May 14th, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 08
Fate/stay night episode 08
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Shinji (with Rider behind him) and Shirou talk about the Holy Grail War. Shinji denies being the one causing all of the unconscious people. He explains that the force field at the school is designed to protect him since he has no interest in fighting. He proposes an alliance with Shirou to take out Rin. Since Shirou has already agreed to an alliance of sorts with Rin, he rejects the alliance. In order to prove his sincerity, Shinji informs Shirou of a witch at the local temple which is where Issei lives and suggests this is where the source of the unconscious people.
Shirou is escorted out of the school grounds by Rider, who cautions Shirou about taking on the witch alone and comments on Shirou being good natured. On his way home, Shirou encounters Issei, who confirms that a beautiful, new woman waiting to be married was taken in by the head priest. Shirou comes home to find Rin and an irritated Saber waiting for him. Rin has decided to move in since they are working together and this will make matters easier. Shirou briefs the two on Shinji being a Master and his news of the witch at the temple. Saber wants to attack immediately, but Shirou forbids it since there is surely a trap laid there. This does not please Saber, nor does Shirou’s refusal to allow her to sleep in his room.
Trouble starts when Sakura and Fujimura-sensei arrive. Sakura is not happy that Rin is there, but decides not to flee and to make dinner for Shirou as usual. Fujimura-sensei is not happy that Shirou is housing yet another girl and she’s determined to not allow two students from her school to sleep under the same roof. Rin ends up taking Fujimura-sensei down by stating that her own place is undergoing renovations and that Shirou had graciously offered up his place when she had planned to get a hotel room. After dinner, Shirou apologizes to Sakura for the messy situation before she leaves. Saber again wants to attack the witch but again Shirou forbids it. However, after he’s asleep, Saber decides to go out on her own and attack.
Thoughts/Review:
The pseudo-harem comedy continues now that Rin has moved in with Shirou. I really do feel badly for Sakura. For starters, her (missing) brother is also a Master and after who knows how long of taking care of Shirou, suddenly she has rivals from Saber and Rin. At the same time, I can’t help but wonder if she too is a Master or otherwise involved in the Holy Grail War, only from a different aspect. She may be nothing more than she seem — a sweet girl who’s sweet on Shirou. If she is, will she learn the truth of things? Why isn’t she upset over her “missing” brother?
Shinji is pretty slimy. To me, it seems obvious that Shinji had Ayako consumed (which as an aside, will she recover?) but he sends Shirou after this “witch” that’s apparently camped out at the temple. Since we’ve already seen how Shinji can manipulate Shirou, it seems clear that Shinji wants Shirou to do his dirty work. I have to say that I was somewhat surprised that Shirou actually came clean to Rin and Saber regarding Shinji, especially since he’d hidden the truth for so long (or rather what he suspected). I suppose that Shinji would have to count on Shirou doing this and sending Saber into the fray.
Saber’s act of disobedience is not surprising. I’ve noted the lack of Saber action and since Shirou has been set up as the cautious type, in order to get some Saber goodness, she has to disobey. The obvious outcome of her disobedience is that she’ll be schooled by the Servant at the temple and need to be rescued by Shirou, Rin, and Archer. Since we are overdue for some Archer action, I suppose it is time for him to show up. I wonder if Shirou will be forced to use one of his command spells.
Speaking of overdue, what’s Ilya’s hold up? One would think that she’d try to take out Rin or Shirou again but that hasn’t happened. Then again, she did show restraint when she first encountered Shirou, so maybe she’s not quite as ruthless as portrayed.
So, another interesting episode with fun and some intrigue as well as table setting for some Saber action. I look forward to it.
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one of my fave animes…^^ I like
Rin X Shiro
and
Saber X Shiro
It is pretty good. I need to get cracking and watch some more. ^_^;
Ayako will be Ok, although we won’t see nor hear much from her any more. She always seemed like such wasted potential for a character. She never plays much of a role even in the VN. On an interesting note, this whole abduction tidbit sparked a notion that was elaborated upon in Hollow Ataraxia, the sequel/fan disc: the fanon notion is that Rider has a “thing” for Ayako. I’m not 100% sure, but I think it’s almost stalkeresque.
Of course Shirou would tell Rin and Saber about Shinji; they’re his allies and he is very loyal to them.
Shirou’s attitude toward Saber are very skewed in this scenario. Seeing her hurt so badly by Berserker has left him with an image of her as someone in need of protection, rather than his protector. This is a highly illogical vision as she is still ridiculously stronger than he is. It also leads to the unfavorable vision of Shirou that people have because it makes him appear very sexist. Really, he just doesn’t want to see her hurt (he is still an ass about it, though). This attitude in turn makes Saber very resentful and rebellious.
This is very strongly contrasted in other routes, especially in UBW, where Saber’s combat prowess impresses him greatly and he puts much faith in her. They act like much better partners in other routes.
Ilya is taking her sweet time. She is in no hurry since she could pretty much take out all the others whenever she feels like it.