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Uh... hi!
This page is going to serve a dual purpose: before I get into the list, I'm going to provide something of an explanation as to where I've been and what I hope the future of this site will look like. Feel free to skip the next few paragraphs if that's uninteresting to you.
The last list I made like this was back in 2019. My life changed drastically in the years that followed, not just because of COVID-19 (although it certainly didn't help!) but because I was embroiled in an unhealthy and dangerous relationship that consumed my life. I'm not going to go too much into that, but if you follow me on Tumblr you've probably seen me talk about it plenty. Between COVID, college, and this relationship, I lost all the time and energy I originally allocated to maintaining this website. I've continued to occasionally edit my other website, mostly to source images, but this one has remained pretty much untouched. I'd like to change that.
I love Neocities, and I really appreciate that it gave me space to share my opinions and thoughts in such a positive environment when I was a teenager. I miss that, and I'd like to find some more cool things to do with this website. I decided that the best way to get back into the swing of things was to do another of these yearly reviews, since they offer me a level of structure and familiarity. My review of 2025 is still forthcoming, and knowing me you can expect it to be completed well into March. But I've been able to spend the past couple of months revisiting some of the stuff I got into in the two years prior, ideally to bridge the gap between 2019 and now just a little bit. 2023 was the last year I was in the aforementioned unsafe relationship, and it was one of the most difficult years of my life, while 2024 was a year of adjustment and recovery. With all that going on, I honestly didn't spare much time for hobbies, so this list is a little shorter than you'd expect; my 2025 list will probably be longer all on its own. Nonetheless, I hope people can still enjoy it, and maybe walk away with a recommendation or two.
I have mixed feelings about the current state of this website, since I made most of the pages in high school and have changed so much since then. I'm 24 now, soon to be 25, and I don't have the same kind of interest in collecting uncontextualized quotes or Wikipedia links. But I still get comments every month from people who enjoy this website exactly as it is, so for now, I don't intend to remove any pages. I'd like to thank everyone who has left comments in my guestbook; even though I haven't returned to this site in a while, I still read every comment I receive, and they light up my day. In fact, they're a big part of the reason I felt like this website was worth preserving and returning to. I hope that I can slowly revitalize this space and turn it into something that reflects both who I was when I first created it and who I am now.
Scott Pilgrim... dies?
I've never read Scott Pilgrim, but I quite like the movie, so I decided to check this out. I'm glad that I did, it was a ton of fun. I appreciate how each side character was given a chance to shine (although I personally would have enjoyed seeing a bit more Envy...) and it was so chock-full of movie easter eggs that I didn't even feel like I was missing out having not read the comics. Making Ramona the protagonist was the only choice, and I'm so glad they made it; I finally understand what people mean when they say Ramona is just as much of a mess as Scott!
Using the movie cast was charming, even if not every cast member ended up being the best voice actor.
This was a cute little way to kill an hour! Super relaxing atmosphere with little conflict, but the artistic direction provides more than enough in ways of entertainment. The way Pokemon are incorporated into the environment of the show, right down to the theming of common household items, was probably my favorite aspect of the show. And of course, the animation was great. I hope they make more episodes. (Update from the future: they have made more episodes. I didn't watch them.)
The claymation was very homey and nostalgic... it reminded me of watching Pingu and Christmas specials as a kid.
A high-school girl with a tragic past works with a mysterious "closer" to seal doors and prevent natural disasters.
A really sweet and beautiful movie that absolutely did not need to be a romance. I liked it more than Your Name, which is the only other movie I've seen by this director. It's crazy how much the plot improved after the love interest was out of the picture... I'm looking forward to the day when this director/studio realizes that a trauma-laden female lead can carry a movie without falling in love with some dude.
I was very fond of Tamaki.
The first season of the anime aired in 2024, but I've been a manga fan since 2021. There's very little to say about this series that hasn't already been said, so I'll keep it simple. It's well-paced, exceptionally funny, and has great characters (particularly of note, great female characters). As for the anime adaptation itself, I had my criticisms of how certain scenes were handled, but overall they were pretty faithful.
The way her waistline was drawn here is a travesty... I won't forgive them!
I didn't watch this when it first aired, I watched it in 2024. I was initially very skeptical about a Fionna and Cake centered series, because I found the genderbent episodes of the original series to be mostly dull with too much fanservice, but I ended up liking this. I appreciate that it felt a little more mature than the original series and that it had a clear direction, offering Simon some closure after the events of the finale. I liked Fionna a lot as a character too. The other genderbent characters were a different story, they mostly felt like more boring versions of their original counterparts. Also, after letting some time pass and turning the series over in my head a bit, I can't help but agree with the criticism that making Betty so passive to Simon's whims was a major mischaracterization compared to how she was depicted in the original series. It felt right at first, since their relationship is so clearly codependent, but og series Betty was much more controlling and assertive, even if she was still doing everything she did for Simon's sake. Changing that aspect of her personality does unfortunately come across as sexist, which is just disappointing.
The Winter King and The Star were the strongest episodes.
Is that really it for the animation? I feel like I must be forgetting something... forgive me if I have to come back and edit this later to add some show or movie that slipped my mind.
This is the only thing I really got into during the first half of 2023. I appreciate that this series has a really unique tone that balances humor with an incredibly dark subject matter. I think it resembles Dungeon Meshi a bit in this regard, and it's also highly character-focused. Well, mostly; the recent chapters have been incredibly plot-heavy, and some of that balance has been lost as a result, so I've kind of lost interest in following updates. It's a shame because prior to these last few arcs, the pacing of the series felt like one of its strongest points... now it feels a bit like the author is scrambling to wrap up loose ends. That aside, I still think that this series is excellent, with the first ~150 chapters or so being near flawless. It clearly has a lot to say about class, children's oppression, and the nature of exploitative labor, while still building a compelling fantasy world and leaving plenty of room for humor. The fact that it's serialized in color is also pretty cool.
