It's not anything like Pandora Hearts, but the first thing I'll recommend will be my favorite Urasawa Naoki. He's genius. The maitre. His works have been able to touch the very strings of my soul.

"Monster" is no doubt Urasawa's most famous work, but it's not my favorite one. I think Urasawa starts using his trademark twists in this one, but he has yet to master them like he did in "20th Century Boys". But I understand why people like it. There are a few characters I feel strongly for. I just think the villain isn't quite there compared to his later works.

"20th Century Boys" was the first one I've experienced and oh dear. I can't love it enough. A saga, an incredible journey with the flavor of Steven King's "It" and 70s Japan. It's hard to describe it, when I say it's a journey, I mean it. But the premise is that Kenji, just a guy in his 30s who's working in a supermarket and has a niece to look after, suddenly finds out that a weird cult is enacting crimes they've fantasized with his friends in childhood when they were picturing themselves the world's heroes.
The characters are just so humane, UGH.

"Pluto" is the one that got attention recently thanks to the anime. Though I'd say the manga mostly hits harder except for the first episode (that was a GOOD one). A remake of one of Astro Boy's arcs made into a more "adult" story by Urasawa, it's a touching commentary on the nature of humans (through the robot prism) and powerful anti-war commentary. Sadly, that still remains an eternal theme.

"Billy Bat" is my second favorite. Damn. This plot. I don't know what giant brain you have to have to come up with it. Every history conspiracy woven into one story. Also Disney controls human history @ the manga.

The current ongoing is "Asadora", about a girl who flies a plane. It's great so far! Asa is such a real and relatable girl.

Okay, now to recs that are more like Pandora... It always felt to me like "D. Gray Man" is close in spirit, but I can't explain it. It's a fun read, but now it's in eternal hiatus and chapters update once in two years, so be aware of that.

Be sure to check out "Tsubasa Chronicles" and "XXX Holic"! Both are legends by CLAMP, and I think Pandora was probably inspired by them among other things.

For the Gothic aesthetic, I'd also recommend the "Trinity Blood" manga. The original is a light novel (and sadly the writer passed away without finishing it), but I think the manga is it's best adaptation. I loved reading it back in the days.

I can go at this for a long time. Recently, I've read Dorohedoro, and I loved it. Peak.

Also, "Land of Lustrous" just ended and it's a masterpiece! But I'm sure you've already read it if you're the person I'm thinking about, wink-wink.

My own plans are "Witch Hat Atelier", "Onna no Sono no Hoshi", "The Summer Hikaru Died". I've been hearing from various people they're really good.

I can get it.
I'm refraining from throwing judgement on her myself until she and her story come to Global, like, maybe her story is good! She's a historical researcher who brought back to life a lot of materials about Sargon's King of King's, that's kinda cool?
But so far I'm totally bummed she's our limited, and to add salt to the injury, our 5th Global Anniversary limited.
With Arturia they at least tried to build up her hype through two events? And had connections to a lot of existing characters? That's what makes people excited for Arturia, Degenbrecher, Ulpianus, Logos, etc.
Pepe... was there in one PV she just narrated? Unless she plays a HUGE role in RA2, but it doesn't look like she did. And THAT'S our limited who's getting all the special PVs, illustrations and promotion?
It's like Namie's popularity is all she has to stand out, and even then, Mizuki and Goldenglow's designs are just so much more interesting...
And yeah, rendering a Bastet design into just catcoat.jpg is kinda lame.
Can't wait for them to print 100 anni Pepe merch I totally don't need.
Ah well, I was already unsatisfied they made 100 Eyja merch and literally nothing for the new Swire. Grrr.

8059 enjoyer!! shakes hands
To be honest, to me they're more of a nostalgia ship based on "oh my God the way they looked at each other?!" when an anime frame was stale for too long, and I'm not that sure I'd ship it if I watched KHR in this day and age. But I have a lot of fun memories with the RU fanbase, so the ship is very dear to me!
I think the way I'd enjoy them would for Yamamoto to be a pacifying presence for Gokudera's emotional self prone to bursts of anger, and for Gokudera to help Yamamoto to be more honest with his emotions instead of hiding them behind a smile all the time. And of course, killer husbands!
...hey, this is actually good

tl;dr Games were sold as a package where the integrity of story played a big role, and there were more types of them. Gachas try to sell every character as a separate product, and it often hurts writing and storytelling. Gachas are also lazier about MCs and more reliant on self-insert.

Is it a paradox?
If serious, I think the actual problem here is a lack of diversification between audiences which used to be more prominent in the date sim/VN scene.
Like, back then you'd have very simple romance date sims, you'd have otome VNs and eroge VNs, you'd have gen VNs with full plot focus. So everyone could stay in their lane.
Gachas kinda lack that diversification and "oh we should appeal to THAT audience at the expense of the character writing we feature in the other parts of the game!" is prominent. Because every character is a separate product and you can never be sure what you'll get.
And for full gen without the "pandering" aspect and without secluding genders there's what... Reverse 1999? And that's it?
If all these games were straightly advertised as date sims, then I'd have zero questions. But they're advertised as fantasy RPG's, not datesims or even eroges.

