Chungking Express, renowned Hong Kong director Wong-Kar Wai’s breakout hit, opens with beautiful shots of the district Tsim Sha Tsui, showing just how fast everything and everyone moves in the gorgeous neon lit city. There’s nearly something moving in the film, from background characters to the camera, which makes the moments where it slows down so much more special – and the only thing this city slows down for is romance. 

Fallen Angels is a companion piece to Chungking Express, releasing just a year later. Where Chungking Express is almost cloyingly sweet, Fallen Angels is dark, shot entirely at nighttime, where the warmth of the sun can’t mask just how lonely the characters are. Where Chungking Express uses repetition of songs to show the nature of falling in love, Fallen Angels uses it to show the unrelenting pain of heartbreak, how the smallest things remind us of the person we used to love. 

So, what are these movies about? They certainly both have plots – Chungking Express is split into two halves, both stories about policemen falling in love; Fallen Angels is also split into two halves, one following an assassin, the other following a mute prison escapee. But the plot doesn’t really matter, they are both about the vibes. The warm, neon glows, the catchy music to drown out the noise, the messy, chaotic, stunning camerawork, every aspect of Chungking Express is chosen to meticulously create the perfect breakup movie. Because no matter how much it hurts, no matter how much you may be lost, you’ll be okay, you’ll learn to love again. In a short 103 minutes, Wong-Kar Wai will heal your shattered heart. 

Fallen Angels gets to the same destination through a different route. While Chungking Express might get there through pure escapism, hurtling you into a bustling city with no time to be left alone with your thoughts, Fallen Angels is slower, more contemplative, more reflective. It’s okay to cry in the bar, to have a midnight meal at McDonald’s, to make that nighttime motorcycle run when your feelings become too much to bear. Even in this dystopian, dark city, you’ll learn to love again. In an even shorter runtime than Chungking Express, Fallen Angels will, at just 98 minutes, heal your shattered heart. Apart, Chungking Express and Fallen Angels are masterpieces, both profoundly beautiful in their technical aspects, but together? Watching Chungking Express and Fallen Angels back to back creates the strongest anthology film of all time, creating a 200 minute epic about love and loneliness, misery and magic, light and dark. Let it wash over you, get lost in the TV glow, spend a restless night with this Wong-Kar Wai masterwork and let yourself heal.

Three sweaty faces. This is the opening shot of Challengers, the most inventive pop film since Everything Everywhere All At Once. These people are revealed to be Tashi Donaldson, Patrick Zweig, and Art Donaldson, all prestigious tennis players past their primes who have been in a complicated love triangle and/or throuple for the past 13 years. The film starts with a tennis match between Patrick and Art in a 2019 Challenger event, and quite honestly, I did not care one bit at this point. Then, after a few points scored later, the film rolls back to 2006 and this is where the greatness reveals itself. 

Back in this time, then teenagers Patrick and Art won the boys’ junior doubles title in the U.S. Open, where they then see Tashi dominating the women’s tournament and both fall deeply in love with her at first sight. They invite her to their hotel room, where she then offers her phone number to the person that wins the match, citing her motivation as wanting to see “some good fucking tennis”. After an intense match, Patrick wins and he and Tashi soon go off to Stanford to play college tennis. From this starting section, the brilliance of this film is palpable. The thematic threads of desire and jealousy are formed and the camerawork starts showing its enigmatic nature, every scene from conversations on the beach to intense tennis matches tries something unique with the form of cinema and even more shockingly, it works every single time in elevating the scenes. 

Right away, this short segment also establishes the relationship dynamics that the rest of the film follows. Patrick is more dominant, Art is more passive, Tashi only really cares about tennis, Tashi guides the two boys into making out and they maybe enjoy it a little more than they want to admit. Most so called “love triangles” only form two line segments with two men both desiring a girl or two girls both desiring a boy (I love the cishet dominated movie industry), but Challengers truly does make a love triangle, though it’s awfully difficult to figure out where the lines go. The three don’t know how to communicate their desires to each other, their respective wants slowly kill them inside, and the only way they know how to talk is through their secret language of hitting a ball with a racket. 

And this is what makes the film work as a sports narrative. Director Luca Guadagnino knows that normal tennis is pretty boring, in an interview he revealed that he doesn’t even like watching tennis. But by turning each game into a conversation, a tense battle to see whose desires are stronger, every single play is exhilarating, every set becomes a conclusion to a story, the emotional distance between the characters close for a brief few moments where they begin to understand each other. 

The age of mindless superhero movies dominating theaters is over – the biggest films of the year include Dune Part Two, a brilliant adaptation of the most influential science fiction novel ever; Civil War, a film that explores the ethics and importance of war journalism; and Monkey Man, a thrilling action debut from Dev Patel. Audiences are sick of stale, boring, toothless visual noise and have been turning to exciting cinematic works and a potential new golden age of cinema has begun. Go watch Challengers to show your support of these new developments, or if you just want to see some good fucking tennis. 

Castlevania II Belmont’s Revenge isn’t actually the second Castlevania game, but rather part of the strange tradition of keeping a separate number count for handheld entries during the Game Boy era – in reality, it’s approximately the 7th in the series. The first Castlevania game on the Game Boy, Castlevania The Adventure, is known for being a slow, unenjoyable, and generally horrendous entry in the saga, so Castlevania II’s general competence is shocking. This is 100% a real Castlevania game with all the satisfying whip cracking and unforgiving difficulty that comes with that lineage, though, to better accommodate the handheld format, some changes were made to the original format – the first 4 stages can be played through in any order, there’s only two subweapons, and there’s passwords for saving. With these changes, the Castlevania format translates to the Game Boy very effectively, and the game is now often considered one of the best on the console. Is it worth playing now? I don’t really think so – I think it’s the worst of what I consider to be the “good” classic Castlevania games (1,3,4,Bloodlines, Rondo of Blood, II), largely due to the limitations of the hardware it’s on. Plus, some of the BS of past titles returns – there’s one part in Dracula’s Castle that can just trap you in an infinite loop if you go the wrong way, which is deeply frustrating and just wastes time. But if you still hunger for more Castlevania after playing through the other classics, Belmont’s Revenge definitely scratches that itch, especially with the music composed by Hidehiro Funauchi that’s on par with the excellent standard the series has always strived for. Overall, it’s a fun enough time, though not really fun enough to warrant coming back to nowadays.

The Castlevania saga is one that has ubiquitous influence across the gaming industry even today, with it being part of an entire genre descriptor – Metroidvania. After a successful release on the Famicom in Japan, the first Castlevania game released in 1987 in North America for the NES and became an instant classic. The mix of precision platforming, satisfying action, some of the best music of the console generation, and a pastiche of gothic horror imagery instantly set it apart from its competitors at the time. The game tasks Simon Belmont, a vampire killer, with hunting down Dracula. He goes through 6 stages comprised of 3 smaller levels each, killing the bosses of each stage along the way, including Medusa, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Death. While it’s possible to get through with just Simon’s basic whip, he also has access to his iconic subweapons, from time stopping watches to enemy freezing holy water, which are all powered by hearts you find while playing through the stages. You’ll definitely need these, as the game is brutally difficult, with countless bottomless pits and spike traps and agile enemies around to give you a bad time.

Castlevania is kind enough to give you unlimited continues, but you have to start at the beginning of the stage you were in, which can be fairly annoying. What’s more annoying, though, is a game breaking bug that forces you to start from the very beginning on earlier cartridge versions of the game (known as PRG0 versions) – if enough objects are onscreen at once, the game can freeze and force you to reset. This is a massive problem, as the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, the easiest way to play the game now, chooses to emulate a PRG0 ROM instead of a fixed PRG1 one. This glitch is most common in the hallway before fighting Death and in the actual Death fight, unanimously considered the hardest stretch of the game, so make sure to make a save before that point if you’re playing the Anniversary Collection.

As for the actual game, the first 3 stages are impeccable – they perfectly escalate in difficulty while always being fair. They never expect any precision platforming or for you to have a specific subweapon or for you to grind out hearts by monotonously going back and forth between rooms. To play the first half of Castlevania is to understand the essence of it that puts it on “best games of all time” lists, or at least “best games on the NES” lists.

The second half, too, is perfect – perfect at escalating bullshit. Like a frog in slowly boiling water, you’ll be lured in by the flawless game design of the first three levels and think to yourself “might as well finish it” until you eventually end up on your 50^th try . The fourth stage is well thought out, at least until the boss – Frankenstein’s creature and his minion Igor. The creature doesn’t do much, but Igor jumps around and throws fireballs and is generally a prime example of bad enemy design in a game designed around precise, slow movement. The fifth stage features the hardest stretch I mentioned earlier – two axe knights throw projectiles at you while medusa heads constantly spawn and move sinusoidally across the screen, with 4 mistakes leading to your death. After this is the fight against Death, who spawns scythes that move all across the screen and do massive damage. To add insult to injury, even when you defeat Death, these scythes can kill you before you advance to the next level and send you back to the axe knight hallway. Some Castlevania fans will argue that this section isn’t that bad because you can use the holy water to cheese the knights and Death by keeping them frozen in place, unable to do anything as you wail on them with the power of God, but this is to argue that because a fundamentally broken part of the game can be countered by another fundamentally broken part of the game, they cancel out and make the game good again. The final stage has some more bullshit platforming and then you fight Dracula. But before you do, everyone suggests walking back and forth between screens to farm hearts so you have a greater chance at beating the unfair boss fight. The first phase of Dracula is fine, since he does the same attack over and over again, but it takes a comically long time to take him down. Then, he turns into a creature who jumps around and shoots fireballs at you (getting déjà vu here), but this is much, much worse than Igor because of how much bigger this monstrosity is. The best solution, once again, is to use the holy water so you can finally jump out of the boiling water.Does Castlevania deserve its status as a classic? Definitely – it was much better than most of its competitors and forced everyone else to step their game up. But now? I would suggest playing the modified Castlevania Simplified version or the Famicom Disk System easy mode before diving into the original, and even, then, future titles like Castlevania Bloodlines and Castlevania Rondo of Blood are far, far better designed.

3D World

I originally played this game on Wii U and couldn’t bring myself to finish it. However, this month, I played through it on the Switch version (where the characters move much faster) and just barely had the motivation to play through it. Overall? It’s so painfully boring – it has the design philosophy of New Super Mario Bros (which is the equivalent of AI slop). I had a few coherent thoughts during this (why do some levels have extra challenges for reaching the top of the flag if the cat powerup automatically climbs up to the top and can be held as an inventory item at all times? Why is the hub world so useless? Why do all the boss battles essentially amount to standing around for a while?), but the game doesn’t want you to think about it all that much, it’s just meaningless gratification over and over again. “It’s fun with friends!”, you might argue, but so is literally anything. The people are fun, not the game. The score might seem harsh, but this game is so deeply, profoundly artless. 

Bowser’s Fury

“You hate every Mario game!”, you might be saying after reading my Wonder and 3D World reviews. This definitely isn’t true, I just happened to have played two I don’t like this month – in fact, I love this series and want it to reach its true potential. And that’s precisely the reason why I really enjoyed my time with Bowser’s Fury. First off, the entire open world is interconnected – no loading times moving between zones. Second, the game allows you to store all the powerups you find to use later – this makes the powerups far more useful than they usually are in these games. Third, there’s no filler – most games are far, far too long and I really appreciate Bowser’s Fury for not wasting my time, unlike some other game it happens to be packaged with. Is it a perfect game? Obviously not – many of the Cat Shines rely on getting Bowser to destroy certain blocks, but the titular “Bowser’s Fury” only happens once every few minutes; the movement is very underdeveloped – no triple jumps or long jumps or any of the other sick tricks that Mario can usually do, and the final Bowser fight is as overwhelmingly stupid as ever. But even with all that being considered, Bowser’s Fury has more than any other Mario game in the past decade made me excited about the future of the franchise. 

Cafe owner Kato returns home to find that his television is displaying himself two minutes later back in the cafe. Future Kato tells present Kato where the guitar pick he’s looking for is, and then tells him to go downstairs to tell this to his past self. Thus starts Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020), a time travel story that is both infinitely clever and equally meticulous in its execution. Now, you might be wondering, how exactly did this future version of Kato first get there? Yet, that’s not what the movie is interested in – it’s not so much interested in the mechanics of time travel as it is the consequences of it. 

