On the 30th of January 2004, a visual novel titled Fate/stay night was released for Windows, marking the beginning of a cultural phenomenon that would redefine the visual novel genre. The story centers on Shirou Emiya, an orphaned teenager who survived a catastrophic fire in Fuyuki City as a child, an event that left him with a singular, unyielding desire to become a hero who saves everyone. This childhood trauma shaped his entire existence, driving him to train relentlessly in magecraft despite his meager natural abilities. When the Fifth Holy Grail War erupts, a deadly tournament where mages known as Masters summon historical heroes called Servants to fight to the death, Shirou is unwillingly thrust into the conflict. He is saved from death by Saber, a Servant who is the personification of King Arthur, and in doing so, he becomes a Master himself. The game's narrative structure is unique, offering three distinct routes that explore different facets of Shirou's character and ideals, each leading to a different outcome based on the player's choices. This branching narrative was a groundbreaking approach in the visual novel medium, allowing players to experience the story from multiple perspectives and understand the complexity of the protagonist's journey.
The Three Paths Of Fate
The first route, simply titled Fate, focuses on Shirou's bond with Saber, the Servant of the Saber class. In this storyline, Shirou's pacifist ideals are constantly challenged as he witnesses the brutal reality of the Holy Grail War. He discovers that his former friend, Shinji Matou, is a Master with the Servant Rider, and that Shinji plans to sacrifice all the students from their school to increase Rider's power. Shirou must drop his pacifism to protect his friends and defeat Shinji. The route culminates in a confrontation with the priest Kirei Kotomine and the Servant Gilgamesh. Shirou learns that the Holy Grail is cursed, having been used by his adoptive father, Kiritsugu Emiya, to destroy the Grail, which inadvertently caused the fire that killed Shirou's family. Realizing the Grail's corruption, Shirou and Saber reject its power, with Saber finally accepting her past and her life. In the Réalta Nua version, an overarching ending allows Shirou to fulfill his role as a heroic spirit to meet Saber in Avalon. The second route, Unlimited Blade Works, shifts the focus to Rin Tohsaka, a model student and idol at Shirou's school who is secretly a powerful mage. Her Servant, Archer, serves as the Servant protagonist of this route. The story explores Shirou's struggle with his own ideals as he confronts Archer, who is revealed to be an adult version of Shirou from an alternate universe. The route delves into the theme of struggling with oneself as an ideal, as Shirou must decide whether to follow his father's legacy or forge his own path. The third route, Heaven's Feel, introduces Sakura Matou, Shirou's childhood friend and Rin's long-lost sister. This route is the darkest and most emotionally complex, revealing that Sakura has been abused by her adoptive grandfather, Zouken, and infected with the shadow of Angra Mainyu, a corrupting force from the Fourth Holy Grail War. Shirou's decision to save Sakura, even at the cost of his ideals, marks a significant shift in his character. The route explores the friction between real and ideal, as Shirou must confront the consequences of his choices and the true nature of the Holy Grail. Each route offers a unique perspective on Shirou's journey, allowing players to experience the story from different angles and understand the depth of his character development.
