Fate/stay night / First Impressions

「冬の日、心の所在」 (Fuyu no Hi, Kokoro no Shozai)
“Winter Days, Where the Heart Is”

I lost it when Saber teleported in.

Moe, Moe, Kyun~

The queen of the tsunderes has finally revealed herself and it looks like there’s no chance she’s going to slow down. I mean, can you imagine how much effort it took to not only ask Shirou to eat lunch with her but to offer a seat right next to her? Sure it may have been under the guise of “eating in the wind probably sucks” but we all know Rin really wanted c:

Seriously though, this week’s episode was a great one in terms of giving some more personality to someone who originally came off as something of as an Ice Queen. While it may be inherently a part of her mage life to keep nearly everything about herself a secret, secret’s don’t really do much for us, the audience. Which is why little things like Rin trying to apologize about Archer nearly killing Shirou really help establish her reputation as someone more than a mage with a soft spot. Because after all we’ve heard about mages and the way they live their lives (ie: being as effective as possible) it’s nice to know that Rin hasn’t succumbed to that and is truly a kind-hearted person. Sure we may see bits and pieces of it slip out whenever something dangerous rears its ugly-head around but it never hurts to see someone being honest with themselves — am I right?

Unlimited Budget Works

While it’s up to debate just how much money ufotable is sinking into this show, I think we’re all in agreement that everything in the show looks fabulous. And as much as people have talked time and time again about the stunning visuals, I can’t help but highlight the scene where Saber teleported into the school. It may have only been a few seconds but it was so beautiful I literally felt my jaw smack my desk before I realized my mouth was open.

Caster Does what Mages do Best

Just like any good spell caster realizes, a mage’s true position is always the backline. Giving them a clear vision of the battlefield as well as having time to react to whatever might be heading their way, it looks like Caster is abusing her position to its full potential — something you’d expect someone trying to win the Holy Grail would do! Which honestly makes it difficult to fault her for her tactics because as underhanded as they are, they are pretty effective. That said, when you have someone so powerful manipulating things from the shadows you have to wonder what kind of person could be her master. And while we still have no clue who that person may be with the exception that he or she also attends the same school as Shirou and Rin, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were also someone who could fill the role of “frontline nightmare” because what better match could there be?

Show Spoiler ▼

Looking Ahead

Wow, what an episode. Taking care of the Shinji problem in one fell swoop it looks like the story is ready to move on to the Caster problem. Even though I can’t even fathom how they’re going to deal with someone as tenacious as her, I’m willing to bet Archer, Rin, or Shirou will have some trump card they’ll pull out of their sleeves. However, you have to wonder whether or not Shirou and Archer will be able to get over their grievances. Because judging from the preview, it sounds like Archer’s contempt for Shirou is growing ever larger — which makes you wonder if he’s going to go out and attempt to take him out again. Anyways, see you guys next week!

 

Preview

93 Comments

    1. Show Spoiler ▼

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

      3. Yeah indeed, some Fan Made Pictures in this Gallery can have some Spoilers. But then, it is in this “Fate/Stay” World, they would be really Spoilers if the Universe would be the same. But yeah, it give away some other Master. Even the old ones can now guess around, how really killed Rider. Nice move Ufotable

        Looks like Ufotable want to make this Universe curios to the old Fate/Stay Fans… But the old fans, know these Masters and Servants stuff.. There is also not that much Master or Servant… (my Speculation is a Master! because “Why can you still move?”) that is also that powerful to defend Raider Servant

        WorldwideDepp
        Reply

    2. The amusing part is that within context, these reaction shots have less to do with harem hijinks and more about the situation with GARcher. Which in hindsight, is even funnier for the experienced Type-moon fans.

      fragb85
      Reply

    3. And this is the reason why I root for Good Ending.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Btw, any VN players here who can tell me the choices/requirements Shiro has to do to get the Good Ending? I’d like to keep an eye on those things in the show to see if we are heading for Good Ending or True Ending. Been forever since I’ve played the VN so I can’t remember much. And put them in spoiler tags please so we don’t spoil them to the non-VN viewers. Thanks in advance.

      livid
      Reply

      2. Following the walkthrough, the first divergent choices have already happened apparently in favor of Show Spoiler ▼

        blakraven66
        Reply

      3. Saber has her own route and not everyone likes harem. I would rather go for RinXShirou instead of a harem ending. I would be disappointed because Fate/Stay Night isn’t and shouldn’t be a harem show. Watch Trinity Seven if you want harem.

