Have you ever loved something, only to realize it’s a commercial flop or just obscure? What’s something that deserves more light than it got?
The Big O.
The animators in Japan that did a lot of work on Batman TAS were inspired to make this weird show that’s kinda like Batman, but instead of dressing up as a bat, the dude secretly has a giant robot… because Japan. Everyone in the city was mind wiped so there’s philosophical questions the value of memories. It had a film noir vibe about the underlining mystery of why everyone was mind wiped. But also giant robot fights in every episode.
It aired on Cartoon Network, but wasn’t picked up for a third season.
Deux ex 2: invisible war
11 year old me loved it, knowing nothing about the original, or anyone’s feelings towards the sequel.
Tv series: MR ROBOT; Person of Interest.
Manwha: The Boxer
Book: not really obscure, but for me not enough known is the Walter Mosley’s Easy Rawlins series
Man, people can’t help but post stuff they like and is popular, not stuff that’s almost never talked about. Anyway…
The Irresponsible Captain Tyler is an old school anime most people slept on. It’s the sci-fi genera of “aliens are elves with big shoulder pads”, and Tyler is a bum, he decides he wants to join the military because it’s got free food and chicks dig guys in uniform, and then he accidentally starts an interstellar war with the aliens, accidentally becomes captain of a ship, and accidentally starts beating the crap out of the aliens without meaning to. The aliens think he’s a strategic genius, his bosses think he’s an idiot and are trying to get rid of him, and his crew can’t tell if he’s one or the other. The whole show has a lot of love put into it, each background character has it’s own name and voice actor, and the show is hilarious right off the bat till the end.
I also feel that Thief the Dark Project doesn’t get enough credit and attention. It was the first first person sneaker, has better stealth mechanics than even some modern games, and a great story and world building. I think maybe some sequels that weren’t as popular as the second one kinda made people drop the series but it was fantastic.
band The Suborbitals. It has 130 monthly listeners on spotify and it’s one the best band I’ve ever heard. I specially recommend Aquanaut (the Blackout rolling version), Devil’s dance card, Let’s forget ir for a while, 405 and Little things.
Honestly I recommend most songs, but these are the best :D
https://mezzacotta.net/ and all the weird little experiments in webcomics they do
My personal favourite is Comments on a Postcard, which is they uploaded (intentionally) broken image links to a “webcomic”, and then assign a caption for it from a set of user submitted captions. It gives the feeling of exploring old websites that are half broken and trying piece together what they were about
Galavant. Two seasons on ABC in the mid 2010s.
A bawdy, over the top musical medieval themed fantasy series about a knight trying to get his wife back after she’s kidnaped and forced to marry an evil king.
Fantastic main cast and Weird Al in a recurring role as as the abott of an order of singing monks.
I don’t generally like musicals, but it’s so damned catchy and fun.
Man…tons but I’ll just pick a few. (OK a few turned into a lot anyways)
Music:
Driveways (lots of heavy Blink 182 influence)
Shiny Toy Guns (Especially the first album)
Lauren Babic (Started with YouTube but my favorite female vocalist)
Dream State (Before CJ Gilpin left, new singer is men for me)
Tash Sultana (Flow state was fantastic)
Like roses (Splenetic is my favorite song feel like they just need a big break to get big)
Savlonic (Started as a joke band, became really solid)
Movie/Show:
Blood Machines (Music by Carpenter Brut, whole short film is in the same style as his music videos)
Tomo-Chan is a Girl! (Cute anime romance about a tomboy girl wanting to be recognized by her boy bff)
Mushi-Shi (Very chill and intriguing stories about mysterious Mushi creatures)
The Air I Breathe (Left a lasting impression on me, has Brendan Fraser pre-hiatus and Sarah Michelle Gellar among other great cast)
H (South Korean Thriller about a psychopath and a detective, really excellent. Was hard to find a copy in the us)
Taking Chance (Excellent Kevin Bacon movie, should really hit hard on any military family)
Role Models (Not sure if it’s underated but never see anyone mention it. Hilarious movie with Paul Rudd and probably Seann William Scott’s best comedy work imo)
Better Off Dead (John Cusack comedy about a teen break up and eventually recovery. May have been better known at the time but hilarious movie)
Game:
Xenogears (Seems more well know now, but absolutely was a pivotal game on my youth and no one knew of it for years)
Katana Zero, Mirror’s Edge, Ghostrunner, System Shock Remake, Prey, Stalker(I know I know but it always needs more fans imo lol)- (All games with mixed audience levels but still ones I feel don’t have enough recognition.)
