Ten underrated pieces of fiction

I just wanted to make a quick fun blog about ten fictional series I enjoyed that I think are pretty obscure. Disclaimer: it's possible these things are a lot more well known then I'm thinking, my metric for obscure is that I don't hear them talked about very frequently even in circumstances you'd think they'd come up. Some of these do have "fanbases," so to speak, but they certainly aren't famous examples in their genre. These are some gems I would suggest trying if they sound like they appeal to you.

Roughly how this list is organized is that placement is measured both by how much I like the series and how obscure I think it is. So number 1 is the most underrated overall. 

With that said, these are the ten.

The Underland Chronicles:

The Underland Chronicles is a 5 book YA novel series written by the same author as the Hunger Games and honestly despite it being far less known, I think it's even better. The premise is that young Gregor finds that underneath the city of New York there is an underground world of pale-skinned humans called Underlanders, as well as large talking versions of animals normally small above-ground. It may sound rather fanciful and it has elements of that at times but it's also incredibly mature and grounded series with interesting themes. I only ever hear two complaints about it, both of which are moreso features to me than they are bugs; that the story is quite fast-paced and the ending of the series is somewhat ambiguous. But I greatly enjoyed the characters, and the themes are mature without being downright overly grim, a difficult balance given the genre. I am not the type to usually read YA, which in my mind is an endorsement of how good it is. 

War of the Monsters:

I really enjoy homage as an artistic device and War of the Monsters is a PlayStation 2 game that is one giant homage to kaiju movies, and is absolutely great. The games is constantly adding flourishes and flairs to make you feel like you're playing a Kaiju Film. I don't think I really need to defend this choice per se, everyone who's PLAYED War of the Monsters likes it, it's just not that many people have actually played it. But that said War of the Monsters is a game where you play as a Kaiju and fight other players or AI as Kaiju with fully destructible terrain as well as trigger map wide natural disasters. If that premise sounds at all interesting, I would highly recommend. There is no Kaiju game more beloved. 

Dante's Inferno (2009):

So I think a lot of people by now know that EA produced a video game adaptation  of the Inferno called Dante's Inferno designed to be as shocking and provocative as possible. But did you know there's a comic adaptation of that game. I actually enjoyed the comic version more than the game. The art style is very ethereal feeling and unlike almost anything I've ever seen, feeling perfectly suited to the narrative of a damned Crusader's spiritual journey into into Hell. The comic is mostly faithful to the game, though it tells it from Beatrice's perspective primarily as opposed to Dante's, which makes the narrative a lot more interesting, and the few changes made to the plot seem primarily to make the narrative feel more esoteric and otherworldly, fitting the adventure extraordinarily well. I would recommend this version, especially if you also enjoy ethereal imagery. 

Superman: Unbound:

I don't know why this film doesn't get more love. I never hear this film get brought up and when you look up reviews for it, they're positive but they're not glowing or anything. This film adapts one of my favorite arcs from Superman's comic series, that being the Superman: Brainiac storyline from 2008, the storyline that single-handedly made Brainiac one of my favorite DC villains. I will admit, the animation on Superman himself in this film does take a little to get used too but I love both the arc this film is based on and the film itself in pretty much every way; the characters, the themes, the humor. If you want to know what Brainiac is about, this is the film to watch. 

Magicka: 

Magicka is possibly the least obscure of this list but it's also the one I like the most. Magicka is a video game where play as a wizard and I don't think any other game exists that captures the fun of being a wizard so clearly. There are two types of people; people who love Magicka and people who haven't tried Magicka. There's something just so primally fun at being able to throw elements together into whatever combination you want. The other things about the series are fun too, and I do love the world of the series, but it's really the core feeling of playing it that is so much fun here. 

