It’s no more an eroge than Tsukihime and F/S N are if I’m honest. I would’ve thought the story-to-smut ratio would have to be lower for it to qualify since, like those Type Moon forays into the genre, Katawa Shoujo involves a lot of reading to get to the H-scenes so it’s plot-driven before anything else; outside of fiction written for a young audience, characters end up in bed together every now and then in many romantic drama stories anyway.

Thinking about how it approaches the themes it addresses, it’s less of ‘a story about disabled people’ and more ‘a story about people who happen to have disabilities’. The distinction is a subtle yet important one. It goes hand-in-hand with the idea of the storytelling being respectful and tasteful; I don’t think KS is intended to be an exercise in challenging people’s perceptions of the disabled in society per se. The problems and challenges that the characters face are not their respective disabilities: they’re connected, but are nevertheless separate.

Each affected character has overcome the obvious problem, but where KS gets interesting is in its portrayal of the knock-on effects. The core messages of this VN for me then were “look beyond the obvious” and of course “this is a story about people, not their disabilities.” Once I understood those facts of the writing, I was able to really appreciate what it sets out to do.

On my first read-through I ended up reading Emi’s route. It was in retrospect a good one to start on because it was relatively uplifting and comedic, and as a character Emi is likeable into the bargain. There were dark undercurrents later on but it set a nice direction for me in showing a character who has overcome her challenges, and in being by her side Hisao is able to move forward in life.

My favourite route overall though was Hanako’s, although it was somewhat darker and more tense in tone. It was for me the most well-written, mainly because the characterisation and the way Hisao brings her out of her shell were so cathartic and satisfying. It also subverted the common trope of ‘rescuing’ the girl from the situation she was in (by pure chance, a recent comment on my rather old post about the Heaven’s Feel route of F/S N reinforced my thoughts on this).

You’d expect Hanako’s route to get to know her and consistently help her…except, if you go too far into ‘knight in shining armour’ territory you hit the Bad End. Paying attention to the hints from Lilly and old Mutou-sensei though, you realise that the school is a means for preparing the students for the outside world so the pity of others is not helpful to them at all. Simply put, the only way to save Hanako is to give her the means to save herself.

I found this to be not only a clever bit of writing in terms of gameplay mechanics, but a realistic and true-to-life portrayal of the problems encountered by people affected by such things. Haruki Murakami references and character design aside (again, in another case of the “look beyond the obvious” mantra, she’s actually very pretty), I loved Hanako’s story: it goes on to use the H-scene as a plot device in an unusual way and delivers a Good End that is…just read it. It’s great.

Rin’s route was a bit of an odd one because unusually it’s not really about getting to know and understand the heroine…as a matter of fact, Rin doesn’t understand herself either. To make matters even more complicated, the decision points were very challenging so despite the emotional payoff I didn’t enjoy it as much in the conventional sense: I was unable to mentally work backwards through her background to get a grasp of why she’s the way she is, so the full force of the storytelling was a bit lost on me.

No story is perfect, especially when the narrative is branching and each component branch has a different writer; Shizune’s route for me highlighted how some are bound to be weaker than others. As a character she’s pleasant enough; I know there are fans of her character type out there even though I’m not one of them, but the issues I had were more to do with the character *development*, inconsistent pacing and relative lack of decision points.

In contrast, Lilly’s route was…pleasant is the best way to describe it. Again, I was fortunate in my choice of reading order because it had a warm, serene vibe and the final act actually felt more ‘final’ than any of the others. There was the additional benefit of the other heroines featuring prominently too: an issue I often have with multi-path stories is a difficulty adjusting to the shifted focus in each. I couldn’t start a route on the same day as finishing the previous one, for example, due to my sentimental attachment to the characters but when Lilly’s route features Hanako and even includes a lunchtime scene with her, Emi and Rin as well as Lilly I didn’t feel as though I was ignoring them.

