Since voting is coming to a close, it seems appropriate to toss up the lists. C'mon, duders, we want to read your stuff! I'll go first.
Pretty easy year for me, maybe because I haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to anime. Still went through a good number of shows, though. Let's start from the top this year:
1. The Ancient Magus' Bride
A heartfelt tale that showcases the perseverance of the human spirit and its ability to shine even in the darkest abyss, this series is all about overcoming adversity while embracing the flaws of the human condition. The story moves at a steady, brisk pace, moving protagonist Chise from one challenge to the next, never remaining in one spot for too long, while delivering one magical experience after another. Whether it’s the streets of London, the pastures of Elias’ estate, or the wild, enchanting forests of the countryside, this series renders its visuals with the same immaculate care given to its storytelling. Subtle, reserved, and full of heart, The Ancient Magus' Bride stands as one of the series that not only met its high expectation, but exceeded it with flying colors.
2. Golden Kamuy
Set shortly after the Russo-Japanese war of 1904, Golden Kamuy revolves around the race to find a stash of hidden Ainu gold. Featuring a sizeable cast of characters from all walks of life, Hokkaido becomes a battlefield for their bloody quest for booty to further their respective ambitions. Believable, sympathetic, principled, and ruthless, these traits can be used to describe all of the characters encountered in the show, yet each carries him/herself so distinctively with such dignity I can’t help but love them all. This is a show with no bad guys, just a bunch of fellows out to get what they want, and when interests collide, they collide spectacularly. The fights are brutal and visceral. Allegiances form and break, and backstabbing is commonplace. Golden Kamuy keeps one guessing till the very end, and there’s still a lot more left in store to explore.
3. A Place Further than the Universe
The practicalities of a bunch of high-school girls joining an Antarctica expedition aside, A Place Further than the Universe accomplishes what it sets out to do: to tell a story about building bonds and moving forward in life. Director Ishizuka Atsuko deserves special mention for making all of the different aspects of production come together to birth this wonderful little gem. At times cute, at times serious, this series’ handling of dramatic pacing is downright outstanding. Using what it builds up in the process to its full potential, A Place Further than the Universe’s conveys a strong message with reserved sublimity. Our distance to the universe might be great, but the distance between our hearts is greater than any physical destination, so value your connections and cherish them.
4. Hinamatsuri
Comedy is probably one the things I’m least adept at commenting on, but to simply call Hinamatsuri a comedy would be selling it short. While the story follows the standard episodic, slice-of-life formula, this series excels at what it does well. Most of the jokes are good natured and stick their landing fairly solidly. Occasionally, and perhaps unintentionally, the gags reach deeper than one would expect and evoke some pretty good feels. The characters are likeable and distinct, even the relatively shitty ones have redeeming qualities. The visuals remain inoffensive and consistent, and the voice acting definitely enhances the experience. Maybe it’s because 2018 has been a relatively bad year for comedy anime, Hinamatsuri stands head and shoulders above most of the competition.
5. Overlord
How often does one get to watch a show about an all-powerful individual who’s so cautious about everything that he becomes his own worst enemy? Overlord is an isekai adventure about the protagonist’s methodical conquest of the world. Watching Ainz go overkill on preparation is part of the joy of Overlord. When everything goes according to plan, one cheers because one sees the efforts expended prior to execution. Even better are when things don’t unfold so neatly, often due to the overenthusiasm of one certain retainer, and watching Ainz fumble around, ad-libbing to cover for the unexpected turn of events while keeping his distress from showing is often hilarious, or at the very least capable of drawing some hearty chuckles. At its worst, Overlord is baggage-free feel good entertainment. After three seasons, we’ve still much left to cover, and given its popularity there’s likely more coming in the future.
6. SSSS.Gridman
This is a show that I went from being fairly ambivalent about to really digging it. It’s hard to talk about without spoiling, so I’ll keep this entry short. Coming-of-age story about a nerd in an existential crisis frame in the context of a tokusatsu hero show done as an anime. Lots of homages and references to other works in the tokusatsu genre. I can’t say this is going to be for everyone, especially if you didn’t grow up with shit like Ultraman or Power Rangers.
7. Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory
If I’m counting correctly, it’s been thirteen years since the last FMP TV series. Didn’t disappoint in the least. While this new season doesn’t cover a lot of material, it marks a huge turning point in the relationship between Sousuke and Chidori. The war between Mithril and Amalgam is also getting very real. People are dying, some are getting captured and others defecting, the stage is set for the big conflict we’ve been waiting for. Here’s to hoping it won’t be another thirteen years before the next season.
8. Darling in the FranXX
For all of its faults, DarliFra is still a decent series. Okay, okay, the whole VIRM bit is pretty poorly written, and while I think the series does execute on its themes adequately, there are better ways to handle the last spurt. I get it, the story is a vehicle for delivering your philosophical package, but c’mon, ya can’t just throw good storytelling out the window wholesale like that. Giant robot space waifu is a pretty weird way to sell your point, no matter how relevant that point may be to the series as a whole. Still, it does do quite a few things very well, and I’d be doing it a disservice by dismissing the show altogether.
9. Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The New Thesis
This would have been a lot higher on my list should it have had more episodes. We don’t get many space operas these days, and this show is just grand. From its worldview to overall design, there’s just so much character to everything, and everything happens at a measured pace which adds an additional layer of reality to many of the space battles. The last space opera I watched to completion is Tytania, and Legend of the Galactic Heroes: The New Thesis definitely makes me want to dig further into the genre.
10. Megalo Box
Frankly, the story got pretty rote. It has some sick music, I’ll admit, and the boxing stuff is choreographed nicely, but there’s only so much one can do with a show that’s about dudes punching one another. The obvious filling would be the human drama that revolves around the punching and unfortunately Megalo Box doesn’t do a good enough job with it. Many of its characters’ side stories do not deviate much from the tired, stereotypical clichés found in B-tier sports anime. In some ways, I understand what Megalo Box is going for and it does execute and then some. Joe’s arc makes a lot of sense in terms of what he embodies symbolically, but you can’t write a story like that while hoping people will ignore the obvious shortcomings.
Now for some stuff that I finished but didn’t make the cut
Sirius the Jaeger – One of the better Netflix (licensed) series of the year. Pacing got a little messy as the show progress and absolutely did not stick the landing.
Fate/EXTRA Last Encore – PLEASE STAHP!
Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens – This is an okay waste of time. A poor man’s DRRR!!, if you will.
Kokkoku – Another one that didn’t stick the landing. Cool premise and all that, real rushed ending.
Tada Doesn't Fall in Love – It has its moments, but too much melodrama and not enough good melodrama.
Cells at Work – Biggest surprise of the year. A little confused about its target audience, but overall a nice little thing.
Grand Blue – I like this show a lot, but I understand why it’s not good. Real crass and juvenile, so if that kind of thing is your cup o’ tea, go for it.
Some more things that I finished but don’t really much to say about
Dagashi Kashi Season 2
Junji Ito Collection
Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles
Record of Grancrest War
The Ryuo's Work is Never Done!
Today's Menu for Emiya Family
Vanishing Line
Food Wars! Season 4
Isekai Izakaya: Japanese Food From Another World
Persona 5: The Animation
Back Street Girls
Chio's School Road
Miss caretaker of Sunohara-sou
Goblin Slayer
Things that are still ongoing and I might end up finishing
Baki
Gurazeni
Fist of the Blue Sky: Re:Genesis
Space Battleship Tiramisu
Banana Fish
Middle Manager Tonegawa
A Certain Magical Index Season 3
Hinomaru Sumo
Karakuri Circus
Sword Art Online: Alicization
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime
Things I dropped or won’t be finishing anytime soon for one reason or another
Killing Bites – yeah, this got pretty close to being straight-up hentai during a few scenes
Bailisk: The Ouka Ninja Scrolls – this is so bad.
Citrus
KARAKAI JOZU NO TAKAGI-SAN
Violet Evergarden – I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to finish this during the time it was airing, want to finish eventually.
Black Clover
Dorei-ku The Animation
Magical Girl Ore
My Hero Academia Season 3
You Don't Know Gunma Yet
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion – really want to finish this actually, just can’t find it anywhere
Attack on Titan Season 3
Hanebado!
