The Playlist Zone
Have you ever really wanted to watch a piece of media that fits a certain vibe, but been unsure of how to look for such a thing? The search engine is a wonderful machine, but it can sometimes be unhelpful when looking for things like 'anime with the vibe of a chainsmoker playing the harmonica', or 'long-running passion projects made on the internet by one person'. That's why I'm making this little corner, to essentially group pieces of media together by whatever esoteric and meaningless associations that make sense to me, in the hopes that you, dear reader, will be able to find whatever odd vibe that you're craving. These won't necessarily be works that I've reviewed, or even that I've read, but I'll try to give a basic rundown of what the thing is, as well as some info on where you can find it.
Do please note that this is very much a work in progress, I'll be adding to them as I go, but as it is now, this page is going to be pretty bare, so apologies.
- Debut Duologies. Sometimes it's nice to see a creator make a really standout fisrt work, revisit the concept later, once they're more experienced, and then leave the whole idea behind. Mostly independent video games, please note that this is not a place for trilogies, as they have a completely different vibe.
- Harmonicacore. This list is for those anime in which you would expect to hear a harmonica in the establishing shot of a new location. Washed out color palettes, dusty locales, and wandering protagonists characterize these shows, that were most prevalent in the late 90s and early 00s. Note that a good few of these contain no harmonica, this name is mostly about vibes.
- Hopecore. These are works that display a relentlessly hopeful tone, despite the often harrowing ordeals that the world and its characters have gone through. Mostly science fiction, these works imagine a world where things survive, where people persist in their kindness, even after disaster.
- Modular Drama. Sometimes, it's easier not to think about any overarching plots. Sometimes you just want a quick, tropey, episodic story with characters you already know, where you know that whatever happens, it will all blow over by next week's installment. This playlist is for those works.
- Meta Mayhem. For all those works that know their own nature, and decide to play around in the space of narratives within a narrative.
- Short Form Fiction. Be they novellas, short films, indie games or OVAs, the items in this list are perfect to bacng out over the course of a quiet afternoon.
- Tight Trilogies. Whether they were originally intended as a single work and split up later, or they were painstakingly planned out form the very beginning, these works maintain a clean and consistent narrative through line over exactly three entries.