After we’re thrust right into this confusing world, Kato’s friends start coming over to investigate this strange phenomenon. It’s here that Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes reveals itself to be one of the funniest films of the 2020s. Every time a new mechanic of the time traveling is revealed, it’s used to great effect to create a hilarious punchline, all culminating in a finale that ties everything together to form an ingenious, riotous sequence that showcases an unparalleled sense of creativity from director Junta Yamaguchi.

The time travel is in increments of two minutes – the film doesn’t just say that, every single scene is timed to get this correct to the second. Everything from the script to the number of steps the actors take is determined by the script to get this level of precision and attention to detail that isn’t often seen in filmmaking. This is made all the more impressive by the one cut nature of the film, planting this in the “nagamawashi” subgenre popularized by 2017 film One Cut of the Dead – basically one shot, low budget Japanese films. Now, obviously, the film isn’t truly one take (it’s shot in 10 minute increments), but it’s edited so well that the cuts are truly imperceptible. Plus, the movie was made under $20,000! To create a film this special with so little is an incredible feat, and at just 71 minutes long, you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not watching Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes in the near future. 

I recently rewatched this wonderful film to show it to my extra wonderful bestie. As soon as it started, everything else melted away as my room filled with the warm glow of the projector light and our soft laughter. I wish I could stay in this short moment forever, but time cruelly keeps marching on. But, as films like Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes remind me, it’s not worth it to stress about the future when the present is right here, right now, with all the amazing people you get to revel in it with. In that moment, I was fully, wholly content being with her, and it’s these kinds of rare, perfect moments where everything somehow manages to be right in the universe for a few minutes that make life truly feel infinite. 

25 – 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare

What is it? – 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare is  a recording of Japanese dream pop band Fishmans’ last concert, before frontman Shinji Sato tragically passed a few months later. 

Why? – 98.12.28 is the best live album of all time – the ephemeral, epic, transcendental. “Long Season – Live” might actually be the best song ever, give it a shot if you’re going on a 41 minute 31 second walk. 

LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY

24 – Who’s Afraid of Modern Art

Why? – Jacob Geller is the best Youtuber currently working, with every single one of his videos covering vastly diverse topics before he puts it all together masterfully at the end, with my favorite of these being Who’s Afraid of Modern Art. There’s a common sentiment around modern art pieces such as “Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue” by Barnett Newman (shown above)- many who see them think “I could make that”. But in 30 minutes, Jacob Geller is able to convince you that not only are these pieces highly technical and require immense skill and dedication, but also that attempting to control the narrative on what art is is a tool used by fascist regimes to enforce their power. Other Geller videos are just as brilliant, but this is as tight as video essays get, taking an unpopular stance and arguing for it and its deeper implications until you, the viewer, have a wider perspective on art and the world as a whole in just a half hour. 

WATCH HERE – YOUTUBE

23 – Persona 3 Portable

What is it? – Persona 3 Portable is an alternative version of Persona 3 with lowered graphical fidelity and additional content made for the Playstation Portable. As much as the title would convince you otherwise, Persona 3 is the fourth entry in the series and is considered the start of modern Persona, games that are known for being half turn based JRPGs, half social life simulators.

Why? – “Memento Mori” – this is the phrase commonly associated with Persona 3, roughly translating to ‘Remember that you are mortal. Remember you will die.” But the game isn’t about death, not really. It’s moreso about coming to terms with your own mortality, about learning to live while knowing that it’s one day all going to end. Every single aspect of the game reflects this central theme – the characters shoot themselves in the head to summon their eponymous Personas (basically, monstrous manifestations of the self used to fight against the enemies of the game), the battle UI is the barrel of a gun, the opening video on the title screen spouts half powerful, half meaningless quotes like “Living is not breathing, but doing.” All this has caused Persona 3 to be known as an “emo” game, but I would argue it helps give your actions meaning in the game – Persona is a social life simulator/dungeon crawler JRPG, and the constant reminders of your mortality make sure you think hard about what to do on each day, for you only have a very limited amount of time to spend to level up your relationships with the vast cast or to study to do better in your academics or to go a few floors deeper in Tartarus. Whatever you do, remember that you are mortal. Remember that you will die. I prefer Portable over the console counterpart FES and the recent remake Reloaded because it has a female protagonist route and for its much improved quality of life features over FES, though some of the minor story changes made are very questionable. 

22 – Nathan For You

Why? – Nathan For You is a supremely ridiculous show – it follows Nathan Fielder “helping” small businesses by giving them his unique marketing ideas. These ideas, of course, are mostly nonsense – in one episode, Nathan helps a struggling electronics store by making them offer $1 TVs. The catch? The shoppers first had to come following the formal dress code, then had to crawl through a two foot tall door, then walk past a live alligator to get to the TVs. Why? So Nathan could go to Best Buy and buy all of their TVs through their price matching policy. These bonkers ideas are made even funnier by the fact that Nathan is always serious and never breaks character – and because the ideas work to bolster business a shocking amount of times. But in the later episodes, the show becomes more than a silly comedy show and turns into a profound exploration of the thin walls between fiction and reality through Nathan’s character, all building up to the astounding finale “Finding Frances”, where Nathan helps a Bill Gates impersonator find his high school sweetheart 50 years after they separated, turning into an intense, powerful meditation on love and regret.

21 – Us Against You

Why? – Us Against You is the sequel to Fredrik Backman’s novel Beartown, which centers around a hockey team in a small town. But while Beartown builds up to the terrible consequences of a society that idolizes its hockey players as superhuman, Us Against You captures the tragic reality of living in a rural town, about being in a place where the mood is entirely dictated by whether the high school team beat the rival team last night, about being in a place where natural beauty and unnatural hatred swirl around you in equal measure, about being outcast because you slightly, uncontrollably deviate from the status quo. But this isn’t a book bashing these kinds of communities – it also shows the powerful solidarity that comes from being so physically separated from everything else, it shows the beautiful moments of connection that form, it shows the collective reaction to tragedy in a town where everyone knows everyone. Us Against You isn’t an unnecessary sequel to a masterpiece, but rather Backman’s magnum opus, creating a patchwork of small vignettes that all come together to form a comprehensive portrait of a small town that highlights the supreme danger that comes with the eponymous mentality, because us against them doesn’t uplift us and crush them, but instead destroys us all. 

Prerequisites – Beartown

20 – Swing Girls

What is it? – Swing Girls follows the story of delinquent girls being forced to take over the school’s brass band after a major incident 

Why? – Swing Girls isn’t really on here for the quality of the film – it’s certainly good, but under normal circumstances, it would never end up on this list. But for me, it represents a few of the best days of my life –  the scorching heat of Texas, hours playing Wavelength in cramped vans, excitedly watching chunks of metal toss foam rings at the First Robotics World Championships, all with some of my favorite people ever. So really, any movie I watched with these people at this time probably would’ve made it on, but it helps that Swing Girls is really quite good on its own merits – watching the delinquent girls develop a passion for playing in a jazz band is oodles of fun and the final concert after all the buildup is quite possibly a top 10 movie scenes of all time contender. 

19 – Catch-22

What is it? – Catch-22 is a satirical war novel following Yossarian, a bombardier who just wants to get out of World War II but is forced to keep flying missions. 

Why?  – When I first started Catch-22, I thought “this is shit”. The beginning is messy, taking its time to introduce its massive cast and start its comedic bits, all while being painfully elongated by the cyclical nature of every conversation. And really, these bits are stupid and not all that funny the first time they show up. But then, as the book progresses, you care more and more about these characters, each anecdote humanizing them further and further. And, magically, the bits become funnier and funnier each time they come up – the conclusion to the crab apple gag is maybe the funniest thing I’ve read ever, but after the rough beginning, nearly every page has immense comedic value. These jokes have literary value too – they serve to point out the absurdity of the situation the soldiers find themselves in, creating a tragic undertone that the novel conceals until its conclusion where it comes to the forefront for monumental emotional impact. Catch-22 is maybe the literary achievement of the past 70 years because of this – Joseph Heller juggles his book’s disparate tones masterfully in a way that few other authors could possibly do. An interviewer once told Joseph Heller that he had never written anything as good as Catch-22. He responded “Who has?” – a colossally arrogant statement from most writers, but Heller is the rare one that deserves to be this hubristic.

16 (Tie) – Hundreds of Beavers

What is it? – Hundreds of Beavers is a movie following an applejack salesman hunting down the eponymous large number of beavers through unorthodox methods

Why? – Hundreds of Beavers is the stupidest action comedy of all time, rivaled only by Kung Fu Hustle. 

16 (Tie) – Kung Fu Hustle 

What is it? – Kung Fu Hustle is a film that follows criminals Sing and Bone fighting against the legendary Axe Gang through recruiting kung fu masters 

Why? – Kung Fu Hustle is the stupidest action comedy of all time, rivaled only by Hundreds of Beavers.

16 (Tie) – The Jackbox Party Pack 7

What is it? – The Jackbox Party Pack 7 is the seventh entry in the Jackbox series of party games, becoming the most popular games in the genre because they’re controlled entirely via phones and can easily be played over voice chat, a lifesaver during the pandemic. 

Why? – The Jackbox Party Pack 7 has 4 excellent party games and The Devil and the Details, but this (and the past couple entries) are all on here because I cherish the times I’ve had experiencing them with my besties. There’s one more school year before we all go our separate paths in life – I’m not delusional enough to think that we’re never going to drift apart, but I am delusional enough to think that I can make the most out of every single day in the next nine months to assure that I’ll leave with no regrets.  And if I fail to do that? At least I have hundreds of hours of stupid, beautiful memories with all of you. If any of you are actually reading this – thank you for turning the hellscape of high school into a few supremely enjoyable years. I love you all. 

15 – Pokemon Trading Card Game Online

What is it? – Pokemon Trading Card Game Online is a now defunct way to play the Pokemon Trading Card Game online

Why? –  I played the Pokemon Trading Card Game competitively (albeit with budget off-meta decks) for years, so as much as I don’t really like PTCGO, it had to end up on the list as a placeholder for the actual physical card game. The worst thing that I can say about the game is that it gets kind of stale after a few years, but the tournaments are always so exhilarating – getting to play with your selection of 60 cards perfected over hours upon hours of practice and winning matches against others who’ve done the same is such a rush. Plus, even when you’re sick of standard play, stuff like drafts, extended, and pre-releases still capture the same spark of being a methodical, hyper competitive experience. I’ve drifted away from the game, but if you’re looking for a new hobby to pick up, you can’t go wrong with the Pokemon Trading Card Game – the community is super friendly, it’s super cheap to get into ($30 for a great entry level deck, when I was first playing, some single cards cost that much), and it’s the most accessible major card game (simple rules + much, much cheaper than the others). 

14 – One Piece

What is it? – One Piece is a long running manga series following captain Luffy and his crew of Straw Hat Pirates, who are looking for the mythical One Piece. What is the One Piece? Nobody knows, even after 1100 chapters and a few decades of publication. This entry is for chapters 1-596, or all the chapters before the timeskip in the series. 

Why? – One Piece is the greatest found family story of all time – the modern day odyssey following Luffy’s gang of Straw Hat Pirates is notorious for being really long (it’s currently well over 1000 chapters and “nearing” its conclusion), but through that length, the group becomes the most developed, tight knit group of characters in maybe anything ever. Everyone has a well defined relationship with everyone else on the crew, and part of the appeal of the series is the pure joy that comes from just seeing these hooligans mess around with each other. But when the unity of the crew is challenged? That’s when One Piece truly gets interesting – if every arc was as good as the two “rescue” type arcs, One Piece would legitimately be a top 5 contender on this list. Yet, even as it is, even with long stretches that aren’t as compelling as its peaks, One Piece’s character writing is strong enough to land it this absurdly high. 

