Azalea Forrest's Blog, page 6

Castle in the Sky – A Forrest Review

Laputa: Castle in the Sky is a fantasy/adventure animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, released in 1986. A girl named Sheeta is pursued by sky pirates, when she falls from the airship and is saved in mid-air due to her mysterious crystal pendant. A young orphan boy catches her unconscious body just before it lands, and takes her to his home in a mining town, where he shows her a photograph of the floating island, Laputa…

Castle in the Sky is yet another gorgeous film. With ...

Author Interview: Azalea Forrest

Hi everyone! Rebecca Crunden interviewed me over on her blog. You can check it out in the post below! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed answering. Give her a follow while you’re at it!

a writer's blog.

Check out Azalea Forrest’s books on Goodreads!

1.Paperback, hardback, audiobook?

I love the feel of a hardback or paperback, but I love the convenience of eBooks. Sometimes I want to highlight text, but I feel like it’s a disservice to the physical book if I mark it...

Grave of the Fireflies – A Forrest Review

This movie messes me up. It is the darkest and most serious of all Studio Ghibli films, so please be warned that this is an upsetting and depressing watch. Grave of the Fireflies is Isao Takahata’s first feature film with Studio Ghibli, released in 1988, about a teenager and his young sister from Kobe, Japan during World War II. 

Throughout the film, the main character, Seita, is doing everything he can to stay positive and keep his and his sister’s (Setsuko) spirits up. But stoicism and posi...

Ponyo – A Forrest Review

My Studio Ghibli marathon starts with Ponyo, Ghibli’s 8th film released in 2008. Ponyo was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and first released by Toho, then later by Disney. It tells the tale of a goldfish who escapes to the surface and is later rescued by a five-year-old boy after being trapped in a glass jar. It is full of magic and childhood bonding, as the story weaves through Ponyo’s desire to become human.

Ponyo starts right off the bat with colorful, wonderful sea creatures...

February Wrap-Up! 2022

I don’t usually do these monthly wrap-ups. Most of the time I think, what did I even do this month? Things were done! And things happened. Some great, some not so much. 

Studio Ghibli Marathon
If you missed my latest post, I announced my new blog project, which will be a collection of reviews for the Studio Ghibli films! I’ve been slowly working on said posts throughout the month. Still a ways to go, and I’m excited to share them all with you.

Worldbuilding Overload
Earlier this mon...

Ghibli Marathon – A Forrest Writes

Studio Ghibli has a huge following in Japan, and their popularity has grown in spades in North America over the last ten years. I love these movies, but I’ve never sat down and really dug into them in a review format. I plan to have a marathon of all the Ghibli feature films and to give a review of each one!

Studio Ghibli is a Japanese animation studio. It originated with Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahara, two Japanese directors/animators in Tokyo, Japan, along with producer Toshio Suzuki. Th...

Worldbuilding Overload

If your goal is to write a SFF (sci-fi/fantasy) book, it’s pretty easy to get lost in worldbuilding. Filling out your characters, creating cultures and creatures, deciding to delve into magic or to not include it at all, there is so much to consider and think about. 

I’ll admit, from experience, I don’t think I’ve always done enough worldbuilding before starting my books. This has made the editing process extremely slow-going in some cases, but just as satisfying when I’ve filled in a blank I...

Garden Story – A Forrest Review

Garden Story is a super cute and whimsical pixel art indie game available on Steam and Nintendo Switch, developed by Picogram. A young grape named Concord is given the responsibility of the new grove’s guardian, protector of the village and its people. 

I love this game. Garden Story is very Zelda-like, a top-down RPG experience with bright, fun colors and smooth action. While called Garden Story, gardening is actually a tiny aspect of the game that comes near the end of the story. Most of th...

2021 Wrap-Up

I’m a little late, New Years Day came and went. I hope ya’ll stayed safe & had a lovely start to the new year! Here’s my 2021 wrap-up!

I didn’t read as much as I had hoped to. I had a list of books I either wanted to reread or start, but my concentration’s been a bit lacking for novels. Still, I’m happy I got some reading done, and actually read more than I thought.

Here’s a list of the books I’ve read and reviewed!

Howl’s Moving Castle
Witch Hat Ate...

Final Fantasy XIV – A Forrest Review

The 11 year, ongoing hit, massive multiplayer online game Final Fantasy XIV just released its fourth expansion: Endwalker. I’m nowhere near close to that expansion, and so I won’t be talking about it! Haha, but I want to share my thoughts on the game, and how much fun I’ve been having while playing. 

Final Fantasy XIV is an MMORPG on PC and Playstation. It does require a subscription (after a point), but has a very generous free trial. I have a few friends who are extremely dedicated to this ...