Over the years as an anime fan I have picked up a few skills from just watching enough anime. They include the ability to notice animation errors, an eye to detect directorial styles,  and an understanding of Japanese trends and tropes. You always have these abilities to some degree but the more you watch the better you are at it. The one skill that Narutaki and I have never been that great at no matter how much we watch anime is the ability to instantly recognize voice actors. We are far better at it then when we started the blog but honestly that is because the only direction we could head was up. We have the basic detect Norio Wakamoto and recognize Rie Kugimiya skill set but we are far below the proficiency of any decent seiyu aficionado.

But there is one voice actress I can always recognise and it is very unsurprisingly Ayako Kawasumi. While I remember her playing Melfina in Outlaw Star but she really caught my attention as Lafiel in Crest of the Stars. She has played roles I love like Megumi Noda in Nodame Cantabile and Kanako Ohno in Genshiken. She also starred in shows I have much less love for like Mahoro Ando in Mahoromatic and Aoi Sakuraba in Ai Yori Aoshi. But to cut to the heart of the matter the character that trained me to recognize her voice is very clearly Saber. If there is any character that is going to make me remember your voice it is her. So when Fate/Extra came along they announced that while the playable Saber maybe very familiar looking she would be a very different character to the point where she would be voiced by Sakura Tange. So hearing this new Saber leads me to an odd bit of cognitive dissidence which is what this post is all about.

Past this point is spoiler country. While I assume the identity of Fate Stay/Night Saber is firmly entrenched in the “No. *I* am your father ” territory for anime fans the identity of Fate/Extra Saber is far less a piece of common knowledge.

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