With a subpar laptop and a very big lack of competitive spirit .. PC gaming is oftenly not my thing! I use it for point and Click Adventures and I do enjoy some retro platformers on the medium but overall I must say I have always been more of a console and handheld girl! There is just something a bit more magical about these devices for me! They have a charm…but which ones are my favourites?! I see no way this can be taken the wrong way so here is my console top 5.
Console #5: Gamecube
The gamecube was a bit of an odd duck when it came out. It had less power than it’s rivals and it was so oddly shaped. With Luigi’s Mansion being the only “name worthy” Launch TItle Nintendo had to back it up. Sure there was a new Wave Racer and Doshin the Giant but it would take this machine a while to get some steam. Yet what we did not know was how good Eternal Darkness was, we did not know how good this machine would end up being. Yet the game-console that featured a miniature disc to play it’s game had very poor third party support. Almost all hits , with the exception of a very VERY few were all First Party titles. Super Smash Bros on the Gamecube is hailed as THE Best version of the game. The Wind Waker was amazing and many gamers have fond memories of Paper Mario and The Thousand year door. I am STILL waiting for a sequel to the amazing F-Zero GX! Mario Kart Double Dash was a bright pinnacle in the series and nowadays most of us know what a Pikmin is!
Yet no one really played the Gamecube ports of Call of Duty, Prince of Persia or Fifa. We had Super Mario Super Strikers instead! Resident Evil 4 , for a long time was a gamecube exclusive and it was amazing but if I had to think of a third party top 5.. I would struggle. So it was a very static console.. that did offer us some amazing and innovative experiences.. such like Four Swords adventures .. by linking our handhelds to our console! It had two very nice Pokémon titles as well in the form of Pokémon Colosseum and Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness.. in these days the XD is kind of unfortunate but back then we did not juste that emoji yet! It was all about that 🙂 on MSN! The worst thing about the console.. and this is a genuine pet peeve of mine was the fact that it was really hard to get controllers if you did not have the purple variant! I had to buy a black one back in the day because all the purple ones were sold out.. and I ended up with four different colours of controller.. I don’t like that clowney look! It as a console that had too many quirks but strictly based on its library it would easily be a few places higher.
Console #4: Playstation 2
The PlayStation 2 is the only PlayStation I ever liked. I prefered the N64’s soft but grey look over the edgy but more crisp graphics of the original PlayStation, I did not like Crash Bandicoot’s jumping into the depth of the platforms.. I lacked the feedback that Mario 64 gave me! Spyro I liked better.. but the collectables were a bit generic and lacked that level of satisfaction Mario’s one up sounds give you, or Donkey Kong’s soundtrack bestows upon you. I missed out on LSD-Dream Emulator and the amazing Bubsy 3D but overall I never missed the Playstation. PS2 However, I did it right for me! The controls felt more robust, I liked the graphics a lot better and it had better platforming heroes in the form of Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank. While I do not dislike Spyro these had that flavour I was looking for. It also had the nicest controller and a very solid memory card. My gamecube ones kept breaking!
Playstation 2 had Final Fantasy X.. the last Final Fantasy game that I liked (excluding a realm Reborn) ..a game I have never finished.. not because I could not but because I refused. It also had the best Dragon Quest game off all time! In the form of the 8th installment. The cursed King. I really love that one! Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist of the Roses came out on that as well and I had way too much fun with that game.. even if it’s not all that good! There was this “ease” to Playstation 2 games, that kind of felt it was an evolution in some ways of Nintendo.. say if Nintendo was a Pikachu, PlayStation 2 was it’s Raichu.. everything worked just that slight bit better over there.. I do like Pikachu over Raichu most of the time in terms of design, cuteness and how Iconic it is .but Raichu just performs better. It became my defacto game for jRPGs and more mature platformers. I would play it until years after its expiration date.
Console #3: Xbox 360
When the next generation came along however I jumped off the PlayStation bandwagon. Xbox would get Oblivion Sooner, Xbox 360 got Kameo , elements of Power.. a collectable creature adventure Hybrid that really felt like a unique title and one I have always deeply enjoyed. This is the age where I did not really see a benefit in having a very specific console ..besides Nintendo for its titles.. because PlayStation and XBox became a bit more generic to me. If preferred Halo vastly over Killzone and since Microsoft now owned Rare .. I preferred that studio over Naughty Dog so I was pretty confident about my choice.. and while I never got my amazing platformers on the system I never regretted it and to this day it is the console I own most games on. With well over 80 games.. this kind of was my STEAM. Just.. a bit more space consuming and not holding it’s value as much.
I got the red ring of death but I neatly got it replaced so while maybe not as durable I really liked it better in almost every department. I like a white Console over a black one.. I like the flat surface so I can put more stuff on it.. over the weird rounded one of the PS3. I like the controller better and I certain as heck preferred Xbox live over Playstation online. I still feel the difference between a PS3and a Xbox 360 is almost neglectable but Xbox had more exclusive features I liked. Fable, Alan Wake, Halo, Gears of War. Back in the day I also emulated a lot of SNES because and the Xbox 360 Wired USB was by then the best you can get. I could combine both my gaming passions with this device! Plus it was very fun to annoy my friends in Soul Calibur by playing Yoda! Darth Vader wasn’t nearly as broken and not nearly as fun! I never liked Kingdom Hearts..which to me is the stand out reason to buy a PS3. So since I did not feel that compulsion the 360 became my mass gaming device! .. it did help that it had actual video games unlike the Nintendo Wii…which is mostly a pile of shovelware with a few impressive tech demo’s.
Console #2: Nintendo Switch
Number 1 and number 2 are miles apart in terms of favouritism from the rest. I genuinely think the Switch is one of the best consoles of all times, and the handheld to full on console format this device follows makes it unsurpassable. During the N64 era I considered.. should I get a playstation.. There are some cool license games on there. During the next generation I owned all the consoles save for the Dreamcast.. but PS2, Gamecube and the OG Xbox I all played. I always felt a call to the other consoles.. but not this generation. I have no pull yet towards the PS5 and the Series X..The Switch is all I need. It has the games I like more.. by factor a lot, it can be used as a handheld AND a console and it is more fun to play couch co-op. I do not care about the prettiest graphics, I do not care about the competitive online scene. I am here for the most complete and adorable singleplayer The Switch is a unique thing, with unique games and there is no real substitute. Spider-Man Miles Morales is just a very much shorter.. not even a full game.. version of that Other Spiderman game I own. I have A Call of Duty and I don’t like the 2000 extra mechanics they added in later on. Mario Odyssey though is a completely different game from Galaxy and I can play it in a different way. Pokémon might not be that different from previous generations yet the only real other way I get to play that is by playing clone games.
