Quotes from Fate Zero

-Honor and glory…There's no point in speaking to a killer who takes pride in such things.

-You would insult chivalry to my face, fiend?

-Knights cannot save the world. They call certain methods of fighting good and others evil, acting as if there were some nobility to the battlefield. Such illusions, perpetrated by heroes throughout history, have led countless young men to their bloody deaths, all for the sake of this valor and glory.

-They are not illusions! Even the taking of life, as a human act, must have laws and ideals. Otherwise, every war would being hell to this world!

-You heard her, Iri. Our Heroic Spirit here thinks the battlefield is something better than hell. What a joke. It's hell itself. There's no hope on the battlefield. It has nothing but unspeakable despair. Just a crime we call victory, paid for by the pain of the defeated. Yet humanity has never recognized this truth. And the reason for that is, in every era, a dazzling hero has blinded people with their legends and prevented them from seeing the evil of bloodshed. The true nature of humanity has not advanced a step beyond the Stone Age.

-Is the modern world to your liking?

-It's unspeakably ugly, but there're ways I can enjoy it.

Do as you desire. That is the true meaning of entertainment. Entertainment leads to pleasure…And pleasure will lead you to happiness.

-Only brute warriors find glory in destruction! Of what worth is a king who fails to protect the powerless? A just rule, with just laws…Those are the true duties of a king!

-So you, the king, are a slave to what is just?

-I don't mind. A king would willingly die for his ideals.

-That's not how a person should live.

-If I rule a country as its king, I cannot hope to live as a person. King of Conquerers, you could never understand, as you seek the Grail merely for your own benefit. You, who became a ruler only to satisfy your endless greed!

-A king without greed is even worse than a figurehead! Saber, you said you would die for your ideals. In life, you must have been a pure and honest saint. A noble and inviolable figure, certainly. But who on earth admires the martyr's thorny path? Who dreams of such a life? You see, a king must be greedier, laugh louder, and be more furious than everyone else. He must exemplify the extreme of all things, including good and evil. That's exactly why his subjects envy and adore him. And why the flame of wanting to be like the king can burn in the hearts of every civilian. The proud king of knights, the righteousness and ideals you bore may have saved your country once. However, I'm sure you know what happened to those who were constantly and only saved. You saved your subjects, but you never led them. You never showed them what a king should be. You abandoned your men when they lost their way. Alone and untroubled, you followed your own pretty little ideals. Thus, you're no true king. You're but a little girl, bound by the false idol of a king who serves others but not himself.

Pleasure is basically a form of soul. The question isn't whether it exists, but whether you know it or not. 

Food, sex, sleep, and war. Whatever you do, enjoy it to the fullest. That's the secret of life.

Choosing your calling based solely on your talents won't always guarantee you happiness. If you act only on what you should do without heed for what you want to do, you're nothing more than a machine, a phenomenon. It's not how a human being should live.

To win, but not to destroy; To conquer, but not to humiliate; That is what true conquer is!

Quotes from Psycho-Pass

- Why are you so focused on making sure nobody kills Makishima?

- Because it's illegal. Because I can't overlook a crime.

- Why are you going that far to obey the law when that law can neither judge a criminal nor protect people?

- The law doesn't protect people. People protect the law. People have always detested evil and sought out a righteous way of living. The law is the accumulation of those people's feelings. They're neither the provisions nor the system. They're the fragile and irreplaceable feelings that everyone carries in their hearts. Compared to the power of anger and hatred, they're something that can easily break down. All thoughout time, people have prayed for a better world. In order for those prayers to continue to hold meaning, we have to try our best to protect it to the very end. We can't just give upon it. 

Everyone is alone. Everyone is empty. People no longer have any need of others. You can always find a substitute for any talent. Any relationship can be replaced. That's the world I grew tired of.

Instead of aimlessly empathizing with others, you should be able to oversee human action from an outsider's viewpoint.

Value exists only in the acts based on one's free will.

Books aren't just something you read. They're like a form of meditation.

The System determines everyone's aptitudes and we all have no choice but to live by it and be satisfied with whatever "happiness" is forced upon us as we are unable to make our real dreams come true. Don't you want to discover the person you desire to be?

Isn't using the net just like using knives for cooking or using paper to write things down? It's not intrinsically good or bad. It's just there, so we accept it and use it.

Even beautiful flowers must eventually wither and fall. That's the fate of all living beings. If that's how it is, it's only natural that one would wish to freeze them in them while they're still blossoming in full glory.

