#EVEN THOUGH FOR BOTH RIN AND SABER THINGS WERE GOOD AS THEY WERE

[monstersqueen]

....why. why archer. why are you like that

[shuttershocky]

Hey. Is it weird that almost all of the cast of the original FSN VN is really weirdly rapey or sex pesty? Archer sells Rin out to Shinji, Shinji and Zouken are themselves, Medea tortures and sexually harasses Saber, Lancer has his history with Aoife and also flirts with teenagers, Saber has sex with Shirou even though she's an adult and Shirou's a teenager, Rider has that one creepy moment in Heaven's Feel, Illya has that bit with the necrophilia etc.

Realta Nua scrubbed more than just Nasu's bad sex scenes. Fate/Stay Night just had a lot of overall sexually violent dialogue on top of everything else (Illya for example, tells Berserker in both Fate and Heaven's Feel to behead Saber and assault her corpse so she wouldn't dare attempt to regenerate from that, Archer taunts Shirou saying who knows what Shinji could be doing to Rin at the back of the church which is what makes Lancer go off to rescue her, etc. etc. All of these got removed.) Generally none of that is really needed for anything other than being super edgy and driving up the rating to R-18, so it could be scrubbed off for Realta Nua's release, especially for the characters who are supposed to be the good guys. There's also a bit of a "Try not to think about it too hard" vibe when it comes to servant histories, because if you were to look up their actual myths and legends as part of their backstories... a lot of them were part of some real nasty stuff.

Also, Shinji and Zouken and Medea were villains (though Medea meant to be more sympathetic) so there's nothing really done to excuse their behavior in that regard, but Archer for example, makes a show of telling Shinji he could have Rin after he kills Shirou in order to make Rin hate him, not to actually put her in danger. He tells Shinji and Gilgamesh "if you touch her before I'm done [killing Shirou] I will kill you and your servant." Saber likewise was frozen in age from when she pulled Caliburn at 16 in order to make her romance with Shirou look more plausible (it could be argued that since she still lived out years of her kingship she is technically still an adult in this regard, though the narrative and Saber+Shirou's relationship is not written in this way and is done as if they are peers close in age). Lancer literally gets a lecture from Shirou on the concept of sexual harassment immediately after he flirts with the Track Team Trio and while he doesn't fully understand due to how different things were in his time, he accepts that this is not okay for him to do anymore.

Rider on the other hand is unfortunately a victim of double standards. Yes, her hypnotizing people via dreams and stuff and making Mitsuzuri really uncomfortable is kinda creepy, and the narrative gives her a pass when she does it to Shirou because it's hot girl fanservice. Given her history and how she's protective of Sakura you would think she would be more aware of her behavior. I personally note it as being out of character for her.

Illya, well. I think Realta Nua cleaned her up okay (i dont know for sure actually, as I played the original VN). Either that, or people just accepted her after seeing some people in Type-Moon could be doing much worse with Illya. So much worse.

[aiohon12]

Top 5 animals! Top 5 Fate characters 😊

Oh golly! Hmm my top five animals. My animals are hard to choose! But here they are! Giraffes were in mine but bunnies are cuter!

1. Wolves/dogs

2. Cows

3. Horses

4. Platypuses

5. Rabbits

Dogs are in the wolf section hopefully! 😅

My favorite fate characters top 5 are -drum roll please !

1. Gilgamesh: he's the king of heroes and one of the reasons I got into fate (besides Rin) he has so many flaws that it makes you like him. Especially his arrogance his greatest flaw. His pride and self importance, he Carrie's himself a character and how his speeches are really inspiring and full of wise quotes I actually like his way of speech as well. The king himself is also extremely wealthy, he take what he wants and not necessarily gets it. He's powerful king who had everything but he had isolation, though he found a friend Enkidu he learn of friendship. But as character his sheer stubbornness and arrogance is what I like him it makes him flawed person and even though he thinks he's perfect he isn't he's imperfect man. Plus he's highly attractive🌸 but also his caster self is amazing I love his mature version and he's wiser in that form. Caster Gilgamesh is version of Gilgamesh of how would be if he would return as wise king and ruled over humans as wise king (although it's not fate series main Gil, it's spin off version fgo Gilgamesh) I still love both version though. Oh note Gilgamesh also loves to see people pushing to their limits and do their best he actually is respectful in some sense because Iskhander I like their interactions it was very kingly thing of Gilgamesh.

2. Rama: though he's young king he's also very kind, and has sense of innocence in my opinion. All he wants to see his wife Sita it's so cute his devotion to his wife and he's only 16! I love his demeanor and his overall personally, he's not a greedy king like Gilgamesh or arrogant either. He like the opposite and caring personality. His compassion and devotion is incredible. PS his noble phatasm is also cool to me and he's a saber class, he's very adorable in my eyes. He's not bad a king but he's truly kind boy and very respectful it's one my reasons why he's on the list.

3. Rin Tohsaka: she my all time gal in fate and I think her color scheme amazing. It's cute she a tsundere but not the annoying type of ones I seen in many anime. She cares about her sister from afar and actually does things to help others, she very good teacher as well and love her relationship with the other characters and her dad too. She well balance character compare to the others, she knowledgeable and she willing to help, even it means to risk it or sacrifice what she wants but it's all for the better of others and situation. Level-headed and she may seem popular among her peers but she actually very magi who wants to live normal life and she thinks Sakura had a better one (even though it's the opposite at least I think tbh) Rin is going to be on the top five list, and just love her design as well, she is strong and independent girl why would not like her?

4. Medea: honestly I'm not surprise she is on this list, she had sad story to begin with and I thought her cunning and intelligence got her into this list. All she wants is to go home that's all she wants nothing more, but in order to do that she will anything even use souls to power up. I love her sheer will and cautious, yet manipulative nature has charm me in some ways and she also very pretty though others might steer clear from her because she is known to be a witch due to her past and nature. Medea just wants to go home and be free and somewhere a place where she belongs, a loving place to call home. Though I don't support her with the Rin's teacher (master and servant relations in general) she had her reasons why she doing what she did in fate stay night routes. I like the fact she actually has magic like Gilgamesh they both are from the age of gods where true magic exists , she doesn't need to have this "fake" magic or imitation of it. She's the real Deal, she even made Saber her servant even though servants can't actually get the grail because they are used to get it for the masters unless the master grants the servants wish. Medea has strong standing in her actions which is why she is very interesting character in my eyes.

5. Irisviel von einzbern: another character from fate zero/besides Gilgamesh who super popular but one of reasons why I like her so much was Iri she had such amazing personality and pretty and I shipped her so hard with her husband Kiritsugu and makes them such lovely couple. Though he was cold to her at times he knew she would sacrifice herself eventually and she wasn't human she was homunculus. But her husband taught her many things where she learn human emotion which made her on the list! I love her sweet her caring personality, she also positive and curious whic makes her so cute, though she has sad ending she still made an impact on Kiritsugu where her love and devotion didn't go to waste and what she continue to fight with his ideals to save people. She stand out as a character because of her strong will and her compassion for others. I think her true joys was her family and I also like Saber and her relationship very respective. I still like her as one my top fave girls in fate series.

That's all my favorite folks. It was hard to choose few except for 3 of them 👀

[akampana]

Continuation of this ask

Bedivere x Arturia - Ship it

What made you ship it?

TBH I was one of those few people who shipped it based on that like 2 second scene at the end of FSN. The Camelot Singularity just reinforced it. A lot came from the original Arthurian legend as well. Bedivere is similarly insanely loyal as he is in the game, and like in Fate lore, he’s been with Arthur longer than most.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

He journeyed so far for so long just to see her smile OH MY GOD BRB IM SOBBING HOLY CRAP CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE—

I’m a sucker for intensely loyal knights and I will always be. ALWAYS.

THE ANGST POTENTIALLLLLL but also THE FLUFF POTENTIALLLL

This man loved his king so bloody intensely. So strongly that his desire to see her survived the test of time. To be loved so much, so unconditionally for a thousand and a half years? Gods, that’s just too much, man. ;-;

And I absolutely adore how much it means to him to remain her knight, even if he tends to be insecure about the limb that he lacks, and how he believes he is nothing special in comparison with everyone else. I love that Arturia recognizes his strength and his worth, even if he himself can’t see it.

THE ENTIRE CONFRONTATION IN THE THRONE ROOM LET ME TELL YOU I WAS CRYING SOOOOO HARD THROUGHOUT THAT IK NIT EVEN KIDDING

THIS, the MINDBREAK Arturia goes through when she tries to remember

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I think that THIS SHIP NEEDS MORE LOVE AND I REALLY OUGHT TO CONTRIBUTE

All the other answers below cut!

Irisviel x Arturia - Ship It

What made you ship it?

I think I was bound to the moment I watched Fate Zero. When I was younger it was overshadowed by the feels Diarturia brought and not to mention Kiritsugu and Iri but this ship is damn good on its own.

What sold it though, is the argument she and Kiritsugu have in Episode 16, right after the last Saber and Lancer fight. Irisviel, who we all know loves her husband so much, forced Kiritsugu to answer Saber. That’s just how important Arturia was to her.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I think they both found in each other something they themselves lack. It’s actually kind of funny. Arturia is human, and yet she’s so heavily consumed by her ideals that she doesn’t act like one. Irisviel, on the other hand, is not human, and yet everything that she does and wants to do is exactly that.

Throughout the anime, Being with Iri puts Saber into such mundane, ordinary situations that it teaches her to live. The suits, the escorting, being a passenger instead of a driver, appreciating the water by the seashore, etc. It's like the woman wants to leave her with some appreciation for the world, especially when she herself doesn’t have all that much time left.

On Irisviel’s part, I think she found in Saber the companionship she would have wanted from Kiritsugu during the last few days she remained on the Earth. Arturia had been the perfect knight in shining armor, taking Irisviel around to see the world as much as they could amidst a war. If they’d just had more time, I have no doubt Arturia would have taken Irisviel even more places, you know?

It makes me sad :( but in a good way.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I’m pretty sure Irisviel would wear the pants in this relationship ya know what I mean? Hahaha

Much as I love this ship, I think that it becomes all the more valuable because of how it ended. To each other, they were this brief, fleeting feeling of happiness. A love that was so short and yet so strong.

Shirou x Arturia - Don't Ship it

Hooooooo boi. Hear me out, mkay ? But this is just my personal opinion so pls no hate

Why don't you ship it?

I’m gonna start out by saying I don’t think I need to, tbh. Hahaha there’s enough content for this ship being fed to us, so my liking it or not is immaterial. But the reason is well...I watched FSN and Shirou x Saber was...not the best thing about it (the best thing about it was the soundtrack omg iconic) Shirou comes off as a bit of a misogynist, and kind of immature, and the whole time it’s like he doesn’t really listen to Arturia at all. Plus, it’s kind of like he just likes her looks at times. The final deciding factor was the date scene. That was just unbearable.

But then I go online and I see all this good stuff about them. And my friend ships them cause they’re canon, right? So, I’m like okay, what if I judged too quickly, let’s play the VN...and I did. And I still didn’t like him with Saber at all. So, I played the next route, watched the next anime, trying to redeem 1st route Shirou as much as I could but it just....didn’t happen. I think I can safely say I tried to like them. I really did. But no.

What would have made you like it?

Removing the misogyny and the immaturity and letting him listen to her. Like he should have.

At no point in their interactions did it feel like they were standing on equal ground, ever. Either he was speaking over her or the opposite. So less of that and a lot more respect.

And when you compare this relationship to what he has with like with his other two love interests, it makes this ship fall completely flat. It’s pretty...bland and honestly kind of shallow. It’s like the story just tells you they’re in love but there’s no answer to why they’re in love. Make him fall in love with her for her without necessarily forcing his need to save everyone on her.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

I may not like how they got there, but in the end Arturia was able to pass peacefully.

I acknowledge that Shirou was important and made a change in her life.

That ending scene where they meet after so long, NGL is pretty sweet.

A lot of my headcanons happen post-Shirou, so there’s also that.

