Returning to Anime? The Best Anime Series of 2018 That You Missed

Been away from anime for awhile? We understand. You go out and have your life, anime will always be waiting for you when you come back. They always come back. If you are finally coming back and stopped watching sometime in or before 2018, here are all the best anime series that you missed and definitely should go back and watch.




A Place Further Than The Universe

Upon discovering an old list she made in the last year of middle school, Mari Tamaki, who is now in her second year of high school realizes she is not making the most of her youth. Whenever she tries to do something new, she is paralyzed with inaction. Then one day she meets Shirase, a girl whose mother went missing when she was in middle school on an expedition to Antarctica. Knowing full well it is close to impossible, she works hard in order to go to search for her mother and invites Mari along for the ride.

The most fantastic thing about this show is that their goal seems like such an anime goal. You know, a goal not bound by reality. However, they achieve that goal in such a realistic way. They show the girls exploring all the proper channels and not just hopping the first ship to Antarctica because no one would question several high schoolers going on a science expedition in an anime.

Laid-Back Camp

After moving, Nadeshiko decides to go see Mount Fuji. She manages to bike pretty far, but has to turn back because of the weather and ends up fainting. When she wakes up, she finds herself somewhere she has never been and no way to find her way back. It is in this wilderness where she is saved by Rin, a girl who was out camping by herself.

It’s a cozy show about winter camping, guys. It is a good show to chill with.

Citrus

After her mother remarries, fashionable Yuzu moves to a new city. However, with her all-girls school being strict and conservative, she immediately butts heads with the stoic student council present. Worse yet, later that night, she discovers that the student council president is now her new stepsister.

As a yuri series, you can expect some drama. However, this series also ended up pretty sultry as well. Yet, while that might be something people want to watch yuri for, there is some good emotion behind why it is actually laid out like that.

Pop Team Epic

Popuko is small and quick to anger. Pipiumi is tall and serene. Together these two high school girls swear like sailors and get up to all sorts of insane and meta activities.

Parody series are amazing, always. Pop Team Epic turns the dial to eleven and ends up super full of energy and some pretty funny anime/gaming jokes.

Skilled Teaser Takagi-san

For Nishikata, no one knows him better than Takagi-san. Unfortunately for him, she uses this knowledge to unrelentingly tease him on a daily basis. Nishikata vows to get revenge for all that blushing he has done, but is he good enough to overcome her skill?

It is a show about adorable middle school children low-key flirting. Or rather, a girl flirting with a guy and the guy not realizing it at all.

Violet Evergarden

After the Great War and her time in it came to an end, Violet Evergarden is adrift. Her purpose was once only battle, and now she must find a new one. After recovering from the loss of her arms, Violet takes up a job at the CH Postal Services. Here she transcribes people’s thoughts into what should be emotional letters. However, the “emotional” part seems to greatly escape her, but she aims to learn how to move people with words.

If you aren’t in the mood for a poignant narrative and just want to watch action, this may not be for you. However, the real reason to watch this series is the just absolutely ridiculously beautiful animation that it uses. It is just stunning at many different moments.

Darling in the Franxx

In the distant future, the land is ruined and humanity now lives in the mobile city, Plantation. Inside, they are defended from massive life forms by children raised from birth to pilot robots called Franxx in boy-girl pairs. This story follows Hiro, once a prodigy, and now a failure. However, just as he was about to be cast aside, he meets a mysterious girl with horns that is a Franxx pilot dubbed The Partner Killer.

I’ll be real with you. This series starts out really strong, then forgets what it wants to do by the end. However, Zero Two continues to be a weeb darling and a subject of memes long after this series has ended.

Hinamatsuri

One night, an object falls through space and time into the living room of dignified yakuza member Nitta. It turns out, this strange girl has psychic powers, but Nitta is reluctant to both take her in and make use of those powers. Respecting his decision to not use her as a tool, this girl, Hina, decides to help him as they begin their life together.

This show looks pretty unassuming, but it is like an iceberg – there is a lot below the surface. By “a lot,” I mean some of the best comedy of the year. The facial expressions in the show really perfectly accent the jokes.

Golden Kamuy

After surviving the brutal Russo-Japanese war, Sugimoto gained the nickname “the immortal”. However, he now seeks the promise of gold north in Hokkaido to provide for the blind wife and infant son of his comrade of war. Yet, during his hunt, he hears the tale of a hidden stash of gold hidden by criminals with a map made out of human skin. Dismissing it as a tale at first, he soon finds the man who told it with those very same tattoos. Now on a race with a native Ainu girl, whose father was murdered for the gold, they try to make it to the stash before the criminals.