The creation of Fate/stay night began in college when Kinoko Nasu first wrote the story, initially intending it to be a game but not a visual novel. The original draft featured a female protagonist and a male Saber, a concept that was later embodied in the short original video animation Fate/Prototype. Nasu set aside the project and went on to found Type-Moon with artist Takashi Takeuchi. After the success of their first visual novel Tsukihime in 2000, Type-Moon transitioned from a dōjin soft organization to a commercial one. Nasu and Takeuchi decided to turn the old Fate story into a visual novel as Type-Moon's first commercial product. In the beginning, Nasu was worried that because the main character was a girl, the story might not work as a bishōjo game. Artist Takeuchi suggested switching the protagonist's and Saber's genders to fit the game market. The novel Makai Tensho influenced Nasu to write a fantasy story in which famous heroic personalities from all over the world would take part. The original idea was limited to the prototype of the Fate arc, where the main characters were the female master and her Servant Saber (the embodiment of King Arthur as a man). According to Nasu, this version contained elements of 1980s romance and ideas of transformations to world order, while the final version focuses on changes within people and has other purposes for using the Holy Grail. About a third of the scenario of the future Fate arc (up to the battle with Sasaki Kojiro) was completed at that time, but for several personal reasons, Nasu could not write further for more than ten years. The first two-story arcs completed were Fate and Unlimited Blade Works; the latter was partially presented to the public in a preview booklet at Comiket in December 2001. Unlimited Blade Works was based on the idea of a character's confrontation with himself and his own ideals, something unrealized during the development of Tsukihime for the arc of Yumizuka Satsuki. In 2002, it was found that the content that was already written was nearly equal in length to Tsukihime, leading to proposals to divide the game into two parts. However, due to the high cost of releasing two products at once, the arcs of Illya and Sakura were partially combined, resulting in Heaven's Feel. Nasu originally thought of extending the Fate route involving an alternative Fifth Holy Grail War where Shirou fought alongside Saber without a romantic relationship developing between them. Following their separation, Shirou would bond with Rin in a similar way to the true ending of Unlimited Blade Works. The main theme in Fate/stay night is "conquering oneself". There are three storylines in the visual novel; each has a different theme. The first one, Fate, is the "oneself as an ideal." The second one, Unlimited Blade Works, is "struggling with oneself as an ideal." The third one, Heaven's Feel, is "the friction with real and ideal". According to Nasu, the main theme of the resulting Heaven's Feel arc was chosen to apply the protagonist's ideas in practice. This is in contrast it with Fate and Unlimited Blade Works, which paid most attention to the demonstration of Shirou's ideals. Nasu wanted to portray him as a typical teenager while artist Takashi Takeuchi did not want him to have too much individuality to make players project themselves onto him. In 2002, Takeuchi suggested Gen Urobuchi, a well-known author of Nitroplus visual novels, to connect to the preliminary scenario of the game, but Urobuchi ultimately refused. Afterward, Nasu decided that Fate/stay night would be the most significant work in his life, created by him from beginning to end.
From Page To Screen
The visual novel's success led to a multitude of adaptations across various media. The original anime series, produced by Studio Deen, aired between January 7 and the 17th of June 2006, containing 24 episodes. The storyline follows mainly the Fate route but shows parts of other scenarios. When the anime adaptation was in the planning stages at Studio Deen, they were planning an original story with Shielder, a heroine later used in Fate/Grand Order, as an important character, instead of adapting the events of the source material. It was produced by the Fate Project, and included Geneon Entertainment, TBS, CREi, Type Moon, and Frontier Works. Kenji Kawai composed the original music for the series. 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 USA also licensed the series for distribution across North America. The English dub was produced at Bang Zoom! Entertainment. On the 3rd of July 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation Entertainment announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America. While Geneon Entertainment retained the license, Funimation Entertainment assumed exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales, and distribution of select titles. Fate/stay night was one of several titles involved in the deal. Sentai Filmworks has since licensed the TV series and re-released the series on DVD and for the first time on Blu-ray Disc in January 2013. Fate/stay night started airing in North America on the Anime Network On Demand channel on the 7th of February 2013. The television series was re-released in Japan on the 22nd of January 2010, in two 60-minute special edition DVD/Blu-ray