Although it’s a closing thought, mentioning the hero at this point is actually rather appropriate; the protagonist of first-person perspective VNs is usually a tabula rasa figure in order for the reader to project his or her own thoughts and points of view onto him, but in this case Hisao has a backstory of his own and often the story is as much about him overcoming his issues as it is the heroines overcoming theirs. It adds to the interactive nature of the story in that we see Hisao help the heroine of each route, but at the same time the relationship benefits him as well. It’s a time for Hisao to mend his broken heart, in more ways than one.

VNs translated into English aren’t exactly commonplace, and in terms of subject matter I daresay KS is unique. I’m tempted to call it an experiment in open-source teamwork, and a successful one at that, but I’d be selling it as short as I would be if I were to call it “that 4chan dating sim about the disabled girls.” It’s not perfect – perhaps because of the voluntary and amateur nature of its creators or simply because no work of fiction ever is – but as a piece of storytelling it’s still impressive.

Maybe 4LS were mistaken in keeping a title that needlessly throws up extra preconceptions, or maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference; I don’t know. The VN format isn’t for everyone of course, and KS embraces certain tropes and aesthetics of the Japanese medium that inspired it so it’s not really intended for the mass market anyway. For the record, I found the experience of reading it very rewarding indeed, and my gratitude goes out to the people who helped to bring it to completion.

Final notes

I wrote some short-ish commentary on each route as I went along, in the order that I read them in. They go into a bit more detail than I did here and I’d only be repeating myself if I were to do a long copypasta, so here are the links in case you’re interested.

• Emi’s route
• Hanako’s route
• Shizune’s route
• Rin’s route
• Lilly’s route

After all, it’s effectively fourteen years in the making so what’s a couple of months’ delay in the grand scheme of things? This is for me the ‘missing link’ that fills out a large part of the background that I’ve wondered about for so long; it’ll go right back to early lives of the Aozaki sisters, specifically concentrating on Aoko. She’s so far been given little coverage in the Type Moon works: she made an appearance during the opening scenes of Tsukihime but apart from that, we fans know precious little about her.

I’m having to do a bit of speculation here: we already know there was a serious falling-out between Aoko and Touko at some point, with the end result of the former inheriting the family’s name and the latter ending up studying in London. It’ll be interesting to see if this is also the time when Aoko upsets her sister by stealing those glasses for Shiki Tohno too, because that would tie up another loose end that’s been dangling in front of our noses for the longest time.

What I’m particularly looking forward to is seeing how the two Aozakis differ in terms of personality, and how this dynamic affects whatever the story intends to tell us. Touko has always struck me as the shrewd, businesslike and practical sort but the beginning of Tsukihime presents Aoko as more caring and sentimental; I suspect they’re quite different in character if not appearance, and sibling rivalry will inevitably rear its head. This is also a story of their formative years, i.e. before they are fully trained as mages, so it’ll be pretty unpredictable but hopefully quite fun into the bargain.

Interestingly, the artwork is drawn by Hirokazu Koyama rather than Takashi Takeuchi. The promo graphics I’ve seen so far look great though, so if Nasu’s writing is up to its usual standard I reckon we shouldn’t have anything to worry about. Besides, Koyama has been a key member of the group for many years so it’s fair to say he’s experienced enough for the task.

TM’s success so far has I think now given them (or their financial backers) the confidence to not make an ero game. Quite frankly I welcome this; partly because the H-scenes in Tsukhime and F/S N were by and large gratuitous, but also because it’ll make the marketing foreign language editions easier…should anyone be kind or courageous enough to consider it. If the Rakkyo movies proved anything it’s the fact that enticing fans in with gratuitous sauce isn’t necessary when the storyline, artwork and characterisation are strong enough to hold their own.

