Mononoke is a 2007 anime that is a spin off of Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Tales / Japanese Classic Horror. The Bakeneko arc of Ayakashi should be watched before watching Mononoke since it serves as a prequel. A movie has been announced to premiere in 2023. This short series spans multiple arcs where the main character, a medicine seller simply named Kusuriuri, solves mysteries of supernatural creatures that appear around Japan. His goal is to interrogate the involved parties and try to find the mysterious creature's katachi, makoto, and kotowari (shape, truth, and reasoning). The Monarch AMV by Iren S.S. makes for a great trailer for this anime.

Heike Monogatari is a 2021 supernatural anime adaptation of the classic Heike Monogatari. The show is about Biwa, a tomboy orphan with the power to see the future who is adopted by a member of the powerful Heike / Taira Clan amidst a war between clans.

This anime is gorgeous. The art style is unique and cute. Nearly every frame of the show can be used as an aesthetically pleasing desktop background. As a fan of the Heian era, Genji Monogatari, and Takahiro Sakurai, I like this show a lot. The ending song is incredible, and the opening is good too. There is so much symbolism to dissect in this show, so there is a big incentive to rewatch the series.

The only problem with this anime I have is that it's hard to remember the characters and their names, but it's a lot easier to do on the second rewatch as I understood everything perfectly on my second rewatch.

This show is a work of visual art, and it has themes like futility that seem to be unique. This show to me is like "Heike Monogatari the classic tale meets That's So Raven". I relate to Biwa, feeling like I am a person who can see things that many others cannot, and because they don't see what I do, they cannot use their power to change things for the better. This show is a great adaptation of a classic, and I can really call it a work of art.

Ping Pong is a 2014 anime based on the 1996 manga. It is a sports anime about ping pong.

I love everything about this anime. The art and animation are wonderful, utilizing unique perspectives and distortion to show the energy involved in ping pong games. The characters are diverse and real, and the entire show is very emotional. I didn't expect a sports anime to be a masterpiece like this. This was one that I had to stop myself from binging in one day because I kept wanting to see more.

Not to be a hater, but I literally don't remember a thing about any other sports anime I have ever watched. With Ping Pong, though, I remember specific matches. /Matches/. Each match is so unique, and you will be able to find special things about each of them. It's incredible to me.

My favourite characters are China and Peco!

Serial Experiments Lain is a 1998 avant garde science fiction anime. It is about a girl named Lain Iwakura whose identity and actions get wrapped up in the digital world through a network called the Wired.

Of course, it isn't a Neocities site without Lain on it somewhere. This isn't really science fiction as much as it is science real. I love the existential, epistemological, religious questions the show raises. What is the value of a God? The show was really ahead of its time, and I consider it to be a work of art.

Boogiepop Phantom is an original 2000 mystery / thriller anime based on the light novel Boogiepop Doesn't Laugh. A faithful anime adaptation of the light novel was released in 2019.

I tried to watch the 2019 anime, but for some reason, I wasn't interested in finishing it after episode 7. When I watched Boogiepop Phantom though, I was hooked on it from the start.

I love how each episode focuses on a different character with a completely different story, but pieces of each story connect to focus on the actual serial killings that drives the plot of each character. Each story is unique and hypnotizing.

I tend to dislike overly complicated supernatural lore because I prefer stories that tell something about the real world. Boogiepop Phantom is a good balance of these, as the Boogiepop franchise is full of convoluted lore and supernatural powers, but this anime has bite sized stories that are more realistic while the supernatural elements lurk in the background.

Kino no Tabi is a 2003 anime series based on the 2000 light novel. The anime got a remake in 2019. It is about a nonbinary person named Kino who rides their motorcycle, Hermes, and travels to different nations. Kino stays in each nation for only 3 days, learning about each nation's values, lifestyle, culture, and traditions.

This show is pretty chill and similar to Mushishi and Kusuriuri since it features a traveler character. However, it differs from the other two since Kino only visits the nations to learn about them, not to solve their problems. I like the original anime more than the remake since it has more of that mysterious vibe, and the art style of the remake is a bit too colourful.

Mushishi is an episodic 2005 anime that is best described as an atmospheric supernatural show based on the 1999 manga. A new Mushishi series was released in 2014. The show follows a man named Ginko who is a mushishi, a person who can see creatures called mushi that live alongside humans and other living organisms. Ginko travels around Japan during the Edo period and helps people solve problems that involve mushi.

I think this is a show that can be enjoyed by everyone as long as they are able to get into the mood for it. It's not exciting or action-packed, but it is a beautiful piece of art similar to Mononoke. I think of it as Ghibli-ed Mononoke.