Archer x Rin -Ship it

What made you ship it?

Tsundere x Cynic has gotta be one of the best dynamics out there.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

His true identity. The fact that she dragged him all the way across space and time to return as her Servant, that’s just bloody fate at work.

The fact that he keeps acknowledging she’s a strong Master despite his later conduct in UBW.

Archer is ridiculously crass and Rin is easily riled up. In the Fifth Holy Grail War, they had the best Master-Servant relationship period. They have this explosive chemistry that just works so well.

When he smiles at her at the end of the route, and you just know that Tohsaka’s gonna be stubborn enough to make sure Shirou doesn’t end up going down the exact same path.

I think it’s sweet that he ends up going along with her whims because he secretly likes housework.

THE PRINCESS CARRY/ CATCH. MAN OH MAN.

Unlike the previous ship mentioned here, these two actually stand on equal ground with each other.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I don't think it's exactly an unpopular opinion, but I think they really ought to have more official content y'know? Rin is important in every route, and Archer's the actual climax of UBW and also entirely significant across three routes.

Medusa x Sakura - Don't ship it

Why don't you ship it?

Because while journeying through the routes, I always saw Rider as more of a best friend/sort of motherly figure to Sakura.

Or that Rider fulfilled the kind of relationship that she wanted to have with Rin, while Sakura unknowingly filled the void Medusa's sisters left in her life. I thought she was more of a guardian angel really, not a romantic interest. Kind of like how Heracles was to Illya.

What would have made you like it?

If I could maybe forget about the threesome with Shirou and the implied romantic feelings Rider has for him in Ataraxia that would be great.

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Sakura deserves all the happiness in the world and I really do believe that Rider could fulfill that.

This ship DEFINITELY DEFINITELYYYYYY NEEDS MORE CONTENT

Diarmuid x Cú - Ship it

What made you ship it?

oooh this probably sounds surprising since based on my content you'd think, no i dont ship this BUT I DOOOOOOO (i just happen to hc them as bros more often)

Honestly what did make me ship it is the parallels.

What are your favorite things about the ship?

IMO They have the biggest potential for hurt/comfort amongst all the ships mentioned here.

They can help each other get through their trauma. Their whole relationship would be extremely healing and supportive.

I love that Diarmuid seems to have idolized Cú Chulainn at some point and honestly who wouldn't be honored to stand beside him, no?

They could be up to the funniest shenanigans because Cú is chaos and Diarmuid would absolutely be an enabler because when he isn't angst-ing he's super damn chill.

Bros being bros hahahah...unless?

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Not really. Maybe that I think Lancer Diar and Cascu would get along better and Saber Diar and Lancer Cu would also get along better but honestly any form is good this ship is good

[willsimpforazula]

Sokkla Month Day 7: Intimate

A/N: This is an ATLA + Fate/Stay Night (Unlimited Blade Works) crossover and this scene is inspired from S2, E10. Intimate memories count as intimate, no?

Saber - Suki

Rin Tohsaka - Azula

Emiya Shirou - Sokka

With that out of the way, leggo

-----

Sokkla Month Day 7: Intimate

Sokka's house

The mood was solemn, as the remaining two Masters of the 5th Holy Grail War debated on their plan of action. With the revelation that Archer, who Azula summoned actually turned out to be the Heroic Spirit version of Sokka and that he possessed a Reality Marble, and the shock of seeing him blasted to bits by Gilgamesh's attack still hung heavy on their minds.

Azula, who saw her servant looking very much like a porcupine giving up his life to save them.

Suki, who had to stand and watch the younger of the two Sokka's battle it out, the older and more cynical version blasting him again and again with round upon round of blades, delivering wounds that should have killed him hundreds of times over were it not for Avalon implanted within him.

As she finished bandaging the worst of his wounds, they all agreed that the Grail should be smashed into pieces, preventing anyone from ever trying to get their hands on it. Staring at the pendant in her hand, Azula exhaled and sighed "I never really had a wish that I wanted to be granted, just...I wanted to win it so that our family name could be held high."

"Sounds just like you."

"What-what do you mean by that!" she blushed, curling up into a ball before replying "A-anyways, we're getting ahead of ourselves." Just then, her stomach let out a low grumble, making her blush even harder.

"Hungry huh? I'll go fix us up something to eat. After all, I recall a certain someone describing 'hunger as an enemy', no?"

"Thanks." she mumbled, while it was now Suki's turn to blush.

------

Later that night…

After cleaning up the dishes, Sokka was about to turn the corner to his room when he heard hushed voices discussing something very important.

"....are you really sure, Suki?"

"Yes, I am sure of it. You have my thanks." Storing it for later, he pretended to not see them and walk off to take his shower. Fresh and clean, he pondered what could they have possibly been planning when he found his footsteps naturally come to rest outside her door. Summoning up his courage, he gave a few quick knocks when he saw light spilling from the crack. With a creak, a sliver of light beamed forth, before being occupied by a golden eye that belonged to an annoyed face.

"What do you want.?"

"Uh, did-did I piss you off just now? You seem to be in a really bad mood."

"That depends on what you say next."

"I-uhm, well-"

"You might as well come in instead of stammering. At least you can tell me your foolish ideas coherently."

"I trust you figured it out that you're going to fight Gilgamesh."

"Well, no actually. But I'm still going to do it regardless. I just feel like, like I've got the best shot at taking that King of Heroes down a peg."

"Then you must have figured out Archer's Noble Phantasm."

"Yeah that's a negative on that one." he sheepishly replied.

"Are you kidding me?!" she shouted. Shaking her head and pinching the bridge of her nose, she continued "Regardless, the only reason Goldie even considered both of you a threat was that with enough mana, either of you could actually stand a chance at beating him. It's also the reason why he called you both 'fakes'."

"But with my current reserves, I'm fucked if he starts pulling out all the stops. Ten of those Phantasms maybe, but that's like pushing it. Any higher, and I am toast."

"At your current mana reserves, definitely. But, there's one option we could try. Basically, you and I form a pact that allows us to share mana between us. It doesn't matter if you can't supply enough, I can, which means you can summon and sustain a Reality Marble long enough to kick that bastard's ass."

"That's a good idea. So how do we do it?"

"Well…." she breathed deeply, her cheeks turning as red as her trademark turtleneck sweater, "I-I-I'll have to transfer my Magic Crest onto you."

"I can't take something that important away from you! I mean, is that your entire family lineage's lifetime of work?"

"To win the most important fight of my life requires giving it my most treasured possession, as much as I hate to see it. Law of equivalent exchange, the first thing they teach new mages. Wait why are you staring at me like that?!"

"N-nothing! It's just, I was in awe of you and-and it made me realise just why I fell for you the way I did."

"This is hardly the time to talk about such things! But-but I guess, you, uhm, could let it all out if-if it makes you feel happy."

"But will you feel happy?"

"On one hand, I wanna see you just how deep the grave you're digging is. On the other hand, well-let's just get back to the task at hand okay!" she blushed for what must be the tenth time that night. Somehow, every other sentence that came out his mouth either had her seeing red or making her heart flutter and face pink.

"Azula?"

"What?"

"N-n-nothing. Let's get it started."

"Alright then. Just tell me what to do."

"Take off your clothes." she mumbled, covering her face as she faced the wall.

"What?"

"Did I stutter?"

"Are you sure?"

"Ju-just do as I say alright!" In a small still voice, she added "I-I-I'm going to be taking mine off too, it's only fair."

"Don't get the wrong ideas, unless you don't plan on celebrating Father's day. " she threatened.

"Okay okay, got it!"

"Then why the long face?" "For the transplant to succeed, both of us need to be in a deep state of rapport."

"I see."

"Do I need to take my pants off too, or is just the shirt okay?"

Snatching a rolled up poster, she began to assault him viciously while yelling "What the fuck do you think, you moron!", her face approximating the dye of her turtleneck at this point.

-----

Sitting on her bed, with both of them topless and the lights turned off, he could sense her rustling as she turned to him and said "Let's begin.", placing hand on his bare chest. Inhaling deeply, she started to utter her incantations:

Gib dem wandernden Vogel das Trinkwasser

Der von langen Weg kommt

Benutz den Vogelrahman

In dem der Schlüssel nicht angewendet wird

Ich spinne den Regenbogen in neuem selbst

Heisses Wetter, Regen

Wind, Schnee, Krieg, Ende, ununterbrochen

Nimm an, ohne anderer Meinung zu sein, ohne zu fallen

Es nimmt an, ohne zu fürchten

Ohne zu zweifeln

As he felt his circuits come alive and intermesh with hers, his eyes fluttered open in shock for the briefest of moments as now he and her were now forming the most intimate of bonds between mages outside of coital bonds. For all intents and purposes, they might as well be married. Meanwhile, Azula poured all her concentration into completing the transplant, beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead.

Sieg im Freund, der auf eine Reise entfernt geth

Suddenly, he found himself reading through her most closest memories, ones that she kept particularly close to her heart.

A headstone.

Clouds.

A rainy day.

A priest, handing over a strange looking knife to a young girl dressed in a kimono.

A hallway in school.

Sunset.

An empty courtyard, save for one person doing high jumps over and over again. There were many more, but they all flickered past him at the speed of light. With a start, he woke up to find her cuddled right up against him, her head nestled comfortably in his chest. Seeing her so peaceful, he decided to let her be and crashed back on the pillow, an arm snaking around her waist protectively.

Feeling a warm body next to hers, Azula jumped up in shock, grabbed the nearest pillow and covered herself as she flicked on the lights.

"Why didn't you wake me?!"

"Sorry! Did it work though, the transplant?"

"Of course it did. So flawless there's nothing else to do, so precise there'll be no side effects. So perfect that even that worthless fake priest would say 'Azula, you've done a fantastic job.'", her voice muffled by the pillow.

Turning to examine the upside down geometric fish pattern on his arm, he asked in slight amazement and awe "So this is it huh?"

"Stop gawking like a child, you'll get a fly in your mouth you know?"

"Thank you Azula. Really."

Noticing her golden eyes couldn't look at his, he asked concernedly "What's wrong?"

"You saw it, didn't you?"

"I didn't see anything, promise! My eyes were closed the whole time!"

"That's not the point, you-you-grr!" she exclaimed, ruthlessly smacking him with the pillow that she had been using to cover herself, not caring if her top was coming loose from her assaulting him as her eyes started to water.

"Ow! Ow! Sorry! It's not like I had a choice!"

"The next time I'll make sure to dig every last one of your embarrassing little secrets, you hear me!"

"Okay okay! Calm down Azula, we can talk about this later right? Right?"

"I suppose." she reluctantly huffed, her arms folded.

Giving her a light peck on the cheek, he held her close and replied "Let's get some sleep, we've got a big fight ahead of us."

"Fine, but I get to be the big spoon." "Sure."

Wrapping her arms around him, she snuggled up against him and sighed contentedly as Sokka pulled the blanket over them.

[paranoia-assault]

Fate/Stay Night Review

I've been meaning to get around to this for a while, so this post will contain my thoughts on Fate/Stay Night. I'll be going in order of how you're supposed to play the routes. Massive spoilers btw. Also this is copied over from Twitter, so sorry for any weird formatting.

Keep in mind I enjoyed every route, so any negative points I bring up never made me think the route wasn't worth reading. That said, UBW > HF > Fate, so we'll be starting with my least favorite route.

There's 2 reasons why the Fate route is my least favorite. The first is that is has to explain a lot, so it feels like not much happens in it compared to the other two routes. The second is Shirou's "girls can't fight" bullshit. I can't stand Shirou in the 1st half of the route.  Shirou does get better, but this is probably my least favorite version of him. I cannot stand every moment he tries to hold Saber back from fighting and almost gets himself killed because "girls can't fight." It is extremely aggravating.

That said, Shirou is fantastic in the second half of the route. The Fate route is Saber's story, and he plays the perfect part in it. His dream of being a super hero goes perfectly with her wish of being a great king. Seeing these ideologies clash, then come together, is amazing. It's why I like the Shirou/Saber ship despite Shirou/Rin being my favorite. These two were practically made for each other. Last Episode only adds to this, and it made me retroactively like the Fate route more. Saber's ending was beautiful and their eventual reunion even more so.

