Our friend Roxy Polk plunked this figurine of Saber down on my desk, with no explanation other than proclaiming that Saber was “best girl.” I had been hearing reports recently that Galko-chan was best girl. But Roxy usually knows what she’s talking about—and a little research quickly established that, unlike Saber, Galko-chan was never King of Britain (although maybe that’s coming up in a future episode: “Is it true you defeated the Saxons?”).
By which of course, I mean to say that vol. 1 of Fate/Zero hits stores this week. If you don’t know, Fate/Zero is part of the Fate series that began over a decade ago in Japan, and is the prequel to Fate/stay night—but even if you’re new to the story, there’s no reason you can’t start right here, as Fate/Zero Vol. 1 begins with advent yet again of the recurring struggle in the Fate saga—namely, the Holy Grail Wars, in which seven competing mages, known as “Masters” summon forth the most heroic (or infamous) spirits of the past to do battle as their “Servants.”
The seven Servants each become embodied in a certain class that speaks to their battle techniques—Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin. The prize the Masters and their Servants fight for: the Holy Grail, which will grant whatever wish the victorious team desires. The story of Fate/Zero is full of combat, tactics, and technique, but complicating the Grail War above all else are the personas of both Masters and Servants—for despite their names, the Servants often know far more of life (and death) than those who ostensibly command them. Yet knowledge is not the same as wisdom, and the mortal Masters have something too to teach even the greatest names of the past.
Saber was the person who came down to us in legend as King Arthur; but in the world of Fate, the hero who drew the sword from the stone and led Britain in its darkest hour was in truth not a man but a woman, Arturia. Saber is a person whose ideals, dreams, and everyday humanity had to be suppressed under the tremendous weight of her responsibilities, and in the end she judged herself so harshly that, dying in Avalon as legend tells, she consigned her warrior spirit to live again to serve others, in exchange for the wish that someone more capable than her might lead Britain.
A favorite of mine (and many people’s) among the Servants is Iskander, King of the Conquerors, known in lore as Alexander the Great. I thought it was funny that the creators of Fate, just as with Arthur, somewhat switched the truth behind the legend around. Legend tells us Alexander was young and handsome; you would think an anime or manga would play up that interpretation. No; Fate/Zero’s Iskander is a brusque, bearded bear of a man whose first move upon being summoned to the modern day is to bust into a library for two books: one, a copy of Homer’s Iliad, which he never goes into battle without; two, an atlas, where he quickly laughs to realize how little of the world he actually conquered—something he intends to correct this time around! Iskander’s relationship with (and eventual mentoring of) his hapless Master, resentful schoolboy mage Waver Velvet, was recently ranked among the manliest bromances by Anime News Network.
And what of the other Servants? The other Masters, including Saber’s—Kiritsugu Emiya, a mage as comfortable behind the scope of a sniper’s rifle as he is inscribing a magic circle—a man who does not believe, as Saber does, in chivalry or just war? The revelations begin within the opening moves of the Fourth Holy Grail war in vol. 1 of Fate/Zero!
Our friend Roxy Polk plunked this figurine of Saber down on my desk, with no explanation other than proclaiming that Saber was “best girl.” I had been hearing reports recently that Galko-chan was best girl. But Roxy usually knows what she’s talking about—and a little research quickly established that, unlike Saber, Galko-chan was never King of Britain (although maybe that’s coming up in a future episode: “Is it true you defeated the Saxons?”).
By which of course, I mean to say that vol. 1 of Fate/Zero hits stores this week. If you don’t know, Fate/Zero is part of the Fate series that began over a decade ago in Japan, and is the prequel to Fate/stay night—but even if you’re new to the story, there’s no reason you can’t start right here, as Fate/Zero Vol. 1 begins with advent yet again of the recurring struggle in the Fate saga—namely, the Holy Grail Wars, in which seven competing mages, known as “Masters” summon forth the most heroic (or infamous) spirits of the past to do battle as their “Servants.”
The seven Servants each become embodied in a certain class that speaks to their battle techniques—Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin. The prize the Masters and their Servants fight for: the Holy Grail, which will grant whatever wish the victorious team desires. The story of Fate/Zero is full of combat, tactics, and technique, but complicating the Grail War above all else are the personas of both Masters and Servants—for despite their names, the Servants often know far more of life (and death) than those who ostensibly command them. Yet knowledge is not the same as wisdom, and the mortal Masters have something too to teach even the greatest names of the past.
