April 12th, 2015 
AstroNerdBoy Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works – 14 review
フェイト/ステイナイト [Unlimited Blade Works] – 14
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Rin bandages up Shirou and the two have dinner, where they discuss how to proceed since Saber won’t be able to resist Caster much longer. Caster is frustrated by how she hasn’t been able to find the Grail in the church. She recalls her first master, a rich mage who used technology to mass sacrifice young girls for small mana crystals. She is not impressed and wants it stopped, showing she can produce large crystals without sacrificing anyone. Her Master uses a Command Spell so that she’s unable to use Rule Breaker on him. The rich mage goes to the church to complain to Kirei, who says another Servant can be provided.
The rich mage then gives a contract that sells the right to dispose of Caster to Kirei for him to pass to the female Master of Lancer in case his own plans to dispose of her fail. Kirei smirks as the mage leaves. When the mage returns home, he finds his female lab assistants have been brutally slain and his lab is on magical fire. He uses his remaining two command spells on her to try to force her to kill herself, but she has used Rule Breaker on herself, severing their connection. She makes him experience a nightmare as she burns him to cinder. Lancer arrives and Caster barely escapes with her life. In the woods in the rain, she laments having failed again when she’s found by Kuzuki, who takes her home and believes her story.
Elsewhere, Shirou and Rin arrive at the woods where Ilya’s castle is. Ilya is aware of them and to her servant Sella’s chagrin, Ilya wants to hear what they have to say. She orders Sella and Leysritt (Liz) to capture the two and bring them to her. As they leave the castle, Shinji falls out of the sky. Before they can deal with him, Gilgamesh appears. Liz attacks Gilgamesh, but is easily defeated, as is Sella. Though pierced with multiple blades, Sella still defies Gilgamesh, so he beheads her. Berserker busts through the castle wall with Ilya in tow. She’s horrified at what has been done to her servants as Gilgamesh identifies her as the Grail vessel. Ilya orders Berserker to kill Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is excited to have a fight to relieve his boredom.
Thoughts/Review:
Wow! ufotable manages to just have me floored with the shocking (and horrific) surprises in episode 14.
First, there was Caster’s backstory of her first Master for this Holy Grail War. I knew from the first Fate/stay night anime (someone may have explained this) that Caster had originally been summoned by a mage from the Mage Association and that Caster subsequently killed her Master for unknown reasons before being rescued by Kuzuki-sensei. I just figured Caster was an evil witch (ha!ha!) who didn’t want to be in this war, but changed her mind when Kuzuki-sensei found her and saved her.
Of course, that was completely wrong thinking on my part. This mage, who appeared to be associated with Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald since the El-Melloi name was mentioned, was portrayed as a complete and total bastard. He had a literal harem and thought nothing of taking girls from other places and butchering them for their mana. Heck, he was proud of his combing technology with magic since he did in a short time what others would take ages to do. That alone makes him pretty darned evil.
His evil continued since he wanted Caster murdered so he could get another Servant. I was surprised that Kirei said that it would be possible for this evil mage to get another Servant. Once Caster was disposed of, would another Caster be chosen since the war had not officially started?
What surprised me about Caster was how she did not approve of him taking lives as he did and she wanted his lab gone. However, it explains a great deal about Caster and turns her from this cliched “evil witch” to something more tragic and sympathetic. Now that I think about it, has Caster actually killed anyone? She could have killed Taiga, but she didn’t.
I do wonder how Caster survived her battle with Lancer. Caster is quite powerful, but alas, we were not shown the details of that battle, only that she escaped with injuries.
Because we don’t know a lot about Kuzuki-sensei, it seemed like a stretch that he would so readily believe Caster’s story. I hope we get to see more about him to explain this.
Having already hit me in the face with the casual, gruesome murders of a bunch of girls, ufotable then says, “OK, time to step things up a notch!” They do this in a way that is just unbelievable by having Shinji launched into the castle courtyard of Ilya’s residence in a comedic way. That was totally disarming for the horrors that were to come.
In the Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya series, I really liked Ilya’s servants Sella and Liz. It was fun seeing them with actual parts, including Sella protesting her ojousama’s decision to see Rin and Shirou.
Then Gilgamesh shows up, and I just knew the worst was going to happen. When Liz launched herself at Gilgamesh to attack him, I thought, “NOOO! You’re going to die!”
As horrific as it was seeing Liz’s arm cut off, followed by her dead on the ground with lots of blades piercing her, seeing Sella on hands and knees, pieced with multiple blades, was even more horrific for me. I admired her devotion to Ilya in that her last act was to still defy Gilgamesh, even though it meant her getting beheaded.
And then there’s Ilya. I felt so badly for her because when she sent Liz and Sella to get Shirou and Rin, I felt she wanted to see Shirou as a member of her family and I knew whatever she planned wasn’t going to happen. Then to see the horror on her face as she saw Liz and Sella slain was just heartbreaking to me.
As the Grail, Gilgamesh would seem to be interested in capturing Ilya and forcing her to change. Berserker is very powerful, but honestly, I’d have to bet on Gilgamesh in a fight here. Even if Rin and Shirou make it through the forest, they don’t have the power to stop Gilgamesh, even if Ilya isn’t captured when they arrive. Based on how things have gone so far, I don’t see good things happening for Ilya. 🙁
I’m still sitting here in shock at everything that has happened with this series. With dreaded anticipation, I look forward to the next episode.
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Is it fair to call these “shocks” instead of just “random events”? It’s not like they set these things up competently enough for us to get any real emotion from them, other than “oh wow, something actually happened for a change!”
Considering how these “shocks” are foreshadowed quite well, even in this route, I believe “random events” is inappropriate.
Daily reminder that UBW is the second route of the Visual Novel. The anime can be best experienced by reading/watching the first route first, although that is not necessary, because the most important parts are still there.
I wouldn’t bother with studio Deen adaption the level of detail and information in the two adaption are vastly lacking in deen’s whilst ufotable goes all the way.
Friendly reminder… Ufotable is the group working on the remakes of the game realta nua for psvita and they also worked on fate zero.
This UBW adaption actually has expanded material and refined plot lines to make everything make sense and too give everyone a fair moment to shine rather than solely focus on shirou and archer or saber or rin.
Um, they worked on the OPs for Realta Nua… so? I don’t quite see the point of this statement, as I’m well aware of this.
Duh. The plot lines already make sense in the original novel. El Goopo calls the shocks “random events”, which is something I simply cannot agree with, because even in the anime the foreshadowing is still present. I still don’t see what you’re trying to tell me.
If you wish to be rude and treat people like idiots or r…. With that condescending attitude then go to 2ch 4ch or reddit and do it.
