Shinji Matou (間桐 慎二, Matō Shinji?) is the acting Master of Rider in the Fifth Holy Grail War of Fate/stay night. He is merely using the Servant of his adopted younger sister, Sakura Matou due to his inability to use magecraft. He has been a friend of Shirou Emiya for a number of years. He has an open crush on Rin Tohsaka, but she does not return his interest, much to his frustration.
Profile
Background
Shinji as a child in Carnival Phantasm
Due to the thinning of their bloodline, the Matou are no longer capable of producing heirs naturally capable of sorcery. This led Byakuya, the eldest son of Zouken Matou, to marry a woman with an "inheritor" sorcery trait, who later gave birth to his son, Shinji. Unfortunately, Shinji was incapable of sorcery.
In the Fourth Holy Grail War, Byakuya sent him to study abroad. Because of that he does not know that his uncle Kariya participated and died, probably because Byakuya (who despised Kariya) chose to hide this fact from him.
The manga adaptation, Character Material and the Heaven's Feel scenario reveals more details about his past. A young Shinji concluded by himself that he had the right to be the heir, despite fully knowing that he had no powers at all. This did little to dissuade Shinji's determination to become the successor, the boy instead convincing himself that he was special. Shortly after, Sakura Tohsaka was adopted into the Matou family and introduced to Shinji as his new sister. At first he was against this because he didn't want 'outsiders' coming into his family but later grew to like and accept her, though due to his selfish, arrogant nature, he refused to show it and picked on her. This ended abruptly when he accidentally entered by the room where Sakura was infested by Zouken's worms, causing Byakuya (who had been hiding the truth from him all along) to become distant with him. From that point onwards, his attitude with Sakura became harsher, and he started treating her like an object to do with as he pleased.
Sakura, in a mixture of pity and guilt, silently accepted Shinji's abuse, which he mistook for her submitting to him. Some time later Byakuya died and Shinji realized he was alone because Zouken only focused on training Sakura and she kept pitying and apologizing to Shinji. All of this caused him to have a breakdown and later lead to Shinji brutally raping Sakura of his own volition, believing he had the right to do it after being treated with contempt recently. During middle school he met Shirou Emiya, Shirou doing menial tasks for people free of charge, and despite Shinji deriding him as an idiot from behind his back, he hung around with him until he was done. At the end of the day, Shinji laughed as if he was having a good time, and exclaimed, "You may be an idiot, but you sure do good work, at least!". They starting an estranged friendship and frequently invited him over to his house to hang out.[2]
A year before the events of Fate/stay night, after Shirou was injured in an accident, Sakura started getting close to him. Shinji disapproved of this, fearing that Sakura will start turning against him. When the 5th Holy Grail War started, he was resigned to his situation, but after noticing that Sakura, who had just summoned Rider, did not want to fight, he persuaded Zouken into letting him enter the war by controlling Rider, all in an attempt to prove to Zouken that he was not useless and that he could be Matou Family heir instead of Sakura. His wish was to acquire the ability to utilize magecraft.
Appearance
Much like his father, Byakuya, he has curly blue hair and gray blue eyes. Due to his hair style looking like a seaweed, he has been given the nickname WakameWP (ワカメ?).
During school, he wears the standard Homurahara uniform.
His casual clothing consists of a white and black jacket, a black shirt and blue jeans.
His clothing as a younger boy varies in the manga and in the non-canon Carnival Phantasm. In the latter, his clothing consists on a white shirt with a red bow tie, a gray waistcoat and black shorts. His hair was also messier at that time.
Personality
Though he is selfish and has the bad habit of looking down on other people, he is virtuous in his own way, and while he may be warped he is not actually a bad person. He values rules (but he does not follow them himself), he hates injustice (if he's not the one responsible), and he is kind to women (excepting "his" women, of course). Due to the gap between his "ideal world" and the world he actually lives in, his personality has become warped, but when Shirou first made his acquaintance four years ago he was not nearly as bad as he is now.[2]
It seems Shinji and Shirou's friendship was really close, though Shinji often made fun of him, he socially assassinated anybody that took advantage of Shirou in the shadows. However, for a temperamental genius like Shinji, even a friend of many years is not safe from suddenly becoming his enemy for incomprehensible reasons. Basically, he's the kind of person that's reliable when he's on your side but ends up being really troublesome if he turns on you.[2]
Shinji is haughty and known for having a nasty temper. He is also violent, controlling, and manipulative, as illustrated by his relationship with his younger sister, though this spawns from a sense of inferiority towards her. He does not take any sort of rejection well. As noted by Shirou, he is an ironic yet honest person.
