Eluvianii

6 years into adulthood here, I think the update got stuck at 99% or something because I still don't feel like an adult, so I couldn't give you the answer. Maybe by the time I hit 30 something will change...

Feels like Trails into Reverie will be the highlight of my year for sure. Extremely hyped for The Ancient Magus' Bride season 2. The new Shinkai movie. Technically came out last year, but anime movies tend to release overseas like, 9 months after the original date. So that's a 2023 release for us. I think the Witch on the Holy Night movie comes out this year, and it's by Ufotable! So looking forward to that. Spider-Verse of course. Weird to put something I've already played here but I'm excited for the Fatal Frame 4 remaster. Dune. It's mandatory I put Zelda here, but I have my doubts that I'll be playing it this year.

Decided to watch The Owl House which I'm caught up with now. I didn't expect much to be honest so I'm surprised. Can't believe Disney made an isekai. Characters are fun, magic system is fun. Considering the cancelation I'm honestly surprised the second season feels less rushed than the first one. Looking forward to the last two episodes, whenever they come.

Lightweaver supremacy! Wait, that one happened already. TPBM is a Bondsmith.

I can definitely begin to see why. No matter how many horrible things she says, I just. Can't. Hate her. And I really want to see what's hiding below all that malice. But as things stand now, whenever she's not on screen I'm just eagerly waiting for her next scene. That said, on the matter of horrible things.

The first episode of Northern War is out! It looks pretty good so far. There's some music from the games even. The protagonist seems interesting too.

Ok, I've never heard of them but the fact that they're so prominent you had to exclude them from your song list intrigues me. Honestly, I've known them for two or three years now but I'm still just scratching the surface. I may have listened to less than 10 of their songs, but all of it has been good. Also, I really love their name.

2 hours into it. Already a fun year. TPBM had fun tonight.

Ok, let's give this a shot and try the yearly thread format so everyone remembers exactly when they discovered certain songs they loved. More comfortable than page diving anyway. Happy New Year! Hope you had a great last twelve months and I hope you discovered a lot of music along the way. If you did, share it here! The purpose of this thread is to record, recommend, and to have fun making a list of the songs you enjoyed the most this year. There's no ruleset to do this. I for one make several lists spread across different categories, but as I've said at some point, that's just my excuse to fit as many songs as possible. Feel free to post just a simple top or even a single great song you liked. I'm looking forward to seeing your picks. So that said, let me begin. Songs that came out this year: Skin-Deep Comedy - Mili Welcome to Valhalla - Unlucky Morpheus Unleash - Band-Maid Skies Forever Blue - itoki hana/Toby Fox Which holds the prize for making me cry like a baby. I'm weak to weird love stories. Dancing Ghost's Ball Jointed Darling - Mili Also known as the best name ever. Mugen - Unlucky Morpheus Tenebre Rosso Sangue - Keygen Church Ocean Bby - Mili Not a mispelling Dandelion Girls, Dandelion Boys - Mili Which holds the other prize for making me cry like a baby. Rideau - Polkadot Stingray Songs that I discovered this year: Duty Friend - NIKIIE Gebuerjeit - Keygen Church Unidentified Flavorful Object - Mili A happy Mili song? Why does this exist? I don't know but I'm in love with it. Cause of my Death - itoki hana The House of the Rising Sun - The Animals Cry Me a River - Julie London/Elle Fitzgerald Les Enfants du Paradis - world's end girlfriend These Foolish Things - Elle Fitzgerald Yurayura - YeYe Zetsukai no Juliet - Fuki My nothing deep here, this song is just a banger pick. Haven't even looked up the lyrics but Fuki's voice and Jill's violin are always a good match. Special mention to God Race by Metaroom. Go watch Ena, guys, it's so good and weird. Or don't. That Episode 4/game is taking a long time so you might starve if you watch it now. But it's so good. Songs that came from a soundtrack: You know what? I'm already knee-deep into categories, let's make sub-categories now. Favorite battle themes: Pepper Steak - OFF Favorite boss themes: Godskin Apostles - Elden Ring I think this goes here. Haven't actually played the game, just was lucky enough to stumble upon this. Horrifying Disaster - Tokyo Xanadu Pardoner's Dance - Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight Bloom - Intro/Outro - Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights Favorite final boss themes: Majestic Roar - Trails of Cold Steel IV To the Future - Trails of Cold Steel IV These two absolutely fit into the same category despite apparent contradictions. Kobito of the Shining Needle - Little Princess - Touhou 14: Double Dealing Character The Extreme - Final Fantasy VIII Mother - Outro - Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights Super Miriam - FAITH: The Unholy Trinity Favorite area/dungeon themes: Pleasure Smile - Trails of Cold Steel IV The End of SAGA - Trails of Cold Steel IV North - Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights If You Gaze Long into an Abyss - Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights The Attic - Rule of Rose Favorite vocal themes: A Love Suicide - Rule of Rose Haven't yet made the time to play this but from what I have listened to, this game might just have one of the best soundtracks ever. In Circles - Transistor The Spine - Transistor Favorite scene themes: Black Truth - Trails of Cold Steel IV R of Can - Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Quite a few from this soundtrack but thought of looking through it too late. I do remember this one getting me pumped up every time though. Fishy Aroma - Umineko no Naku Koro ni System Zero - Umineko no Naku Koro ni Dead Angle - Umineko no Naku Koro ni Golden Sneer - Umineko no Naku Koro ni I'm just getting started on these. Beware because I think this game alone might steal the majority of next year's list. Ok, I know, all of the categories are video game music, might as well call it that instead of soundtracks, but I'm keeping the format. Never know when I might dump an entire movie worth of music in this section. Those are the three categories I usually do. This year was kinda special though, for a couple of reasons. One is that the stars aligned and several of my favorite artists decided to release a new album during 2022, so that merits another top. And the second one is that I discovered an artist whose music I liked so much, it almost felt tailor-made. I'm sure you've been there before, and if you haven't look forward to it, it'll feel amazing. Also, a couple covers because more songs. Favorite Covers: Far Beyond the Sun - Unlucky Morpheus The Dance of Eternity - Unlucky Morpheus The live version of this is one of the best things I saw all year. Moonlight Sonata 3rd Movement - RichaadEB I actually listened to this one almost two years ago, when it came out back in 2021. But I didn't make a cover list back then and it's worth mentioning now because storms is it one of the most impressive things I've seen in my entire life. Favorite albums: Key Ingredient - Mili: This album is cheating. None of these songs are new but I had heard most of them before and they're all new versions, all of them great. So it doesn't fit on either Discovered or New but it also has a bit of both and storm it I'm putting the whole crem album here because it's great and listening to the whole thing with its soothing background video the morning it came out is one of my favorite memories this year. Evolution - Unlucky Morpheus: Well, it's Unlucky Morpheus. These guys just refine their art more every year. I'm starting to wonder if their skill will reach a ceiling at any point but it sure doesn't look like it. Loud Playing Workshop - Quadratum: This is more Unlucky Morpheus. 4 out of the 6 members of the band decided to make a side-band and cover some popular instrumental rock songs and they're really good at it. They also put an interesting spin to them, like the violin protagonizing most of these even though most are guitar-centric and they already have an amazing guitarist. Jill doesn't get to flex this much this often in the band's original songs so this album just made me realize how good a violinist she actually is. Ogawa too, his bass solo during The Dance of Eternity holy crap. ░█░█░░█░█░█░ - Keygen Church: I talk more about this below, but there's something that immediately grabs your attention when you find an album named, well, that. Special mention to Ghostlight by Poets of the Fall. I'm kind of ashamed that even though I consider them to be one of my favorite bands, it took me like half a year to discover they had a new album, and now the year is over and I haven't dived into it yet. So I guess some of those are gonna wait until next year's Discovered list. Favorite artist discovery: Master Boot Record/Keygen Church. I like both of those, uh, let's say personas, but I'm putting them here mainly because of their Keygen Church stuff. This very specific combination of gothic church-like organ music, piano, metal, and electronic-sounding instruments (something I can only call electronic guitar to be precise) is something I woud never have come up with in a hundred years, and yet now that I know about it, I don't know how I could have finished my life without it. It's good, it's unbelievably good. And that's it. TLDR you don't need to read all that, I just like to write. Once again, I look forward to listen to the music you choose and hope you have a wonderful year.

Listened to a couple episodes of Midnight Burger. It's good, really fun, kinda Doctor Who-ish. It's about this diner that teleports to a different part of the universe every day and stuff happens. There's normal diner staff, a cook that can cook time travel, a physicist, and this sort of sentient semi-omniscient 1930s radio show. It's great.

Anyone else happens to play on Saturdays, meaning that now that both holidays were on a Saturday, you have little choice but to take a 3-week break? It's been too long since I bombed something, I'm getting withdrawals.

I have meh hair. I could probably make it awesome if I looked for a cool haircut and made an effort to make it last but I'm too lazy for that. TPBM wonders why rainbows are always double.

For some reason my shower thoughts often fall into the "Giving a lengthy lore explanation about something I like to a person I know and them being excited about it even though this conversation will likely never actually happen and it probably wouldn't interest them". So that's a no. Do you enjoy fantasy mixed with horror?

It's Christmas. That's an automatic yes. TPBM likes cake.

I'd have to write a fairly long list to answer that question. What's your favorite movie?

Nah, melted is just its natural state. TPBM purposefully tries to trigger ice headaches (whatever they're called, the ones you get when you eat ice cream).

Watching a show so close enough. And not exactly a cat who wants constant petting, but maybe one that wants to sleep and so my movements are limited. TPBM likes the smell of cinnamon.

We can finally obsess over a 200-day countdown.

I don't but from what I can tell by a quick googling, they look cool. Wearing gloves is uncomfortable though. TPBM wants to have a house with secret rooms and passages.

34? Miyo? Darn, maybe she got her wish after all. I mean, yeah, I was excluding Gohda and Kumasawa by mentioning the orphanage, and of course, Genji is Genji. Like, it seems to be specifically the ones working directly under Kinzo. And from what I'm seeing, it seems to be thanks to a collection of bad experiences? People at the Gospel House don't seem particularly enviable, despite the good pay they get at their first job. Regarding episode 2, not a lot of progress yet, but uh, the characters give plenty to talk about. Mainly Beatrice.

Always. Well, unless they're something like "Have you ever woke up and realized that your dog was an alien wizard and suddenly you have to deliver a cake into the Mariana trench to save the world from eternal boredom?" Have you ever made a pizza before?

...this didn't end the way I expected it to. So, the full-cast reviews were purely an extra before. A small chapter with a non-existent fourth wall where the characters looked at the story from the point of view of an actor discussing a play. They talked about the plot like fiction. While here, well. ....ok I'm sorry about this. I posted several times as I read the thing in part so that these inter-episode posts would be shorter but I failed miserably. It's just, that last bit where the nature of the game is revealed really did surprise me and it felt worth talking about. On to episode two. I'm really into it so far.

Back on track I think. I could only squeeze like a couple hours this last week but I'm trying to get a decent session today.