is a Japanese adult visual novel game created by Type-Moon, which was originally released on January 30, 2004, for the PC. It has been adapted into an anime television series, which was animated by Studio Deen and aired between January 6, 2006, through June 16, 2006.
The official announcement and teaser trailer of the anime were
first shown at the
Rondo Robe 2005 "-Gate to Date-" event
in Japan on June 26, 2005, and a curtain-raiser DVD was released in
Japan during November 2005. An all-ages version of
Fate/stay
night, titled
Fate/stay night Réalta Nua, was
released for the
PlayStation 2 on
April 19, 2007, and features the
seiyū
from the anime series. The series has been adapted into a
manga series, which began serialization in the monthly
Shōnen Ace magazine.
The September issue of
Newtype announced that a film
adaptation was in production by
Studio
Deen. The film is scheduled for release on January 23,
2010.
Plot
Fate/stay night chronicles a two-week period in the life
of
Shirō Emiya, an amateur mechanic
who attends a school named Homurabara Gakuen in Fuyuki City. Ten
years ago, Shirō was caught in a massive fire that incinerated his
parents and consumed a large portion of the city; as he was dying,
an enigmatic man discovers and treats him. This man,
Kiritsugu Emiya, decides to adopt him,
though the two maintain a distant relationship because of
Kiritsugu's frequent departures from Fuyuki City. One moonlit
night, Kiritsugu and Shirō had a discussion outside of their home,
and Shirō discovers a fact about his father that Kiritsugu was
actually a mage.
Through their conversation, Shirō learns of his foster father's
failed life ambition to become a , a guardian of mankind who could
protect the weak and innocent. Touched by Kiritsugu's conviction,
Shirō affirms to his foster father that he intends to devote his
life to achieving that distant ideal, much to Kiritsugu's chagrin.
To do this, Shirō pleads with a begrudging Kiritsugu to teach him ;
but being born without the capabilities of a magus, Shirō proves to
be talentless in almost all the fundamental sorcerous
disciplines.
Kiritsugu warns his son that the life of a sorcerer is one that
leads to destruction, but if he is truly set on benefiting people,
he should apply his knowledge in secret and hone his craft in
private. After Kiritsugu dies, Shirō becomes frustrated with his
progress, feeling inadequate about his good deeds through sorcery
and is unsure of how to orient his future to contribute more.
Unknown to Shirō, Fuyuki City is the setting for a secret and
violent war among competing
magi. For the past
two centuries, seven sorcerers have gathered and engage in a Battle
Royale, each gambling his or her own life to obtain the
Holy Grail, a legendary chalice capable of
granting wishes. The past four Holy Grail Wars have typically
occurred every sixty years, with the most recent concluding a
decade ago, but the fifth war has started prematurely.
Each of the sorcerers, better known as
Masters, is aided
by one of the seven summoned spiritual familiars known as
Servants, who are the reincarnations of legendary souls
from all across time. These resurrected , possess superhuman
characteristics and wield powerful artifacts or abilities called .
A Noble Phantasm's hidden abilities may be released by invoking its
true name, but casual brandishing of a Noble Phantasm is best
avoided, for symbolic Noble Phantasms usually belie a Servant's
identity, diminishing that Servant's competitive advantage.
Specific legends may be summoned with the aid of catalysts, which
are artifacts, ideas, or experiences similar or of value to the
desired Servant. Only one Servant can be summoned in each war from
one of seven classes:
Saber,
Archer,
Lancer,
Berserker,
Rider,
Assassin, and
Caster.
As only astral entities (i.e. Servants) are physically capable of
retrieving the Holy Grail, Master and Servant are forced to
cooperate. Masters control Servants with three , which are
crystallized miracles issued by the Holy Grail that manifest on a
Master's body. When activated, Command Mantra permit a Servant to
accomplish an incredible feat, or alternatively provide Masters
with the authority to issue an irrevocable and absolute order to a
Servant. When all three Command Mantras are used up, Servants are
no longer obliged to serve their Masters, and as such, may freely
choose to turn upon their ex-partner. In the event of a Master's
demise, a Servant may choose to bind him or herself to another
Master; if a Servant is slain, a Master may ally with a wayward
Servant or pursue sanctuary with the Holy Grail War's impartial
supervisor, who is traditionally a delegate of the
Roman Catholic Church.
The Holy Grail materializes fully only when there is one Servant
left standing; therefore, it is not necessary to vanquish Masters
in order to win the war. However, as many Servants possess powerful
Noble Phantasms and are grueling to defeat, many participants have
chosen instead to eradicate Masters, who are responsible for
maintaining a Servant's presence through the supplication of
Mana.