I like the menus on Switch , they are super easy.. I love that I can get Pink Joycons for it (even though I don’t have them because I just moved and they are super expensive) I love that I see it played everywhere around me and it’s not a “I am the biggest COD player” kind of culture. It’s .. “hey do you want to visit my island” .. “Hi do you want to trade this Pokémon”.. There is no T-bagging there not that drive to over-achieve. Sure I occasionally play Super Mario 35..but it’s more a “how long can I last” kind of thing rather than.. let’s humiliate my opponents. There is no flexing like “prestige” or golden Pokéballs if you win a lot in Pokémon online. Mario Party might kill friendships… which can be hilarious but it all feels so much less as measuring your online cyber fallus.. than I get from the other two. It does it’s own little thing and because of it is such a sexy little beast.
My favourite Console: SNES
Little video game consoles have actually shaped me as a person, but I do think the SNES had an amazing impact on me as an individual. Arguably the NES did as well but I was a much more passive participant in that one. I just got games for the NES from my parents and played them and sure Ducktales had a big impact and I fell in love with Mario 3, Megaman 2 made me me a better gamer and all that.. but it all was stuff that was handed to me. On the SNES I chose my games. I actively influenced what I wanted to play. I was much more busy with solving problems in Goof Troop, or finding a way to pass that Moose chase level in Micky Mania then I had ever been with beating Rocksteady in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.. the Arcade Game. Getting my SNES is the point where I start to remember my entire life.. my conscious memories.. it is also in the time I started to slowly lose friends and be bullied. So in a way this console became my safe haven.. my escape from my bad reality!
The games on the system are amazing. Genesis Does what Nintendon’t .. oh Bitcharizard please. The music on SNES was so more Vibrant.. the first Sonic game.. isn’t all that good meanwhile SNES had Super Mario World.. which was amazing. Star Fox showed us what was possible on a console and showed us we could move beyond 2d. Link to the Past is still one of the best Zelda games ever. Maybe it even IS the best Zelda game ever.. it’s a close one for me between that one and Ocarina. When we get Retro Games these days.. they are almost all modeled after what they would have been on SNES. I still love the heck out of that classic controller and holds the best RPGs that ever released. Final Fantasy VI (Or III) Chrono Trigger, Lufia II and Tales of Phantasia. It had some pretty sweet Sailor Moon games (though not available here) and other anime games. It had the Donkey Kong Games which to this day are some of my favourite games of all times.. and it let me feel pride for the first time in a long time. I might not be able to run properly.. I might suck a sports.. but I was the first in class to kill K.Rool! I just want a different direction. On the SNES I became a geek and laid the foundation for the weird amalgamation I am today and that makes it my favourite console! SNES Is part of my soul!.. The european version.. not the american version!
And those are my favourite game consoles! I would have liked to bring you a review of a game instead but my laptop crashed and I lost all my progress in Deponia as I had to restore my laptop to factory defaults being unable to complete it! So this had to make due instead! If you want to help me get a pc instead of a Laptop .. this is my newest Kofi Project so if you want to convince me of the power of such a thing.. please consider some Kofi support! Or just be a pal and leave your favourite console in the comments below!
Welcome again Island Guests! We have discussed Pokémon 15 Types so far. Three more to go! The Ghost type is not super effective against the poison type I discussed last time..which had determined my order until now ! But it IS super effective against itself! One of the fan favourite types that is kind of frail. While definitely one of my favourites when it comes to Pokédex Entries this type is my absolute favourite. When it comes to actually favouring a type it’s actually quite mid tier for me! I did this list once.. but my answers have changed a bit with how much I learned!
Rules and Honourable Mentions
As always to keep this list diverse I will not allow Pokémon that were on prior lists. I am not sure any ghosts made it on my lists normally due to how prominent the typing is. So there aren’t that many conflicting issues. However under the same rule I only add one entry per evolutionary line in! Since Gen VIII made evolution harder to cancel if I do not like a final evolution, I will mark down the previous forms. Even if it’s not a Gen VIII Pokémon it seems fairer that way. Pumpkaboo and Phantump are for me forms I really like, but both their final evolutions feel a bit meh! With Trevenant being okay but Gourgeist not feeling fully evolved for me. I can’t shake the “is this it?” feeling. It’s fine.. but it really feels like a mid evolution to me! So Pumkaboo takes this honourable mention. Had there been a form above Gourgeist it would have made the list.
Another rule is that ghost types have to feel like ghost types. Decidueye for example doesn’t feel like a ghost type to me and simply gets the type because it’s based on an extinct Owl. However I talked about him enough so he doesnt get the honourable mention on this rule. That goes to Dhelmise. While I very much get why it’s a ghost.. and it’s possessed seaweed around an anchor..and it fit’s the ghost ship theme.. I feel like it should be a Steel Grass type. Dhelmise gets the ability Metal Worker which effectively gives it a steel typing in the form of adding Same Type Attack bonus to his attacks but I feel that should have been swapped out for Possessed..which would give Ghost STAB as a result. In the end I do just see a seaweed covered anchor. I love it but it’s the ghost part that is implied rather than the steel bit.
Temporary forms also do not count! So Mega’s do not count. This for me excludes Mega Banette. Which designwise is one of my favourite mega’s. I like Banette fine enough in it’s normal form but it’s mega is something I found really amazing. One of the best designed Megas and a Pokémon that could really use one. Banette is somewhere like my seventeenth favourite ghost type or so but it’s mega might have made it a contender. Unfortunately..we judge pokémon for how they are for the majority of their journey, without any special items or so! So it falls short! The backstory about Banette being a discarded plushie swearing on revenge though! One of my all time favourites.
