Underrated Gems

[Philomath]

So we just finished watching Treasure Planet at our house tonight. I love this movie so much. I think it is seriously one of the most underrated Disney movies. I don’t understand how it didn’t do well at the box office and why more people don’t talk about it. The animation is great to me and while the story is just a version of Treasure Island, I think the relationship between Jim and Silver is so good in this adaptation. Both of their character arcs are fantastic and the secondary characters add so much as well. Anyway, that is one of my favorites that I’d say is generally underrated. Anyone else like this one? What are some of your favorite underrated movies/books/shows/etc?

[Use the Falchion]

Treasure Planet is great! I'm a fan of that and Atlantis. 

 

Other underrated things...the Japanese rock band Band-Maid, if only because they deserve far more recognition than I feel they get in the west. They're a phenomenal band, and while Baby Metal is good (and also genre-breaking in the same way), I think Band-Maid probably deserves just as much if not more fame. 

They have a lot of songs that could define them, and I'm still working through the Discography, but right now, my favorites are: 

Domination (It sounds a little like Coldrain's Final Destination)

Play

Choose Me

Different

Page

Liberal

Mirage

Blooming

Catharsis

Rinne ("Reincarnation")

Giovanni

H-G-K

Sayonadori ("Nightingale")

Black Hole

About Us

...really just buy their two latest albums, CONQUEROR and Unseen World. 

 

And weirdly, maybe Utada Hikaru also? Sure, her works for Kingdom Hearts are ungodly popular and still hold up to this day, but her other works are great too! Her album Fantome is a really good (yet really tragic) showcase of her skill, and her latest album Hatsukoi has some phenomenal songs. 

 

Power Rangers, if that makes sense. Sure, every Millennial (probably most of Gen Z) knows about Power Rangers and may even have some nostalgia attached to the Mighty Morphin' run, but that's not entirely what I mean.

Power Rangers RPM is easily one of the best iterations and one of the best sci-fi stories I've watched. It doesn't do anything new necessarily, as it's basically Mad Max meets Terminator set in a Power Rangers world. But it does things well, which can be even harder. Nearly all of the rangers feel important, the cast does a great job with the material, and the show itself is super meta. (They ask why the Zords look the way they do, there's a fight scene involving a baby in a stroller and the mother as props in the fight, jokes about the weddings of extremely wealthy people, and spandex.) Really, just check out the episode "Ranger Blue." It's one of the most meta in the show, and it's brilliant. But there's also a level of depth to each of the characters that isn't always present. Red is trying to prove himself to his father, Blue is desperately trying to be a hero in a world where justice is an abstract concept, Yellow is trying to forge herself into someone new, and Black is trying to find out who he was. 

RPM is a great show for any sci-fi narm-loving nerd, and I can't recommend it enough. (Sadly all but the first and two most current seasons of Power Rangers were taken off Netflix at the beginning of this month. The new season just started today, but I don't know how good it'll be.)

And the comics! Boom! Studio's Power Rangers run has been phenomenal. It took me some convincing to get into, but I've been hooked ever since. It's the perfect blend of nostalgia, modernization, and improvement. The characters now have depth to them, and the story isn't limited to a 30 minute episodes format. It also gives us things we never really got to see in the show in later story arcs. ("Shattered Grid" is the big crossover even, but I'm actually a larger fan of "Beyond the Grid.") For fans of the OG run who are hankering for a bit of nostalgia that keeps the spirit but also improves on the story, this is the comic for you. (I like the 2017 Power Rangers movie too, but it works best when the Rangers aren't in costume. When they're acting like teenagers and bonding as such. Which makes it a good teen drama movie but a bad Power Rangers movie in a lot of ways.) 

 

For books, maybe Jay Kristoff's Lotus War trilogy? They're probably not his most well-written books, but I think it handles the YA love triangle in an...interesting? way, and the setting and world are great. I like the MC, and overall the story isn't perfect, but it's a fun ride. 

For Manga, I'd have to say Spy x Family. And I don't think that's even because it's underrated, but simply too new. 

https://www.viz.com/shonenjump/spy-x-family-chapter-1/chapter/19255?action=read

[urrutiap]

my personal favorite underrated movies, videogames, books

 

Movies

-Black Sheep the horror movie about killer sheep

-Street Trash

-Night of the Comet

-the old Swamp Thing movie

 

Videogames

-Star Trek Invasion

-Monkey Hero

-Lagoon

-Grandia 1

-Yo Kai Watch 3

-Trails of Cold Steel III

[Spren of Kindness]

The Cinderella 2015 adaption is really good, in my opinion.  And The Lost Medallion, I love that movie.

[FriarFritz]

Veggie Tales

Everything about that show was better than it needed to be. The writing, the visuals, the stories, the humor... none of it was necessarily outstanding, but at the very least better than is expected from a moralizing kids' show. 

And the music was truly excellent, especially the Silly Songs with Larry

[Eluvianii]

There was this French cartoon we watched as kids called Les Contes de la Rue Broca. That thing was really good, it had some really weird charming fairytale-y stories and looking back to it, I'm kind of surprised I haven't come across some cult following.

Regarding movies, I'm deeply in love with When Marnie Was There. When it comes to Ghibli movies Miyazaki takes all the cake, but the ones that weren't directed by him are just as good and this one is easily my favorite from the studio. And it's one of the few movies I never seem to become immune to. I still struggle not to cry a river each time I watch it. 

Also, everything by Makoto Shinkai before Your Name. That movie skyrocketed his popularity, but he made four movies before that and all of them really good. One of them even is still considered to be his magnus opus by many, but they're eclipsed by the new releases (which are awesome too, but all of his movies deserve some love).

I don't know if I should mention Satoshi Kon here. He's certainly not as known but those who do know him regard him as a genius, so I don't know if I can call him underrated. Meh, I already mentioned him so. If anyone is curious I recommend Perfect Blue for psychological horror, Tokyo Godfathers for a hilarious and wholesome Christmas story, and Millennium Actress for the best movie ever made (imho).

For video games I would recommend the Longest Journey trilogy to any fantasy fan. The world is amazing. Simple in concept but it gets so detailed with time, it's so easy to get immersed in it. The characters are great, particularly the third game puts a lot of weight on the protagonists' development. It has a lot of mystery. So much in fact that the entirety of the second game is a mystery itself, to the point it ends with the biggest cliffhanger in history (good thing a third game came out). It can be hard to get into because of all the changes in gameplay and general tone due to so many years passing between each release but I'd say the experience is worth it. To be honest I haven't finished the third game but I'm close and so far it's been an amazing experience. 

Also, this song.

Spoiler

 

 

[Robin Sedai]

The Johannes Cabal series, by Jonathan L. Howard.

The Hands of the Emperor, by Victoria Goddard. Tor.com has an article that perfectly sums up my feelings about it.

The Dr. Greta Helsing series, by Vivian Shaw.

Edited January 15, 2022 by Robin Hatter