volumes to commemorate the release of the film Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works. Fate/stay night TV reproduction I and II each recap 12 episodes from the anime and feature re-edited and re-compiled footage along with new opening and ending animation footage, with new ending songs by Jyukai and Sachi Tainaka. The opening song "disillusion -2010-" is a re-recording of the "disillusion" theme song from the television series. An animated film based on the storyline of the Unlimited Blade Works route from the visual novel was released in Japanese theaters on the 23rd of January 2010, and produced by Studio Deen. The staff from the anime television series, including director Yūji Yamaguchi, returned to work on the film, with most of the voice cast reprising their roles. The film earned 280 million yen at the Japanese box office. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the Unlimited Blade Works film and released it on DVD and Blu-ray. As with the television series, the film was dubbed at Bang Zoom! The film has been shown on the Anime Network. Following an anime adaptation of the Fate/Zero novel series, which aired between October 2011 and June 2012, Ufotable produced a second Fate/stay night anime television series based on the Unlimited Blade Works route from the visual novel. The anime is directed by Takahiro Miura and the original Japanese voice cast from the Studio Deen Fate/stay night anime and the Fate/Zero anime reprise their roles in the new anime. The first half of the anime ran from October 4 to the 27th of December 2014, and the second half ran from April 4 to the 27th of June 2015. An advanced screening online premiered on the 28th of September 2014, in several countries across the world, including Japan, the United States, France, Germany, and South Korea. Aniplex of America has acquired streaming and home video rights to the 2014 series for North America, and has also announced an English dub of the first half of the series, which was released on DVD and limited Blu-ray on the 25th of August 2015. A ten-minute original video animation (OVA) episode was featured on the Blu-ray release of the second half of the series, which was released on the 7th of October 2015; the episode was based on an alternate ending from the visual novel, titled "sunny day". Ufotable also released a film trilogy based on the Heaven's Feel route, the first of which is titled Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel I. presage flower and was released in Japan on the 14th of October 2017, and in the United States in November and December 2017. The film was released again in the United States on June 5 and the 7th of June 2018, with an English dub. The second film, titled Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel II. lost butterfly was released in Japan on the 12th of January 2019. The third film, titled Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel III. spring song was released in Japan on the 15th of August 2020.
The Expanding Universe
The success of Fate/stay night spawned a vast media franchise, including numerous spin-offs and adaptations. A sequel visual novel, titled Fate/hollow ataraxia, was released on the 28th of October 2005, with its plot set half a year after the events of Fate/stay night and featuring new characters such as Avenger, Bazett Fraga McRemitz, and Caren Ortensia, alongside returning characters such as Shirō Emiya, Saber and Rin Tōsaka. A prequel light novel series titled Fate/Zero was published from 2006 to 2007, with an anime adaptation by Ufotable airing between October 2011 and June 2012. A spin-off magical girl manga series, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, began serialization in 2007, and has received several anime adaptations. Numerous spin-off video games have been released, including the fighting games Fate/tiger colosseum (2007), its sequel Fate/tiger colosseum Upper (2008), and Fate/unlimited codes (2008), as well as the RPG Fate/Extra (2010). A gacha game titled Fate/Grand Order was released for mobile platforms in 2015, which was a commercial success and has received anime adaptations by several studios. The franchise also includes a light novel titled Fate/Apocrypha, which revolves around a parallel universe in which the events of Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero never occurred due to the removal of the Holy Grail after the Third War, resulting in a different Holy Grail War. The first volume was released on the 29th of December 2012, and the fifth and final volume was released on the 30th of December 2014. An anime adaptation by A-1 Pictures was announced for July 2017 and aired from July to December 2017. Characters from the Fate/stay night series appear alongside other Type-Moon characters in the gag manga series Carnival Phantasm, released by Ichijinsha between July 2004 and 2005. An original video animation series produced by Lerche was released between the 12th of August 2011, and the 7th of July 2012. A spin-off manga series written by Hiroshi Hiroyama, titled Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace magazine from September 2007. Set in an alternate universe to the visual novels, the series follows the character Illyasviel von Einzbern as she becomes a magical girl. Several anime series