i want a period piece show about female pirates. like, that tells the stories of them. not just Anne Bonney, Mary Read, & Ching Shih. i want them and also Joanna of Flanders, Duchess of Brittany (c. 1295 – September 1374) & Jeanne de Clisson, the Lioness of Brittany (1300 – 1359). i want Gráinne O'Malley/Grace O'Malley/Gráinne Ní Mháille (c. 1530 – c. 1603), Sayyida al Hurra (1485 – July 14th, 1561), and the women of the Killigrew family. i want the possibly fictional, possibly real pirate women of Charlotte de Berry (17th century) & Jacquotte Delahaye (fl. 1656). i want the real but stories are mostly probably fictional Anne Dieu-le-Veut (August 28th, 1661 – January 11th, 1710). i want something that shows us the pirate women from outside Europe & the Caribbean, i want the Canadian pirate woman, Maria Lindsey, and the American pirate woman, Rachel Wall.
Ok after finishing all of the main story content in Samurai Remnant, I'd really like to know your thoughts on not just Saber, but the other new servants as well. (I know you did Rider already so maybe you could talk about her Avenger form added recently to FGO)
Saving the Iori and Saber posts for after I play Entreat the Darkness but I suppose I can do this one now.
FSR's cast is built like Fate/EXTRA's. You have big arcs for the protagonist and the main Servant. And then every other Master is a supporting character for the protagonist's arc and their Servant are supporting characters to those supporting characters.
Zhou Yu is the golden example of that. He is the guy who understands Zheng's position, relates to his experiences, and serves as the model for Zheng to follow after every ending. He's not very explored in the parts of his character that aren't relevant to that, in the same way Zheng isn't very explored in the parts that aren't meant to show the ways he's similar to Iori. Although this is probably guaranteed to change when he goes to FGO because Zhuge Liang is right there hiding inside his Waver Velver skin.
Jeanne is the same Jeanne we know since Apocrypha, except in serious mode 100% and in a Master-Servant pair where both sides have firm opinions about the other side's life choices and refuse to back down there despite their fundamental disagreements. FSR and its collab event were the only two times I came out of a Jeanne story having zero problems with Jeanne's characterization, which is a major testament to how good Chiemon is and how Jeanne plays an essential part in making Chiemon the best.
Ushi Gozen is already covered here and here.
Are is different in that he exists as a personal antagonist to Saber rather than as a supporting character to either of his Masters. Saber's arc is about becoming more than Yamato Takeru, so they fight a boss who has the literal constraints of Yamato Takeru's story as his Noble Phantasm. He has his own personal goal in evidencing his own existence, but that's a really frustrating concept as it is because it doesn't give Type-Moon's reasons why Are's existence is doubted. He's a character I have ideas for how I'd have done him differently, but that's a topic for its own post.
Saburou is an accessory to Dorothea's character but he's the most poorly communicated character in the game, so he muddles the point of Dorothea along with him. His motive for wanting to test Doro is not stated but it's implied to be simply disagreeing with her decision to retreat instead of storming Yasuhiro's fortress in their last Digression, which really makes him come off as just an asshole. And I feel like more could be done with the arrangement of him and Saber being mutually weak to each other.
Musashi is the one Servant who serves as a supporting character to Iori rather than her own Master and she feels a lot more right in this role than she ever did as a main player. She's the one character who understands Iori's arc through personal experience and ultimately tries and cathartically fails to be a source of closure to Iori, the other Musashi, and to a lesser extent herself, all in a single duel. It's a satisfying loss for everyone involved.
Yoshinaka is an odd Rogue who is stripped of anything and everything that defined Yoshinaka's source character. Making Yoshinaka a good guy because they didn't want Tomoe to be heads over heels for the worst man of his time is understandable, but the narrative that Yoshinaka was unfairly hated comes with reasons why he was hated despite being innocent, and the game doesn't bother to work with that either. Their Yoshinaka is just a nobody who exists only to be Tomoe's man.
