#2023 list

[dropintomanga]

Manga I Enjoyed in 2023

It's been another great year for manga. And I don't think we wouldn't have it any other way, right?

I got to read a bunch of manga, old and new, this year. But these titles stood out to me the the most.

Honorable Mention: Kindergarten WARS by You Chiba - This was something I needed, post-Assassination Classroom. A school filled with rich kids protected by assassins who have nowhere to go fighting against assassins trying to kill the kids. Not only that, the main female lead is desperate for a boyfriend and will date anyone who looks hot. But if they have certain peeves, the bodies will hit the floor. This is a really funny series with fun characters and a lot of action. It also has one of the best gags of the year.

Favorite Ongoing Weekly Manga: Akane-banashi by Yuki Suenaga and Takamase Moue - Akane-banashi continues to impress me every week. I absolutely love how every chapter continues to be impactful. Akane is still a refreshing protagonist and I love how it feels that even though she can win rakugo competitions based on sheer determination, Akane knows that she has a lot to learn. This is a stand-out manga that is excellent for teenagers.

Here's my top 5 manga of the year!

5.) A Home Far Away and The Yakuza's Bias by Teki Yatsuda (tie) - Once I got into K-Pop, I had to check out The Yakuza's Bias. I enjoyed a lot of the humor and the gags are well-done. It's a title that really showcases what it means to take a deep dive into fandom when you're new at it in hilarious fashion. But Yatsuda's debut work about 2 boys on the run is one of the best things I've read all year. It's truly a heartbreaking LGBT romance that will touch a lot of emotions. Also, Yatsuda's art is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to see their new work being licensed in the future.

4.) ZOM 100: Bucket List of the Dead by Haro Aso and Kotaro Tanaka - The only zombie manga story I read was Kengo Hanazawa's I Am A Hero, but I gave this title a follow because people were telling me about it due to its messaging. ZOM 100 stands out as an upbeat zombie apocalypse story that speaks to the resilience of people in tough times. I think we all forget that we can do great things in times of adversity if we all get support. There's some great moments in this series worth talking about. I never felt bored reading it. I'm glad I gave this manga a chance because I really think depressed people need to be told that while it's okay to feel the way they feel, they can still try and people shouldn't shame them for it.

3.) Kowloon Generic Romance by Jun Mayuzuki - Hong Kong nostalgia at its finest, in my opinion. This is one of the most fascinating stories of 2023 with regards to finding your identity and reconciling your past with your present. I have this high up because I really like how the central love story is slowly tying into a bigger mystery on why the world in the manga seems very off. People struggle so much with their pasts and I feel that this manga resonates with those folks. Especially me as I find myself longing for past moments that I dearly miss despite having not-so-pleasant experiences I would like to forget.

2.) Chainsaw Man Part II by Tatsuki Fujimoto - I absolutely adore this series. Fujimoto pulls no stops in telling the story he wants to tell. I love the new female characters that have all shown up and the return of a very notable one. I like Denji's development as he really doesn't know what he wants despite being granted a frightening power that continues to be a target to those who want to use him. This is the story of a "hero" who doesn't have the resilience to be an actual hero. It's also a story about people having their emotional needs warped into desires in the worst way.

1.) The Summer Hikaru Died by Mokumokuren - I normally don't read horror manga, but this manga is phenomenal. There was so much hype about the manga being released here in the U.S. and it has delivered in all cylinders. The art is great. The usage of sound effects to convey a sense of dread is top-notch. The interpersonal dynamic between the two main characters is frighteningly realistic. This manga, at its core, about dealing with a relationship that should've ended, but didn't. As much as we talk about needing relationships with people to survive, they have to end sometimes. There's a lot of horror and dread over how to talk about a relationship ending and good god, the manga delivers on displaying that. I also love the subtle reminder that bad relationships have serious consequences for everyone else. In real life, we've seen how abuse and interpersonal trauma trickles down from the victim into other parts of life and other people. All of this makes The Summer Hikaru Died my top manga of 2023.

I hope you all enjoyed my top picks. There's been a lot of fun reads that I probably missed out on, so let me know what you guys enjoyed. 2024 is probably going to be another great year for manga and there's already titles I'm looking forward to.

See you all in 2024!

[words-and-coffee]

So, I faceplanted into a reading slump this year. As a consequence, I don't really have much of a best-of list for books, as other than with uni stuff and poetry, my "read" shelf didn't expand much.

