Things I enjoyed in September 2026
After an August of mostly free time, we're back to our regularly scheduled worklife. I'm a bit tired, but I'm trying to eat better and drink more water. I hope this will help me be more energetic! But that's not the place to talk about my diet, let's talk about media!
Anime
Oh yes, remember when I said "ok, I'll go back watching anime when I'm making breakfast"? Well, that didn't last long, unfortunately. But at least I managed to finish watching the anime I started before the summer break.
After War Gundam X
Gundam X is not one of the big beloved Gundam series everyone talks about. I'll admit, I watched it only because it was easily available on YouTube thanks to Gundam Info. How was it, though? What I knew before starting it was that it was cut short because it wasn't very well received. I liked it a lot though! Among its Gundam contemporaries I'd definitely enjoyed it more than Victory, but less than G Gundam1, I guess.
I really love the X cast, especially the Freeden crew: most of them get their well deserved spotlight and they're well rounded characters for the most part. Techs was probably my favourite. If you're like me, you knew him as the "I'm a healer but" guy and expected him to be a bit of a piece of shit. He's actually a really chill guy and a sort of mentor for the rest of the crew. I also really enjoyed Garrod and Tiffa's relationship, they're really sweet.
The ending was a bit rushed in my opinion, but up until about episode 25 it had nothing to envy to the best early UC series and there were some pretty great episodes. Recommended!
Books
If I had to find a common thread between the books I read in September, it would be... various shades of morally gray protagonists. And I'm also talking about books I've almost but not yet finished. But hey, I love morally gray if well explored.
The Poppy War
This is the first book in a trilogy by R.F. Kuang and, let me tell you, it was a wild ride. The protagonist, Rin, is one of those characters who makes mistakes. A lot of them, actually. She takes part in things you might not like, but you'll always see where she comes from. It's probably not a story for everyone, as it tackles on self harm and war crimes of every immaginabile type (I don't want to go into details, but it's disgusting and enraging at times). Also drugs and addiction are a central part of the narrative. But if you can get past all that, it's a very interesting read.
One thing that actually made me raise an eyebrow is that the worldbuilding. The story is supposedly set in a made up world (very inspired by China, yes, but still not China itself) and yet Sun Tzu and his Art of War gets constantly mentioned. I don't understand.
Other than that, I enjoyed this book a lot, there wasn't a single part in 500 Pages when I felt bored. Excited to read the next book2!
Full Metal Panic! 7: Continuing On My Own
Finally on the second half of the story and things started to change drastically. I won't say what is happening here specifically, but I'm happy the story is finally addressing the fact that Sosuke is... a soldier, an assassin. I loved the last scene honestly. Other than that, let's see what this change of pace in the story will cause!
Videogames
I spent the most on my time playing games I won't talk about because I couldn't finish them by the end of September3. But I finished other shorter games!
SHINRAI Saku - Blooming Beyond Despair
This is a sort of epilogue to Shinrai - Broken Beyond Despair, an indie visual novel I read in May (you can read about it here). It's a nice follow up. It's shorter, no mysteries to actively uncover, but I liked the original narrative and characters and what I found here was basically more of that! Also, my friend Crescendo was in charge of the music and, let me tell you, she did great.
If you haven't read Shinrai yet, I recommend it. It's a fun time!
A King's Tale: Final Fantasy XV
"I need something short before Trails comes out to spend two evenings on" and searching in my backlog I found this. I'm not the biggest FFXV fan, I'll admit, but this was fun for what it was: a story of Regis and his bros that he himself tells to his son Noctis as a bedtime story. The gameplay is simple and the final boss was an unexpected reference to another Final Fantasy. It's ok, pretty inoffensive. And free to play.
Ori and the blind forest
At this point I cannot say anymore that I don't enjoy Metroidvania games, I played three of them, two in the span of three months. And I do like them, but I also kinda fear them. A friend gifted me Ori last Christmas and I've always wanted to try it because of its art style that I adore. It's really cute and the music contributes to the magical aspect of the experience. I'm not skilled enough in this genre to tell you if this is good or bad compared to others games but I had fun and it's cute, I'll definitely play the sequel.
Other
- I lowkey wanted to talk about manga as well because I read a lot, I finished nothing, so maybe next time!
- I watched the YorHa Girls stage play with Cre and we were pretty surprised how much more budget was put into it compared to its male counterpart. It was ok.
See you early November!
then again, G Gundam is a whole different genre.↩
unfortunately the version I got for the first book is out of print (I got it second hand) and so does the second book in the trilogy that I can't find anywhere↩
In Trails in the Sky 2nd Chapter case, I think it's excused, but I'm also at the final boss of World of Final Fantasy at the time I'm writing this and that's frustrating.↩