#also feel free to add more to this list

[littlexdeaths]

i was just listening to my halloween playlist to get in the spooky spirit and a lot of the lyrics were speaking to me! so i compiled this list of song lyrics/titles that i thought would make good fic titles! as someone who struggles with titles constantly, i hope some of y’all can make use of these!

*also no need to credit me, i’m sure some of these have been used before!

⚰︎ - she loves me ‘cause i like to give head like a zombie

⚰︎ - scaredy cat

⚰︎ - she’s a maneater

⚰︎ - in the room where you sleep

⚰︎ - pushin’ up daisies

⚰︎ - it’s the time of the season

⚰︎ - bid my blood to run

⚰︎ - dissipate like smoke

⚰︎ - fill me with your poison

⚰︎ - i’ll tell them my religion’s you

⚰︎ - you’re from a whole ‘nother world, a different dimension

⚰︎ - body bag baby, i’m a goner

⚰︎ - season of the witch

⚰︎ - he’s a wolf in disguise

⚰︎ - black magic woman

⚰︎ - show me your teeth

⚰︎ - you’re my kill of the night

⚰︎ - a midwest monster

⚰︎ - baby, you’re a haunted house

⚰︎ - if she’s got a pulse, then she’s not my type

⚰︎ - he ate my heart

⚰︎ - sleep with one eye open

⚰︎ - swallowing the seeds of sin

⚰︎ - bad moon rising

⚰︎ - people are strange

⚰︎ - that boy is a monster

⚰︎ - burn the witch

⚰︎ - it’s terror time again

⚰︎ - immortal fear

⚰︎ - when we all fall asleep, where do we go?

⚰︎ - sympathy for the devil

⚰︎ - crash the cemetery gates

⚰︎ - my creation, is it real?

⚰︎ - living dead girl

⚰︎ - it will come back

⚰︎ - somebody’s watching me

⚰︎ - double, double toil & trouble

⚰︎ - with voyeuristic intention

⚰︎ - i can’t find you in the body sleeping next to me

⚰︎ - thoughts of endless night

⚰︎ - i put a spell on you

⚰︎ - under the moonlight

⚰︎ - there’s no nicer witch than you

⚰︎ - devil on your back

⚰︎ - keep you free from sin

⚰︎ - close enough to kill

⚰︎ - skin against skin

⚰︎ - freaky ghost, baby

⚰︎ - candy apples & razor blades

⚰︎ - nocturnal creatures are not so prudent

⚰︎ - six feet under

⚰︎ - psycho killer

⚰︎ - baby, i’m howlin’ for you

⚰︎ - madness takes its toll

⚰︎ - freaks come out at night

⚰︎ - dead man’s party

⚰︎ - the smell of death is all around

⚰︎ - jeepers creepers, where’d ya get those peepers?

⚰︎ - all the good girls go to hell

⚰︎ - the witching hour

⚰︎ - aren’t you scared?

⚰︎ - i see you shiver with anticipation

⚰︎ - the devil in your eyes

⚰︎ - i wanna do bad things with you

⚰︎ - every breath you take

⚰︎ - bury a friend

⚰︎ - goddamn right, you should be scared of me

[smallmightsupremacy]

Might i be bold and ask you for your fave bkdk fics?

Anon. Anon. I'm so sorry that I've taken forever to reply to this ask, but I hope you understand that this is one of the hardest tasks I've ever had to do I think for starters I'd recommend the 'big 3' bkdk fics. They're all popular for a reason, and if you're looking for something long and angsty, you can count on those to deliver. (Though, I will be honest here and tell you that I never finished twyutd, but from what I hear it's a super good fic!!)

As for specific recommendations, I'll try to condense my list of favorite fics wayyy down and then go on to name some authors that I love so this post doesn't go on forever So, after scrolling in a hot sweat through my bookmarks, here's the final list:

promises kept by gabstar The Night We Met by majjale

glowing skins and pleading fingers by mimisyum

All We Ever Knew by dynamics

warm hands by flowercafe

all that you ever wanted from me was sweet nothing by maxisnotokay

Do Not Disturb by surveycorpsjean

headliner by passengerside

As for bkdk authors, here are a few of them whose works I adore and go back to read day after day: ladyofsnails

sapphicflower

Etherealbeing

panpanicatmha

red_sneakers

comradekiwi

Happy reading anon <3

[wolfstarshipping]

wolfstar wips

So I'm using the @hprecfest day 12 prompt "a WIP you're following" to post a short rec list of WIPs that has been sitting in my drafts for so long now I even had to remove a fic that had been finished in the meanwhile!

