To-Play/Watch/Read List. I welcome your reccs!

[paperclipchains]

It's that time again where I'm losing track of all the media I need to consume in order to maintain my hip-ness. As school and family devour my free time and my soul, I naturally attempt to cram more and more on to my plate! So, just so I don't forget, here's my list so far. Bold means high priority

Comments

[meganbmoore]

12k and Claymore are awesome. Princess Tutu is my favorite anime, though I suspect you will have to grit your teeth and bare it for the first few episodes of twee-ness. I have not seen the Pumpkin Scissors anime yet, but I like the manga. Last Exile is pretty darn spiffy, but make sure you have the wikipedia page open when you get to the end. Very happy to see FMA manga there, though I warn it does take longer to get going than the anime, for usual early-manga reasons.

[paperclipchains]

There was actually a shoujo manga that you recommended that I wanted to check out, but I've forgotten what it was called.

[meganbmoore]

Hrm.

Off the top of my head, the possibilities are Basara, Wallflower, Skip-Beat and High School Debut. Unless it was something by Kaori Yuki. I ehich case, I endorse it, but take no responsibility for any brain damage.

[paperclipchains]

Wallflower and Basara sound familiar. I really don't remember anything other than that you strongly endorsed it.

[blueshinra]

FE: Path of Radiance, I'm assuming? If so, do not play on Hard. It is punishing if you want to keep everyone alive, plus the final boss on Hard is incredibly cheap, and not in a good way. I gave up not too long ago and have no intention of going back -_- Also, The World Ends With You is a must-play.

As for the reading, I'd recommend bolding Fullmetal Alchemist. It is a really fantastic and well-plotted manga. I also highly recommend Yotsuba&! if you want something funny and charming, though the official translations seem to be on permanent hiatus.

[paperclipchains]

FE... Both the DS one and the GBA one. I'm starting with the GBA one just because it's the first and it's easier to access, but I will work my way up!

What's Yotsuba about?

[blueshinra]

Ahh, I didn't know Titania was in multiple games >>;

And Yotsuba's a slice of life series about a five-year-old girl by that name. She has a wide-eyed fascination with the world around her and gets into all kinds of strange and funny situations with her dad and neighbors. It's by the same mangaka who did Azumanga Daioh, if you're familiar with that, but is a better series overall.

[paperclipchains]

She's in the DS and the GC ones, yes. She's not in the GBA one but my friend has been after me to play that one.

Ohhh, I know what you're talking about! I'll put it on the list.

[annwyd]

I'd recommend reading the manga of Claymore as well, as I hear the end of the anime is very disappointing.

Definitely play Planescape: Torment, for serious. And...now I really want to play Fire Emblem, mmhmm. But hey, I've got Persona 3 lying around too, so we should buckle down and play that together, insofar as that is possible from across the continent.

I think you'll like Princess Tutu eventually (and boy do I need to finish it), but I am not sure how you will feel about Gurren Lagann. It's very...archetypal and loud and ridiculous and occasionally needs to be punched for its handling of female characters, but Simon/Nia.

[paperclipchains]

Really? I actualyl watched the first episode of the anime and found it really slow. I guess I will move it to the manga list?

One day soon that kind of thing will be possible, I'm betting.

I don't mind archetypical and loud and ridiculous if there are redeeming traits. I consider Nia's hair to be a redeeming trait. God she's pretty.

[annwyd]

I found the first volume of Claymore fairly slow and awkward until the last chapter or two, when suddenly it exploded with potential, and after that it carried things out pretty well at least up until the point where I got distracted by something shiny and stopped reading. It's somewhat ham-handed with exposition, and the fact that it starts off with the focus on the main male character rather than the female character who really is the center of the series threw me off a bit, but I can forgive it at this point.

Yeah, I find that "archetypal and loud and ridiculous" actually work well for GL, but it takes a bit to get used to them. If you find yourself starting to get annoyed, I recommend skipping episode 6--most fans would say skip episode 4, but I was more irritated with the fanservice in episode 6, and after that I found it started going uphill, and then, well, Nia showed up and I fell instantly in love.

[paperclipchains]

That was what I REALLY didn't like about the first episode and the main reason I watched the second. I wrote it off thinking it was just going to be about the main male character and how he is OMG, SURROUNDED BY WOMEN WARRIORS WHO HE WILL EVENTUALLY SURPASS! Since I've heard that that's not the case I've been wanting to give it another go.

If I just start with wherever Nia comes in, will I be missing a lot? Because God she's pretty. I'm so shallow.

[starsandtildes]

Going to have to recommend reading (not so much watching, it takes a long time for it to get anywhere) Emma. It's very old-school in style with Takahashi Face Syndrome and everything, but good lord it is a lovely series with a romantic female lead who's actually sensible.

[paperclipchains]

If I wanted to pick up Phoenix Wright, where should I start?

[starsandtildes]

The first game, Ace Attorney. Go on Gamestop and do a locator for used copies. Justice for All is pretty good, Trials and Tribulations is good-but-skippable (unless you want to see Phoenix be a douche so his jerkassery in Apollo Justice doesn't just come out of nowhere), Apollo Justice is amazing lols.

[starsandtildes]

Oh yes, I must add that a large part of the series is in You Should Know This Already territory, so some of the cases, especially the ones that have more of an emotional impact, aren't quite as good because fandom has already revealed the perp.

And if you play the first game first: there are those who will recommend you wait to play the last case, Rise from the Ashes, after the end of the third game, because it was made as an omake for people who bought the Japanese DS release (the original trilogy were GBA titles). Do not believe them. It adds quite a lot to Phoenix and Edgeworth's characterizations to play it in chronological order and have it in your mind while playing the other two games.

[paperclipchains]

Oh, that's supposed to be on my list! I've played only a bit of it.

[blueshinra]

I think that anything by Osamu Tezuka is worth reading or watching. I recommend Buddha or Phoenix! <3

Seconded, and Black Jack is good, too!