Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「oath sign」 by LiSA
Watch the OP!: Streaming ▼
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「偽りの戦端」 (Itsuwari no Senten)
“False Start to the War”
Fate/Zero doesn’t miss a beat as the build-up and exposition continues on in this second episode. It maintained the same pacing as the hour-long premiere and was just as epic too. Compared to Fate/stay night, there’s been a lot less emphasis on Saber and it sometimes feels like there’s no “main” protagonist at all, which as unusual as it may sound, is actually one of the reasons why I’m enjoying this prequel as much as I am. The Holy Grail War is completely twisted to begin with, as seen by how the legendary relic whimsically picked serial killer Uryuu Ryuunosuke (Ishida Akira) as the seventh and last Master, and befittingly made Caster Bluebeard, a.k.a. the “fallen knight” child-killer Gilles de Rais (Tsuruoka Satoshi), as his Servant, so there really isn’t a concept of a “good guy” to begin with. The Grail itself could probably be perceived as the ultimate antagonist though, since a bloodbath ensues from everyone vying for it. Naturally I’ll still be rooting for Saber (and subsequently Kiritsugu), but the extra focus on the other Masters and Servants have been quite telling of both this war and the one that comes after.
Being a prequel, Fate/Zero has taken a fair amount of liberties by assuming the viewer’s familiar with the events of Fate/stay night (a lot more so than I thought it would anyway). In the original, the focus was primarily on the limited vantage point of Shirou, who served as our window into the Holy Grail War. In Fate/Zero, the focus is no longer on that form of suspenseful storytelling and instead on the conflicting interests of all the Masters. To that end, Fate/Zero isn’t shy about revealing the true identities of all the Servants right away, which those who have seen Fate/stay night will recall was always a secretive topic. Not only was it a way to keep viewers guessing on who the Servants truly are based on their mannerisms and abilities, it also served as a key plot device since finding out the true identities of the Servants was akin to discovering their weaknesses. Even Saber’s true identity wasn’t confirmed until the late stages of the Fifth War, leaving a lingering suspicion that she’s actually Joan of Arc (much like Bluebeard will mistaken her as later on). I guess one could perceive this as a lesson learned from this war, but it’s worth noting that a fair share of Servants already know who they’re up against (e.g. Assassin).
Most notable are the number of “Kings” summoned for the Fourth War. Saber is King Arthur, Archer is Gilgamesh, the King of Uruk (Seki Tomokazu), and Rider is Iskander, a.k.a. Alexander the Great (Ootsuka Akio), the last of whom is the only “new” addition, but is probably the most charismatic Servant ever seen. Thanks to the additional emphasis on the other Master/Servants, I’m quite intrigued about Iskander’s character, who’s shown more interest in conquering the world than helping Waver win the war. At the same time, he’s proven to be quite a formidable and reliable partner that I almost want to see him succeed. I honestly don’t know if I could say the same about the Masters in the Fifth War, save for Rin because well, she’s Tohsaka Rin, so Fate/Zero’s take on the Holy Grail War has already twisted my perspective a fair bit. If I had to put my finger on one aspect of these past two episodes that have made this series feel as epic as it has been, it would definitely be the balanced portrayal of all the parties involved. Just take Kariya for example.
As for actual developments, Kiritsugu’s fatherly affection toward Ilya makes me wonder if I’ve misjudged his character just like Saber. According to Iri, he’s even expressed disagreement over the burden placed on Saber after she pulled Excalibur from its stone simply because she’s a girl — something one wouldn’t expect from a (supposed) coldblooded assassin. It’s almost as if he’s able to flip a switch and become a ruthless killer when it comes to work, all in the name of professionalism. The end result is a protagonist that’s more agreeable yet not completely, making Kiritsugu somewhat complex and a lot more interesting to watch. The same could be said about Kirei, who decided to turn on Tokiomi for whatever reason. From the look of things, Tokiomi anticipated a betrayal, so in all likelihood, he intends to take Kirei back under his wing and continue to “use” him later on. The thing about this particular Assassin is that he’s actually more than one person and is collectively represented by the Persian Assassins, as seen in the ending sequence, so Kirei isn’t Servant-less just yet. However, this did go to show that alliances in this war are fragile at best and will make their distrust in one another exciting to watch.
* For those unfamiliar with Command Seals, they’re marks on a Master’s hand allow them to order their Servant to do something against their will. However, they can only be used three times, after which the mark completely disappears and the Servant is no longer contracted to the Master and can do whatever they want — such as killing their Master.
* Niconico’s simulcast of episode two can be watched here.
ED2 Sequence
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ED2: 「MEMORIA」 by 藍井エイル (Aoi Eir)
Watch the 2nd ED!: Streaming ▼
Preview
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I felt bad afterwards, but I laughed so hard when Bluebeard engulfed that kid right after letting him go. That’s like the epitome of cruel.
^ This. Except I didn’t feel bad about it. 😀
This is, in my eyes, the best show this season, by a looooooooooong margin. 🙂 These weekly waits are going to be agonizing.
Dude, you really should get some help if you seriously didn’t feel bad about that…
What a contrast to the mindless guro-fest of Blood-C. This was real horror skillfully done – a scalpel vs. a sledgehammer.
@Guardian Enzo
Ever heard of sociopaths? I guess not, since you made that comment. Well, let me tell you, there are a lot of different people in this world.
And what’s your point – that sociopaths shouldn’t get help? Or that other people shouldn’t point it out?
Oh poo. I’d say finding a real life equivalent funny, without feeling bad, is a sign of sociopathy. However, there is also a phrase for those who aren’t able to separate reality from fiction, and feel compelled to react to fictional events in the same way they would to real ones. ;p
LOL, I agree. Please note that I’m not the one who called you a sociopath! Some folks (not referring to you, Drew) can’t take a joke…
If any of you guys read all of Urobuchi’s works, you would know that this was actually MINIMAL guro.
It is? I see, so if he did Bokurano, which is already awesome, would it it become more awesome? xD
Have you read Urobuchi’s VN Saya no Uta? I highly recommend it, and I’m someone who hates guro and horror stories. Despite the scary stuff he writes, he’s very good at making stories compelling, tearjerking, and even slightly romantic. Just to compare, Puella Magi Madoka Magica is one of his most light-hearted stories.
Second on reading Saya no Uta. It was my first VN
oh what a charming choice for a first-timerand the one that made me an G.Urobochi fan in the first place. Remember staying all up night the first time I read it just so that I could finish all three endings. (:Knowing that it’s guro it might turn people off but I don’t anyone needs to worry about it too much. I’m not particular good with it either but you kind of just get used to it as you start getting more engaged with the story and it’s atmosphere.
I thought it was hilarious.
If I wouldn’t have looked like a retard I woulda had the same reaction as his master.
YOU’RE SO COOOL!
It’s great to see on of hollywoods rules be shattered like that.
People dying left and right but low and behold there’s a kid and pouf enters a hero to save the day.
Eh, I kind of knew what was going to happen, given that I knew who Caster was prior to watching the show. Didn’t stop me from wincing when the kid died.
Just chiming in to add Sweet Pool (though Urobuchi was only a consultant there) as another Nitro+ guro visual novel that’s incredibly sweet and romantic. There’s usually only 2 response people have to it – absolute rupulsion or strong enjoyment with a tinge of guilt.
Getting awed by Fate/zero so far, the animation is just WOW. Story-wise, I’m a newcomer who hasn’t seen nor played F/SN but was still able to follow everything. In addition, Waver is moe~ just sayin’
Gilgamesh sure is looking badass in the last scene of this episode.