        Assassin
        Reply

  5. Show Spoiler ▼

    Giorno Giovanna
    Reply

    1. Show Spoiler ▼

      GoXDS
      Reply

  6. The first casualty of the War has finally happened. One of the few thing I found disappointing on UBW was how rider went down like a chump. Still she will get her chance on the HF movie so we can look forward to that. And of course who ever killed her is absolutely brutal and obviously allied to Caster making her a more dangerous opponent. At least Shinji is out of the picture and I’m sure we won’t see more of him.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
    I was glad they kept the scene where Saber gets annoyed at Shirou copying Archer. Don’t take it personally Saber. Emulating Archer is scientifically proven to add GAR to a character as Shirou had discovered. Heck, his far more GAR in this episode than he was at the entirety of the Fate/Deen anime route. And he was fighting with a mop.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2018.jpg
    We can already see how different the perspectives are for our main characters. Rin, once again shows how she isn’t very good at being an apathetic mage. Her compassion shows as she almost freaks at the sight of students she thought were dead. Shirou however is completely calm and stoic about it, its almost scary. That fact does not escape Rin as she asks Shirou about it at the end of the episode.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
    Poor Rider. That was just…..wow. The VN described her death as just blood and a broken neck but apparently UFOTABLE decided that wasn’t enough and added some details. Like a lot of details. Still it does show what kind of threat our protagonists will be dealing with.

    fragb85
    Reply

    1. @fragb85: “I was glad they kept the scene where Saber gets annoyed at Shirou copying Archer.”

      Agree. I was glad to see that scene included in the anime as well per our comments last episode. I thought Ufotable did a good job with it. Good episode in general, though that’s becoming a standard comment for this adaptation from my perspective.

      daikama
      Reply

    2. With Rider going down like a chump, it seems to be a thing with most of the Servants.

      They’re really epic in one, win or lose.

      They’re okay in another one.

      They go down like chumps in the remaining one.

      For Rider, she’s epic in Heaven’s Feel, okay in Fate, and goes down like a chump in UBW.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
      Reply

  7. Rider, my love, don’t worry — HF will fare better than UBW.
    .
    .
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    .
    .
    Lol who am I kidding, Rider gets the Lancer treatment wherever she goes.

    BUT IT’S KAY HOLLOW ATARAXIA H-SCENE FOR BEST GIRL TO THE RESCUE.

    Anon
    Reply

  9. https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
    Well…Um…that suck…
    I’m probably going to get rage by fanboys but that was a complete and utter waste of a potentially decent character. What really ruin my weekend is seeing her broken neck twist back 360 degrees….Yikes!
    Say,is she really dead? Like “people die if they are killed” dead…..because I could have sworn she had a final confrontation with saber.

    nexuszero
    Reply

      1. As an anime-only fan of some of type moon works, I honestly don’t understand all the fanboy love for the UBW route. I meaN sure….its where Shirou gets the best development(at least thats what I’ve been hearing) but at the expense of some of the more interesting characters.

        nexuszero
        Reply

      2. ^ Well, that’s one of the downside of VN adaptation. Each character won’t get equal screen time in all route.

        I understand your disappointment since Rider is one of my favorite character, and that’s why I like HF route best.

        Also a bunch of interesting characters other than Shirou got the most development in UBW (minor spoiler)
        Show Spoiler ▼

        Potato
        Reply

      3. @nexuszero i’m really curious how do you decide rider is an interesting character just from a few appearances in this series if anything she was rather bland in ubw (i believe from many mentions here hf will be the route where she’ll get proper characterization).

        flxhe3x
        Reply

      4. @flxhe3x I didn’t quite say she was an interesting character, only having the potential to become one.
        My knowledge from this route mostly comes from the movie and since UFOTABLE is doing a 2 cour series, I was hoping they will give her more character but nope…she’s horribly wasted and that’s a fucking shame.

        nexuszero
        Reply

      5. Ufotable follows the Source Material very closely (with some exceptions to make the execution better). Adding more scenes in regards to Rider would ruin the story of Heaven’s Feel. It would be too great of a deviation and too great of a risk as well.