12 (TIE) Neon Genesis Evangelion The End of Evangelion

What is it? – Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion is the ending to the single season anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, a show that uses the mecha genre to explore nihilism, depression, trauma, and grief

Why? – Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, for most of the runtime, is every numb, sleepless night spent counting the ceiling tiles, every day spent thinking about the inevitable heat death of the Earth, every moment trapped in vicious cycles of self hatred. But after showing hundreds of thousands of frames of unimaginable horrors, of mankind bringing out their own destruction, of everything returning to nothing, it has the gall to say “it gets better”, that we have equal capabilities of creation and destruction, that we’ll make it through together, that it’s all worth it for the few sparks of connection we can create, ultimately creating the kind of life affirming film that’s changed thousands of lives for the better. As much as I love some other anime, the entire medium could’ve stopped doing anything after this film – The End of Evangelion is such a once in a millennium perfect storm of brutal self expression and sublime production that maybe we should’ve stopped trying after its release. 

Prerequisites – Neon Genesis Evangelion (26 episodes)

12 (TIE) – Everything Everywhere All At Once

What is it? – Everything Everywhere All At Once is a story where a Chinese immigrant mom is sent on a journey of self discovery through seeing what other realities she could’ve lived in had she made different choices

Why? – Maybe I’m falling for the “If it makes you cry, it must be good” fallacy here, but Everything Everywhere All At Once is the only film that’s ever had me sobbing in the cinema. And as always for me, emotion trumps all. 

11 – Celeste

What is it? – Celeste is a 2018 indie platformer where you control Madeline, a trans woman with anxiety and depression, through the seemingly infinitely tall Celeste Mountain

Why? – Celeste is, arguably, a perfect video game. It takes an ancient genre – 2D platformers – and refines the basic movement until it’s pure bliss just to move, surrounds that with levels that are brutally difficult, but never unfair, and caps that off with a simple, stunning story about mental health and climbing your own symbolic mountain, whatever that may be.

10 – Hanagatami

Why? – Hanagatami is the film that catapulted Obayashi into the coveted spot of my favorite director – as much as House is my favorite movie of all time, it’s still frustrating that it’s the only work he’s known for in the west. Hanagatami caps off his thematic anti war trilogy, though it works perfectly as a standalone, and is an encapsulation of all his directorial eccentricities. It’s about the fleeting beauty of youth and the infinite cruelty of war; Obayashi knew that he was born to make this film, the idea of it was bouncing around his mind for four decades before he finally had his shot to make it, and it shows; this is the magnum opus of the best director and it’s every bit as perfect as it could be. 

9 – Berserk

What is it? – Berserk is a dark fantasy manga that’s been running since 1989, following swordsman Guts seeking revenge against a mysterious figure from his past. (This entry is for chapters 1-364 of Berserk. Yes, there have been more chapters released after author Miura’s death based on his notes, but 364 is a shockingly fitting ending for the series already.) 

Why?  -There’s not an undisputed best movie of all time, no undisputed best book of all time, no undisputed best album of all time. There is an undisputed best manga of all time – Berserk is simply just masterful enough that nobody will really argue with you if you say it’s the peak of what the medium has to offer- it’s the #1 on both Anilist and MyAnimeList for a reason. It’s the murkiest, grimiest, bleakest of dark fantasy; every fleeting moment of joy drifts away in the face of unimaginable horrors. But yet, it somehow finds hope in a world like this – even here, it gets better. And that status as the GOAT manga? It got there without even having an ending – mangaka Kentaro Miura was a once in a generation miracle that was far above anyone else in a field filled with the most brilliant artists in Japan, from the masterful paneling to the consistently jaw dropping art. May he forever rest in peace. 

8 – I Saw The TV Glow

What is it? – 2024 horror/coming of age film following the life of Owen, a kid entranced by the world of imaginary television show The Pink Opaque

Why? – A few months separated from my first viewing of I Saw The TV Glow, I’m still confident in calling it the film of the generation. 

7 – The Perks of Being A Wallflower

What is it? – 2012 film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky’s classic coming of age novel following new student Charlie’s freshman year of high school (Yes, I have read the book, but I prefer the movie)

Why? – Yeah, sure, there are better coming of age films – Lady Bird, Eighth Grade, and The Edge of Seventeen all have tighter scripts than The Perks of Being A Wallflower’s messy, unfocused story. But this is the film I’ve seen and will keep watching before every school year because nothing quite makes me feel the soaring highs and disastrous lows of high school quite like this one – plus, that first bridge scene is absolutely magical, infinite even. 

6 – The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D

What is it? – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is a remake of the classic 1998 N64 game, updating the graphics and adding some quality of life features but otherwise leaving the core game untouched

Why? – The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is a really generic pick for “best video game”, it’s like saying Citizen Kane is your favorite movie, The Dark Side of the Moon your favorite album, the Mona Lisa your favorite painting. But yet, like the other pieces of art I mentioned, it’s absolutely earned its spot as a metric of quality for its medium, the only real problems being with the limitations of the hardware it was made for, i.e. an iffy control scheme and looking its age. The remake for the 3DS, then, fixes those issues and creates effectively a perfect video game. While the other 3D Zelda games nail certain aspects of their games more, from Majora’s Mask with its dark, moody atmosphere to Skyward Sword with its excellent dungeons to Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom with its engrossing open world exploration, none of them have the balance between every aspect – puzzles and atmosphere and dungeons and bosses and pacing and story – that makes Ocarina of Time 3D the quintessential Zelda game.  

5 – Mario Kart Wii

What is it? – Mario Kart Wii is the sixth and (at the time) most popular entry in the series, largely due to the colossal sales of the Wii and the added motion controls

Why? – I still remember my first time playing Mario Kart Wii vividly – it was at my elementary school’s after school program, where a Wii remote was thrust onto me by a friend. I had only been a spectator up to that point, but I reluctantly agreed to play the game. And everything else faded away, the only thing that mattered in that moment was getting to the end of Coconut Mall. I was absolutely terrible, I DNF’d and got 12th place (dead last), but from that moment, I was hooked. I’ve played hundreds of games since then, but nothing has quite flared up my competitive spirit like this stupid, unbalanced mess of an experience. Because yes, getting hit by dozens of items in the final lap is aggravating, some of the maps are awful, and there are only two competitively viable characters, but my heart still pounds every time I get the thundercloud and have to make a mad dash to pass it on, getting pummelled in the final lap is still as crushing as ever, and narrowly taking gold in spite of everything against you is euphoric. More than any other game, Mario Kart Wii makes me feel. And yes, on an objective level, it isn’t a particularly great game, but it’s always been in the edges of my kaleidoscopic memory, never important but always there; I am 7 and see a flash of an escape from my mundane existence, I am 9 and burning away the sweltering heat of the Japanese sun through a silly arcade racer, I am 10 and absolutely trouncing the kids at the after school program in a game that once so vexed me, I am 14 and playing something that reminds me of a time before everything became so complicated, I am 17 and boot up Mario Kart Wii for this article and I feel all the memories crashing into me and there’s no question any more what my favorite game is, since no other could possibly be so inexorably intertwined with who I am as a person. 

4 – House

What is it? – House is a Japanese horror/comedy film directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, following seven girls sleeping over at a countryside house

Why? – House on the surface level is really, profoundly silly. In it, seven girls go to a house and get eaten by it. And sure, as a big Obayashi fan, I am annoyed at how this is his only well known and accessible film in the West (besides his excellent short Emotion that’s included on the House Criterion disc as a bonus feature). But watching House with friends is one of the great joys of life – that’s not the only reason House is my favorite film ever though. House isn’t just a fun horror comedy, it’s a look at how the ghosts of war still haunt Japan, it’s about growing up and losing who you are in the process, it’s an exploration of the artifice of cinema. I’ve seen a decent amount of flicks since I’m a “film critic”, but there’s no movie even remotely similar to House. It’s an absolute cinematic outlier, which is tragic for sure, but that just makes House all the more special. 

3 – Fahrenheit 451

What is it? – Fahrenheit 451 is a  1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury following a fireman tasked with destroying books, an illegal commodity in this future. But upon meeting his reader neighbor, he starts to question the entire world around him. 

Why? – I’m not particularly sure Fahrenheit 451 is even a good book, I haven’t read it in a long, long time. (UPDATE: Reread it, still a masterpiece) But what I can say is that it’s the book that changed my life the most because it got me back into reading. One day, the stars aligned and made me lose my phone before having to wait a few hours for my parents to pick me up. The only things I could possibly do were stare at the stained ceiling or read the book that I happened to have in my backpack, so I reluctantly started trudging through Fahrenheit 451. I’m very aware that this is a bizarre choice for a tech bro/film critic’s favorite novel – Bradbury is vehemently against much of what I believe in. But this, I feel, is literature’s greatest strength – it’s an artist’s unrestrained vision. More than any other medium, it feels the most personal, the most intimate – books aren’t just stories, they’re reflections of the author’s worldview. And for me, Fahrenheit 451 is the start of it all, it defibrillated my dead love of written word storytelling and brought it back with a vengeance – the most a piece of art can do for you is change who you fundamentally are as a person, and that’s exactly what Bradbury’s masterpiece did for me. 

2 – In Rainbows

What is it? – In Rainbows is renowned rock band Radiohead’s seventh studio album – it’s largely considered a return to their rock roots after a large stretch of more experimental projects

Why? – In Rainbows is a perfect album. It feels strange to say that – it feels underwhelming on first listen compared to other Radiohead projects – OK Computer is one of the most influential records in rock history, Kid A is one of the most audacious records in music history and has one of the best songs ever recorded in “How to Disappear Completely”, and A Moon Shaped Pool is a devastating portrait of a man who’s maybe lost the love of his life and the overwhelming loneliness that comes from that. In the face of some of the best albums of all time, what does In Rainbows even have to offer? It’s a complete record about being human. Yes, it’s awful sometimes – the unbearable emotional baggage of limerence, the terror of knowing that we are mortal and every day brings us one step closer to death, the pressure of being in a society that forces us to live as false versions of ourselves 24/7. But it’s also about the beauty of it all – the pure tranquility of the that one moment in “Reckoner” would be enough to land the album on the list, but In Rainbows is about all that is beautiful here on Earth – that particular song ends with the line “Dedicated to all human beings”. This is the one album that deserves to say that, only growing more and more life affirming after every listen. 

LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY

1 – Emotion

What is it? –  E·MO·TION is Carly Rae Jepsen’s third studio album, having more of a 80s synthpop sound compared to the simpler bubble pop of her previous albums

Why? – Yes, I’m putting E·MO·TION at number 1 unironically. The top 4 were all fighting for the top spot for a while, but after seeing Carly Rae Jepsen live, the choice was easy.  It’s an overwhelmingly sincere album, filled with universally enjoyable, catchy, perfect bubble pop anthems and through this sincerity gives you permission to love it, through this sincerity makes you feel again, through this sincerity has the power to make you joyful, even on your worst days. You might start listening to E·MO·TION semi-ironically, but you will come back to it, you will start recognizing the musicality in it, you will start singing along, start listening to her entire discography, go deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole until you end up in a large crowd at a Carly concert, crying because you’re finally seeing the one artist who has the magical ability to help anyone find the missing puzzle pieces in their life, surrounded by people who’ve also let the vast voids in their existence be filled with corny girly pop. 

LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY

49 – Funeral

What is it? – Funeral is the debut album from indie rock band Arcade Fire, the album getting its name because many of the band’s members had recently lost family members before the release of the record

Why? – Funeral’s first notes always take me back to one year ago, when I first started writing for this website and had an insatiable drive to get better, to prove something – “I want to be great or nothing” from Little Women was the quote driving me, defining me.  And maybe I still haven’t quite reached greatness yet, but Funeral always kicks that motivation back into me, transports me to a time where I was striving to become a reviewer the likes of David Ehrlich or Roger Ebert. 

48 – Vespertine

What is it? – Vespertine is the fourth album from Icelandic singer Björk, having a softer, dreamier sound than her previous work 

Why? – Vespertine is the most calming album I’ve ever listened to – I often put it on when I’m struggling to fall asleep. This means that I’ve only ever listened through the entire project once or twice, but that speaks to its soothing nature more than anything. Even during my most stressful, sleepless nights, hearing just the first few seconds of the otherworldy sound of “Hidden Place” always manages to subsume my raging emotions and lull me into some peaceful rest. 