After cleaning his school's
kyūdō
(archery)
dojo late one night, Shirō stumbles
upon two Servants,
Archer
and
Lancer, battling in the
school courtyard. To avoid compromising the war's secrecy, Lancer
hunts down and pierces Shirō's heart with a spear. For an unknown
reason, Shirō's classmate,
Rin
Tōsaka, uses an heirloom filled with concentrated magic, , to
resuscitate him. Shaken and dazed, Shirō returns home only to be
assaulted a second time by Lancer. Shirō weakly defends himself
against Lancer, but is soon overwhelmed by the powerful Servant's
attack, and is sent flying into his shed's storage room. Cornered,
Shirō prepares for the worst; but before Lancer can inflict another
fatal blow, a young woman outfitted in alabaster armor blocks
Lancer's spear. After driving Lancer away from Shiro, she
introduces herself as
Saber.
Characters
As with
Tsukihime, the character
base in
Fate/stay night is extremely comprehensive and
expansive, with characters possessing varied and extraordinary
abilities.
- :Shirō Emiya is the main character of the story. He is a
serious yet helpful, hardworking, and honest teenager. His hobbies
include fixing a variety of broken things, from VCRs to stoves, as
well as cooking and cleaning. He has some slight talent with
sorcery, though he was discouraged by his foster father Kiritsugu
Emiya from improving his gifts. He is initially confused about the
Holy Grail War and attempts to irrationally shield others from
danger, including his own Servant, Saber.
- :
- She is Shirō's Servant, an agile and powerful warrior. Loyal,
independent, and reserved, Saber acts coldly but is actually
suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. Her class is
considered the "Most Outstanding", with excellent ratings in all
categories. Since her Master cannot effectively provide her with
Mana, she minimizes her activity to preserve what she has. Saber is
frustrated by Shirō's "protective" tendencies, believing his
erratic and reckless behavior will jeopardize her chances of
winning the Holy Grail War.
- A model student and idol of Shirō's school who is secretly a
sorceress and Master in the Holy Grail War. She is a descendant
from a long line of sorcerers, and though she lacks a formal magic
education, she is extremely powerful in her own right. Her father
was killed in the fourth Holy Grail War, and she has trained since
his death to succeed him. She is perceptive, resourceful and avidly
competitive. She tried to summon a Saber-class Servant, but she
accidentally called Archer instead.
- :
- He is the Servant of one of the series' main heroines, Rin
Tōsaka. Due to an incomplete summon, he apparently has no memory of
his previous life or identity. Archer is sarcastic and cynical -
but under his hardened exterior lies a complex and dark personality
that unfolds throughout the story. Though skilled with ranged
weapons, he can hold his own in mêlée combat. Archer considers Shirō Emiya's idealism to be weak and
delusional, recognizing Shirō's mentality of "wanting to save
everyone" as naïve and impossible.
- :
- A
young Teutonic
aristocrat,
she traveled to Japan to participate in the Holy Grail War as a
Master. Illyasviel has an angelic
appearance and an unsurpassed degree of magical power. She lives in
a castle on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, accompanied only by her
Servant and two maids. Illyasviel asks those she feels comfortable
around to simply call her "Ilya".
- :
- The Servant of Ilya, who appears as a swarthy giant with adamantine skin and immense
strength. He wields a colossal stone Axe-Club, and is capable of
causing massive destruction with the mere backlash of his swings.
As a Berserker, he is stripped of his sanity and reason, acting
feral and animalistic in combat. Berserkers
are praised as members of the "Strongest" class, though they are
difficult to control and often turn on their Masters. Ilya appears
to have little trouble managing him.
- A student in her first year of high school, and the sister of
Shinji Matō. After Shirō's father Kiritsugu died, Sakura often
visited Shirō's home to help him with his daily chores. Though
Sakura is from a family of sorcerers, she asserts that she has no
knowledge of her family's craft or history. Sakura is outwardly shy
and timid, but possesses great inner strength. She has a long
standing and obvious crush on Shirō Emiya.
- Sakura Matō's older brother, and a long-time friend of Shirō.
Shinji is very popular as vice-captain of the archery dojo despite
being chauvinistic and narcissistic. Like Rin Tōsaka, he is of a
distinguished lineage of sorcerers, though the Matō blood has
thinned and no longer produces heirs naturally capable of sorcery.
Shinji feels uncomfortable with his sister's daily visits to
Shirō's home. He has an open crush on Rin, but she does not return
his favors.