and a film have been produced by Silver Link. Another spin-off, the slice of life and food-centric Today's Menu for the Emiya Family by TAa, has been serialized on Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace Up website since the 26th of January 2016, and has been collected in seven tankōbon volumes as of the 8th of October 2021. Set in an alternate universe where the Fifth Holy Grail War resolved with most of the characters surviving and later becoming friends and neighbors, it revolves around Shiro and other characters preparing various dishes for their friends and family. A thirteen-episode original net animation adaptation by Ufotable aired monthly from the 25th of January 2018, to the 1st of January 2019, and a video game was also released for the Nintendo Switch. An action role-playing game, titled Fate/Samurai Remnant, was released on the 28th of September 2023, for Windows, Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
The Legacy Of A Hero
Fate/stay night was a critical and commercial success, and is considered a defining work in the visual novel genre. When released on the 30th of January 2004, it rapidly became one of the most popular visual novels in history, securing the title of "highest selling visual novel" in 2004 of the adult game retailer Getchu.com. Readers of Dengeki G's Magazine ranked the game second in a list of "most interesting bishōjo games" in August 2007. The original PC version of the visual novel sold 400,000 copies. On the PlayStation 2, the 2007 release sold 184,558 and the 2009 re-release sold 21,937. On the PlayStation Vita, the game sold 58,157 in 2013, and 86,836 as of 2014. This adds up to total visual novel sales of 751,488 copies. The DVD and Blu-ray releases of the 2006 anime series sold units in Japan. In early 2007, the popularity of Fate/stay night and the anime Japanese voice actors led to the launch of the Fate/stay tune internet radio drama, featuring the voice talent of Kana Ueda (Rin) and Ayako Kawasumi (Saber). In 2011, the writers Chris Klug and Josiah Lebowitz in their book Interactive storytelling for video games praised Fate/stay night as a strong example of branching storylines and interactive storytelling, comparing its depth and complexity to that of a traditional novel. In 2019, the franchise took first place in the Comiket event. The spin-off Fate/Grand Order was also a commercial success, surpassing the gross revenue of the video game franchise Metal Gear in four years. , Fate/Grand Order grossed worldwide, making it the seventh highest-grossing mobile game of all time. Critics and scholars praised Shirou. Gamasutra regarded Shirou as an interesting protagonist due to his childish ideals of becoming a hero and continuing this goal while growing up. The site added that the player's in-game choices make Shirou's character arcs change dramatically and allow Nasu to convey a different aspect of his ideal. The novelist Shūsei Sakagami praised how the user can witness Shirou's "gradual change from a robot to becoming a human" through the three routes, developing distinctive traits in each one. In his analysis of the magical system and details of the personalities of the characters, Makoto Kuroda sees in the idea of Shirou to become a "champion of justice" a direct analogy with the traditional view of the life of bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism, seeking to save other people at the cost of their own efforts and suffering. In Kuroda's view, Buddhist concepts are opposed to the elements of faux-Christian ethics contained in the plot through the opposition of Shirou and Kirei Kotomine in the form of the main character's rejection of the interpretation of Angra Mainyu as a creature who accepted and manifests the sins of others in the name of salvation. The images of Rin, Saber, and Sakura received conflicting ratings. Thus, many reviewers recognized that the psychologically deepest arc is "Heaven's Feel," which is largely due to the sharp and versatile disclosure of the image of Sakura Matou, and her romantic line with Shirou is the most "adult" among all the heroines. According to Gen Urobouchi, the author of the Fate/Zero prequel, the relationship between the main character and Saber resembled the relationship "between a boy and a boy who became a girl" and more "corresponded to the ancient Greek understanding of love". The very image of Saber was considered by some reviewers to be "full of dignity and not falling into banality". According to some reviewers, Rin Tohsaka "emphasized a different opinion about the ideals of Shirou", and her romantic line looked "most realistic", where Rin and the main character "compensated for the shortcomings and increased the virtues of each other". Despite this, TYPE-MOON's Takashi Takeuchi maintained that in purview of the essential themes concerning the ideal and overcoming self, "the first story [the Fate route] is Fate itself for me." On the 30th of January 2024, Type-Moon announced Fate/stay night Remastered. It was published by Aniplex worldwide on the 8th of August 2024, for the Nintendo Switch and Windows via Steam with Japanese, English and Simplified Chinese language options. The remaster is based on the PS Vita version of Réalta Nua, and marks the first official release of the visual novel outside Japan.