This series focuses on a time period as well as the native northern people of Japan that are not often showcased in media. Furthermore, it creates an engaging treasure hunt story that is a good set up for some pretty spectacular violence.

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for an Otaku

After discovering they work at the same company, a gaming otaku and a fujoshi rekindle for the first time since middle school. After some good old fashioned after work drinks, they decide to start dating, but dating an otaku as an otaku is more difficult that one would think.

It’s a romance about two otakus that used to go to school together and now work together. Their otaku ways make it hard to date, but then they end up dating each other. It is almost all comedy, but it is good comedy.

Banana Fish

During the Vietnam War, a soldier named Griff goes insane and starts killing his own platoon. After being subdued, all he kept speaking was the words “banana fish”. Years later, Griff is taken care of by his brother Ash, a boy who ran away from home and was taken in by mob boss Papa Dino. Ash was groomed as both heir to the Mafia family and sex slave to Papa Dino. Now he seeks to unravel the mystery between this banana fish, a phrase that keeps mysteriously popping up in his life.

This is easily the most non-shoujo shoujo series ever made. It has action and intrigue as well as a plot that draws you in. You have your pretty shoujo men, but you have a pretty noir plot as well.

Cells at Work

The human body has approximately 37 trillion cells that are hard at work every day to keep you alive. Cells at Work tells the story of a red blood cell and a white blood cell and the tireless work of countless other cells to keep you alive. Germ invasions, scratches, and drama unfold inside this body.

It’s a show where everything in your body is turned into a cute anime character, and it is awesome. Furthermore, it actually does teach you about the human body in a factually accurate way, which is the best thing about it.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime

After passing a robber, Satoru is killed. He is then reincarnated in a fantasy world as a slime monster. Oh, the shenanigans he will get up to.

It’s an isekai series, with a twist. The guy is reincarnated as a slime. Surprisingly, it is well done so that  it sets itself apart and is actually fun rather than lost in generic isekai tropes.

Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

On a day like any other, Sakuta is in the library, and there he spots a wild bunny girl. This wild bunny girl, or rather, Mai Sakurajima, a semi-retired actress dressed like a bunny girl, catches no one else’s eye. In fact, Sakuta seems to be the only on that can see her on that day and on many other days. This phenomenon, called Puberty Syndrome, is rumored on the internet. As Sakuta decides to solve the mystery, he grows closer to Mai and other girls that suffer the same malady.

This is definitely the best romance anime series of 2018 because it told a lightly tinged supernatural story in a realistic and occasionally comical way. It isn’t over the top drama heavy like many purely romance series like to lean and it has probably one of the more likable male protagonists in it.

Zombieland Saga

For Sakura Minamoto, she started her day off normally, right up until she skipped outside and got hit by a speeding truck. She died of course, but 10 years later, she wakes up as… a zombie. However, her story is just beginning as a man wants her and several other undead girls from throughout Japan’s history to become a regional idol group to save Saga from becoming an obscure prefecture.

Not the series about the sort of zombies we were expecting, but still pretty good. (They were really secretive about the plot before release.) It is essentially an idol anime, but all the girls are zombies. So there is idol drama and zombie humor. Mostly humor, however.

Goblin Slayer

A young priestess fresh out of the temple is excited to start her life as an adventurer. On her first day, she joins an adventuring party to go slay some goblins. However, like so many young adventure parties before them, they underestimate the goblins. It ends with two dead, one viciously raped, and the priestess saved from fate by a man whose only mission in life is to slay all the goblins.

While Goblin Slayer got a boost from the controversial rape scene in the first episode, the rest of the series was actually pretty tame. It ended up being a pretty good, non-isekai fantasy series with all the violent action one could hope for.

Skull-Face Bookseller Honda-san

This is the story of Honda-san, a skeleton that works in a bookstore. He mans the manga counter and fulfill requests for his strange customers like Gintama tentacle doujinshi and deals with his variety of equally odd co-workers.

An unexpectedly good comedy that is as weird as it is hilarious. Honestly, you’ll get more out of this if you are big into manga or light novels, as it pokes more fun at those people.

Did we miss some other good anime from 2018? Let returning anime fans know in the comments section below.


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