WANT A NEW CANON?

[trashtalker]

CANON ENABLING MEME Want to see more people consuming and RPing from your canon? This is the place to sell them on it! Make your argument for picking up a new book/series/movie/etc as convincing as possible if you really want to get out there.

Comments

THE STAR TREK

[negativechill]

Hello my darlings! I've made you a new powerpoint, but this one is DIFFERENT.



WHY YOU SHOULD RP WITH THE STAR TREK PEOPLE

It would have been more and also longer but I didn't wanna beat a dead horse that bad and also I am so tired.

And of course, the usuals.

AOS
LOW
SNW
TOS

Have a good day everyone! :)

[phasers]

co-signed!!

ONE OF US! ONE OF US!!!!!

[smartass_captain]

As someone who does not have the ability to be 15 Jim Kirks in a trenchcoat in my skillset, I DO have the unique ability to AU Jim Kirk into ANYTHING. Seriously my AUs page would be three times longer if I was playing all of them in bakerstreet.

I legit thought AOS Jimothy here was my only playing card until I hopped back onto DW this last winter. Turns out people love GILF Spock that I played once in a blue moon so now he's a regular and I've somehow picked up an AOS Spock, Gaila, and an Alt Timeline SNW Bones.

Because! Enabling works. So does critical support. We want you and you do not have to be the BEST at playing X, Y, Z character for that to be true.

[notvulcan]

There's no DIS powerpoint.

(She says, as if you were not aware and needed this pointed out.)

DREAMWORKS TROLLS

[antrollpology]

Yes, Dreamworks Trolls seems like a franchise for little kids. And yes, it is. But it's also insane, and there are so many different characters and species and cultures to choose from!

Trolls (first movie)
- The trolls escape from Bergens- creatures that ritually eat them in order to feel happiness. But then the Bergens come back later and they're all in danger.
- The protagonist, Poppy, is too young to remember the Bergens and the danger they pose. But the deuteragonist, Branch, is old enough that he saw his grandmother get eaten when he was a little kid. Branch's PTSD over this influences his character for the entire franchise.
- Cinderella subplot with a Bergen girl.

Trolls: The Beat Goes On
- A show taking place after the first movie. More character development I guess? Honestly not my fave.

Trolls: World Tour
- There's different types of Trolls related to different music genres. The character I play is a Techno Troll.
- The plot of Trolls: World Tour is about culture. Cultural appropriation versus trying to wipe out other cultures versus accepting other cultures for what they are different from you.
- The intro scene. No spoilers because it's, well, the intro scene. Beginning of the movie. (WARNING FOR FLASHING LIGHTS.)
- Spoilers here, but here's a plot-important song from the movie.
- Subplot about interracial adoption.

Trolls: Trollstopia
- What Laguna is from! It's a show all about cultural exchange and learning to understand other cultures!
- There are so many Trolls from different tribes here. Val, Demo, and Blaze from the Rock tribe; Holly and Gust from the Country tribe; Dante and Minuet from the Classical tribe; Lownote, Rhythm, and Blues from the Funk tribe; and Synth and Laguna from the Techno tribe.
- IT'S SO GOOD YOU GUYS.

Trolls: Band Together
- I haven't watched this one yet because it's not relevant to what I like about the franchise, and the lore isn't important for the characters I like writing, but this movie introduces several brothers for Branch and a sister for Poppy.
- Also, this one has more focus on different species rather than different groups of Trolls. Rageons, Vacaytioners, etc.

IN CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the Trolls franchise has a lot of interesting characters and plot and is very fun! Trolls: World Tour is the best movie of all time, prove me wrong. You can't.

MADOKA MAGICA (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

[asynchronicity]

Do you enjoy magical girl anime? Are you ambivalent toward magical girl anime? Do you actively dislike magical girl anime? Do you remember reading Faust in school but wishing it had more teenage girls dying excruciating and violent deaths?

GOOD NEWS.

Madoka Magica is the perfect show for you!

This show is an amazing and a terrible time all around! It will mess you up, guaranteed, and you will absolutely come back for more! It's got everything! Mixed media! Wild black and white sequences! Guns! Just So Many Guns! Existential Horrors! A banger soundtrack! School sequences! Anime cakes! Orphans! WMDs!

If you came out here to have a bad time and you are feeling just so attacked right now? Try Madoka!

[negativechill]

my wife HAS been telling me its time for the annual cry-off (rewatch of pmmm content)

Mass Effect

[bigplace]

$5.99 is a pretty good deal to experience Bioware's finest space opera. Not fond of shooters but love RPGs? Don't worry, you can turn down the difficulty to the point it plays itself.

Genre-defining video game history to the point Kaidan's ass shows up in my sociology book. This is the OG alien dating simulator. M/F locked romance? Don't worry, you can mod it on PC.

Been seeing a few Mass Effects running around, but I'd always love to see more.

[cmdr_renegade]

You'll never find a better assortment of aliens to romance, that's for sure.

Noragami

[intertwinedfates]

The humor and heartbreak series about Shinto gods fighting with the spirits of deceased humans that pulls (almost) no punches, Noragami tells the story of the very minor, quirky god Yato and his attempts to make his way up in the world after meeting selfless teenage girl Hiyori Iki and deceased teenager Yukine. The story revolves around family both biological and found, friendships, trauma, grief and loss, all the while peppered with comedy because life isn't all one flavor. But be forewarned: you may need tissues.

Yato, the titular 'stray god' starts out seeming like a homeless, money-grubbing, childish, pervert, idiot jerk of a god who only cares about getting himself a shrine and dozens of shrine maidens is slowly and beautifully revealed to be a traumatized adult who truly cares for those around him, willing to sacrifice himself for their sake even if it means dying. Develops from viewing gods as infallible to wanting to better himself for the sake of others.

Hiyori is a martial arts-loving teenager who develops the ability to see gods and spirits, which results in her having a spirit cord or 'tail' when her soul slips out of her body. While still developing her own sense of self, she's brave and dedicated to helping others even if it means standing up to gods or ayakashi. Kicks ass, takes names and no bullshit no matter who you are! It's through her eyes that the story unfolds.

Yukine is Yato's main shinki, or divine weapon. As a deceased human of fourteen, he starts off a bitter, angry boy who is resentful of everyone and hates his loser master, and thus his lot in the afterlife. Once he goes through a wonderful growth arc, he becomes a much better person, willing to work to earn money and help others, though he always maintains a habit of bickering with Yato, who ends up somewhere between a brother and a father to him.

The three of them form the core family of the series, with their struggles to find their place in life as they deal with other gods and eventually the big bad, a man known as the Crafter who seeks to destroy the very gods themselves. Other side characters each have their own interesting backstory and motivations, fleshing them out, too.

