Fullmetal Alchemist ⭐

a great shounen story, one of the very few that i reread and rewatch from time to time. it's equal parts shounen action, political intrigue and conspiracy, sprinkled with some comedy topped off with big buff men and buff buxom women.

Haikyuu!! ⚓

one of the more normal sports mangas, it does not feature supernatural abilities or unhealthy team rivalries, but instead focuses on a normal protagonist who only has his love for volleyball to keep him going. you will cheer for every team, enjoy every match and love every character. at its core it is a story about effort and determination and never giving up.

Ao no Flag (Blue Flag) 🌈

if i could describe this manga in one phrase, it would be teenage romantic angst. it deals with topics like love, friendship and self-worth of teenagers going into adulthood. thankfully it's only 57 chapters unfortunately the chapters are not available for free now so. buy the volumes!

Revolutionary Girl Utena 🌈❗

it's never too late to experience this masterpiece from the 90s that defined a generation of queer people. classic fairytale shoujo romance plot with big twists. is this all real? or just symbolism? you have to see it to know. however! be warned that yuri is not the central plot.

Yuri on Ice!! 🌈

the sports anime that shook 2016 with its depiction of homosexuality without any intervention from fans. like really the writers straight up had the otp be physically intimate with each other and expect the fans to not lose their minds. well, fission mailed, we all lost our minds that day.

Promare

himbo firefighter and twink arsonist save the world from big tittied fascist. that's it, that's the story, this is a studio trigger production. expect bright colors, charming character designs and a head-bang worthy soundtrack by Hiroyuki Sawano.

Shrek

Shrek is love, Shrek is life. it's a movie that never fails to entertain. i doubt anyone who has been on the internet long enough has not seen it, but if you haven't, go watch it right now. the animation might be a bit old but the story is timeless and the memes are forever. the sequel is also a banger especially that cover by Jennifer Sunders.

Everything Everywhere All at Once 🔞

it feels like cheating, putting EEAAO in here. but it's so good, it managed to make me cry not even halfway through the whole damn thing. however! the emotional impact is very subjective - my mother didn't feel a fucking thing watching this. there are a lot of underlying themes that resonated with me while my parents struggled to make sense of the movie's premise.

Tales of the Abyss ⭐💡⚓

the game that made me who i am today, with one of the hardest characteristic genres of the series. the first arc is difficult to go through but it gets really good afterwards. if you feel worthless, this will inspire you (i hope).

Mirror's Edge 💡

you don't play this game for the story, you play this game for the parkour and aesthetics and music. i cannot stand first person games (i have bad depth perception) but i was willing to try because i enjoyed Assassin's Creed. it was great! i really liked it!

Yakuza 0 🌶

all the games in the RGG series are great but i specifically mention this prequel because it was what introduced me to the wonderful world of shirtless buff men fist fighting in a denny's parking lot. it's a serious crime drama in video game form that also has mundane activities and bizarre side quests.

Journey

this had the internet in a twist about video games as an art form. i just thought the presentation was beautiful so i bought it as a bundle with Flower and Flow. it's short and simple, but even the most hardcore of gamers should try this out at least once.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

you must have been living under a rock if you've never heard of this cartoon. it is one of the best western animated series to grace the world. how lucky are we to live in a time where ATLA exists. it takes a lot of inspiration from various asian cultures and uses it to tell a compelling story with great worldbuilding and characters.

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power 🌈

another cartoon made in the style of anime (like atla). the queer themes are explicit and everyone gets a happy ending, so no burying your gays this time! it has nothing to do with the existing He-Man canon and can be viewed as-is, no prior knowledge needed.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt 🔞 - anime done in a cartoony style. it's not bad, it's not good either, it's just one of a kind. the 'fanservice' consists of crude jokes, unsexy sex, undergarments as weapons and magical girl transformations on dancing poles.

Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo 🌈 - you can watch this without seeing the previous two movies, but some basic level of NGE knowledge is required to enjoy it. anyone who has eyes can see that it's totally gay but this is a 'bury your gays' situation so don't expect anything to come out of it.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica & Rebellion 🌈 - the famous dark mahou shoujo anime that gave us yuri jesus. it didn't do much for me because i knew some spoilers but i severely underestimated the queerness in the anime AND the sequel movie. they were not kidding when they said reality as we know it is destroyed because of lesbians.

