Kinoko Nasu (奈須 きのこ, Nasu Kinoko?) (born 28 November 1973) is a Japanese author, best known for writing the visual novels Tsukihime and Fate/stay night. Renowned for a unique style of storytelling and prose, Nasu is amongst the most prominent visual novelists in Japan.
Biography
Together with high school classmate and friend, Takeuchi Takashi, Nasu formed TYPE-MOON in 2000, originally as a dōjin group to create the visual novel Tsukihime, which soon gained immense popularity, much of which is attributed to Nasu's unique style of storytelling. A sequel to Tsukihime, Kagetsu Tohya, was released on August 2001.
Following the success of Tsukihime, TYPE-MOON became a commercial organization. On 28 January 2004, TYPE-MOON released Fate/stay night, written by Nasu; it too gained great success, becoming one of the most popular visual novels on the day of its release. A sequel to Fate/stay night, Fate/hollow ataraxia, was released on October 28, 2005. Both of Nasu's visual novel works (Tsukihime and Fate/stay night) have been adapted to popular anime and manga series.
He is generally portrayed as a mushroom in TYPE-MOON works, as Nasu and Kinoko mean eggplant and mushroom in Japanese. There is a zipper on the mushroom's back, implying that a human could be controlling it from inside, but the veracity of that idea is unknown even to Nasu himself.[1] He is known as a mushroom-type fairy that does nothing but play games appears in the office late at night.[2] In his hand, he carries a Conceptual Weapon called "Occult hammer".[3]
Nasu's origin would be "Games"[4] and his Reality Marble, Neverland Overdrive (ネバーランド・オーバードライブ, Nebārando Ōbādoraibu?), which is a world where he can play games forever without aging. Unfortunately for him, there is sometimes a devil called "deadline" that enters.
If Nasu were to participate in the Holy Grail War, he would summon either Iskandar or Medusa.[5]
Nasu's works
Among Nasu's earlier works are the novels Kara no Kyoukai, originally released in 1998 and re-printed in 2004, Notes, Mahou Tsukai no Yoru and Koori no Hana.
Nasu has authored the following:
Novels
- Kara no Kyoukai, subtitled the Garden of Sinners - originally released in 1998 and commercially reprinted in 2004 by Kodansha Novels.
- Notes
- Mahou Tsukai no Yoru, Magician's Night
- Koori no Hana, Ice Flowers
- Decoration Disorder Disconnection: Junk the Eater
- Decoration Disorder Disconnection: HandS
- Tsuki no Sango
- Note: "Kara no Kyoukai" featured illustrations by Takashi Takeuchi, while the "DDD" series featured art by Koyama Hirokazu
Visual Novels
- Tsukihime - Released in December 2000.
- Kagetsu Tohya - Sequel to Tsukihime, released in August 2001.
- Fate/stay night - Released on the 28th January 2004.
- Fate/hollow ataraxia - Sequel to Fate/stay night, released on the 28th of October 2005.
- Mahoutsukai no Yoru - Released on 12th of April 2012
- Fate/Grand Order - Released on the 29th of July 2015
- Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- - Released on the 26th of August 2021
Other
- Melty Blood - The original Melty Blood fighting game, released in December 2002, features an extensive Story Mode, which is essentially a visual novel where story branches are chosen based on the outcome of battles. Nasu also writes the dialogue for Arcade Mode, which was first featured in Melty Blood ReACT, released in May 2004.
- Melty Blood Actress Again - Presumably he also wrote the character dialogue for the sequel, released in 2008.
- 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya deWP - Nasu wrote a special scenario for the game, with fellow Type-Moon co-founder Takashi Takeuchi providing the character designs.
- Canaan - A 13 episode anime sequel to the special scenario from 428: Fūsa Sareta Shibuya deWP
- Fate/Prototype - The original version of Fate/stay night, now called Old Fate and Fate Origin, was a novel that Nasu wrote during high school.
- Fate/Zero - Much of the process was supervised by Kinoko Nasu, who looked over the draft for the new characters and the plot. All of the characters were named by Nasu except for Hisau Maiya, which was suggested by Urobuchi.
- Fate/Apocrypha - While Apocrypha was created under Nasu's supervision. Nasu devised and planned majority of the story elements for Apocrypha and he personally scrapped David, St.George, Kintoki and Benkei out of the story and together with Takeuchi designed Chiron, Avicebron & Achilles (addition of Mordred was Takeuchi's idea, which Nasu approved). Nasu also wrote story background and development for many Apocrypha's characters (for example Shirou Kotomine is his work).
- Fate/strange Fake - Supervisior
- Fate/EXTRA - Wrote the scenario.
- Fate/EXTRA CCC - Wrote the storyline. Believed it to be his final time writing a Fate scenario.
- Fate/EXTELLA - Wrote the storyline
References
- ↑
[] TYPE-MOON Fes. Official Pamphlet 10th Anniversary Q & A Booklet:
Q: Is Nasu Kinoko really a man? - ↑
[] Kara no Kyoukai - Chapter 6: “Oblivion Recorder” Movies Q & A Pamphlets
Q: What kind of fairies are there around Mr. Nasu and Mr. TakeuchiQ: What kind of fairies are there around Mr. Nasu and Mr. Takeuchi? <Tuna Mayo>
Takeuchi: Late at night, a mushroom-type fairy that does nothing but play games appears in the office.
Nasu: That fairy works tirelessly when he’s at home, you know. Or should I say, gaming time is both subtle and complex, so stop saying those kind of things.
Takeuchi: If you say so. - ↑
- ↑
[] Kara no Kyoukai - Chapter 5: “Paradox Spiral” Movies Q & A Pamphlets
Q: In Chapter 5, Araya Souren said his origin was “Stillness”. What are Mr. Takeuchi and Mr. Nasu’s origins?Q: In Chapter 5, Araya Souren said his origin was “Stillness”. What are Mr. Takeuchi and Mr. Nasu’s origins? <KTO>
Nasu: Mine is “Games”.
Takeuchi: An instant answer!? This guy… He didn’t even have to think about it…! - ↑
[] Fate/complete material III: World material - FAQ with Nasu: Miscellaneous, p.136
Q: If you were to join the Holy Grail War, which Hero would you like to have as your Servant? Either Servants who were present in the story, or Heroes that were not present, please tell me.
Q: If you were to join the Holy Grail War, which Hero would you like to have as your Servant? Either Servants who were present in the story, or Heroes that were not present, please tell me.
A: Rider. (Fourth Holy Grail War, Fifth Holy Grail War, I am good with either.Q:もし聖杯戦争に参戦するならば、どの英雄をサーヴァントにしたいですか?本編に登場したサーヴァントでも、未登場の英雄でもいいのでお教えください。
A:ライダー(四次、五次、どっちでも可)