Disclaimer

I have a bunch of screenshots I planned on putting captions on for this post, but they are all on my main gaming PC. I am writing this on my laptop while visiting my family in a different state, so I do not have access to said screenshots.³

Also, I have written this post with the following assumptions:

• You know what a VN (Visual Novel) is.
• You know what Type-Moon/Fate/The Nasuverse is.
• You have some general anime knowledge from being on the internet.

Introduction

While it did take me longer than I thought it would, I did manage to start Witch on the Holy Night! Like I said in the last post, I'm hoping to journal my experience with it, both as a writing exercise and as a way to better refine my thoughts. I had planned on finishing some other games in my backlog before starting on a new visual novel after finishing up Fate Stay/Night, but that didn't end up happening lmao. I was PLANNING ON starting some other titles, but the FFXIV Evercold announcement activated my interest again and I started grinding out the classes I had yet to level up. That delayed me playing anything else, and as I was suffering from some particularly terrible allergies one night, I decided anything more involved than a book with a sound track would be too much for me. Thus, ginger tea in hand, I read the first 1.5 chapters of Witch on the Holy Night.

Before we can talk about how that went, however, I'll talk a bit about why I'm picking it up at all.

I've been a casual fan of Type-Moon stuff for a while. I watched Fate/Zero way back in middle school and was immediately transfixed - a sick urban fantasy setting, well-written adult characters with understandable motivations, awesome animation, and a very satisfying, if sad, ending. I watched the Ufotable adaptation of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works afterwards, and enjoyed that as well. The primary plot twist of that route is still one of my favorites after all this time.

That's where my primary interaction with the Nasuverse ended for a while. I got some further knowledge through internet osmosis, random Reddit threads, wiki dives, and friends that played Fate/Grand Order and the like, but nothing concrete. That changed when the Fate/Stay Night VN got a remaster on Steam. Long story short, that combined with the airing of the Fate/Strange Fake anime adaptation got me fully back into the setting and activated all of my silly little fixation brain parts.

Which brings us to now - not only is it a setting I am experiencing hype¹ over, I am just kind of in a visual novel mood. Even at the medium's most basic form, a book with a synced soundtrack goes hard, and I am happy to be taken on that ride time and time again. This overview has already taken longer than I would have liked, so lets jump into the actual novel, shall we?

1 Strange One

So, I'm going to start with briefly recapping the events of the first day of the novel, and then go into deeper thoughts. The recap will be bare-bones, and more a way to jog the memory of someone who actually read the damn thing. Is this the best way to write things? IDK, but its what I've got.

Recap

The VN opens with a storybook-styled segment about a child trying to save a cat after something extremely harrowing happens to it. (Like, warning for anyone who likes cats, that shit was fuuucked uuuup. I wont say exactly what happens here but IYKYK.) She takes it to her mage grandfather, who is unable to help the cat. I wasn't certain what it meant, thematically and literally, but it was certainly memorable and something to keep in mind going forward

We then get our chapter title drop (Strange One), and go right into our main character being rudely awoken on her day off by a ringing phone. She (Aoko Aozaki) is summoned to school, where a teacher (Mr. Yamashiro) asks her to help an incredibly strange new student (Soujyuro Sizuki) get acclimated to things. After giving him a tour, Aoko heads home and hangs out with her roommate/mentor Alice Kuonji. After a conversation about Aoko's magecraft (this is our first clear sign mages are involved in the story), Aoko resolves to focus on becoming a mage, and the day ends.

General Thoughts

Let me start off by saying I was not prepared for this level of production quality. The only other VNs I have read were Fate Stay/Night and Dies Irae (do not assume things about me from that statement thank you). Both of those are a bit older, and they contain mostly straight forward text->image->particle/sound effect sequences. The Mahoyo remake (my shorthand for Witch on the Holy Night going forward), however, was released in 2023, and the VN arms race has clearly progressed since 2007. There are so many moments of image layering, clever transition, text blocking, etc. that add to the experience. In the older works I've read, the format of "text on image" is a consistent rule, with the occasional full image breakup. In Mahoyo, the format is constantly in flux, making for a far more engaging and dynamic reading experience. I'd honestly be concerned recommending this as someone's first VN for fear of ruining their production standards.

