#fatevember

Shirou Emiya feels very much like a prototype of ReZero‘s Natsuki Suburu, in that both of the characters are in some ways, cut from the same cloth. Yet while ReZero uses Suburu to tear down the ideal of the shounen and Isekai hero, Fate Stay Night opts to use Shirou Emiya to explore something more abstract: the naive dreams of youth.

Emiya’s dream to become a hero of justice, saving everyone and anything from danger or trouble, even at the cost of his own happiness is simply put, a dream from the mind of a child. Forged out of his immense survivor’s guilt at being the only one who survived the Fuguki fire, and his idolizing of his adopted father Kiritsugu. It is an idea that has no real awareness of how the world and humanity functions. Like a child wishing to be an astronaut, or a princess, or a famous movie star, they are the raw hopeful aspirations of children not yet touched by the harsh truths of the world. While some may achieve these dreams, the majority often abandon them either due to the march of time, or when faced with the onset of reality, where such childhood fantasies have no place.

The Fate Franchise knows this, as both Kiritsugu from Fate/Zero, and Archer in the Unlimited Blade Works serve as examples and refutations of what such a dream can bring. For Kiritsugu, we see a man who had the same aspiration being forced to compromise his ideals with the paths and choices life has made for him. A man who once dreamed of being that great hero who could save anyone is instead a depressed and hopeless man who realizes that to achieve his dream, he would have to kill everyone in the world, and the refusal to do that is what ends up taking away his wife, his daughter and eventually his life.

For Archer, the dark twisted alternative ego of Shirou, we see a man who tried his best to become a hero of justice, only to realize that such a dream is impossible to achieve and that closing your eyes to the realities of humanity is foolish, selfish and even arrogant. It is why in Blade Works, Archer loathes his younger self for his foolish idealism, his naivety, and his beliefs. He lambasts Shirou for not having his own ideas, but instead taking them from someone else and passing them off as his own and would rather kill his younger self than see him go down the road of anger and disappointment that consumed him.

So it is through the three separate routes of Fate Stay Night that we see Shirou confront and come to terms with his naive dream, his foolish idealism born from his childhood. In the Fate Route, we see his drive to become a hero almost cost him his life multiple times, and strain the delicate relationship he has with Saber. In Unlimited Blade Works we see Shirou come to terms that his ideas are foolish, hypocritical, and not his own, but ultimately something worth striving for, despite the futility of it. And in Heaven’s Feel, we see Shirou come to the conclusion that the life of the one he loves, one he can save right now, is more important than the oath he made as a child, and he abandons it in favor of saving Sakura from her madness. It is here where Shirou leaves behind his childhood self and steps into the role of an adult, one who embraces the future in front of him, and not the one in his dreams. In fact, the endings of each of the routes in Fate Stay Night can be seen as Shirou completing his journey from a boy to a man, and the reconciliation of his naive childish idealism with the reality of what adulthood and life actually are.

It is this journey that is the heart of what Fate Stay Night is. Take away all the battles, the masters, the servants, and even the romance and it is simply a story about the wonderful naive dreams of a boy. The dreams of youth and how they are often incompatible against the often cruel and unforgiving truth that is ‘real life’. That is at heart, who Shirou Emiya is, and while the Fate Franchise has found great success without him in it, you cannot deny that his presence brings just as much success when he is in it.

(SPOILERS FOR FATE ZERO, AND ALL THREE FATE STAY NIGHT ROUTES, ESPECIALLY HEAVEN’S FEEL)

Rin Tohsaka, while not my favorite character in the series (three guesses who that is), I do believe she is its best character, and her role in all three routes of Fate Stay Night presents her as someone with the inner strength and iron will that in my mind, has yet to be surpassed. Simply put, I think Rin Tohsaka is one of the strongest female characters ever written in the Anime, ever.

