Can you believe there are only 18 days left in the year? More specifically, that just gives you a mere 18 days to decide on a New Years Resolution that you’ll inevitably end up breaking even though you swore that this time, THIS TIME, you’d actually commit to one for once in your life.

No wait, that’s us. Nevermind, we’re projecting again.

Anyway, it’s also approaching the end of the Fall 2018 simulcast season. Most series will wrap up as early as next week, so we decided to take a little break before the grand finale and look back at all the anime that we brought to you over the past 347 days.

It’s also a time for reflection and contemplation, so, what lessons did we learn while watching er... WORKING on these shows? Let’s find out, shall we?

Winter 2018

Pop Team Epic: Just let people enjoy things, goddammit.
Hakumei and Mikochi: Happy feelings are for everyone, even if you’re three apples tall.
DAMEPRI ANIME CARAVAN: Princesses will always have a pretty boy problem.
ClassicaLoid 2: You can be a famous classical composer with the power to warp the fabric of reality, but you’ll still piss off your landlord if you aren’t paying rent.
Mitsuboshi Colors: Perceived mundane threats are serious business. And adorable.
Takunomi: Drinking is always better with friends! Also, please drink responsibly. And only drink if you’re of legal drinking age.
The Seven Heavenly Virtues: Angels are scandalously bad at staying virtuous.

Spring 2018

Tada Never Falls in Love: Ironic title is ironic.
Real Girl: The popular girl and the social outcast falling in love trope never gets old.
Cutie Honey Universe: Androids are people, too.
ALICE or ALICE: Don’t assume things. Otherwise, you’ll go the entire season thinking the main characters are both called Alice when that’s not their actual names.
DEVILS’ LINE: Vampires are savage monsters that will eat your face off, even in a love story.
DOREIKU The Animation: People are horrible.
Hozuki’s Coolheadedness 2: A literal job from Hell isn't so bad.

Summer 2018

Revue Starlight: Talking giraffes make everything 1000% more awesome.
100 Sleeping Princes & the Kingdom of Dreams: Don’t call something that looks like a stuffed animal a stuffed animal. They hate that.
The Thousand Musketeers: Muskets are surprisingly effective against modern weapons. Who knew?
Mr. Tonegawa: Middle Management Blues: Corporate offices are a legitimate anime setting.

Fall 2018

Bloom Into You: Love is patient...and sweet!
Release the Spyce: What’s better than secret agents? How about NINJA secret agents?
Between the Sky and Sea: You can go fishing in space. Who knew!?
Gakuen Basara: Samurai High School: The Warring States Period really can be adapted to anything.
Tsurune: Archery is d r a m a t i c.
The Girl in Twilight: Character development counts, even if it’s your double.
Run with the Wind: Running is d r a m a t i c.

That’s what we learned, at least. Everyone interprets stories in different ways. Just because we learned that Pop Team Epic should let people just enjoy things doesn’t mean that someone else won’t see Popuko and Pipimi’s adventures as a nuanced allegory for the rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire.

2019 is just around the corner, and that means brand new anime with new stories to tell and new lessons to learn. Perhaps we’ll discover that we all have roles to play in the interconnected web of stories known as Life. And even though we are all the main character in our own tales, we are merely extras in everyone else’s.

Or, you know, we should just stream anime and stuff. That sounds like a good plan. All this philosophizing is making our heads hurt.

Your cart

Total USD