47 – The Goldfinch

Why? – The Goldfinch is a painting by Carel Fabritius that depicts an European goldfinch chained to a wooden half circle. No, this pick isn’t for the painting, it’s for Donna Tartt’s 2013 novel The Goldfinch, a novel that depicts teenager Theo Decker chained to an underwhelming life, not through any physical barriers, but through a mental passivity that pervades throughout the entire 700 page epic. Is it any wonder, then, that he finds the 13.2” by 9.0” painting so captivating, enough so that he takes it during a massive fire at an art museum? More than anything, The Goldfinch (the book) is a character study of Theo – we spend hundreds of pages with him numb in grief after his mom dies in the very accident that led to his acquisition of The Goldfinch (the painting), we spend hundreds of pages with him while he lives a hedonistic lifestyle in Las Vegas with his bestie, both ending up blackout drunk every night, and we spend hundreds of pages watching him with a woman he doesn’t particularly care about. But his generally miserable life means that he has a pure, unadulterated obsession with the few things that bring him joy in his life – he sets his entire career path to help his mentor figure, he’ll do anything to protect The Goldfinch (again, the painting), and he has an all-consuming, limerent crush on a girl who lives across the Atlantic Ocean and doesn’t actually care for him all that much. And so, an absolutely fascinating character is created, a passive, obsessive, numb teenager who constantly makes decisions that aren’t logical, but always understandable. Yes, your enjoyment of The Goldfinch (the book) largely depends on how much you’re willing to put up with Theo, but if you’re willing to empathize with him a little bit, it’s a shockingly breezy read considering how thick it is – Tartt does the impossible here and creates a future classic that’s literary and accessible. 

46 – It’s Such A Beautiful Day

Why? – Anti-intellectual memes captioned something like “Cinephiles when the family wants to watch Spider-Man instead of a mind shatteringly slow burning 4 hour black & white Russian art house drama about a boy discovering his sexuality during his 16 year stay in a Polish boarding school, told through the perspective of a dying squirrel” run rampant on the internet. (Admittedly, the joke is pretty funny.) It’s Such A Beautiful Day sounds like a movie entirely made up to become a part of one of these memes – “Cinephiles when the family wants to watch Spider-Man instead of an animated drama about a man going through extreme mental and physical deterioration learning to appreciate life, becoming immortal and living until the heat death of the universe, until his accomplishments are reduced to nothing in the face of all the stars slowly blinking out, all told through black and white stick figure animation.” But it’s films like these that make you realize that maybe the cinephiles are right – Don Hertzfeldt has a remarkable ability to express intense philosophical ideas through a few lines and some stick figures and It’s Such A Beautiful Day is his magnum opus, taking just over an hour to rewire your brain into accepting that death is what gives life meaning. Sam Raimi could never. 

44 (Tie) – Lawrence of Arabia  

What is it? – Lawrence of Arabia is a 1962 historical epic loosely based on the real life story of officer T.E. Lawrence, who helped Arab tribes in the Middle East revolt against the Ottoman Empire in WWI. 

Why? – Lawrence of Arabia is, essentially, a stripped down Dune. And as much as I do love that series, this allows Lawrence of Arabia more time to tackle the big ideas of Dune, from its exploration to white saviorism to its warning against believing in messianic figures without having to deal with the less interesting aspects of the complex politics and sci-fi world building. I do feel the second half is much worse than the first, partly because maybe the most important scene in the half is censored in most versions of the film, but mostly because the narrative decision surrounding that scene is highly questionable in the first place. Still, it’s a sweeping epic that deserves its status as a masterpiece because the first half is so impeccable – seeing this in theaters during its re-release this year was an absolutely unforgettable experience. 

44 (Tie) – Seven Samurai

What is it? – Seven Samurai is a1954 historical epic following the eponymous heroes protecting a town from bandits 

Why? – Seven Samurai is the best action film – director Akira Kurosawa takes a simple concept and directs the hell out of it, with the long runtime flying by even for a modern audience with how effectively the script introduces the characters, integrates interactions within and between the groups, and tackles complicated ideas like the cyclical nature of violence and what it means to live honorably. 

43 – Dragon Quest V

What is it? – Dragon Quest V is the fifth entry in the long running JRPG series, following the life of the main character through his birth to him raising children of his own. While it was originally released in 1992, it got its first western release in 2009 with a DS remake. This entry is for that DS remake, which updated the graphics and added some quality of life features. Interestingly, the game predates the first generation Pokemon games by several years and is thus one of the first monster collecting type games, alongside early entries in the Megami Tensei series. 

Why? – I’m not all that attuned with my Japanese heritage, but playing the Dragon Quest series makes me feel a little more connected with my family’s country of origin, with the series being universally beloved over there. Dragon Quest V has always been my favorite because it has the best story in the series, but also because the “epic tale that spans over multiple generations” part of it is more resonant to me than most people because my wonderful dad introduced me to the series. 

41 (Tie) – La La Land 

What is it? – La La Land is a musical that follows the tumultuous romance between wannabe actress Mia and wannabe jazz bar owner Sebastian in the dreamy, suffocating streets of Los Angeles

Why? – La La Land is a film about coming to terms with what could be versus what is, about dreams and romance being synonymous and antonymous, about the heartbreaking reality of meeting the right person at the wrong time. I’ve never understood the general sentiment of this being a “feel good” movie, it’s not a particularly happy film- Mia and Sebastian both go through so much shit while pursuing their dreams, with their only comfort in the cruel world being each other for the vast majority of the film. Yes, this creates some staggeringly romantic moments, but the purpose of that is to make that vicious ending hurt so much more. It’s all undeniably powerful and occasionally magical, but still, it makes me wonder what kind of hurt a person has to go through to consider this jagged mess one of their favorites. 

41 (Tie) – Mulholland Drive

What is it? – Mulholland Drive is an abstract, artsy film about Hollywood. If you think this is a shitty description, you should watch the film and come up with a better one. 

Why? – Mulholland Drive is the inverse of La La Land – while that film captures the outward beauty and allure of Hollywood while showing the intense mental anguish it puts all its dreamers through, Mulholland Drive is primarily about how shitty and farcical Hollywood is, but also about its remarkable ability to create art through its artificiality. 

40 – Chrono Trigger

What is it? – Chrono Trigger is a  1995 JRPG following adventurers using time travel to prevent a global catastrophe. This entry is for the DS port, which adds some extra content and some quality of life features and is generally considered the definitive version of the game. 

Why?  – Chrono Trigger is the platonic ideal of classic JRPGs – the legends behind the other classics, from Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy, came together to create a generational culmination of talent that still holds up as one of the greats even after a few decades of technological advancement. 

39 – The Owl House

What is it? – The Owl House is an animated fantasy TV series that ran for 3 seasons from 2020-2023. The show has become well known for its LGBT representation, with it featuring the first gay couple as a leading pair in any Disney property. 

Why? – The Owl House is a charming, fun, emotionally resonant show that easily filled the Harry Potter shaped void in many hearts after J.K. Rowling came out as a filthy transphobe. It was done dirty by Disney and had an extremely shortened season three, but other than that, it’s just a consistently engrossing fantasy series. 

38 – To Pimp A Butterfly

What is it? – To Pimp A Butterfly is rapper Kendrick Lamar’s third album. While it’s primarily a hip hop album, it uses other styles from the history of African American music, giving it a funkier sound than his previous projects. It’s also an extremely politically charged album, tackling racial inequality in modern day America through the central metaphor of the butterfly, usually a symbol of beauty, being pimped because of the systems working against it 

Why? – Yes, To Pimp A Butterfly is a very generic choice here – #1 on music nerd site RYM, a defining album of the 2010s, generally considered one of the best albums ever. But I couldn’t not pick it – this is an English dork’s wet dream, there’s so much to dissect and uncover with the symbolism and metaphors and how all the songs weave into each other. Even beyond that, though, the album just sounds good, it flows so fluidly that the 79 minute runtime absolutely flies by –  I will say that my favorite Kendrick song is still “Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst” from his previous album, but nearly every song reaches similar heights in To Pimp A Butterfly. 

37 – Perfect Blue

What is it? – Perfect Blue is an animated psychological horror film directed by Satoshi Kon following a Japanese idol being stalked by an obsessive fan after leaving her group to pursue an acting career. This movie is known for being an inspiration for Darren Aronofsky’s 2010 critically acclaimed film Black Swan. 

Why? – Perfect Blue is my favorite film from the greatest anime director of all time – watching this on a crappy monitor is the most immersed I’ve ever been in a film – the way the movie does as much as possible with its medium to psychologically fuck with you is utterly brilliant. Its exploration of dual identities is also surprisingly prescient for a 90s film – in many ways, it feels like it was specifically made to speak to an audience a couple decades in the future where everyone’s sense of self is more fractured than ever. 

36 – Speed Racer

What is it? – Speed Racer is a colorful racing film directed by the Wachowski sisters following the prodigy Speed Racer trying to beat the corrupt officials at the top of the racing world

Why? – Speed Racer is sincere to a fault. It’s a film where the main character (named Speed Racer) says “No more Mr. Nice Guy” unironically, a film where the main family has a pet monkey lurking around, a film that couldn’t possibly have been filmed here on planet Earth. It looks absolutely ridiculous – the Wachowski sisters probably invented new colors just to throw into this mess of a film. From this sincerity, though, comes a brilliant, anti-capitalist look at the impossibility of creating art and choosing to do so anyways. And Speed certainly succeeds in making capital A Art – the final Grand-Prix race is absolutely transcendental. 

35 – The Lord of the Rings

What is it? – The Lord of the Rings is a story where Frodo, a hobbit (short, human-esque creature) has to get rid of a piece of jewelry by throwing it in a volcano. This entry can be for either the extended film trilogy or the novel, both are equally excellent in my mind. 

Why? – The Lord of the Rings is a universally beloved story because it’s about ordinary people saving the world. Frodo and his companion Sam don’t have any special powers – they make their trek to Mount Doom through sheer perseverance and the power of friendship. Of course, it helps that the book is beautifully written (though, it does occasionally

pull the Tolkien classic of spending a few dozen pages describing a tree) and the films are some of the best produced epics ever. I recently had the pleasure of seeing The Two Towers (extended, of course) in theaters – seeing the Battle of Helm’s Deep in an environment like that was an absolutely sensational experience. 

34 – Synecdoche, New York

What is it? – Synecdoche, New York is a film about a theater director attempting to create his magnum opus after receiving a large grant for his previous project

Why? – Synecdoche, New York is the human condition given cinematic form. No, not just elements of the human condition – plenty of films have tackled birth, philosophy, death, suffering, and everything else that composes our universal human experience. The whole human condition. An absurdly foolhardy task at best, but Charlie Kaufman has the audacity to make it actually work. The struggle to create anything meaningful, the way time passes in the blink of an eye and we’re helpless to do anything about it, art is life and life is art, and so much more is covered in a dense two hours. Perhaps it’s too much to stomach for many people – too pretentious, too miserable, too solipsistic. But for those won over by the absurd metanarrative, Synecdoche, New York is a life changing film, convincing people to ask out their crushes, make the art they’ve always wanted to, and generally become better versions of themselves. This isn’t because this is a cinematic equivalent of a sappy self-help book telling you to “be happier” and “think again”, but because it isn’t. Synecdoche, New York is so, so depressing, nihilistic, and bleak, convincing us to be better to not end up like the main character – so lost in his own anxieties and detached from reality that Synecdoche, New York feels like a blooper reel if blooper meant “overwhelming, unalterable, irrevocable life regrets”.

