The final episode with the conclusion of the battle between Gil and Saber as well as Kotomine and Shirou as well as seeing how everything turns out after the events of the war are over.

Summary:

We start off seeing Shirou surrounded by evil and darkness and spirits chanting Kill, Kill Kill. He is being held onto by dozens of hands and seems to be in pain. He remembers his dad, and that he must have had to suffer through this and he realizes that if he is really to be the protector of justice like he said he would be to his dad when he was little, he had to be strong. He breaks free of the evil and stands facing Kotomine, who is shocked he was able to escape. Kotomine says it doesn’t matter, and Shirou rushes at him with the Azoth Dagger. He gets incased again however in the goo. We then see Gil and Saber fighting. Gil fired off his Enuma Elish and Saber tried to counter it with Excalibur but was blown away and severely wounded. They are both in a bad situation, Shirou struggling in pain as he is trapped in darkness and Saber wounded and unable to do much against Gil as he powers up another blast. Gil fires his blast and they both Shirou and Saber see a light. Saber remembers that Shirou is like her scabbard and Shirou begins to trace something. They both have Avalon appear before them. They are empowered by it and Shirou breaks free and Saber shoots back Gil’s blast with ease. Saber then charges Gil and as she does she starts to glow and her sword powers up. Gil tries to fire a blast but Saber closes the gap and slashes him, using Excalibur as a blast and the sword and nails Gil directly, harming him. Shirou charges Kotomine, dodging the goo he throws and stabs him in the chest with the Azoth dagger, and yells “release” and it creates a blast, wounding Kotomine even more.

Gil stands there before Saber, blood from his mouth and hair down. He says, “Avalon. The utopia the king will enter after his death…..That’s your true Noble Phantasm.” Gil holds onto Saber’s cheek as he disappears saying she is an abominable woman, defying him till the end. He says there are things that are beautiful because no one can touch them. He tells Saber farewell, he had fun and he disappears. Kotomine asks Shirou where he got this dagger from. He says from Rin and Kotomine says he sees, ten years ago he gave it to a young girl. Kotomine then falls over into the goo dead. Ilya is released and Shirou catches her, as Saber walks slowly up to him. Saber says she will destroy the Holy Grail, but she needs his orders. He has to use his command spell and have the grail destroyed. Shirou hesitates for a bit, knowing Saber will disappear. He says to himself, ““I love Saber. I want her to be happier than anyone. I’ve been hoping that we could be together forever. However… If I really do love her, then that’s wrong. I loved Saber, who bore many wounds yet still fought through everything… I cannot allow myself to stain her pride.” He tells Saber to do it and she destroys the Holy Grail. We see the two of them alone, with a mountain range behind them. Saber with her hair down is looking out across the land and says to Shirou she has something to tell him. She tells him she loves him, and disappears.

We see Shirou being awakened by Sakura at his house. She wakes him up for breakfast and it seems everything is normal. Ilya and Fuji seem to be getting into trouble together, as they fight with each other a bit. Shirou heads for school and on the way sees Rin. He walks with her, and she says how she is surprised how well he is doing, that he isn’t acting down or anything. He says he is fine, he says that one day his memories may fade and he may forget her face, actions, and voice but he will always remember that he loved her. We see back in King Arthur’s time someone placing Saber against a tree. Saber awakens and says to the knight in front of her, Bedivere, that she has awoken. She says that she has been dreaming, although rare for her it was an invaluable experience. Bedivere says that she will be able to see the continuation of her dreams if she wishes for it enough. Saber tells Bedivere to take her sword and cross through he forest and fields and throw her sword into the lake. Bedivere rides off. We see back in Shirou’s time, everything seems to be normal. Sakura is in the archery club, we see Ilya cleaning the house, Fuji working on her bike, Rin sitting in class. Shirou is out of school, on a bridge looking out over everything. Shirou seems fine, saying that he will run forward now. If he sets his goal far enough, then someday he’ll be able to reach what he aimed for. We see Bedivere returning to Saber under the tree, saying he has done what she asked. Saber says she will sleep now, this time it may be a bit longer then before. Bedivere seems really sad, but keeping his composure. After Saber is asleep or dead, Bedivere says, “Do you behold, King Arthur, the continuation of your dream.” After the credits we see in Shirou’s house the stuffed lion he bought, sitting on the table.

Impressions:

I loved the ending. I think that if they had done it any other way it would have turned out badly, because not only was this the ending they were originally following the path for, it just fits. However, I do not think it is a sad ending. There were sad parts in this episode, sure. Hell, I’ll admit I even cried when Saber disappeared but overall the ending is not sad I do not think. Shirou came to terms with Saber being gone, even as Rin said he isn’t as down as she thought he would be, he has come to realize that even if his memories of her face, actions, and voice fade, he will always remember that he loved her. I think Shirou’s speech before the Grail was destroyed is important, how he said, “I love Saber. I want her to be happier than anyone. I’ve been hoping that we could be together forever. However… If I really do love her, then that’s wrong. I loved Saber, who bore many wounds yet still fought through everything… I cannot allow myself to stain her pride.”

I thought the battles were handled nicely in this episode. I think it’s kind of ironic, and they have it this way in the game that Kotomine was killed with the dagger that he gave to Rin. It was cool seeing Shirou kill him, and not have some sappy thing where he too lets him go. Gil and Saber’s battle was nice, although all in all the battles took up about 1/3 of the episode, they were still nice. It was cool seeing Saber kick so much ass and Gil just standing there with his hair down and blood coming from his mouth. The part where they both used Avalon at the same time was neat, seeing both of them reach for it.

The epilogue overall was really nice. Even though Saber disappearing was sad and all, the epilogue really made the series end with an overall good feeling, without cheapening Saber’s memory and why she disappeared. I thought the scene with Saber during the epilogue was important. How she died, and had Bedivere throw her sword into the lake. I thought it was interesting, how all while Saber was gone she was in her world asleep and it was as if her time with Shirou was a dream, like they had said before. When she died I thought it was interesting how Bedivere said if she closes her eyes again, she will be able to continue out that dream. Now, I don’t necessary think that means that now that she is dead she will come back to Shirou, if you really really wanted to you could interpret it that way but more or less I think it just means that now she is dead it will be blissful and such and it will be just like the unfulfillable dream that was her time with Shirou. Or, however this could mean that Saber really does go to sleep and is just sleeping for a long time but I really think she dies. Because Avalon is also the place where Kings go when they are dead, and I think that’s one of the reasons this episode is called that. Not just because they use it in the fight. Either way it was very touching when Bedivere said at the end, “Do you behold, King Arthur, the continuation of your dream.”

There are several things that can be left up to interpretation, and the story can be shaped any way you want if you are creative enough to not make it stupid. They never clearly state she dies, although I still think she does. If she didn’t, she could wake up in present day where Shirou is. Or, if she did die the “continuation of her dream” could mean that since her dream is to be with Shirou, she will appear again with him. You can go along those lines or you can just say that in the future Shirou gets over Saber, always remembering her but learning to love someone else and spend his life with them such as Rin or Sakura. The ending is not finite. Most anime aren’t, you can interpret this to fit your own style all you want.

One thing I want to point out, TOLD YOU SO. This is about the stuffed lion; I knew it would have to appear in the epilogue of the last episode. I said it since episode 20 that if she disappears, they will show the lion on a shelf or table somewhere and it will kind of symbolize Saber, and her memories. Even if Shirou does forget her, he will always look at that bear and know something about her, about feelings he had. I don’t necessary think he will always remember her, even he said so, but I think he will always know that he loved her and the lion could remind him of that in the future.

Final Words:

Fate/Stay Night was truly an incredible anime for me. The ending turned out pretty much like I expected, and it had sad moments. I even cried when Saber died peacefully at the end, but all in all it seemed to have a happy ending, one that I am extremely satisfied with. Saber’s speech in the final episode before Saber left was touching and really expressed well about why he had to let her go and how it wasn’t a bad thing necessary. He said, “I love Saber. I want her to be happier than anyone. I’ve been hoping that we could be together forever. However… If I really do love her, then that’s wrong. I loved Saber, who bore many wounds yet still fought through everything… I cannot allow myself to stain her pride.” Although many people say how Saber and Shirou should have been together, I think it’s fine they aren’t. Part of me wanted them together too, but it just wouldn’t have fit as well as an ending. As Shirou said, he will go on with his life. Hew won’t become some single hermit not ever loving again because he lost Saber or anything, but also he will never forget he loved her. As he said he may forget her actions, her face, and her voice, but he will never forget that he loved her. One of my favorite quotes from the last episode is, “Do you behold, King Arthur, the continuation of your dream.” Now, alone that isn’t much of a quote but in context it was extremely touching. Saber’s time with Shirou was like a dream. When she died, it’s as if she can continue that dream because she is dead. This does not mean she gets back together with Shirou; it means that now that she is dead, she can be happy in heaven or Avalon or wherever. That she holds Shirou in her heart.