Nobunaga Concerto is an ongoing 2009 manga with 22 volumes that has a 10 episode anime adaptation from 2014 and a live action drama series and film.

It is about a boy named Saburo who barely pays attention to history class. When he falls in an attempt to walk along the top of a fence, he is transported back to the Sengoku period where he falls onto Nobunaga Oda. Realizing that they look identical, Saburo takes the place of Nobunaga and tries to take over Japan over the next few decades.

I've watched the anime, and I read all the English manga translations (up to chapter 69). On paper, I hate everything about this series. I just personally don't like historical fiction or time travel stories or isekais. Why, then, did I like Nobunaga Concerto so much to binge most of the anime in two days? It boggles my mind.

I think Saburo is so cute, and I pretty much like or enjoy the presence of every character. This anime is cute and charming and has a relaxing atmosphere. The short 10 second opening somehow always gets me hyped for the show, and the ending is awesome with its subtle changes after each arc. After reading the manga, I am a Micchi fanboy. Those eyes can kill.

The manga has a much more comedic and lighthearted tone than the anime, so it wins in the comedy sector. I'm trying to catch up to the end before the whole series ends next year (Honnouji!!). I have Nobunaga Concerto in the anime section of this page because I prefer the anime's take on this story, taking it seriously and making it more like art than the manga which is less serious.

I refuse to watch the drama, but the soundtrack is cool sometimes. Anegawa 2 is so epic, as is Pride of Mokkoumon and Ambition of Daimyo.

From what I read, it is also a very historically accurate adaptation, and that's one of the main selling points of this series. Saburo doesn't know his history, so he shouldn't be able to live Nobunaga's life and win / lose the right battles, but somehow through different twists coming from a modern thinking mind, he follows history to a T through dumb luck. It's funny and is too miraculous to be true, but I can't take this series too seriously or be too mad at it for the few criticisms I can make of it.

Aku no Hana is a 2013 psychological thriller anime based on the 2009 manga series. It is about a boy named Takao Kasuga who impulsively steals his crush's gym uniform and gets caught by the weird kid in class. The weird kid, Saya Nakamura, blackmails Kasuga into doing more depraved, perverted things.

When I first watched this anime, I was hooked on it. I found myself watching more episodes in a day than I planned to because I enjoyed it that much. It reminds me of Love Exposure. I love the way the show is rotoscoped even though it is hit or miss depending on the viewer. The ending of this anime is a remix of Hana, a song by one of my favourite musical artists of all time, Asa-Chang & Junray, though I like the original song more. The producers saved the original version of the ending to use for the special ending scene of episode 7 which took my breath away. I'm glad they saved such a special song for such a special moment.

Yami Shibai is a horror anime that aired from 2013 and currently has 10 seasons. Each episode is a short horror story aimed towards children that is about 5 minutes long.

I started watching this series when it first came out. As the episodes in each season vary in quality, the different seasons also vary in quality. Even though we might not find every episode scary as adults, they are so short that it isn't really a waste of time to watch them. I definitely recommend watching the first season. Unfortunately, the show kept getting worse as more seasons were released. It's such a shame because it was one of my favourite animes when it first came out.

Yugioh is a franchise revolving around a children's card game. The original media is a 1996 manga series that was meant to be a horror series, but after introducing the idea of monster trading cards, the series became wildly popular. There are now multiple anime series, manga series, and video games based on the original concept. One of my favourites is the 1998 Toei anime.

My favourite characters were always Yami Bakura, Malik Ishtar, Shadi, and some others. I remember the days when Yugioh used to be played on NickToons, and instead of attending my own Birthday party, I'd sit and watch Battle City duels.

In middle school, I really liked Yugioh abridged. I watched episodes over and over again every day, laughing by myself. Of course, my favourite character was Bakura (both of them). I got to meet LittleKuriboh once at OtaCon, and he signed my copy of the first manga volume.

I also played some of the video games. My favourite was Eternal Duelist Soul.

Ojamajo Doremi is a 1999 anime about magical girl witch apprentices who juggle the responsibilities of witch training and everyday life. After outing a real witch and making her turn into a frog, the girls work together to become witches themselves with the power to return the witch's true form.

This was one of my first animes, and it's really the only one from early childhood that will have any place here. The reason for that is because this is a really good anime considering the age demographic. This show told stories about a character whose parents went through divorce, a character who grew up in a foreign country only to forget their mother language, a character being a victim of antiBlackness, a character whose mother is implied to be a sex worker, and others. My favourite main character is Asuka Momoko, and I also love Makihatayama Hana because I kin her.

