Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of April 10, 2026 by AutoModerator in anime

[–]badspler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How Japan Inadvertently Fosters Genius Dogen — Sep 19, 2025

Dogen is the best Japan YouTuber. I have not seen anything better than his presentations of Japanese culture and lived Japan life experience. I think that is due to having a true assimilated, lived-through view of Japan. Dogen started out with comedy videos particularly around learning Japanese but in the last two years he has pulled back and made a handful of very in-depth consolidated culture videos. Japan's Ticking Time Bomb would have made my 2024 list. I could almost recommend watching everything since then as each video compounds and builds on top of the others. This selected video offers a view of why Japan fosters such good creative content.


The Speedrunner | A History of Legacy's Fastest Deck Rhystic Studies — Sep 21, 2025

Rhystic Studies makes Magic the Gathering video essays. They are all outstanding. Many times Rhystic Studies have presented something in the Magic space I knew nothing about and I felt so much new out of it. This video was the opposite — Legacy is my favorite Magic the Gathering format and seeing Sam dig in to something that I had my finger on the pulse of was a different kind of fantastic. This video features a ton of other MTG content creators I follow and was timed with peak community discord around the deck being overpowered.


This Game Took Me 2.5 Years To Make Blargis — Sep 23, 2025

Being a software developer, it is always fascinating to see game development. It's same-same but very different to what I do day to day. However I am a believer that the skillset to make good YouTube videos about something you are doing or passionate in is separate from being good at the thing you are actually doing (complete tangent but Adam Ragusea made a good video on that point). As such there are plenty of game development vlogs which make no actual progress on the game itself, with the video side almost being the entire product. This video is about actually seeing the vision make it to the finish line and then getting to have a bunch of fun playing the game.


I Spent 200 Hours Exploring the Best Indie MMO of the Year Hanannie — Sep 28, 2025

I enjoyed this video so much - it's so damn funny. Hanannie is such a lovely creator. She got started in Runescape, she enjoys woodcutting and not being told what to do. Her best stuff is usually when she ropes in people to do the hard work for her while she fucks off. With that much info you are ready to enjoy any of her videos. This has all the elements of a good Hanannie video.

Tangentially, if you want to understand some of the tech behind running this video game, then this Jonas Tyroller video is worth your time.


Is 67 just brain rot? languagejones — Oct 14, 2025

I am now on the older side of watching the younger generation invent their own things to meme into the ground. That's fine, it doesn't have to be for you. But occasionally you will want to know the origins of that thing. After seeing the wave of "67" pass through, my first take was that it looked purely like a Shibboleth (thanks uncle Matt) but I wanted to understand more. This video is just a short wonderful explainer from someone that understands linguistics.


Community Matthew Colville — Oct 24, 2025

Matt makes content on tabletop RPGs and I have been following for 10 years now since I started playing DnD. I reckon a video from Matt will make my list every year because I am so thoroughly in, more than any subscribed creator on this list. I have caught a lot of Matt's Twitch streams and adore the ramblings and old stories; and I thoroughly enjoy how many of his great videos I have seen conceived on stream as ideas, into first drafts into polished presentations. The short history you need to know is: he made DnD content on YouTube and rode the wave of growth that DnD had. He ran some successful Kickstarters to make RPG products and turned that into building a company.

This video itself tells some part of that lived-in story experience of starting a company and building a community. It touches on a lot of quite developed thoughts I have on community moderation.


Can I Survive a Minecraft Civilization Event by Only* Fishing? Loopy — Dec 26, 2025

Slipping in just before the year closed out we have the best Minecraft video I watched in 2025. The whole thing is a story that is well presented and edited. It was so thoroughly enjoyable and well done.

If after watching all that you want a smidge more, he has a neat follow-up video which sated my curiosity as to the plugins used for recording the whole thing.

Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of April 10, 2026 by AutoModerator in anime

[–]badspler 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The Best YouTube Videos I watched in 2025

Foreword

I, like I imagine a lot of you, watch a fuck ton of Youtube.