It had two pretty good anime seasons (plz enjoy both banger openings) covering the first few arcs and the manga ended last year, so now's the perfect time to dive in if you're interested! I play Yato here and a friend plays Hiyori, so we're always hoping for someone who might have a Yukine muse to join us over at synflux or memes or psls!

Dead Boy Detectives

[just_aces]

Still had my post on hand from the last time I did this, so just going to give the same bullet points, because they're still valid!

This show has everything (to quote Trixie & Katya and also Stefon from SNL)
- Excellent queer rep (actual lesbian goth butcher! Gay That Can't Be Buried On Account Of He's Already Dead And Survived Hell! Whatever the absolute FUCK the Cat King has going on)
- Found family in the best of ways
- Friendships that are as important as the romantic ships (and maybe more-so depending on how you read it personally)
- Witches & how blood magic can FUCKING GET YOU
- Other supernatural critters (Cat King, Tragic Mick the Walrus Who's Cursed To Be A Man and also runs the local magic shop, a couple foul-mouthed sprites, and others besides!)
- A dude who just lives in a fish for some reason??? (One of many things we need to know more about)
- The utter sepia-tone bureaucracy of the afterlife
- A TARDIS backpack containing an unexplained Jar of Bees (there is an explanation of 'you never know what you'll need on a case' but that's barely an explanation, Charles)
- But also like, everyone in the platonic polycule/friend group makes each other better for knowing each other
- I'm lonely :(

Most importantly: it's only tangentially related to Sandman and that creator. That creator no longer has rights to or control of any of the characters so you don't have to worry about lining his pockets or giving him attention.

The one year anniversary just passed, and the more people watching it is the more pressure on netflix to reverse the dumbass decision to cancel it. It's also available via Prime now if you don't have the netflix.

Re: Dead Boy Detectives

[affection_for_research]

Found family, queer rep, and platonic polycule/friend group that makes everyone better for knowing each other. Considering what some of my favorite canons are, that sounds like something I'd be into.

LAVENDER JACK

[astraythought]

Type of media: Webtoon (all available online free)
Status: Complete
Length: 130 'episodes' divided into three 'seasons', including Q&A intermission episodes
How gay is it: VERY; we have mature lesbian detective and her artist wife, trans guy love interest to a main character, lavender marriage but not for those reasons and a butch police inspector who stops wearing skirts entirely by Season 3 (where she gets to wear a tuxedo at one point)

Lavender Jack is the story of a vigilante known as Lavender Jack, who is taking down the corrupt government and industrialists in an alternate universe 1910s city-state called Gallery, in the heart of Europe. It's also the story of aged world-famous detective Theresa Ferrier who is hired to catch Lavender Jack by a fan of the books her assistant wrote about her. It's also about Lord Hawthorne, a wild man found in the jungle and taught to integrate into society--except when his devious wife needs his brute strength to back her schemes.

That is to say, the basic premise is The Scarlet Pimpernel vs. Sherlock Holmes vs. Tarzan.

If you like Arcane, and particularly Caitlin's storyline, you'll love Honoria Crabb, who is scrappy and coming to terms with the system being corrupt. If you like support characters like Q from the Bond movies or Pepper Potts, my girl Ducky will be a fun character for you to watch. And if you like power-hungry bastard men being awful, Chief Justice Endo Gall is a fun example of the type.

I've got journals for three characters from the comic: Ducky here, Johnny Summer and Annabelle Peoria. I'd absolutely love to coax anyone to play Mimley, Crabb, Agatha or Ferrier--though also, doubles of my characters could be neat, because the relationship Ducky and Johnny have is Interesting.

Re: LAVENDER JACK

[smartass_captain]

As someone who JUST LITERALLY FINISHED SEASON 1 TODAY

This is still underselling this comic. Fucking read it. I'm looking at Crabb because so far she's the only one who has a way of speaking i feel like I might be able to get a handle on, but man I'd play Ferrier in a heartbeat too.

Maybe one day.

Tribe Nine

[glovestruck]

Do you enjoy being traumatized by Kodaka, whether it's Danganronpa or Master Detective Archives, but you still want more? I highly recommend Tribe Nine, then! It's described as a Brutal Action RPG, and honestly? That's pretty on point. The anime itself was surprisingly graphic despite what might come to mind when you hear "Extreme Baseball", but the game... Hooo boy. We've only just finished Chapter 3, and it's still left me reeling.

I write for Kazuki here, a snarker who just wants to keep his best friend safe and happy and just cannot turn off the sarcasm and has an incredibly good mind for strategy. Also, he customized an XB (Extreme Baseball, and I really mean Extreme Baseball) bat to split into two so he can use it like twin blades. The man even comments "Haha oh this would be super illegal if I played XB with this". It's insane. I love him.

The game's got a bit of everything, a few parts sidequests, an incredibly fun battle system, a little bit sports game, and many puzzles as per typical Kodaka fashion. Did I also mention it's VERY F2P friendly?

Tokyo Debunker

[deathinayear]

Can you imagine coming back from your favorite K-Pop boy group's final concert because they're breaking up, and getting cursed on the train ride after getting a The Ring style set of text messages then nearly dying because some sociopathic redhead decided you were also fair game while hunting the thing trying to end you? And to top it off, "Oh yeah, no, you're still gonna die in a year because that thing looked at you"??? Because that's the story of Shiori's (MC-chan) origin story in a nutshell, and god bless this girl for not going full villain route by the end of it.

Welcome to Tokyo Debunker! We're in Japan, mythical creatures and strange occurrences are classified as Anomalies, and teenagers who decided it was a rad idea to make a contract with a demon and then eat the demon are classified as Ghouls. Shiori's presently stuck at that school because leaving is no longer an option thanks to her condition, and she works alongside the Ghouls to bring back Anomalies in hopes that studying them might help cultivate a cure.... except... most of the Ghouls don't really feel like dragging one home alive and would prefer to just slaughter them for EXP. Or money. How Shiori hasn't died yet is a literal miracle.

The Ghoul cast ranges from himbos who used to serve jail time for murder to members of famous/high-class families to a vampire who is kind of a shut-in and loves watching streamers. It's wacky, and it's a fun time all around. Just... don't whale. Don't be me. It's not worth it.

[knotsowicked]

Ooo, mythical creatures you say! Definitely checking this out!

Tell me more about the vampire shut in, sounds like my kind of person, haha.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance (II)

[audentis]

✨👑✨ Kingdom Come: Deliverance (II, but you can play the first one also) ✨👑✨

Lords, Ladies and Nobles, Lads, Lasses and other Peasants, I have come to spread the good word of Kingdom Come.

