October 20th, 2014 
AstroNerdBoy Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works – 02 review
フェイト/ステイナイト [Unlimited Blade Works] – 02
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Rin enters Shirou’s house and begins to explain to him that he’s in the Holy Grail War and that he is a Master in this war, with his Servant, Saber, who will have difficulties due to him not being able to supply her with much mana. Despite it being 2 in the morning, Rin takes Shirou to a local church to meet a priest named Kirei. As Saber stands guard outside the gates of the church grounds, Kirei explains the Holy Grail War in more detail to Shirou, revealing that the war ten years ago is what led to the destructive fire that left Shirou an orphan. As such, Shirou is given the option and chooses to fight in the war to prevent said destruction from happening again. After Saber pledges herself to Shirou again, the trio are confronted by Ilya with Berserker.
Thoughts/Review:
Although the episode drops down to its normal time length, it was still very enjoyable, despite the fact that it was full of exposition.
Although it is difficult for me to recall things from Deen’s Fate/stay night adaptation, one thing I seem to recall is that Saber had a much more negative relationship with Shirou at the beginning of that series. Here, she seems quite friendly, not holding the resentment from her previous summoning for a Holy Grail War.
Having watched Fate/Zero, I’m rather enjoying the little nods to the events told in that series.
I liked how Saber made mention of her participation in a previous war, though she didn’t specifically state it was that war. However, the REAL fun moment was Kirei’s reaction to hearing Shirou’s family name, Emiya. That was so deliciously wicked. It was also fun seeing Saber keep out of Kirei’s way and not enter the church grounds. Makes sense seeing as how her former Master fought him in the previous war.
Because I know what I know about Archer, a question came into my mind.
I noticed Shirou putting away Rin’s pendant, which Archer had given to her after she saved Shirou’s life. Considering Archer is Shirou, does he still not remember his true identity? Otherwise, why suggest killing himself?
You know, when Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya was first announced, I thought it was a pure insult to turn Ilya into a magic girl. After watching the awesomeness of that series, seeing the “real” (original) Ilya in Fate/stay night keeps making me think, “Aw man, she’s not going to be a cute magic girl in this thing!” *lol*
As to Crunchyroll, honorifics were back this time. Command Spells were called Command Seals for some reason. As to what other translation mistakes may have been there, I couldn’t say. I’m too pressed for time to give it a heavy check.
Anyway, because this episode had a lot of exposition, combined with crawling out from under a MASSIVE pile of work which has prevented me from doing much of anything fun and has left me pressed for time, I’m not thinking of a ton I’d like to comment on. However, I’m always happy to discuss things in the comments, as I have time.
I’m really pleased with ufotable’s efforts on Fate/stay night. While this may have been a very chatty episode, I still like how it was done. Can’t wait for the next episode.
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About Saber. If I am not mistaken her antagonism only started once hers and Shirou’s views on how to fight the War started to diverge. Like the way he was bizarrely protective of her and wanting to fight himself on her place. Before that, she was like she is now, I think, with a stoic amiability.
About your questions regarding Archer.
[spoiler]Lets just say this is Archer’s route as much as it is Rin’s. Everything will explain itself eventually[/spoiler]
And, yeah, watching this show after watching Fate/Zero is fun. It brings more meaning to some scenes. I wonder if Ufotable will fix a few inconsistence in the original.
[spoiler]Such as Saber completely failing at recognize Illya. She never commented even on the surname, which is odd considering she was so close to Iris.[/spoiler]
Yup, I do think that was the case. Saber started to get pissed once Shirou spouted lines like “Girls shouldn’t fight!” and “But you’re a girl!”, which Nasu excessively wrote in Fate to convince himself that this is the case. He later admitted he overdid it and in the Realta Nua version of the VN, some of these lines were commented out.
Can I spoil? Oh right, we have the tags now, yay. 😀
[spoiler]Urobuchi and Nasu handwaved the issue with Saber and Ilya both in hollow ataraxia and Zero Material. Saber never learns Iri’s daughter’s name in FZ.
I can’t find my save in FHA or a screenshot anymore, but Ilya tells Shirou that Saber honestly couldn’t recognize Ilya as Iri’s daughter. Her explanation is also again given in Zero Material.
Illyasviel von Einzbern [Person]
The daughter of Irisviel and Emiya Kiritsugu, and one of the heroines of the Fifth Holy Grail War. …That’s not a lie, dammit! The Illya route exists in all of our hearts!
