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ShiSaku is the het ship between Sakura Matou and Shirou Emiya from the Fate fandom.
Canon[]
Fate/stay night[]
Sakura is Shirou's underclassman, and the two have been friends since prior to the start of the story. Sakura is frequently abused by her brother and grandfather, and as such she frequents Shirou's home as a reprieve. Sakura also has feelings for Shirou, but Shirou is oblivious to this fact.
Despite their preexisting friendship, Sakura plays only a minor role in the first two routes. It is not until the third route, Heaven's Feel, that Sakura and Shirou's relationship is given focus. In this route, Sakura is used by her grandfather, Zouken, as a beast. Each night, Sakura transforms into a shadow creature, killing the servants of the Grail War and many innocent civilians against her will. Shirou and Rin, who both lost their respective servants to Sakura, eventually discover her secret. It is further revealed that Sakura is actually adopted, and that she was Rin's younger sister who was given away to the Matous at a young age.
Though she feels conflicted due to her affections for her sister, Rin intends to kill Sakura to prevent further loss of life. Shirou, despite his dream of becoming a hero, is horrified by the prospect of losing Sakura. As such, he protects Sakura from Rin, who lacks the heart to kill both her sister and a boy she admires. Shirou and Sakura becoming increasingly romantic from this point on, though Shirou feels guilty about abandoning his ideals. Sakura, for her part, is touched by Shirou's devotion to her, but is also rife with fears that Shirou will reject and leave her. She becomes especially concerned once Shirou patches his relationship with Rin, who Sakura feels an inferiority complex towards. Despite this, Shirou remains loyal to Sakura.
Guilty for the pain she has caused, Sakura plans to convince Zouken to kill her. However, she instead runs into her adopted brother, Shinji. Shinji attempts to force himself on Sakura, as he had done many times before. Sakura, rather than accepting this, fights back and insists she is Shirou's now. Shinji refuses to relent, and Sakura ends up killing him. Sakura then gives into her inner darkness and becomes one with the shadow creature, her rage and sorrow at the abuse she had suffered, the rejection of her family, her feelings of inferiority towards Rin, and her insecurities about Shirou all driving her to take revenge on the world. Shirou and Rin come after her, and Rin, rather than trying to kill Sakura, shows her affections for her sister with a hug. Seeing Shirou and Rin's love for her, Sakura returns to normal.
In the normal ending, Shirou sacrifices himself to defeat the evils that Sakura unleashed from the Grail. Sakura refuses to accept Shirou's death, and lives the rest of her life in the Emiya household, hoping Shirou will one day return. She eventually dies of old age, and is reunited with Shirou in death. In the true ending, Shirou's adopted sister Illya sacrifices herself instead of Shirou. The epilogue, taking place some months later, shows her and Shirou living together in Shirou's house.
Fanon[]
ShiSaku has grown in popularity since the release of the Heaven's Feel films between 2017 and 2020, which brought the story to the anime audience. Still, it is perhaps the most divisive of Shirou's potential pairings, with strong supporters and strong critics. The relationship is praised for Shirou's devotion to Sakura, and for the tragic yet heartfelt dilemma it creates between Shirou's ideals and his love for Sakura. Those who believe that Shirou's dream of being a hero was beyond hope praise his relationship with Sakura for bringing Shirou's arc to a warm conclusion. Though Shirou must accept he cannot save everyone, he is able to save Sakura. Heaven's Feel is the darkest of the three routes, yet many fans also consider it to be the best.
Criticism of the pairing tends to focus more on Sakura's end, as some consider Sakura to be the most toxic of Shirou's potential pairs. Sakura's jealousy, insecurity, and trauma as a victim of severe abuse are given as barriers to the two forming a healthy relationship. That Shirou gave up on his dream and let many innocent people die rather than turn against Sakura, as well as Sakura's inability to move past Shirou in the normal ending, is seen by these critics as an indictment that the pairing is co-dependent and problematic for the characters. Sakura is also criticized in contrast to Rin and Saber as being less of an equal partner to Shirou and more of a damsel in need of rescuing.
In an interview with series creator Kinoko Nasu and Fate/Zero writer Gen Urobuchi, Urobuchi described ShiSaku as expressing "the dark sides that all women have, but how men can accept that and love women regardless". Nasu replies that he considers genuine love to be about accepting another, including the "painful reality that comes with it." [1]
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Emiya Shirou/Matou Sakura tag on AO3
- FAN ART
- 士桜 tag on Pixiv
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| Fate Ships • Fate Characters | |||
| SHIPS | het | Cleosar • Diarturia • Gilturia • KirIri • OdyCirce • ShiRin • ShiSaber • ShiSaku | |
| slash | Patrochilles | ||
| femslash | AnneMary | ||
| non-binary | NeroHaku • TamaHaku | ||
| CHARACTERS | male | Arthur Pendragon • Henry Jekyll • Heracles • Merlin • Odysseus • Robin Hood | |