Say you're at a dark swamp and you can't see the bottom. If you want to find out what's in that swamp, you have no choice but to jump in. Saiga's used to it since he's dived in so many times already. But it's not like all his students can dive into that swamp and come back safely. There're gaps in their abilities, not to mention their basic suitability.

They say that fools learn from their experience, while the wise learn from history. Since you insist on being a fool, you should try learning through experience like this one. That's the fastest route to understanding things.

- Can we really say that we won?

- Detective work is, by nature, about treating wounds. Our investigations start after there're victims. In that sense, we lost before we even started. But at least we were able to end this lost game in a draw. We'll just have to settle for that.

“Justice is subject to dispute; might is easily recognized and is not disputed. So we cannot give might to justice.” — Blaise Pascal

"When you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."—Friedrich W. Nietzsche

House of Five Leaves (Sarai-ya Goyou, さらい屋五葉)

The anime is produced by Manglobe, which was famous for the production of "Samurai Shamploo". 

"House of Five Leaves" is a story about a group of five robbers who kidnap people for a living in the Edo Era. Yet the story is not about kidnapping; nor is it about samurai or swordsmanship. It's about the people, their present and past, why they're in the gang, "Five Leaves", and why they quit being outlaws in the end.

The character design is one of the most bizarre I've seen in years. When I first saw the trailer, it was not simply "like-or-dislike". Actually I suddenly felt there's a very thin line between the two. But later I really grew on it. It certainly has the uniqueness that separates it from all the other animation. Yet it may be due to this bizarreness that the anime doesn't have a rating that it deserves—it's far underrated on myanimelist.com and anime news network and alike. However, if you like a mature story, and the Edo era setting, and if you could try to tolerate the weirdness you feel in the beginning, it would be an interesting and rewarding experience to get to know these characters in the 12 episodes.

Our protagonist Masanosuke is a ronin (i.e. a wandering samurai who has no lord). He's a kind, perceptive, smart and skilled swordsman, despite of the fact that he is shy and looks naive. Masa is the sort of person who just says whatever is on his mind without reservation, a man of honesty and integrity. It's weird that he's in the group, right? In fact, he was dragged into the gang by Yaichi without knowing it at first. That's the fun part. Masa doesn't need to do anything funny on purpose—it's inherent in his behavior. Surely he's not suit for this line of job, but at first Yaichi just thought it would be fun to have him there. Masa lost his job as a bodyguard thanks to his personality giving people an impression of being unreliable. Being jobless is one of the reasons he didn't choose to leave. "You hate the idea of doing bad things, but you need money. So you'll probably continue to put yourself in this vague emotional state, and join them in their activities. If the time ever comes that you want to be rid of that feeling, cut your ties and leave without looking back. That would be wise." That's the advice the elder Souji gave him, but Masa feels he has found friends whose circumstances he wants to get involved and share, so he eventually made the choice to stay. 

The leader of the group is Yaichi, a charismatic person with composure. He always carries that pompous smile on his face, making you want to believe that he's not doing something bad when you see that smile, even when he says to your face, "I kidnap people for a living." Of course, he's hiding his past and pain behind that—it's calm because it's deep. Masa described him as "a little bit frightening. And constantly on guard. Yet...he's like...A leaf floating about on the river." Ichi has a five-leave maple scar from burns on his back. It became the signature of the gang; thus the name "House of Five Leaves." 

The name Yaichi was borrowed from a person most important to him. Seinoshin, he used to be called, was an adopted heir of a prominent family until the birth of a son. He was discarded, as a victim of a kidnapping plotted by the mother. Although Seinoshin has known it all along, that he hasn't ever been accepted or acknowledged in that family, he didn't expect that they even wanted him dead. 

Yaichi was the only person who cared about him and who he trusted; the steward who he was told to betray him,but who in fact died for him. He'll always remember, when Yaichi led him under an autumn flame maple when he couldn't help being depressed by the sneer of the mother. "Seinoshin-sama, please take a look.", he smiled and said, "It's truly elegant and gorgeous." 

Five Leaves were asked to kill the hostage in secret in their last case. "He's not from our master's linage, thus not the rightful heir."— a reason to abandon someone as blunt and cruel as before. "Perhaps Yaichi kept kidnapping people just to see that happen." Memories seep into our bones. Life is surely full of jokes, caprices and coincidences. We're the ones laughing and unfortunately the ones being laughed at as well.