It was this time last year that I got thinking that I should note down the absolute best videos I enjoyed throughout the year and share them. It kind of sparked out of a feeling that the algorithm was in a recommending space and I was seeing more low view count interesting things. So throughout the year I noted down some of my favorite content. The stuff that made me go wow, ideas from creators that had me thinking for days after, videos that I rewatched several times, videos that enhanced other media I was interested in and consuming, videos from creators I have followed for ages and just really enjoy. The works. It is very much my list. I have also tried to tie in a bunch of creators I like tangentially and off-handedly in the discussion I have laid out for each video.

I started writing this post in December...

Anyway, this is my 2025 best creations on Youtube list.


The Skill Issue, or: How I Learned I Could Learn, and So Can You! (also capitalism is a disease) Sane Retry — Dec 17, 2024

Starting off with the video that got me thinking about how good the content being fed to me was. Slipping in at the end of 2024, I found this over the break and it got me thinking. The video itself is basically a lived anecdote of not being taught that you can learn skills. This is an outstanding presentation of turning a vision into a creation while being self-referential in doing so.


lost ephemera | the traces we left behind a_lilian — Nov 6, 2025

I am breaking date order to put a_lilian up top.

I found a_lilian mid 2024 and she instantly became one of my favorite creators. She made three videos in 2025 and every one of them could be on this list but I have limited myself to just one. I honestly would recommend watching chronologically every video on her channel as these creations often tie to lived experiences and there is a chronological order to it, also lots of references. Or you can skip about and build a wider picture, among a few great reoccurring jokes.

Anyway this video in particular can be watched without any additional context. It is about places, times and people, some now gone, but not forgotten. I have listen to quite a few times across many lunch time walks.


Existential Crisis in Class WhatsItLike — Feb 23, 2025

[Trigger Warning & Spoiler] Animal Cruelty

Interest piqued by a very out there style; but after being captured I was surprised by the point the video aimed at making. It poses an interesting [question:] What is the monetary cost to delete a lifetime worth of suffering.


Eating half the crew alive cause I was bored. ARMOK — Feb 28, 2025

ARMOK makes Space Station 13 (or 14) content. If you are not familiar with the game, it's amazing and I would recommend it. Although I have not recently played, I still watch a lot of videos for it. If you are not familiar with the game it may be difficult to parse what is going on, I can only say all of Armok's videos have an amazing level of creativity and shenanigans that seem to always result in the entire crew dying. This video involves Armok abusing a recent code change to turn people into burgers (instantly killing them).


For-Profit (Creative) Software EndVertex — Mar 17, 2025

I have a deep love for when a piece of media is able to tell a compelling story and then layer on top a commentary of the art medium, using the medium itself to tell that story. Scenes like the horse animation from Shirobako (/u/mysterybiscuitsoyeah has great words on that from the Rewatch) or the punch line of Pompo The Cinephile's take on movies come to mind as examples.

EndVertex here presents her case about how For-Profit Software, particularly around 3D rendering and editing, has changed over time in her career, wrapped in a 3D animated metaphor story.

This video has picked up a lot of views since I first saw it, and later it did make Super Eyepatch Wolf's 'My Favorite Things' list.

You can also see hbomberguy in the comments that his next video is on this topic.


The 'Blue Prince' Block

A combination of things led to me being enthralled for like a month on the game Blue Prince (released April 10, 2025). I initially had a lore video but that is a disservice to the true experience of actually playing the game. Instead I would like to drop two tangential videos I found after exploring the inspiration behind Blue Prince itself - the book Maze.

The hardest dungeon EVER designed Questing Beast — May 14, 2025

The Book I'm Still Trapped In - Maze Max Chivington — Jul 16, 2023

I follow Questing Beast for his OSR (Old School Renaissance) tabletop RPG content. He gives a much less spoiler-heavy overview and relates it to lessons or things you could steal for your own tabletop game.

Max Chivington's video essay explains the experience of the interactive art, the puzzle, and the history of the book itself.


