Top 10 Anime of 2018

Top 10 Anime of 2018

Maria Rayn Villalpando, Staff Writer

10.) Sanrio Boys

A new anime from the company Sanrio comes with a message. Sanrio Boys lets it be known that you can be a boy and like the cute characters from Sanrio. The main protagonist, Kouta Hasegawa, likes the yellow dog PomPomPurin, but, after being made fun of as a kid for liking it, he denies his love for the character. It is not until high school that he meets a boy named Yuu Mizuno who loves the Sanrio character My Melody. He convinces Kouta that there is nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to liking the cute characters. This gives Kouta the confidence to actually shop in stores for his favorite character and to tell his friends of his true love for the Sanrio characters.

9.) Aggretsuko

This is another anime from Sanrio. Yes, the same company that houses Hello Kitty herself. This Sanrio product features one of their newer characters, Retsuko, a red panda who faces stress and rude comments from her boss and coworkers. Finally, she’s had enough, and she lets out her stress the only way she can: by singing death metal karaoke. She sings about her work time frustrations and in the end, she is relaxed.

8.) Cells at Work!

This may sound weird, but this anime is about you; more specifically the human body. New studies say that there are 37 trillion cells in the human body and they all work very hard. This anime follows a red blood cell as she delivers packages and makes a friendship with (surprisingly) a white blood cell. If biology is too boring for you, try this anime as a replacement.

7.) Devilman Crybaby

This anime was released on Netflix on January 5. Akira Fudou decides to help his friend look for devils and accidentally merges with one himself. These devils cannot move around without a host but, when the host merges with one, they lose their souls. When Akira merges and becomes a Devilman, his soul is still intact. Having a crybaby heart, his friend helps him with his new powers to defeat demons and saved their loved ones.

6.) Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

This is a sweet romantic anime for Otakus. This anime features two old school friends who reunite when they discover they both work for the same company. One is an Otaku, and the other is a gaming nerd. After a few late-night drinking sessions after work, they start dating. Are two Otakus together a good idea? This nice anime was released on April 12.

5.) Laid Back Camp

Released January 4, this is an anime about a girl named Rin Shima. While most girls her age would like to spend a vacation somewhere fancy, Rin would rather be by herself camping at the base of Mount Fuji. Planning to spend her time independently, it is a shock when Nadeshiko Kagamihara stumbles onto Rin’s campsite looking quite lost. Although it wasn’t the best meeting, they eventually grow close and even ponder camping together again. This is a nice slice of life anime that is fun for all even when it didn’t seem like it would be.

4.) A Place Further Than the Universe

This anime was released on January 2 and has four main protagonists who are heading on a journey to Antarctica, otherwise known as the place farther than the universe. Each girl has their own reasons to go on the trip, but they all become close anyways. Mari Tamaki wishes to go for her curiosity of the unknown. Shirase Kobuchizawa goes to look for her missing mother. Hinata Miyake wants to stand out. Yuzuki Shiraishi is a polite girl from a high-class background.

3.) Bloom Into You

Bloom Into You was originally a manga series that turned into an anime on October 5. The genre of this anime is Yuri, which is a lesbian story. This anime is also a romance. When Yuu Koita finally gets her first love confession from a boy she has been waiting for since reading her shojo manga, she surprisingly feels nothing. When she enters high school, she sees the student council president turn someone down elegantly and asks for advice. When they bond over their similarities, the student council president suddenly confesses to Yuu. This is a nice romantic anime for everyone to add to their lists.

2.) My Hero Academia Season Three

This may not be a new anime like the others on this list, but My Hero Academia has taken over. It has replaced old hero anime such as One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto. This anime originally aired back in 2016, but, on April 7 of this year, it aired its third season. The anime follows the main protagonist Izuku Midoriya with the hero name of Deku. He aspires to become a hero without a quirk. Quirks in their world are superpowers. Season three was still one of the top anime of the year even though it is reviewed as not being as good as season two. Besides that, it has been picked up for a fourth season.

1.) Hanebado!

This anime is a sports anime. Surprisingly, it is a female sports anime. I know that may not sound like a big surprise, but for an anime like this to take storm, it is amazing. There are other female sports anime like Attacker You! and Aim for the Ace!, but they were never as popular as this one is.  Male protagonist sports anime seem to be the ones that do well. The first anime to come to mind when sports anime is mentioned is Haikyuu!, a volleyball anime. Hanebado! is actually being compared to Haikyuu! and is holding its own against the popular anime. Hanebado! is a sports anime about badminton. Badminton is a sport that is not talked about often, so this new anime, which was released on July 2, may bring some new light to the sport.