May 29th, 2012 
AstroNerdBoy フェイト/ゼロ Episode 21
Fate/Zero – 21
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Saber on a motorcycle chases what she thinks is Rider, but loses sight of him in the city streets. Using her scenes, she finds the real Rider with Waver and gives chase. Rider decides to land his chariot on the mountain highway and make it a race. Saber uses her powers to modify the bike, making it sleeker and faster until she catches up with Rider by jumping the bike through a switchback and attacking, though she’s puzzled by the fact that Iri isn’t with them. Rider decides to make a stand, so that as Saber starts to launch her Excalibur attack, he has his chariot charge her. Her attack destroys the chariot, forcing Rider to grab Waver and grab a high up tree branch. Saber does not attack again, but drops her battle garb and leaves.
Elsewhere, Kirei thanks Kariya for his help as “Rider” turns back into Berserker, whom apparently can mimic other Servants. It took two Command Spells for Kariya to do this since Berserker is obsessed with Saber, so Kirei gives him two additional spells and tells him to come by the church at midnight to settle things with Tokiomi. Back at Tokiomi’s place, Kirei finds more evidence, and a servant whom he tortures to discover Kirei’s involvement with Kariya. Later at the church, an angry Kariya arrives and sees Tokimoi at the front, but then finds him dead. Aoi arrives and thinks Kariya has killed Tokiomi and in grief, verbally attacks Kariya, who snaps and strangles Aoi, whom he loved. In anguish, he leaves as Archer tells Kirei the play they just watched was an OK thing for a first attempt.
Thoughts/Review:
You know, it has taken me a while to realize this, but the whole purpose of this Grail War was not to win the Grail, but to see who could best screw over someone else in the most fracked up way possible.
Zouken is even more twisted than previously shown. It was sick enough what he did to Sakura and Kariya, but his admission that he couldn’t decide on whether to win the Grail or see Kariya suffer horribly was not what I expected.
Kirei continues down the road of insanity by screwing over Kariya so that he snaps and kills Aoi. As an aside, I’m still surprised Kirei would take Rin under his wings and not just kill her too (after raping her, since he’s that sick in my opinion). I actually feel the need to watch Kirei get killed in Fate/stay night. *_*
As I thought, there was something very wrong about Rider attacking Kiritsugu’s hideout and taking Iri. What I didn’t expect was for Berserker to have a skill to mimic the appearance of Rider. I know this Berserker can do some incredible things, but this seems almost out of left field. However, now that it is done, assuming Kariya hasn’t completely lost it, I suppose he could have Berserker mimic someone else too. That would make things more interesting.
Berserker is mentioned to be obsessed with Saber, enough so that it took two Command Spells to get him to do what needed to be done (kidnap Iri). I noticed early on that he seemed to just go after Saber. Considering these Servants were real people, I wonder whom Berserker’s real identity could be. Considering how one of the Servants in Fate/stay night was actually from the future, it would be rather twisted if Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (Lancer) was also Berserker somehow. I tend to doubt that will be the case, but anything is possible when “magic” is involved. ^_~
Kiritsugu apparently didn’t know that Kirei was involved until he found a servant to torture (and this was real torture, not that crappy, redefined BS done for political gamesmanship). I find it interesting that he suspected Kariya. However, does Kiritsugu come to realize what happened with Archer? Considering how intelligent he is, I’d say he will fairly quickly.
Saber’s ability to transform the motorcycle on the fly and use her powers to make it go faster than designed is a new one. Other than the fact that the original, visual novel writer(s) didn’t conceive of it when Fate/stay night was done, one wonders what might have been were Saber to have had a bike in that series as well. Then again, she had limited access to mana/prana so maybe it is a moot point. Regardless, it was neat to see, though again, out of left field.
In the end, another sick and twisted episode, but with some interesting developments.
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In the beginning of the episode, there was a piece that disappeared in dark smoke (similar to Berserker’s dark smoke). Maybe then Kiritsugu guessed that it was Kariya.
By the way, I think that the tortured one was Shinji’s father. At least they look pretty much alike.
I forgot about that piece that disappeared.
And yeah, now that you mention it, the guy did look like Shinji.
As an aside, I’m still surprised Kirei would take Rin under his wings and not just kill her too (after raping her, since he’s that sick in my opinion).
He was certainly having fun, considering he was trolling her for the next ten years. 😛 But rape? Nah, I think that is out of character. Kirei isn’t completely black, he might have a sick mind, but he did everything he can to get rid of it and live a normal life.
Berserker is mentioned to be obsessed with Saber, enough so that it took two Command Spells to get him to do what needed to be done (kidnap Iri).
Kidnapping Iri and letting Saber escape cost only one Spell. The other Spell was the transformation. Normally, “For Someone’s Glory” doesn’t cost any Command Spell at all, but since he lost his sanity, his Noble Phantasm got nerfed.
For instance, as Saber he could have disguised himself for the rest of the war. Both NPs “For Someone’s Glory” and “Knight of Honor”(everything-I-touch-becomes-my-NP) make a lot of sense regarding Berserker’s past and are ridiculously good, since they can perfectly hide his identity. Only problem is the mana cost and unfortunately Kariya lacks mana(which btw was all planned by Zouken to make him suffer more, including summoning his Servant as a Berserker). Berserker was aware of Kariya’s poor condition and mana reserves, he was holding back all the time.