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duelist of the Roses:

Yu-Gi-Oh Duelist of the Roses (originally "Yu-Gi-Oh! True Duel Monsters II, Succedent Memories" in the original Japanese) is a game from my childhood that I will always love. It's a strategy game somewhat related to the long-running Yu-Gi-Oh! anime and card game, but altered to have a board and with different effects and general rebalancing of the cards. It's possible I love it just for nostalgia, as when I was growing up this was without a doubt one of the games we played most, but I have replayed it as an adult and I still find it really fun. It's a little bit of an easy game due mostly to the AI not being that good, and if you would prefer a harder version you could try Yugioh Capsule Monsters Colliseum which is kinda similar but significantly harder. That said I'm more of a casual gamer and enjoy games that are relatively easy for a nice relaxing time and this is a fun relaxing strategy game. The game also has the hilarious premise of teaching you about the historical War of the Roses, a real war between England and France through Yugioh characters. 

Misfile:

I don't know how to judge how popular webcomics are broadly, but I know Misfile isn't one of the absolute most well-known webcomics. Misfile is great, the premise is about an angel through an accident in the celestial filing turning a boy into a girl and erasing two years of the life of another girl, leading to the two bonding while waiting for Rumisiel, the angel, to fix his clerical error and live out their lives differently from the chances. If you're gonna read this one, it's gonna take some time, it is a really long comic, but it's worth the time, I really liked the characters, it tackles themes I find really interesting, and some of the scenes stick out in my memory constantly. I really love works that can blend different genres and Misfile is just that, its genre is hard to explain. It's kind of a gender-bender story, kind of a story about street racing, kind of a slice-of-life comedy, and kind of a character piece about the two leads Ash and Emilly, and their interactions. If you want to try getting into webcomics, this might be a really good place to start as it has a bunch of different appeals for different kinds of people.

Cutie Honey Flash:

Cutie Honey Flash is one series in the long-running Cutie Honey franchise, which is about the android girl Honey Kisaragi fighting the evil criminal organization Panther Claw to avenge her father who they took from her. While the original and most adaptations are aimed at men due to the fanservice and graphic violence, Honey was a surprisingly popular character with women and so a Shojo version aimed at the same audience as the 90s Sailor Moon audience made by some of the same people, AKA right up my alley. Flash is my favorite version of Cutie Honey, especially Season 2. It's a really cute fun Magical Girl series that feels like such classic Magical Girl content from the Post-SM MG Boom. If you're a fan of either 90s Sailor Moon or Utena, I would highly recommend it. 

Shamanic Princess:

Probably the most obscure series on this list, Shamanic Princess is a six-episode dark Magical Girl OVA from the mid-90s. The thing I love about art is its ability to convey a feeling, a thought, or an idea in a more intuitive and effecting way than just expressing it and Shamanic Princess is a perfect expression of that, conveying complex esoteric notions about Gnosticism and Transduality through a stylish short Magical Girl series. Beyond that the series oozes atmosphere, not relying on exposition but using environmental clues to give off its efficient worldbuilding, and for a six-episode series has a pretty complex cast of characters with every single character being both morally questionable and defensible. 

Freedom Force: 

Finally, Freedom Force is another game like Magicka or War of the Monsters where everyone who has actually played it seems to have nothing but good things to say about it, but it just doesn't have that much attention. Freedom Force is a two-game series homage-ing and lightly parodying the Silver Age of Comics. While I'm not as fond of the actual Silver Age of Comics, I absolutely love homages to it and Freedom Force is as good as it gets. Everything about this game is so incredibly immersive into the world of Silver Age Comics from the characters having little sound effect bubbles when they attack and destroying parts of the city with their attack, to the over the top dialogue and classic 60s styled science-fiction plotlines of little big-headed aliens or mad scientists with goofy gadgets. Freedom Force is a genre I think is hard to do, the tactical superhero RPG, and definitely the best I've seen in the genre and if you've ever been interested in metahuman combat tactics, particularly of a more campy type, this would definitely be a fun game to try.

So those are two pieces of fiction I'd recommend if you're looking for something cool that not a lot of people know about. I hope something here sparked your interest.