I finished Fate/Zero some time ago and enjoyed it immensely. It was a very dense show with a lot of rich, inter-weaving ideas – so much so that a detailed treatment is probably an impossibility for a single post. But I still want to write a little on it, in part also to hopefully build some momentum for tackling more difficult post topics later on. So I’m going to focus this post on Saber – a single thread in Fate/Zero’s yarn, but one that is I think quite wonderful and radiant. Hopefully I’ll also be able to pivot on that to say some general things about Fate/Zero itself – the kind of show it is like.

Now I didn’t like Saber very much in Fate/Stay Night (at least in the anime incarnation thereof). I didn’t think she was very interesting – nor for that matter endearing or even less than annoying. However my impression of her is very different in Fate/Zero. A lot of good writing went into the shoring up of her character’s history, motivations and philosophy, so that her obnoxious sanctimoniousness is blunted by the beautiful tragedy around which her character is woven – her singular loyalty to the ideal. The rather than an ideal because, even in Fate/Zero’s multifaceted world, I thought that the kind of virtue that Saber stood and strove for distinguishes itself on its purity. Or perhaps one could say, rather than wielding virtue in the pursuit of some objective or end, she pursued and sought to embody virtue itself. Saber was King of Knights not so much in the sense that she was a great leader of Knights but that she was the embodiment of the knightly ideal.

The meeting of the three Kings was a great moment in the show. It is also a great example of a very nice feature of Fate/Zero that made it unlike shows like Kara no Kyoukai: Fate/Zero brimmed with complex, often philosophical, contrasting ideas, but they are rarely of the sort that is silent and hidden in the folds of subtlety and implication. Its characters speak its ideas and argue them openly, and the relationship between the plot and the show’s themes tends to be oratorical and obvious rather than enigmatic. And so it is that in this scene we could sit with the Kings and chew on their words and contemplate their kingliness, argued out loud. However, Fate/Zero is I think nonetheless not without subtlety. Here, the meeting concludes apparently to the detriment of Saber’s kingliness, however

“You were the greatest amongst the kings. All who served you… believed thus.”

We are given an obvious counter-perspective at a climatic moment near the chaotic end of the series, where Berserker, revealed to be Lancelot, Arturia’s trusted knight whom she apparently failed, called her the greatest among Kings. Strewn across the series are also other powerful indications of her greatness, perhaps none more spectacular than the first casting of Excalibur. Ufotable’s presentation was breathtaking, with fiery music, immaculate production, and Irisviel’s awed whisper hailing the shining noble phantasm as the embodiment of the dying dreams of loyal warriors of all ages, wielded by the undefeated King that led and championed them, the undefeated king in whom their salvation rested.

Fate/Zero did not only employ fireworks and grandeur in crafting this portrayal of Saber. I thought the relationship between Saber and Lancer dripped with meaning. In all of the seemingly unending tribulation and sorrow of Lancer’s time as a servant, Saber – even as his enemy – seemed his one sliver of happiness. Lancer, a virtuous and loyal warrior constantly let down by circumstance and by his master – exactly, one would imagine, the kind of warrior whose tragic dream would fit Irisviel’s poetic narration – found solace and vindication in Saber’s unfailing honor and chivalry. I thought this gave substance to Fate/Zero’s beautiful description of the Excalibur. Even as a servant Saber was naturally a deliverer of the virtuous. And this was what truly made her King of Knights.

Now we venture into the realm of tragedy. In her perfection and her virtuousness, Saber was clearly not spared the painful witnessing of events unjust, disastrous and sorrowful: beginning with the destruction of Britain in life, to the terrible death of Lancer and her eventual discovery of Lancelot’s madness during her servanthood. And this appeared to manifest as some form of regret in Saber. Virtue naturally seeks justice, the salvation and triumph of the good, but even in her kingly perfection Saber was unable to bring this to fruition. The revelation that her cold perfection and single-minded devotion to righteousness distanced her from the humanity of her subjects, and facilitated Lancelot’s fall from grace, shattered her. It was a palpable fall – the despairing clarity that reveals that your best wasn’t enough. The culmination of her character. In this sense her journey and the motivations and emotions that led her towards the Grail were very much like her master’s. She forges on, carrying the will of the fallen – those she was unable to save, Lancer and Lancelot included – as her pride, in the desperate hope that she could still somehow make right what her perfect virtue could not. Somehow bring atonement and salvation to the souls and wills she had taken as her burden, and in so doing also bring herself the same.

More so than physical appearance, I think this was what really lead Caster to mistake Saber for Joan of Arc – the light and burden of virtue, the single-minded pursuit of God, though God forsook her.

Great scene: Saber, standing over her fallen comrade, alone and victorious in her righteousness, as the land burned around her

And at the horizon of it all – the Grail. Saber’s last hope. Perhaps her despairing desperation for a miracle that could bring her and her charges closure – succeed where she had failed and achieve the impossible – was a partial reason she was one of the closest to obtaining the Grail. I won’t go into detail regarding how it all ended, but with the miracle eventually out of reach and that hope extinguished, Saber’s story in Fate/Zero ended with her heart-rending cry back on the shattered battlefield of Camlann. Her final broken whisper that she should not have been King was perhaps her final despairing acknowledgement that her burden was, after all, impossible for her.