Ghost Type #5 Mimikyu
I thought Mimiky would be higher on this list. It is cute, has a great backstory, is fleshed out in the anime a lot and truly is a fan favourite! I love Mimikyu as well..but I do not like putting it on my team all that much! It’s design is top notch and I appreciate it a lot more than Pikachu itself..but it’s a physical ghost and fairy type. Which does make it rather unique but also a bit trickier to use. To effectively use Mimikyu you have to sacrifice one moveslot to use Sword Dance. One for Shadow Claw and probably one for Play Rough ..because fairy types do not get a lot of physical moves either. That means Mimikyu is one of the most rigid and less versatile ghost types with three moves more or less being set. It managed to fight off Marshadow from the fifth place though, who is arguably the better physical ghost type due to its move Spectral Thief, by sheer love! There is so much fun stuff about Mimikyu including his Z-move! Let’s Snuggle Forever. The story of this Pokémon wanting love.. despite it cursing people to death if they see it’s true form.. is just heartwarming and wins me over every time. Even though I do not always want to run it on my team.. I can not stop from helping to want to adopt one! It is high on my list of Pokémon Plushies I want to get and it’s song is one of my more played Pokémon tracks!
As for his Pokédex entries! I am so familiar with his lore that I do not even need to look these facts up anymore. No one has ever seen Mimikyu’s true shape….well at least no one who did lived to tell the tale. However, looking at the true Mimikyu gets cursed ..which if you get a good view of the thing usually means you die. This made Mimikyu sad as he also wanted to be among people! So it created a disguise it could wear. It noticed that humans really liked Pikachu so it based it’s design on that! So it could be loved as well. For those of you unfamiliar. The Pikachu-like head is completely empty ..the actual eyes are on its body! If it’s costume ever breaks Mimikyu gets extremely down and won’t stop working on repairing it’s costume, no matter how long it takes. It shall not rest until it’s costume is complete yet again. Mimikyu is a bit scared of sunlight, probably because it might think it’s costume doesn’t pass as much or who knows what is underneath that disguise it might be allergic to sunlight. Mimikyu can get jealous of Pikachu if it really gets lonely! Yet all in all it’s a crafty little who knows, with a heart that wants to be loved and a disguise that wants to be hugged.
Like I said before, Mimikyu in battle is kind of boring to use. His Ability disguise allows it to take one free hit per battle , without taking damage. (Excluding Hazards and status) Mimikyu’s strong ability however is countered with a lackluster stat pool. It’s physical attack is only 90, which is not bad but no where near the ballpark of others. Since it’s most targetable weakness is ghost it does really benefit from his high special defence and his decent speed. I ran Leech Life as a final move on mine since Gen VII really improved that move , giving it 80 base power instead of 20. With his high defences it can get a fair bit of recovery of types Leech Life is super effective against. It doesn’t offer much covery though as it overlaps a lot with both it’s fairy typing against dark and ghost typing against psychic. Woodhammer is an option to make it more diverse.. but that last slot really depends on what kind of teams you are facing.. you can not swap the other moves out at all so that one changes depending on what you face. I always give it it’s Z-crystal as a held item because I want to use Let’s Snuggle forever! Cause you know! It’s cute!
Ghost Type #4 Polteageist
My Polteageist Earl Grave was one of my favourite Pokémon during my Pokémon Sword and Shield run! I bet the nickname has been passed around a lot so it’s not very original but I did not want to go South African/Dutch with Dooibos and it was a male and I felt Deadjeeling felt a bit more feminine. Still I never thought tea would make such a good Pokémon. When I say good I mean that for a while it was amongst the top 10 most powerful Pokémon in Galar. I haven’t kept up with it so I am not sure if it got a bit nerfed but I know this Pokémon without any imposed limitations can kick ass and take names. It’s design like a pot of tea also is quite unique and I really prefer pure ghost types a lot! With only two weaknesses, one that it always has covered, it just works for me! Also it’s dead it loses some of those other aspects. I never got why Gengar got the poison type! This is just ghostly black tea haunting a cup! Sure you could add the water or grass type to it.. but it would only end up with more weaknesses. So they did well with this one!
What many people did not know is that Polteageist comes in two forms and this has to do with a lore thing. Polteageists are formed if you leave a bit of black tea in a teapot and another ghost usually another polteageists comes to visit it in the night! If it does it will move into the tea and possess it after it leaves the beverage a new ghost is formed. Ever after they roam around. Usually they originate from fake chinaware but once every now and again it is an official antique teapot they possess. Which is also mentioned in the Pokédex. But this is actually a feature in the game! If you manage to tilt the camera below your Polteageist, you can see a blue stamp of a prime brand if you have the anique form. If there is nothing it is called the Phoney form. If you use a cracked pot evolution item to evolve it .. your Pokémon is a fake antique..however if you used a Chipped Pot.. it is the real deal! There are no stat differences here.. and it’s just tea possessing tea but I love how much detail went in such a seemingly throw away pokedex line. When it trusts its trainer it allows them to sample some of their tea. However if it is angered it will shoot some bad tea in your mouth that will cause severe chills. No gruesome stories for this one it seems!
Polteageist has a Special Attack stat of 136. Which means it is more offensive than nearly all other pokémon I listed before. No more than 5 pokémon of the 75 I mentioned before are more powerful than this tea! Yet that is not all! Polteageist gets the excellent combination of Shell Smash, a move that changes all your stats .. dropping your defensive stats for offensive stats and speeds, as well as Stored Power.. a move that deals damage equal to the number of stat boosts you have gotten. It’s ability weak armor raises its speed when it’s hit by a physical attack and equipped with a white herb or a focus sash; this combination can wreck teams if they do not have a proper special wall. (A wall is a pokémon whose main purpose is to take damage and shift momentum in your favour) It also gets moves like Willow Whips to lower physical damage, it gets Shadow Ball the most powerful Ghost special move and it gets Giga Drain which with 136 special attack can offer you some very reliable recovery. This Pokémon needs to be taken out because with just two goes of Shell Smash it can nearly one-shot an entire team…as long as the opponent doesn’t have a dark type or priority moves. Truely a scary ghost!