33 – Kaguya Sama Love is War

Why? – Kaguya Sama Love is War is a romcom with a crazy premise – Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, president and vice president of the student council respectively, have a massive crush on each other. Unfortunately for them, they’re both too proud to admit it to the other and start to create elaborate scenarios to make the other confess their love. For example, the first chapter follows Kaguya trying to get Miyuki to invite her to the theater. How? Obviously, she fakes a scenario to make the student council secretary think that she won two free tickets in a contest. Unfortunately, the secretary’s parents won’t let her go to the film, considering it inappropriate. This situation is designed to be effective against Miyuki, since he comes from a poor family and can’t pass up anything if it’s free, but the catch is this – the ticket is for a romance film that’s rumored to make any pair that goes to watch it a couple soon afterwards. Essentially, if he asks Kaguya to come with him, it would practically be the same as a love confession, making him lose the “war” the two are having. But what roots the series emotionally is how relatable it ends up becoming – because while the shenanigans the council gets up to are ridiculous, that feeling of overthinking about every little thing your crush is doing is fairly universal. Plus, beneath their antics is a deep vulnerability, with both of them having a deathly fear of rejection from the other. And in the rare moments where they can throw all that away to show affection to each other? Those beautiful flashes are why Love is War is the king of romcoms. 

32 – Revue Starlight The Movie

What is it? – Revue Starlight: The Movie is a sequel movie to the Revue Starlight series, which follows sapphic theater girls duking it out in an underground fight club run by a talking giraffe.

Why? – Revue Starlight is the best modern anime. Nothing else has topped its perfect symbiotic relationship of brilliant fight scenes and genuinely touching drama, the two feeding into each other until they both become greater than they ever could be alone. Revue Starlight The Movie, then, takes the immaculate base of the original series and refines it even further – no longer constrained by a weekly release schedule, the setpieces become absolutely bonkers and the movie is able to follow the theater girls graduating high school and their various reactions to that, turning into a theatrical supernova of pent up teenage angst and lesbian pining. 

31 – Vagabond

What is it? – Vagabond is a manga very loosely based on the life of famous samurai Miyamoto Musashi. It’s been on indefinite hiatus for nearly a decade now, so most have come to the conclusion that it’ll never get a proper ending. (Though, the author did write an ending chapter for a display in the Ueno Royal Museum in Tokyo if you’re really desperate for closure)

Why? – Vagabond is about a lot of things. Violence, honor, strength, everything you’d expect a long manga about samurais to be about. But more than that, it’s about a philosophy of abandoning hatred and anger to achieve true strength. Miyamoto Musashi wants to become “invincible under the sun”, but what does that really mean? The series is filled with quotes like “All truly strong people are kind”, “Beneath the vastness of these starry heavens, both of us are insignificant”, “All our individual paths – they’ve been preordained by the heavens. And it’s for that very reason that we are free”. The beauty in Vagabond, then, is that it sends you on your own miniature philosophical journey – Musashi and the reader are challenged by dozens of different worldviews throughout the journey, none of which are presented as right or wrong. It’s for this reason that it doesn’t really matter that the series is never going to get an ending – the real ending of Vagabond is how it affects how you go about your everyday life by giving you a more peaceful, zen mindset.  

30 – Enter the Gungeon

What is it? – Enter the Gungeon is a roguelike following “Gungeoneers” traveling in procedurally generated dungeons to kill the legendary High Dragun and to “kill their pasts”. Death is permanent in the game and you do lose all your progress, but a successful run is only ~30 minutes long and new weapons are unlocked the more you play the game. 

Why? – The first few hours of Enter the Gungeon are brutal – you will die again and again to falling chandeliers and massive boss attacks and exploding barrels and spike traps. But what you’ll eventually realize is that you can use every mechanic in the game to your advantage – you can blow up the enemies with the barrels, crush them with the chandeliers, dodge into bottomless pits while you have items that protect you from fall damage. And when you finally use your mastery of the mechanics to pull off a successful run to beat the High Dragun? It’s an unforgettable, euphoric experience.

29 – The Social Network

What is it? – The Social Network is a biopic about Mark Zuckerberg and his meteoric rise to fame after creating Facebook 

Why? –  The Social Network is the defining movie of the 2010s, an exploration of the powerful, misogynistic, fallible people who rule the world, but it’s also such a kinetic film, the perfect screenplay immaculately translated to film to create a whirlwind of a character study/courtroom drama. 

27 (Tie) – Harakiri

What is it? – Harakiri is a 1962 samurai flick following Hanshiro Tsugumo, a samurai who asks to commit seppuku (suicide by disembowelment) in front of an audience, on the condition that they listen to his story about how he was lead to this point

Why? – The latter half of the twentieth century was a golden age for Japanese samurai films- from Kurosawa’s seminal Seven Samurai to Inagaki’s epic Samurai Trilogy to Kuroda’s monumental Lone Wolf and Cub saga, Japanese audiences had very high quality and a high quantity of samurai entertainment. Yet, out of this golden age, one film is the undisputed king – Harakiri. It’s the highest rated film on letterboxd (film social media) of all time, standing at an extraordinary average of 4.7/5 stars. In a community filled with film buffs and cinephiles, most who have watched it have given it a perfect score. It’s also a universal experience thinking “It can’t be that good” walking into the movie and coming out a changed person for the better. Love, family, and honor – all themes commonly explored in samurai films, but never to the heartbreaking extent that Harakiri does. Aside from that, Harakiri is a large departure from the typical samurai adventure. The bloody battles are few and far between – director Masaki Kobayashi is far more interested in an ideological clash: honor vs human decency. No words I write can do Harakiri justice – it’s so deeply devastating and empathetic that it makes one a better person for having seen it.

27 (Tie) – Come and See

What is it? – Come and See is a 1985 Soviet war film following the young Florya Gayshun being sent to fight with the Resistance against German forces. The director originally wanted the film to be called Kill Hitler, but authorities didn’t allow it at the time, so he settled on Come and See, named after the following Bible verse from the Book of Revelation – “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, “Come and see!” And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Why? – Come and See is the most effective, horrifying anti war film ever made – it’s also free on Youtube, so if you want to have the worst date night of all time, I guess I can’t really do much to stop you

WATCH HERE – YOUTUBE

26 – Station Eleven 

What is it? – Station Eleven is a post apocalyptic novel following The Traveling Symphony, a group of people who perform Shakespeare and orchestras “because survival is insufficient”, even in a world where a virus killed off 99% of the population

Why? – Shockingly, this is the first time I’ve properly written about the book that gives this website its name. I’ve tried a few times, but it’s always been elusive because Station Eleven isn’t a story, it’s an ineffable feeling. Because sure, there is a plot, but it’s not particularly interesting or memorable – it’s more a vehicle for the big ideas of Station Eleven. What are these ideas? From the co-opted from Star Trek quote “Survival is insufficient” to the equally powerful “Hell is the absence of the people you long for”, the novel presents a fascinating worldview where the post apocalypse isn’t seen as the end of humanity, but rather a fresh start where we can eschew the menial, pointless habits that make up our daily existence to focus on what really matters. And this is the mindset that has driven the creation of Sufficiency – survival is insufficient, so what is? Now, finally, I have 100 answers to that question, and one of them unquestionably had to be the one that started me off on the journey. 

74 – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

What is it? – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is the final album from indie band Neutral Milk Hotel and has become one of the most critically acclaimed indie rock/folk albums after a critical reevaluation in the 2000s following its middling reception upon its 1998 release. 

Why? – Science Youtuber Vsauce starts off all his videos by saying “Hey, Vsauce, Micheal here” followed up by some absurd statement – “and are you still doing things in the real world?”,  “when will you die?”, “and Earth only contains 1066 people”, etc.  He then goes through various fields of science to answer a question like “Is Anything Real?”. Recently, he released a short where he talks about finally finding the postcard that’s the source of In The Aeroplane Over The Sea‘s album cover, saying that the album “played a big role in his life twenty years ago”, a fact about this person that makes a little too much sense – it precisely matches the vibe he gives off through his videos, with lyrics like “Can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all” sounding like things he would say in his videos. Needless to say, as a big Vsauce fan, I love this album – the lyrical complexity and unique lofi sound has kept me coming back to the album consistently for years. 

Listen here – SPOTIFY

73 – Challengers

What is it? – Challengers is a film that follows the relationship between three tennis players, both on and off the court 

Why? – 2024 might not be a particularly standout year for film (at least so far), but this and I Saw The TV Glow have been incredible peaks in an otherwise middling period for cinema

72 – Dog Day Afternoon

What is it? – Dog Day Afternoon is a crime drama following the (based on real life) story of two bank robbers accidentally escalating into a simple heist into a massive hostage situation

Why? – Watching this film in a packed college theater in Madison, Wisconsin was a life experience that made me feel I was living sufficiently in a way that few other viewings of a film ever have

71 – Brave New World

What is it? – Brave New World is a dystopian novel written by Aldous Huxley, where advancements in medical technology lead to the elites of the world achieving absolute totalitarian rule while the citizens mute out their emotions and disdain for the system with drugs and sex. It’s one of the most widely taught dystopias, alongside 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 (and sometimes The Handmaid’s Tale, but it’s not as ubiquitous because god forbid we teach a feminist story written by a woman in schools). 

Why? – Brave New World details a world in which the general populace is placated by superficial happiness, so much so that they willingly allow themselves to be oppressed. This is an idea that’s perhaps always been relevant, but now more so than ever, Brave New World has become the most prescient (while still being the oldest) of the big three dystopias – as author Neil Postman once wrote to compare 1984 to Brave New World, “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance”. As for the big three dystopia, it’s coming up later on the list. 

70 – The First Glass Beach Album

What is it? – The First Glass Beach Album is indie band Glass Beach’s first album, having an unique rock/post emo sound that gave the band a large cult following 

Why? – The First Glass Beach Album is on here because of how well it works as an album – the songs, while great on their own, become much more interesting within context, with the project constantly throwing new things at the wall while retaining the core of emotionally resonant lyricism. 

LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY

69 – Brat

What is it? – Brat is Charli XCX’s sixth studio album, mixing an evolution of her hyperpop style with confrontational, vulnerable lyrics

Why? – Beyond the Brat Summer and coconut tree memes , Brat is masterful at capturing the zeitgeist of a generation, a generation that has grown all too good at hiding how much they hate themselves with loose veneers of confidence.

LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY 

68 – Titanic

What is it? – Titanic is a romance film following lower class Jack Dawson and rich Rose Bukater falling in love on the Titanic

Why? – Dear Titanic haters – do you actually hate the film, or have you been socially conditioned to dislike anything that teenage girls like? 

67 – Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations

What is it? – Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations is the third game in the Ace Attorney series, a saga that has you play as various defense attorneys trying to prove their clients are innocent in a corrupt legal system that gives prosecutors immeasurable advantages –  I’ve only played the original trilogy – Investigations 2, The Great Ace Attorney 2, and Spirit of Justice are all highly regarded and might’ve made it on the list if I played them 

Why? – Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations finishes the original Ace Attorney trilogy, which are extremely culturally significant games that nobody has actually played. “Objection!” is a ubiquitous phrase in the gaming community, but not many have actually trudged through Ace Attorney. And really, that’s a shame, but completely understandable – there are certainly better, more palatable visual novels to play now. Lots of Ace Attorney is just a pain to play – finding evidence is so, so annoying, the sequence to present evidence is occasionally nonsensical, and many of the cases are just not that good. But yet, when it all clicks together, when you nail the witness with an “Objection!” after finding a hole in their testimony and the pursuit theme starts playing – there’s no game that has ever managed to match that feeling. Trials and Tribulations is my pick for best in the series – Bridge to the Turnabout, the final case in this game, is widely considered the single best case in the series for wrapping up all the loose ends of the trilogy and finishes off the story of my favorite character, the mysterious prosecutor Godot.

Prerequisites – Ace Attorney 1+2

66 – The Matrix Resurrections

What is it? – The Matrix Resurrections is the fourth entry in the Matrix saga, this time being more of a postmodernist metanarrative compared to the others in the series

Why? – This is one of the most divisive films in modern memory, which is to say that it’s near universally panned and some weirdos really love it. Safe to say, I am one of those weirdos – the film works on so many levels. The most obvious idea The Matrix Resurrections presents is a mockery of a Hollywood that only funds shitty reboots and remasters, but more interestingly, it’s an inverse of the original Matrix’s trans allegory, this time being about the psychological toll of having to detransition. To be honest, I don’t even love The Matrix that much – the first 30ish minutes are perfect, melding action with some genuinely thought provoking philosophical conversations, but then what? Neo takes the red pill and then it’s just another action film – sure, a really good action film, but all the bullet time in the world can’t make it as interesting as it was at the start. The Matrix Resurrections, on the other hand, is practically all ideas, the intro to The Matrix stretched out across a sublime 2.5 hours. The action scenes were definitely an afterthought and are lame as hell, but really, I don’t care when the conversation Resurrections is having with itself is so interesting.  