Anyway, though there were vague insinuations about it even in Fate/stay night, in Fate/Zero the shocking matter of Illya’s age was revealed right off the bat. As for why Saber didn’t show Illya any sort of leniency in the fifth war, that’s because she had never actually asked Iri what her daughter’s name was, and she thought Illya looked far too childish to be the same girl – she assumed that the girl she had seen riding on Kiritsugu’s shoulders ten years ago would have developed into a voluptuous woman like her mother by then. So, she must have seen Illya as just another unrelated Einzbern homunculus.
…Shut up, it’s not a lame excuse!
And btw, Saber obviously recognizes the name Einzbern in FSN. UBW isn’t Ilya’s route though. It’s brought up in HF, which was a combination of Ilya and Sakura’s stories.[/spoiler]
It still would be nice if…
[spoiler title="Ilya moment"]I’d still like for Saber to recognize the look and the family name, but that’s just me.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Saber obviously remembers Kiritsugu’s relationship with the Einzberns, but she kept quiet all the time, just as she didn’t want to talk about Kiritsugu as a Master in general in Fate, because that war left a bitter taste. She probably was more reserved and cautious at the beginning to find out whether Shirou is like Kiritsugu.
Btw, Iri and Ilya are based on the same homunculus template, so many Einzbern homunculi are bound to look the same.
Well, perhaps ufotable might add a reaction, like they did when Shirou introduced himself to Saber. It certainly wouldn’t hurt. Like I said though, Nasu handwaved the problem with a convenient excuse, which actually makes sense. We’ll see what they will do in a week or two.[/spoiler]
I couldn’t remember for sure. I was thinking she might have been still angry about what had happened before.
As to the inconsistency you mentioned…
[spoiler]I am hoping that Saber does say something.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]That is also in the VN and I noticed these little moments very early while re-reading FSN. It was fun, seeing how much foreshadowing was already in all routes. ^_^ It’s also interesting to see how much Kirei is bullshitting and how often he tells half-truths, especially when one has additional FZ knowledge.[/spoiler]
Wait and see. Can’t answer any of these questions (and I suggest no one in the comments does). Unless you want me to.
Well, if we want to be strict, reiju does mean Command Seal. However, they were once written in English and in katakana, so the official translation is actually Command Spell. Command Seals lead to… misunderstandings: http://i.imgur.com/EMpJXHu.jpg
So as expected we got the info dump, which is necessary, since this series is supposed to be a standalone work after all. There’s not much else to say about this episode, besides me not really seeing any promised new scenes. Well, maybe Rin’s ass, though I don’t think that was the scene I was looking forward to, haha. If I have to guess, they actually cut the new scene they were announcing.
[spoiler]I gave you links for the CMs a few weeks ago, do you remember? In Kirei’s one was a scene with him and Gil talking a bit in the church. I guess this happens after Rin and Shirou leave.[/spoiler]
There are scenes missing again, now that they only have a 30 minutes timespot. For instance, there’s that scene missing, where Rin is fixing the glass (https://twitter.com/ufotable/status/524184535886348289), leaving Shirou surprised since Rin is such a skillful magus in his eyes (it’s a basic spell for most trained magi). Perhaps there are more scenes missing, as they basically skipped the part directly after Rin greeted Shirou last episode and the conversations on their way to the church. That’s a good idea to get more BD sales. ^_^
What is also missing are Shirou’s thoughts during the whole conversation in the church especially, but that can’t be helped I guess, since this is a different medium. Especially Kirei mentioning that the 4th War caused the fire in Shinto and Kirei’s famous line:
leave Shirou very confused, angry and disturbed. Some fans seem to be disappointed that there was no “Church on the Hill” remix (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfKHqYO8zl0), but whatever. Trivia fact, the church was lighted in the novel, like this: http://i.imgur.com/EcK6tnV.gif
Some more fun/trivia stuff:
1. [spoiler]Obligatory FSN/FZ comparison: http://i.imgur.com/H59byar.gif
Note, Kirei doesn’t walk in circles. It was a boot, big difference! (https://twitter.com/mo_noxgh/status/523497700063322112)[/spoiler]
2. ufotable/FSN VN comparison:
ufotable: http://i.imgur.com/sXhJNAl.jpg
VN: http://i.imgur.com/zLS76Ye.jpg
Not bad. Ilya looks hella more scary and psycho in the VN though. But then I also have to think about Prisma Illya and the countdown pic I showed to you on twitter…^_^ Oh well, Berserker dubstep introduction track.
