Birmingham Shopping Haul

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

It's very rare I post my shopping haul's now, so what better reason to post about then my trip to Birmingham a couple of weeks ago.

This trip to Birmingham had 2 reasons food and shopping, which todays post will be focusing on the latter.

One of the stops we made was to Primark, we had another reason to head to this Primark and it was one of the reasons we headed to Birmingham, but that's for another post.

I couldn't resist when I saw this Powerpuff Girls tote bag, it's really cute and the perfect size for shopping with.

£3.00

Also from Primark, I got myself  some Naruto socks, I got these socks from the kids section as they didn't seem to have any Naruto products in the women's section and my feet are small enough to fit into kids socks. I'm a UK 3 and they fit me perfectly.

£3.50

The first stop we made on this trip was to Sokollab, we go here a lot when we head to London, so it was obvious that we'd head to the new Birmingham store, the staff were so friendly and happy to chat all things K-pop.

I bought myself both versions of KINGDOM's History of Kingdom: Part V. Louis. KINGDOM are one of the few groups that I make sure I buy all versions of each album, so I can have the logo on the albums spine when all together.

£26.00 Each

We came across HMV in the Bullring shopping centre, so we obviously had to have a look, we went in the hopes of them having Tomorrow X Together's album on release and we were in luck, so I got my hands on the Nightmare version of their new album, as well as the Lullaby version.

Nightmare £27.99 & Lullaby £12.99

We also went into Waterstones, my main goal was to get my hands on the 2nd volume of Alice in Borderland, but instead it was Xie Lian and Hua Cheng that found their way into my hands with Heaven Official's Blessing Vol. 4.

£16.99

The final shop we went to was the Day In Oriental Supermarket, the main reason was to get out hands on more Soju.

I got a few bags of Mochi, I love this Mochi and I often buy it from Kenji in Meadowhall, I love the milk mochi, so I got 2 bags, and decided to also get a bad of the red bean mochi too.

£1.95 Each

I also finally got another bottle of Soju and this time went for Peach flavoured as we had tried it at a restaurant.

£5.95/£6.50

All in all, I think I had a good shopping spree in Birmingham, I'd definitely recommend it for a shopping trip and I think you definitely need a good few days to see everywhere.

Have you been on any shopping trips recently?

What did you buy?

Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

Given

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

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Given is an anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Natsuki Kizu, with the anime adaptation being written by Yuniko Ayana and directed by Hikaru Yamaguchi.

The series started airing on the 11th of July 2019, and concluded on the 19th of September 2019.

The first season contains 11 episodes.

Main Characters:

Ritsuka Uenoyama is voiced by Yuuma Uchida

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Mafuyu Sato is voiced by Shogo Yano

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Haruki Nakayama is voiced by Masatomo Nakazawa

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Akihiko Kaji is voiced by Takuya Eguchi

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Supporting Characters:

Yuki Yoshida is voiced by Yuuki Shin

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Yayoi Uenoyama is voiced by Yuu Shimamura

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Ugetsu Murata is voiced by Shintaro Asanuma

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Hiiragi Kashima is voiced by Fumiya Imai

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Shizusumi Yagi is voiced by Taito Ban

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Kasai is voiced by Ayaka Asai

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Yatake Koji is voiced by Ryouta Takeuchi

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The anime adaptation is produced by Lerche and was announced during a Fuji TV press conference, on the 14th of March 2019.

The series aired on Noitamina, making Given the first BL series to air on Noitamina.

The series was also syndicated by Crunchyroll, which simulcast the series worldwide outside of Asia. In Southeast Asia, the series was released on WeTV on the 18th of May 2021.

Mafuyu voice actor Shogo Yano sang on the original songs "Marutsuke" and "Fuyu no hanashi (A Winter Story)" for the show.

Kizuato - Centimillimental

Wooby

Marutsuke - Given

iwee

Session - Given

Crunchyroll Collection

Fuyu no hanashi (A Winter Story)

iwee

Fuyu no hanashi (A Winter Story)

Crunchyroll Collection

Tightly clutching his Gibson guitar, Mafuyu Sato steps out of his dark apartment to begin another day og his high school life. While taking a nap in a quiet spot on the gymnasium staircase, he has a chance encounter with fellow student Ritsuka Uenoyama, who berates him for letting his guitar's strings rust and break. Noticing Uenoyama's knowledge of the instrument, Sato pleads for him to fix it and to tach him how to play. Uenoyama eventually agrees and invites him to sit in on a jam session with his two bandmates: bassist Haruki Nakayama and drummer Akihiko Kaji.

Sato's voice is strikingly beautiful, filling Uenoyama with the determination to make Sato the lead singer of the band. Though reticent at first, Sato takes the offer after an emotional meeting with an old friend. With the support of his new friends, Sato must not only learn how to play guitar, but also come to terms with the mysterious circumstances that led him to be it's owner.

crown of elm

How I've never come across this anime being a lover of BL anime, manga and drama's. I'll never know, I only came across it because I was looking at popular BL manga's online and Given came up in a lot of articles. The I had a nosey on Crunchyroll to see if the anime was available for me to watch and it's now the reason that I am now back to being a premium member, it brought back my love for anime.