Sweet Pool 💡🔞❗ - BL visual novel that rocked my world so hard i had my very first emotional crisis which lasted 2 weeks. don't let the name fool you, it's not sweet in the slightest. omegaverse with hemorrhoids is all i can say...

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury 🌈 - if The Tempest had a baby with Utena, it would be this. no queerbaiting, only real lesbians in mecha suits. no bury your gays, they are married in the end. Bamco can go fuck themselves.

Love and Deepspace - if we ignore the predatory gacha elements, this 3D otome has a compelling story surrounding the main character and love interests. but for me the real meat are the myths, where it almost always ends in tragedy. mmm i love emotional damage!!!!

Final Fantasy series ⭐ - enjoyable when you don't participate in the fandom, because no one hates FF more than FF fans. when the latest mainline title has the 'fanboys' crashing out on what is and is not FF, that's how you know the game is the real deal lol. there is a FF title for everyone, be it the gameplay, the story, or even the soundtrack.

Tales of series ⭐ - there are titles in this series where i'm kinna 'meh', but there's still a game for everyone. i love Legendia but it is considered one of the weakest in the series, and Xillia is popular but my opinion of it is average at best, so it's really just a matter of taste. one thing i will complain about is the lack of variability in the soundtrack (they should switch it up sometimes).

Assassin's creed series 🌶 (titles before AC Origins) - i can only recommend the titles before Origins because i don't like what they did with the navigation after that, i cannot get used to it as much as i tried. the series' appeal (at least to me) is its verticality, but most of it is gone in the later titles.

Kingdom Hearts series - each game in the series cannot be played without prior knowledge of the others (the exception being KH1 because it is the first), unless you just want to enjoy the gameplay, in which case - stay that way. don't get into the lore. if you wanna get into the lore, you have to get into everything in the series, and i do mean everything. beware: you never leave once you get in...

Ar tonelico & Surge concerto series 🌶 - a niche series developed by Gust with banger music and interesting worldbuilding, but the gameplay mechanics are not for everyone. there's also a lot of sexual innuendo. i recommend Ar tonelico more than Surge concerto only because it has more interesting battles and the music is better (first two are the best imo).

"I'm not living for anyone else. (...) It doesn't matter if you accept me or not. Here I am. Alive!"

Luke, Tales of the Abyss
Karma

the bulk of the game is an anchor for me, but the scene that stuck with me the most is in the 3rd arc where Luke tells Asch that it doesn't matter that he's a replica or if he thinks he's a sham or fake; there need not a reason to live in this world - he's under the sun, real and alive!

"Boy oh boy... the price of freedom is steep."

Zack Fair, Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII
The Price of Freedom

the line from Zack's Final Stand, an event with a track by the same name playing in the background. made worse by the fact that pre-remake canon implies that Aerith never knew of Zack's fate till the end. truly the tragic couple (at least before the remake complicates things).

"Looks like my summer vacation is... over."

Roxas, Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts is a gut-punch disguised as a Disney theme park and there are other scenes in the franchise with waaaaaay more impact (for example, Xion's death), but this one from KH2 is simple - showing Roxas' frustration and eventual acceptance of his role in awakening Sora.

"The only thing I do know... is that we have to be kind. Please. Be kind... especially when we don't know what's going on."

Waymond Wong, Everything Everywhere All At Once

people always quote the laundry and taxes line but nobody's talking about this. the man says this while scared out of his fucking mind, putting himself between danger and the love of his life and i think he's also bleeding his guts out??? the meek husband is not weak; it takes a lot to be kind.

"No one has the right to stop you from loving another person!"

Koshiro Aoi, Renai Idenshi XX (Love Gene XX)

also known as 'lesbian yaoi', which was also how i found this. it's written as a low-stakes yuri (yaoi?) story but has a defining panel in the final chapter where the protagonist tearfully declares her love in front of the whole school. and i think that's neat.

"...You think maybe there's such a thing as forever?"
"...No. There's no such thing."

Sweet Pool
Forever

the gross BL VN didn't just give me toilet nightmres for two weeks, it also gave me a lifetime of psychic damage! this conversation summarizes Youji and Tetsuo's relationship - said when the two freaks of nature welcome their fate in each other's arms as they slowly become one, literally. lamenting that what they had was not love, but something more primal, more fleeting...