Now then. Regardless of finally writing the afterword, writing [Fate/Apocrypha], this still felt somewhat surreal for me. As if I was in the middle of a vague dream......
But since I've come this far, let's look back at the past events that has led me here.
First things first, the beginning. I think it all started about 4-5 years back. I remember that a very distinguished person named Nasu Kinoko joined us for a meal. Right in the middle of our conversation—
"By the way. Do you want to try creating Servants?"
"YES."
While thinking to myself that this guy had suddenly said a pretty outrageous thing, I paid a visit to the TYPE-MOON Office, and ended up producing a mountain of new Servants that just kept on growing. That was my first encounter with [Fate/Apocrypha] and [Fate Online].
Even amidst the overflowing charm of the Servants, having Jeanne D’Arc emerge as a Servant was something that I took great pleasure in. If you think about it, in the time of [Fate/stay night]'s publication, everyone thought that Saber was Jeanne. Well, they were completely wrong~!
After several seasons passed unknowingly, I received the news about some talks for [Fate Online], saying that "That was such a waste..." After all, those 14 amazing Servants had truly existed at that point of time.
And so, the seasons changed once again. The rejected plan of [Fate/Apocrypha] was compiled in the [Fate/Complete Material IV]. It seemed like it then became a considerably hot topic, and a certain editor in Kadokawa sent me a request asking if I would consider writing a short story for [Fate/Apocrypha]. That was the predecessor of the current project, titled [Unbirth] (included in TYPE-MOON ACE Vol. 7).
At that point of time, it was decided to arrange a fake announcement of a short story of just one Master and a Servant. However, during the meeting where the great TYPE-MOON read it, it ended up become "Why don't we try to make this an actual novel?", thus leading to the creation of this afterword.
It’s been 5 years since the very first time anyone laid eyes on the materials for the setting. I might have taken the long route to get to this point, but I feel I've been extremely blessed—it's almost as if we absorbed all the luck of the Lancers—but thanks to that we were able to get the work out to the world.
I would like to express from the bottom of my heart my gratitude to those who never gave up on this [Fate/Apoccrypha].
Now that I’ve been entangled into the world of [Fate], I finally understood the reason big bro Urobuchi was led to write [Fate/Zero]. It really is fun writing the world of [Fate]. Imagining the setting for both the magi and the Servants has been nothing but exciting. Speaking as a fan, there was no time when I feel more blessed than this. Not to mention the official announcement makes it all the more.
In the earlier magazine's interview, I said that for me, [Fate/Apocrypha]'s concept is such that other readers will go "Oh, so there's this kind of Fate as well." The progression and system would have been impossible in [Fate/stay night] and [Fate/Zero]… but this story was born out of a desire to see such system and progression occur. If someone somewhere out there reads this novel and is inspired to create their own version of [Fate], or come up with interesting Servants, then it will bring me joy beyond what I expected.
Last but not the least, my thanks to the one who had willingly researched historical works concerning magecraft—Miwa Kiyomune-sama; to those who have been involved in the Servants creation and designing for the online project; to Konoe Ototsugu-sama, I will forever be indebted to you for working like a demon to draw the vast amount of character; to various people who have given me their assistance, Takeuchi Takashi-sama, Nasu Kinoko-sama, and to everyone from TYPE-MOON.
[Fate/Apocrypha] is scheduled for a thick composition of four volumes. Now then, let's meet again in volume 2 (if all goes well around summer)!
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Kat