Illya was also great as a villain. I do think Gilgamesh and Kirei both have routes where they shine better as villains, so when I think "the villain of the Fate route," it's Ilya who comes to mind. Berserker was the perfect threat, and the two together were genuinely terrifying.

Summed up thoughts on the Fate route: Good starting point. A bit slow, and Shirou is very annoying in the first half, but the Saber/Shirou dynamic in the second half makes the route worth playing. 7/10.

Time for my favorite route: Unlimited Blade Works. I fucking adore this route. When I think "Fate/Stay Night," this is the route that comes to mind. If I were to recommend one route, it would be this one. I even plan on watching the anime for it at some point.

The main reason I love this route is Shirou. UBW Shioru specifically is one of my favorite Fate characters. He is confronted with a massive challenge to his ideals. He's pretty much shown they're flawed. But rather than toss them aside, he strengthens his convictions. He denies his future self, determined to be different. Yeah, his ideals might have flaws, but why should that matter? Carrying on Kiritsugu's dream is meaningful to him. The pain is worth saving those he can. Even if it's a thankless, miserable task, he won't turn away from it.

Oh, and let's talk about Archer. I love him. Seeing a pessimistic side of Shirou, a potential result of his ideals, was fascinating. I was genuinely shocked when the twist happened, and it made me deeply appreciate Archer's character. Archer is another of my favorite F/SN chars.

Now, let's talk about my favorite F/SN character, Rin. Rin is great. She was trained to understand and accomplish what has to be done, but has a soft spot not unlike Shirou's that leads her to help others. She had a painful upbringing, but doesn't regret a second of it.

She is the perfect foil for Shirou. She recognizes the pain his ideals are putting him through, but rather than force him to throw them away, she decides to stay with him to make sure he doesn't push himself too far. She tries to help Shriou learn to enjoy himself. Shirou/Rin is my favorite ship in the VN for this reason. They compliment each other so well. Their personalities clash in a way that lets them both grow, and they're genuinely cute together, though you can say that last part about any of the 3 main Shirou ships.

The villains are also great. Caster isn't the same type of threat as Illya/Berserker, but her backstory and dynamic with her Master is really interesting to see. I enjoyed her moments on screen. Gilgamesh was the perfect final boss for this route though. Specifically for Shirou. Gilgamesh' powers match Shirou's reality marble perfectly. Infinite Noble Phantasms. Gilgamesh calls Shirou fake, but that leads to Shirou showing how an imitation can outclass the original. It's such a smart hero/villain dynamic, and the perfect end to Shirou's story in UBW.

Saber even gets some closure in this route, though not as much as in Fate. She gets to be Rin's Servant at the end (which I adored btw), and once again chooses to destroy the girl, moving on from her past. Also, she lives in the good ending which makes me happy.

I also need to talk about Illya. Her scene with Berserker is one of her best scenes in the entire VN. She's barely on screen in this route compared to the other routes, but somehow she made just as much of an impact with that time. I felt so bad for her in that last scene.

Summed up thoughts on the UBW route: This route is where all the characters shone their brightest. Shirou's ideals are handled perfectly, almost every Servant gets the attention they deserve, and the writing is overall high quality the entire route. 9/10.

Finally, Heaven's Feel...I think my thoughts on this route will be the most controversial, as I have very mixed feelings. 

I do want to say this first. I love Sakura. She is a fantastic character, and she deserves the world. I'm glad she gets the spotlight in this route.

I also think Kirei was at his best this route. His backstory, along with his final confrontation with Shirou, were both extremely well written. He went from a despicable villain to a despicable written I love to hate. He almost stole the show as much as Sakura did, honestly.

Rider was great this route. I love the twist that Sakura is her true master, and her protective nature over Sakura was great to see. This is the only route where she manages to stand her ground against Saber for a decent period of time, too. I'm glad she lives to the end.

The highlight of the route, however, has to be Sakura and Rin's bond. Learning that they were sisters, and seeing them slowly and awkwardly get closer, is fantastic. That final confrontation between the two of them blew me away with the spectacle & Rin using the second sorcery. Of course, the hug that ended the fight was the best part. Rin realizing she can't kill Sakura after all, despite everything she said to Shirou, was beautiful. Sakura's horror at thinking she killed her sister, showing she's not a full monster yet, was tragically heartwarming.

Them bringing the sorceries in with Illya and Rin was nice. I like how we got an epilogue that took place two years after the final battle rather than a few months. There is a lot to like about this route. 

...But there's also a lot I don't like.

Zouken and Assassin are just...okay villains. I don't think they're terrible, but they're not as interesting as any of the other villains in F/SN. 

My main complaint is that this route introduced too much. So many elements are here that aren't even touched on in previous routes. Zouken, true Assassin, the crest worms, the true Holy Grail, Angru Mainyu, these are all elements of the route that I'm just supposed to accept only come into play under these circumstances. Sometimes it feels like they came up with it all after the other two routes were written. None of them are badly written per se, it just feels so out of nowhere that I couldn't fully get into the story here. 

As for what I do think is badly written...I don't like Shirou in this route. He feels more selfish than in the others, often pushing aside others' feelings. The main moment that comes to mind is when Illya goes with Sakura. When Shirou finds her, he slaps her and yells at her, not accepting her feelings of wanting the end of her life to be meaningful. And there is no way to escape her death. The route makes that clear. Shirou also throws away his ideals for Sakura, which I don't like. The route before this one had him stick to his ideals despite being given evidence of the despair it will lead to. Yet here he tosses them aside without that, simply for one person.

Maybe badly written was too harsh. Shirou's fine, I like him more than in the first half of the Fate route, but he just doesn't seem to fit with the other instances of Shirou, and there were often times he frustrated me. Again, I did love his confrontation with Kirei though.

Now for the romance of this route. Shirou/Sakura. I'm sorry, but...I'm not a fan of this one. It's cute, even made me emotional at times. I think these two can have a great relationship. The thing is, I don't like how it happens here specifically. I think these two are way too dependent on each other, to the point that one can't live without the other. Just look at the bad ending where Rin kills Sakura and Shirou gives up entirely, or the normal ending where Sakura wastes away her life after Shirou's death. There's even a physical dependence due to the state of Shirou's body at the end of the route. It's honestly worrying how much they need one another.

I think they can grow past this, and I'm sure they do since the true end is a happy one. I don't hate their ship. It's my least favorite of the three, but I can easily see it being someone's favorite. Hell, I know someone for who it is. The ship isn't awful, just has some issues.

Back to the route as a whole, it is certainly the most ambitious, but I think they got carried away at times. It's certainly more geared toward horror as well, especially with those bad endings. Not that that's a bad thing, even if I'm not often into horror.

Summed up thoughts on the HF route: A spectacular finale to the VN, but it has a few hiccups along the way. There are a lot of great character moments and interesting ideas that make it worth the time. The true ending is beautiful as well. 8/10.

Overall thoughts on F/SN: A great time that I would recommend to anyone who can get it working on their computer. Fantastic characters and cool concepts drive what can be just decent writing at times, and the high points are really high. Definitely worth the lows. 8/10.

Quick add on for my thoughts on the prequel, Fate/Zero: An amazing first half that got me attached to so many characters, but it falls apart in the second half due to Gen Urobuchi's more problematic writing tendencies. Those have been discussed to death, so I won’t go into detail on them here, Still, the show has enough moments that make it worth watching. 6/10.

That's my experience with Fate so far. I'm about halfway through the first arc of FGO, so I'll make a thread summarizing my thoughts on each singularity when the time comes. Also I want to read Fate/Hollow Ataraxia if I can. Overall I can say I’m glad I got into this franchise, and I’m excited to engage in more Fate content.

Anyway, this review took me 80 minutes to write, and another 15 to copy over here. Clearly I’m pretty passionate about this franchise.

[spidersmiceandeverythingnice]

All Emiya-san AU's are good AU's (its where my Actor Fionn lives too lol) and man there's a lot of untapped comedy gold of Shirou hearing all these stories about Diarmuid scaring away rude customers and thinking he looks super scarred up or w/e and then he meets him and it's like "??? he looks so nice?? are u sure this is the guy who nearly stabbed someones eye out???"

EHEHEHE I wrote a thing beneath the read more I looooove the Emiya Gohan AUS so much...

Everything about this situation was concerning for Shirou. It was bad enough that Archer was using Shirou’s name (the number of times he’d gotten, “Is that guy a relative of yours, Emiya-kun?” from ignorant but well-meaning classmates was starting to grate on his nerves) at his dumb part-time job (why Servants even needed part-time jobs was a mystery) and the fact that Lancer kept popping up to invite Taiga out for dinner and drinking but now, apparently, a third Servant had arrived.

The cafe’s regulars, of course, had no idea he was a Servant. Sakura and Rider had confirmed it after visiting the cafe on one of their dates, but didn’t seem to be worried. Of course, they weren’t worried. Sakura and Rider had enough power and magical energy between them to flatten the city, let alone deal with Servants. Rin also brushed off what Shirou believed was a wholly justified concern - “He’s probably just some lingering ghost from a past Grail War. Archer seems to like him fine, and he hangs out around Lancer, so what’s the big deal? If he becomes a problem, we’ll just deal with it like we always do.”

But in Shirou’s view, the Servant was already a problem. It was bad enough that the restored Servants of the Fifth Grail War could still draw upon the wild, free-flowing magic of Fuyuki’s leylines and pop up whenever they pleased - the fact that Servants from previous wars might show up too was giving him anxiety.

And this was before the rumors started.

Nobody seemed to know the guy’s name, or remember it if they saw it written down. He would pop up - always in the vicinity of the cafe - and often left behind gifts. One time, it was a bottle of wine for the manager. Another time, an antique coin for one of the waiters. He always seemed to disappear right when anyone asked for information about him, and reappear whenever something interesting happened. One time, near closing, a couple of drunk university students came in and tried to convince their waitress to leave in their car. When she refused, one of them joked about following her home.

At once, the mystery Servant walked in the door.

Another time, a middle-aged man from out of town shouted at one of the baristas until they had to run into the back to cry for the rest of their shift. On the local news the next morning, the man appeared to have been dropped at the hospital with a broken jaw and a soul full of remorse.

(Lancer actually laughed when he informed Shirou of this story.

“You were there and didn’t say anything?”

“Hey, I was the guy who had to deal with the asshole after he made our barista run off. It wasn’t a big deal, I just happened to call in a favor from a friend. Plus, he deserved it.”

And Lancer winked, like they were sharing an inside joke.)

And so on and so forth. Nobody could purge the service industry of customer horror stories, but this mystery Servant seemed to be doing his damnedest to make a dent in the problem. He was the most ghost-like of any Servant that Shriou had ever encountered.

Ayako and Kaede quickly became regulars at the cafe. Shirou thought it was hard to tell whether or not they were in love with the mystery Servant or whether or not they wanted to challenge him to a duel. It seemed to be a combination of both.

“He’s like, the toughest guy I’ve ever seen,” said Ayako, mystified. “I swear I thought he was going to tear that woman’s throat out.”

“This guy threatened a customer,” Shirou said, “and you’re happy?”

“Well, she was being rude to Yukika,” Kaede retorted, like that settled the matter. “I mean, I wasn’t counting, but I think she sent her coffee back six times before anyone said anything. She kept berating her like it was Yukika’s fault that she kept changing her mind about sugar and milk. She literally lied about what her original order was to get a free drink. It was awful.”

“But then this guy shows up,” Ayako continued the story, talking over Kaede as she continued muttering about the injustice faced by the track team’s manager. “And he clocks what’s happening, like, instantly. I dunno where the blue-haired guy was, I guess he was late for his shift or something, but he just - “

She motioned like she was trying to take up more space than her physical body allowed.

“I swear, it was like you could’ve heard a pin drop! He takes one look at Yukika and just goes up to the lady and -”

Another vague gesture like a karate chop.