Rin is a Tsundere, a pure, authentic, no holds bar 100% concentrated Tsundere. She’s is so much this archetype that she is actually both a Tsundere and a Reverse Tsundere. There are many times at the start of Unlimited Blade Works where the trope of the Tsundere is reversed, and Rin is quiet, calm and loving on the outside, but is rash, loud and obnoxious in private, and that is funny to see when most of the Blade Works route is Rin having to struggle with her growing feelings for Shirou. All of their conversations are laced with those classic tsundere tropes and every time she tries to help Shirou, she is compelled to let him know it’s for any reason but her attraction to him. All of this is basic anime storytelling and in the almost fourteen years since Fate Stay Night first arrived, you can see that in comparison to other characters of her type, Rin feels very basic, even in her other alternative universe incarnations. In the almost decade and a half since her introduction, other animes have just done her tsundere character better.

But what makes Rin stand out so much to me, is that both within the world of Fate and outside of it, Rin Tohsaka is a character of unbelievable inner strength and fortitude. Like every other character in Fate, Rin suffers from a tragic past with her father being brutally murdered, and her mother abused and driven insane by the actions of her uncle. However, unlike the other characters, Rin shows no outward signs of being affected by it. She grieved yes, but compared to the other characters Rin does not seem to be haunted by the trauma of her past and by all accounts has accepted it as part of her and made peace with it.

The other main characters of Fate Stay Night all suffer from unresolved issues with their past. Shirou Emiya reels from the guilt of being the lone survivor of the great fire. Saber is consumed by self-doubt and a lack of confidence in herself, and there isn’t enough therapy in the world to deal with the trauma and horrors inflicted upon Sakura Matou. Rin, having suffered losses on the same level as most of them (except Sakura, holy FUCK), she is the only character whose past does not haunt her, at least from what the viewer sees. She is strong, independent, and would rather move forward into the future than be stuck dwelling on the past. In fact, her whole reason for fighting the Holy Grail War is to prove herself. She does not seek the grail for personal gain like many of the other cast members do, only so she can prove to both her and her father that she has the ability to do so. There is no desire to recreate herself into something great or attempt to rewrite the mistakes of the past. There is just a raw drive and will.

Furthermore, as each of the routes plays out and the Holy Grail War devolves into chaos and insanity, Rin always remembers to keep her head, despite suffering personal betrayal, loss and the realities of what is happening around her. She is not an emotionless robot by any means, she reacts to everything as one would expect of her, but Rin never feels hopeless or falls into despair, she deals with the situation at hand and pushes on forward, ever forward. It is only in Heaven’s Feel, where Rin is confronted with the truth that she never once attempted to rescue Sakura, despite it being well in her power to do, that she shows any hint of regret and sorrow, and this is after she had resolved herself to killing Sakura for the sake of everyone else.

This carries on even in the alternative Fate series, In the anime Fate/kalied liner Prisma Illya, Rin is more of a mentor and big sister to the young Illyasviel. She admits the fault in thrusting the task of capturing the servants onto an innocent girl was wrong and doesn’t argue when Illya has a moment of crisis and wants to quit. Even after that arc has past and Rin remains steadfastly supportive of Illya and maintains that strong strength of characters even if she is portrayed more comically.

In the world of Fate, the characters are often defined by the horrors of their past, but it is Rin Tohsaka alone who stands above it all. Despite being well within her rights not to be. her immense inner strength, her drive to move forward, and an iron will all shape Rin into one of the most put together and strongest characters I have seen in all my years as an anime viewer. In the west, we often criticize the “strong female character” as lazy writing and an easy way to score points with certain viewers, but Rin is a STRONG character who happens to be female and is an example I will always point to when it looking for an example of a well done female character, and anime have MANY to choose from.

Out of the three separate story routes of the visual novel. Heaven’s Feel is the one that feels the most separate and unique of them. While both Fate and Unlimited Blade Works have their own themes and ideas and focus on two separate female heroines, they also cover similar story beats. In a sense, both feel like they are two sides of a single coin. Heaven’s Feel, however, is far different and remains the longest, darkest and most in-depth out of all the chapters of Fate Stay Night, and the plot wildly diverges from the simple Holy Grail conflict of both Fate and Blade Works.