Though this show was made to market toys, it told stories of such a diverse group of children. Every season, we get to know each and every one of the students in a classroom of 20+ students which makes the show more personal. It is extremely enjoyable to watch these kids grow even while skipping episodes revolving around the magical plot. There are some scenes that make you think the creators respect their young audience, bringing forth more mature themes.

Here is a link to my Ojamajo Doremi tumblr blog where I reblogged analyses of the show.

Nyan Neko Sugar Girls is a 2010 anime about three friends, Raku-chan, Koneko-chan, and Hitoshi-san, who hang out together and have fun.

One memory I have about this show is that I once watched this while I was in a digital art class in 7th grade. One of the 8th grade students turned up the volume all the way and turned off the monitor so that Vet-sama's voice would fill the classroom. It was one of the funniest things that ever happened to me.

Every so often, Yoli-chan makes a new video which is pretty funny. For example, she made a COVID-19 PSA....

19 Days is an ongoing Chinese web manhua written by Old Xian from 2013. Over the years, the comic has gone from a slice of life to a comedy to a romance to a drama, and the story shifts between genres often over its 400+ chapters.

"Featuring characters Jian Yi and Zhan Zheng Xi who are childhood friends, the handsome He Tian, and the reluctant Mo Guan Shan."

Hi Izuru Tokoro no Tenshi is a 1980 historical romance manga written by Yamagishi Ryoko.

This is a fictional story based around Prince Shoutoku's spread of Buddhism in the Asuka era. In this story, Prince Shoutoku, called Umayado no Ouji, falls in love with Soga no Emishi. He also has psychic powers and the ability to see demons.

I have only read up to chapter 14 since the English translation stopped there, but I am hooked on this story, and I hope to buy the Japanese volumes to read. I know how it will end already, but the story is so entrancing that I must continue it. The art and story are haunting and evil.

The fact that Umayado is a somewhat negative depiction of a very famous and revered Japanese historical figure is awesome too. I find that I really like how Umayado is so evil, malicious, and dramatic. He is also really the only interesting character in the entire series, but he has enough entertainment value to make up for the rest of the cast which is full of unlikeable royalty.

Narutaru is a 1998 manga series with a 2003 anime adaptation. It is about children who can control creatures called dragon children that are powerful enough to kill one another. It seems like the "predecessor" to Bokurano.

This is a pretty cynical "edgelord" series that's supposed to take the idea of Pokemon / Digimon and make it darker. Some of the children use their dragon children for self defense, and some use their dragon children as weapons against each other. There's also a big military presence in the area where this story takes place. I take this series to be anti-military, though it is likely not. I watched the whole anime and read most of the manga, though I have not finished it yet.

Pokemon Special is an ongoing 1997 manga adaptation of the Pokemon game series. This manga has its own unique storyline that is different from the games or anime, an entirely different canon where the generations are all connected to each other.

One of my first online fandoms was the PokeSpe fandom. This was the first manga I started seriously collecting more than a decade ago, and to this day, I am looking to complete my collection. My favourite characters are Green, Silver, and Ruby. I roleplayed as Green for a while back when I was a kid on Deviantart.

The Thief and the Cobbler is one of my favourite animated films of all time, and it was directed by Richard Williams. It is about a nameless Thief who wants to take jewels and gold and a cobbler named Tack who falls in love with the Princess. Though they have completely different goals, their paths meet in unexpected ways.

Shoujo Tsubaki is a 1984 manga created by Suehiro Maruo that got adapted into a 1992 anime film and a 2016 live action film. Trigger warning for rape and CSA

This film is about a 12 year old girl named Midori who loses her single mother and is coerced into working for a circus to earn a living. She gets tormented and sexually abused by the circus members. When an adult magician joins the group, she thinks of him as her saviour and falls in love with him. Later, she learns that he is taking advantage of her and abusing her just as the other members do, but when she is able to escape, the circus comes back to haunt her through hallucinations.

One time, I had two of my best friends watch the anime film with me in my basement. The 2016 film came as a surprise to me since the manga / anime film were made so long ago. I remember watching this movie in class with my best friend who had seen the anime film with me.

One of my favourite collections in real life is my collection of Shoujo Tsubaki manga volumes and other media. So far, I have the 2nd and 3rd edition Japanese volumes, the English volume, a French volume of the 2nd edition manga, and a French release of the anime OST. The most obscure Shoujo Tsubaki media that I own is a CD of the 2012 Shoujo Tsubaki musical soundtrack since western anime fans who are aware of Shoujo Tsubaki most likely are not interested in it enough to know that a musical exists. The items I want most are the 2012 musical DVD and the ROM game.