Do you like knights? History? Swordfighting? Traipsing around the countryside picking 500 herbs? Sidequests aplenty that seems ridiculous in the face of the very real danger you're facing? 🌈Canon Queers🌈? You're in luck! I offer you all this, and more!

Some quick facts:

🗡️ You can play it on a number of different systems, but not your fridge, this isn't Skyrim. (But it's kind of Skyrim.)

🗡️ The devs are Czech (that's so cool!) and its set in the Holy Roman Empire, specifically, in Bohemia. They thought games like the Witcher were cool but they wanted a purely-historical game without fantasy. The game is also heavily influenced by RDR2 in terms of gameplay. Is it just Medieval Brokeback Mountain? Maybe.

🗡️ You play as Henry, squire to Lord Hans Capon, who is young and kind of a dick. But a loveable one? You're kind of in your divorce era. He gets kidnapped a lot. You have a dog. You can keep flirting with him but what does it all mean??

🗡️ As a certified horsegirl (tm, gender neutral), I can report that the horse mechanics are a 10/10. If you don't rescue and keep Pebbles though, I may judge you. Don't listen to all the hate you hear when you ride her around town. Pebbles best girl.

🗡️ The swordfighting does suck! At first! And then it gets really dope. KCD runs on an experienced-based system and the more you do things (even if you suck while doing them) you get more experience. Pick a bunch of locks? You'll be better. Collect a ton of herbs? Now you can do it faster. Learn fencing from guys who studied under real life superstars like Johannes Liechtenauer.

🗡️ The codex is illuminated, there's all kinds of fun lore, they really 100% committed very hard to the medieval vibes

🗡️ Your Nice Guy (tm) Queers have foils in Villain Guy Queers and the narrative beats are fantastic but I won't spoil you'll have to go find out for yourself

🗡️ You've never heard of this game because when the first game came there was some Big Drama over what is historically accurate, and a bunch of reddit bros thought this would be the anti-woke game of their dreams but surprise the mc was queer this whole time and they got fucking punk'd.

🗡️ There's a full host of incredible characters in this game including National Czech Hero Jan Žižka and this super badass spy, Katherine. There's a character for you somewhere in this game. I want to see all of them run around. Even Adder, speaking only Polish.

🗡️ You can get drunk and start speaking Hungarian through the power of alcohol, hell yeah

🗡️ The Catholic symbolism is off the charts. Do you love religious nonsense? My sibling in christ, the game is called Kingdom Come. You can recite the lord's prayer for a really powerful buff. But you can also fuck men. That's balanced gameplay.

🗡️ Please I'm begging you I'm in love with this game so many it's so fucking good

🗡️ Even if you don't play it you should tag the kcd people there are at least half a dozen of us!! It works out well with fantasy canons too!

ps thank you to bakerstreet and capon who i happened to see on a meme and caused me to look up this game that changed my entire life it can change yours too

[bigplace]

Forgot 'two bros chillin' in a hot tub five feet apart 'cause they're not gay'. I finally go to this part in KCD1 and I'm losing it already knowing what happens in KCD2.

Charisma House

[slavish]

Terrible powerpoint here. look, it doesn't go into depth but it doesn't need to. It's a stupid little series about some stupid, mentally ill little men in a big house together.

They sing. They have magical girl transformations. They have Chawisma forms for Children's Day. Here's the newest song for this year's Children's Day. There are mangas. There are stage shows. There are so many plushies and pins and shit. There are no bad ships. One of the characters breaks the fourth wall just to plug merch or ask for money from the fanbase on the regular, and he might be an alien.

idk it's a good series bront it's flawed but good

Re: Charisma House

[negativechill]

THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT BABEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i love stupid shit like this though god DAMN IT you might've gotten me

it really is the powerpoints

i am not immune to propaganda

Welcome Home

[joyfuljulie]

Do you like ARGs? Well I've got a fascinating one to tell you all about! Or at least some about given the story is ongoing. According to the creator themselves (Clown):

"Welcome Home is an experimental multi-media horror project that focuses on unraveling the mystery surrounding a beloved 1970s children’s television show. You are to accompany a colorful cavalcade of puppets as their beloved neighborhood begins to skew and distort into a nightmarish memory that they can barely recall. Through illustrated books, recordings, and an array of old merchandise, you will find what dwells within this colorful home! Beneath its beautiful carpets, behind its gorgeous wallpaper, and deep within its breathing crevices! Fortunately, you have someone to keep you company and hold your hand as you walk down a path now long forgotten."

The cast is headed by the delightful Wally Darling, his buddy Barnaby B. Beagle and so many eccentric and charming neighbors -- Eddie Dear (the clumsy postman who is constantly entertaining Julie), Frank Frankly (the local entomologist with a grumpy attitude), Julie Joyful (a rainbow monster whose family likes to encourage spring into springing!), Poppy Partridge (a worrywart of a bird who loves to bake!), Sally Starlet (a thespian extraordinaire) and Howdy Pillar (a real gent of a shop keep always looking to make a deal).

Welcome Home is in my opinion a series all about the masks we wear both in and out of society at large. It's about the fear of not living up to expectations, the guilt of failure, the loneliness of struggling to share who you really are with others can come ... there is so much this series is delving into and I feel like it's going to shape up into something very special as it continues!

The website is currently under it's third update thus far, a springtime update featuring Julie Joyful front and center! Dive into the website itself to explore or watch videos deepdiving into the previous updates first! Game Theory's complete lore video (and now one on the April update) as well as Night Mind's videos (along with a two part look through of the April update).

[bipartisan]

You sell this really well. I'm all about assumed identities and the real self versus the perceived self... And abandoned places. What a great little set up.

One of these nights when I can pay a little better attention I'll have to look more into it.

Also an enby creator 🥺

Overlord (books or anime or both whatever ya want ya know?)

[top_tier]

I come to you not just with hat in hand, but a whole rack of hats.

This is Satoru Suzuki, and he is a Japanese man that enjoys an exceptional VR game in the far off future called Yggdrasil. After years of making friends and memories with those friends, support for the game is winding down, and it's due to be shut down at midnight. One of the few in his guild to still be playing at this point, he holds a goodbye gathering. Not many show up. :/

After chatting for a bit with the last remaining member, his friend has to go. Work comes early, after all. Alone, Momonga (his online name) takes to looking around Nazarick, the multi-level underground tomb created by him and his fellow friends/guildmates. He arrives in the throne room and settles in, awaiting midnight and expecting to be automatically kicked from the game. Midnight strikes, but he isn't kicked from the game. After some trial and error, Momonga discovers that he has been transported to a world that is similar but not exactly like the game he played and loved so much. He decides to rename himself Ainz Ooal Gown (the guild's name) and strikes out to try and find his friends.

The twist? Him and his crew are the bad guys and set about taking over the world. \o/ Yet even then it isn't quite that simple. The NPCs made real by this transportation to a new world have personalities and backstories meticulously created by their creators--Ainz's friends and fellow guildmates. As such, they all have their own unique thoughts and takes on things. So long as its outside of what to do with humans. Many of the members aren't ah..fond of them.

Ainz Ooal Gown - The sole remaining member of his guild, Ainz dabbles in dumbassery on a sometimes amusing and sometimes annoying basis. Still, he has his moments and really should give himself more credit sometimes. Overly cautious, he prefers to know everything possible about potential enemies and areas.

He also has a fondness for unique items, weapons, and individuals.


Albedo - Overseer of the floor guardians and the tomb itself, Albedo (a succubus) has her settings tampered with before midnight strikes and ends the game Yggdrasil. While Momonga waits for the end of the game, the Albedo NPC is also in the throne room. So he decides to check her information and sees that at the end her creator, Tabula, has her personality setting as "bitch". Likely to offset those waifu-like looks.

So Momonga changes this part to "in love with Momonga" as a joking farewell of sorts. However, things don't go as planned, and Albedo becomes alive and real like the rest of them and ho boy--she loves him hard. She steps in and shouts down even the smallest perceived slight against Ainz, goes berserk if she thinks someone is being disrespectful towards Ainz, and on occasion tries to go for the bang. She, aside from Pandora's Actor, are the only ones to be absolutely loyal to Ainz. Pandora's Actor because he was created by Ainz, and Albedo because of her setting change.

While the others are extremely loyal, they would still choose their own creator over Ainz, whereas Albedo hates the other Supreme Beings and would not choose her own creator over Ainz. It's Momonga or nothing. She even refers to him as Momonga in private, preferring it over Ainz Ooal Gown.

Her intellect is said to be a very close second or right along with Demiurge, and on top of this she has armor that absorbs huge amounts of damage. She's a tank, basically. The perfect pairing for a caster like Ainz. Oh, and she hates humans, seeing them lower than dirt. I meaaaaannnnn like she really hates them and is vocal about sparing any of them ever.

Demiurge - Guardian of the 7th floor of Nazarick, Demiurge is known as the most intelligent member of Nazarick. Ainz leans heavily on him for plots and plans. Which sounds sort of like "pots and pans" if you think about it. Go ahead, say it out loud.

Plots and plans. Pots and pans. One little letter doing so much. Oh! Demiurge, as his image likely makes clear, is a demon. A cruel and sneaky one at that. You do not want to go to his 'Happy Farm'.

Mare and Aura Fiore Created by a brother and sister, these twin dark elves, as expected, are a brother and sister.

Mare, the brother, dresses primarily in female clothing. He carries himself in a timid manner and is often mistaken for a girl by even the most keen of eyes. He's also incredibly powerful, both with magic and physically. He has an amulet around his neck that let's him speak telepathically to his sister when he touches it. When they speak like this, there are no signs of stammering nor a perceived lack of confidence in him.

Aura, his sister, dresses primarily in boy's clothing and is a beast tamer/ranger. She is often (almost always) mistaken as a boy. She is also the opposite of Mare, being much more expressive and outgoing than her brother. She too has an amulet that she can touch in order to speak with her brother telepathically should she need it.

Sebas Tian - An exceptional standout, Sebas brings more humanity to the show and despite his incredible power, is not a floor guardian. Instead he is in charge of the Pleiades, a group of battle maids. Also the waiting staff itself, if I remember correctly.

An utter and total gentleman, this dragonoid monk has a transformation on top of being a great hand to hand combatant. He's not used it far as I've seen in the books, and the anime is still behind those, so. He was created by Touch Me, a player that excelled in PvP. He met Ainz by saving him from PKers that liked picking on low level grotesques, the name of monster types in Yggdrasil.

There are more characters than this, even outside of Nazarick, but I felt like the above set a pretty good idea of how this series is and what carries it: the characters. Each one is designed incredibly well by the artist so-bin and brought to life in the anime excellently. They don't all agree with one another, and even take to hiding things from each other or snitching if they feel necessary.

But when it comes to how to follow Lord Ainz, it's word for word and down to the letter. They're evil, sure, but not one dimensional. Part of this is because Ainz encourages them to voice their thoughts to him, and to not just blindly follow if something is on their mind. The books have more detail of course, but really you should watch the anime first to make sure you like any of it at all, ya know? Just know I left out a lot. From what happens in the anime, the books, or the amount of likeable characters.

A risk, I suppose, since I'm trying to enable, but why show the full hand when I can link you
super awesome openings!? And the taste of an ending theme!?

Extra: There is tons of side content for this series. Ainz and others playing a tabletop together is a favorite of mine, however. Another is in the books. Aside from the occasional page of wonderfully drawn images, there are several character profiles at the end of each book in the LN series.

Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun!

[perfect_german]

Iruma is a familiar isekai protag design, but under the surface is the sweetest of boys.

Working for the vast majority of his young life thanks to his scummy parents, Iruma is greeted by a demon that reveals his parents sold him Iruma's soul. So he takes him into the Netherworld with him and admits that he has always wanted a grandson to baby and dote upon. So basically Iruma sort of lucks out in this regard, as this demon has no greater desire than to treat the human Iruma like family.

The downside to this lucky bail out of not being around his no good parents anymore is that the demon world hasn't seen a human in an incredibly long time. A side effect of a longstanding sort of peace has settled in the Netherworld. As far as all of them have ever been told, however, humans are delicious and they should want to eat them! While most of the modern day demons have forgotten what it's like and are content to live in the underworld as they do now, some older demons still remember the seemingly bygone days and are looking to concoct a plan to bring back their most beloved and devious king...and they have their eyes on Iruma!

I'm on chapter 309 of the manga, which I started reading ahead after being charmed by the anime. ngl I wanna thread some cute shit if someone checks this out and ends up digging it.

One of several Valac family songs.

Breaking Dad's Heart

Okay, one more bit.

[exonerate]

omg iruma hi iruma i'm your biggest fan iruma—


Tagging onto this to mention there is also an official mafia AU spinoff that can be unofficially read with a Mangadex account! It has the same main characters as the base series, but a completely original plot and world — one does not have to read all ~400 chapters of the main manga to jump right in, if mafia-themed series intrigues.

Aside from Iruma reprising as the main character, it features characters such as:

Clara Valac, a hot clown girl who later becomes a hot clown girl, but a suit.

Azazel Ameri. Have you ever wanted a beautiful woman to be your boyfriend and future husband? If that statement doesn't make sense to you dwbi, you'll understand after you meet her.

Nonbinary legend Opera, who is also canonically nonbinary in the original series, but is less of a feral streetcat than their mafia version.

