Fate/Apocrypha 10
フェイト/アポクリファ episode 10

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Black Assassin is consuming the hears of homunculi and talks to her “mama” on the phone. Meanwhile, Black Rider makes a feeble attempt to defend Sieg, but fails. Black Berserker arrives, forcing Red Saber back for a short time, but Red Saber defeats her. Sieg manages to stab Red Saber. After knocking him back, she asks why he is fighting. Upon hearing his answer to save Black Rider, Red Saber thrusts her sword through him. Black Rider is enraged, but his attempt to battle Red Saber is quickly ended. Red Saber is going to dispatch Black Rider when Sisigou questions whether Black Berserker is dead.

On cue, Black Berserker springs a trap on Red Saber. Boosted by Caules Command Spell, Black Berserker uses her suicide Noble Phantasm, Blasted Tree. Black Berserker is dead, but Red Saber survives, howbeit seemingly injured. Caules laments the loss of Black Berserker as Sieg has a vision of Siegfried, Fafnir, and a sword in the ground. After being challenged by Siegfried, Sieg pulls the sword, which changes into Siegfried’s sword. With that, Sieg becomes Siegfried, aka: Black Saber.

Red Saber and Black Rider are stunned by Black Saber’s return, especially using Sieg as a vehicle. Up in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Shirou, Red Assassin, and Red Caster also watch this amazing turn of events. Red Assassin offers to help Red Caster, but Shirou stops her, figuring the homunculus hosting Black Saber can’t do it for long. However, he does wish to watch the fight continue. Black Saber and Red Saber clash until Black Saber begins to activate his Noble Phantasm. Red Saber is amused and has permission to activate hers as the two prepare for a final clash.

Thoughts/Review

One thing Fate/Apocrypha 10 did is confirm that the intro to the first episode is actually the fight we are currently in. And its explanation is one I should have thought of.

Black Berserker, aka: Fran-chan

She hardly had any lines in this series, but Black Berserker certainly left an impression with me. TYPE-MOON are notorious for their changes to historical characters, so making Frankenstein’s monster a cute female is not an unexpected choice. For me, it worked more than as some waifu material as I had no interest in that. By making her a vulnerable and abused female, it is easier to empathize with the character. No doubt, that was the main point in turning Frankenstein’s monster into the cute Fran-chan.

That said, I’d not been looking forward to her eventual departure. When Red Saber defeated Black Berserker and put a blade into her chest, I immediately noted that Black Berserker didn’t have the customary glowing dissolve away that defeated Servants have. So it was nice to not have Black Berserker “go out like a punk” and have a meaningful, even if pointless, death. And it was nice seeing she had a Master who truly cared about her, unlike Black Saber’s or Black Rider’s Masters.

Red Saber

A lot of setup has been down to make Red Saber kinda playful and fun. In addition, we know she’s serious about winning this Greater Holy Grail War, and as Mordred, she has “daddy” issues to overcome. We know she’s ultra powerful. However, in Fate/Apocrypha 10, Red Saber really comes off as harsh. Of course, this is a war we are talking about. One doesn’t get points for playing nice. So in that regard, Black Berserker, Black Rider, and even Sieg are opponents that need to be dispatched.

Yet it does seem that Red Saber respected Sieg a bit, since she promised to remember him by name rather than some nameless homunculus.

And now to wait to see how the outcome of the battle between Red Saber and Black Saber Sieg comes down.

Black Saber Returns

I have been having a feeling that the battle we are currently in and the battle shown at the beginning of episode 1 were the same. However, the problem always was Black Saber being in that early battle. I could never reconcile that in my mind, though I think that the answer may have been in the back of my mind, but I was dismissing it. Black Saber may have dissolved, but if his heart was merged with Sieg, and that couldn’t have dissolved. So therefore, the core of Black Saber remained alive. Take that combined with the fact that Ruler is possessing a young woman and well all the pieces were there to figure it out. I just didn’t do it.

Still, it appears that Sieg can only become Siegfried and inherit the power of Black Saber for a short time, based on what Shirou said. Red Saber certainly took the appearance of Black Saber seriously as did Shirou, at least to a degree. I keep thinking that the only reason that Shirou didn’t have Red Assassin provide support fire is that he doesn’t have Red Saber under his control. So if Black Saber takes out Red Saber, sobeit. Red Assassin could attack Black Saber (or Sieg, if he reverts back) afterward.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

I took yesterday off, so maybe I should just go ahead and wrap up this review of Fate/Apocrypha 10 to get to my next anime episode.

• The rouge Black Assassin made another disgusting appearance. I have no idea how she’ll fit into the greater scheme of things.
• I never noticed it before, but Red Assassin has a spike coming out of each palm. That has to be inconvenient.
• The Black Faction really is at a loss here. Black Saber is not under their control. Black Assassin is not under their control. They’ve lost Black Berserker, but while they have Red Berserker, that’s a wild card. The Red Faction is in a much better position.
• It is somehow depressing to me that Black Rider was made into a trap, and a fairly worthless one at that when it comes to combat.

In the end, Fate/Apocrypha 10 finally links with the opening scenes of episode 1 and finally, we’ll get to find out how the fight between Red Saber and Black Saber turns out.