A to Z Challenge 2017 -- Alucard, Asuna Yūki, and Allen Schezar #atozchallenge

 As an Anime fan, I find that different characters are essential.  Also, I like different genres.  These three characters are different as night and day as well as the anime genres.

Escaflowne (es-cah-flow-nay) is from the 90s. It's about a girl from our world that gets transported to Gaea (guy-yah), a world of dragons, humanoid species, and mechas called Guymelefs (guy-mel-ef).

Allen Schezar is a gentleman with great secrets as well as a soft spot for protecting the "damsel in distress." He is also a ladies man as he sort of hits on the female main character, Hitomi.

He is one of the Knights of Caeli, an elite group of swordsmen from Asturia. His past is checkered with bitterness and death stemming from his father's fascination with the Mystic Valley and Atlantis.

💖💖💖💖💖💖


Asuna Yūki comes from the Anime Sword Art Online.  It takes place in near-future Japan where full-dive virtual reality is possible.  The game, Sword Art Online (SAO), premieres as the first VRMMORPG of its kind. 10,000 players enter the game world of Aincrad (eye,n-krad) on the first day.  Soon they discover they are trapped and that if they die in-game they die in real life.

Asuna is not a damsel. She is (excuse the cursing) a bad ass bitch with a blade.  She becomes one of the strongest players in the game and in her guild Knights of the Blood.  Her moniker is "Lightning Flash" because she wields her rapier in a swift and deadly fashion.

As the game progresses, her softer side is shown when she and Kirito form a relationship and adopt an NPC AI called Yui.

💀💀💀💀💀💀

Alucard has been one of my absolute favorite characters since I first watched Hellsing. This anime is a strange combination of Horror and Comedy. It comes in two incarnations Hellsing and the newer Hellsing Ultimate.

There is no way to describe him other than he's crazy as all eff, seriously deranged, and psychotic to boot.  He has a tendency to go overboard on his enemies in a fight.

As an ageless creature, Alucard is the ultimate vampire. He is all powerful and very bored.  His ennui leads him to turn Seras Victoria, a police woman, into a vampire.

He works for Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing, a woman that takes no sh*t from anyone but deals a great deal onto her enemies. She runs the Hellsing Organization, which is responsible to protect England from vampires bent on destruction.

His archenemy is the Paladin Alexander Anderson who works for Iscariot (Vatican Section XIII) a top secret section of the Vatican.  He is as insane as Alucard.

A to Z Challenge -- A -- BLADE, BREATH, AND CARD

A Symbol for Air

AIR -- One of the four Elements.  It is associated with the East. The color that is associated with it is yellow.  The wand is the ritual tool that is associated with it.  Wind magic, divination, travel, and intellectual/mental stimulation are all ruled.  Psychic powers, dreams, and wishes are also associated with this element.  On the altar, a feather is the most usual symbol placed there because winged animal and insects are represented by this element.  It is a projective element.  It is masculine in nature.

ALTAR -- This is the one of the most basic things. It's the place where ritual tools are set to perform ceremonies, sabbats, and esbats. Most altars are split into three sections. The left for the Goddess, the right for the God, and the center is usually a working area belonging to both.  Elemental representations can also be found in the central area.  Most altars are set up facing North or East.  They can be as elaborate or as simple as desired.

AMULET -- This is an object used to deflect specific (like negative) energies away from a person.  It's used as a protective object that is magically charged.  Many things can be an amulet including stone, wood, sachet of herbs, and a host of other things.  It all depends on what is needed to be deflected.

APRIL -- This comes from a Roman word Aprilis and perhaps refers to aperire. It means "to open" in Latin, which most likely means the opening of buds and blossoms. Plus, it may refer to Aphrodite a.k.a. Venus. This was the time of fertility. The Veneralia was celebrated by the Romans on the first. It honored Venus.

ATHAME -- Pronounced ah-Tham-ee, Ath-ah-may, ah-Thaw-may.  This is a ritual tool.  This knife is usually double edged and most likely will have a black handle.  It is consecrated and cleansed of negativity before use.  It is never, never used to cut physical objects. It is one of the symbolic God items and therefore usually placed on the right side of the altar.  

ARCANA -- This is what the two halves of the tarot deck are called.  There are 22 major arcana (e.g. The Tower, The Lovers, The World) and 56 minor arcana.

There are four suits in the minor arcana. Cups, pentacles, swords, and wands are the most recognized ones, but there can be named differently.  For example, wands can also go by rods, staves, or spears.

They predate the modern playing card decks, but a modern 52 card deck can be used in a similar fashion as tarot.


Disclaimer: None of these pictures belong to me.  I found them on Google.