Sunday, April 22, 2012

Fate/Zero episode 3: Welcome to Insanity!

Hello my lovely readers! Still haven’t figured out how to fix the huge gap that will appear at the end of the post. :( Coding is not my thing. Hopefully it won’t be too difficult to navigate. Who knows, maybe it is just me who finds it gross and ugly. X__X When in doubt just click the title of the post and POOF the rest will appear.

In other amazing news I bought my first pair of capris pants. X__X Yes slowly I am turning into a girl. Why surely by the age of 35 I will discover make-up! XD Go me…now wearing them is a different story…
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Remember this happy face. Remember it when things get bad.
Now that I have bored you with amazing details of my life…anime time! Fate/Zero episode 3! Or as I like to say Welcome to Insanity episode. Spoiler for everyone losing their damn minds.
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Talking just leads to people dying. XD So everyone be quiet!
Episode Summary: Kayneth and his barely moving self have made it to the church. He plans on having a conversation with Risei. Whoever killed Caster Monster would get an extra command seal and seeing how Kayneth currently has none he is really invested in receiving one. Risei has his doubts as if Kayneth even qualifies as a Master. Kayneth downplays Sola’s involvement and says that Lancer really saved the day by removing Saber’s curse. Risei finally agrees and gives Kayneth the extra seal. Kayneth is so grateful he shoots Risei dead, so no one else can ever receive an extra seal. But maybe Kayneth should have been focused on Sola. She was watching the battle of Caster Monster verses everyone else being crazy. Just as Caster Monster is killed Maiya runs up to Sola and cuts off her Seal arm. Sola loses her damn mind screaming about how she has no Lancer and her life is over. Maiya is like oh okay and drags Sola away. Kirei and his confused self has taken Kariya back to his home, as if that will help him. Then Kirei acts like he is being tortured with the invention of emotions and what not. Kayneth is not taking the news of Sola being kidnapped very well. Lancer apologizes but says since Sola was not really his Master he cannot detect her presence. Kayneth then proceeds to belittle and hurt Lancer at his core, taking direct hits at his pride. Lancer is stunned and looks like a kid whose puppy got run over by a car. But before Kayneth can totally kill Lancer he (Lancer) senses a Servant approaching.
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NOOO! Lancer!!!
Enter Irisviel and Saber. Lancer smirks, saying this isn’t a good time for a fight as everyone is exhausted. Saber says that is the perfect time to fight, that they can battle one on one with equal strength. Lancer perks up at the word honor and it is fighting time. Saber pretends like her arm is still cursed so the fight can be fair. They battle on with Kayneth and Irisviel watching. Suddenly Emiya appears in front of Kayneth holding Sola and her stump. Emiya gives Kayneth a contract to read over. Basically it says that Kayneth will bow out of the Holy Grail War and in exchange Emiya will never kill him or Sola. Kayneth looks on at the fight, knowing that his family’s pride is on the line and all that he has worked on will be lost. But Sola isn’t looking too good and Kayneth agrees to the contract. Suddenly Saber is covered in blood because Kayneth has ordered Lancer to kill himself. In shock Lancer looks around and misunderstands the situation. He starts to curse everyone for stealing everything from him, especially Saber as he dies. Kayneth is relieved that it is all over. Emiya agrees and Maiya shoots Kayneth and Sola. Saber finishes off the suffering Kayneth and calls Emiya the worse person ever. Emiya and Saber take turns shooting down each other's ideals. Finally Emiya says that there is NO honor on the battlefield and to stop all the pain and misery he will commit horrible crimes to save the world. Saber realizes that Emiya is a broken hero and that he is going down a dangerous road. Emiya leaves and Irisviel passes out. THE END! My mind is blown into tiny little pieces that will surly scatter all over the universe. If found please return to sender. There was so much crammed into this episode I think I am going to have a hard time blogging it all. Everyone but Waver was having a crazy attack today. So while Rider and Waver were napping after a hard fought battle everyone else was like UM NO still time for crazy.
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Everyone is in the twilight zone. The only explanation here.
First off X___X in what universe did Kayneth beat Caster? The same universe in which my brain has scattered to? Because um no folks. Lancer did break his little weapon that allowed Saber to kill Caster but that doesn’t mean Lancer is responsible for the victory. Of course in the end it doesn’t matter but the Church really dropped the ball on this one. Especially since Kayneth wasn’t the current Master of Lancer…technically. Oh and Kayneth couldn’t use magic, had limited mobility, and had a rouge sidekick to deal with. Like yes here have a second chance to mess things up.