I doubt “that Assasin” is just gonna die like that, right?
yes he dies
well one of them at least
Show Spoiler ▼
I seriouslyyyyy doubt Kirei would turn his back on Tokiomi this quickly. It must be advantageous to both of them somehow… Perhaps it was an illusion or a doppelganger or something? I just can’t see Assassin being knocked out so quickly or Kirei seriously going after Tokiomi since it can’t possibly be beneficial to Kirei so early in the race.
Well he is known as the 100 faced hassan…
Show Spoiler ▼
Ilya is FREAKIN CUTE!!!!!!
Gosh and you thought Rin was cute?
I totally agree. Ilya was way too adorable here!
I wonder why she does not refer to Kiritsugu as daddy, though.
Oh god. OTOU-TAMA >.<
Moe Overload.
lol is she called him papa i would ve fainted
I was bored so I made a GIF out of that scene. (translation = UTW subs).
OMG… loving that GIF
<3 Croooooooooooos
got to agree with you 😀
I cant really imagine what blue beard’s eyes are like in real life ((0 )_( 0)).
It’s probably the effect of the punishment his character received when he was still alive.
Anyway, meet Nestor Kirchner.
They keep just teasing us by giving us a glimpse than taking it away. Especially this one as the first had an 48minutes and now it just 24. If I was sane I should’ve just waited till it was over and marathoned it, but it is just too tempting.
It is kind of hard for me to root for anyone since I know the conclusion, but I’m enjoying the character interactions. Waver and Alexander is quite comedic and there’s a chance to see Waver become more mature through interaction with his servant. Assassin is epic, he could’ve done wonders with Kiritsugi. I’m interested to see how different Gilgamesh was in the prequel, Show Spoiler ▼
I can tell who I’m not rooting for, because at episode 1 they gave us a very unlikable character in the form of Archibald. I like him less than even Caster and master even though they are pretty sick, but their insane tendencies make them interesting characters none the less.
I can’t wait to see bug guy and Berserker.
Show Spoiler ▼
Show Spoiler ▼
Excellent episode, a complete step-up from the logorrhea of the opener. Has me looking forward to this show more than any other this season.
Awesome, right off the bat. Besides that, I don’t really have much to say about this episode, except for that I’m extremely happy that ufotable has managed to keep the quality sky high.
Oh, and also, the ED is really interesting. I love the images of the heroic spirits’ past lives.
I agree. I like the idea that the servants are motivated to get the grail because of some unfulfilled desire in their past lives, except we never really see much of what their past lives were like, save for Saber.
and we also get a glimpse of Show Spoiler ▼
I’m actually disappointed they revealed Berserker without his helmet. His identity wasn’t revealed or alluded until much later.
Actually, if you watch the OP and ED very carefully, the “spoiler” person you claim to be is not that person at all. “His” face is not shown, but rather hidden, as seen as the man facing the moon while standing in a lake (in ED). The guy with his face shown, with the girl sitting in the tree is actually another servant (also in ED). You can always google it to figure out who he is 😛
I love the ED, particularly the final scene with Saber — That really gave me goosebumps
anyone think that maybe Assassin was just out of the loop? Maybe Tokiomi and Kirei wanted to test their servants and just pitted them against each other on a trial run XD also, in the preview, that last command seal, is it lancers’? was the girl’s voice that red haired that was with the trio in the OP?
Divine writes a few spoilers in his write-up, so I’m going to assume you didn’t actually read the blog entry. I suggest you don’t, unless you really want to know the answer. :p
I did read it, what part did I miss? I thought he was also just speculating about Kirei’s betrayal. I know he betrays him at some point but I just don’t think its this early because there’s no clear benefit, like Divine said, “for whatever reason”. also, I’ve already read a lot about Fate/Stay Night after it aired years ago so some spoilers don’t really affect me anymore XD quite sad since some of the spoilers were supposed to be a big deal like berserker’s identity><
“The thing about this particular Assassin is that he’s actually more than one person and is collectively represented by the Persian Assassins, as seen in the ending sequence, so Kirei isn’t Servant-less just yet”
Bluebeard takes over the role of being an magnifficent troll, after Mai left the scene, just two weeks ago. I totaly love the Bluebeard x Uryuu duo. Such wonderfull masters of cruelty.
i love kids and little girls
Haha, I loved that. “Uryuu Ryuunosuke. Currently unemployed. My hobby is murder. Murder and stabbing. I like kids and young women.” Best character intro ever? 😀
best resume ever
a really strong start for F/Z. It is really no wonder why people are giving it the title best anime of the year only two episodes in. I really do like how unlike F/SN they’ve introduced all the masters and servants. Bluebeard is interesting so is his master lol.
I actually enjoyed this episode, despite not liking many of the characters. I found all of the characters interesting despite not agreeing with any of them. I think I might actually watch this anime all the way to the end. Even though I had my doubts about enjoying such a story before I started watching.
About this Assassin
Show Spoiler ▼
I just keep getting this feeling after Zero, we’ll get the Heaven’s Feel route. Since Zero mentions so many things that you would learn about it.
It doesn’t matter what happens in Fate Zero, the Nasuverse embraces a multi-verse cosmology. In other words, all the paths in F/SN (Fate, UBW and HF) did happen. The existence of Archer in F/SN also proves there were some alternate realities that happened.
Regarding Assassin from Heaven’s Feel
Show Spoiler ▼
But…
Show Spoiler ▼
Check out the article at the Type Moon wiki. It provides evidence otherwise.
http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/True_Assassin
But the FSN Assassin is this one:
http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Assassin_%28Fate/stay_night%29
Ah, my memory is a bit hazy, so I guess I forgot something there.
Didn’t remember him from the HF arc as it was a long time ago I played it.
The links above contains spoilers, if that isn’t obvious btw.
It’s weird. I thought FS/N the VN was awesome while the anime was decent. Yet I thought Fate Zero the LN was decent but the anime so far looks awesome. Kind of messed up. 🙂
I guess a lot of it probably has to do with the servants themselves. Fate Zero’s servants > FSN’s servants, so there’s more awesomeness to seeing them onscreen.
Excellent episode. I loved the ending depicting all the Servants in their original times.
Illya is so cute in this episode. And I never imagined Kiritsugu could be a father for real; I always thought he was a cold hearted bastard until he adopted Shirou.
Honestly, while I do want Kiritsugu to win, I’m having a hard time deciding whether I want him or Waver to win more. I also rreally want
Lunatic to burn CasterCaster to be beaten by Rider and/or Saber.Awesome episode, got high hopes for this anime. The scene with Ryuunosuke and Caster gave me shivers down my spine.
Uh… do we got a disclaimer from Divine somewhere that he would be posting spoilers? Cause I missed it. I don’t think I’ll read this posts anymore if they are going to feature spoilers :S
Gonna have to agree on getting a disclaimer or having less spoilers for future events >_>. Show Spoiler ▼
Well considering Caster gave his name as Bluebeard in this episode, it pretty much tells you who he is… not that much of a spoiler.
Although the little bit about what Assasin really is and the fact that Caster thinks Saber is Joan of Arc was a bit too big of a spoiler in my opinion.
As for the identities of the servants being well known, you have to remember that while we know most of their identities, the other servants and masters do not (for the most part). It’s just that the story is told through more of an observer’s perspective, rather than just Shirou’s.
I suggest you avoid all blogs and discussions altogether if you want to be extra careful with spoilers. There will always be someone spoiling things without even realizing it themselves.
I got semi-spoiled of the ending by another blog. The blogger didn’t do it intentionally, but he did heavily IMPLY certain events.
Woah! You haven’t read or watched Fate Stay/Night in any of its various forms of media? That’s surprising. I think people kind of assume anyone who’s watching this at least saw the FSN anime.