Um, I don’t think I was really rude. I’m asking you what you want to phrase, what you want to express with your reply to me.
Oops, wrong comment.
It just sounded rude and condescending which wasn’t very pleasant… though it is understandable because I can come off like that during a SAO discussion. But yeah… thought I should let you know how your sounding atm.
I don’t regret watching the Deen adaptation since it has actually caused me to be more surprised by the changes in the Unlimited Blade Works route. But I don’t tell people, “You gotta watch the first anime first, then this one” because the Deen anime is so subpar compared to ufotable’s work.
Well, I didn’t really want to imply that, either, as I think DEEN’s first anime was mediocre at best. Still, TYPE-MOON gave the first route out for free for Android and iOS, you know? It’s kind of like they want to apologize to the Fate fans and at the same time give everyone watching the anime the opportunity to catch up. I mean, FZ-only people should be massively disappointed with Saber’s role in this route.
Yeah, that’s fair. Never saw the DEENime because of the poor rep it got in the fan community when I got into Fate.
I would love a Fate route done by ufotable, but the DEENime has already soured that approach and a lot of the beginning of Fate is introduction to the Grail War, some of the same stuff that was already shown in Zero. No closure for those Saber fans who got into the series because of Zero, though.
Maybe when ufotable is done with the Heaven’s Feel movies, I dunno.
Yeah, ufotable doing the Fate route would be sweet indeed.
Interviews actually revealed that ufotable did work on a Fate adaptation at first, but very early on switched to UBW, while they were working on some scenes (presumably the first of Shirou’s and Rin’s days).
Due to the similarities at the beginning and several other reasons I find it unlikely that they will ever re-adapt Fate, although I would be positively surprised if they did.
I’m not saying one should go watch DEEN’s adaptation of Fate, I’m just saying it’s easier to appreciate certain parts of UBW with Fate knowledge in mind, which can’t really be compensated by Fate/Zero alone. Examples would be the fact that Shirou can pull off projection (and first explanations how it actually works), Saber’s past and its resolution at the end of Fate.
The routes are after all locked to force the player to play them in a certain order. Going with UBW first seems like they skipped something. At least new Japanese fans could compensate this by playing Fate. As I’ve said, giving Fate out for free sounds to me like a consolation prize and an apology for not doing Fate.
Well, for me they are shocks because I saw the original Fate/stay night anime. With that as my base, replaying the same Holy Grail War but seeing different results is shocking to me. I would NEVER have thought Saber and Shirou would not be Servant/Master. I would NEVER have thought that Archer would leave Rin. But that happened.
I have the feeling because I use FSN by studio Deen as a base but I can barely remember what happens. The UBW movie was a better attempt but in terms of story telling, Ufotable is the best.
Amen to that. As far as I’m concerned, they should be the only ones to adapt any future Type-Moon series.
Well, there is Carnival Phantasm (Lerche), Prisma Illya (Silver Link), Canaan (P.A. Works) and Fate/EXTRA CCC (SHAFT) too…
I’d say ufotable is suited for Takeuchi’s character designs. The other animes I listed, except Canaan, were designed by others and the studios that took care of the animation did in my opinion a good job, too. An adaptation of Tsukihime by ufotable does sound tempting, though…
Yeah, I agree.
Although I’m not complaining about Prisma Illya, I secretly wonder what it would be like if done by ufotable.
Oops, badly formulated. EXTRA CCC doesn’t have an anime; the OP of the game was done by SHAFT.
Agreed. I dunno what they’re scheduled to be doing after the Heaven’s Feel movies, though.
Aside from Fate Kaleid, this is the nicest we’ve seen of Liz and Sella animated. I’m sure because you’ve seen them in Fate Kaleid, it’ll hit you harder than someone who hasn’t heard of them before.
Fun fact: most of the character building and personalities and back-stories of Liz and Sella are fleshed out in the sequel Fate/Hollow Ataraxia.
RIP Sella and Liz i’m sure we’ll see you again in the summer when Fate/Kaleid comes back ^_^
That’s very true. Had I not watched Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, these two maids dying would have not had much meaning for me.
Is Fate/Hollow Ataraxia getting an anime?
Yeah, I’m looking forward to that as well.
Ufotable has released another remake for the game, if things goes well with UBW and heavens feel there a good chance they will adapt the entire franchise since they doing a real amazing job with it.
But yeah Stella T^T her head and liz arm… Nuuuuuu
I know there’s going to be a movie (or maybe movie series) adaptation of Heaven’s Feel route. So that’s still something to look forward to. I would like them to do other Type-Moon series.
ufotable and TYPE-MOON announced in 2010 that they would collaborate again and release an anime series called Girls’ Work, which was originally planned as a visual novel (together with the remake of Tsukihime and Mahou Tsukai no Yoru).
Don’t ask me what it’s about, because I have no idea. ^_^ Almost as good as nothing about it was revealed and it’s been over five years since the announcement. The project isn’t cancelled, but I think it will take a while before we will get some new info about it.
So, Tsukihime is getting a remake then? I was thinking you’d said that. Sweet. ^_^
Regardless, anything ufotable/Type-Moon will be watched by me if at all possible.
I hope you didn’t misunderstand, I’m talking about a Visual Novel remake of Tsukihime… because obviously an anime adaptation of it never existed, so it can’t be remade.
Jokes aside, I think an anime will only happen at around the time the VN remake is done.
Its story is in my opinion better than FSN, and it deserves an anime that does it justice, but you don’t want to see how that game aged.
And since Nasu and co. are really slow and since they want to do more sequels of Mahou Tsukai no Yoru first (or so I’ve heard), it will probably take a while until the remake is done.
Until then…
http://i.imgur.com/I7XbIWM.gif
*lol* I clearly did misunderstand, but now things are clear to me. 😉
Which is what I’m hoping for. And if that happens, and I’m still writing this blog, you’ll be here to comment. 😀
I am unaware of ufotable releasing a remake of the game, since they happen to be an animation studio, not a game one.
They may have done the animation for a re-release of the VN like Farray said above, but that’s not the same as them remaking the VN itself.
Ah… based mostly on the chapter Princess and the chapters after that, this episode mostly tells us about Caster’s backstory, changes a few things and leaves out other stuff from the novel.
First things first, ufotable chooses the smart decision and lets Shirou say he wants to team up with other Masters (the other choices were kind of dumb). Indeed, Ilya is the one they should ally with the most, since they are not aware of the unknown blonde Servant and Lancer’s Master is unavailable. There were tons of SoL scenes, but the screentime is limited, so of course the dinner scene must have been left out.
