Well that Avengers reunion was short lived. Then again, everyone more or less getting
along wasn’t going to last forever. This
whole event is a battle to the death after all.
But gone are the days of playing by righteous rules (if there ever was a
Grail War like that). To put it in
simpler terms this round “**** just got real).
Starting from where we left off last week, we finally got
the all out brawl of heroes we’d been waiting for. The six remaining servants may have fought
separate battles but each one was so entertaining it didn’t matter they weren’t
all focused on Caster. My most favorite
of these brawls had to be Berserkers Macross laden battle with Archer: a
possessed fighter jet vs…whatever the heck Gilgamesh was flying, it looked like
a leftover Lelouch toy from Code Geass.
One nitpick I have from this whole affair. I did like how this battle was big enough to
attract a crowd…but did anything else come from the real world witnessing a
Grail battle? Chances are the church and
the observers who keep track of things have some sort of mind erasure magic or
something like that, I just don’t think it was ever shown.
Seeing as how this set of episodes kicked off the second
half of the series, it was time to see some players finally get taken off the
board. In a span of four episodes we
lost Ryunosuke, Caster, Lancer, Kayneth, Sola-Ul, Kirei’s Father and
Tokiomi. Each one could have a spot for
bloodiest demise but each one did have their own separate set of feels to
them. How ironic is it that a serial
killers greatest wish is to experience his own death? The look of joy on Ryunosuke’s face was a
good cap off to his disgusting murder spree.
Caster was right behind him as Saber was given her full abilities back
and able to slice him down the middle right back to Hell. And yet, with the dispatching of the two
biggest monsters in the Grail War…the “real” monsters came out to play in their
stead.
Saber and Kiritsugu finally had their long awaited verbal
throwdown over Kiritsugu’s actions.
Saber is a knight of honor, one who values tradition and chivalry above
all else. Kiritsugu is an assassin
moving in the shadows and employing every deceitful tool at his disposal to win
the war. He snipes Rynosuke from afar
(pretty cool too). But his biggest F’ed
up moment yet comes from creating a contract that allows Kayneth and his
finacee to live, so long as Kayneth forces Lancer to kill himself. That was tough to watch. Lancer has always been a likeable guy and his
rivalry with Saber has played both parts respectable fighter and also cute
flirting. Yet he dies cursing someone he
saw and an honorable rival because her master employed such underhanded
means. It’s a far less glorious death
than Lancer deserved. Follow that up
with Kiritsugu’s back up, Maiya, killing Sola-Ul followed by Saber killing
Kayneth out of mercy…and you begin to realize, if you haven’t already, this was
all planned by the guy Shiro Emiya looked up to as an idol…no wonder that kid
is so messed up with his notions of heroism.
Still that begs the question: in a battle for a super
powerful magic relic that can grant any wish, is it worth sacrificing
honor? Of all the characters, who are
masters, who have shown any sense of being honorable participants in this
contest, probably Kariya’s probably the only one who has noble intentions,
saving Sakura. Waver is a distant
second, since he was in this to prove himself and has complained quite a bit
until this set (he does stand his ground with Rider, so he’s showing
progress). Kiritsugu, Kayneth, Tokiomi
and Kirei have all played by their own rules in this way and have used deceit,
treachery and simple logic to get their ways.
Victory and the power of the Grail is all that matters and they don’t
care who gets hurt in the process.
Kiritsugu may be claiming he’s doing all of this killing so no one will
ever have to again but clearly he’s full of crap (so much so I cant believe Iri
supports him, much less gave him a daughter).
Kayneth and Tokiomi were in it for the glory of their families. And Kirei…well his true darkness is finally
coming through and God only knows how he’ll react when he realizes what he
really wants out of this whole event.
Gotta give credit where credit is due when it comes to
the writing of this series. It instills
deep discussions like the one above but it also does wonders for even when they
kill off the weakest of characters.
Kayneth and Sola-Ul fit that bill easily for me. From Kayneth’s boasting to his bizzare
relationship with his fiancée, both characters we bare bones in terms of
presentation and confusing as to their character arcs. I guess Sola-Ul was accidentally seduced by
Lancer and his curse to make all women fall for him, but the set up for that
was pretty weak. Doesn’t change the fact
that they way Kiritsugu set up their demises was tragic and sorrowful. The same kind of goes for Tokiomi,
actually. Though he did get off the
bench and faced Kariya, the father of my favorite waifu was pretty
underwhelming overall. First off, his
twisted notions of sacrificing Sakura for the benefit of his family are total
crap. Sure he’s a traditionalist but I
would still hold out hope that Rin and Sakura could be raised as sisters and
not have to compete for who would become the next true heir of the Tohsaka
family. Secondly, for a man with all
kinds of plans, wow was he totally blind to the growing darkness in his own
apprentice. I loved this moment a
lot. Seeing Kirei and Gilgamesh standing
together felt like a moment long built up to that paid off completely. Of the many setups laid for Fate/Stay Night,
this was one of the big ones to keep an eye on and it was worth it. If the deaths of Tokiomi and Kayneth taught
me anything here, it’s that if you think the standing of your name and house
will garuntee you a win…best to forfeit now and stay out of battles that will
clearly end you. I do feel bad for poor
Rin, who will be crushed when she finds out about her dad. But Tokiomi was far from father of the year
and Im not going to feel bad that he got taken out.
Yeesh, this review got deep, real deep. And yet for all its deepness, could I ignore
all the cool that came with it? What
about the possessed fighter jet fighting a UFO?
Or Saber and Lancers beautifully choreographed final battle? Or Sabers Super Saiyan God level takedown of
Caster? Yes, the spectacle where the action
was concerned was at its finest but this is also a series that makes you think
and think a lot (such is the power of Gen Urobuchi, the man who wrote Madoka
Magica and the first season of Psycho Pass).
Anyway, The prelim battles are over, enough recon has
been done and now its time to start the power plays. So, much like I did for X when I reviewed it,
here’s the list of remaining masters and servants:
Alive:
Kiritsugu/Saber
Kirei/Archer
Waver/Rider
Kariya/Berserker
Dead:
Ryunosuke/Caster
Kayneth/Lancer
Tokiomi
Assassin
Two more sets of episodes to go. Even though we may know who ends up surviving
this whole ordeal, we don’t know the full story yet…and itll suck to see it end
cause Fate/Zero continues to blow Fate/Stay Night out of the water in every
conceivable way.
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