She’ll make a man of him yet

Heaven’s Feel was immensely rewarding for me but was the darkest instalment of the visual novel as a whole. That said, even the most disconcerting moments were relevant to the plot and were important in drawing attention to the plight of the central character. Sakura always stayed in the background in the earlier routes, serving little purpose other than to cook meals and blush a lot but this route is the point where she has chance to shine; it really shook up everything I thought I knew up to that point about some of the supporting cast too.

That recurring theme of free will crops up again, this time asking if a weak and cowardly individual deserves to escape blame if his or her negative personality traits are rooted in events beyond their control. As much as I wish Sakura could have grown a backbone earlier, I suspect the abuse she suffered at the hands of the Matous had long since robbed her of the ability to do so. As I twittered recently the sight of dismembered body parts and the fluids within don’t bother me; I find the implications, rather than the depictions, of torture and abuse far more unsettling. There isn’t enough detail provided for me to decide when exactly she could have stopped beating herself up and retaliated instead, but then I don’t want to know the details anyway. All I know is, Sakura is a victim and that makes her deserving of sympathy.

If the Fate route offered an introduction to the worldview and how the Holy Grail War operates, the Unlimited Blade Works route put the male lead’s rationale into perspective. Heaven’s Feel however weaves a completely new story thread, casting a lot of characters and events in a different light in the process (e.g. Sakura’s true heritage and the heartbreaking yet awe-inspiring appearance of Dark Saber), and throws pretty much everything Shirou stands for in Fate and UBW out the window. The first two routes explain his desire to be a superhero and how his philosophy is both flawed and admirable but Heaven’s Feel pulls the rug from under him: by the end I saw his old way of thinking to be naïve and immature in comparison.

“The Force is strong in this one…”

He only really took the superhero malarky upon himself out of guilt for surviving the last war and out of admiration for the man who saved his life: it’s all fine to look up to your parent(s) and aspire to be like them as a child, but what about living your life for yourself later on? Kuritsugu may have approved of Shirou’s promise to follow in his footsteps at the time but he never implanted his adoptive son with a magic crest, nor did he train him fully either. Is it possible he wanted Shirou to be distanced from the constraints that bound him to the Holy Grail War? After all, Rin in contrast was so closely tied to that duty that she felt she needed to go as far as killing her own sister, thinking like a magus first and a human second.

Shirou on the other hand was prepared to throw away an admirable ideal and follow what looks like a more selfish desire at first glance, but doing so I think requires a peculiar kind of courage in itself. Yes, it involves greater sacrifices and potentially makes matters worse but the honest foolhardiness of it makes it all the more heroic somehow. I guess deep down the idea of risking your very life for the one you love is undeniably stupid but at the same time utterly awesome in my eyes. Call me an old-fashioned romantic beneath the layers of tsunderisms and cynicism, but there you go.

Shirou’s only justification for this is that he made a promise to protect her because he feels partly responsible for her current situation, and is prepared to take the flak if he fails. It’s not that he doesn’t care about anyone else – as soon as you make decisions in the game that would be out of character for him you hit a Bad or Dead End – but the simple, single-minded fact that the life of the woman he loves is in danger is what pushes him to lose his mind, body and soul; if that sort of resolve isn’t heroic, I don’t know what is.

An over-amorous Sakura is fine too: domestic bliss is heartwarming, regardless of the sauce. You have to admit the outfit suits her though

I don’t think even he knew at the time what the said flak entailed, but for me this resolve fits in with all that archery jargon we were exposed to early on. It was an example of the interconnected symbolism that the game was so fond of throwing at you, this time drawing parallels between the mindset of the sport and Shirou’s own way of looking at the world. Making a decision like those he did, relying on one’s own judgement and physical abilities, is very much like archery as the prose of the VN describes it. You weigh up the variables, aim for the target and after a certain point of no return the course of the arrow is beyond you control. Saving Sakura, and preparing himself for watching the course of the arrow – the arrow of fate I guess – is a nice foreshadowing of the type of Archer he’d become. Or maybe I’m putting two and two together to make five.

Taking a step back from the over-analysis

I thought the character designs were excellent overall and enjoyed the presentation as a whole more than I expected – could this be the game that gets this non-gamer into video games? The use of semi-static images (as in, stills that give the impression of movement by sweeps, zooms and pans) was wonderfully effective, especially in portraying the kinetic nature of the fight scenes. And damn, they didn’t skimp on the details either! During these moments the game’s sadistic streak was less exploitation and more awesome, which sat better with me. The exposition was overdone at points though and the, how should I say, clumsy and awkward descriptions in the H-scenes are something I’m still undecided on. As an aside I kinda forgot to install the vocal patch but selecting my own BGM from my laptop’s archive of Einaudi, Mogwai and My Bloody Valentine did the job just fine (I also used the extended hours of gameplay to remind myself how much I love Pearl Jam and Muse).