Saber and Shirou confront Gil and Kotomine for the final battle after Ilya was kidnapped to become the vessel for the Holy Grail.

Summary:

We start off with Shirou and Saber arriving home. They notice something isn’t right right away and yell for Rin. They run though the house and Shirou finds her in the dark, against the wall covered in blood. He turns on the lights to see a huge splatter of blood against the wall and Rin barely conscious saying he is late, covered in blood as well. They try to treat her injuries right away but Rin just says she is sorry she couldn’t protect Ilya. She says that Kotomine came and took Ilya. She says that he probably wanted to make her the vessel to begin with. She says how magicians are humans with a magic circuit, but Ilya is a magic circuit made into a human, so she will be Kotomine’s sacrifice for the Holy Grail. She tells them how she thinks Kotomine will be at the temple that Caster used to be at, because it will be the perfect place for the descending of the Grail. She says finally, Shirou isn’t strong enough to beat Kotomine and she asks if he will go anyways. He says he has to, as a survivor of the calamity before. Rin says she sees and gives him a dagger, Azoth. She says it is like a magic rod made into a dagger, that it has a lot of mana in it and he should use it in his fight. Rin says she is getting sleepy so he better head off and win, if she wakes up and he has been defeated she will be mad. Rin then passes out. Before heading off Shirou and Saber head to the shack that he first summoned her in. He says that he wants to return Avalon t her, that it is only right. They do a quick ritual and Saber recovers Avalon from Shirou’s body.

They arrive at the steps of the temple and they can feel the magic in the air so they know Rin was right about this being the place. Shirou says he will take on Kotomine, and she will handle Gil. They wont’ interfere with each others fights; if either of them wins they won’t be able to summon the grail. As they walk up the steps Shirou says to himself that how no matter the outcome of the battle, Saber will disappear. He remembers all the times he has spent with her and starts to get sad, saying he can still turn back now and find a way to preserve Saber. He turns and looks at her and as they look at each other they both come to an understanding and continue on up. Gil is there when they reach the top waiting for them. Gil says how the moment is finally here, the Grail will appear. Saber yells at him and asks what it is he wants. He says her, to make her drink the curse and stay with him. He says to Shirou before they fight however that if he has something with Kotomine to get out of his sight. Shirou runs past him into the temple to face Kotomine. Gil and Saber start to fight and Shirou reaches the temple. Inside, Shirou sees Ilya hanging up high glowing as dark energy swirls around dripping from the sky. Kotomine says the Holy Grail has appeared, but its womb is still unstable. As Shirou looks around at the dripping black ooze, Kotomine says this is the power of the Grail overflowing. He says it will flow endlessly and create calamities all around. Kotomine says this is the closest the Grail has ever become to being complete. Previously it either had some failure in being summoned or it was destroyed, like what Kiritsugu did. Gil and Saber continue to fight on outside as Kotomine talks to Shirou. He says there is value in humans only when they die, that he wants to watch as the Grail works.

Kotomine says that the calamity ten years ago wasn’t bad. That only through great disaster and evil can humans see the brightest light, the greatest power. Shirou gets pissed at Kotomine and charges him but the black ooze shoots forward towards hi and wraps around his legs and arms, burning him like acid. Kotomine says there is a difference between them, that Shirou will never be able to fill. Meanwhile, Gil and Saber continue to fight. Gil says that Saber never learns, as Saber seems hard on breath and Gil is perfectly fine. Gil finally rains down swords upon her and causes her to fall to the ground. He says he will let her know the difference in their power, and pulls out his special sword Ea. He shoots forth a blast and Saber does the same with Excalibur. Meanwhile Kotomine keeps talking to Shirou. He says how happy he was when he found out he was in this war, how he resembled Kiritsugu even on the inside. He says he never dreamed he would be able to end the life of Kiritsugu again. Kotomine says how he killed Kiritsugu; he couldn’t stand it that he was defeated by such a person and then just let to live. He couldn’t stand a magician as cold as him saved his life. He said that the real mistake Kiritsugu made was thinking that he could stop the fighting and the Holy Grail War. We see a shot of Saber again being overcome by Enuma Elish’s power and she flies back, injured on the ground. Kotomine says how he will give Shirou the same end as Kiritsugu. He holds out his hand and collects some goo and says Angra Manyu. He yells at him to suffer all the evil in this world and throws it at him and Shirou is overcome by a blob of evil and disappears. Back with Saber and Gil, Gil walks up to Saber on the ground saying it looks like Shirou is defeated. Saber says he isn’t’, she still feels her connection with him. Gil says soon he will have Saber drink the curse and become his. He holds her up by the leg. She says she will never be his. Gil criticizes Saber about why her country defeated her but Saber gets serious and criticizes back about how he destroyed his county and she kicks him in the face and flips back. Gil gets incredibly pissed and decides he will just kill Saber and powers up his Ea sword.

Impressions:

Noooo, omg no. Ok, I am 98% percent sure that Saber will disappear at the end. I mean, Shirou said to Saber that this would be the last battle, and that no matter what the outcome of the battle Saber would disappear. From the scenes for the next final episode of the series it seemed almost certain that Saber would disappear. It showed Shirou back in everyday life with just Sakura and a shot of Rin. It showed a shot of Saber with her hair down but she wasn’t with Shirou, almost as if it was her goodbye scene. She had her hair down, it was a dark surrounding and she seemed sad but smiled anyways know there was nothing that could be done. The only way for Saber to stay in this world would be to drink from the Holy Grail, but that’s what Gil wants her to do so we can kind of get from that that it wouldn’t be a good thing. The grail is evil and has a curse on it so if she were to do that then she wouldn’t really be her anymore. It’s not a question of whether she wants to go back or not, and people need to realize that. She doesn’t want to go back, she wants to stay with Shirou but there really is no way to do that. I think it will go like this, Shirou and Saber will defeat Gil and Kotomine with the important help of Avalon, Excalibur’s scabbard. Then they will destroy the Holy Grail together, Saber will say her goodbyes to Shirou, telling him that she loves him before he disappears, and Shirou will live out a normal life with Sakura and Rin. It’s not the ending I want, not the one I would have preferred but for me to say it is any other way would be grasping at straws.

Ok, ok, for hope here is the only way I see it ending with Saber and Shirou together, but I don’t think this will happen at all, less then a 1% chance. I thought what Gil said to Saber was interesting, he said, “A hero is someone that bears all the people in his sight on his shoulders.” This could mean that if Saber really was a hero, that she would be able to stand up against the curse of the Holy Grail. That even if she drank it and had it poured on her or whatever, she would be able to stay herself because of how strong of a hero and person she is. That would allow for her to stay with Shirou. However, I don’t see this happening. First off I don’t really know what time there would be between now and when they destroy the Grail for her to drink it, second in the preview for next episode when it showed a shot of Saber and a shot of Shirou it really seemed like a goodbye scene and I don’t see a scene like that coming close to happening if she stays.

This episode had actually not that much advancement of plot. It set up for the finale mostly. We did get the information about what was up with Ilya. The fact that most magicians are humans with a magic circuit, but she is a magic circuit with a human form. Sort of that she was artificially created, which is why she would make the perfect vessel for the Holy Grail. It explains why she had that huge magic mark on her body when she had a fight with Saber and Shirou, and explained her sickness prior to this episode, saying that her body couldn’t’ take it anymore the longer the war went on since its not a normal body. The other big plot thing was that Kotomine was the one who killed Kiritsugu. I guess I never gave it much thought about what the hell happened to Kiritsugu, if we saw flashbacks of him raising Shirou he obviously didn’t die after passing Avalon to him, but then he kind of disappeared. The other thing which wasn’t as big because we kind of already knew this, they just made it clear and explained it in more detail was the Grail being cursed. They did mention Angra Manyu which is the curse of the Holy Grail, the everlasting darkness, complete evil, etc. I believe it played an important role in the game and they explained it a bit more but they fit it in ok here I guess, not explaining too much about what it actually is but not making it such an important thing that we had to know.

