Type Moon Plays a Game of Pool, or the Illusion of UBW
Nasu Kinoko’s world (Nasuverse) is a game of pool where reality marbles clash.
When I was a kid, I played with marbles. It’s a great way to learn how things roll, you know? Children fancy marbles because they are pretty, shiny, and colored like the kaleidoscope. Rainbow is weak sauce in comparison. It’s like, you can’t find an identical marble. It’s like a freaking fractal screen saver. It’s also cheap.
A GRSI discussion thread appeared recently in which we discussed the merits of Index/Railgun’s universe, specifically the psionics. The underlying idea is similar; Kazuma Kamachi’s version of psionics is projection of an individual’s sense of reality to affect actual reality. I should say, the impression of Shiro’s world in Fate’s Unlimited Blade Works arc left me with the same taste. Oh yeah, this is really a UBW review post in disguise. I’ve just finished a couple weeks ago, and I guess it’s time to share before the UBW film hits the theaters later this year and before the memories fade further.
In as such that ultimately some of its plot devices play second fiddle to thematic satisfaction and poetic justice, UBW is interesting as a sample of the superhero genre. Especially as a Japanese thing. It is sadly a genre I’m wholly indifferent about, so I won’t bore you with that aspect of UBW. However, the underlying paradox and predestination of Emiya Shiro is what makes UBW interesting, and I don’t recall people really talking about that specifically. [Probably because 90% of the time when I read anything about UBW, it just makes my eyes tired and TL;DR.] I am going to presume someone has talked about it already. Instead, I’ll focus on the stupid Nasu thing that he does every time, and what went down with UBW that made it less annoying than in some of his other works.
For starters, Shiro’s ability: If you’ve seen Fate anime, you would know that he can reinforce things and make weapons or whatever. It is explained within the game as his ability to project an idea. The more he understands what he projects, the better the projection is. The stronger he believes in the projection, the more durable and real the projected item becomes.
[Oh, yeah, spoilers for UBW incoming!]
Does this make sense in terms of Shiro’s ideal? Yeah, sure, but it could work with any ideal. In as much as ideals are ideas, notion of perfections, it is almost always a goal, a destination, a race in which people strive towards but never “arrive” at completely. The general idea I got from EMIYA (to use the heroic spirit term and not the class term…speaking of which, does every Nasuverse protagonist have a projection of their other selves?) is that he merely was unable to recognize with the imperfection within the nature of an ideal, in the paradox that ideals are perfect but are also flawed in that they cannot be truly achieved (as in, the law of “conservation of saving people”). The “save everyone” ideal is a natural choice; it is a plot vehicle to have some battle and get Shiro off his lazy butt and go fight “the impossible row row fight the powah” sort of way. The particulars of that ideal eggs the plot towards an epic, climatic moment, as it would be difficult to use just any ideal and still create a satisfying story.
I recommend this other ideal that could work: “The student council is my harem!” (Yea, Good END indeed.)
Of course, I sort of jest. Shiro’s Reality Marble is, in the end, his magic that allows him to be who he was created to be and to be who he is called to be. At the same time, that doesn’t mean he is locked in his predestined ways (as in EMIYA) but in some “learn from your future mistakes” way. It still makes me chuckle how Shiro’s magic is basically a literal analogy to “my idealism/sense of perfection is better/stronger/harder than yours!” when he picked his fights with Gilgamesh. From there, Gil’s Gates of Babylon thingamajig is a metaphor of “reality” as it is full of “the original” noble phantasms; or things of the real world. The faster and harder Shiro believes in his ideal, he can fend off the harsh reality and stay on course.
So yeah, UBW is basically a story about ideal versus reality, both against cynicism and giving up. Thankfully there’s this cute tsundere on the side and a very majestic mentor supporting you throughout the game. Oh, I guess there was something about a sheath too.