DOUBLE DECKER! DOUG & KIRILL
Netflix and anime
2018 saw Netflix throwing hella money at anime production. Excluding Castlevania, 2018 started with Devilman Crybabywhich garnered praise from critics and fans alike, and like many others I thought if Netflix could maintain the kind of quality displayed in DC, we would be in for a very interesting year.
Boy, was I wrong.
March saw the release of B: The Beginning, a visually stunning supernatural police procedural. Unfortunately, visuals are all that it has going for it. Storytelling pacing and plot began crumbling midway through the series and never recovered. Storylines dangled and stagnated, while the show slowly self-destructed in textbook fashion, leading to a thoroughly unsatisfying and unresolved conclusion. Still, I had hope. As Netflix’ first foray into episodic anime, B: The Beginning shows us the company is at least unafraid to provide funds to maintain an above average degree of visual fidelity. Maybe just hire better writer next time, no big deal.
A.I.C.O. -Incarnation- is a simultaneous March release, and being my second Netflix anime, it does restore some of my faith in the company’s anime strategy. Overall, A.I.C.O. is a step up from B, featuring a better told story and more relatable characters, while keeping visual quality at a high level. There were still problems, sure, but this is a noticeable improvement and I was becoming optimistic, again. However, my expectations would be betrayed two weeks later, when Netflix released one of the worst anime I’ve ever encountered.
No matter how one looks at it, SWORD GAI The Animation is a failure of epic proportions. Normally, excluding all else, one can count on the Japanese VAs putting up a decent performance. This is not the case here, and it is mostly due to the reprehensibly bad dialogue. There are far too many instances of characters seemingly talking utter nonsense to one another. Protagonist Gai spends half of his screen time screaming and growling, and the other half consists of him being a complete dickbag to other characters. The story is dull beyond belief, and the poorly animated CG battles add nothing enjoyable to the experience. Finally, to add insult to injury, this thing has 24 episodes. Like, who thought this is okay? WHO?
Not all was lost, as Aggretsuko briefly broke the cycle of shit by achieving a degree of quality many full-length shows never could, which is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, the relief is short-lived as Netflix would end the year with another stinker in the form of Hero Mask.
Make no mistake, while not as egregiously bad as Sword Gai, Hero Mask is still pretty darn terrible. This is going to sound petty, but damn, the main character name is James Blood and the first scene is a bunch of people wearing Guy Fawkes masks. Whew. I don’t know if this is production trying to be edgy or what, but I certainly laughed out loud. Equally laughable is the show’s absolute determination in hoping to look like a Hollywood action flick by employing ridiculous amounts of rapid camera cuts during action scenes. Most of the time this fails and everything ends up being an unintelligible mess. The editing is so, so bad. The story consists of a bunch of inept cops who solve the mystery of the titular mask(s) through the power of pure coincidence. That’s right, contrary to what one might expect from a cop show, there’s no real detective work. Nothing is explained, the bad guys are bad just because the show says they are, the good guys are idiots, and the last episode is a hot dumpster fire. There is only one brief arc feature one character (not even a main character, mind you) that loosely resembles character development and stuff, and it actually made me dislike the main cast even more (can you believe it?) due to further witnessing their utter incompetence.
All in all, my 2018 experience with Netflix original anime leans more toward the negative side. I guess I’m still hopeful due to Aggretsuko popping up in there. I mean, when you throw enough money at different project and people it’s only a matter of time before something good comes out of the mix of bad. More resources in the industry is almost always a good thing, but when they’re being used to churn out one hot mess after another it’s hard not to feel disheartened at least a little bit. Not really that much left to say other than hoping 2019 will be a better year for NOAs and that the company show more concern for their investments.
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And there you have it. I hope that was at least a somewhat fun read. Obviously, I have a lot more to say about many of these listed shows, but this is not the place to do it. Things like Megalo Box, DarliFra, Gridman, and Sword Gai probably deserve their own articles. Maybe when I get my thoughts organized enough I'll do something with some of them. Anyways, 2018 is behind us now, time to start on 2019.
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