#now I wanna rewatch Berserker Has To Buy Batteries

[cerastes]

Who are your favorite nasuverse characters?

MY MY, LET’S SEE, in no particular order:

Night of Wallachia/Zepia Eltnam Oberon (Melty Blood): The guy you could say really got me into saying “god damn dude, Nasu can write some solid concepts”. Aside from being my main in Meltan and my most trustworthy companion in those long nights at the parking lots, the explanation and lore behind his abilities is mind blowingly fascinating, and to elaborate on them between his use of what amount to “weaponized rumors” and malignant information modified to grant the wishes of the populace in an Asshole Genie-kind of way that invariably means “I suck all of their blood”, as well as his ultimately well intentioned beginnings before becoming a conceptual cancer of the world, would make this the Great Wall of China of text walls, so I maximally recommend checking his wiki page if you or anyone is interested. All in all, definitely what catapulted me to going into Fate, in a way, because if this relatively obscure game had concepts this cool, the popular franchise by the same guy has to have some game-changing shit (and it does).

Cursed Arm Hassan (Fate): I MEAN, ANYONE THat’s followed me for a couple of seconds has probably thought “god damn this dude loves himself some Hassan” and that is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Young Drimito would read about Hassan-i Sabbah as a wee lad, and he was utterly fascinated by this absolutely ridiculous individual whose superpower was basically “REALLY GOOD AT KILLING DUDES” but not in the traditional mythological way of just being Super Powerful and going Dynasty Warriors on armies, no, this dude was subtle, he was bold, but knew that, in the end, smart and resourceful fighting was obviously better than screaming at the top of your lungs and alerting the Entire Turkish Army of his presence. Then, what they did with Hassans in general in Fate is just outright fucking fascinating and appeals directly to my tastes, between the identity masks, how he is absolutely mild and by all means weak in Fate/Stay Night and [HEAVEN’S FEELS SPOILER] doesn’t lose a single fight during HF, despite being pitted against monsters like Artoria or Cu, and eventually his whole backstory actually being revealed in the Camelot chapter of FGO, I just love my uncle, man, I love my uncle and his noodle arm to pieces.

Medea (Fate): Bear with me, it’s not just about her having a really nice design. I am a huge mythos buff, but Greek mythos is one of my favorites, so seeing what they had to do with such an universally reviled villain was honestly great. Medea hits that mold where she’s not really a villain as much as she is an antagonist: She wants to win the war for her own goals, much like any of the other Servants. Yet, she more or less says her wish was already granted throughout the war, anyways, which was “a loving husband for once” all along, which she found in Kuzuki. Their team was honestly damn cool, and I’ll never forget how much I lost my shit when I read what basically amounted to “KUZUKI GRABBED SABER BY THE NECK AND FLUNG HER AT A NEARBY BUILDING” or when he was punching her in the back of the head from the front while she’s in the back pumping him full of buffs and no doubt pulling off the smuggest fucking face.

Kotomine Kirei (Fate): Now here’s one fascinating son of a bitch. Kirei is that character that, whenever he did something, I would go into deep contemplation, I would focus my chakras, decalcify my pineal gland, and open the 64 Gates in order to understand his labyrinth of a psyche. In the end, I realized that’s what makes him so utterly and freakishly unsettling and fascinating: He is not relatable in any way. He is the most unhuman human you could possibly conceive. His brain works in such logical and precise ways, and yet, in ways that absolutely alien to how the normal guy thinks. He is a Fuckhouse through and through. I dare say that Kirei is absolutely the backbone of Fate/Stay Night, like, you got a solid concept, you got a solid execution, what HAVE YOU, but no work goes Out There without some sort of exceptional aspect, the Money Shot element, if you will. Kirei, for me, is definitely the Money Shot of F/SN. It simply wouldn’t have been as good without him.

I think those four are a good approximation to “What I Love About Nasu’s Penwork”, but those are defo not my only favorites: Nursery Rhyme, Medusa (and by extension, Gorgon), Tiamat, Solomon, Waver, Iskandar, Fujimaru Ritsuka (male and female), Medb, Ilya (BOY I HATED Ilya at first and then she REALLY grew on me by the end of HF), Penthesilea, King Hassan, NOBU, Aoko, Sion, and Saint Martha I’d say are my favorites For Sure.