I should hasten to add here in footnote that all the many players in the Fourth Holy Grail War – masters and servants alike, have their own powerful motivations, based on philosophies often unique to each, for seeking the Grail. While Saber’s is undoubtedly one of the most compelling, even the “minor” characters – if they can indeed be so called – have their cases and perspectives argued to satisfying levels of depth. A great joy of watching the series has been to witness the ringing clashes of wills knowing that, though neither is clearly morally superior, neither can afford to back down without compromising the ideals that they stood for. Perhaps the best and most fitting takeaway from the entire experience is this: let me never take as evil, foolish, or inferior the person that stands against me in my seeking of what I see as noble. Earnest men, perhaps in their own ways good, can nonetheless meet on opposite sides of the field.

Here we go! Summer Special 1 (originally announced here). Translating this chapter took more effort than expected because of the bizarre references, so I ended up releasing just one instead of two chapters as I had hoped to. Not too much more to say this time, so I’ll keep it short for once :)

(Reminder here that this strip wasn’t released freely online, so if you like Hana no Android Gakuen I encourage you to support the authors by buying a volume (paper book and e-book). These are of course in Japanese, and no official English translations exist to the best of my knowledge. As long as this persists I will for my part commit to eventually translating everything in the first volume release – unless a much faster-working translation group picks it up or I get shut down by the creators for releasing non-free strips.)

Look for previously released translations in the category archives.

Hit the jump for the released strips. Like all Japanese manga, this should be read right to left, top to bottom.

These translations are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

I’ve already mentioned this in my previous post, but there’s only barely a week left, and we got 40% of the funding target left to fill. Which is kinda sorta bad, and here I am posting another nag! So in case you haven’t heard, the gist: Some veteran animators and NPO Animator Supporters are running a Indiegogo campaign to set up low-cost dormitories for budding Japanese animators drowning in a harsh industry. Yes, for the suffering guys who make our anime. So if you’re a fan (or a sympathetic bystander) do trot over and give them some love – either in the form of a monetary contribution to the campaign if you can, or at least by spreading the word. Thank you! If on the other hand you feel you need a little more convincing on why you should bother.. well, read on :)

Reason #1 is in short that life is shitty being a young animator. But I’m not going to delve very deeply into that, and I will instead refer you to this post for a vivid and somewhat passionate detailing of the problem. I’m going to focus on another reason why I think you should be donating to their cause.

A good while ago I wrote a similar post asking for support for the Time of Eve Kickstarter campaign. Several other comparable projects have sprouted ever since, which is a good trend, but we need it to continue gathering momentum. Because a great disconnect has existed for too long now between the animators and studios in Japan and the sizable foreign audience of anime content. And with the age of the open Internet upon us, it’s high time we closed that gap.

Not too long ago there was still no way for overseas fans to legitimately watch anime without waiting months for the DVD and Bluray release. Thanks to the opening of Internet-based channels by folks like Crunchyroll now, this has I am told recently been remedied for American audiences (though where I’m from nothing much has changed at all). And I think part of the reason for this development is an entering into the consciousness of the industry in Japan of the sheer volume of audience they have abroad. It is a simple argument then: the more the Japanese creators are thinking about their potential consumers abroad, the more channels we’ll have to obtain them legally and conveniently outside Japan. And one way we can help hold and expand the attention of the Japanese creators on the foreign scene is, I think, by making sure these english, international crowd-sourced campaigns sail cleanly across their finish lines. To show that they work, that the greater world is listening and responding.

Aside from hopefully making Japanese creators aware of us, another argument is we want Japanese creators to be aware of the Internet. The old norm of making shows and showing it on Japanese TV, then spending a couple of months packaging the content into pretty but prohibitively priced DVD and Bluray box-sets and hoping the sales thereof will turn a good profit is a lumbering tradition that needs to be modernized. Platforms like Indiegogo and Kickstarter can demonstrate that, in the new world of interconnected computers, reaching a foreign audience can be trivial. And if you make something people care about and sell it right, money can come flowing your way – not via the arcane and expensive pathways of shops and distribution agents, but in a single hop across the Internet. Hopefully this will give way to new ways of funding anime, new business models in which the creators and the end-consumers are the primary determinants of how things get produced and sold, and eventually, a modernized anime industry in which the Internet is not a constantly looming threat of piracy, but a powerful tool for community and communication, as well as sales and distribution.

So aside from being about the dreams and livelihood of our suffering animators in Japan, this is also, I think, about change. About modernization and a stronger industry, as well as a more connected community and a more useful Internet. Of course, it’s only a small step, but it’s a small step you get to be a part of, and that you can help make happen :) So how about it? If you can, please do trot over and give them some love

They would be grateful for your help!

