Given that I had almost no idea how my own list was going to turn out until I posted it, I haven’t a clue what you lot are going to be voting for. So have at it – this should be interesting.
#1 Yagate Kimi ni Naru
#2 Planet With
#3 Lupin III Part 5
#4 Yuru Camp
#5 Megalo Box
And honestly, I’m pretty happy with this top 5 at the very least (even if for me, there’s a gap between 4~5, so I’d feel more comfortable with a top 4 in a way). YagaKimi and Planet With very much were THE standouts for me (YagaKimi actually getting into the alltime favorites too), with Planet With having what I love about Mizukami in spades, even if it was weaker than his big three (but even then, a slightly weaker Mizukami is still a damn fine Mizukami). And well, YagaKimi… damn. The first really good Yuri anime in ages, with the last one being… Aoi Hana, I think? Man, has it really been almost a decade since that one aired? But yeah, Troyca hit that one out of the park.
Lupin easily had the best season it ever had this time because it actually did some arcs instead of keeping things strictly episodic like it always does (and I think that really helped in the long run), and Yuru Camp… was just one of those really comfortable watches for me last year. Something for me to sit back and relax, kind of like when I read Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou for the first time.
Normally (like on the seasonal polls) I simply find as comprehensive a list as I can find and copy-paste it, series by series. But TBH this time I cheated and borrowed the code my colleagues at RC used for their year-end poll. Otherwise it’s a shit-ton of copy pasting…
I went for A place further than the Universe, Devilman Crybaby, SSSS Gridman, Megalobox, and Hinamatsuri. Then realised I had forgotten about Planet With, which should have taken precedence over Hinamatsuri :(. But either way, those are the first five I can think of.
Golden Kamuy was my favorite this year, by a large margin. Then BnHA, Hi Score Girl (which I had to wait until last week to watch), Planet With, and Mahoutsukai no Yome. Hinamatsuri is my honorable mention.
1. Sangatsu no Lion S2 (I flip-flopped between this and #2, but it won slightly due to investment that was made in season 1)
2. A place further than the Universe
3. BNHA
4. Hinamatsuri
5. Planet With
I’m still sad that you won’t like my top 2 (at least in anime form), but well it can’t be helped.
I still need to watch Koi wa Ameagari no You ni, Hi Score Girl, and finish any anime of the last season. But well, even then I doubt I will change the top 3.
I’d say Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho was best of the year by far. I can understand it not appealing to the anime fans out there who more focused on shonen, but Yorimoi simply did everything right, and it’s going to make a lot of new anime fans in unexpected places. (Even the New York Times noticed it, and that just doesn’t happen.)
But 2018 ended up having a lot of stand-out series. The second season of 3-gatsu no Lion ended up being even stronger than the first. And there were Yuru Camp, Violet Evergarden, and Hinamatsuri….
That gets to me to five, so I’ll stop there, but I could easily go on. Maybe the best thing about 2018 is that it seemed to have something for almost everybody.
Thanks Enzo for another year of success in building this community (a happy place for me). This must be the busiest time of the year with both year-end wrap-ups and first impressions all coming at you… While you’ve done this for many years, this still takes a lot of organizing, discipline and heart. Thanks so much, Enzo. Wishing you great health, happiness and success this year!
My top five shows that I waited with baited breath for each episode to come — they all had the charm to make me care for the characters and the stories:
1) Golden Kamuy — hands-down the AOTY for me, and we probably won’t see a show this big, unique and memorable in many years to come.
2) Hinamatsuri — it made me laugh, made me cry and made me ponder on the social issues brought up in the show.
3) B: The Beginning — this had me glued to the screen from start to finish; Hirata Hiroaki and Morikawa Toshiyuki totally rocked.
4) Terou: Sirius the Jaeger — it’s both thrilling and endearing at the same time, and the message about peace and inclusion totally got me.
5) Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho — this is what many shows about cute girls (boys) doing cute things should do, and I’m starting to take note of Ishizuka Atsuko.
Aside from the top five, these were the shows that I craved for each week:
Winter: Mahoutsukai no Yome, Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou, Koi wa Ameagari no You ni, Kokkoku, Yuru Camp
Spring: Wataku ni Koi wa Muzukashii, Lupin III Part 5
Summer: Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki
Fall: Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume no Minai, Double Decker! Doug & Kirill
And these were the shows that I checked out to fill the void:
Emiya-san Chi no Kyon no Gohan, Gintama, Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, Mo Dao Zu Shi, Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori, SSS Gridman, Tsukumogami Kashimasu, Zombieland Saga
I seemed to enjoy more shows in winter than in other seasons, but there were other shows that I did check out when I had time. Overall, I didn’t find 2018 a bad year — perhaps I had adjusted my expectations without me noticing…
There were a few songs that became my earworms of 2018, but I will chat about them in your Best of the Best post. Can’t wait to read about which movie, seiyuus, writer and director that you’d crown for 2018. Till then, thanks again, Enzo, for hosting us and making it so comfortable to visit.
