The Fate/Grand Order Akihabara Matsuri 2017 was held for 3 days between 8 and 10 December in Akihabara, Tokyo, to celebrate the super popular Japanese smartphone game Fate/Grand Order. The Fate/Grand Order Stage Talk Show took place at Bellesalle Akihabara on the second day of the event. The show was also streamed live via niconico. If you couldn’t watch it or can’t speak Japanese, I’ll summarize what happened right here in this article.

The voice actresses Ayako Kawasumi (Artoria Pendragon) and Rumi Ookubo (Elizabeth Bathory) appeared on stage together with a surprise guest, Kana Ueda (Rin Tohsaka). Yosuke Shiokawa, a creative director from DELiGHTWORKS, and Masahiro Ishikura, a marketing director, also appeared to make several exciting announcements.

Although it was in the middle of the FGO Akihabara Matsuri, details of the next event were unveiled. The event, called FGO Winter Matsuri 2017-2018 ~Winter Pharaoh Thanks Event~, will kick off on 23 December in Hyogo, and go on tour to Miyagi, Hiroshima, and Oita prefectures. The announcement included the names of guests in each prefecture. The key image showed the event’s slogan, ‘Wanna watch Pharaoh in winter?’ and included the comment, ‘He needs to wear clothes sometimes’. They stressed that the event will feature the Noble Phantasm Ramesseum Tentyris, which was under production at the time. It’ll be a life-sized model people can actually sit on. They said we should sit on it gently, not arrogantly like the Pharaoh does.

You can see our photo report on the Hyogo exhibition right here:

Photo Report ‘FGO Winter Festival 2017-2018 ~Winter Pharaoh’s Big Thanksgiving~’ Hyogo

The special TV program about the Fate project will air in due course on New Year’s Eve. The program will look back on the projects of 2017, and announce its 2018 plans. The news that attracted the most attention is the premiere of a new special anime titled Fate/Grand Order x Himuro’s World: Seven Most Powerful Great Figures Chapter. The anime will center on three girls who appeared in Fate/Stay Night, and depict their school lives- which has nothing to do with the restoration of humanity, the main concern of the game.

Furthermore, the second special anime Fate/Grand Order -MOONLIGHT/LOSTROOM- was introduced. Fate series co-creator Kinoko Nasu himself is in charge of the script for the anime. The visual showed Mashu in the corridor at Chaldea looking up the starry sky, which looks serious, mysterious, and very impressive.

The talk then moved on to the introduction of FGO’s Arc 2 development and the announcement of the name of the singer who will sing the theme song. When fans were told that Maaya Sakamoto, who sang the Arc 1 theme, would be singing the theme song for Arc 2, a round of applause occurred in the venue. At the end of the show, the newest information for the game Fate/Grand Order was revealed. A new VR drama with Artoria Pendragon was officially announced to be included in the VR drama Fate/Grand Order VR feat. Mashu Kyrielite, which has been already distributed via Playstation Store. Viewers can experience a relaxing moment with Artoria, who will show a different side to herself in this VR drama. However, the peace will be destroyed by someone and the battle will break out in the latter half of the drama, so her fans have a chance to watch her fighting as well.

So many FGO events are lined up, but the first to be revealed was a Christmas event called ‘Merry Christmas from the Underworld’. Players who wish to join the event must clear ‘Order VII — The Absolute Frontline in the War Against the Demonic Beasts — Babylonia’ beforehand. The fans at the venue were excited to hear that Ereshkigal would be at the event since they have been waiting a while for her appearance. When Kinoko Nasu was named to be in charge of the script, fans cheered with joy.

The year of 2017 will end with so many FGO events, including the Christmas event, the special TV program on New Year’s Eve, and a special winter event across the country. FGO won’t run out of steam in 2018. I have high expectations for what’s to come in the new year.