“He hit this woman?” Shirou said, outraged.

“Nah, he wouldn’t hit anyone,” Kaede said, nodding sagely. “He doesn’t really need to, you know? You could just take one look at him and you know not to mess with this guy when he’s mad.”

That settled it. Shirou had to investigate on his own, since obviously no one else was going to take this seriously. It was bad that customers were mistreating the staff at Yukika’s job, but a Servant threatening humans was unacceptable.

It was time, at last, to enlist Saber’s help.

She had been living at Shirou’s house since her restoration, recovering from her injuries. Shirou hated the idea of asking her to fight again, especially when she was so clearly enjoying her life as a “normal human,” but he couldn’t afford to hold back if there was a dangerous, unknown Servant in the city. To her credit, Saber was happy to assist. She said she had been meaning to drop by and try Archer’s cooking for quite some time.

The two of them met on Sunday for lunch. Saber ordered two coffees and went into the kitchen to see Archer. Yukika wasn’t on shift today, so Shirou didn’t recognize any of the other staff. But he did notice that they all kept watching the door, as if waiting for something.

After the coffees arrived (Saber’s was left to cool on the table), the bell above the door chimed. Shirou felt the shift in the area’s magical energy before he looked up and saw the Servant himself. It was remarkably subtle, considering that it was like an icy draft passing through the cafe. You wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it.

The waitstaff was suddenly all smiles.

Shirou looked up - and felt his jaw drop to the floor.

He did not look remotely threatening. The mystery Servant was, in fact, the most physically beautiful person that Shirou had ever seen in his life. Tall and muscular - his build was not dissimilar to Lancer, though he lacked Lancer’s wolfish aura - with a head of dark, thick curls. His face was elegant, from piercing, bright eyes all the way down to his perfect lips, only marred by a tiny beauty mark beneath his right eye.

Shirou had to look away, blushing despite himself. What the hell is wrong with me? He realized belatedly that he had come to this battle totally unprepared for a charm attack.

Is this guy cursed or something?

That was the only explanation. Why else did he feel like he would collapse if he looked this Servant directly in the face for too long? It wasn’t normal.

And on second glance, it appeared that Shirou wasn’t the only person taken aback. A couple on a date had paused their conversation to stare at the Servant, murmuring their appreciation in hushed tones; a middle-aged woman was holding a fork in her hand, oblivious to the fact that her cake had just splattered over her shoes. Two little kids were waving at him, apparently recognizing him from somewhere, and their parents had to hurriedly shush them because it’s rude to try and pull someone out of a conversation like that.

One of the waiters was talking to him. Shirou strained to listen, shaking himself.

“Want the usual?”

“If it’s not too much trouble,” said the Servant, in a smooth, polite voice that made Shirou hate him irrationally. Stupid, handsome guy. “Is Cu in today?”

“I think he said he’s on vacation,” the waiter replied. “But Emiya’s here if you want to talk to him.”

Shirou looked up, baffled by the fact that the unfamiliar waiter knew his name, momentarily forgetting that Archer had stolen his name as a cover-up.

The Servant noticed. Barely a glance, a flicker of the gaze in his direction.

Shirou turned back and drank deeply from his coffee, which scalded his tongue.

“Oh, I see,” said the Servant, sounding amused now. “Thank you.”

“Sure thing! I’ll let him know you’re here.”

Once the initial shock of the Servant’s appearance dissipated, everything went back to normal so fast that it was almost jarring. The middle-aged woman clicked her tongue and grabbed napkins to clean up her shoes; the couple resumed planning the rest of their day; the kids kept eating, having gotten bored with trying to get the Servant’s attention. The faint, drafty aura of magic passed and the temperature in the cafe seemed to rise back to comfortable levels. Definitely cursed, Shirou decided, frowning into his coffee cup.

“Excuse me?”

Shirou blanched. The Servant had appeared behind him, smiling patiently.

“Are you waiting for someone?” he asked, indicating Saber’s coffee cup.

Shirou was suddenly, oddly conflicted. Without knowing what this Servant was capable of, was it fair to expose Saber like this?

“Uh, no,” he said, uselessly. “Well, not exactly.”

The Servant waited, patiently, for him to explain. Shirou grimaced.

“My friend is a friend of the guy who cooks here,” he said, hating himself for giving it away. “She wanted to come visit him, so I’m just waiting for her to get back before we leave.”

“Really?” said the Servant, smiling. “That’s nice. You’re a friend of Emiya?”

Shirou twitched. “No. I am Emiya.”

“Oh?”

“Not related to that guy, obviously,” he muttered. “But - anyway,” Shirou blurted, suddenly noticing a distinctive piece of fly-away blonde hair emerging from the kitchen, “it’s a long story, and we’d better get going, so see you later -”

He hastily threw some money down on the table for his coffee and rushed to Saber’s side.

“What’s the matter?” she asked him, brows furrowed with concern. “I thought that you were -”

“Saber!”

Shirou winced, and then - wait a minute. How on Earth did the enemy Servant know Saber’s name!?

To his horror, a huge smile spread over Saber’s face.

“Saber, don’t!” Shirou hissed. “You have to look away! This guy’s got some kind of charm spell on him that -”

Saber only laughed and lightly pushed him aside. Though she’d scarcely used a fraction of her true strength, Shirou stumbled.

“Oh, don’t be silly, Shirou. This is an old friend of mine.”

And she crossed the cafe in order to give the Servant a huge hug. Because Saber was approximately half of the mystery Servant’s size, he was able to lift her easily and spun her in a circle. Saber laughed at this.

“I must admit I’m surprised!” she said. “I didn’t think -”

Saber seemed to become self-conscious. But the enemy Servant merely beamed.

“Think nothing of it! I had no idea you were here in the city.”

“Really? Cu and Emiya didn’t tell you?”

“They mentioned a surprise,” said the Servant, shrugging. “I suppose this must be it.”

Saber shook her head. “Of course they did. Foolish boys.”

“I must apologize - I was introducing myself to your friend.”

“Oh, yes! This is my current Master, Shirou. Shirou,” said Saber, waving to him. “This is my old friend - he was a Lancer in the previous quest for the Grail.”

“Please,” said the former Lancer, “call me Diarmuid, if you’d like.”

He gave away his True Name so casually. Who the hell is he, though? Shirou frowned as he came closer.

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn’t realize you were one of Saber’s friends.”

“And I did not realize you were a mage,” said Diarmuid, breezily. “But no matter! Are you really leaving?” he asked Saber. “Your Master has indicated that you might have plans -”

“Nonsense!” Saber assured him, cheerful as well. “We were just sitting down. Did you order? I’ve been meaning to try Archer’s cooking for awhile, you see, so I plan to stay here for the afternoon.”

Saber and Diarmuid walked back to their table and pulled up a third chair.

Shirou bit back a groan.

It was going to be a long day.

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 70 Rundown

Code Geass: So Lelouch is gonna go join Nunally’s ‘let’s all hold hands and get along’ area but literally no one wants to go after Euphy murdered everyone last time. You’d think there’d be at least one dumbass like “Maybe it won’t be a massacre.” But yeah Zero’s like “Oh well I just happen to have a million people I can give to the zone if you exile me and let me go scott free” and everyone’s like “that’s a super shitty thing to do but okay” so then Zero tells Suzaku that culture is stored in the titty and all the one million people do their I am Spartacus thing and wear Zero’s costume which had to be a logistical nightmare, like Zero’s outfit already is pretty expensive with the fancy clothes and the helmet and shit and some of them are randomly customized even though that defeats the purpose like how do you do this on a terrorist budget in a few days without anyone in the government finding out. Like “we received an order for a million pounds of the thing used in Zero’s helmet on the black market” seems like it’d stand out. But yeah, the million Zeros get away, partially because of the “dogs playing basketball” rule that they’re all Zero because their culture of being Zero is stored in their titty which wouldn’t hold up in court but also because if they just kill a million people who’re just trying to leave that’d be bad for the government, not that they’re not used to genocide and being hated as Imperialists but Suzaku specifically doesn’t want that on his and Nunally’s hands while they’re trying to actually do shit for Japan for once. Feel like there’s probably a good cause for peaceful detainment and not letting them just walk out but it’s not like they’d find Lelouch or whoever the supposed second Zero was anyway even if they strip-searched everyone since he was never there and if it isn’t Lelouch the only thing that makes him Zero sight-wise is the mask.

Inuyasha: So yeah we get the conclusion of Shiori’s story for Inuyasha and I just can’t help thinking about how nice it is that she went on to help a lot of other half-demons in Yashahime because of an act of kindness that Inuyasha showed her right here, really good ripple effect shit. But yeah Shiori gets pissed that her grandpa killed her dad and Kekkaishi YEETs him and his followers out of the barrier so Inuyasha can backlash wave the lot of them. We still got fifteen minutes left though so even after Inuyasha says he’s not going to murder a little girl for a powerup that’ll get power crept in a few seasons, Shiori offers him the blood coral crystal to break to give him the powerup instead as thanks for not fucking murdering her. We can’t have the climax of the episode just be Inuyasha smacking a crystal ball though so Taigokumaru’s spirit yeets itself out of the crystal and fights with Inuyasha and attacks Shiori but her dad makes a barrier to bounce him off of so Inuyasha can kill him a second time and get the Red Tessaiga. There’s some navelgazing about how life as a half demon is rough but how Inuyasha thinks that hardship will be good for Shiori and he’s rooting for her in his own way and in Yashahime we see he’s right and all in all that’s pretty nice. Anyway next time we have the Panther Demon filler arc which is honestly probably one of my favorite filler arcs in Inuyasha so that’ll be fun.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Yusuke continues his fight with Suzaku and Suzaku splits himself into seven, which this doesn’t seem to be the Multi-Form or Shadow Clones deal where it divides his energy, each one seems as strong as the original so that’s just kind of broken. Keiko pulls a bait and switch on the zombies which neither Suzaku nor Yusuke see coming despite watching the whole thing on Spirit TV, guess Suzaku had the camera point at the door instead of on Keiko for some reason even though the point is to make Yusuke watch her die. Anyway Yusuke flashes back to Genkai telling him he’s a little bitch that always doubts himself and splits his energy across multiple plans instead of having the confidence to go for something with everything he has and make it work instead of holding back in case it doesn’t. This and remembering his mom crying over his death and all the relationships he’s formed makes him go Super Saiyan in what I can only describe as a Fully Body Shotgun which I don’t think ever comes up again. He knocks down all the Suzakus but it’s just time to start the real fight since Yusuke’s lifted his limiter again like he does in every fight.

Fate Zero: So the clusterfuck in the middle of Saber and Lancer’s battle continues to grow as Iskandar just fucking dares everyone to come at him and five of the seven servants actually do. Gilgamesh is all like “Ugh, why do I have to do this shit, breathing sucks, I’m a king, someone breathe for me.” And tries to murder everyone with spears and shit but turns out Berserker is Darth Vader this time around and uses the force to steal his stolen weapons until Rin’s dad is all like “Dude you’re showing the whole world our fucking moveset, get the fuck out of there. Which given that Gilgamesh is an archer which are supposed to be independent and he’s a fucking snobby asshole, even with a Command Seal I’m surprised that worked. Also Waver’s racist teacher is all “hah wow, I was supposed to have Rider and the token teenager character stole it from me” and Iskandar’s like “I like this kid that’s ride or die with me even though he cries all the time way more than someone who doesn’t even step onto the battlefield you stuck up prick” and then Lancer and Berserker double-team Saber (giggity) and Lancer’s not happy about it because he was fighting Saber first and doesn’t wanna just jump her with Darth Vader but more Command Seals are thrown around until Iskander runs over Darth Vader with his fucking Lightning Chariot and that’s kind of shitty because Racist Teacher man wasted a Command Seal to have Lancer attack Saber for like five seconds before making him retreat. Bug Dude is also kinda freaked out that Berserker just kinda went for Saber meaning she must be pretty pissed at Saber about something anyway so basically everyone runs away and nothing is really accomplished, we didn’t even really need Kiritsugu’s sniper shit or Assassins’s Ninja Bullshit for this everyone’s just had enough and goes home. Also Caster is a creepy yandere simp for Saber but really who isn’t in this series.