Now for Caster’s backstory in the Visual Novel.
[spoiler] This is what was revealed in the novel: Her Master had no will to fight, but dreamed of victory. He was patient and wanted to wait until the other Masters killed each other, but as an inferior magus, he didn’t trust Caster, only gave her as much mana as necessary and eventually used all his Command Spells for meaningless commands. He treated her very badly.
Caster then killed him with Rule Breaker, but since she couldn’t last long without an anchor and with not much mana left, she would have disappeared, if Kuzuki hadn’t shown up and brought her to the Ryuudou Temple (which is where Fuyuki’s leylines are focused on, which in turn saved her life). She then, originally intending to make him into her puppet, explained everything to him and asked him to make a contract with her. (Which they did by sleeping with each other, since Kuzuki is not a magus. So yes, those two have a sexual relationship.) However, they do have problems communicating, since Kuzuki doesn’t have a self or a past, yet he is not empty inside. it’s not going well and Caster thinks it’s a rather one-sided relationship.
What is also revealed is how she was used by the gods and had no control of her actions, when she helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece and betrayed her country and family. Blamed and shunned as a witch, all alone in a foreign country, Jason eventually left her. She doesn’t usually want to use her life force siphoning technique, as it’s forbidden magic. She also already figured out all the mechanics of the Holy Grail and is not interested in its intended power, yet she still needs it for her own objectives.
Archer then rudely comes in and, being bored, starts a conversation with her. Caster is discussing her plans with him, noting that Berserker is the only enemy left they have to attack, as soon as Saber is hers and that this must be the reason why Archer joined her. Archer then says:
“Who knows. Don’t you think I only wanted to break my contract with that Master? Don’t you think I didn’t care who my new Master was?”
There is some truth in Archer’s words.
…But what does it mean?
Archer had no intention of betraying, but betrayed his Master only because he wanted to break his contract with Tohsaka Rin?
“…I see. So you did not like looking after that little girl? Well, it is true that Servants are dissatisfied with their Masters. It is natural for you to run out of patience with yours.”
“No, she was perfect as a summoner. But some miscalculations occurred.
And Caster, let me warn you. Do not consider all Servants to be like you.
At the very least, Saber and Berserker were satisfied with their Masters. A righteous hero can only be summoned by righteous people.”
“…Heh, why tell me that now? A twisted Master calls for twisted heroic spirits. You do not need to tell me that.”
…That is right. Servants are determined by their summoners.
[…]
“Originally, a mixed spirit that had a heroic side would not have been called upon.
Things went out of order starting with the third war. Heroic spirits like Rider and I were not summoned before that.”
Note that Zouken in Fate/Zero notices that too.[/spoiler]
So, in that regard, ufotable changed a few things in the anime. First about her Master, アトラム・ガリアスタ, which can be romanized as Atram Galiast (or maybe Atomic Gatorade…). Atram btw looks very similar to a concept art of a Kara no Kyoukai character, Cornelius Alba (http://i.imgur.com/giLOI3F.png). Oh, and Atram Galiast sounds like a really cool name for a douchebag. It seems like he was another mage who specialized in conversion and alchemy, but his skills aren’t nearly as refined as Tohsaka or Einzbern.
I know they wanted to make her Master look like a petty, jealous asshole, but in my opinion his “edginess” was a bit hilarious and over the top. Him hitting Medea (shouldn’t hurt her, should it?), liquifying children à la Fullmetal Alchemist and then lying right to Kirei’s face, claiming she is the monster (which Kirei instantly questions), who doesn’t value human lives, when it seems like it’s the opposite, was then a bit on the nose, so everybody can cheer on Caster, once she gets rid of this scum.
But anyway, he doesn’t have any relations with Kayneth, not that I know of, except for him being a member of the Mage Association. Of course as a fellow member, he knows Lancer’s female Master.
[spoiler] If I remember Fate/hollow ataraxia correctly, Bazett should still be alive, as she confronted Caster “on the base of the mountain” once (as in, the mountain where the Ryuudou Temple is), but it’s possible this is not the case here and Kirei’s remark at the end makes it look like he already offed her. Well, whatever. [/spoiler]
As in the novel, Caster drops important hints about the Grail here. She knows about the Greater Grail, she knows where the “heart” of the Holy Grail is, and the location she is talking about is of course the Ryuudou Temple, Caster’s hideout in FSN.
i don’t think that was the question. More like, since five Masters were already chosen (Bazett, Atram, Tohsaka, Einzbern, Matou), he asks whether he could just take another of the seven spots to summon a different Servant class. There is only supposed to be one Heroic Spirit for each of the seven vessels.
[spoiler] It’s noted in additional material books, that she found the one who was chosen to summon Assassin (what she did with him is not known). She used his “rights” to summon her Assassin as her guard for the Ryuudou Temple, after she made a contract with Kuzuki.
[/spoiler]
However, her past about her life is almost completely left out (except for some vague hints and drawings, when she kills Atram), and there won’t be any such thing, at least in this episode, in the full episode.
She did kill people, though unintentionally at first. She couldn’t control her life force siphoning technique correctly (as she never used it before), so at first some people died, but she only saps as much as possible without killing them. Archer actually calls her soft in episode 7 for not killing them, which infuriates Shirou.
Caster actually can’t stand brutality* (Kirei mocked her in episode 12) and her methods work far better than those of a modern magus. The anime did show well, how hopelessly modern magi are outclassed by magi like her, who are from the Age of Gods. She doesn’t even need circuits (http://i.imgur.com/85DUGB5.jpg). Caster can harness mana way better, she’s stronger and she’s faster. Too bad most Servants have strong magic resistance.
*However, she (probably intentionally) made some men impotent with hemlock, because she in general hates almost all men.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Next, about what happens in the present with Team Berserker. First of all, Berserker’s identity is revealed for the first time in UBW (although since Fate comes first, the reader already knew it), it’s Heracles. That funny moment with the alarm system in the forest is from the novel. But since almost every scene is narrated from Shirou’s or Rin’s perspective, everything about Ilya and the maids is new, unseen material.
What’s with the wind gust, that blew Sella’s hat away and the flower petals, when the blonde Servant appeared, btw? It’s almost like a scene from a shoujo manga, lol. And of course, Shinji was comedy gold. ^_^
While I’m at it (and since they died this episode), here’s some info about Leysritt and Sella. It’s either from Fate/hollow ataraxia and material books:
As blonde Servant already said, they are homunculi. There are several types of homunculi. Sella is an academical-type, Leysritt is a strength-type. Ironically, the unknown Servant killed them, by using his sword on their best assets (stabbing Liz’ boobs and hacking off Sella’s head).