Thank you very much for those kind words. I wish I’d found more of the popular series of 2018 to my taste, because I’ve never felt more out of step with general opinion and I would have rated the year much more highly if I had.
I watched a decent number of anime this year strictly on recommendation mostly from this site but as I have a poor memory I can’t remember them all or even the names properly. The ones that did stand out are below in no particular order. Thanks for the anime refue Enzo.
1. Megalo Box
2. Golden Kamuy
3. Lupin III Part 5
4. BNHA
5. Bunny Girl
Sadly, my favorite series of the year is so underrated/underwatched is not even in the poll 🙁
Anyways, here’s my take on the year
1- Hero Mask. Well, what can I say, taking over Virgin Soul (and The Perfect Insider before that, and Aku no hana before that…) is my top series of the year that apparently the rest of the anime fandom either ignores or hates 🙁 Anyway, I thought it was a superb mystery thriller that had some of the best action scenes I’ve seen in a good while. It does need a sequel badly but all I can say is that I enjoyed the show to bits (Hell, it even prompted me to write a few reviews after I finished it, something I had never done before)
2- Violet Evergarden. One of the most beautiful series I’ve seen in years. As a father of a little girl myself episode 10 hit me like no other episode I’ve seen in a long time.
3- Kokkoku. Sadly, another underrated gem. A really unique sci-fi tale with one of the best female leads I’ve seen in a while
4- Megalobox. Glad I’m seeing it’s getting a lot of love around here. I just wish all sports series were this good. I also loved how it looked like an OVA from the 80’s
5- Garo-Vanishing Line. It was a blast from start to finish and it looked cool as hell. Sadly underrated, too
Honourable mentions: Banana Fish (DAT ending… whoah, the feels. Also, soundtrack of the year for me), Devilman Crybaby, Castlevania (amazingly good second season), Dore-ku (pretty much like Hero Mask, no one watched this and the ones who did didn’t like it, but I had a blast from start to finish and it had one of the best female characters of the year) and the LOGH remake (susrprisingly good, IMO)
Overall, I think it was a pretty good year. I can easily count 20+ shows I enjoyed to bits and wouldn’t mind rewatching. No clear masterpieces though although if Hero Mask does eventually get a sequel and they manage to properly follow the story I could easily see it getting a 10/10 from me
Not sure if it would count as anime or because it’s a planned split multi-cour but if Aguu was in the list I’ll dare it: special mention as one of the surprises of the year for me was MDZS a.k.a. Mo Dao Zu Shi / Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation s1.
It started a bit akward – the first two episodes especially being 30 mins long sort of highlighted the occasional pacing and characterization issues. Hard to say how much of it is due to the source work, cultural differences included some rather literature-savy and genre-savy allusions that are easily missed or Chinese animation growing pains in finding a better spectacle vs substance balance right off the bat – but grew into a really watchable and pretty engaging wuxia subgenre (from what I gathered the whole cultivators&demonic thing is ) adventure, episode 11 is still a highlight of the whole year. When it’s on and everything finally starts to click together it’s ON.
About the titles actually in the list I’m still deciding. It was a strange year for me and very little else sticks to memory right now.
@elianthos Really glad to see you enjoyed Aguu so much. It’s impossibly underrated IMO and in fact it wasn’t even streamed anywhere. I wouldn’t quite put it in my top 10 but for sure it would be in my top 20 of the year. I just loved how unique and engaging it was and I found Machi to be the best female antagonist of the year, too (She needed more screen time, though!). Hopefully it will get a sequel (which needs badly) because the series sure left me craving for more. Also, your post reminded me that I need to get around watching Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation asap (Still, trying to catch up on a few winter shows I need to finish first 😉
– Koi wa Ameagari no You ni
– Mahoutsukai no Yome
– Planet With
– Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight
– Yagate Kimi ni Naru
I hadn’t watched much anime last year, so I’m still catching up on those I’d missed the first time around. I watched Planet With several days ago, and wow, that’s a lot of content packed into 12 tightly plotted episodes. I probably wouldn’t have watched it if I hadn’t read about it here. Thanks, Enzo. (Hi score Girl is also on my to-watch list.)
