I didn’t forget this! Summer just keeps you busy! The bi-weekly booty is Rin Tohsaka from Unlimited Blade Works!
Bi-Weekly Booty: Rin Tohsaka from Unlimited Blade Works!
Tag: Unlimited Blade Works
Re-Dive: Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works: Rock Solid, Four Times Strong.
I’ve talked about this series before, and I’ll probably do it again. There are probably only a handful of anime that you watch in your life that become regular re-watches, that are in your view, absolutely rock solid in what they are. We all have them, or will get them in time. The show we are discussing today is one of mine. After the cut let’s take a re-dive into Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works
Check out my thoughts on Shirou and Rin’s relationship right here!
Tune of the Week(ish): Unlimited Blade Work’s Ring your Bell
I’ve made it no secret that not only do I love Unlimited Blade Works, but that it is one of my favorite series of all time. It’s absolutely something I want to revisit sometime in the future, and one of those reasons is the music. Despite disbanding, Kalafina was just as essential to the works of Type-Moon and Fate/Stay Night as Aimer has. The Tune of the Week is the second ending theme to the Unlimited Blade Works: Ring your Bell by Kalafina!
Fate/Stay Night’s Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka: Friendship Made, Love Forged.
When it comes to anime couples, there is no one higher on my list than the two people we are talking about today. From the moment I started watching Unlimited Blade Works I knew that these two characters were a special match, and in the years follow, through the other stories and beyond, it still remains the best one done. I won’t beat around the bush. Join me after the cut as we take a character dive into the relationship of the two main leads of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works: Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka
Tune of the Week(ish): Fate Stay Night’s Brave Shine
Hey guys
No more words. This is probably one of the best opening themes of all time. The tune of the week is Brave Shine by Aimer!
Fatevember: Fate Stay Night’s Rin Tohsaka: The Tsundere with the Iron Will.
When it comes to anime, there is no greater stock archetype than the Tsundere. If you aren’t aware of what that means, the Tsundere is a type of (usually) female character who presents herself as cold, stand-offish and prone to anger, but behind her mask is a kind, warm and loving person. In terms of romance, they will often be dismissive and hostile to their love interest, but deep down harbor deep and loving affection towards them.
Simply put, if you have ever heard a variation of the phrase: “It’s not like I like you or anything” then you are probably seeing some type of Tsundere.
A fair criticism of the Fate Franchise is that most of its main cast are just stock archetypes and that despite being affected by the story, they don’t really do much to set them apart from the vast sea of other anime males and females. Shirou is the plucky young hero, Sakura is the quiet shy girl, Saber is the strong and duty-bound fighter and so forth. All of these traits have been done in other, possibly better animes. Now while I would argue that Fate does try to wrap these characters with depth and complex emotional stories, I must admit that after watching every single piece of Fate media there is, the cast of Fate Stay Night still feel very…basic.
Now I would argue, as I have done in the past with this years’ How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord, that basic can be good, even great. Sometimes just playing within your limits and doing what you know can lead to some truly great work. As I once heard: “You can eat all the caviar you want, but sometimes you just need ham and eggs.” I think Fate Stay Night succeeds in part because it doesn’t try to veer too much outside its comfort zone. Yet from within that zone, they can create wonderfully memorable characters and that is no clearer than with who we are talking about today. After the cut let’s take a dive into Fate Stay Night‘s second leading lady: Rin Tohsaka.
(SPOILERS FOR FATE ZERO, AND ALL THREE FATE STAY NIGHT ROUTES, ESPECIALLY HEAVEN’S FEEL)
Fatevember: Fate Stay Night’s Shirou Emiya: The dreams of Youth.
He is not the most popular character in the franchise, nor is he the reason it is popular. If you were to have a list of the top characters among every installment of Fate, I don’t think he would even make the top 10. Hell, if you were to just have a poll using the characters from the Fate Stay Night visual itself, he might not even make the top 5. The franchise has already proven multiple times that it can create a successful anime without him in it at all.
However, despite all of that, the main lead of Fate Stay Night is an integral part of the series and serves as the vessel in which many of the themes and ideas of Fate are explored, and the dream he holds and believes in is something that is fun to discuss and explore in depth, especially because of Fate’s separate route storytelling. So after the cut let’s take a character dive into the main male lead of Fate Stay Night, Shirou Emiya.
(SPOILERS FOR FATE ZERO, HEAVENS’ FEEL, AND UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS)
Fatevember: Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works
Every summer I take it upon myself to watch a long-running series or two of anime and this last year my friend suggested I give a look at the Fate Franchise, as it was something he knew I would enjoy, and after my first series, I decided to watch EVERYTHING involving Fate Stay Night that summer.
He said I was crazy, but I did it anyway.
Fate Stay Night is a mixed series in the views of many. Like any long-running franchise, it has great highs and horrible lows. For every studio Ufotable work, there is the 2006 series or something like Last Encore. That, however, is the fate (heh) of any franchise that has so many different installments, not everyone is going to hit it out of the park.
This series though did, and after the cut, we start Fatevember with the series that I started with: Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works.
Shallow Dives in Anime 