Prerequisites – The Matrix Trilogy

65 –  Ágætis byrjun

What is it? – Ágætis byrjun, Icelandic for “A good beginning”, is a critically acclaimed album from post rock band Sigur Rós 

Why? – If you, for some godforsaken reason, want to pursue the art life like me and dedicate yourself to finding great art, then the first thing you’ll have to learn is that feeling trumps all – once you reach the truly difficult to understand pieces of art, emotion is often the only thing you have to guide you – stuff like David Lynch’s Inland Empire or James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake are pretty much just nonsense on a surface level, so there’s no plot or characters or structure to ground yourself in the work. But even with simpler pieces, the point of art is to make you feel, and what critics try to do is distill that into words. Sigur Rós’s albums are a great way to learn this feeling over analysis type of criticism – not only do they sing in Icelandic, but they also often sing in Volenska. What is Volenska? It’s a language that the band has completely made up, consisting of only strings of syllables that don’t have any structure or meaning. Thus, there aren’t really any “lyrics” to much of their discography, the only metric you can judge them on is how the songs sound and make you feel.  And this feeling? It’s purely cosmic, otherworldly, like this is music from an alien planet – there’s no other band even comes close to sounding like Sigur Rós. Ágætis byrjun and () are both excellent albums, but I do prefer Ágætis byrjun since it was my introduction to the band and an easier, slightly more pleasant listen overall. 

63 (Tie) – Classroom of the Elite 

Why? – This is really the only light novel really worth reading – most of the others are filled to the brim with shitty anime tropes and abysmal writing or have had adaptations that are as good or better than the source material. Classroom of the Elite, too, is filled with anime-isms that are pretty terrible. The plot follows Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, a student of Koudo Ikusei Senior High School. This high school guarantees access into practically any university or job upon graduation but only to students who graduate while in the top class, class rankings being determined by various skill based events, from surviving on a deserted island to a sports festival. It sounds fairly generic, but what makes it work over other “mind game” type series is how much time is allocated to setting up the climaxes of each event, ensuring that the “holy shit” reveals are all exhilarating.If you’re interested, I would suggest watching season 1 of the anime and then starting from volume 4 of the light novel, since volumes 1-3 are some of the weakest in the series and the event that starts in volume 4 is when Classroom of the Elite goes from generic to great. 

63 (Tie) – Danganronpa V3

What is it? – Danganronpa V3 is the third entry in the Danganronpa series, a saga that follows 16 high schoolers with unique talents all trapped in an isolated location. The only way to escape? To kill a classmate and not be convicted of the crime in the subsequent class trial. 

Why? – 

Dear you (you’ll know if this is for you), 

I ran into you the other day. We didn’t say anything to each other, but the glare you gave me said it all. I really hope you’re doing well. My love for this game has certainly dwindled very fast, partly because I’ve started to notice its flaws, but mostly because it was always our game, our secret mode of communication, our way of coping a little while we cursed the Pacific Ocean’s existence. I know you told me not to apologize so much, but I’m sorry. I treated you terribly and I deeply regret it. You would think I would be better at finding the right words – it’s part of the entire reason I started writing – but with you, English has never been sufficient for articulating my feelings. If you’re actually reading this, please don’t message me. I’m not good for you. I just wanted to say thanks for everything. My emotions were always muffled, but you showed me how they felt at full blast. You truly made me a better person with your kindness and I wish I could’ve done the same for you. 

On the actual game – it’s great for a few of the cases and carried by an incredibly strong cast through the weak cases. I’m a V3 ending apologist – I think the metanarrative is far more interesting than the underwhelming endings of 1 and 2. That being said, the stretch from 2-4 to 2-5 in Danganronpa 2 is the most enthralled I’ve ever been playing a game. Both are fairly equal in quality , but this pick isn’t really about the game, is it?

Prerequisites – Danganronpa 1+2

62 – Hunter x Hunter

What is it? – Hunter x Hunter is a series that follows a group of “hunters”, people certified to go around the world and do dangerous tasks in order to achieve their personal goals and better society as a whole. 

Why? – Hunter x Hunter is mediocre to pretty great for most of its runtime, with the series always being anchored by a magic system that remains consistent with its concrete rules, something that’s shockingly difficult for shonen writers. But what lands Hunter x Hunter on this list is the Chimera Ant arc, which introduces us to the titular Chimera Ants, large insects that eat several times their weight every day, driving many species to extinction, the true brilliance of the arc showing itself at the end when the series makes the argument that us humans are not so different from them through showing their capacity for humanity juxtaposed with our capacity for inhumanity, a payoff so interesting that it’s easily in my top 3 animanga arcs of all time (other 2 are Berserk’s Golden Age and One Piece’s Enies Lobby)

61 – Princess Mononoke

What is it? – Princess Mononoke is a Studio Ghibli film that follows a three way war between the gods and spirits of the forest against the humans using its resources against a young prince looking for a cure for a curse a demon inflicted on him.

Why? – Princess Mononoke is Miyazaki’s environmentalist masterpiece, a nuanced, empathetic work that never truly villainizes any of the characters – if you’re wondering why I hate so many animated children’s films, I’m one of those people that grew up with Ghibli films, gorgeous movies that actually have something meaningful to say, something Western animation studios struggle with all too much. 

60 – The Fifth Season

Why? – The Fifth Season is a perfect fantasy novel. Sure, it’s not a perfect book. The beginning is overwhelming with all the terminology being hurled at you, some POVs are certainly more interesting at points than others, and the writing is too experimental for some. But as a fantasy narrative? The Fifth Season creates a fascinating, believable world, complex, human characters, and ties everything together at the end to create a masterful tale of broken people surviving in a broken world. It follows three orogenes, people who have the ability to manipulate the Earth to create or quell seismic movements. Because of these skills, orogenes have become feared and ostracized, as many aren’t taught how to control their powers. Additionally, this world also has a “fifth season” every few centuries, cataclysmic periods of time where natural disasters lead to extreme destruction and poverty. Orogenes are found and forced to work in order to help extinguish earthquakes and mitigate the effects of these seasons or to help with manual labor. We see over and over how terribly the people saving the Earth are treated and this is the struggle at the core of the novel. These people are being systematically oppressed – how do they react to that? They survive. Sometimes, they even feel alive – they find their people, they learn to love each other when the whole planet is against them, they finally start to believe in a better future –  but those times are few and far between. And when these brief moments of happiness are taken from them? Maybe this is the way the world ends for the last time.

59 – Bloom into You

What is it? – Bloom Into You is a romance following high schoolers Yuu And Touko. This entry is for the manga – the anime, while an excellent adaptation, is unfinished

Why? –Bloom Into You is the gold standard for yuri (term referring to works focused on intimate (not necessarily romantic) relationships between women, idk, the animanga community comes up with a lot of goofy slang) manga on the pure virtue of it not doing anything particularly wrong, which is an absolute miracle in the genre. The relationship between Yuu and Touko is always (somewhat) believable, the supporting cast has characters that feel like genuine people outside of their connection with the main couple, and it actually has a satisfactory ending. This spot could absolutely be occupied by Casey McQuinston’s novel One Last Stop, another excellent lesbian romance, but I’m far more emotionally attached to Bloom Into You, considering I’ve reread it maybe a dozen times compared to the measly one time I’ve read One Last Stop. 

58 – Haikyuu

What is it? – Haikyuu is a volleyball anime following Karasuno High School’s volleyball team attempt to become the best in the nation. This entry is specifically for season 3 of the anime, which is one 10 episode match against the formidable Shiratorizawa Academy.  (Yes, I have read the manga, I prefer the adaptation in this case)

Why? – Haikyuu was certainly good up to this point, but season 3 is pure, unadulterated hype. It’s essentially every generic sports film if they were actually good, with 50 episodes of buildup turning a really long volleyball game into a stressful, exhilarating gauntlet that pushes all the characters you’ve gotten to know so well into better players and better versions of themselves. 

57 – Tetris Effect Connected

What is it? – Tetris Effect Connected is an updated version of acclaimed game Tetris Effect, which is essentially just OG Tetris with a newly added “Zone” mechanic, which lets the player stop time to clear upwards of 16 lines at once (known as a decahexatris). The game is named after the psychological effect of the same name, where playing Tetris for long enough leads to thinking about it subconsciously even after the playing session is over (e.g. thinking about how buildings would fit together or dreaming about the game). 

Why? – Tetris Effect Connected takes the universal video game and pushes it to its absolute limits, overlaying a phantasmagorial, vivid light show with the definitive version of the king of puzzle games. But that’s not why the game is on the list – it’s here because it’s a beautiful reminder that we’re all connected in this world through Tetris, through our attachment to this silly block game, we’re all far more similar than we are different. 

56 – House of Leaves

What is it? – House of Leaves is the most famous example of ergodic literature – literature that requires nontrivial effort for the reader to read.  It achieves this by having a nonlinear structure with multiple concurrent stories through footnotes and references as well as have some text in nontraditional formats (some is backwards and has to be held up to a mirror, some is sideways and requires turning the book 90 degrees, etc.). The actual plot follows academic studies of the imaginary film the Navidson Record, in which the Navidson family records the happenings in their house, which is somehow slightly larger on the inside than it is on the outside. 

Why? – House of Leaves is legitimately one of the most creative efforts in modern literature – from the iconic starting line “This is not for you” to the mysterious blue color of every mention of the word House, the novel is a compelling, unnerving read from cover to cover. 

55 – Worm 

What is it? – Worm is a web serial that ran from 2011-2013, clocking in at approximately 7000 pages by the end. It follows Taylor Hebert, who develops the power to control simple lifeforms (worms, insects, etc.) and her journey through the morally grey world of the Parahumans universe

Why? – Worm is, unquestionably, the best superhero story. This is because the web serial does three things that no other superhero universe does quite as well – firstly, and most importantly, everyone’s powers are set in stone. There’s no bullshit last minute powerups, with the only way of getting stronger being to constantly experiment with the abilities to work around their limitations. Secondly, the series delves into the inherent moral complexity of “heroes” and “villains” – with most superhero stories, the “heroes” only protect a flawed status quo, so the villains actually seem fairly reasonable, at least until they start microwaving babies on the street. Worm instead follows what other series would call a “villain” – the protagonist Taylor Hebert is not a good person at all. But the genius of the serial lies in the fact that nobody is good in the bleak, murky atmosphere of Brockton Bay. Thirdly, the series is girthy, letting it develop even extremely minor characters and lets us see a natural power progression in its characters. Worm is one of the reasons I absolutely despise the Marvel Cinematic Universe – most of it comes from the saga being a collection of films and TV shows that are antithetical to the entire Sufficiency ethos, all shallow, mass produced, propagandistic, insincere trash that doesn’t make life sufficient, but it also gets knocked down further in my mind because this masterwork outdoes it in every aspect imaginable. 

Read free here – https://parahumans.wordpress.com/

Listen to the audiobook free here – https://audioworm.rein-online.org/

54 – Before Sunset

Why? – Before the events of Before Sunset in the film Before Sunrise, romantics Jesse and Celine spend a dreamy evening in Vienna and promise to meet up six months later in the same city. In Before Sunset, the two run into each other for the first time since that evening nine years earlier – their planned encounter didn’t work out for various reasons and they’ve both lived with that regret for the past near decade. They both have partners, but they both secretly wish that they could turn back time to end up with each other. The film, then, is a beautiful, achingly romantic 80 minutes spent watching two people struggle with living in a “right person, wrong time” dilemma that’ll continue to haunt them for the rest of their lives while simultaneously trying to enjoy their precious few minutes they get together, this push and pull creating one of the most compelling relationships in cinematic history. 

