October 24th, 2011 
AstroNerdBoy フェイト/ゼロ
Fate/Zero – 04
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
As Saber and Lancer square off, Ira senses something wrong, which Saber identifies as charm magic. Seeing that Saber’s magical defenses are too high, Lancer acknowledges being glad to meet such a worthy opponent and the two clash. Nearby, Emiya and Maiya observe the start of the fight. Emiya has Maiya cover a crane, whereby someone might obtain a good view of the battlefield, while he covers other areas and observes Saber’s battle prowess. As Saber fights, Ira notices that Saber is keeping tabs on both of Lancer’s lances to determine which is the Noble Phantasm. They don’t know Lancer’s real name either, which would help greatly.
Lancer verbally notes Saber’s defensive fight and takes a cut in the face during their next blows. His problem is Saber’s invisible sword, thus he doesn’t know its reach. While this happens, Emiya uses his weapon’s infrared scope to find Lancer’s Master. Maiya can’t see this person from her vantage, but before Emiya can take him out, an odd wind kicks up. Emiya takes a peek and discovers Assassin has appeared in the area, observing the battle and making a report to Kirei, who in turn is reporting to Tohsaka. Upon hearing of the description of Iri, standing behind Saber, the two are able to guess she is an Einzbern homunculus, but incorrectly guess she is Saber’s Master, as Emiya wanted. Kirei promises to have an Assassin assigned to observe Iri at all times.
Meanwhile, Emiya has Maiya keep tabs on Assassin but not engage since they aren’t equipped to fight a Servant while he watches Lancer. Lancer makes a play at getting Saber’s name by complimenting Saber, but she understands the ploy and simply states her being honored by his words. Lancer’s Master has had enough and orders him to use his Noble Phantasm to end this fight. Lancer complies and ups the intensity of the fight, and is able to discover the length of Saber’s blade as well as see bits of it. Saber plans a counter for Lancer’s next attack, but instead of her landing a blow on him, Lancer wounds a stunned Saber, forcing Iri to heal her.
Saber quickly analyzes the last attack and realizes Lancer’s weapon cancel’s mana, which is why it was able to pass through her magical armor without damaging it and why he was able to get through Invisible Air around her sword. Lancer is a little surprised when Saber sheds her worthless armor, but admires her for deciding to put everything into a single attack. She fires up her blade and charges, but he has a trap — a second Noble Phantasm with his other spear. Saber realizes this in mid-charge as she sees Lancer kick the second spear up to himself and barely manages to change her attack to take minimal damage while getting a small hit in on Lancer, disarming him of his second lance.
From the bridge where Rider watches the fight with a scared Waver, he is disappointed too see Lancer trying to end the fight. Rider had wanted to have all Servants there so he could have the chance to battle them all with honor. Since that’s not the case, he summons his chariot and decides to enter the fray. At the same time, Lancer reveals Saber’s mistake at losing her armor, which was ineffective against his Gae Dearg. However, his cursed spear, Gae Buidhe, prevents her from healing and her armor would have stopped it. Saber identifies Lancer as Diarmuid and he ID’s her. Lancer’s annoyed Master wants this fight over, but Rider arrives, and gives his true name of Iskandar.
Thoughts/Review:
Leave it to an assassin to discover Assassin showing up to observe the battlefield. I’ll be very interested to see what Emiya does now that he knows Assassin is alive. Will he figure out there are more than one? Will he start bringing his special weapon with him to fight Servants?
I like how Emiya works here, even if it is not honorable (which is why he and Saber would not get along). He wants to win, so that’s just what he’s going to do. However, Assassin’s arrival as well as Rider’s really show how the best laid plans don’t last long on the battlefield.
I do find it interesting that both Tohsaka and Kirei appear to be fooled by Emiya’s ruse in having Iri appear to be Saber’s Master. I’m surprised that while they put an Assassin on Iri, none have been assigned to Emiya.
I find myself saddened, knowing Iri’s eventual fate before the series ends. I’ve come to like her as a character but she’s being used as bait and I’m guessing that will be what eventually kills her, possibly by a tailing Assassin.
I like how Saber and Lancer really were honorable combatants. I don’t know whom Diarmuid is, so I don’t understand the charm magic reference, but I guess he was a lady’s man in the past as well as being a knight.
What really surprised me was Rider’s notions of conquering the world and still be honorable. Further to that, his arriving on the battlefield and proudly stating his true name is not normal, but you can’t accuse him of not being honorable. Knowing your opponent’s name provides tons of information, so clearly Rider doesn’t care if his opponents know him or not. I wonder if this will cause him to fall first.
So, a good episode that doesn’t just focus on the fight between Saber and Lancer, which made the episode more interesting.
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Isn’t Iri’s destiny obvious for those who have knowledge of at least the FSN anime? She will likely take the role Ilya had in FSN or else there will be a problem with this Grail War.
So yeah, she will probably die, but not because she was a bait. The moment the other Masters realize her importance, is the moment they will do anything to keep her from harm or else this whole Heaven’s Feel is absolutely useless.
