AniManga: Fate/Stay Night Series

Fate/stay night is a Japanese visual novel, which was originally released as an adult game. Since its release in 2006 its been adapted into a manga and multiple anime series.

The story takes place in modern Japan. Where Shirō Emiya, became the sole survivor of a massive fire as a child. Shirō was adopted by a retired mage named Kiritsugu Emiya and taught the basic principles of becoming a mage. Kiritsugu Emiya, is the main protagonist in the fourth Holy Grail War (featured in Fate/Zero) which inadvertently destroyed Fuyuki City and left Shiro orphaned. Kiritsugu Emiya died some years later after instilling a strong since of justice in Shiro.

As a teenager Shiro witnesses a battle between servants and almost gets killed. By luck or fate he gets saved by a classmate and unwillingly becomes a participant in a death tournament called the Fifth Holy Grail War. It's bloody warfare where mages use heroes called servants from every time period in history. For a chance to have their wish granted by a cup called the Holy Grail. The stronger the mage the stronger the type of servant they can summon. 

There are seven different class of servants. Rider, Assassin, Saber, Archer, Lancer, Caster and Berserker. Each servant is equipped with a special weapon or ability called a Noble Phantasm. Since the Noble Phantasm can reveal the users identity, most servants refuse to use it until moving in for the killing blow or to escape a desperate situation.

Although most Noble Phantasms are weapons like Sabers, sword or Lancers, spear some Noble Phantasms are an ability. Berserker, who is the reincarnation of Hercules is equipped with the Noble Phantasm called regeneration. Since he had to complete twelve labors, he can be reincarnated twelve times before being killed. Gilgamesh, is unique because he is the first hero in history and possesses a very large number of Noble Phantasms. He was a servant of the Archer class who had a strange obsession for Saber. 

Saber, is King Arturia Pendragon more famously known throughout history as King Arthur. She is the strongest servant in the knight class which consists of Saber, Lancer, and Archer. Her Noble Phantasm is the mythical sword Excalibur. The sword remains invisible until Saber calls its name to deliver the killing blow to an opponent. The scabbard of Excalibur, is named Avalon. It gives the holder a limited form of immortality by repairing mortal wounds in an instant. Avalons regenerative abilities saved Kiritsugu Emiya's life several times during the fourth Holy Grail war.

Unlimited Blade Works follows a two-week period in Shirō Emiya's life. He goes from an amateur mage to becoming a Master in the fifth Holy Grail war. There are seven Masters for seven servants. Masters are capable of controlling servants by command seals placed on the back of their hands. A Master only has three command seals to control a servant. Once all three commands are used the Master loses control of the servant and can be killed by them. 

Shiro, summons Saber and together with the assistance of another mage named Rin Tōsaka tries to stop the Holy Grail war. Tosaka summons the servant Archer who turns out to be the future version of Shiro from a different timeline. Archer hates Shiro because he knows what awaits him after death. His biggest desire was to kill Shiro before he becomes a champion of justice and is reincarnated as a servant. 

Servants, maintain their form by feeding off their Master's Mana (spiritual energy). They can heal injuries and use their Noble Phantasm multiple times depending on how much Mana their Master can produce. Some servants like Caster, can drain Mana from humans causing them to fall into a coma and in some cases death.   

Caster, is a special servant because some Casters are also mages. This is dangerous to the Master because if the Caster is stronger than the Master...he will be killed. In the fifth Holy Grail War. The Caster is Medea. A sorceress who was the daughter of Greek King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea was so powerful she was able to summon her own Assassin servant to assist in the Holy grail War. Only the Caster is capable of summoning another servant.  
   
To date there are three different anime series based off the Fate/Stay Night novels. There's Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero (the 4th Holy Grail War), and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (the 5th Holy Grail war). All three of the anime are superb. Although the writing, battles and character development in Unlimited blade works seems to be a step above the other two installments. 

If I had to describe the series in one sentence it would be. Fate/Stay night, is a mix of action packed battles, betrayal, tragedy, magic, with excellent characters and plot. Check out the clips below featuring battles between Shiro vs Gilgamesh and Archer vs Lancer. 

AniManga: Kiseijuu (Parasyte)

 



















Movies always speculate on what would happen if an intelligent alien species colonized the Earth. Parasyte, offers a gruesome answer to that question. Kiseijuu (Parasyte) is a horror manga written by Hitoshi Iwaaki that ran from 1988 - 1995. The anime started airing in October-2014 and ended March-2015.

