The Best Anime of 2018

So this is my first story on Medium! I hope I can entertain you all with my ramblings about anime and movies. Anyway, I’d like to begin by talking about some of my favorite anime from 2018.

This will mostly be a response to Crunchyroll’s annual “Anime Awards,” in which a group of judges decide on nominees for each category and then users vote on which choice they like the best in each category. What I’m going to do here is list out some categories, as well some honorable mentions (and one dishonorable mention). Of course there are plenty of anime I didn’t get the chance to see from 2018, having failed to complete Bloom Into You, Golden Kamuy, and A Place Further Than the Universe as of press time, but I got to almost everything I wanted. So without further ado, let’s begin (spoiler alert: I really, really liked Violet Evergarden)!

Best Animation/Story/Original Soundtrack: Violet Evergarden

As you saw above, I really, really enjoyed Violet Evergarden, and saw it through beginning to end twice before 2018 ended. Instead of listing it three times for each category, I’ll list it once and gush about it here before mentioning some close seconds.

Violet Evergarden tells the story of an orphaned girl who fought in a war, losing both her arms and the major who looked after her, who has been MIA and assumed dead. But before he went missing, he told Violet he loved her, something she did not understand. She makes use of herself working at a postal company writing letters for the illiterate population, hoping to figure out what “I love you” means.

From the moment the trailers hit the internet, we all knew Violet Evergarden would be a beautifully animated series, and Kyoto Animation does have a reputation for pretty looking anime. Michael Moore from The Verge wrote a piece on why Kyoto Animation is at the top of the industry using A Silent Voice as an example and it explains their style pretty well. But from the moment episode one began, I was blown away by just how good it was. Director Taichi Ishidate also gets points for his phenomenal direction as well. From the swirling light reflected in the emerald broach and Violet’s eyes in episode one, to Violet jumping across the pond with the umbrella in episode seven, to the flying confetti and letters at the end, the subtle character expressions, and the glistening color palette, I can say, safely, that Violet Evergarden takes home the gold for best looking series from 2018.

But the beauty doesn’t stop there. The story is where the series shines just as brightly. It’s a masterful work of writing that shows how our protagonist Violet grows to understand human emotions (while becoming more emotional herself), while at the same time showing us the fulfillment our words can bring to other people as well as the nostalgic joy in receiving a letter. Despite Gigguk’s very fair criticisms of Violet as a character, which he briefly mentioned in his Anime in 2018 video, I have to disagree. Violet’s story was as emotionally riveting as it was engaging. However, I don’t want this to turn into a straight review in the middle of this list, and Mother’s Basement did a pretty good job of explaining the writing’s strengths, so I’ll leave it at this.

One last point on what Violet Evergarden did stunningly well was its music, composed by the amazing Evan Call. His ANN entry shows he’s worked on a few other anime, but he really needs to do more. His orchestral compositions fit the series so perfectly from an aesthetic and narrative perspective. To end off, instead of explaining more, I’ll just link my favorite track here so you can listen for yourself.

OKAY, enough gushing over Violet Evergarden for now. What are some of the other series that did well in these three categories?

Best Animation Runner-up: Iroduku: The World in Colors

Iroduku tells the story of a girl in the future named Hitomi who can only see the world in black and white. Her grandmother sends her back 60 years suddenly and unexpectedly to the year 2018, and Hitomi is left to figure out why her grandmother sent her back in time, and how to get back. She joins the school’s art club and antics ensue as they try to get her back to her time.

Ever since I saw Angel Beats! in 2012, P.A. Works has gone on to become one of my favorite animation studios for their quality and, more specifically, how they use color. As such, I was greatly looking forward to this series ever since I saw the promotional video, and while the story disappointed me, the animation lived up to its expectations. The backgrounds in this series are some of the best from 2018, and the shifting between black and white and color to reflect Hitomi’s perception of the world was brilliant. In particular, the way colors burst onto the screen through Aoi’s drawings is great (especially in episode one). P. A. Works is still at he top of their game.

Best Story Runner-up: Attack on Titan season 3 part 1

If only I could go back to 2013/2014 and show the skeptics of future Attack on Titan seasons seasons two and three. They had claimed the story had become too political and boring in the manga to adapt into an engrossing tale to match the high velocity thrills of the first 25 episodes. But they were wrong. These last two seasons have been, in my view, much more engaging than the first season ever was, plunging us deeper into the conspiracies and drama that has humans and titans vying for control of the land. Season 3 continues the story where season 2 left off, giving us more political drama and high stakes fights. Who cares about killing titans when the story with the humans kept me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end? There’s been lots of growth from Historia and Eren specifically, which I loved along with a strew of interesting characters like Kenny, and I’m looking forward to Attack on Titan’s return in April to see where the story brings us next.

Worst Story (Dishonorable Mention): ISLAND

ISLAND is about a young man who suddenly wakes up on the beach of an isolated island with amnesia. All he remembers is that he is has been sent from the future to save humanity. Later that night, he meets a girl named Rinne and he remembers his name is Setsuna. The two names match those of star crossed lovers from an old legend on the island.

ISLAND should have aired 12 years ago. So right from the beginning we’re not off to a great start here. ISLAND has all the makings of that kind of show. Based on a visual novel, decent-ish animation, small town setting, mystical realism, mystery plot, etc. Now that on its own isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, I did watch it from beginning to end. This genre has some of my favorite anime. So I was looking forward to viewing ISLAND anyway despite it being made a little too late. Unfortunately it did not work out. From the laughable sex scene to the plethora of plot twists that ultimately collapse on top of the story, I get the feeling ISLAND will be relegated to the realm of the forgotten, where it belongs. It’s a shame because the premise is actually fairly interesting, but if you want a good show in this genre, you can do much better.