At this point I feel the need to soften the blow of all that angst with comic chibi goodness for some reason

The short OP movies, which must have led many people to scream “You HAVE to make an anime out of this now!” at the time of the VN’s intial release, featured This Illusion, a great electronica-based vocal effort that sounded like a collaboration between Yuki Kajiura and Joe Hisaishi or something. As far as I can tell neither were involved but I thought it was fantastic all the same, especially in cheezburger flavour. Enjoy!

In Closing and Acknowledgements

As a sort of emotional defence against seeing characters I grew sentimentally attached to suffer, I started to pay more attention to the way that the F/S N story plays around with the historical side of things. The very mention of the Holy Grail had me quoting Monty Python at the screen, Sakura’s transformation made me realise that Indiana Jones had it easy and Saber’s true identity is still, for me, one of the coolest plot devices in recent memory. Certainly, I now see the legend involving Guinevere and Lancelot in a whole new way: a shoujo-ai love triangle? In MY folklore? Makes me proud to be British for a change!

So, what’s next? I’m still experiencing the dazed feeling that comes after experiencing a powerful and well-written story but I have vague memories of the Tsukihime anime being atmospheric and intriguing (not to mention being greatly amused by the fanboy raeg that it spawned) so it looks like I’ll have to somehow track down a copy of the VN that inspired it. @Owen: I’ll be in touch about it. @IKnight, the other guy whose opinions of F/S N got me this far, this one’s for you. ^_^

Epic foreshadowing? You betcha

Shirou’s relationship with Saber is played down to give his screentime with Rin room to breathe but at the same time there’s the all-important explanation of Archer’s origins that gave this route its true impact and makes the story focus on Shirou’s fight more than Saber’s. It goes without saying that what’s coming up is as spoilerific as hell so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

There was a bit of chemistry between Shirou and Rin bubbling away under the surface all along but it’s surprising how these things can either come to nothing or become a major driving force in what follows, depending on how the protagonist (who is to a certain degree, thanks to the interactivity and first-person perspective of a VN, you) reacts to it. I found the progress of the relationship to be very convincing actually: Shirou earns Rin’s respect and ultimately her affection by showing selflessness and compassion. Basically, he wins her heart simply by being a nice guy and cooperating with her.

As an aside, Lancer was pretty cool in this route

There is of course a limit to how selfless one can be before it gets out of hand, which is where Archer’s backstory comes in. Here’s the rub: this cynical and damaged individual was originally the pure-hearted one whose moral code is so uncompromisingly different that the two of them cannot get along when they meet face to face. It is hard-hitting because whatever caused the change must’ve been pretty fundamental.

The root of Shirou’s fall from grace is the insurmountable rift between who he wants to be and what causality makes him. This is because the criteria for a superhero – a saviour of the innocent and a force for good – are not the same as those of a servant of the Holy Grail War. Servants work under greater constraints that severely limit what good can be done because they are bound by an objective which may not overlap with the individual’s own ideals. Shirou became a servant to continue his quest before discovering that the reality was not what he signed up for, and that realisation broke him.

The young Shirou is heroic, literally to a fault. He doesn’t save everyone – how can he? – but he accepts this fact and puts others first every time regardless. Shirou became a twisted character because he failed to see that in order to continue doing so he had to save himself first. Rin’s role in this storyline is as pivotal as Shirou’s was in Arturia’s rediscovery of her humanity: Rin understands how Shirou’s selflessness caused him so much pain that he grew self-hating and self-destructive.

I know the exposition is a bit repetitive at times but rest assured it’s all in a good cause

It’s easy to hate Archer but cleverly it’s also possible to understand why he thinks this way. The harsh truth is that being a hero is a lonely place: you are head and shoulders above everyone else and as a result you are likely to be misunderstood because other people see the results of your actions rather than your motives. While following logic and Doing The Right Thing is the most efficient way to achieve your aims, we are still governed, and judged, by emotion.

Arturia knew this all too well. She knew it was right to sacrifice a village to save a kingdom, but the altruistic desire to be a hero first requires sentimentality in order to progress to the position where unsentimental objective thought is needed; good souls must accept that making an omelette requires eggs to be broken. Because of that, she was seen as cruel and heartless in later life, even though it was her sensitivity and kindness that put her on that path. She was betrayed by those who failed to understand her; Shirou’s older self was betrayed too.

