the tidal wave

i've decided to stop gatekeeping and start being suuuuuper open about my internet hobbies! i've long since graduated from the single-minded passion i once pursued my interests with, but i've been a couple steps down the block and i want the world to know all my nugu favs ... and general faves too. here are a few scant categories of media that you may or may not feel inclined to check out.

NOTE: i've chosen reccomendations that i don't think are very mainstream. i'm giving a voice to the unheard!! but that's why you're not getting me to say ouran high school host club or mob psycho 100 because everyone and a quick google search will tell you they're good... but trust that i know them all too, okay?

i also realize my website is like......NOT conducive to having lots of content so i've decided to cut down on what i share. it's okay. i'm accessible via discord anytime.

anyways trust me, i know my stuff...!! i have two ita-bags too, so if we get close you can totally look. i'm that one mutual that doesn't play about fandoms.

ahhh, anime and manga... where would middle schoolers on google plus and fanfiction.net be without you? in another life i was born to be rctjapanese but in this life i respect the hustle. also i literally don't lie when i say i've read like everything. i read any genre, i keep up with shounen jump oneshots (I KNOW) and i have infinite appreciation for the medium.

i actually have this theory that people have been ripping off these days, but it's that peakga (peak manga) are always better than peakhwa (peak manhwa), but midhwa (mid manhwa) are always better than midga (mid manga). manhwa knows how to be reasonable slop, but manga always explores a sort of depth to the human experience. but when they're bad, they're bad... we don't talk about manhua because the homeland still has a lot to catch up to, and for every tian guan ci fu is five million

anyways, here's my list of recomendations!

i want something positively bursting with youth; shoujo or shounen, they're all the same to me!

i picked up this world's strategy guide / kono sekai no kouryokubon wo hirotte shimaimashita ⤷ so i'm basically the leading expert on rofan and isekai (phd from neet university) and this is still one of my favs even tho it updates SO slow. a refreshing spin on the typical trite isekai rofan and full color art? sign me UPPP
phantom busters ⤷ ok i know this one's making the rounds but i haven't seen anyone discuss it at length so i'm going to shill this as much as i can. like i recognized the artstyle from a prolific bnha doujin artist but i guess a shonen megafan really knows how to produce excellent shounen. a colorful cast of characters and your classic exorcist plot makes a solid shounen entry... it's like jump-ified kemono jihen in a way even though the plot more closely resembles jjk or tougen anki or even the sadly axed phantom seer. i never forget.
otaku vampire's love bite / oshi ni amagami ⤷ i was a shoujo fiend, okay? i've read ALL the classics. kodocha and koi dano ai dano and gakuen alice of course, kamisama kiss and the other litany of shoujos like maid sama and yona, i've even been seen with modern classics like yubisaki to renren and skip to loafer. and i was reading my lvl 999 love for yamada when it was only one tankoban and no one thought it'd win an award in 2022 but i was there before the art had a glow up. that's not related to this manga, i just wanted to brag. oshi ni amagami is a really solid new gen shoujo and it plays into idol culture beautifully but also brings vampires into the mix. vampires. diabolik lovers you could never be oshi ni amagami...
tamon's b-side / tamon-kun ima docchi?! ⤷ oshi ni amagami reminded me of this one but it's about a megafan of an idol who becomes his housekeeper only to find out he's quite different off the stage than on the stage... and you would think this becomes stale but it doesn't. it actually doesn't. somehow it finds a way to stay funny and that's incredible to me. wait i lowkey need to get back into shoujo my girlish spirit calls for it...
i see your face, i turned away / kimi no yokogao o miteita ⤷ this one lowkey transports me to the golden age of shoujo but it's as new-gen as they get but you know it kind of conjures up deep memories within me... and the artstyle is old af.... i quite love convoluted love shapes and i'm quite obsessed with unrequited love so if you enjoy those this one has that in droves. i feel so bad 4/5 of this list became shoujo LMFAOOO it's not my fault shounen is too popular and every time i thought of one it'd be too popular to list. dandadan is good and i like akane-banashi but you have to admit everyone knows those...