Prerequisites – Before Sunrise

53 – For Emma, Forever Ago

What is it? – For Emma, Forever Ago is the debut album of folk band Bon Iver, being well known for its origin – singer/songwriter Justin Vernon developed pneumonia, mononucleosis, and a liver infection, during which time he was kicked out of his band and developed a gambling addiction. Vernon, fed up with his life after fully recovering, broke up with his girlfriend, gathered his recording equipment, and drove 18 hours to his isolated, rural childhood home. There, he spent the next 4 months writing and recording the songs that would eventually make up For Emma, Forever Ago. 

Why? – Justin Vernon was at an absolute low point writing this album, and all his hurt absolutely survives the transition into song – this is a heart-wrenching, harrowing listen. The comparisons to this being a modern day Walden are apt, though unlike that book, this album is actually emotionally resonant – it’s both as beautiful as the environment it was created in and as harsh as the circumstances that led to its creation.

LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY

52 – Never Let Me Go

What is it? – Never Let Me Go is a science fiction novel by Kazuo Ishiguro – to say much more would spoil the experience. 

Why? – This book is an absolute nightmare to try and write about, so I’ll simply just say that it’s one of the most devastating, thought provoking novels I’ve ever read.

51 – Normal People 

What is it? – Normal People is the television adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel of the same name, which follows the complicated relationship between classmates Connell and Marianne through their high school and university years. I have read the book, but I still prefer the show for how expertly the two central actors portray the protagonists.

Why? – The most common complaint lobbed at Normal People is that the plot is entirely driven by Connell and Marianne having a chronic inability to communicate. Yes, this is true, but I would argue that the miscommunication is the entire point of the show. If you want a romance where the right people say the right things at the right time, there’s plenty of vapid wish fulfillment books for you to read – Normal People is real. It’s about doing entirely the wrong things and saying the wrong words and losing the partner of your dreams and that’s the beauty of the story – it’s about how not communicating well destroys relationships, but it’s also extremely empathetic towards that plight, understanding that finding the right words sometimes feels impossible and that sentiment is normal (hence the title). 

50 – Avatar The Last Airbender 

What is it? – Avatar The Last Airbender is an animated show following Aang, the last of his tribe, mastering control over the four elements (fire, earth, water, air) to bring harmony to the universe. 

Why? – Avatar The Last Airbender is such a non-pick for a list like this – for me personally, season 1 is pretty mediocre, the deus ex machina ending is such an asspull, the “romance” is abysmal, and the show overall isn’t as perfect as the fans make it out to be. But even with all that being said, I shockingly really enjoy the universally beloved show. Season 2 in particular is phenomenal, with episodes like “Zuko Alone” and “The Tales of Ba Sing Se” rightfully being recognized as masterful and Zuko being one of the most compelling characters in any of the entries on the list. 

100 – Folklore

What is it? – Folklore is the eighth album from the largest artist in the world, shifting from her previous album’s energetic bubble pop to a slower folk vibe that puts more emphasis on lyricism. It was a surprise album released a few months into COVID during July of 2020 and was followed up by a sister album a few months later. 

Why?  – I’m a former Swiftie, and though I left after The Tortured Poets Department debacle (1. The album is terrible, 2. She keeps re-releasing it to block artists from Billboard #1, which is a dick move, and 3. Her current silence on politics is unacceptable (UPDATE: Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris, this point is thankfully now irrelevant), I still do have some fondness for Folklore and Evermore. Both of them could’ve taken this spot – they both represent Taylor Swift working at her artistic peak, but I do prefer Folklore for being more sonically cohesive. Plus, the “Teenage Love Triangle” trilogy is easily the best thing Taylor Swift has ever written (sorry All Too Well 10 Minute Version fans), playing to her strengths of simple, powerful writing and creating a small connected universe between songs to make something genuinely interesting in the pop music sphere.

For those curious: 

TS Albums Ranked: Folklore>Evermore>Red>1989>Speak Now>Midnights>Lover>Reputation>Fearless>Tortured Poets>Debut

Top 13 songs: Teenage Love Triangle (August>Betty>Cardigan, counting it as one song) > All Too Well 10 Minute Version > Long Live > You’re On Your Own, Kid > Hits Different > Mirrorball > Champagne Problems > Renegade > Long Story Short > 22 > Cruel Summer > Mr. Perfectly Fine > New Romantics 

Listen here – https://open.spotify.com/album/1pzvBxYgT6OVwJLtHkrdQK?si=baMGAQAFTL-GACtdZbFdFQ

99 – Pui Pui Molcar

What is it? – Pui Pui Molcar is a stop motion anime series centering around molcars – guinea pig cars. 

Why? –  – Pui Pui Molcar is a show about the adorable eponymous molcars. Do I actually think the show is great? Not really, but this manages to skyrocket its way onto the list because of how purely charming it is in a short period of time (three minute episodes), making it a perfect comfort show. 

98 – Romeo + Juliet

What is it? – Romeo + Juliet is a 1996 adaptation of Shakespeare’s seminal 1597 play Romeo and Juliet. As much as you might want to deny it, this is probably the most accurate modern Shakespeare adaptation in terms of vibes – were he still alive, he would adore this film. 

Why? – I love Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare’s rhythmic writing is so stunningly beautiful that it almost makes me care about the plight of two dumb, bougie, 14th century teenagers. I also love Baz Luhrmann – his over the top filmmaking is so singular that even his bad films are a joy to watch. It’s a miracle, then, that somebody let Luhrmann “adapt” Romeo and Juliet – he manages to take the gravitas of the original text and turn it into a beautiful, romantic, energetic masterpiece of a gangster movie, finally pulling off the impossible task of making Shakespeare interesting. 

96 (Tie) – Attack on Titan

What is it? – 2013-2023 anime series following humanity after giant creatures known as “Titans” create a post apocalyptic scenario where everyone lives in cities with massive walls to protect themselves. Unfortunately for them, a massive titan taller than their walls has just shown up.

Why? –  I struggled for a while on whether I liked Attack on Titan enough to warrant a spot on this list – on one hand, it’s really good at practically everything. The soundtrack, animation, and storytelling are all in the upper echelon of anime. On the other hand, the ending is relatively weak and I don’t think the show does anything exceptionally well (except for foreshadowing). But being consistently great at everything is good enough to land a piece of art on this list (albeit near the bottom) and this is the kind of show that works as a universal recommendation because of that (plus, watching weekly during Final Season Part 1 was one of the few times being a weeb was worth it – seeing #declarationofwar trending on Twitter was genuinely hilarious)

96 (Tie) – Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

What is it? – 2009 adaptation of manga series Fullmetal Alchemist, following brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric’s journey to find the Philosopher’s Stone to gain their original bodies after losing them in an alchemy accident

Why? – Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is the former king of MAL (MyAnimeList, the most popular anime tracking site), being the highest rated anime on the site for years before being dethroned by the excellent Frieren. It’s really easy to see why – much like Attack on Titan, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood is exceptional at being pretty good in every category, making for another easy universal recommendation (want to get into anime for some godforsaken reason?  Watch this – it’s the Avatar: The Last Airbender of anime). Comparing the two, Fullmetal Alchemist lands its ending much better, but Attack on Titan has higher peaks, so really, it’s a wash.  Disclaimer – for me, it took me a lot of tries to get into Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – the first 13ish episodes aren’t quite as compelling as what comes later (besides that infamous moment). 

95 – The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild

What is it? – The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is the first truly open world entry in the beloved The Legend of Zelda series, allowing players the freedom to choose their own path on their way to defeat Ganon at the cost of the intricately designed dungeons that were center to previous Zelda games’ appeal

Why? – I don’t think Breath of the Wild is a great game –  its positive traits are all better in its sequel Tears of the Kingdom and its negative traits are far too noticeable. (I don’t like Tears of the Kingdom either, but that’s a different story.) But for all its faults, Breath of the Wild was my pandemic game – any stress from online schooling or the general dread of wasted youth faded away after romping around Hyrule for a while. So, even with the abysmal weapon durability system, completely backwards difficulty curve, and underwhelming dungeons, I regrettably am attached enough to this game that it ended up on the list. 

94 – There Will Never Ever Be Another Melee Player Like Hungrybox

What is it? – Youtube video made by EmpLemon about the history and legacy of a major player in an ancient game that still draws new players in every day

Why? – Super Smash Bros. Melee is my favorite spectator e-sport – it’s a brutally fast platform fighter with an infinitely high skill ceiling that has some fascinating history, which leads to consistently interesting, exciting matches. Part of this history is the Era of the Five Gods, where one of five players won every major tournament from 2007-2016, their abilities in the game so far above every other player that once a player finally defeated them all, he was christened a “godslayer”. You probably don’t care about any of this – I certainly didn’t until a couple years ago. But Youtuber EmpLemon has a remarkable ability to make you truly care about something that you didn’t give a shit about a few hours earlier, which shines brightly in his video There Will Never Ever Be Another Melee Player Like Hungrybox, detailing the life and meteoric rise of the most controversial of the five gods. It’s exceptionally well made and requires no previous knowledge of Melee or video games at all, not so much about the game as it is about one man finding solace and glory in a community that utterly hates him. 

WATCH HERE – Youtube

93 – Crab Game

What is it? – Crab Game is a free to play multiplayer game that puts players through games based off of the activities in hit capitalist critique television show Squid Game

Why? – Crab Game is an alright minigame collection with the worst, most bigoted playerbase of all time. But even with all that baggage, the game still represents the era of my life when I was just starting high school – countless weekends burnt away on the lobbies with my friends, partying and downing a sickening amount of soda and greasy pizza, the future a distant thought as I grappled with my morality, reality, and any number of other -ality words while developing my concept of self. 

Free on Steam – LINK

92 – The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

What is it? – Third album from post rock group Explosions in the Sky, commonly considered to be an example of post 9/11 music (though, the album was recorded a couple years before the attacks even happened)

Why? – Sure, other post rock records are probably better (Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven was very high on this list on earlier drafts), but they don’t make me feel quite like The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place with its beautiful, infectious love of life even in the face of tragedy.

STREAM – https://open.spotify.com/album/49buCcKCJwxvdl0R2dMoIU?si=hO8XGdihQDS0EnuPbMKXVw

91 – House of Hades

What is it? – House of Hades is the fourth entry in the The Heroes of Olympus series, a sequel series to megahit saga Percy Jackson and the Olympians. While the series does retain much of the cast from its prequel, the main characters are all offspring of Roman gods compared to the Greek heritage of the PJ+O gang. 

Why? – The Riordanverse is filled with children’s books that are much better than they have any right to be, and they reach their absolute apex in House of Hades, the fourth book in the Heroes of Olympus series. In this one, Percy and Annabeth, easily the most interesting couple in children’s media, have to fight their way out of literal hell together, creating a searingly romantic tale that plays to Riordan’s strengths of creating strong characters and putting them through action packed scenarios strongly rooted in mythology.

Prerequisites – Percy Jackson and the Olympians 1-5, The Heroes of Olympus 1-3

90 – Anohana

What is it? – Anohana is an 11 episode anime following Jinta Yadomi and his childhood friends confronting their guilt over a tragic accident that happened 10 years earlier

Why? – Anohana is a shallow, overrated melodrama, a “meditation on grief” that doesn’t particularly manage to explore the effects of a tragedy because of its all too short runtime. Yet, this is still the show that opened my eyes to the wide world of what anime could be outside of mediocre shonen slop, still the reason I tear up every time I hear ”Secret Base (10 years after)”, still largely my gateway into the entire drama genre – it’s a microcosm of much of anime as a whole with the shallow female characters, absolute lack of subtext, and pure, blunt force emotional impact. 

89 – The Simpsons Is Good Again

 What is it? – Youtube video where revered media critic SuperEyepatchWolf argues that The Simpsons is actually good now

Why? – In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death, taxes, and modern Simpsons being awful. Or at least, that’s the general public consensus, but YouTube has given millions the ability to articulate exactly why they hold their unpopular stance on certain topics. One of these people is YouTuber SuperEyepatchWolf, who’s become well known for his well written, expertly produced videos on whatever random hyperfixation he has at the moment. In his video The Simpsons is Good Again, he goes through the history of The Simpsons to point out that the “Golden Age” of Simpsons only existed because of the conservative TV culture at the time and that for it to become relevant again, it has to evolve – which, he argues, is exactly what the new seasons are doing. Most of his videos are exceptional, but I picked this one as a standout because he does some audacious things with the script that I have to respect as a fellow writer. 

WATCH HERE – YOUTUBE

88 – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 6 Stone Ocean

What is it? – The sixth part of the everlong saga following the eternal duel between the Joestar family and the evils that are fated to plague them. Starting from part 3, these encounters take the form of “Stand Battles”, Stands being manifestations of fighting spirit that have special abilities. This placement is for the manga, not the anime adaptation (which is still pretty great, but doesn’t quite replicate the energy of Araki’s insane drawings)

Why? – Stone Ocean is my favorite Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure part – I absolutely love fan favorites Steel Ball Run and Diamond is Unbreakable, but part 6 has my favorite stand battles in the series. The protagonist Jolyne Cujoh has arguably the weakest stand out of the Jojos, which is juxtaposed against the enemy stands of part 6, arguably some of the strongest in the series. And while this occasionally leads to the part being the prime example of the “JoJo fans when the good guy outsmarts the bad guy for the 900th time because he put a frog up his ass or something” meme, it also creates some of the best, most exciting fights in the series. And yes – I am a part 6 ending fan, it’s a brilliant, bonkers way to mark the end of an era and the start of the next. 

Prerequisites – Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Parts 1-5

87 – The Name of the Wind

What is it? – The first entry in a fantasy series following Kvothe, an orphan who eventually kills the king of the nation that treated him so cruelly all those years ago (not a spoiler, the series is literally called The Kingkiller Chronicles and is framed through an older Kvothe telling a historian the story of his past)

Why? – The Kingkiller Chronicles series has received plenty of backlash since its initial positive reception, partly due to the second book largely being a stupid sex fantasy, but mostly due to author Patrick Rothfuss not writing the third book (which isn’t bad by itself, but it’s really sort of a problem when he takes hundreds of thousands of dollars promising to read a chapter from a book he hasn’t even started writing (SOURCE)). But even with all that baggage, The Name of the Wind is an exceptional novel in how effectively it manages to be a cozy epic fantasy. There’s not much in the way of stakes – obviously, the Mary Sue protagonist Kvothe gets out of everything unscathed, considering that he’s telling the story of his past in a bar. This leads to the focus being shifted towards the fascinating world of Temerant, which then leads to the greatest strength of the series – how easy it is to lose yourself in this universe. As Ursula K. Le Guin (A much better author than Rothfuss) once said, “Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory”, and by that metric, The Name of the Wind is the most glorious fantasy novel I’ve ever read. 

86 – Paddington 2

 What is it? –  A sequel to 2014 film Paddington where the titular bear is sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit and has to escape to prove his innocence

Why? – Paddington 2 is about finding the good in everyone while also being an indictment of the systems that destroy our inherent capacity for kindness – it’s unironically an unabashed ACAB film. It’s become the film community’s equivalent of the music community’s love of Carly Rae Jepsen’s  E·MO·TION – both are disarmingly sincere, incredibly competently made, and accessible while still having deeper complexity for those looking for it. Paddington in Peru has a lot to live up to. (UPDATE (4/12/2025) – Paddington in Peru is deeply mediocre)

Prerequisites – none, though watching Paddington first is recommended

84 (Tie) – The Stand 

What is it? – The Stand follows a classic tale of good and evil during a pandemic. This placement is for The Complete & Uncut Edition, which is around 400 pages longer and is officially Stephen King’s longest stand-alone novel. 

Why? – Stephen King is one of the most popular living authors for a reason – for all that he might do wrong, he consistently writes accessible books with fascinating ideas, and this is most evident with The Stand, widely considered to be one of his best books, if not the best. It’s a good vs evil story set in the post apocalypse after a virus wipes out much of the population, using its massive length to build up a large cast of characters, all with dozens of pages of backstory, brings them all together, and makes them all come to the realization that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” , leading to them eventually making a stand against the evil forces that threaten humanity in the climax. It’s a very simple structure,  sure, but Stephen King is a great storyteller and somehow makes the story compelling for its entire, colossal runtime, proving that he deserves his popularity, even if lots of his books are of questionable quality. 

84 (Tie) – The Way of Kings 

What is it? – The first entry in The Stormlight Archive series, which is part of Brandon Sanderson’s larger universe, The Cosmere. If you’re a nerd and the idea of wasting hours away learning about an admittedly really interesting world gets you drooling with excitement, this video is a great primer for the saga:  VIDEO

Why? – I’m not personally a big Sanderson fan – I would argue that much of his works are mediocre fantasy slop (Elantris, Warbreaker, Dawnshard, Edgedancer, etc.).  And yes – if you ever see a big Sanderson fan in the wild, you better run away as fast as possible or else you’ll be stuck in a three hour conversation about the Cosmere. But even with all that being said, Sanderson at his peak writes the most compulsively readable fantasy in the genre – I read this one in a single sitting daze on a road trip. The protagonist Kaladin, even with his stupid ass name, is a really compelling character here. He’s enslaved, forced to do intense, life threatening physical labor every day, at the lowest point mentally anyone can get, and yet, still finds the willpower to keep living and to start rebelling. At its core, The Stormlight Archive as a series is about broken people finding strength within themselves in order to save the world, and even all the Sandersonisms of occasionally horrendous dialogue and prose of questionable quality can’t dilute the beauty of that core concept.

Prerequisites – None, though some would recommend reading the original Mistborn trilogy first

83 – Cyberpunk Edgerunners

What is it? – Cyberpunk Edgerunners is an anime that takes place in the Cyberpunk universe, most famous for its excellent game Cyberpunk 2077.  In this universe, megacorporations run everything and technology has progressed significantly, but quality of life has assuredly not, with most either dying early or living their entire life making meager wages while working incredibly time consuming, labor intensive jobs (If you’re thinking “Hey! That sounds familiar”, that’s literally the point).  The events of Edgerunners happen before the events of 2077 and is thus completely standalone and can be watched without any previous knowledge of the universe. 

Why? – “Would you rather live in peace as Mr. Nobody, die ripe, old and smelling slightly of urine? Or go down for all times in a blaze of glory, smelling near like posies, without seeing your thirtieth?” – this is the question at the heart of the entire Cyberpunk universe. Quiet life or blaze of glory? In the corporate hellscape of Night City, there is no right answer, but for David Martinez, the protagonist of Cyberpunk Edgerunners, the choice is easy. As a viewer, though, the tragedy of David hurtling himself towards an inevitable fatal ending while pushing his found family away is utterly heartbreaking. 

82 – Connections (NYT)

What is it? – Daily word game made by The New York Times where you’re given 16 words and have 4 tries to figure out what words go together to form 4 word categories 

Why? –

Dear you (you’ll know if this is for you), 

I can’t quite remember how it started, but every morning, I wake up, check my notifications, go to the bathroom, do the NYT Connections for the day, and send my results to you. On my worst days, it’s been my only motivation to get out of bed in the morning. It’s strange – I’m not sure I like Connections that much, it’s just a simple word game that’s always too easy or has the most diabolical categories ever created. But the allure of Connections, or any of the NYT games, isn’t actually playing the game. The point is that they’re all very easily understood and accessible, creating a universal cultural talking point for a whole generation – Connections leads to connections, through talking about stupid categories and flexing over getting the purple category first. We’re eventually going to drift apart, our life trajectories are too different to lead to any other outcome, but I’ll always cherish you and the dumb word game that brought us a little closer.

PLAY FREE HERE – NYT Connections

81 – Final Fantasy VII

What is it? – Seventh mainstream entry in the Final Fantasy saga, a series of games only connected by genre and recurring character archetypes. The game is considered one of the most influential video game releases of all time, with the release marking the start of JRPGs becoming much more popular in the West. 

Why? – Final Fantasy VII feels like an old game – the graphics are charming if you’re feeling generous, atrocious if not, and it forces you to play dozens of crappy minigames throughout the length campaign. But yet, even after all these years, VII still has the most powerful moments in the series – every revelation about the protagonist Cloud is crushing and that one iconic scene is still as devastating as it probably was a few decades ago. And all this culminates in a final battle that, while not all that compelling gameplay wise, is the best finale to a JRPG I’ve ever played because of how satisfying it is after the past dozens of hours of plot buildup. 

80 – Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality 

What is it? –  A complete retelling of the Harry Potter series, but instead of Harry being an idiot orphan, he’s a brilliant scientist before going to Hogwarts

Why? – Yeah, the author Eliezer Yudkowsky is the type of guy to say “Bazinga!” in every conversation, some of the science in Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality is just wrong/outdated, and Harry is, at least at the start, pretty annoying and arrogant, but as a whole, HPMOR does some fascinating things to the Harry Potter universe, turning a mediocre at best series into a tour de force of scientific fantasy. 

FULL THOUGHTS HERE – HPMOR Review

READ FREE HERE – HPMOR
AUDIOBOOK FREE HERE – AUDIOBOOK

Prerequisites – Harry Potter 1-7 (films or books)

79 – Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse

What is it? – Sequel to 2018 film Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse where superhero Miles Morales has to fight against the Spider Society filled with hundreds of other Spider-People to try and protect those he loves

Why? – Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse is the rare superhero film that I actually like, which is strange because it’s filled with tropes that I despise, from constant references to stupid one liners. Luckily, it has some insane animation, a fire soundtrack that actually fits the movie, and two central characters that are legitimately compelling outside of their superhero personas. 

Prerequisites – Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse

78 – Castlevania Symphony of the Night

What is it? – Castlevania Symphony of the Night is the 1997 entry in the Castlevania series, which follows the eternal battle between Dracula and the Belmont family. This is also the game (alongside Super Metroid)  that led to the coining of the term “Metroidvania” to describe nonlinear platformers where the path forward is restricted until certain items are obtained

Why? – Castlevania Symphony of the Night is a maximalist video game – there’s so many things that you’re never going to use in a normal playthrough, from dozens of intensely powerful weapons to an entire magic system that most players will never run into. But this turns Symphony of the Night from a pretty decent metroidvania into an infinitely replayable question of “how do I want to be vastly overpowered today?” after you beat it for the first time, becoming a pure power fantasy for a glorious few hours if you have any knowledge of the game’s deeper mechanics. And with the incredibly versatile SOTN randomizers, this is easily a contender for a “desert island game” – games that you would bring if you were in a situation where you had nothing to do but play video games for multiple weeks/months straight. 

77 – Clannad After Story

What is it? – Clannad After Story is the sequel to Clannad, a slice of life story following Tomoya, a high schooler struggling with his mother’s death, and Nagisa, a loner who he befriends/falls for, as well as the friend group they eventually form

Why? – Clannad and the first half of Clannad After Story aren’t good at all. This is the reason I’ll never recommend the show for most people. That being said, the payoff for trudging through 40 episodes of slice of life sludge is somehow worth it, with the second half of After Story being the most emotionally devastating thing I’ve ever seen.

Prerequisites – Clannad (23 episodes)

76 – Misery

Why? –  Sure, there are Stephen King books that are “better” – namely, his famous epics (The Stand, It, and 11/22/63) all reach higher highs than Misery does. But my favorite from the king of horror is Misery because of how it avoids the typical King-isms of excessive prose, inability to write women, and not being able to create a good ending to save his life. The narrative of writer Paul Sheldon trapped in a house, forced to write by an obsessive fan is very simple, but creates such a suffocating thriller, so effective at putting you into his shoes that you’ll wince every time a key falls off his shoddy typewriter. 

75 – My Neighbor Totoro

What is it? – My Neighbor Totoro is a slice of life Studio Ghibli film following two sisters after a move to the countryside and their subsequent encounters with “Totoros”, magical creatures who roam the forest and are only visible to children

Why? – I can’t quite articulate my thoughts on My Neighbor Totoro yet, partly because it’s near impossible to distill the appeal of this film into words, partly because I’m almost out of time to finish writing this article in time for the end of August, so I’ll just say this for now – My Neighbor Totoro is the most calming movie ever made