3. The previews actually show more than one might think at first (and those who played the VN will understand them very well). The normal chess pieces represent the Masters probably, while the Servant statues obviously represent the Servants.
Last week’s preview for instance showed a white pawn meeting a black bishop if I remember correctly. This week’s preview showed Saber, Berserker and Archer. Hah, Archer is joining the fight in UBW! Let’s see some action next week!
Oh yeah, I think you can imagine how many people were making fun of and gifs of Rin’s “fanservice” scene (like this one here http://i.imgur.com/4w2UgPz.gif), during her conversation with Shirou. Not too sure why ufotable did it. If there is fanservice, I prefer more subtle and uh… natural fanservice. Who falls on one’s knees and shakes one’s ass in front of another person like that?
Rin made some great expressions this episode though. This is one of my favorite ones in this episode: http://i.imgur.com/JnorOyt.gif
And Rin looks great when she makes a mischievous face ^_^ : http://i.imgur.com/IHqKNf4.gif
Dammit, I wanted to post those gifs… And the only reason that Kirei was unable to mimic the style of Tokiomi and Risei when walking around Shorou was because of the pews in his church, having to do a rectangle instead.
Additional gifs, courtesy of Something Awful:
Rin’s ara ara face: http://i.imgur.com/W0HWfzZ.gif
Also, an amusing YouTube featuring one of those Rin fanservice gifs:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpSF2y7hi-w
There’s a reason why it’s a fandom meme that Rin pleases old men for money…
Also, with regards to Kirei, it really is amusing to see how much he bullshits Shirou with his explanation of the 4th Holy Grail War, just to add to his eventual suffering. Rejoice!
Cutting the glass fixing scene from the cold open was a strange decision, especially since it helps show how shit Shirou is at magecraft, and leads into a Fate universe primer on magic from Rin as well.
So many callbacks from Fate/Zero in this, I love it.
Love the fact that you’ve now added spoiler tags, which help a lot.
[spoiler title="response"]That’s a huge route spoiler, so as Farray said, we can’t really go into it. Just keep watching and it’ll make itself clear soon enough.[/spoiler]
Dat Berserker appearance. Setup episode to the next one, which is sure to be a huge fight. Next week can’t come quickly enough!
Whoops, haven’t quite gotten the hang of your next spoiler tags yet. Can you please fix them before the post goes up? Thanks in advance.
It got passed through before the fix, unfortunately. It has been fixed now.
Xie xie ni.
*lol* Funny. ^_^
Yeah, it just made things a ton easier. Still looking into the edit feature.
You know, ufotable with their Rin fanservice reminded me of this hilarious hollow ataraxia mistranslation of Rin’s Eclipse scene. Rin was wearing pajamas with cats on it and whoever that guy who contributed to the FHA translation on the entrans site was, he must have used google translate or something. Somehow, Rin had a “catlike ass”.
Well, that’s not as bad as other things in that scene perhaps. Apparently, Rin’s skin is a river, her breasts are mountains, her navel a whirlpool and her vagOOO a volcano. I kid you not. It’s hard to differentiate between mistranslations and the actual writing of the guest author for this scene when you read things like these. I’m confused too.
Heh!heh!heh! Very true.
Damn it, the first link was supposed to be uploaded on imgur. ^_^ (Please delete the link in my comment.) Here’s the one I meant: http://i.imgur.com/JnorOyt.gif
Second link, not first one. /facepalm
Fixed. ^_^
Btw, another joke remark: If you watch another certain Type-Moon work, don’t forget the yellow raincoat Saber is wearing. 😉
A reference I didn’t get.
[spoiler]ufotable is made up of Type-Moon fanboys so they occasionally add some references in other related works, like Kara no Kyoukai, in case you will watch it one day. Their Kara no Kyoukai claymation videos for instance have Tiger Dojo and FSN/FHA references. The raincoat shows up again.[/spoiler]
As always, thanks for the great info. ^_^
Unrelated, but I remember you posting a bunch of Hatsune Miku/Vocaloid videos way back and wanting to find out more about them. I just went to the Vocaloid concert they held in New York this past Friday (first time Miku was in NYC!) at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and it was amazing… They gave everyone a free glowstick in their swag bags, and there were fans straight from Japan coordinating the choreography of their use, so the effect was amazing.