i'd like something deep and introspective *pushes up glasses*

i want to hold aono so badly i could die / aono-kun ni sawaritai kara shinitai ⤷ despite being a romance i would mostly call this a horror. the central relationship is sweet and yet disturbing and the plot is so terrifying and yet intruiging. i can't even list the content warnings because it's all spoilers so readers beware for a mind-blowing journey.... this manga is just so underrated that i make everyone read it, and everyone loves it, so it's your loss if you don't check it out!
city of sands ⤷ this one is short, philosophical, and to the point — well given that it's philosophical, it's not to the point at all. it's vague when it needs to be and plays with such an interesting premise; i get strong kowloon generic romance vibes from this, and honestly i'll list that one right after too. i feel like this one you can just breeze through and it'll be no issue at all!
the strange life of subaru / subaru to suu-san ⤷ so...it's a little weird because we have an age gap but not a mental age gap and that's all i'll say for now. despite that, the charming art style really pulls the plot of this together. and it's kind of cute. well like just ignore the bad parts. it's a pure romance at its heart, i really think so!
kasane ⤷ in essence, this manga is about a magic lipstick that lets our ugly protagonist steal the faces of beautiful women with a kiss to further her acting career, but of course things can never be that easy. i think of kasane as what act age would be if it was good and the author didn't get caught for soliciting minors. actually props to the act age artist for becoming the ichi the witch artist which has everyone's second coming of gojo but we're getting off topic. kasane is very scary and kinda gory but i put it here because to me it's more of an apt discussion of beauty and identity... kasane is really good...

give me something depraved or horrific. make me regret asking you.

liar game ⤷ i've read basically every single death game manga in existence and this is still one of my favorites. yay!! the punishment is crippling debt, which arguably can be worse than death, and the female protagonist allies with a genius scammer to win and later dismantle these games she's played before. death game mangas shine in the ways which the rules of the game are circumvented, which liar game excels at!
planet closet / wakusei closet ⤷ this one really scared me. it's like a sort of dream-walking, surreal survival, and eldritch horror piece that had me biting my fingers off while i read in the dark. junji ito never made me feel this way... actually i thought uzumaki was really romantic. so like to a guy like me junji ito is just a normal mangaka.
cocoon ⤷ i read this one many, many years ago and recently i saw they're going to animate it...or was it live action? either way, i read cocoon when i was in like middle school, so you know this harrowing depiction of ww2 in the youth is devastating. and i read it first. i'm the OG. it's gory and it's incredibly sad. the japanese ww2 genre makes me cry so often honestly, like in this corner of the world and grave of the fireflies. cocoon hurt me so much when i read it as a little girl so it should only hurt more now that i'm an adult!

what else do you recomend?

haru's curse / haru no noroi ⤷ so i've read konishi asuka's extremely well done raise wa tanin ga ii or however you call it in english which is popular for a very good reason, but people don't put enough respect on her other work. love love love haru no noroi because it's a well contained story about grief and the ethics of romance with your dead sister's man. super solid.
more to come... ⤷ await my next post

slop manhwa, my beloved...... i want to put some respect on korea's name after my rant earlier. they carried the entirety of the pandemic on their back as i scrolled through slop after slop after kino after slop, and we can never understate the massive influence they brought into the isekai genre for women. thank you, korea.

actually, manhwa and korean webnovels have really done some innovating too. the dungeon genre and level/class system came from manhwa (i think) and they've been producing some curious yaoi as well. overall i think manga > manhwa > manhua, but i think in terms of webnovels it's chinese > korean > japanese with a notable exception of orv being the best webnovel ever, so korea has a lot of footing to stand on. the country that produced orv cannot be underestimated.

before this entire section turns into an orv shill, here we are!

incel manhwa (my name for the korean genre about an incel that gets strong, attractive, and starts aura farming) (solo leveling will NOT be considered)

i will think of something! ⤷ just not right now!

villainess isekai and similarly related content

how to survive as a maid in a horror game ⤷ okay speaking as someone who has gone through the lot of them...and who started with raeliana and who made me a princess so you know i'm an og...this is still one of my favorite ones ♡ the art style is deceptively cute for its horror elements, but the romance really pulls itself together and gives you something to ponder on. well it might just me and my preference towards yanderes but when you get your die you roll with it.
your majesty, please don't kill me ⤷ this was more of an issue during the golden age of rofan isekai but like if your ex husband or whatever killed you... why are you going right back to him with no issue?? if you just want a normal crossdressing male lead there's let's hide my younger brother first, but if you want one where there's actually nuance in falling in love with someone who killed you and your family in your past life, this would be the one.
big spender in a busted game ⤷ the cardinal sin of reccomendations is to reccomend something on hiatus but i'm a sinner so yeah. the art for this one is gorgeousss and i feel like the setup for everything progresses perfectly well and solid. if i wanted to be controversial in the villainess isekai category i would plug dark history of the villainess but you have to be level 100 mafia to even understand the nuances of that one like me. so alas. i'm reccomending something perfectly palatable like big spender in a busted game.

