Sasaki Kojirou: The King of Underrated Servants
I just gotta say that I am dumbfounded by the blatant disrespect that I've seen on this man's name, but that's another case. ladies and gentlemen - just in case the people forgot, just in case the people in the back haven't heard, we're here to remind them.
Starting off with F/SN, we know he has high awareness, pointing out Rin’s familiar then executing it on the spot. We know that his sword can cut through steel, and even though it's only made by man, it was still hanging with Saber's Excalibur despite it being a divine construct.
In Anorexia, he's shown extreme preciseness with his blade, cutting off all four limbs when he attacked each shade spirit, and there was an entire swarm of them. If you look at the materials, Nasu himself says that if Heracles went for the kill against Kojirou, he would have got his head cut off, and the only thing that would have saved him would be his god hand.
We know that he can casually block Saber's head-on attacks without even trying. He casually one-shotted Medea in Unlimited Codes after she underestimated his ability to fight back. There are several times where he's shown to be able to keep up with Saber, Saber herself being Mach speed in terms of reactions. She also had to admit that she was shocked by his pure skill when she had the advantage in every field.
In FGO, Musashi admits that Kojirou is at least several times stronger than her, and she's already a master swordsman herself. She also tells us that his skill is on a godly level. We know that canonically, the only reason he lost his second fight against Saber is because he bent his sword, and if we're being honest, that's just a fancy way to say convenience - conveniently bent his sword when he needs to get out the way.
He managed to charge in during Saber’s wind release, the story telling us that this normally has zero entry. This same wind was able to fend off Gilgamesh, Hassan, and Jill's familiars. In Unlimited Codes, Medea was so afraid of Heracles that even after watching Sasaki take a fatal hit for her, she still forced him to fight Heracles with a command spell just to protect her.
He has an insane level of durability and tolerance, being able to handle Medea blowing open his entire chest then jumping right back on his feet. On top of that, Nasu tells us that if him and Curse Arm Hassan get into a fight, even if Curse Arm gets off his phantasm, Kojirou would still have the willpower to bring it to at least a tie.
In the EMIYA cooking series, we've seen that he has fast enough reaction to catch objects at a speed that's barely discernible to the human eye. Even in parody settings my boy still has that chain on. In his fight against Saber, it tells us that his skill and his sword length could casually hit Saber from five meters away. Just getting in on Big Bro Kojirou proved to be a difficult task multiple times, with Saber being forced to keep distance on a majority of times.
He's been shown to handle extreme conditions, engaging with Musashi in a pool of fire unbothered. From his interactions with EMIYA, it tells us that he responded to EMIYA’s attack at lightning speed, and the attack wasn't even meant for him. Again showcasing his high awareness, he scouted out a tree that Archer was hiding behind and threw a knife at him. This was in the middle of him and Saber fighting. I repeat, in the middle of him and Saber fighting.
For all the people who think that he can't deal with far range shenanigans. He’s literally been shown dodging and slicing through Archer's arrows multiple times. Keep in mind that this was not only a surprise attack but he also had a limited amount of space to get out the way. He's been shown to be cool under pressure, warding off Saber’s killing intent with ease.
You have his Eye of the Mind that allows him to negate visual interference and sense danger beforehand. In FGO, he was able to point out the fact that Danzo didn't have a heartbeat just being around him. You know that he doesn't give off a magical presence, making it easy for people to underestimate him.
He has the Transparency skill that allows him to negate mental attacks - save the head games for somebody else. In FGO, you had the real Musashi say that he was more than worthy of being his rival. You have his Harmony skill which tells us no matter how many times he does the same move on an enemy, it will never fall in accuracy.
There's the part when Saber mentioned how just his regular attacks alone are extremely fast and difficult to follow. There was even a part where she doubted if she could beat him if she used all of her powers. You have the materials where Nasu himself says that Kojirou is very possibly the most skilled swordsman of all time.
In the UBW route, it tells us that he flat out fended off nearly every single servant that was in the story - Heracles, Cu, Medusa, Saber, EMIYA. Not one of them could get past his swordsmanship. He mentions himself that he would one-shot an enemy if they tried to come at him with skills that were only average.
Nasu also tells us in a battle where everything is allowed, Archer would come out on top. In the event that he loses this advantage, he implies that his chances up close are out the window. In FGO, you have the time where he explains to Martha that he has access to Judo techniques if he needs them.
In Shimosa, we had him go one on one with Musashi once again. He is one of the only servants capable of reaching the realm of nothingness off pure skill alone. This was literally him transcending into a void space dimension, and he was barely edged out for the win.
You have Amakusa who's been a master swordsman since the time that he was a teen. He also agrees there's not a human in this world that can pass Kojirou in sheer skill. From his fight with Musashi, we know that he surpassed the limits of time and space itself.
In his fight against Saber, he somehow managed to track every single blow. There are even some hits that are said to be more devastating than the ones before. All of his main strikes aim straight for the neck, so you have to worry about fatal hits nearly every time.
His sword is stated to be at least four feet long, giving him a ridiculous amount of coverage. He had enough reserves to survive even after his master Medea was gone. This is thanks to the way that he was summoned. He also doesn't have independent manifestation.
Then you have his unique move Swallow Reversal. While this is recognized to be his phantasm, it's not actually one by the book. It's actually him being so good in his swordsmanship that he reached into the second magic and it comes out as a skill instead, meaning that he doesn't have the drawbacks of it being a phantasm like cooldowns.
You had Archer bring up the fact that his move is so fast that it bends space and replicates his hit two times after the first one. This results in a three-hit slash from multiple directions that's nearly unavoidable. This same move is said to be capable of cutting down gods. It tells us that the only countermeasure to this attack is not letting him use it in the first place.
And then in FGO, you have him casually defeat a swordsman who was said to be unbeaten for a hundred battles. If it’s a sword fight, there isn’t ANY swordfighting servant I’d choose over him in a straight meat to meat matchup. Bring up your Gawains and your Artorias I’m STILL picking my boy.
The reality of the matter is if you let Kojirou get in, chances are he's folding your favorite servant. There's a reason why Medea trusted his skills more than her own. This dude is like Shaq or Tim Duncan on the inside… UNSTOPPABLE
And I don't wanna hear any disagreements, you just gotta concede this one. When you’re out here reaching infinite possibilities, transcending dimensions, bending space with no divinity to be found, you are clearly a different animal and the same beast.