Naberius Kalego, who's kind of like... were you lowkey into Snape but no longer care for Harry Potter? What if Snape were also actually hot?

This totally normal guy, Alice Asmodeus. Society needs not only more pink-haired anime boys, but also more pink-haired anime men. If you would not self-immolate for what you believe in, just don't talk to him ♥

Alice's totally normal childhood something-or-other, Ifrit Eito. I think they have a They have a really normal relationship and I won't lie, yes I did get yaoibaited 🥴

However, I also really recommend the base series! It can also be found on Mangadex.

FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S

[ptoma]

Look.

OK. So. Every time this meme comes up, I think to myself, yeah. Yeah, this is it, this is a perfect opportunity to tell dwrp that actually the debatably original mascot horror king can be a lot of fun and has a lot of variety to pick and choose from if you want to see what all the fuss is about. This is where I'm gonna lay it all out and lure internet strangers into my weird wacky horror corner of the world.

And then I remember. Ah, fuck, I have to explain Five Nights At Freddy's.



SO. 2014. One guy's last ditch effort in the video game creation world ends up exploding overnight thanks to the growing Youtube let's play communities, and 10+ years later it's spawned a massive franchise and you've probably at least heard somebody mention it somewhere. Or one of the five billion Youtube theory videos has popped up on your recommended videos somewhere. Maybe you're curious and have no idea where to start, and just want to know what all the hype is about.

The best place to start IMO is, of course, the original series of games by Scott Cawthon. There are 6 games: FNAF1-4 remember when FNAF4 was titled The Final Chapter hahahahaha, Sister Location, and Pizzeria Simulator. The first 5 are usually under $10 and almost always on Steam sales and the final game (Pizzeria Simulator) is free. There's also console versions available but IMO these are best experienced as PC games. You start off in the first game as a night time security guard for a older rundown family restaurant, warned by the tutorial voice to keep an eye on the cameras because those uncanny valley animatronic mascot characters wander around at night and might think you're an animatronic endoskeleton outside of your animal mascot suit, and that's against the rules. As the games go the story starts to develop, you get bits and hints of information that you piece together to determine who the real bad guy is, who we're playing as, why the pizzeria restaurants are haunted, and how to set these trapped souls free.

If playing the games isn't for you, no shame in that my friend. Youtube is chock full of playthroughs, deep dives, lore dumps, and more from channels entirely devoted to FNAF content to the undisputed king himself, Markiplier. Check out his entire FNAF playlist for casual viewing. The gameplay does get repetitive so if it's not your thing, I personally prefer SuperHorrorBro's analysis and theory videos, but there's also MatPat's Game Theory videos that helped push the series into internet horror history.

Oh but we aren't done there friend, because after those six games we take a bit of a hard left into wacky cartoony horror with the new series of FNAF games by SteelWool Studios, starting with the VR games Help Wanted (depending on your wallet and your ability to stomach VR I would just go for the non-VR Steam or console ports, or again the usual Youtube theory route.) SteelWool takes the series in a different direction with the unfortunately buggy release of Security Breach, introducing us to new characters and with the release of the DLC Ruin, a new villain. It's pretty easy to separate these two sets of games as separate stories within the same universe if you'd rather jump into something more colourful and goofy. The next title in their series is Secret Of The Mimic, out in like June sometime. Here's the trailer. Jackie seems neat.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE

Video games might not be your thing, I get it. Maybe you're into books? Well we have just the thing there, with ... oh so many book series what happened while I wasn't looking jesus christ--

Okay okay so there's the original book series The Silver Eyes, which I'm gonna be honest, I have not read. It's a slightly different take on the story from the original games (re: it has the same villain but different protagonists and various other differences,) but still paints a fairly spooky picture of haunted robots and why they are that way. This series also comes in graphic novel form if you prefer. And if short stories are more your thing, there's both Tales From The PizzaPlex and Fazbear Frights (also with graphic novel versions apparently??) that give us an utterly wild variety of horror stories in the FNAF universe. Is canon Mpreg your jam? Is that a sentence you didn't think you'd read in a FNAF lore dump? Read In The Flesh. You'll have a great time. Oh, there's also choose-your-own-adventure style novels! Where do they keep coming from I am losing my mind over here--

Small side note: one of the short stories Into The Pit has an officially licensed game of it's own! It's on Steam and for a self contained spooky experience in this universe with gorgeous pixel art animation I highly recommend giving it a try.

And of course, never fear if playing the games or reading the books isn't quite your thing either. Youtube will have you covered for literally everything. (Seriously, one of the biggest FNAF influencers gone on record saying they've dropped out of college to work full time on Youtube FNAF content, you will always find what you're looking for.)

But maybe you're not that much of a mascot horror lore detective, maybe you want a full (ish) experience without putting in the hours to solve Ultimate Custom Night 50/20 mode. Maybe you're not so much into CG animation, animated gif jumpscares, or pixel art. Maybe the books don't sound that interesting to you. But you're still curious about this world, these characters, these wacky animatronics. Maybe live action stuff is more your shindig.

WELL GOOD NEWS BUDDY THERE'S A BLUMHOUSE MOVIE TRILOGY (wip) JUST FOR YOU

You got Josh Hutcherson, you got Matthew Lillard, you got Jim Henson's Creature Workshop. It's campy, it's goofy, it's spooky, it has a very unexpected and random death scene that still makes me snort my gingy ale whenever it happens. It has some of the best practical effects this franchise could've ever asked for. It has a groovy main theme. It is packed with references and hints and a fucking MatPat cameo. It's incredibly stupid and I love it.

Alright, so. All that being said. You might be thinking, OK but what about you, weird hyperfixated DWRP stranger? Well, outside of the novels, I did a good chunk of my own lore deep diving and put together what I think all happened, which is linked in ol' Eggs Benedict's journal here. For at least the original 6 games I see it as a story of penance and redemption, a protag who's made the worst possible mistakes and is trying everything he can to make it right again, even if he's already dead. He's really cool you guys I promise.

But now comes the incredibly late in this ramble oh geez content warnings for gore and body horror, because while FNAF is definitely campy and goofy horror while not being super explicit (except maybe the novels looking at you In The Flesh,) some of the canon deaths are uh, gorey. We might only see a red paint splash screen for a cutscene, or it might be 8-bit pixelated animations of red blocks bursting out of a yellow rabbit, but it is still a horror series that makes you put these horrible pieces together and lets your imagination do the dirty work.