there's more to manhwa than fantasy!!! (none of the above)

no home ⤷ it's getting popular now but i've been here since the beginning. since the first 5 chapters actually. what does anyone else know about no home, huh?? i was into orv first too but NO ONE wants to talk about that. anyways, the most realistic characters and relationships and circumstances i've ever seen... a bunch of kids dealing with circumstances beyond their help and dealing with it miserably. there's secret yaoi that will never be fufilled.
340 days ⤷ recently reread it to see if it's worth reccomending and i guess it fits the bill. it's like omegaverse if instead of alpha beta omega we had bnha quirks ... or something. the main character's entire biological purpose is to love one person, but that one person just so happens to be a little strange. hmmm... given my predilection for red flags we all know where this is going.
no love lost lady ⤷ NSFW!!!! but one of my favorite yuris so like himejoshis will understand me. i love the central relationship and yet how twisted the plot and mysteries become. also warning for violence and hurting animals. but i hope you know that the main couple is soooo cute and that even though one of them's probably kind of a serial killer i quite like the riveting story. it's on hiatus, but what can you do...

what else do you recomend?

this witch of mine ⤷ why does everyone always have to sit on peak? i've been trying to get the word out on this for years and years and years but no one wants to read episodic but connected stories about the lives of witches that mingle with humans and fall in love with them (and each other) so go figure. you think it'll be sweet but it'll reveal itself to be incredibly sad, and all you have to do to realize this is get past the first few decoy chapters that unveil a surprising plot twist. oh my.
i'll be back with something! ⤷ trust me!

i love games. i love to play them. as long as it's not an fps or entirely skill based i'm there. does anyone want to play league with me btw? i play support ♡ okay but seriously who cares about that. let's talk about me being a gamer girl. i've been gaming since i got a dell laptop in 6th grade, and i've always been drawn to story-based games. the more story the better is what i think.

games that make you slam your keyboard

gnosia ⤷ best described as a mix of mafia + among us + danganronpa, gnosia is a social deduction game where you're trying to find the imposter among us — or win a game, when you ARE the imposter among us. you'll have to debate and deduct your way to victory, so if you're smart you'll love gnosia. if you're dumb like me but love reading about a convoluted story with colorful characters, you'll love it too. btw i'm going to end all romance games by listing my preferred route; gnosia isn't a romance game, but my fav is raqio. just wanted you all to know. (they're cannonically nonbinary like one other character and discuss this in-game, if you're also looking for nb rep) (gnosia recently had an anime announced but i was into this game since before it released, so i'm an og and i can confidently rec this game because i was there from the start)
we'll be back ⤷ i also play too many games to not have something

you won't slam your keyboard but you'll probably feel some type of way

unavowed ⤷ by the people who made the blackwell series! point and click puzzle games haven't been doing so hot, but unavowed is such a lovely foray back into them. actually, i loved this game so much when i played it years ago that it was part of why i really wanted to go to new york. you play as someone who recently resurfaced from a demonic posession, and work with other people to resolve supernatural incidents in new york. this game let me live out the urban fantasy i always wanted my life to be after i read percy jackson in elementary school!!
transistor ⤷ by the people who made hades and bastion and pyre (i'm seeing a pattern of me picking nugu games from famous developers) but this was my first experience with supergiant games. an incredible soundtrack paired with a desolate and yet slightly hopeful story taking place in a broken down sci-fi future, plus it has a combat system that can be tailored to your desired playstyle. ugh, this game is so good...
end roll ⤷ everyone always talks about ib and your turn to die and other rpg maker games which is fine because they're good but put some respect on end roll's name. i've never put my all into level grinding like i did for end roll, and i just love the way the story unfolds. let's just say there's a lot in store to uncover here...

otome games. check the list of pins at the left. 4/5 are otome guys and 1 is a vtuber. i dare you to try and guess who.

cupid parasite ⤷ you want romance? check. you want comedy? check. you MUST play the reccomended route order because the plot goes from awesome american burgers and transformers to greek tragedy, incredibly enough. i cannot understate how amazing cupid parasite is, and one of my itabags is solely dedicated to this beast. the fandisc is nearly perfect. also, it takes place in LOS YORK. they america-ified this game harder than bustafellows. i'm team allan melville ʚ♡ɞ
taisho x alice ⤷ this is controversial and the fandisc is hard to sell but believe me when i say this plot is deliciously twisted and messes with your mind. often it doesn't seem to take itself seriously, but there's some serious spirit in the plot. txa also commits the cardinal sin of having the best love interest in the otome market (seriously, there hasn't been anyone with a personality as distinct and vivid) and completely butchering his route but like a kiss cg is a kiss cg you know what i mean? alice they could never make me hate you ʚ♡ɞ
olympia soiree ⤷ i still needa finish but olysoi is beautiful and the plot is solid. my only complaint is the copious flashbacks but you'll live. anyways when i bought the game i complained about how the fandisc was never ever announced and the villain needed his own route and then two months later they announced the sequel. so i'm kind of olysoi jesus if you think about it. i'm a miracle worker. my goat kuroba on top ʚ♡ɞ
binary star hero ⤷ so i'll be kind and not list a 50 dollar switch game briefly. free on itch.io, i've been consistently shilling this game and getting good responses. yandere hero love interests aren't done enough because that's an archetype i can get behind, and we really have that right here and right now with ray from binary star hero. and it's free!
collar x malice ⤷ so i know this is the first game people tell you to start with, but it really is true. actually the game itself is okay, but i think cxm has the best fandisc to come out of an otome. the gallery is incredible, there's plenty of bonus content, and the additional story mode is the best thing to come out of it. highly highlyyy reccomend. sasazuka forever ʚ♡ɞ

