I’ve put in 2017’s details into the post so don’t worry about keeping this post open in another tab.

Top 10 (or 11…?) Worst Dropped Anime 2018 As According to their Rating on My AniList

1. Akkun to Kanojo
2. Island
3. Marchen Madchen
4. Harukana Receive
5. As Miss Beelzebub Likes.
6. A Place Farther than the Universe (tie)
7. Dances with the Dragons (tie)
8. Nil Admirari no Tenbin (tie) (may eventually leave this category, as it’s marked for reevaluation)
9. Isekai Izakaya (tie)
10. Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro (tie)
11. Asobi Asobase (tie)

Interestingly, a lot of these are female-led or are co-led by a gal and a dude. This may have had something to do with the fact there was a lot of buzz about the #MeToo movement this year and so my views on that stuff may have become more progressive over time…although A Place Farther Than the Universe is there because it was telling me I was living my (rather unadventurous) life wrong and made me doubt myself, rather than being motivational like other people saw it.

Also, I was less harsh on 2018 works overall, since works in this ranking are rated 30 – 50. Akkun to Kanojo is the only potential copout, with episodes at 4 minutes.

Top Non-Simulcast Commentary Anime Finished in 2018

This list only includes full-length (10+ episodes) seasons of anime. They’re ranked according to my feelings on them after I finished each series.

1. Tsuritama
2. Madoka Magica
3. Shiki
4. Magic-kyun! Renaissance
5. Golden Kamuy s1
6. Eden of the East
7. No Game No Life
8. DanMachi
9. New Game!
10. Usagi Drop
11. Hyouka
12. Grimgar
13. Acchi Kocchi
14. Ayakashi

With last-minute additions of Hyouka and Eden of the East, I managd to top last year’s 12 anime. The most active month for full-length series was September, with 3 finished series. Most shows were for the watching challenges I needed to finish…(see link in Acchi Kocchi’s notes below for more details on challenges)

Show-specific notes

• Shiki – I finished it because I thought it would disappear from Crunchyroll, but then it turns out it was going from Funimation instead…
• Acchi Kocchi – I mentioned dropping it, but finished it for a watching challenge.
• Ayakashi – I watched for the Medicine Seller, so obviously the Bakeneko part was the best bit. It was kind of boring outside that…
• New Game! – For some reason, I found it extremely motivating as well as serving its purpose of a “girls making games” CGDCT + comedy show.
• Usagi Drop – A bit of a snore to be honest, mostly dampened by the fact I learnt there was a disturbing manga ending before I even finished the show. I also accidentally started in the middle of the show for this one, a fact I mull over in one of the 12 Days of Anime as a result.
• Hyouka – I had to slog through half the show before it started getting interesting (as I was already familiar with some of the scenes and spoilers), which cause a massive drop in rankings. 

Top OVAs/Movies/Short-ep Series Finished in 2018

1. King of Thorn
2. Koe no Katachi/A Silent Voice
3. ReLIFE Kanketsu-hen
4. Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple
5. Bungou Stray Dogs: Hitori Ayumu
6. Tiger and Bunny: the Beginning
7. 5 cm Per Second/Byousoku 5 cm
8. Yakusoku no Nanayamatsuri/Starlight Promises
9. Twin Signal
10. Short Peace
11. Hetalia the Beautiful World
12. Umi no Ochita Tsuki no Hanashi 
13. Kaito x Ansa
14. Mob Psycho 100 Reigen recap
15. Mars of Destruction
16. Skelter Heaven

I didn’t rank any OVAs, movies or short-ep anime last year, so I compiled a big list and sifted through it manually to make one for this year. March was the busiest month in regards to this category, with 3 finished entries.