However, I watched some good, so bad they're good and just plain bad movies.... as well as some interesting short films.

So I figured I'd share some films I enjoyed and a few that left me cold.

[lola-andheruniverse]

⭐Caryl Fanfiction Recs - 2023 LIST⭐

Dear fellow carylers, 2023 is coming to an end! Before it's officially over (at least in my time zone), let me share some numbers! Encouraged by you, my crazy ass recommended 102 caryl fics, written by 70 different authors this year! *celebration dance* Thanks everyone that supported this little project so far, especially @notalkingbusiness, @southerncountrygirl, @mementomorlllll, @subversivegrrl, @southerncountrygirl, @indigoraysoflight, @murdadixon and my lovely anons who sent their own recs and shared their favorite fics with me. You guys are amazing! I can't appreciate you enough! Tumblr keeps crashing when I try to post the entire list, so, please, find them all here instead. If you'd like to read my reviews on each one, go to my fixed post, and click on the masterlist for each category/tag.

See you in 2024 with more recs! Caryl on, babes, caryl on! 🌼🏹

[wickymicky]

top ten songs of 2023

2. NMIXX - Love Me Like This

holy shit Nmixx had an incredible year. if i had another month or two, Sonar might have been able to make this list too haha. but anyway, LMLT is incredible. one of the catchiest kpop songs i've ever heard.

but it's the instrumental that really does it for me. the percussion, the noises, the snapping, the chains or keys rattling or jingling, the like bottle caps being clicked or popped, the little whistles and claps, it just makes my stupid brain light up. this song is everything i could have wanted from them. i think it's their best song by such a wide margin that i'm not sure they'll ever be able to beat it, but that's fine because i don't need them to. this song made me a passionate fan

[punkrockmixtapes]

A little late to the party but here is my year end list for 2023. If you want to listen to the podcast version where I mumble my way through the 30 albums that I liked you can do it via the regular streaming services or highfives.ca

or if playlists are more your jam I have also went a little overboard this year and made a 200 songs I liked playlist which can be found here :

[murderousthighs]

My Top Kdramas Watched in 2023

*I completed watching 19 kdramas in 2023 and these are my favourites

Moving

The Glory 1&2

Perfect Marriage Revenge

Castaway Diva

Crash Course Romance

Twinkling Watermelon

Divorce Attorney Shin

[music-moon]

My most played albums released in the year 2023:

Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd

RAYE - My 21st Century Blues

Amaarae - Fountain Baby

Maxh. - cardinal moon

Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure

Daniel Caesar - NEVER ENOUGH

Jon Batiste - World Music Radio

Kali Uchis - Red Moon in Venus

Olivia Rodrigo - GUTS

Laufey - Bewitched

Data from last.fm + fmbot.

2000 / 2001 / 2002 / 2003 / 2004 / 2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009 / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / 2013 / 2014 / 2015 / 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019 / 2020 / 2021 / 2022 / 2023 / 2024 / 2025

[kanye--westeros]

Top Films of 2023

1. The Holdovers

2. Godzilla Minus One

3. Past Lives

4. Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse

5. The Iron Claw

6. Poor Things

7. The Beasts

8. All Of Us Strangers

9. American Fiction

10. Bruiser

11. Killers Of The Flower Moon

12. Call Me Chihiro

13. How To Blow Up A Pipeline

14. Brother

15. Leave The World Behind

16. They Cloned Tyrone

17. A Thousand And One

18. Dream Scenario

19. The Killer

20. Biosphere

21. May December

22. Oppenheimer

23. The Zone Of Interest

24. Barbie

25. TMNT: Mutant Mayhem

Honorable Mention:

Sanctuary, Beau Is Afraid, Asteroid City, Ballerina, Creed III, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves, The Royal Hotel, Rye Lane, Saltburn, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, Talk To Me, Priscilla, Cypher, John Wick: Chapter 4, Fair Play, Rustin, Fremont, War Pony, Monica

Movies Not On My List Worth Checking Out:

No Hard Feelings, Bottoms, Nimona, M3GAN, The Super Mario Bros Movie, Theater Camp, You Hurt My Feelings, The Creator, Chevalier, Sympathy For The Devil, Sisu, Joy Ride, The Blackening, Next Goal Wins, Seven Kings Must Die, Suzume, Shortcomings, Evil Dead Rise, Extraction 2, Blackberry, Passages, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, Knock At The Cabin, El Conde

[benevolent-blackhole]

2023 List

Favorite novel I read this year: Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)

Favorite history book: German Jews in Love: A History - Christian Bailey (2022) (not counting re-reads)

Favorite artist: Taylor Swift

Favorite 2023 album: The Good Witch-Maisie Peters

Favorite 2023 song: You're Losing Me- Taylor Swift

Favorite new show: None

Favorite movie: The Eras Tour, but I couldn't see any other movies..I want to see Priscilla and KOFM soon.