Ok, now this is important. I will not hate the ending where Saber leaves. It is not a bad ending! Now, I would much much much more prefer a different ending where they end up together, but the other ending is not bad. People need to realize that actually most anime does not have fairy tale endings. It is about telling a story. The ending that I’m sure this is heading to is a bittersweet ending. It is sad yes, it will probably make me cry, but it is not a bad ending. I don’t care whether you want it to happen or not, people need to realize that just because something isn’t the way they want it to be doesn’t mean it is bad. I’m not saying this because I want Saber to disappear, or because I want to side with the ending that will happen, I am saying this to get people to not hate the anime because of the ending. I have seen countless people say depending on the ending I will love or hate the series. NO. NO. I will touch on this more after the last episode, but people just need to realize that it is not a terrible series and ending if it goes that way. Again, I would much much much rather prefer them staying together, and to me that is a better ending in a way, but that does not make all other endings absolute crap. In a way the ending where Saber leaves is a happy ending. Just look at it in a different way.

Shirou – Saber – King Arthur

Rin – Archer – Emiya Shirou

Ilya – Berserker – Hercules

Shinji – Rider – Medusa

Unknown – Caster – Medea

Caster – Assassin – Sasaki Kojirou

Kotomine – Lancer – Cuchulain

Kotomine – 2^nd Archer – Gilgamesh

]]> http://xebek.animeblogger.net/2006/06/10/fatestay-night-23/feed/ 3 http://xebek.animeblogger.net/2006/06/03/fatestay-night-22/ http://xebek.animeblogger.net/2006/06/03/fatestay-night-22/#comments Sun, 04 Jun 2006 00:43:36 +0000 Xebek http://xebek.animeblogger.net/?p=137

We get a confrontation between Shirou, Saber, Lancer, Gilgamesh, and Kotomine, all of the remaining super powers in the war as Saber comes to rescue Shirou.

Summary:

We start off with Saber sitting on the porch. She is reflecting on some things, and how she is feeling something she hasn’t before, and thinks it is love. Rin comes up and asks Saber where Shirou is. She says she doesn’t know and Rin tells Saber some information she found out about Lancer’s Master. She said that the she found the Master who summoned Lancer dead in her hideout. Saber asks if Lancer has disappeared then but she says no, the blood was old and his Master was killed before his first appearance. Although she determines all the Masters are accounted for, Saber says however that someone who was not originally a Master cannot just become one so they guess that someone from a previous war who still had command spells left killed Lancer’s Master, took her command spells and made Lancer his Servant. Saber asks Rin now where Shirou is and she doesn’t know, she guesses maybe he went to see Kotomine. Saber is surprised saying that church didn’t seem holy, so she rushes off there to find him.

Saber arrives at Kotomine’s church and sees Shirou in the distance, on the floor in a pool of blood. She runs up to him but Lancer appears and blocks her path. Saber and Lancer fight for a while until Kotomine appears, dragging Shirou and telling Lancer to stop. Kotomine says if Saber is just here to pick up Shirou its fine, in fact he could give them the Holy Grail now if they wanted. Lancer kind of goes wait a minute, and says that the Holy Grail won’t appear until there is only one Servant left. Kotomine says that’s true, but the thing that is to become the Holy Grail is around from the start, it just gains power enough o become the Holy Grail through the war and the killing of the Servants. He says with only two left, it is basically complete now anyways. He says to the barely conscious Shirou, if he wants the Holy Grail, about his words on what happened ten years ago. He says how after the huge fire he was wandering alone through the wreckage, hearing the screams of dieing people asking for help but ignoring them; just continuing on thinking he wouldn’t make it. Then Kiritsugu found him and raised him. He says how he admired him, who protected and saved someone. He says how his heart wouldn’t allow him to stop striving for things, because it would be letting don the people he didn’t help. Kotomine asks if he wants the Holy Grail, to re do the fire and save everyone. Shirou says, “No. All those years of sadness and hardship, you shouldn’t re do it for it means the suffering people went though and the strength and courage people had to live past it would be meaningless. Living on in the present is the only thing that would allow those things to remain.”

Kotomine gets kind of pissed off and throws Shirou to Saber, who temporarily heals him so he is more conscious and able to stand. Kotomine ask her if she wants the Holy Grail. He says he will give her the Holy Grail if she kills her Master. She says how all along she has wanted the Holy Grail. She wanted the Grail to return things the way they were. She says however that she fulfilled her duty as a King, there are no regrets there. She says if she could be proud of her life, she would not re do anything. There are many things she threw away to try and reach the goal, but one thing she always protected and never threw away. We see an image of Shirou in Saber’s flashbacks and fantasies and she says she at least wants to be able to watch this unfulfilled dream of being with him until the end. She wants the Grail, but will not kill Shirou. She says she wants Shirou more then the Grail and to re do things.

Kotomine gets even more pissed off now and snaps his fingers. Gil comes walking down the steps and Kotomine introduces them, saying that Gil was his Servant from the previous war. He says how he has kept Gil alive with the killings of innocent people. He then says to Saber how things are like how they were ten years ago. He flashes back, saying that Kiritsugu had defeated him. He says how when he was near death, he touched the Holy Grail that appeared and there was the huge explosion of fire. He says how he just wished everyone in the area would disappear, not for them to die. He says the Holy Grail would have done the same thing if he had not wished anything, for it is an evil cursed item. He says it is a vessel that will annihilate everyone except for its bearer. Kotomine leaves and tells Gil and Lancer to kill Shirou and Saber. Gil attacks them, throwing a sword at them but Lancer jumps in the way and hits it off to the side. He says he isn’t siding with Shirou and Saber; he is just siding with his own morals. Gil says how he was going to kill Lancer anyways, because there had to be one Servant left and he considers Saber his possession so he wasn’t going to kill her. Lancer just tells Saber and Shirou to run and they manage to escape, while Lancer gets easily killed by Gil.

Outside of the church, Saber heals Shirou completely. Saber explains to Shirou how Excalibur’s scabbard is inside him, which is where his regenerative capabilities come from. She explains how Kiritsugu used it to summon her and that it basically grants the bearer super regenerative capabilities. Kiritsugu kept it for most of the war and it is why he was not killed by the giant fire, but afterwards he found the dying Shirou. He placed the scabbard in him to save his life. She says how Kiritsugu must have realized that she didn’t need the Grail, which is why he had her destroy it. They talk some more and Saber says how she has realized that the Holy Grail is not something she needs. That re doing things won’t fix anything. Shirou says to her that they should go destroy the Holy Grail and she agrees.

Impressions:

Ok, I’m really even more confused about what is going to happen to Saber. I am no longer as certain that she will return to her own time, and I was surprised at the speeches they gave about redoing something. Shirou said something really interesting that I think summed up his argument for Saber staying and this time I think it really impacted her. He said, “All those years of sadness and hardship, you shouldn’t re do it for it means the suffering people went though and the strength and courage people had to live past it would be meaningless. Living on in the present is the only thing that would allow those things to remain.” He said it in regards to him using the holy grail to re do the fire that killed people, how he doesn’t want the holy grail for something like that because it would mean those peoples deaths would be meaningless and all the training and suffering he went though would also. It applies just as equally well to Saber’s situation; even if she was a crappy king re doing it would mean the suffering people went though was for nothing.

I think one of the hugest things in this episode was learning about the Holy Grail not really being what Saber thought it was. The Holy Grail is a cursed evil item and Kiritsugu had a good reason for destroying it, as they figured out at the end when they made their revelation that they need to destroy it as well. Although, this leads me to wonder what the hell will happen to Saber if they do that. I mean, if the Holy Grail is destroyed then I think she will return to her own time but not re do the selection of kings like she had thought she wanted. So destroying the Holy Grail still means Saber will not be with Shirou in the end, so there is still that factor that I’m pretty sure is going to go through.

