Ty’s Year in Review (2018)

This has been the first year (since 2012, and, boy, does that feel like an age ago now) that I’ve made a conscious effort to watch a good percentage of seasonal anime. I do feel that, as an aniblogger, it’s important to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the anime world and that keeping up with seasonal shows is a good way to do that. But, blogging aside, it’s also so much fun to be part of the conversation and to share memes, news, and theories with other anime fans. That’s difficult to do if you’re only watching the most ancient and/or obscure shows out there!

Anyway… I managed to watch 30 of this year’s anime. I know that that’s a pretty paltry figure to some, but I’m not in the habit of dropping shows, so I prefer to only pick a handful per season that I know beforehand that I’m likely to enjoy. In the following post I attempt to collate what I loved (or loathed) about the 30 shows that I watched this year.

Author’s note: if you feel that an anime has been unduly underrepresented, chances are, I didn’t see it. See the bottom of this post for a list of the shows that I did see this year. If you’re looking for something a bit more comprehensive, check out The First Ever WordPress Anime Awards. This features an impressive collection of categories and nominations put together by a team of brilliant bloggers (including yours truly)!

12 Days of Anime 2018 – the Year When Love Came in All Shapes and Sizes

Now, before I begin, let me just say this: I’m straight (whoa, where is she going with this, right?), so I’m not about to start acting like the voice of the LGBTQ+ community. That would be kind of inappropriate! That said, something that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed about this year’s anime is that they’ve featured quite the assortment of gay and otherwise unconventional pairings. In fact, I’d suggest that many of these are some of the best pairings we’ve had this year, regardless of whether the characters’ feelings are mutual or one-sided.