- :
- The Servant of Shinji, first seen scouting around Homurabara
Gakuen. Rider is silent, sultry, and vigilant, never hesitating to
shield her Master from harm. With Shinji incapable of lending Mana
to her, she is forced to seek alternative means to augment her
abilities. To compensate for her weakness, Rider employs covert
battle tactics and takes full advantage of territory around her.
Her weapon of choice is a pair of long iron nails fastened to
opposite ends of a single chain, which she effectively thrusts from
distances.
Media
The popularity of the
Fate/stay night visual novel has
launched a media franchise consisting of a sequel,
spin-off, an anime adaptation, a light
novel, and a manga series. A film adaptation is currently in
production. In addition, various forms of
dōjinshi dedicated to characters or themes in
Fate/stay night have been created by fans, including
fanart, amateur manga, and fan-developed video games.
Video game
The
Fate/stay night franchise began as a
visual novel video
game created by
Type-Moon which
premiered in Japan on January 30, 2004. It was Type-Moon's first
commercial work, following their transition from a
dōjin soft visual novel group. An all-ages
version of
Fate/stay night, entitled
Fate/stay night
Réalta Nua, was released for the
PlayStation 2 on April 19, 2007.
Fate,
Unlimited Blade Works, and
Heaven's
Feel are the three branching
storylines found within the game. Each
diverge at certain points, and, depending upon player interaction,
will end in one of several possible ways. The
Fate
scenario features Saber as the main heroine. In
Unlimited Blade
Works, Rin Tōsaka is the main female lead but the storyline
focuses around her Servant, Archer.
Heaven's Feel expands
on the dark history of Sakura Matō. The plot of the anime series is
an amalgam of the three game scenarios, though it heavily favors
the events of
Fate over the other two.
On October 28, 2005, Type-Moon released a sequel to
Fate/stay
night, entitled
Fate/hollow ataraxia. Regarded more
as a fan disc and a side-story rather than a serious sequel, its
plot is set half a year after the events of
Fate/stay
night and features new characters such as
Avenger,
Bazett Fraga McRemitz, and
Caren Ortensia, alongside returning
characters such as Shirō Emiya and Rin Tōsaka.
At the 2008 AOU show in Japan,
Capcom in
conjunction with Cavia and Eighting debuted a fighting game based
on the franchise called
Fate/Unlimited Codes. The game was
released in the arcades and had an exclusive
PlayStation 2 release on December 18, 2008. A
pre-order version was also available which includes a limited
edition Saber Lily figure. Capcom will also release a
PlayStation Portable version titled
Fate/unlimited codes Portable on June 18, 2009. A North
American version (digital download only, not UMD) of this game was
released on September 3, 2009.
Light novel
On November 22, 2006, Type-Moon announced a new installment in the
Fate/stay night franchise, entitled
Fate/Zero.
Fate/Zero is a prequel to
Fate/stay night,
stressing the events of the 4th Holy Grail War and how its
consequences affected the 5th Holy Grail War. In contrast to
Fate/stay night,
Fate/Zero is a series of
light novels instead of a visual novel,
and will be told in a third person narrative that follows the
actions of multiple characters. The first volume was released on
December 12, 2006, and is a collaboration between Type-Moon and
fellow developer
Nitroplus. The second
volume was released on March 31, 2007. The third volume was
released on July 27, 2007. The fourth and final volume was released
on December 29, 2007, along with the
Fate/Zero Original Image
Soundtrack "Return to Zero".
Manga
The
Fate/stay night manga,
illustrated by Nishiwaki Datto, began serialization in the manga
magazine
Shōnen Ace,
published by
Kadokawa Shoten, on
December 26, 2005. It is an adaption of the
Fate/stay
night visual novel, rather than the anime. In contrast to the
anime, the manga focuses solely on the
Unlimited Blade
Works scenario of the game, and has refrained from pooling
story elements from the sister scenarios,
Fate or
Heaven's Feel. Ten
bound
volumes have been released in Japan.
Anime
The
Fate/stay night anime series
aired between January 6, 2006, and June 16, 2006, containing 24
episodes; the storyline follows mainly the Fate scenario but shows
parts of other scenarios as well.
It was animated by Studio Deen and produced by the Fate Project,
which included Geneon
Entertainment, TBS
, CREi, Type-Moon, and Frontier Works Inc.
The series
later received its international television premieres on the anime
television network Animax in 2007, its
English-language television premiere occurring on Animax's English
networks in Southeast Asia in June as
well as its other networks in South Korea, Hong Kong
and other regions. Geneon also licensed the
series for distribution across North America. On July 3, 2008,
Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment announced an
agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While
Geneon Entertainment still retains the license, Funimation
Entertainment assumes exclusive rights to the manufacturing,
marketing, sales and distribution of select titles.
