whisper of the heart (1995) and spirited away (2001)

when i feel a little lost and lacking courage. a comfort / hopeful / nostalgia thing

I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation for the first time in the midst of getting illegally fired from Microsoft. There were a lot of story threads that resonated with me at the time, and it helped stave off a worse mental health crisis than what I had.

I read Cloud Atlas at a tough time in my life and it changed my perspective quite a bit. I highly recommend it.

I bingewatched Breaking Bad from start to finish during my worst depression. It was already fully released at the time so I could watch it without interruptions. I didn't do much else during that time. It kept my brain away from extremely negative thoughts.

Warhammer 40k universe.
Yeah i know it's "cringe" or "are you 14 year old wannabe edgelord?" But i cant help it, negative emotions and a dark/miserable/cynical worldview is more relatable and undersatable.
The overall miserable setting and no guarantee that the "good"(just the team you're rooting for) guys will win is a good reminder that things could be a lot worse, yes there's already enough of that misery in the world, but thats why it is more relatable and realistic.

Way too many other universes or stories want the good guys to win in the end and actually having clearly good and bad guys, while playing on postive emotions and optimism. That is kinda unrealistic and predictably boring.