Diarmuid Ua Duibhne was an Irish warrior, whose face(the love spot under his right eye) was cursed. Any woman who can’t resist this curse will eventually fall in love with him. The ED pic of him was a reference to this statue:
http://www.myguideireland.com/images/stories/Ireland/diarmuid-and-grainne.jpg
It portrays him and Grainne. Just google “The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne” to know Lancer’s past. Maybe they will show his past in an episode. Wouldn’t be that bad imo.
And I don’t think, Rider will fall first. He is self-confident enough to announce his name, even though he is actually very smart, as we can see in ep 3. And we shouldn’t forget his Master, who might be a coward, but Waver isn’t incompetent.
No, I think Rider will be one of the stronger Servants, stronger than Caster, Assassin and Lancer at least(don’t know about Berserker yet). Lancer already exposed his abilities and they are fairly weak, especially if you compare them to Cu Chulainn’s Noble Phantasm in FSN.
If I had to guess, I would say Caster is the first who will fall, but that depends on his actions. I think he will do what Uryu(who is pretty much useless in this War imo, even more than Shirou) asked him to do: Murder more people. Then all the other Masters will probably think Caster’s too dangerous and will try to get rid of him to avoid getting too much attention, just like Lancer killed all the people who saw him(including Shirou)in FSN.
good episode this one. I forgot about whatshernames death. that was kind of a spoiler. sadface.
yeah i really have forgotten 90% of fate stay night.
ANB, I think you’re wrong about the reason why Emiya kept distance from Saber. If he disliked her or they simply had different opinions, it’s still not a reason to keep distance from her. He’ll just suck up anything he has against her and work with her. Even more so if they do things differently – they’ll need to find a way to work together (some kind of team play) and that requires time and training.
I have a theory that Emiya kept distance from Saber for another reason. He wanted everyone to think that Iri was the master, so he kept the two girls close together and kept his distance, so no one would suspect him of being the true master. And it seems it worked.
That’s what I think. I still might be wrong but at least it makes more sense than simply not getting along. It’s not in Emiya’s character to involve his feelings into his actions (or at least for now – after all he’ll save Shirou). For instance, he put Iri into danger, even though he loves her (or at least I think he loves her) and probably even would sacrifice her to achieve his goal. Or he allowed his partner to kiss him (who apparently loves him), even though he clearly doesn’t love her. But that way he may be sure that she’s loyal to him and would even gladly die for him if needed.
So, guys, what do you think?
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Thanks for spoilering(without a warning), *******. Honestly, there are some who still want to speculate, you know, so why the heck are you spoilering other people who don’t want it? I don’t want to know who falls first until I’ve seen everything in June 2012.
Could you please delete this post from anon, ANB?
to Anon:
Um, I don’t think it’s good idea to spoil stuff like that, like who’s gonna die when. Somehow it kills the fun of the surprise.
First, I’d like to apologize for the spoiler that made it through. The guy who passed it through didn’t pay close attention to the remark and just assumed that the comments were speculation on events happening, not what was actually revealed in the original, source material.
Isn’t Iri’s destiny obvious for those who have knowledge of at least the FSN anime?
It should be, but I’m partly torn on what I should say spoiler-wise because there could be folks reading this blog who’ve never watched Fate/stay night, nor who’ve done the visual novel. ^_^;
Thanks for the information on Dairmuid.
good episode this one. I forgot about whatshernames death. that was kind of a spoiler. sadface.
Sorry about that, Lan. 🙁
ANB, I think you’re wrong about the reason why Emiya kept distance from Saber. If he disliked her or they simply had different opinions, it’s still not a reason to keep distance from her.
Well, what I meant is that his actions are so dishonorable that Saber would likely not approve and have to be forced to do things.
I have a theory that Emiya kept distance from Saber for another reason. He wanted everyone to think that Iri was the master, so he kept the two girls close together and kept his distance, so no one would suspect him of being the true master. And it seems it worked.
Well, there’s that as well and that is the official story, as I see it. However, I think he’d have a harder time with Saber on a direct basis. We’ll see though when Saber and he are forced to work closer together.
Well, whether they like each other or not – that’s another thing. And I don’t know the answer for that. But Saber and Emiya would’ve worked together if not getting along was the only reason. After all, it’s not in Emiya’s character to allow his feelings to determine his judgement and Saber is obliged to follow him and his orders. Especially when she wants the Grail so much as well. (Those who watched the old FTN anime would remember why. Not to mention those who played the games.)
After all, it’s not in Emiya’s character to allow his feelings to determine his judgement and Saber is obliged to follow him and his orders. Especially when she wants the Grail so much as well.
Yeah, but Saber is honorable, which is why she respects Lancer and now Rider. However, Emiya’s activities as an assassin are dishonorable and I think that would trouble her. Episode 5 showed Servants being forced to bow down to their Master’s and if Emiya told Saber, “Ambush your opponent and kill them by stabbing them in the back,” she’s oppose that greatly and Emiya would be forced to use a Command Spell.
So, in addition to hiding the fact that he’s the true Master of Saber, Emiya does his dirty deeds without Saber’s knowledge and she fights her battles according to a code of honor.