July 9th, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 24
Fate/stay night episode 24 (final episode)
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Shirou is trapped in the evil sludge from Kotomine and as the dead scream at him, he thinks of some words his adopted father told him, Rin’s final words to him, and other people. As such, he finds the strength to be able to break out to Kotomine’s surprise. Shirou pulls Azoth out to try to attack Kotomine again but finds himself hit by another mass of evil goo and thus trapped once again.
Outside, Saber and Gilgamesh are fighting still with Saber unable to defeat him. Pulling herself up, her connection with Shirou becomes strong and she sees a light. Shirou has a revelation as Saber thinks on how Shirou is her scabbard. Shirou uses his tracing magic to create the scabbard “Avalon” for Saber. So when Gilgamesh again attacks, Saber is able to return the attack to Gilgamesh. He’s not defeated but before he can get another attack off, Saber hits him with her sword’s attack at close range, defeating him. He understands that Avalon is Saber’s true Nobel Phantasm.
Meanwhile, as Saber receives Avalon, Shirou escapes again from Kotomine’s evil goo. Now, Shirou is able to dodge Kotomine’s attempts to ensnare him a third time and uses Azoth to stab Kotomine in the chest. He then speaks the command word Rin taught him to finish it. Kotomine wonders where he got the dagger. When Shirou says Rin gave it to him, Kotomine recalls handing it to the child Rin 10-years earlier. He then dies and turns into goop. Shirou uses his tracing ability to 
create a blanket with which he catches the falling Ilya. Saber comes up and requests Shirou give the command to have her destroy the Grail. Shirou again thinks of his love for Saber but gives the order just the same.
Saber destroys the Grail and she says she was glad to be able to carry out her oath. As the dawn breaks, Saber confesses she loves Shirou and is gone. She returns to her day, a dying k
ing who believes she has just experienced a dream. She orders her knight Bedivere to return her sword to the lake, which Bedivere does. After Bedivere returns, Saber (King Arthur) passes away and Bedivere prays that the dream the king had will continue.
In the present, life returns to normal with Sakura coming by Shirou’s place every day to make breakfast and Fujimura-sensei coming by to eat. Ilya now lives Fujimura-sensei 
(at least, I think that’s the case) and the two bicker a lot. Sakura makes a dish that Saber liked and the group goes to school. Shirou meets up with Rin on the way and confesses that while his memories of Saber will fade, he will always remember that he loved her. Instead of going to school, he leaves Rin and goes to the bridge that he and Saber had a long talk on, planning to carry forward to his goal.
Thoughts/Review:
I am glad to see that Rin did not die. I guess despite how bad she looked and how she fell asleep (or passed out), she came through. I half expected her to still be living at Shirou’s place, but that would be inappropriate wouldn’t it?
I guess Ilya is living with Fujimura-sensei based on thier bickering conversation and the fact that they came to Shirou’s place on the scooter bike. What confused me is that Ilya is
shown cleaning Shirou’s place in a couple of brief scenes, which I suppose could be just her cleaning and nothing more. It would also be inappropriate for Ilya to live with Shirou even though she and Rin did so along with Saber.
Sakura looks no worse for wear and appears to be leading a normal life, taking a role in the archery club. So that’s nice.
Shirou — on one hand it looks as if he’s accepted things and 
moved on but on the other, this goal of his seemed to imply to me a thought that someday he and Saber could be reunited. That’s a sweet thought since Saber didn’t get to survive in the modern time. So does this mean that Sakura and Rin have no chance to a memory? I realize that isn’t an important question, but for some strange reason it is one I thought of.
Going back to the final battle, Shirou and Saber’s connection 
I’m guessing is what allowed Shirou to create the scabbard for Saber. I’m a bit confused because I thought Saber had extracted a scabbard from Shirou last episode. That’s the problem with the anime — too much information gets flushed for time.
Saber’s love confession to Shirou was very sweet. Often in anime, someone confessing will say “dai suki,” which is often 
translated as “love” and that’s not inaccurate. Saber says, “aishiteru,” which I’m informed is a more personal (and deeper?) way of telling someone you love them. It is a bit sad that she didn’t get to live a life in the present with Shirou, but oh well.
Did they make Bedivere a woman in this anime? I suppose that if Arthur can be a woman then why not Bedivere? I’m just 
wondering why a female voice for Bedivere.
So things are now over. It was a good episode and I’ll write a final review soon.
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No, Bedeviere is a man, but he just happens to be voiced by Mamiko Noto. Even Mordred is a man. Only Arturia got a gender swap.
Ready for the bad news? Ilya won’t live more than a year after this. She has a limited lifespan due to her creation as an imperfect homonculus. In fact, not being able to save Ilya was one thing that always irked at Archer in his life. It seems they were very close (Ilya route?).
As for the Avalon scene, Saber used the sheathe she had, while Shirou was able to project it.
Aishiteru is indeed a much deeper and less heard form of love.
Although there is much speculation on whether or not Shirou and Saber could ever be reunited, I prefer to think that Shirou is secure enough to be able to move on. You’ll notice a total lack of melancholy on his part, only gratefulness at the time they had together. I think that there are a few ways his life could go from here. He could continue his magical training with Rin, in which case it’s possible he could go with her to London as her apprentice (Rin route?). Or he could stay where he is and slowly realize that he’s been in love with Sakura for a while (Sakura route?). Either way, he will continue to pursue his dream.