Anyway. There's probably so much that I'm missing because I swear a new entry pops up every time I look to the left so at the very least there are some starting points here. If you're curious, give it a shot! There's bound to be something you'll be entertained by.



oh god i forgot about the fangames

[smartass_captain]

Can you still get FNAF world btw anywhere? I had it on an old PC and it was honest to God fun despite also being trippy af

Red vs Blue

[a_shadow]

Caveat on this recommendation:



THAT BEING SAID i am about to explain why i love it so much and why, if you're okay with the things about it i'm going to lay out below and are curious, i would love to see more players from this canon.

Type of media: Machinima webseries. What's a machinima? i hear many of you asking. Well, it's when someone uses sandbox mode in a video game and uses that as the animation engine for their project and supplements it voiceovers. Red vs Blue is animated in Halo, and although it's technically a Halo fanfiction (yes, the creators might take issue with that description but that's what it is), you don't have to know Halo at all to watch and enjoy it. All you basically need to know for the premise is that it started out as 6 guys wanting to make fun of Halo's versus mode practice level, called Blood Gulch. It grew from there to have some incredible lore and an actual compelling backstory.

Red vs Blue is all available for free on Youtube. It was originally posted as 5- to 10-minute episodes, so although they're referred to as 'seasons', each season is between 90 minutes and 3 hours long. So it's more like watching a series of movies.

Warnings for this canon: Red vs Blue was started by 6 gamer dudebros in 2003. Although they eventually grew to be more progressive over time, at the outset and especially in the first 5 seasons, there is a lot of humor that is now dated and cringey.

Specific warnings: Uses of the R-slur and other terms that end in '-tard'; jokes that conflate an effeminate character with him being gay; copious swearing; NSFW references; drug use and smoking; promiscuity; trouble with writing female characters (which improves as the seasons go on); queerbaiting.

Summary: Watch order guide from tumblr user anneapocalypse. Note that this guide is outdated as far as the actual links to content go.

Seasons 1-5 start out as total crack humor. The Reds and Blues are supposed to be fighting on opposite sides of a civil war, but none of them really care to engage or do anything but backbite and be lazy. However, when a rookie is sent to each team it kicks off shenanigans and stuff actually starts to happen. Season 1 was written before the characters' personalities were really completely solidified, so be prepared for them to all shift slightly in how they behave starting with season 2. However, watching season 1 is really needed for the foundation of the plot.

The Miniseries: There are several of these, which many people missed back when RvB was posted on Netflix. However, they're all plot-important and you will be confused without watching them. See the viewing guide above for placement of each, but the first one, Out of Mind, takes place between seasons 4 & 5.

Seasons 6-8 presages the beginning of a tone shift and the bombs are dropped that clue you in that there's actual meat to the story and background of the characters. Seasons 9-10 are prequels that explain what happened before everything in the previous 8 seasons. Warnings specifically for the stuff that's revealed here include war (an actual war with stakes, that is), sacrifice, genocide, ethical violations involving both human soldiers and AI, and torture. There's also warnings for abusive family relationships.

Seasons 11-13 take place after everything that happened in season 8. These seasons are longer but are a lot of fun. They take place on the planet of Chorus, and although they all have pacing problems, they introduce a lot of fun new characters.

Season 14 is an anthology season and IMO, not every episode is really that worth watching. A few of the anthologies explain some backstory stuff, though, so you might look into which episodes you'd want to see.

Seasons 15-20: ehhhhh. The show lost steam and they were doing this "we'll continue to make it as long as people watch" thing and it kind of sucks during this era. Just my highly-informed opinion.

My favorite characters and ships:

Church: is really the main character and who the show is based around. Like nothing else would happen without Church getting shot and dying (and coming back as a ghost) in season 1. The revelations in season 6 have to do with his backstory and how in the world he managed to end up as a ghost in the first place.

Agent Tex: (this is a Tex account I'm using to post) is Church's former girlfriend and someone who, despite their fraught history, really cares for him and is trying her best to save him. And despite RT's history of having trouble writing women she's a very consistently badass woman who looks after her own interests and goals before pursuing love.

Grif/Simmons: unfortunately RT noticed people shipped them from the word 'go' and ended up deciding queerbaiting with them for 20 seasons was the way to go, but if you can get past the fact that there is no satisfying resolution to their relationship and enjoy fanfiction land instead, they're a GREAT ship to play with.

Church/Tex: explaining why is MAJOR SPOILERS for season 6 but augghghgh my heart.

Agents York & North: Two guys just being pals. They were among the first to get partner AIs during Project Freelancer and explore the charges that has wrought in their lives together. They realized what was going wrong in Project Freelancer, with Tex's help and evidence, and go out swinging to help her try to rescue Church.

The Director: Yes, he's the bad guy. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH. The ending of season 6 reveals what was his whole deal and to this day I will go listen to his final monologue with the music cues and his gravelly Southern Accent just to enjoy getting chills all over again.

Agent Carolina: My girl! I cannot say a damn thing about her without spoiling so much but she's the best Freelancer (that is, on the leaderboard and characterization-wise both) and her story is so complex. Unfortunately the framing in her backstory is such that a lot of people don't 'get it' at first as far as her motivations go, but once you've realized that (you get hit by a major clue-by-four in the season 10 finale) you will be a major Carolina stan.

Other faves: Caboose, Tucker, Agent Connecticut, Agent Washington, Freckles, Santa. Others I can't even think of now.

A lot of fans introduce RvB, its style of humor, and the awesome animated fight scenes that began showing up in season 8 with this video.

EDIT: A can't believe I forgot to mention this but the music?? is so good??? (Note, the video will contain spoilers to anyone who watches the visuals, but they're all out of context, so you probably won't clue in to anything important.)

[smartass_captain]

I loved RvB back when i was in college (back when it came out) but i have never rewatched it because I was worried about how it had aged. I'm always chuffed to see RvB muses about though because it is 100% nostalgia for me as a beloved series though I didn't see it when it started to become more plot heavy and less skit driven like the first 4-5 seasons were.

Also, RIP Monty Oum. You were a real one and I know he worked on RvB for a hot minute.

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI

[miraclewater]

Maybe you've heard of Persona, the hit JRPG-social SIM series. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't. Either way, did you know Persona was originally a spinoff? Of a much older and stranger JRPG series?



Shin Megami Tensei is Persona's older and lesser known sibling, which originally started in the 80's (!) but has entries as recent as 2024. Collect and control demons in what people thought Pokemon was with devil worship and whatnot. "Demons" is a broad term, since it includes figures from a wide variety of mythologies and folklore. SMT is notorious for being quite a bit more challenging than its franchise cousins, but has a simple to learn turn-based system that's super rewarding when you get into it! It lacks the social simulation stuff of Persona, but that also makes for more reasonable run times.

