#my top shows

[shannankle]

My Top Shows 2023

Doing this at the last minute but here goes--the top 10 shows I watched in 2023!

*Note: I rate my shows on a letter scale cause I don't like narrowing it down to a specific number. (S-standout As-Strong Bs-Fine Cs-There's some problems Ds-ooof)

1. Oh No! Here Comes Trouble

This one instantly became an all time favorite. It covers themes about grief and loss in a deeply empathetic and humanizing way along side the supernatural elements. I don't know if it's because I've experienced loss myself or because it's a universal experience, but I love shows like this that help you understand what it means to grieve and heal in a familiar yet new light. It reminded me a lot of Natsume Yuujinchou (another favorite) in that respect.

Aside from the larger themes, you have a distinct directing style, quirky sense of humor, well-rounded cast of characters, and excellent acting (the lead actor was also in Your Name Engraved Herein and he's just as standout here). In addition to all that, the show gives us a main trio of characters whose strengths are deliberately not their wits. This is used for humor but also to make more meaningful points about connection, empathy, and different ways of thinking (yes, I headcanon the main trio as neurodivergent).

Rating: S+

2. The Eighth Sense

This show! Another piece that is deeply rooted in exploring trauma and loss. This time within the framework of a romance. I'm usually pretty hesitant with stories that bring disability into romance, especially mental illness. There's a tendency to lean into the idea that love cures all and other not so great tropes. The Eighth Sense does a great job balancing that line, giving us romantic beats without wading into them uncritically. In the end, healing and love are things we choose not something guaranteed, but there's still an immense hope in that. I'm an giant sucker for shows that tackle both queer and crip experiences with nuance and grace, and the Eighth Sense hit that mark for me (so much so it even had me writing a little meta). On top of that it has beautiful cinematography and visual choices.

Rating: S

3. Moonlight Chicken

A beautiful show all around! P'Aof constantly knocks it out of the park with every show he directs, but I felt particularly strong about Moonlight Chicken. I adore the way it centers on themes of home and community. It even inspired some meta and a bit of personal reflection for me on what it means to choose home as someone who is queer and disabled. The show gives us the messiness that comes with navigating new and old relationships and somehow also the simplicity of it all. And of course, the show includes a Deaf character and handles his story with nuance and clear care.

Rating: S

4. Shadow

Singto, Fluke, and Fiat in a queer horror show--sign me up! It wasn't as scary as I expected, more psychological (which is good because I am so picky about what types of horror are too much for me vs what I enjoy). I loved the way the show played with time and reality and drew upon various religious practices to create a unique atmosphere. I also adored the attention to small details that make the piece ripe for analysis. I will probably be eyeing clocks and tech in many shows to come. It's also a show that is bringing up themes about queerness, mental illness, domestic violence, and historical trauma. I'm continually drawn to pieces that are queer and crip, so I suppose it's no surprise that this one drew me in too.

I know this show was divisive, about as many people thought it stuck the landing as didn't. I happen to land in the former category. I adore media that makes me stop and think, and given the amount of meta the show had/has me writing, I'd say it well and truly tickled my brain. The show didn't always go where I most wanted or expected but I think that challenged me even more to really think about what the show might be trying to do (my thoughts on that here, spoilers though).

Rating: S

5. Our Dining Table

Japan does a lot of things well, but I'm particularly fond of their slice-of-life. Our Dining Table fits right in there with food and found family at the center. It's warm and cute, but has a depth beyond it's soft exterior, delving into loss, loneliness, and what it means to be fully seen by those around us. All of this tied up in a queer bow. It was easily the show I was most excited to watch each week when it was airing.

Rating: S

6. Mysterious Lotus Casebook

Another one I fell in love with this year! While it has plenty of tropes, cutting through the core of all of this is the growing friendship between the main trio, especially between Li Lian Hua and Fang Duo Bing. Their relationship and personal growth as characters was really beautiful to watch, on top of it just being a fun show with a great balance of humor and drama. Plus Fang Duo Bing's mom 😍

Rating: S

7. One Room Angel

Another solid entry out of Japan. As much as I love Japan's bright slice-of-life offerings like Our Dining Table, they also excel at stories that don't shy away from heavy or complex emotional themes. And I'm noticing as I tackle this post that I really resonate with heavy themes. One Room Angel has it's lighter moments and own quirky humor. But it also tackles depression and suicide as it explores the journey of finding enough connection and meaning in life to keep moving forward.