Something rotten in Grimmauld Place by @plecotusauritus (8,802 words, Hamlet AU) This is a wolfstar Hamlet AU, need I say more?? I've never much cared or thought about Hamlet since I read it in school but this fic (almost) makes me want to reread Hamlet and I can't wait to see where the story goes next, I love the atmosphere this fic captures, the lovely writing style and just seeing all these characters we know so well fit into the plot of Hamlet is so, so cool!!

the oldest recipe for parsnip soup by @eyra (10.639 words, modern AU, christmas fic) Getting another fic by eyra for the holidays has been such a wonderful treat! I love the whole setting and the characters of this fic so much already, especially Sirius!! And the writing and all the descriptions are so, so beautiful, as always, highly recommend checking it out!!

Welcome to Aphrodite by @de-sire-blog & @rhabarberjunge (18.957 words, magical AU, secret identities) this is one of those fics I've read a while ago, but I keep thinking about it because I loved it so much. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but the premise is Sirius finding a hidden, adults-only club that makes people's secret desires come true, and of course Sirius's secret desire is Remus... It's hot, it's fun, and it's incredibly angsty, I love it.

Stitched into My Skin by @squintclover (19.297 words, canon divergent AU, memory loss) I love the heartache and all the bittersweetness that comes with memory loss fics so much already, and I am so obsessed with the way it's been done in this fic. The premise of the fic is Peter casting a memory loss charm on Sirius on October 31st 1981, which leads to Remus raising Harry and randomly coming across Sirius years later, only Sirius doesn't remember him. I'm so intrigued by the first few chapters already and can't wait to see where the story goes next!

Marauder FM by @hollyivydruzy (26.402 words, modern AU, radio AU, enemies to friends to lovers) I know I've recced this fic before but I will never shut up about it because I love it, and especially this fic's Remus so, so much! It's an iconic, funny radio AU set in London, and I wish the radio shows from this fic were real because I would listen to Sirius's radio show every morning if I could. I just love the vibe of all of them working at the radio station together and the slow burn enemies to friends (to lovers) is so delicious!

The Patchwork of Us by @tracingpatternswrites (27.502 words, modern AU, enemies to lovers, co-parenting Teddy) This is such a lovely fic about Sirius and Remus navigating the difficult situation of co-parenting Teddy after Tonks dies, I love the domesticity and the enemies to lovers vibe of this fic so much!

The Picture of Sirius Black by @lynxindisguise (30.049 words, Dorian Gray AU) okay anyone who has ever seen my blog knows how much I love lynx's writing, which is why I am also obsessed with this fic, even though it's a genre I'm usually not that familiar with. It's a Dorian Gray AU, it's gothic horror but especially the first few chapters are also giving victorian romcom with murder sideplot vibes (and I mean this as the biggest compliment), this fic will make you laugh and cry and want to murder some of these characters yourself maybe.

Only Fools Are Satisfied by grumposaur (@pancakehouse) (38.353 words, modern AU, tennis AU). I really love the exploration of Sirius's family dynamics in the context of him being a professional athlete in this fic, and Remus with his tanlines and freckles is everything!!

Neon Moon by @krethes (47.698 words, modern AU, cowboy stripper Remus AU, Las Vegas) I didn't know how much I needed Remus to be a stripper and a cowboy before I read this fic, but now I do and I love him!! The whole premise of them meeting at a strip club while Sirius is out on James's bachelor party is so iconic, and the vibes of the fic are just overall excellent, highly recommend checking it out!

on another ocean by @colgatebluemintygel (118.148 words, modern AU, backpacking/interrail, friends with benefits) Where do I even start? This is an incredible fic, one of my all time faves, I've reread some of the chapters several times now and am so obsessed with this fic's Remus in his socks and sandals, driving Sirius crazy with lust. Also I will not spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, but the scene in the budapest chapter in the club bathroom features one of my favorite Sirius moments of all time, across all universes haha.

marginalia by @spindrifters (266.547 words, magical AU, canon divergent AU - Grindelwald won, slavery AU) I'm having a hard time trying to put my love for this fic into words in just a short paragraph. This fic is so unique in its setting, and it's so beautifully written and asks & answers the question "what if Grindelwald had won?" in such an incredible, highly political and also very immersive way, if you haven't read it already I really recommend checking it out (as well as the already complete Tedromeda spinoff set in the same world, history books!!!).

Staying Strangers by 3amAndCounting (319,368 words, modern AU, texting fic, university AU). This is one of my comfort fics, I love a good texting AU, this is quite a popular fic anyways but if you haven't read it and like modern AUs & texting fics (though it isn't all just texting) go check it out!