Wouldn’t want to rank them from first to last because they were all great, but my choices were fairly straightforward since I didn’t watch very much this year overall: Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Sora yori mo Tooi Basho, 3-gatsu no Lion 2, Hinamatsuri and Yuru Camp. Runner ups would be Major S2, Golden Kamuy and probably Piano no Mori when I catch up with it.
– Wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii
– Kokkoku
– Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudou-bu
– Golden Kamuy season 1 (I haven’t watched the second one)
– Shokugeki no Soma: San no sara (I know it is a no sense series right now and for me this is its requiem).
They are almost all the series I watched last years, they were very few.
Tsurune was one I didn’t think about from an eligibility standpoint, as it never really occurred to me that it would rank. But in theory it should have been a 2018 show – it’s a fall series and one cour. But it’s ending a month into 2019. Interesting to mull that one.
I agree that this year was a lot “dryer” in terms of quality anime to watch. I only finished about 20 shows… whereas in 2016 I easily finished 40+ shows. (that is, seasonal shows that were airing. The never-ending backlog is always calling haha)
in no particular order, here are the shows I found to be the most memorable:
-3 gatsu no Lion s2
-devilman crybaby
-hi score girl
-kokkoku
-megalo box
-a place further than the universe
-bunny girl
-wotakoi
Jindujun93
January 4, 2019 at 8:08 pmThis year, I went with the following:
#1 Yagate Kimi ni Naru
#2 Planet With
#3 Lupin III Part 5
#4 Yuru Camp
#5 Megalo Box
And honestly, I’m pretty happy with this top 5 at the very least (even if for me, there’s a gap between 4~5, so I’d feel more comfortable with a top 4 in a way). YagaKimi and Planet With very much were THE standouts for me (YagaKimi actually getting into the alltime favorites too), with Planet With having what I love about Mizukami in spades, even if it was weaker than his big three (but even then, a slightly weaker Mizukami is still a damn fine Mizukami). And well, YagaKimi… damn. The first really good Yuri anime in ages, with the last one being… Aoi Hana, I think? Man, has it really been almost a decade since that one aired? But yeah, Troyca hit that one out of the park.
Lupin easily had the best season it ever had this time because it actually did some arcs instead of keeping things strictly episodic like it always does (and I think that really helped in the long run), and Yuru Camp… was just one of those really comfortable watches for me last year. Something for me to sit back and relax, kind of like when I read Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou for the first time.
Skidda
January 4, 2019 at 8:33 pmI don’t know how you did it but it’s a pretty good list ! Even included Thunderbolt Fantasy.
Well anyway, I still have a bunch to watch but I chose :
Sangatsu no Lion (only «excellent» series so far)
High Score Girl
Lupin III
Koi wa Ameagari no You ni
Megalobox
With Hinamatsuri, Yuru Camp and Devilman close behind.
Guardian Enzo
January 4, 2019 at 9:12 pmNormally (like on the seasonal polls) I simply find as comprehensive a list as I can find and copy-paste it, series by series. But TBH this time I cheated and borrowed the code my colleagues at RC used for their year-end poll. Otherwise it’s a shit-ton of copy pasting…
Simone
January 4, 2019 at 9:45 pmI went for A place further than the Universe, Devilman Crybaby, SSSS Gridman, Megalobox, and Hinamatsuri. Then realised I had forgotten about Planet With, which should have taken precedence over Hinamatsuri :(. But either way, those are the first five I can think of.
sweejen
January 5, 2019 at 12:10 amGolden Kamuy was my favorite this year, by a large margin. Then BnHA, Hi Score Girl (which I had to wait until last week to watch), Planet With, and Mahoutsukai no Yome. Hinamatsuri is my honorable mention.
Guardian Enzo
January 5, 2019 at 12:21 amThat’s a pretty solid 5.
zeroyuki92
January 5, 2019 at 2:06 am1. Sangatsu no Lion S2 (I flip-flopped between this and #2, but it won slightly due to investment that was made in season 1)
2. A place further than the Universe
3. BNHA
4. Hinamatsuri
5. Planet With
I’m still sad that you won’t like my top 2 (at least in anime form), but well it can’t be helped.
I still need to watch Koi wa Ameagari no You ni, Hi Score Girl, and finish any anime of the last season. But well, even then I doubt I will change the top 3.
Richard
January 5, 2019 at 2:12 amI’d say Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho was best of the year by far. I can understand it not appealing to the anime fans out there who more focused on shonen, but Yorimoi simply did everything right, and it’s going to make a lot of new anime fans in unexpected places. (Even the New York Times noticed it, and that just doesn’t happen.)