I'm also not against stuff like Blue Archive -existing-. I just personally keep away from it because I know it's depiction of female characters is something that wouldn't sit well with how I view female characters. It's cool people have them. Though I don't really get how do people enjoy the pandering when it's delivered so unconditionally you know they're just trying to make you feel nice... Isn't it like being lied into your face? Oh well, I digress.

There's just the quality of the MCs, too. Let's take Fate. Shirou's romances are nice to read because he's an actual character. Guda's romances are cringe to read in 80% of instances because the MC doesn't even have a proper personality for you to understand why all these awesome women would be after them. I'd be after Arash if I were them, you know! He's also a great guy who'd listen to my problems! And that's like the only character trait Guda has consistently.
(There's 20% which surprisingly work. Like Corday)

You can take the harder route of "yes, I'm writing why these characters would totally fall for each other", or you can go the easy route "everyone will fall for ~you~ because you're nice :3"
VNs weren't as shameless about having a black hole for an MC. Or at least those that were didn't make it big enough for anyone to care.

I'm also a True Route Truther, and I believe relationships between people are meant to be special and unique, and when I'm told "hey, you can have the same relationship with 100 different characters" I stop believing in all of them.

RPGs are closer to the given example. Silent protagonists for association were a thing since forever. I think it just didn't leave as bad of a taste because it rarely affected all the characters. RPGs were sold as an integral game product, gachas try to sell every character but NPCs as a product and it often affects the integrity of their writing in relation to the story.

Let’s go!

I must say that after I read Dossoles I had a negative perception of La Pluma because her “moe” design and voice left an “ah, waifu” impression, and her presence in the story didn’t bother to showcase her. But my friend (...I’m talking to you here, right?) helped me see more of her like her cool raven motifs, her simple-hearted love and care for her family, and the contrast they have with Tequila who likes to make everything “complicated”. Her oprec was charming, much better than anything I’d expected. So yeah. Now I like her much more than I did before. And her reminding Pancho of his love for his wife even if he never met her, but because she cared about his stories that much… Great.
Also, I kinda can see her being the autistic character, I wonder what people think about that.

Pancho, I think he’s sympathetic. Dossoles could’ve been incredible if they had fleshed out Pancho more. Someone who’s still living on the battlefield in his heart, forced to live in a city of fake peace which drives him crazier and crazier every day, what an awesome story that could’ve been. In no way is he a perfect father, but he’s that type of old rigid warrior and we all know that type.

I don’t really have an opinion on Tequila’s mom… She’s just… A dead mom? But I can say that the whole story of “dad left me and my mother (and my not-adopted sister) and my mom wasted away while he wasn’t there, so now I’m suffering but my sister is living on” reminds me of the Kamui and Kagura conflict in Gintama, except Tequila wasn’t crazy enough to try killing his dad and running away with pirates.

I also like the thought that Tequila grew up the way he is because his mother was more of an influence on him, teaching him a life-cherishing outlook, contrasting to his father's "be a man!!11" pressure.

Since we’re talking about this anyway, I’ll add a bonus point about my second favorite Dossoles character, which is Candela. She’s so fun. Absolutely unhinged. But I surprisingly get her. Bolivar is a mess, but she managed to build one happy city in the midst of it, even though everyone else is paying the price for that. I think that’s worth recognition. She’s like a Silverash, but a) with an even worse starting point b) female c) more experienced d) more unhinged. And her having a random crush on Wei is based, I’d also have a crush on Wei just for the looks.

It would be funny if you were asking about the alcohol. I think I’ve never had it. I tend to avoid strong spirits because I don’t like the burning sensation in the throat.
Oh right. I like Tequila a lot! The highlight of the Dossoles event, and a fascinating character overall.
First, I love the concept itself: look, a golden retriever boy! Awwww! How nice! He’s also a weapon dealer and a terrorist. Oops.

Then comes Tequila’s actual character depth: he’s tasked with a mission the end goal of which is to drag Dossoles into war, so of course he’s doubtful. After all, he’s seen war, he’s seen the horrible mess it is. Dossoles, while an incorrect and corrupted peace that thrives on the rest of Bolivar, is still a patch of peace left. As they say, “A bad peace is better than a good war”.
Ernesto’s given a mission by his father who failed to help his mother and who put Ernesto himself into war. Should he even follow this person? But his father is still his father, and he has failed his expectations so many times. Should he finally prove them?
I like this wavering at which Tequila stands.

I also think he has some of the best oprecs in the game (from those I’ve read). It has everything: Ernesto confronting his father, the pressure Pancho puts on him, the way he encounters people wasting away in Dossoles and knows the fight ahead of him is still long, but now he’s committed to making a change… I hope we see more of him.

