EmberQuill watches Fate/Zero

Had some internet issues which prevented me from watching this on Netflix for the last few days. It's all fixed now. I'm looking forward to continuing the series!

Current Episode: Season 1 Episode 8: The Mage-Slayer

1x07: Dark Forest

Caster is so fucked up.

So apparently Archibald was inside that metal sphere thing they found in the beginning of the episode? Not sure what that is, but damn it's powerful.

I was wondering how they were going to convince everybody to go after Caster. Offering a command seal is a good incentive, even though the overseer guy whose name I can't remember doesn't intend to give that seal to anybody but Tokiomi. I guess after this episode, we'll have to see if anybody but Lancer answers that call. Not that Archibald intends to actually deal with Caster directly, since he's taken the opportunity to go after Kiritsugu instead. And Kiritsugu apparently does know magic, and does something involving using himself as a reality marble to accelerate or decelerate his own personal time continuum or something? I presumably would know what a reality marble was if I'd already seen Fate/Stay Night at this point. I can make a few assumptions though.

Anyway, speaking of Kiritsugu, he and Saber have finally started to butt heads. I knew that would eventually happen, and even mentioned their vast differences in tactics and values in a previous post. Saber is an honorable King of Knights, while Kiritsugu is a duplicitous assassin. It was only a matter of time before their fundamental differences would cause a conflict. It'll be interesting to see if that happens again later.

I don't mean to say Kiritsugu lacks kindness or anything like that, since he blatantly says he wishes he could just take his wife and daughter away from this mess and live out their lives in peace. But whatever he is planning to do with the Grail, it's important enough that he can't bring himself to do that. There have been vague hints about how he will save the world with the Grail, but I don't know anything concrete yet so I'm still wondering what that's all about.

And then Saber and Caster start to fight, and Lancer shows up soon after. This'll be interesting.

Meanwhile, Rider. Just... What even is Rider. He is probably going to show up in the next episode to fight Caster all so he can get Waver to buy him a pair of pants.

I didn't even notice that blatantly suggestive camera angle, lol

1x06: A Night of Schemes

Here's another one, since I'm too invested in Fate/Zero to do only one episode a day.

Once again this show defies my expectations.

Iri is apparently kind of an adrenaline junkie, at least when it comes to driving. Saber doesn't seem to appreciate it too much, though. And then they run into Caster. I had to look up the name he gave them, but apparently Gilles de Rais fought alongside Joan of Arc, but was later convicted as a serial killer of children. So now he thinks that Saber is really Joan of Arc and not Arturia Pendragon.

Speaking of children, I really hope Caster and Ryunosuke don't last a whole lot longer, because they are seriously fucked up. I don't even really want to talk about the scene between those two. Let's move on.

I'm really starting to like Lancer, which is unfortunate because I really don't like Archibald. Also, lol, he and the redheaded woman whose name I can't remember are pulling something similar to Kiritsugi and Iri, though they're sharing mastery over Lancer somehow rather than just tricking everyone into thinking the Master is someone else.

I cracked up when Archibald found out someone set a fire deliberately to evacuate the building and he went on and on and on about all these super-awesome magical defenses they had... and then Kiritsugu blew up the building with regular old bombs. I just love the contrast between the magical tactics everyone else is using, and Kiritsugu just shooting and blowing stuff up. It's too bad Archibald and Lancer escaped the explosion, but then again I'd miss Lancer if he was taken out so early in the show.

And then Kirei and Tokiomi talk about having everyone else cooperate to take out Caster and Ryunosuke. I was not expecting that to happen. I assumed that most of the Holy Grail War would just be a free-for-all among the seven Heroic Spirits and their Masters. Apparently not. Let's see if everyone actually goes for the idea of an alliance against Caster. I'm not sure if Kariya and Berserker would go for it. Rider probably would, dragging Waver along for the ride. Lancer, definitely, though who knows what Archibald thinks. He'll probably help out of a need to preserve the secret of Magic, I suppose.

And finally, Kirei and Gilgamesh have a little chat, and there's this really awkward moment when it sounds like Gilgamesh is coming on to Kirei, lol. "Kirei, you ought to learn what pleasure is... Why not begin by joining me in my entertainment?"

