April 25th, 2012 
AstroNerdBoy フェイト/ゼロ Episode 16
Fate/Zero – 16
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
A distracted Sola-Ui is attacked by Maiya, and has her arm with the Command Spells for Lancer cut off. Maiya secures Sola-Ui, stops the bleeding, then shoots the hand with the spells on it as it is still holding the fence. Meanwhile, Kayneth pays a visit to Father Risei regarding receiving an additional Command Spell for having helped defeat Caster. Risei complies, and after Kayneth gets the spell mark, he shoots Risei to prevent the other Master’s from also getting the mark. Returning to his base, Kayneth receives a report from Lancer, stating that Sola-Ui is missing. Kayneth is angry with Lancer and accuses him of seducing Sola-Ui. At the end of Kayneth’s lengthy tirade, Lancer informs him that people have arrived.
Saber and Iri are the ones Lancer sensed, whom he then meets. Neither knows about Sola-Ui, but Saber figures tonight is the best time to complete their fight as the other Servants are off recuperating from fighting Caster. As they fight, a cowering Kayneth is in the shadows, wondering why Lancer isn’t getting him to safety. His thoughts are interrupted by a bullet tossed his way, as Emiya reveals himself and the unconscious Sola-Ui at his feet. Emiya has a Self-Geas Scroll, the terms of which would force Kayneth to cause Lancer to commit suicide with his remaining Command Spell, after which he would be banned from magic and from hurting others. In return, Emiya would be bound to not kill Kayneth or Sola-Ui.
Kayneth agrees to the contract, and to Saber’s surprise, Lancer commits suicide. Lancer curses them all for wanting the Grail that badly and dies. Emiya turns Sola-Ui over to Kayneth, but Maiya assassinates her and shoots Kayneth as well. Sola-Ui is dead, but Kayneth still lives. Emiya cannot harm Kayneth, so the disgusted Saber puts Kayneth out of his misery. She then verbally challenges Emiya for what he is doing. A sickened Iri tells him to explain things to her. In Saber’s and Emiya’s discussion, Emiya rejects Saber’s notions of nobility and honor on a battlefield, finding all wars to be evil, thus he will end the Holy Grail War and stop human bloodshed. Saber wonders if Emiya had dreamed of being a champion of justice as a kid, but had those dreams killed by something. Emiya leaves, after which Iri collapses.
Thoughts/Review:
I really do need to watch the BD versions of this series, as clearly, things are happening there that aren’t showing up in the TV version.
Anyway, Lancer is clearly a tragic victim here, even after his death. He’s been made to go through a similar type of hell he went through in life. I wonder if his curse is the reason the Holy Grail becomes polluted.
As to Kayneth, well, even though his death was through deceit, I shed no tears for him nor Sola-Ui. Kayneth was a bastard through and thus he got what he deserved. Still, I will give him props for truly loving Sola-Ui, as he chose her over the Grail.
Emiya is also a bastard, but I did find his disdain for Saber’s honorable combat interesting. Basically, he lumps all warfare as a single evil thing to be destroyed, whether the purpose is noble or not. Saber’s counterpoint about Emiya’s evil was also interesting, especially in light of how I know things play out between the two.
Regarding Risei, he got what was coming to him as well. Deceit begets deceit, as both Risei and Kayneth learn the hard way.
I’m guessing that Iri’s collapse at the end of the episode is due to her role in war. As I think of it, it is a jacked up thing.
So, Lancer is gone, Kayneth is gone, and Sola-Ui is gone. Who’s next? I figure it has to be Rider but we’ll see.
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Loved this episode. So raw.
That’s one way of putting it.
Wow. Hell of an episode, and I also found the verbal jousting interesting. Generally I find myself thinking “Get on with it!” pretty quickly during a protracted talking scene in an action anime… in Fate / Zero, sometimes it’s more intense than the action itself. (Which says a lot.)
Out of curiosity, what would you guess is missing from the TV version that’s in the BD version?
My guess is a scene which involves how Kiritsugu finds the hiding place of Kayneth (probably involves some interrogation scenes of Sola-Ui). At least she looks in worse shape than she was when Maiya took her.
Of course other possibilities exist (some of which I doubt are worth enough, i.e. too dull): like someone else finding the Risei dead (guess who!); or some minor conversation of Iri and Saber when Kiritsugu calls them to go; or Lancer searching for Sola-Ui and not finding her; or Kiritsugu and Maiya’s preparation to scam (troll) Kayneth (which will probably spoil everything); or an unrelated scene to the plot of the episode…
Yeah, I’m betting what evgenibd said is true. I do need to watch the BD version at some point.
OH MY GOD! THEY KILLED LANCER!
YOU BASTARDS!
So… yeah… Legendary Lancer E-rank luck stat strikes again…
A lot of people were confused with the whole self-geass scroll gig, many argued that Kiritsugu broke the conract, specifically the part about having no intention to harm. The point is, it’s not really a contracts, and there is no punishment for “breaking” it. Instead, it is a powerful magic which immediately after fulfilling the requirements (Lancer command spell’d into suicide) made it completely and utterly impossible for Kiritsugu to harm or even intend to harm Keyneth. It couldn’t do jack against anything he arranged before signing it, which Kiritsugu abused to hell and back.
