Gen Urobuchi

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/wiki/Gen Urobuchicreator
The character on his shirt means "love".

A prolific Japanese author in the Visual Novel industry who currently works under Nitroplus. He is (in)famous for creating dark, tragic settings and plot twists in his stories. The work which put him to this fame was Saya no Uta, an H.P. Lovecraft-inspired Visual Novel released under Nitroplus. As a result, he has been given the nickname "Urobutcher" by several circles on the internet.

He and Kinoko Nasu of Type Moon are known to be good friends, and have even collaborated together on two Fate/ series projects, Fate/Zero and Fate/Apocrypha.

Works created by Gen Urobuchi include:

He has worked on the scenarios of the following visual novels:


He also worked on the following light novel series:


And he has been involved in the production of the following anime series:

Gen Urobuchi provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Bittersweet Ending, if not outright a Downer Ending
  • Break the Cutie: If there's an idealist in his story, chances are that person will be broken by the end.
  • Creator Breakdown: He confesses to this in the afterword to Fate/zero's first volume, saying that he can no longer write happy endings to his stories. However, with the ending to Madoka Magica, he seems to have gotten over it. Somewhat.
    • When he was 24, he spent a lengthy time in the hospital during an epidemic, "living like a dead man" as he put it. That would leave a mark.
  • Cosmic Horror Story: A good number of his works are influenced by H.P. Lovecraft novels and the cosmic horror genre.
  • Darker and Edgier
  • Kill'Em All: Hence his Fan Nickname, "Urobutcher".
  • Magnum Opus: By far his most critically acclaimed work to date is Puella Magi Madoka Magica.
    • That said, some consider Fate/Zero to be his "best" work.
  • One of Us: Transcripts exist of him, Kinoko Nasu, and a few other authors getting together for a tabletop RPG. Naturally, Urobuchi plays a dark, morally ambiguous sorcerer, while Nasu plays a fair-haired Knight in Shining Armor
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: His works stand heavily on the cynical side of the scale, but he says that he used to write works that still have a glimmer of hope in them.
    • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids/True Art Is Angsty: He is also definitely on the side of those who consider happy stories to be unrealistic, to the point where he has actually suggested that Lighter and Softer stories, by definition, contradict the laws of nature and are therefore difficult to write and impossible to believe.

"I have nothing but contempt for the deceitful thing men call 'happiness', and find myself with no choice but to push my characters, whom I pour my heart and soul out to create, into the abyss of tragedy."