Yet, a full review and reflection upon Heaven’s Feel is almost impossible now, because unless you have read either the visual novel or a summary of it, there just isn’t enough in the first installment to really dig into. As beautiful as Presage Flower is, as much as I enjoyed it, it is mostly a movie focused on setting up what is going to happen in the next two installments, so Presage Flower can feel almost like a glorified preview of what is to come. Aside from one of two moments in the middle, and the admittedly gut-wrenching and excellent ending, there just isn’t really much in Presage Flower.

Sakura Matou, the heroine of the Heaven’s Feel route is a character who, up until now, has been wildly underused in the Fate Franchise. A supporting character in the 2006 anime, and pretty much a glorified extra in the adaptation of Unlimited Blade Works with a few cameos in the other spin-offs. Sakura Matou has not yet had her chance to shine and while Presage Flower does excellent work in preparing us for what is to come, it is still preparation and I found myself wanting to just get into the amazing moments that I know are coming.

Furthermore, Presage Flower is not a film for someone new to the Fate Franchise as it skips almost the entire introduction events shared by the previous installments and instead drops you right into the action. Now while that’s respectful to the fandom to not tread over familiar ground, since both Presage Flower and Blade Works are done by Studio Ufotable, and therefore they have already shown you the intro chapter. This is something I would absolutely not show someone who wasn’t already very familiar with the Fate Franchise, as they would be confused right out of the gate.

And honestly? That’s all I can really say. I’d love to go more in depth, but Presage Flower just doesn’t give us that opportunity. Everything that is going to happen, the revelations of Sakura, the actions of Rin and Archer, the fate of Saber, the path of Illya and the choices of Shirou is all stuff we are still waiting for, stuff that I hope that the second installment: Lost Butterfly wastes no time getting right into.

Now despite that last paragraph hyping this character up, Saber is not my favorite character, nor would she be on my list of top five favorites. There are just other characters that resonate more with me personally, but even I can’t deny that Saber is a key factor in what has made Fate last as long as it has, and have as much popularity as it does. There is much we can get into about Saber, but I want to instead talk about only one thing today, and that is the idea of Saber being a symbol without a soul.

Saber is in many ways, a twisted reflection of her partner Shirou Emiya. While Shirou strives to be a hero of justice and will do anything to achieve it. Saber instead wants nothing more than to run away and erase her existence from the world. Riddled with guilt over how her rule of Camelot ended up, Saber’s entire desire in obtaining the Holy Grail is to wish that someone else had taken her place. She doesn’t want a do-over, she wants a complete retcon, to erase her rule so that someone better could take her place.

Right there, we see the same level of arrogance and ignorance that plagues Shirou’s character arc. Like Emiya who thinks that becoming a selfless hero that priorities the safety of others over the concerns of himself is a noble dream. Saber believes that if she just got rid of herself as King, that everything would have turned out better, who cares if she never got to be king, isn’t it better that she is thinking of the welfare of her people? Isn’t a King suppose to be a symbol, an ideal worth looking up to? Almost…like a hero?

Such an idea may be considered noble and thoughtful, but in the case of Fate/Zero’s Rider, he believes it runs against what a King should be. In one of the great scenes of that anime, Rider confronts Saber over her wish and idea of being a King and tells her that she’s wrong. That by becoming a symbol instead of a person, she robbed her kingdom of someone who they could admire and feel loyal to. The people don’t want a perfect god they can aspire to be, they want someone they live vicariously through and be inspired by.

Rider’s words to Saber echo a conversation from my favorite film of all time: Doctor Zhivago, where the lead character is discussing the growing rise of the communist party in the aftermath of World War 1, and he describes it as such.