[vital-information]

The camp aesthetic isn't dead. It's just doing what it's always done, waiting to be found and appreciated outside the mainstream of year-end lists and algorithms. Below, I've made a list of some prolific creators I see keeping it alive with two camp principles as guidance (apologies to Susan):

"Camp: doing more than is necessary with less than what you need." Zadie Smith, "Mark Bradford's Niagra"

"Decorative, 'amusing,' 'good theater,' witty in the right way, and likely to make heterosexual relationships look ridiculous." J.B. Priestley, "Block Thinking"

Julio Torres: the Salvadorian-American surrealist formerly of SNL

Los Espookys: a friend group uses special effects to fake paranormal activity to help rich people and government officials avoid their problems Problemista: an aspiring toy-maker must work for an art-world outcast played by Tilda Swinton to keep his visa Fantasmas: in a surreal NYC, Julio encounters a bunch of different people as he searches for a lost diamond oyster earring

Jojo Tichakorn: the Thai party-fiend with a love for the 90s and y2k

3 Will Be Free: Throuple escaping the mafia Mama Gogo: former diva inherits a male strip bar and has to make it successful The Warp Effect: High-schooler figures out what happened the night he blacked out when he wakes up ten years in the future Only Friends: Thai redux of Queer as Folk, updated for the current era The Heart Killers: Adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You and Taming of The Shrew but with gay hitmen and BDSM

Nida Manzoor: the Pakistani-British romantic punk feminist

Enterprice: two young entrepreneurs, Kazim and Jeremiah, try to escape the South London hustle and get their business, Speedi-kazz, off the ground We Are Lady Parts: an anxious med-student, Amina, finds herself drawn into an all-muslim punk girl band Polite Society: when her sister decides to give up on her dream and get married, teenager Ria tries to save her, Bollywood action-movie style

Cheewin Thanamin: gender-fluid Thai director making cringe euphoric

Make It Right: the queer messy love stories of a gaggle of highschool boys Secret Crush on You: an underdog friend group helps one member deal with his obsessive habits as he falls for a popular jock Bed Friend: A private guy has a one night stand with a casanova coworker he hates Playboyy: Investigating a missing twin, a pair of friends find themselves sucked off into the sex-work industry

Kunihiko Ikuhara: none of us knows what exactly it means

Revolutionary Girl Utena: girl arrives at a mysterious high school and has to sword fight her way to a girlfriend Penguindrum: saved from the brink of death by a spirit in a hat, a girl's brothers must repay their debt by retrieving a 'drum' with the help of some penguins Yurikuma Arashi: Two girl bears disguise themselves as humans and sneak over the city wall to enroll in school Sarazanmai: A musical in which a spirit that sucks souls out of anuses recruits three boys to help stop package theft

Kenny Ortega: gay white American brings camp to the kids on Disney Channel & Netflix Hocus Pocus: the annual favorite about the rebirth of the kid-killing Sanderson sister witches into a 90s suburban neighborhood High School Musical 1, 2, 3: How can a boy possibly like basketball and musical theater at the same time without ruining society? The Descendants 1, 2, 3: Made-for-tv cinemusicals about the children of Disney villains Julie and the Phantoms: lonely teenage girl without a mom forms a band with some gay ghost boys

Manolo Caro: Mexican showrunner who believes telenovelas can be even queerer

House of Flowers: a family reckons with their secrets and a faltering flower shop after the patriarch's passing Someone Has to Die: a conservative family in Franco regime Spain recalls their son from Mexico for an arranged marriage only to find he's brought a male dancer along as his companion Once Upon a Time (Happily Never After): musical comedy about reincarnated lovers who must fall in love to save a town's love lives Holy Family: the bond amongst a group of mothers turns dangerous as someone's past starts to catch up to them

[necrotic-nephilim]

i’m feeling messy. for the new ask game, 5 :)

for the choose violence ask game!

5. worst discord server and why

of COURSE you would choose to be this messy, you lil rat. <3 i will be kind enough to not name the server, it's a general Batfamily server i found on Disboard. most Bafam discord servers tend to be... anti leaning so it's something i sort of expect, but this one has a "ship advisory list", including ships you're not allowed to share media of (like fanfic or fanart) and if you discuss the ship you can be told to stop talking about it. and there were the typical ships you'd expect like Joker/Harley, BatJokes, and ofc a "no proships" umbrella ban. but some of the ships fucking baffled me. like canon ships were on this list. ships i to this day can't figure out why they'd be banned. the top ships of the list that just *got me* in terms of "... what is bad about this ship???" were

DickBabs

DonnaDick

Barry/Diana

Barry/Dinah

JayRose

Catwoman/Penguin

Talia/Bane

some of these i didn't know were shipped in the *first place* but even if they are, i can't fathom what's wrong with them. some of them are canon, normal ships? like what did JayRose do wrong. it's one of Jason's healthier relationships. and DonnaDick somehow gets me the most. my only guess is that antis heard them referred to as the Wonder Twins and thus decided the ship was incestual. bc otherwise how. why. i laugh everytime i think about DonnaDick being problematic.

on one hand i do think it's fucking hilarious of a list and it always makes me laugh bc i cannot fathom the mentality. but on the other hand it is sort of depressing that so many public social platforms for discussing the Batfam are becoming *so* anti-leaning that ships can be banned simply bc the mods of the server decided they were problematic for some unforeseen reason. it was the biggest depiction of "i don't like this ship so it's problematic" i've ever seen. like where does the goalpost stop moving? when does it somehow become problematic to ship things in general? it was wild even for anti stuff. truly the most baffling server i've been in.