However, there is little chance that he will proceed down the same path that once led him to become Archer. There was one important difference between his experience with the Holy Grail War and Archer’s: his love for Saber. In Archer’s war, he and Saber were partners and probably friends, but their relationship did not proceed past Master and Servant.
Of course, there is always Last Episode, a new bonus ending released with the PS2 version, Realta Nua. It is a very poetic and trippy ending that may or may not actually happen. But it shows the reunion of Saber and Shirou in Avalon after he has spent endless time searching and she has spent endless time waiting. Their reunion is portrayed as something of a miracle on par with the True Magics. Although it’s not translated, and it is mostly text, it is rather beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEGzuJ6EN_k&feature=related
Here’s another enjoyable video from the newest game, Unlimited Codes. This one shows the Super and Grail techniques for all the characters. You get to see some of what is never seen in the anime (such as Shirou’s Nine Lives Blade Works, his defining moment of GAR) and some additional not-in-anime characters, such as Bazett, Saber Alter, Rin’s rival Luvia, and Lancer from Fate/Zero (with the sexy sexy voice of Hikaru Midorikawa).
The character order is:
Shirou
Saber
Lancer
Berserker
Rider
Rin
Kirei
Caster
Assassin
Bazett
Sakura
Gilgamesh
Saber Alter
Leystitt
Luvia
Zero Lancer
Archer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwXVGHirzkI
The game is actually coming out in English as a download on the PSP.
Oh, and I almost forgot, Saber Lily is in the game too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cej8CYpHTes
From what I’ve read, denotatively ai simply means love (some say with a sexual overtone). But connotatively, ai shiteru expresses both love and total commitment. I.e. close to being on par with a proposal.
Sorry in advance for the awful joke, but I never thought I’d say this about any character Mamiko Noto voiced – “It’s a man, baby!” Just a wild-arsed guess, but it’s possible she did the cameo because Ayako Kawasumi was voicing Saber… they seem pretty close.
Since I’m on a roll for awful humor, anyone else think Kotomine’s sticky evil goo is another nod to the game’s H origins?
Thanks for all three videos. I did like hearing Shirou say that he was home and Saber welcoming him, as if she’d been waiting for him. ^_^
In the second video, why does Sakura look like the undead almost?
In the third, what’s the Saber Lilly story?
“Since I’m on a roll for awful humor, anyone else think Kotomine’s sticky evil goo is another nod to the game’s H origins?”
Not having seen the VN, I couldn’t say.
As to the jokes…^_~
Oh — and that is so jacked up about Ilya. ^_^; Poor girl. I know she’s a magic circuit made human but still.
“In the second video, why does Sakura look like the undead almost?”
Oh, I guess I forgot to mention Dark Sakura.
There is evil inside Sakura, and not just the evil that lurks within everyone that they supress. Inside her are traces of the Evil that leaked from inside the Grail, implanted into her ten years ago by her Grandfather, Zoken.
Over the course of Heavens Feel, a Shadow emerges and begins to devour people and Servants. Sakura begins to become ill and weak and horrifying dreams plague her.
Eventually, it is revealed that the Shadow is Sakura’s and that the Evil inside her is using her as a doorway. Indeed, it is revealed that she has been made into a false container (as opposed to Ilya who is the true vessel) for the Grail made by Zoken. She is collecting the souls of the slain servants.
She knows she is killing and she wants to stop, yet she is too scared to take her own life. She feels relentless guilt that Shirou has abandoned his original dream in order to protect someone as unworthy as her. Even Rin says she needs to be killed (although doing so would probably destroy Rin with grief).
Eventually, Sakura commits– in self defense– an act that she deems unforgivable and decides that it is all over. Her lifetime full of negative emotions overwhelms her and the Evil triumphs. She embraces the Shadow.
So is born Dark Sakura. It is her unleashed Id. All the pain, anger, fear, and resentments are brought to the surface in an unstable mountain of emotion backed by the unlimited power of the Grail. The shadow is her own magic (her elements are water and Shadow) backed with unlimited prana and the malice of the Evil which taints the Grail. In addition to her own augmented powers, the Evil of the Grail regenerates her so quickly that even Gate of Babylon couldn’t kill her. She is pure Id and pure sadness and anger. Sakura has lost her rationality and kindness. She is a monster that endangers the world. And still, Shirou vows to save her. He will be her hero when no one else will.
I hate to bring up power-levels (which is always a slippery slope when Type-Moon fandom is concerned), but Dark Sakura is generally considered the strongest character in Fate. Even Gilgamesh is devoured by her. With Saber Alter at her command, who can stop her?
I won’t say how it ends in case you want to play the VN, but that explains the Evil-looking Sakura in a long overblown post.
One more thing: I wanted to comment about the irony of Kirei’s demise in the Fate Route/anime. As Kirei himself mentions, it is already ironic that the dagger he gave to Rin is used to kill him. What is even more interesting is that the dagger was given to him by Rin’s father who was Kirei’s teacher. It was then used to stab Tokiomi Tohsaka by Kirei while Tohsaka’s Servant Archer watched impassivly. Gilgamesh had always like Kotomine more than Tohsaka anyway.
Interesting stuff, as always. ^_^ Thanks! ^_^