Tenshi no Tamago is a 1985 collaborative animated film by Mamoru Oshii and Yoshitaka Amano.

The nameless protagonist, a young girl, protects a large egg in hopes of allowing it to hatch one day. After meeting a mysterious unnamed man with a large cross, the two have conversations about who they are and where they came from.

This film was written based on Mamoru Oshii's dwindling faith in Christianity. To me, this is one of the best animated films for having such a personal theme that should inspire everyone to be a skeptic. In addition to the theme and symbolism, the art style and animation are beautiful.

The Tragedy of Man is a 2011 Hungarian animated film based on a play by the same name. It was produced in parts over 23 years.

The film follows Adam, Eve, and Lucifer as they reincarnate in historically significant time periods and try to find solutions for different forms of injustice.

Not only is the meaning of this film interesting, but the art is too. Each time period is drawn in a different art style that is inspired by art from that time period and area.

I absolutely hate the ending of this film, but the entire thing is a ride. You could either call this the most optimistic or the most pessimistic film about faith similar to Tenshi no Tamago.

Love Exposure is a 2008 film about love, family, lust, religion and the crime of upskirt photography. The film is 4 hours long.

The main character, Yu, takes upskirt photography as a hobby and discipline akin to martial arts even though he is not attracted to any of the women he photographs. He searches desperately for his Virgin Mary to fall in love with. Yoko, the Virgin Mary, hates boys and believes herself to be a lesbian after getting saved by a mysterious Ms. Scorpion. Another girl, Aya, turns to the Zero Church after her father dies and documents the events leading up to the day they all meet.

I do not condone what the director Sion Sono and producer Haruo Umekawa have done, but I like the film itself. It's pretty funny all the way through, and the serious parts aren't too jarring. Someone compared this film to Durarara!!, and I think that's a good comparison that made me want to watch the film in the first place.

Funan is a 2018 French animated film about a family broken up during the 1975 rule of the Khmer Rouge.

This film is quite relatable to my family as the events in it happened at the same time my family suffered under Vietnamese communist rule. This film is beautifully drawn, and it makes me wish more films like this would be made.

Cipher the Video is a 1989 anime OVA based on the 1985 Cipher manga. It stars twin brothers Cipher (Roy Rang) and Shiva (Jake Rang) and Anise Murphy who has a crush on one of them and must figure out how to distinguish the two.

This movie makes no sense if you haven't read the manga. It's quite the experience though as the opening of the film is 22 minutes long, and the film itself is 1 minute long before it cuts to the credits and 20 minute "making of" documentary. My favourite song from this film is Kamikaze by Thompson Twins.

I read the manga, and I am glad I watched it before reading it. The utter confusion you get watching Cipher the Video with no context from the manga is something you can never get back. The manga is cute and dramatic at times, but it has a happy ending and great development. I did not expect the story to not be about the romance as much as it is about the development of Cipher and Shiva. Once you read the manga, every single scene from the Video makes perfect sense, and you'll be able to identify the twins in the Video. It's actually a faithful adaptation that was clearly made with love.

Khan Kluay is the first 3D animated film created in Thailand, and it was released in 2006. It is about an elephant who trains to fight in a war alongside King Naresuan during the time of the Ayutthaya Empire.

This was one of my favourite childhood movies, and I often come back to it. I have never watched the second movie, and I never intend to.

Nekojiru-Sou is a surreal 2001 anime OVA based on a manga by the author Nekojiru. It is about a cat boy who tries to find the other half of his cat sister's soul after it gets stolen by a god. He and half of his sister travel across the land on an adventure to find a single flower that contains the other half of his sister's soul.

This movie is very cute and interpretive. The animation is hypnotizing. I'll have to rewatch it to make any more comments about it. I think this is one of those movies that people think is really deep just because it's done in an unconventional way. It's still good, though.

Genji Monogatari is a 1987 animated film based on the novel Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu. (9anime link)

This film's art is very beautiful. I thought the style was similar to Yoshitaka Amano's, and I was right since he designed the art in this movie. I have read enough of the novel to recognize the characters and events, but I think the characters in the film could have been introduced better for those who don't know the story. I've seen many films based on the novel in my day, and this one is my favourite.