Konosuba: So Aqua’s ready to sit in a lake for a few hours to make some money but for the first time in her live her divine booty is not enough to solve this problem. She gets traumatized by getting attacked by demon alligators and Kazuma and co. are honestly uncharacteristically worried about her and ready to try and help her. Meanwhile generic isekai protagonist has a crush on Aqua despite already having his own harem of bland girls and wants to steal Aqua back but basically the whole group is so totally anti-White Knight they can see right through his shit and turn him down. Kazuma beats him up in the most Kazuma way possible and steals his magic sword, proving that not only is he not doing anything to defeat the devil king but he’s actively sabotaging those that are. Aqua fucking decks the guy and blackmails him so she’s rich now and Kazuma’s rich from selling his OP Isekai Cheat Sword. Also the Dullahan dude is back for revenge about bombing his castle and Kazuma’s like “Wait were we still doing that? Thought we stopped, oh well everyone in this world’s problems are our fault somehow so it sounds about right.”

Sailor Moon Crystal: So this time we get Makoto’s story who’s probably my favorite thus far because her job is punching shit and making sure Usagi doesn’t die from the hundreds of things ready to hit her on a daily basis. I have sort of found a redeeming trait for Usaig in that she’s willing to reach out to anyone and everyone, like she’s not what I would call traditionally ‘nice’ but she is friendly and that ability to pull disparate people together does kind of make more sense for why she’d be the leader rather than the other girls who have useful but more specific talents. But yeah continuing with the trend of things teen girls like trying to destroy the world, haunted bridal shop that also reveals Makoto’s tragic backstory of being a more believable version of Tall Girl. Makoto transforms and beats up the Bride lady with a combination of Zenbonzakura Kageyoshi and Azula’s lightning bending, no fair that she gets two powers but I guess she is the tough one so it make sense. Now we’ve basically got the whole crew except for the one that we already know is active but hasn’t joined the group yet so we’ll see how this goes.

Durarara!!: So Mikado’s in deep shit after stealing the girl away that half the town is looking for, all because he has it hammered into his head that whenever a girl asks for his help he has to give it. There’s a bit of discussion about the nature of the Dollars that I’m sure won’t be important later but both Izaya and Celty show up outside Mikado’s school and he’s kind of in an awkward position since there’s nowhere he can really go but home and lead them to the girl. So he decides to find out about them, or at least Celty, Izaya’s just kinda along for the ride. He gets Celty’s backstory and agrees to take her to the other girl only to get jumped by Yagiri thugs and pull out some Death Note animation internet shit that has even Izaya stunned, Mikado about to actually become the main character of this anime for a bit.

[randomnotesofmyown]

Fate/Stay Night - UBW

Basically it retold the story of Fate/Stay Night the original route with more than a few twists. Because of Emiya Shirou taking actions different from the original route and using command seals each time Saber was in battle to stop her, the way things unfolded got altered here and there, sometime to the extent that exact opposites happened(For example: in the original route: Illya had her Servant killed Matou Shinji; in UBW, Shinji's Servant killed Illya) , as such it hinted at a concept:, what a person does differently today has an impact on events in future; and a question: is Life predestined or can life be changed. And it seems to me that "Believe"(performed by Kalafina), the ending theme song for the first season of this series, basically indicated what the story was about: "fight your fate". (Translation of the entire song: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/believe-believe.html-11)

There were other questions asked: in the 6th episode it was already questioning the approaches to save the world: save each and everyone or let a few die so the majority live; and then in the 10th episode, could Emiya Shirou, an unprepared and powerless person who wanted to be a good-doer, survive the Holy Grail War, in which seven pairs chosen participants would use any means they could and fight to the death, bringing out the worst in each of them? Especially after he was cornered by Caster and lost Saber to her.

Despite being stripped of the status of a Master, Shirou continued to get himself involved in the Holy Grail war as an ordinary human.

After a few twists leading to the demise of Caster and her master, Archer, revealed to be the future version of Emiya Shirou, turned his weapons against his past self and vowed to wipe out a mistake that should not have existed. Archer was fixated on the ideas that Shirou did not have a dream of his own, that the ideal he claimed to have was borrowed from Kiritsugu, his foster father and that Shirou was nothing but a fake. The two fought until Shirou (who refused to give up) managed to make Archer, who had the upper hand in both combat skills and strength, admit defeat. Gilgamesh appeared, and launched a sneak attack on Archer, killing him in front of Shirou, Saber, and Rin, who got help from Lancer and escaped Matou Shinji, who captured her, and Kotomine, who intended to use her as a sacrifice to summon the holy grail.

Gilgamesh was content that a rival was eliminated and left. Showing up in front of Matou Shinji, the king of kings implanted Illya's heart in Shinji and turned him into a vessel. He intended to unleash the content of that grail to wipe out the excessive number of lives that serve no purpose.

Rin, Shirou and Saber headed to Ryuudou Temple to fight Gilgamesh and destroy the holy grail. Rin tried to free Shinji from the confinement of the Grail and got trapped; Shirou, though finally understood what he could do with his mana, was not able to finish off Gilgamesh without the help from Archer, who reemerged to the surprise of Rin, Shirou and Saber.

After the end of the final battle, Rin and Shirou went to study magic in England. There Shirou decided not to join the Mage Association and intend to see the world and find answers to the questions he had. The show concluded with a monolog from Archer.

Comment: Tohsaka Rin in this route was portraited as a courageous young woman who held her head up high even in the face of certain death, and she was ready to sacrifice herself to prevent the holy grail from claiming up to millions or even more lives. These two instances made her more impressive here than in the original route.

[fuwafuwamedb]

Fate/Still Night (Gilgamesh, Kirei, Hakuno, Cu)

He’d just returned when he saw the body.

The wounds were deeper than usual, bleeding out onto the earth around them. Leaves were in her hair, showing that she’d taken a tumble when she’d been assaulted and killed. Then there were the markings in the earth. He could see the footprints, the brush and debris showing the person’s escape from the area. He could see Kirei making tracks to follow.

Silver flashed around his waist, he could hear the sound of the fighting and the clashing of metal to metal in the distance. The one the priest was after wouldn’t last long.

No doubt, she’d be dead as well.

That didn’t answer the large question though: why was the priest killing so close to the church? 

They didn’t risk the mages finding out anything. They were careful, keeping their distance and keeping funds that were meant for the church purely focused on the church. It was his funds that kept them going for the war’s grail. 

None of their actions were normally this senseless.

Such a shame, killing off perfectly average women without taking any pleasure in the kills. The woman lying amongst the leaves didn’t even look like any of the mages he’d seen before. She was too soft, her hair loose and her attire too bright and cheery. What kind of dark mystic arts mage ran around in a golden yellow summer dress?

She looked far too innocent.

A disappearance was one thing, but risking the idea of someone actually missing this woman was a bit greater than they should have been making. 

Too often, the innocent were so often fodder for the deeds of others.

Perhaps he should take some pity upon the girl. It would be worth a few good laughs, bringing her into the church and setting her at one of the pews. Kirei would be panicking for a full minute, grabbing his weapons and rushing forward, intending to murder the woman to cover up his actions.

“Let’s see what you look like, mongrel.”

A turn showed that the flawless skin shown off by her dress was continued. The face was pleasant enough, long lashes and good grooming. Some hair fringe was hanging over her forehead as he found himself giving a small sigh.

Average looks, but no doubt a regular citizen of this place.

This was the kind of person that wouldn’t have had to do with anything. She’d most likely been on her way here to pray or something when she had been assaulted and-

Gilgamesh paused, noting the shift.

Her body was still breathing. Nothing rough or overdone, she wasn’t going into shock like she should have been. She was calm.

But that wouldn’t make any sense. She was dying. The woman should have been growing cold in the features and suffering from extreme shock and panic. Instead, a pair of brilliant eyes opened, gazing up to him.

There was color to them, despite the dark hue. He could see the flecks of gold amongst her eyes as she returned his stare.

And within them he could see a grand throne, his own throne. He could see countless stairs and countless more enemies, descending upon him as he found himself once more in that armor he’d abandoned so long ago. 

For once, he was back, fully and wholly prepared to slaughter those who stood before him in an upfront and beautiful manner, worthy of a great epic. His laugh was coming to life again, his whole being riding a high that only came once before. 

It’d been so long since he had felt like this. Not since-

Gilgamesh closed his eyes, staggering back.

Her lips weren’t turning blue as death came to greet her. She was still covered in blood. She had to be dying, but she was narrowing her gaze at him.

The kick to his shins earned a curse in her direction. She was rushing back, grabbing the earth in her hands and pushing herself up to her knees. 

“Stay away from me.”

The command was immediate, impudent. Had he the mood he’d held a moment ago, perhaps he would have laughed and pitied her a moment by listening. However, a moment ago had been before his foresight had begun to tear through his mind. 

The thoughts that had come to his mind a moment ago were not ones that he’d held before. They weren’t dreams or aspirations. He never dreamed in such a vivid manner. He didn’t dream at all, thanks to the liquor. Rather than dreams, he’d seen life. 

He’d known this woman.

Somewhere, in some other time and place, he had become accustomed to her in some way. That meant that the woman was no mere citizen. The whole ensemble she had on and the manner to which she’d portrayed herself was nothing but a deceit.

His eyes fell to her hand as she moved to check her wounds upon her chest. He could see the blood smearing, dribbling slightly down her dress as those red marks stood prominently upon her hand.

She was a master.

There were only two masters missing now. Kirei had seen to the woman from earlier this night. The woman before him either had Saber or Archer. Either one would be an entertaining foe to meet. She merely needed to say the word and summon them forth.

“I’m going to go home,” the brunette told him, those eyes all but glinting with a look that had his heart beginning to race. “I never saw you. You never saw me. You won’t follow me. I won’t come back here. Ever.”

“And if I don’t listen?”

“Why not?”

“Let’s say I don’t listen, little mage.” He took a step forward, something in him feeling more alive than ever before. It was as though the grail had come before him once more. It was like that saber from the last war had fallen and he could fully enjoy the magnificence of her demise with his own gaze. To hold such power again, after so long; he could barely contain himself. His eyes roamed over her as she held her hands against her bloodied chest.

There wasn’t any more blood flowing freely over them.

She wasn’t bleeding.

A master whom could play dead. Had this opossum of a woman eluded Kirei?  

“Let’s say, for example, that I decide to get much closer instead. What can you do?” Gilgamesh asked of her, using his mana to leap from one point to behind her. His hands pressed lightly to her shoulders, making her jump just enough to see the bare chest.

Someone had feigned her death, faked killing her.

Kirei was after someone else.

Was there a companion that looked more like a mage? Had that fool truly gone after the wrong woman?

A whir came in the air, soft and easy to the ears like the wind was. He barely managed to step back, finding the red spear slammed into the earth between him and the woman he’d been speaking to.

Then there were arms around the woman.

“It would seem that the priest is after the wrong woman,” Gilgamesh purred.

“I think my master picked well enough for a successor. You won’t be able to find her in this place, not after we leave.”

He rushed them.

Knowing he’d fail, he rushed at the two. His hands dipped into the gates, pulling his weapon of choice and slicing without a second thought.

Just as that single breeze flitted through the trees and the storm in the distance began to rumble, Gilgamesh found the servant escaping. His master was safely tucked away in his arms, no doubt feeling the slice he’d given to her leg.

His eyes dropped to the blade in hand, knowing full well what it meant.

This blade was coated in a very rare poison, one that would begin a slow and painful increase.

She’d no more escaped him than she’d escaped the task of breathing. Perhaps those first few seconds would be fine. She could last for a span of time without, but not breathing- or rather, not seeing him- would result in death. There would be little choice other than to come back to him.

Her skirts vanished against the light of the moon, a single speck of gold amongst a dark and dreary night sky.

And then there was Kirei.

“Bazett has betrayed me.”

“Who?”