So to sum it up a bit it seems as if Saber has decided that Shirou was right, that re doing the selection of the king is wrong. So she now no longer wants to use the Holy Grail to fulfill a wish, instead she wishes to destroy it, but I hated that she said that herself and the Grail were things that cannot really be. So that makes me think that they will destroy the Grail, Saber will disappear to her own time where she will live out her life instead of what she had previously wanted which was to die and have someone else be king. Although in the beginning of the episode she kind of realized that she loved Shirou, so I don’t know maybe there is still a little bit of hope for them to be together at the end but I still doubt it. She did mention before she said how she wouldn’t kill Shirou for the Grail that there was something she would never thrown away for her goal, that she wishes to continue to watch this unfulfilled dream until the end which was being with Shirou.

I feel sorry for Lancer. I mean, he wasn’t really a bad guy and they said before that an evil person will summon an evil Servant but Lancer’s identity was a good guy and Kotomine wasn’t the one who summoned him so he wasn’t really evil at all, he just sided with him because he had to so he himself wouldn’t have died. Although as Gil said he would have killed Lancer eventually anyways, at least this way Lancer himself decided to go out in a blaze of glory by protecting Saber and Shirou and standing up for his beliefs instead of going along with things and being stabbed in the back.

Shirou – Saber – King Arthur

Rin – Archer – Emiya Shirou

Ilya – Berserker – Hercules

Shinji – Rider – Medusa

Unknown – Caster – Medea

Caster – Assassin – Sasaki Kojirou

Kotomine – Lancer – Cuchulain

Kotomine – 2^nd Archer – Gilgamesh

A huge episode with the conclusion for now of the fight versus 2^nd Archer, 2^nd Archer’s identity as well as a huge advancement of Shirou and Saber’s relationship with a cliff hanger that will leave you wanting more.

Summary:

We start off where last episode left off with 2^nd Archer appearing. Saber tells Shirou to run but Shirou says Saber is the one he wants and pushes her aside and tries to attack 2^nd Archer, thinking he will trace Saber’s Caliburn. 2^nd Archer just snaps his fingers and Shirou is impaled by some blast and near unconscious bleeding on the ground. Saber tries attacking him but 2^nd Archer just stands there and swords appear around him and block all of her attacks. 2^nd Archer says since Saber is pulling out all the stops so shall he and says, “Gate of Babylon” and a wall of energy appears behind him and many swords as well. He pulls out a scythe and from a long distance impales Saber’s arm. Saber asks who he is; no Servant could posses so many Nobel Phantasms. He says of course he can, there was once a time when the entire world was unified and the King of Heroes possessed all the treasures in the world, Gilgamesh. Gil pulls out another sword saying this will be more suitable for fighting and the swords starts to glow and so doesn’t Sabers sword. They each yell out their attack and fire a huge blast that connect with each other. Eventually Gil says this bores him and his blast overcomes Saber, sending her heavily injured and flying on the floor.

Shirou staggers up saying he wont’ let Gil loose. He images Caliburn to attack Gil but Gil says if he is to use the sword which selects the king, he shall use an equally fit weapon. He pulls out a sword saying it is the sword which was stuck in the Tree of Life that grants sovereignty. He says that his sword is the origin of Shirou’s swords legend, and that a duplicate can never defeat the original. Shirou attacks but Gil slash once and breaks Caliburn and slash Shirou deeply in the chest. Saber tries to tell Shirou to run, it’s her he wants. Shirou just staggers up saying he won’t let her loose, she is more important to him then anything and he wont let a jerk like Gil take her away. He says Screw off King of Heroes and we see his magic circuit go wild as he images the most powerful thing he can. Gil powers up his sword and in front of Shirou a long glowing object appears. Saber sees this and is shocked and manages to get over there telling Shirou to stick Excalibur in. Gil attacks but it is blocked and reflected back by the glowing object, Excalibur’s Scabbard that Shirou imaged. Gil is actually hurt by this and retreats for the time being. Shirou passes out and Saber holds him saying she finally realized he is her scabbard.

Back at home, Shirou is asleep and sees in his dream a flashback of Saber’s past. She is atop a hill from battle and is then seen fighting someone. The armored person she is fighting is asking why she didn’t’ abdicate the throne to her. Saber says because she doesn’t qualify and stabs her in the stomach. The armored person manages to stab Saber in the stomach as well as her helmet breaks off and she calls Saber Father, looking just like her. Shirou wakes up and Saber is there by her side. Saber goes to prepare dinner but doesn’t really know how so Shirou helps her. He mentions a little ways I how she should re do the selection, she should stay with him. Saber walks away but Shirou follows her. Shirou grabs her arm and pulls her in close, embracing her. Saber says to stop and Shirou says to just push him away but she doesn’t’ and stays in his arms. Shirou is saying how she doesn’t have to go back; she fulfilled her duty she should stay with him because he loves her. We see Saber shedding a tear and Shirou kisses Saber. The next morning we see Shirou walking alone. He heads for Kotomine’s church and he gets there and finds no one around. He all of a sudden however gets a weird felling and hears voices. He wanders around the church and finds a basement to an underground church where he sees corpses of people all over. Kotomine appears behind him saying welcome Emiya Shirou. Shirou backs off in surprise and Lancer appears and stabs him.

Impressions:

This was one of the biggest episodes of the series. It defiantly tops episode 14 as being my favorite. It has a cool fight between Saber and Gil and then Saber and Shirou versus Gil. Not only that but it has the appearance of what I KNEW would appear, Avalon, Excalibur’s Scabbard. Then, to top it off it had a huge moment between Shirou and Saber relationship wise and the drama behind the question whether Saber will return to her own time or stay with Shirou. To overflow that we had the appearance of a new Servant, oh wait no we didn’t just a Servant we haven’t seen for like 20 freaking episodes. Not to mention Lancer’s Master, a big clue to Gil’s Master and of 2^nd Archer’s Identity, Gilgamesh.

The fight between Shirou and Saber vs. Gil was amazing as well. Not only during the fight did we find out 2^nd Archer’s identity, Gilgamesh but Gil was kick ass in fighting. He had an infinite amount of any swords to use, including Balmung from Norse Mythology not to mention at the start of the fight snapping his fingers and impaling Shirou. He also easily defeated Saber and if it weren’t’ for Excalibur’s scabbard he would have completely and utterly won every aspect about that fight. I did love the look on Gils face when Shirou imaged the scabbard. Shirou’s magic circuit thing went crazy, before he had gotten like two out of the many dozens of lines to light up but this time all of them did.

The thing I seemed to like most about this episode, however, was the moment between Shirou and Saber after the fight. Mainly because the whole drama about what Saber is to do and that Shirou loves her is something that is going to carry on through what’s left of the series and be a prominent part. We got a huge advancement in which they kissed which just blew my mind. I also loved the part right after the fight where she was holding Shirou saying she finally realized that Shirou is her scabbard, not referring to the fact he imaged it and such but just that she is like the sword and he is there protecting and backing her up, always with her and such. Shirou again argued that Saber shouldn’t re do the selection kings and die and such, saying she should stay with him. This time, giving the reason that he saw her dream and she did fulfill her duty and such. I think at this point it is almost as if Saber doesn’t want to go back but has to because of what she has promised herself and her country. You can tell she really cares about Shirou too the way she was crying when she said she had to go back and when they kissed. She is using the excuse that she is king and doesn’t have the freedom to stay with Shirou which shows she kind of wants to but just thinks she has to go back. This may be me being pessimistic as I want Saber to stay with Shirou but I think she will in the end go back but still love Shirou. There is the possibility still that he could use his last command spell to stop her from going back which may be a bit more viable now of an option seeing as how Saber herself almost seems like she doesn’t want to go back so if Shirou stops her she may not really object but I still think he wouldn’t’ do something like that to her.

There was enough of a hint to say that Kotomine is Lancer’s Master. Just for the fact that when Shirou walked into the basement and Kotomine appeared behind him, Then Lancer appeared at his side and attacked Shirou as if he was working with Kotomine so I think it’s safe to say Kotomine is Lancer’s Master. There was also a huge clue as to Gil’s Master; I’m calling 2^nd Archer Gil now since we know his identity of Gilgamesh. When Gil made the huge attack at Saber we saw a brief glance of Kotomine who smiled at the shot hitting and basically defeating Saber. Before we got kind of a hint he may be involved such as his reaction to the 8^th Servant when Shirou talked to him as he knew about it but was surprised Shirou did.

