June 11th, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 20
Fate/stay night episode 20
Fate/stay night – 20
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Father Kotomine tells Shirou that he’ll investigate this second Archer (“Archer-1” as I call him). As Shirou walks home, he reflects on Father Kotomine’s words that he may have to reserve his final command spell to use on Saber if he wants his wish to have Saber stay with him fulfilled since she has her own objective. Shirou sees that he’s fallen in love with Saber so the next step is to ask Saber out on a date. Rin learns of this and finds the idea hysterical, but she decides to help. Saber doesn’t know what a date is and after Rin explains it to her, she agrees to go. However, Rin has to knock Ilya out so that Shirou and Saber can go in peace.
The date goes smoothly for the most part, though Shirou is foiled from holding Saber’s hand in the movie theater. After dinner, they walk to look out over the ocean and an old, wrecked ship which Saber confesses was destroyed by her in the last war. This leads to a conversation where Shirou challenges Saber’s idea of doing things over again in the past and her notion of simply being a swordsman. Saber is offended and coldly informs Shirou that she’s not given her heart to him and that she’s a Servant. She vows to fight on even alone. Shirou tells her to do what she wants and leaves angry. At home, he promises himself he won’t apologize to Saber and goes to sleep.
Shirou is awakened by Rin a few hours later as Saber isn’t back yet. Shirou finds her still at the location where they had their argument. Saber confesses that when Shirou told her to do what she wanted, she found she could not make up her mind and thus ended up staying there. Shirou tells her to come back home and takes her hand. He tells her that he won’t apologize for the things he said. They walk home hand-in-hand until they are challenged by Archer-1, who doesn’t like Shirou holding Saber’s hand.
Thoughts/Review:
So, Saber and Shirou go on a date. In many ways, it was the cliched anime date — movie, aquarium, shopping, eating. Where it differed somewhat was that Shirou showed more courage when it came to taking Saber out. Further, he spoke his mind to Saber in his disapproval of her plans to try to get a do-over. Generally, that’s not something one does on a date. *lol* However, despite Saber having shown some interest in Shirou, she seemed pretty firm in her rejection of Shirou’s advances. Stubborn girl. Still, score one for Shirou with his hand-grab maneuver. *lol* He totally knew what he was doing there. ^_^
One other thing that set this date episode apart from normal date episodes — Shirou has money. *lol* Seriously, I can’t remember an anime date episode where the male lead has any money. To go on this date, the hero has had to scrimp, save, and work 100 part-time jobs. An incident where Saber accidentally destroys an expensive sweater would be the death of most heroes but since Shirou’s got the cash, it was not only no big deal, but it was a humorous moment to boot.
Since the episode ends with Archer-1 on the scene, I suppose we’ll have some action next week and possibly a revelation on why he’s still around.
Now that I know that Archer is in fact Shirou from the future, I liked how Rin noticed how Archer and Shirou spoke in similar fashion about Saber.
While it was nice seeing Ilya, even if only for a cameo, my mind kept screaming, “Where’s Sakura?” After all, one would think that after the recent events, she’d have some story time for her to deal with things. Thankfully, I know much of the Sakura story from Garik, but it would have been nice for the anime to have already addressed this. Oh well.
Otherwise, there’s not a whole lot to discuss here since the episode was mainly a lighthearted one for Saber and Shirou’s date. More fun stuff next episode I’m guessing. ^_^
Posted in 
Tags: 
Wut? No one has commented on this episode yet?
“Wut? No one has commented on this episode yet?”
Not much to comment on. ANB pretty much said it all and didn’t pose any questions. The episode was mostly Saber and Shirou acting dumb and not really understanding each other. Both are too blinded by their own ideas that they can’t (yet) see the others’.
I know what you mean about the money comment. It does seem that anime leads are always strapped for cash. Fortunately for Shirou, he’s well taken care of financially; Kiritsugu acquired quite the fortune as a Magus-killer, and that money is well managed by Taiga’s grandfather, the local community figure who totally isn’t Yakuza. ;P Also, Shirou never buys anything for himself (his real room is probably the shed; his room in the house is only used for sleeping), so I don’t know what he has a part-time job for other than because he likes to be helpful. Still, I don’t know how he manages to feed all those girls living at his house. If we go by Hollow Ataraxia, he’s got to feed Saber (who eats enough for several), Fuji-Nee, Ilya, Rin, Sakura, and Rider. Let’s not even mention if Liz, Sella, Bazette, or Caren are present.