“The woman whom held Lancer’s command spells. She’s passed them off to someone.” The priest glanced at the ground before frowning. “There had been a body here.”

“Sounds like you’ve been sloppy,” he told the man simply. 

The man didn’t hesitate to begin on him, looking around for signs of movement before declaring that they would need to find the body and burn it before someone else located it. He called to others as they returned to the building, declaring the storm forecast too great for gardening in the morning.

“I shall survey the damages and inform the gardeners from my findings.”

Oh, but he had no doubt that Kirei would try. Even after his wine was poured and his place on the man’s couch was settled, Gilgamesh found his mind reeling. The image of golden skirts and reddened cheeks on a surprised face met his mind. 

The blush of surprise she’d had matched his wine, he thought idly, sensing the priest coming to his side.

“Gilgamesh, this is no time for drinks. We still need a spare servant.”

“Then pick the fool whose money you steal in the name of your great god.”

The Tohsaka heir had little use.

Thus far, her only asset to their plan was being a distraction for the association of mages. She danced and pranced around like a jester, entertaining those whom thought themselves mighty.

“Rin is for the grail, you know this.”

“Could she not serve both points? A vessel and a toy? You merely need her body, do you not?”

His reward for that was a glare. 

“It’s not that simple,” Kirei growled. “The Tohsakas disappearing before the war would result in riots. The Mages Association would investigate.”

“Would they?”

The feeling from before was returning in the barest of ways. He could feel himself slipping away further from the waking world, his mind drifting.

“My treasure…”

Gilgamesh paused, his lips upon the rim of his wine glass.

Memories again?

For what reason would he call anything his treasure? There were only such things in his Gates. He didn’t bother with pet names normally. 

Still, that did not stop the flicker of brown hair in his mind’s eye. 

“Gilgamesh?”

He opened his eyes, glancing up only to find the priest lingering near him.

Kirei frowned at him, pulling away the wine bottle. “Gilgamesh, did you hear me just now?”

“Survey the church grounds, priest. You’ve failed enough for once night, don’t you think?”

His lips met the bottle the moment that the priest was gone.

His treasure...

The war had become that much more interesting.

[monstersqueen]

so Saber Wars II

: tells us that this character was divided into their good and evil parts.

already doesn't sound like a typemoon thing.

let us meet the 'evil' part first, and while she doesn't seem to deviate from the 'will sacrifice you' plan, she obviously starts (in like, ten days), to care about us.

multiple time we're shown her trying to act the part of the evil commander - 'our organisation should do this because that's what an evil organisation would do'

we know she's going along with the plan - no matter what it does to her, since it ends up in 'yeah you're going to be the one sacrificed' - because that's what her father figure wants

also is Rin.

Reminder :

In fsn, Rin has a little sister. If we had to say which one of the sisters is 'good' and which one is 'evil', well. Sakura's route does have her trying to become actually evil and she does kill quite a lot of people.

And yet, still, the point of their stories is that they were estranged, and they both want to reconnect.

In the babylon singularity, rin is the vessel of ishtar, and ishtar has a sister. Her sister is identical to her, except for being blond. Ishtar is the 'good' goddess, ereshkigal is 'evil' (her alignment certainly agree).

which is utter bullshit, as anyone who has played that singularity would tell you.

SO now, we actually have two identical rin, who are both rin, but one' the evil part and one's the good part.

Somehow, tokiomi saw the goddess spirit core split in two, and knew that she had been divded into her good and bad halves, and which one was good and which one was bad.

tokiomi who, despite knowing kariya matou basically their whole lives, didn't realize zouken is as close to evil as we get, and thought it was a good idea to give him is second daughter, certainly she will be cared for and become their heir and nothing bad will hapen there!

EXCUSE ME BUT TOKIOMI IS NOT SOMEONE I TRUST TO IDENTIFY EVIL, ESPECIALLY WITHOUT EVEN TALKING TO THAT PERSON. though this being tokiomi and *p^points up* even after i wouldn't believe him.

but 'yeah she was an infant and sealed' yeah

so if it turns out that ashtart is really the evil part of the goddes i'm going to. 1) be really surprised because that's really not the rin pattern i expect: 2) find the writing doesn't support that at all; 3) have to call bullshit because no way tokiomi knew that. he was talking out of his ass.

[atopearth]

Fate/hollow ataraxia Part 3 - Chibi is Justice (Phase 3)

Lmao, I love how Avenger thought the way Bazett died against Assassin was so hilarious. It seems she's pretty numb towards the repetitive resurrections now though. Avenger is right though, Bazett is so violent lmao, she solves everything so practically and violently, it's pretty hilarious, especially when she got impatient at Avenger taking too long to unlock the gate to a Master's (looks like Rin's) house so she just broke in loll. It's pretty cute how Avenger protected her from the milk trap lmao. I wonder if the world Bazett is in, and the world Shirou and them are in aren't connected yet? It seems kinda connected since Shirou and Saber supposedly saw stuff like the house where those randoms died, and they saw the place where Bazett resurrects, but considering the fact that even though they both patrol around at night, yet haven't seen each other, do we need to get through a bit more things for it all to escalate?

I'm not sure if Avenger is the same Avenger that was supposed to be born in Heaven's Feel and whether his story is the same since he just kinda tells Bazett that Angra Mainyu isn't his real name because a friend sacrificed his life to save him, so he kinda just took the friend's name and repaid the world with it, so his hero name is basically honouring his friend whilst he's lost his identity. Anyway, lmao at Bazett telling him her background as if she's sharing her practical work experience lol. Her story in a sense is similar to the Matou since she's from an elite family that retained their unique power but lost influence as an important family, so she kinda tries to prove herself within the Magic Association even though they don't care or like her because their traditions and families are so ingrained, there's no place for anything else to shake the balance. It's funny how Avenger justifies it that he's right that she's technically 30+ (she's 23 lol) because she never really had a childhood so she's been an adult most her life lol.

Ohh so the reason why Shirou could never really "progress" was because of his lack of training. He hasn't done any sort of magic and training in so long! Aww the little kid Saber was watching playing soccer looks like a mini Shirou haha! Lmao when she threw the ball into the goal and everyone was stunned hahaha. HAHAHA, Saber kicked the ball and it broke🤣 so cute how Shirou fixed the ball for them. Wow, they've really upped their game for this fandisk! The battle sequence between Shirou + Saber against Archer was so fluent and cool! I really loved how Shirou was able to think of a pretty good plan of getting Saber to Archer super fast using his last Command Spell, so that she can cut him down right after he shoots his arrow and won't have time to react against her attack. It all looked really good too! I'm also really glad that Shirou was able to use his skills again. It's really been a while! However, when Saber asked if this was really all right, I wasn't really sure. Like, obviously they had no choice since Archer was out to kill them, but at the same time, if Archer was so ready to kill them, there must be something big going on that they're not aware of.

Okay, I legit died laughing when the mini game to defeat Illya and her castle came up lmaooo. It was so hilarious!! The chibi characters are so cute and lmaoo at Saber saying food names when she fights. Legit died when I used Excalibur and she said chashu men/noodles hahahahah, I couldn't concentrate on fighting hahahah. I love how Caster uses Assassin to fight, and it was so funny when Rider rode her Griffon because it looked like some chibi horse hahahaha. I loved the mini game, it was absolutely great. I want to play it again now lmao. Illya losing and then pressing a red button to destroy everything was such a funny finale hahaha. I love seeing the Taiga Dojo Taiga lmao. The quizzes are pretty funny lolll! I love the night quiz where Taiga wants to be the main heroine of Fate so bad lmaooo. Oh, and Sella giving Shirou a storeroom to sleep in was hilarious, poor Shirou🤣 HAHAHA at Sakura getting petrified when Saber told her that Servants don't get fat from eating etc, especially since Sakura tries hard to maintain her weight and everything hahaha. I loved how Rider had to drag the Sakura who turned into a rock away lolll. It was so funny when Sakura called Rider a traitor since she never told her that her body won't change no matter how much they eat🤣🤣 Sakura is so cute, her and Shirou fighting over who should bath first was cute, but when he pushed her in and she started going crazy with her delusions thinking that they were going to bathe together in their swimsuits was just hilarious🤣 Saber being scared of sinking in the water was pretty cute, lmao when she was dashing through the water though hahaha. Never thought she would be able to walk on water because she had the blessing of lake fairies lol. Aww it was so cute how Saber sunk into the water when Shirou said her body shape was nice and everything hahaha. Also lmao at Archer and Lancer invading their little picnic at the poolside and stealing their food lolll. I never really thought about it, but hearing Archer complain/give tips on how Shirou can improve his cooking is kinda cute and funny at the same time since he would know best what he needs to improve on🤣 Anyway, I love it when Saber is such a sore loser that she forces Shirou into competing with her (in this case, swimming) until she wins and is satisfied with her wins hahaha. She's so proud of winning after it all too lmao.

Whoa, I didn't expect the H-scenes in Eclipse, I was so shocked lmao, I had to look behind my shoulder to make sure no one saw me because it was so sudden hahaha! Anyway, I've never been a fan of the Fate H-scenes so yeah, this wasn't any better imo. Lmao, I love how Himuro is so interested in Mitsuzuri's love life and wants to know who her boyfriend is, she's so weirdly obstinate, it's kinda funny🤣 I'll admit that I'm definitely warming up to the trio of Himuro, Makidera and Yukika now haha. It's so stupid yet hilarious how they're so insistent on finding out who Mitsuzuri's dating lol. They've got some crazy dedication haha, legit died when Taiga started thinking Shirou was becoming more and more of a player with all these girls lol. Honestly I know Minori (Mitsuzuri's younger brother) doesn't mean harm, but he really gets out of hand when it comes to his dislike for Shirou. Anyway, I'm glad Himuro dragged him away lol, and with that, I think I kinda like the idea of Minori and Himuro together hahahah. Lmao at the Mitsuzuri dating thing was actually because she was desperately looking for someone to be her boyfriend to win the bet with Rin, so she told her brother to disguise and pretend to be her boyfriend, that is pretty embarrassing hahaha.

LMAO at Archer and Lancer having a fishing battle or something, it's hilarious how petty Archer seems towards Lancer hahaha. Omggg Saegusa can see Kojirou and they're so cute and friendly together!? It's such a random match but I love them. They have such a peaceful atmosphere. LMAOOO when Shirou bluntly asked Illya if he could use her castle dining room for a dinner date and Illya thought it was her and there were like pigeons flying in the background, and then Shirou says for Sakura and she sulks in her chibi sketch form hahahahaha. I nearly died from laughter with that transition.

