| “ | Servant Ruler, Amakusa Shirō Tokisada. Do I resemble someone else? A mere coincidence. | „ |
| ~ Shirou in Fate/Grand Order. |
| “ | Once before he was an existence that I had to defeat. However, now that he’s an ally, I don't hold any grudges... Even so, it’s a complicated feeling, and I think Amakusa Shirou probably feels the same way. | „ |
| ~ Sieg talking about Shirou in Fate/Grand Order. |
Shirou Tokisada Amakusa, also known as Ruler and Shirou Kotomine, is the main antagonist of the 2012-2014 science fantasy light novel series Fate/Apocrypha, as well as its 2016 manga & 2017 anime television series adaptations of the same name.
He is the Ruler-class Servant of the Einzbern Master in the Third Holy Grail War, and the leader of Red Faction. Taking on the name Shirou Kotomine, he becomes the Master of Assassin of Red in the Great Holy Grail War. He later contracts with Caster of Red, Archer of Red, Lancer of Red, Rider of Red, and Caster of Black.
Shirou also appears as one of the Servants able to be summoned by Ritsuka Fujimaru in the Grand Orders of Fate/Grand Order. There, he appears as a supporting character more often.
He is voiced by Kōki Uchiyama in Japanese version of the anime series and throughout the Fate series, and by Max Mittleman in the English version of the anime.
Biography[]
Past[]
A Japanese Christian that led the Shimabara Rebellion, Shirou was born in the Edo period, he was a boy of miracles who could nearly be called a saint. How exactly he was discovered, no one knows.
A good half of his lifetime is wrapped in mystery. He, who concentrated on his studies since childhood, began to perform many miracles at the frontier. Having healed wounds and walked on water, he eventually began to be enthusiastically worshiped as the son of God by the peasants that believed in a prohibited religion.
Fate/Apocrypha[]
Third Holy Grail War[]
Sixty years before the story of Fate/Apocrypha ever began, Amasuka Shirou was summoned by an Eizberg Master as her Ruler-Class Servant during the Third Holy Grail War.
However, Shirou's Master was killed by Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia, the master of Fionn/Lancer, who start seizing a foul play by the Einzbern Clan to gain his upper hand. After the war ended with no victor, Shirou stayed beside his Master until her death.
Later on, wishing to create a world to bring salvation upon humanity, Amasuka Shirou changed his name into Shirou Kotomine and started to live on under the disguise of a human priest. Sixty years later, he became the Master of the Assassin of Red/Semiramis as well as the leader of the Red Faction when he participated the Great Holy Grail War.
Great Holy Grail War[]
Shirou participates in the Great Holy Grail War of Fate/Apocrypha as the leader of the Red Faction, which was made by a cooperation of the Mages Association and the church.
He, and other masters were going to face the Black Faction, which was made by the Yggdmillenia family and leaded by their leader, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia.
Shirou appears for the first time when he meets Kairi Sisigou and his Servant, the Saber of Red Mordred Pendragon, inside a church of Trifas. He offers them an alliance, but Kairi decides to refute, as both he and Saber noticed that there was something wrong with him.
During the first half of the series, Shirou isn't much active, he rather prefers to observe the battles from his church (He's the first one of the Red Faction to know about the death of the Saber of Black, Siegfried).
During the assault of the Yggdmillenia Castle, Shirou engages a small battle with the Berserker of Black, Frankenstein. At first, he offers her to join them, but as she refuses, he's forced to battle against her before leaving the ground to the Caster of Red, Shakespare. He then returns to the Hanging Gardens of Babylonia (Semiramis's Noble Phantasm and the Red Faction's headquarter), which manages to grab the Great Holy Grail from the Castle of Yggdmillenia.
When Darnic (who became one thing with his Servant, the Lancer of Black, Vlad III) tried to take it back, Shirou appeared in front of him and used the Black Keys and the Baptism Rite to attack him, giving him mortal damages due to the vampire's natural weakness that are holy items. In the end, Darnic gets destroyed, and Shirou avenged his master's death.
After Darnic's death, Shirou meets Jeanne, the Ruler of the Holy Grail War, who discovers his true identity as Shirou Tokisada Amakusa, a Ruler-Class Servant who plans to bring salvation upon all mankind by using the spell known as "Heaven's Feel", which will materialize all the souls in the world.
