May 7th, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 04
Fate/stay night episode 04
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Rin, Shirou, and Saber see the little girl, who introduces herself as Ilya, with the full name of Illyasviel von Einzbern. Her Servant is a giant known as Berserker — a very strong Servant class. Ilya says that this Berserker was the former Greek hero known as Heracles (“Hercules” as he is known from Roman mythology). Ilya has Berserker attack to kill them all.
Saber uses her speed and agility to try to outmaneuver 
Berserker but a combination of her injury from Lancer and Berserker’s tough hide and sheer strength prove to much. Despite Rin using her own magic to assist, Saber takes a terrible beating and since Saber can regenerate over time, Ilya wants Saber’s head cut off. Shirou saves Saber and gets slashed instead. This move stuns both Ilya and Rin. Ilya decides to leave for the night but promises to kill Rin next time they meet.
Shirou wakes at his home, having dreamed of his step-father and his telling his step-father that he would fulfill his dream to be a hero. Shirou can’t remember how he got home, why he’s bandaged, or why he’s spitting up blood. When he comes to the dining room, he’s surprised to find Rin there and doesn’t understand when she wants him to thank her for bringing him home. Eventually he remembers what happened and Rin gets onto him for his actions, seeing as how it is unheard of for a 
Master to protect a Servant like that. Rin speculates that somehow Saber’s regenerative abilities flowed back into Shirou. She then reminds Shirou about the war and that Ilya will return at some point to kill them both. As Shirou sees Rin to the door, she tells him that it would be best for him not to look at her as human from now on.
Shirou goes to find Saber while Sakura walks toward Shirou’s 
home. She encounters Rin, who says she’s just out on a walk. Sakura is suspicious and smells blood. After Rin leaves, Fujimura-sensei arrives and is happy to learn that clam tsukudani is on the breakfast menu. Meanwhile, Shirou finally finds Saber, who’s now wearing a uniform dress and meditating in the dojo. She assures Shirou that she will improve the odds of him obtaining the Holy Grail. After their talk, Shirou sees Saber is a very honorable type and is glad for it. Since his stomach is growling, they return to the main house to eat breakfast.
Thoughts/Review:
I think I now know why Rin failed to summon Saber and why Shirou, even if accidentally, managed to do so — they share the same goal of protecting the innocent and following a “lawful good” path like a knight. Rin on the other hand is driven by her own desire for the Holy Grail and while she may be “neutral good,” she does not have that knightly quality that would bring Saber out. Based on this episode, the summoned Servant is based more on the personality of the person doing the summoning. That would explain Ilya’s having Berserker.
Speaking of Ilya and Berserker, why didn’t she have Berserker kill them all? Granted, the shock of Shirou trying to save Saber set both Ilya and Rin aback, but rather than decide to finish off everyone, Ilya just “packs up and goes home.” Not only that, but she promises to kill Rin next time. Why wait? Also, why didn’t Rin bring out Archer again and have Archer assist Saber in attacking Berserker? None of this made sense from a logical standpoint. It only made sense from a “well, we need to introduce a threat and pay it off later” aspect. Without the logic behind it, such a move doesn’t work so well.
Sakura showed an interesting little talent — the ability to smell blood when she passed Rin. At first, I thought her reaction to seeing Rin was one of a girl seeing a potential rival coming from the direction of Shirou’s house. That may be part of it, but is Sakura a master as well? Way to early to say without more information, but it is intriguing.
Speaking of intriguing, who’s the mysterious goddess-like person observing things?
I’ve noticed that the production team is at times going sparse on the animation. Since this series will presumably have a lot of fights, I suppose that’s understandable but for it to stand out to me kind of suggests that maybe things are being done too cheaply.
Musically, again the Mahou Shoujo Tai Alice hauntingly beautiful-type music appears. Actually, I’m sure there’s another term for this kind of almost medieval vocal music, but I just don’t know what it is at the moment.
So far, this has been a very interesting series and I look forward to watching more.
Posted in 
Tags: 
In the last episode Archer was badly wounded by Saber, so he’s not in a condition to fight right now.
As for why Ilya didn’t finish off everyone, she was really shocked by Shirou’s actions.
Her relationship with Shirou is somewhat special, but I don’t remember if it will be fully explained in the anime. If not, you’ll just have to check the visual novel. 🙂
Ilya summoned Berserker because they used a stone from the temple of Heracles. It’s actually the weapon he carries. He was purposely summoned as the Berserker class (Heracles could be summoned as any class except Assassin or Caster) because Berserker class enhances strength and speed at the cost of sanity, the ability to control them, and a huge burden of magic on the Master. Usually, summoning a Berserker is used to bolster a weak Heroic Spirit. However, Ilya is such a talented master that she can summon a top grade Heroic Servant as a Berserker and not only control him utterly, but also provide more than enough magic to sustain him. In all previous wars, the Berserker class has killed its master by draining him or her. This will not happen with Ilya. This makes them the most dangerous pair in this war.