Parasyte's are worm-like creatures that invade the body through the nose or ears and take control of the brain. Once the Parasyte controls the brain, the body is just a host that can change appearance and physical characteristics at the parasites whim. Once a person becomes a Parasyte they no longer retain their personality or human characteristics. 

All Parasyte's eat whatever type of creature their host body is. If a Parasyte invades a dog's brain, they feed on other canines, a cat's brain, they eat cat's, a human brain, they eat humans. When a Parasyte invades the body but cannot take over the brain, then both human and Parasyte share the body but retain their individuality.

The story revolves around a 17 year old teen named Shinichi Izumi. Shinichi lived a normal life in Tokyo with his parents until one night parasites invaded the earth. One Parasite attempted to crawl into Shinichi's ear as he slept, but failed because Shinichi was wearing headphones. The Parasyte was forced to enter through his hand which alerted Shinichi. Who then used the cord from the headphone's to trap the Parasyte in his right hand. Since the Parasyte took over his right hand Shinichi named it "Migi," which is the Japanese word for "right".


Migi and Shinichi form a symbiotic relationship as he learns about the world and tries to find his place in it. Parasyte's have low level psychic abilities which allows them to sense their kind but not what type of host they inhabit. These abilities also allow the Parasyte to assess the emotional state (aggressive, peaceful, nervous, etc...) of other's in their species. As well as the foreign Parasyte's proximity within several hundred meters.  

In the beginning of the relationship Migi protects Shinichi from other Parasyte's. As the story continues Shinichi develops his own power due to suffering a near fatal wound from the Parasyte who killed his mother. Along the way Shinichi gains a few friends and many powerful enemies from a group of organized Parasyte's trying to control mankind.

The story is a twisted reflection of the fear humans have when confronted with meeting other intelligent life. It paints a graphic tale of tragedy, suspense and horror mixed with elements of a normal high school student's life. The anime was incredibly well done! It looks like they used the manga as a storyboard for the animation. 

I recommend watching this series if you're looking for a dark science-fiction animanga that's action-packed to the very end. Check out the clip below.

AniManga: Akame Ga Kill

Now that the album is done, I have a little extra time to go snowboarding and catch-up on my manga. My latest love is AniManga: Akame ga Kill!  which literally means "Red-Eye Kill!"

I can describe the manga in three words "Off The Hook." The story focuses on Tatsumi, a villager who travels to the Capital city to raise money for his village only to discover the Empire was covered in corruption. The assassin group Night Raid recruits Tatsumi to help them in their fight against the Empire to end its corruption.

Night Raid, is a group of assassins comprised of the swords woman Akame, scissor wielder named Sheele, the string manipulator Lubbock, armored warrior Bulat, the sniper Mine, beast fighter Leone and their leader Najenda. They work together with the Revolutionary Army to take down the evil prime minister and free the citizens of the empire. Pay attention to the original line-up of names, because this series kills off main characters faster than the show "Game of Thrones".

All the members of Night Raid and most of the powerful fighters in the series use "Imperial Arms" also known as a Teigu. Imperial Arms were created by fusing parts of supernatural Danger Beasts with alchemy over 900 years before the series begins. Forty-eight of these items were created. Half of the Teigu were lost to history and the rest have been collected by the empire and rebels to become more powerful.

Although Teigu are weapons, they can be human and animal based which makes some hard to identify. The easy to identify Imperial Arms are swords, firearms, scissors, cosmetic box and armor. The difficult ones are a shape-shifting dog that has a fetish for consuming human flesh. And Susano, a powerful warrior who is also a Teigu who has lived over 1000 years. Not everyone can use an Imperial Arm. When a person chooses to use a Teigu, they must be compatible or the user risks death.

Throughout the series Night Raid collects and loses members and Imperial Arms battling the Empires most powerful general Esdeath. She has her own team of Teigu wielding warriors named "Jaegers" who protect the Empire and more specifically protect the minister. Aside from being crazier than the mad hatter on an acid binge, Esdeath is powerful and has an attraction to Tatsumi that borders on the psychotic. During a few points in the series Esdeath kidnaps Tatsumi and Night Raid has to rescue him from her icy clutches.

The manga series and the anime diverge with the anime no longer following the canon material during the "Wild Hunt" story arc. The anime chose to skip that whole arc and add their own ending to the series. I personally don't like how they ended the series, because they made up the ending and it seems rushed when you compare it to the rest of the anime series. 


 

With that said, I recommend checking out both the anime and manga because the series is worth it. Above I posted the final fight between Akame and Esdeath. 

If I had to describe the series to a new viewer in one sentence...it would be. Akame Ga Kill, is a mix of hardcore action, high speed battles, tragedy, madness and a whole lot of dead people.