I enjoy the Fate/Stay Night franchise on a meta level. I like the characters, like seeing references to it pop up in other places, like hoarding figures of Bride Saber, Motorcycle Saber, and so on. But I’ve always had a problem engaging with it head-on. I’ve watched some of the anime, but after being traumatized by a certain scene in the Unlimited Blade Works movie (you know the one), I’ve given up on watching Fate animated; it’s just too violent for me. I tried to read the visual novel, but something about the prose just turned me off. I don’t know why, since I’m the kind of person who enjoyed slogging through all of War and Peace, but for some reason those opening scenes with Rin sitting around drinking tea or whatever just destroyed my will to continue. And the other video games are… look, Fate/Extra is a dungeon crawler with barely any treasure in it, that shouldn’t even be legal!
Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family, a cooking-focused spin-off manga, functions as a kind of outreach program for the perpetually Fate-phobic. Like Saber and Rin, but don’t like the violence of the Holy Grail War? Read this manga, where no one even seems to know or care what the Holy Grail is! Don’t have the patience for countless atmosphere-building scenes in the VN? Read this manga, where all the chapters are short and sweet with a side of food porn! Artist TAa has created a version of Fate/Stay Night that even I can get through, and I appreciate that.
However, this manga obviously isn’t only for lukewarm fans like me. For hard-core fans of the series, this manga gives them the opportunity to see all of their favorite characters interact without a veritable Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone’s heads, which is an interesting kind of fanservice. We generally think of fanservice as being sexual in nature, but in this case, with the Fate universe so constantly fraught with peril, just seeing the characters casually sit down and have a meal together is more exciting than seeing Rin in a bikini (although, for the record, this volume does include Rin in a bikini. You get the best of both worlds.)
As fanservice for Fate fans, this book succeeds, on multiple levels. TAa draws beautiful people, and his style is a good match for the many gorgeous girls of Fate/Stay Night. He also draws one smokin’ hot Archer, but sadly, Archer isn’t in this book very much; I guess I’ll have to wait for more volumes to get some quality time with my husbando. Lots of little character moments will have a special resonance for fans, and it’s nice to see the series mainstays get a chance to do something different, even if nothing particularly profound happens. Also, the food looks quite appetizing, which is important for a title that focuses so heavily on cooking.
I’m less convinced that the book fulfills its secondary purpose, however. This book is half-manga, half-cookbook, and I think you’re supposed to be inspired to attempt Shiro’s recipes in your own kitchen. The step-by-step breakdown of how to make each dish is helpful — especially for people like me, who tend to get intimidated when they see a long recipe. However, the recipes are provided in really tiny print, making it hard to cook out of this book without a microscope (and the recipes use the metric system, making it tough for us US folk who aren’t used to seeing measurements listed in grams.) Many of these recipes are fairly involved, so chances are, if you’re willing to attempt making Spring Chirashi Sushi in the form of a decorative cake, you’re willing to squint with a calculator in hand.
This release comes from Denpa Books, which is interesting for a few reasons. First, it means Denpa’s typically high production values are on offer (oooh, French Flaps!) Second, this is an oddity in Denpa’s lineup, since most of what they license is the kind of eclectic, artistic manga that couldn’t be further away in intent from a monster franchise like Fate/Stay Night. People should, of course, buy the book on its own merits and not because of who publishes it, but personally, I prefer giving money to a publisher that’s willing to take chances and bring over more niche material. If buying the Fate cooking manga means we’ll get more releases like An Invitation From a Crab, that’s another check in the win column for me.
All in all, if you enjoy Fate/Stay Night at all, this should be on your bookshelf. It probably doesn’t belong on your cookbook shelf, but if you put it there, you’d just get spaghetti sauce and stuff all over it, and who needs that? I assume most of you who go out and buy this book are just going to read it, but hey, if you actually manage to make any of the recipes yourself, more power to you: you will have proven yourself an industrious individual, and that you understand the devious metric system. Maybe if they give us a shirtless Archer in volume 2, even I will pick up a whisk and join the not-lazy people in the Fate Cooking Club. Until that day, I will happily salivate at the pretty pictures of nutritious meals and attractive Heroic Spirits alike.