Best Original Soundtrack Runner-up: Megalo Box

Megalo Box tells the story of Joe, a non citizen from a poor area of a city who aims to make it into Megalonia, the prestigious tournament in Megalo Boxing, a new type of sport using new “gear” technology. Joe trains with his coach Nanbu to do the impossible and make it to the top.

Now, I will admit that I have not yet finished Megalo Box as of press time, having opted to hold off so I could watch the dub weekly on Toonami, so I don’t know how well it would have done against Violet Evergarden in terms of story, but I doubt it would best the KyoAni series. However, that isn’t to say the soundtrack wasn’t competitive. In fact I had a very tough time deciding which one I liked more; Evan Call’s grace, or Mabanua’s gritty mix of hip-hop and rock. It perfectly complimented the poor districts of the city and Joe’s determination to get into the ring to make it to the top, and every time Joe steps into the ring, that soundtrack never disappoints. Like I did above, I’ll link another favorite tune from the OST here so you can listen for yourself and spare you a mini review.

Now that the production stuff has been talked about, let’s talk about two of my favorite characters.

Best Girl: Anzu (Hinamatsuri)

I was ready to put Historia from Attack on Titan here, but that was before I binged Hinamatsuri and Anzu completely won my heart! Hinamatsuri in general is a very heartwarming and funny anime about psychic girls who suddenly land on Earth. One girl, Hina, ends up staying with Nitta, a yakuza while Anzu is left on her own. Anzu is a great example of the series’ strengths. Historia really grew as a character in season 3 of Attack on Titan and that was a wonder to witness but Anzu is such a precious bean who needs to be protected. She’s too humble, too pure for this world. So she gets the nod here.

Best Boy: Haida (Aggretsuko)

I don’t think I need to say anything here. If you’ve seen Aggretsuko, the hilarious short anime about a red panda working as accountant who sings heavy metal in secret to cope with the grievances of working an office job, you know why Haida is best boy. If you haven’t seen Aggretsuko, hurry and do it so you can appreciate this man like the rest of us.

Great Voice Acting Honorable Mention: Erika Harlacher as Violet Evergarden (Violet Evergarden) — English Dub

I made this category an honorable mention because I don’t feel like I saw enough dubbed anime to really make a “best” judgement and none of the performances I saw in Japanese really stood out to me. That said, Erika Harlacher is quickly becoming one of my favorite voice actors. Her performance as Violet was excellent, as I remarked on Twitter, and she even replied to me too! She really captured Violet’s emotional growth well, and so even though I can’t pick out what I feel might be the best performance in either language in 2018, I feel this one really needs to be mentioned regardless.

Those are essentially all the categories I wanted to hit. Short and sweet. Now to finish off, I’ll list out some more honorable mentions listing a few anime that were really solid but didn’t have one particular thing stand out to make this list here and then finally, we’ll name the best anime of 2018!

A Certain Magical Index III

While it’s still ongoing as of press time since it began airing last fall and is slated for 26 episodes, this was one of my most anticipated 2018 anime. I’ve been a fan of the Index franchise for a while so as I was greatly looking forward to this loved franchise’s third season. This third season has been a joy to watch continuing right after season 2 left off, and I’m eager to see where the story of science and magic goes next in adapting the light novels about a boy who can cancel out any power in a world where magicians and espers vye for power and influence over the world(supposedly this will cover up to the end of the original series), even if the pacing feels really fast.

Sirius the Jaeger

I was also looking forward to Sirius the Jaeger since it was announced due to the staff, P.A. Works animating, and the Kishida Kyoudan and the Akeboshi Rockets opening. But of course Netflix had to keep me waiting for a while. In the end, Jaeger isn’t anything special. It’s about a group of vampire hunters, but it’s entertaining. The story wasn’t very original but it’s not bad, and with Masahiro Ando on board directing, the action scenes are as good as you’d expect out of something by him. If you’re looking for a nice little action series, it’s worth it.

Planet With

I’m generally not into mecha anime but all my friends had talked about how great this one was, and only being 12 episodes, I decided to give it a go, and wow, was I amazed. It tells the tale of Soya, a high school boy living with a girl in a maid outfit and a cat who they call Sensei. Soya’s life is suddenly upended when alien spaceships start arriving and humans with the power to create their own mechas begin attacking it. It doesn’t waste a second of its run time, telling a jam packed story about humanity, evolution, revenge, dragons, and mecha battles all wrapped up neatly into one cour. This is one I can safely recommend even to non mecha fans.

My Hero Academia season 3

This wouldn’t be a complete list without the killer third season to everyone’s new favorite shonen anime. I don’t need to say too much here since we’re so far into the story. However, I will say that the fight between All Might and All For One was one of anime’s best moments in 2018, and while the second half of the season didn’t quite live up to the first, it was still a fantastic ride being with all these charters again. If you haven’t binged season 3 yet, get to it. Season 4 is a long way off (October!) but I’m looking forward to it.

And now, to probably no one’s surprise…the best anime of 2018 in my opinion is…

Best Anime: Violet Evergarden

I gushed about this show a lot here, I know. But it’s just so good. A masterwork of writing, animation, music, directing, and acting. And it being the only series from 2018 I watched more than once all the way through, I couldn’t give it to any other series. If you haven’t seen this beautiful series, then you must do so as quickly as possible and get the tissues. We’ll have to wait a full year for the scheduled film, but it’s already one of my most anticipated 2020 anime.

And that’s the best in anime in 2018! Thanks for stopping by my blog and checking out my opinions. I can’t wait to write about a lot more stuff about anime and movies and I look forward to it and I hope you are too.