Best Netflix Anime 2018
The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of the Commandments
Let’s kick off our list of best Netflix anime coming in 2018 with The Seven Deadly Sins, which has been one of the standout shows of the last few years, especially in terms of Netflix’s programming. The anime follows in the same spirit of something like Dragon Ball Z, Hunter x Hunter, or My Hero Academia, with some incredibly over-the-top action scenes and characters that each have their own specific powers and moves.
The anime revolves around an elite group of warriors known as The Seven Deadly Sins, who’ve left the Kingdom of Brittania and gone into hiding. The new season, Revival of the Commandments, picks up right where the first left off, with Elizabeth and Meliodus reuniting the majority of the Sins and stopping the plot by the Holy Knights to overtake the kingdom. There are new threats for the group to take on, and plenty of mysteries that are unraveled. We might even see the final member of the Sins revealed. The new season of the show has already aired on Netflix Japan, but the release date for Western audiences is simply listed as summer for the moment, but it will surely be one of the best Netflix anime in 2018.
Best Netflix Anime 2018
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters Trilogy
This next entry on our list of the best Netflix anime for 2018, should be familiar to most of you reading this. Godzilla is one of the most famous monsters in entertainment history, and for the very first time the big lizard made his Netflix anime debut this year. The anime movie trilogy takes place far in the future of humanity, after Godzilla and other monsters pushed humanity to the brink of extinction, and forced them to leave Earth. Years later, humans return to Earth with new technology to scout out the planet and find something much worse than they imagined.
The films are made by Polygon pictures, also responsible for Knights of Sidonia, Ajin, and BLAME on Netflix. The first film is currently available to stream on Netlfix, and the second is scheduled to hit sometime in June or July. The second will introduce Mecha-Godzilla into the mix, but we currently don’t know when the third might come out. So far the first film definitely focuses more on the human characters and how they deal with Kaiju, but there’s plenty of monster action to still be had, and it will be one of the best Netflix anime in 2018.
Best Netflix Anime 2018
Castlevania Season 2
The first season of Castlevania was disappointingly short, but the video game series deftly worked as an anime and fans were left wanting more. Luckily, we’re getting just that this summer, with eight more episodes hitting the streaming service. The short first season saw Trevor Belmont meeting a magician named Sypha and Alucard, and forming a strange team. The second season, which should be among the best Netflix anime of this year, should finally show the trio taking the fight to Dracula himself.
The Castlevania series stays true to its video game counterpart, filled with violence, religious themes, and dark characters. While it is developed by the western studio Powerhouse Animation Studios, its aesthetic is heavily inspired by anime and the artwork of Ayami Kojima in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. For all intents and purposes, this is an anime, and hopefully, a longer episode count in the second season will give the characters and story room to breath, and it should be remembered as one of the best Netflix anime of 2018.
Best Netflix Anime 2018
Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya
Knights of the Zodiac, also known as Sainty Seiya, is a legendary anime and manga dating all the way back to 1985. The series takes place in ancient times, and focuses on a group of powerful warriors known as Saints, who devote their lives to protecting Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom. Saint Seiya was one of the biggest anime phenomena of the 1980s, and served as an inspiration for many later series including Gundam Wing and Ronin Warriors. Even Tite Kubo, the creator of Bleach, has said that the series had a big impact on him.
Because of the series’ status, it was exciting to see Netflix announce a brand new remake. The Netflix animation will have twelve episodes in its first season, with each episode running roughly 30 minutes. Yoshiharu Ashino, the director of D. Gray-man Hallow and certain episodes of the Thundercats reboot, is set to direct the series. Unfortunately, at the moment we only know the show is slated to stream sometime in 2018.
Best Netflix Anime 2018
Last Hope
The next entry on our list of the best Netflix anime in 2018 is Last Hope, the next series from Shoji Kawamori, the original concept creator of Macross, and the studio Sagelight, also known for Macross and Log Horizon. It’s a sci-fi series that heavily deals with humanity’s struggle to survive against rapidly evolving artificial intelligence. In 20131 the Quantum Reactor, which was created to deal with the Earth’s dwindling natural resources, explodes and sends tons of unknown energy into the world. This causes both living beings (not humans) and artificial intelligence to grow rapidly and undergo unique evolution. Humans fight these new enemies with mechanical variable units known as M.O.E.V. (Multi-purpose Organic Evolution Vehicle).
Considering the talent and studio behind the show there’s reason to be excited about Last Hope, and Netflix already has a healthy offering of mecha series. The series has already premiered in Japan, but it’s expected to hit sometime this fall for Netflix, and will be among the best Netflix anime for 2018.
Best Netflix Anime 2018
Baki
Continuing on for our list of the Best Netflix anime of 2018 is Baki the Grappler, yet another prolific manga and anime series, starting back in 1991. The manga series alone has sold over 63 million volumes to date, and a new anime is making its way out later this year. Of course, Japan will get the new series first, but Netflix plans to stream it at some point in 2018.
Baki is decidedly darker, and a bit more demented, than something like Saint Seiya. In terms of comparisons, it would fall most closely to something like Fist of the North Star, with plenty of violence scattered throughout its martial arts story. The main character, Baki, is raised by his ruthless and money-hungry mother, who funds his training to make the protagonist a peerless fighter just like his father. Eventually, Baki outgrows his training and sets out to follow the same path as his ruthless father, meeting plenty of fearsome warriors along the way. The new show adapts the mangas Most Evil Death Row Convicts story arc, and will run for 26 episodes in total, and it is certainly among the best Netflix anime in 2018.
Best Netflix Anime 2018
Dragon Pilot: Hisome and Masotan
The final list of our best Netflix anime 2018 is Dragon Pilot, a new original anime from the renowned Studio Bones, responsible for Fullmetal Alchemist, Eureka Seven, Darker Than Black, My Hero Academia, and more. It’s not your typical setting for a dragon story, as the anime is actually set in current day Japan. Hisane Amakasu is a straightforward and honest young girl, who’s a freshly enrolled rookie in the Air Self-Defense Force. The decision to join the military leads to a fateful encounter where she meets the “OTF” dragon hidden inside the military base, and it chooses her as its pilot. The series is directed by Hiroshi Kobayashi (Kiznaiver, Kimi no Iru Machi), with Yoshiyuki Ito (Concrete Revolutio, Fullmetal Alchemist) creating character designs.
There’s currently no release date for Dragon Pilot on Netflix, but a placeholder page did go up for the show in April, confirming that the streaming service has plans for it. Studio Bones has done some exceptional work lately, and this is one series you should definitely keep an eye out for and will be among the best Netflix anime in 2018.
That does it for our list of the best Netflix anime for 2018. What are your favorite Netflix anime? Got any Netflix Anime that you would recommend? Let us know down in the comments below.
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