What other series do you like?

[Isaac]

As mentioned before, I'm going to talk about some anime that I love.

I'm a huge fan of romantic comedies like Love is war and Maid sama. Its nice to watch shows that aren't too serious and focus on being lighthearted. I love the style these shows try with comedy too. There is also Spy x Family out currently and and I love everything about it, especially Anya!

I love psychology shows as well. Higurashi is one of favourites and I love how the atmosphere was handled and the way the mystery was set up. The characters are all cute which makes the scenarios more disturbing. I really enjoy Re Zero too, even if it's an isekai show.

I'd love to hear some of everyone's favourites!

 

[Ken Hisuag]

What constitutes a "series?" I keep thinking of franchises that only have two or three entries, or even just one primary entry and a variety of spin-off material. Still, there are a few ideas I can confidently say apply.

I was a huge fan of Brian Jacques's Redwall while growing up, especially the book Mossflower. It was, as far as I can recall, the first fandom I got involved with, especially in regards to fanfiction; the writing side of the fandom used to be quite active in the early 2010's, though it became significantly less so as time went on. I remember a specific story called The Sword and HIs Flowers that had a profound impact on my perception of storycrafting, and may have been the beginning of my fascination with story theory. Unfortunately, the author took all of his works down at some point, and I've been unable to find a copy of it elsewhere.

I have good memories of reading the Anne of Green Gables series with my family, which took quite a few years for us to get through. It's very difficult to carry a series solely upon the depiction of everyday relationships, and this series manages it across an entire generation-and-a-half. There isn't cinematic drama or tension, but rather charming slice-of-life that is nonetheless relatable and compelling. My favorite book was Anne of Windy Poplars, though the nature of the series makes it best (though not necessary) to read in order.

Doctor Who comes to mind, but with a regrettable stipulation of distaste for the recent direction the series has taken. I didn't mind the initial reboot, and appreciated the new approach of giving a complex character arc to the titular character. Unfortunately, once that arc had run its course, the series collapsed in on itself, with initially following episodes throwing out random ideas and failing to explore them, and more recent arcs being heavily weighed down by extremely obvious agendas lacking appropriate artistic presentation. Comparatively, the classic series may not have had much depth to it, but it was still fun and engaging. Most stories took a flat-arc approach (i.e., main character is the agency of change in the world around him), and worldbuilding was accomplished slowly and naturally. But I digress. Every Doctor has a specific episode [chain] that best showcases their character, but for me the highlight of the series is The Key to Time saga and The Five Doctors.

That's already quite a bit, even just for three, so I'll leave off for now (maybe more on the 'morrow?).

 

[buskerdog]

OK, this has been long overdue, time to get stuck into this. So, what other series do I like, eh? As far as fandoms go Touhou is absolutely the one I am most involved in, but of course I have many other interests as well, mainly in video games.

It has been said before on this forum that I am a fan of Monster Hunter, so let's start there. While I haven't played many games spanning across the whole series, it still holds a place as one of my favourites of all time. I have my friend to thank for introducing me to this series, who convinced me to try the demo of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on the 3DS. And ho boy, let me tell you that demo alone is absolutely gripping. Monster Hunter is often considered a difficult game to get into, everything from controls, to difficulty, to understanding systems, it's an action RPG game with a lot of complexity and gameplay that doesn't go easy on you, but when it clicks, it clicks, and as someone who enjoys a good challenge, it didn't take long for it to click with me. It's basically "boss fights, the game". So now I'm hooked on this demo, but wait - there's a new MH game coming out! The demo for that game comes out ahead of release, so I now have even more demo content to get me hyped up before the release, and so my journey is set to begin with Monster Hunter Generations. In retrospect, going with Monster Hunter 4 would honestly have been the better decision since that game is held in high regard for many reasons, but it didn't matter at the time, as I enjoy the crap out of MHGen anyway, and my friend gets it too so we can play multiplayer, an aspect which makes MH even better. I've since continued my journey with Generations Ultimate, Rise, and soon I'll have Rise's expansion to look forward to, Sunbreak. I've been on this paragraph for way too long now so I'll wrap things up, but one of the things I also love about MH is something I like in common with Touhou and that's the community, even if I'm not involved with it the MH community are the one of the most helpful and welcoming groups out there.

So what else can I talk about? Well, this is less known about me, but I'm also quite into the Warcraft universe (however I should add a disclaimer here, that Blizzard is a shitty company and I'm aware of it). I used to play World of Warcraft for a time, although I wasn't super integrated into the whole multiplayer aspect and grinding endgame dungeons with a guild and such, I just spent time exploring the overworld to level up my character, occasionally joining up with a friend who also played at the time. I don't play anymore because it's bloody expensive, not helped by the fact that it's a huge timesink, fans aren't happy with the current direction of the game, and the fact the gameplay loop of WoW is just kind of boring, yet strangely addicting... however, there is another side of Warcraft that I can still enjoy, and that is Hearthstone. On the offchance you don't know, Hearthstone is free to play spin-off game of Warcraft where you collect cards and build a deck to verse other players. If you're looking for a well balanced, engaging strategic card game, that's... not what Hearthstone is. Hearthstone is random, chaotic, wacky, unpredictable, and most certainly not balanced - but you just have to understand that's part of the appeal. Also, collecting cards is enjoyable, and although you can spend money on the game, free to play is doable and very appreciated for a TCG. Seriously, I also used to collect and play cards for the Pokemon TCG. SO EXPENSIVE. The fact Hearthstone is a TCG I can play for free makes me come back to it, and as mentioned, the craziness that can ensue under the right conditions might seem unfair to some, but it's inherently what makes the game entertaining.

