In the final installment of my 2018 entertainment round-up, let's cover my favorite TV anime of 2018, restricted to a list of my Top 10. I didn't watch any sequels this year, surprisingly enough, but there are spin-offs.
Unless mentioned otherwise, all series completed their runs in 2016. Anime listed are not ranked, but presented in the order I watched them. My top three picks of the year are marked with an asterisk (*).
Hakata Tonkatsu Ramens
In a city where organized murder is so prevalent that everybody seems to have a hand in it, a group of criminals themselves are just doing their jobs as they get pulled into various cases, usually involving the hitman, Lin. Despite their grisly line of work, most of the ensemble cast is upbeat and fun to be around. Don't go looking for an overarching plot, but each of the mini-arcs is well done.
Real Girl *
I thought I would dislike the idea of a nerd who prefers 2D women to meet a fashionable real girl who wants to date him, because it smacks of wish fulfillment, but this series isn't that kind of show at all. Rather, Iroha is an outcast in her own way (everyone assumes that with her looks she must have slept around) and Hikari is an outcast because he kept liking comics and children's anime long after it was socially acceptable to do so. The series is mostly about them learning how to date each other, and all the highs and lows that come with this being the first serious relationship for both of them. (Edit: I forgot that Real Girl got a second season this year! So it's still going.)
The Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These
This series ends at a really uncomfortable spot, being that it's in the middle of a major battle. Unlike most anime where a battle is a one and done affair, this is "battle" on the scale of a war so it's the kind that lasts for weeks. If you like your space opera, this is a remake of the ten ton gorilla of anime space opera, but oddly doesn't finish covering the first book of the source material. It's supposed to wrap up in a trio of movies later this year, but I can't imagine how they'll cover all ten books when the TV series didn't cover one. It's an excellent appetizer, and the updated designs are really nice, but it can't stand on its own. Fortunately for the curious, the books are being translated.
Caligula
Caligula is a bit of a hot mess, but it's the rare RPG-to-anime adaptation that completely throws out the concept of watching the storyline of the game. You still have students trapped in a VR world trying to get home, but the series makes a lot of smart decisions in breaking up when everyone gets their powers and how Ritsu gets involved with the Go Home Club. Though I haven't played the game, I know enough about RPG tropes to realize where some of the changes had to have been, and I think more adaptations need to take those kinds of chances. Unfortunately, the second half of the series turns into a mess right up until a better than expected finale.
Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku *
This is a total guilty pleasure series. If you are a geek of some kind and have similarly geeky friends, you will probably see yourselves in this series. Narumi wants to start dating again, after getting dumped by a boyfriend who discovered her nerd life as a fujoshi. Fortunately she's reunited with her childhood friend Hirotaka at her new job, and he puts himself out there as a potential boyfriend, because he's a fellow nerd who is sympathetic to all the nerd problems she has (like helping her with a special event in an online game before it goes away).
Darling in the Franxx
I wanted to like Darling in the Franxx, and for the first half I really did. I liked the idea of mecha that had to be piloted in pairs, and the interesting worldbuilding where children didn't seem to exist outside of the pilots. It even raised the issue of what happens when the pilots aren't necessarily straight, but have to partner with the opposite sex (though it could have handled it much better). It was good, cheesy fun, especially since all the kids are on the verge of puberty with puberty problems, but aren't equipped to handle them. Unfortunately the tail end of the series gets really rushed and ends with more of a whimper than a bang.
Violet Evergarden
This was probably the most gorgeous animated series I saw all year. At its heart, it's a tale about an emotionally damaged girl learning how to grieve, but after a strong beginning, it sags in the middle, before coming back for a solid ending. I wanted to like it more, but I found the middle to be pretty forgettable and Violet's adjustment to normal life to be a little too easy from where she started in the beginning.
Persona 5: The Animation
I debated whether or not to include this since the series properly ends with the second TV special in March of this year, but I probably won't remember to include the series in next year's round-up. This is an adaptation of the Persona 5 video game and largely follows an identical plot. Some condensation is done where it makes sense, and Akechi's role in the story has been amped up. The TV series itself ends at a shocking point in the game (I'll refrain from spoilers), which I applaud since it could be an ending to someone who doesn't know better, but obviously the story continues. As an adaptation it's pretty vanilla and doesn't take too many risks. If you like the game you'll probably like the anime.
Today's Menu for the Emiya Family *
This series would make me hungry, so clearly the only solution was to watch it while I was already eating. It's a pretty fun short anime (each episode is less than 15 minutes) set in an alternate universe of Fate/stay night where masters and servants live relatively peacefully together and most of the characters are friendly if not actually friends. Each episode features a recipe that viewers can make at home, either by extrapolating from the instructions in episode or by following the directions on the series' web page (unfortunately only in Japanese).
Boarding School Juliet
Boarding School Juliet is unusual for a romantic comedy because Romio and Juliet get together in the first episode, but after that they need to hide their relationship from all the other kids at their school since they hail from rival nations and their campus is similarly fractured. There are one too many boob jokes, but I really like a teenage comedy where the fun isn't in seeing how the couple come together, so much as seeing how they learn to date each other. The fact that Juliet can more than hold her own against Romio and the rest of Black Doggy House is also a plus.
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