Ghost Type # 3 Gengar
While I do not understand why it has the poison type, and that typing often is more a nuisance as a boon, I do love the original ghost pokémon. That is right both in generation one and two there was only 1 ghost pokemon line for each. Gengar is a classic and for good reasons. His design is haunting, the idea of incorporating him with shadows pays off, and the way he reflects Clefable in a way has led to many interesting theories. He is still one of the better designed ghost Pokémon for me. Both his Giganta Max and Mega evolution are amazing in their own rights. I particularly like the Mega! Even if its forbidden to use because of how amazingly powerful it is! It fits in Gengars Pokedex lore! So love that one! There is something intimidating about Gengar. It seems the most insane and chaotic of the ghost pokémon and Haunter and Gengar are arguably the first pokémon that killed Ash. Haunter at least ripped out his soul long before Mewtwo and Mew ever turned him to stone! Gengar was also the first trade evolution I ever managed to obtain so he was something very special to me! Later becoming one of my staples in Pokémon Stadium! I also had a Gengar toy which looks awesome and translucent! So with this many memories he was sure to be on this list and I am fairly sure that no one really thinks this is a bad ghost type Pokémon!
Pokédexwise this pokémon used to be moderately innocent. His earliest entries seem to focus on that shiver you feel down your spine when you’re scared or anxious! They explain it is Gengar stealing heat from its surroundings. It can hide in your shadow or mimic to be your shadow and if your shadow ever overtakes you on a full moon or when you are passing by streetlights it is actually the ghost running and having fun. As soon as early as Pokémon Silver though it already mentioned that it preys on lives to steal. Hiding in the shadows to do so. It becomes quickly clear that this stealing of heat is more a stealing of life force. He also likes to curse you without reason.. just to have a laugh. Yet Gengar is at his darkest .. in Pokémon Sun and Moon. Sun’s ingame pokédex entry states: Should You ever feel yourself attacked by a sudden chill it’s the sign of an approaching Gengar. There is no escaping it. Just give up! Which… is quite dark! Moon then explains that it was once a human himself and now he is looking for a traveling companion which he achieves by taking the lives of other humans hoping the dead turn into other Gengar. If you ever think .. well I will just not leave the house then.. Ultra Moon states. Not even your house is safe… all Gengar needs is a Dark corner to wait for a chance to catch its prey!… Darn Game Freak.. that would have given Kid Pinkie sooo much nightmares!
Gengar got infamy in the competitive scene when Mega Gengar was released. In its Mega form it’s base special attack became 170. The most Powerful special attack ever. So promptly Mega Gengar was cast into the Ubers Categorie.. where it rests with all the overpowered legendaries. Since that is not possible in Gen VIII I will discuss his non mega evolving set from the Under-used tier! Here he works as a special sweeper with 130 special attacks. Ev’s go into special attack and speed and it is equipped with Focus Blast, Shadow Ball , Sludge Wave and Substitute. The idea is to keep a substitute up and bombard your enemies from behind cover. Since virtually all sound based moves, except for bug Buzz, which Gengar resists, are normal type moves he works great behind a sub. These moves offer a wide variety and deal a lot of damage against fairly common archetypes. Myself I oftenly swap out Focus Blast for Thunderbolt since I oftenly lack proper covery against flying types and the paralysis chance is neat as well. The Focus blast slot once more is the most swappable slot.. though substitute can also be replaced if you face off against a trick room team! Gengar has a few options and lots of types covered.
Ghost Type Number # 2 Mismagius
Mismagius to me is mostly an improvement of Gengar.. but more femine. It has a bit more defence, for a bit less offensence, It lacks the pesky psychic type and ground type weaknesses the number three has and it has a hat! While Gengar feels more scary. Mismagius feels more ghostly! It also has a bit of a scholarly quality! A mage! …well duh! Oddly that mage like quality isn’t on to many pokemon. Alakazam is more a mentalist like Uri Geller, Gardevoir is more of a Bride or something. While we had plenty of warriors , there are not that many real mages. So as a D&D Player I am happy! It is also something I really would like to cosplay as a Gijninka version.. which is basically the pokémon interpreted as a human. I just love this design that much! The colours are more vibrant than on Gengar, it has a better shiny form then Gengar (it becomes greenish yellow, where Gengar slightly hue shifts to barely noticeable less saturated). I really like how it differs from the other ghosts as well.
Most Ghosts have insanely dark Pokédex entries. Like people dying from looking at them, them praying on human lives just to have a playmate to stuff like “this ghost is a child that got lost in the woods and starved to death’ , this ghost carries its former human face with it and sometimes looks at it and cries tears of blood (yes that’s a real in game thing). Mismagius though is a half and half. It is a chanting/spellcasting pokémon befitting its name. While it certainly can cause trouble with it’s chants, such as intense migraines and visions of absolute terror , Mismagius can also induce Happiness in people with some of it’s chants. The Pokémon is feared for it’s wrath and the curses that it places but it on a whim also bestows positivity upon humans. For example , besides the happiness, Mismagius is known to be able to cast love spells. It can make two people fall deeply in love with another. This means some people desperately seek it’s aid. I like how it once again is a bit of a counterpart to Gengar’s doom and gloom.. and with him most of the other pokémon. It makes Mismagius much more of a balanced Pokémon, a creature you could actually see people use as a pokémon.
Mismagius is a Pokémon in the Never Used Tier. It’s offensive stat of 105 makes it an average but solid sweeper. This rating is mostly based on how dominant Inciniroar was a presence in the Metagame though. In Sword and Shield it would most likely be more successful due to a much lesser presence of Dark types. It is best on a team with Webs, Hazards and possibly Sleep. As it is dependent on Nasty Plot to get properly set up! It having Nasty Plot though means that IF you can set it up.. it gets powerful FAST. People really used to run it with Power Gem but that is a rather specific counter. Due to how Dynamax fighting moves offer one of the best stat buffs, Dazzling Gleam might be a better shout. Protect and Taunt are good support moves to run on it and if you can run it on a team that keeps you in the driver’s seat when it comes to momentum this pokémon is great. As it doesn’t require a trade but just a Dusk-Stone to evolve this Pokémon is also a lot more viable to use on gameplay stuff. Let’s be honest if you are playing an older game who is going to reliably trade a Gengar to you?! You already need a friend with a game! So while it’s not the BETTER pokémon I think it is the better pick.