Rating: S

8. I Feel You Linger in the Air

I Feel You Linger in the Air was such a beautiful show! I'm so happy we got a historical thai bl this year and that it was so so lovely. I really liked last year's To Sir With Love but it does have it's Lakorn/soap style that is a bit more of an obstacle for me. IFYLITA certainly has it's drama, but it feels more tightly drawn. Throw in a little time travel and beautiful love scenes and it was a delight to watch.

Rating: S

9. My Beautiful Man S2, Eternal

When I watched the first season of My Beautiful Man I liked it but wasn't exactly sold. I read a bit of meta from the community which changed my tune a bit. But it wasn't until watching season 2 and Eternal that something really clicked. I immediately went back and watched season 1 after finishing the film and oh boy did I fall in love. Not only do S2 and Eternal give us great character growth and forward motion to Hira and Kiyoi's relationship, and they feel like a natural expansion of the first season in the best way possible. What can I say, I love the whole series!

Rating: A+

10. Kiseki: Dear to Me

Kiseki: Dear to Me feels like an outlier to me. It's hard for me to put my finger on just what made it click for me, but I was so into it when it was airing. I recognize that plot wise this show is a bit of a mess, but at the same time it hit something just right in my brain. Perhaps it was the emotional intimacy the actors portrayed? They did a fantastic job drawing me in. Apart from that I couldn't take my eyes off of Ai Di's impeccable fashion choices, and the many many cameos were quite fun.

Rating: A+ YMMV

A few close contenders:

My School President (S) *split airing 22' and 23'

Tokyo in April Is... (A+)

Laws of Attraction (A)

Bed Friend (A)

The End of the World with You (A)

Me, My Husband, and My Husband's Boyfriend (A)

If it's with You (A)

Our Dating Sim (A)

Love Tractor (A)

The Warp Effect (A) *split airing 22' and 23'

The New Employee (A) *split airing 22' and 23'

La Pluie (A-)

Midnight Museum (A-)

#i completely flaked on doing one for 22 #but this year I made it just in time #80% of these are queer pieces #my top shows #my top shows 23 #my posts #bl series #oh no! here comes trouble #the eighth sense #moonlight chicken #shadow the series #our dining table #mysterious lotus casebook #one room angel #i feel you linger in the air #my beautiful man #utsukushii kare #my beautiful man 2 #my beautiful man eternal #kiseki dear to me

[ramonag-if]

Thank you for tagging me @zico-if 🌼

My top nine shows:

I have a lot more shows that I watch but I could only choose nine, so these are the ones I would happily watch until the end of time 😅

I don't know who's been tagged, but don't feel pressured to participate @jaunefleurwrites @royal1asset-if @veirsewrites

#tag game #my top shows #ramonag if #unrelated to my games

[bigfatbreak]

Hey, I know it’s impossible but what would be the first meeting of Marinette and Alya in Dad Villain?

Alya, like most, was instantly charmed~

Rose is usually the mastermind for who meets with her, though. lol. lmao, even

#dad villain au #alya cesaire #marinette dupain cheng #my art #marinette rlly does run the social media too on top of everything #mostly to show off cute pics of the food and advertise new products and sales #and sometimes to post pics of cool looking customers #luka made it on there once bc he wore a cool hoodie and he rode that high for weeks

[gayvampyr]

“ugh this character is so annoying and immature” this character is 14

#text post #have to keep reminding my sib that the ‘cringe’ character in a show we’re watching is still a kid and is therefore not only incline but #obligated to be a little annoying and cringey #*inclined #top posts #5k #10k #15k #20k #25k #30k #40k #45k #50k #60k

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

#selfie bee #good evening friends!! how are you doing! C: #I'm very very sleepy I got a new ikea office chair and I build it all myself #I think it went okay! I don't think I pulled the back screw tight enough and now the back is a bit loose #I can probably fix it but I can also ignore it for the next 18 years #thats how long the old chair held up!! in germany it could now drink vodka and drive a car!! #not at the same time that is illegal! not at the same time!! (❁´▽`❁)*✲ﾟ* #but the day is not over yet my uncle asked me for a big art quest and I do not want to disappoint #he wants a muppet tattoo and asked me to draw it #my uncle has started to get tattoos a few months ago #as far as I know he has now gotten 3 note clefs 3 stars a flower and multiple birds #he also started getting piercings but so far I managed not to know exactly where #I think tattoos are super cool (´｡･v･｡｀) I wish I had a good idea for a tattoo but the last time I was very sure about getting a tattoo #it was heath ledgers face as the joker #at that point I was 12 and would not see the actual movie for two more years #a muppet tattoo is a way better idea!! he asked for the count van count! that is also one of my top 3 muppets ₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡ #I always thought I knew a lot about muppet lore but since I started looking up muppet pictures I think there are still a lot of secrets #can the muppets from the Sesame Street actually leave the Sesame Street? #I think Kermit is both on the Muppet Show and on Sesame Street but he is also like the boss muppet #he might have special abilities #I hope you're having a good day friends!! C: #I think I'll post a Sherlock comic later this week #miss you!! ♥♥♥