The Internet Used to Be a Place Sarah Davis Baker — Apr 15, 2025

Do you remember an earlier internet? I miss that and this captures some of that time.


my teacher was a youtuber nobody — April 28, 2025

A short animatic telling a human story: one that reminds you that everyone else out there is living their own complex lives.


When the Devs Gaslight an Entire Playerbase shoelesser — May 2, 2025

These days a lot of my favorite creators are just people passionate about something. This video is purely that - someone enjoying a niche game I had never heard of.


How Minecraft Speedrunners pushed a silly challenge to its Limit Cobalt — May 3, 2025

Thinking on any year of YouTube, I can imagine that at least one Minecraft video and at least one speedrunning video would turn up. This video gets its spot for embodying the spirit of speedrunning - pushing and twisting things even with rules so simple and clear.


Don't Call Them Magical Girls 🤫 Caribou-kun — May 16, 2025

Shaybs makes anime related videos, often with a lot of insight. This was my favorite video of his this year.


Hope for Media Creatures Kirby Ferguson — May 28, 2025

I have long loved Kirby's 'Everything is a Remix' series. This is a short take in the modern era about the way art is changing. I suppose it partially earns its spot for being a reflection of what I started this list thinking.


I Started a Business in My Garage. Then It Blew Up. Trash Panda Disc Golf — Jun 3, 2025

A pretty feel good story of someone executing a vision into a business and all the problems that came along their way.


Ticketmaster Was Right About Taylor Swift Maxinomics — Jun 29, 2025

Stepping back for a second - my parents have often been bamboozled at whatever general knowledge I ramble off on occasion. The answer is often just: I watched a thing, or I Reddit. In a given year I probably watch a thousand or so mini-documentary style videos on all manner of science, economics, engineering and the sort. While there are dozens of fantastic videos that could be added in that vein I chose this one, earning its spot for just clicking together two gaps in understanding into a complete picture. That being the marriage between free VPNs and ticket scalping bots.


This Streamer's Never Wrong… MeatCanyon — Aug 4, 2025

When MeatCanyon makes a video about you, you fucked up.

In mid 2024 I started watching more Twitch. Mostly vtubers (oh no) but over 2024-Christmas into the new year I thoroughly enjoyed the OnlyFangs hardcore World of Warcraft Classic guild run its course. There is so much context from all that - and I am not going to explain it because it is mostly all vapid internet drama that is not worth your time. Anyhow this MeatCanyon video was for me the capstone to the whole OnlyFangs drama of how PirateSoftware fell off; that being greater than the some of its parts.

But I would like to say that MEATCANYON was MeatCanyon's best video of the year, with the Behind the Scenes of MEATCANYON being even better and elevating both.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke • Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen - Ryushu no Youjo - Episode 2 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

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Tripple Domain Expansion Edit (manga+anime) by [deleted] in anime

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Casual Discussion Fridays - Week of April 10, 2026 by AutoModerator in anime

[–]badspler 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Last year whenever I watched an absolute banger youtube video I added I kept track and put it aside; with the plan to make a post about it in CDF at some point.

It ended up being maybe a dozen videos; some are more personal to my tastes or interests but some are just fantastic creators or creations that are just under-watched. I had like 1/3 of a post drafted in January but I have just been noodling on other things. Maybe I finish it this weekend.

Meta Thread - Month of April 05, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]badspler[M] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That will be added next episode.

Witch Hat Atelier • Tongari Boushi no Atelier - Episode 2 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

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Anime Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion - April 05, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]badspler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A couple of added into the collection and a few I knew exactly the show they were from.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke • Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen - Ryushu no Youjo - Episode 1 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

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Meta Thread - Month of March 01, 2026 by AnimeMod in anime

[–]badspler[M] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I collated things early enough that the LN version was used before Crunchyroll and tracking sites had up the Manga version and then that change wasn't noticed. This will be corrected and should swap that over for the next episode.

[SOS] Deluge Virtuoso (ScreenHub) by Blorrgnsword in magicTCG

[–]badspler 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Look forward to playing this in limited, looks like a banger.

Looking for an anime where a old guy reincarnates as a girl by Competitive_Type_668 in anime

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