I just can’t take Nasu seriously. Not that it isn’t entertaining and fun, and at times creative, but LOL. I mean if you think about it, the whole “I will stab your appendicitis” or “I will kill the poison in your blood” thing is basically the same as “I will project my ideal, you know, that idea that I strongly believe in, and because of the power of heart my ideal is stronger than your ideal, I will win, if you know what I’m saying.” Except thankfully in UBW we got an actual fight scene to resolve it, rather than just Shiki doing surgery, or some acid-tripped dream. Still, it is just ludicrous.
At the same time, when I look back to stories like Asura Cryin’ or Index, I appreciate the brutal appearance and purpose-driven sophistry in Nasu’s writing. They’re all just different flavors of the same story. At the least, Nasu’s babble is there for a reason and sometimes it’s pretty interesting, just like those marble balls to a child.
P.S. The best visual illustration of the “reality marble” term is the epilogue to the 1997 film Man In Black. It is not the same as the verbal illustration in which the term comes about, but I am sure that this happy coincidence relate beyond this persistent pun I used to build this post out of nonsense.
Year in Review: Type Moon Redemption
Heaven’s Feel is now fan-translated, so that rounds out the entire original Fate/stay night game.
Kara no Kyoukai (the prose) rakes in a professional, English translation and release. Even if it’s just for one chapter, with full book(s) on the way.
More Ciel figures than ever! And Over Nine Thousand things from Fate/stay night; Unlimited Merchandise Works.
Studio ufotable continues to churn out amusing stop-motion animation. And feature films. I want Blu-Ray!
Wait, there was a Tsukihime anime? Hey Kyoto Animation, you know there’s some eager fans looking for anime studios to butcher their games! Hmmm.
Ever since its not-so humble beginning, Type-Moon somehow has a significant hold on the balls of the Japan fan creation scene. Channeling that sort of fan frenzied, raw energy into expressions is the essence of doujin works; but to do so in a professional, well-understood package is a major feat. Through both failure and mediocrity, the boys of Type-Moon will eventually awe us with something. I hope.
(What’s that 428 game and CANNAN thing? Besides that they look delicious?)
The demarcation between doujin and pro is a curious, multiple-dimensional one. It makes a curious subject for a Zepy rant? Someone, please.
But the fact that there’s all this Type-Moon crap to talk about, in 2008, means Type-Moon has gone pro for nearly 5 years, and all 5 years are full of … stuff. They’re on a roll. And at least they haven’t really failed the audience this year even if they didn’t totally floor them either. Getting their current library out to those who hasn’t seen it seems still to be the first order, but they’re also transitioning well into totally new crap. Like the 428 game and anime.
Year in Review 2008:
- Introduction
- Kurenai
- Miyuki Sawashiro
- JAM Project & others
- 12 lists of randomness
- Type-Moon
- 9 TV series of 2008
- Conclusion
Type-Moon Tycoon: Under a Frozen Sky
And so it ends: Part I and Part II, and this is Part III.
I took the pictures for Shiki and Aoko along with Rin and Saber. If I’m going to cuddle up with snow and ice and below-freezing temperatures, I might as well get it all over with at once.
Alter is a company that makes kits that have some very cool sculpting dynamics. But beauty has always been a function of the observer, and that’s the reason people are still buying Kotobukiya kits. What I’m trying to get at is that the Type-Moon FA4 set has diversity. The two Tsukihime heroines are very dynamic and the two Fate Stay Night heroines are a lot more traditional. Saber sports a solid, traditional but agressive stance (with very good footing versus lean), and Rin has her best foot forward (or she just shifting weight?) and secured just by her rear foot (like Shiki).
Still, in the end you’re paying $60 or so for 8 boxes of this stuff. It’s a great deal as each kit itself is worth probably $10 alone. I have PVC kits that were slightly more expensive and even worse crafted, even if it’s got more “material” to show for, at least. These feel good to have showing on your shelves.