[miabebe]

Hi,

Okay, so, this is just random but I've been obsessing over jihoon recently, been losing my mind and desperately trying to look for fics admiring the man that he is but I can't find many, and so I'm genuinely really excited for your where you're convenient jihoon fic and also more jihoon scenes in camp seventeen because, I need to simp over my man. Also, please let me know if you know any good fics that would drive me crazy for jihoon, and well, just worship him. I love that man.

Also, I totally agree with tumblr user todayiscloudyday when they said that the houses were so well described. The character descriptions were literally so good that I read both the prologue and the character descriptions multiple times before the 1st chapter came out. The houses, their companions, the symbols, their jobs, I have to say, you've really done such an amazing job with them.

Anyway, I just came around to rant about my woozi brainrot and also to let you know that I am genuinely excited for your upcoming fics. I also want to let you know that you don't always have to answer my asks (considering you probably receive many and could be busy), I just send them in so you know that I appreciate your works.

MY FRIEND I UNDERSTAND

Especially after lollapalooza him in that denim on denim fit with nothing under like??? That was insanity, it had me thinking about him for days T.T

As for where you're convenient for Jihoon ahhh that's not on my to do list any time soon unfortunately - I have so much to cover for camp seventeen and reverse tropes and also my Changkyun mafia series, its sadly a little low on my priority list :( But camp seventeen Jihoon hmm you might be able to see a little of him in chapter 2 hehe

Thank you my love, I really did pour a lot of thought into those so I'm glad you've been enjoying them! And it's absolutely fine, I do love to receive and answer any and all asks you send, please never worry about that! I'm always so happy to have you around ❤️

As far as the Jihoon fics are concerned, I've not actually been reading much since I stared writing more often, but I will drop links to some of the ones that were memorable to me under the cut!

@cheolism - Oh, Agony! - I've told Jupiter this too, she's insane for this cause never had I thought I would read smut to Oedipus Rex??? I love it, the build up in this is real good

@hoshifighting - This fic by Lyla goddammit, she's so amazing with her work, I loveee this one for Jihoon, the development of what they share is *chefs kiss*

@onlymingyus - I want to write you a song - Mars is such an exceptional writer, this is truly one of her finest - I need everyone to go to her inbox and leave her the nicest words asap!

@the-boy-meets-evil - A new home for the holidays - This is one of Jess's sweetest stories, the progression is soooo nice! and I'm a bit of a sucker for holiday romance hehe

@eomayas - never lose me - If you want some good ol' pwp I really like this one by Kay! They're so lovesick, ugh it's so good T.T

[so-very-small]

so there’s that g/t tropes tier list going around (link)

[vimbry-moved]

random sparks recs for tmbg fans who want to get into them (based on general lyricism/instrumental energy):

wonder girl (if you like: unreleased dial-a-song demos, pink)

fletcher honorama (if you like: unreleased dial-a-song demos, then/misc T, pink, factory showroom, the else, nanobots)

B.C. (if you like: then/misc T, flood, apollo 18)

talent is an asset (if you like: then/misc T, pink)

those mysteries (if you like: lincoln, factory showroom, long tall weekend, join us)

goofing off (if you like: lincoln, factory showroom, join us)

beat the clock (if you like: then/misc T, pink, mink car)

angst in my pants (if you like: then/misc T, pink)

eaten by the monster of love (if you like: then/misc T, lincoln, flood, the spine)

funny face (if you like: pink, mink car)

national crime awareness week (if you like: mink car, indestructible object)

dick around (if you like: john henry, factory showroom, long tall weekend, the else, glean)

lighten up, morrissey (if you like: john henry, the spine, the else, glean)

strange animal (if you like: the spine, the else, join us, nanobots, BOOK)

[justkillingthyme]

what are the PL days? I know Luke Lunes, Emmy Wemmysday, Flora Friday, Hershel Haturday, Sycamore Sunday.

Those are all the ones that I participate in (and the ones I’d consider major), but I can list a few more and blogs that I know do them!

