This year has been pretty difficult to watch anime, but I managed to watch enough to make a top ten list for this year. With the move from tumblr to a self-hosted site, I'm curious to see how this will affect the traction posts I write. And with me actually paying money for a site, I do plan on blogging more and hopefully expand it into technology and software blogging along side anime.
So this year's list is technically eleven because one of the series had two season in one year, but I'm counting as one by combining them. Regardless, I'm pretty confident in the list with a good chunk of them being sequels in a series, but without further delay, lets get into the list.
For the Lazy
Top 10
- Boku no Hero Academia 3
- Overlord II & III
- Shingeki no Kyojin 3
- Violet Evergarden
- Koi wa Ameagari no You ni
- Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai
- Wotaki ni Koi wa Muzukashii
- Fairy Tail 2018
- Hataraku Saibou
- Zombieland Saga
Honorable Mentions
- Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory
- Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu
- BEATLESS
Explanation
BEATLESS
One of my favorite topics to read, or watch, is the relationship between artificial intelligence and humans. BEATLESS explored that, but not in the lovey-dovey sense, it is far more cerebral. A majority of the time it had to do with dealing with an intelligence that was both more capable and amoral, which lead to this intriguing push and pull dynamic between Arato and Lacia that was frustrating at times, but still felt like the relationship was progressing to new highs. I'm not sure this anime was the best adoption of a series this complex, but it certainly made me interested in difference aspects of a subject I was already interested in.
Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu
There has been a few anime cropping up where the protagonist is already strong in the field of power, but weak mentally. This dichotomy allows for the focus to be on inner, more psychological issues, or building a more rich and immersive world. Isekai Maou to Shoukan no Dorei Majutsu was far more about the characters and their thoughts, belief, and how they conflict when interacting with others. It can get a little ridiculous with all the fan-service bits, but for me, that didn't get in the way to distract me from seeing the gem in this show.
Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory
It's been a long time since I watched the previous seasons of this series, but I still enjoy what was brought to the table. This was far more about the military domain of the series and with me not really being refreshed on the beginning of the series, it was a bit more difficult to follow, so some of the seriousness was lost on my end. However, I found myself engaged in the story of Sousuke and Kaname as they fought a force that wasn't really in anyones radar until this season.
Zombieland Saga
You wouldn't think zombies and Japanese idol group would ever mix, but Zombieland Saga was a big surprise for me. I don't normally watch anime in this genre, but I found the fusion of horror and cute charming. The one thing that made me continue to watch was the fact that there was individual growth of a majority of the members, which allowed the group as a whole to grow closer. The conflicting natures of horror, cute, individual, and collective fused beautifully into what is this interesting look at idol groups in a completely different light.
Hataraku Saibou
Initially going into this, I was thinking that it might be something similar to Osmosis Jones. I quickly found out that Hataraku Saibou had very little to do with that movie, and ended up distinguished itself in the first episode as an "edutainment" series. It was actually quite interesting to learn about all the components of the body and how they function using practical examples. Those practical examples can range from comedic to serious, plus the fact that they gave each cell, virus, bacteria, and parasite a extremely focused and characterised personality made the series funny and a joy to watch.
Fairy Tail 2018
I was a bit late to the party on this season of Fairy Tail, despite being heavily invested in the series. Either way, I found myself quickly dragged back into the Fairy Tail crew even with a four year gap. I really like the direction of unimportant fights being more comedic, so it is still an entertaining moment in the series while allowing for the more important scenes to shine. Also, despite being a grown man, every time they reveal a familiar face, I'm just talking to my monitor like "Is that Gajeel? Yeah! Gajeel", which shows the importance of good character design.
Wotaki ni Koi wa Muzukashii
This was something that I started to watch immediately, mostly because it is a romance set in an office setting, which is rare for anime. Either way, Wotaki ni Koi wa Muzukashii was a good mixture of romance, friendship, and competitiveness. The focus isn't so much centered around a story, but the connect between four characters who are friends inside and outside of work, but also two pairs of romantic couples. This complex intermingle of characters created an interesting progression for each character as they open up to each other in different aspects of their relationships. This resulted in an endearing show that displayed a group of people that can get close to their signification other, without sacrificing the already established friendship.
Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai
A romance that felt very by the book in terms of conflicts that happen in a budding love story. However, the freshness sprouted from the differing personality Tada had for someone that hasn't experienced romantic love. Rather than this bumbling dork, Tada was a relatively calm and competent person, but lacked experience in love because of his deadening of that type of emotion. Contrasted with Teresa being this beacon of sunshine in the shadowiest places of Tada's heart, created this warm romance melted away my frigid heart.
Koi wa Ameagari no You ni
One of the first things I notice going into this anime was the beauty, softness, and intensity of Akira's eyes as she looks at her manager Masami. Those eyes drew me into this complicated romance that is one between a high school student and her crush, who is a middle aged man. Although, the complexity didn't really seem to be covered, I still found that relationship compelling enough to continue to pursue. And that relationship has a comical, yet fascinating, dynamic of the seriousness of Akira and the anxiousness of Masami, making for a novel take on love where the women is pursuing the man.
Violet Evergarden
There are very few anime that capture the tone of a town after war. Pumpkin Scissors covers the military aspect and Violet Evergarden covers the emotional ruin from loss and being incapable of expressing the overwhelming feelings a person is having. To help guide us through that is Violet who is also unable to really express her emotions, but that served as a catalyst for exploration of character growth for both the collective society, as well as her own. I found Violet Evergarden the anime well written as far as pacing and Violet Evergarden the character believable as someone who has deadened their emotions as well. It truly was an emotional roller-coaster, plus this anime is added to the short list of shows that have made me cry.
Shingeki no Kyojin 3
This was the season I've been waiting for because this was the season with actual answers to many of the questions that have been building up in the previous two seasons. There were a lot of surprises throughout and them only having twelve episodes to get them out, the season felt a lot more jam packed. The story ended up going into a more political spin, but delving further into that revealed the connections it had with titans. I would argue that this was my favorite season because of the information given and the shift that the season took, resulting in a clear direction of where the next season is going.
Overlord II & III
Interesting to have two seasons of an anime in one year, so putting them in one section is cheating but these are close enough in ranking for me it doesn't matter. However, to stay consistent, I will say I liked season two a bit more than three because of the arc with Sebas which was a nice change in pace from world domination to something sweet, but derived from a horrible situation.
Overall, the two seasons complimented each other with season two being the setup and season three was the execution. It felt like season three was where Momonga could finally show off his unmatched magical prowess and that was a joyous moment of evil. I'm excited to see more of this pseries; the longer it continues, the more devious and engaging it gets, which is delightful.
Boku no Hero Academia 3
This season had the most motion of the two, and that is saying something since Boku no Hero Academia has always had good pacing. Either way, there were three events that changed Midoriya and the world overall. Two events are less of a spoiler and the other is a major spoiler that affects the momentum of the plot. I found myself on the edge of my seat of each episode, specially after Midoriya finally developed his own fighting style. This season was one of the few anime this year I had to watch the newest episode pretty much right after it's release. There is so much more the Boku no Hero Academia series can build off from this season and I'm really excited to see what will happen next from the results of this season.