Fate/Grand Order Shielder/Mash Kyrielight “under the same sky” by Aniplex

Like Saber/Altria Pendragon “under the same sky” before her, Mash is based on a promotional illustration from Fate/Grand Order’s 5th anniversary by character designer Takeuchi Takashi.

Mash is remarkable for several reasons, we’ll get to them later. But what makes her better is the prevailing aspect of her design—the wind effect. From her hair to her dress, ribbon, and mini-jacket, the wind affects everything that isn’t skin-tight.

Her face is pretty and expressive at that. I like that it’s a bit more narrow than in the illustration, where it’s short and wide in comparison. The shape of her jaw is pleasing from beneath her left ear to her chin. With faces usually being flat from the side, it’s not often that we see jaws. And in her profile, Mash really shows hers off. It’s well defined and casts a good shadow too.

Just as we aren’t often graced with jaws, we also don’t often see fully sculpted mouths. Jouge Akane, Mash’s sculptor, has done a fine job sculpting the inside of her mouth. She has two rows of teeth, a tongue, and cheek-lining! Like Saber’s simple mouth, Mash’s open mouth works well for her. I’m glad they did this instead of a shallow mouth, which rarely looks good. For her hair, they used a muted shade of pink, which prevents it and her outfit’s indigo sections from clashing. From a sculpting point, Mash’s hair is even better. For the most part, the shape of it isn’t uniform. The number of locks separating and locks implied to be separating due to the wind’s force is satisfactory. I like how the wind is pushing the hair on the side upward.