Although it doesn’t feature explicit sexual content, the writing is still unlikely to be geared towards a young and/or squeamish audience. Nasu has never pulled punches in giving the fans an unflinching experience of the world in his head, which often ventures into dark territory and views events from unusual perspectives. The combination of non-linear narratives, moral questioning and the liberal use of supernatural violence has proved to be a winning formula so far so I’d be surprised if the familiar themes and concepts aren’t present here too.

I know it’s extremely unlikely but I’d love to see a 100% legal English-translated edition of this. It has the potential to win over new fans by introducing the nasuverse without the association with the eroge genre, it will throw the reader into the timeline near the very beginning and hopefully, for existing fans, the storyline may even make us see the stories and characters we already know and love in a slightly different light.

And judging by the weather lately, winter doesn’t feel all that far away, does it?

This won’t be the best Narcissu article around so I do at least apologise for that. Its subject matter, approach and underlying messages are quite unusual so I suspect a definitive judgement on my part wouldn’t be particularly valuable anyway. So, yeah…bear that in mind when I recommend it (it’s free and completely legal to download, after all) and you later read it for yourself and think, “hey, I thought you said it was good…” Needless to say there are spoilers after the jump.

I’m going out on a bit of a limb here in saying that my overall impression of Narcissu isn’t that of an altogether downbeat tale. It’s a simple and straightforward one from a narrative standpoint, but there’s enough under the surface to prevent me summing it up as simply happy or sad. The premise is depressing on its own but what makes it special is the the rest of the story, the symbolism used and the light it casts the events in.

The main arc is a road-trip kind of affair, which makes it very linear and lacks the decision points that many VNs have. I wonder if it was a deliberate artistic decision to depict events and experiences constrained by inevitability through a medium that normally offers numerous ways out or alternative ends; what is more likely was a desire on the part of the writer to accompany a light and quickly-readable text with static pictures.

The image of Setsumi, as immortalised in countless soft-focus watercolour-style pieces of artwork such as the one above, makes it all too easy to dwell on the tragedy of Narcissu‘s story in a young life cut tragically short. The ‘neutral’ portrayal of her character is possibly one area in which I can say objectively that the writing works well: she isn’t heroic or unlikable, courageous or cowardly. She’s ordinary but reduced to a state of muted resignation, as any average person her age would be if they were terminally ill.

The same can be said of the protagonist too. He’s a bit of a blank slate personality-wise – which is advantageous in the VN format really – but doesn’t behave wildly outside the boundaries of what a typical reader would expect him to. Not that it’s easy to imagine being in a situation like theirs, but that is perhaps one of the aims of the work in the first place. How the hell would I react to something like this? Not as stoically or matter-of-factly as these two would, I suspect. That’s a criticism of my own weakness rather than a criticism of a well-thought-out story, by the way.

The reason why I find this to be a partly upbeat tale is that ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ are very subjective indeed. Narcissu‘s theme of imminent death is a stark example of this; please bear with me if what I’m saying now is stating the obvious because it’s something that I think is easy, and understandable, to overlook. The way in which humans view and react to experiences is peculiar in that a terminally ill person on a good day can be happier than a healthy person on a bad day. It’s a strange fact of life, but it’s also the reason why, for me, this story is so poignant.

The relative nature of happy and sad experiences means that a simple road trip to look at flowers, something that’s barely worth a mention in typical slice-of-life storytelling, is anything but trivial in this case. Faced with a choice between dying at home or dying in hospital, the protagonists take it upon themselves to make their own decision in choosing neither.

This is where the story goes into social commentary, which is where I can’t provide anything more than personal opinion based on my own conjecture. If Japanese hospitals are exactly as is portrayed here (I’ll let the plot holes go because any errors are as minor as they are irrelevant), it poses interesting questions in regards to palliative care. In this story, two people have to steal a car and go on the run just in order to live out what’s left of their lives; that in itself is saddening to me because their families, friends and doctors for whatever reason showed insufficient understanding.