Most proud of: wrote and revised first two chapters of the dissertation

New place I travelled to: Montreal, Canada

[northcountrysounds]

Top Song of 2023

Like I said in last years post of top songs, I don't really rank them as it becomes an impossible task after a certain point. But, I figured I could make my top 5 out of this list a yearly tradition. All of these songs are great and were listened to many times over the past year by me, but these 5 stood above the rest.

Dean Johnson- Possession

William Prince- Tanqueray

EmiSunshine and the Rain- Scars and Wings

Skarlett Woods- Portland, OR

Aly & AJ- Open to Something and That Something Is You

Please note, 1 song on my list was not on Spotify, but can be found here:

Damien Jurado- Neiman Marcus

[rachelsreviews13]

rachelsreviews13 2023 Ranking Lists

Happy New Year!! Welcome to my annual ranking lists. This year I decided to do things a little different, so instead of just songs and albums, I have also included the artists I thought had an exceptional year, my top TV shows, and my top books. 

These rankings were not easy at all, especially for the music and TV shows. Also, while I normally require the songs and albums to be released within the year, I did not make that requirement for the shows and books. To make it even harder, there were so many genres of each media that it was difficult to compare. K-pop versus pop punk. Returning favorites versus new finds. Book club reads versus suggestions from friends. 

2023 was full of so much fun and exciting content in all areas. I hope you can either find some of your own favorites or are interested in checking out something new from my lists. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. Enjoy!

(P.S. link to Top 30 Songs Spotify playlist here)

[nettalee3]

Rolling Stones Best Memes of 2023

Rolling Stone shared an article listing the best memes of 2023. It's funny enough to share.

[yesloulou]

Daniel and family during FP3 at the 2018 British Grand Prix | This gif set was made possible by the one and only @blamemma ✨✨✨✨✨

[wickymicky]

top ten songs of 2023

1. Newjeans - Ditto

surprise, surprise. here we are lol. yes, this song came out in December 2022, but it was late in the month, and technically it was a pre-release track for a song that came out in January (which was OMG), so technically its official release was 2023 haha

but anyway... Ditto is perfect. it's not just the best song of the year, i think it's also my favorite kpop song of the 2020s so far. maybe my favorite kpop song ever, though i feel like i still need more time to make that decision haha.

nothing affects me the way Ditto does. it's like weapons-grade nostalgia. you could use this as a nostalgia weapon if you wanted to kill someone with just pure raw nostalgia. it hits me like a truck, man... all i can think about is how life could have been different...

the music videos are amazing too. people had all these theories that they were about parasocial relationships but i dont think that's true, i think they're about nostalgia. the main character, Heesoo, is shy and copes with that by listening to music, specifically Newjeans. but she starts to grow up. little by little, she starts running away from the members, who represent her childhood. she asks out the boy she has a crush on, she breaks her camera with all her memories, etc, and their presence fades from her life, she grows up. and at the end of Side B, adult Heesoo, now much older, finds her old videotapes and watches them. she's overwhelmed with nostalgia. she sees the tape where the members come in through a door and immediately the same scene plays out in real life, they enter her door physically. that's not real obviously, but its a metaphor for the memories rushing back to her. she's immediately transported to where she was at that time in her life. she realizes that even though she grew up, she never lost that part of her. at the drop of a hat, she's back. and it's nice

would i like the song this much without the music video? yes. but does it still help overall? yes of course. it'd be my SOTY either way, but i think this context and artistic vision for it is what helps it be SOTD, song of the decade.

Ditto isn't just good by kpop standards, like some songs on this list. it's just good by any standards. Ditto is important to me.

(and Side B)

[jackabbot]

hilson debuting as no31 on the ship list out of fucking nowhere is the energy i love for this fandom

yeah the show ended 12 years ago but who cares when these two codependent insane gays are still on our minds