From a story perspective, each entry is loosely linked but doesn't require other entries to understand. The basic plot is usually this: the world is or has ended, demons are causing some trouble, and you've got to recruit them to kill your friends. Sorry, what was that? I mean pick a philosophy you prefer to decide which ending you get (and kill your friends that disagree). Sorry, what? Each entry has its own unique lore and twist, but really we're all here for the demon fun and the vibes. SMT has a lot of fun ideas and a lot of juicy characters that okay maybe don't get as developed as their cousin, but have a lot of delicious rp potential.

As an older video game series, not all of the entries are easily accessible anymore. The easiest to get your hands on are SMT III: Nocturne Remaster or SMTV: Vengenance, both of which are available on most if not all consoles! Either one are a great jumping in point. Or you can wait about a month for the remaster of Raidou to come out, which is more of an action RPG! (And technically a spinoff, but it's more SMT than Persona. Raidou's even in SMT3!)


Warnings:

SMT is a game that draws a loooot from various religions, so has a lot of religous imagery. Lucifer is a major character in a lot of games. You fight God, yes capital G. The series doesn't get into much real-world religious discussions, and stops short of using extremely religious figures (no Jesus or Mohammad or anything like that), but some people might still be uncomfortable with that.

There is some nudity and body horror in some of the demon designs, so I wouldn't show it to your kids, but there's nothing really extreme. Except Mara.

It's an older series so some entries might contain poorly aged things. But SMT leans more towards philosophy than concrete social issues, so it's not as prominent.

tl;dr it's generally a M-rated series but nothing usually super triggering, though exact warnings may vary by entry

If you like Persona, you should check out Shin Megami Tensei. If you don't like Persona, you should also check out Shin Megami Tensei. If you've never played a turn based RPG maybe uh start with something else but it's still good I swear

After all, where was Kingdom Hearts 2 during Hurrican Katrina?

Re: SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI

[geats]

10/10 Makes me want to throw my controller during every boss battle. (Capitulate to Pleasure my fucking beloathed.) Also can we technically claim Dante from the Devil May Cry™️series?

Always lovely to see another SMT fan though. I'm hoping the Raidou remaster will bring more people into the fold.

Balan Wonderworld

[bipartisan]

As somebody who unironically loves Balan Wonderworld, I don't think anyone should play it.

Even if they get it for ten bucks. Even if they get it for free. If someone tries to offer you Balan Wonderworld, just say no thanks.

It's best experienced with low gameplay expectations (it plays like a late 90s throwback to platformers, where the better you do, the more fun the game gets and the more wild shit it lets you access, which explains part of why the YouTube people who played it really hated it).

The music is amazing. The character designs are fun. The story is ... Different. It's more like twelve mini stories about the trials of life and different forms of resilience. YMMV, I found many of these stories to be sincerely expressed, and their resolutions usually pretty satisfying.

It's just weird, in a lot of ways it feels like a magical girls series where the characters are monstrously affected by their various neuroses and concerns. But it has a comforting energy, too. Some problems can't be solved, all we can do is change how we feel about them.

But don't play Balan Wonderworld, okay?

[binarism]

Too late.

I got this game on YOUR recommendation you know!!

(For like $8 but still.)

HEAVEN BURNS RED

[hintplease]

Do you enjoy stories about teenage girls saving the world? Do you take content warnings for assorted kinds of memory fuckery as an invitation? Do you need more fictional characters who are textually lesbians in your life? Does giving Jun Maeda multiple opportunities to upset you with characters who were comic relief thirty seconds ago sound like a good time to you? Are you looking for a way to waste your hard-earned money on a live service game with a predatory business model? Then you've come to the right place!

Heaven Burns Red is a gacha RPG produced by Wright Flyer Studios and Key. Set in the near future, it follows the adventures of the Seraph Squadron, a military unit composed of child soldiers girls who have the ability to summon weapons called Seraph that are the only thing effective against the invading aliens known as Cancer. You play as Ruka Kayamori, a goofy weirdo who is the leader of Squad 31-A. She was a rock star before she signed on, and yes of course she almost immediately persuades her squadmates to become a rock band, what did you expect? Said squadmates are Yuki Izumi, hacker and long-suffering designated tsukkomi; Tsukasa Tojo, intelligence agent who shows no signs of intelligence; Karen Asakura, gamer girl with an alternate personality that's an actual serial killer; Megumi Aikawa, a psychic who's apparently destined to save the world and has convinced herself she has a rivalry with Ruka; and Tama Kunimi, who was once a navy captain despite being a child who is awed by vending machines. These descriptions are not doing any of them justice in terms of both being well-rounded characters and how incredibly silly they are.

But of course, HBR is a gacha game, so there have to be more people for you to deal with than that. There are eight squads for a total of 48 little freaks, each with their own set of silly quirks and their own Dangan Ronpa-esque talent, plus a couple of NPCs with the unenviable task of herding all these cats. All of them are great. All of them are distinct flavors of so stupid. All of them have tragic backstories, including the one who is literally just a tiger. You will learn some of these backstories through the main story, which I can't really say much about because it's the kind of story that has Big Spoilery Plot Twists and some of them are still very ??? what is actually going on here, and a lot of them through events, which are permanently available (except for the Angel Beats collab which starts next weekend). Many events will lure you in with something ridiculous and then Get You and you end up crying over something that started out as "time travel swimsuits" or "wait, how the hell does the same girl run all the shops at once?"

If you start playing now you can probably get the hang of the game in time for the Angel Beats event.

Also there's a Bandori-esque rhythm minigame.

Oh, and there are Narbies. Be nice to them.

[callmehbic]

Hey hi hello, I honestly hate that you make this sound so interesting because I'm not sure I even need another gacha in my life right now.

And yet 👀

SLAY THE PRINCESS (Visual Novel)

[paranoos]

Are you a fan of visual novels? Or of horror? What about comedy, or romance, or existential questions and quandaries? Are you into female characters, male characters, or monster characters; disembodied voices, catgirls, or birds (sort of)?

BECAUSE BOY DO I HAVE THE CANON FOR YOU!

Slay the Princess is a visual novel mostly in black and white, gorgeously hand-drawn by Abby Howard, mostly fully voice acted (the player character and his internal thoughts are the only things not voice acted) entirely by Jonathan Sims and Nichole Goodnight, with amazing music by Brandon Boone. Strictly speaking you can beat it in about 3.5 to 4 hours, but I can't even lie to you, I sank 35.4 hours into this thing to earn every achievement, finish the entire image gallery, and just in general find every little variation and detail that I could.

The game starts by telling you that there's no wrong way to play. That it will contain horrors. That it is a love story. And then it drops you in on a path in the woods and literally has a disembodied narrator tell you that your job is to walk down that path, to a cabin, to the basement of the cabin, and slay the Princess that you'll find there. "If you don't, it will be the end of the world," he says.