Onward with the pictures. Of not-so-sad girls in snow…
Type-Moon Tycoon: Ice Queens
I guess I really do mean it that it doesn’t snow in Singapore. Aoko-san must’ve frozen her ovaries off wearing that in this weather. Haha. Anyways…
The Fate Hallow Ataxia FA4 set has been released(?) and people love that stuff more. I can understand why; partly because the characters in this set are either so classic that they’ve gone Rei Ayanami, or too cool and obscure to draw a lot of attention. I guess some people like Aoko Aozaki and Shiki Ryougi? As you can tell with this entry, hopefully, that Alter has done a good job with the obscure girls as well.
On with the pictures. Burrrr.
Franchising Abstraction and Open Endings
If you’re ever partial to nail-biting bickering about trivial nothings, we’re having a contest here. It’s on right now and have been for a little while, and will continue for the next month and plus some. The difference between this and SaiWhatever is that there’s promises of gift prizes at the end of the long, hard-fought road. Read the rules for what little details there are available.
But more pertinently, as people struggle to come up with every possible kind of incentive under the sun to get those swing votes, I’m just drawing out one point for further attention.
Let’s take Type-Moon’s Fate/Stay Night for example. It’s a good example because I have to remind myself of the pictures I still have yet to take (at least you don’t get snow in Singapore! lol. Jeff Lawson so should get a figure photo blog going…) and blog entries yet to be written about F/SN’s cast of characters. What do you get when you remove, say, Saber, from the context of the game/anime story? Who is Saber?
We know by the game/anime setting, that she is a magical being summoned to fight in a contest. She is also a heroic being, who died and now lives again for the purpose of this contest. We know it’s a she; we know she is a swordswoman. We know she has blond hair and blue eyes. We know she wears armor like nobody’s business–probably dating her to an age where wearing that kind armor was practical (disregarding anime’s crazy design licenses for impractical character designs). She speaks with a fairly solemn voice, and is a serious individual. Most of her official character art reflect that as well.
Now we look at Rin Tohsaka in the same way. Rin is a she, too; and also a serious individual. But beyond that the two quickly diverges. Rin is darker, and sports a design style that is a little gothic but also much more Japanese-schoolgirl. She expresses a variety of attitudes and feelings with her facial expression and body language that is missing from Saber. She has an attitude. In fact, she quickly reminds me (at least) of the Oujosama archetype.
The two of them, Saber and Rin, are characters in a franchise. We know a lot about them without knowing what happened to them in the anime or game. Such is sort of the mode of modus operandi of anime concept design and character design that we are used to and see in mainstream anime stuffs. Anime companies sell franchises, not just video on DVDs or ads on TV. They attach products to concepts, and be it story, character, or even just a name, this is how you make money selling from video games to cell phone straps to massager to maid cafe services.
And it is not so the case for every anime character under the sun. Take Youko Nakajima for example. To me Twelve Kingdoms is an awesome show that more people needs to watch because it captures the feel of a good high-fantasy with strong characterization. However it’s a fairly typical example how the characters don’t really live beyond the screen or pages of text that detailed their adventures. Sure, that doesn’t stop anyone from attaching stuff to these characters for $$$ (save maybe this), but in the minds of fans and readers, do these characters live on? Do they drive us into mad fans? Maybe. Is this the kind of fandom that makes us want to write slash fics and doujinshi? Maybe. Is the fandom dimension that makes all the difference between a character chained to the original work versus a character liberated?
I felt that Youko Nakajima is a character imprisoned by her story. Indeed the magnificence of her existence is really meaningful mostly in that context. And it isn’t like Twelve Kingdoms is lacking in interesting elements in the setting–it’s full of interesting stuff, in fact. The Shokei and Suzu arc, rather than building on an epic story of coming-of-age for a high school girl, puts it in the perspective of a life-long (in this case, could be hundreds of years) drama series serialized in juvenile fantasy novels. Could it be that Youko is chained to the serial nature of her story?
We want to know what’s up next with her. We want to take part in her character growth and the continuing discovery of the world of the Twelve Kingdoms. But to do that we can’t venture off on our own…
Alas. Is this yet another case to be made about the power of freedom of creative expression, a gift from creator to consumer, who in turn, become also a creator? It’s a content-layer concern that is very subtle and amusing at the same time.
So chalk one up for open endings!
