Celebrating 10 years of pure awesomeness.
I hope you are enjoying the surge of posts on Metanorn this weekend, which we meticulously planned. What more, you get a glimpse at our writers’ personalities, who are pouring out their individuality in highlighting some special moments of 2012. Till now lvlln (Ero Toothbrush) and Fosh (Guilty Pleasure), have posted their bit and now it’s my turn to dish out.
I’ll take this opportunity to turn even more people into Type-Moon fans, the fandom I so love (the TM on my twitter handle is not for show!). 2012 was indeed a great year to be a Type-Moon fan, which saw their 10th Anniversary. Being an old timer, I can go on and on about the light and visuals novels before they were even adapted to animanga but hey, let’s talk about this year. A year, which saw the completion of Fate/Zero, Carnival Phantasm and release of Mahou Tsukai no Yoru and re-ported FSN Realta Nua visual novels. Let’s not forget the the amazing news of Mirai Fukuin (Kara no Kyoukai‘s true sequel) project by ufotable, progress on Girls’ Work and Tsukihime remake along with Fate/Extra CCC release next year. Clearly, Type-Moon team has been busy since their doujin days and has accumulated a decade of amazing:
The credit goes to the masterminds Nasu and Takeuchi, who are at it even now revolutionizing the fandom tropes. They made tsundere cool and introduced siscon/brocon when nobody even knew of it, followed by many other taboo/novel ideas. They didn’t evolve the fabric of anime like Evangelion did but played their part in putting forth titles that had wide breadth of spawning a huge franchise. Look at how Fate/stay night played out and is still going on with Fate/Extra CCC (now, if only they would make Fate/Prototype a complete project). I felt the intricacies even more since I started the Type-Moon watch group at SCCSAV (anibloggers-based group for watching anime together), since July. Half a year later, we are still not done. Of course, there were no big marathons but a motley crew of five to ten people gathered online weekly to enjoy the variety and it has certainly been an experience. Even if not ALL of their projects are masterpieces, they have their own place and novelty.
Nasuverse is a labyrinthine of twisted plots and evolving characters, evident from their prototype timeline to completed state in later series. Most of the anime-watchers heard of them via Fate/stay night anime but I’d tell you to stay away from that horrible adaptation by DEEN. As I’ve taken most of the routes, I’d like to take this opportunity to suggest an order if you will, to get acquainted with their work. Because, let me tell you it will be worth your while.
- Kara no Kyoukai movie series was ufotable’s first Type-Moon adaptation that spanned years and to-date. I consider it one of the best anime adaptations to-date, hands down. This is Nasu’s earliest printed work, the light novels were released online on his and Takeuchi’s doujin-site in 1998. (English translation’s available at emptyboundaries).
- Fate/Zero is a gem of an anime produced by ufotable, who not only raised the animation bar with this but left other studios in the dust in terms of another excellent adaptation. Urobuchi Gen originally wrote Fate/Zero light novels (prequel to Fate/stay night) in 2006 to fight his writer’s block and a job very well done I might add. (English translation available at Baka-tsuki).
- Fate/stay night visual novel broke all sales record when it was released in 2004 (minus Mahoyo production value, this is their best work). Out of the three main arcs, first was adapted into anime while second into Unlimited Blade Works movie. I can only hope the third, Heaven’s Feel is adapted by ufotable later. (English patch available at Mirrormoon). There are many spinoffs and expansions of this.
- Tsukihime is their first VN, adapted into both manga and anime; though, the former remains true to the VN, while anime took a lot of liberty with story-line. (English patch available at Mirrormoon). There’s news of a remake and I can only shudder in glee thinking of the possibilities of getting something similar to Mahoyo or even better for this remake, which would be an instant rage for sure (vampires, apostles, mysterious creatures, you know the drill).
- Carnival Phantasm is always a fun watch but you should at least watch/read/play two of Type-Moon’s series before to understand the jokes and recognize the slew of characters. There are twelve actual OVA episodes with two extras (Season EX and Ilya’s Castle), and they are a ball to watch, leaving you rolling on the floor in laughter.
- Mahou Tsukai no Yoru originally was Nasu’s first novel that he wrote to get into a writing spree in 1996 (this was only seen by his friends and the only original copy is with Takeuchi). The visual novel has breath-taking visuals and awesome story, almost redefining Type-Moon style once again. English translation is in works by Commie Subs, who are showing quick progress.
- If you complete the above, pat yourself grandly on your shoulder and then whenever you feel like it, check out below:
- Canaan anime
- Light novels: Angel Notes and Decoration Disorder Disconnection
- Melty Blood fighting game series and its extensions.
- Kagetsu Tohya and extensions (Tsukihime’s sequel).
I think every aniblogger has a fixation with a certain franchise/series/character, about which/whom they can write forever. Mine goes back years and I am still satisfied. I haven’t played/watched/read everything neither I own all the merchandise but I am happy to nerd out and keep discovering references. In the end, my love for this fandom won’t fade anytime soon and I’ll keep looking forward to their future works in the many years to come. So, readers, do you have a similar fixation with a content creator that you’d like to share? Let’s hear it!