Oh Mein Gott it’s been five months! I’ve been very preoccupied for much of this year (hence the long hiatus). Still, I’m glad I managed to get this out this month as I told myself I would. I owe this in part to my brother who has volunteered to do the cleaning – and he has done a fantastic job, putting my previous amateurish work to shame :)

This strip is Apple’s chapter, about the iPhone 5. In the manga volume I was sent, this came immediately after the previously released Summer Expansion Edition, although from the weekly ascii site it looks like it was chronologically released much later.

After this will come the four two-paged Summer Specials. Now that my life has regained some semblance of order (and with my brother blazing through the cleaning work), I’m optimistic that I’ll be able to make the next release happen much sooner than it took for this one to get out. I apologize as always for being so insufferably slow.

Reminder here that this strip wasn’t released freely online, so if you like Hana no Android Gakuen I encourage you to support the authors by buying a volume (paper book and e-book). These are of course in Japanese, and no official English translations exist to the best of my knowledge. As long as this persists I will for my part commit to eventually translating everything in the first volume release – unless a much faster-working translation group picks it up or I get shut down by the creators for releasing non-free strips.

And finally while we’re on the topic of supporting authors, if you haven’t already, please go over to the Animator Dormitories for Start-ups indiegogo page and consider making a donation, or at least help spread the word. Not only would it be cool to cultivate budding animators and help them live a difficult dream – I’m convinced it’ll also be good for us (foreign fans) in the long run if our Japanese content creators are more aware of us and think more about engaging us directly.

That’s it for the rambling! Look for previously released translations in the category archives.

Hit the jump for the released strips. Like all Japanese manga, this should be read right to left, top to bottom.

These translations are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Or to most anything else really. So this is what I hope will become the first of a series of blogs documenting my adventures getting a regular KDE Plasma (desktop) installation to tango with an x86 touch device – common nowadays in the form of Windows 8 tablets.

On my Machine and OS:
My specific machine is a Lenovo Yoga 11s (Haswell version), so not fully a tablet, but convertible into one by flexing the lower half all the way to the back. I had initially attempted with fair success to set up a Plasma Active-based system (by using experimental OpenSUSE Plasma Active packages), and with the right amount of tinkering that actually worked very well. However I eventually bumped into a few insurmountable hurdles: for example, the inability to set up Chinese and Japanese input since Maliit (the virtual keyboard) was an input method and, to the best of my knowledge, not dynamically switchable with a foreign language input method like ibus. So when inevitable circumstance eventually forced me to set up everything from scratch again, I decided this time to start with a regular KDE Plasma Desktop (on top of OpenSUSE 13.1), and see if I can harness the inherent malleability of Plasma and of Linux itself to achieve an acceptably touch-friendly setup.

Anyway on to the topic at hand. One of the distinguishing features of most x86 tablet computers today is that they, being originally sold as windows machines, sport a physical “windows button” near the screen:

This button on Linux would be bound to “super”, which on most DEs makes it basically useless since “super” by itself doesn’t usually do anything. On the other hand, touch screens on Linux generally simply behave like mice do, where taps are clicks and swipes are click-drags. The right click context menu is invaluable when using a traditional Linux desktop without a keyboard, and yet there is no direct way to right click with a touch screen. So a very useful customization I was able to put on my system is to bind the useless “windows button” to right-click.

This is less trivial than it might initially appear. A major pitfall is that while “super” on Linux by itself generally doesn’t do anything, it is heavily used as a modifier key for many keyboard shortcuts in most setups. So we need to bind “super” to a custom trigger, while at the same time preserving its use as a modifier key so that we don’t affect the keyboard shortcuts. Fortunately, someone has already worked this out for us. KSuperKey was originally written to allow KDE Plasma users to open the Kickoff menu (or the KDE Desktop’s “start menu”) by hitting just the super key a’la windows, but the program is also powerful enough that it could be used to bind the super key to any key combination – while preserving its status as a modifier key.

So as a first step, grab and install KSuperKey, then use it to bind super to a currently unused key-combination. For example, to bind super to Alt + F10, run the following:

ksuperkey -e 'Super_L=Alt_L|F10'

You can add this to a script in ~/.kde4/Autostart/ so that it is run automatically on session startup. Now hitting the windows button should be the same as hitting Alt + F10, so the next step is to map Alt + F10 to right click. But how do we emulate right click in the first place? Turns out it isn’t half hard. Just install xdotool, and create a script called fake-right-click (or anything you want) with the following contents:

xdotool click 3

Give it execute permissions and run it and you should immediately see the right click context menu open next to your mouse pointer! So now all we need to do is bind Alt + F10 to our new script.

You may think this easily achievable using the built in KDE custom shortcuts control module, and indeed this was what I tried first, but it turned out that for some reason or another this wasn’t reliable, and hitting the windows button would sometimes bring up the context menu and sometimes not. A more reliable means by experiment is to use xbindkeys. Using it for our purposes is quite easy: get it installed, then create the file ~/.xbindkeysrc with the following content:

"/path/to/fake-right-click"
alt + F10

Then simply run xbindkeys. (Again, you can add xbindkeys to a script in ~/.kde4/Autostart/ to have it run on session startup). That’s the last step! Hitting the windows button now should behave exactly like right click, letting you do all kinds of things previously not possible without a keyboard and mouse: