Needs More Love (Sugar Wiki): Difference between revisions

* ''[[Star Driver]]'' is an excellent new anime from ''[[Soul Eater]]'' director Takuya Igarashi and ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' writer Yoji Enokido (who also created ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'' together), animated by [[Studio BONES]]. The show shares a bevy similarities to the formula of ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'', so much so that it's been called that show's spiritual successor, and contains several [[Shout-Out|Shout Outs]] to a lot of other well-known anime. The story so far takes an approach that's sadly become rare these days: the overall plot remains a mystery, while the show delicately teases the viewers with new information on what's really going on. It does this by focusing on specific characters each episode and digging deeper into their backstory, revealing their perspective on this series of bizarre events and people on this peculiar island. This is all topped off with beautiful animation, interesting and likeable characters, incredible music, and an overall sense of fun. That's the beauty of the series; it doesn't take itself too seriously at all. Sure, it is a bit formulaic, but it's to be expected from a show that takes so many cues from ''Utena''. Sadly, and partly due to the fact that it's a completely original work not adapted from anything, the show hasn't gotten nearly the TV ratings it deserves in Japan nor the attention it deserves in North America. Maybe its popularity will come once it's finished, but only time will tell.

* ''[[There Beyond the Beyond]]'' (just ''Beyond the Beyond'' in North America) is a six-volume shonen manga with beautiful art and a fun, engaging adventure story, but has had terrible luck reaching English audiences in any official capacity. Tokyopop invested almost nothing into translating it and cancelled the translation due to lack of sales, and Chuang-Yi in Singapore only made it to the fifth book before encountering legal problems that prevented them from finishing translating the series.

* ''[[Me and the Devil Blues]]'' and ''2001Nights'' are quite possibly the two best manga this troper's ''ever'' read (barring ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind|Nausicaä]]'') but no one has heard of them before on either side of the Pacific. One is an absolutely beautiful Southern American gothic-horror story featuring a legendary blues musician and a legendary criminal getting into violent misadventures while the other is a collection of short stories written in the classic hard-scifi style of Arthur C. Clarke, full of [[Tear Jerker|tear jerkers]] and all that good stuff.

* ''[[My Lovely Ghost Kana]]'' is a three volume manga that is one of the most beautifully written and illustrated and moving love stories I've ever read in ''any'' medium. It takes some of the most potentially darkest character backgrounds ever and turns them into a glorious celebration of life and love that will move you to happy tears many times over. The two main characters have sex often, invariably getting the title classified as [[Hentai]], which would undoubtedly turn many people off from reading it. But creator [[Tanaka Yutaka]] does a masterful job of storytelling that the sex is only a natural, playful and loving part of a relationship. The sexual content is much softer than most hentai, and it stops appearing in later chapters entirely. By the end, you'll have [[Come for the X, Stay for the Y|completely forgotten]], and you'll feel like running outside and hugging someone.

* From the author of ''[[The Legend of Koizumi]]'' and ''[[Gundam Sousei]]'', ''Kidou Senshi Gundam-san'' is an ''absolutely hilarious'' take on the [[Mobile Suit Gundam|Universal Century]]. It features, for example, Char as a [[Cloudcuckoolander]], Lalah as a [[Boke and Tsukkomi Routine|Tsukkomi to Char's Boke]], Amuro as a [[Hormone-Addled Teenager]], Sayla as a sadistic [[Doctor Jerk]] and [[Team Pet|Haro]] as actually being operated by some guy ''from the inside''. It also features the inspiring tale of [[The Hero's Journey]] of a lowly [[Mecha-Mooks|Zaku II]] (in which the original Gundam plays the role of the [[Big Bad]]) and the surprisingly emotional story ([[Better Than Canon|which should totally be canon!]]) of the humble origins of the Zabi family, in which we can see young Garma as a [[Cheerful Child]] and young Gihren as a [[NEET]]. And all this is ''just the tip of the iceberg!''

* [[Happy]], a tennis/poverty manga by [[Naoki Urasawa]] with amazingly well-rounded characters.

* ''[[From Eroica with Love]]'' is a hilarious manga with a very niche fanbase. This lack of popularity probably stems from the fact that one of the two main characters is rather [[Camp Gay|flamboyantly gay]] -- which is a pity, because there is NO homosexual content whatsoever in the story (save for a few... okay, a ''lot'' of verbal jokes/gags). But the series really is comedy gold (and the majority of the humour does ''not'' stem from the gay jokes - those are just a side-dish), with a sprinkling of espionage action/adventure thrown in for good measure. The mangaka's adamant refusal to allow an anime adaptation probably doesn't help the situation.