It is then revealed that during the battle, Shirou out all the other masters of the Red Faction in a long slumber through Semiramis's poison in order to force their Servants to follow him (Due to his Ruler-Class he can use Command Seals on them). He then offers an alliance with the Caster of Black, Avicebron, who accepts. Shirou is then seen talking with the Rider of Red, Achilles, before the final battle.
Before entering inside the Holy Grail, Shirou asks Shakespare to write a story about his success and forces him to not make it a tragedy through the use of a Command Spell. He then enters inside the Grail and he's able to get his wish granted.
Once he came out, Shirou assumes his Servant Form and proclaims that his wish has been granted and that Jeanne resembles a threat for him, and that he must kill her. Jeanne takes the courage to fight from Sieg and then decides to use one last move to destroy the Grail, her second Noble Phantasm named "La Pucelle", which is a suicidal move.
Shirou decides to counterattack with his Noble Phantasm known as "Twin Arms Big Crunch", even if it will cost him an arm. Shirou's attack is able to delete the attack of Jeanne, who dies in the arms of Sieg, that decides to fight against Shirou.
Astolfo tried to help Sieg, but Semiramis appears and blocks him with a pair of chains which get powered up with a Command Spell of Shirou. With that, Sieg engages one final battle with Shirou. To everyone's surprise, Sieg is able to be at the same level of Shirou, thanks to the power left by the late Frankenstein.
In the end, Shirou gives Sieg a string sword cut, but the Homunculus is ultimately able to defeat him by using Frankenstein's Noble Phantasm, the "Blasted Tree".
Shirou is then seen in the last episode, laying down on his Servant's legs, as they see the dawn for the last time and share a kiss, since Semiramis wanted to give him a silent and painless death with her poison. Shirou then dies with a smile, with both Semiramis and Shakespare dying due to his departure.
In the end, Sieg decides to use the Grail's wish to become Fafnir, the giant dragon, to take the Grail away with him in the Reverse Side of the World, a dimension separated from the regular world, where no human being exists, in order to prevent the realizzation of Shirou's wish.
Fate/Grand Order[]
Amakusa Shirou in Fate/Grand Order
Shirou also makes an appearance in Fate/Grand Order as a Playable Servant, and he is the same version of Amakusa Shirou from Fate/Apocrypha, this having memories of the Third Grail War and the Great Holy Grail War.
However, Shirou served as a much more supportive role in the story. He debuted for the 2016 White Day event and is a major character for Christmas 2016. An alternate timeline version of him appears as an Avenger in Shimosa chapter, being an assistant to Caster Limbo.
In the recent events in Fate/Grand Order, Shirou had more mutual scenes with Semiramis, the Assassin of Red, once she became a limited summonable Servant during 2018 Valentine's Day. First, he made a cameo appearance by the end of 2018 Valentine's Day story, he encountered Semiramis once more. In the 2018 Halloween storyline, Shirou and Semiramis were together in Oniland Amusement Park on spinning cups.
Sieg and Jeanne, both Shirou's former archenemy, showed complicated feelings towards Shirou in Chaldea but showed no oblige in becoming allies with him.
Sieg, in particular, showed a nervous frown on his face when he commmented on Shirou's presence. In spite of no longer holding grudge anymore, Sieg still felt complicated about their last battle, and he believed that Shirou felt in the same way.
On the other hand, following his dialogues' update in the 2021, it is shown that Shirou also holds a complicated feeling towards Sieg, as he begrudgingly complimented the latter's effort whilst implying that he still envied Sieg, but he will let their grudges bygone.
Interlude[]
Shirou's interlude was titled Let Us Tell a Tale of World Salvation. In this interlude, Shirou plays a role combining both a supporting protagonist and an antagonist.
At the beginning of his Interlude, Shirou accompanied Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mash Kyrielight during a mission to prevent even the smallest Singularities from emerging. During their travel, Shirou told his past story in Fate/Apocrypha to Ritsuka and Mash, before they detected a contaminated Holy Grail, with black mud keep oozing out to contaminate Servants. Together, they defeated the remnants of Zouken Matou and his insects. After the defeat of Zouken's remnants, Angra Mainyu surfaced out from the Grail's mud, asking who wants the corrupted Holy Grail.