My Favourite Ghost Type: Chandelure
A lamp.. My favourite ghost type is a lamp! Back in the early days of my blog I bumped him down a little as recently I had used a Gengar again and to be safer with my audience! However since then it has climbed in my list again. Somehow this always climbs back to the top! I love purple flames! The whole dark fire thing is one of the tropes I like the most! I loved it in Underhero, I loved in Pokémon, I love anything that has a canonical purple black flame! It is my main in Pokken.. not that I play Pokken a lot but as far as it goes..it’s my main. I just want to own one and swing on its arms. I also want to hug it ..as long as it doesn’t burn me! The Pokémon also has a great Gijinka which I love very much.. but that might be a topic I cover on it’s own. There is just so much to love! The black frame.. the bluish intended glass, those endless yellow eyes and the dancing purple flames together create a stunningly designed pokémon. I absolutely adore the design and it is one of the very few Pokémon that uses a jet(ish) black in it’s design so well. Zekrom is a thing but other than that most pokémon are more a dark blue than a black.. yet here it works so incredibly well! This makes it more unique in my opinion. Of course Jynx used to be jet black but we like to forget about that one and even if we considered it.. it’s not much competition. This Pokémon perfectly fits it’s ghost fire typing for me and it works very well in my shadowy mansion with a big haunted library ..old tea pots and seemingly moving plushie collection!
While it’s pokédex entry is nowhere near as scary as both its earlier evolutionary stages.. which are a candle that mesmerises you by looking at it’s flame.. but also drains you off life force as you do.. or a smaller lamp that if it burns you , you will experience that pain forever from then on out. Chandelure still is a bit of a creeper. It is said to live in ancient dilapidated mansions. It hypnotises those who visit it with it’s swinging arms. Then it burns your soul from your body. Leaving around a soulless husk of a corpse. While a part of your spirit fades a part of it is doomed to wander this world forever, never finding rest. Being a generation V pokémon it has only seen pokédex entries in Unova, Kalos and Galar. Unfortunately missing out on those sweet sun and moon dex entries. However Shield does have a bit of a zinger as well! It mentions that those who have their homes illuminated by Chandelure will not get light in abundance. In place of lights, there will be lots and lots of funerals. At least it hypnotises you before it kills you! So that is better as just giving into your fear like is the case with Gengar! I much rather be murdered by a Chandelure! So of course it is higher on this list.
Chandelure is commonly used as a Under-Used Tier Stall breaker. That means this is the Pokémon you set in if your opponent is bunkering down. It gets the ability Infiltrator which allows it to negate substitutes which can come in handy against some Pokémon! Yet you normally do not even have to run it to be effective. Just by being one of it’s possible abilities means they can not risk staying in against it if they are weak against its unique typing. Fire and Ghost is great against a great many Meta popular types so it should get the most powerful but reliable moves for those. Shadowball and Flamethrower. Yes Fire Blast is more powerful but the general consensus in the gaming community is that due to its accuracy Flamethrower reliably deals more damage. However Fire Blast should be taken if the enemy has some very big special walls, such as Aggron! While it is super effective against it. Aggron also can use super effective moves against it. This means Chandelure is a bit more versatile but also more tricky than say Gengar. Like most Chandelure is best if it can set up. It’s set up move of choice is Calm Mind. With it’s 145 base special attack it can already pack a wallop but with just One Calm Mind already..it becomes a massive treat leaving you in control of the fight.
Chandelure is everything I want in a Pokémon. It is more versatile to use, it is a bit trickier to use due to how frail it is but it is also something that really can boost your team rather than just be a stand alone thing. It’s slightly more than just a cannon. Combine that with one of the best ghostly designs and its ability to literally leave it’s mark upon one’s soul and it is not hard to see why this one is my bright and shiny light on top of the Ghost Pokémon list.
So what is your favourite Ghost Type? Do you prefer any of the legendaries maybe? What is your favourite ghost pokédex entry?! Do you use the ghost types often? Let me know and let’s talk Pokémon! Next week..we shall cover our penultimate type! The Dragon-Type! Feel free to let me know your favourites on that one in advance!Now I still feel a bit under the weather so Pinkie is heading back to bed.. or next time she might actually be a ghost herself.
Hello Island Guests! This week is easy mode week for me! It’s so hot my brain doesn’t work so I will mostly just answer questions and tags and do ..that kinda stuff! Sending my brain to the repairman in this heat and these times is just awful, so we will take it nice and easy. Today I will be finally taking part in the A to Z Favourite Anime Challenge! And I am breaking rules to do so! Why?! Well because I love some of these anime to much and this is the best way to insert them all! It’s not like I play by the rules of blog tags other times anyway?!
I was nominated by IrinaCelestial Sparkles and Foovay for this one so a big shout out and thank you for them. This post is originally called Railgunfan75’s Anime Favorites A-Z Challenge as it was created by Railgunfan75 but I do not put another bloggers name in my titles. Do check him out if you have never heard of him before! But since I am late on this tag I doubt that you don’t. I used the title Lina from TIny Ugly Animal came up with because I really prefer to leave names out of the equation.
Nominating Three People here
Mallow: I do try to acknowledge him a lot! He is the heart valve of the aniblogging community! He is a bit hidden among us but he helps out so much and keeps us very much alive! I really admire what he does so let’s see if I can admire his taste just as much!
Blerdy Otome: I know like me you can sometimes experience a bit of gatekeeper behaviour so let’s show everyone how Otaku we really are!
Fred: I really like your general taste in anime! So by making you list 26 of them I might find a new gem or two! Up to 26.. so this one is more for me! He does deserve all nominations he gets a million times over though!
These are the rules
-Pick a favourite series/movie for each letter of the alphabet. For titles starting with “a” “an” or “the” use the first letter of the next word of the title.
Okay this one I rule I shall stick with, due note that my favourites do not necessarily mean the series I think are best. They are my favourites that can be that they mean something deeper to me despite their possible flaws.Some of them I would not even like to rewatch again but I love them deeply.
-Since many titles have multiple names based on the language that you are using please pick one language for the entire list (Use all English titles or all Japanese titles) and let the readers know which language you will be using. If a title has the same name regardless of the language then it can be used in any list.
This is the rule I am going to break as I find it a bit of a silly rule. I should show my favourites here, if I had to classify them all in the same language I would have to pick anime I like significantly less in their favour?! Nah! I will give both titles to the japanese ones as I tend to stick to the English ones, but I love these shows dearly they deserve the shout out instead of other in favour of naming consistency.. I haven’t seen THAT much anime so I am not going to limit myself even further. This is my island and here:
-If you don’t have a title that fits under a particular letter, you can name another favourite from a different letter in it’s place, just indicate which letter spot you are using for that series. This can be done up to three times. If you can’t fill a spot then you can leave it blank. No more than 26 total series are allowed.