Poor Sakura. Her role is really unfulfilled in the anime. Of course, Sakura’s role is so central to the overall plot, that if she gets involved, then the entire thing ends up revolving around her. She’s like a giant plot machine for the Heavens Feel scenario the way that Archer is for Unlimited Blade Works scenario. If either character becomes the center of events, then the plot moves with them. In a way, Fate route– the route the anime is mostly based around– is kind of the default. It really is too bad because I find it to be the most boring, and although I like Saber very much, I find her the least interesting of the three heroines.
Anyway, keep it up, ANB! The final boss is here, the truth behind the grail will soon be hinted at, and we’re in the home stretch.
A chick with a sword who’s hot and can kick tail is likely why Saber was chosen IMO (on top of her being the default route in the VN). After all, there have been other anime titles to feature a similar strong babe type character to defend the weaker male lead. In “Saber Marionette J,” there were three such babes. *lol*
“Let’s not even mention if Liz, Sella, Bazette, or Caren are present.”
Who are all these folks?
“If we go by Hollow Ataraxia, he’s got to feed Saber (who eats enough for several), Fuji-Nee, Ilya, Rin, Sakura, and Rider.”
That reminds me — how does the whole Rider-Sakura partnership play out in the VN? I’m guessing that Shinji is in the VN Fate route with Rider but in that clip one of you showed me a while back, Sakura and Rider were together and Rider had switched sides (or so the indication was). So if the goal is the Holy Grail, wouldn’t Saber and Rider eventually be compelled to fight or would Sakura simply order Rider to give up without a fight?
It might also have to do with the fact that Saber is conistently voted the most popular character in all polls. 😉
The funny thing is that the less Shirou has Saber to rely on, the stronger he becomes. He can’t seem to realize his potential with her there.
Sella and Leysritt (Liz) are Ilya’s maids. You see a brief glimpse of them in the anime. Their role is expanded a little in the VN, but they’re still rather minor characters.
Bazette and Caren are the main female characters in the main story line of Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, the sequel/fandisc. I was planning to speak on them more later as they have some relevance to Kotomine, whom I was going to talk about later.
In the mean time, here’s a picture of them.
Bazette:
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc280/brizzle_035/Bazett_beta2.png
And here’s my photobucket gallery for Caren:
http://s214.photobucket.com/albums/cc280/brizzle_035/Karen%20Ortensia/
“So if the goal is the Holy Grail, wouldn’t Saber and Rider eventually be compelled to fight or would Sakura simply order Rider to give up without a fight?”
You assume that Saber is still Shirou’s servant. ^_^
Great day! I would have thought that Karen was Ilya based on the character designs. ^_^;
“You assume that Saber is still Shirou’s servant. ^_^”
Ah. Well, her not being his servant would explain it. Does that mean that Shirou sometimes has other servants or that Saber gets killed in some paths?
Really, Shirou’s main goal in Heavens Feel route is for Sakura to win the war, thus allowing her to be saved and survive past it.
Shirou always summons Saber. However, in Heavens Feel, they face their most terrifying enemy yet.
A dark Shadow has arisen during the War. It has already taken out Caster and Assassin, and the new Servant, True Assassin, has killed Lancer.
Shirou and Saber follow the signs to the Temple where they encounter Zoken Matou and True Assassin. During their fight, Saber is swallowed by the shadow and the Comand Seals disappear. Luckily, Rider is there to save him.
Later, Shirou, Rin, and Archer head throught he forest to Ilya’s castle, they come upon Berserker locked in a desperate battle with the Shadow and another dark Servant.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc280/brizzle_035/DarkSaber-fate-stay-night-3218335-8.jpg
With unlimited prana supplied by the Shadow, Saber overpowers Berserker and he too is devoured. Saber, once Shirou’s most staunch ally and steadfast protector, has become their deadliest enemy. With an unlimited power supply, Saber’s abilities are stronger than they ever were, even when she was alive.
Whoa! Saber as a villain.
You know, with the different routes and obvious popularity of the game, I am almost surprised another anime wasn’t created to follow a different path’s story.