Character Material reveals that he is not as haughty as he looks like in the visual novel. After becoming a Master he felt more lenient and more full of himself, so he becomes more violent during the Grail War. If he survives the war, he returns to his old self, as show in the Unlimited Blade Works route, where he starts getting along with Sakura again like when they were young, No fundamental changes in his personality after his near death experience but since a great burden was lifted off his back especially his obsession with sorcery, he will be able to enjoy life as a fussy, loudmouthed, smarter-than-average, troublesome person.[3]
In Fate/hollow ataraxia, where he is still abrasive, though to a lesser degree, and he becomes delusional, who often sulks about everything. He truly appreciates Shirou, but due to his arrogant attitude, he refuses to show it.
Since Sakura eats at the Emiya home, he'd rather eat at some Italian restaurant and flirt with girls rather than eat in his own home.[4]
Role
Fate/stay night
He is very popular as the vice-captain of the Archery Dojo despite his personality.
Fate
Shinji in the Fate/stay night anime
Shinji is the temporary master of Rider. He is initially depicted as an evil and deceptive character, but as the story moves along his character begins to show cowardly and even pathetic qualities. He tries to partner with Shirou, but he declines the offer. Shinji later finds out that Shirou has already partnered with Tohsaka and gets angered, trying in vain to turn Shirou and Rin against one another. When he persists in his attempt to partner with Rin, she punches him in the faces and tells him she trusts Shirou more than she would ever trust Shinji.
He later tricks Shirou into coming to school, to trap him there as he forces Rider to activate her Bloodfort Andromeda. Shirou is able to hold on and tries to reason with Shinji, but he does not listen and orders Rider to kill him. Rider's blade is unable to deal Shirou a killing blow, so she kicks him out of the window. Shirou calls out Saber and the two servants fight. While Shirou defeats Shinji, forcing him to call off Bloodfort. Shirou and Saber travel through town trying to find Shinji and Rider but are unsuccessful at first. After finding them, Rider and Saber start fighting and in the end Saber is forced to unleash her Noble Phantasm, Excalibur, to defeat Rider. After losing Rider and his Book of False Attendent is burned, Shinji escapes the building, only to be murdered by Illya and Berserker.
Unlimited Blade Works
In the Unlimited Blade Works route, he loses Rider when she is killed by Souichirou Kuzuki. Shinji's failure and loss of Rider results in him approaching Kirei Kotomine, who lends him Gilgamesh as a Servant. Some details of his past are revealed, like the fact he hates his father, Byakuya for hiding the truth about the real heir of the Matou family and that he hates his own mother (whose corpse is revealed to be at the worms storage) for giving birth to him without Magic Circuits. Gilgamesh quickly notices that Shinji has no idea about the Grail and realizes that he thinks it is just a game. He takes advantage of it and manipulates Shinji into killing Illya.
After Lancer kills Kirei, Shinji tries to rape Rin (in the visual novel, he also tries to make her partner with him, despite Rin's warnings that he is just being used by Gilgamesh) only to be pricked in the arm by Lancer's Gáe Bolg. He escapes and has a mental breakdown in which he imagines himself ripping off the arms of everyone. Gilgamesh appears and ignoring Shinji's protests, implants Illya's heart inside of him in order to use him as a new vessel for the Holy Grail. It results in him being forced to endure a mass of flesh growing from his body. He is rescued by Rin and is eventually hospitalized. According to Shirou, Shinji returns to his old self, thus getting along with Sakura again.
Heaven's Feel
Shinji takes Sakura hostage
In Heaven's Feel his past and his torn relationship with Sakura is expanded. After losing Rider, Zouken comments that Shinji is much more worthless and pathetic than Byakuya. This infuriates him and in an attempt to show Zouken that he can be the heir instead of Sakura, he becomes more manipulative, frustrated and violent towards Sakura.