Fate/stay
night was one of several titles involved in the deal.
The anime is an adaptation of the
Fate/stay night visual
novel, featuring content from all of the available scenarios in the
original game's release. The general direction of the anime borrows
heavily from the
Fate scenario, with select segments from
Unlimited Blade Works included as filler while only a
couple nods are given toward the
Heaven's Feel option.
Elements from
Fate/hollow ataraxia not directly impacting
the plot were included, but sparingly.
Kenji
Kawai composed the original music for the series and also
remixed four symphonic themes from the
Fate/stay night
visual novel for use in the anime: "Hizashi No Naka De" (not
featured on the original anime soundtrack, but on the out tracks
album "LA SOLA"), "Yakusoku Sareta Shouri No Tsurugi", "Emiya", and
"This Illusion", the latter of which was retitled
"disillusion".
Film
An animated film based on the storyline of the
Unlimited Blade
Works route from the visual novel is in production by
Studio Deen, and is slated for release
throughout Japanese theaters on January 23, 2010. The staff from
the anime television series, including director Yuki Yamaguchi,
return to work on the film, and most of the voice cast reprise
their roles.
Music
There is a soundtrack to the game, called
Fate/Stay Night
Original Sound Track. There is also an arranged soundtrack of
the game music, entitled
Avalon - Fate/Stay Night. It is
arranged by WAVE and
K. JUNO and features two English arranged versions of
"This Illusion" titled "Illusion/Vision" and "Illusion/Fate". The
anime original soundtrack was arranged and composed by
Kenji Kawai. In addition, there are image albums
Wish and
WHITE AVALON as well as various remix
albums
Fate another score,
Fate/extended play,
and
Emiya #0.There are also numerous fanmade arrangements:
Exodus: Fake/ever since,
Iriya 51,
Broken
Phantasm,
fragments, and
17 Division.
Aside from Fate/stay night, the other games in the series have
their own soundtracks. There is a
Fate/tiger coliseum OST
and an imaged sound track for Fate/zero entitled
Return to
Zero.
Game themes
| Title |
Composition and Arrangement |
Lyrics |
Performance |
Type |
| "THIS ILLUSION" |
NUMBER201 |
Keita Haga |
M.H. |
Opening theme |
| "days" |
NUMBER201 |
Keita Haga |
CHINO |
Ending theme |
| "Ougon no Kagayaki" |
NUMBER201 |
Keita Haga |
MAKI |
Opening theme (Réalta Nua) |
Anime themes
| Title |
Composition |
Arrangement |
Lyrics |
Performance |
Single Release Date |
Type |
"disillusion"
(episodes 1-14) |
NUMBER201 |
Kenji Kawai |
Keita Haga |
Sachi Tainaka |
February 22, 2006 |
Opening theme |
| (episodes 15-23) |
KATE |
Sogawa Tomoji, NUMBER201 |
Keita Haga |
Sachi Tainaka |
May 31, 2006 |
Opening theme |
| (episodes 1-13,15-23) |
|
|
|
Jyukai |
March 15, 2006 |
Ending theme |
(episode 14) |
|
|
|
Jyukai |
|
Ending theme |
(episode 24) |
Sachi Tainaka |
Kaneko Takahiro |
Sachi Tainaka |
Sachi Tainaka |
February 7, 2007 |
Ending theme |
Reception
When released on January 30, 2004,
Fate/stay night rapidly
became one of the most popular visual novels in history, securing
the title of "highest selling visual novel" in 2004. A "fan disk"
sequel,
Fate/hollow
ataraxia, was released on October 28, 2005, which became
one of the top selling visual novels of 2005. The popularity of the
visual novel lead to the formation of the "Fate Project", which in
cooperation with Geneon Japan and Studio Deen produced a
twenty-four episode anime series based on the original story in
2006. During that same year, a PS2 port for
Fate/stay
night entitled
Fate/stay night[Réalta Nua] was
scheduled for a Fall/Winter release, but was pushed back to 2007.
A prequel
known as Fate/Zero was produced through a collaboration
with fellow visual novel company Nitroplus, which could be obtained
prior to the official release date at Comiket
2006.
In early 2007, the popularity of
Fate/stay night and the
anime
seiyū lead to the launch of the
Fate/stay tune internet radio drama, featuring the voice
talent of
Kana Ueda and
Ayako Kawasumi. Another project elaborating
on
Fate/stay night canon has been planned, but as is the
case with
Fate/Zero, Type-Moon itself will have little, if
any, direct involvement.
References
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