And Kirei apparently does have some reason to seek the Grail beyond what he said to Gilgamesh.

Yeah, Assassin is a bit odd and not always very sneaky. Just standing out in the open isn't exactly a great choice if Kirei wants everyone to think Assassin's out of the game...

Re your ROT13: Yes. Just yes. He is so great.

1x05: A Wicked Beast's Roar

a.k.a. All hell breaks loose.

I freaking love Rider. He's ridiculous in the best possible way. He just drops in on a battle to the death and asks both combatants to just give up and join his army. It's a terrible plan and goes about as well as you'd expect. When Saber and Lancer refuse, he gives a nice speech that basically boils down to a "COME AT ME BRO!" directed at all of the other Heroic Spirits.

And of course Gilgamesh answers the call, because Rider's calling himself the King of Conquerors and Gilgamesh is a huge narcissist who can't stand having anybody else call themselves Kings. Which means he's not a huge fan of Saber, the King of Knights, either. He summons his weapons, then Berserker shows up.

And Berserker has some really jarring CGI, kind of like Gilgamesh in Kaleid 2wei Herz.

What Archibald did, using a command seal to make Lancer help Berserker kill Saber, was just fucked up. Period. But then, he doesn't seem to be a particularly honorable person, so I guess it's not surprising. It's a good thing Rider convinces him to back off.

I'm still trying to get used to the fact that the Heroic Spirits are more than just flat characters whose sole purpose is to fight. I'm too accustomed to how they were represented in Kaleid, as soulless copies of the real Heroic Spirits (Gilgamesh excluded). In the main continuity, they're actual characters, capable of shifting their priorities and alliances, and of disagreeing with their Masters, as evidenced by Lancer not wanting to help Berserker, and Rider being... well... Rider.

Of course, Assassin and Caster are around too. Assassin is just observing for Kirei, while Caster is... doing something. I'm not quite sure what. He seems to have some kind of fixation on Saber and makes some pretty damn inappropriate comments about her. I don't know what's going on there, but I'm assuming I'll find out soon.

1x04: Spearhead

Well, that was awesome. And then it was hilarious.

So the fight between Saber and Lancer was about as awesome as I expected it to be. Interesting how Saber concealed Excalibur using wind magic, not that it ended up working since Lancer's noble phantasm allowed him to catch a glimpse of her weapon and identify it.

So, yeah, not much to say about the fight other than that it was awesome. And I'm a little worried about Saber, since she has a cursed wound that won't heal. Will they be able to heal it after this is over, or is she going to be wielding Excalibur one-handed from now on?

Anyway, other stuff. While Saber and Lancer are having an honorable duel of sorts, Saber's master is... pointing a sniper rifle at Lancer's Master. Wow, Kiritsugu and Saber may want the grail for similar reasons, but their tactics are massively different. It's an interesting idea, having Iri pose as Saber's master. It's a good bit of misdirection, since it causes them to assume the Einzberns have two participants in the Holy Grail War and allows Kiritsugu to move freely while everyone's focusing on Iri and Saber. It certainly fooled Kirei.

Speaking of Kirei and the things he says about Iri... she's a homunculus? At least according to Kirei and Tokiomi. That's... well, I remember in the previous episode she tells Saber that she was created by the Einzberns for the Holy Grail War, but I didn't take her comment quite so literally. I mean, they mentioned her red eyes and white hair, but weird hair/eye colors are the norm in anime so I never really noticed.

Wow, for an episode that is mostly action and fighting, it still threw a lot of curveballs. Like Kiritsugu confirming Assassin's survival. That deception didn't last long. I wonder if any of the other participants will find out too.

Meanwhile, Rider continues to be both hilarious and badass, and Waver's just being dragged along for the ride and trying not to get killed along the way. Rider doesn't give a damn about practicality. He doesn't care that he could just wait for either Saber or Lancer to win, then defeat the victor. Nope. He wants to fight both of them, because he thinks it'll be entertaining.