He later tries to take Sakura back home by force only to be stopped by Shirou. The next day, the ill Sakura wants to walk to school with Shirou, but he declines. Shinji takes adventage of this and kidnaps Sakura with the help of Rider, because he has another new Book of False Attendent. He orders Shirou to go to school without Saber if he wants Sakura back. When Shirou arrives to school, he is forced to reinforce himself in order to fight Rider alone. Rider is fairly weakened and starts disobeying Shinji's orders. After Shinji orders Rider to kill Shirou, the hostage Sakura screams and Shinji's Book of False Attendent is burned again. At that moment, Rider becomes more powerful and it is revealed that Sakura is the principal Master of Rider, who was summoned several days prior to the start of the 5th Holy Grail War. However, under pressure from Shinji and the desire not to fight either Shirou or Rin, Sakura yielded her Master's right to him, although Sakura retains her original Command Mantra.
With Shinji losing two of Sakura's Command Spells and without his Book of False Attendent, he has no control over Rider. Shinji has a breakdown and orders Sakura to help him kill Shirou and Rin, to which Sakura declines.
Shinji is killed by his own sister
Shinji remembers how his father and sister hid the truth about the heir of the Matou family from him for seven years, which resulted in his father becoming harsh and causing Shinji to hate Sakura. Soon after, Shinji has an ultimate mental breakdown and blames Shirou and Sakura for his disgraces, deciding that he will break Sakura on his own. Sakura arrives in the Matou house in order to find Zouken and to force him into ending her life. However, Shinji appears and tries to rape Sakura again, blackmailing her into staying with him by telling Shirou about her history of being raped by him for the last three years. This ultimately causes Sakura to kill Shinji, and after realizing she is "the shadow", Sakura becomes Dark Sakura.
It is eventually revealed that Shinji's actions in the whole route were orchestrated by Zouken in order to further his schemes for Sakura, and that he was being manipulated the whole time.
After the war, the Holy Church covered Shinji's death as a casualty of the Holy Grail War.[5]
Manga
In the manga version of Fate/stay night (which follows the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works scenarios), Shinji seems to openly show liking to Shirou and though he is still abusive towards Sakura, he never rapes her. He tries to make Shirou partner with him, but gets angry after discovering that Shirou has already allied with Tohsaka. He also becomes more paranoid believing everyone is trying to hide facts from him (which becomes justified after his past is revealed). After Ayako warns him that he is on the verge of being expelled from the club, he has a breakdown and orders Rider to attack Ayako and to use Bloodfort Andromeda to kill everyone at school.
Shinji is stopped by Shirou and the two fight, where Shinji reveals openly that he is jealous of him. After being defeated by Saber and Shirou, Shinji falls from a building, despite Shirou's attempts to save him. However Sakura, who was watching the whole fight from afar, uses her last Command Spell to make Rider save his life. Shinji is surprised by her action, because he always believed that she hated him for abusing her for the last three years and that she just saved him for being Shirou's friend. However, Sakura shows that she still cares about him and both walk home together. He is later hospitalized and meets Ayako, who was also hospitalized. After a short talk, Ayako tells him that she really was not planning on expelling him in the first place. When he tries to say that he was the one who almost killed her, she does not believe him and forgives him instead. However, Shinji feels that he does not deserves to be forgiven so easily after all he has done. When he returns to his room he sees Sakura bringing some flowers and Shinji apologizes for everything to her. Like in the visual novel, after those events, he returns to his old self. He is currently in the hospital being taken care of by Sakura and has not appeared since.
His background is a bit different because Byakuya went as far as trying to hide Shinji about the magical background of the family to no avail and he is portrayed a more sympathetically because Zouken does not appear. Also, Kirei was the one who convinced him to enter the Holy Grail War.
Fate/hollow ataraxia
In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Shinji is alive alongside Zouken. It is eventually revealed that Sakura assumed control of the Matou household, and both Shinji and Zouken are terrified of her. He retains his haughty attitude, but because the 5th Holy Grail War had already ended, he is disillusioned about being the head of the family and has finally realized that being a Magus is not worth it. He is also nicer to Shirou now, as he does not consider him a rival anymore.