There are many other video games I've played, for example I'm a fan of metroidvania stuff, but I'll leave it at that, since I'm not about to make this into a fat list of everything I've ever played. What is worth an extra paragraph though is tabletop games! As you may have picked up on by now through my mention of Hearthstone and Pokemon TCG, I am a fan of card games and indeed board games. I own a few myself, but of course I have a friend group to play with as well, and it's by pooling our different games together that we get to experience a wide variety of fantastic board games... OK it's mostly just one guy who has all the stuff, but I digress. Cool strategic board and/or card games that you can play 1 on 1 and/or in a group that come from niche indie board game makers are absolutely my jam... so, speaking of jam, makes you wonder why I recently created a card game for that game jam, hmmmm?

 

[Gou the frog]

Again, another game series I never got to play, but about which I had some slight knowledge. I have seen on of the games live at Asprey (his first livestream I got to see), and I really liked what I saw. The series looks extremely fun, and the story is engaging too. 


In shot, there's quite a cool stuff. 

I forgot to mention, there's a legendary stage play for the series and it's based on the original Yakuza series- Ps2 version. (There're also movies)


Spoiler

Part 1. 

 

[CountVonNumenor]

A bit of text from a different era. Before the Touhou era, I have gone through a few more series. However, never so quick as from November 2019 to October 2021.In less than a year, i have gone the following route: Star Wars, -> WH40k -> SMG4/Meta Runner -> Rhythm Heaven -> Touhou Project. Each time I got into something new, passion for each being more and more intense. When I got into Touhou, I realize I might have gone a bit too far down the rabbit hole of Japanese stuff, and since I tried to basically quarantine it and not get any further into the rabbit hole of anime (even if Touhou is a game series). Only exception ever since was Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, but I was quite chill with that one (and that one also happened in late 2022, so out of the time frame)

Anyway, here is an example of writing I was doing back in the spring of 2020, while still being under lockdown and in the Meta Runner phase. At the time, Season 1 was still rather fresh, Season 2 was still a few month before getting announced, and I was binge watching SMG4 as there was nothing better to do. (originally posted here https://european-war-4.boards.net/thread/12720/meta-runner)


Spoiler

During this quarantine [March-May 2020], I've been looking for a series to watch and enjoy. Then, a few days ago, I got lucky to find Meta Runner.  All I can say is that it happened quite randomly. I just found out about this YouTube channel called SMG4 that is doing Gmod Mario videos, part of older trend called Mario Bloopers or something like that. I watched a few videos from the bloopers series,  and realized that I liked it. One of my favourite elements out of these videos was one of the characters, Tari. With a rather shy attitude, always trying to solve conflicts through peaceful ways and liking rubber ducks and video, she has become one of my favourite characters since she kinda reminds of the way I am. Then, through some Easter eggs and references, I found out there is an entire series revolved around her, called Meta Runner (made by the same guys who make the Mario Gmod stuff). Since I was curious about it, I decided to give their series a try. 


This is more or less an official presentation of the series,  taken from the dedicated wiki (I will try to keep this start reply Spoiler-Fred, in case anyone wants to watch too, but we can get into more details if anyone is interested):

"Meta Runner is an Australian science-fiction adventure/thriller computer animated web series, created by Luke and Kevin Lerdwichagul. The series is in a separate canon to SMG4, a machinima series on Luke's YouTube channel of the same name.
The series follows an amnesiac cyborg girl named Tari in a world where video games, speedrunning & esports are everything as she discovers she has the uncanny ability to warp into video games."
 

This is where you can watch the series www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqtXS2zBPMiTK67uPOtA1x-PAwedRUMIU

All  I can say is that I'm amazed. I liked all of the 10 episodes of season 1. The characters are very interesting, the setting is something I haven't seen before, and I grew to love the soundtrack, especially the intro song,  Always Running. Some may found the antagonists rather generic, but I don't really think so, as I found their motivations interesting. Also, this Tari is a bit different from her version in the Mario Bloopers series. Despite still having some of th traits any quirks from the Mario series, the Meta Runner Tari seems to be a bit more realistic, but it's still quite enjoyable as protagonist, and I think I even started to prefer this version of her.


I  was stunned to see that two guys making funny Gmod videos could actually get the passion of doing such a serious project. It took them around 2 years for the whole process, but now we'll will hopefully have less to wait since they have serious backing. But better to wait longer for a better product than rush it. This is no longer a Gmod thing, but actual animation, made in the Unreal Engine if I am not wrong,  with a lot of stuff to edit, music to compose and voice lines to record, and that's no easy thing, so they get all my respect.