“You lay life on a table and cut out all the tumors of injustice. But that is a deep operation, and someone must keep life alive while you do it. By living.”

That in my mind is the tragedy of Saber. She wants to be a great symbol, a King of Kings, but she is unable actually do the living required to be that. A symbol in her mind can’t be a person with needs, wants, fears and desires. That is why she seeks to secure the holy grail because instead of just accepting that she is human, she would rather give the job to someone else who might do it better. Had Saber lived a normal life, one of a normal girl or woman, she might have had the knowledge and experience that would have helped her be a better ruler, instead of being a symbol without a soul.

At the onset, Fate/Apoc shares a similarity with Fate/Illya in that they are both spin-offs with connections to the main universe of Fate Stay Night. However, unlike Fate/Illya where the majority of the main cast was placed in an alternative universe, Fate/Apoc’s connection is skin deep at best.

The divergence takes places during the third holy grail war, where the Einzberns summoned a Ruler-class servant instead of the Avenger-class that would go on to corrupt the grail. This along with the grail being stolen by the Nazis (because of course) and moved to Romania, we instead have a Holy Grail War were two families fight with seven of their own servants over who can claim the wish of the grail. Over the course of the 25 episodes battles are had, betrayals ensue, and the fandom has very confused feelings over a certain character.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Fate/Apoc when I watched it. Going into this series I had been told that this was the Fate installment that wasn’t well received, so my expectations were firmly low. I was surprised then to walk away after it was finished with this as one of my top favorites. While Fate/Apoc does not have the depth or thematic messaging of the main universe, it does have good characters, excellent servants and stellar action and just feels like a whole complete adventure.

Its characters are the heart of why I enjoyed Fate/Apoc. With two teams of seven masters and servants some do end up more fleshed out than others, but I do remember many of the characters than I thought I would. Series leads Seig and Jeanne d’Arc are both welcome additions to the franchise, and have interesting character arcs that, while a little undercooked by the end, are interesting to watch. Though criticism has to be leveled at the Jeanne d’Arc who, despite being the Ruler-servant responsible for mediating the war, feels kinda irrelevant for vast swaths of the story and only really serves as a mean for Sieg to undergo his growth into a full person.

The supporting cast however really help fill in the cracks. Though it does feel like the series is trying to juggle too many characters. Having William Shakespeare as a servant is a great idea as are concepts like Frankenstein’s monster, Vlad the Impaler, Jack the Ripper (good fucking lord Jack the Ripper), Atlanta, Achilles, Spartacus, and Karna. You can just tell the author and animators had a blast taking the “heroes of history” concept and going hog wild with it. The two main standouts though are Mordred as Saber of Red and her master, who could have had an entire series to themselves. Mordred’s place in history in relation to the OG Saber also feels like fertile ground for future stories, and it is a shame they drift in and out of the main plot considering their great designs and excellent chemistry.  I wish the same could be said for the masters themselves, who mostly just feel like background fodder.

Then, of course, there is Astolfo, who is both one of the best characters in the series, and a walking meme generator in terms of the design and behaviors. Anyone who is a fan of Fate has joked about this character and their place in the plot, but Astolfo is also the heart of the series and serves as the moral support for Sieg as he discovers the good and bad of humanity.

In terms of the plot, Fate/Apoc’s story is ok, but it falls into the trap of using my least favorite trope of all time: collective unconscious. The holy grail war between the two factions only lasts for half of the series and the second half is more concerned with defeating the villain who (as is getting more common in anime) wants to save/destroy humanity by merging all thought and people together. It’s a tired and worn out idea that has been done to death for years now, and it really brings Fate/Apoc down, though the fireworks getting there are still amazing.

In many ways, Fate/Apoc feels like a story that tried to bite off a little more than it could chew. It is more concerned with having great battles instead of deep character development and it shows. Yet it also embraces the freedom of being removed from the OG Fate universe with open arms and enjoys being its own thing. The animation, aside from the massive design change for one the battles at the climax is well done. The music, while not the work was done by Aimer, is memorable enough that I have a few songs on my iPhone.

