Things I enjoyed in August 2026

02 Sep, 2026

This month I was mostly on a break from work and it shows.

I'll be a bit more schermatic this time because... There's a lot.

Animation

I watched a lot, more than what I will write about below. There's stuff I have to finish, stuff I just started, stuff I watched some episodes on a whim and I need to decide if I want to commit and watch the entire season or not (it's the last Bleach season; I only read the manga and it looks like the ending is gonna be different, I'm a bit curious). We'll probably talk about that in the following months, I guess.

Apothecary Diaries Season 2

I don't have much to say about the second season of Apothecary Diaries that I haven't said about the first one. It's basically more of the same and I think it's perfectly fine. Don't fix what's not broken. I really enjoy the structure, with "problem of the week" episodes slowly and sneakingly creating the background for the main storyline of the season. I'm not totally sold on the implied romance, but Maomao is still a very fun protagonist to follow. Who knows, I might end up reading the novels as well at some point.

Demon Slayer Infinity Castle Part 1

Last year I missed this movie when it was airing in cinemas and I actually kind of regret that. It looks gorgeous, as expected by Ufotable ¹. And it sounds great as well, Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina have proven me many times they can really make great and emotional tracks, perfectly fitting the scenes. This is not a movie that stands on his own legs, though. It's basically part one of Demon Slayer final season and you won't enjoy the narrative if you're not invested in Demon Slayer already. Seeing what it wanted to adapt, I don't think they could have done anything different. I liked it. Let's see how many years we have to wait for part 2 and 3.

Nier Automata 1.1a

I watched the first half when it came out, then forgot to watch the rest. With my friend Cre ², we watched the whole series, so she could watch it for the first time and I could finish it. I have to admit it was better than expected. The animation is what it is, there's stuff a videogame can do that an anime don't (the ending) and there are changes to the script that I think worked better in the game ³. But I also really love how they managed to integrate some side stories that previously were either short novels or stage plays, references to the other games and especially what they did with characters, 2B and A2 in particular: their characterization was very subtle in the game and I really loved how they managed to flash it out. Also loved the puppet show at the end of each episode. In the end, I'm not really sure it's a good replacement for the game, but it's definitely a fun ride for the fans. Just don't expect a 1:1 adaptation.

3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei

I love Gintama. It's without a doubt one of my absolute favorite shounen anime. This spin off, though, I had a hard time finishing it and if I have to point my finger on the reason, I'd point it on the absence of serious moments and the school setting, that I feel it's too mundane for Gintama's sense of humor. I paused it after six episodes. But you know what? A good dub and adaptation can save a show that you were not enjoying. I watched the other six episodes with italian dub and it was such a better experience I kinda want to rewatch the first episodes the same way. I'm still thinking about Kagura joking about Gabibbo. Honestly, this is a recommendation on the italian dub more than the show itself. I'd watch a second season if it's got the same whacky italian dub.

Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender

Talking about fandoms I haven't seen in a while, I first watched ATLA about 10 years ago. Despite not being a lifechanging show for me I really enjoyed it and its characters. Korra? Not so much. But what about this new movie? I think it's pretty inoffensive. It doesn't ruin the original show but it doesn't elevate it either. It's got a pretty straightforward story focusing on Aang's troubles, while the other characters end up showing their main traits mostly for comedy reasons without much nuance⁴. The animation, though? Gorgeous. Honestly worth watching just for that. ⁵

Books

I have read a lot in August! And that makes me very happy.

Solaris

You think I started reading this because of Xenogears? You're absolutely right! And I'm glad I did. I'm not enamoured by the way it was written (or translated) and the book lost me a bit during the pages and pages of fictional cosmology that doesn't add much to the plot or the phylosophical reasonings. I'm sure mr. Stanislav Lem was eager to let the reader know about his worldbuilding and honestly all the power to him, but at the same time I was slightly bored. However, the book poses very interesting dilemmas on the human nature and its relationship with the divine. There's a dialogue in the last part of the book that changed my brain chemistry and made me crave more sci-fi with existential themes. A book like this, maybe written in a prose more akin to my taste, really has the potential to become something special for me. Thank you Xenogears⁶! I can totally see where a lot of the themes came from, now.

The Last Wish

"I don't want to watch the show before experiencing the source material!" is something you can catch me saying relatively often. And it's something I tried to do with the The Witcher Netflix series years ago before yealding to the evidence that it wasn't meant to happen in the foreseeable future, so I watched the first two seasons. Now the time has come to finally start reading the books. The Last Wish (that for some reason was translated in italian as "The innocent's guardian") is a collection of short stories that I basically already knew because they were in the show. What I did not remember is how some of the stories are almost a creative retelling of fairy tales like Snowhite and the Beauty and the Beast. I had fun reading it and I'm excited to read more, especially the stuff that wasn't in the first two seasons of the show. I might even think of playing the games, but I'm not totally sure, they're not really my style of games; we'll talk about that after reading all the books.

Blackwater: The Levee

And we're back in Perdido for the second Blackwater book, starting right where we left off at the end of the first one. Not much to add, tbh, except there's even more unsettling stuff and family drama. I'm also starting to warm up to the characters, including Elinor. And, yes, this one has no ending as well.

Carmilla

Carmilla was an experiment. For various reasons I ended up listening to the audiobook while driving. It was fun ⁷! The story itself is what you can expect by a gothic horror tale of the 19th century, with an unexpected sapphic vibe. Maybe nothing groundbreaking, but I think it's an interesting read for anyone who enjoys this kind of stories, especially considering it's a vampire story that predates Dracula.

Videogames

I wanted to play more during my summer break, but I ended up playing shorter games and the Xenoblade 2 update I'm gonna finally put down once I complete Momo's quest. I also bought games I didn't expect to buy. My poor backlog...

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

First game I played on my new shiny Wii. This game was sold to me as Yoko Taro adjacent and... It is! White haired girls, cute robot companions, lore told through loot, unexpected LGBT characters, clunky gameplay, a merchant with a very round head... Yeah, the ingredients are pretty much the same. It may be a bit too clunky at times, but it never felt all that frustrating to me. It plays more on atmosphere than challenging fights. And the story is really good, I'm actually kinda sad this is stuck on the Wii with no chance of a remake or any kind of sequel (spiritual or not). I feel like it would be a very beloved game of it were remade with different controls on modern consoles.

Prototype

My friend Ali made a short sci-fi Visual Novel! It's so short you should definitely give it a shot. The setting is cool, the themes very interesting and I want more. Read it and show her some love so she might be inclined to make more.

The House in Fata Morgana

And there we are, I finally got to read it. And as much as my brain was skeptical about all the hype, I ended up actually really enjoying it, which is not something that usually happens with those premises. Yes, it is actually good. I'll admit, sometimes it's a bit verbose, but the story is overall well-conceived and has a lot of very strong moment that wouldn't have hit that hard without all the build up. It's hard to talk about it in a spoiler free way and anyone should really experience it knowing as little as possible. I won't tell who my favourite characters are, but I can say my favorite door is probably the 7th. That hit like a truck. It's also got a banger soundtrack, very iconic in a lot of its tracks⁸. I think the story works perfectly as standalone, but I'm probably also gonna read both Requiem and Reincarnation at some point. I'll do it at a later time, though, now I need to recover.

What else?

A lot of travelling, basically. And my brother got merried.

See you next month!

#anime #books #monthlyrecap #movies #videogames