Saga of Soul

Maho Shojo Links

  • Wikipedia and TVTropes' pages on the magical girls genre should be a good crash-course.
  • Mechagical Girl Lisa A.N.T.: The webcomic that got me interested in the genre. A.N.T. has short archives and hasn't updated in years, but the art is impressive and the writing is fun. The main character, Lisa, is an obsessive magical girls fan who gets involved in a war between two alien empires, and gets her hands on an alien battlesuit. She then proceeds to emulate the magical girl genre to the best of her ability...regardless of whether it really fits her situation.
  • Sailor Nothing: This story is to magical girls what Neon Genesis Evangelion is to giant robots - a dark, intelligent deconstruction (with 90% less mindscrew, though). While it is rather openly inspired by Sailor Moon, it's not really a fanfiction, either.
  • Angel Moxie: Another magical girl webcomic, this one has actually completed years ago.
  • To Prevent World Peace: A more recent webcomic. The art has some way to go, but the writing so far looks very promising: The story is set in an alternate Earth where magical girls became commonplace in the early 20th century, drastically changing History as a result.
  • Hi to Tsuki to Hoshi no Tama: Also a webcomic. This one has an interesting approach, but I will say no more for fear of spoilers.
  • Princess: The Hopeful: A fan-made role-playing game set in White Wolf's setting, the New World of Darkness. The game's purpose is to allow you to play magical girls (or guys. And come to think of it, youth isn't necessarilly required) in a dark, gothic setting. My own involvement with the project, admittedly, is very minor (I designed the Cult of Broken Dreams, and I help playtest...and, yes, my character in those playtests is an expy of Eriko).
  • ShadowJack's Sailor Moon: ShadowJack has been running a "where I watch Sailor Moon" thread for a while now. It is...a thing to behold. ShadowJack is brilliant. Linked here is the handy index created by Shay Guy. Check also the TVTropes pages.
  • Dungeon Keeper Ami: One of the best fanfictions I've ever read, DKA tells the story of Ami Mizuno (aka Sailor Mercury of "Sailor Moon" fame), after she gets transported to the world of the "Dungeon Keeper" games, and is forced to become herself one of the sinister Keepers. What ensues is an epic tale of struggle against all odds as Ami tries to escape the hostile attentions of misguided heroes, stop the cruel plans of other Keepers, and return home - while compromising her ethics as little as possible. It ought to be noted that this story shares certain themes with "Saga of Soul" (namely, a magical girl trying to apply a scientific approach and modern engineering to magic). Do also note that, being on Addventure, it's a branching story; I suggest simply focusing on the entries by Pusakuronu. Linked here is the TVTropes page.

Webcomics

What can I say? I love, love, love webcomics. They're my main source of entertainment. And some of them can get amazingly good.

  • Mechagical Girl Lisa A.N.T., Angel Moxie and other magical girl comics were already mentioned above.
  • Penny & Aggie: A slice-of-life comic, following the lives of two high school girls and the people in their lives. Extremely well-written; the author has a knack for taking stock characters and developing them in interesting ways. The comic has concluded at this point; it had a short-lived sequel in QUILTBAG.
  • Fans: Written by the same guy as "Penny&Aggie", "Fans" is a wonderful adventure comic, as well as a love-letter to imagination, science-fiction, and science-fiction fandom. Like Penny&Aggie, it has recently reached its conclusion.
  • The Order of the Stick: A comedy-adventure comic taking place in a world that follows the rules of Dungeons&Dragons. This comic has amazed me with its ability to keep getting better and better.
  • Girl Genius: Mad scientists rule (badly) over a steampunk Europe. In addition to its rivetting story, Girl Genius also benefits from some of the best artwork I've seen in webcomics.
  • Megatokyo: Megatokyo is a bit difficult to describe. It has a huge fandom, as well as quite a lot of detractors. It's not everybody's cup of tea...but for my money, it's one of the deepest webcomics around.
  • Captain SNES: Oh boy...just explaining this one is hard. Captain SNES is somehow both the sequel to Captain N (a 90s cartoon about the Nintendo games) and to many of the old SNES games, while also being something else on top. The fact that I can love this comic so much despite never having watched the show or played the games should speak volumes.
  • Dumbing of Age and Shortpacked!: A long time ago, when webcomics were still a new phenomenon, David Willis made "Roomies". He concluded it eventually, following into the kinda-sorta-sequel, "It's Walky". "Shortpacked" is the next iteration, and is worth checking because Willis is a comedic and dramatic genius. Damn him. Dumbing of Age, which frankly is even better than its predecessors, recycles the cast in a completely different setting.
  • The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: No description can do it justice. Just...Just read it. It constantly tops itself.
  • A Miracle of Science: Another finished webcomic, this one tells a detective story in a science-fiction setting, with what I found to be refreshingly original takes on several tropes.
  • Axe Cop: The tagline is "Written by a 5 year old and illustrated by his 29 year old brother". This comic basically feels like a younger sibling to Dr. McNinja. It's crazy. It's awesome. It's Axe Cop.

Others

  • This one TVTropes page. Good for restoring one's faith in humanity.
  • Kiva - loans that change lives : Kiva is an microcredit charity - it allows people like you and me to lend money to small entrepreneurs in third world countries. A farmer in Togo, a restaurant owner in Peru, a computer store owner in Afghanistan...Any of these may need a loan to keep their business afloat (or start it, or expand it). I'm no economist, but this strikes me as a good way of fighting poverty.
  • Slacktivist. Fred Clark's blog discusses politics, religion, and why he considers "Left Behind" to be among the worst book series ever. He's an Evangelical Christian, I'm an atheist, and I still love his religion-centric blog to pieces, so he's probably doing something right.
  • Worm. A long, dark, often depressing, but very smart supervillain story.
  • Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. Is it true to the spirit or themes of Harry Potter? Not even close. Is it extremely preachy? Goodness, yes. Is it a fantastic read, funny, clever, full of messages that don't get said nearly often enough? Your mileage may vary, but in my opinion, yes, absolutely.