I can't recommend BANANA FISH enough, though the original manga is more explicitly Marxist with regards to its criticisms of the US government and its anti-communist actions in Europe and Asia throughout the Cold War. The main villains are the Corsican Mafia (and their creation by the CIA as part of Operation Gladio), and the CIA (with its imperialist involvement in Vietnam). The anime modernized it by changing it to the Iraq War rather than the Vietnam War, so not everything makes sense from a materialist point of view in that version, but it's still definitely worth a watch. Heavy trigger warnings for mentions of child abuse (not explicitly shown, but the show doesn't tiptoe around the fact that the CIA and FBI used and groomed vulnerable populations for their experiments), drug abuse, trafficking, brainwashing, basically everything the CIA was and still is up to.

My two favorite animals

• Python Stewart
• Lancehead Burton
• Denise Cobra
• Mamba Dorn
• Garter McFadden
• Marina Seasnake
• Brent Sidewinder
• Wil Water Moccasin

Sputnik

Only the original Nicktoons version. The Disney version made him a class traitor and I can never forgive them for doing that

Me when I have an IBS flare-up

PokéROMs were a weird shape, like oval but with straight sides? They had a promotion in 2000 where they came free as a cereal prize iirc.

grey pill so I can HONK SHOO while a feather is kept afloat by my own breath

My preferred hacks are for games that are N64 era or older.

The OOT mods that make use of the zelda 64 decomp project are pretty impressive e.g. Ultimate Trial and Indigo: Chapter 2. The Sealed Palace and The Missing Link are also quite fun.

I'm also quite fond of visual and gameplay improvements to older games (NES + GB/GBC) and Romhacking dot net has some I've kept my eye on for a while.

Robocop Texas Edition uses graphics based on the original arcade version, Castlevania 3: Aperture of Corruption is a complete overhaul of the original NES game, and Street Fighter 2 Deluxe and Sonic 5 improvement are both romhacks of bootlegs for the NES that improve various graphics and fix gameplay issues.

Both Pokemon Polished Crystal and Pokemon Red Plus Plus feature updated graphics (similar to gen 3), fixed gameplay, new mechanics, and various QoL updates.

From the wording, they're banning short ninja blades / ninjatou specifically, but they've said nothing about other weapons like shuriken, kunai, naginata, yari, or any samurai sword (uchigatana, wakizashi, tantou etc.)

Good news! https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/tags/trains

I vaguely remember reading about how, at the time, one of the most popular apps on the Koryolink smartphones was a strategy rpg video game based on Boy General (DPRK animation that's super popular with people of all ages). You can also get smartphone games from stores that have things like puzzle games, virtual pets, and even clones of certain western games like angry birds. There's also a bunch of arcades and entertainment centers in Pyongyang that were funded by Kim Jong Un (along with his funding of things like water parks, amusement parks, skating rinks, etc.) more info here: https://www.youngpioneertours.com/video-games-in-north-korea/

Hide and Squeak

Reptiles are canonically trans and pro LGBT anyway:

• https://www.sciencenews.org/article/heat-turns-wild-genetic-male-reptiles-functional-females
• https://coloradotimesrecorder.com/2023/12/lesbian-lizards-how-the-new-mexico-whiptail-became-a-queer-icon/58222/

I'd highly suggest reading Banana Fish (manga); without spoiling too much, the main antagonist is the head of the Corsican mafia, and the author doesn't shy away from explicitly namedropping the CIA and its anticommunist operations in South America and Vietnam (among others), or the systemic abuse of children from marginalized backgrounds by the US government. The anime is good too, but it's set in the 2010s rather than the 1980s so some of the changes don't make sense (e.g. replacing the Vietnam War with the Iraq War).

You'd think someone obsessed with retro baby cartoons would think twice about sounding like Murky Dismal from Rainbow Brite

I didn't enjoy the 3rd part as much Battle Tendency, personally, but the following part (part 4 / diamond is unbreakable) is probably my fave out of the entire series, and possibly one of my top anime series of all time if it were a standalone show.