        Why can’t you wrap it around your head that Fate/Stay Night is supposed to be watched with all routes? It’s not that fanboys love UBW regardless of how it treat other characters, but that they love UBW for what it is. This isn’t like Fate/Zero where there is only one route. Your complaints are irrelevant because Rider gets her role in HF. You can’t expect every character to have a big role in each of the route.

        This is why you are getting downvotes. You understand that this is Shirou’s route, yet you can’t understand that HF is Rider’s route? So what are you going to complain next? Will you say that -blah blah- is wasted potential because Rider takes up too much screen time when Heaven’s Feel come? Seriously, people keep telling you that they each have their own story, yet you want everything to be in a single route. Just accept the fact that Rider is dead. And no, it isn’t horrible storytelling because the author wrote different routes FOR THAT PURPOSE. Each route have its theme, that is how story writing works!

        Your argument in a nut shell –> “Jeez, Rider died without doing much in UBW. It’s not a good adaptation and is a horrible mistake in storytelling. I don’t get why fanboys defend this route so desperately when it wastes characters just like that in order for Shirou to shine and develop.”

        Counter –> “People liked UBW for its theme and story. In terms of storytelling, it has managed to convey the theme properly to the audience and shift the focus to the characters that needed the attention. It has achieved its purpose very well, hence the love received from the people. The other characters get to shine in other routes and if you want to see those characters more, you can wait for when it gets adapted. Routes are created to balance out the importance of each character as it is not possible to place the focus on every single character within the story. If the character does not fit the theme of the route, then it is more wiser to remove that character early on or use the character as a stepping stone for character development.”

        You know, not liking how Rider got few-to-none characterization is a valid opinion. However, dissing the route and aiming to imply that the route fails at proper storytelling because of removing a character that isn’t needed in the route is just plain horrible. Also, the “I don’t understand why fanboys” is a provocation when no freaking fanboys is trying to kill you for your opinion. Just because people defend it, it does not make the person a fanboy. Why don’t you evaluate your tone, your judgment and your response to others before assuming that everyone who likes this route or are against your opinion is a blatant fanboy who will kill any person who doesn’t like UBW?

        Assassin
        Reply

      6. Interesting reply buddy,no need to get so riled up about it…Jeez
        it was probably a mistake on my part if I got too judgemental just for not liking how this shit is unfolding so Mea culpa,buddy,Mea culpa.
        Who know? I’m probably not in the right mindset or even the intended audience to enjoy FSN but IMO(and I don’t really give a rat’s ass whether I get downvoted to oblivion) I don’t buy into the fact that it needs multiple alternate scenarios just to tell one friggin holy grail war story just so i can get the full picture. Sure,the VN format is probably intended for that role but I don’t see that working well in a show or movie(unless you’re into horror movie alternate endings that sort of thing) especially when that show is trying to be a sort of sequel to something that feels complete in one storyline. Like i said, i’m probably not the right audience for FSN and it all comes down to personal preferences so let’s just leave it at that….k,pal.

        nexuszero
        Reply

      7. @Nexuszero:

        On your comment about needing multiple routes to tell one story – The thing you have to remember is that this is an adaptation of a VN. A VN by it’s very nature takes one set of characters and creates multiple routes or senarios each focusing on particular characters. By playing all of the routes, you gain a better understanding of the situation as a whole. The anime is an adaptation of that. Naturally, unless they will animate ALL of the routes you will never get the full story.

        Also FSN is a bit different from some of the other VNs as the finishing of the routes in order give you a better set up for the next route. Kinda similar to how Little Busters requires you to finish all the routes to grasp what happens in Refrain.

        The reason why you don’t get it is because you are trying to look at this from the perspective of a Movie/Anime/Manga when this is actually a VN. Different media have different manners of story telling

        Juan
        Reply

  10. Wait, Shirou copying Archer’s skills?!?
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Lone Wanderer
    Reply

    3. Show Spoiler ▼

      Assassin
      Reply

  13. Rin sure is busy .. being tsundere, fighting a Holy Grail War, and having to deal with a PTSD Shirou — all at the same time.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2008%20-%2006.jpg
    This scene was great.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2008%20-%2012.jpg
    See http://i.imgur.com/eOPERYR.jpg

    http://i.imgur.com/fBWyPuM.jpg
    Jesus.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2008%20-%20Preview%2001.jpg
    Anyone else was reminded of Fate/Zero Berserker when they saw this?