Liz possesses Servant strength actually, it’s estimated to be B-. As you can see, she has ridiculous jump power and that halberd she carries with her is no joke, either. The halberd is made of Rhenium, an element which is even better than Tungsten Steel. It weighs a lot and rather than sharp, is more a tough weapon.
Rhenium is named after the “Rhine”, a very large and famous river in Europe (in fact, I live near the Rhine), which is quite interesting and fitting for the halberd, because of its connection to the Lorelei and its myth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorelei). Phlipp Friedrich Silcher’s Die Lorelei was Ilya’s theme in the Visual Novel of FSN.
Additional notes:
1. Episode script cover:
http://i.imgur.com/zuqeAiI.jpg
2. This episode was cut. Around seven minutes are missing this time. According to the people who attended the prescreening, what was missing:
[spoiler]
Did I ever mention that Caster possesses the Golden Fleece? I think I did (in ep 6 or 7 or so). She theoretically could summon a dragon with it, but she lacks the knowledge and skills to do so. This would make her midrange tier in this Holy Grail War, instead of being the weakest Servant out of the seven (eight).
Btw, this is a pic from a cut scene, from the preview that was shown at the end of episode 12:
http://i.imgur.com/Zf92akM.jpg [/spoiler]
3. More from Nasu what people who read the VN can look forward to:
[spoiler] According to Nasu’s blog, apparently there will be more new stuff next episode, including some Einzbern lore that was originally intended for the Ilya route. [/spoiler]
4. Not sure why Rin thinks Heracles and Medea met on the Argo or why she thinks they are natural enemies. Heracles left the Argo long before Jason and the other Argonauts arrived in Colchis. Actually, I think Medea and Heracles are said to be friends, as she arrived in Thebes – after she left Corinth – and cured Heracles of his madness. As thanks, Heracles let her live in his house in Thebes, until the people of Thebes, despite Heracles’ protests, forced Medea to leave the town.
5. [spoiler] Gilgamesh’s name is actually only revealed next episode, if I remember correctly, so I wanted to keep it in tags as long as possible. Well, not that it really matters.
Gilgamesh makes a rather respectful remark about homunculi in this episode, although he called them “ugly meat dolls” originally. This is probably a reference to Fate/EXTRA CCC, where you learn a lot more about Gilgamesh.
His one and only friend, Enkidu, the only one who ever understood Gilgamesh, was a golem created by the gods, to watch over Gilgamesh. When Enkidu died, Gilgamesh promised him that his worth will never diminish, as he for eternity will never make another friend. [/spoiler]
6. Bad translations again:
a) Blonde Servant: “Even though you are human only in shape, you function as real human beings.”
Should be: “Despite being human in form, you are indeed extensions of nature.”
b) Blonde Servant: “I shall forgive your disrespect, assuming it is out of fear.”
Should be: “In recognition of the awe you have expressed, I shall forgive your disrespectful acts.”
The translator who noticed these mistakes was notably very pissed, because it took less than three seconds to translate that. ^_^ (Btw, the english subs of the BD box are partially worse than Crunchyroll’s ones.)
7. That’s a rather nice detail, when I look at Shirou’s and Rin’s teacup on the table:
http://i.imgur.com/tzplTiY.jpg
8. I gotta say, I love ufotable’s artwork. When Sella’s hat was blown away, she looked really beautiful. Ayako in episode 4 also looked really good. Too bad the former is dead and the latter in a bad condition. T_T
9. The blonde Servant’s chess piece in the preview is a golden king. Not surprised at all.
10. Gifs, lots of them:
[spoiler]
Cute Rin:
http://i.imgur.com/8p0fvd0.gif
Caster gets punched:
http://i.imgur.com/UXRkRCz.gif
Lancer enters:
http://i.imgur.com/YYOhcgP.gif
Shirou gets a shock:
http://i.imgur.com/SER12z2.gif
Rin gets a shock:
http://i.imgur.com/sY4pXXW.gif
Shitji falling:
http://i.imgur.com/fNnvGyu.gif
http://i.imgur.com/uu7Zks6.gif
Charming/Smug Shitji:
http://i.imgur.com/7K1fxo7.gif
http://i.imgur.com/A23mZxT.gif
http://i.imgur.com/irVHrLh.gif
Scared Shitji:
http://i.imgur.com/GklCnQd.gif
http://i.imgur.com/ZkjDqCH.gif
http://i.imgur.com/WX0NnKC.gif
http://i.imgur.com/YJe299h.gif
Blonde Servant enters the scene:
http://i.imgur.com/7Zeit7r.gif
http://i.imgur.com/9zpuesD.gif
http://i.imgur.com/FlNMx0A.gif
Poor Sella and Liz T_T :
http://i.imgur.com/SH9pp59.gif
http://i.imgur.com/UiiNapI.gif
Shinji looks away:
http://i.imgur.com/CI63Q3N.gif
Berserker enters the scene:
http://i.imgur.com/Sz81TkL.gif
http://i.imgur.com/o1YJ4w1.gif
Shocked Ilya:
http://i.imgur.com/P781PjC.gif
Blonde Servant prepares for battle:
http://i.imgur.com/ML55BuV.gif
[/spoiler]
Well, that’s it for now. Prepare for an epic battle between legendary heroes next week! 😉
I want to add, Sella and Leysritt are two years old in FSN. They are older in Prisma Illya.
Also,
[spoiler] I didn’t know Shinji could be transported via Gate of Babylon. Kind of reminds me of Kaede’s artifact with the house inside her cloak, lol. [/spoiler]
But that would mean that [spoiler]Gil values Shinji as much as the other treasures in the vault of the Gate of Babylon…[/spoiler]
I just don’t see that happening…
Nice gif collection, this series is great for them. I’ve noticed that a lot of them are pretty poor quality, but you have to take what you can get. You really got most of the ones I wanted to post, but here’s some more:
[spoiler]
Looping version of Shinji’s faceplant:
https://38.media.tumblr.com/af6c2fd77dab36fac6438a9cde8be4e3/tumblr_nmnqsiZJB21tndn6wo3_500.gif
Burning Caster’s Master plus workshop:
http://i.imgur.com/AkwPclk.gif
[/spoiler]
Noticed that you constantly referred to Shinji as Shtji, which is fitting here.
Also, just noticed that yesterday was DC’s Cherry Blossom festival. With all the blossoms fluttering in the background of Gil’s encounter in the Einzbern estate, I felt it was an amusing coincidence. DC’s cherry blossom festival is probably the most prominent in the country because of all the press it gets due to the story of the gifts of the cherry trees from Japan a century and a half ago as symbols of friendship, and maybe the story is known there too? Still, probably wasn’t planned that way, due to time zones and all that.