But 2018 ended up having a lot of stand-out series. The second season of 3-gatsu no Lion ended up being even stronger than the first. And there were Yuru Camp, Violet Evergarden, and Hinamatsuri….
That gets to me to five, so I’ll stop there, but I could easily go on. Maybe the best thing about 2018 is that it seemed to have something for almost everybody.
hgfdsahjkl
January 5, 2019 at 3:28 amthe way the poll options are organized is misleading that might affect the results,I think it should be placed infront of the anime name not above it
Ronbb
January 5, 2019 at 4:14 pmThanks Enzo for another year of success in building this community (a happy place for me). This must be the busiest time of the year with both year-end wrap-ups and first impressions all coming at you… While you’ve done this for many years, this still takes a lot of organizing, discipline and heart. Thanks so much, Enzo. Wishing you great health, happiness and success this year!
My top five shows that I waited with baited breath for each episode to come — they all had the charm to make me care for the characters and the stories:
1) Golden Kamuy — hands-down the AOTY for me, and we probably won’t see a show this big, unique and memorable in many years to come.
2) Hinamatsuri — it made me laugh, made me cry and made me ponder on the social issues brought up in the show.
3) B: The Beginning — this had me glued to the screen from start to finish; Hirata Hiroaki and Morikawa Toshiyuki totally rocked.
4) Terou: Sirius the Jaeger — it’s both thrilling and endearing at the same time, and the message about peace and inclusion totally got me.
5) Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho — this is what many shows about cute girls (boys) doing cute things should do, and I’m starting to take note of Ishizuka Atsuko.
Aside from the top five, these were the shows that I craved for each week:
Winter: Mahoutsukai no Yome, Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou, Koi wa Ameagari no You ni, Kokkoku, Yuru Camp
Spring: Wataku ni Koi wa Muzukashii, Lupin III Part 5
Summer: Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki
Fall: Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume no Minai, Double Decker! Doug & Kirill
And these were the shows that I checked out to fill the void:
Emiya-san Chi no Kyon no Gohan, Gintama, Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, Mo Dao Zu Shi, Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori, SSS Gridman, Tsukumogami Kashimasu, Zombieland Saga
I seemed to enjoy more shows in winter than in other seasons, but there were other shows that I did check out when I had time. Overall, I didn’t find 2018 a bad year — perhaps I had adjusted my expectations without me noticing…
There were a few songs that became my earworms of 2018, but I will chat about them in your Best of the Best post. Can’t wait to read about which movie, seiyuus, writer and director that you’d crown for 2018. Till then, thanks again, Enzo, for hosting us and making it so comfortable to visit.
Guardian Enzo
January 5, 2019 at 4:19 pmThank you very much for those kind words. I wish I’d found more of the popular series of 2018 to my taste, because I’ve never felt more out of step with general opinion and I would have rated the year much more highly if I had.
Ronbb
January 5, 2019 at 4:50 pmForget about the general opinion, what makes Enzo Enzo is what makes this place interesting 🙂
Kurik
January 5, 2019 at 9:50 pmI watched a decent number of anime this year strictly on recommendation mostly from this site but as I have a poor memory I can’t remember them all or even the names properly. The ones that did stand out are below in no particular order. Thanks for the anime refue Enzo.
1. Megalo Box
2. Golden Kamuy
3. Lupin III Part 5
4. BNHA
5. Bunny Girl
Guardian Enzo
January 5, 2019 at 10:12 pmI see a lot of love for Bunny Girl Senpai. I tried that actually, gave it a couple of episodes. I didn’t hate it but… Another miss for me, I’m afraid.
donhumberto
January 6, 2019 at 4:29 amSadly, my favorite series of the year is so underrated/underwatched is not even in the poll 🙁
Anyways, here’s my take on the year
1- Hero Mask. Well, what can I say, taking over Virgin Soul (and The Perfect Insider before that, and Aku no hana before that…) is my top series of the year that apparently the rest of the anime fandom either ignores or hates 🙁 Anyway, I thought it was a superb mystery thriller that had some of the best action scenes I’ve seen in a good while. It does need a sequel badly but all I can say is that I enjoyed the show to bits (Hell, it even prompted me to write a few reviews after I finished it, something I had never done before)
2- Violet Evergarden. One of the most beautiful series I’ve seen in years. As a father of a little girl myself episode 10 hit me like no other episode I’ve seen in a long time.
