Set in the modern era, <\/span>Fate\/stay night<\/span><\/i> is the story of seven mages, each paired with a hero from myth and legend, who fight it out to win a wish from the Holy Grail. It is a complex story with its fair share of bloody battles, dark revelations, and adult themes. <\/span><\/p>\n The newest <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> anime, <\/span>Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family<\/span><\/i> is about as far from that dark and serious story as you can get.<\/span><\/p>\n Set in a strangely peaceful version of the world, it follows the everyday lives of the characters–and legendary heroes–from <\/span>Fate\/stay night<\/span><\/i>. But more than that, it\u2019s centered around the traditional Japanese meals that the main character, Emiya, makes for his friends and family. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Each 15-minute episode follows the same basic framework, beginning with a slice-of-life scene. In one episode, the scene is centered around the Japanese holiday \u201cChildren\u2019s Day.\u201d In another, Emiya helps a friend make a delivery to the local temple. These scenes inspire–or at least are directly related to–the central meal of their respective episodes.<\/span><\/p>\n The second half of each episode revolves around Emiya making that meal. As if it were a cooking show, Emiya gives an abbreviated explanation of how to make each of the dishes as he does so. This is all animated beautifully by animation studio ufotable and is \u201cfood porn\u201d in every sense of the word.<\/span><\/p>\n But as a long time fan of the franchise (and a person who couldn\u2019t care less about food porn), what captivates me is trying to unravel how exactly this timeline came to exist. <\/span><\/p>\n As mentioned above, the <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> franchise contains numerous timelines–even the original game has three ways for the story to possibly unfold. Sometimes, where exactly a given timeline diverged from the original <\/span>Fate\/stay night<\/span><\/i> timeline is explained in full. Other times, it is simply left to the imagination. And while <\/span>Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family <\/span><\/i>is one of the later cases, just by watching the show we get hints about what has unfolded to create this timeline.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that at least some version of <\/span>Fate\/Zero <\/span><\/i>occurred–as Emiya was adopted by Kiritsugu and Sakura\u2019s hair color is purple. Likewise, we see in flashbacks that Emiya\u2019s everyday life between <\/span>Zero<\/span><\/i> and the present could easily fit in the original timeline. <\/span><\/p>\n It also appears that the \u201cHoly Grail War,\u201d the battle between the Mage\/Hero pairs, started off the same as it had in <\/span>Fate\/stay night<\/span><\/i>. The big proof there is that Caster is living with Kuzuki–meaning she likely killed her first partner, just like in the original, before finding and falling in love with Kuzuki.<\/span><\/p>\n But as none of the other mages\/heroes are dead, this means that the war as we know it somehow ended in a stalemate just as everything was getting started. By the time of <\/span>Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family<\/span><\/i>, all the mage\/hero pairs are friendly with–or at least tolerate–each other\u2019s existence. Likewise, many of the key character secrets–like Rin and Sakura being sisters–have been resolved.<\/span><\/p>\n Maybe the change to the timeline was caused by something big–like the entire Holy Grail War system being different. Or maybe it\u2019s something small–like Sakura\u2019s grandfather being dead already. Regardless, each episode is filled with little hints–whether it means to or not–and attempting to decipher them is endlessly entertaining for me.<\/span><\/p>\n But even if there is no answer and all the time I spent mulling it over was futile, at least I\u2019ll have the memory of watching the single most epic match of beach volleyball you can possibly imagine.<\/span><\/p>\n Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family<\/span><\/i> can be seen with English subtitles on <\/span>Crunchyroll<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/DaOpUv9UMAUWy-O.jpg?w=700&ssl=1\")
Image source: \u300e\u885b\u5bae\u3055\u3093\u3061\u306e\u4eca\u65e5\u306e\u3054\u306f\u3093\u300f\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/DiJTzASU8AAsodD.jpg?w=700&ssl=1\")
Image source: \u300e\u885b\u5bae\u3055\u3093\u3061\u306e\u4eca\u65e5\u306e\u3054\u306f\u3093\u300f\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/DiTvc49UwAIFzXK.jpg?w=700&ssl=1\")
Image source: \u300e\u885b\u5bae\u3055\u3093\u3061\u306e\u4eca\u65e5\u306e\u3054\u306f\u3093\u300f\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/DiJTzASU8AIAto2.jpg?w=700&ssl=1\")
Image source: \u300e\u885b\u5bae\u3055\u3093\u3061\u306e\u4eca\u65e5\u306e\u3054\u306f\u3093\u300f\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/DemsZOqUYAARQMn.jpg?w=700&ssl=1\")
Image source: \u300e\u885b\u5bae\u3055\u3093\u3061\u306e\u4eca\u65e5\u306e\u3054\u306f\u3093\u300f\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/DXM7OYEU0AExKi4.jpg?w=700&ssl=1\")
Image source: \u300e\u885b\u5bae\u3055\u3093\u3061\u306e\u4eca\u65e5\u306e\u3054\u306f\u3093\u300f\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/Dhf5SWAUwAELNxl.jpg?w=700&ssl=1\")
Image source: \u300e\u885b\u5bae\u3055\u3093\u3061\u306e\u4eca\u65e5\u306e\u3054\u306f\u3093\u300f\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n
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