Regarding your Medea backstory chat, there’s a guy going by Harry Dresden (ironic, eh?) bitching in YouTube comments (yes, reading YouTube comments is a dumb idea, but it’s like a trainwreck I can’t look away from) that this adaptation can do no right, even with the added scenes that Nasu wrote. He complains that we didn’t get Medea’s mythical backstory in this episode during the flashback instead of the story of what happened with her previous Master, saying that it’ll so much harder to understand her unless that info is there.
To which I respond here: you were given her identity, you can look it up if you want to know it. It isn’t all that hard to use Google, especially for a myth as well known as Medea… Sure, there were some Nasu original takes on her myth, but it wasn’t that big of a change and omitting that won’t affect people’s enjoyment of the series that much unless you;re a Type-Maniac and an obsessive primary (but I repeat myself). Honestly, he’s just looking for the smallest nits to pick and its annoying. He hasn’t been happy with the anime because he feels it leaves out too much of Shirou’s inner monologues and shit like that. He has a bit of a point, but only a bit, and keep harping on about it on any related video he can get his hands on… It’s tiring. I really should stop reading YouTube comments, but I can’t stop myself due to minor OCD about these things…
“Harry Dresden” is CookingPriest (http://myanimelist.net/profile/CookingPriest) aka Fai, as some people might know his former username. Just ignore him. He is really upset, to put it mildly, about lots of changes and that the BD box didn’t have as many extended scenes as he hoped.
Avoid the MAL forums (and the ANN and maybe even Neogaf ones, too) at all costs. They (and with that I mean him in MAL’s case) are so full of negativity and salt, it’s unbelievable.
As for Medea’s backstory, I kind of agree with you here. The anime has to cut stuff, they just don’t have all the time to fit everything in. Heck, even the chapter in the VN was quite short, and in fact, many Servants got their mythical background in Fate/hollow ataraxia actually (and blonde Servant in EXTRA CCC), because there wasn’t even the space and time in FSN.
It does add up to Medea’s characterization and makes her more sympathetic, but I agree, you already get similar results, if you just look up her legend. Anyone who knows a bit more about Medea knows she was in some way screwed by Jason, who left her, and she took her revenge. This is why I summed up, what was basically a summary of her story in the novel, for ANB very quickly.
Thanks for that info, Harry Dresden is indeed very salty about everything in this adaptation. Just wish he wouldn’t nitpick and comment on almost every single YouTube video I watch concerning this series. I know I shouldn’t read YouTube comments, but as i said, it;s kinda like a trainwreck I can’t look away from. He’s really seriously harshing the enjoyment I get from watching reaction videos.
At least all commentators aren’t as negative as he is, as the general consensus is that this is an amazing and faithful adaptation with great animation and fight scenes.
I don’t go to the MAL forums, but I do keep up with the ANN reviews and the response to them. That thread is full of pointless bitching as well, but at least some of their complaints are somewhat valid. Doesn’t take away from my enjoyment of the reviews, and some of those complaints are clearly crazy, especially any that mention an SJW interpretation of those reviews. I’ll stick with ADTRW on Something Awful, and threads on Spacebattles and Sufficient Velocity. I dunno, I like ANN, especially after Hope Chapman joined the team, and she’s suffered the whole baseless SJW complaint thing admirably as well.
Hope Chapman gets a “meh” from me. I don’t know if you were present, when her “VN experience” consisted of a friend streaming Fate on twitch, skipping and skimming large amounts of text and then tearing apart lines which can be interpreted as sexist, but that made me lose my respect for her regarding FSN related material.
Her rambling on twitter also struck me as utterly immature (https://twitter.com/JohnDCP/status/521403059092459520/photo/1). Of course she can’t remember Rin or Shirou were like that in the first episodes if she never even read the VN correctly, so any comparisons (and praising ufotable for “fixing” Shirou and Rin) were just beyond dumb. When it’s about Type-Moon, I can’t take her seriously anymore.
She was partially censoring the forums, when she threatened with warnings and bans those, who criticized Gabriella Ekens’ attacks on how misogynist Nasu’s writing is in the first episode reviews, even if it was sometimes completely unwarranted or had nothing to do with the actual episode at all. Besides, there was the general bashing of the source material, as if ufotable had to completely fix everything about FSN. “Reading” Fate is not nearly enough to completely review and compare the anime with the entire VN.
Fair enough, everyone has their own likes and dislikes. I stick by Hope Chapman because she doesn’t put up with the whole SJW complaints thing that’s been roiling the video game community for the better part of half a year (the thing that can be referred to by a term that before then meant female ants) and now has spread to Sci-Fi and other aspects of a greater “culture war”. I’m just so tired of that bullshit and any place that cracks down on it is good in my book… No offense if you subscribe to the goals of that hashtag…
Really, while she might not do the best reviews, I like Gabby’s stuff. Also, I read a bunch of Hope’s stuff on the Something Awful forums, and she tends to be pretty even handed with her reviews. Maybe she’s a bad choice to take a look at Fate specifically, due to prior biases, but she’s pretty good people overall.
to Farray: “Type-Maniac or obsessive primary” — very interesting phrases, that I’ve not seen. I have my own interps, but I’d be interested in your elaboration.
I assume you’re talking to me since I was the one who originally posted those terms. Type-Manaics is a common enough term for obsessive Type-Moon fans, who are super into not just the Fate franchise but the extended Nasuverse and tend to take any criticism of Type-Moon works personally. Also, they’re offended when an adaptation of a Type-Moon work is not perfect in their eyes. Sometimes that’s a good thing, like when they complain about the DEENime or the mythical Tsukihime anime adaptation (it never existed!), but there are ones that nitpick everything and take it too far. There are a lot of them on Beast’s Lair, but the majority of that board tends to be good people who just happen to like the Nasuverse a lot.
As for primaries, it’s an /a/ term that has filtered through the Fate fan community. Basically, almost all Fate fans can be divided into primaries and secondaries, the former being ones who read the VN and got into Fate through that, and the latter being ones who got into Fate via watching an anime like Fate/Zero. Stereotypical behavior for obsessive primaries is ragging on secondaries every chance they get and complaining about any changes made for adaptations. It’s become sort of a joke nowadays.
Basically what GhostStalker said. In that regard, I can actually count, or at least started, as a secondary too, because I got into Type-Moon with DEEN’s adaptation in… 2007 or so. The VN wasn’t completely available in English at that time and I cannot read Japanese.
Btw, I want to add “Type-Moonie” to the list of words, although some people just say fanatic or something like “butthurt elitist”.