Actually, I’ve watched both the TV and movie of FSN, though I’ve never played the visual novel. My memory is hazy, I’m not sure how much the FSN anime reveals about Zero, so even I’m not sure whether I’m “spoiled” or not. LOL
FSN reveals how this war for the grail ends including who the last two masters/summons are, which obviously also reveals who gets killed off or not before that.
Yeah I knew that, but what I didn’t know was who actually won the war, and that’s where I think I got spoiled. Or did FSN reveal that too?
On second thought, don’t reply, I’d rather not know.
I don’t know what I can spoil for you when I don’t know the ending myself. Some people are just very touchy about what they consider a spoiler. You could arguably say that just knowing someone is still alive is a spoiler, or the fact that Kiritsugu is dead at the beginning of FSN a spoiler. Or perhaps, the way I elaborated on the Servants’ identities is a spoiler simply because you may not have realized who they are even when their names came up.
I always try to point out things that may add to your understanding of what’s going on, but I never write anything I consider a spoiler. If you’re one of those people who would rather be oblivious to everything except what you can figure out on your own, I suggest you stay away from the Internet altogether.
How does one figure out that Bluebeard will mistake Saber for Jean D’arc?
I’m pretty sure he’s talking about the “Bluebeard mistaking Saber as Joan of Arc later” and Assassin being more than one person, because no where so far has that been revealed. Regarding assassin, most people will not connect that just from a picture of a Middle Eastern guy holding a mask in the ending, as the writers meant to end this episode on a cliffhanger, making it Kirei lost his servant to people that don’t know the story. I know it already due to having read the light novels, but most people here have not.
That was perhaps the most spoiler-esque comment Divine made, but then again it doesn’t really matter does it? It was just an amusing thing to mention. The fact that Bluebeard is Gilles de Rais can be determined by a simple Google search (I did it after watching the episode, before reading this post). If you watched Fate/stay night, then you might be aware of suspicions some people had about Saber being Jean D’Arc not King Arthur. French killer thinks female warrior is Jean D’Arc, not much of a surprise really. Point I am trying to make is, Divine did not spoil much of anything except I suppose the part about Assassin, but I doubt that will be a spoiler for more than a week.
The Bluebeard thing is the only part I’d considering spoilerish, since there’s nothing to suggest it just yet, but that comment was more to tie into how a lot of people thought Saber’s Joan of Arc in FSN. I haven’t said anything about it, so I can’t imagine it spoiling anything that’s going to happen.
People might be more touchy about the Assassin bit, but I don’t see what I really spoiled. If anything, it’s more of a teaser (like it is for me) for something to look forward to. I don’t think anyone really believed that Kirei would be out of the war after the second episode.
I don’t think anyone thought Kirei was out of the war since we know he picks up Gil at one point. But Assassin being more then one person did spoil it a bit for me.
The whole thing about Bluebeard that’s a spoiler, in my opinion it’s because you say he’s going to mistake Saber for Joan of Arc not might, this means you’re already telling us what’s going to happen so it’s not speculations on what might happen. Same thing with Assassin, it’s one thing to mention things that happened/learned in the other adaptations but saying what’s going to happen in this show is a spoiler since now we know a lot more than what we’ve learned from this episode. True most of us knew Kirei wasn’t out of the war but for all we know he might have managed to killed a master on his own or made a new contract with another servant like Shinji and Rin did in the movie. Just because you lose your servant doesn’t mean you’re out of options more so considering how much he’s supposedly almost mastered. So even if he lost his servant there would have been room for him to do a lot of different things.
@Nrvqvist:
I come across so many actual spoilers when I research into series for the season previews. I only mention things that I consider teasers. I really don’t see what the Joan of Arc thing ruins, except maybe this conversation we’re having now that makes it seem like a bigger deal than my comment did. It could’ve been just foresight on the fact that Bluebeard once fought alongside Joan of Arc. Even then, it’s such a minor tidbit with no elaboration that I don’t see how it can be a spoiler.
I don’t know anything more than that, and when I came across that bit of information, it actually gave me something to look forward to. The same goes for the Assassin part, which should be revealed in the next episode anyway. You’ll notice that I didn’t even say anything about the cliffhanger with Assassin living or dying.
If someone’s reading a blog, they’re probably looking for another view on something they’ve seen, which may point out stuff that they weren’t aware of or simply didn’t catch. If they don’t trust a blogger’s judgement on this, then they’re basically saying they’ll only read stuff that the blogger’s completely clueless about and won’t ever bother to learn more about. That’s pretty restrictive if you ask me. If anything, I ruin my own enjoyment (like how I spoiled the ending of Steins;Gate for myself) just to ensure that my posts don’t mislead anyone with incorrect information.
Don’t get me wrong I like this site and your point of views as well as all the speculations etc I’ve read here, there are plenty of things I’ve read on this blog that I’ve missed when I watched an episode. It’s just that I didn’t like that you said things as a matter of fact this will happen. Maybe it’s just me but I liked entertaining the thought of what kind of comeback Kirei would plan when his servants gone since as I said there are still ways for a servantless master to participate in the war even if they tell us next episode what the deal is with Assassin. Maybe I’m making a bigger thing out of this than it really is and of course this is your blog and you shouldn’t ruin your own enjoyment.
The Bluebeard part didn’t bother me. It was the reference to Joan D’Arc. I can’t add much apart from what others have said. Personally I haven’t read Joan D’Arc’s story in so much detail to know she fought alongside Bluebeard, which will cause the confusion you referenced. Apart from that…
Not to mention even if fans in S1 thought Saber was Joan of Arc, does not mean Bluebeard would. Due to the fact that fans do not know what the real Joan would look like in the Fate universe and thus mistaken Saber for her. Bluebeard/Gilles de Rais, who’s been with the real Joan and thus knows what she looks like, would not make the same mistake, unless the the writers purposely make it so. Thus, that fact cannot be guessed unless you specifically point it out, making it a spoiler and not a rational conclusion from clues.
Going to agree in this. Sorry, you mentioned too many spoilers, Divine 🙂
Next time, maybe you can use spoiler tags for “teasers”
Waaah, this discussion is still continuing. I think the main point is unlike Alexandar/Iskandar, we already saw his noble phantasm, chariot. Identity gives away strength & weakness & noble phantasm. Knowing who a character’s name does not constitute much (like blue beard, or as spoiled below: lancelot). But knowing the noble phantasm is a spoiler. it is like knowing Ichigo’s power before hand, Getsuga Tenshou.
Or if the character reveals the ability/noble P (every1 knows arthur = excalibar)
I can’t help but notice but for heaven’s sake, people should just google what is unknownly related. We already know that the FSN already aired and some of the characters are 90% related to our history or somewhere like that. WHY NOT SEARCH.
somehow or rather… the kid’s scene was just pure terror
Got to love Rider. He was real hammy in the book, but now that he’s voiced it takes his awesomeness up a notch. Can’t wait to see him start going all out his battles.
Caster and his master are definitely creep dudes. Their portrayal here was perfect. I’m getting Saya no Uta flashbacks on the scene with the kid’s murder. Urobuchi knows how to write his horror.
Sabers is still as dull and boring as ever.
All that’s left is Lancer now. Also I want to see Berserker fight already, he was my favorite servant in the book.
Rider conquered my heart as easily as his historical self went thru Persian Empire… A true general begins with maps. I was amazed how he reacted to how small his “World Conquest” was in reality. While his chariot is cool, I kinda expected Bukefalos to show up :3
On a contrasting note, Caster is as creepy as they go. If he really is THAT Bluebeard it would be fitting for him to mistake Saber for Jeanne.
Assassin confronting Archer was too short… and I feel that duel isn’t over yet as I expected more from our church sponsored Magus.
