Sōichirō Kuzuki

nihongo|Sōichirō Kuzuki|葛木 宗一郎|Kuzuki Sōichirō is a fictional character from the Japanese visual novel and anime series "Fate/stay night" by TYPE-MOON.

A well-built man with angular glasses, Kuzuki is the strict homeroom instructor of Rin's class. He primarily lectures on World History, though he also holds classes in Ethics. Kuzuki is well respected among staff and students, but he is widely regarded as austere and impersonal.

The voice acting for Kuzuki is done by Kazuhiro Nakata in Japanese and Patrick Seitz in English. [cite web| url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5394| title=fate/stay night (TV)| publisher=Anime News Network]

Abilities

Kuzuki has no magic circuits, and he is not a sorcerer. Thus, he is unable to provide his Servant with any Mana whatsoever; however, he has skill with a rare martial art technique known as "Snake". The "Snake" technique is an assassination skill, and employs an unusual, whip-like set of movements that can come from any direction around an opponent, causing extreme amounts of confusion. Combined with the conditioned mentality of a killer, Kuzuki takes advantage of the confusion at his fighting style to swiftly kill an opponent on his first encounter.

When his body has been augmented through "Reinforcement" sorcery, always cast by Caster, Kuzuki is not only physically quicker and more powerful, his punches are able to harm spiritual bodies and cause severe damage to inanimate objects. While reinforced, Kuzuki is not only able to fight on even ground with powerful Servants, he is also able to slay them. Commonly referred to as "Punching Guy."

History

Sōichirō's past is revealed only in Fate/hollow ataraxia.

Before he came to Fuyuki City, Sōichirō had been raised from childhood by an organization that trained young children to become professional assassins. The children were raised while isolated from the rest of society in places like forests. They were taught skills required for killers and were treated as if they were tools. Teaching knowledge on living as normal humans was minimal to ensure the skills of the potential assassins in their care would remain adequete and efficient.

Sōichirō found that when he accomplished his first and only mission, he felt only emptiness rather than any other emotion. Hoping to find meaning in his life, he left the organization and chose to become a school teacher, which was to serve as a cover for his job as an assassin. He found no meaning and found that he could acknowledge only his own existence.

When he met Caster, he felt something move within him. While he had no interest in the coming Holy Grail War, Sōichirō helped her just because she asked for it.

Role

Sōichirō is Caster's master.

Sōichirō is not a mage, but a highly trained assassin. After Caster killed her previous master and summoned the servant Assassin, she chose Sōichirō to be her new master. He has no interest in the Holy Grail war and acts mainly according to the will of Caster. It seemed that the two have a strong love interest in each other.

He dies after Caster does in the anime and the Unlimited Blade Works scenario. According to "Fate/hollow ataraxia", he finally realizes that he regretted his whole life and how he killed others, knowing and understanding that what he was doing was wrong yet still continuing that kind of life. Uncertain of how to make expiation for his guilt, he suffered during his whole life yet managed to find some peace with Caster. In the anime, he tells Caster that he is fine after she sacrifices herself to save him and dies. Little does she know, he dies moments after her, having lied to her so that Caster could die feeling relieved.

In "Fate/hollow Ataraxia", he lives with Caster and Assassin, with Caster attempting to fill the role of a loving housewife to him.

References