Shirou – Saber – King Arthur

Rin – Archer – Emiya Shirou

Ilya – Berserker – Hercules

Shinji – Riedr – Medusa

Unknown – Caster – Medea

Caster – Assassin – Sasaki Kojirou

Kotomine – Lancer – Cuchulain

??? – 2^nd Archer – Gilgamesh

Shirou takes Saber out on a date to try and convince her not to use the Grail and go back to her own time, but to stay in this time instead.

Summary:

We start off with Shirou leaving the church after talking to Kotomine. He said that he will look into the matter of the 8^th Servant. Shirou is remembering his worlds however of him saying all he has to do if he wants Saber to drink from the grail and stay in this time is save one command spell. On the way home he reflects upon her, realizing and admitting to him that he loves her. At home Rin asks Shirou what he plans to do next. He mentions how he doesn’t want Saber to become a full Servant by wishing on the Holy Grail and dieing. Supposedly all other servants died before they became Servants except for Saber and she will die to become a Servant so she can fulfill her duty as a King. Shirou says he doesn’t want Saber to become a Servant and Rin says he is saying the same thing as Archer. She says Archer said he regretted his life and ever becoming a Servant and he doesn’t want Saber to do the same thing. They wonder if Archer knew Saber from somewhere but don’t give it much thought. He says he isn’t sure, but tomorrow he is going to take Saber on a date. Rin starts to laugh uncontrollably but Shirou says he is serious.

Shirou and Rin try to explain the whole date thing to Saber who doesn’t quite get what they mean and what the purpose and intention is of the date. Finally Rin says it is basically a secret meeting between lovers where a guy tries to appeal to the girl he likes. Saber gets embarrassed and blushes and Shirou is taken off guard, coughing and being embarrassed. Ilya bursts in saying she likes Shirou to and wants to meet with him in private but Rin knocks her out and tells Shirou to get going. Shirou and Saber head out on their date, going shopping for clothes even though Saber ends up ripping them, watching a movie where a fight sequence gets Saber kind of excited and she waves her hands along with it. They visit an aquarium and Saber is amazed at the beauty of everything and how beautiful it is even though it is unnatural. They go to some more places such as out to lunch and to a toy store where Saber seems to really like a plush lion. Shirou says it really fits her and kind of laughs. Saber gets embarrassed and puts it back saying she will be waiting outside.

Eventually Shirou and Saber get near the end of their date and they stand together looking out over the river. Shirou says this doesn’t have to be a one time thing, but Saber says that she is a Servant and needs to fulfill her duty. They talk about the reason why Saber fights, she fights to avoid fighting Shirou says, she fears fighting for casualties yet goes into battle to stop them. She says she fights for the Holy Grail, to fulfill her duty as a king. Shirou however says that’s wrong, she should be living for herself now. How if she gets the grail and they win she should stay in this time and not die and go back to her time. They argue for a while, details on important pints are in the impressions, but they keep arguing over their purpose and their will and reason for fighting. Saber seems set that she will return to her time while Shirou tries to convince her to stay. Shirou says that she should just do what she wants and runs home leaving Saber there alone.

At home, Shirou is mad and falls asleep. Much later at night he is woken up by Rin who asks where Saber is. It turns out she never came home so Shirou goes running to find her. H finds her at the spot they were arguing, not having moved for hours. Shirou says for her to come home even though Saber is confused and thought Shirou didn’t care about Saber anymore. He just grabs her hand and they walk home together. On the way, they are stopped however by the voice of someone. They turn around to see 2^nd Archer in casual wear saying to Shirou how he shouldn’t’ be taking something around like that that is someone else’s.

Impressions:

This episode was amazing, not for the cute moments and such but how it really brought to light the real issue that is probably going to be prominent throughout the rest of the series. The question of whether Saber will return to her own time or not. Now I know that in the game, for the Fate arc which this anime is based off of Saber does leave to her own tie in the end but there is a bit of hope that the anime ending may be different. Saber wants to get the grail to fulfill her oath as a king and basically die and have it so her people have a better life and because that is what she believed she promised. Shirou wants Saber to stay because he really cares about her and a bit because he is selfish and wants her to stay with him. He believes she shouldn’t have to suffer and should enjoy a life here. I think in the end though Saber will return to her time, first off because it happens in the game, second because she seems so committed to her oath, third I think Shirou likes Saber too much to force her to stay against her will.

I will first give Saber leaving point of view. I think that she is really committed to fulfilling her oath as a king. She fought in a war before this, and now this one to reach her goal that she has had since the start. Although she cares about Shirou too most likely, she seems too noble of a person to stop her from fulfilling a promise to herself. I think she will love Shirou and all, but if his memory doesn’t fade when she goes back she will always just remember him. That brings to life that if she does leave and normally I believe a Servant’s memories are lost that Shirou’s wish would be for Saber to remember him. I don’t think Shirou would in all honesty use his last command spell to make Saber stay, there is of course that he could use it to make her realize that she is better off here and she accepts that but it kind of defeats the purpose of it all if he really loves her then he wouldn’t force her to go against a goal and wish she has had for a long time. The lion plush also really fits into this argument. It seems very very likely something that we will see at the final episode or something on Shirou’s shelf as he remembers Saber, the plush will be a kind of reminder or symbol of her that he will keep since he couldn’t hold onto the real Saber.

I will now give the argument of Saber staying. Saber did at first give a strong argument and such on how much she is committed but I think some of Shirou’s words really shook her and could perhaps influence her. She has already shown signs of humanizing, such as the second bath incident being embarrassed, all the instances in the date where she was amazed by the fish and acting like a normal human expect for some cultural getting used to’s. Saber also stayed there when Shirou gone, looking as if she was really reflecting and thinking upon what Shirou said which could show that his argument is convincing her. Saber has in many cases shown worry for Shirou past that of a Servant for a Master so II think it’s pretty safe to say that she likes him too. Although this doesn’t man that because of that she will stay, it can be a great influencer. On the way home when Shirou grabbed Sabers hand she kind of smiled and went along with him, not refusing to hold hands or go with him because of his beliefs even after he said he won’t back down basically. She seemed to really smile at him which shows how much she has grown to like him. On the date she loved the fish and the lion plush which showed that she is growing to like this world and time itself so she may realize its better for her. I think most of all though if she is to stay, Shirou’s arguments is what influenced it the most. Things he said such as she is just hiding her personal feelings with the excuse of a Kings Duty and what really seemed to shake her confidence in her belief was Shirou saying that No matter what the outcome, you can’t change something that’s already happened, that changing something just because you couldn’t accomplish something (like a kings duty in this case) is just like a kid’s selfishness.

Of course past the seriousness of the ending argument between them and the ominous fateful, no pun intended…ok kind of, meeting of 2^nd Archer (I know his name damnit, I’m just not saying it because it isn’t given yet) there were a lot of really nice and cute parts. I loved how Rin just laughed uncontrollably when Shirou said he was taking Saber on a date, not getting into the whole Rin’s character thing it was funny because of how out of the ordinary it was especially in their situation. Ilya of course, even though a minor role in this episode after being almost left out of the last two, Ilya being knocked out and saying she wanted to meet with Shirou in private too was hilarious. Most of all however I really liked the parts during the date where Saber was amazed at everything and looked really cute smiling. When she was watching the light saber fight in the movie theater and her waving her hands around was just priceless and the plush lion part was adorable.

We get the conclusion of the Saber and Assassin fight, as well as the appearance of the eighth Servant out of seven and some information about the previous Holy Grail War.

Summary:

We start off with the continuing fight between Saber and Assassin. They continue to fight while we see Shirou getting his ass kicked by Souichirou who is using his fists against Shirou’s two magic swords. Caster is taunting Rin about how she will be the sacrifice for the Grail instead. Back to Saber and Assassin, they are both fighting equally well it seems but Saber seems to have made a mistake. Saber pushed Assassin up to the flat part, and because he is on flat ground he can use his special sword technique that is amazing good and deadly. Saber powers up her sword and attacks Assassin as he unleashes his attack and they zoom past each other. We see a shot of Saber, some hair in the air from the slash and Assassin, who we see blood coming from his mouth. Assassin tells Saber to go, and she runs past him as he disappears and dies.