The writer certainly seems to have some things to say about the Japanese medical system and its society’s attitude to terminal illness, but because my medical/scientific and philosophical/religious backgrounds are UK-based I really can’t say if these criticisms are valid or not. If for the sake of argument the course of treatment in cases like this is indeed as it is in this novel, I’d say there are a lot of things that need to be discussed and addressed.

I do still get an impression that the ending was a partly upbeat one though. It’s a given that the ending could never have been a happy-ever-after type so what the characters are able to achieve within this cruelly constrictive life is what matters. Setsumi’s final scene cannot be viewed without a significant feeling of sadness…and yet, it’s what she wanted, isn’t it? Even in a makeshift swimsuit on a cold January day the irrefutable fact is that, against the odds, she’s there.

I wasn’t surprised at having a lump in my throat by the end; I was surprised however that the tears shed were not wholly those of sadness. I felt sorry for Setsumi because her aspirations were reduced to something so simple, but I felt happy for her in that she did at least realise them. In her final moments, she was happy. It’s not much, but it’s everything to her.

Similarly what she leaves behind isn’t a great deal at first glance but considering how isolated both she and the protagonist feel it’s significant in that she leaves him with some memories that nobody else is likely to have and, quite frankly, he ended up knowing her better than anyone else did. Most importantly, each in his or her own way chooses a path that isn’t dictated by others – a decision like theirs then takes on infinitely greater significance. The writer had this to say:

No matter what it is that you felt, as long as you felt *something*…

That which you felt is, for your part, the *all* of this piece.

My conclusion is that it succeeds in that I got this message very clearly. It could be argued that the whole thing is pointless because it’s a simple little journey and because She Dies At The End. But for me its modest aims are mirrored in the modest ambitions of its characters: the narrative, and its subjects, draw meaning from something that could have been meaningless and devoid of hope. I cannot stress enough, however, that this is what I personally took from it.

Disarmed me with a smile

There’s also an avenue which left me a little frustrated: Yumizuka was another fascinating character who, in my opinion at least, is crying out for a side-story of her own. Whether the rumoured re-release of Tsukihime will resolve that I don’t know; it certainly continued to give a ‘one rewrite away from brilliance’ feeling because the emotional clout of the story was stretched too thin: after all those replays I found myself wondering if I was able to care about all of them enough. Forgive me then if this post very much about Akiha.

Hisui is, I suppose, deliberately written in as quiet and reserved but I don’t really have much to say about her; my e-PostIt notes from that time don’t help much, either. Like Ciel’s route Hisui’s was more rewarding on the exposition front than the characterisation one but I guess she’s so intrinsically linked to Kohaku that the two blurred together in my head a bit (I rectified a similar mistake I made in the previous post so I hope it’s now factually accurate). Kohaku’s route is a lot darker and tragic, which makes the contrast of her cheerful personality all the more hard-hitting but still takes second place here.

A rare moment of lulz in the Tohno household

Yumizuka could, after a merging of the Hisui and Kohaku routes and a relegation of Ciel into supporting character, make a fully-fledged story thread on her own: there’s this wonderful dilemma of what to do with a close friend who has been turned into a vampire. I recall a similar situation in the BBC series Being Human in which a character is faced with the choice of killing someone he knows when she is turned; after taking pity on her and ending her life, the vampire’s flatmate looks aghast. “I thought you were going to save her life!” he yells. To which the vampire replies, “I did.” There’s a veritable moral goldmine there I think.

At the end of it all though, Akiha was THE heroine of the Far Side of Tsukihime for me. That aura of hers is hard to explain: perhaps it’s the image of her as the Childhood Friend, waiting patiently for years and enduring who knows what until her soulmate returns to her; or it’s the fact that, on a non-romantic level, she shows Shiki the sisterly loyalty, knowing full well that his origins lie in a rival family. I can see where the groundwork for Heaven’s Feel in Fate/Stay Night came from in that the whole basis for the characters’ relationship uses false appearances in a very similar, and similarly effective, way.