To be fair, he's right. It's definitely going to be entertaining. I can't wait for the next episode!

EmberQuill watches Fate/Zero

This series is defying all my expectations.

Current Progress: Episode 4

Previous episodes are in last week's thread or on my blog.

1x03: Fuyuki City

Yep. I knew it. I knew it wasn't so simple.

So Assassin(s) is(/are?) alive. Assassin never really got much screentime in Kaleid so I don't know a whole lot about him. I knew he had clones or something like that, but apparently it's a bit more complicated than just that. So, Kirei is now free to act from the shadows to eliminate other servants, presumably to help Tokiomi win the War. Meanwhile, everyone else (except apparently Kiritsugu) is convinced that Assassin is out of the picture. They're in for an unpleasant surprise later.

Speaking of Kiritsugu, check out that armory! Was not expecting to see so much mundane weaponry in a show primarily about magic (as far as I can tell, having only seen three episodes thus far). But then, it was mentioned before that he uses non-magical tactics to take out mages. Makes sense, I suppose.

And then he kisses the black-haired woman whose name escapes me. I am now incredibly curious about her, Kiritsugu, and Iri. Are Kiritsugu and Irisviel together out of love or just necessity? Does Iri know about the woman? Does she care? It's all very confusing and I'm hoping to eventually learn more about them, whether in Fate/Zero or later on in Stay Night or UBW. And then on the other hand there's Iri and Saber, which was honestly just plain cute. Saber played the gentleman escorting Iri around Fuyuki City. It's almost like Type-Moon wants people to ship them.

Meanwhile, Lancer finally shows up, though his Master is nowhere to be found. Interesting. Can't wait to see the showdown between him and Saber.

Oh, and Rider and Waver continue to be low-key comic relief. Those two are perfect foils for one another, aren't they?

1x02: The Fake First Shot

Well damn. I said something about trying to prepare myself in my last post, didn't I?

So much for that idea.

So I forgot that there were multiple different incarnations of each class, and they wouldn't necessarily look like the incarnations shown in Kaleid. There was a brief moment of confusion when I found out that the big, burly, bearded redhead was in fact Rider. Who is awesome. Seriously, that guy is WAY too badass to be Waver's servant. I like the dynamic between those two, though. The "servant" is more like the mentor, while Waver, the "master", is more like the student. It's a neat twist.

Speaking of twists... wait, I'll save that for the end.

So then we see Kiritsugu and mini-Illya! (At least, I'm assuming she's supposed to be younger here than her Kaleid incarnation is). Also I'm not actually sure about the whole grail thing now. I'm assuming that if she is not already the grail somehow, then she becomes it later? At least, assuming that aspect of Kaleid applies at all. Anyway, that's not the point. The point is tiny adorable Illya!

Apparently there was quite a scene when Kiritsugu and Iri realized Saber was female, going by the conversation between Iri and Saber in this episode. I'm kind of sad it was entirely off-screen, because I think that would've been hilarious to watch.

Oh, and then there's the serial killer who thinks he's summoning a demon and winds up with a very, very creepy incarnation of Caster. Because he's seriously screwed up he offers the child of his victims as a sacrifice. Caster briefly makes me think that he's a decent person by freeing the child, but then NOPE! He summons FUCKING CTHULHU to eat the kid! At least, that's what I assume it was. Not sure if this is just the Netflix sub or it's what he actually says, but the subtitles say "Cthulhu Fhtagn" so I'm just going to go with the assumption that it was actually Cthulhu. Damn. That was horrifying.

And then Kirei sends Assassin after Tokiomi Tohsaka in a twist that I never saw coming. And Assassin fails and is killed. Because apparently I was totally right about Gilgamesh showing up in Fate/Zero. He's Zero's incarnation of Archer. So Assassin's out, and Kirei presumably betrayed the Tohsakas. Except that doesn't make any sense, because he witnessed Gilgamesh's summoning so he should have known Assassin would fail. So I'm assuming that he knew this, that he didn't actually betray Tokiomi, and that Assassin's death is all part of some plan they've hatched up.

So far, I'm already loving this series and it's still barely started.