Oath Under Snow is pretty much the Miyu flashback movie. With the previous series 3rei ending with both Miyu and her version of Shirou Emiya rescued, Oath Under Snow tells the next part of the story, but explaining everything about Miyu, where she came from, how she got to Illya's world and the battles and conflict that took place between Shirou and the Ainsworth family. In fact, Illya and the majority of the Fate/Illya cast aren't even in the movie until the last scene.

Which is something that makes this movie a little strange to me. One of Fate/Illya's strengths is that it a good series for new fans of the Fate franchise to come in to, as there is little homework needed to be done to enjoy it. Though knowing the world of Fate absolutely makes the series better, allowing viewers to slot in all the subtext and meaning behind Illya's world and character. It isn't required to enjoy what is essentially a magical girl show. Oath Under Snow, however, feels very much of the opposite and feels like you need to know the basic outline of Fate Stay Night to really enjoy it.

In fact, the entire movie feels more of Shirou's story (the parallel universe counterpart of Illya's Shirou, it's confusing, just go with it) than it is Miyu's, who only seems to be there to act cute and wait to be transported to Illya's universe. Instead of magical girls, we get a brutal but short holy grail war where Shirou fights using the class cards against a buffet of Fate cameos all taking the forms of other servants. It is a really cool idea, and Miyu's Shirou is probably the most badass and proactive out of all of his incarnations, but it does feel just a tiny bit rushed and can be daunting for anyone not knowing the broad strokes of what a Holy Grail War is. Though if you have watched Fate/Zero and any of the Fate Stay Night series, you'll get a kick out of the myriad of cameos that cram in here.

Most notable is Sakura Matou. If you have been watching Fate/Illya and wondering at all where she's been lurking, then worry no more. Sakura is very much the secondary heroine of this movie, and until Lost Butterfly early next year, this is probably the biggest and most active role she has had in Fate ever. While it does end in tragedy, it is good to see Sakura take charge in this movie, and that can only bode well for what is to come in the main universe.

(Fun bit of trivia: Illya is actually older than Shirou, being 18 in the events of Fate Stay Night. Compared to in Fate/Illya where she is younger than Shirou. How? I have no fucking idea, but I thought I’d share it.)

I said this in a previous post, but it bears repeating here. I believe it is Illya who remains the great tragic character of the Fate franchise. While Sakura Matou may have the more raw and brutal backstory, it is only really discussed in one of the three routes. Illya, on the other hand, suffers greatly in all three of the stories in Fate Stay Night. She alone is probably the only leading character that doesn’t have a happy ending in the same sense of Shirou, Rin, Sakura, and Saber.

In all three routes of the OG Fate novel, the main characters all end up in better places than where they started. In Fate, we see Shirou continues to strive towards his ideas and eventually reunite with a now at peace Saber in Avalon. Blade Works has Rin and Shirou going off to London together, with Rin pledging to stay by Shirou’s side to help him never fall into darkness. In Heaven’s Feel, we see Rin and Sakura make peace with each other, with Sakura finally happy and living a peaceful life with her sister, Rider, and Shirou at her side. All of these endings are happy and have the character triumph through hard grueling situations to end in up better places.

Illya however? She’s pretty much screwed over in every single route she’s in and doesn’t get that happy ending at all.

Illya’s tragic life starts though in Fate/Zero, wherein the prequel we see that she’s the victim of things beyond her control. While the product of love between Kiritsugu and Irisviel, she in a sense is only viewed as a way to reach the grail, and her safety and happiness are secondary to that goal. Despite having a clear love for his daughter, Kiritsugu ends up following in his requirements as the Einzbern master instead of being a father. This only ends up making Illya an orphan, as both himself and Irisviel do not survive the war, despite Kiritsugu attempting and failing to get Illya out of the hands of the Einzberns.