Season 1 soundtrack 






It was the first time I was actually getting crazy for something, rewatching it multiple times and trying to find out as much as I could. At some point, I even found concept art for the character of Tari, and I was simply amazed by the idea of finding such a thing. Nowadays, I am more chill about the show. I started Season 2 when it appeared (October 2020, every Friday at local hour 23:00), but somehow lost track midway through. A lot of designs changed, some for the better and some...that maybe could have stayed the same, but there was indeed a bit of progress in animation (this whole thing is made in Unreal Engine). And now that a third season was announced (and further seasonal redesings), I am completely clueless. 

Season 1 Tari

Concept art, apparently inspired by a drawing done by the younger sister of the creators

 

[Cal-of-Gearva]

Video/Tabletop Games

For video games, I am down to play pretty much any brutally difficult single-player game (I wonder why I love Touhou project so much :SekiThink: ). Examples of some of my favorites include Darkest Dungeon, Noita, and Celeste. Beyond that, I also really enjoy designing games of that similar genre, so I'm decently involved in the Super Mario World ROM hacking community. Beyond just video games, I love D&D a lot. I usually fill the role of Game Master because I love the design and worldbuilding that goes into it, and it really sparks my creativity overall!

TV Series / Movies

When it comes to TV series, I watch quite a bit of anime, but not an obscene amount. For the most part I stick to the romance genre, but I do love a number of shows outside of that. For example, I'm currently watching all of Initial D and absolutely loving it, and my all-time favorite show is Rascal does not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, which, sure, it is a romance, but it also airs on the side of psychological thriller as well. For movies, I love mind-bending films such as Inception or Edge of Tomorrow!

 

[SP00PZ]

hetalia. i like my funny country men

also i didnt thow they made a collection for homestuck. tried getting into it back in 2014 but i just dont like reading.. i wanted to give it another shot recently but remembering how some of the aspects were flash based it turned me off slightly….

id definitely have to check out that github though

 

[AlexandruUnu]

For some game series I really enjoy:

The Soulsborne series has already been mentioned in here and I am gonna mention it again. Nothing beats going through the areas of a ruined kingdom while being always alert for whatever freaky creature wants to attack you. Until now I have finished Dark Souls 1 and 3 and I still have to finish DS2. I wish I could also play Bloodborne, but I can't since I don't own a PS4/PS5.

Psychonauts is another personal favourite 3D platformer series of mine. You play as Razputin Aquato, a 10 year old psychic boy that enters the minds of people, which range from mentally healthy to suffering from mental disorders. It's very creative in terms of mental worlds, character design and more. And it's also one of those games that I really want to read through all the possible dialogue because of how fun it is. This game series also got me into liking psychology.

There is also De Blob. This is an obscure 3D platformer series, released during the Wii days (also ported to modern day consoles and PC in 2017). The premise of the games is that Chroma City (De Blob 1) and Prisma City (De Blob 2) got invaded by an intergalactic empire named "INKT", ruled by Comrade Black, which took away all the colour and life of the cities, turning them into black and white hellscapes, while also enslaving their entire populations (with the exception of some rebels), and pretty much installing a very oppresive dictatorship, and it's up to Blob and a certain group of rebels to bring back freedom. It's very satisfying to turn a soulless area filled to the brim with ink and despair into a lively place bustling with colour. Oh, and the funky soundtrack is just amazing. The best part is that it constantly changes in the backround, depending on how much you paint and on what colour you are painting with.

Hmm, typing this out, I just realised how much I love 3D platformers.

 

[_.Mevs]

Hmmmmmmmm

Higurashi naku no koro ni!

Basically, i already talked about it in another thread





But i'll talk about it again so you don't need to go to the thread =)

Basically, Higurashi happens into a small village where some weird deaths are happening, without anything that points to a killer

That stuff is happening due to some religious stuff (there's a god in this village that i won't say the name due to spoilers), and a group of friends decide to investigate it

The anime is based on a visual novel of the same name and has 7 animes, i can list them for you:

1- Higurashi No Naku No Koro Ni // is basically the beginning xd

2- Higurashi No Naku No Koro Ni Kai // is the second part =)

3- Higurashi No Naku No Koro Ni: Special Nekogoroshi Hen // is a extra that happens between the first and second season of the anime

4- Higurashi No Naku No Koro Ni Rei: is a comedy OVA (if you don't like the violent stuff, you can watch this one, has more fanservice and comedy!)

