Summer 2018

My take: Summer 2018 played like a split personality — loud cinema outings alongside compact, character-led series. The season leaned on quantity (103 titles) but what stuck were a handful of shows that used their formats well.

My Hero Academia the Movie: Two Heroes felt like a tight, crowd-pleasing side story that let the core cast breathe on a bigger stage, with clean action and emotional beats for Deku and All Might. The Seven Deadly Sins the Movie: Prisoners of the Sky was pure fan-service fantasy — more world-building and big set-piece fights for people already invested. High Score Girl surprised by mining genuine 90s arcade nostalgia into a warm, awkward romance with surprisingly sharp animation touches. Baki brought extreme, binge-friendly fight sequences and a raw, uncompromising tone that made it memorable in a different way.

Studios like MAPPA, Wit and Bones were in the mix, and the season’s blend of movies, TV shows and ONAs kept things varied — some releases felt cinematic, others intimate, but a few really stayed with you.