[dog-teeth]

3 years post op anniversary

#comics #pen and ink #autobio comics #ive been doing really really badly all summer and fall so havent shared much art #was thinking of doing a video showing some of my sketchbook but i dont have editing software anymore ;-; #anyways hope to share more stuff soon i miss being on here #top surgery

[mygeekcorner]

You know those "write badly!" posts that sometimes makes the rounds to encourage all you lovely writers that it's okay that not everything is a masterpiece?

Yeah, those.

I just want all you authors out there not feeling good enough to know that i just decided to reread one of the worst fics I've ever read. Because it's one of the best fics I've ever read.

The plot is simplistic at best. The language is horrible. The pacing is nowhere to be found behind all the "and then!!!" the author peppers their writing like a carbonara with.

But

The characters. The insights into their motivations is fucking master thesis level. I cry just thinking about the way the author predicted where canon was headed years ago. And the way they Preemptively fixed all the ooc-ness the mangaka is now struggling to wrap up.

It's been living in my head rent-free for years and i wouldn't want it any other way. Just with slightly less "and then!!"

So yes, write badly.

In three years time some sucker will come back for seconds because they loved it for all the things you Did manage to do right.

#writing #writeblr #fanfiction #it frustrates me that this is literally the worst written fic I've ever finished #but it's also in my top 3 for that ship #just goes to show greatness doesn't have to be good

[dorcasmckinnonn]

y'all forget that annabeth gave up immortality first when she didn't become a hunter.

#proud to say this is my top post #percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #rick riordan #heroes of olympus #annabeth chase #percy pjo #pjo disney+ #percabeth #percy and annabeth #percy jackson series #percy jackson show #percy jackson tv series #percy jackson tv show #percy x annabeth #pjo fandom #annabeth pjo #grover pjo #pjo adaptation #pjo #pjo series #pjo hoo #pjo stuff #annabeth #pjo hoo toa #pjo tv series #pjo tv show #pjoverse #riordanverse #rrverse

[bugflies00]

mcytblr dash simulator

mutual 1 : [ REDACTED ]

mutual 2 : THE EGGS ARE GONE

mutual 3 : hello everyone today i will be putting my son (ctommy) in an enclosure and wrapping him in a warm blanket and giving him a cup of hot cocoa

mutual 4 : people who woobify ctommy piss me the fuck off. man up

mutual 5 : guys i got the lovejoy vinyl cards

mutual 6 : what kind of lingerie would ctntduo wear to kill each other?

mutual 7 : i need some advil and to be shot in the head [attached is the most gutting tragic piece of crimeboys fanart you've ever seen]

mutual 8 : THE EGGS ARE GONE AGAIN

mutual 9 : Twitch And The Modern Day Fan/Creator Relationship : A Socio-Psychological Analysis

mutual 10 : our little band isn't so little anymore...

mutual 11 : and here's how i think pregnancy would work for a minecraft demon hybrid

mutual 12 : stunning web weave about cniki and loneliness and friendship and guys she started to bake again guys do you understand

mutual 13 : dapduo making out sloppy style (they get slime everywhere)

mutual 14 : haha hat man [fanart of philza minecraft that looks like something you'd see wandering the halls of the louvre]

mutual 15 : i just want a gun so i can put a bullet through dream's head

mutual 16 : THE FUCKING EGGS

#mcyt #mcytblr #dsmp #qsmp #it's always the fucking eggs #alex.rambles.txt #mutual 1 is now redacted bc i didnt want that sentence showing up at the top of my blog in top posts #alex.greatest.hits.txt

[thrill-kill-kult]

#I hope a lot of people see this #poll #music #metal #Im genuinely just so curious about how people build their music taste #I’d say I most often find an artist on a Spotify generated playlist or in my recommendations #and I’ll listen to their top songs then start going through their albums #but I do love using gnoosic and obscurify #I also love finding small playlists #esp ones made by musicians #huge fan of the aggrotech attack playlist #I like pride myself on having extremely obscure taste in music lol #I love showing people cool small bands they’ve never heard of before #on that note check out My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult #and Xorcist

[sidsinning]