Saber made me remeber herself from FSN, and Ilya is being criminally cute. If she was cute loli in FSN, here it is turned up to 11. Also Kiritsugi shows previously unknown face of a family man. BTW does that make his adopted son a stepbrother to Ilya?
And what of the British nobleman-magus? whom did he summon? This might yet be interesting. Same goes to the worm-ravaged magus…
ughh i m just dying to see Broskander’s cavalry
pretty good episode with the intro of caster the stage is fully set let the war begin XD
p.s.: poor kid
Anyone else love seeing the servants in their natural ‘habitat’? Also, that slowly magnifying shot of saber and gilgamesh to close it out was a nice touch.
The person Saber stabbed in the ed…
Show Spoiler ▼
This show just keeps getting better and better…
I went ahead and located Fate/Stay night (that i never finished watching beyond the 1st episode) just because this show is so cool and its indeed agonizing waiting weekly for a new episode 🙂
Oh and I LOVE the OP!!!! I tried to find it but the single seems to come out at the end of November…. 🙁
OH MY GAWD, ILYA SO CUTE!!
OH MY GAWD, THE KID SO HORROFIC!!
What a contrast…
On a related note: does anyone know why the 2 episodes have horrible banding and artifacts for almost the duration of the whole episode (especially episode 2?)… is it something on my computer (everything else works fine) or is it the coders fault?
You might be playing a 10-bit encode without the proper codecs.
Google this video player and see if it works for you I’m not sure if you need to have cccp codecs as well but I use it to play my 10bit videos files. The name is PotPlayer I know it sounds weird but it does work and its the only one I know that can play 10bit on my computer.
CCCP codecs includes some players as well and is a good option for watching anime as it’s the one many groups assumes that you have. The other good option is VLC player as it actually includes it’s own decryption so doesn’t need any extra codecs. There may be other options, but those two are really good free ones.
I downloaded it and it doesn’t have any of that banding you are right, BUT, it is now stuttering at unplayable frame rates… if I turn on KMPlayer that I normally use, I still get that banding and artifacts but its working smoothly.
What should I do?
It may be as simple that your computer lacks the processing power to handle the decrypting. It’s not strange at all as the high decryption rates of the latest codecs requires decently modern computers to handle. Easiest solution is to look for other versions of the anime instead. The older decryptions like DIVX requires a lot less from the computer, even at the same resolution. The downside is that the files will be larger for the same resolution. But it’s obviously not worth it to save HD space only to not be able to watch it anyway. An easy rule of thumb, the smaller the file is compared to the resolution, the harder it will be on the computer to decrypt without stuttering.
try cyber12 web . hope it help
Curious if the time jump hide any points of interest, I enjoyed Iskander’s intro he seems very different in comparison of his master.
I love ilya that’s all
I love it. Emiya Kiritsuguru could be considered a terrorist but compared to most of the other guys he’s pretty tame by comparison.
Hey divine, you forgot about the bug guy. He seems to have a genuine desire to save sakura, which im hoping that he does. I dont think saber will win,since e see hr wn in the fifth ar. I want to save sakura from the bug hell shes in since her own parents abandoned her. But dont know if his bdy ill hold up long enough to do much sadly!!
We do see Sakura in FSN and know her full name, who her brother is and where she lives so… figure it out by yourselves
Show Spoiler ▼
That feeling when you start hearing about the worm stuff in Heaven’s Feel…
Show Spoiler ▼
I totally expected someone to come and save the kid at the last second. Kind of surprised they would animate something so grim. Pretty entertaining ep though.
King of Knights, King of Kings, King of Conquerors
thats a lot of kings
Uh.. I think you wanted to say King of Heroes, not King of Kings.
They called him the King of Kings in the dub if I remember right.
Could just be a translation error though…
Jesus Christ as Rider FUND IT NASU!
@ Espada
where you u put jesus as raider that absurd. if want also please put merlin as caster which make him king of caster/ magic
An FSN (Fate/Holy Cross? lol) with Jesus as Caster, God as Saber and other figures like that would be lulzy XD
King of Knights = King Arthur
King of Kings = The first King, or the most ancient
King of Conquerors = The dude that almost made it to China but was killed by mosquitos
i believe king of conquer die of young age/ poison and is obvious is not by mosquitoes. but if he does that is lame. correct me if i am wrong
Young age isn’t a lethal sickness I know of 😛
I haven’t read the history of his death, but I would assume that mosquitoes means some disease like malaria.
@Znail
lol ok, but is death is not scientifically proven and have many theory and assumption behind it. so the reason i put die of young age can means of kind of possible death which lead to leave the world early like sickness, malaria, poison, etc.. to be on the safe side.
It was a joke, and yes I know that he either died from malaria or from poison (political reasons behind), however he indeen had to stop his conquest because of sickness, most probably malaria.
The ironi of his life was that he died an unexpected death, diferent than what was expected
I never really thought much of Saber in FSN but she looks pretty hot over here. I guess Ufotable’s high production value really makes a difference ;P
Also, I wonder why Ilya refers to Kiritsugu in his first name. Hmmm…
I so prefer this Assassin against the fake one of Fate/Stay Night. I don’t think it really matters to reveal that all Assassin class servants have a single identity and it’s been revealed here already.
Now where is that (de)motivational I saw of that…
http://i580.photobucket.com/albums/ss242/explanoite/Fate%20Motivational%20Posters/trueassassinposter.jpg
ahahaha…”unlike the other guy” XD
Hey, that’s True Assassin of Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel path! Same identity as Fate/Zero Assassin but different incarnation.
I wanted to confirm something, in the 5th grail war ( Fate stay night) Shirou order Saber to do something about the grail. I won’t tell you what it is since it is a spoiler for those who didn’t watch (FSN).
So is my question, does that means there will be no more grail war? Also, what is exactly the grail apart an artifact who could grant any wish? Does anyone know!
Please, for those who already know the story of Fate Stay Night could you answer to this question.
Well, what Shirou commanded Saber to do, Kiritsugu also commanded her to do. Its not really spoilers because the Fate storyline covered how Saber was mad at Kiritsugu for it. So, yea, the solution was not permanent and only ended the Grail War for the time being.
HOWEVER, in the Heaven’s Feel story line of the visual novel Fate, the True ending does purify the grail and completing it as intended. So, maybe no more grail war in that story.
As for what the grail is: it is just a lump of magical energy that can be directed however the user wishes. Most wish to use it to empower oneself to reach ones wishes, but most often the wish is realized by great destruction as Kirei explains.
Regardless of the scenario the Holy Grail Wars always ended with the Fifth.
um as xcswmboy said, only the heaven’s feel is closed. the others are definitely still gonna happen.
its revealed at some point in the hollow ataraxia, which is roughly a sequel to F/S night.
major spoiler cause it concerns a character in F/Z:
Show Spoiler ▼
I might be mistaken though.
Erm, no.
All routes end the war forever, but in different ways 🙂
None of the routes have 6th war in their future 🙂 Only the alternate route from which Show Spoiler ▼
came through still has holy grail wars 🙂
you sure?
I read a spoiler that said that that character I put in my spoiler had to dismantle the grail system, so it means that there was the possibility of another war.
Geez Divine, so many spoilers. Well, anyone that follows the Fate series would’ve already know anyway.
Kiritsugu’s character is quite an enigma. He is only soft when with Iri or Ilya as he kind of uses those times as redemption for his regular activities.
Also, about the quality of masters, note that the Fifth Grail War actually started waaay too fast compared to previous wars. Most Grail Wars have 60 some years between them while the Fifth one starts only 11 years after this one. So the known families would be caught off guard in preparing suitable masters.
