Just gonna necro this thread with some new stuff I discovered in the past year.
First of all, "Spy x Family". A story about a secret agent, an assassin, and their adopted daughter with telepathic powers. Each episode is a "mission" (modes...?) working towards the ultimate goal of Agent Twilight's spy campaign, which is to gain military intelligence from the leader of the opposing party in a government locked in a cold war. But in order to do this, he has to create the fake identity of Loid Forger, find a woman willing to pretend to be his wife, adopt a daughter to pretend to be his child, and socially engineer his way up to his target Donovan Desmond's social circle by way of the prestigious school his son is attending. Oh, and his wife, Yor Briar, is secretly the deadly assassin Thorn Princess, and neither of them knows the other's secret. Meanwhile, little Anya, who could read minds from the beginning, knows all.
Watchable on Hulu in English up to episode 12, and the second episode treats us to the absolute greatest marriage proposal of all time. There are numerous action scenes that could become hurryups or multiball modes, an allied agent named Franky who could deliver context-related awards, and I could see random award prediction or reflexive ball-save features themed around Anya's mind reading power.
The other anime that stole my heart recently is "Bocchi the Rock!". Just when you thought we didn't need more music pins. BTR follows a high school girl with crippling social anxiety, who spends her time expressing herself by playing the electric guitar. When a friendly student of a neighboring school notices her skills, she invites the painfully shy Hitori Gotoh to become part of her indie band, nicknaming her Bocchi-chan after the term "hitoribocchi" meaning "all alone." It's adorable, heartwarming, and wholesome, full of visual jokes and a lot of moments that hit way too close to home.
I can picture a ball lock mech inspired by Thing from TAF, except it's Bocchi hiding in a trash can and just peeking out enough to grab the ball. That said, if a BTR-themed game was built, there would be no excuse whatsoever for it to have messy wiring. That's because the girls name their group Kessoku Band... the Japanese term for "zip tie."