Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Fate/Zero Part 5 Episodes 18-21


Kiritsugu Emiya.  For years he has earned a reputation as the ultimate “Mage Killer”.  Now he seeks the Holy Grail for one purpose: to rid the world of all evil.  What set Kiritsugu on this path?  What tragedy in his past shattered any chance he ever had for peace?  As the history of one of the most dangerous men in the world is revealed, the Holy Grail War begins its final act.  With his mentor dead by his hand and Gilgamesh now on his side, Kirei makes the ultimate play to shift power in his favor.  Meanwhile, Kariya is forced to confront his own inner darkness and twisted desires if he is to fulfil his own dream.  Tragedy and sorrow flow across Fuyuki City as the final battle draws near.

You know…all things considered Shiro and Rin got off a lot easier in their Holy Grail War than anyone in Fate/Zero.  Holy freaking crap did the intensity get upped in the penulate chapter of the Fate/Stay Night prequel.  Im realizing, more than ever, that there might only be one true hero in this whole saga and everyone else…well yeah, not a single one of these mages should ever have the Holy Grail, like ever.

Just when I thought seeing Caster and Ryunosuke’s monstrosities could easily take the category of “Scariest Image in Fate/Zero”, in comes a young, smiling Kiritsugu.  Yeah that kind of disturbed me.  It’s hard to believe there was a time when he wasn’t the heartless assassin we’ve seen throughout this show (though he has shown appropriate softness with Iri and Illya).  It’s also hard to believe that his dad came from the same stock as Shou Tucker from Fullmetal Alchemist.  As one would expect, the first of the two part history of Kiritsugu Emiya ended up being filled with blood, monsters, psycho dads who don’t care about the damage they caused and…holy crap a sexy mercenary who ended up being Kiritsugu’s Obi Wan?  The island massacare was a tough watch, seeing the peaceful, friendly place become a hell scape.  And that poor girl who was pretty much Kiritsugu, or should I say Karry’s first love…plenty of echoes of Nina and Alexander from Fullmetal Alchemist could be heard. 

I kind of wish Natalia hadn’t been killed off after a couple of episodes as I would love to have seen just how her apprentice faired during this Holy Grail War.  She did seem to smile when Kiritsugu blew up the plane she was piloting in order to save thousands of lives from Vampire Bugs (more or less).  Would she be ok with all the “necessary” tactics Kiritsugu’s taken to win the Holy Grail?  Natalia did teach him the “Whatever it takes” mantra ive associated with Kiritsugu from the very beginning.  She’d probably have been highly amused.  Also, it would have been great to see Natalia older but still looking sexy as hell blowing the hell out everything in sight.  Heck, I dare say she would have made a better partner for Kiritsugu than Maiya, who was finally given a last minute backstory before getting bumped off.  I don’t doubt that Maiya was somehow important to Kiritsugu, but her death wasn’t as effective as say Kayneth and Sola-Ul’s when it came to eliminating characters who didn’t live up to their potential.  Oh Natalia, only around for a couple of episodes but you left quite the impact.  Also, given how Kiritsugu blew up a hotel to try and kill an opponent, no him using a rocket launcher to blow up an airliner jet does not surprise me whatsoever…he’s just crazy like that.

Thankfully, as much as he wants it to be, it wasn’t all about Kiritsugu in this second to last set (hmmm I guess he and Shiro have more in common than you’d think).  Kirei and Gilgamesh and Waver and Rider both had stellar moments that hightlighted their opposites nicely.  Waver has appeared to have finally given his full faith to Rider, going with a full day of rest to restore his power.  He’s also not freaking out as much when Rider…well rides into battle against Saber.  Oh man was that fight awesome: A chariot vs a Saber Super Bike (yes that’s what im calling whatever Saber morphed her motorcycle into).  The animation was crisp and excellent and though it was a brief scuffle, Saber vs Rider was epic nonetheless.  And at the end of it all, Rider and Waver are both smiling over the outcome, even though they have to walk home now.  Way to go Waver, it finally feels like you’re genuinely the best guy in this fight.

Kirei, meanwhile, decided to explore his newly found heart of darkness by manipulating Kariya into one of the most terrifying yet well done moments of the show so far.  It’s hard to forget that Tokiomi’s wife has been around a lot…cause she hasn’t really been.  It’s funny that we got so much detail about Iri and Maiya’s questionable dedication to Kiritsugu and his goals yet we’ve not learned much about why Aoi Tokiomi was ok with just handing Sakura over to the Matoh family.  Any chance we’d learn more is probably gone since Kariya lost his mind and seemingly choked her to death.  The quick cuts to black followed by still frames didn’t skimp on the intensity or ferociousness of the act.  On top of it all, it’s Kariya doing this to someone he claims to love more than anyone.  The heartbreak is real and Kariya has crossed a line there’s no coming back from…and Kirei cant help but drink to his despair with Gilgamesh as his drinking buddy.  Kariya might be the most tragic character of the whole show but Kirei has truly become the villain Kiritsugu always feared him to be.  The final battle between those two is going to be something. 

It’s almost a miracle Shiro and Rin aren’t more screwed up by the time Fate/Stay Night roles around.  Clearly Illya isn’t in the right mind, and im sure we’ll find out why that got started next week.  But yeah Shiro’s “dad” is a psycho killer with dillusions of righteousness and Rin’s got a dead father, a potentially dead mother and a killer priest who’s been tasked with guarding her (Tokiomi’s last request before Kirei killed him).  Fate/Zero has given us a far more despairing Holy Grail War than the original series.  And it’s made for some incredible storytelling, with animation, music, human drama and incredible action all molding into one near perfect treat.  It feels like im almost going into final thoughts with praise like that but there’s still one part to go.  This set seemed to be about last reflections and piece positioning before the last battles get going.  When we return to Fate/Zero next time, it’s time for the war to end and the curtain to rise on another war…I cant wait to see how this ends.  See you next time for the grand finale of Fate/Zero.

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