Due to my interest in Chainsaw Man I decided to check out some of Fujimoto's one-shots, all of which I enjoyed. This is obviously considered one of the standouts for a reason, it's thematically very similar to Chainsaw Man but still manages to do it's own thing and deliver an emotional punch. Fujimoto has become bigger than ever over the past couple of years, so I'm sure a movie adaptation is already in discussion.
Another really great Fujimoto one-shot, probably my personal favorite. Evidently a lot of people agree with that assessment, since it got it's own movie! Which was also incredible, and arguably even more moving than the manga due to its powerful soundtrack.
Technically a "yuri" but feels more like a character drama, especially with the college-aged cast and atypical (for yuri) relationship progression between the leads.
At the point in the year that I'm writing this, the series is recently completed, but unfortunately I haven't read the last handful of chapters. I'm sure the ending is good, but after seeing the way Miwa and Saeko's relationship changed and evolved in so many unexpected ways, I actually started to lose interest once they expressed interest in getting back together. Isn't that funny? It's not that I don't like the pairing, far from it, but being able to predict the trajectory of the ending just kind of killed my motivation to continue. At this point, I probably ought to reread the series from start to finish, which is always easier for me than keeping track of updates.
I binged this during the waning months of my own toxic relationship, which definitely made it hit harder.
I don't know about this one, it might be the only thing on here that I didn't particularly like but still read enough of to justify including. It was easy reading and I liked the concept, but in execution the abrupt tonal shifts between chapters felt really off-putting. I'm not one to shy away from dark themes, but that suicide chapter just felt mean-spirited. It really soured my impression of the series, and I stopped reading shortly after. Oh well, they can't all be winners.
There was an online movement in 2024 among western readers to save this series from cancellation, which is how it caught my attention. Since it was labeled as a yuri and I've kind of outgrown my teen yuri phase, I wasn't expecting much, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the series is far more complex than a simple genre categorization would suggest. Apparently the author themself doesn't consider the series a yuri anyway, which makes sense. It's more of a fantasy coming-of-age story than a romance, and it's pretty awesome. The main character has a very moving backstory, there's great action, and the character design/art style is so creative and fun. The series just got an official English release that has been marketed to hell and back, so it probably doesn't need to be "saved" anymore, but it's still a series I'd recommend to just about anyone.
I wanted to put my favorite panel here, but I'd rather not spoil it for anyone. Read the series yourself, it's short!
The other active manga that I was really into in 2023/24 was Chainsaw Man, but since it's hard to keep track of what developments happened during which years, I'll just share all of my part 2 thoughts in the 2025 recap.
The ostensible protagonist of a romance novel finds herself trapped in a violent time loop before she can reach her happy ending.
I've gotten into a few Webtoons over the past couple of years, this being the first one, which I originally read in late 2023. I did reread it over the following summer, because I just loved it that much. A romance deconstruction that practically spits on the genre while still being female character-centered was always going to appeal to me, but beyond that, I just feel like this series does everything right. Strong and likable characters, great twists, dark themes, a satisfying ending... what more could you ask for?
Chaerin/Huisu is an amazing protagonist, she's so grounded and realistically flawed while also being smart, capable, and having a character arc in which she grows as a person. All the side characters are great too, and it felt so good as a reader to watch each of them "break out" of their narrative roles. Sometimes metafiction can feel kind of clunky, but when it's done right, it provides such a unique feeling. I still remember how excited I felt when I saw that first page rip.
If I had to offer any criticisms, my feelings about Seyeong are a bit complicated. I wrote a bit about them here. I definitely liked her more during my reread than I did the first time I read the series; at first she just kind of annoyed me, but I think I appreciate her more now. The art also isn't always the best, I like the style and how the characters are drawn but sometimes the backgrounds feel a little empty.
This is the next Webtoon I read, it didn't blow me away like Surviving Romance did but it's still been quite fun. I like all the characters and the environment, the conflict feels realistic, and the art is quite cute. Sahed, Julia, and Tonny are probably the most interesting characters so far, but I've also developed a real affection for Kamille and how her writing defies stereotypes at every turn. I look forward to future chapters allowing Julia and Kamille to work together a bit more, since their friendship is one of the highlights of the series.
I never read Hooky by the same creator, but I remember a friend of mine being really into it back in 2015~16.
The last webtoon I read in 2024. Incredibly badass. It didn't grip me right away like some of the others on this list but once it picked up I couldn't put it down. After non-committally playing around with major character death for the first 3 seasons, when it finally happens it hits like a gut punch. The art also improves really quickly and gives the series a unique stylistic identity.
I love Scarlet, but Nyra ended up being my favorite.
I don't mean this in a bad way at all, but I think this may be one of the strangest things I've ever read. What I mean by that is, it seems like a comic that shouldn't exist; it's so unique and it feels like it's written for such a tiny, niche audience. But I'm very glad it does exist, as a member of that little niche. I've never read anything else like What Happens Next, and I don't think I ever will.
That's not to say it's an easy read, because it isn't. Well, it was easy to read; I blew through the whole thing in one night, then had to sit with the feelings of simultaneous disturbance and emptiness that followed. I haven't felt ready to fully invest myself in the series again since, which is unfortunate because it is ongoing. I've tried reading updates and everything, but I think eventually I'll have to just reread the whole thing to get a proper feel for how all the characters mirror each other. Maybe this year!
Claire's chapters ended up being my favorites.
Hey, this page is looking a bit messy right now, and I still have to add the games & best/worst sections, but I'm pretty tired so I'm going to take care of that later this week! If you read this far, I Love You