5- Higurashi No Naku No Koro Ni Kira: Another comedy OVA, but way more nonsense xd

6- Higurashi No Naku No Koro Ni Kaku: is a extra episode with +48 minutes (if i'm not mistaken) where a lot of stuff happens and well, tell more would be spoilers, just watch it, you won't regret the experience =D

7- Higurashi No Naku No Koro Ni Gou: is a remaster of the classic animes but with some more stuff

The universe of Higurashi is a whole rabbit hole where you can find a lot of stuff and create your own theories about, there's a arc for each characters going insane... But you'll understand watching it that, aren't arcs, but yes something way deeper than that

Reminder: if you don't like violent stuff, i don't recommend, since there's a lot of detailed and violent deaths, including suicides, tortures and etc (like one when a girl stab a knife on her own head and a torture where a girl have to remove her nail by force, is really graphic, way more with sound, and to make it clear, yes, the little girls also die in brutal ways and one of them even has a detailed scene of crucifix and the other one of crows eating her slaughtered body, it CERTAINLY ISN'T a series for everyone)

And no, talk about the deaths aren't really spoilers because all them get back to life in each arc, since they aren't really dying... You'll have to watch to understand

Anyways, here's some images of the anime and visual novels so you can see if you get interested (i won't add the explicit violent scenes because i don't think is allowed) =)

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[sodaodaoda]

Damn, I haven't replied to this thread either?? Bruh
Anyways, this will be a long list, so prepare xd
 

1. Sonic the Hedgehog​

This is one of the first games I ever played, so of course I'm going to love it. I was a Sonic fan since I was 5 years old, so I have been a Sonic fan for 10+ years now. My first ever Sonic game was Sonic Adventure 1, and since then, I was hooked xd
I'm actually mostly a fan of the older Sonic games, from the Classic era to the Dreamcast era, probably because of how much nostalgia I have from playing those games.
I used to play tons of Sonic rom hacks too, which is what inspired me to become a programmer!!

2. Yume Nikki​

While technically not a series because it's only 1 game, Yume Nikki is a very weird experience, but in a very good way. I first played the game back in 2018, but I got too scared and dropped it (oops), but I picked it up again in 2019 and the rest is history.
Yume Nikki did kind of get me through 7th grade, I remember it was May/June, I used to listen to Yume Nikki's music (which were just like what, 10 second loops?) and some Yume Nikki remixes while walking around my schoolyard, it was really relaxing and it's so nostalgic thinking about that now... I especially remember listening to this specific video of the ending theme, the image in that video makes me so nostalgic that it hurts...

I recommend Yume Nikki to everyone who likes weird and atmospheric games, it's truly an experience!
There are also many Yume Nikki fangames, and I played some of them (From the top of my head: Yume 2kki, .flow, Me, Answered Prayers, Uneven Dream). I will be talking about Yume 2kki for a bit as well, since it's the most popular fangame, and it holds somewhat of a special place in my heart.

I first played Yume 2kki in July of 2019, so around 2 months after finishing Yume Nikki. A cool (or not cool) thing about 2kki is that it's made by several people who are all collabing on the game, so it doesn't really have a concrete style.
The music in that game is great as well, so many ambient and catchy tracks to choose from!
The game is MASSIVE, it took me several weeks to finish it, but it's (somewhat) fun to explore. Also also also.. Considering that it's a collaborative game...

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I managed to get my drawings in it!!! Another drawing should be added to the game soon as well, however, that drawing was the first ever drawing that I made for this game, so it's quite old (from 2020), but it still looks good!
If you decide to play Yume Nikki and the fangames, I recommend to NOT go to the Yume Nikki Online project website, since it's quite buggy imo, so just directly download the game.

3. Celeste​

Another game that's not really a series but shhhhh
Celeste is a really wholesome platforming game that's about Madeline, a woman who climbs both a physical and a metaphorical mountain.
The game is hard, but once you get used to the controls, you can glide through the stages really well. The artstyle is amazing as well!
I beat the game several times, and I beat Farewell, the 9th chapter which is also the harderst chapter in the game.
I also relate to Madeline as well at some parts of the game, and I won't lie when I say that I cried at some dialogue.

4. Portal​

Finally! A series!
Portal is such an amazing game, that it's insane. The gameplay is REALLY fun, the plot (at least in Portal 2) is great and hilarious, I love the characters, I love everything about it.
I wanted to play Portal ever since I was a small kid, but it was only this year that I got to play it, and I do not regret it one bit.
Portal 2 especially, I did not want that game to end. I love Wheatley, I love GLaDOS, I love Atlas and P-Body... All the characters are so awesome!!!
I wish we had combustible lemons...

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5. Half-Life​

Half-Life is rotting my brain and I do not regret it one bit!!
Jk, but it's still an amazing game with an amazing plot and characters. The plot actually makes me feel dread when I think about it deeply, and aarghhh there's so much about it that I love!!!
Half-Life is also the reason I will be pursuing game art in an university after high school, because looking at Half-Life 2's concept art made me want to cry from how pretty it is xddd
Gordon Freeman is a badass, although I do feel poor for the dude, imagine going to work one day only for the world to turn upside down...

 

6. Doctor Who​

And now, for a show!
I started watching DW in 2020, when the 'rona started, and...........i still haven't finished it heheh
But it's a really good series, made me cry, laugh, get angry, it's pretty good! My favorite Doctor is 10, played by David Tennant, and I'm glad that David is also playing the 14th Doctor, but I will always know him as 10, sorry David! xd
I have a Tardis shirt and I bought a DW coaster on a con that I went to recently, great show if you like Scifi stuff!