Archer sets out to kill his younger self because he feels it’s the only way he can atone for what he believes are wrongdoings but in the event he does something even more productive: he warns his younger self that the path of complete selflessness causes more problems than it solves, and offers the possibility of breaking the cycle. Shirou has to remember to do what he thinks is right without regrets and learn to look after himself, if only to prevent himself becoming burned-out and disenchanted later on; a more favourable outcome which may be attained by staying by Rin’s side. The final moment between Rin and Archer certainly hammers this home and wraps the issue up neatly into the bargain.

There are two endings to this route, which give slightly different outcomes but surprisingly I didn’t find one to be significantly more satisfying than the other: both involve a Rin End but one sees Saber disappear while in the other she remains as a Servant. I found the Disappearing Saber type of conclusion, like that of the Fate route only with added Rin this time, to be bittersweet but fitting; oddly I didn’t mind the scenario in which she stayed either. In that sense the happy ending stands up quite well to the supposed True End, but that’s clouded by an inexplicable sentimental attachment I have for Saber’s character. Fortunately though both address the beef I had with Shirou’s well-intentioned yet flawed philosophy.

“..into the uncertain divine/we scream into the last divide…”

I wasn’t as fascinated by Saber in the TV show but when the events are geared towards portraying events from her and Shirou’s point of view I had a much clearer picture of her circumstances and personality so felt for her predicament much more keenly. While Rin is the tsundere character (not a bad thing I might add!), Saber is I think someone even more interesting, with a imaginatively-realised backstory that I can’t help but admire on so many levels.

The the idea that masters are deliberately paired with servants who share similar characteristics is introduced very early on, which makes perfect sense if they’re to work as a team in combat: Rin and Archer are both laconic, practical, good at long-range fighting and planning ahead for instance. The link goes much, much further than this though where Shirou and Saber are concerned.

The reversed knight in shining armour and the damsel in distress setup was great, although I must admit Shirou’s desire to put himself in the firing line grated on me and Saber was quite understandably insulted by his (albeit misunderstood) reluctance to let her fulfil her purpose. As we see the flashbacks and lines of spoken dialogue though we learn why Shirou is so angsty and prone to self-sacrifice, and why Saber is equally stoic. The presentation of the emotional baggage was really well done actually, and gives the heartstrings some pretty hefty tugs. Then of course there’s the issue of Saber’s true identity…*grins*

The thing is, seeing someone who has suffered so much rediscover their humanity is wonderfully heartwarming: through the little misunderstandings and meaningful moments Saber gradually comes to realise what she’s lost and what’s important to her. It’s like watching someone learn to walk again, and I guess from her point of view it’s just as difficult. Shaking off a lifetime’s worth of having a certain destiny drummed into your head is no small feat, and this is fundamentally what the Fate route boils down to: where duty and destiny ends, understanding what we can decide for ourselves and what we must accept, and how detrimental it is to slip into self-deception.

“You make me real/strong as I feel…”

Clarke’s Second Law states that the only way to discover the limits of the possible is to venture into the impossible: you have to truly push yourself to know your limits. In a set of conversations that I’ve been assured are extremely significant Archer explains to Shirou that his self-abasement is as absurd as it is counter-productive, and that he is better off concentrating about what he is able to do for Saber as opposed to beating himself up over what he cannot do. It’s stating the bleeding obvious for those who find this aspect of his character irritating, but his adding of a more productive slant to over-zealous gallantry has a significant part to play in Saber resolving her own issues.

Like the Rin/Archer double-act Saber and Shirou compliment each other so perfectly, even without taking the sword-and-sheath revelation near the end into account. Shirou’s realisation of his role and knowledge of his strengths and weaknesses helps Saber come to understand her own and make peace with herself; both are their own worst enemies, and so sweetly similar for that.

“It meant the world to hold a bruising faith/but now it’s just a matter of grace…”

While I’m on the subject of togetherness I suppose I ought to give my opinion on the hentai scenes. It seems to be a damn good story with eroge elements mixed in so I very much doubt that anyone would pick this up purely for the sauce. There are only two sexually explicit chapters in the entire Fate route, although equally this excludes it from the under-aged by going into such anatomical detail.