I wouldn’t say that the fact that the 5th Grail war started “too soon” had an impact on the “quality” of the masters per se. The Grail is supposed to choose the masters and certainly had other options.
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Show Spoiler ▼
“Kiritsugu’s character is quite an enigma. He is only soft when with Iri or Ilya as he kind of uses those times as redemption for his regular activities.”
Well, with a hot wife like Iris, and the diabetes inducing little Illya, who wouldn’t go soft? XD
Ryuusuke and Caster just won the first place in my lisy of the craziest anime characters in history. I can´t wait to see them killed, there has to be a limit of how much evil a person could be and that´s soppose to be an heroic spirit? Moere the incarnation of the devil himself. And I thought Sephiroth was evil for what he to Aeirith.
Servants dont necessarily have to be “heroes”. They could be villains too. They just had to be someone well know, important in history/legend e.t.c. And I Guess Bluebeard was a famous psychotic killer or something.
Alexander is really the best character in Fate Zero. Having read the novels, I seriously can’t find a single fault with him. Loving his portrayal in this episode, can’t wait to see him fight. Him and Waver are one of, if not the best, duos in this war. I can tell this anime team really knows what they are doing. they got caster down perfectly, i know because i was so disturbed by it, just like when i first read it in the novels. Don’t know why the thing about Assassin has been spoiled in the summery, as no one who is only watching the anime could have guessed that based on these first two episodes. Its obviously supposed to be a cliffhanger.
Yeah, Rider was also my favorite servant from the novel. Although overall I still like Kiritsugu the most. He really reminds me of Archer(FSN version) in terms of personality. And I always love characters with ideals but still realistic. And Shiro was a bit too naive and foolhardy for my taste, especially Fate route.
I also like his team the most among all the masters/servants.
lol, yeah, if you merely sneak off into the night, you’re a thief, but if you go off singing, you’re a conquering king!
Yeah, let’s see someone try that with the cops if they get caught, lol.
“I’M NO THIEF! I’M A CONQUERING KING!!!!”
XD
In the ending, I am wondering if that lion, in Gilgamesh’s past is Enkidu. It did said that Gilgamesh had a best friend that is somewhat beast like.
I can’t believe how cute an innocent Ilya was when she was that young ten years ago. You think if someone like that would never turn into the sadistic cruel little homunculus she is now.
I can’t believe the girl Lancer had married was so hot.
On the interesting note, Hassain was very different compared to how he was when alive, he had skin an a beard.
(sigh) it keeps getting interesting where how we are not yet getting to the part where the servants fight each other yet. I am interested with Berserker vs Archer.
Thats because there have been thousands millions of Hassans in the history 🙂 ALl of them are represented by the “identity” Hassan and the mask, but there have been thousands of different assassins bearing that name. 🙂
Would it be a good idea to watch all of this, then watch Fate Stay/Night?
In my opinion, it would have been nice that way. If you want to wait till fate/zero ends.
As per my comments about how Fate/Zero has taken liberties about things that were surprises in Fate/stay night, I’m not so sure anymore. I originally thought it wouldn’t matter since it’s a prequel, but it’s starting to look like the producers expect viewers to have seen FSN and know about certain things from it.
I think that’s definitely the case. Certainly UBW was clearly geared towards FSN fans. It helped a lot to have watched FSN and/or played the game. In this case, it’s a tough call since you’ll know the ending if you watch FSN, but it can be confusing if you don’t. I’d suggest trying to hold off watching FSN but keep in mind that the are going to split the 24 eps between Fall and Spring seasons. You’ll have to wait a long time to watch FSN.
I highly suggest reading the VN. I wasn’t as into TM works nearly as much before I read it, but now that’s changed. That VN really knows how to employ a plot twist to its maximum potential. Although, if you’ve already seen the anime, you might lose a little of the impact of some events, at least in the Fate route. Luckily, Heaven’s Feel hasn’t been adapted yet, and the UBW movie really pales in comparison to the route in the game. And those routes are (in my opinion) much, much better than Fate, which is still good.
This goes for everyone! If you have the time to spare, get a copy and a translation if you need it (pretty easy to find) and get to it! Keep in mind though, it is an eroge, and the sex is somewhat important to the plot. But there is an option on the translation patch to remove all the ero scenes, if you’d rather not have them.
I guess you don’t have to watch or play Fate/Stay Night in order to know about it. But if you decide to, I suggest to play the Visual Novel instead. Studio DEEN’s interpretation of the source material is stale for many episodes, confusing, atrociously presented, and leaves out some serious details, such as Crest Worms being central to the Matou family’s identity of magic (which is like what, revealed in the first episode of Zero?). On the other hand, the Visual Novel is highly regarded as one of the greatest Visual Novels of all time. Like, almost up there with the legendary Ever17.
I also recommend the VN over the anime, even if the anime isn’t bad. Even if the VN is classified as an adult game so is the actual adult parts like 1% of the content and the translation patch includes the option to disable the adult parts. VN like FSN is really more like massive illustrated and voiced books with some user interaction.
The amount of content in the VN is massive so the anime only covers a small part of it. I think FSN suffers a bit from being an older style of anime. More modern animes are faster paced. It would be quite a lot better if they had tried to squeeze in more of the content from the VN and thus upped the pace of the anime. It’s still a fairly decent looking anime, but that owes a lot to the great pictures from the VN.
No.
Either play or watch/read the playthrough of FSN visual novel or don’t do anything.
Whatever you do don’t touch FSN anime. 🙂 its mediocre at best and really does no justice to the source material since it skips most of it 🙂
So Assassin is the first servant to taste the GATE OF BABYLOWNED!!!!
and Caster is so Freaking Cool!!!
Totally agree! Bluebeard was badass
Anyone who has watched FSN already knows how Fate Zero ends, but what happens to get to that ending is the draw here. Fate Zero definitely has a darker feel to it vs. FSN due to the masters. No kids here, well other than Waver-kun. Just cold, calculating adults with no qualms about killing each other or anyone else.
I still like Saber and it’s interesting to see her reactions compared to FSN where she was more comfortable with the situation. Alexander & Waver-kun will certainly have some funny moments ahead. Hopefully, there will be some character development for Waver-kun as well. Gah…poor Sakura. Zōken can’t die fast enough.
Regarding Assassin in FSN vs. Fate Zero
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As already noted, the production is markedly improved vs FSN. Compared to Fate Zero and especially UBW, FSN looks kind of dated. It would be great if they could some how “upgrade” FSN.
This should be a great series and I’m really looking forward to each ep. Too bad that the series is split Fall/Spring. Going to be a long winter…
Caster’s master isn’t a cold calculating master, he is like a kid with a new toy, and he is going to use that toy to play, besides I think he was supposed to be 16 or 17.
This episode oAo
Yes that seems to be an emoticon of disappointment but no, I’m just utterly amazed, SPECIFICALLY CASTER.
I love Rider’s enthusiasm/personality btw.
AND LOL I thought who was the Archer mentioned. I thought F/SN’s Archer but turns out it was Gil. XD
Poor Assassin. How many seconds of screentime. =w=
And Caster. As expected of a true psycho, letting his victim escape first XDDD
Need to be 48 mins each episode. That part with the kid was funny.
i wonder how will it turn out if saber meet berserker (lancelot) since both of them in the same timeline . the thing i am very curious about is Aurthur legend, which lancelot run away with Aurthur’ lover (queen), so in this anime, Aurther is girl so that make her a lesbian since his/her queens is girl ? O_0
Spoilers much?
erm.. i dont think as spoiler what i mean is how this (anime ) will related with Aurthur legend since both of them is in same timeline. correct me if i am wrong.
