It’s the end of Summer and thing’s are starting to cool down, I’m going to New York at the beginning of September so August was a month to chill out month catching up with loved ones and watching a lot of animated TV shows:
Fate/Stay Night: Ultimate Blade Works:
Ultimate Blade Works is the anime series based on the visual novel Fate/Stay Night, it’s also the sequel to Fate/Zero. The series follows Shirou Emiya, a high school student and amateur mage living in Fuyuki City, Japan, is dragged into the Fifth Holy Grail War, a secret magical tournament. The Holy Grail Wars are when seven mages called ‘Masters’ summon a ‘Servent’, a re-incarnated personification of legendary heroes of history, to compete in winning the war to get granted a wish/desire from the Holy Grail. I personally really like this series, it’s quite a short series so there is limited filler episodes, the characters all all very interesting and have complicated personalities, and it’s fun to guess which servant is which legendary hero.
D&D (Dungeons & Dragons):
I’ve been interested in playing D&D for years, a game which focuses on fantasy and imagination is right up my street. We gave it a good go at the end of last year, but unfortunately we couldn’t get a group together that could play regularly. Luckily, my friend from aerial and her partner are regular D&D players and also run their own sessions, so me and my partner have been heading over to theirs bi-monthly to play and eat pizza.
My first character was a Witch called Ophelia, but as a Witch isn’t a proper class, it was very hard to give her the correct stats and magic elements. On our next game we made the characters from scratch using official races and classes, I tried out a Tiefling called Kallista (or Kali for short – inspired by the Indian Goddess of Death) and honestly think it’s one of my favourites and a character I will definitely be using again!
Holiday Planning:
On my birthday in February, my Dad and I planned our trip to New York for September. Time flew and most of August was spent organising the trip and researching places to visit. I’ll do a post about New York or it will be in my next Monthly Favourites for anyone interested! I used a lot of blogs like Hannah Gale and the Gluten Free Blogger to research New York and also used Trip Adviser and good ol’ Google Maps a lot. Travelling for Geeks was a great website to find Geeky places to visit, it includes comic book shops, anime stores and iconic places to see from shows and movies.
Daria:
Daria follows the life of Daria Morgendorffer, a smart and often misanthropic teenager. The show is set in a typical but fictional Suburban town that fuels a lot of Daria, and her best friend Jane Lane’s, sardonic cynicism. Daria is full of satire of high school life and suburban life, it also criticises popular culture and social classes.
I wish I watched it way before now as it was first broadcast in 1997. The animation is a little janky as it is over 20 years old but honestly, the themes really hold up to modern day. The show is simple, low key funny and relatable.. and the theme song sung by Splendora is an anthem.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica (Madoka Magica for short):
Madoka Magica isn’t your average, lighthearted, magical girl anime. It’s central themes are very dark, consisting of loss, grief, depression, loneliness and anguish.
The series originally aired in 2011 and follows Madoka Kaname, a middle schooler who gets caught up in the Magical Girl’s fight against ‘Witches’ (dark beings born from despair that are responsible for accidents, disease and suicide). Madoka and her friend Sayaka run into a cat-like creature named Kyubey, who offers them a contract to being a magical girl and also get a wish of their choosing granted. However, a mysterious exchange student soon arrives at Madoka and Sayaka’s school called Homura who tries everything in her power to stop Madoka making a contract with Kyubey.
This is the second time I’ve watched this series and it is just as heartbreaking and gut wrenching as the first. The cute character design of all the characters mixed with the erratic art style of the Witches is iconic, there is so many hidden gems throughout the fight scenes too.
Catch ‘ya next month!
xox
As Told By Carly 