Lurker > Supersonic_Pain

Uta posted...

And if we're talking influential, it doesn't get much more influential than Princess Knight which directly or indirectly inspired both Sailor Moon and Utena.

That's true

That's why Osamu Tezuka's the GOAT, he'd definitely have a spot on both the shoujo and shounen big 3

(as a side note, since Ikuhara's other works were brought up, I also prefer Penguindrum)

AceMos posted...

utena has had massive impact not just in japan but on western media

i think that can count as being a big 3

I mean which one would you take off

Surely you're not arguing Sailor Moon, Patient 0 for Ikuhara
Fruits Basket is arguably THE shoujo manga, the one that initially comes to mind when you say shoujo, nowadays
Boys Over Flowers was so influential, it pioneered a TV genre in an entirely different country, and it's the highest-selling shoujo manga

Utena is a great, influential, canonical work in anime, I'm not trying to diminish what it's done both domestically and internationally, I just don't know if you can put justify putting it in the top 3 shoujo works ever

Melchar posted...

Utena is very shrouded in metaphor but one of it's biggest themes is sexual assault of minors and deals with those themes in complex ways. It is pretty dark.

This

I don't think Utena is big enough to be part of the big 3 (to say nothing of the fact that it's an anime original) but it's kind of fucked up and I don't think it's not fair to call it "not dark" because of the filler comedy episodes and the fact that people don't get mercilessly slaughtered during it

MuscleRobo posted...

Actually? If I'm choosing three pillars of the genre? I'd probably want a historical series, a Y2K series and a super long ongoing series. With that caveat I'd go

Rose of Versailles
Fruits Basket
Yona of the Dawn

If you feel Nana is too mature a title, even though it was in a shoujo magazine, I think you could easily slot Boys over Flowers in there, another title that seems mysteriously absent from these lists. The legacy of that series is crazy too when you look into it.

tbf, I just didn't know Nana was run in a shoujo magazine. I could've sworn somebody told me it was in a josei magazine and I guess I just believed them.

If we're going by Naruto/One Piece/Bleach, it'd definitely be Fruits Basket/Nana/Ouran

If we're going by pillars of the demographic which, for the record, I would say would be Dragon Ball/One Piece/Demon Slayer at this point with JoJo as the sort of fourth for a Mount Rushmore, I stand by Fruits Basket and Sailor Moon

The third is tough because I did consider Boys Over Flowers. Rose of Versailles is a good shout too. We also can't deny CLAMP their flowers.

I'm feeling Boys Over Flowers for the third right now but that's kinda tough...

MuscleRobo posted...

Anyone excluding Nana is just admitting that they weren't a girl in the 00's or weren't friends with any otaku girlies.

...I thought Nana was josei to be honest

MuscleRobo posted...

Interesting question, if Big 3 just means most popular in the 00's with American fans first getting into manga like the term is used for those Shonen was I'd say

Fruits Basket
Nana
Ouran

Okay, then given the context of what the big 3 actually is, this would be your answer

*insert "the big 3 is the big 3 because they all happened at the same time and it'd be inaccurate to pick the 3 biggest shoujo series and consider those the equivalent because otherwise, One Piece would be the only one from the actual big 3 in the hypothetical shounen big 3" here*

I think it'd be Sailor Moon, Fruits Basket, and either Cardcaptor Sakura or Ouran High School Host Club.

I've heard Ouran thrown more around but I'm pretty confident on those first 2

Wordcell (2025-11-03): "Baked goods"
Found with 3 hints
https://gamebunny.app/wordcell

That's on me, I was so focused on desserts that I didn't even consider bagel

Tiler (2025-11-03): Par
https://gamebunny.app/tiler

Pips #78 Easy
0:09

Pips #78 Medium
0:50

Pips #78 Hard
1:51

https://www.nytimes.com/games/pips

Strands #610
Wee wee wee!



https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands

I pretty much figured out the spangram immediately but I didn't know how much of it they were including...

This might've been the fastest Strands I've ever done tho

Connections
Puzzle #876






https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/

kindahard.golf 11/03 First Try and PIWIL

17

4. 2
3. 5
2. 6
1. 3
0. 1

https://kindahard.golf

Pips #77 Easy
0:18

Pips #77 Medium
0:39

Pips #77 Hard
1:52

https://www.nytimes.com/games/pips

Wordcell (2025-11-02): "Paper products"
Found with 1 hint
https://gamebunny.app/wordcell

Tiler (2025-11-02): Par
https://gamebunny.app/tiler

Strands #609
Go the distance



https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands

Connections
Puzzle #875






https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/

kindahard.golf 11/02 First Try and PIWIL

29

6. 15
5. 3
4. 2
3. 5
2. 2
1. 1
0. 1

https://kindahard.golf

Connections
Puzzle #874








Love that they had to throw both real-life and cartoon duos in there, that tripped me up the whole round

kindahard.golf 11/01 PIWIL

44

4. 13
3. 16
2. 4
1. 8
0. 3

https://kindahard.golf

Someone take this dude's rough privileges away

Pips #76 Easy
0:07

Pips #76 Medium
0:35

Pips #76 Hard
3:40

https://www.nytimes.com/games/pips

Wordcell (2025-11-01): "Reptiles"
Found with 0 hints
https://gamebunny.app/wordcell