* ''[[Mononoke]]'' is an absolutely excellent little 12-episode series if you're the kind of person who enjoys [[Surreal Horror]] + [[Psychological Horror]] + [[Mind Screw]] + [[Awesome Art|awesome]] ''and'' [[Deranged Animation|surreal]] artwork.

* Bungie's ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]''. What did this game bring into video games, specifically first-person shooters? Let's start with vertical aiming, Multiplayer objectives other than just kill everybody, single player objectives other than just kill everything, computer-controlled allies, idle animations for enemies, the ability to swim, dual wield, "Jump," use an in-game Radar and map, and use an alternate fire for some weapons; enemy chatter, humerous in-game dialogue, asymettrical character models, different models for players with different guns (In DOOM, all players appeared to have a gun that wasn't in the game regardless of what weapon they were actually using), vacuum areas, an [[Almost Out of Oxygen|Oxygen Bar]], and not to mention it has an incredibly in-depth plot and was the inspiration for ''[[Halo]]''. Despite all of this, people still acclaim Halo for setting the guidelines for First-person shooters, mainly for its regenerating health.

** Bungie's other games, such as ''[[Myth]]''. There are about a dozen of them. ''[[Oni]]'', ''[[Abuse]]'', ''[[Myth]]'', ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'', and ''[[Pathways into Darkness]]'' are all good and all brought new concepts into their genres, yet are all ignored and overshadowed by ''[[Halo]]''.

* ''[[Battlezone (1998 video game)|Battlezone 1998]]'', a RTS-FPS mix featuring a compelling storyline, great graphics and overall high production values was largely overlooked by consumers when it game out in the late 90's even though it was awarded high scores by critics.

* ''[[Okami]]'', probably one of the best games ever. I mean, you play as a [[Big Badass Wolf]] god vanquishing demons, with many bosses and an incredibly long storyline, all in a lush, unique art style. It has even won several awards and is critically acclaimed. Really, anyone with a wii or [[PlayStation 2]] should have one. It just didn't sell, and God knows why.

* ''[[The Unholy War]]'' can only be described as a great fighting game, and in [[This Troper]] 's opinion one of the best. You've plenty characters to choose from, an strategy mode to make the game more interesting, and it's awesome to play against a friend. Not only that, but it was a full 3D game, with free movement, in 1998! (something weird back then). Even with all that, the game was poorly received , and very few people know about it.

* ''[[F-Zero]]''. One of the best racing series ever, and yet there has been no game since 2004, and even then that game was only released in Japan. Captain Falcon is not happy.

* ''[[A Witch's Tale]]'' is about a young witch-in-training who wants to become the greatest witch in time and space. She releases a [[Sealed Evil in a Can]] and must go on a quest to defeat it along with her vampire sidekick, rescuing six princesses along the way. A very excellent game, full of comedic moments and [[Tear Jerker|Tear Jerkers]] alike.

* ''[[Gearheads]]'': A very obscure [[Lighter and Softer]] version of [[Archon]]. Two players with a collection of wind-up toys [[Better Than It Sounds|must send as many of those toys to the other side of the screen as possible.]] Each toy works differently: one serves as a tank to block other toys, a toy chicken hatches windup chicks, and yet another "scares" toys, flipping them around and basically converting them over to your side. There's 12 toys, but players can only use 3 types per game. Making things more challenging is that toys that are too slow eventually slow down and stop moving. This game is so obscure that the only the Mac version can be found online. You can download it [http://macintoshgarden.org/games/gearheads here.]

* [http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsTheWaveTV ItsTheWaveTV.] The channel of amateur comedian Tyler Schuman. That's to say nothing of the quality of his work though. He is probably one of the funniest guys on Youtube, and his videos are consistantly well-acted and edited, but not too many people seem to watch his stuff on a regular basis. He has about three regular series along with occasional one-shot videos. His main series, ''Wastebook'', focuses on mocking dumb status updates on Facebook and the ridicule of 21st Century Teen culture in general, while his other two series are ''The Wave'', in which he comments on news headlines without actually reading the story, and ''WTF Fridays'', an older series where he talks about whatever happens to be annoying him that day. Whatever the case, this guy's work desperately needs more recognition.

* ''[[The Game (video game)|The Game]]'' is a [[Bloody Hilarious]] look at [[Current Events]]. With plenty of [[Awesome Music]] and [[Nightmare Fuel]], be sure to play through and expand upon the shamefully small page.

* [[LIS_DEAD]] has a lot of interesting puzzles, some of which obviously took a lot of work. And its story is just getting started, and looks to be quite interesting with shadowy government organizations and mysterious supernatural children. But it's currently dying off due to a lack of love.

* [[Worm]], an online serial novel about people with superpowers is [http://parahumans.wordpress.com well reviewed ] but is still not particularly well known. The series is notable for avoiding many old superhero cliches and for operating in [[Gray and Gray Morality]]