3 Things I Loved, September 2026
Since I have this space, I want to keep a record of the things I loved each month. It can be a book, a movie, a song, an album, a manga series, something I saw on TV, or heard, a new recipe I tried, a dish I ate, or even a material object. Why? Because it’s fun to talk and read about beloved things!
So, in September 2026, I got really into:
1. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave (2026)
These days, I’m more often not playing a video game than I am playing one. It’s just too hard to split my attention and time between my hobbies (knitting, reading, writing, or gaming), and so it’s often gaming that takes a backseat. But there are a few game franchises I’ll drop everything for, and then I will be lost to the world for as long as it lasts.
Fire Emblem, which I first played off a Game Boy Advance emulator on my computer as a child and then nearly every iteration after since, is without question one of those games. Some of my strongest and fondest game memories are tied to this over thirty-year-old franchise of tactical role-playing games. The slow turn-based strategic combat suits me more than games that rely on real-time reflexes and skill, and the increasing gameplay emphasis on characters and relationships is the most delicious treat you could feed my brain. That it switches between these two aspects before you can tire of either makes it is the perfect game for me. It’s been seven long years since the last entry in this franchise, so I’ve been looking forward to Fortune’s Weave for a long time.
I’m thrilled to say nothing about it has let me down so far! Ever since it came out, it’s been a highlight of my days. I look forward to sitting down with it at the end of the day and juggling through the extremely rewarding systems of battle, resource management, unit improvement, exploration, relationship building. There is the pleasure in those actions, and there is the pleasure of a story told well and of richly drawn characters intersecting and interacting in an equally detailed world of politics and personal drama. Wonderfully, I don’t think I’m even a quarter of my way into this game and I’m thrilled! I am enjoying being thoroughly consumed by it.
2. Pokemon All Stars 1025, Oishi Masayoshi
When I first heard the conceit of this song (the names of every single Pokemon, all 1025 of them, incorporated into the lyrics), I could not have predicted how it could have turned out. I certainly could not have predicted this. The name of every Pokemon is sung out, but more than that: every single one is accompanied by a scan of an actual handmade scrapbook page. Every single one. 1025 pages created by human hands, with so much individuality and charm that show complete understanding and respect for the Pokemon they depict. The lyrics that declare every Pokemon is a star, and that no one plays a supporting role, is wholly supported by this, what we see on screen. That every Pokemon is someone’s fave has been a recent mainstay of the franchise despite (or because of) its rapidly expanding ranks, most evident in their line of Pokemon Fit plushies, and it is put perfectly on display here. Even though each Pokemon gets less than a split second of screen time, the love for each one is evident in their page.
As this massive 20+ minute video charges on, galloping through a medley of different styles and genres of music, each performed with such heart alongside the gripping visuals, my own heart and emotions began to soar. To see this level of artistic effort in the time of AI slop, when so many people are taking the easy way out of creation, moved me beyond words. Because love is deserving of effort, of care and understanding. I was bawling by the end of the song, completely overwhelmed with emotion and awe for what it was doing musically, artistically, and the larger message it was sending about creation, love, and what we deserve.
3. Big Walk (2026)
Another video game! This one is a multiplayer game where you wander around an island, discover puzzles presented without instructions or guidance, and solve them with no promise or idea what the reward for doing so may be. It’s especially great played with friends! I was touched by how gamely and readily my friends agreed to play this with me when I brought it up. Though I talk to these friends pretty much daily in a group chat, and see them regularly enough, there’s something different and novel about hanging out in a virtual space. The spatially-dependent in-game voice chat (you can only hear people if they are within your proximity in the game, though you can find tools like walkie talkies and megaphones that help transcend spatial limits) adds to this sense of reality that is still not-quite-real, and heightens the immersion and enjoyment.
Because at this age, my friends and I may never find ourselves in a situation where we will need to put our heads together to solve a puzzle, or find ourselves together on a scenic island, for that matter. Big Walk gave us that opportunity, and it was delightful. I’ve adored the inventiveness of the puzzles, the satisfaction of figuring how to solve them and working together to do so, interspersed with casual chatter and the silly childlike shenanigans that the game encourages, and just the simple joy of being in the same place for the express purpose of playing together. It has been so fun and a wonderful reminder of what I am so grateful now, at this age, to possess.
Carrying an AFK friend off into the ocean just to see what happens.
❦
Although I only started including a list of additional things last month, there’s always been a shortlist of more than three in my monthly roundups, only not all of them I feel the need to write about at length. But it’s nice to see so much love clustered all in one place, so I think I’m going to keep it up. This month I also really loved:
Obsidian: I finally sat down to build myself a place to work on a large writing project and this highly customisable, free, cloud-syncing solution was exactly what I was looking for. It feels great to be free of the shackles of Google and Microsoft!
Blue, Millennium Parade: A wonderful music video featuring the excellent use of my fave Ayano Go on top of very pleasing and evocative layered instrumentation.
Fountain pens and inks: I’ve been rediscovering my old pens and inks, and found that the perfect way to use them is to write out a favourite passage from the short story I read that day in my commonplace book.
Mourinho (2026): A very well done documentary that was enjoyable for its subject matter as much as it was a reminder of my past of a Chelsea and Mourinho fan. It was strange and beguiling to relive those memories, to see these players who seemed so much older when I as a teenager watched them play, and realising just how much younger they were than I am now.
Bibibitto Izumi-kun, Asukam: This newly serialised manga has all the elements that I love: simple but evocative art, a particular lens through which it draws the story, and a coming-of-age set against a confrontation of the self and its desires.
And the best short stories I read this month: “The Wedge-Tailed Eagle” by Geoffrey Dutton; “Her First Ball” by Katherine Mansfield; “Go Down, Moses” by William Faulkner.
30 September 2026