For this update we got three new songs.
First is “Assassin II”. Original title is “Bourei” by Nanase Hikaru, and it’s from Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~
Then we have “Jake’s Theme”, original title is “Kampfer no Theme”, and it”s from, of course, Kampfer! Performed by Katou Tatsuya.
Lastly, “Rider Battle II”. Original title is “Saa Ikou Ka”, from Horizon, and performed by Katou Tatsuya as well.
Last update was in May, over 5 months ago. We apologize for the long hiatus, but it couldn’t be helped. Finding time to write when there’s so much else going on in your life can be difficult. We’ll try to do monthly updates from here on.
Here’s a link to Act 3.
Hope you enjoy it!
Fate/Accord isn’t dead, not at all.
Just taking awhile to get to work due to…”circumstances”.
Act 3 will begin again…eventually. Just haaaang in there!
I guess it’s time for my post about good old Team Saber. Guys, I’d like you to meet Jake Martin, Saber, and Rupert Auroch.
First off, Jake. I felt that though Nasu’s works dealt with magi from around the world, the United States’ role in the magical world was underdeveloped. As in, there aren’t really any American magi outside of Strange Fake. I figured that with the magical world putting such stock in having long and established family lineages, any line that originated in America wouldn’t be as respected as a line that originated in Europe or Japan, with the country having a scant two hundred and some years in its history to work with. I thought this would make a nice contrast to the real America’s current position as a world superpower and it would be interesting to explore through a character.
For the actual character of Jake, one of the main concepts I had in mind was “average everyday mage.” He’s definitely not a slouch when it comes to magic, but he understandably has little clout when it comes to the world at large. I like to see him as both an analogue of and the opposite of Shirou Emiya. Like Shirou, he’s a small fish thrust from its bowl into the big pond that is the Holy Grail War, but unlike Shirou, he’s not a completely incompetent mage. His incompetence comes in other aspects of his character. I feel more at home dealing with comedic characters rather than serious ones, so I made Jake a bit of a lazy fuckup in order to pop some comic relief into Accord, and the response so far has been pretty positive, which I’m happy with. An important thing to note is that despite his laziness and carefree attitude, Jake really wants to be a great magus. He wants to be recognized by other magi and show them that America’s not something to be trifled with. It’s just that sometimes he doesn’t want to do all that hard work.
Jake’s trademark magic, the creation of physical illusions out of mana, or as I like to call them, “Temporary Familiars,” was concieved as being similar to the concept of genjutsu in Naruto, with Jake more relying on psychological warfare and trickery rather than actual offensive power. (Fun fact: A concept that was proposed was for Jake to be a trained boxer, with his punches being augmented by magic. We decided that this was a bit excessive and clashed with too many aspects of his character. Maybe we can revisit the concept if we ever do Accord Phantasm~) When I was coming up with Jake’s character, I was unaware of the similarity his skillset shared with the First Magic, that line being added into his profile by the head honcho. However, I’m not opposed to it. I think that the potential to become such a powerful magus fits well with Jake’s inner ambition.
As a result of his being a normal-ass second-generation magus, Jake’s design is admittedly rather plain. I culled a lot of his physical appearance from the stereotypical tall, blonde, blue-eyed American you see so often in anime with an unremarkable outfit. I mean, the guy still has to blend in with normal society after all. Under the same logic of his design, I decided against giving Jake a flowery Nasu name like, say, Azel has. The most interesting thing about Jake’s name is that I basically lifted it from the villain of the first half of the anime Tiger & Bunny, Jake Martinez.
Jake’s master, Rupert Auroch, was basically designed to be Jake’s straight man. He’s basically Jake’s main connection to other magi, being a well-established magus himself. He was the man who saw and nurtured the potential in Jake’s father, and he sees even more potential in Jake, but laments his attitude. As a result, he’s a bit short with Jake, mainly because the only time Jake is guaranteed to listen is when Rupert yells at him. In a nutshell, he’s Jake’s cranky British babysitter.
On to Saber. Anybody with access to Google can ascertain Saber’s identity at this point in the story, but since it hasn’t been outright said in the story yet, I’ll refrain from using her real name. The concept for Saber was actually one I’ve had for a good while, with the picture featured on her profile page being made at least six months before the project even started, and the idea going back even farther. It’s almost a tradition by now to have Sabers be genderbent Arturia clones, and I’ll be damned if I’m not one for tradition. Being a Japanese Hero though, Accord Saber’s design has some obvious key differences which serve to at least make her unique. If I could go back and change it, I would probably have Saber be a man like her original legend, but I think she’s fine as she is now. She has a good relationship with Jake and she helps even out the Servants so it’s less of a sausage fest.
One of the more remarkable things about Accord Saber is her stats and her abilities. Unlike most other Sabers, she’s not very magically inclined, though her Mana stat is at the base parameter for her class. Since her legend comes from a time past magic, her stats more reflect the pure physical skill and prowess with which she became famous. Overall, she’s more of a skill-based Servant, one who’s a bit trickier to use than other Sabers, but with the right Master, she’s a force to be reckoned with. It just stands to be seen if Jake is the right Master.
Saber’s design is, like Jake’s, rather plain, out of necessity. The simple fact of the matter is that she was a ronin, a masterless samurai, and they didn’t wear very extravagant outfits. If she had been a proper samurai, we could have gone crazy with armor and made her a bit more interesting. However, she wasn’t, and such thoughts are only reserved for hypothetical Saber Alters. There has been talk lately of sprucing her up a bit, but all parties involved have admitted that there’s not much we can do and still have it fit her character, so any changes we make will be minor at best.
Well, I think I’ve just about run out of words to talk about these guys here, so that’ll be me. Make sure you root for Team Saber and not all these other idiots, okay?
Evil I
Original Title: “Yami no Kuroi Kage” by Katou Tatsuya
From: Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls
Happy 20 posts on the Tumblr! I’m glad so many people are enjoying these music posts.
Berserker Battle I
Original Title: “Kurumete Useshimono” by Katou Tatsuya
From: Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls
Saber Battle II
Original Title: “Sore wa Matsuri no Escort” by Katou Tatsuya
From: Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon
Assassin’s Theme
Original Title: “ASSASSIN” by Nanase Hikaru
From: Phantom -Requiem for the Phantom-