In a strange scene, he complained to Shirou in a scene that Sakura had more scenes than him and compared himself to Zouken, Byakuya and Kariya, commenting that they all sulked about their lives because they all were Matous. His appearances are mostly for comic relief
Rider describes Perseus, the slayer of Medusa, as a Shinji who succeeded.
Fate/tiger colosseum series
Like in Fate/hollow ataraxia, Shinji's appearances are for comic relief and he has been reduced to a gag character. Also, Sakura and Rider now mistreat him and he has become terrified of them.
In Shinji's end, after he obtains the Grail, he wishes for all the girls to fall in love with him (which was a parody of his end route in the Hanafuda game in Fate/hollow ataraxia). After some minutes, the spell vanishes and Sakura and Rider, realizing what he did, glare at him.
Capsule Servant
True Ending in Capsule Servant.
In both Shirou and Rin route, Shinji first appears as a tutorial character in the stage 01. He was originally planned to be the boss character “General Shinji” but for various reasons was demoted to the tutorial punching bag. He was hoping that the developers would establish that he was a pure hearted and still a relatively good boy in elementary school. Shirou feels sympathetic for Shinji, while Rin hates wakame. Sakura desires to avenge Shinji but she describes his hair gross like wakame.
In G-SAKURA story "ULTIMATE WEAPON S NUMBER ONE" (超兵器S壱号, Chō Heiki S Ichigō?), there is multiple Shinji in Dimensional Empire MATO (時空帝国マト, Jikū Teikoku Mato?). General Shinji (シンジ大将軍, Shinji Daishōgun?) is one of the top brass of the MATO empire, he finds Professor Tokiomi betraying the MATO Empire when he built G-SAKURA. In Rin route, General Shinji uses General Shinji Beam against Professor Tokiomi and "kills him". In both route, G-SAKURA squashes General Shinji. In Rin route, Cosmic General Shinji (シンジ宇宙将軍, Shinji Uchū Shōgun?) was re-modeled to have an evolved IQ of 5800 and he intentionally arrived late to take advantage of Rin and G-SAKURA fatigue after they fought amongst themselves. He claims that they have fallen right into his trap and sends his combatant Clone Shinjis (クローンシンジ, Kurōn Shinji?) to fight them. Both Rin and G-SAKURA defeated the Shinji clones.
Shinji also appears in Shirou's Celebloomers story, he recognizes Celebloomers as the reigning champion of the Capsule Servant Battle. Shinji tells Shirou that Celebloomers-san is the Capsaba champ who uses the orthodox financial-power style, famous for annihilating her opponents with a deck put together by using money. Shinji lectures Celebloomers that Capsaba is a battle of bonds where you and your Servants communicate with your hearts. Celebloomers tells them to die and challenges Shirou. Celebloomers tells Leysritt to clean up wakame.
Carnival Phantasm
Shinji in Carnival Phantasm
In Carnival Phantasm, he makes small appearances in the first episodes but he has a major appearance in Episode 6, called Type-Moon Serial TV Novel Sakura. Shinji has been reduced to a gag character, often bullied by the cast, with the exception of Sakura. He also can be from nice to violent towards Sakura, going from complimenting her cooking to beating and even trying to rape her.
Koha-Ace
- Main article: Major Matou
Shinji appears as Major Matou (間桐少佐, Matō-shōsa?) during the Strange Tales of the Imperial Holy Grail, acting as the Master of Berserker.
Other appearances
He was briefly mentioned by Byakuya in the original Fate/Zero novel, his only child was sent overseas in the name of studying.[6]
Shinji Matou in the Fate/Extra world is a different person but they share the same name. Shinji in the real world is a child but his digital avatar is based on this Shinji.
In Type-Moon's April Fools' Day 2008, he is a referee in the T Moon Fighting Spirit (Tムーン 闘魂, T Mūn Tōkon?). He was knocked out by both Dynamite Rin and Great Luvia powerful drop kicks. The referee had always been an unreasonable judge, and karma may take a while to manifest but it always does in the end. While being carried away to a hospital, he stated that he had a feeling this might happen.
In Type-Moon's April Fools' Day 2009, moon.cinemas.jp is a fake movie theater site listing a number of parody films. He was featured in the animated film Papillon Shin-chan ~I call for sleepiness! Spicy shaggy Kingdom~ (パピヨンしんちゃん〜眠気を呼ぶ！激辛モジャモジャ王国〜, Papiyon Shin-chan ~Nemuke wo Yobu! Gekikara Mojamoja Ōkoku~?), a parody film of Crayon Shin-chanWP.