    ReylandAZ
    Reply

  14. Oh my…
    4 masters in one school
    BOTH Shirou and Rin go off to school WITHOUT servants.
    Such a perfect situational awareness… I can understand baka Shirou, but Rin should be more threat-aware…

    In other news: my “Tohsaka Rin: 100 faces of tsundere” album is growing fst.

    And who the hell is the Master of the Caster?

    ewok40k
    Reply

  16. The only weak link in this series is Shinji. I was hoping to know the identity behind the Rider, she was defeated rather quickly, I find it hard to believe she’d taken out so fast. There must be some tricks in Rider’s sleeve. I refused to believe she’s already gone.

    Soliloquy
    Reply

    2. After Shinji went bonkers in the hallway, I was having flashbacks to one of the voice actor’s other famous characters. Kept expecting him to bust out a “Zetsubou shita!!”

      quigonkenny
      Reply

  21. https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2008%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
    I am Tohsaka Rin, your senior tsundere instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be “Ojou”. Do you maggots understand that?
    “If you ladies leave my island, if you survive tsundere training, you will be incredibly haughty. You will be a minister of tsun and act like you don’t really like the guy.
    “Now choke yourself.”

    celebrinen
    Reply

  23. Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler
    Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler Spoiler

    mow that Rider died ? will we see her pegasus ?
    I want to see pegasus in the new animation!!!

    d1roni
    Reply

  25. Let us not forget, how Raider got her Mana guys. Do not let so easy slip “Poor Raider” out of your mouth. Sinji was a Mage with poor Mana, even lesser then Shirou.

    So the Accidents with cut like Wounds, can be made of Raider collecting Mana on the aggressive way. And Caster is not any better here

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

    1. She’s not so different from Show Spoiler ▼

      in that you can hate what they do, but you can’t bring yourself to hate the character himself/herself.

      If you’ve ever read Fate/Hollow Ataraxia – which, if you haven’t, you totally should ’cause it’s just that awesome – then you realize that, beyond circumstances and obligations, these are people that you wouldn’t have any trouble at all getting along with.

      Caster, included, btw.

      Ryan Ashfyre
      Reply

  26. Does anyone think that the characters in UBW would get killed instantly if even one of the masters in Fate Zero was in this fight? I like UBW, but the characters are so juvenile (because of age and lack of bloodlust of course) and are like babes in toyland compared to the Fate Zero characters.

    WhatTha
    Reply

    1. Well, I do think there are two F/Z Masters that would not have the kind of advantage you’ve mentioned.

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Random Comment
      Reply

    2. Yes and no. UBW master are more inept yes, but generally UBW servants are very, very hax compared to Fate/Zero.

      UBW Rider alone could take on all Fate/Zero servants (except Saber and Gil, of course) COMBINED, at the same time, and win without breaking a sweat. Theoretically, at least.

      SMinstrel
      Reply

  31. I’m thinking in all the action and pretty animation I actually missed the part in the show where someone, heck ANYONE, actually gives a reason why they think there’s a 4th master from the very beginning.

    I mean yes, we know there is, but in the show they just start talking about a 4th master in the school with no actual explanation of why that is. At the end, we know someone else is in the school with Caster but before that point the characters just start talking about a 4th master.

    KitsuTheMighty
    Reply

    1. I am a bit confused as well. The only signs of a 4th master in school was the fact caster appeared in school. But they also mentioned that caster was still in the temple. I don’t see how caster being at school definitively correlates with the 4th master being in there also.

      flCer
      Reply

      1. May just be because someone had to be in a position to make a move against Shinji and Rider. A fourth master is a possible explanation for who made a move there. Answers some questions like why Caster was stalling Saber at that point in time, other than to be a troll.

        It’s not the only explanation but it does fit since the cause of death doesn’t fit with really any of the servants aside from Berserker and if he was in there I’d expect a lot more evidence.

        If it wasn’t a servant who could be summoned in via command seal then it has to be a person who was already in the school. Thus a fourth master is a possibility.

        FlareKnight
        Reply

    2. Rin act on the assumption that Shinji, the third master, cannot lay down that magic bounded field in the school (Because she knows Shinji is not a mage), so there must be a fourth master.

      SMinstrel
      Reply

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