It's annoying, because there are a lot of things that mean I can't recommend Fate/stay night without qualifications--the hideous stilted translation, the terrible pacing, the gross problematic gender stuff inserted to drive sales with waifu fanboys, maybe even the unabashedly ridiculous over-the-top anime feel of it (although I don't really mind that, except when I occasionally go "augh everyone is acting so much like a goddamn anime character in this scene"). But good God, is Kinoko Nasu ever devoted to characterizing his beautifully traumatized people in the most loving and soul-crushing ways, and do the themes and characters and relationships thus ever hit my narrative kinks.
Archer is actually just a perfect crystallization of everything I want in an angsty, screwed-up, broken character. And Rin's relationship with him stomps all over my pairing kinks. Rin herself is also amazing, by the way.
I already have a pretty good idea of the post-UBW Rin/Archer fanfic I want to write--it's one I had an idea for six years ago when I first tried to watch the anime, but of course wasn't able to flesh out until now. As a bonus, I'll be able to weave Fate/Extra characters into it. Maybe I'll talk about it here later.
I also put in my application for Archer at
My Tumblr is now basically a Fate blog with cats (or a cat blog with Fate, whichever), and I continue to descend into the mad abyss of fangirling. I'm vaguely irritated at myself for spending some two and a half years searching and searching for a new character who would smash into my heart the way Lockon did when that exact character was already waiting for me and I knew it perfectly well, I just couldn't bring myself to slog through the visual novel. But whatever. I have him now.