December Recommendation Gifting

[Tethys 13]

Osiris December
Recommendation Gifting

Tis the season of giving, but trying to buy presents to ephemeral online presences is a bit of a faff. So, instead, gift a recommendation! Recommendation Gifting returns this year, but a bit different. Instead of posting tailored recommendations to people, just post something you generally recommend! Say a little bit about it, why you like it, and why you think others will like it and it deserves more love!
- Submissions to be made as reply to this thread.
- You can recommend as many things as you like, with a brief description for each, and some things it is similar to that people might already know.
- Links can be posted, but be cautious about them.
- Submissions close on the 24th, before they are posted on the Discord on the 25th!

[Guhrayen]

First recommendation: A high-quality (mine was $40 due to thrifting but new ones can be $150+ in the States) picnic basket.
Why?: This one comes from personal experience, so I'm recommending it to you too! Earlier this year, I finally stopped haphazardly storing picnicking gear into either my backpack or boxes stored in my car's trunk and picked up a vintage wicker vintage basket big enough to carry while being fully loaded with a lunch meal for two.
Who? Anyone who ventures to dine outside at a park could use a good picnic basket, but it's especially handy for couples.

I'll edit this post with more recommendations as they come to me!

[Tethys 13]

A medium-commitment novel series: Caiphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium. This and the Eisenhorn trilogy are what I would recommend as 'entry-level' Warhammer 40,000 novels, from the time before Games Workshop decided that every noun needed to be trademarkable. I went with Caiphas Cain because they have annotations and lore excerpts, which can be helpful for introducing people to the setting's concepts, and it is also just very fun. It is important to remember the satirical aspects of the setting, which Caiphas Cain has in spades. He is a Commissar - a military position associated with draconian discipline and summary execution - but is also a reasonable person, a coward, and a terribly lucky chap, dragged kicking and screaming through the worst the galaxy has to offer only to emerge out the other side looking sharp with a snazzy new medal for the things he almost accidentally achieved on the way. There are three trilogies so far, bouncing all around his career, but the first trilogy is fine enough on its own.

A low-commitment webcomic: The Weekly Roll. A delightful primarily episodic webcomic about a Dungeons and Dragons party comprised (initially) of a Redemption Paladin trying to do the right thing and guide himself and others to a better path... and a homicidal Sorcerer and Fighter inadvertently doing everything they can to mess that up. Hijinks ensue, especially with the addition of a heavily armoured Dwarf Necromancer and slightly mad Tiefling Warlock, with most pages being entirely their own self-contained vignette but a few returning elements later down the line, and some spinoffs. It is available on Webtoon, but has also received a few different Youtube Dubs.

A low-mid commitment webcomic: Erma. A charming story about the daughter of Sadako from The Ring trying to live a semi-normal human life despite extremely inhuman capabilities and occurences. It has a lot of episodic pages, but some decently lengthy story arcs as well, which managed to grab my attention quite marvellously, having some darker themes but generally ending very heartwarmingly. Its update schedule has been quite erratic in recent years however. It is available on Webtoon, but had to be modified to fit there, being originally on Tapas.
A high-commitment webcomic: Girl Genius. By far the best webcomic I have had the pleasure of reading, and I have been following this one for a long time. Its tagline is "Romance, Adventure, Mad Science!", and it succeeds at all three. Set in a gaslamp fantasy world full of mad scientists with 'The Spark', and the terrifying things they create, it follows a young woman realising that most of the world wants her dead or under their control, and deciding that neither of those options particularly suits, as her suitors face similar decisions on whether to stay with those groups. It is a thrilling ride as she goes from unaware and unprepared to the glorious madgirl the world just might have been right to fear all along. It has been releasing three pages a week since 2002 (with some filler), and is still going very strong. It is only available on its own website.

A low-commitment anime: Recovery of an MMO Junkie. A delightful 2017 romance anime of ten episodes based on a manga of the same name, about a woman who leaves her job and throws herself into a new MMORPG as a male character in search of something more fulfilling from life, who quickly connects with the adorable female character of a man she begins to grow close to, despite her self-loathing and corporate trauma. A much more grounded story than a lot of anime, which I connected with quite strongly.

A high-commitment anime/manga: One Piece. It could be nothing else. It is not underloved of course, so I thought about going for something like Gintama, but one thing stopped me - One Piece is nearing its end, and soon its secrets will be revealed. It is the most popular manga by absurd margins, it will likely take the top spot for comics globally before too long, and there is a secret integral to it that has been kept from the start. I have been following One Piece for two and a half decades, and I still have only speculation on what the titular One Piece actually is. It would not be an exaggeration to call it the most anticipated reveal of all of current media, and when it is revealed, it will change its audience forever, as it will quickly reach a point that people will start reading the story already knowing the secret, and will have an entirely different experience than those who started reading before. It is long, of course it is long, and the anime is riddled with pacing issues. However, there is good news on that point - I would of course advise reading the manga, but there is also a new anime in the works which promises to be far more faithful and better paced than the behemoth that presently exists.
Oh, I should probably mention something about why I like it! One Piece is a story about ambition and freedom, in a dystopian world of accepted oppression. There is a reason many of the protests and revolutions of recent years have seen the Straw Hat Jolly Roger flying in their crowds. However, it is also a story of found family and the healing power of friendship, more tragic and uplifting than any other I have read. No other story has made me cry like One Piece, and few have made me laugh as much. It is not perfect, but it is superb.

A low-commitment western animation: Knights of Guinevere. Only one episode has yet been released of this gorgeous Youtube animated show from the creator of the Owl House, about a dystopian society built around an awful company that brings suffering to many but joy to those children unknowing of its darkness, with a not-so-subtle theme of reclaiming the things you loved as children from the awful Disney - I mean, company that created it. Watch it here.

A low-commitment video game: The Pathless. A beautiful low-punishment puzzle-combat game from the creators of Abzu and Journey, with lots of high-speed movement and some very tense moments in its very short but quite well-crafted story. It has a lovely soundtrack by Austin Wintory, whom you may recognise as one of the composers for Hades 2 and atmospheric games like Journey. It took me ~13 hours to essentially 100%. The primary gameplay involves travelling at great speed while firing arrows at targets that accelerate you when struck, with an eagle allowing you to boost into the air and glide, and fighting bosses involving those mechanics. It is 75% off on Steam right now.