In Type-Moon's April Fools' Day 2010, Tmitter is a fake online social networking, a parody of TwitterWP. His online user account is @Shinji_tm41.
Abilities
Shinji using the Book of False Attendent
Shinji, like Shirou, is unskilled in magic, but unlike the latter, Shinji does not have any particular abilities aside from some archery skills. His mother had a Carrier Sorcery Trait like the Fraga family, but the pathogen is nothing special like the Fraga's ability to use a Noble Phantasm. According to Zouken, she was just the daughter of "a random third-rate magus."[7] While the Matou mage bloodline has died out, Shinji still has latent Magic Circuits, where Ilya's heart had forcibly open Shinji's atrophied Magic Circuits when he was used as a new vessel for the Holy Grail.
Because Shinji is not Rider's true Master, he must use an item created from the command spells of Rider's true Master known as the Book of False Attendent. The book, which acts as a provisionary command spell, allows Shinji to control Rider and, due to Shinji's incompetence, was made twice by Rider's original Master. Because it is not a true command spell, it burns if it is used beyond its limits or if Rider is destroyed. In the Fate scenario and the anime, while the book seemingly allowed for Shinji to use a form of magecraft that fired shadows at his opponents, the shadows were weak, and even an incompetent Shirou using a reinforced broom was able to cut them away.
Development
Originally there was going to be "Shinji route", an option to accept his invitation to join forces in the Fate route, players would have gotten to see a bit of Shinji's good side. But with the tight schedule with the deadline has forced them to cut it.[2] While not present in-game, the script files contain a joke about Shirou teaming up with Shinji.[8]
Reception
Takashi Takeuchi said that among the Fate/stay night characters, Shinji and Gilgamesh are the strongest MoeWP characters.[9]
- In the first Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2004, Shinji was ranked 19th.
- In the second Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2006, Shinji was ranked 28th.
- In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Shinji was ranked 79th.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9
[] Fate/complete material II: Character Material - Characters: Shinji Matou entry, p.094-097 Shinji Matou
Character Data 017
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Nasu Kinoko & Takeuchi Takashi Discussion
>The catalyst for Shinji Matou's birth
Nasu: Shinji is Shirou's friend and a massive jerk. But he's not just any ordinary jerk, he's a tragically confused victim of a cruel past. The character Shinji Matou came about because I thought it would be fun to have a "friend" character who was the perfect representative of the dark side of human nature. If someone like Shinji were to gain the powers of a Master, he would no doubt use those powers for evil. True to form, I had Shinji acting out every fantasy born of human greed and ambition.
Takeuchi: Since Shinji is technically a normal civilian, the player would have an easier time relating to him compared to the various superhuman characters.
Nasu: I don't know how much the player would want to related to a personality like that, though. (laughs) Shinji may have been lacking in natural talent or ability when it comes to being a mage, but as far as normal human beings go, he was definitely quite gifted. If only he had a good sidekick to help him work through his issues, Shinji's life would be totally different.
Takeuchi: He's basically like a really annoying Sherlock Holmes. Sadly, he never got any encouragement, support or praise from the people around him and instead was constantly reminded of his failures in the form of Sakura. Growing up under such circumstances, it's little surprise that his soul got as twisted as it did.
Nasu: It got to the point where the only way Shinji could preserve his self-esteem was to put others down. It's possible that he wouldn't have become so twisted if he wasn't so highly gifted. The knowledge that he was indeed a genius only fueled his elitist beliefs and pushed him to find a way to prove himself. Unfortunately for Shinji, he lived in a household where you were either a mage or you were nobody. To make matters worse, he had to share his home with Sakura, who was a naturally gifted mage. Shinji's tactic of looking down on others was the defense mechanism he developed in order to survive.
Takeuchi: It's still hard to sympathise with him, but I guess he had his reasons for turning out the way he did... I suppose even someone like Shinji is susceptible to psychological vulnerabilities.