Mind you, I don’t think this adaptation here is perfect, either. It has its flaws, and I complain about them, but I’m having so much fun watching this, I still think this is a great adaptation.
There are rare cases where I think an adaptation can surpass the original. Animation helps, though. 😉
I don’t quite remember when I got into Fate, but I remember not bothering with the DEENime in 2007. I dunno why, I had heard of Fate through nerd osmosis back then, mostly through /a/ and had looked it up on Wikipedia. So I guess maybe you could call me a secondary?
I downloaded the VN with the Mirror Moon patch a while after that, I think it was after seorin started his (now archived and one of the best ways to see the VN if you don’t want to play it yourself) Let’s Play on the Something Awful forums which began in early 2009, though I lurked that thread until the paywall went up and paid :10bux: for my account there in early 2010. Played a bit of the VN in late 2009, but by that time, seorin’s LP had passed that point. So since my first true experience with Fate was an LP of the VN and a little of the game itself, I guess I could call myself a primary? I dunno, it’s arguable.
Never heard Type-Moonie except from those who were unfamiliar with the fandom and wanted a derogatory term but were unaware that one already existed. I guess it’s become it’s own thing now from enough use.
ANB, could you do me a favor here and change the BBcode here? I but square brackets around the bold tags instead of carats, since I’m used to the brackets from other forums.
Should read Shitji.
That was done. ^_^ WordPress doesn’t use BB code. HTML is used for everything except the spoiler tags, which are like BBcode, but is considered a WordPress thing.
Thanks for that!
I always get confused between BBCode and HTML with regards to message input. As I said, I;m more used to the square brackets of BBCode rather than the carats of HTML.
I can understand that. Because I’ve been doing HTML for so many years, sometimes on a forum, I forget and use the less-than/greater-than symbols. And I’ve done the brackets in HTML at times.
Thanks for the detailed info. As an outsider I didn’t realize the phrases were so closely tied to FateSN. However, they could easily apply outside to all those literary stalkers who obsess ignorantly and narrowly. I like “obsessive primary” and will use it elsewhere.
Happy to help. They’re not my terms, but feel free to use them in other contexts.
The literary context works well, especially for things like Game of Thrones, although I have heard the book reader refer to the show watchers as either “sweet summer child(ren)” and “the Unsullied”. But maybe that’s just in the Something Awful forums, since I don’t really follow the GoT fandom anywhere else, and it is huge…
I didn’t know they were so young here. Interesting.
Well…
[spoiler] Irisviel was one year old, when Ilya was born, and nine years old when she died. Homunculi can mature way faster, with Ilya notably being different, as her mother gave birth to her like a human.
As Gilgamesh said, even if they have a human shape, they are extensions of nature. Pseudo-nature spirits if you will. This automatically means that in theory a perfect homunculus could live forever.[/spoiler]
(Btw, how can I concretely say what the spoiler inside is about?)
You mean give the spoiler a subject? If that’s the case, it is like this.
[ spoiler title=”TITLE HERE”]
Another note: I don’t know if Caster’s Master’s name could be Atlam (because of the Japanese “L”/”R” issue). Atlam could make more sense, as one of the three great branches of the Mage Association is アトラス(atorasu), or Atlas Institute, located in the Atlas mountains of Egypt. Those who are dedicated to study alchemy gather in that place and douchebag practiced alchemy. So I will assume he is from that region.
Atlas doesn’t play a role in the Fate/ franchise, it’s part of the Tsukihime-verse. Or to be more precise, a heroine of the Melty Blood fighting games (sort-of a sequel to Tsukihime) is named Sion Eltnam Atlasia, (former) future director of Atlas.
Btw, when I saw Lancer coming out of that elevator, I kind of expected some smooth, relaxing elevator music, lol.
Also, bonus gif. Caster head tilt:
http://i.imgur.com/CiB9nr5.gif
I’ve got to ask. What year exactly is F/SN set in? LCD monitors the super rich can afford existed in the 1990’s but to have tablets like that too? This is sci-fi alright.
https://twitter.com/Fate_SN_Anime/status/518433066281205761
It’s supposed to be 2004, according to Nasu. The same year the Visual Novel was released (in fact, it was released on January 30, 2004 and the game begins on January 31, 2004 if I remember correctly).
As for tablets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Tablet_PC
It’s not impossible.
Yeah, that’s how I remember it too. It’s January 2004, and most routes wrap up by Valentine’s Day.
That’s why so many people are glad that this anime acknowledged what season it was, with snow falling in the background and characters wearing outfits appropriate for the weather (Shirou, Rin, Taiga, Sakura). The VN had no acknowledgement of this besides the date showing up at the beginning of each day, but the character sprites had no winter coats or anything like that.
In acknowledging this, ufotable gets more brownie points with me. (I don’t think I knew that the VN didn’t have characters wearing coats and such.)
If it’s 2004 I can buy it more.
It was handwaved in the VN as “the winters in Fuyuki are surprisingly warm”, if I remember correctly. Rin and Ilya did wear a coat sometimes, though.
Speaking of the dates, I wish there had been some kind of acknowledgement, that Rin’s birthday had come and gone during the Grail War, but that might not have fit the atmosphere of a magical war.
I remember that explanation. I think it was because the Fuyuki River warmed the area or something like that?
I had forgotten about Rin’s birthday. What day is that, anyway?
I don’t remember any explanation to be honest. It was just in the Prologue Rin saying Fuyuki has a long, but quite warm winter, which again would make it a poor hot springs resort, lol.
Rin’s birthday is February 3 (basically the 4th day in the game). Some sources say February 4, but that’s incorrect.
Btw, I’m aware that the Atlas mountains are actually not in Egypt, but that’s how it’s written in the material books, so Nasu shifted the borders in his universe!
(More like ignorance, stereotypes and failure in research.)
I didn’t even think about that. *lol* Pretty funny, though I’ve stayed at places where the elevators are playing current, rock/pop music.
It depends I never got my hands on the original vn (tempted to get the ufotable realta nua remake) but you have to remember these guys who are working on the anime has also worked on the prequel and the game.
They’ve added and change some elements to refine the storyline and to give characters more backstory and time to shine rather than solely focus on shirou and archer.
If anything I think the expanded material is better than the original unrefined vn which was lacking in places…
Like you never had a true grasp of what was going on because things were missing and it left a bunch of vague information to explain it
You really need to use blockquotes, because I have no idea what part of my post you are referring to. Also, the “ufotable realta nua remake” is a PS Vita port of the FSN Realta Nua version with ufotable OPs. That is pretty much it. You make it sound as if they had actively worked on more than just OPs. A remake would be glorious, but I don’t expect one in the next five decades if ever at all.