No more than 26 series are allowed? That I will determine myself. I will probably stick to the rule but shoutouts of love should never be limited! I will mention a few other names that did not make the cut though more so that I can explain myself on why I did break the language rule.
-Including a picture for each series is encouraged
Now that I can agree on!
-Share who tagged you for this challenge and nominate 3 more to try it themselves and include links to their blogs.
That is totally normal I did that by instinct!
-Just have fun with this challenge.
Now that I have stated I will break some rules to make it more fun for me, I will thank you very much! Now onto the actual list!
A: Aoi Hana/Sweet Blue Flowers
So I start with a Japanese title right away, while I do prefer English titles, this show is just way better than Air Gear or Akame Ga Kill so I am going with the Japanese one..so I can highlight my actual favourites It’s just a beautiful small story that had such relatable characters. I identify with Fumi , the series main character a lot and Achan is just a great little bubble of energy. I hate Yasuko because she is very much like a person I know in real life.. someone I could never hate and Yasuko became the perfect vent. So this show helped me deal with stuff as well! Cute and very human!
B: Bloom into You
This series gave me a semblance of a Waifu but also made me identify with a main character a lot. While Sayaka definitely was the strongest character for me in the second half, this story about a girl who can not fall in love is very in line with my Demi-Sexual nature and while I do crave some affection, I always understood her mindset perfectly. The soft animation is also something that really called out to me. B is a really good letter anyway. I could think of a lot of candidates. Few however resonate so strong with me as a person! A lot of these themes feel like a bit of my life.. and it is the series that made me want to have a phonestrap. Those are Super cute!
C: Cardfight Vanguard
I like card games, I like Card Game anime and I really liked this card fighting anime. Sure quality wise it can’t hold a candle to Clannad, but this show I watched with my friends to teach ourselves how the Card Game worked. We played a lot of matches with decks we got for no money at all oftenly after a few episodes of the show. That experience really trumps anything other C anime could throw at me. This gave me more than just a show. It gave me a pleasant experience with friends. So while I could easily discredit this show as just a Yu-Gi-Oh knock off this is my favourite despite any quality problems. Misaki is the female on the team and I really liked her as a character as well. Very different from your usual girl.
D: Digimon
The Adventure series was a big part of my childhood but even well after that Digimon remained a large part of my life. I hosted a digimon roleplay, I played a lot of the Digimon games, I read a lot of Digimon lore and I love series that have fictional evolving creatures battle each other. The music of this show up until that series with the guy who punches digimon to make his evolve was great. The series also showed a more grim world than Pokémon. So I am not specifying the series, each part up until rescue squad had a memory to me! Tri and the new series are pleasing to me as well.. yes it has all the rights to be called my favorite. Once more.. it’s not the best D I have seen.. but it is the one I will keep coming back to.
E: Earth Defence Club Love
I know the show is actually called Cute High, Earth Defence Club Love.. but I had no serious contestants for E otherwise I would have to give this to Elfen Lied. I haven’t seen any other shows with an E and I am not the biggest Elfen Lied fan. The first episode is nice to experience but after that the quality just dips! Cute High Earth Defence Club Love however is amazing! I like how it’s a genre spoof but does it really well.. (in the first season) I can watch their transformation scene over and over again and still roll on the floor laughing satisfied. The whole concept of the monsters being stuff and people there are unloved is so amazing and resonates with me really well. I deeply love this show! Just for it’s silliness.
F: Flip Flappers
I haven’t even finished this show yet but I love it so much already that I am very sure that at the end of the run it will beat out FLCL for me. Flip Flappers is well on it’s way to make it into my top 10 of all time. This show is cute, sweet, weird, colourful and completely surreal. There is a level of depth in all the antics too and much like Kyousogiga it has this Alice in Wonderland feeling I really appreciate. Even the character names are super cute which make me not mind that the shout each others name all the time. Their weapons are cute, and Uexkull is adorable. This show makes me giddy to get up every Saturday. The show has a very girly energy, bright but also somber at times at it makes me smile the biggest of smiles.
G: Gakkou Gurashi (School Live)
This one will make rule sticklers pissy because not only is it a Japanese name in a list with English names.. I also switched Gurren Lagann to the T also giving that it’s Japanese name. I use names mixed and the Mecha Anime I have always called Tengen Toppa so that’s where it will go! Gakkou Gurashi is my favourite thing to recommend to people who want an anime to watch, just because of the mind games this show plays if you at least avoid spoilers. I can’t talk about it to much but just know it is one of my absolute favourites! This is an experience! It’s certainly weird but it’s sheer concept is something I really REALLY like! So much that it is one of my all time favourites. Sure it got a bit bland in the end but nothing gave me a viewing experience like this one.
H: Hunter x Hunter
My Favourite Shounen show should definitely make this list, I could not get into the volleyball anime everyone talks about so even while I am not a big fan on Gon, this show itself is very amazing. In part because it doesn’t rely on it’s main character that much. I love the whole set up of the main character more living through the story then setting it. Gon gets caught up in events rather than be a trigger. He has to deal with the world instead of the world dealing with him. This results in the world feeling so much more alive and real! The way Nen is fleshed out really appealing to me as well and with people like Hisoka they and Killua they have such a strong line of slightly creepy characters.
I: Is this a Zombie?
Switching back to the English title, for the same reason as I always switch.. I love this show and want it to be features.. but the population in great anime in the K department is very dense for me. It’s Japanese title is Kore Wa Zombie Desuka.. and I feel like that’s the name it’s more widely known as as well? Yet the letter I had no noteworthy contestants to how great this show is! It’s funny and has some amazing characters! It’s colourful , it’s weird has magikewl girls.. and magikewl girl guys! What more can a girl loving random anime want! The end credits are amazing as well. There is a bit of a trend visible to what I like and I do require a certain does of whackyness in my anime in general.. that or being really heartfelt. So yeah Intial D would not make the cut even if it tried.. bitchin soundtrack though!
