Fate/stay night

• 1. Origins And Development

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  On the 30th of January 2004, Type-Moon released Fate/stay night for Windows PCs. Kinoko Nasu first began writing the story while he was a college student. He did not originally intend to create a video game. The early drafts featured a female protagonist and a male version of Saber. Artist Takashi Takeuchi suggested switching the genders to fit the bishōjo market. This change allowed the project to become Type-Moon's first commercial product after their success with Tsukihime in 2000. Nasu set aside the project for several years before returning to it. He wrote about three thousand words of the scenario by 2001 but could not finish it due to personal reasons. The final version focused on changes within people rather than transformations to world order. An enhanced version called Réalta Nua arrived on the 19th of April 2007 for PlayStation 2. It replaced sexual content with alternate scenes and added an extended ending. A remastered version appeared worldwide on the 8th of August 2024 via Steam and Nintendo Switch.

• 2. The Three Heroic Routes

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  Saber stands atop a hill overlooking Fuyuki City as Shirou Emiya watches from below. She is the personification of King Arthur and serves as the Servant protagonist of the Fate route. Her identity remains secret until late in the story. Shirou drops his pacifism when he discovers Shinji Matou plans to sacrifice all students at their school. He learns that Saber cannot fight at full strength without exchanging Mana with her Master. During a confrontation with Illya and Berserker, Shirou has part of his magical circuits ripped out to create a connection to her. He later assists her by projecting one of Artoria's lost swords, Caliburn. In the True Ending, Shirou orders Saber to destroy the Grail so she can return to her last moments before dying. Rin Tohsaka appears as the second heroine in Unlimited Blade Works. She is a model student who hides her status as a mage behind a cold persona. Archer betrays Rin and reveals his true identity as an adult Shirou from an alternate universe. The two become allies unaware of this truth. Archer sacrifices himself to save Shirou while Gilgamesh tries to kill them both. Shirou accepts his future regardless of regrets and sticks to Kiritsugu's ideals. Sakura Matou enters as the third heroine in Heaven's Feel. She is a quiet girl who visits Shirou's home daily to help with chores. Zouken places a shard of the lesser grail inside her body, infecting her with Angra Mainyu. She becomes Dark Sakura and kills Shinji during an attempt to rape her. Shirou abandons his ideal to save Sakura despite Rin's objections. Rider returns to a cave to grab Shirou's soul after Illya sacrifices herself to destroy the Grail.

• 3. Adaptations Across Media

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  Studio Deen produced a 24-episode anime series that aired between January 7 and the 17th of June 2006. It primarily followed the Fate route but showed parts of other scenarios. Kenji Kawai composed the original music for the series. Geneon Entertainment licensed the series for distribution across North America. An animated film based on Unlimited Blade Works arrived in Japanese theaters on the 23rd of January 2010. Ufotable produced a second television series from the 4th of October 2014 to the 27th of June 2015. The first half ran until the 27th of December 2014 while the second half continued through the 27th of June 2015. A ten-minute OVA episode titled sunny day appeared on the Blu-ray release of the second half. Ufotable released a film trilogy adapting Heaven's Feel starting with presage flower on the 14th of October 2017. Lost butterfly followed on the 12th of January 2019 and spring song concluded the trilogy on the 15th of August 2020. Datto Nishiwaki serialized a manga adaptation in Kadokawa Shoten's Shōnen Ace magazine from February 2006 to December 2012. Taskohna began a second manga based entirely on Heaven's Feel in the 2nd of May 2015. Daisuke Moriyama started a third manga adaptation in the 25th of December 2021 for ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh magazine.

• 4. Commercial Success And Legacy

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  Fate/stay night secured the title of highest selling visual novel in 2004 according to adult game retailer Getchu.com. The original PC version sold 400,000 copies. The PlayStation 2 release of Réalta Nua sold 184,558 units while the 2009 re-release moved 21,937 copies. Total visual novel sales reached 751,488 copies across all platforms. Readers of Dengeki G's Magazine ranked the game second in a list of most interesting bishōjo games in August 2007. The spin-off Fate/Grand Order surpassed the gross revenue of Metal Gear in four years. It became the seventh highest-grossing mobile game of all time with worldwide earnings exceeding one billion dollars. Critics praised the branching storylines and interactive storytelling depth. Josiah Lebowitz and Chris Klug compared its complexity to that of a traditional novel in their 2011 book Interactive Storytelling for Video Games. On the 28th of October 2005 Type-Moon released a sequel titled Fate/hollow ataraxia set half a year after the main events.

• 5. Thematic Analysis Of Shirou Emiya

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  Shirou stands before Saber as she rejects the Holy Grail despite his desire to keep her in their world. His traumatic background involves losing his family in a massive fire in Fuyuki City five years prior. He was taken in by Kiritsugu Emiya who died five years ago from the start of the story. This perceived responsibility formed a strong desire for justice and peace within him. Makoto Kuroda sees Shirou's goal to become a champion of justice as an analogy with bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism. Shūsei Sakagami praised how users witness Shirou's gradual change from a robot to becoming a human through the three routes. Gamasutra regarded Shirou as interesting due to his childish ideals of becoming a hero while growing up. The player's choices make Shirou's character arcs change dramatically across each route. In Heaven's Feel he abandons his ideal to save Sakura despite Rin's objections. One reviewer noted that the darker narrative takes on horror genre elements when Sakura is treated differently due to her backstory. Tsunehiro Uno compared Shirou's trauma to survivors from September 11 attacks while showing different ways Japanese society handles such times. He views Shirou's change in each route as recovery from trauma and growth into independence.

• 6. World Building And Magic System

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  Saber draws power from the land itself as she fights alongside Shirou during the Fifth Holy Grail War. Participants fight using magecraft and Heroes summoned from throughout history. Servants are created to aid Masters who participate in the war. Each Master bonds with a specific Servant class like Saber, Archer, or Rider. Shinji Matou serves as a Master with Rider while Illya commands Berserker. The Holy Grail grants wishes but becomes cursed after Kiritsugu used it to destroy something in the past. This curse caused the fire where Shirou lost his family. Angra Mainyu resides within the lesser grail and infects those who touch it. Zouken places this shard inside Sakura making her Dark Sakura. Players can lose the game if Shirou dies or if a decision causes a heroine to be murdered. Taiga Fujimura and Illyasviel von Einzbern give hints about survival in these failure states. Magical circuits allow mages to exchange Mana with their Servants. Shirou projects one of Artoria's lost swords called Caliburn during combat. The system requires constant Mana transfer between Master and Servant to maintain full strength. Some characters like Rin pass Mana to others to replicate powers like Archer's.