Fate/Apocrypha 17
フェイト/アポクリファ episode 17

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Ruler hides her magic by shifting to her human host’s (Leticia) body. She and Sieg then head into town to try to bait Black Assassin. Meanwhile, Black Assassin is with her Master (and surrogate mother), Reika. They are in a home who’s occupant has been murdered. Reika plays a tune on the piano, which appeals to the child side of Jack the Ripper. Back in town, Ruler and Sieg spend the day together, exploring all the town has to offer. They also have lengthy conversations into the evening.

Up in the Hanging Gardens, Shirou finds Red Rider meditating. Red Rider challenges Shirou to see if Shirou truly holds no hatred in his heart for anyone in humanity, including those who slew him in life. Having passed Red Rider’s test, Shirou moves on. However, Red Assassin is not amused and lets Red Rider know. Back in town, night has set and a fog rolls into the town. Ruler transforms into her Servant form as she and Sieg hunt for Black Assassin.

Sieg gets separated from Ruler and finds what he believes to be an injured human woman, looking for her child. In fact it is Reika, who attempts to kill Sieg, but fails. Black Assassin uses her Maria the Ripper Noble Phantasm to score a hit on Ruler. She is surprised to discover Ruler has a high resistance to curses and the like. Black Assassin grabs a child to sling at Ruler to regroup, but a long distance arrow from Black Archer removes part of her left leg. Black Assassin then goes ethereal.

Reika uses a Command Spell to bring Black Assassin to her, where the wounded child Servant cries for her mom to get them out of there. Reika carry’s Jack-chan away, but finds herself in Red Archer’s sites. Jack-chan wants to hear Reika play the piano again, but Reika knows the game is up. She takes an arrow for Black Assassin, then uses her last Command Spells to aid Black Assassin before dying. Red Archer plugs Black Assassin with an arrow, but instead of dying, Black Assassin’s body become like a broken doll and seems to explode. Elsewhere, Sieg finds himself in the foggy streets of 1880’s London, facing a street urchin, who’s eyes turn red.

Thoughts/Review

Yowza! Fate/Apocrypha 17 certainly took an interesting twist on Black Assassin. Making her a loli child adds a potentially very messed up situation.

Black Assassin & Reika

I mentioned that I scored Jack the Ripper in the Fate/Grand Order game. I haven’t checked out her bio, partially to avoid spoilers, but partially because I never read any of my Servant’s bios. Once Jack’s story in Fate/Apocrypha is done, I think I’ll read that.

Nevertheless, I am amazed at how the previous episode had me afraid for Fiore and wanting someone to go ahead and kill Black Assassin. Yet here, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Jack-chan. Both she and her Master, Reika, are really messed up. Black Assassin’s former master had planned to kill Reika as a sacrifice. For whatever reason, Black Assassin turned on him. I don’t think Reika is a mage, otherwise Black Assassin wouldn’t need to consume mage hearts to replenish her mana.

That said, Jack-chan adopted Reika as a mother and Reika adopted Jack-chan as her own child. And then despite how twisted everything was, Reika and Jack-chan go on a mass murder spree. In a sick and twisted way, both of them found happiness. Both genuinely cared for each other. That’s what makes everything so tragic.

The Real Jack the Ripper?

I felt bad when Red Archer shot Black Assassin, even though she was coming after Ruler. In a weird way, Black Assassin is an innocent. I don’t think it is a mistake that she appears as a young, female child. I also don’t think it is a mistake that she dresses like a slut. Yes, from a fandom perspective, you have the wild loli sex fetish. But from a story perspective, I think this means something.

I think that Jack the Ripper was not only a street urchin that we saw in what I presume is a Reality Marble, I think she may have been a very young prostitute. To show what a different world we live in today, back in the late 1800s Britain, prostitution was legal and the age of consent was 12. So not only could someone 50 marry someone 12 and very few thought twice about it, a 12 year old girl could legally be a prostitute. From what I’m told, poor girls as young as 8 would engage in this practice. In 1875, the age of consent was raised to 13, then in 1885, it was raised to 16.

I mention this because the Jack the Ripper was supposedly active between 1888 and 1891. So I could envision some poor little girl having to be a child prostitute, which messed her up mentally. Then by 1885, she had no way to make money like she used to and ended up snapping, killing other legal prostitutes (16 and older). Then when summoned, she took on multiple personalities, representing other abused children like her. If I’m right, this would make Black Assassin a very tragic figure indeed.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Well, I’m behind, as always. So let me wrap up my review of Fate/Apocrypha 17.

• I was surprised to see Red Archer show up and assist the Black Faction. As I was writing the review, I remembered her wish about children. I wonder if her encounter with Black Assassin will mess her up.
• Did Black Assassin activate a Reality Marble to recreate late 1800s London?
• Ruler and Sieg go on a date. Yay! Too bad I don’t really care. I will say that I think Ruler is trying to shift all her feelings for Sieg onto Leticia. That said, I liked that they seriously discussed Shirou’s plans for humanity.
• It was interesting to see Red Rider challenging Shirou. More than that, it was fun seeing Red Rider teasing Red Assassin, even calling her cute.

In the end, Fate/Apocrypha 17 ended up playing on my emotions far more than I ever could have imagined. Maybe Jack can be redeemed before dying.