Ofc, my interests will change over time, so I'll be sure to edit this post if I remember something!

 

[Kqys9xTK9a5a]

My top could be a bit mainstream, but i still love the shows: 1)Death Note, cause it’s the classics. 2)Attack on Titan, the animation and character development are sick. 3)Naruto, cause its the best from the Big Three. I started watching anime on Netflix, and that’s why the list is so short( I would be very happy if they added more shows, but Netflix not only is not expanding their library with good ones, Netflix is only removing them!! I was so angry when they removed Death Note, like damn!! That was one of the best shows they had. Now I’m watching ซีรี่ย์มาใหม่ here, so I’ve also cancelled the subscription I payed. But it’s so unfair!! Why when I pay I cannot receive the promised thing??

 

[Nekoko]

Naruto, cause its the best from the Big Three.

Naruto seems interesting but the problem is that the main character, Naruto make me feel uncomfortable… he is, I don’t know… a little bit too much energetic and fooling around he is my worst nightmare 

But since a lot of people seems to like this manga, can you tell me more specifically why do you like it or what makes it better than another Shōnen ? 

 

[CountVonNumenor]

I need to add one more thing to my personal list: Godzilla 

More on that at some point in the future, when I have a bit of time...

 

[CountVonNumenor]

I need to add one more thing to my personal list: Godzilla 

Well, besides that, I should also talk about the whole Amagami story arc I have been going through since late 2022, which tends to come back every now and then...

Until that though, a bit about the (relatively) recently gathered interest in the Godzilla franchise. This is quite a good moment, as the series celebrated 70 years since the original film release not too long ago.

It all started in the autumn of 1954... I mean 2023. As I like listening to music, especially military-related music, I ended up stumbling upon the compositions of none other but Akira Ifukube, which I proceeded to listen to for the following weeks. After that, I decided to give a try to the films, so I decided to start with the original 1954 Gojira.

I did not expect to enjoy the film as much as I did, so I decided to continue watching the series. That way, I watched the first sequel, the 1955 Godzilla Raids Again, and then I skipped to the 1984 Return of Godzilla. From there, I continued with the Heisei films, which I would say are my favorite overall as a continuity as of yet. 

Thanks to a friend of mine, I managed to organize two movie nights, in which we ended up watching Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One. That was my way to introduce him to the series as well (although he feels he's had enough with these films, and there is nothing new that would impress him/would find new or refreshing). Godzilla Minus One is the point where I would like to emphasize something.

Instead of talking about the film itself (which I enjoyed a lot, and I would recommend it, perhaps after watching the original 1954 film), I would like to talk about some implications for the new timeline (as we are going to get one more film that most likely will be a sequel to this one, therefore opening a new continuity that is not just one stand-alone film):

Given that we will receive a sequel (?) to Godzilla Minus in the future, there was something I've been wondering since I first watched the film - What would the ripple effects of that film be on the development of the Japanese armed forces? As the film is set in 1946-47, there is no JSDF or navy yet, (and as far as we have seen) only a few tanks (destroyed by Godzilla), a plane (also destroyed), and two disarmed destroyers. Unlike the original 1954 film, there is no Oxygen Destroyer in this timeline. The United States cannot get involved due to the increasing tensions with the USSR (after all, we are at the beginning of the Cold War, and the JSDF only came to be in 1950 because of the Korean War), and as nukes are not an option, I wonder what would the Japanese come up with to stop a future attack of a Kaiju of any sort.

Small caliber guns did not do anything. Mines had only a marginal effect, and that when blown from inside Goji. Takao was a little more effective at point-blank range, but due to her guns being only 200mm, Godzilla could quickly regenerate again. I wonder how high-caliber battleship guns (350-410 mm / 14-16 inch and above) would have been. It's probably not much better, but still a bit of progress. However, at this point Japan's last battleship (Nagato) was destroyed in the nuclear test that created Godzilla, Takao was lost on her way to Japan, and two of four, albeit disarmed, destroyers were also gone. You can't do all that much with minesweepers.

As the Americans cannot intervene directly or transfer forces to Japan, could we perhaps expect the creation of an equivalent of the JSDF in this timeline? I would be curious if we actually saw a new Japanese army, with a focus on firepower, and perhaps a fleet of stronger warships with firepower capabilities comparable to those from the war (if not higher). I do not expect the movie creators to go on the Showa path yet of giving the Japanese Sci-Fi weapons, perhaps a few movies into the future*.

For the moment, I do not plan to watch the Monsterverse films, but I might try them after I finish watching the Japanese films.

(the original Big Monke vs Lizard)

Currently, I have come back to watching the Showa films, and right now I need to watch Ebriah, Horror from the Deep / Godzilla vs The Sea Monster (1966). I need to hold on, the following film will be Son of Godzilla, but at least afterward there is Destroy All Monsters. The films I am most curious about are the two films featuring Mechagodzilla, from 1974 (Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla) and 1975 (Terror of Mechagodzilla). Side note: the 1974 Mechagodzilla jazz theme goes way too hard. 

