Man, what a time to be alive, huh? Back when the original release of this came out in 2012, you wouldn't even be able to imagine Fate/Stay Night getting an official international release. Now a ton of visual novels are getting international releases with professional translations, including the newest version of FSN and the Tsukihime remake. I don't necessarily know if it wouldn't have happened if not for Mahobillions, but it's probably the best time to be a fan of the medium outside Japan.

And man, I had a great time with this VN. The stakes are definitely lower than a lot of Nasu's works that I'm familiar with; the primary conflict is a personal one rather than something that would threaten more than, say, three people. But you know, I actually kind of liked that. There were definitely some really great action scenes that utilized the VN medium in a really cool way, but the fact that it had more of a chill, slice of life vibe allowed the characters to engage in delightful sitcom hijinks.

Aoko, Soujyuuro, and Alice have wonderful chemistry with each other, and I really enjoy that the mage here feels the most equipped to exist in the modern world. I really do love Soujyuurou, too. I love how Nasu can present us with the most generic looking man and make him the weirdest fuckin' guy in the universe. Alice is also extremely good, I think she somehow ended up being my favorite of the three? She has the best comedic timing. I love her. The art's really good too, and all the characters have really good expressions. Soujyuurou probably has my favorite expressions out of all of them, though. His gormless smile, his little pout, :x... he's an adorable lad. Love him.

Of course, the supporting cast is great, too. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed a lot of the mundane cast and how actually important to the overall narrative they were, particularly in the extra chapters (like Aoko investigating Soujyuurou's shady new job...)

Though, I'll admit that the supporting cast is the part where the pacing baffled me a bit. I spent a significant portion of the game wondering why I hadn't even seen everyone on the front of the box... I forgot that this was actually supposed to be the first game in a trilogy. I found myself really wishing that there was more of Beo and Team Church, but I guess they would have been a lot more important in the next two games? Well, I hope those games come out sometime... I guess Nasu's suffering from success with how much his stuff took off. I'm sure FGO is funding the games getting translations in the first place... still, I wouldn't say no to him dropping FGO to make more Mahoyo.

Also the extra chapter is a delight, though the shift from kinetic novel to a more traditional VN experience with choices and shit threw me. It seems pretty unforgiving, too... that didn't stop me from loving it, though. Kumari was a character I really enjoyed in the scenes where she appeared in the main game, and Riddell was a delightful addition to the cast. The mystery and its rules were really fun, even if I ended up using a guide to figure out the choices I needed to make.

Outside of those things, the music is pretty good even if I wouldn't say it's Extremely memorable. Also, while I'd say the translation is flavorful and compelling to read, there are several grammatical and punctuation mistakes throughout. I don't really mind it all that much because there is SO much fuckin' text in this bad boy, but I do hope Tsukihime Remake and the FSN release get another editing pass in their releases.

Also since I bought physical I have to say I really like the artbook and the neat box. The artbook has a really fun story in the back of it, and it does not do anything to deter me from wanting even more of this cast.

Here's hoping! I know Nasu said he might make it an anime instead, but man, I don't know. The way this particular VN utilized the medium was really stylish and cool, and I think something would be lost in just watching an anime of it rather than going for the VN experience. I guess any continuation is better than none, though.