IM SCREAMING HE DID NOT JUST

ADAM TAKE THE L HOLY FUCK

#hazbin hotel #SWEETIE SHORT KING LUCI KNOWS HOW TO PLEASE A LADY FELLAS TAKE NOTES #WENT FROM DAD TO DADDY HERE #IM CRYYING THE X2 CUCKERY OF HEAVEN #DEFINITELY ANOTHER REASON WHY HE WAS FALLEN HE TEMPTED NOT JUST 1 BUT 2 MARRIED WOMEN AWAY FROM THEIR HUSBANDS #THE SAME HUSBAND #IM CRYING X2 #lucifer morningstar #He is top 2 fighting against alastor as my fav rn #hazbin hotel spoilers #the show must go on #sidrabbles

[queenboimler]

#dimension 20 #critical role #the adventure zone #d&d #mine personally was TAZ: Balance #and it consumed my life #also reblog!! esp if you put other im so curious #/ i want to find new d&d stuff to watch/listen to!! #ive only played irl a few times bc it is SO HARD to get a group of busy adults on the same schedule #my real pipeline to dnd was: tumblr gifs of mcelroy tv show->mcelroy tv show->mbmbam->taz balancs #so really tumblr was what led me to my path of d&d #i didnt really discover d&d until i was an adult bc table top games and other board games were banned in my home growing up #my brother and i came to blows constantly over the lord of the rings edition of risk that my mom just said NO MORE

[jxnxai]

MY OTP!! (guy x eldritch horror who stole his eyes)

#guess who started listening to malevolent #malevolent #malevolent podcast #arthur lester #john doe #TMA FANS LISTEN TO THIS SHOW PLEASE #ITS SO GOOD #ITS INSANE #the use of vine booms in horror #also top tier music #my art

[sketchy-tour]

These were meant to be warmups. ANYWHO!

Went to a random palette site and picked ones that were reminiscent of Wally's colors but still very different that I liked and grabbed some outfits to do a sort of challenge for myself. Idk, thought it would help me out of my funk.

Suffice to say, I'm feeling a bit better now~ These were really fun to do!!!

#welcome home #welcome home puppet show #wally darling #welcome home arg #WH Wally #welcome home wally #wally darling fanart #welcome home fanart #welcome home puppet arg #my art #Waaawwwyyy in a dreessss #Drawing the man to heal my soul #The top one feels so different from what I'm used to!! #Im usually so set on keeping my art soft but man doing something like this was kinda fun!!! #SHOUT OUT TO THEKNIFECLOWN for letting me steal their fit for the second piece!!!!! #limited colors also meant Wallys stuck with blue eyelids but ngl I find the blue so cute. A part of Wally's beta design I really really lik #Anyway its 5am and shoulda been in bed...AGES ago!!! #enjoy enjoy #sidenote please ignore that i just drew the same expression twice fjsjkdd god I didnt even REALIZE!!!!!

[cryptocism]

the sillies

dialogue from here if you want a blast from the year 2010

#my art #dc #bart allen #kon el #conner kent #impulse #superboy #konbart #bartkon #we need to decide is it konbart or bartkon #its barely even a portmanteau we should know what the order is at least #out of all the starkid productions mamd....... does not crack the top 10 for me. probably bottom of the list. #would definitely not be the first show id recommend to anybody #very 2010s humour #however this exchange was funny

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Gaslighter? I hardly know her!

[First] Prev <–-> Next

#poorly drawn mdzs #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #jin guangyao #qin su #The parallels to the mulderskully comic were genuine scripting coincidences that I kept in for the irony. #wwx and mulder both have a strong need to show their beloved (investigation) partner the cool thing they just found. #Much to their chagrin and concern. #For as much of a mess the plot gets in The Untamed...one of the things it does probably the best of all adaptions is setting up JGY. #specifically how we spend time getting to know him as a *Regular Guy* around our deuteragonists' age. #I love how he's present in the cloud recess arc! I was rooting for him as a character! The twist villain reveal felt so heartbreaking! #Here in the audio drama (for as much as it does well) we pretty much get 2 scenes tops with this guy before he's villain monologuing. #before this we know him as 1) the guy NMJ yelled at a lot 2) a suspect 3) leader guy Jin Ling was partially raised by. #The elements are there but but not with any particular depth to make him...interesting (in this version). #Sure we get to learn more after the fact but it just falls so flat in comparison B*/ #ohhhh noooo the guy we are pretty sure killed a guy is gaslighting his wife and has a secret torture chamber. And he's a politician. #not much of a mystery to it all innit. #Feel free to disagree or bring up differing points btw; I love media analysis convos and this truly is just my opinion.