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Clearly Saber is the winner. But saying that will get you shot too. So does it matter at this point? XD
Risei Kotomine…your son is crazy. XD And you allied yourself with a person who gives away his own kids to crazy people because otherwise they would be HUMAN. And this war is questionable to say the least. So…it is kinda hard for me to feel bad for you when you is a rule breaking crazy person yourself. That being said…DAMN. Here I am listing reasons why Kayneth doesn’t deserve to be a Master and he takes you out. That makes you worse doesn’t it? But Kayneth had a really good plan. Hopefully the church had a back-up plan. And maybe next time people won’t under estimate people who just got their magical circuits blown up, stuck in a wheelchair, tortured by their lover, and stuck with one of the hottest Servants ever. Clearly desperation works for Kayneth.
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I'm FEELING!
So while Risei was bleeding to death in the church Kirei is running around rescuing people. And Kirei has NO IDEA why he feels bad for Kariya or is closer to understanding Kariya’s motive. Kirei was raised without hugs or Sesame Street in his life. I mean…I don’t want another crazy Caster in this show but Kirei not understanding basic human emotions is a bit monstrous. The fact that Kirei hasn’t betrayed Tokiomi yet makes me wonder about him as well. On a side note Risei and Kirei….really?! REALLY?! Makes my eyes bleed.
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One should never be that far away from their own body parts.
Oh did I forget about Sola? Why yes I did. On the special $389,000 Blu-ray disc there is a scene where Lancer and Sola are talking before he goes down to the battle and…sits. Sola was to stay on the roof tops and watch in safe location. I thought that was a bad idea to begin with. We got Irisviel who can’t even lift a stick and Waver standing on the sidelines. They didn’t know where Ryuu was and Saber and Rider were out fighting. So wouldn’t the safest place for Sola be by Lancers side? Granted maybe the others didn’t know Sola had taken over as Master and they were trying to keep it a secret. Still maybe…maybe next time watch the battle and HIDE? Just saying.
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Note that she is screaming for her hand so she can be with Lancer. Not that she actually wanted her hand back.
But damn people. DAMN! Sola gets her hand cut off and she is screaming about LANCER! I need my Lancer. I need my hand so I can be close to Lancer! Like I understand she was under Lancer’s spell but damn. She wasn’t crying because she was in pain, that she was going to spend the rest of her life with just one hand, or that she basically might have lost the War. No no it is all about Lancer. Lancer needs to wear a bag on his or something. Also Maiya is pretty hard core. So is that hand that just clung to the gate after the fact. That was the gangsta hand.
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This is not going to end well for you Lancer. :( Sorry.
Kayneth was clearly pissed about what happened to Sola. I am thinking he really blamed himself deep down but took it out on Lancer. I guess the entire thing shocked me or something. Even before Sola went insane and started breaking fingers and flirting with Lancer I didn’t sense much love between the two. Maybe Kayneth was already pissed because he thought Sola was falling under Lancer’s spell. Either way I wasn’t expecting Kayneth to be so openly upset about what happened to Sola, because of Lancer and because of Emiya. It just shocked me I guess, how much he loves that woman and how he was willing to give up his family’s honor, given how much crap he gave Waver. Shocked folks, shocked that someone actually LOVES a human being in this show. XD
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MOG THAT FACE :( Saddest moment of the year, I am calling it now.
But hot DAMN! Why didn’t he just cut off Lancer’s face or something. It was like he was twisting a knife into the man’s heart and pouring salt into it AND setting him on fire. Like wtf, we get it, you are mad. But maybe if you weren’t out scheming and getting more commands for yourself you and your….gun…could have protected Sola. I am not saying violence is the answer, certainly not, but I think Lancer would have wanted that form of “punishment” rather than the harsh words coming from Kayneth. And what was the point anyway? Kayneth needed Lancer to fight in the War and find his wife. Maybe saying the most insulting things in the world could wait? Just saying. I don’t know how Lancer was able to function after that, especially battle Saber. Just…he needed a hug. :( Hugs for the hottie.


