Monday, July 30, 2018

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works Part 4 Episodes 10-12


The Holy Grail War begins to take its toll on Shiro.  Having barely survived encounters with Shinji Matoh and Kuzuki and their servants, the young man begins to wonder if he’s really cut out to participate in this war.  With Saber and Archer questioning Shiro’s health, Rin decides to take her ally out on a date.  However, as Rin and Shiro’s feelings for each other begin to blossom, Caster returns, holding someone close to Shiro as a hostage.  Come the end of this fight, the tide will change for both Shiro and Rin.  Alliances will be broken and strength will be tested like never before.  Will the growing bond between Shiro and Rin survive?

Man does it suck to be Shiro Emiya right now…well more than usual.  He’s lost his command seals, his servant and even his would be girlfriends turned his back on him.  Granted he was in a difficult spot but let’s face it, it’s all Shiros fault he is where he is right now.  Let’s backtrack shall we?

Things got off to a literal hard hitting start with the reveal of Mr. Kuzuki being the 4th master in school.  I have to say, it’s a little ironic that 2 Caster servants in 2 Holy Grail Wars have had Masters that pretty much could care less about the Holy Grail so long as they can do their own thing…and theyre both killers?  Whereas Ryunosuke showed nothing short of joy at the horror he reaped upon Fuyuki City, Kuzuki is more quiet and zen about it, even down to his insane fighting style that allows him to go toe to toe with a servant like Saber.  I couldn’t help but think of The Terminator as he plowed through Saber, Rin and Shiro like they were nothing.  Clearly Caster is a fan of being allowed to act freely, plus she’s in love with Kuzuki so I guess that’s a bonus?  In any case, Kuzuki and Caster have both stepped onto the board as the greatest threats so far in the series.

Finally, at long last, Fujimura’s true purpose, what her pointless scenes have all been building toward, was revealed in this set…to be a hostage that leads to Shiro’s downfall.  I’d say I was worried but I wasn’t since Fujimura is and will continue to be one of the most pointless members of this cast.  Now if Caster had taken Rin hostage and forced Shiro into his no win scenario, I’dve been a bit more worried.  Nevertheless, it all came down to one poorly timed decision on Shiro’s end that saw his philosophy thrown right back into his face with disastrous consequences.  In order to save Fujimura, he accidentally caused Saber to stand down and thus she was turned into Caster’s slave via the Rule Breaker blade.  In truth, I feel worse for Saber being turned against her friends rather than Shiro, who botched everything cause his hero complex makes it impossible for him to realize even he can lose badly (like he has throughout this whole series but has shrugged it off cause he has a Wolverine level healing factor thanks to Saber…that’s gone now too btw).

Naturally, the person I feel the worst for at the end of the day will always be Rin.  The poor girl went out of her way to help Shiro, both in battle and in his love life.  Aside from the battle with Kuzuki, the big highlight from this set was the date Rin went on with Shiro, with Saber tagging along as well.  It felt like a true outing of two kids falling for each other, though one cant wrap his head around it cause he’s an idiot and cant see that Rin is cute and wants to be with him…ahem im getting off on a tangent again.  And Saber wasn’t a third wheel either as Rin made sure she was included in many of their activities, especially the batting cage scene (was also nice to see how insync Rin and Saber were, reinforcing how awesome this show would be if it was just them and no pesky Shiro to get in the way).  It was also good to see Rin and Shiro share why they both got into magecraft in the first place.  I’ll always be wowed that Kiritsugu learned from his massive screw ups in Fate/Zero and tried to push Shiro down a better path rather than just continue the family legacy like Rin’s father did for his daughter.  Naturally Shiro wasn’t totally listening but im not getting into that again.  The second big highlight was the complete 180 of how the “season finale” began.  Rin coldly turned her back on Shiro.  Knowing Rin, I doubt she means any of the things she said but she isn’t wrong.  Shiro is now totally useless to her or anyone in the war and he’s going to really, really, REALLY die if he keeps going.  In order to keep the one she cares about the most safest, Rin had to push Shiro away and steel her resolve.  It makes her practical and logical but also more beautiful than ever knowing her heart will not let Shiro go entirely.  Once again, Shiro Emiya, you do not deserve the awesomeness of Rin Tohsaka.

I should note that Episode 12 serves as the aforementioned “Season Finale” of Unlimited Blade Works, the conclusion of the first half.  As such, it was extended into another 45minute episode (that makes 3 now including the two prologues for Rin and Shiro).  I cant really see why this had to be since there was plenty that could have either been cut or moved to another episode.  Archer and Rin’s chat, along with Caster and Assassin’s could have been axed all together and we could have cut to Shiro recovering before Caster took a shot at taking down Kirei (who was finally back in action).  There were some important clues planted throughout, especially in regards to Archer’s true identity.  Overall, the extended length was kind of a minor hinderance, I guess but I’ll still think the finale should have been a two parter instead.

Well we got some good action, some solid character work (except Shiro who is pretty much stationary) and even some nice humor and romance to close out the first half of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works.  With the pieces all scattered across the board, it’ll be interesting to see how everything comes together in the second half.  We’ll see how that all kicks off on Wednesday when the reviews continue.  See you then.

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