Shirou is getting his ass kicked by Souichirou and is knocked down like two stories onto the hard floor of where Sakura and Rin are with Caster. Saber comes to the rescue and attacks Caster who easily blocks it with a force field. Caster says she will let Shirou live if Caster becomes her slave and we then see a shot of someone in gold armor. He says “You fool” and everyone looks up. He is standing on top of the arena, with thousands of blades that are surrounding him; all seem to be stuck in some field around him, half here and half not. He says he was just planning on watching but Caster just said something she shouldn’t. He points to Saber and says that, the king is mine. All of a sudden the blades around him rain down on Caster, all concentrated at her and Souichirou. She blocks them but is having a hard time as there is seemly no end to the rain of blasts. The unknown then grabs three blades at once and manually throws them, giving them a blue glow not a gold one. They are aimed at Souichirou and Caster jumps in front, getting hit. We see Caster’s face and she is up next to Souichirou saying that her desire is fulfilled in keeping him safe. Caster then dies and Souichirou collapses to the floor as we see two huge wounds in his back.

The castle and cave around them which was all created by Caster starts to disappear and Rin says they have to leave. The unknown man address Saber saying its been a while and asks her if she remembers his question from ten years ago. He said he would love to talk but this cave is too boring and disappears. Saber, Rin, and Shirou carrying unconscious Sakura run out and make it out of the cave before it disappears. At home Saber tells everyone who that was. She says he is from the last war and he was the Archer class. 2^nd Archer and Saber were the last two and they fought against each other last war; however Saber was never able to win. She said that in the fight he proposed to her but she rejected him. Saber heads outside and Shirou follows and the two of them talk alone. Shirou says how if a Servant gets the grail they can stay so… but Saber stops him there and says her wish is to return to her time and die, re do the selection for king so a more suitable king is chosen for her people. Shirou argues if she wants to redo things she should stay here. Saber says that 2^nd Archer didn’t obtain the grail however so there is no guarantee she even could. She says the Grail was destroyed in the last war by Emiya Kiritsugu, Shirou’s (adopted) dad. She says how he was her Master last war and when they obtained it he used his last command spell to make Saber destroy the grail which caused a huge fire and destruction. Shirou heads off to see Kotomine the overseer of the War in the church. He talks to him about the grail and Kotomine tells him that a Servant can get a second life if they drink from the grail, so Saber could stay with him since he has a thing for her if Saber drinks from the grail. Shirou then brings up the 8^th Servant 2^nd Archer and Kotomine acts surprised but as if he knows something about it.

Impressions:

I thought the more interesting part about this episode was the end after they escaped. The whole news that Shirou’s dad was Saber’s master in the previous war was huge. Not only that but we find out the Saber class in last war was the same Saber in this war. Saber seems to hate Kiritsugu, Shirou’s dad, for ordering her to destroy the grail but there has to be a reason behind him doing that. That brings up the idea that the Holy Grail may not be completely a super fantastic as good as it seems kind of thing and that Kiritsugu knew something we didn’t and destroyed the grail for a good reason. This also proves I was right in thinking there was something to Kiritsugu’s guilty look when he held Shirou in the flashbacks. It’s because of him the fire erupted and such so he felt responsible and took care of Shirou.

Shirou and Saber’s talk about her staying or going back really was important I think and will be a major question thought the rest of the series. Because we find out that Shirou basically likes Saber and wants her to stay with him in this time we get he mystery if she will go back or not. It is physically possibly we find out for her to stay if she drinks from the Holy Grail but they still have to acquire it. Saber however wants to use the grail to go back in time and not become king basically. She believes it’s her duty to her country for her people and because she wasn’t a good king she thinks a better one for her people should be picked.

Of course that isn’t all that was important in this episode; the big part is also that in the span of one episode, two servants died! I feel sorry for Assassin as he was so cool however I wonder if the reason he lost, I think, was that because the sun was setting. Assassin had said earlier he doesn’t have much mana because he was summoned by a Servant so he probably wont last till sunrise so when he did his attack the sun started to rise so perhaps the reason his attack didn’t go through like it was supposed to or he got his by saber was because of that. Also just cause of the hit doesn’t mean he died, it seemed more like he died because of the sun thing and I think the reason his attack failed is because of such also.

The whole thing with the new Servant, for now until I officially get his name from the anime or clues in the anime that say it I’ll call him 2^nd Archer, was rather interesting. With his appearance and the news that Saber was unable to defeat him last war was interesting as it seems he will be the new main opponent, although I still feel like they are forgetting someone *cough* Lancer *cough* My guess is that the church guy, Kotomine is/was 2^nd Archer’s Master in the previous war. I seem to remember him saying something abut him being in the war before. That brings the question of if he still is since Kotomine isn’t dead.

Shirou – Saber – King Arthur

Rin – Archer – Emiya Shirou

Ilya – Berserker – Hercules

Shinji – Rider – Medusa

Unknown – Caster – Medea

Caster – Assassin – Sasaki Kojirou

??? – Lancer – Cuchulain

??? – 2^nd Archer – ???

We get the first part of the rescue attempt for Sakura as a fight between Assassin and Saber rages on as well as between Shirou and Souichirou as Rin tries to free Sakura.

Summary:

We start off seeing some of Caster’s past. She is sitting, remembering times from when she was Medea and then we see her struggling through the rain as Caster from what seems to be after she killed her master. She stumbles across Souichirou who finds her lying in the rain. Souichirou nurses her back to health.

Shirou, Saber and Rin are at the steps to the temple. They head up and Rin notices something and takes a right though the woods and there is a passage to her real temple through a portal in a rock. They head in and see a huge underground city, which Rin tells them is all created by Caster. They are met by hoards of skeletons and spirit monsters that Caster has summoned and Shirou, Saber and Rin all fight them. Eventually they manage to defeat all of them and continue on to where Sakura is. They stop on the steps leading up to where she must be and Assassin appears. Assassin basically lets Shirou and Rin go past and fights Saber.

Shirou and Rin head past Assassin and past him they see Sakura, in rather odd cloths who is in what seems to be pain as she is glowing red. She is in a pit arena area and as they prepare to go down there they are attacked from behind which Shirou notices and blocks the attack with Archer’s swords. Souichirou appears and Shirou tells Rin to go ahead as he fights Souichirou and she goes to rescue Sakura. Meanwhile Saber and Assassin fight continues on. They compliment each other on being one of the best swordsmen they have ever faced and Assassin tells Saber that his identity, Sasaki Kojirou doesn’t really exist. He is fabricated from people’s minds of being a great swordsman so he is a fictional heroic soul. He says he has no desire for the Holy Grail therefore; his true desire is this, a fight with a worthy opponent.

Rin is now down where Sakura is and yells for Caster to come out, she knows she is there. Caster appears behind her and says she has no intention of fighting her. She can take Sakura with her anytime she wants, however she doesn’t think Sakura wants to go. Caster whispers to Sakura how the person she has waited for is here and we see some flashbacks from Sakura’s memory. We see Sakura and Rin as kids together. Sakura then goes crazy and magic erupts from under her attacking Rin. Meanwhile Shirou and Souichirou keep fighting, as do Saber and Assassin. Rin continues trying to evade Sakura’s attacks, although it seems they are involuntary as she is just standing/floating there screaming in pain. We see more flashbacks of the two of them and it seems as if Rin is telling Sakura Sakura’s name. Sakura repeats it and Rin says yah. We see a shot of the two of them being taken away, Sakura being taken away into a limo. Rin decides she has to attack Sakura, that a magician’s dignity is most important so she wants to free Sakura from this. The two of them attack and Sakura is free and the arena area stops glowing from the ritual. We see Rin holding Sakura, with a small pool of blood dripping saying I guess I couldn’t not hold back. Caster is watching this smiling says she just needs one magician for the sacrifice, obviously thinking Rin now.

Impressions:

I think the really interesting part about this episode was the history we saw between Sakura and Rin. If you remember Shinji told Shirou if there are two children in a magic family, the magic is learned and inherited by the older child and the other one is either raised in ignorance or adopted to another family. I really think that Sakura and Rin are sisters. In the flashbacks we saw them both with dark hair and Sakura was told her name, Matou Sakura and first said it as a question so it seemed as if she was told that is her name from now on. They obviously knew each other as kids and had to part and I think that is because of the whole her being adopted into another family.