@/re1gn404 does montol monday

@/aquamarineglow does birdsday thursday

@/samthecookielord does nilsaturday

@/pentacle-artist and @/simply-sleepyhead did mystery journey jeudi and mystery room mardi (though I believe it stopped in early August)

[shivunin]

💠Alternate Universes💠

A list of AUs intended for writing/art prompts. Tried to keep it general/open to interpretation as much as possible. Thank you to everyone who sent in ideas! (plus bonus Dragon Age-specific AUs at the end, as this is a DA blog c:) Send a number and I will write a short AU about:

Rival market stalls

Fairytale

Post-apocalypse

Pirates

Cowboys/western

Spies/assassins

Gaslamp fantasy

Murder mystery

Cyberpunk

Soulmates 

Gothic horror (or romance)

Space travel/opera

Roommates/neighbors

Mermaids

Urban fantasy/paranormal (werewolves, vampires, ghosts, paranormal investigators, etc.)

Courtly/medieval

Noir/Private Investigator

Heist

Circus/carnival

Period (specify which time period)

Time Loop/time travel

Dragon Age-specific AUs:  (MC refers to the Warden, Hawke, or the Inquisitor)

22. The MC as a different class (mage/warrior/rogue)

23. The event(s) that led to the Warden’s recruitment never happened 

24. Companion AU (MC as a companion instead of the protagonist)

25. Different choice taken for a major plot decision (i.e. Harrowmont vs Bhelen, Hawke vs Stroud left in the Fade, etc.)

26. The game is actually a tabletop campaign (D&D etc.) your MC and companions are playing together

[variantoutcast]

9 books I plan to read in 2025!

I was tagged by @leofrith <3

Omeros by Derek Walcott

I technically started this in the last week of December '24 but I'm putting it here because I'm less than 20% through it =] so far I think I might be too unfamiliar with the Greek tragedies to "get it" but I'm pushing through nonetheless.

A poem in five books, of circular narrative design, titled with the Greek name for Homer, which simultaneously charts two currents of history: the visible history charted in events -- the tribal losses of the American Indian, the tragedy of African enslavement -- and the interior, unwritten epic fashioned from the suffering of the individual in exile

Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy by Serhii Plokhy

In Chernobyl, award-winning historian Serhii Plokhy draws on recently opened archives to recreate these events in all their drama. A moment by moment account of the heroes, perpetrators and victims of a tragedy, Chernobyl is the first full account of a gripping, unforgettable Cold War story. 

Operation Columba: The Secret Pigeon Service by Gordon Corera

The fascinating, untold story of how British intelligence secretly used homing pigeons as part of a clandestine espionage operation to gather information, communicate, and coordinate with members of the Resistance to defeat the Nazis in occupied Europe during World War II.

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

The explosive, hotly-anticipated debut novel from the New York Times-bestselling author of Friday Black, about two top women gladiators fighting for their freedom within a depraved private prison system not so far-removed from America’s own.

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney

Sabotage threatens to undermine the war effort, and the military calls in Rydra. Random attacks lay waste to warships, weapons factories, and munitions dumps, and all are tied together by strings of sound, broadcast over the radio before and after each accident. In that gibberish Rydra recognizes a coherent message, with all of the beauty, persuasive power, and order that only language possesses. To save humanity, she will master this strange tongue. But the more she learns, the more she is tempted to join the other side . . .

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history. What is the purpose of a map?

The Rover by Mel Odom

Edgewick Lamplighter (Wick to his friends) is a humble librarian in the isolated halls of Greydawn Moors until dreams of wanderlust and a bit of dereliction in his duties result in his being shanghaied to a far-off land.

New and Selected Poems Vol II by Mary Oliver

This graceful volume, designed to be paired with New and Selected Poems, Volume One, includes new poems on birds, toads, flowers, insects, bodies of water, and the extraordinary experience of the everyday in our lives. In the words of Alicia Ostriker, 'Mary Oliver moves by instinct, faith, and determination. She is among our finest poets, and still growing.' In both the older and new poems, Mary Oliver is a poet at the height of her control of image and language.

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Tamsyn Muir's Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.

I tag @sh5 @stormikins @aesnawan @woahpip @dykefagz and anybody else who wants to do it! Feel free to tag me!

[hevanderson]

- finn coming down into the room he shares with kurt during theatricality

- rachel when kurt sabotaged her makeover

- sue when blaine wouldn't rejoin the cheerios

- brittany when blaine wore hair gel to her dinosaur themed prom

- kurt when blaine cheated on him

- kurt when blaine and karofsky started dating (but multiply the image by two)

- santana + kurt when sebastian blinded blaine

- will when kurt told him to loosen up a little

[bookwyrminspiration]

Do you have any recommendations for books that are similar to acod?

Unfortunately, not really. I and others are on the hunt for them, though!