Seeing the Human Evil surfaced, Shirou turned against the Protagonists because he had a goal to obtain the Holy Grail and annilated Angra Mainyu. Afterwards, Shirou battled against Ritsuka, Mash and Angra Mainyu but eventually was defeated. As Shirou was defeated, the Holy Grail was about to explode, and Shirou insisted that he'll destroy the Grail in order to put an end to this.
As they return to Chaldea, Shirou informed the group that as long as there is a Holy Grail, he will claim it. However, to his surprise, Ritsuka claimed they'll stop Shirou as many times as it took. At this point, Shirou realized that he and Ritsuka cannot come to an understanding. Even so, he eventually gave in and began resoluted to place his own dream under seal, in order to fight alongside with his Master through thick and thin. By the end of Shirou's Interlude, Ritsuka ordered Shirou to clean his room as punishment for his earlier betrayal, and Shirou complied.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In the Chinese fandom of Fate/Apocrypha, the Chinese fans are Rooting for the Empire by considering Shirou to be the true protagonist of the story and like him better than Sieg, the story's real protagonist, who is considered as an awful and plain character. This was mildly toned down after Sieg made his appearance in Fate/Grand Order with an improved characteristics.
- His name is a reference to Shirou Emiya and Kirei Kotomine, the respective protagonist and antagonist of Fate/stay night.
- Higashide said that not only readers, but even his friends retorted, "Really?", when they discovered his true identity. Higashide apologizes and calls this coincidence to be like destiny.
External Links[]
- Shirou Kotomine on the Heroes Wiki
[]
 Villains
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Servants Assassin | Beast of Revelation | Caster Masters & Humans Manaka Sajyou | Sancraid Phahn | Misaya Reiroukan
 Masters & Humans Kiritsugu Emiya | Kirei Kotomine | Tokiomi Tohsaka | Risei Kotomine | Ryuunosuke Uryuu | Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald | Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri | Zouken Matou | Byakuya Matou | Noritaka Emiya | Odd Borzak Servants Archer | Caster | Berserker | Assassin | Black Shadow
 Masters & Humans Kirei Kotomine | Zouken Matou | Dark Sakura | Shinji Matou | Illyasviel von Einzbern | Soichiro Kuzuki | Atrum Galliasta | Touko Aozaki Servants Gilgamesh | Archer (Unlimited Blade Works) | Assassin | Caster | Saber Alter | True Assassin | Black Shadow
 False Masters False Servants True Masters True Servants Others
 Kiara Sessyoin | BB | Kazurodrop | Kirei Kotomine | Shinji Matou
 Yggdmillenia Clan & Black Faction Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia | Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia | Assassin of Black | Caster of Black | Lancer of Black Red Faction Shirou Kotomine | Archer of Red | Assassin of Red
 Chaldea Security Organization Marisbury Animusphere | CHALDEAS Beast Goetia | Tiamat | Beast-III/R (Kiara Sessyoin) | Mara | Primate Murder | Beast V | Beast of Revelation | VII of the End | Beast of Cherishment | Beast of Oblivion
Heroic Spirits Saber Alter | Jeanne Alter | Gilles de Rais | Jason | Goddess Rhongomyniad | Mephistopheles | Gorgon | Kingu | Ereshkigal Allies of the Beasts King Solomon | Lev Lainur Flauros | Demon Pillars | Laḫmu Others
Shinjuku Phantom Demon Alliance (Archer of Shinjuku | Avenger of Shinjuku | Archer Alter | Assassin of Shinjuku) Argatha Rider of Resistance | Caster of the Nightless City SE.RA.PH. Shimosa Salem Sut-Typhon
Crypters Lostbelt Kings Alien God's Force Crypters' Servants Lostbelt Inhabitants The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors Others
Part 2.5: Ordeal Call Paper Moon
Id
BB | Bestia Coccinea | Black Grail | First Lady | Testement | Ultra Heroine Z | Zouken Matou | The Master With No Name | Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia | Kama | Space Ishtar | Xu Fu | Akechi Mitsuhide | Serizawa Kamo | Jacques de Molay (Foreigner)
 Beast Sodom's Beast (Bestia Coccinea) Heroic Spirits Nebuchadnezzar II
 Masters & Humans Servants Others See Also | ||
