Appendix J: Anime, Manga, & JRPGs

[journeyman321]

Some of my favorite Japanese anime series include Death Note, Naruto, Bleach, and Attack on Titan.

 

[overgeeked]

Adding some other light novels to the list.

Slayers.
Overlord.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.
Sword Art Online.
Re:Zero.

 

[Alzrius]

Off the top of my head:

Overlord
[...]
Re: Zero

Adding some other light novels to the list.

[...]
Overlord.
[...]
Re:Zero.

 

[MarkB]

Shangri-La Frontier has been a real joy over the last season-and-a-half. More about making a great MMORPG experience than a tabletop one, but it's got some great inspiration for memorable NPCs and quest structure, as well as accommodating creative solutions.

 

[Ryujin]

Definitely agree on "Akira." Had it on VHS.

Star Blazers
Space Pirate Captain Harlock
Everything Studio Ghibli

 

[overgeeked]

Definitely agree on "Akira." Had it on VHS.

Star Blazers
Space Pirate Captain Harlock
Everything Studio Ghibli

Great stuff, but the thread is for fantasy.

 

[jian]

I’m going to throw in some Korean media because they’re both good and influential.

• Solo Leveling: Not my favourite but arguably the epitome of the Hunter genre that’s very prominent in manga/manhwa/manhua these days. A good setup for an RPG campaign too - dungeon dimensions are breaking into our world and a tiny number of peoples gain magical power from these incursions to fight them off and even go into dungeons to retrieve magical items and other loot, becoming wealthy celebrities in the process.
• A Returner’s Magic Should be Special: Arguably the epitome of the Returner genre - a hero who is the last survivor of a JRPG party who fails to defeat the demon king and prevent the end of the world is sent back in time to his teenage self; he now has twenty years to level up and prepare for the end of the world. But his changes to history have unpredictable effects and he’s not the only returner. Also interesting in the concept of historical parasite universes - the dungeon incursions aren’t actual dungeons but often recreations of specific historical events that must be solved, a la Quantum Leap, for the incursion to be stopped.
• I’m a Martial Arts Villainess and I’m the Strongest: A version of the Reborn as the Villainess trope (and those need more representation on this list, many of them use JRPG tropes) where our heroine is reborn as a villainess in a wuxia (or murim, rather, to use the common Korean term*) setting and, as is usual in such stories, makes herself the heroine through sheer badassery.

*The actual Korean translation for wuxia (“martial hero”) is muhak, but people often use murim, which is actually the translation of wulin (“world of martial arts”).

 

[Alzrius]

I’m going to throw in some Korean media because they’re both good and influential.

• Solo Leveling: Not my favourite but arguably the epitome of the Hunter genre that’s very prominent in manga/manhwa/manhua these days. A good setup for an RPG campaign too - dungeon dimensions are breaking into our world and a tiny number of peoples gain magical power from these incursions to fight them off and even go into dungeons to retrieve magical items and other loot, becoming wealthy celebrities in the process.
• A Returner’s Magic Should be Special: Arguably the epitome of the Returner genre - a hero who is the last survivor of a JRPG party who fails to defeat the demon king and prevent the end of the world is sent back in time to his teenage self; he now has twenty years to level up and prepare for the end of the world. But his changes to history have unpredictable effects and he’s not the only returner. Also interesting in the concept of historical parasite universes - the dungeon incursions aren’t actual dungeons but often recreations of specific historical events that must be solved, a la Quantum Leap, for the incursion to be stopped.
• I’m a Martial Arts Villainess and I’m the Strongest: A version of the Reborn as the Villainess trope (and those need more representation on this list, many of them use JRPG tropes) where our heroine is reborn as a villainess in a wuxia (or murim, rather, to use the common Korean term*) setting and, as is usual in such stories, makes herself the heroine through sheer badassery.

*The actual Korean translation for wuxia (“martial hero”) is muhak, but people often use murim, which is actually the translation of wulin (“world of martial arts”).

I'll also add Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the Dungeon in there. (I've seen some translations that changed "couldn't" to "failed to" or something similar, I should note.)

 

[rhythmsoundmotion]

The Demon Girl Next Door. It’s full of encouraging words for the hero.

 

[TiQuinn]

I keep hearing about Berserk but it hasn’t appeared on any of the services I subscribe to yet. Hopeful one day…