Samson is the Rogue who exists to be Takao's supporting character since Musashi is busy being another one of Iori's. He's a screamy Berserker, but for the first time, this archetype worked because the 3D models allowed for new levels of expressiveness, such as the thumbs up and him sitting next to Iori's house pouting. He's as much of a simp as any version of Samson should be and the way Takao treats that giant hulk like a baby is pretty cute. He's just nice to have around, especially when he is playable.
in theory, chiemon and lancer jeanne could've been like. such a great master servant duo.
chiemons story is just lacking in depth, i want to like him more than i actually like him. they tried something with his wish being to open the gates of hell to reunite with his loved ones but it's like. so flatly told and doesn't really tell about him as a person.
comparatively, shousetsu and zheng feel very much more tangible (though their ambitions are more grounded) and i generally like them. chiemon is very confusing as an individual outside of the waxing moon ritual, while other characters have full lives, shousetsu is a military scholar, zheng serves his emperor, dorothea is a merchant, tsuchimikado is an onmyouji, takao leads yoshiwara. chiemon is what. seething alone? being edgy? gråtrunka?? like his only motivation is to bring hell on earth but there doesn't seem to be any other way for him to achieve it except the ritual? so what does he do outside of it?? apparently he is a magus of some sort and he knows combat. his profile states he comes to edo alone and with nothing in his possession?
this could've been a great springboard to write him as someone who's absolutely hollow outside of his goal, they could've write him full of determination to survive just to see his goal through. but his current state is just very barebones stuff, even though his design and voiceacting do a lot for him.
and then there's jeanne who'd be such an interesting perspective to follow if the plot was interested in that. she's someone who gets summoned 200 years after her death to serve in a incomplete ritual. and she gets corrupted by her summoners wish. while she still holds on to her faith and beliefs.
what you understand of jeanne is that despite her circumstances, she really wants to salvage those she can, even if it's only one person, even if it means following him to hell. it's the only thing she can offer and in the end even that is outright denied from her.
i would've loved to read her thoughts and motivations thoroughly and got to know her a bit more. her and chiemons relationship could've been explored further, as they're both christians who suffered horrific violence,
both of them could've gone farther than they did, and the things they did write were genuinely intriguing.
team lancer had such potential to be such a dynamite tragedy combo.
but it is funny that chiemon bans her from trying to save him and she enters battle and her first line is "let us pray"
So Fate came out with a new game recently called Fate Samurai Remnant. It's more fate stuff but set during 1651 Edo Japan. So let's met the cast. I would like to mention almost everyone here has historically existed.
Miamoto Iori: protagonist. Master of Saber. Adopted son of legendary swordsmaster Miamoto Musashi. Broke AF. Lives in a broken down shed in the abandoned part of town.
Saber: Story deutrotagonist. Is the reason why Iori is broke. Smug little shit. Craves only 2 things: food and violence.
Takao Dayu: Most famous courtesan of the Yoshiwara red light district. Master of Berserker. Essentially team mom.
Berserker- Miyamoto Mushashi: Historically known as the World's Strongest Swordsman. Was historically male. Adopted Iori. Gets repeatedly isekaied. Also the person who accidentally turned Las Vegas into a lake side resort.
Zheng Chenggong: Master of Archer. Chinese general and part time pirate. Is the rich friend. Sometimes impulsive. Fights with just a stick.
Archer-has to deal with Zheng on the regular. Wields fire arrows and js profceient at making things explode.
Yui Shousetsu: Master of Rider. Leads a dojo of Robin. Has an "honor before reason" mentality. Historically known for attempting to over throw the Tokugawa shogunate.
Rider: Stoic and disciplined. Ominius AF. Hates Iori's house shed for some reason.
Chiemon: Master of Lancer. Survivor of the Shimabara rebellion [where the Tokugawa shoguate did a Roman persecution of Christians](and that's a gross over simplification). Murder hobo. Doesn't believe in baths.
Lancer- Jeanne D'arc Alter- Evil Joan of Arc. Tired. Doesn't want to be here. Wants to go home.