In turn, this leads Illya to become bitter and angry at her father, wishing to exact revenge and transferring that hated to Shirou Emiya upon learning that her father is dead, and this doesn’t end up going the way she wants at all.

In Heaven’s Feel, after spending time with Shirou and realizing his innocence in what happened. Illya sacrifices herself to protect Shirou from the effects of the grail and give him a new pure body to live in, though destroying herself in the process.

In Fate, we see that while Illya does indeed live out the war and spends her days living with Shirou, her fate as an Einzbern homunculus gives her only a year to live. (Though it is hinted that this might not be the case), and she will be forever doomed to not have the full and wonderful life that she rightfully deserves.

And then there is Unlimited Blade Works, where Illya’ servant, her maids, and then herself end up horribly and brutally murdered at the hands of Gilgamesh. In one of the most heart-wrenching scenes of the entire franchise, we see Illya, blind and broken, crawling towards her dead servant Berserker and dying at his side. And that is BEFORE Gilgamesh rips out her heart to use for his own evil ends.

Add all of this up, and it is clear to see that Illya’s role in the Fate novel is pretty much the worst out of the bunch. Unlike the other characters who all have a personal history tied to the grail, or are roped into the conflict. Illya’s story is one of a girl trying to find some justice for herself, to claw back any semblance of the life she should have had, or in the very least get revenge on those who are responsible for it. There is no growing up, no fun memories of childhood, no loving parents to come back to at the end of the day. There is just Illya, alone and friendless in the world, a girl who was robbed of everything and has to pick up the pieces, only to fail each time.

This tragedy is also why the events of Fate/kalied liner Prisma Illya serve as such a wonderful source of catharsis for the fans. In that universe, we get to see the version of Illya who was loved, whose existence was more important than the grail and who gets to live a normal life as a normal girl. Despite life throwing her a few curveballs in the forms of the class cards and the like. Illya has the support systems and friends that help her strive through the bad times and come out a better, stronger and wiser person. A path of tragic outcome to tranquil peace that is very welcome.

Fate/Illya 3rei! is where the series comes closest to being a real Fate series, in the sense that the battle over a holy grail, masters and servants and everything that makes Fate, well Fate comes roaring into the forefront. Gone are the peaceful magical school girl days, and instead it is a mission to rescue Miyu who has found herself kidnapped back to her own universe and Illya and the gang have to go save her. Along the way, there is a ton of action, great suspense and much groundwork for what is eventually going to be the fifth season.

If there was any part of you that did not care for Fate’s idea of a magical girl spinoff and wanted things to be more serious than this is the season for you. While the comedy is there, much of the atmosphere is a sense of melancholy and almost defeat. Illya’s travels through Miyu’s version of Fuguki City is like going through a battlefield after the fighting as ended, or at least that is how it feels. 3rei! also introduces the series main villains for the first time in the form of the Ainsworth family, a sort of mirror image of the Einzeberns who took their place in this world’s version of the Holy Grail war. While a lot of who these characters are seems to be left in the wings for future seasons, they serve their purpose well and act as the series first true baddies who aren’t defeated by the end of the episode run.

Overall, the fourth season of Fate/Illya has to do two tasks of realigning the tone of the series and setting up for everything that is to come. However, it does both tasks well and serves as the most action-packed and emotionally driven of the seasons thus far. It, however, doesn’t lose its humor, but opts to have it more in the background than the gag-heavy hijinks of the previous 2wei Herz! Yet I’d also say that because we spent that time having fun Illya and her friends, it makes the change into this series Fate-like world all the more satisfying and interesting. Quite frankly by the time of the cliffhanger ending, I was mad that the fifth had yet to be hard confirmed, and we don’t know when it will be showing up. If you’ve have made it this far in Fate/Illya, then you are probably fully committed to the ride, and if you are hesitating about all the Yuri and magical girl stuff. I assure you that this season is the payoff you have been waiting for.