Assassin was also extremely cool in this episode. It is a neat idea and it was cool to find out that he is based on a factious character. If you know anything about the mythology/legend behind Sasaki Kojirou you’d know that there is no official listing he existed. Some people believe he did and some people believe he didn’t but he is considered to have been, if he existed one of the greatest swordsman. Well according to Fate/Stay Night he never did exist but Assassin was still fabricated from those beliefs that he existed, which is cool. Not to mention he seemed to be winning in the fight against Saber, easily dodging and blocking most of her attacks and stepping to the side of them with ease while smiling. Now I don’t think he will last past next episode just because the fight is still going between them and the battle has to end somehow, I don’t’ think they will just stop fighting and Saber isn’t likely to die here.

Sakura’s outfit was a rather interesting point in this episode. Apparently Caster has some thing for the whole dominatrix thing as she dressed Sakura up in such. Either the Holy Grail requires the vessel to be in a kinky outfit, or more likely Caster does. We also again saw Shirou use Archer’s swords so again bringing forth the connection between the two of them. We also saw a bit of what happened to Caster after she killed her master and before setting up with Souichirou.

Shirou – Saber – King Arthur

Rin – Archer – Emiya Shirou

Ilya – Berserker – Hercules

Shinji – Rider – Medusa

Unknown – Caster – Medea

Caster – Assassin – Sasaki Kojirou

??? – Lancer – Cuchulain

A lot of information is given in this episode about Caster and Assassin as well as who their Masters are, we get an interaction between Saber and Shirou against Caster and her “Master”.

Summary:

We start off with a dream sequence of Saber as King Arthur. This time however she stands before an army but as the soldiers talk amongst themselves they say how cold hearted of a king she was. They say how she sacrificed one of their villages to insure victory even though they stood a very good chance of doing so without killing the innocent people. They say how can a King who doesn’t care for their people possibly rule.

Everyone is at breakfast including Sakura and Fuji the teacher. Rin walks in and introduces them to Ilya saying she is a distant relative. They hear on the news how there have been more instances of people found in commas. Sakura heads out to the porch area with a really sad look on her face, perhaps thinking or worrying about Shinji. Meanwhile Saber, Shirou and Rin are talking in another room about the cause of this all. They think that it is the Master at the temple when Ilya comes in. Rin tells her to go away but she taunts them with information and tells them how the cause of the comas is a Servant, Caster. They are confused as to why there are two Servants at the temple but Ilya goes on to tell them that Assassin’s Master is Caster. Everyone kind of goes, huh? But Ilya goes on to say that Caster is a magician Servant and all magicians can possibly summon Servants. Since Caster is a Servant therefore making her a very very strong magician she is a top candidate to become a Master. Ilya then goes on to say even more that Caster is so powerful she doesn’t need a Master, in fact she killed the Master who summoned her very soon after being summoned and she has been supplying her own mana. The “Master” she currently has is just a normal human at the temple. She says Caster’s identity is Medea, a treacherous witch in Greek mythology.

After this, Shirou is talking with his friend Issei. He happens to mention one of their teachers Kuzuki Souichirou. Shirou asks why he knows this and he says that that teacher has been living at his temple, the one where the Servants supposedly are, for three months. When Rin hears this she comes to the conclusion that Souichirou is Caster’s “Master” They plan an ambush for him, if they hit him with a small spell and nothing happens they know he isn’t. They ambush him in the street but when Rin shoots the spell it gets nullified. A cloth blocks it and then from it Caster appears being wrapped around it. Shirou, having known Souichirou from him being a teacher he asks if he is being controlled or why he is doing what Caster wants. He explains she is killing innocent people or at least putting them in commas. Souichirou asks if that’s a bad thing and it turns out he is fairly evil person. Saber attacks Souichirou but he easily dodges her blows and then with the help of Caster he easily blocks and attacks her with just his hands, basically defeating Saber. Rin tries to attack but is quickly defeated, then Shirou realizes he needs better weapons if he is to win. He remembers Archer’s weapons and makes them and fairs pretty well against Souichirou. Caster stops the fight asking why they don’t join her. They don’t have to fight to get the Holy Grail; if Caster gets enough mana and a vessel for it she can summon it. Rin however says that it would require the whole the lives in the city to summon and the lives of the world to keep it summoned. They refuse but Caster says that’s ok, she has a magician in mind for a vessel. They instantly think of Ilya who is at home and rush off there when Caster disappears.

Back at their house Saber finds Sakura collapsed on the floor. She helps her up but Sakura stabs Saber in the stomach with an odd jagged multi colored dagger. Sakura speaks in Casters voice about how Saber fell for it. She explains that this dagger is her Nobel Phantasm, The Rule Breaker and how it could have broken the pact between Saber and Shirou but Sakura wasn’t powerful enough so it just sealed Saber’s Nobel Phantasm. Sakura then heads outside as Shirou and Rin arrive yelling for her. Caster says that she is taking this girl and if they want her back to come to her temple.

Summary:

It was really interesting to find out that Caster, a Servant, is also a Master. However it really makes since though because magicians can summon Servants and Caster is the Magician Servant it makes since. Seeing as how Servants are like five times as strong as a Master, Caster is one of the most powerful magicians so she would have the ability to summon a Servant. This shows that the alliance between Caster and Assassin can’t really be broken like if they had different Masters, they do though but yeah you get it…I hope.

I was right about that guy being a Master, kind of. At first I though Souichirou was Issei’s dad but he isn’t but I still got the same guy. Although I’m also partially wrong because technically in the most direct of facts he isn’t a Master seeing as he isn’t a magician but I’m putting him down as Caster’s Master anyways since she killed her real one and I don’t think we will ever find out who it is because I don’t think its that important. Speaking of Souichirou he was kicking ass. Sure it was mostly because of Caster’s enhancement spells on him most probably but he defeated Saber, Rin and Shirou.

Also, we see more similarities between Archer and Shirou with Shirou creating the weapons Archer always uses. Of course he only made them because he saw Archer and remembered him using them but that could be the way Archer wound up doing it too, but I’m not getting into this whole time paradox thing. Rin seemed very surprised to see him wield them but unsure as if she has made the connection between Archer being Shirou.

I’m changing my rules for listing this chart, previously I had said I will only cross out Masters if they run out of Command Spells but from now on, and I’ve went back and changed it on previous entries, Masters are only crossed out if they are dead. Also I’m not going to list Souichirou as Caster’s Master, if they don’t have command spells they aren’t a Master. However since I think now we will never know Caster’s original Masters name because it isn’t important I will list it as Unknown but that will be different then “???” Then so I discuss it now if there is ever another Servant who joins up with a Master other than their original self I will list them, such as if Caster ever got a real master I would list them and just not have “Unknown” anywhere there.

Shirou – Saber – King Arthur

Rin – Archer – Emiya Shirou

Ilya – Berserker – Hercules

Shinji – Rider – Medusa

Unknown – Caster – Medea

Caster – Assassin – Sasaki Kojirou

??? – Lancer – Cuchulain

We see the conclusion of the Berserker and Saber fight as well as some advancement of Shirou’s character.

Summary:

We start off where last episode left off with Saber and Berserker in the middle of a fight along with Rin with Ilya on the other side. Saber tries attacking Berserker and manages to connect hits but they do absolutely nothing to Berserker, Berserker still holding Rin in his grasp. After Shirou gets injured by trying to help Saber starts powering up Excalibur even though she promised Shirou not to use it. If she were to use it, it wouldn’t guarantee victory in the state she is in and would most defiantly kill her. Shirou uses his second command spell to force her not to use it. Shirou then remembers what Archer said to him, if he cannot defeat an opponent in reality, image something in you mind you can defeat him with. Shirou remembers the visions of Saber pulling the sword out of the stone and creates that sword. He then uses it and cuts of Berserkers arm that’s holding Rin but the sword shatters. Shirou says there was a flaw and makes it again, spending more time and making it perfect. He then uses it with Saber and stabs Berserker in the chest with it, killing him seven times in one blow, killing him for good. Before disappearing, Berserker speaks to Saber asking if that is her sword. She says yes, it’s the sword Caliburn. Berserker says however it is really nothing more than an illusion created by that man but even so he is surprised such a thing was able to kill his body seven time sin one blow. He then disappears leaving Ilya devastated.