Tiler (2025-11-01): Par+1
https://gamebunny.app/tiler

Strands #608
It's not polite to lick your plate



https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands

Strands #607
Good bones



https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands

kindahard.golf 10/31 First Try and PIWIL

35

5. 8
4. 6
3. 6
2. 10
1. 3
0. 2

https://kindahard.golf

Bleh

Pips #75 Easy
0:11

Pips #75 Medium
0:34

Pips #75 Hard
0:59

Triple cookie on the first Pips of the new topic lfg

https://www.nytimes.com/games/pips

Connections
Puzzle #873





...huh

https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/

Wordcell (2025-10-31): "Famous ghosts"
Found with 0 hints
https://gamebunny.app/wordcell

Tiler (2025-10-31): Par+1
https://gamebunny.app/tiler

Not as popular as You Say Run but if we're talking OST that defines the anime that it is attached to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdzFVVAL3Pw

I thought "pop it" meant "pull the top apart" tbh

Devilman Crybaby, didn't even need the full 12 episodes

Top 3 1-seasonals would be Mawaru Penguindrum (although tbf it IS 2 cours) and FLCL (which only needed half a season... although you have to Promised Neverland the sequels to count it as "1 season")

Pips #74 Easy
0:14

Pips #74 Medium
0:34

Pips #74 Hard
1:49

https://www.nytimes.com/games/pips

Wordcell (2025-10-30): "Aristocratic titles"
Found with 1 hint
https://gamebunny.app/wordcell

To be honest, my brain was absolutely melting because I read Aristocratic as, like, related to Aristotle and I was like "the fuck does this even MEAN, Gamebunny Guy?"

And then I realized I was being dumb

Tiler (2025-10-30): Par
https://gamebunny.app/tiler

kindahard.golf 10/30 First Try and PIWIL

27

4. -
3. 12
2. 7
1. 5
0. 3

https://kindahard.golf

Connections
Puzzle #872








That sure is a fucking purple, huh

https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/

Strands #606
"If I'm being picky ..."



https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands

Pips #73 Easy
0:17

Pips #73 Medium
0:30

Pips #73 Hard
2:40

https://www.nytimes.com/games/pips

Connections
Puzzle #871





https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/

Strands #605
"Nevermore!"



https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands

kindahard.golf 10/29 First Try and PIWIL

27

7. 4
6. 2
5. 6
4. -
3. 7
2. 1
1. 6
0. 1

https://kindahard.golf

Exactly par

Wordcell (2025-10-29): "Famous physicists"
Found with 0 hints
https://gamebunny.app/wordcell

Tiler (2025-10-29): Par
https://gamebunny.app/tiler

Pips #72 Easy
0:12

Pips #72 Medium
0:36 (my dumbass almost missed the cookie because I flipped the 1-4 domino the wrong way)

Pips #72 Hard
3:34

https://www.nytimes.com/games/pips

Wordcell (2025-10-28): "Dystopian movies"
Found with 0 hints
https://gamebunny.app/wordcell

I looked for Divergent longer than I should have

Tiler (2025-10-28): Par+1
https://gamebunny.app/tiler

kindahard.golf 10/28 PIWIL

23

7. 3
6. 3
5. 1
4. 4
3. 6
2. 4
1. 1
0. 1

https://kindahard.golf

Connections
Puzzle #870







https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/

I got stuck on chestnut since I don't use it in that sort of way

Strands #604
The write stuff



https://www.nytimes.com/games/strands

...Treasure Planet

*insert it's actually Devilman Crybaby here*

Given the choice of Frieren and Steins;Gate, 100% Steins

Throw FMA:B in there too, it's still Steins

FMA:B is... fine but Frieren fucking sucks

Steins;Gate is "only" an 8/10 for me but it's arguably the best anime typically lauded as "the best ever" that I've seen unless Evangelion is on that list

Nah

It's probably the first series that got me into reading and I didn't really do much to support the cause anyway

Pips #71 Easy
0:27

Pips #71 Medium
1:46

Pips #71 Hard
2:30

https://www.nytimes.com/games/pips

I thought you meant streamed it on Twitch or whatever, which I have done

No, I haven't done that

Connections
Puzzle #869






https://www.nytimes.com/games/connections/

kindahard.golf 10/27 PIWIL

40

8. 6
7. 3
6. 10
5. 5
4. 4
3. 7
2. 3
1. 1
0. 1

https://kindahard.golf

Par

Fair enough