I also remember I was surprised to learn that some people think his relationship with La Pluma went wrong and they hate each other or smth. Whatever the weird Redditors were saying. Yeah, Tequila has trouble talking with her honestly, but isn’t it because he can’t figure out himself (and probably thinks he’s a failure of a brother)? They even do bar shows at Rhodes together. Pluma is a girl to just be glad her brother is around.

I also think Bolivar is an extremely interesting region, a messy civil war that leaves an imprint on everyone who has ever been there, and I hope Arknights’ 3rd arc focuses on it of all things available.
Like that one time in Near Light when Roy just mentions he has come from Bolivar and you immediately understand everything about him? That if it’s “Bolivar”, he probably had to crawl and bite his way into Kazimierz, and that’s where his coldhearted practical rationality comes from. Great stuff.

I think the same! The fandom was jumping on anything back then, including characters who haven't even met or who were just hinted to have any sort of connection. If Gnosis was there having that mysterious connection about his parents killing Enciodes' but them still working together, that'd be a blast with everyone building theories and headcanons.

Just look at the massive, enormous following silverdoc got on game start just for Silverash being meta and having a few flirty lines. Even silverphantom was a semi-popular ship on CN for some time. Because they were, err, two SSR cats? Okay.
Actually, what I never understood was why SilverCourier was never super-duper popular. It feels like enough people liked them but I've never seen a lot of content? A shame, I was interested in the ship myself.

I also think Gnosis generally would've been more popular and beloved because it seems to me starter characters, especially the 6*, still enjoy a higher degree of recognition and popularity just through endearing nostalgia.

So, pros of Gnosis being released earlier:
- silverweiss would've been a super popular ship with lots of content accumulated;
- Gnosis would probably generally be more popular and recognized;
- He'd maybe have more than one skin, and chances of him getting a second one now are super dim when Ryuzakiichi is handling 20 top popular characters like Mlynar, Degenbrecher and Arturia.

Cons of Gnosis being released earlier:
- He'd have the early Ryuzakiichi art and we don't talk about early Ryuzakiichi art (Pram and Ptilo can stay). CN can say about it whatever it wants, I think what he got on release is great.
- Their idea of freeze in 2020 was "slow with a white powder effect" (see Magallan) so he'd play a lot less fun.

I've really thought about it. Maybe silverweiss would've had a larger following with big name artists. It would be cool. But would I like them the same? Would I care if it developed differently? Would the wonderful artists, like those who created the Kjerag History Fan Book, and the wonderful writers who wrote fics that brought me to tears gather the same way they did?
I don't know.
Maybe it's good the way it turned out.

...okay now how about a Break the Ice anime to make silverweiss the yaoi mastodon it deserves

I'll assume you're talking about Arknights.
I call a "cosmetic alt" cases where a character gets an Alter, but it's not like anything has changed about their state.

For me, those who fall into this trope are Gavial and Eyja.
Gavial's point is literally that she doesn't change, her Alter is just new equipment for the sake of a rarity increase.
Eyja... I loved her story and you could argue she has grown, but did she change much? She came to study volcanos, she left to study volcanos but now with more parents' affirmation. Maybe it's the artist's fault for not making her look even slightly older visually. That would've been neat.
Swire is debatable, you could argue it's her LGD mode vs her business woman mode, that's at least two different emploi. She also takes over Chen's role but her Alter doesn't focus on that anyway.

Texas literally just changes clothes in the story. But I can argue it's "Siracusan Texas" vs "PenLog Texas" like Nearl is "Followers Nearl" vs "Kazimierz Nearl".

Surprisingly, Chen Alter is one of the ones I think has a good reason for it. It's Rhodes Chen vs LGD Chen. Releasing it a summer ver was the part that failed her. But hey, now we have her skin.

I'd say I love fan content Douman while not feeling much towards canon Douman.

First of all, in chapters until Heian, he kept boring me with the most cliche villain speeches, and to make me bored is the biggest sin a character can commit. I just don't find his caricature failvillain state amusing or entertaining to watch. Secondly, Heian chapter is just a chapter I couldn't connect much with. I kept falling asleep during the whole thing. Like, physically.
And Douman having a few cool scenes by the end sadly was too little to save the whole thing for me.

However! I like the concept. I love thinking about the idea that Douman was a normal person warped just by the perception of him as Seimei's antagonist. I love Seimei knowing the good of him while he envies Seimei being loved by the whole world. I'd love to see more of -that-.
That's where the fan content steps in, biting into the actual meat and showcasing all the interesting drama.

Douman has a lot of fan content filled with creativity and good storytelling that left more impression on me than his actual canon appearance.

The absolute crown of Douman fan content, I think, goes to this doujin about Douman becoming Sakura's Servant.
Part 1: https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/91558871
Part 2: https://www.pixiv.net/artworks/91559210