I got there 20 minutes before the concert was to start, so I didn’t get a good spot in the standing room area of the venue, but about halfway through the concert, I was able to get on top of a thin crowd barrier on the right side of the pit, right by where they had the rolling camera was filming. And I had an amazing time. Grabbed some confetti that they launched at the climax of Melt, which they played right after World is Mine, the song that you posted last time around from Miku’s 39 Giving’s Day. Hiroyuki Ito, the CEO of Crypton Future Media, also made a couple of unannounced appearances, filming the crowd from the right balcony before and during the concert.
Stopped into the Miku Expo art exhibit at a gallery on the Lower East Side right as it was about to close on Sunday, but they were pretty much all sold out of merch, inclusing the exclusive Halloween Nendroid figurine that they were advertising at both the NY and LA shows (which happened a week prior). Hiroyuiki Ito was also at the expo, and I got him to sign the piece of confetti that I picked up from the concert. He also had me take a bunch of photos of him and the Miku Expo staff after they closed, alongside the giant rendering of Miku done by Nomura of Final Fantasy fame. One tourist ran across and photobombed one of the shots right as I was taking it, but the rest came out great.
I just wish I had more time to spend at the Miku Expo and could’ve picked up some of the merch. I really wanted A New York Comic Con/Miku Expo combo shirt they were selling, but they sold out of that real early… And besides, I spent a bunch of the the money I won on Jeopardy at NYCC already, so I think I couldn’t afford anything even if it were available… 🙁
Thanks for the report on Miku. ^_^
[spoiler]Not going to spoil why Archer would suggest “killing himself,” but I must say… “DROWN IN YOUR IDEALS AND DIE!” [/spoiler]
That’s why. 🙂
Dude, you already spoiled it. Not cool.
Really, I thought that line would be an unrecognizable reference until it actually happens.
The sentence is self-explanatory. It means what it means, so please don’t do something like this again. Or at least put it in spoiler tags, before Astro has to.
I think that sentence is not that heavy as a spoiler. Not so light either though..
I mean, the meaning of that sentence is clearer for those who know/remember the original material deeply. For those who don’t, maybe it will just make them speculate.
I also have a question regarding Astro’s first question in that paragraph, but I guess I will wait until more gets cleared up in the anime.
It’s still not cool, when the user says he/she won’t spoil anything and then drops a sentence as an answer to ANB’s question, short, spoil it nonetheless and make Astro add spoiler tags.
Most questions related to Archer – his identity, his past, his abilities that Astro might not know about – will eventually be answered in the story. There’s no need to give any hints about future events or anything.
*To add
And if one wants to give hints, one should keep them in spoiler tags.
Point taken about Astronerdboy’s action seemingly affirming your complaint. With that said, It certainly didn’t feel self-explanatory to me when that line first came up. It becomes self-explanatory after it has been fully-explained and not before, which is why I thought it wouldn’t be considered a spoiler. With that said, the initial comment was made in good faith that it wouldn’t be considered so and in the spirit of teasing out the outcome a bit without being spoilery. I apologize if it felt like I was directly trolling.
Its all good. 🙂
well everyone has most likely given the answer to archer…
[spoiler]this adaptation is a refinement of ubw base off realta nua that ties in better with zero.
as stated in the movie and vn… archer claims that he lost his memories is only partially true.
his very existence of this incarnation is a paradox, so until the events of the previous episode he shouldnt have existed.
all his actions till now is to determine is shirou who he tinks he is and if he was summoned to the right era[/spoiler]
Note: Spoiler tags added to be safe.
Above, the answer to Astro’s question was: “We are not gonna tell you. Just wait and see.”
Astro has further insight of many things already, now that he has seen Fate/Zero. However, UBW is the route that is not affected that much by this, compared to Fate or HF, so I suggest everyone should keep quiet about anything related to Archer. No hints, no explanation, because it will be explained eventually in the story.
Yep the story about archer will be a lot clearer as oppose to the movie
I… hope you got the point of my comment. Don’t post any spoilers about future events of Archer (or anything else related to UBW), unless it’s from the preview or anything. [spoiler]No mention of his memory. No mention of his existence as a heroic spirit. It will be explained eventually anyway.[/spoiler] And use spoiler tags, that’s why Astro added that feature in.
Sorry, I’m itching to add; “unless Astro doesn’t mind”. After all, there are people who don’t mind spoilers. That’s why he added spoiler tags instead of forbidding any kind of spoiler.
Well, I think Astro isn’t really bothered by spoilers that much, but I do think it’s better to let the story do the talking, if the questions he has are eventually answered in the route. The anime hasn’t even reached the end of the third day yet. 😉