Fate/EXTRA Last Encore 02

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Saber (Nero) takes the wounded Hakuno to her apparent residence and has him enter a Japanese influenced Roman bath. There, his wounds begin to heal. She joins him, explaining Masters, Servants, and the Holy Grail War. After their bath, the two head out where Saber is astonished at the city around them, something that apparently did not exist before. It combines architecture from different time periods and cultures. Further, there seems to be an ongoing festival atmosphere going on.

The two make their way into the city, pausing to eat at a giant, empty restaurant. Saber continues to explain Servants and such. They then head to a small, bar-restaurant, where the tables all have food on them, but no one is there, save a lone woman at the bar. Saber challenges her as a Master, then realizes this could be a Servant. The woman tells them that no one fights the Holy Grail War any longer. Further, all Masters have traded their Servants away for a life of peace and luxury with the aide of NPCs. Saber has a hard time believing this and storms out.

The woman asks Hakuno if he’s going to sell his Servant. He says he won’t and his reasons please the woman. She tells him there’s one other Master who hasn’t given up her Servant. Hakuno joins Saber outside, where she apologizes for leaving him alone. A lot of pretty girls show up to escort the pair to see the mayor of the city. Hakuno is surprised to see a holographic version of Shinji, who explains that they’ve overcome SE.RA.PH and brought the senseless Holy Grail War to an end. However, Hakuno declines Shinji’s offer of luxury and peace in exchange for Saber. So he has three Berserker-class Servants attack Saber while his girl guard stab Hakuno with their swords.

Thoughts/Review:

The Fate franchise has gotten rather strange and Fate/EXTRA Last Encore 02 continues the voyage into that realm of weirdness.

The Purpose of a Delayed Entry

It would seem that Hakuno’s entry into this bizarro, cyber Holy Grail War was heavily delayed. The fact that Shinji has already taken over this city (presuming he’s still alive at all) and that no one has fought a battle or ages all clearly point to this. Oddly enough, Saber’s surprise at seeing this massive city also points to the fact that she’s been out a long time, more than she realizes.

I’m sure it took a while for Shinji and company to overcome SE.RA.PH to create this pseudo paradise for the few human Masters around. So as I watched this, I wondered if this mainframe computer decided to use Hakuno as a means of attempting to regain control. Who knows how much time elapsed from when Hakuno came to after having been stabbed, then made his way down to where Saber-Nero was.

But if that’s right, then the delay had to happen on purpose and SE.RA.PH had to know Hakuno was a wild card. When I watched the episode a second time to try to make better sense of things, it seems clear that Hakuno has been here before and has partnered with Saber-Nero. So maybe SE.RA.PH put Hakuno in limbo for a time until needed. But this is just wild guessing on my part.

Another Master; Another Servant

Although the episode did not specify this, I do know that woman in the bar is a Servant and is in fact Rider-Drake. (I have her in Fate/Grand Order, not that I have the required 25 hours a day, 8 days a week to spend in the game to get her to a decent level.) So when Rider-Drake mentions that there is a Master on this level of this cyber Holy Grail War who hasn’t sold their Servant, I’m guessing that’s Rin, whom we saw a couple of times briefly.

Since Saber didn’t recognize Drake as a Servant (which I found odd), and since Hakuno doesn’t know who Rider-Drake is, I think Rider-Drake was talking about herself as the unsold Servant. It would be cool to me if Rin had Rider-Drake as her Servant. Rin hides out, while Rider-Drake “hides” in plain sight, obscuring her true identity. This way, Rin could keep tabs on things for whatever it is she’s planning on doing. (I presume some kind of resistance to escape this cyberscape.)

Mayor Shinji

I laughed out loud when Shinji was revealed to be the Mayor of this mega city. Seriously, how did he weasel his way into such a position of power? Assuming his battle babes were all NPCs, I can see how he could make them serve at his whim, once he’d taken control of the city.

What struck me as odd was that Shinji was always shown as a hologram. He did not appear to recognize Hakuno. That could suggest that it has been decades or even longer since SE.RA.PH lost control. Or, it could suggest that Shinji actually died, but some program is running things in his stead. Kinda like that Star Trek episode “The Return of the Archons”.

Either way, Shinji has an army of Servants at his command (in addition to his battle babes), though he’s used some Command Spells along the way. Do the same rules apply to him if he runs out of Command Spells, meaning his Servants don’t have to obey him?

Oddly enough, I noticed that his three Berserker Servants (two of whom I believe are Lancer class in FGO) appeared to have injuries of some kind. I found that interesting as it suggests that Shinji has no way to heal these Servants. Either that, or this is a way for him to control them.

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

OK, as usual, I’m way behind and need to wrap up my review of Fate/EXTRA Last Encore 02. (I mean, I’ve not even started watching ufotables Fate entry this season, though I’m planning to watch it.)

• I noticed a controversy over whether long time fan translation of Nero’s term for Hakuno ( 奏者 — Sousha) should remain as Praetor or should it be changed to Maestro. Seems weird to me since 奏者 means “instrumentalist.” Saber does describe herself in a musical instrument fashion early on. So I’m not sure why Praetor was ever used since it doesn’t seem to apply at all, other than being a Roman title. Magister would seem to have been the proper Latin term for Sousha, since it also means “Master”.
• SHAFT had a ball servicing Saber-Nero in the nude. 🙄
• How did Rin know something was happening to Hakuno from her rooftop hideout?
• What does “Dead Face” mean? I presume it has something to do with Hakuno having a “get out of death” free card (or three).

In the end, Fate/EXTRA Last Encore 02 is a weird episode, but I can’t help but be a bit intrigued a bit. I’m probably setting myself up for disappointment, but that’s nothing new. 😉