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*Note: in the Showa films (1954-1975), the first fictional pieces of armament appeared as early as 1955, but those still looked like something that could be built. The first real Sci-fi weapons probably appeared, if we count the other Toho films from the 1950s as part of the Godzilla continuity, in The Mysterians (1958), and made the first proper appearance in a Godzilla film in 1965 (Invasion of Astro-Monster). 

 

[Retron]

I'm gonna just dump a bunch of stuff here because I just feel like rambling today =ω=

Kamen Rider

This whole series is just the pinnacle of cool. The choreography is very good, better than what you'd find in most movies today, the costumes are really well designed (apart from looking kinda cheesy, especially for the monster designs) and some series touch on deep topics. I highly recommend this series if you can brush off very poor CGI. It's worth watching for the Henshins and finishers alone. My first rider series is Black but my favorite is Ryuki. Oh and I can't end this section without talking about the music, it's awesome. You would not expect the ost of a kids show to go so hard but it does. My favorites are the orignal Kamen Rider theme, V3's Theme, Black's Theme, Kuuga's Theme, Alive a Life (Ryuki), Revolution (Ryuki), Justifaiz (Faiz), People with no name (Faiz), Kakusei (Blade), Climax Jump (DenO), WBXtreme (W), Anything Goes (OOOs), Tighten Up (OOOs), Power to Tearer (OOOs), Switch On (Fourze), Life is a Showtime (Wizard), Be the One (Build). Even if you don't watch the shows, at least give these songs a listen.

Mazinger Z

You know Hisoutensoku right? I'm pretty sure that guy is based of Mazinger Z. This show is also very cool. The robot design is good, the special moves are over the top and flashy and the villian designs are really really cool. Especially Garada K7, Doublas M2, Jeiser J1 and Damdam L2, those are my favorite ones. The music is also very very good, too bad the singer of the original theme from the 70s passed away due to lung cancer. RIP Ichiro Mizuki, you'll be missed. Anyways, Mazinger Z is my 2nd favorite super robot anime. It would be my first if it wasn't for...

Getter Robo

This is my all time favorite super robot franchise. Mazinger Z may have gotten me into the genre, but Getter Robo solidified my love for it. The design of Getter Robo itself doesn't look like it's supposed to be a beacon of hope. To me, Getter Robo isn't supposed to look heroic, its supposed to look like a harbinger of death to the enemies and by hell does it achieve that. Oh and the pilots of this robot, Ryoma Nagare, Hayato Jin and Musashi Tomoe (Or Benkei pick your poison). These guys are the most insane people I've ever had the pleasure of reading/watching, well besides Musashi/Benkei, they're pretty chill. If you want to get into the series (which I highly recommend you do) I suggest reading the manga first. The original Getter Robo manga is pretty short and so is the sequel Getter Robo G. They're more episodic with a kind of monster of the week format, but both of them do have overarching plots, character arcs and have a damn good finale. The other manga like Getter Robo Go, Shin and onwards are also a good read and I recommend. If you're more of an anime person though, you can skip the original Getter Robo that aired as well as G. Where the real meat is at is Getter Robo Armagedon, an OVA. You can watch it free on Youtube. Oh and also, RIP series creator Ken Ishikawa :c.

Vocaloid and Utaloid

The only words I need to say is Hatsune Miku and you guys will understand what I'm talking about. There's not much to say about this since the entire Vocaloid/Utaloid scene is extremely varied and I can't pinpoint a specific thing on why I like the music except that it's good. I guess my favorite out of all the hundreds of singers out there is Kasane Teto.

Azumanga Daioh, Nichijou, Lucky Star and Bocchi the Rock

I grouped these all together because they are all slice of life. Not much I can or want to say here to. I'll just rank them based on how insane their jokes get from tame to shit hits the fan. Lucky Star, Azumanga, Nichijou then Bocchi. Watch these, it is not a request.

I just realized this how long this post is getting so I'll do a quickfire round

- Shoujou Shuumatsu Ryokou (Haven't finished pls don't spoil)

- Persona series

- Megaman and that one song about Ultraman 7 that uses MM2 Wily 1 as the backing track (Omoide wa Okkusenmann I believe)

- Literally any song featured in this video => https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cepXLReu1aU&ab_channel=anpanchy

- H.P. Lovercraft, Junji Ito, Silent Hill, Petscop, and cosmic/existential horror

-RPG Maker horror games

- Ghibli

- Ace attorney, DDLC and Danganropa

- a lot more stuff

Thank you for indulging in my insane rantings I shall now retreat back into the shadows (= v =)

 

[Buwako]

i think my second favorite thing after touhou would be ace attorney, but its honestly slowly dying out due to no new content (remasters are cool and all, but what about an actual expansion to the story?) and a lot of big AA youtubers dont post much content anymore.