Oh, and note the continued tendency from the previous episodes: the duo of psychotic child murderers( and murders were the LEAST horrible things they did to these children…) get their moments of revelation, bliss or momentary redemption before dying, while the noble and honorable knight is first regularly insulted by his master, unwillingly charms his fiance, and is then brutally deprived of his dreams of BOTH a honorable duel with another knight AND getting to loyally serve his lord, dying in what is essentially a repeat of his original death only WORSE, cursing everything around him, as the entire world seemingly betrays him (Saber didn’t, but it should certainly look so from his perspective). And we’ve still got 10 episodes, 4 servants, 5 masters and 11 story-related characters in total to go through. So, a fair warning: if you want good to be rewarded, evil punished, and some, at least elementary justice present, go find yourselves another series before it’s even MORE too late.
Having seen Fate/stay zero, I know how things will end since this has to set up that.
Dialogue is missing this time in this episode. This is quite apparent when one compares the episode with the drama cd(that’s why I think the sound drama is better in this episode regarding music and sound in general because there is no time limit for any scene) or the novel. Also, some scenes were changed here and there, but some will probably be in the next episode. I guess the 23min per episode limit does suck.
Frankly speaking, I’m disappointed in Kayneth. He used a gun to kill Risei because he wanted to put the blame on Kiritsugu. Maybe he wouldn’t have lost to Kiritsugu, if he had thrown his pride away the moment he joined the war. Oh well, he thought it was a magic tournament, so I can’t really blame him for that.
However, I think Lancer with all his honor and pride talk carved his own fate. Regarding this, FSN-Archer would have constantly mocked him for this and in my opinion with reason. It was his own carelessness that doomed him. What I think is interesting to note is the fact that at the end he blamed everyone around him. Fate, the Grail, Kayneth, Sola, Kiritsugu, even Saber. Well, since Servants are only copies of the real Heroic Spirits(except for Saber), his true Heroic Spirit probably won’t turn into a Vengeful Spirit.
The Kiritsugu Saber saw inside him, when he explained why he participates in this war, the man who once wanted to become a hero of justice, who had an ideal that resembles Saber’s ideals… this is the person who would later pass on his dream and ideal to Shirou. After all, Shirou became the person we know because he wanted to take his father’s place. Finally, this is the first of overall three “conversations” Saber had with Kiritsugu(stated in the Fate route) and seeing how Saber lost her murderous intent towards Kiritsugu when she realized how tortured his mind and how selfless and pure his wish is, and instead pitied him was quite interesting.
“Even if I have to become all the evils of the world, it won’t matter.”
-This is the reason why the Holy Grail chose him.
Btw, Lancer’s cursing doesn’t have anything to do with the pollution of the Grail. Caster, a-not-so-heroic Spirit was summoned before Lancer cursed the Grail, remember? 🙂
About Iri: Ilya collapsed in Fate after she took in 5 spirits, so Iri losing consciousness now, even though she has Avalon, shows how inferior she is to her daughter.
I enjoy Kirei’s development. It looks natural and not too forced, so kudos to Butch.
One last thing: Next episode will wrap up volume 3. Volume 4/Episode 18 will begin with a Kiritsugu flashback, so we can finally see how the once so cheerful hero-to-be turned into the bitter and sarcastic Magus Killer.
I take it FSN-Archer is the same character as FZ-Archer, but who is blue and a little wiser?
Lan, you take it wrong. FSN-Archer and FZ-Archer are two different people/heroes/spirits/call-them-whatever-you-want. Indeed FZ-Archer appears in the FSN, but he is not officially in the game. To remind you who the FSN-Archer is, look here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/th/7/71/FSN_ARCHER.jpg. Remember now?
If you ment Lancer, they are also different. FSN-Lancer is Cu Chulainn: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/FateStayNightServants and FZ-Lancer is Diarmuid Ua Duibhne: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/FateZero
…
No. I am not sure what you are even talking about here, actually.
F/SN Archer is not blue, no, not even if you mean to imply him being gay. He isn’t. People are gay for him but he is as straight as a bowstring. He is also not Gilgamesh.
If you meant Lancer, who actually wears blue spandex for some reason, the answer is still no. He is Cuchulainn, another Irish hero, and a blood knight to the degree that he is summonable as a Berserker. He is honorable, though not to Seiba’s or Diarmuid’s degree – more proud than outright honorable, actually, – but also a merciless tease. Oh, and he’s also Awesome. That’s important.
FUCK i meant Lancer.
I take it FSN-Lancer is the same character as FZ-Lancer, but who is blue and a little wiser?
I really dont clue myself into the dynamics of this show enough. sorry for the confusion.
Nope, Fate/Zero Lancer is Diarmuid ua Dubhine, Fate/stay Night Lancer is Cu Cuhulain. Both are heroes from Irish mythology who use spears, but they are different characters. Both also tend to have shitty masters and even shittier luck. Both were also ordered by their Masters to commit suicide in subsequent Grail Wars. There’s a reason why “Being Lancer is suffering” is a meme among Type/Maniacs.
This episode just goes to reinforce one thing: Being Lancer is suffering. The infamous E-Rank luck of the Lancer class rears its ugly head once again.
17th episode is out. Mind you, watch it in a dark room, because the whole episode is very dark (happening mostly at night) and you’ll barely see anything otherwise.
Was wondering if anyone knew why the manga for this anime stop at chapter 3?Sorry for interrupting.
I don’t know. I haven’t read it.