I’m curious. You said you never got your hands on the original VN. How can you know it is lacking in places? Not to mention, while there is additional material in the anime, there are obviously some things that are left out, which would have lead to better world building and characterization. An example would be Rin’s so-called “lethal” Gandr shots in episode 5, which weren’t lethal at all, or how she could have known Archer attacked Shirou in episode 7, which was simply left out.
Some changes also don’t make much sense, like Kuzuki’s retreat in episode 10, when they supposedly still had an advantage. An anime-only viewer can’t possibly know his technique wouldn’t work on Saber again, when he just curbstomped Saber.
Also, the VN didn’t solely focus on Shirou and Archer, although this is admittedly an important part. FSN is after all Shirou’s story and UBW is the route where Archer shines. I mean, I just said this episode is largely based on a chapter from the novel about Caster.
Honestly, the VN covered most things quite well and one always had a good grasp of what was going on. There isn’t much that was missing, so you have to be more concrete. The only thing that was truly new in this episode was the maids’ fate, which ultimately didn’t really matter, because their role in this route is irrelevant. It’s more like fanservice than answering an important plot question, like FZ did.
Well in the same way I am a hardcore sword art online fan who has read the light novel and web novel. I can understand why your so defendant about the series.
The truth is not everyone has played an English edition of the vn… A lot of us have been basing this on studio Deen anime adaption and whatever information that was available on wiki.
Obviously I imagine there to be more information in the vn edition of the story but yes… Has there been an official English translation of the game that people can get?
As far as I know ufotable has through and edited the entire game by resizing the images and redoing the text so I’m pretty sure they read through the entire thing as much as you have. If it remains unchanged then yeah… Characters like kirei and kiritsugu would be rather lacking in terms of character… There was also a comparison someone did of UBW with shirou vs gilgamesh and it was a near word for word play out in the movie during the final fight.
I mean if you want a bland dull and boring adaption then studio Deen all the way (it will probs end up like Log horizon 2), ufotable is doing a good job by expanding the series through the anime and enhancing the experience which I’m sure anime fans really do appreciate.
Fate zero expanded on a lot of characters back stories and it effects how we perceive them in this UBW adaptation.
What you know is wrong. ufotable has nothing to do with what you’re talking about. Resizing and editing was done by Type-Moon’s people of course. But no, as I’ve said, the Vita version is just a Realta Nua port, not a remake. No text was edited again or anything. It’s still the same version from 2007 that they made for the PS2, with the addition of little extras like a scene selection option, a flowchart, perhaps a new sprite or two (drawn by Type-Moon’s artist Takeuchi) and of course new OPs done by ufotable. You could say the soundtrack was remade, but the same game with a polished soundtrack doesn’t count as a remake to me.
ufotable is “only” an animation Studio, they don’t make games. But yes, ufotable has also read the VN of course. Adapting something into an anime without actually knowing what is going on would be strange.
Also, anyone who has read Heaven’s Feel needs good arguments to convince me that Kirei’s character is lacking. It’s the route, where he is fully characterized. Kiritsugu I can understand a bit, but he doesn’t play an active role in FSN anyway, so that point is moot.
And I don’t understand what you want to say by bringing up this comparison with the movie and the novel. It’s bad that DEEN made the voice actors say lines that were straight from the novel? This anime does it too! More than many other anime adaptations, I saw, do, in fact, and that is only logical. Part of the process at ufotable when they make the script is making Nasu point out the key lines that must be kept.
You seem to imply I want a 1:1 adaptation of the novel. Never did I say that, did I? I’m saying this adaptation isn’t perfect and that they are leaving details out that can and did confuse some viewers and that not every change they make is necessarily good. I’m not a hyped fanboy who praises ufotable to be perfect and “fixed” any issues the VN could have possibly had (see my response to GhostStalker above about ANN’s reviewers), but I’m not an “obsessive primary” either, who hates every change.
If you have read my comments here and replied to them, you should know that I also appreciate expanding the anime with original scenes, while trimming down monologues and SoL scenes, as I’m fully aware that it’s an adaptation, that anime and VN are two entirely different media.
In fact, almost every time Nasu decided to add a new relevant scene to the anime (like Rin’s battle vs Ilya), I was praising the anime and ufotable for adding it in. You should know, that especially VN readers, compared to anime-only people, are excited about new unseen material, but in a very different way.
What I’m criticizing in your post is not that you criticize the Visual Novel, but what and how you criticize it. Because that simply doesn’t make sense to me. Of course I’m defendant about a series I know very well, when you say something like, in the VN “Kirei was lacking character”, which gives me the impression of someone who hasn’t actually read the VN and therefore has no right to claim this.
Fair enough the Ufotable bit does make sense in terms of the game port. But you know having collaborated and worked on the port, i’m sure they know their stuff and actually been through the story and made the necessary changes to the anime.
I mean the general feel and impact that this adaption has is by far better than what Studio Deen attempted to pull off when they adapted it ‘word for word’. Of course you can either stick to what is written and shown in the VN or spice things up a bit.
To me you sound like your just really unhappy about the series that is adapted by Ufotable and the few changes they made or the way they interpret the scenario. To be honest this is as good as the anime adaption can get… each of the characters in this adaption has a fair moment to shine (minus Rider who got slaughtered and we didnt really get to know her).
From studio Deen’s adaption I didn’t even know who half the heroes were, the series felt boring and dull and all of the character development was terrible and poorly depicted.
Like Berseker felt like raging muscle freak that was hard to kill, Shirou was trying too hard to fight when he cant even win, Archer was pretty cool but his connection to Shirou was so vague that I just thought Shirou just so happens to copy his weapon and only in the movie did I find out who Archer really is. It was at the point where I didn’t even understand the plot.
At least with Fate Zero and UBW adapted by Ufotable, I understood the rules, I understoof who each of the characters are and the identity of the heroes. A clearer understanding of Shirou’s character and his ideals for being a Hero of Justice. A better understanding of Kirei character, better atmosphere, better emotional relations to the series and the list can go on.
i mean characters like Berserker, Rider and caster I didn’t even like. But in this adaption, i’m loving their characters for they way they are shown I mean I feel more empathy towards Caster than I did in the Movie and original Anime.
Of course as you mention there are certain routes where certain characters get more attention like Rider, Kirei and Sakura in Heaven’s Feel.
Anyways I think it is all down to the how the viewer can digest a story but rather than continue this discussion… I think we should leave it here before it gets becomes a flame war. I understand what your trying to say because i am just like you when it comes down to SAO discussions but yeah… lets just kick back and enjoy the show.