People who arent familiar with the game dont know berserkers identity and you just gave it away.
lol ^^ , actually they already reveal his identity at ending credit ,a knight standing at the lake that how he get his name Lancelot of the lake that how legend of Aurthur come in ( which make him famous), basically it quite obvious when u see the scenery and familiar with Aurthur legend. so it doesn’t count as spoiler already. To tell u the truth i also dont know is berserker till i see the ending credit (i dont play the game so i dunno who is who).
Some guy standing over a lake is vague, it is only obvious once you explained it. Please use spoiler tags next time.
c’mon guy, izzit obvious ? or i am just spoiling everyone. i thought Aurthur legend and, camelot and knight round table should like very well known to everyone since it is adapt in every movie/anime and so on.. thanks for heads , i will be more careful next time. i guess i make a mistake that assuming all of you know it…
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Well, he didn’t use any secret info from the novel. There is quite a lot of speculation done and it’s bound to be that someone figures out something others haven’t. I strongly suggest not reading any forums or blogs if you don’t want to read anything that you haven’t figured out yourself yet.
I understand speculation is inevitable, but his first post made it sound like he already knew that information from the novels and expects everyone to know it already. If instead he had said: “do you guys think he might be…?” it would have been a different story.
Whatever, I don’t really mind, it’s no plot-breaking twist.
@ daggeraxe
like i say i am sorry about it, i didnt know the fact that u are assuming me revealing his identity from light novel. if i could,i would delete post i make to prevent this unwanted attention. Yes i know i do make mistake here and then like forgot to include ‘if’, well human do make mistake right ? For your information , i got my source from Aurthur’s origin, camelot and knight of round table where they emphasis Show Spoiler ▼
of his appearances, his title and so on and that how i can identified him on the spot . my real intention is say out what if the real story of Aurthur’s origin Show Spoiler ▼
link with this anime ver Show Spoiler ▼
as it show in King Arthur film (2004) which involve with king , knight and the queen relationship. so i hope this really explain it all. dont mean to cause any misunderstanding and trouble that all. afterall we are here to share opinion rather pointing ‘blade’ at each other right? No hard feeling thou.
Like I said, I don’t really mind. Just felt like pointing it out. =)
ok , thanks for understanding, the next time i will be more careful about it. i just wan share my opinion / theory that all but didnt know it turns out to be spoiler. 🙂
A spoiler is a spoiler don’t try to excuse yourself.
Use Show Spoiler ▼
instead of ()next time to avoid situations like this.
And yes she has that kind of tendencies I mean, the first “adult scene” of the FSN VN hints that, but that is up to your imagination.
Show Spoiler ▼
and her name is Arturia.
erm , dont mean to cause a scene here, but let me say this again, the ending credit have reveal all identity of servant, if u are going say this is some spoiler, then tell me , how come all of u know Assassin identity Show Spoiler ▼
as it didnt mention in show. all of this is hint in the ending credit, so u can roughly guess who is who. in this FSN series they only can be hero from the past which already can narrow down who is who.c’mon it is obvious who the guy at the lake,Show Spoiler ▼
.do u feel it similar , knight + the lake. even u google ‘knight of the lake’ they also give obvious answer , unless u didnt read Aurthur stories. to tell u bluntly , i didnt play the game or read the novel of FSN so i dont know how, who o what is the story is about. another thing is about the name, yes like u say saber name is Arturia, pls understand that there different ver of origin how people call the hero,Show Spoiler ▼
well i am sorry if i offend you greatly and i feel tired of continue this meaningless conversation like pls put spoiler or blah blah something like that as they already being mention again, again at previous post so dont have remind it again . like i say in the previous post , is my mistake that i assume you know Aurthur/Arturia,s origin, so i apologies here again . Thanks ^^ no hard feeling thou.
First, I am personaly not ofended, I habe read the novel, so I can’t be, no ofense taken, no hard feelings and yes no need to reply.
Second, You are right many don’t know whats up with Asassin’s identity but it is in the review, the blame goes to Divine then.
Third, The ending is to blame too.
Fourth, Nice deduction skills, the thing is since you stated the identity it didn’t looked like a deduction.
Fifth, I was kind of trolling because of the mistake you did “Aurther”.
Though I know it’s base on speculations, or you could say that your argument is based on speculations once fully explain, you’re making it sound like we remember every detail of every mythological legend. Though we may have heard the legend of King Arthur, not everyone known the detail of the story. Some people don’t even know the reference of the lake.
To be honest, it’s not much of a reveler to be honest nor does it mean that . That’s like saying Lancer’s identity was blatantly obvious in the ending credits and same with Caster. Plus it’s not like someone coming in a chariot tells us its Alexander the Great or someone with Lion skin on his shoulder = Gilgamesh without actually knowing who they are. Either way, you didn’t made this known in your first initial post which is why you were called out off. If you had made your initial speculation, then we wouldn’t be so harsh.
What a terrible, terrible spoiler. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Thanks a lot for that. I swear I’m just going to avoid reading any discussion of series I don’t want spoiled from now on.
Guessed that it was Lancelot, but still there was no need to inform us, that is what watching anime is for. Is there a guinevere?
loli Ilya omg so much HNNNNGGGG :3
Wow Caster is a crazy mofo…. poor kid D:
Lastly Assassin just got pwned lol
Me: Holy crap assassin is so awesome, look at him mo….AND HES GONE. lol
I had the exact same thought while watching XD you know, if his hand wasn’t stapled with that lance, I wonder if he could avoid all the other shots Gil sent at him^^
Uryuu Ryuunosuke… his looks remind me of Italy from APH. So much.
Berseker(Lancelot) vs. Saber(Arthur)? nice touch…
Nothing personal, only a hint:
Use Show Spoiler ▼
instead of ()next time to avoid pissing people off.
sorry, i thought people would already know…Show Spoiler ▼
my apologies…
This being a Urobuchi Gen story, I had no illusion that that kid will meet a fitting “Urobuchi Gen fate”, and I was not disappointed. Still, the tentacles bursting out, the high-pitched terrifying screams and the sound of meat being grinded and crushed was still quite jolting for the senses.
I don’t think I ever remember hearing Ishida Akira in villanous roles, let alone a psychopathic one. Still, he makes a great performance as Uryuu that I’m actually liking this sadistic bastard. A bit like Kimblee from Fullmetal Alchemist.
Guess all the identities of the Servants are all revealed in the ED, saves us having to speculate what weaknesses they have and why.
BTW, now that it’s known Ilya is actually Kiritsugu’s daughter, shouldn’t it be Shirou calling her “onee-san” rather than her calling him “onii-chan”? lol
Shirou doesn’t know who her father is.
well based on age, i guess is wise iya call him onichan. dont u thinks weird that shirou call a small lil young girl as neesan ?
Well, despite being still being a cute little girl in FSN so is it 10 years after this series and her birth was a flashback of 8 years, so she would be at least 18 at the time of FSN. But I think she was happy to act like a little sister of Shiro.
Some people really need to learn how to take a joke. Did you guys not see me add a “lol” behind my question? 🙂
“I don’t think I ever remember hearing Ishida Akira in villanous roles, let alone a psychopathic one…”
Was that sarcasm?
I’d say that Kirei sends his Servant to fight against Tokiomi because he was told to do so by him, I mean, he already told him in the last episode that they’re supposed to be enemies so they should fight each other so anyone gets suspicious on them, so that’s their strategy, to look like enemies but to work together. Anyway, this episode maintains the epicness of the first one, now I want more *O*
About Kiritsugu, he’s still pretty much the main protagonist, Kirei following as a close second in terms of story. I think the plot is not centralized to Kiritsugu as it was on Shirou in FSN because of the studio’s approach. In my opinion, like masters have been highlighted in the first episode, the audience needs to know more about the servants as well just to get into the whole game. I for one is liking this more information riveting.
