We’ve made it to the end of another year, thus to another edition of my year-end list.

As usual, I’ll highlight things I liked that I encountered this year (not necessarily FROM this year), with the main distinction between the list proper and the honorable mentions being how much I have to say about them, not any statement if quality.

Also, I made the switch to BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/captain-peregrin.bsky.social), because all the cool creators are there and it’s just chill, so catch me there if you want to see my unfiltered ramblings. I’m planning a fairly different blog series for next year, but I’d love for you to come along for the ride.

Anyhow, let’s get things started! This time, I’m listing them more for thematic coherence than anything else (read: for once, I’m not just listing them alphabetically, but I’m still not ranking them). It’s mostly animation this time around, mainly because there’s been a lot of interesting developments in western animation, for better and for worse. Expect more of a deep dive after I get the new series up and running.

Wonderful Precure (anime): As always, the Precure show isn’t finished yet, but this one is shaping up to be my favorite. As one might infer from my love for The Chronicles of Narnia and The Tale of Despereaux, I’ve always adored animal stories (Babe remains among my all-time favorite films), so when they made a Precure about pets and their people fighting to help animals, it checked all the right boxes for me. It doesn’t hurt that it also features one of the most authentic anthropomorphic cats ever (“Fine, I’ll pay attention to you” is LITERALLY HER PRECURE CATCHPHRASE). This show just really gets animals and animal-lovers alike. Fair warning, though: There is a pet that dies (and it made me cry), even though it was a pet of a very minor character. It’s mostly just a very comfy show, tho.

Spellbound (animated film): I wasn’t sure what to expect of this movie (suffice it to say the studio’s connection to Pixar is something of a mixed bag), but this is the first film I’ve seen from Skydancer, and if they can keep up this level of quality and creativity, I’ll be curious to see where they go in the future. First and foremost, this movie looks gorgeous (cat gryphons!), even if the Alan Menkin soundtrack isn’t his best work. Much like in Pixar’s more recent films, I appreciate the female director and general creative voice. This one hit home for me once I realized what the story was actually about: Divorce. It ends pretty happily all the same, but I feel like it’s a fairly approachable take on the subject from a child’s perspective.`

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Season 2 (animated series): This is the first time I’ve included a cartoon which I haven’t finished (I feel like I could’ve gotten into it better if I’d been able to watch it week-to-week instead of binging it), but I feel the need to take up its cause nonetheless, as this show has run into the same issue as The Owl House: Disney cancelled it for having a point. And to add insult to injury, they also banned “postponed the release of an episode” indefinitely, an episode that dealt frankly with struggles of trans kids. I’m not normally one to promote piracy, but as it is a fantastic episode that deals in a lot of the same themes as TOH (and someone who worked on it leaked the whole episode), this is a case where piracy may be the only option (and there may or not be links of interest here). It’s a good show that deserves more, dangit!

Centaurworld (animated series): And speaking of shows that deserve more, this strange little cartoon is delightful, and it could’ve even been great had it gotten a third season to properly flesh out its plot! The story is very queer (despite the only canonical gay couple showing up in the final episodes), because it’s about a protagonist who’s isekai’d, finds a little family, undergoes a radical transformation, and is afraid her old family might not recognize her. And to top it all off, the antagonist mirrors her journey: A person who cut off a part of himself in order to enter a heterosexual relationship, because he was afraid that he wouldn’t be accepted for who he was. Also, it’s a musical, one that almost certainly had a better rendition of Cats than the Hooper abomination. It’s just a shame that this is the second queer cartoon Netflix cancelled before they could properly finish the story.

Harley Quinn (animated series): I’ve never gotten into “adult” comedy cartoons (which this most assuredly is), and the first season isn’t great (there are a frankly appalling number of tween boys hitting on grown women), but the show (like Harley herself) actually has a heart deep down, and that’s what I want from any comedy, no matter how grotesque. She’s a bisexual disaster and I love her for it. I feel like Season 4 (and in turn, Season 5) are superfluous to her story (evidently, they wanted to write her as an antihero, as opposed to the first three seasons where she was firmly a chaotic antivillain), but it’s still fun.

My Kind of Trouble (book by L.A. Shwartz): I’m trying to be more intentional about reading newer books this year (seeing as I want to enter the publishing industry), and this one was just delightful. It’s a romance about an autistic librarian (raising his autistic sister) who falls for a con woman, and naturally said con woman falls for the town in turn. There are a few explicit sex scenes, but if you’re in the mood for a spicy romance with great autism rep (and are generally against book-banning), this is a fun read.

Honorable Mentions:

Senpai is an Otonoko (anime): A cute show about three queer kids finding belonging with each other (and engaging in a weird love triangle?)

Arcane (animated series): The second season was poorly paced (yet another show that could’ve used a third season), and I have mixed feelings about the ending, but it still stands among the greatest animated series of all time.

Wicked, Part 1 (film): Speaking as a fan of the soundtrack who’s never seen the musical onstage, this was a good adaptation of the first act! Not perfect, but good. And from what I hear, the movies might end up significantly gayer than the musical…

Oshi no Ko (anime): A great mystery about the dark side of the Japanese entertainment industry (naturally featuring some fantastic songs)

Until next time…