Fate/Apocrypha 06
フェイト/アポクリファ episode 06

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis

Thanks to Red Saber, Sisigou has a dream about Mordred’s history with King Arthur, covering her whole life including Mordred’s final battle with her “father.” Lord El-Melloi II calls Sisigou to give him an update of horrific murders of Mage Association folks in the town. Back with the Yggdmillennia, Celenike takes out her anger and sexual frustration by butchering a homunculus. Darnic and Black Lancer play a game of chess and discuss the current situation. Roche is working with golems, dreaming of winning the Holy Grail War and gaining golem knowledge from Black Caster.

Back in Sighisoara, Caules leaves Black Berserker behind to guard their rooms while he joins his sister to find Black Assassin. Meanwhile, Sisigou has done some investigation and determines that a Servant killed all of the mages of the Mage Association. He has Red Saber armor up as he presents himself as bait for this Servant. Black Assassin senses him and Red Saber, so she has her “mama” stay behind as Black Assassin goes hunting. She creates a poison gas field, forcing Red Saber to get Sisigou out of there.

Black Assassin and Red Saber battle, but as they charge each other, Black Archer drops an explosive arrow, injuring Black Assassin. Black Assassin flees as the undamaged Red Saber goes after this new Servant. She takes an arrow in the process, but she easily reaches her target after informing Sisigou. Sisigou states that he’ll take care of the Master and faces off against Fiore, who’s out of her wheelchair and in a “Doctor Octopus” gear, her Mystic Code called Bronze-Link Manipulators. Although she’s good, Sisigou gains the advantage and fires his sawed-off shotgun and human finger shells at her as she lays helpless.

Thoughts/Review

Finally, we lose angst-filled homunculus Sieg and get down with some nice Sisigou and Red Saber action with a side of Black Archer and Black Assassin. Good stuff!

Mordred, the Red Saber

I had forgotten that Masters can learn more about their Servants via dreams. I’m glad we got to see Mordred’s past with Arthur/Altria (or Artoria as fandom long maintained). Basically, I’m really glad to see Altria back then. I’m also very happy that KAWASUMI Ayako (who’s long been the voice of Saber Altria and all of Altria’s other manifestations like Saber Alter or Saber Lilly for a start) returned to voice her again.

That aside, it is almost laugh out loud funny that the female Altria, posing as the male Arthur, could be the “father” of the supposed-to-be-male Mordred. Mordred addresses Altria as King Arthur, which would be proper. But it just shows that a silly idea of TYPE-MOON to turn the male Arthur into a hot chick of the Saber class for otaku guys to crave as their waifu. I wonder how in the heck Atria “fathered” Mordred. Maybe we’ll learn that in the future.

Still, it was interesting seeing how Mordred was a brutal but loyal knight. Then the influences of her mother apparently lead to the final battle against “Arthur” that Mordred lost. It gives us an indication of why Red Saber acts as she does (her playing with the cat was a hoot) and her motivations in this war. It also explains why someone who fought King Arthur still has honor and nobility to her.

Finally, looks like there will be a battle royal between Red Saber and Black Archer. We’ll see how that goes.

Black Assassin

It is also wrong and funny to have Jack the Ripper be made into a loli chick in skimpy gear. Obviously, she’s to help cater to the loli fetish crowd, but she’s in that long list of historical males that were apparently actually females. The only thing I did notice is that when Black Assassin gave her name to Red Saber, she said “our” name is Jack the Ripper. I have no idea what that implies, other than maybe Jack the Ripper is some kind of amalgam of murderers.

Still not sure why Black Assassin apparently murdered her former Master and adopted a new one. Based on Fate/stay night, this woman Black Assassin addresses as her mother probably is not a mage. This would explain Black Assassin needing to kill people for mana/prana. What’s weird is that this woman seems to know a great deal about the Holy Grail war.

Still, it is a marvel that she was going in a charge attack against Red Saber. Were it not for Black Archer’s explosive arrow, I can’t imagine Black Assassin would have gotten far with Red Saber. Now that Black Assassin is injured, what will she and her “mama” do now?

Fiore, aka: Doctor Octopus

I hate to say this, but I laughed out loud when Fiore showed up in her Mystic Code. That’s because the Bronze-Link Manipulators look like she stole them from Doctor Octopus from the Spider-man franchise. 😆

It did make me feel sorry for her ’cause her legs are useless. So if someone gets the best of those Bronze-Link Manipulators, as Sisigou did, then she becomes pretty helpless. However, because Fate/Apocrypha 06 ended in a cliffhanger, I’m going to take a wild stab and guess that she somehow survives all this.

Oh, and for the fun of it, a fan made this modified image of Doctor Octopus and Spider-man with Fiore and Sisigou. Awesome!

Final Thoughts and Conclusion

Now that it has been at least a week since I’ve watched Fate/Apocrypha 06, I should finish up my review.

• I laughed when Lord El-Melloi II had to remind Sisigou to add the II when using his full name/title. I’m glad the orders Sisigou received really came from him. I like seeing the adult Waver-kun in this alternate universe.
• So “nice” to see that Fate/Apocrypha is catering to the guro fetish via psycho chick Celenike. 🙄 Mostly, all we saw was a doll, but I suspect that was for TV broadcast reasons. In the DVD/BD release, it will no doubt show the poor homunculus she butchered in all the shots.
• Not sure what Red Assassin’s Hanging Garden of Babylon is going to be all about, nor what it is about it that will scare Black Servants.

In the end, I rather enjoyed Fate/Apocrypha 06, even if there are elements not to my tastes.