I’m liking how we discover something new about Kiritsugu every episode from a cold-blooded mage killer to a doting father and a loving husband. Not to mention his surprise on Saber being a reverse trap and shouldering so much at her age. Though, it would not stop him using her as a tool as per strategy. I haven’t gotten into the novels so I’m speculating as much as you but having an inkling from fate/stay night, we still don’t know Kiritsugu’s true motives and what moves him.
With all the attention being given so far in the first two episodes of the series, I would actually say that Waver is the one being portrayed as the “protagonist” of the story due to his incredible amount of screentime, and Uryuu and Caster are the immediate antagonists due to how obviously evil they are. Kiritsugu, Tokiomi, Kariya and Kirei stuff really feels more background-ish–kind of a “While all this is happening to Waver and Uryuu…”
After watching this episode I become really fond of Rider and seriously think that asshole Waver doesn’t deserve to be his master -___-
and that Uryu guy is just way too broken, so is his servant, although caster is badass in a very… disturbing way. I guess if they do win the Holy Grail later, the world is officially doomed. The characters in fate/zero are much more interesting, both the servants and the masters (except for Rin, I just love her character. Best tsundere ever) and there are more dynamics to the relationships.
After reading your review, Divine, I sighed in relief, knowing that it means Kirei is not out of the battle yet. And very interesting to grasp that assassin is based on the Hasasins, and represented by more than 1 people, although doesn’t it mean a huge advantage for Kirei?
Never thought the 2nd episode turns out to be soooo exciting! Damn it, why can’t they have 1 hour episode every week!? Now the wait it excruciating!!!!
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:/ Waver is the best Master in this war.
At least for me he does come across as an asshole for the first 2 episodes. But I am glad to hear that he seems to improve later on, and if that is true, I guess I have to apologize for the early prejudice 😀
Heh, I admit that Waver looks a naive now, but thanks to Broskander’s awesome influence he undergoes some massive character development. Look forward to it! They end up as the most likeable pair next to Iri and Saber.
Kinda like Haruhi for me. I just don’t get what all the fuss is about. It’s no Kara no Kyoukai for sure.
FSN main character = Shiro
F/Z main character = The War itself.
The difference is in the story telling method and what we are exposed as the audience.
I think they should have skiped berserker’s identity in the ending, because it seams some King Arthur lore fans figured it out too soon.
ED was awe-inspiring for just a couple of stills.
“The thing about this particular Assassin is that he’s actually more than one person and is collectively represented by the Persian Assassins, as seen in the ending sequence, so Kirei isn’t Servant-less just yet.”
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Thats because even though Show Spoiler ▼
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And I am sad to see that many people here do not undestand the concept of “spoiler”, not even Divine. *sigh*
@ SOn Gohan
please understand that sometime when people get excited then forget it is spoiler. it just some common mistake. everyone sure does one or two mistake. so instead of sighing and blaming other, please keep it to yourselves. i am sure u dont like people pointing “blade” at u and pointing at them either right. Afterall we are here to share opinion / ides/ theory, that what makes this blog rather putting fire here and there.
What a thing to say shinkirou. Instead of spoiling and then berating the people that are upset about being spoiled, please keep them to yourself.
Really now, spoiling people and you STILL have the audacity to get mad at people upset from your spoilers?
@shinkirou: You should count yourself lucky that ppl can only “sigh”, “blame” and “point” at you which they have every right to and that this is no ordinary forum, because you would have been banned for the spoilers that you posted above. I sure as hell am pissed.
LiSA’s getting up there.. I like Oath Sign’s PV. She’s become better after Angel Beats!. 🙂
Okay my reactions to the 4 parts of this episode:
Rider & Waver: These 2 are just great. There personalities just clash so much, it’s funny.
Einzbern Castle: My whole vision of Kiritsugu just made a 180 turn, especially why he disapprove Saber. And Loli’er Illya 4 teh win! Kiritsugu bow down for your princess.
Uryu & Caster: Most awesome shit ever! Firstly, Uryu’s introduction to Caster was just the best ever and secondly Caster’s action afterwards. I never laughed so hard maniacally before in my life. Had a smile on my face for the 2 hours afterwards (not kidding).
Assassin & Gilgamesh: Assassin’s infiltration skills are hax0rs and Gilgamesh honored us with his awesomely kinglyness by getting Assassin Gate of Bablyown’ed. Show Spoiler ▼
Overall if they keep this up, Fate/Zero is going to be the best anime ever.
Having rewatched the episode, I just realized Caster would probably make a great Incubator forming contracts with prepubescent girls to turn them into Magical Girls, with all his talk about the truest form of terror (i.e. entropy) being when “hope turns into despair”.
Then again, Urobuchi Gen did write Madoka Magica after all.
Good follow up, again the episode itself is more on the introductory side with lots of focus on 2 particular master-servant. I guess the next episode would probably be setup more the same. This is series is a split 2-cour after all, the juicy parts will probably be in the second season.
This is becoming completely problematic. Seems like a lot of people are forgetting to put the spoiler tags up. I know that we all make mistakes once, but please remember to add spoiler tags for anything that has not been shown in the episode yet. I know that the Fate/Zero light novel has finished and that many of us have finish reading it, me included, but there are a ton of people who actually have not finish it yet, or even started reading it yet.
Not every hero’s true identity Saber, Archer, Rider. I don’t consider Caster true identity revealed truly until a later episode. Besides, don’t ruin the moment for others to learn other guys true abilities. Learning what the servants Noble Phantasm is the best part of the Fate/Stay Night series to a lot of people. That’s my two cents. Now please, continue discussing with spoiler tags, or talk in the IRC chat where I believe you don’t have to worry about spoilers that much.
Good point, anime is my major staple for entertainment and sometimes it’s really frustrating when manga/VN/LN readers kept on comparing or spoiling stuff/ discussing stuff in a supposedly anime blogging site. That’s why when it comes to it, I just read the blogger’s actual blog, post my impressions on the show and leave it by without reading other post/comments.
This is specially true for established/popular names.
Sorry somehow deleted other then in the sentence “Not every hero’s true identity other then Saber, Archer and Rider is known.”
Also, it’s bound to happen that we’re going to compare stuff, which is kinda OK in my book, as long as it’s relevant to the episode. What’s happening right now is not. Hopefully, one of the bloggers will go on a spoiler censoring rampage in a bit.
Also, no offense Divine, but at least within the novel take, we’re not suppose to even know that about Assassin until later on in the novel. Explaining his ability kills the suspense the ending of this episode shows. I understand that you’re trying to help understand the world of FSN better, but you could have done it much better such as, this does not necessarily mean that Assassin is out of the game, after all he is the Assassin class, and such to allude to the fact that he may be more than he seems. Wow, I don’t know how I missed that while reading earlier, it’s probably cause I read the novel which is why it wasn’t a bigger shocker until I saw someone point it out.
I understand what you’re doing, I’m just saying that there a better way to play devils advocate such as what I used above. And then people an spoil themselves by looking it up themselves.
I really want to see Lancer’s appearance. He’s probably one of the most skilled servants in this war as well as having the saddest back story.
When I was watching that kid scene, I felt like I was watching a horror movie… D:
Random question, but why did utfotable take over the prequel? Why not Studio Deen? (Not that I have a problem with it, though.)
Probably because TYPE-MOON was unsatisfied with DEEN’s work on Fate/Stay Night, and was impressed with Ufotable’s work on Garden of Sinners (Kara no Kyoukai).
I have never had any interaction with Fate/stay night, (except for maybe fan art) but I’m enjoying this….