Hidden Cats, 100 Cats, X full of Cats, and Find All - (Really cute and cozy hidden object games. Most are either very cheap or free and I think more people should grab them and enjoy them.)
Books:
William Arand/Randi Darren books. There is a whole huge universe involved. They look like just harem smut on the surface, and his Randi Darren books do have a lot of smut to them, but there is an overall linking story through all of the books that is very enjoyable and intriguing. One of those “plot” books that has an even better actual plot imo. (First few books are rough on the edges but still good.)
Legends & Lattes (I’m sure it’s well regarded in the “Cozy Adventure” groups, but it needs more recognition outside of that.)
Metalocalypse. If you like metal music, animated shows and a bit of dark humor then this is the show for you.
Runner up: Aqua Team Hunger Force - if you like short stupid storylines and crude jokes.
And bonus: Squidbillies - if you like Aqua Teen Hunger Force but you want things the get even stupider.
The 10th Kingdom (2000). Great miniseries that mashes up fairy tales some modern twists. I really enjoyed all the characters, and the kind-of multiverse was cool.
Tremulous (2006). A first person shooter with first person builder elements. The human team depends on electricity for their various guns and turrets, the alien team can build anywhere and walk on the walls and ceilings, but are more limited to their claw’s melee range. There was no matchmaking so you just went to the same server all the time and made friends with the people there. It was cool.
Cable Guy . Jim Carey is very scary and the end monologué about thé internet future was spot on.
I am the KWING of this genre. There was a phenomenal show on PAX yes the Canadian local station called “Young Blades”. It was SO good. About the three musketeers then a girl disguises herself as a boy to join them. I wish I could find it on the internet somewhere.
A tale in the desert was kind of Minecraft before Minecraft. Such a great game.
Nexus Tk kingdom of the winds was also great until they changed the system for leveling.
Tons of books or book series like Darren Shan saga and tales of ambrose. This great series by Christopher pike about vampires
My entire life has been spent in this genre 😆
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, it was made by alumni of Interplay. The developers also made Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, which probably is why it gets overshadowed.
Anyways gameplay is effected by build, equipment, and even race because of course it is this is a game made by Fallout 2 devs. If that sounds interesting but not convincing go watch Mandaloregaming, Warlockracy, or Ssethtzeentach for better reasons, though if you aren’t familiar with any or all of the YouTubers I mentioned I ordered it by least to most batshit.
Also if any Eastern Europeans try to say “Oh this was a big game when I was in school” yes I’m aware I know about how your bootleggers charged by the disk resulting in everyone having Fallout 1, 2, and Arcanum. Sadly the game didnt do nearly as well here in the US in my experience.
Chinese Lore Podcast, not a singular piece but worth a mention.
The translations aren’t bad, it’s incredible value for free audiobook/translations.
Goodnight Punpun
It’s a manga so if you are in the west it’s already going to be obscure. It’s also pretty messed up so it might not be for everyone, but if you are able to stomach it and read it, man is it amazing. It has very little anime bs that a lot of anime/manga suffer from; it’s not a shonen, it’s aimed at an older audience. It is very well written. The art is amazing. I could go on, but I think it’s best enjoyed blind.
It’s 13 volumes, but you can binge it in a day (not recommended). It has a lot of dialog so a lot more reading than most manga.
If you are not sure about the manga, read the first chapter. I think it sets the tone well for the rest of the series.
Like a lot of great things, I wish I could read the manga again for the first time.