what else do you recomend?

lemures blue's 2am ⤷ everyone's always talking about dramatical murder this and hashihime of the old book town that, but where are the people who will stand behind indie japanese boys love game lemures blue's 2am? i feel like it's so massively underrated for having such a vivid, engaging, and mysterious storyline. this better be next on any self respecting fujo's game list.
scarlet hollow ⤷ same company that made slay the princess! slay the princess is famous so i didn't include but that's a must play, and scarlet hollow takes it on in spirit as you return to the hometown of your family and unravel mysterious deaths and happenings. it's a highly reactive visual novel to your choices and even includes romance, so it's got a bit of everything for vn fans. i'm still patiently awaiting a wayne route!
erm ⤷ just a moment...!

i'm not really sure why i made a whole category for film and tv since i don't partake in film and tv as much as i do animanga and video games, but you know, i can't deny the power of good filmography. like in goodbye eri and chainsaw man, movies are life changing. you know last year i went on a total young leonardo dicaprio binge and he really had a face for the big screen. i'm at the age where he can date me, so excited!

anyways, i'm really not a buff. i didn't see euphoria and i've barely scratched the list of classic movies. i really want to watch eternal sunshine of the spotless mind because i think the title is beautiful at some point tho! haven't seen the godfather as apparently it insists upon itself but we'll see. actually i think i'll include animated movies because i haven't even seen enough live action to fill up this list.

but not nezha or nezha 2. everyone knows nezha completely destroyed disney. but they're good movies, i'll say that. viva la cultivation plot!

stuff that you probably should not watch in polite company

south park ⤷ don't say anything about this... i don't know. there's an allure of youtube shorts with the video game underneath and a clip of south park at the top and that's what got me into the series. and btw kyle is my favorite
house md ⤷ ok so maybe house md is actually rather popular BUT i will say people my age (very young, nothing like the old people) don't know much about house md so it's actually quite funny. actually modern family is kind of funny but you're not hearing me say that again.

honestly, this is on me. i do have varied interests but as you can see they skew towards a certain subset of media and i tend to neglect others. but do not fret, i do read literature and i do watch movies. just, you know, not enough to fill my lists with niche things. like house md and south park i highly reccomend but everyone knows those so what's the point...

welcome to my catch-all for everything else i think i forgot...!!!

film and television, like the major we have here at ucla

south park ⤷ don't say anything about this... i don't know. there's an allure of youtube shorts with the video game underneath and a clip of south park at the top and that's what got me into the series. and btw kyle is my favorite
house md ⤷ ok so maybe house md is actually rather popular BUT i will say people my age (very young, nothing like the old people) don't know much about house md so it's actually quite funny. actually modern family is kind of funny but you're not hearing me say that again.
oh ⤷ haven't seen many movies recently... look back's good but everyone knows look back is good...

fine literature, which is not really fine depending on who you ask

there is no antimemetics divison ⤷ in my opinion, the best tale to come out of scp. science fiction at its finest, horror at its finest, and also just remarkably clever when it comes to the scps involved and how exactly these creatures beyond our comprehension function. it comes across almost episodic at first, before it unfolds the meat of it. highly, highly, HIGHLY reccomend for anyone that likes to read a little bit.
world war z ⤷ maybe it's just because i'm past the generation that loved this book, but i've never heard anyone discuss it when it's honestly my favorite zombie book. the interview style writing is the cherry on top, and breath of fresh air for anyone bored of the narrative format. you get all sorts of perspectives in there, as well as a vivid what-if about zombies. i love zombies. send me stuff if you know of any.

something so random it needs a category to capture its randomness

maybe happy ending ⤷ i got to see this musical live and that's kind of the only way to enjoy this. anyways my only comparison is chicago the night before, but the way the setpiece moves around is honestly ingenius. the songs, i didn't really care as much about. but just seeing how the set moves and wheels around and comes alive as the stars move around on stage is phenomenal. go to new york and watch this!!!!
hm ⤷ maybe you can check out my games while you wait