Primary one so far is The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir--the style of "fuck you knowing who the hell the mc/narrator is is a privilege not a right" is strong there. Similar in how drastically different events/understanding is at the beginning vs the end. Delightful science fantasy story. like acod you WILL be confused

On a related note: this is a list of books similar to TLT, so by extension you may find something there worth reading/similar to acod?

And I have yet to read him for myself, so this might be off, but I've heard good things about Ken Liu's books? About the plot and character complexity. Personally have been meaning to start the Dandelion Dynasty

Also if you're willing to branch out of books, I know I rec it a lot, but Black Sails (to me) has a similar vibe. It's not fantasy, but the layers to every action, the secrecy, the reveals, the character depth and how everyone overlaps and clashes with each other. Very compelling

I wish I could give you more! since acod i've been wanting to find more like it, but it is a process--we will get there, though!

[muninnhuginn]

here we go. please ignore the quality, but these are a few of the media I highly rate that I've sorted into groups based on shared qualities with other media. the idea is along the lines of "if you like this show because of y theme, then you may also like z show which shares said theme".

a few bonus recs that I couldn't fit on this list (because I either didn't want to give stuff away or because they fit into multiple different groups at once):

Link Click (donghua) (time travel, first season much more about individual stories, second season more plot-based. Two seasons out at present.)

Spy x Family (animanga) (yes, I know everyone knows about this one already, but it's one of those shows that strikes such a good balance between the humour and the drama. and the way that the manga arcs start to increasingly weave in social commentary is so well done. Ongoing series.)

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (animanga) (full disclosure, I haven't yet completed this hence not wanting to put it down yet, but so far it's really impressed me. It's a complete series.)

Full list of media (and some more tidbits) below the cut:

Serial Experiments Lain (anime)

Complete

Really fascinating dive into the Internet, identity, and conspiracy theories. Despite being released over two decades ago, it's somehow more relevant nowadays. That said, there is an underlying thread of tension and it's hard to piece together what's happening at times. Very surreal and heavy on the unreality. So, it's probably not for everyone (and it'll be fairly obvious early either way), but if that sounds like your jam, then go for it. (EDIT: Also, I just realised that I entirely forgot that this series also belongs in the ND-coded protag circle because Lain's whole deal has a lot of overlap with schizophrenia/psychosis in general.)

Jibaku Shonen Hanako-kun (animanga)

Ongoing

The anime is an incomplete adaptation for this (though it does have Ogata Megumi) and the manga goes much further. It's a monthly release and the art is gorgeous. It's centred around a school where urban legends come to life as the supernatural. I've seen some people say it's fairly light-hearted a series before, but I can't really say I agree, especially when it comes to the later chapters. It can play into particular anime tropes at times though.

Princess Tutu (anime)

Complete.

There is also a manga, but I've heard it's pretty different and I've not tried it so can't really comment. If you like ballet and European folktales then this is the show for you. It's... probably aimed at the lowest age range of all of my recs and it does show at times, but I'd point to it as an example of how just because a show is aimed at younger ages, that doesn't mean it has to look down on you. Anyway, it's neat seeing the protagonists interact with the concept of the story they themselves are a part of.

Revolutionary Girl Utena (anime)

Complete.

The manga for this is meant to be pretty different so keeping this rec to the anime. Obligatory "look up trigger warnings" if you think you may stumble into something you can't handle, because this show sure covers a lot of fairly dark topics. Still, it's pretty surreal and at times ridiculous so it's not all dark all the time. The premise is around a girl who wants to be a prince, who participates in duels for the hand of the 'rose bride'.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (animanga)

Complete (og series)

The manga iirc is fairly similar, but the anime is really good in its presentation so would recommend anime over manga for sure. The soundtrack and the way it's directed both elevate the story massively. Anyway, twelve episode season, with a movie afterwards you can decide whether to proceed to or not. It's about what it takes to be a magical girl, and what is taken. I imagine most people nowadays know the big twists already but in case you don't, I'll just say that the foreshadowing in it is one of my favourite things. So much rewatch value.

The Locked Tomb (book series)

Ongoing. Three books out, with fourth expected to be final.

Speaking of foreshadowing, this series has so many levels of foreshadowing going on, I think it would take many rereads to catch it all. The first book in the series is a relatively standard murder mystery, but after that, the author immediately cashes in the good will earnt to become increasingly experimental. Each book therefore is pretty different genre-wise, despite being set in the same universe and progressing the same story. Anyway, I know this one isn't for everyone, but I'd say at the very least give Gideon a shot.

Orphan Black (Canadian drama)

Complete.

