Prepare yourself gentle reader. This year, I have decided to try something a little new. Seeing as how a combination of different Youtubers including Gigguk and Team Four Star’s short lived anime show AnimeFMK got me back into subscribing to Crunchyroll and actually watching anime again, I thought why not list the ten best anime I’ve watched in 2018.
A word of warning though, this will be the most generic, unadventurous anime list you’re going to read on this topic. But hey, give me a break, I’m just starting to get the hang of this.
I had a hard time trying to decide the criteria for this list, seeing as how a lot of the anime I watched both ended in 2018, or began and are still ongoing this year. So, at least for this year, I am going to simply say, to qualify for this list, the show simply has to have aired some significant amount of its airtime in this calendar year 2018. Next year, I’ll probably figure out something that makes a little more sense. But for now, seeing as it’s the first time I’m doing this, then why not just wing it.
Starting with:
#10: Goblin Slayer
Originally Aired: October 7th to December 30th | 12 Episodes | Written by Hideyuki Kurata & Yōsuke Kuroda | Action, Adventure, Dark Fantasy
I know I gave this show a lot of grief a couple of weeks back, complaining about its excessive use of violence towards women and a callus approach to rape early on. But I also spoke about how cool to watch the main character was, how it leaned into its inspirations from Dungeons & Dragons and how it found creative ways to solve problems within its lore.
When they’re not having abhorrent things happen to them, I did like the characters in Goblin Slayer. While the titular slayer himself has the personality of a house brick, throughout the series, his interactions with the other characters have made him into a slightly more chatty house brick. And while every female character falling in love with him is the most fantastical thing that happens in a series about demons and goblins, I am enjoying the slow arc of his character so far.
And putting the extreme excess of edge aside, Goblin Slayer takes place in a well crafted world that I want to know more about. The daily goings on inside an adventurers guild and how the different ranked parties from Porcelain to Gold make their way in a world filled with demons and monsters. Making livings as adventurers.
Not just that, but the stupid teenager brain somewhere inside my head gets a massive kick out of Goblin Slayer’s glowing red eye and his utter domination of the Goblins he hates more than anything. It’s a fantasy show aimed towards a very male audience, and while some aspects of this really put me off, the highs of the series keep me interested regardless.
This show ended up marginally beating out another, very similar, show in Killing Bites from earlier in the year onto my list. Like Killing Bites, this show is smartly written. It knows its inspirations and isn’t afraid to get a little ridiculous with the actions seen on screen. They’re both a little too heavy on the fan service for my liking, but both exist in interesting worlds.
While Killing Bites was probably more adept at its self referential bent of silly action, it didn’t have me looking at everything in the world and comparing it to a tabletop RPG and how the things in the show would translate to a game. So that’s just an example of my broken brain in action.
Reading the fan comments about this show isn’t worth the time though. Like me, many of them speak about the show like it were a tabletop RPG campaign unfolding in front of them. A large portion of them, unfortunately, seem to fall into the 13 year old, edge lord, minmaxers who get their rocks off to the more vulgar aspects of the show. Complaining about “unoptimal” actions. They seem to forget that this is still a show at the end of the day.
I did enjoy it, but would only recommend it with some trepidation. It’s a guilty pleasure on my part and is the prime example of why I don’t want my mom knowing about my Crunchyroll subscription. I know it’s a contentious one. But the off-putting aspects of the show tone down as it gets deeper into its 12 episode run.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 