This is that series, you know, that series. That series that has a ton of pictures online, by pictures I mean it has Rin and Saber making out on a bed. Hawt. Then I realized that the anime/manga I knew nothing about started as a hentai game. Oh. That suddenly explains the pictures, but what the heck is the series actually about?
Creative Talent:
Writer/Artist: Dai Nishikawi
Translation: Lori Riser
Adaptation: Jake Forbes
What They Say
When he was little, high school student and amateur mechanic Shirou Emiya was adopted by a magus man. Now he wants nothing more than to follow in his stepfather's footsteps and become a hero of justice. Little does he know that a war is waging among some chosen magi, and that he is about to become its focal point.. The manga addition to the super-popular mulitmedia franchis has finally arrived!
The Review!
Packaging:
The front cover shows Saber in full armor holding a sword made of light. The sword is so long that it stretches onto the back of the manga and is the only image on the back cover. The book is a cloudy dark blue with the ToykoPop logo on the side and on the spine in silver. The first couple of pages are in color, showing the meeting between the main character (Emiya) and Saber.
Artwork:
Emiya is very good at pulling off the “oh shi-” look, that look all main characters get in anime when they’re tackled into a situation that they aren’t ready for. In Emiya’s case, this would be the situation where the tall dude with the very sharp weapon is trying to kill him. Despite the “oh shi-” look being a common phenomenon in anime, there’s something about Emiya’s facial expressions that makes me feel bad for him. Maybe it’s the wide, panicked look or the lines sketched under his eyes to show his fear when he’s about to be stabbed in the chest. The art also does a good job at illustrating the battles, though I’m a sucker for kick ass battles that take up two page spreads, especially when it’s a girl partaking in the battle and she‘s holding her own against a guy ten times her size. Go Saber!
Text/SFX:
One thing I don’t like about a manga, or any kind of story for that matter, is when it uses a random language smack-dab in the middle of it. You’re reading and suddenly the character says, “Arigato,” or, “Sayonara,” yet the character hasn’t spoken a bit of Japanese in the entire book. This happens in Fate/Stay Night. It’s not really that big of a deal, but its sort of a pet peeve of mine. The entire manga rarely uses any Japanese, it barely uses any honorifics, then suddenly a new character appears and calls Emiya “Onnichan.” It’s not that huge of a deal, but it just sort of came out of nowhere. I’m surprised there wasn’t a translations page for the small bit of Japanese that was used, though I guess this late in the anime/manga game its assumed that everyone knows what “onnichan” means? Besides that small complaint, the rest of the text flowed well with the story being in Emiya’s POV. I also liked the seven classes involved in the Holy Grail War being the names of the servants that the characters used; Rider, Saber, Lancer, Berserker, Archer, Caster, and Assassin.
Contents: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Emiya, oh Emiya, what rotten luck you have. You’ve lost everything you had in a fire and have vowed to become a hero who would help others, though it won‘t be as easy as fixing cables for your friends at school. Because Emiya, dear Emiya, you’re the main character of a hentai game/anime/manga, so that means that your life is going to be turned upside-down. Here’s a tip for the future: if you witness two supernatural looking guys in the middle of an intergalactic battle, run away, do not stand and watch because one of them will see you and he will try and kill you.
And this is how Fate/Stay Night starts.
After witnessing a battle he shouldn’t have seen, Emiya becomes the target to a man who seems intent on killing him. After being stabbed, Emiya has a flashback where he remembers being adopted by a man who says that he’s a Magus--insert important plot point to come here. Emiya gets up and is ready to battle the mysterious man, and the man addresses him as a Magus--don’t worry, the explanation will come soon. It’s a brave attempt, but Emiya isn’t quite a hero yet and is still the unfortunate boy who stumbled into something he shouldn’t have… so he loses, pretty badly. Before the man can kill him someone appears and protects him, a blond haired warrior decked out in full armor. The man is shocked and calls Emiya “the seventh servant”--explanation coming, I promise! The woman asks Emiya if he is her master because he has summoned her with his “command mantra” and they complete their contract.
Confused yet? Emiya certainly is.
But before he can get any explanations the woman goes off into battle. We learn that she is the Saber, the most outstanding of servant classes, and after the battle we learn about something called the Holy Grail war (no Monty Python jokes, please). In this war, seven masters use their servants to fight for the holy grail, an item that can grant any wish. Before we get any more explanation, someone else comes into battle and Saber fights again. Saber moves to kill the master but Emiya stops her, not convinced that running around and killing people in this battle royale is the right thing to do. When the smoke clears he sees that the master Saber almost killed is Rin, a classmate of his who he sort of has a crush on (like the rest of the male population of the school). After thanking him for saving her, we finally get some explanations as to what is going on.
Here’s the history lesson: only a magus can become a master, and the masters are fighting for the holy grail. The command mantra on Emiya’s hand is proof that he is a master, and it gives him the power to issue an absolute order that the servant must follow but it can only be used three times (this is how Saber didn’t kill Rin). The most interesting thing we learn in all of this is that servants are reincarnations of the souls of legendary heroes, and those reincarnations are divided into the seven classes of servants. After learning everything he needs to, Emiya goes with Rin to meet the moderator of the holy grail war. Emiya is set on declining his roll as master, but the moderator convinces him to partake in the war so he can be a hero and protect the innocent lives that have been getting mixed into the battle. Now a master, Emiya is quickly approached by another master who has the massive servant, Berserker, who is a rather psychotic reincarnation of Hercules. The volume ends with him trying to protect Saber and getting stabbed… again; Saber screaming in the background as he falls to the ground.
Comments:
Me thinks that Emiya likes sharp objects since he continues to run head first into them, I have a feeling that this will be a trend for him. Anyhow, thoughts on the manga. It took me a while to get into the story, but for the most part I was going blah blah blah because it felt so cliché. There’s a battle. There’s a prize at the end. It grants any wish. Everybody wants it. It’s Dragonball! No wait…
I kept reading because I have a soft spot for stories where the character is tossed into the situation, left standing there and wondering “what the french-toast” is going on. There’s no explanation until after the battle is won, or delayed, or whatever, but the explanation we got left me feeling a bit disappointed. This is it? Some people with some huge, powerful servants fighting for a grail? But what saved it, to me, was the moderator. One thing I absolutely love in a story is the belief that with every hero there has to be a villain. Batman needs a Joker and Superman needs a Lex Luther, otherwise, there would be no need for heroes. The moderator believes this too, and suckers Emiya into the war by telling him that a hero is needed to stop those with evil intentions from getting the grail, and he’s smirking the entire time. This made me finally believe that there is more to this story than some kids playing around with too much power, and there‘s still four more masters we have to meet. Something bigger is going to happen, but it’ll probably take some time to get there.
There’s also the fact that the servants are fantastically powerful. Something’s bound to happen that leads to that power going out of control. There’s too much emphasis on the command mantra, how the absolute command can only be used three times, and without the command mantra the servant cannot be controlled. Yeah… I’m pretty sure that at some point someone is going to lose control, and it won’t be pretty.
All and all, despite the sort of lackluster main plot of holy grail equals magical wish, the characters make this series worth looking into. And maybe now I can identify those action figures, key chains, and x-rated doujinshi I see at anime conventions.
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