But yes Saber and her insane self decide that this is the right moment to attack Lancer. I guess her logic (or Emiya’s) makes sense. The odds of another Servant coming and ganging up on Saber (or Lancer) were pretty low. They could get their fair fight without anyone saying HAHA I want in too. Now…I guess it was fairer on Lancer’s half? He just lost a weapon. He didn’t fight a Caster Monster or use the best spell ever. Saber was probably really tired. And then she decided to pretend like her hand was still injured, as Lancer put himself at a disadvantage by making sure hundreds of people weren’t destroyed.

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Let me kill the one with the most honor first. Because alliances have no honor!!!
So putting aside that I thought it was way too soon for this fight (Hottie Lancer :( ) I guess it was going to happen eventually. That it was going to be sad no matter what. Lancer and Saber were the noble ones, the ones who wanted to have honor in their death matches and what not. So while it would have been better if someone else killed Lancer (because really Saber isn’t dying any time soon) in their hearts this is what they wanted. So I guess it has to be okay? Well at least it was okay for 5 minutes.
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Oh snap someone had a duel Master idea too. I've been had!
Then Emiya is like BAM sign my contract or else! I really wasn’t expecting that to happen. But really that is how it is supposed to be, a good show is supposed to keep you on your toes and what not. You aren’t supposed to guess what is coming next. But Emiya is like oh hi I heard you screaming at your Servant so I have a contract for you to sign. All you have to do is kill your Servant, lose all pride as a Mage, and hope that I don’t have a partner who is going to shoot in 832974 times in the chest. Emiya is amazingly good at this game. Mainly because he is thinking like a n assassin and not a mage.
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And then Lancer turned into a demon.
:( Poor Lancer. I mean…somewhere in my stupid head I thought Emiya was making Kayneth give HIM Lancer. But duh that can’t happen right? Instead Emiya got rid of both the Master and the Servant at the same time without making Saber do any of the dirty work. Which breaks Saber’s heart (but really does she want Lancer’s blood on her hands?!) and causes Lancer to lose his mind. For good reason. It was a Romeo and Juliet moment too. A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOUR HOUSES!!! :( I had hoped that Lancer would look over to Saber’s startled face and realize she had nothing to do with it. But he didn’t and blamed her as well. I mean he was “dying” at the time so him thinking unclearly makes sense. Just it was SO HEARTBREAKING I wanted him to have one moment. Caster got a damn moment! Lancer had his pride taken away, didn’t die in battle, and had his Master call him a loser. How much worse could it get for this guy?
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Episode of tragedy!
And then Kayneth and Sola got shot 4932483 times folks. Kayneth was like you can’t hurt me now right and BAM. Emiya didn’t even bat an eye. Kayneth was definitely not on his A game. Emiya could have killed them in a number of ways without being the one to pull the trigger and what not. But did he really have a choice? Either way he was going to die. I guess I thought his car was going to blow up or something. I didn’t think it would happen right there.
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Me thinks that Saber is going to be mad at Emiya a lot in the near future.
Saber and Emiya….I don’t know. I thought maybe Irisviel might have shown SOME emotion. But we shall put that aside for now. HOT DAMN! Saber was like you suck and Emiya is like well you aren’t any better. Emiya made some really good points which Saber probably didn’t register. As “noble” as Saber, Rider, and Lancer want to pretend to be they did kill a lot of people. Even the battle with Lancer and Saber, had Emiya not gotten involved, would have caused one of their “deaths”. I mean when you are going to kill someone or have the intent of them dying and you living does it matter if you battle them with a sword or a gun? So Emiya made good points…as he just got done killing 3 people.
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Wait Emiya might be in pain? An almost hero who has gone insane and decided to save the world by killing a few people? Crazy pants.
Saber was sorta wishy washy. I wish she had picked a position and stayed with it. That Emiya sucks for killing Lancer and taking away his honor. We all know this Holy Grail War has nothing to do with honor and really only three mage families know what is going on. But still Saber doesn’t know it and should have been pissed. She was listening to Emiya though, instead of interrupting him like I would have been. But then suddenly she feels sorry for Emiya and states that he can only talk like this because he is a fallen hero. Really I am mad at Saber for listening to Emiya’s point of view and trying to relate to him. Silly me, she should just stay mad. XD
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Why did it have to end this way?!
So in conclusion Kirei saved someone, Kayneth offed Kirei’s Daddy, Emiya offed Kayneth and Sola, and Lancer offed himself. The war better end soon because Irisviel and her “fake human” self are going to get offed by…well time I guess. :( But most importantly this show has lost a hottie. Poor Tenchi is super sad now. Oh and everyone is insane.