On that topic, hot DAMN the art itself is beautiful. I have told my partner multiple times since playing this chapter, I want to live in a place that looks like the Kuonji Mansion. The fidelity is crisp, but beyond that, care was clearly taken to cultivate an atmosphere. IIRC, this takes place in the early fall, and this town has already been given such an identity. The visuals are sleepy, cozy, but also, work was clearly put in to build this world as a place caught between two times (theres a bit where Aoko talks about how the urban parts grew while maintaining some old country charm, and I'm def keeping that in mind as I continue). It's so distinct from Fate Stay/Night's Fuyuki City.

This atmosphere is accentuated by the stellar soundtrack - There are a couple of moments where the OST landed so well I had to look up the tracks later.

• Aoko Aozaki - The first part (before the drop) plays when Aoko meets Syuojuro. I don't have any music theory knowlwedge, so I cant put proper words to why this track absolutely enraptured me.
• Alice Kuonji - This is Alice's theme. It plays when she first appears as Aoko awakes from her nap, and it similarly caused me to stop reading and just listen for a bit. Very "fairy tale"

I know im glazing this VN a lot for someone who's only read one chapter, but all im really saying is that it had one hell of a first impression. I hope to not let that color my future views too hard but I mean....come on, it gave me a really good night of reading.

Characters

Aoko Aozaki

Our main character, as far as I can tell. I already like her! She kind of reminds me of Rin from Fate Stay/Night - both are honor student mages that have long black hair and can't do mornings. I would say most of this first chapter is about characterizing her. She's on the student council, unable to fake emotions, and considered one of the school's "7 deadly threats". Her early convo with Mr. Yamashiro characterizes her as kind of a hardass, and she goes into her interactions with Syojuro with a negative outlook as a result. I also really liked her portrayal as a foodie - its a small thing but it adds some relatable character. She's clearly caught between the "normal" and mage world, and I'm excited to find out more about why that is. Otherwise, her dialogue is entertaining and she has thus far bounced off well with the other characters.

Soujuurou Shizuki

God this guy's name is hard to spell. Also, he cracks me the fuck up. A country bumpkin that has found himself trying to get by in a far more technologically advanced world.

I love this guy. I've always had a love for oblivious dudes who say true-yet-rude things, its just a trope I find funny. This guy is definitely an example of that. His most notable thing is being a true fish out of water (At one point he attempts to exit the school via window because he couldn't comprehend a school having multiple floors). His old home was a mountain town with no electricity, and I'm curious if that interacts with the other theme shown by the main city itself - that being caught between time.

Alice Kuonji

Probably the most intriguing character at this point. She is Aoko's roommate, owner of the Kuonji mansion. So far she is straight-forward, kind of hitting a smaller version of that "doll-like" vibe that Rei from Evangelion has. She's definitely got more personality though, given her banter with Aoko towards the end of the chapter. Plot-wise, theres something going on between her and Aoko's magecraft learning that I simply don't know about yet (but im sure I will given time). Their relationship seems fun though - the aforementioned banter about picking up food is very genuine and made me smile. I am excited to see her further interactions with the rest of the cast.

Plot

There isn't much I have to say about the plot at this juncture, since it's all kind of setup right now. Aoko is clearly going through some kind of mage training, which is not easy given what I know of the setting. There are open questions already - why is Aoko so new to magecraft, why is she learning under Alice, what is Syojuro's entire deal, etc. I already have enough cultural osmosis to keep an eye out for time related themes but...ill end that line of thought there. Suffice to say, I am interested enough to ask "what happens next", and that's the most important thing, isn't it?