one thats been growing recently is deltarune cause i was finally convinced to play it and its pretty peak as well along with all the cool content people will make

i also like rhythm games as well, more specifically rhythm heaven and project diva (hence i also like vocaloid). while project diva is unfortunately dead, at least rhythm heaven is supposed to be getting a new game in 2026.

theres some smaller things i like too like higurashi and oneshot as well. the main big ones are touhou, ace attorney, deltarune, and vocaloid as of now though

 

[YuyuFumo]

Eh, guess I'll help necro the thread because why not:

Games

• Metal Slug - Father introduced it to me at a very young age and I enjoy them quite a bit. Metal Slug X is a go-to if I'm having a bad day, and the new Tactics game is pretty fun as well. I like playing lots of arcade titles and 1ccing them (shameless promotion if you want to see that), but SNKs are amongst my favorites. If only Touhou had an equivalent, then that'd be true gaming perfection.

• Castlevania - The classic titles are great fun, my personal favorite being Castlevania III's Japanese release. I've not played much of the metroidvania style games, but I did do a 'Sakuya run" of Symphony of the Night where I only used knives and the stopwatch item; fairly entertaining.
• Devil May Cry - Only played the third one, but I hope to change that someday when I get the time. Music from the series is pretty kickass too.
• Mega Man - My current series I'm playing through alongside the PC98 Touhous. I replayed all of Mega Man X a few days ago and forgot how fun these games were, currently plan to run through the other X games and try out some Romhacks that improve the later ones.
• Really, anything that Sanae would like. I grew up playing a lot of the games that my parents downloaded off Virtual Console, and quality games are hard to find nowadays barring indie devs. I'd eventually like to start making retro fangames myself, but I know that'll likely never happen with my lack of both time and motivation to do so. XD

Music

• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Favorite band hands down. Tons of great albums that fit any sort of mood, even the lesser-known ones like the soundtrack for "She's the One". It also helps that I'm able to sing along to nearly all of the songs, bar ones with really high notes.
• Van Halen - At least the initial Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar era. Short but fantastic albums with tons of memorable tunes and killer guitar solos to boot. The shameless promotion I mentioned earlier is a portmanteau of the band and Mokou's title.
• Guns n' Roses - Ugh, both the "Use Your Illusion" albums are so bloody good, I could rave about them all day long. Surprisingly good at slow, more melodramatic songs (i.e. 14 Years, Coma, Estranged, etc.) alongside the brand of hard rock they're known for. I have a silly personal head cannon about the members of the SDM playing in a GNR cover band, with Flandre mimicking all of Axel's craziness.

• Most other forms of rock music from the 60s to early 2000s. Whether it be folk rock, classic, metal, or otherwise, I love it all. Most recent recommendation would be Hardline, a band made from the members of Journey and Johnny Gioeli, who would later go on to be the vocalist for Crush 40 doing music for the Sonic games (and unironically how I recognized the band's singer). They would have killed it back in the 80s when glam metal and arena rock was huge with the likes of Aerosmith and Bon Jovi, but their first album released in '92 when people really only cared about grunge rock. You can see my love for the genre here, and I could talk about things like this for hours on end.

TV/Movies

• Spongebob Seasons 1-3 - Not much a fan of the later seasons, but the original run of the show is still some of the best stuff to come out of television. The script was superb for only being a kid's show, and the musical elements were shockingly good as well. Never mind the fact that the show featured Pantera, Motorhead, Twisted Sister, and other rock figures I'm already going on a tangent about again. I can recite entire scenes from memory, that's how much I watched the show when I was younger.
• 90s SNL Movies - Again, a byproduct of what my parents watched. Adam Sandler and Chris Farley make up some of the best films (Tommy Boy, Black Sheep, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, etc.), and I've never found their modern films to be as good as their old ones. Spaceballs is also another fantastic watch, that's another case where I can pull entire scenes from thin air (much to the confusion of folks my age).
• 80s/90s Action Movies - Mostly get the chance to catch up on these when I fly to my various business conferences here in Clownpiece Land. Most my viewings have been of Schwarzenegger's films (Predator, Terminator I & II, Conan the Barbarian), but I recently had the chance to watch the original RoboCop and really enjoyed it. Next couple films I've got lined up include Commando, Total Recall, Rambo First Blood, and Kurt Russel's Escape from New York. Don't make 'em like they used to.

 

[Ashurbanipal_01]

Outside Touhou, many of us might also have other series and franchises we enjoy. For me, the ones I have gone through over the years would be the following:


1) Star Wars
Probably the first franchise I ever heard of. Despite not having watched it as a child, it still had an almost legendary status for me, and was a film series I really wanted to watch one day. From the few documentaries seen and some TV shows about sci-fi, I left with a quite confused image of what was going on the films, but things would soon change. Back in 2014, when I first heard a new film would be coming out, I was quite excited. At the time, I had no idea what the Sequel Trilogy would turn into, I was just happy to hear a new film would be released. Then, in anticipation to the release of The Force Awakens, TV channels started broadcasting every weekend all the six films up to that point, and so I got the chance to see everything (got to see them in chronological order, so there's that).