Saber was the person who came down to us in legend as King Arthur; but in the world of Fate, the hero who drew the sword from the stone and led Britain in its darkest hour was in truth not a man but a woman, Arturia. Saber is a person whose ideals, dreams, and everyday humanity had to be suppressed under the tremendous weight of her responsibilities, and in the end she judged herself so harshly that, dying in Avalon as legend tells, she consigned her warrior spirit to live again to serve others, in exchange for the wish that someone more capable than her might lead Britain.
A favorite of mine (and many people’s) among the Servants is Iskander, King of the Conquerors, known in lore as Alexander the Great. I thought it was funny that the creators of Fate, just as with Arthur, somewhat switched the truth behind the legend around. Legend tells us Alexander was young and handsome; you would think an anime or manga would play up that interpretation. No; Fate/Zero’s Iskander is a brusque, bearded bear of a man whose first move upon being summoned to the modern day is to bust into a library for two books: one, a copy of Homer’s Iliad, which he never goes into battle without; two, an atlas, where he quickly laughs to realize how little of the world he actually conquered—something he intends to correct this time around! Iskander’s relationship with (and eventual mentoring of) his hapless Master, resentful schoolboy mage Waver Velvet, was recently ranked among the manliest bromances by Anime News Network.
And what of the other Servants? The other Masters, including Saber’s—Kiritsugu Emiya, a mage as comfortable behind the scope of a sniper’s rifle as he is inscribing a magic circle—a man who does not believe, as Saber does, in chivalry or just war? The revelations begin within the opening moves of the Fourth Holy Grail war in vol. 1 of Fate/Zero!
By which of course, I mean to say that vol. 1 of Fate/Zero hits stores this week. If you don’t know, Fate/Zero is part of the Fate series that began over a decade ago in Japan, and is the prequel to Fate/stay night—but even if you’re new to the story, there’s no reason you can’t start right here, as Fate/Zero Vol. 1 begins with advent yet again of the recurring struggle in the Fate saga—namely, the Holy Grail Wars, in which seven competing mages, known as “Masters” summon forth the most heroic (or infamous) spirits of the past to do battle as their “Servants.”
The seven Servants each become embodied in a certain class that speaks to their battle techniques—Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, and Assassin. The prize the Masters and their Servants fight for: the Holy Grail, which will grant whatever wish the victorious team desires. The story of Fate/Zero is full of combat, tactics, and technique, but complicating the Grail War above all else are the personas of both Masters and Servants—for despite their names, the Servants often know far more of life (and death) than those who ostensibly command them. Yet knowledge is not the same as wisdom, and the mortal Masters have something too to teach even the greatest names of the past.
Saber was the person who came down to us in legend as King Arthur; but in the world of Fate, the hero who drew the sword from the stone and led Britain in its darkest hour was in truth not a man but a woman, Arturia. Saber is a person whose ideals, dreams, and everyday humanity had to be suppressed under the tremendous weight of her responsibilities, and in the end she judged herself so harshly that, dying in Avalon as legend tells, she consigned her warrior spirit to live again to serve others, in exchange for the wish that someone more capable than her might lead Britain.
A favorite of mine (and many people’s) among the Servants is Iskander, King of the Conquerors, known in lore as Alexander the Great. I thought it was funny that the creators of Fate, just as with Arthur, somewhat switched the truth behind the legend around. Legend tells us Alexander was young and handsome; you would think an anime or manga would play up that interpretation. No; Fate/Zero’s Iskander is a brusque, bearded bear of a man whose first move upon being summoned to the modern day is to bust into a library for two books: one, a copy of Homer’s Iliad, which he never goes into battle without; two, an atlas, where he quickly laughs to realize how little of the world he actually conquered—something he intends to correct this time around! Iskander’s relationship with (and eventual mentoring of) his hapless Master, resentful schoolboy mage Waver Velvet, was recently ranked among the manliest bromances by Anime News Network.
And what of the other Servants? The other Masters, including Saber’s—Kiritsugu Emiya, a mage as comfortable behind the scope of a sniper’s rifle as he is inscribing a magic circle—a man who does not believe, as Saber does, in chivalry or just war? The revelations begin within the opening moves of the Fourth Holy Grail war in vol. 1 of Fate/Zero!