Why are they more alluring when classically trained?

My fanboying respect for Akiha’s character was in no small part due to my recent viewing of the sixth instalment of Kara no Kyoukai: if the premise of Sakura Matou’s story was inspired by Akiha’s, the blueprint for Akiha’s own personality lies with Azaka Kokutou. Aside from the similarities in character design between the respective couples, both girls share a similar ability in manipulating heat; Akiha can use her hair as a weapon while Azaka honed a skill of ignition through what I’m guessing is her own magic circuit. There’s also the issue of…well, whatever the female equivalent of a siscon is called. Fortunately in Akiha’s case it’s not really an inappropriate attraction since it turns out they’re related by adoption rather than by blood so once I re-adjusted my view on their relationship accordingly, I couldn’t not respect her.

I’ve taken on the subject of the tsundere archetype a number of times but feel I’m able to justify my personal favourites with genuine reasons. For Akiha then it’s all down to her making a conscious effort to hide her affections and keep Shiki out of harm’s way; the sense of love held at arm’s length is what makes their dynamic so compelling and makes the moments where she fusses and worries over him all the more endearing.

Interestingly the difference in ending to her route depended on a decision concerning Shiki’s self-sacrifice for Akiha’s sake; personally I preferred the True Ending. Not just because I’m old-fashioned in those romantic gesture things, but also because it suited Akiha’s dignified persona better to have her survive unscathed and waiting for Shiki’s return. The image of a zombie-fied Akiha does a personality of her calibre a disservice I think.

“Squee!” moments in the Nasuverse seem to hit me when the woman is holding a deadly weapon. A coincidence, honest

Even without the decision that leads to her route’s True ending Akiha lost her brother not once, but twice. That I think is the real insult to injury and why I felt so sorry for her: in addition she finds herself as the heir to the household and carries all the responsibility that the role requires. She throws herself into it wholeheartedly but taking a step back it’s actually a combination of family duty coupled with a desire to keep her adoptive brother safe and prevent him being tainted by the Tohno curse that has affected her and the ‘true’ Shiki. Akiha sacrifices so much and puts so much pressure on herself, but not for her own ends.

Just for future reference in case any of you are making more cross-franchise connections, I really appreciated the little background details that tied in with Kara no Kyoukai. The Nanaya family are in fact one of several that include the houses of Ryougi and Fujyou, the latter cropping up in the first movie as the antagonist. The mage who is able to help Shiki with the old Stringy Vision is of course none other than Aoko Aozaki, sister of Touko; I’d love to experience the Mahoutsukai no Yoru story between those two.

My cup runneth over/like blood from a stone

Ciel’s part in the piece however is an example of the issue I had with Tsukihime‘s sprawling structure – perhaps the reason why it’s being given the re-release treatment sometime in the future is because the current version feels one re-write away from the level of quality that Fate/Stay Night spoiled me with. In my opinion Arcueid is a fantastic heroine for the story but Ciel was better suited to a prominent supporting role; the Arcueid part of the route had a much more convincing chemistry between the heroine and protagonist while the Ciel aspect was more rewarding in the exposition department.

Part of Saber’s appeal in Fate/Stay Night is that of a character who is stronger, faster and more intelligent than the protagonist she’s paired with; in the same way Arcueid has the enhanced physical and mental attributes of a centuries-old vampire princess and, like F/S N‘s main heroine, is effectively immortal. This makes for a character you can’t help but look up to but again there’s an added factor thrown into the mix: as in Saber’s case, circumstances dictate that this immortal heroine is dependent on the mere mortal male lead to fulfil her purpose, like the old favourite plot device of a female character who requires the quintessential promise of protection. Is there some sort of ‘immortality moe’…immoetality at work here?