J: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures
I usually am not that big of a fan of very male energies in anime so I would have thought I hated Jojo’s. I watched it reluctantly because a friend really wanted to watch it fully expecting to despise it. But it has one thing going for it that apparently is a bigger pull for me. It’s Bizarre. I love Battle Tendency a lot and most of the other parts I really enjoy as well. There is just this thing to me about it! The music, the colour shifts into unnatural pallets for no reason at all. It glues me to the screen and each time we see a new Stand I adore how this weird thing works again. If I need to pick a part it would be part 2, but since that is included with Part 1 which is my least favourite part.. I am not sure if I could pick Season 1.. in that case it would go to the Stardust Season 1.. but for me Jojoj’s is Jojo’s so I nominated them all in one. I might have cheated here and there with my list but I can definitely STAND by this pick!
K: Kill la Kill
Man if I had to use Kore Wa Zombie Desku Ka this would have been a four way tie. What pushed Kill la Kill to this top spot is the memories it has given me besides the anime itself. Just listening to Before my Body Runs dry with friends and singing along at a super hot convention day. Rewatching Mako Dialogue and try to speak like her as some form of game.. and of course, this is a show featuring a Magical Girl (close enough at least) taking on weird people..and of course the weirdest alien life form you might have seen. The plot is bonkers with organisations such as Nudist Beach trying to protect the world from evil clothing company Revocs.. and a girl fighting with half a scissor What’s not to like!
L: Love Live School Idol Project
Love Live has a special place in my heart! I discovered it through a free rhythm game on my mobile and I just fell in love with the songs. When I saw gundam toys mimic dances of some cute anime girls I just had to check the show out and it did not disappoint. Love Live is just an energy boost for me. The original more so than the newer series as I like the music a lot better, but Start Dash and Snow Halation and Aishiteru Banzai are songs I sing regularly.. this show gave me those so it goes on the list. Kotori would be my favourite person from the group.. but admittedly also the one I’d strangle first if she is in a talkative mood! This show has taught me how to be an idol as well.. so since I want you all to love me.. and this post here goes! NICO NICO NIIIIII!.. please don’t unfollow!
M: Madoka
I know Madoka isn’t the official title and it’s actually Puella Magica Madoka etc.. but no one calls it that. The Japanese name is Mahou Shouja Madoka Magica I think so at least one of the official titles starts with an M but if I call Madoka I don’t think there is ANYONE here.. who is confused to what show I mean. While I do find this show to be overrated by my friends who say it’s the best thing ever.. I love the surreal worlds, the dark undertones, and the magical girl aspect of it. There is a gravitas around Madoka that you do not expect and it has weird elements, yuri elements, it has pink protagonist, cute looking monsters? Speaking of Monster.. barely missed the top spot! Madoka did so much more for the anime and copsplay community Do I even need to explain why it’s here?! It’s Madoka!
N: No Game No Life
By now I bet you can imagine why this makes my list. It’s a weird, colourful show that has some magical elements a lot of amazing characters and it’s the one place where it can seem people have already won a game of Rock Paper Scissors before the game is played! Take the explanation from Yu-gi-oh and put it in a more Yu-Gi-Oh season 0 like jacket.. then add a pinch of Madoka and a dash of Jojo and you have No Game No life. Season Zero Yugi was super murderous as well and some of these battles in this series really resemble that. It all adds to the bizarrity of it which makes it so amazingly watchable to me. The whole idea that the main character is actualy two seperate characters trying to achieve godhood.. by putting the Win before cest..was very creative and slightly disturbing. I could have done without the family love..but I can appreciate the anti social tone it is presented with.
O: Oban Star Racers
I am not even sure this is anime but it is a French Japanese production so I decided it counts. Now that Mangwha can become anime.. I think if Western folks try to make an anime it still should be called anime! It looks anime enough and is super heavily anime inspired. There is a beautiful story on how this show was a passion project and that shows in the series itself. There is not a lot of money or amazing talent involved but people loved what they made it and it shows so hard. One of the things I haven’t told you I liked yet. is Tournament Arcs…This series I could describe as Madoka meets Star Wars Podracing Meets Tournament Arc. There is a bit of Zoids in there as well I guess! I saw this on western tv and noticed how different it was .. in a way I like to think this is the serie that rekindled my love for anime. Also the hair of the team boss.. is amazing! They don’t design anime characters like that anymore.
P: Pokemon
I mean those who follow me for a long time probably could see this one coming. Again this is not the one I’d rank as the best. However this show and in particular the first series had such a great and in the end positive impact on my live I can hardly say it’s not my favourite. Without this anime I would not be writing this post. Without the series I would never would have asked for Pokémon Blue for the fest of Sinterklaas. Without the adventures of Ash I would never have fallen in love with the geek communities. I would have never bonded with some of the geeks that made my life the way it is now. I didn’t even follow the series anymore but when I read and saw that Ash finally became a champion after so many years, I shed a little tear of joy! It’s also why I cant bring myself to watch the new season. I love this series for what it did for me.. more so than what it is..but this definitely deserves a spot.
Q: (Q)Kyousogiga
Did you know that Kyousogiga is written with a blind Q.. ? A silent Q would be a Q you can not hear so a blind Q is a Q you can not see. Just stare at the title for about an hour you will see! It’s a story about a man who paints a bunny and due to a special power he can make it real.. but then the bunny falls in love with him and begs a female Buddha to borrow her body so they can be in love together.. the Buddha allows this and the two deside to found a new world inside a painting. A perfect little family with a boy who killed himself. A buddha and a demon girl. Yet then both mother and father disappear leaving behind a world that is full of weird colourful things with amazingly weird rules and things get weirder when a girl with a giant Hammer filled with colorful orbs shows up! This girl shares the name of the lost mother.. and a weird battle to find family in this new world begins… Weird colourful and a girl protagonist using semi magical powers and a schoolgirl outfit to ward of evil.. no surprise why I pick this.
R: Reborn
This is the English title of Katekyo Hitman Reborn.. but well K was taken a few times over. By a lot of clever swapping around I was able to put this little treasure of mine onto my list. Reborn does a lot what Hunter X Hunter for me does as well. It shows a perpetual growth in it’s character. Where Naruto just gains new techniques, Hunter x Hunter and Reborn show that the fighters actually enter new stages of fighting. From doing random tasks naked Tsuna learns to control his zero flame, uses to learn his rings, which can unlock box weapons, which can fuse with their main weapons. It’s great! Add in a bunch of babies, colourful pacifiers, a tournament arc and really great characters and yes this show is right up my alley. Of course you have to get trough quite a large amount of bad episodes at the start but it’s worth it.