Ilya didn’t kill Shirou because for a few reasons. Firstly, his wound should have been fatal. In the VN, it’s described that his stomach has almost been cut out. Once again, he should have died from that wound, but he somehow recovers rapidly from it. Also, what he did was so unthinkable that it gave even Ilya pause. Finally, Ilya has a very specific agenda in this war. Seeing what Shirou did (and she specifically sought him out)lead her to rethink things. Besides, she is in no hurry. She and Berserker are far stronger than any of the other pairs, so she can kill them when it suits her. You have to remember that Ilya doesn’t think in a way that makes real-world sense. Also keep in mind that she is paying more attention to Shirou than all the other masters. She made it a point, after all, to speak with him briefly before the ritual began.
Archer did not fight because he was still grievously wounded by Saber. Rin is purposely having him recover back at her mansion.
Since it doesn’t happen in the anime and it’s quite early in the second Scenario of the VN (Unlimited Blade Works), I’ll mention that if Shirou stops Saber from injuring Archer, then he and Saber manage to win this fight. Firstly, even though Berserker is unharmed by Archer’s arrows, he still is distracted protecting Ilya. Secondly, they manage to take the fight to the graveyard where the terrain gives Saber the advantage. Thirdly, Archer displays a powerful weapon and Ilya decides to leave, her interest peaked at the power Archer displays. As a result of this fight, Shirou’s confidence in Saber takes on almost unreasonable levels.
And we begin to see the deeper aspects of Sakura. Unfortunately, we don’t get too much development for her. That really sucks for me because she’s my second favorite character after Rin.
The blood comment doesn’t make any sense. 0_o It’s not in the VN and I can’t see any significance in it. From the prologue of the VN, we know that Sakura and Rin do know each other before the series begins, but this comment doesn’t trigger any flags.
Sakura would be indeed be disturbed by Rin coming from the Emiya household, but it’s only partially from the reason you would think. The fact that it’s Rin is the most important factor.
Sorry again for the essay, but I love this story and there’s so many things not shown in the anime. So, I’ll continue to be a F/SN apologist throughout your review.
I hope I answered any questions without spoiling anything. Please hit me up with any more.
Ah, coolio. Thanks to both of you. ^_^
BTW, you might notice that some future reviews may ask repeat questions, like Ilya. That’s because they were written prior to your responses. As such, I wanted to let you know so you don’t think I’m just ignoring your responses. I decided to not go back through everything I’ve already written to fix things but rather allow my stream of thought at the time to remain. ^_^
As for the bit with Sakura, guessing that the writers wanted to indicate that she’s a bit more than the sweet sister of the wanker Shinji.
And I am definately going to have to get the VN.
Good news for you, AstroNerdBoy, and for all Tenchi fans: Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari 01 is translated by Sora (I still haven’t watch it, though). You can find it here (but probably you’ll need a registration): http://torrents.animes-bg.com/index.php?page=torrent-details&id=726b27db1577729f7b746a15e4119493a892cade
Or you can search it on other places, if you want.
And at least something about this anime, “Fate/stay night” – THUMBS UP! Well, it’s far from may favorite anime position, which is taken, probably for forever and ever, by “Tenchi Muyo” series. Also, like Iuny85 said, you’ll need to check other sources like visual novels, games, mangas, or, at least, Wikipedia to understand some of the behind the scenes things in the anime.
That’s all for now, folks!
@ luny85- I’m pretty sure that they don’t address Ilya’s relationship with Shirou; at least, they don’t go into why.
However, it should be said that her entire purpose at the start of the war is to kill Shirou. This is actually another reason for her to spare him at this point. Killing him in that situation wouldn’t satisfy her. And killing other Masters can wait. After all, her grandfather has assured her that the Grail is already hers (and he’s kind of right in a sense). Killing the other Masters is just a matter of time to her.
Heh! Despite being hentai, I may try to score the VN as well. ^_^; Hey, I want to know the whole story! *lol*
It’s your choice whether you buy the game or dl it but if you go for the dl, this link might be helpful:
http://hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php?t=93643
Those are links to download the VN and the voice files from F/SN Realta Nua, the Ps2 version. They’re all Rapidshare and Megaupload links so if you reach a dl limit on one of em you can just download from the other, just remember to rename the rar. If you want the English patch check Mirror Moon.
This post might also be helpful to anyone reading now who hasn’t played yet. 😉
Oh — thanks for the link, evgenidb. ^_^ Also, thanks Ultimaniac. ^_^
There are 3 routes in the game, and the anime is mostly based on the first one (which is probably the least interesting one out of them). And you don’t have to worry about hentai scenes, they are rare, about 1-2 per route. So if you’re interested in the story you should definitely play it. 😉
I’ll wait until the series is over but yeah, I may have to d/l this for the story.
I’m not sure though I have heard that there was a non-H version of this >.<' It’d be much appreciated if someone corrects me though on this, if it isn’t the case (is thinking of looking for the VN herself, actually ^^’)