This is a co-production between a US and CA company but Wikipedia classes it as Canadian so okay let's do that. Okay. Orphan Black is about discovering you may be a scientific experiment and the questions inherent in that. In this case, it's about clones. The main actor has such range and she plays half the cast and somehow makes it work. I will say it takes her a couple of episodes sometimes to get the accents right (I took psychic damage occasionally), but once she's got it down she keeps it. This one is another genre blender, with different clones progressing different subplots. One of them off doing an investigation whilst another is trying desperately to live in a soap, etc.

Severance (US drama)

Season one complete, season two ambiguously in the works.

More science experimentation. This show is based on a premise wherein people can partition off parts of their brains so that their work selves are entirely independent of their non-work selves. The two selves have no shared memories, but they are in theory the same person. It brings up a lot of questions about nature vs nuture, along with commentary on religious cults and workplace rights.

Oddtaxi (anime)

Complete.

We follow a taxi driver through his daily life, picking up passengers, dropping them off, getting accidentally (or maybe--) involved with the local gang members. It's pretty chill, but as you go on you realise just how thoroughly everyone's lives are intertwined with each other. And there's a mystery or ten to be solved. If our driver guy can be bothered. This and Reset both fit into the incredibly small niche I like to call "character-based mystery show with social commentary set in a vehicle". Very catchy.

Reset (cdrama)

Completed

Time loop scenario where a pair of strangers are caught on a bus that keeps blowing up and have to try and figure out how to escape. I feel like the pace at which the audience figures out stuff is timed really well to whenabouts the characters figure out stuff, but there's a lot of foreshadowing I didn't realise until I rewatched a few episodes. Just, really solid mystery and character drama.

March comes in like a lion (animanga)

Ongoing (manga)

Full disclosure. I have only watched the anime of this and from some of what I've heard about the later parts of the manga it's likely to stay that way, but! The parts covered by the anime are something special. I grouped together this series with Skip and Loafer and Frieren because they're very... they're all about 'moving forwards, despite'. So, at the start of this series, the mc is pretty depressed, but as it goes on you get to see him slowly unfurl out of that. You get to see him make new connections, progress with shogi (aka, what the series is ostensibly about), and just generally let himself live again. It's a very wholesome anime without letting itself forget the darker aspects of life.

Skip and Loafer (animanga)

Ongoing (manga). Season one of anime complete.

This is a definite comfort show and has one of my favourite depictions of developing friendships (I want to say something here about the intersection of platonic and romantic but I'm not sure how to put it). This show/manga follows Mitsumi as she starts at a city school after growing up in a rural village. It has her meet new obstacles and new people and shows how they all influence each other. Overall, it's a fairly gentle story, but I think it pulls off heartwarming so well because it can also do heartwrenching.

Frieren (animanga)

Ongoing.

I may regret putting an ongoing anime here before it's even finished airing (staying anime-only for now personally). So far though, this is a show about grief, and living life beyond that. It's a show that could so easily be a tragedy but chooses to venture beyond instead. It follows Frieren (an elf with a long lifespan) as she realises that she hasn't really allowed herself to know people properly and decides to fix that. It's a fairly standard fantasy setting so it's hard to describe what's so appealing about it, but it's very intentional with its parallels, with putting the words of long dead characters in the mouths of those who never knew them. Very cyclical. The first four episodes released in one go, so if you're thinking of giving it a shot, I'd watch those four before deciding whether to drop.

Stranger (kdrama)

Two seasons out. Can be taken as complete at end of either season though still open for more.

So, it's a drama about prosecutors/corruption, a lot of the standard kdrama jazz. It has one of my favourite pairs of besties though and I love how many threads are woven through all levels. It's a show that's heavily plotty (the number of times you're forced to recalculate as you get more pieces is ridiculous but in a good way), but despite that, doesn't neglect the characters.

Mob Psycho 100 (animanga)

Completed.

An OP protagonist would rather focus on his non-psychic attributes. I tend to struggle with OP protagonists sometimes, but this show/manga deals with it well, because the point isn't actually *about* Mob's powers. It's more about how his powers are linked to his emotions. There are plenty of fights (and they're all incredibly well animated), but the tension isn't usually in "who will win", and I don't mean that in a bad way at all. Anyway, the show is for the most part a comedy (it does have some off-colour jokes at times unfortunately, though they're mostly relegated to specific episodes at least), but my favourite parts are always when you get to see the other side of things. This show also has Reigen, for whatever that's worth. (I hate the fact he's so well-written. Why couldn't he just be the meme and nothing else.)

Arcane (US animated)

Season one complete. Season two in the works.

You don't need League knowledge for this despite it being based off it. This (like a few of the others actually) is a three-act structure following Vi and Jinx as they grow up in the shadows of Piltover. Visually, it's a gorgeous series, and the mix of 3d and 2d works so well. Despite being only nine episodes long, it manages to fully develop scores of characters with their own interweaving subplots, all culminating with the finale. It's another one with social commentary, in this case, it's not particularly subtle, but it doesn't actually need to be. And it does the showing not just the telling so it works in tandem.