12 comments:

eternia said...

Wow. The commentaries are pretty good. Considering you usually don't have much knowlegde on this kind of anime.
:-P
This part of the story is what makes me think "Kiritsugu is an evil bastard." But then again, he is a killer (assassin) to begin with.
X_X
Kiritsugu won't have to resort to these methods if only Saber is smarter. She shouldn't have allowed Lancer to go save Kayneth. He challenged Kiritsugu on his own accord, and has a fair one on one battle with him. And he lost the battle. He deserved to die there.
But then this stupid woman let Lancer go to to save him. Oh, please, just admit it that you want to have sex with him. And it would be bad if he were to disappear due to his master's death.
Poor Kiritsugu. To be stuck with this woman. He would have won if he got Assassins. He will simply kill all other masters, leaving the servants alone.

Anonymous said...

I totally agree w/ you Eternia
This is WAR,it is interesting how the Servants treat the Grail War as a game. Kiritsugu is in the War to WIN!!
I love how Gen Urobuchi(author) write on moral ambiguity. Also, it is me or just that his writings do/will not have a "happy ending"? Lesson learned: Never sign any contract if you feel like Gen Urobuchi is the one who writing your story.
Still...
The dialogs are very charming.
Below I quot from fadeway and I agree too that...
The Servants don't even care about said killing, they only care about having fun dueling and optionally getting their wish granted. Kotomine probably realizes the grim reality of the battle too, but he doesn't care much for his own life, so his situation is slightly different. Saber, Gilgamesh, Lancer, all of those only want to duke it out, and don't seem to value their wishes enough to be able to trample on others to get them - except for Gilgamesh, who hasn't steamrolled everyone simply because he both wants to have his cake and eat it too. Saber and Lancer also don't seem to realize that their failure guarantees the death of their respective Masters, and go as far as to criticize them for not letting them play around. Assassin, Caster and probably Rider too understand the gravity of the situation, and the latter is likely just trying to preserve Waver's life while mitigating the collateral damage.
Nonetheless,
Being Lancer is suffering…. T_T
Poor Lancer …sob, sob.
I guess when Rider’s gone in the future I will be crying a river then……T^T
It is really sad to see those Servant gone, except Caster, I still think he should not have a happy death for all the things he did…
Iri, time to turn into a grail…….I will miss her……..sob, sob.

Gatx375 said...

Yet another excellent episode. I'm glad Ufotable took that break to make the animation so amazing.

Tenchi, you saw Fate/Stay Night's anime right? I'd have to highly recommend the visual novel since the anime was a pretty average adaptation of the Fate route, the Unlimited Blade Works movie was a really brief summary of that route and, they haven't even animated the Heaven's Feel route. Though Fate/Zero will seriously spoil a lot from Heavens Feel.

Gatx375 said...

Also Anonymous, you should really avoid posting spoilers like this week and last week. Some people didn't read the light novels and want to enjoy the anime. Berserker's identity wasn't going to be given for at least another four episodes, and the anime still hasn't explained Irisviel's condition (though I'm pretty sure the book did by this point).

Anonymous said...

Breaking it down of each Master's way of thinking in this war, quot from rennbiber:

Kiritsugu: Fully recognizes the danger and risk.
Kayneth: Doesn't register danger/risk. Thinks of it as another line on list of accomplishments.
Tokiomi: Recognizes the danger and risk (cautious behavior), but is too assured of his victory.
Waver: Had no idea what he was getting into. Saw it as an accomplishment, like his teacher.
Ryuunosuke: Never knew what he got into. Thought it was fun while it lasted.
Kirei: Fully recognizes the danger and risk, but doesn't care.
Kariya: Knew he was throwing his life away. Don't know about now though; he's gone

Hope that cleared something....

Anonymous said...

@ Gatx375
I did NOT give away the identity of Berserker. And Indeed, not spoiler from me.
As for Rider, I assume Tenchi saw Fate/Stay Night, and know only who and who lasted for the Final of the 4th war....