3- Kokkoku. Sadly, another underrated gem. A really unique sci-fi tale with one of the best female leads I’ve seen in a while
4- Megalobox. Glad I’m seeing it’s getting a lot of love around here. I just wish all sports series were this good. I also loved how it looked like an OVA from the 80’s
5- Garo-Vanishing Line. It was a blast from start to finish and it looked cool as hell. Sadly underrated, too
Honourable mentions: Banana Fish (DAT ending… whoah, the feels. Also, soundtrack of the year for me), Devilman Crybaby, Castlevania (amazingly good second season), Dore-ku (pretty much like Hero Mask, no one watched this and the ones who did didn’t like it, but I had a blast from start to finish and it had one of the best female characters of the year) and the LOGH remake (susrprisingly good, IMO)
Overall, I think it was a pretty good year. I can easily count 20+ shows I enjoyed to bits and wouldn’t mind rewatching. No clear masterpieces though although if Hero Mask does eventually get a sequel and they manage to properly follow the story I could easily see it getting a 10/10 from me
elianthos
January 6, 2019 at 11:15 pmNot sure if it would count as anime or because it’s a planned split multi-cour but if Aguu was in the list I’ll dare it: special mention as one of the surprises of the year for me was MDZS a.k.a. Mo Dao Zu Shi / Grandmaster Of Demonic Cultivation s1.
It started a bit akward – the first two episodes especially being 30 mins long sort of highlighted the occasional pacing and characterization issues. Hard to say how much of it is due to the source work, cultural differences included some rather literature-savy and genre-savy allusions that are easily missed or Chinese animation growing pains in finding a better spectacle vs substance balance right off the bat – but grew into a really watchable and pretty engaging wuxia subgenre (from what I gathered the whole cultivators&demonic thing is ) adventure, episode 11 is still a highlight of the whole year. When it’s on and everything finally starts to click together it’s ON.
About the titles actually in the list I’m still deciding. It was a strange year for me and very little else sticks to memory right now.
donhumberto
January 10, 2019 at 6:11 pm@elianthos Really glad to see you enjoyed Aguu so much. It’s impossibly underrated IMO and in fact it wasn’t even streamed anywhere. I wouldn’t quite put it in my top 10 but for sure it would be in my top 20 of the year. I just loved how unique and engaging it was and I found Machi to be the best female antagonist of the year, too (She needed more screen time, though!). Hopefully it will get a sequel (which needs badly) because the series sure left me craving for more. Also, your post reminded me that I need to get around watching Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation asap (Still, trying to catch up on a few winter shows I need to finish first 😉
Bel
January 8, 2019 at 2:47 amMy top 5 personal favourites:
– Koi wa Ameagari no You ni
– Mahoutsukai no Yome
– Planet With
– Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight
– Yagate Kimi ni Naru
I hadn’t watched much anime last year, so I’m still catching up on those I’d missed the first time around. I watched Planet With several days ago, and wow, that’s a lot of content packed into 12 tightly plotted episodes. I probably wouldn’t have watched it if I hadn’t read about it here. Thanks, Enzo. (Hi score Girl is also on my to-watch list.)
niwa
January 9, 2019 at 3:17 amWouldn’t want to rank them from first to last because they were all great, but my choices were fairly straightforward since I didn’t watch very much this year overall: Yagate Kimi ni Naru, Sora yori mo Tooi Basho, 3-gatsu no Lion 2, Hinamatsuri and Yuru Camp. Runner ups would be Major S2, Golden Kamuy and probably Piano no Mori when I catch up with it.
say
January 10, 2019 at 3:28 am– Wotaku ni koi wa muzukashii
– Kokkoku
– Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudou-bu
– Golden Kamuy season 1 (I haven’t watched the second one)
– Shokugeki no Soma: San no sara (I know it is a no sense series right now and for me this is its requiem).
They are almost all the series I watched last years, they were very few.
Guardian Enzo
January 10, 2019 at 7:30 amTsurune was one I didn’t think about from an eligibility standpoint, as it never really occurred to me that it would rank. But in theory it should have been a 2018 show – it’s a fall series and one cour. But it’s ending a month into 2019. Interesting to mull that one.
kiwi
January 14, 2019 at 12:57 pmI agree that this year was a lot “dryer” in terms of quality anime to watch. I only finished about 20 shows… whereas in 2016 I easily finished 40+ shows. (that is, seasonal shows that were airing. The never-ending backlog is always calling haha)
in no particular order, here are the shows I found to be the most memorable:
-3 gatsu no Lion s2
-devilman crybaby
-hi score girl
-kokkoku
-megalo box
-a place further than the universe
-bunny girl
-wotakoi