Nasu: I can't imagine how much more "interesting" the Matou household would have been if Sakura was the elitist who treated Shinji like a non-magical maggot! When we were talking about Gilgamesh earlier, it made me think about what most people's reaction would be to summoning a Servant like him. I imagine most people would hate working with a Servant like Gilgamesh, but Shinji was actually overjoyed. He believed that being the Master of such a powerful Servant meant he was even more powerful.
Takeuchi: He's got some serious guts to believe he could ever be superior to Gilgamesh, I'd immediately send him back. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in that. (laughs)
Nasu: Shinji is incapable of ascertaining things like that, and I suppose that could be considered a gift? Gilgamesh stands a cut above the other Servants, yet Shinji is genuinely able to believe that he and Gilgamesh are equals. Though this belief is certainly incorrect, Shinji is the only human capable of ordering Gilgamesh around without fear, and that's got to count for something.
>Regarding Shinji Matou's design
Nasu: My requests for Shinji's design were simply "the most good-looking guy at school" and "casual yet fancy in style".
Takeuchi: Based on these instructions, I designed a fairly normal "good-looking guy" with an ambitious facial expression, but the overall design was too similar to Gil's when he put his hair down, so I had to change it. That's why Shinji ended up with wavy hair.
Nasu: I would have been okay with a more cynical look to him.
Takeuchi: The funny thing is, I was actually aiming for that kind of look, but somehow I missed the "handsome yet vulgar" mark and ended up with more a "middle-aged failure" look. (laughs)
>Shinji Matou as Shirou's friend
Nasu: At school, Shinji is an honour roll student who maintains his rank among the top five students in terms of grades and test scores. Being one of the smartest guys in school in addition to being the eldest son of an extravagant mansion ensured that Shinji was always surrounded by girls. These girls probably won't even give him the time of day once they graduate to university life, but Shinji was the perfect fodder for fun high school gossip and girlish fun. It didn't hurt that he was generous with money, either.
Takeuchi: It always comes down to money, doesn't it? By the way, did Shinji's opinions of Sakura and Shirou change after the Holy Grail War?
Nasu: Since he had been called "useless" all his life just because of the way he was born, Shinji felt his golden age had come when he acquired the position of a Master. He didn't have much of a choice when it came to Sakura, but it is quite possible that he genuinely wanted to ally himself with Shirou and fight alongside his friend. When Shinji says, "I will make use of you," it may sound condescending, but he would only say that to someone he deems worthy. When Sakura summoned Rider, Shinji felt like he had completely lost his place in the world. But when he realised that Sakura was not a willing participant in anything she was doing, he suggested to Zouken that he would be more useful than she, if only because he was actually willing. To Shinji's surprise, Zouken accepted the suggestion and Shinji got his big chance. As would be expected, however, when the non-mage Shinji told Rider that he would be her master, she outright rejected him. Shinji ordered Sakura to create the False Attendant, and it was only then that he was able to command Rider. In a manner of speaking, acquiring this control over such a powerful Servant provided Shinji with a modicum of emotional stability. For the first time in his life, Shinji felt good about himself. In "stay night", this shift resulted in a 20% more irritating Shinji. Believe me, Shinji isn't usually quite that bad. (laughs)
Takeuchi: He felt better about himself, and that made him a bigger jerk? (laughs) How self-absorbed can one person get?
Nasu: I suppose it can't be helped. Any average human who gained control over a Servant like Rider would surely let it go to their head! Shinji had gotten his hands on multiple kinds of nirvana at once. For Shinji, Shirou was a rival but also the only person who would be his friend unconditionally. Despite calling Shirou an idiot all the time, it is clear that Shinji has a special place reserved in his heart for his longtime friend. Shirou's presence in Shinji's life was irreplaceable and therefore cherished. Though it is unclear as to whether Shinji is consciously aware of it, there are times when he envies the way Shirou lives his life. Regardless of Shinji's inner workings, though, I just needed an "obvious villain" in the story, so I had him play that role to the max. I hope I succeeded in making Shinji a jerk who everyone hates, but also someone has to admit possesses something unique.
Takeuchi: Rin's route is the only one where Shinji survives at the end. I suppose that was supposed to be some kind of reward for all of his hard work? I'll admit, he did seem to change for the better after the events of Rin's route.
