mid season but beginning and end were fantastic
6. Sword Art Online Alicization : Simply love the concept
7. Captain Tsubasa 2018 : Remake of an Anime i loved as a kid and got me into football and they sped up the plot.
8. DragonBall Super : Seeing them working together at the end was just amazing
9. Fairy Tail Final Season : Love me some Lucy
10 : Tokyo Ghoul:re 1+2nd Season : They completely butchered the Anime but i simply love the Series.

 

[BaconHat]

1.Violet Evergarden : It has been years since a piece of media, nevermind an anime, has managed to touch me emotionally as much as Violet Evergarden did. The visuals, the amazing soundtrack that i just had to buy, a first for an anime, and the amazing Dub Netflix did created such an amazing package that i was sad seeing it end. If nothing else, it was the first show in a while that managed to bring out tears and make me cry a bit for multiple episodes, with ep 3 in particuliar with its small but incredibly meaningful moment in the night having managed to make me tear up even after multiple watchs.
2. Devilman Crybaby : Watched it on recommendation of a youtuber, and i fell in love with the visuals, the dark tone and the sheer heart the series had in showing both the best and worst of the human condition.
3.Pop Team epic : I don't have anything more to say than that this was pretty much a 30 minute shitpost every week that made me laugh out loud every time.
4. Hero academia season3 : A great continuation to a great series. Only watched the dub this season and the voice cast is sublime.
5. Zombieland saga : Entered it having no expectations, and i ended up watching an insane romp making me care way too much about a japan prefecture due to zombie idols. The ballad of Yamada Tae was a fun adventure to follow.
6. Goblin slayer : While having some problematic issues on certain points, seeing a fantasy series a-la D&D again that was not an isekai or following video games rules was SUCH a breath of fresh air. Also loved the show way of showing that the main character is utterly insane and how's that's not a good thing, especially with so many animes and manga loving to paint the main character in a fantasy series as perfect and always right every 2 seconds these days.
7. Today cooking for Emiya family : Show gave me Shiro cooking food for the entire year, which was one of the things i did not knew i was missing in my life. This show was adorable from start to finish.
8. Lupin the third part 5 : A series that most won't probably have watched considering the amount of baggage one needs to watch to get up to speed, but there's always something magical about seeing Heists being done by the crew.
9. Flcl Progressive and alternative : Show reception was mixed, but i really liked each episode and theirs characters and the soundtrack was still on point.
10. Stein gate 0 : Only half watched it when i was working so it can't go any higher, but the story, music and characters were on point.


Honorable mention :
11. Fate extra last encore : Only in here due to how much i loved the dub of that series, the art direction and animation. That story was a MESS.

Movies :
(Only watched one anime movie this year.)
1. Fate stay night heaven feel : My least favorite of the original game route, but the movie was a great adaptation and a visual treat. Just a shame that the follow-ups will have the best fight scenes, while also being the least interesting for my tastes.