Then the years have passed. I started reading more and more on the Wookiepedia, got quite an interest in the vehicles of the series (ever since a child I was completely fascinated by the whole AT-AT attack scene in the battle of Hoth). However, at the same time was also getting more and more exposed to all the faces of the fandom in itself too (especially to the so-called "Fandom Menace"), as this was the time when I actually started using the internet more frequently. In the end, by the time Episode IX, I started to feel a bit of boredom. I did not even watch the whole film, but already knew it has been quite a mess. Plus, at the time I was also discovering new series, but more on that later.

Afterwards, the only things that kept my greatly diminished interest have been like the non-film products - The Mandalorian season I & II, The Clone Wars season 7 (they finally finished the animated series) and Bad Batch. What made it even better has been that I spent my time watching these with a fiend who was also into Star Wars (and film/series in general). I still like the aesthetic for the series, especially for Imperial warships and vehicles, and I am happy when an old design is re-canonized or created from scratch. I am also one of those weird fans who likes Dark Empire, and actually loves the visuals from the comic book adaptation.


2) The Lord of the Rings/anything written by Tolkien
Probably on par with Star Wars in terms of seeing it as a legend before having the chance to watch/read it. My oldest memory about it is related to seeing The Two Towers film adaptation as a child, and since it got my curiosity. When The Hobbit films came out, I watched those, and did not have any problem with them. I enjoyed them for what they were, and never went for nitpicking. To be fair, at the time I still did not get to read the original books, and so my expectations were low.

6 or 7 years ago, I actually started reading the books. First, I read the Hobbit, then moved to LoTR. I do not think I have ever read 1500 pages as fast as I did with that book trilogy. despite feeling a bit weird at the beginning (the Hobbit felt quite a bit like a children's book, while LoTR shifts the tone quite a lot, yet it still have the "suddenly song" moment here and there), but after a while, I actually grew to love them. For quite a while, I was fascinated by the world-building, the characters and wars of Middle Earth. At the time I was also playing Medieval II Total War, so it came perfectly when I discovered the Third Age TW mod. Then, after a lot of years, did I get to actually watch the LoTR film adaptations by Peter Jackson. I could finally watch something I only remembered vaguely from my childhood, and in the end, I really liked the films. Even today, I am still coming back to this film trilogy from time to time.

Nowadays, I guess I lost a bit of interest, but I still like the Tolkien universe quite a lot. Whenever I feel it, I am coming back to it to see why I enjoy it so much. I have heard all the rumors, discussions and controversy surrounding the upcoming Amazon series, but by now, I really don't care. I am not too interested to watch it anyway, so why even bother.


3) Warhammer 40,000
Even if for the past couple years it has become one of the main series I am interested in, I will probably get it shorter than expected. As I was starting to get more and more bored of Star Wars, especially after The Rise of Skywalker, I was looking for new series to get into. What got me into the grimdark future of the 41st millennium has actually been a little shitpost series called If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device. It was catchy, it was fun, and boi, did it make me curious to learn more about Warhammer. From there on, I have had an entire world pandemic and 2 months lockdown in 2020 to get even more down that rabbit hole.

I would have liked to give tabletop a try, but things are ridiculously high even for basic models, so I do not think it would be so woth the investment. If there is a faction I like the most, it would be the Imperial Guard. I am just more interested in an army of human conscripts, but in masive numbers, and armed with a lot of very cool looking vehicles. Of there is a setting in the franchise I would say I am more fascinated by, that would be the 30K/Horus Heresy era. It just feels so archaic, a lost era filled with tons of cool designs and an interesting aesthetic (I really like the power armor models of that era, especially the Mark II and III), as well as the concept of a "space marine legion" instead of mere "chapters" as they are organized in the 41st millennium.

4) BattleTech/MechWarrior
Probably the most recent addition to my collection of series I like. I am still in my fist couple of weeks of exploring it, but I got quite an excellent introduction through the TEX Talks BattleTech videos. I ended up from having a slight dislike for BT due to it being a rival to Warhammer (and a series I had no idea about - fear of the unknown, I guess) even if BattleTech is older than Warhammer by a few years, to something I am looking to learn more and more about. Anyway, if anyone wants to get a starting point, TEX is excellent. Easy to digest lore (even if videos are very long - it does not feel as if you spent almost 2 hours watching), a lot of humour, and ending skits are always a gold mine. The series in itself has quite an interesting aesthetic, with some sort of retro futuristic stuff going it - it really does look like a series that came out in the 1980s.

For the introductory videos (also adding the Battle of Tukayyid because ALWAYS REMEMBER that a telecom company managed to beat an entire force of warrior caste fighters armed with superior tech and stronger warriors)

I love Arthurian Legends, Epic Poetry, Fate Series as well as various anime such as anime such as Hunter x Hunter, JJBA, Death Note, LOTGH, Serial Experiments Lain, Berserk, Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong, Texhnolyze, Haibane Renmai, Ghost in the Shell SAC, Evangelion etc.