S: Samurai Flamenco
This is another show I haven’t finished yet but deeply love so far. I really love Sentai shows, they are colourful..weird and you know where I am getting at with this. Samurai Flamenco is not exception to this preference of mine. Yet it also is extremely down to Earth at the same time. It explores territory that I have not seen before.. Anime weirdness..with real life Logic.. and I adore it for that. The characters , while I have my grips with some all feel pretty real and if you are a geek who ever imagined having super powers they are pretty relatable, this is also a show about being a fan of something a lot! There is a lot of Meta humor in there which pleases me as we.. like characters recognising Sentai patterns.. but by stating they are aware of it thir enemies can then adap! Just a very clever and fun show.
T: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann
Just Gurren Lagann in English apparently.. I thought it was Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann there as well.. is my favourite anime show of all time. So obviously it would make this list. It did so by the name I know for it. For those who don’t know what it is about. Humanity is driven to live underground. When a young boy with a drill finds a head like thing.. he discovers it’s a big mecha! He takes his best friend to the surface with this Mecha and discovers it’s ruled by beastman! They steal another Mecha and the best friend decides to slam the head mecha into the tinier one to see if they can combine.. from there on out their adventure just becomes weirder and more colourful with the plot going so insane that in the end people end up throwing galaxies at one another! This show made me laugh, it made me cry and it made me sick with grief.
U: Unko-San
This show tells the adventures of a little brown fairy that lives in the bowels of a certain island. For those who do not speak Japanese .. Unko being a brown fairy means it’s a log of poop! A log of poop that has the ability to grant luck to the unlucky. So for example when one little poop commits suicide because he can no longer pay his father’s hospital bills, it sinks into a clam farm..because they do not want a poo resting between them they give it a pearl which it can use to pay of it’s fathers depth.. Who keeps getting gored by a bull. This show had like 7 or 8 episodes each of 2 and a half minute long. It’s hard to find nowadays but back in the day I watched them all. So since it is the only anime with a U I ever finished .. it’s on the list. But you can put Konosuba here instead if you really want.
V: Vampire Princess Miyu
Not a great show but a very solid middle of the roader that made for an enjoyable watch in my vampire phase. It was one of the first random anime I ever watched..except for the word vampire and was one that really introduced me more and more to Japanese culture. I do not have a ton to say abot this one as even considering Unko San this is the my least favourite of the list and there are better Vampire shows out there.. but if you really want to watch a show starting with a V you can do a lot worse as well! It has a nice mysterious and tormented main character, a plot that is a bit retro but still quite engaging and interesting visuals. There is also a lot of pretty music in this show!
W: Wixoss
I thought the show was called Card Selector Wixoss but apparently it can be called Wixoss as well. This show is something I really like a lot more than what it’s worth! This is a mix between the grim elements of Yu-gi-oh and the grim elements of Madoka. What seems like an innocent cardgame ends up being the most sick and twisted game I have ever seen. If you win, you lose , if you lose you lose. There is SOOO much darkness in this show and it is amazing. It also has Card Battles? Heck yes! It seems like a weird but fun game and the fact that the characters are all female prevents that super dominant male energy I dislike from sneaking in. This show takes a little to get started but once it has you by the lady parts it doesn’t let you go until it is done. Since the original run of the show more content has released with new rules.. but just as dark of implications! I should really continue it sometime.
X: X- men Anime
For a little while there was a small project where western products got remade into anime. I think it was X-men, Blade and Wolverine, possibly Iron Man as well. I watched the X-men show and really liked it. It had a grit about it and a interesting story about secondary mutation that tied into Jean Grey’s phoenix origins but this time influenced characters like Emma Frost. It was nice to see a different take on the western show and it really felt quite anime like. I loved the visuals and the colour usage. Maybe because I compared it to the 90’s cartoon but still… It is a nice quick watch and if you are an X-men fan it surely is worth a peek. Again I am sure there are purists that say “this isn’t anime” but to me it very much is! I experienced it AS anime so it IS MY favourite anime starting with an X. Also my only one.
Y: Yu-Gi-Oh (5D’s)
Originally I planned to let GX win but then when I was writing why I realised I liked 5’ds Better. I do agree that playing cardgames on motorcycles is dumb but the entire world building with organisations like Arcadia, the way the slums in Satellite worked, the importance of the five dragons, the signers, the prison tattoos it all mashed so well with that holographic technique. Kalin’s zero hand deck was super special, the dark signers were great and I felt so bad for people dying. It had sticking deaths, duelists forcefully having to kill their own friends and of course death races. The Synchro Summon mechanic also made the cheating characters had to go through a little less noticeable..even if they could grow cards out of thin air. The way people dialogue when summoning their synchro’s was super cool and the music was very strong in both the sub and the dub! YuYuhakusho was a close contender, but I did not care for the last arc.. and Yu-Gi-oh once more is just more than just an anime.
Zetman
Not sure how I got to see this one but I think it is the only anime with a Z I have ever finished maybe even watched. The story of two friends being placed in a fight for justice on oposite sites of the spectrum has always facinated me, I also like in in Owari no Seraph for example.. but this one was really visceral.. deaths were messy.. Innocent girls turn into monsters with no way of returning then are slain by the hero of justice, while the hero of dark befriended her..As the monster is cut in half we see her soul be cut in half as well as she yells out as she begins to fade away into the abyss. Stuff like this made me really respect this series. It had a bit of a devil may cry vibe.. with a Dante versus Virgil feeling (not talking about the DMC anime in this case but the the games) . What is right might not always be the good and what is good might not always be right. This is a theme that was heavily dominant in this show and you could easily side with both parties. Yet are also gently nudged to look at things from different perspectives from time to time.Not all to special but hey it’s a Z!
Editting was a lot more work than I expected! I hope my taste has not made you unfollow! So now that you know my favourite anime from A to Z i’ll just slink of into a cold shower and ponder about Oban Star Racer a bit more! Have a great day and see you all soon!
Pinkie's Paradise 