Friday, July 13, 2018

Fate/Zero Part 3 Episodes 9-13


After a fierce battle with Kiritsugu, Kayneth lies near death and no longer capable of using magic.  Meanwhile, the search for Ryonosuke and Caster intensifies and draws the attention of outside forces, such as Tokiomi’s young daughter, Rin Tohsaka.  All the while, Kiritsugu continues to take advantage of the temporary Grail War truce to his own ends and three servants meet at a banquet to discuss their aspirations for the Holy Grail.  As the second stage of the Holy Grail War begins, new alliances are made and new strategies are put into motion.  For no matter the peaceful encounters some mages may partake, in the end, only one can win this war and for the rest…it means certain death.

“And there came a day unlike any other, when earth's mightiest heroes were united against a common threat! On that day the Avengers were born! -- To fight the foes no single hero could withstand!”  Ok, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor didn’t show up here.  But by this sets end, it felt like that was happening.  Also, three servants meet for a drink.  Little Rin Tohsaka embarks on her first great adventure.  Kirei begins his true descent into darkness.  And if you’re a psychopath of beyond twisted proportions, God still loves what you do…accodrding to the child butcher with a bug eyed psycho mage.  If you weren’t loving Fate/Zero yet, this set should settle that once and for all.  Unlike it’s parent series, Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero is developing things at a far more rapid rate, even in its most lull of moments.  The build up of everything is incredible and once we get into the second half of the series, starting next time, I bet we’re gonna see some major payoffs.

Of all the things ive seen so far in Fate/Zero, two things I never expected to see were Saber, Rider and Gilgamesh sitting down for a friendly drink AND Rin, who really shouldn’t even be around past her brief cameo in the beginning of the series, getting an episode of her own.  Thankfully we got both scenarios and they both rival each other for best episode of Fate/Zero thus far.  Rin’s episode was very much “Rin Begins,” and it felt like a setup for a Rin centered spin off about her years leading up to Fate/Stay Night.  Couldn’t you see Rin doing a Detective Conan style stint with magic, solving mysteries and saving people with her developing talents?  Even though she isn’t the beautiful bad ass she grows up to be, Rin is still insanely likeable, the best little sister type ever.  It was also nice to see her actually having some fun lessons with her father.  Tokiomi has been more or less a background presence and with each new scene he’s in, I can say he seems like kind of a jerk of a dad.  You wouldn’t think that, the way he coaches Rin in her early magic uses.  I wont say it redeems his actions thus far, like sacrificing Sakura to the Matoh’s or his double dealing behind the scenes.  So it’s nice but weird to see him actually be decent at being a dad.

As for the banquet, three of Fate/Zero’s best characters got to share the spotlight.  Poor Lancer missed out on quite the discussion (probably because he was trying to be swayed to become the servant of Kayneth’s fiancée).  You also know a show has done something right when it manages to make a character I loathe quite a bit like Gilgamesh and make him tolerable.  His back and forth with Rider and the clear respect they both share was well done.  Saber, on the other hand, got a cold dose of reality.  They may have egos the size of planet Earth, but at least Rider and Gilgamesh have no regrets about their eras as conquerors and kings.  Saber’s wish to use the Grail to save her old kingdom is pretty selfish, even if you do feel for her loss over her supposed failure.  She may be the best female bad ass on the show but she isn’t nearly the ruler on the level Rider and Gilgamesh.  Seeing as how some of her notions and wishes are still present in Fate/Stay Night, it’s doubtful Saber will learn her lesson here.   There’s respect, belittling, reality bombs and even a reality marble featured in this whole amazing scene…that last part being Rider’s ability to send his opponents to a realm where his entire army can mow them down…DAMNNNNNN!!!!  Yeah, this feast of kings was as good as it was setup to be.  Power to the characters, power to the writers.

It wasn’t just about the servants this time though.  Waver, Ryunosuke and Kirei all got their moments to shine in unexpected ways.  With Waver, besides every scene he shared with Rider, it was his ability to locate Casters lair, probably his first useful action this entire series.  For Ryunosuke, it was his epic but twisted analysis of God and how he actually loves the sick killings and murderous artwork he and Caster have been doing.  For Kirei, it was learning that “true happiness” doesn’t mean smiles, roses and puppies…but sometimes something much darker.  This is the beginning of Kirei’s steps to becoming one of the big bads in Fate/Stay Night, a man who thinks he is fighting for one thing when he really wants something far more sinister but cant see it and cant accept it, freaking fascinating (and all the while being analyzed by Gilgamesh no less).  Meanwhile, Waver and Rider and Ryunosuke and Caster prove that sometimes, these pairings of servant and master are more on point that one might think.  As demented and messed up as they are, Caster and Ryunosuke are the ideal couple, two dark souls from two time periods linked together because they love suffering and despair so much they desperately want to share those feelings with each other, and the world.  As for Waver and Rider, the kid really needs to see just how much good the big guy in the way too tight short is trying to show him.  Waver doesn’t feel he’s worthy of being a master in a war that’s far beyond him.  And yet Rider still stands by him because, to quote Sherlock, it’s “the thrill of the chase, the blood pumping through your veins.  Just the two of us against the rest of the world.”  Waver might not see it, but he’s got the ultimate best friend at his side, someone who will face the world with him with a smile and a hearty laugh…I just hope he figures that out before something bad happens.

Before I get to the mid season cliffhanger, a couple of things to point out.  So if Rider completely demolished Assassin and his various clones (dopplegangers), does this mean Assassin is like DEAD dead?  Are there no more other Assassins lying about?  It’s not made clear, especially when Kirei gets new command seals.  Is another servant on the horizon?  Probably not given how things are seen in Fate/Stay Night but I wont spoil that here yet.  Also, how long has Kirei been shadowing Kariya (who had very little to do this set besides save Rin from the shadows)?  Feel like we’ve either missed a bit of story somewhere or this is really an out of nowhere development.  Lastly, Kayneth’s…fiancée…wife…I don’t know they use both terms with her, Sola-Ul, takes over as Lancer’s master because…ambition?  Weve only ever seen her in one scene last week before Kiritsugu (also absent for a lot of this set) blew up the hotel Kayneth was staying in and even then she didn’t do too much besides…well nothing.  Seeing her suddenly thrust into a Master role is odd…but we did get to see her go all “Misery” on a tied up Kayneth…except instead of breaking his knees she threatened to cut off his hand to get his command seals…and we actually haven’t seen Kayneth again since…uh oh.

I’d be wrong if I didn’t talk a bit about the Avengers style gathering of the servants at the end to meet Casters Kaiju Hentai monster.  I don’t really get why Rider had to “call a truce” since technically they were all under a truce already, set by the church so they could hunt down Ryunosuke and Caster.  Still, this felt like a gathering of fate, the warriors of the past, along with their Masters, coming together to face a foe unlike any they’ve faced before and probably couldn’t on their own.  I can only imagine if Gilgamesh and Berserker will get involved as well.  Either way, I could hear Alan Silvestri’s “Avengers Theme” playing as Lancer, Rider and Saber all got set to charge the enemy head on…which means I should probably end this review here so I can get into the next set of episodes RIGHT NOW.

Will the King of Kings Avengers be able to stand against the might of Casters Octo Flesh Monster (you try coming up with a better name)?  What will become of Kayneth?  What is Kiritsugu’s next move?  Will Ryunosuke find the thrill of despair he’s been searching for?  Is it cool to see Saber run on water into battle…the last answer to that is HELL YEAH!!!  See ya next time as we kick off the second half of Fate/Zero.

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