So… Was it just the subs I had, or did Bluebeard summon Cthulhu to kill the kid?
Yes he did essentially did summon it to rape that poor child or rather, it’s strongly implied that this was done.
Where was it implied? In the LN?
I just finished watching FSN for the first time and I am too freakin sad right now… FZ has been awesome so far but it’s hard for me to get over the ending of FSN, I keep thinking about it when I see Saber. =(
This will help
Warning spoilers alert in the video for those who haven’t seen the FSNN Anime or the end of the Fate scenario in the VN.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7IIphI4Ypg
Another great episode, I particularly liked the way Assasin weaseled around all the traps. Great animation!
And sorry to say this, but I’ll have to join those who expressed their disappointment about those spoilers that Divine mentioned in his post.
And then there are others guessing the identity of Lancer by simply seeing him stand in front of a Lake? Hard to believe that they didn’t actually get their information from the LN/wiki. I am glad that I finished both the VN and the FS/N anime, otherwise reading the comments would be even more suicidal.
UFOtable has outdone itself, considering that this is an anime series and not a movie. Loved the infiltration scene there!
Loved the ending scene even more. Stitched together the image of grainne and lancer =D
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6171/6229699098_2a1abf2726_z.jpg (copy pasta link, if ya want more just check the website link i haz)
Where in the episode are the names of the persons you mentioned stated?
@boingman:
Rider’s name was pretty much given in the second episode and Caster hinted on his name as well. If the anime will somehow follow the book (because some were hinted by the narrator instead of the characters), you’ll find out who Lancer, and Archer is. Saber’s real name was all over the place since episode 1 and the writers were working with the premise that everyone knows who saber is i guess XD As for Assassin, afaik his name was also hinted in book 1 but his abilities were disclosed in book 2. Berserker’s identity was revealed in the last book.
I meant the name of that girl with Lancer.
Makes me sad that Berserker’s identity obviously IS a major spoiler with it only being known in the last book.
Im pretty sure real sociopaths are out in the world really killing people, not watching anime and laughing about it. They can laugh because they don’t care about it. To actually care about things, means they have to wake up in the morning and look in the mirror, which is not something they can do.
Crazy episode, i am loving this series. I like the direction they taken, its more serious than Fate/Stay Night. I was totally disturbed by the killing of that kid. I was wondering if they would do it, then they got me big time when they started to let him go. I should have known better.
I don’t understand why people laugh when the child is brutally killed, same as blood C where the whole town is brutally killed in the most gruesome way. Is laughing in a way getting out of fear? You laugh because you are scared? laughing eases the horror?
it is diferent, the poor Kid dies a horrid death afther having seen hope. some , like me, get surprised, and angry, because that is too cruel. Some like the scene because they like to see the destruction of said inocent hope. It all depends of your empathy whit the character and of how much regards you give to other peoples happiness. It is like Caster explains, the enjoyment they feel comes from the strong impession of the act.
Blood C is foud funny by many because it is too out of reality and pathetic, the characters eitherr have unecesary, out of plae deaths and by the last episode no one really cares and laught because it will help them forget it all.
The out of reality thing is explained at the end of the anime and that the whole village is some sort of experiment.
I agree with you the pacing is a bit slow but I feel its alright with blood c’s setting.
I don’t think any deaths in blood C is out of place, infact considering the elder bairns agility, speed, and accuracy the deaths are sort of realistic.
Well I guess blood c only suit the ones that think of the overall picture of the anime not the ones where “food” is automatically served, if you know what I mean. Blood C is really underrated.
A well done suspense scene can be beautiful and exhilarating to watch since it shows us the darker sides of humanity.
Of course, if this was shown through the point of a bystander I would probably be boiling with vengeance. I’d pull out my Sword of Light and proceed to hack and slash at this bad guy and torture him until he repents… oh wait… =\
‘Good and Bad’ are really subjective matters but I found the death entertaining because it was animated and conducted so well – a thoroughly gruesome and entertaining death.
If u watch claymore u would hate it more i guess ?
Assassin’s manoeuvres reminds me of the French guy in Ocean’s 12, doing the exact same thing to slip past the laser field.
I stoped watching fate/stay night because the main character was incredibly stupid
is this one better?
Yes it is.
Well thanks to the spoiler telling us that Assassin are multiple entities, we know can easily assume Kirei just sent 1 “assassin” to die (“Dont worry about Archer”…lol) so make it look like they are enemies to the other masters. All part of their plan. Well devised at that.
And for those who read or watched the original FSN, we all know about Kirei and his ally there. So I doubt theres betrayal or any sort right now.
Uryuuuuu is jussst so cooool! just kiddin’
Here’s an interesting vid that shows the pieces or art/history each picture of the ED is based off of. Enjoy ^_^
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoGY1kQRhzQ&list=FLqY5RaPBqyYUAJMNlUWXmnw&index=3
Please… spoil me some more… not. RC has disappointed me for the first time, I am saddened.
I think this series should be tagged into something like “Massive spoilers ahead, you are been forewarned!”
I laughed so hard when the kid bit it. His death throws we’re so agonizing… Like candy for your ears XD
Well the biggest problem, is that comments are filled with spoilers are spitting out everywhere for Fate/Zero. It also doesn’t help that the source material is done, which makes it even harder. We wouldn’t be complaining if none of us knew that it was a spoiler. For anyone that hasn’t read the Light Novel, I suggest that you just avoid searching anything related to Fate/Zero on the internet. You’re bound to get accidentally spoiled.
Yes but this is an anime blogging site, and most people generally read this after they watched the episode for discussion, see others opinions and comments, and for anythign they might have missed related to THAT episode. A lot of people are ticked off because there were some blatant spoiler in this post that was not shown in the episode.
I realize its shown in the ending sequence, and its partially the studio’s fault for that. But some people like me dont watch the OP/ED. So for me this counts as a big spoiler.
awesome episode. Gilgamesh kicks ass.
Seriously, this:
“The thing about this particular Assassin is that he’s actually more than one person and is collectively represented by the Persian Assassins, as seen in the ending sequence, so Kirei isn’t Servant-less just yet.”
and this:
“Even Saber’s true identity wasn’t confirmed until the late stages of the Fifth War, leaving a lingering suspicion that she’s actually Joan of Arc (much like Bluebeard will mistaken her as later on)”
When are either of these ever stated or implied over the last two episodes?
Those are blatant spoilers, even knowing Casters identity most people wouldn’t jump to that conclusion so soon. Then with Assassin, that was clearly meant to be a cliffhanger, with nothing indicating that there was more then one Assassin in either of these episodes. I guess im just surprised. RC is usually very good about not spoiling, and yet we have these just casually spoiling for anyone who only watches the anime. I hope this sort of thing doesnt keep happening. lets leave some surprises for the people who havent read the LN ok?
I totally agree with takashid!
I only start following this anime and have not watched the Fate/Stay Night series. I would really appreciate if spoilers are minimized.
The quotes above are spot on about the major spoilers. I mean I could have guess that Assasin could not be killed so easily, but to be told about the true identity of all the Servants kind of ruined the surprise for me XD. This review could be improved!
stop coming to a blog about the anime if you dont want spoilers.
The funny thing is that we’re suppose to be talking the past episode and this episode in particular. Hence we do this by episodes. It’s not like one big giant topic of Fate/Zero where anything is fair game. So by all technicality, you’re wrong here darkloco.
Did anyone picked the fact that caster is holding the Necronomicon and that his summoning of the black tentacles used a famous H.P. Lovecraft’s incantation “Chtulhu Ftaghn” ?
Amazing things here. I’m very happy to peer your post. Thanks a lot and I am taking a look ahead to contact you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?