Exactly what that means is unclear. You can ask him questions, but he avoids many of the answers. If you do make your way to the cabin (rather than just turning and leaving), you'll meet said Princess, and you can choose to do your job and slay her or you can ask her questions too. Her answers, as well, are somewhat suspicious and unclear. What you will do - faced with an unproven but potentially apocalyptic ultimatum, and also faced with a singular, isolated, imprisoned woman who argues for her life and freedom and seems by turns impossibly innocent and terribly suspicious - is just the start, but it is also the bedrock for every situation you will find yourself in as the story continues.

Your character, and the voices in his head that accompany him in increasing number to provide fears and advice, will die a lot. So, perhaps, will the Princess, and even the Narrator. It's a story about life and death, after all. And about love, and care, and violence. About relationships and how we treat each other. About existence and what's important in it. About a time loop, or at least alternate dimensions that feel like one.

And also it's a funny game where you play a bird man with multiple Jonny Sims in his head squabbling amongst themselves while a woman gets increasingly into you/sick of your shit and sometimes shapeshifts about it. With strangely calming and romantic eldritch interludes.

This is a game that both gave me existential dread and, with the other hand, eased that dread in a way I've never quite experienced before. It's a game that tugged my heartstrings one moment and made me laugh out loud the next. It never quite scared me, it's not necessarily that type of horror I don't think, but the art and the story could sure get horrifying. It's a game I just wanted to stay in forever (and it has an entire chapter about why that might not be possible, and that's okay).

IDK I FEEL LIKE I'M NOT DOING THIS GAME JUSTICE. There are so many characters to choose from if you end up wanting to RP from it, that's the real draw here. They are all very iddy. This is Voice of the Paranoid, he's my blorbo, but there are 11 voices, as many as 31 princesses (depending on how you count them), at least 1 Narrator, the actual player character, and [SPOILER] to choose from. There's a lot of potential for all kinds of ships and also all kinds of weird situations, horror and non. Please join me in this hell (positive) (complimentary).

(You can buy Slay the Princess on Steam for $17.99 and there are a ton of playthroughs and commentary-less videos on Youtube too. From what I've seen it also goes on sale for $13-something fairly often. In my opinion it's worth the $18, though, but I am biased.)

[smartass_captain]

Critical support for Nichole Goodnight, the gal with the voice of an angel who uses it to say the most unhinged shit you've ever heard. I bought this the second I learned she was in it and need to go back and finish it.

1899

[whatislost]

This series is magnificent and Netflix ought to be hit upside the head repeatedly for cancelling it, just saying.

ANYWAY.

This gorgeous one season "series" is a mystery on a cruise ship, following the main character Dr. Maura Franklin as she journeys across the ocean to find her missing brother, Ciaran. However, she has little to no memories of her own life apart from knowing she's searching for her brother, rough relationship with her father, and of course her knowledge as a doctor. (Granted, that's mostly as a doctor of the mind versus body, but she does have some medical training.)

There's a myriad of characters that we look out the PoV of, and a myriad of languages we get to listen to. [I STRONGLY SUGGEST WATCHING THIS IN THE SUBBED VERSION WITH ORIGINAL LANGUAGES, THE DUBBED VERSION IS TRASH.]



I will alert you that there are bugs (a beetle), there's a mention/alluded showcase of SA, mild violence, flashing, slightly steamy situations but nothing obviously NSFW. Strong(?) religiously aligned characters??? There's a brothel madame overseeing transport of one of her new "girls". There are needles and visits to a mental hospital, mentions of experiments, involuntary confinement. Mentions of one of the Great Wars (I believe)—so violence of that.

The mystery of the series deepens as they find the sister cruise ship that Maura's brother was supposedly on, adrift and devoid of life in the middle of the ocean. They decide to turn around and tow it back to Europe, much to the dismay of some of the passengers we share PoV with. This decision is what casts the dice for the rest of the series.

Each episode, you get a little insight to each of these PoV characters, making you endeared to them to the point of HOW FUCKING DARE YOU by the end of the season. Olek is a personal favorite of mine. The series, despite being cast in 1899, has sparks of the 1960s-1980s in decor style in parts. Surprising bits of technology considering the time. And the biggest twist I think in the very last five minutes of the last episode.

And you have this amazing cast:



What drew me to this was the whole mystery on a cruise ship vibe. And got so much more. I'm not sure if this is still available on Netflix currently as I've discontinued my service—mostly because they cancelled it—but this series was done by those that did Dark, another Netflix series done dirty. (Or perhaps that one was a one season spin, idk, I haven't watched it.)

KAMEN RIDER

[geats]

(disclaimer: I've only seen Geats all the way through and haven't finished any others just yet so I am not any kind of expert.)

Do you like ✨heated drama between men✨? What about sick motorbike stunts and bad guys getting kicked in the face? Or maybe off-the-wall plot lines and gimmicks? How about banger theme songs?

Good news because there is
💫KAMEN RIDER💫
This long-running franchise has something for everyone. Want to watch some cyborgs kick the crap out of Nazis trying to conquer the world? The classic Kamen Rider from 1971 has that for you. Do you want a medium-paced show with a buddy cop vibe and an emphasis on unraveling an ancient mystery? Reach for Kamen Rider Kuuga. How about a show with slick modern aesthetics, a fish-out-of-water protagonist, and a plot about (/checks notes) addiction? Get some Gavv. What about the world's unluckiest guy getting roped into saving space-time by having the power of Being Possessed Without Losing All Control? Crack open some Den-O. (There's flash mob break dancing!) And I'd be remiss if I didn't throw in a shout out to Kamen Rider Geats. A bunch of everyday people are selected for the Desire Grand Prix-- a series of games and challenges to protect the world from the fearsome Jyamato. Where did these Jyamato come from? Who made these sick belt buckles? Isn't it super weird that they're called 'games'? It's fine, don't worry about it, there's definitely not a deeper conspiracy.

"That's a lot," you may say, "where do I start?" Good question! Some of the shows are easily available free on streaming services in North America. You can find the 1971 Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Kuuga, Kamen Rider Ryuki, Kamen Rider Zero-One, and Kamen Rider Geats on the Shout!Factory website and a bunch of platforms, including Youtube (which I don't recommend unless you have Youtube Premium or an ad blocker because the ad breaks are kind of random and intrusive). Toei also put out a playlist of the first two episodes of the Heisei era shows (i.e. the shows that aired between 2000 and 2019). It's an excellent way to sample the wide variety of what Kamen Rider has to offer.

So please, join me. Suspend your disbelief for thirty minutes and let yourself be swept away by the earnestness and optimism of Kamen Rider. And maybe, just maybe, we'll all come out on the other side thinking "you know, maybe it really will be daijoubu."