Let's see here...

1. I can't honestly start without including Dungeons and Dragons, especially 3rd and 4th edition for giving me a lot of my design sensibilities and helping me figure out what to do and what not to do. Trying to modify D20 3.5 was what set me down the path of designing my own system due to the sheer frustration of trying to modify it into something it wasn't, i.e. trying to build a system to manage the Anime Bleach in the D20 structure. 4th Edition provided a lot of interesting ideas I could iterate on and see where they failed to adapt into a system that really feels satisfying.

2. Since it came up earlier, the Anime Bleach for a lot of inspiration on a refined style and how to design things to look and feel cool. While the series ultimately meandered and fell apart, the Soul Society arc is still a lot of fun and the expanding cool sword system is the basis for a lot of our core design.

3. Fullmetal Alchemist (manga/Brotherhood Anime) is in my eyes the pinnacle of the general Shounen/Seinen action. Dramatic, political, comedic at times, FMA has a lot to say and does a lot of really interesting things with how the powers work, how the world is, and in centering a wide cast of heroes of all backgrounds working for positive change.

4. Avatar: the Last Airbender much like Fullmetal Alchemist weaves a really cool power system in with a lot of politics and drama, but all in a package that is really accessible to younger viewers and with a diverse, respectful and well-realized setting that is extremely uncommon in Western media.

5. Final Fantasy Tactics, one of my favorite games of all time. The storyline soars with its heavy political drama and well realized world that propels Ivalice into the forefront on my list of favorite settings of all time. The way the Job system is made with its flexible system and ability to specialize in multiple ability paths at once informs my design sensibilities - where many games strive to make you hyper-focus on one specific thing Tactics, and by extension my own design ask you to imagine a world in which you can mix, match, and be good at multiple things.

6. The Belgariad and Mallorean by David Eddings. I adore these books and they've had a huge impact on my writing style in terms of how I write characters and dialogue and my general sense of humor. These books taught me that a lot of what makes a compelling story are the characters behind that story, and also how important it is to have a cast that is likable and has a good dynamic when chatting amongst themselves.

7. The Dragonlance series initially by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. This was my first honest exposure to the D&D-style game and it inspired me to start making my own Tabletop RPGs before I even was 100% clear on what D&D was. While the novels themselves are pulpy at best, they gave me a long-standing love of core fantasy and all the tropes within and, as a testament to the books themselves, helped me envision games in the way they were written, fitting as they themselves were based off D&D games.

8. Xenogears, a favorite of mine albeit one I haven't really replayed in awhile. One of my first Anime was Neon Genesis: Evangelion back when I was way too young to be watching Neon Genesis: Evangelion and while that series remains a major impact, I feel like Xenogears, which itself drew inspiration from Evangelion and ran in its own wild direction is more appropriate for my personal inspiration in terms of feel and design. It introduced me to the concept of someone fighting a mech on-foot which is something I am working to enshrine in my own design today because it's totally rad, and gave me a lot of great style inspirations (as well as one of my favorite soundtracks ever).

9. The Anime Shirobako is and continues to be a huge inspiration on my ultimate goal of creating my own creative studio and being able to make games full time alongside other creatives. Aside from being a great series with fantastic writing and characters, Shirobako really encapsulates the professional team in a creative space and the joy and love of creating as a career, I can't help but get excited and feel driven whenever I watch it.

10. Baldur's Gate 2, and to a lesser extent its predecessor Baldur's Gate which offer a tabletop inspired journey in the video game space and also combines heavy, serious storylines with weirder, more humorous arcs that capture a fantastic balance that I strive for in my own work. I'm admittedly worried about Baldur's Gate 3, I'm playing Larian Studio's excellently designed Divinity: Original Sin 2 and while it has occasionally bits of humor it is as a whole enormously edgy and dark, often for the sake of being so it feels like as opposed to any narrative satisfaction. Baldur's Gate 2 in my eyes really captures the mix of humor and serious that I want to see, games that are relentlessly dark and depressing often just feel like too much and in my own design and writing I strive to strike a strong balance that games like BG2 managed.