RE: Summer 2018 - Final List Part 1
Okay, you're focusing more on the ignored jewels of the season, no?
I mean, I agree with Planet With being cool, though as you said it's a shame that the final episodes went by FAST, a little rushed but overall well done. What I loved the most about Planet With was the wacky ideas and design of the aliens: A cat spaceship and a dog spaceship, c'mon!!! that's so crazy!!!
Asobi is Asobi, definitely, it's bad for the health, too much laughing caused me back pain and pain in the jaw too, and just like you said, Hanako is SO, SO, SO damn funny, OMG!!! props to the voice actress indeed. Their three personalities just meld together in one crazy way, not to mention the other supporting characters, like the girls from the shogi club or Olivia's brother, the president and vicepresident. I still laugh when I remember the vicepresident's makeup episode, that was hilarious.
And Starlight gets a prop from me due to originality. I thought it was ANOTHER idol anime but it's about stage acting combined with a bit of mahou shoujo and some complex stuff (Nana's episodes got deep). I'd liked it due to originality and good animation but it's no masterpiece either in my opinion.
I'm suprised you didn't include Island in the list, maybe you haven't watched it yet? that one REALLY went under the radar at least in my normal circle of friends despite being awesome from episode 5 onwards.
I guess you could put it that way, I am trying to put Planet With and Starlight on the spotlight since, for me, they deserve more recognition especially the former.
Yes, Planet With didn't hold back on its weird designs but it totally paid off because it made it more unique and memorable, instead of trying too hard to make cool looking machines they used a different approach and that connected well with its absurd cast and its wild ride of a story haha.
The vice president episode though would be nightmare fuel for sure and I couldn't agree more, I can't remember how long since I laughed that much from a show, I was a big fan of the genre but I can only come up with a few shows that can stand its ground when it comes to purely making me laugh out loud despite the large number of shows I've seen under the genre. And bless Hanako's VA, looking forward to her future roles.
Starlight as you've said has the originality element but sadly it fell short to be a truly remarkable show but still had a good run. Had they decided to take the dark path instead of making it a friendship thingy, I think things would have gotten really dang good that they could have snatched the top spot this season.
As for Island, I was still unable to finish it because I gave up on it half way through, but it is still under my watch list so I will be looking at it again after I am done with other shows on my list.