Fate/Unlimited Codes may be a bit of a mystery to a lot of people here in the U.S., but in Japan, the Fate series is kind of a big deal. For a proper introduction to the series, we have to go back to the game that started it all: Fate/stay night. Well, I use the term “game” loosely. It was actually a visual novel game on the PC which is a genre of games that are popular in Japan. Rather than butcher the exact definition of a visual novel, I’ll direct you towards this entry in Wikipedia. When released in 2004, Fate/stay night quickly became one of the most popular visual novel games in Japanese history. Read on to find out more about its sequels and growth in popularity.

In 2005, a sequel was produced for the PC: Fate/hollow ataraxia. This sequel also secured a top selling visual novel spot for that year. The original visual novel was adapted into a 24 episode anime in 2006 and was given an all-ages port (Fate/stay night Realta Nua) for the PS2 in 2007. Its continuing popularity led to Fate/stay tune, an internet radio drama featuring all of the original voice actors from the anime. In addition, a new 3-part light novel prequel was released and the original game was adapted into a serialized manga that began in 2005.

Phew! That was a lot of history in a nutshell. How’s about we tell you what the series is about? In today’s post, we’ll focus mainly on the overall plot of the series. Future posts will detail more specific characters and locations.

Fate/Unlimited Codes is based off of the original Fate/stay night visual novel. In the original novel, we’re introduced to second year high school student ShirÅ Emiya in Fuyuki City. Ten years prior to the start of the novel, ShirÅ was caught in a fire that killed his parents and nearly killed him. Kiritsugu Emiya found him, treated him, and decided to raise him. Prior to Kiritsugu’s death, ShirÅ discovered that his stepfather was actually a mage who failed to live up to his life’s ambition of becoming a Hero of Justice. ShirÅ is so touched by this discovery that he swears to follow in his footsteps, despite the fact that he has never shown any magus tendencies.

Unbeknownst to ShirÅ, Fuyuki City is host to the Holy Grail Wars, a series of wars that occur every 60 years in order to obtain the wish-granting Holy Grail. These are wars that are fought by seven magi, known as masters, and their spiritual familiars, known as servants. The last war occurred 10 years prior to the start of Fate/stay night, but events in the present indicate that the next war has started prematurely.

Find out how ShirÅ gets involved in the Holy Grail Wars and the relationship between masters and servants in part II, coming soon!

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