Gatx375 said...

Oh, well then my apologies. Apparently there's two people using the anonymous label. Well the Rider spoiler wasn't that bad, It was known from the beginning. But giving away Berserker's identity was a bad spoiler from the other anon.

Anonymous said...

@Gatx375,
It is ok, it is like there's a needle in a pile of hays XD.
Yes, I agree w/ you, "giving away Berserker's identity" part.
Still, here are many hints on who he is, like in the 1st ED, and Saber mentioned in ep 11, "there was a knight who said, 'King Arthur doesn't understand human feelings'". And also, if you listen carefully on Berserker's hollows when he met Saber.......
......as you can see it is quite easy to figure it out who he is....

eternia said...

Not for people who don't know King Arthur's story. Asians. Such as me.
:-P
Saber is under stupid fantasy and delusion that this is a holy war of heroes. While in fact, it's evil, full of treason, and hell. Bleh.

Anonymous said...

@Eternia
I agree w/ you on the "evil" part of the war, but if you think this is bad,wait till you see how Kirutsugu does to the grail......I will hold back my tears for now....
There is a reason to what happen to the "changing" of the holy grail due to what happen in the 3rd war due to some Servant at that time....NO spoiling.....

Christina said...

So many comments! I feel so loved XD Or maybe this show should feel loved. XD

Eternia- I try. XD Even if my main love of this series is apparently tiny little figurines on my shelf and not remembering anything from Fate/Stay Night.

Yes I think Emiya is pretty evil. But had this happened to Caster I wouldn't have shed a tear. So being hot helps you in life. XD Kidding. Even though Lancer and Saber went on and on about honor and what not he didn't deserve that. And Kayneth, who might have seen the light, was taken out before his redemption. :(

But yes had Saber been a weapon, a true "servant" Lancer would have been dead by now. Or if Lancer had been a true weapon too Saber would have been dead. So either way one of them would have been dead and maybe it might have been better, less attachments and what not.

Anonymous- I think the Servants are only operating on very minimum information on what is really going on. Probably Waver too. Although Saber seems to think she knows Emiya's wish. The very broad definition of his wish anyway. Still if I was summoned to battle to the death and possibly get a wish for the person who summoned me maybe I would be a jerk too and do what I want. I would take my second chance and do whatever made me happy.

Gatx375- Yes it seems as if the break was the best thing for this show. That or it cost 23892873 million dollars and the next round of Blu-rays will cost you children and kidneys.

And yes I have heard that people were pretty disappointed with the Fate/Stay Night anime. It must be hard to animate a game with multiple endings... Of course I say that and most Japanese games seem to do that. Add another thing on my list I need to take a look at. Wish I could read things in Japanese though. But then I would have another collection (light novels) on my hand.

Also anyone who don't log in automatically comes up as an Anonymous person. Just in case people don't have a google account and what not. XD So sometimes it can get a bit confusing which Anon is which. Good thing I don't go to 4chan. But I figured from Fate/Stay Night that Irisviel was going to be squished due to this war, especially now that Emiya is all let's just run away before I cause your death. Of course the way she is now I can't see her even lasting long enough to be all SPOILERY XD But I am still shocked about Berserker. Spoilers indeed.

Christina said...

Anonymous- That is a good list of how all the Masters view this war. Ryuu being picked is still too special for words as he has no magical ability at all. Waver makes more sense but I hope he ends up walking away from this War.

And I did watch Fate/Stay Night but apparently all the information has left my mind. I can remember almost every single episode of Sailor Moon from 13 years ago but a show I watched a few years ago has left my mind. So it is like I am watching a brand new series again. Only I remember loving Saber. XD And that I like her outfit a lot better this time.

To the conversation- This is a very....special version of King Arthur. Very special. Of course I grew up on the Disney version so any other version seems special but I am trying not to assume much with the legends as....well...Saber is a girl. XD

I haven't been good at guessing any of the servants. So all the hints were lost on me. XD Not so obvious, like the Mirai Nikki opening songs.

While Saber and Lancer were....decent people sometimes their ideals were a bit much. Not TOO much for Rider to go on and on about SOMEONE being a little girl but yes War is horrible. Sometimes it is needed but Lancer and Saber were tricked into thinking they could get a second chance to fix things...you know...by killing again. Just a mess of morals all around.