There’s certainly a fascinating blend of fiery independence and cute vulnerability here, although it also falls back on the idea explored by Ann Rice in her Vampire Chronicles in posing the question, “What happens when vampires feel human emotions?” Granted, Arcueid was born a vampire so had no prior experience of life as a mortal to draw from but it’s always fascinating to see humanity and vampiric nature existing side-by-side in a personality such as hers.

Not quite human, but near enough

Similarly, what made Coppola’s adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel interesting for me was how his humanity – the tortured soul who still remembers his lost love throughout the centuries – was emphasised more than it was in the novel. Gary Oldman’s performance makes you feel for a character who, in the original text, was more of a heartless monster; similarly we’re shown here someone who is supposed to be a creature of folklore, but shows human qualities too. She was born for the sole purpose of killing other vampires – her own kind in many ways – but when ‘off duty’ she’s comically, and endearingly, human.

Another interesting issue is that of the imagery used in Tsukihime: that of the Moon especially. In the recent Epic Darker Than Black Rewatch Owen and Hige reminded me of a moment in that show in which someone describes moonlight as symbolic of atonement. Even if it’s merely an idea invented for that series as I suspect it is (googling for anecdotes to back this up yielded a lot about the Moon in Japanese cultural tradition but no hints on this particular one), it reminded me how so many characters in the Tsukihime story are trying to repent for something.

Both Arcueid and Ciel are victims of others’ obsession with immortality but feel that they should make amends for this. Ciel was plucked from an ordinary life by Roa to be transformed into a being who is neither normal nor one of the Immortal realm: not even the Church really know what to do with her, so she spends the time killing vampires (allowing the Church to keep its hands clean in the process) and using all manner of ESP-derived mind control to fabricate a normality among those she meets in which to live when she is not at work. Like Arcueid, Ciel struck me as a rather lonely character who had never really grown to be comfortable with who she was and as a result tried to justify her existence through an activity that became her raison d’être: killing monsters without a second thought or shred of remorse, and never making any long-term bonds with those around her.

So close, yet just out of reach…

Arcueid’s life, for want of a better word, was also ruined by Roa so her role of True Ancestor was governed by exacting revenge on him, caught in a cycle of elimination that never ends because he is an enemy she can never defeat. Rather than clinical elimination this fight is perpetuated by a personal motive; an effort that is ultimately futile but she does it anyway. I suspect she feels somehow responsible for her current situation, even though she was the victim of a deception. It’s a repetition that never ends.

Finally Shiki is also motivated by repentance: he kills Arcueid for reasons unknown (at least, unknown until you learn the background in the Far Side route, but more on that next time) and as a result he feels a moral obligation to help her. Killing her once made her vulnerable so he stays by her by way of apology and make amends for his ‘mistake’ until she recovers.

Nrvnsqr: true evil that denies the usage of vowels

What’s interesting here is that although these three individuals see themselves as in a position where they feel the need to let themselves suffer, they are victims of factors outside their control or field of knowledge. Ciel was chosen by Roa as a vessel without her consent; Arcueid was tricked by him to betray the True Ancestors to forward his own agenda; Shiki kills Arcueid unconsciously but makes a conscious decision to help her succeed in her mission, no matter how much danger it places him in.

A final point that wraps things up nicely if you’re a Nasuverse fanboy as I am is how it ties in with F/S N‘s terminology in terms of magic circuits, mages and so on. The two stories are not directly related plot- or character-wise but the recurrence of the jargon, not to mention familiarity in character types and themes addressed, makes it easier to get into, whichever NV you happen to play first.

I recently dug out and rewatched my old copy of the first disc of the Lunar Legend Tsukihime TV show and although I now know all its background and hence its failings, on reflection it’s still not a complete loss. I hope the There Is No Tsukihime Anime joke is old news now but should anyone feel the need to dig up that old fossil I do offer the choice of whether you want me to use the knife or needles on you, at no extra charge. There IS a Tsukihime anime but it’s a very different, and less well-fed, beast. The creature of the night that spawned it however comes highly recommended.