Seriously, use blockquotes. I don’t see where I sound majorly disappointed that ufotable changed anything in this episode. I pointed the differences out for Astro, I didn’t complain. This is a major difference here and something you must have misunderstood.
You really must have gotten the wrong impression of me. If I point out differences, I do it because it’s to give Astro a better understanding of FSN, and I can at the same time answer questions he has in his reviews, which were thoroughly answered in the novel. Nowhere was there any rude remark in anything I wrote above. I have done this for Fate/Zero, for Prisma Illya (+2wei), and now for UBW, and I haven’t changed in any way.
I am displeased about certain things in this adaptation as I have said, but that is because these are mistakes that can be easily avoided, and I point it out. But if you reread my comments in Astro’s reviews, you will notice that I praise ufotable far more often than I complain. The only thing I regularly bash in almost every episode is the translation, which has nothing to do with ufotable.
As for DEEN’s adaptation, I am gonna play devil’s advocate now and say they didn’t really do much wrong with any of the things you listed here in their adaptation. No, the movie doesn’t count, it wasn’t for anime-only viewers anyway.
Berserker for instance is a raging muscle freak. That’s the point. All the things you listed are things that just happen in the Fate route. So yes, if you have a problem with this, it is indeed a problem you have with the VN, not DEEN.
Also,
I can assure you, ufotable is also adapting it word for word. For now, maybe 90% is a straightforward adaptation of UBW from the VN. Word for word doesn’t automatically mean it’s bad. If the source material is good – which it seems to be, since you like ufotable’s adaptation – chances are high it will work out by going ‘word for word’.
The problem ironically was, DEEN tried to spice things up, by adding UBW and HF related material in an anime that was supposed to adapt Fate, and only Fate, which led to dumb plotholes and nonsensical story parts (famous example would be latex Sakura).
This is to point out what DEEN’s task was when they adapted Fate: Fate is a route where the rules are introduced and established, where you learn about Shirou’s ideal, where Saber’s character is fully explored and where she gets a resolution for her story. The rules are properly established, the rest was a failure.
DEEN failed, because, to many people, Shirou only came off as a sexist weakling and his relationship with Saber was missing important development. If we are strict, we can say he still comes off as a bit sexist in the VN (Fate), which Nasu admitted was his own fault, but it was far easier to understand him. He is kind of weak in Fate, both physically and character wise, this is how it was written. His real development starts in UBW and ends in HF.
And again, DEEN doesn’t deserve so much hatred for the UBW movie, because it’s simply a movie. It was never intended for an anime-only fan. It showed the fights the fans of that route wanted to see. For what it was, it was good. Well, almost.
To sum what my problems with you was up in two sentences:
Give credit where it’s due. And I’m not as black as you paint me.
That you like Caster here is because it’s the UBW route. She just gets this attention in this route (and doesn’t get it in Fate or HF), it’s no different from the VN. I don’t give much praise to ufotable here, because Nasu gets most of the credit for writing this chapter in the VN. If they deserve praise, it’s for adapting it correctly. Which I did.
For this episode, ufotable also gets praise from me for going more into detail regarding her former Master, but I also criticize them for making it hilariously “edgy”/on the nose and another minor complaint is that they dropped Medea’s past life (minor, because see above my conversation with GhostStalker).
What I’m trying to tell you here is that both your criticism and praise are often misplaced. You praise ufotable for fleshing out other characters besides the main characters (which supposedly wasn’t in the VN), even though they actually only followed the novel.
You like how you now understand the Holy Grail War, how you understand many Servants here, but that is because ufotable follows the novel ‘word for word’ very closely. This is what I praise ufotable for, which you ironically think was DEEN’s problem. Do you see now, why I might have sounded a little bit irritated? It’s because what you said just sounds flat-out wrong in my ears.
P.S.: I noticed it too late, and I quoted you last time, but you must use spoiler tags for future events.
[spoiler title="UBW fight"]I’m talking about you casually mention that Shirou vs Gilgamesh will happen in UBW.[/spoiler]
I’m almost out of time this morning. (Man, I hate these ultra busy work periods.) I’ll read on this later, but I am VERY happy for the great info!
That, and…
[spoiler]…everyone can feel sadder when Caster gets killed.[/spoiler]
I agree.
Oh…I shouldn’t have mentioned a certain blonde so-and-so’s name, but I was under the serious gun time-wise when I wrote this, so I didn’t even think about that then.
Anyway, I wish I had more time to comment. I’m in NJ at the moment on business, and it has been a very busy trip so far. ^_^ If I get more time to comment, I will. I do appreciate you taking the time to write these excellent remarks. ^_^
What part of NJ?
Jersey City, right on the Hudson, looking into Manhattan.
Huh, pretty much across the harbor from me, then. I’m on Staten Island, near the Verazanno Bridge.
Ah. I only traveled to New York once on my first visit 13 months ago. I came with a friend and colleague, and he wanted to try Yakitori Totto. My subsequent visits have been solo, and have been busier than the time before. It took me all day yesterday to recover from this trip. ^_^;;;;
Episode was great, the added backstory with Caster’s first Master was well done. Vaguely evil Middle Eastern guy, though the VN never mentioned anything about his appearance. He really wasn’t like how I pictured him in my head when I read it.
The episode ended right as it got good, though. [spoiler]Kinda not looking forward to next week, knowing what happens. Dr Gil is making house calls, and I am sad it is coming, since Ilya is so damned cute…[/spoiler] Sella and Leysritt looked cool threatening Shinji, but of course they had to job to Gil because they really had no chance at all. Worth it to see Shinji getting punked like that, though. RIP Sella and Leys…
Well…
Her Master was a legitimate magus.
He was in his thirties, had a medium build, and had few noteworthy characteristics.
That is not exactly specific. Actually, this description tells us as good as nothing. ^_^
But as I’ve mentioned before, a few bits about him were changed by ufotable. There was that excellent doujin from 2004, I believe, that illustrated her story about her and her first Master rather well. It was in my opinion a good read.
http://bato.to/comic/_/comics/fatestay-night-another-mobius-doujinshi-r9239
I didn’t picture the guy this way either. I figured he was some hapless mage who was in over his head based off of remarks made from commenters during my viewing of the original anime adaptation.
After reading your thoughts/review, I’ve gotta say I’m looking forward to see your review for the next episode. Or the next after, depending on how next episode play out.
I was actually a bit surprised about that too, especially because somehow in my mind, mages in nasuverse are someone who don’t hesitate to sacrifice life. But then I remember, Rin and Waver (among others, apparently) don’t seem to be that way.
I’m looking forward to writing it. ^_^