 Awwww! Sakura in the pink evening dress with ribbons on her hair (kinda like Rin) is so cutee! The dress in itself is kinda ugly tbh but Sakura is adorable. Awww Shirou in a tuxedo is pretty cute too! Anyway, I honestly think it's so sweet of Shirou to have granted Sakura's wish for a fancy dinner like this. Like sure, he really didn't do much besides have the guts to ask Illya for help, but the fact that he remembered her wish and did what he could to grant it was sweet enough. The way Shirou accepts everything about Sakura including all her flaws, and saying all that in his own clumsy way makes my heart so warm. Hearing Illya talk about some memories of Kiritsugu fondly makes me happy that there were at least a few memories they were able to cherish together. Seeing Illya so happy and excited to play and talk with Shirou always makes my heart so warm tbh. The CG of Shirou and Illya sharing a bed together is so heartwarming, I love it. She never got to see Kiritsugu ever again, but at least Illya now has Shirou who will always dote on her and do his best to protect her. Tbh, in the beginning, I really didn't like Illya and always thought there's no way I'll like this murderous little girl, but omg she's invaded my heart so much, I love her, and her relationship with Shirou. Sella and Liz interactions are so funny, I love how Liz is just outing her to Shirou about how Sella is afraid of ghosts lmao. HAHAHA, I loved how Shirou got so scared of whatever he saw in the wine cellar, he ran out and pulled Sella along with him, and described it to her when she told him not to hahaha. The funniest thing was that it was actually Liz with a halberd lmao, that is definitely scary😂 It's interesting to know that Liz is actually the Dress of Heaven to kinda complete Illya, I'm not sure if I forgot that or if it was never mentioned, but now it's kinda understandable why Liz is a guess a bit more different compared to Sella who is basically full maid. Lmao, the more Sella and Liz appear, the more I love them. It was so funny when Liz gave him that possibly 200 years old card that is most likely cursed and then laughed as she left hahahaha. Omgg, it's so funny but I never really thought that Sella, Liz and even Illya drive to and from the castle!! Lmao when Shirou asked Illya if she drove a Bersercar HAHAHA😂😂😂😂 To be fair, that's what I would have assumed😂

Archer saving the kitten stuck on top of a tree and then going on a long ass rant about heroes of justice was hilarious. But, I have to say, the things he said were pretty interesting and right to an extent, especially the idea of heroes stunting the growth of people like this kitten who will start to always think that someone like a hero will save them so they don't need to think about saving themselves. Anyway, now that Gilgamesh isn't in a "serious" game as he says, his silliness and ridiculousness is so much more funny. I love how careless he is to get caught up in crap but be too prideful to ask for help hahahah. And it was so funny when Rider dragged Saber away calling them losers for their masters' affections since Shirou and Sakura are going to the pool together and she doesn't want to interfere even though she probably wants to join lol. Aww Sakura in her swimsuit is cute. Okay, I change my mind, her side angle is hot hahahha. I can understand why Shirou was so stunned hahahah. HAHAHA, I nearly died of laughter when Sakura told Shirou she's not good at backstroke, and he said that would be awesome hahahahaha, he's a pervert🤣🤣 Omg that underwater kiss though! Shirou was being silly as usual, trying too hard to make Sakura happy and staying underwater past his limits, so she gave him "air" through the kiss haha, Shirou is lucky~ LMAO when Rider and Saber popped up at the pool hahahaha. Omg Rider's swimsuit is hot though, I love it. Sakura and Shirou holding hands back home is so adorableeee, I wish their date lasted longer~~ Aww Saber being fascinated by the penguin shaved ice machine is so cute! To be fair, I've always been interested in those too, they're so adorable! I would eat shaved ice just to play with it loll. Well, Bazett's "Noble Phantasm"-like thing is pretty much a cheat if you can negate Saber's Excalibur. But I wonder why everything keeps repeating itself? Oh, and I died when Shirou and Shinji had a "duel" at the harbour LOL, it was so random but hilarious hahahah.

Anyway, yayyy, I'm finally up to the next phase lol! Sure took me a while to finish this one up, I got distracted by so many things hahaha. But yeah, even though I take a long time to get through this game, I honestly really love it whenever I take the time out to read it. The slice of life shenanigans are the best way to brighten up my life lmao, they're all so funny!! I love how this phase really developed Liz and Sella, they're so much more likeable than I initially thought haha. All the swimming pool shenanigans were so funny and nice too. I'm definitely loving Sakura much more than before haha, and Saber has such a special place in my heart now, she's so silly lolll. I really hope to see Rin soon though!

[diamondprima]

My opinion on the Cu’s vs Diarmuid’s death thing

 A Fate Zero/Ubw rant by a somewhat angry but for surely tired Diarmuid stan. 

Tldr it’s bullshit and comparing Diarmuid to Cu Chulainn is a really stupid, y’all are just not ready for that conversation.

I’m going to preface this by saying that I love both Diarmuid and Cu. They are both iconic in their own way and I will FIGHT for them to get all the love and attention they deserve. (they also don’t deserve to be 3 star servants, TypeMoon, they deserve to be 4 star but I guess if it’s not Gilgamesh it doesn’t matter.)

So, if you are in the fate fandom you’ll know of the memes going around in regards of their deaths. They both died in a similar way, their master ordering them to kill themselves by plunging their respective spears through their hearts.

The difference between them is that while Diarmuid had a breakdown and cursed the entire War while he was dying, Cu took the spear out and killed his master before he died.

And that’s where the memes come in. Cu is a strong badass, while Diarmuid is a weak crybaby. And I’m honestly really annoyed by them.

Yes, I know they are just memes, but I see a lot of people forming this image of Diarmuid being a crybaby just from this meme, and it really hurts me because Diarmuid imo is already an underrated character, that has lot of potential that both the fandom and the creators ignore.  

That comparison is in my opinion invalid. Diarmuid and Cu are vastly different personalities and of course they would react differently in a situation like that. Cu is feral, battle ready and way less emotional than Diarmuid. On the other hand, while Diarmuid is also battle ready, he is quite more emotional and regards his honor and pride as a knight with utmost importance.

This is very important in understanding why Diarmuid reacted the way he did when he died in Zero. His master, Kayneth, after constantly abusing him and reminding him of his regretful past, even blaming him for Sola’s (Kayneth’s wife) misbehavior, forced him to kill himself during a fight with Saber. Furthermore, we see that Kayneth only killed him to buy off his and his wife’s safety from Kiritsugu, Saber’s master, effectively making Diarmuid’s death insignificant for Kayneth as long as his life was secured. In Diarmuid’s eyes, his “honorable” battle with Saber had been nothing more than a trick. He was nothing more than a tool for his and Saber’s master plans, with no regard of his feelings or his honor. In other words, he was betrayed and then shamed by being made to kill himself. 

All of this became apparent to Diarmuid in a few seconds. In a few seconds he was betrayed and shamed by the person he had selflessly devoted himself to. How else was he supposed to react? He could not have reached Kayneth in order to kill him and even if he could, he most likely wouldn’t have since he seems to be very obedient to his higher ups with no intention of harming them, ever. Just look at the 5th singularity, where Diarmuid was reunited with his former king, Fionn. Fionn not only hunted him down when he was alive for something he had no control over, but also let him die after they reconciled, even though they were supposedly friends. And then during the 5th singularly, Fionn kept teasing Diarmuid about his past and making shady comments. Diarmuid however was not only HAPPY to be reunited with Fionn, but also kept serving him as obediently as ever, even with Fionn’s behavior. 

What we can conclude is that Diarmuid is not someone who would easily hurt someone with power over him. Meaning that most likely even if he could hurt Keyneth, which HE COULDN’T, he wouldn’t have.

All of those factors made him react the way he did. And no, he wasn’t just whining. He was angry and hurt, and cursed the Holy Grail as revenge. His death was emotional and heartbreaking and it had to be that way, in order for the viewer to understand the misery of the war, as well as highlight Kiritsugu’s ideologies and show us how far he’s willing to go to achieve his goals.

Now what about Cu Chulainn? His death was well, badass. Everyone can admit that. Cu Chulainn died similarly to Diarmuid, as in he died in order for Kirei, his master, to solidify a deal with Rin. As such Cu Chulainn was ordered to kill himself, but then absolutely destroyed Kirei by killing him too. This was very in character for Cu. He has been characterize multiple times by his spontaneity and of course he would also be probably angry about well, the betrayal. Cu is way more caustic and vindictive than Diarmuid, so it made sense for his first action to be killing Kirei. Not to mention Cu COULD kill Kirei since he was close to him. And as for the “I hate to break it to you, Kotomine, but if a scratch like this instantly did me in, I wouldn’t be much of a Heroic Spirit.” line…

It’s a very good line and it fits his angry and spontaneous nature. He’s always sassy like that, just like Diarmuid’s emotional and prideful nature made him shame them and curse them. There is probably not much factual merit to what he’s saying.

Cu Chulainn’s death doesn’t carry the same emotional gravity as Diarmuid’s. It had to be that way because their death was designed with different things in mind. That means you can’t compare them in the same way, because one will always lack where the other excels in. Diarmuid’s death wasn’t badass but it had heavy emotional gravity and while Cu Cuchulain’s death was badass, it didn’t have the same emotional impact. Does that mean that one’s death is better than the other or that one of them is a stronger servant??? NO??? Absolutely not.

Both their deaths are impressive and well done and the both of them are amazing servants whom I love very much. It is unfair to pit them against each other in that way and we shouldn’t assume Diarmuid’s a crybaby and Cu’s a badass because we are making an unfair judgement.

Was this a waste of time? Am I taking it more seriously than I should? Maybe. That still won’t change the fact that y’all are making biased assumptions against Diarmuid and as a stan I can’t allow that so 💖

-Diamond

[magusofstone-archived]

Ladies and Gentleman, I present: The Fate Protag Shuffle!

We’re all the protagonists of the Fate franchise that you all love, getting down and spitting rhymes, together we’ll have a real good time!  

Now we’re not doing this for any money, a cease and desist does not sound funny, we’re not here to start no trouble, we’re forced by OP to do the Fate Protag Shuffle!

They call me Shirou, OG MC, as reckless as a human being can be,

Getting myself into danger, refusing to summon my servant Saber,

I’ll never give up despite that though, I’ll aim to someday become a hero,

I’m not here to put myself in trouble, I’m forced like the others to do the Fate Protag Shuffle!

Kiritsugu is my name, ‘Magus Killer’ is my claim to fame,

Irisviel is my awesome wife, both her and my daughter are my life,

Or at least they were, then Iris died, making me feel more dead inside,

This dance is stupid, it isn’t fun, but at least I’m with my daughter and son.

I’m Bazett Fraga McRemitz yo, the baddest mage lady you’ll ever know,

I dreamt of fighting with the Child of the Light, and winning the Grail War to make his life right,

Punching bad guys, being brazen, getting my arm and command seals taken,

But I’m not here to start a scuffle, I’ve been coerced to do the Fate Protag Shuffle!

We’re all the protagonists of the Fate franchise that you all love, getting down and spitting rhymes, together we’ll have a real good time!

Now we’re not doing this for any money, a cease and desist does not sound funny, we’re not here to start no trouble, we’re forced by OP to do the Fate Protag Shuffle!

Hakunon is what people call me, my friends are Shinji, Rin and Rani,

With Nero Claudius I fought a Grail War, in a digital world inside the moon’s core,

Although I remained undefeated, in the end, I got d̸̻̜͓̦̘̈́e̴͔̬͝͠ͅͅl̴͓̮̀̅̑ė̷̗̺̗t̴̼͚͊e̷̡̦̠̐̇̓̋ď̸̬͖̫̗̿̓̄͝

And although I wonder how I’m even here, options other than to do this shuffle don’t appear.

‘Sieg’ is what I like to go by, once just one of many homunculi,

Close to death, Siegfried bravely gave up his heart so he could save me,

Now I wait in the world’s reverse side, waiting for my love Jeanne to arrive

Until then, whether fall or spring, I also have to do this shuffle thing.

Last name Einzbern, first name Illya, please don’t lewd me, or I’ll kill ya!

With trading cards I can wield the power of heroic spirits in a needful hour,

Also there’s like two more of me- well, four if you’re speaking more technically,

Swift like a bird, and sweet like a truffle, I also have to do this Protag Shuffle!

EPIC GUDA SAX INTENSIFIES

I’m Ayaka Sajyou, the real OG, no one here is as normal as me,

At least I think so comparatively, and I’m also.. a magus...

...

T-That aside, I’ll think you’ll find that I am also one of a kind...

F to the U to the J-I-‘Maru! I’m hippin’-to-the-hoppin’ and so are you!

Saving the world is what we’re doin’, protecting humanity from total ruin!

With Mashu, Romani, Da Vinci and friends, the fate of everyone on us depends!

We’ll save the future, on the double, but first I’mma rock this Protag Shuffle!

We’re all the protagonists of the Fate franchise that you all love, getting down and spitting rhymes, together we’ll have a real good time!

Now we’re not doing this for any money, a cease and desist does not sound funny, we’re not here to start no trouble, we’re forced by OP to do the Fate Protag Shuffle!