Nasu: I guess the end of the Holy Grail War lifted a great weight off of his shoulders. He was forced to face his own limits, and really, how can he not be deeply affected by the fact that his beloved Rin risked her life to save him? (laughs)
Takeuchi: So he finally grew up. Someday, Shinji, you will be able to look back on these days and remember them as simply a dark phase in your life. By the way, was he always so mean to Sakura?
Nasu: No, actually. When the Matou family first adopted Sakura, he still bullied her a bit but also showed her quite a lot of kindness. Of course, that all changed dramatically once he found out that she had been adopted in order to take his place as the house's successor. The realisation that Sakura was born with the blessings he had been denied shamed and insulted Shinji to the point where he felt like dying.
Takeuchi: The way Shinji was able to commit violence against women without a second thought really made him come off as a total loser and failure as a human being.
Nasu: Shinji felt no aversion to committing violence against women because abusing Sakura had become a way of life for him, and that completely desensitised him. Humans can adapt and become accustomed to some pretty scary things. Shinji's violence against Sakura was rooted in the notion that some random stranger would take over his home and family if he didn't try to suppress her. As I mentioned before, he was pretty nice to her up until he found out she had been chosen as the house's successor. Once he discovered that bit of information, all bets were off and he believed he would completely lose his place in the family if he didn't conquer her in every respect. For whatever reason, violence was the way Shinji chose to subjugate Sakura.
>The message Shinji Matou carries as a character
Takeuchi: Shinji filled a role that is an absolute necessity in stories that take place in a school setting. Though his origin lies in that necessity, I think the unique flavourings we added to his character made him the guy everyone continues to love/hate to this day.
Nasu: To sum his character up, Shinji is a normal human being who became drunk with power. In a manner of speaking, Shinji is the character most like us human beings, and therefore the players themselves. But he was not the "real evil" in the "Fate" story, as that position is reserved for Kotomine, who was totally twisted from the start.
Character Data
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3
[] Fate/side material - Encyclopedia: Matou Shinji [Person's name], p.074-075 [T] Shinji Matou [Person's name]
Shirou's friend. Sakura's older brother.
As Rider's Master, Shirou comes into conflict with him on numerous occasions.
Though he is selfish and has the bad habit of looking down on other people, he is virtuous in his own way, and while he may be warped he is not actually a bad person.
He values rules (but he doesn't follow them himself), he hates injustice (if he's not the one responsible), and he is kind to women (excepting "his" women, of course). As you can see, he's clearly a pretty cool guy.
Due to the gap between his "ideal world" and the world he actually lives in, his personality has become warped, but when Shirou first made his acquaintance four years ago he wasn't nearly as bad as he is now.
As you might expect, he stumbled across Shirou doing menial tasks for people free of charge, and despite (seriously) deriding him as an idiot from behind his back, he hung around with him until he was done. At the end of the day, Shinji laughed as if he was having a good time, and exclaimed, "You may be an idiot, but you sure do good work, at least!"
Perhaps Shirou appreciated Shinji's honesty despite his foul mouth, because afterward they became friends.
Though Shinji often made fun of him, in the shadows he socially assassinated anybody that took advantage of Shirou, and frequently invited him over to his house to hang out. It seems they really were close.
However, as you know, for a temperamental genius like Shinji even a friend of many years is not safe from suddenly becoming his enemy for incomprehensible reasons.
Basically, he's the kind of person that's reliable when he's on your side but ends up being really troublesome if he turns on you.
Originally there was going to be an option to accept his invitation to join forces in the Saber route, but tragically we ran out of time and were forced to cut it.
