Better Than It Sounds meme ---UPDATED

[foxinthestars]

I couldn't resist this one; warning: TV tropes link enclosed.

Via smurasaki. Pick 20 movies/anime/video games/literary works and put their summaries from Better than it Sounds and WITHOUT CHEATING have your friends guess."

I sided for amusement over difficulty (and I've at least seen or read a *little* of the ones I picked), so let's see...

UPDATE: Most have been guessed, but just for fun, I added additional hints (while trying to maintain the spirit) to the few that are left...

UPDATE 2: Okay, after a couple of days it seems like no one's still playing (no one read my extra clues...), so I'm posting the answers to the ones unguessed.


1. A Hammer Horror Western starring a guy who gets into arguments with his hand. Vampire Hunter D guessed by smurasaki

2. A ten-year-old girl helps and is helped by a spa employee with partial amnesia after her parents' bad table manners nearly cause her to fade from existence. Spirited Away guessed by smurasaki

3. Two friends resolve a property dispute and custody battle. None of the property owners or legal guardians survive. HINT: Along the way, they figure out how to operate a whip. no one guessed Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

4. Bad Ass improves diplomatic relations with Denmark by killing a man who lives in his mother's basement. Then kills the guy's mother, and eventually dies fighting a grouchy miser. Beowulf guessed by smurasaki

5. A teenage girl is drafted into her grandfather's job, which conflicts with her efforts to save a handsome young man from his new guitar. Soul Music (Discworld) guessed by mergle

6. A cynical veteran assassin and a young amnesiac savant team up to thwart an Ancient Conspiracy. Flashbacks ensue. (Well, a flashback ensues. A lot.) NOIR guessed by mergle

7. Two guys come back from the dead as lycanthropes to rescue the daughter of a god who kinda sounds like Elmer Fudd. (Seven word summary: The Great Steroid Scandal of Ancient Greece.) Altered Beast guessed by notjessica

8. Japanese schoolgirls hang out. Azumanga Daioh guessed by smurasaki

9. A group of fated warriors solve global warming through violence. HINT: Crystal balls figure heavily. no one guessed the original Final Fantasy

10. Former mass murderer goes on a killing spree to keep himself from relapsing. HINT: He doesn't know that this is the plot until very near the end, if ever. no one guessed Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

11. A girl thinks she's in a Gothic romance. Narrated by a Troper. Northanger Abbey guessed by smurasaki

12. A prince must pick up litter in order to make up for his father's alcoholism. Katamari Damacy guessed by mergle

13. The heartwarming stories of, respectively, a Chinese boy, a Chinese stereotype and a talking monkey. HINT: Transformers and the Birth of Jesus also feature. no one guessed American-Born Chinese

14. A teenager kills people with a book and eats potato chips. Death Note guessed by smurasaki

15. Boy falls in love with a girl whose artificial body and overprotective sister ensure that they can never have sex. Chobits guessed by notjessica

16. Legendary knight journeys to save his girlfriend from demons that strip him down to his underwear if he gets too close. And then does it again, because he forgot some trivial piece of equipment. Ghosts 'n' Goblins/Ghouls 'n' Ghosts guessed by notjessica

17. The adventures of old-fashioned Frenchmen with a penchant for fighting and pork. HINT: These Frenchmen are very old-fashioned indeed. no one guessed Asterix

18. Boy becomes possessed, then plays a board game. Hikaru no Go guessed by smurasaki

19. The hero must eat mushrooms in order to kill other mushrooms in order to save other other mushrooms. Super Mario Bros. guessed by smurasaki

20. In a post-apocalyptic future, a falconer defeats and has tea with the world's royalty in a grand effort to solve a logic puzzle. (This one has bonus points for sheer obscurity.) obscure NES game 8 Eyes guessed by notjessica

Comments

[smurasaki]

Whee!

1. Vampire Hunter D?
2. Spirited Away
4. Beowulf
8. Azumanga Daioh?
9. could be Captain Planet, maybe?
11. Northanger Abbey?
14. Death Note
18. ... Hikaru no Go?
17. The Three Musketeers? (total wild guessing there)
19. Super Mario Brothers

I feel like I should know 3, 5, and 15.

[foxinthestars]

You got them all right except 9 and 17 (9 is kind of a stretch, I admit). I think you're more likely to be familiar with 5 and 15 than 3.