Just placing my general thoughts about the novel here: I think Genji Monogatari was meant to be satire of some kind. The reader is supposed to dislike Genji and the things he does, not defend his actions because of his status or the time period. Romanticization through poetry in the story is common for the time period, but it's not far fetched to think the romanticization was done ironically.

A Japanese Boy Who Draws is a 2019 OVA about the life of a boy named Shinji whose dream is to become a manga artist.

I love the way this movie was animated. The art style reflects the way Shinji's art develops with experience. Characters in the film are drawn in their own art styles. It's very creative, and it works well.

Another Dirty Room is a Youtube series by Dan Bell that features Rick Serra, Will Krupinsky, Brennen Evangelista, and Jake Williams.

The dirty room boys visit motels around the United States and check the condition and cleanliness of the rooms, beds, and bathrooms. This series has three seasons which you can watch on Youtube for free.

I have been a fan of this show since season 1. Anrakyr got me a sticker and an autographed photo of Rick for my Birthday, and Rick sent an actual motel soap as a gift!

Abnormal Summit is a Korean TV program that started airing in 2014. It is a talk show where 12 foreigners gather to discuss different cultural, societal, and controversial topics in Korean.

I've liked this show for a long time, since 2015 at least, though I can't remember how I first found it. My favourite G12 members are Sam Okyere and Zhang Yuan. They are both really funny, and it's hilarious how Zhang Yuan gets bullied a lot. Sam Okyere is really witty at times.

I think it's interesting how the layout of the set changed at least twice, and the G12 members changed so much throughout the show. I am not too familiar with the newer members.

While I only enjoyed the show for what it was before, I now actually use it to practice my Korean reading and listening since I have learned a lot more Korean since I started watching this show. I hope the show can be rebooted one day.

David Makes Man is a 2019 drama series. It is about a 14 year old boy, David, who suffers trauma from watching his father figure die. While he tries to make sense of the violence in his life, he goes to school, protects his younger brother, and tries his best to take his family out of poverty.

This show amazed me, and I was hooked from the first episode. The first season was so beautiful and powerful, and it had many memorable scenes and characters. The respect towards LGBT people is refreshing as well.

The second season was okay but not as good as the first. I think they didn't cast the characters very well, and the story about the characters grown up wasn't as interesting. My favourite episodes of the second season were the flashbacks to when the characters were back to their younger selves.

Andi Mack is a Disney teen coming-of-age series centered around Andi Mack, a girl who discovers that her parents are actually her grandparents, and her biological mother was a teen mom.

Andi and her friends Buffy and Cyrus deal with issues like finding out who their family is, having military parents, and being closeted among other common teen struggles.

I watched this show in high school, and I really liked it. It was the kind of serious, educational show that I think teens of my generation needed. My favourite character is TJ Kippen.

One of my most memorable Andi Mack moments in my life was around when the show ended, and I drew all of the characters together. Several actors from the show liked or shared my art. Sofia Wylie, the actress who played Buffy, liked my art and posted it on her Twitter. She then followed my account! I unfortunately don't use Twitter, but I really appreciated that moment, and we are still mutuals to this day!

Degrassi is a teen drama franchise comprised of The Kids of Degrassi Street (1979), Degrassi Junior High (1987), Degrassi High (1989), Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001), and Degrassi: Next Class (2016).

These shows follow groups of teenagers as they tackle different problems in their lives from middle school to high school. Some characters' college years are shown as well. By the time one cast or grade level of characters reach graduation, another cast has been introduced to replace the old characters, and the cycle continues.

One large example of this is that characters Spike, Shane, and Snake in Degrassi Junior High grew up and were featured in Degrassi High where Spike and Shane had a child together named Emma. In Degrassi: The Next Generation, Emma has grown to middle school age, and she lives with Spike who later marries Snake who became a teacher at Degrassi Community School.

This series is dramatic and hilarious, but there are lots of real, raw emotions as well as the topics featured on this show are serious. Many of the topics discussed in this show were done ahead of their time when such topics would be taboo or banned. Examples include the struggles of being LGBT, teen pregnancies, abortion, witnessing a school shooting, etc.

My favourite characters in rough order of appearance are Yick, Toby, Spinner, Marco, Ellie, Alex, Sav, Connor, Eli, Winston, and Grace.

alantutorial is a Youtube channel created as an art project by Alan Resnick.

You just gotta watch for yourself from oldest to newest video.

Food Party is a 2009 absurdist cooking show made by Thu Tran.

This show is simultaneously unfunny but also really clever. It is definitely something that is not for everyone. My favourite episode is The Oregano Garden. I also liked the Cannibal Holiday episode and Deja Thu.