Ah, if we'd included that route (let's call it the "Shinji route"), players would have gotten to see a bit of Shinji's good side, but there was just no way. Please, find it in your hearts to forgive us!間桐慎二【人名】
士郎の友人。間桐桜の兄。
ライダーのマスターで、幾度となく衝突する事になる。
自己中心的で他人を見下す悪癖があるが、彼には彼なりに一本筋が入っており、歪んではいるが悪人では ないという困ったちゃん。
規律を重んじ（自分はあまり守らないが）、不公平を嫌い（自分に関しては度外視だが）、女の子には優 しい（自分のものになった女の子は例外だが）、という、なるほど確かに学園で一、二を争ういい男である。
自分が理想とする世界と、自分がいる世界とのギャップが間桐慎二という性格を歪めてしまったワケだが、 士郎と知り合った頃はここまで歪んではいなかった。
士郎と知り合いになったのは四年前。
やはり土郎が無償で雑用をこなしていた所に出くわし、「おまえ馬鹿だろ」と士郎の後ろで（本気で）けなしながらも最後まで付き合い、「おまえ馬鹿だけど、いい仕事するじゃん」と楽しそうに笑ったとか。
口は悪いが正直者な慎二に、士郎も思うところがあったのか。以後は親しい友人として付き合っていく。
慎二クンも士郎を何かと馬鹿にしていたが、その影 では士郎をいいように使う連中を社会的に抹殺したり、 頻繁に間桐邸に招待したりと、中々の親友っぷりだっ た。
が、ご存知の通り気難しい天才肌の人間なので、友人として何年付き合おうが、ワケの分からない理由で 唐突に敵に回ってしまう。
味方でいるうちは頼もしいが、敵に回すと厄介な人 の典型。
セイパールートの、「僕と手を組まない?」という 慎二クンの誘いに乗る分岐も予定されていたが、時間 切れであえなくアウト。
ああ、あのルート（仮に慎二ルートと名づける）が あれば、慎二クンのいいところが少しは見れたのかも しれませんがもうポクラはいっぱいいっぱいなので勘 弁してください。 - ↑
[] Fate/complete material III: World material - FAQ with Nasu: Characters, p.134-135
Q: After he survives Rin's route, does Shinji become a better person than he was during the story? And does have the potential to find happiness...?
Q: After he survives Rin's route, does Shinji become a better person than he was during the story? And does have the potential to find happiness...?
A: No fundamental changes, but since a great burden was lifted off his back (his obsession with sorcery), he'll probably be able to enjoy life as a fussy, loudmouthed, smarter-than-average, troublesome person. - ↑
[] Fate/complete material III: World material - FAQ with Nasu: Characters, p.134-135
Q: Since Sakura often eats at the Emiya home, does that mean Shinji is eating all by himself during those times? Or is he taking his meals with Zouken?
Q: Since Sakura often eats at the Emiya home, does that mean Shinji is eating all by himself during those times? Or is he taking his meals with Zouken?
A: Eating alone, hmm? He’s at some Italian restaurant flirting with girls! - ↑
[] Fate/complete material III: World material - FAQ with Nasu: General Questions about Fate, p.130-131
Q: Shinji’s death was obviously a homicide. Was his death covered up by the Magic Association or the Holy Church?Q: In Sakura’s route, Shinji’s death was obviously a homicide (though, whether the M.O. can be classified as such by modern forensic science is another matter) so I thought the police would have started an investigation, but there’s no sign of that in the ending. Was his death covered up by the Magic Association or the Holy Church?
A: The Church filed it as “a casualty of the Holy Grail War.” - ↑ Fate/Zero - Fate/Zero:Act 14 Part 4: -36:38:09
- ↑
[] Fate/complete material III: World material - FAQ with Nasu: Characters, p.134-135
Q: Shinji's mother is a "Carrier", what kind of pathogen is she carrying? Is she a "God's Holder"?
Q: Shinji's mother is a "Carrier", what kind of pathogen is she carrying? Is she a "God's Holder"?
A: No, nothing special of that sort. According to Zouken, she is the daughter of "a random third-rate magus".
[Note: "Carriers" retain remnants of mysteries from the Age of Gods as pathogens like bacteria and viruses. The Fraga McRemitz lineage of course is an exceptionally powerful example, Shinji's mother unfortunately is of the bottom of the barrel.] - ↑
Fate/stay night - セイバールート六日目-02.ks file "Yay, I'll cooperate"
"Really?"
"Of course. Betraying Tohsaka and selling her out, betrayed by Sakura and getting sold out, the Baka-Nii-chans are now born!"
"...? I do not get your high tension, but does that mean I can trust you?"
"Yeah! But I'll betray you in the end!"
...So, the 20million-powers route with Shin-chan starts here.
Well, it would if we had the time.
"Eject!"
Optimus Prime will appear too!? - ↑ TYPE-MOON 10th Anniversary Phantasm - p.208