I had already seen some clips online but seeing more into the backstory of the characters, especially Mafuyu, made this series more heartbreaking to watch, especially when he finally sung the lyrics he'd written. You can tell he blames himself for what happened in his past and you can tell he really struggles with letting others in because he's afraid he'll be left alone again. Even now when I listen to the song he sings, I get a little tearful.

I love that Given touches on subjects that people try to ignore like suicide, mental health and sexuality, especially when it comes to the male population.

I love how different the characters are and I especially love the Given members, each of them have their own struggles, but are all willing to help one another and I loved seeing how each character developed and grew, especially when it came to Mafuyu and his friends from his past.

I highly recommend this anime and it's definitely a series that I want to collect both the anime series and the manga volumes and for me it's right up there as one of my favourite series' not only as a BL but overall. I could easily and happily watch it on repeat everyday, it's a show that you would never get bored of.

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Have you watched the Given anime series?

Were you a fan of the anime?

Have you read the manga?

Do you have any favourite characters?

Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye

Heaven Official's Blessing

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

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Heaven Official's Blessing is a Chinese Donghua (Chinese animation) based on Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's novel of the same name. The series was written by Chunri Youling and directed by Li Haoling.

The series was first released on Bilibili and funimation on the 31st of October 2020 with a special episode being released on the 14th of February 2021.

The series then began streaming on Netflix on the 9th of April 2021.

The first series has 12 episodes + the bonus episode.

Main Characters:

Xie Lian is voiced by Jiang Guangtao

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San Lang is voiced by Ma Zhengyang

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Heavenly Court:

Ling Wen is voiced by Huang Ying

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General Nan Yang is voiced by Wen Sen

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Nan Feng is voiced by Wen San

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General Xuan Zhen is voiced by Hu Liangwei

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Fu Yao is voiced by Hu Liangwei

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Shi Qingxuan is voiced by Qiu Qiu (female) and Lu Zhixing (male)

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Pei Ming is voiced by Tu Xiongfei

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Pei Su is voiced by Ling Fei

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Ghosts:

Xuan Ji is voiced by Shan Xin

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Banyue is voiced by Tao Dian

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A live action series titled Eternal Faith, has begun production in 2021.

The 2nd season for the Donghua was confirmed in January 2021.

No Parting - Jeff Chang

hippy sushi

One Flower, One Sword - Li Xingyi

哔哩哔哩动画Anime Made By Bilibili

Never Leave - Isabelle Huang

Lychee

Red Supreme - Hu Xia

Puqi Shrine

Eight hundred years ago, Xie Lian was the crown prince of the Xianle Kingdom. He was loved by his citizens and was considered the darling of the world. He ascended to the Heavens at a young age; however due to unfortunate circumstances, was quickly banished back to the mortal realm. Years later, he ascends again - only to be banished again a few minutes after his ascension.

Now, eight hundred years later, Xie Lian ascends to the Heavens for the third time as the laughing stock among all three realms. On his first task as a God thrice ascended, he meets a mysterious ghost who rules the ghosts and terrifies the Heavens.

Yet, unbeknownst to Xie Lian, this ghost King has been paying attention to him for a very long time.

哔哩哔哩动画Anime Made By Bilibili

I don't know why it never occurred to me that there was Chinese anime shows, and I just casually found Heaven Official's Blessing while looking through Netflix, a quick Google told me it was a BL series and that it was also adapted from a novel of the same name, so I decided to give it a watch and I wasn't disappointed.

The artwork for this series is stunning, even the voice actors fit perfectly for me to their characters and the OST is just as breathtaking.

I absolutely loved this series and keep looking online for news on when season 2 will be released as I can't wait to see Xie Lian's journey continue, you will see that I didn't mention Hua Cheng in the characters further up, while we do seem to meet him a few episodes in, he still remains a mystery through season 1, but I suggest you wait it and especially watch the final episode, as well as the special episode, even though I guessed it from the start, there were times that I was a little confused and was thrown off.

I love that this series has suspense, as well as comedy, I lost count of how many times I was left giggling, especially when it came to Nan Feng and Fu Yao, they're definitely one of my favourite duo's and I hope they'll continue to aid Xie Lian on his missions.

I have started reading the novel and if you're only familiar with the Donghua, I do recommend reading the novel, but be prepared in the fact that volume 1 follows season 1 of the series, so there isn't much more to be learnt, but like with most books, it definitely puts more perspective onto what you may have missed watching the Donghua.

If you haven't I highly recommend watching Heaven Official's Blessing, just for the animation alone, the story itself is just a bonus, I'm even onto my 2nd time watching the series and loving it like the first time.

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Have you watched season 1 of Heaven Official's Blessing?

Were you a fan of the 1st season?

Have you read the Heaven Official's Blessing novels?

Do you have any favourite characters?

Let me know in the comments below.

안녕

(Annyeong)

さようなら

(Sayonara)

再见

(ZaiJian)

Bye