フェイト/ゼロ
Fate/Zero – 05

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

To the surprise of Saber and Lancer, Rider arrives and makes a proposal to have them yield the Grail to him, at which he will consider them friends to help him conquer the world. They decline, Saber saying that as a king herself, she won’t submit to another. Emiya sees this and marvels that Iskandar once was a great ruler.  Kayneth has Waver quivering in fear by loudly belittling him for stealing the artifact. Rider puts his hand on Waver and angers Kayneth by saying that no coward hiding in the shadows could ever be his Master. Rider calls out the other Servants he knows are hiding, which Tohsaka and Kirei are concerned about, since Assassin is one of the hiding Servants.

Archer arrives, annoyed that two others would dare call themselves king. Rider isn’t going to accept Archer’s word about being king and Archer is irritated that he’s not known just by his presence. He activates his Noble Phantasm as Kariya has Berserker appear. Rider asks Waver to determine how powerful he is, but Waver is unable to do so, only knowing that this is in fact a Servant. Iri tells Saber that Berserker looks to be a tough opponent, but even Saber cannot learn much from Berserker since it is shrouded. Emiya thinks that only someone insane would send their Servant into the mix below and instructs Maiya to keep an eye on Assassin while he looks for Berserker’s Master.

Berserker eyes Archer, causing Archer to become annoyed and attack with a flying sword and spear. Berserker simply grabs the sword when it reaches him and uses it to take out the spear. Archer is irritated and launches a massive attack. Berserker easily defends against this massive influx of weapons hurled at him and even sends two back to take down the street light Archer stood upon, sending him to the ground. This causes Archer to become even more infuriated at having to be on the same ground as Berserker and he prepares an even larger attack against Berserker. Tohsaka sees that Archer is out of control and uses a Command Spell to force the angry Archer to withdraw.

With Archer gone, Berserker turns his attention to Saber and launches a furious attack. With Assassin still quietly watching and Berserker’s Master no where to be seen, Emiya knows things are bad as Berserker beats back Saber. Lancer intervenes and save Saber, pleading with Kayneth to allow him to take out Berserker first before defeating Saber. Kayneth uses a Command Spell to force Lancer to help Berserker fight Saber and kill her.  Lancer apologizes and Saber tells Iri to get away while she can. Iri tells Saber to believe in her Master, letting Saber know that Emiya is near.

Emiya is determined to take out Berserker’s Master and have Maiya attack Assassin. However, just as Emiya gets a bead on him, Rider attacks Berserker with ferocity, causing Emiya to be hit by electrical discharge and distracted. The attack does not kill Berserker but forces him to withdraw. Rider then issues a challenge to Kayneth, telling him to withdraw Lancer or he will join Saber to defeat Lancer. Kayneth has no choice, so Lancer thanks Rider and exchanges quiet respects with Saber before leaving. Rider tells Saber to settle things with Lancer and that he’ll be honored to fight the victor, which pleases Saber.

After Rider leaves, Saber thanks Iri and knows she has to defeat Lancer to lift the curse from her arm. Elsewhere, Kariya is happy with how Berserker took down Archer several pegs, but Berserker going after Saber costs Kariya in life as he pukes blood and worms. Back at the church, one of the female Assassins brings a familiar she’s slain outside the church grounds which was clearly being used to spy on the church. Still elsewhere, Caster and Ryuunosuke have finished watching the battle, leaving Ryuunosuke very excited to participate in a blood bath. Caster is weeping, feeling Saber is the rebirth of a woman he knew and loved who was abandoned by God. As such, he vows to come for her.

Thoughts/Review:

Well, a pretty incredible episode with all of the Servants showing up in the episode, though Caster stayed at a remote location.

Oops!  Wasn’t Saber’s arm injured severely last episode, so much so that Iri couldn’t heal it and Saber couldn’t use it?  And now, suddenly Saber can use her arm without issue?  Oh yeah, that’s right, we forgot about that until the end of the episode. ^_^;

I’m really liking Rider in Fate/Zero. He’s so unconcerned about hiding his identity unlike the other Servants. If negotiations allow him to achieve his objective, then sobeit. When it comes to fighting, he’s all about the glory and honor of a battle between warriors. I loved how he praised Waver, who’s ALWAYS in a state of panic, for being at his side while slamming Kayneth, who doesn’t show fear but hides in the shadows. Good stuff.

Despite his insanity, I like this new Berserker character better than the one from Fate/stay night.  Since he’s dressed in traditional knight armor, I’m going to make a guess that he’s a knight as well, though whom, I couldn’t even begin to guess. Considering Saber and Lancer are considered knights, that makes three of them in this contest.  I find that interesting.

There are also three kings here (that I’m aware of).  I’m not sure if that means anything either, but it is amusing that Archer, as Gilgamesh, is offended by the presence of Saber (King Arthur) and Iskandar (Alexander the Great).  It will be interesting seeing Archer confront Tohsaka over the use of a Command Spell.

Kayneth has also been forced to use a Command Spell, so it will be interesting to see how his dealings with Lancer are from here on out.

The freaks, Caster and Ryuunosuke, watched the battle safely from a distance.  I wonder whom it is that Caster thinks Saber truly is since she was not known as a woman during her real life.

Anyway, a very enjoyable episode with the free-for-all fight backed down in what I considered to be an amusing way (though there is logic behind the decision beyond making the story last much longer).