Back at Shirou’s house, Shirou wakes up with Saber at his side. He then hears a little girl saying it’s too nosey and pulls up the covers to see Ilya holding on to him sleeping much to their shock. Although it doesn’t seem to be that much of a shock, as it turns out Shirou took Ilya in and sheltered her saying she isn’t an enemy anymore although much to the protest of Saber and Rin. Rin eventually says its ok, seeing some benefit in it that the others don’t necessarily see and they go with it. A little while after Shirou trains in swordsmanship with Saber he walks into the bath to find Saber using it. He turns away embarrassed but this time Saber says she doesn’t wish for Shirou to see her, her body is as feminine as Rin’s or so since it its fairly muscular and she is embarrassed. Shirou just leaves, just as embarrassed who obviously thinks its fine.

Later with Rin, she explains to Shirou what magic he used in imaging things and then they get talking about Saber and her being King Arthur. Rin mentions in the legend that King Arthur had a scabbard to Excalibur that made her invincible but she was killed when it was stolen. Meanwhile we see Caster and Assassin talking with some man who seems to be the man who earlier gave Shirou a weird look at school. Caster says, from seeing Berserker die previously though her magic that all they have to worry about now is Saber and Lancer. They also talk about summoning the Holy Grail and that all they need is a magician to serve as its medium basically. The man says I guess that means I can’t help which kind of means whoever he is he really isn’t a real Master. She says its fine, they just need someone from a line of magicians and from looking in her magic ball says you will do fine little girl, showing a picture of Sakura.

Impressions:

I think one of the most important parts about this episode wasn’t the conclusion of the Saber and Berserker fight, but of Saber’s talk with Shirou near the end. She mentioned how Rin has said before and Archer too how Shirou’s self sacrifice isn’t normal. He is similar to Saber, which is needed to summon them; by the fact they both seem to have mistakes they have made. She said from the beginning his emotions were never part of his life. She says she needs the Holy Grail, but he does also. This brings me to think about how Shirou becomes Archer. As I seem to recall a Servant has to want to become a Servant. Perhaps Shirou uses the Holy Grail to become more powerful and ultimately a Servant so he can follow his ideals of helping people. I think however that it isn’t what he expected, that he isn’t able to uphold those values, which is why Archer was so hard on Shirou, making fun of his ideals and how he said it would never work to keep them. I think however that there can defiantly easily be a change in the future, that he doesn’t have to become Archer in this timeline because of some of the changes and things that have influenced him.

We saw some real character advancement on Saber’s behalf as well. Earlier when Shirou walked in on Saber in the bath she had no problem with him seeing her, saying she is a Servant before a woman but when he did it this time she got really embarrassed and embarrassed about her own body saying it’s not attractive and such. This shows that she is acting more like a human and there may be more hope for further advancement in such direction.

We get a huge clue as to a most definite tool that will be used in the future, Excalibur’s Scabbard. Rin told Shirou the story about how the scabbard made King Arthur invincible and Shirou has recently been getting good at making things out of no where, I mean he made Caliburn; he even made it basically as powerful as it really was making it possible to kill someone seven times with one stab. I think Shirou will defiantly make Excalibur’s Scabbard and use it himself or use it with Saber in order to help win a fight, perhaps the final fight in the series.

I don’t know why but I felt kind of sorry for Ilya when Berserker died. Now I know she is kind of evil, she killed Shinji and because of her Berserker Archer died, and she tried to kill Shirou, Saber, and Rin but I still feel sorry for her. She looked so sad when Berserker died, like she was sad he himself died not that she lost her tool in the Holy Grail War. I believe her that she won’t take another Servant because she truly cared for and felt a connection to Berserker In a ways it wasn’t entirely her fault how she acted, she comes from a long line of magicians and probably had high expectations and was forced to do things and train from a young age and got into the mind set of Master’s not being innocent, to kill them and such.

Shirou – Saber – King Arthur

Rin – Archer – Emiya Shirou

Ilya – Berserker – Hercules

Shinji – Rider – Medusa

??? – Caster – ???

??? – Assassin – Sasaki Kojirou

??? – Lancer – Cuchulain

Shirou has to find a way to replenish Saber’s mana while Ilya looks for them. We get the beginning of a fight between Saber and Berserker near the end.

Summary:

We start off with Shirou, Saber and Rin escaping, running through the forest away from Ilya. Saber is still hurt and Shirou attempts to carry her. Even after her refusal at being helped by Shirou, Shirou picks her up and carries her because she is hurt. Rin leads them to an abandoned shack kind of place in the forest she said Archer pointed out on their way here as a hideout. They go inside to rest and Rin says it should be safe until morning here. Rin says they have to replenish Saber’s mana if she is to stand any chance in a fight. Rin says their only option is to establish a connection between Shirou and Saber so he can replenish her mana. Rin says they need to transfer Shirou’s magic circuit to Saber and Saber says how that is way too much, to a magician their magic circuit is more important then their life. Shirou says he will do it but Rin warns him that it is like the equivalent of ripping out a whole connection of nerves, he will never be able to reach his full potential as a magician. Shirou doesn’t care and they go ahead with the ritual in which Saber and Shirou get rather close as a lot of physical contact is required.

We shoot to morning where Shirou and Saber are asleep on the bed there next to each other. Shirou wakes up seeing this and gets really embarrassed and backs away. Saber gets up saying she is fine now and Shirou says that’s good. Saber thanks Shirou and apologizes for making him do something such as give up one of his magic circuits but Shirou says its ok, hit seems he can still sue the only magic he ever knew and he probably transferred over a circuit he doesn’t use. The three of them come up with a battle plan that they need to attack Berserker and catch him off guard so they can finish him off before he has a chance to counter attack. Shirou says there isn’t really a way they can sneak up on him but Rin says that she can conceal her presence and hide which Saber and Shirou confront him. Saber says Shirou as no way to fight and would be in danger but Shirou picks up a tick and transforms it into a bow saying he can use this, much to everyone’s shock.

Soon after Ilya and Berserker arrive and Rin hides up in a nearby tree. Ilya says it doesn’t matter that Saber has recovered, they can’t beat Berserker. Saber and Berserker start fighting, Saber fairing fairly poorly, but not being dead or anything. After Shirou’s bow shot does absolutely nothing he whines to himself how he wasn’t of any use but says perhaps he can make another weapon, a sword. Just then Rin jumps out and throws some of her magic jewels, managing to incase Berserkers arm with his cleaver in ice. Berserker grabs onto Rin but she blows his head away with her remaining jewels. He recovers to Rin’s shock as she is sure she killed him. Ilya says she did but explains Berserkers Noble Phantasm which is that he has twelve lives, he has seven left now. Berserker then continues to crush Rin and the episode ends.

Impressions:

The whole magic transfer deal was…interesting. It was interesting to know that because Shirou did this thing for Saber he will never reach the height of his potential as a magician. It showed really how much he cares for Saber and how much he places her and others before him. Although the actual transfer process was a bit odd and not explained as thoroughly as to what went on as it was in the game. It did hint at basically a big physical connection and closeness between the two of them. They are also now connected together and Saber stands more of a chance now that Shirou can replenish her mana.

I thought it was kind of interesting how Saber kept refusing to be carried in the forest but Shirou insisted, placing her safety as a high priority. He forcefully picked her up and it was kind of cute how she struggled, saying to let her down but kind of realized that Shirou just cares about her.

We finally get an explanation to Ilya saying how Archer killed Berserker five times yet here he is as good as new. One thing confuses me though, if Archer killed Berserker five times, Rin killed him once, and then how does he have seven remaining? So far he has been killed six times total, and he has a total of twelve lives so shouldn’t that mean six more lives left? Eh, maybe they mean that he can be killed twelve times before he is on his original life or something. More then likely something got messed up in the translation though.

We saw a bit more of a connection between Shirou and Archer, Shirou making a stick into a bow to use as he used to be in archery club and fairly good at it. Although just a normal attack from him didn’t really do anything to Berserker he still made the bow and Saber and Rin both seemed shocked, more at thee fact he did something like that in the first place though. He said he will try and make a sword to use but we don’t’ get to the point where he actually makes it, I think he will make one in the next episode and it could possibly be Caliburn. He saw an image of Caliburn and knows it’s connected to Saber somehow and would maybe work better then Excalibur.