I’m comfortable with it when it’s in context, however. The first scene in question seemed pretty gratuitous and felt out of place; the second scene on the other hand was in a more natural setting, felt relevant to the narrative as a whole and provided a milestone in the characters’ relationship. In addition to indulging in intercourse out of necessity (‘exchanging magical energy’ LOL), they were doing it for each other’s sakes too; finding personal reasons and desires within the sense of duty. Hentai not just rationalised but…romantic? Yep, just about.

The moments of ordinary romantic tension did the job just fine too: the gradual shift in dynamic between the two of them was immensely rewarding, not least because Saber’s back-story meant she was crying out for a little bit of happiness. Only when she met Shirou was she granted the wish she deserved to have in her own lifetime: that of being seen as a human being and finding peace. I still think it was a calculated decision to make a story about moral dilemmas and examinations of what can be decided for oneself into a branching narrative; her story also demonstrates how some things cannot be undone. But then, maybe some things shouldn’t, or needn’t, be undone at all.

“Don’t mind me. I’m just playing…I mean reading…that is I’m, um, oh sod it.”

Like the duck-billed platypus, which looks like less of a supporting argument for the theory of evolution and more a product of a supreme being with a wicked sense of humour, the visual novel is an unlikely mixture of varied components. It has the text and semi-static images you’d expect from a light or graphic novel, but has an interactive element that’s akin to a simplified version of a computer game. This blend of disparate media types in turn has some interesting effects on the way you experience its style of storytelling; the logic behind it is certainly easier to explain than that of a little furry bugger that still goes to the trouble of laying eggs.

There’s a similarity between VNs and those old Choose Your Own Adventure books that sent the reader to different pages depending on the choices they made. I personally couldn’t stand them because I quickly wound up eaten by bears or zapped by aliens; in VN-speak this is the typical Bad End. It does however offer a powerful aspect of the VN’s appeal: the branching narrative.

I wrote recently about how the gameplay of the original Chaos;Head VN allegedly offers frequent choices between a dark and gory plotline or a light and fluffy one in addition the default preset. I’d also like to play the Clannad VN at some point because the side-stories that get only a few episodes or less in the anime intrigued me; as a matter of fact the Tomoyo After chapter was my favourite moment of the series so far and is something I could quite happily sit through for longer. If you want to be cynical about it, giving a number of different endings in a romance show is catering for fanboys and fangirls of more than one or two characters, which makes pretty good marketing sense. In C;H‘s case though it uses the branching narrative approach to give a split personality-type feel that fits in with the theme of the story itself.

As far as I know the VN format has yet to be put to eductional use, unless you count dating sims as demonstrations of social etiquette or something

I must admit that if I were able to have some sort of control over the tone and pacing of the C;H anime it would have been a more rewarding experience; another big plus with a VN is that if the viewer/reader/player isn’t a hardcore bookworm but is familiar with anime, manga and gaming they can basically have a novel-like experience, in the anime style AND guide the story how they see fit. This interactivity was the biggest surprise for me since I could immerse myself in the story thanks to the first-person perspective and actually *think* about the protagonist’s motivations and what the consequences of their actions would be. “What would [insert character name] do?”

I’m taking the Fate route of the Fate/Stay Night VN literally a day at a time to move along at a steady clip while working around my daily routine. An hour or so of light reading, with a bit of Einaudi or Depeche in the background is a great way to explore avenues of the story that the anime could not; perhaps I should’ve left the adaptation for afterwards but to be honest I prefer to discover new facets of the characters’ personalities and follow new events rather than lament on familiar material that appears to be missing. Either way it’s a prime example of a story that works marvellously in the VN format.

By day #7 or thereabouts we have a pretty firm handle on how the characters are fulfilling roles determined by past events or lineage, and how certain individuals are motivated by doing the right thing or rectifying (as yet unspecified) past actions. It’s ironic, really, that in a situation in which a character has been forced onto a course of action either by themselves or the influence of others it’s up to you to decide where their story goes. Is this approach a commentary on choosing your own path, or is it a more technically-determined result of interconnected storylines working better with the branching plotline?

There’s a new game we like to play, you see/a game with added reality

The reason why I’m asking is that the writer(s) of Minori, Type Moon or Key didn’t initially publish their stories in print or sell them to a television studio. They made them into interactive e-books where the plot can fly off into one of several directions, with Bad Ends keeping you on your toes about why the characters do what they do (the only hint about F/S N I can give at this stage is that selfish, cowardly and out-of-character behaviour on the part of the lead gives a Bad End that makes you glad you saved your progress first).