Blue Eye Samurai (US animated)

Season one complete.

And now we reach the revenge trio of shows. I will fully admit I started this series because I saw many a pretty gifset across my dash. And the aesthetics absolutely hold up. This is an Edo-era revenge quest by a samurai who has given up on happiness. It starts fairly tropey and by-the-book, but it pulls off the execution solidly and infuses a lot of symbolism into the main trio (especially Mizu, but Akemi gets plenty as Mizu's reflection). There is a decent amount of sex and graphic violence though and, given that the show deliberately conveys various characterisation points through them, they're not really skippable. Try not to wince at the pronunciation of Japanese words either. It's old-style English anime dub level a lot of the time when it comes to names/places, despite a lot of the setting itself being relatively well-researched from what I can tell. I guess it's just a disparity between the voice actors and the writers.

Nirvana in Fire (cdrama)

Complete. There is a season two but it's a next generation deal.

Terminally ill guy returns to the capital to get justice for a betrayal before his time is up. Despite how grim that sounds, the show itself has a much nicer balance between the light-hearted and the serious. It does chuck you right into the depths from the very start (I know a lot of people refer to charts for relationships for the first few episodes until they get the hang of it), but once you start to understand, you can really get the impact. How the previous generation has echoed onto the current generation. Also, the main character is Mei Changsu, one of my favourite schemers. He knows how to troll, even (or maybe especially?) as he's plotting someone's downfall.

The Glory (kdrama)

Complete.

The mc in this show (Moon Dong-eun) was bullied at highschool, to the extent she was suicidal. The show is about her revenge on the bullies, as she sets the pieces for their own flaws to fell them. I will say for this, that the first episode is imo the darkest in tone. The later episodes do still touch on darker topics (sexual assault, suicide again), but for the most part, the first episode is the darkest to help you understand why she's willing to go to the lengths she is. And yet, despite that, a line of hope runs through the show. There's a line early on about the solidarity between victims vs the solidarity between abusers and it's a real thesis statement for the whole show.

[deargravity]

haiiiii sardini i hope youre weeell !!!!! dyou have any favorite/comfort media like movies or books or anythinf that changed your tastes 4ever !!!!!???

haiii i’m doing okay actually.. college is a horror but we persist. so firstly, i have a LOTTTTT of stuff i really enjoy and no real fixed tastes, except that i don’t like romance-centred plots. i love gothic literature and detective fiction mostly but i’ve been getting into memoirs too etc etc let me get into it

so, FIRST OF ALL i really like sherlock holmes. i grew up on it so it’s given me a taste for cozy mysteries in general and the occasional hardboiled crime/espionage novel. it’s my all-time favourite series but i also have quite a few adaptations i enjoy and return to

- Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (the original canon, cozy detective fiction)

- Charlotte Holmes by Brittany Cavallaro (a young adult series with 4 books)

- the 1940s Sherlock Holmes movies with Basil Rathbone (all on youtube, btw, a great way to pass the time)

- Moriarty the Patriot (manga series, with 1 season of animation, one of my ALL-TIME favourite adaptation ever)

- Enola Holmes (the book series, but the movies are also really fun)

- Moriarty: The Devil’s Game & The Silent Order by Charles Kindinger (audible original podcast, a moriarty origin story with a refreshing change in perspective, where Moriarty is the heroic protagonist and Holmes is the villain antagonist, a lot of creative and original recharacterisation, it was so interesting just give it a chance)

- Sherlock & Co. (ANOTHER FAVOURITE. and a classic. a podcast too, set in the 21st century and by far, my favourite adaptation of the original stories and just wonderful)

OTHER THAN THAT:

- (book) Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - got me into gothic horror

- (movie) Good Will Hunting - coming of age (?) movie about friendship, love, potential, and the power of vulnerability

- (movie) Jennifer’s Body - i’m not a horror fan at all actually but this was a horror comedy, iirc and it did give me a taste for evil women in fiction

- (book) Unquiet by Linn Ullman - a recent 4⭐️ read, a very intimate, vulnerable memoir of grief and memory that opened me up in a lot of ways

- (movie) Bound 1996 - lesbian noir film, god i love criminal / mafia lesbians

- (music, album) Folie á Deux by Fall Out Boy

- (animation) Arcane

and you may already know this but i’m also into Paradox Live, A3, Blue Eye Samurai and Mahoyaku. i’ll get into anything if it can promise me a good, fun time I don’t really have limits on the kind of media i can enjoy, except that maybe animanga is a little hard for me to get into.