Kiritsugu apparently didn’t know that Kirei was involved until he found a servant to torture.
That man was Byakuya, Shinji’s father. ^_^
However, does Kiritsugu come to realize what happened with Archer? Considering how intelligent he is, I’d say he will fairly quickly.
As I’ve said last week, he already knew Kirei was the one who killed Tokiomi and Kirei must have done this while Archer was watching, so Kiritsugu is aware of the fact that Kirei might have Archer on his side.
Regardless, it was neat to see, though again, out of left field.
Was it really? I always thought about that when I saw her abilities in FSN. Things like “Mana Burst” and “Invisible Air” were already introduced in FSN. The only thing that surprised me was Saber using mana to make armor on her bike to prevent it from falling appart because of the speed.
Who all can perform “For Someone’s Glory?”
Interesting that someone insane retained enough sanity to hold back and help his Master.
>Kiritsugu apparently didn’t know that Kirei was involved until he found a servant to torture.
>That man was Byakuya, Shinji’s father. ^_^
Ah, so evgenidb was right.
>However, does Kiritsugu come to realize what happened with Archer? Considering how intelligent he is, I’d say he will fairly quickly.
>As I’ve said last week, he already knew Kirei was the one who killed Tokiomi and Kirei must have done this while Archer was watching, so Kiritsugu is aware of the fact that Kirei might have Archer on his side.
I knew you said that, but it didn’t really come through in the episode. It seemed to me that Kiritsugu didn’t know it was Kirei until he tortured Byakuya.
>The only thing that surprised me was Saber using mana to make armor on her bike to prevent it from falling appart because of the speed.
That’s what I’m referring to. ^_^
>>The only thing that surprised me was Saber using mana to make armor on her bike to prevent it from falling appart because of the speed.
>That’s what I’m referring to. ^_^
Me too! Deus Ex Machina, no matter how I look at it.
evgenidb >>That man was Byakuya, Shinji’s father. ^_^
ANB >Ah, so evgenidb was right.
I’m always right, except when I’m not. ^_^
>I’m always right, except when I’m not. ^_^
Heh!heh!
Who all can perform “For Someone’s Glory?”
Hm, I don’t really understand this question, to be honest. ^_^
For Someone’s Glory is Zero-Berserker’s exclusive Noble Phantasm and he can take on any Heroic Spirit’s identity to deceive eyes and ears. Well, in this war only with a Command Spell.
Interesting that someone insane retained enough sanity to hold back and help his Master.
Keep in mind that his Mad Enhancement is only Rank C and not B, like in FSN-Berserker’s/Heracles’ case. It’s more like using instincts like a wild animal. Berserker can’t think complexly anymore. Saving energy to last longer is a natural and reasonable choice imo. Kariya resembles his Servant more than one might think.
Ah, so evgenidb was right.
Yeah, I was one hour too late…*sigh*
Just kidding. 😉
I knew you said that, but it didn’t really come through in the episode. It seemed to me that Kiritsugu didn’t know it was Kirei until he tortured Byakuya.
Well, he knew from last episode that Kirei killed Tokiomi and probably has become Archer’s new Master, that’s all. Kirei cooperating with Kariya to kidnap Iri is a different matter. Kiritsugu couldn’t really know that Kirei was the man behind Kariya’s action and thus responsible for kidnapping Iri, since those two facts aren’t really linked, right? ^_^
That’s what I’m referring to. ^_^
Hey, we at least knew months before, that she can make armor out of mana at will! Okay, using it on her bike was really a bit strange. :p
>For Someone’s Glory is Zero-Berserker’s exclusive Noble Phantasm and he can take on any Heroic Spirit’s identity to deceive eyes and ears.
OK, that’s what I wanted to know. I wasn’t sure if others could do this as well in Type-Moon universe.
>Hey, we at least knew months before, that she can make armor out of mana at will! Okay, using it on her bike was really a bit strange. :p
Are you referring to her donning her battle outfit? I’m probably too tired to be writing anything, but I just don’t recall any other instance of Saber and armor.
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ROT13 original spoilers.
V’z abg fher vs guvf vf gur pnfr va gur navzr, ohg va gur obbxf, Nbv vfa’g npghnyyl. Vafgrnq, gur ynpx bs bkltra unf pnhfrq oenva qnzntr, pnhfvat ure gb tb vafnar, guvaxvat gung Gbxvbzv naq Fnxhen ner fgvyy jvgu ure.
Lnl, unccl raqvat!
Anon’s and Farray’s comments deleted by request for spoilers. Farray’s remarks are here (ROT13 cypher):
Qhqr, ZNWBE FCBVYRE. Znlor vg’f orggre vs n zbq pbhyq qryrgr guvf pbzzrag(naq guvf pbzzrag urer jvgu vg). Ng guvf cbvag evtug abj, obgu ernqre naq ivrjre zhfg nffhzr gung Xnevln whfg xvyyrq Nbv.
What is ROT13 cipher?
*lol* You youngsters. ^_~ It means “rotate by 13 places” and was a way on Usenet to hide spoilers. Unlike using binary to hide spoilers, ROT13 uses the same number of characters as what you’d normally type. There are websites out there to code/decode ROT13 stuff.