In the case of F/S N it’s all about inheriting something that the characters cannot escape due to inherited issues and the emotional ties they make for themselves, then presenting the story with frequent “So, what would you do here, smart arse?” when things get a bit tense. It also offers a more thorough and in-depth study of events, thoughts and feelings which enriches the world and brings the characters more to life. But my thoughts on that will have to come later.

I had already joined my good friend and generous host in catching up on Xam’d and Kurozuka then we sat through the first disc of Planetes too, which incidentally left me really impressed. He also suggested the first few eps of the Fate/Stay Night anime and since Owen had been recommending the visual novel to me in recent weeks I thought “Why the hell not?” and poured myself another glass of cider.

At this point in the evening we were sitting back with a few drinks, planning our upcoming trip to Tokyo later this year and generally having a laugh. The occasionally NSFW joke-laden commentary on what we were watching was turning us into an older and more well-educated, if inebriated, British equivalent of Beavis and Butt-head. Whether it was the relaxed atmosphere because of the alcohol or the communal viewing I don’t know, but whatever the reason F/S N was surprisingly enjoyable. In fact we marathoned the whole lot in one sitting.

I found this to be fairly similar to Shakugan no Shana in some ways although the protagonist knows of the unique situation that his special abilities have placed him in right from the outset. If nothing else it provides a premise that doesn’t merely begin with “[insert character name here] is an average high school student…”: while the likes of Shana, Evangelion and Escaflowne work wonderfully by introducing a seemingly ordinary individual and throwing them headlong into an extraordinary situation and revealing their true 1337 SKILLZ with a huge-ass robot or magical powers afterwards, it’s an over-used concept that wears on me these days.

F/S N‘s central characters in contrast already know of their personal circumstances and responsibilities to varying degrees. Shirou and Rin share an innate sense of duty regarding the use and significance of sorcery and at the start of the series are shown going about everyday lives while trying to keep their thoughts to themselves. It’s as much of a burden as it is a blessing for them but they have a stoic attitude of doing what they can and remembering who they are in the bigger picture.

I do believe Shirou is more ballsy than many viewers seem to give him credit for however: he’s driven by the old champion of justice thing which he follows to the point of foolhardiness. At a number of junctures he’s putting himself into harm’s way – sometimes protecting his servant when the very nature of their working relationship dictates that it’s an absurd and illogical move – in the name of doing the right thing. I mustn’t run away? Hell, the very thought of making it to safety never occured to me. The trouble is that people are supposed to, y’know, die when they’re killed and stuff.

A military doctor once quipped that soldiers should be awarded for cowerdice in the field, not valour. I take that to mean that there’s a fine line between bravery and all-out stupidity, which extends to falling off the mortal coil in the line of fire and necessitating someone else to revive you. Shirou’s reluctance to place Saber in what he deems to be unecessary danger is interesting in a romantic subplot sense but I never grasped quite why Rin felt the need to come to his aid so often.

Pierce the wall of text with black hair ribbons!

Maybe Rin’s concern for him is supposed to be obvious but it added a bit of mystique to the character I think of as the other lead, and as such was probably my favourite of the bunch. Her fortitude and tenacity endeared her to me from the get-go…or perhaps it was just the way she did her hair. Either way I found her at least as likable as Shirou or Saber, and much more interesting than the rather generic Sakura. Her pairing with Archer had a great dynamic too: they’re a pairing of stubborn and in many ways very similar personalities, which worked really well on screen.

The sheer number of female characters here had me worried that this would turn into a harem type of show though: the young-at-heart schoolteacher, the subservient childhood friend and the hilariously implausible way in which Shirou manages to introduce Saber into his household with few questions asked didn’t bode well. Fortunately the sheer stage presence (for want of a better word) of Saber and Rin more than made up for this, plus the back-stories and connections that were either revealed towards the end or merely alluded to.

*SPOILERS*

Saber’s true identity for instance was a great plot development, which is a textbook example of what I’d use in arguing that F/S N had a great story and a staggering amount of characterisation behind it. This show goes as far as its own rewrite of Arthurian legend by suggesting that the man himself, well, wasn’t; whether this also implies that the thing with Lancelot and Guinevere was history’s first example of a shoujo ai love triangle I wouldn’t even hazard a guess. One scene in which Saber screams “EXCALIBUR!” unintentionally had me in stitches, by the way; I cannot believe a crossover with Soul Eater hasn’t popped up already.

*END SPOILERS*

In closing

It was generic at points and needless to say my memories were a bit fuzzy later on but the sheer volume of characterisation and storyline that couldn’t be explained properly in the anime adaptation has left me with only one course of action to take. *takes a deep breath* I’m going to take on my first visual novel.