Experiencing it after its spiritual follow-up, Fate/Stay Night, was for me like listening to Loveless then picking up Isn’t Anything afterwards: the signature elements are there but are less polished and cohesive but with the added bonus of seeing the ideas in their embryonic form, in glorious 20/20 hindsight. Indeed, Tsukihime features themes and devices that weren’t carried as far and it doesn’t appear to have nearly as much cash thrown at it either but, like the MBV efforts, that doesn’t get in the way of what really matters.

Aesthetically Tsukihime is rougher around the edges than F/S N and doesn’t have as many pans and zooms across the screen which does lessen the impact a bit, but not by much. VNs are after all less reliant on moving images, which I guess is one of the benefits the anime has; there was no soundtrack to the edition I have either, although there are occasionally sound effects (which kinda annoyed me anyway). There’s greater difficulty in whipping up an atmosphere in this format which I suppose is the main reason why I still quite like the anime: while the storyline is a mess it has atmosphere in spades. In the VN’s case I was actually impressed with how Nasu and Takeuchi can play to the strengths of a more interactive but less kinetic form of presentation.

Even though it has a lo-fi, home-cooked appearance (photographs instead of background art!) I still can’t find fault in Takeuchi’s character designs, which are universally excellent. The drawing is sketchier but the poses and facial expressions are every bit as emotive as those of F/S N so once you take on board the fact that this was a literally amateur project I can’t hold its doujin origins against it. The small but very effective nuances in the sprites, especially when displayed sequentially in a fashion that’s as close to animation as the VN gets, really highlight this.

It’s still thought of as an eroge which I agree with reluctantly when, for each route, there is about as much sexual content as your average movie or TV show that has the token bedroom scene and carries a 18 certificate or equivalent; however you look at it though there are H-scenes and they don’t skimp on the detail either. As opposed to certain moments in F/S N I didn’t think the sexual content on the whole was as neatly integrated into the rest of the narrative; not something that should be a major issue given the primary function of the sauce, but even so I preferred them to have more context in the story as a whole.

For instance, I thought the second H-scene of Saber’s route and its equivalents in Heaven’s Feel felt less gratuitous than many of those in Tsukihime in that they had more relevance: they literally consummated the characters’ relationships and came across as being more integral to the plot progression and less forced-in for fan service reasons. Again, the VN format is an ideal situation for this sort of thing because of the first-person perspective; not an excuse for including it I know, but credit where credit’s due and all that.

Overall it is less focused in its storytelling than F/S N was, which is perhaps because there are more heroines to choose from: two main routes, each with more than one heroine. It has a more sprawling structure than three defined routes and there are one or two characters who felt a bit under-used while one or two others would have served a better purpose to the story in supporting roles too, but I’ll leave for the follow-up posts.

An analogy for the two VNs’ relationship that may mean more to you than late 80s/early 90s post-pop albums is thinking about how Fate/Stay Night is the spiritual successor to Tsukihime as the movie Pan’s Labyrinth is to The Devil’s Backbone. In both cases the sequel is superior in most aspects but it still owes much to its predecessor (not to mention the fact that I again watched the ‘sequel’ first). While the events of the pairs of films/VNs are not directly connected chronologically nor feature the same characters, the setting (the Spanish civil war of the 1930s and the Nasuverse, respectively) and issues addressed are the same. Themes are either approached from a slightly different angle or revisited, or the writer has taken an idea and run with it a bit further in his second project.

Incidentally I think Guillermo del Toro and Kinoko Nasu would actually get along quite well, language barriers aside, if they were to meet: both have a penchant for gothic-tinged supernatural horror and write thematically dark stories concerning morality, the loss of innocence and philosophical musings concerning life and death. Anyway. There is plenty of common ground between Nasu’s VN efforts and, indeed, Kara no Kyoukai too, in a lot of areas but in all honesty I’ve blasted through the thousand word barrier already. There will be more to come. WILL CONTINUE.

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.