[starspatter]

Batman and EMIYA

Hoo boy.  These two would not get along at first.  They’d definitely remind themselves too much of each other.  For Bruce, he’s never been a big fan of magic to begin with, so he certainly wouldn’t trust this strange mystery man showing up suddenly in his manor and making a mess (through what I presume would be an accidental summoning - perhaps his mother’s jewelry collection somehow contained a sister pendant to Rin’s?).  Archer would be confused and wary as well, recognizing Bruce is no mage but not a mere average mortal either, sensing he’s clearly trained for combat despite outward appearances.  (There’d probably be a weird sense of déjà vu too to his first meeting with Saber, but with the roles reversed.)  It wouldn’t take long for him to piece all the clues together and discover the Batcave, and from there things would only get more complicated.  While Archer would surely still keep his own identity under wraps, Batman isn’t called the “World’s Greatest Detective” for nothing, and would at least be able to track down the crystal’s origins and connection to the Tohsaka family.  It’d be a cautious game of keeping secrets from each other to begin with whilst trying to figure out what the other’s agenda is.

If Bruce is essentially locked into participating in the Holy Grail War at this point, he’d share Shirou’s philosophy of refusing to take out other Masters - a handicap that would annoy Archer on the surface purely for its lack of pragmatism, but silently agrees with.  His only beef is with his past self for letting himself get to a point where he was forced to constantly “clean up humanity’s messes” and slaughter the minority for the good of the majority, so if he can avoid further unnecessary bloodshed he will - unless it stands in the way of his true target goal.  (Knowing the nature of the Grail already, he’d basically be manipulating Bruce into traveling to Fuyuki City so as to get close enough to murder his younger version - unaware his master has likely already figured most of this out, and is only going along to keep an eye on him/help prevent harm from coming to any innocents - including Shirou once he discovers Archer’s intent - rather than annulling their contract right off the bat and letting a dangerous unknown spirit roam free given his high Independent Action rank.)  The uncanny resemblance to his old ways would infuriate him though, and in general he’d be baffled by Batman’s frustrating “no-kill” policy, unable to understand how Bruce can cling to such childish ideals when he seems just as bitter and jaded by the darkness ruling Gotham.

In a way, he sees both Kiritsugu - the father and savior he looked up to - and the naïve boy he once was in Bruce.  (In turn, Archer represents Bruce’s fear of what he might become someday if he succumbs to his cynicism.)  To his admiration and envy, Bruce has come the closest to achieving the dream either of them could not: to become a “Hero of Justice” capable of saving everybody.  Yet in order to do so, he’s suffered and sacrificed personal happiness as well.  Both were humans who possessed no extraordinary powers, but pushed themselves to the limit through intense training, in order to hone the skills they had to peak performance so they could protect others.  In the process though, they isolated themselves and stubbornly chose to shoulder so much responsibility on their own - far too much for one person to bear.  As a result, Emiya comes to realize that for all his purported insistence as a “loner”, the thing really keeping Bruce from going off the deep end is his family.  Where Emiya eventually entrusts his fate to Rin to make sure his dumbass doesn’t go down the wrong path again in this timeline, Bruce has Alfred, the Robins, Batgirls, etc. to keep him in check and pull him back from the brink of the abyss.  I think the two would be able to help each other appreciate the importance of this, and serve as a warning to the other.

As much as they might irritate each other initially by looking in a mirror, I think the pair would make a good team since they take similar tactical approaches to winning a fight by any means necessary, making up for their inherent disadvantage compared to much stronger opponents by adapting to any situation via the vast and versatile array of tools in their arsenal.  Once they get over their suspicions and see how much they do have in common, coming to a mutual understanding over their mistakes, I imagine they could be friends - or rather Bruce would do his Batdad thing and take on a mentorly role towards a troubled “youth” and try to steer him straight.  He might even reawaken that buried part of Emiya that once idolized superheroes and swore to his own disillusioned dad he’d become one in his place.  …Why?  Because he’s Batman.

[adoranymph]

That’s right! It’s been far too long, and I need to do another discussion of, what remains to this day, my #1 anime: Fate/Zero. Oh darling, how I’ve missed talking about you.

First off, I’m probably one of the few people on the planet who, for the most part, doesn’t take too much issue with the concept of prequels. I get why such stories are flawed and inherently so. Going into that kind of detail on something that was only mentioned in passing as a previous event in an original work can be detrimental to that work, punching in plot holes and whatnot. Plus, it takes away the mystery that some find more appealing about the “story before”: giving a detailed account of that takes away that mystery.

Speaking for me personally though, I kinda like it. I mean, I’m the kind of person who squees on the inside at stuff like Thranduil at the end of the third Hobbit film telling his son Legolas that he might want to look into finding a Dunedain ranger named “Strider”, a.k.a. Aragorn, son of Arathorn, a.k.a. the once and future king of Lord of the Rings, timeline consistency be damned! I love Easter Eggs in all their forms.

Which means perhaps I’m biased on this opinion, and to a degree, I am. But, I still think objectively as well as subjectively that Fate/Zero really does work well as a prequel.

Why?

A few reasons, but:

The short answer? It’s a tragedy.

In both the classical and the emotional gut-punching sense.

In the classical sense, we’re talking about actions that have consequences that are inevitable. In the emotional gut-punching sense, it’s that those consequences utterly destroy our heroes and heroines in their feels.

Anyone who’s experienced the original Fate/Stay Night, either in anime or visual novel form, or both, already knows that the consequences to many of the actions taken by the characters in Zero are inevitable. At the same time, for anyone who’s watching it before watching any of the other Fate material as a stepping off point for the franchise, it still works as a strong story of characters who sabotage their own goals through their own flaws, made tragic by how earnest they are in endeavoring to overcome them. Not to mention the sheer number of feels and brutal deaths and OMG this anime. (They didn’t give its original light novel writer, Gen Urobuchi, the sobriquet of “Urobutcher” for nothing.)

Sure, in the end, some plot threads are left frayed and fluttering in the breeze because the main Stay Night plot points are all set up here at Zero‘s conclusion (though that does produce the disadvantage of no longer making the story twists in Stay Night…well…twists). Despite that though, there is still a completeness to the ending.

Somehow the loose ends are written so they don’t feel loose. Sure we find out in the Heaven’s Feel route of Stay Night that Illya is Kiritsugu’s precious daughter that he was unable to save. Sure, in the Unlimited Blade Works route, Kirei gets his just-desserts for that little infraction of killing Rin’s father, Tokiomi Tohsaka. Sure, in the Fate route, the revelations that Saber was a gender-bent King Arthur and was Kiritsugu’s servant in the previous Grail War come to light.

And knowing those things, or lack thereof, can affect how you watch Zero. Knowing them can fill you with excitement when you see these addressed in the prequel (at least for me, since again, this is something I actually like about prequels). Not knowing them gives them their own fresh and engaging life in the flow of the narrative.

When watching Zero, we last see Illya waiting hopefully in the snowy Einzberns’ castle for her beloved father Kiritsugu to come back to her, only to learn that because he’d tried to destroy the Grail (because it’s corrupted), the Einzberns considered him a traitor and shut him out, preventing him from seeing her ever again.

We last see Rin at her father’s funeral. Kirei (who presided over that funeral no less) gives her the ceremonial dagger that her father himself had gifted to him for being his pupil in magic, only to immediately use it to literally stab him in the back. It’s only upon receiving the knife and learning that it was her father’s, that Rin finally allows herself to cry, Kirei secretly relishing her tears and the knowledge that he just gave her the weapon he’d used to murder her father as a present, and she’s none the wiser.

We see Sakura resigned to her fate as a future vessel for the Grail while carrying the weight of the Matou Family crestworms inside slowly killing her, despite her “uncle” Kariya Matou’s efforts to save her by winning the Grail for his wicked father. Efforts that were, for lack of better term, “ill-fated“.

We see Saber summoned at the conclusion of the first episode, with Kiritsugu believing that King Arthur was well a King, only to learn right off the bat that she was a woman in disguise the whole time (and that becomes a thing).

Regardless of knowing these things prior, the writing itself gives the scenes that are meant to allude to these later plot points a gravitas of their own worthy of praise. I am in a bit of a weird position where I started watching Fate/Stay Night (2006), which followed the first story route, the Fate route, with Saber (Arturia) as the heroine. Then I dropped it about a quarter of the way and bypassed straight to Zero. I was just too excited to wade through the lackluster production values of F/SN ’06. So I both knew and did not know things going into Zero. I had the opportunity to see certain things with a well-crafted setup in Zero, and still be engaged by both them and by things that were new to me in the sense that I wasn’t aware of their relevance not only to the Fate route, but to Unlimited Bladeworks, and Heaven’s Feel routes respectively.

Though I knew that it was going to come up that Kiritsugu was Saber Arturia’s Master in the Fourth War, I was still jarred by how frigid their relationship was pretty much from the word go. And it was interesting seeing someone as openly passionate about justice as Saber was getting stonewalled by someone like Kiritsugu, seeing as how his own passion for justice turned out to have been just as great. It’s just that he’s already let “reality” turn all that into a cold, calculating fire that’s compelling to watch burn so slowly, that struggle between that BBC Sherlockian sense of “Will caring about them [people] help save them?” and caring too much being the whole reason for what he does. That idea of wanting to bring the world salvation through an end to conflict, weighed movingly against how much he cares for his own family. It’s something that craftedly underpins his whole character. And anything like that will never be boring for me.

Rin meanwhile, even at a tender age, shows great potential as a mage, having started her education in magecraft in Zero. There’s an entire episode in there dedicated to how far she’s come and how far she still has to go. And it’s still exciting for those who already know that she’s going to be the capable Master of Archer in the Fifth Holy Grail War of Stay Night because of how well those parts showing such are executed in Zero, as equally exciting as it is to see it as someone going in blind.

Kariya Matou is motivated by the purest of things, love, to save Sakura Matou (formerly Tohsaka as Rin’s little sister) after she’s adopted into the Matou family simply to be used and abused in the worst ways. But for all that, it isn’t enough for him to succeed and failure is one of the most brutal things to watch.

Just about one of the most precious things I’ve seen in anything, never mind anime, is the scene of the walnut-finding game Kiritsugu and his daughter Illya would often play, because we see them play it one last time before Kiritsugu leaves for the Grail War at the beginning of the show. Even without being aware that this is the last time that they will ever see each other again, the hug goodbye that Kiritsugu gives Illya is still bittersweet because of how Kiritsugu’s character has been set up as this sober and reserved man carrying the heavy burden of his wife’s inevitable death, the cost for his wish to save the world, beautifully and poignantly juxtaposed against him acting playful, happy even, with their only child. (That, and well, there’s me who’s outed herself as a sucker for daddy-daughter relationships in fiction.)

Being a tragedy then, not only are all of the characters’ fates inevitable, and consequences of their own flaws, but they all end up spiraling apart into ultimate despair, with just the tiniest ray of hope at the end (which is the tease for Stay Night‘s continuation of the story, all three story routes accounted for). So what we’re left with is characters who either died broken, or survived broken, and for those who survived broken, we see that despite that, they find some reason to go on living (even if not for very much longer, and or even if not for the best of reasons). Just the same, it’s inspiring. Very Bluthian, actually. Despite all the trauma, it’s given worth of its own in that very last scene with Kiritsugu and his adopted son, Shirou, the protagonist of Stay Night, promising that things can be turned around for the better. That always gets me. From the very first time I watched it, I knew I had watched something incredible. An unduplicatable experience in the vein of finishing Harry Potter or Avatar: the Last Airbender.

It’s also something of a reset button where the anime adaptations of the Fate franchise are concerned. Somewhat ironically, the anime was produced so that the later adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel story routes from the visual novel would work as sequels. Sequels to the prequel, as it were.

Then there’s the bottom line. It’s just a damn good show. Beautiful animation, beautiful music, beautiful character writing. Of all of the adaptations, it’s the one that works best as a standalone as probably Fate fans are ever going to get, given the nature of the source material. And with it being so good, it also has considerable rewatch value, which means that those “twists” that get “spoiled” are worth watching in the same regard that anything that has a known twist going in it is still worth watching.

And that…is why Fate/Zero actually works as a prequel.

Keeping this link up!

Why Fate/Zero Works As A Prequel That's right! It's been far too long, and I need to do another discussion of, what remains to this day, my #1…