…Now that I’ve compiled these lists, no wonder I felt I couldn’t remember much of any series for the 12 Days of Anime. I’ve pushed myself a bit too hard this year when it comes to watching…

Show-specific notes

• Kaito x Ansa – Found it floating around on YouTube, at the expense of having to rely only on my Japanese listening skills to solve the nazotoki puzzles…but since this was what I call a “tourist trap” anime – as in, it tries to advertise a certain place along with having its plot – and since Nazotokine was actually pretty tough when it came to puzzles (even Japanese people neded to work together to solve them on a nazotoki blog I found!), it dropped really hard in the rankings since I only barely understood it…
• Hetalia – For some reason, my local streaming site was missing a single episode until it appeared this year, hence its charting. The missing episode wasn’t even a special episode…
• Skelter Heaven/Mars of Destruction – Due to Lina’s and Arthifis’s interest in crappy anime early this year, I watched these 2 in February.
• Tiger and Bunny movie – I haven’t watched the original series yet, which means I may have seen this as a lot cooler than it should’ve been. It did feel kind of incomplete, though…
• King of Thorn – I elaborate on some of this in the clickbait collab, but King of Thorn is one of those movies that rewards rewatches. Something that doesn’t make sense upon first viewing may be answered once you think over it or rewatch it, while the sci-fi take on a beloved fairytale and striking opening scene also make it worth its while. Also, its ending theme is catchy…too bad it’s not on Spotify, though…

Top 2018 Anime (Short-ep)

1. gd men
2. Skullface Bookseller Honda-san
3. Nobunaga no Shinobi s3 (down one position from s2)
4. You Don’t Know Gunma Yet
5. MahoYome short (2017 carryover, down 2 positions)

An interesting shake-up – it no longer goes by length of episode…

Top 2018 Anime

Note: This ranking only includes full-length shows I finished in 2018, or will finish in 2018, that made themselves eligible for the simulcast commentary. See last year’s post for a link that explains what the simulcast commentary is. Also remember this is based on both feelings and critical quality.

1. Hinamatsuri
2. Planet With
3. Rokuhoudou
4. Golden Kamuy (overall)
5. Double Decker!
6. BnHA s3 (down 1 position from season 2)
7. Zoku Touken Ranbu Hanamaru (up 6 positions from Katsugeki, Hanamaru season 1 did not chart)
8. Boueibu Happy Kiss (same as last eligible position in 2016)
9. Idolish7 (s1)
10. Zombieland Saga
11. Gakuen Babysitters
12. Cells at Work!/Hataraku Saibou!
13. Merc Storia
14. YuruCamp/Laid-Back Camp
15. Mahoutsukai no Yome/Ancient Magus’ Bride (2017 carryover, down 12 positions)
16. Angolmois
17. Mahou Shoujo Ore
18. SSSS.Gridman
19. Phantom in the Twilight

So it seems I watched slightly less this year (19, down from 2017’s 20 due to how the entries are grouped when they chart) on the seasonal front, in exchange for starting and keeping more. That’s alright right now, but all those series will be really annoying to clean up for years to come…

Interestingly, the switchover between Crunchyroll, HiDive and Funimation doesn’t seem to have affected anything major…yet. Also, winter is traditionally a season for critics (at least it is for me), but with SGRS gone, a different season dominated for once. Out of 5 eligible shows, spring has 4 in the top 10 (including BnHA, which represents both spring and summer).

Show-specific notes:

• Golden Kamuy: Season 2 was part of the commentary but season 1 was not, thereby making it eligible for both the non-simulcast commentary list and the simulcast commentary list.
• Gridman/Phantom in the Twilight: I was overall less satisfied with how tonally shaky Gridman was, although I admit both shows weren’t sound in one way or another…then episode 9 of the former came along, proving the show can do something impressive after all, then managed to keep it going until the end.
• Merc Storia: I started playing the game around the time I watched episode 8. Initially I had it at position 14 but moved it up one spot because I want to assemble my favourite characters from the anime…sorry, YuruCamp…

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So that’s it for another year. Don’t forget, you can discuss any of these placements or shows if you want (with me or with other people).