Fate/Apocrypha / First Impressions

「百の焔と百の華」 (Hyaku no Homura to Hyaku no Hana)
“100 Flames and 100 Flowers”

Now this is what I’m talking about!

General Impressions

Before we touch on whatever Darnic is planning to do with that giant crystal he spent the entire episode glaring at, let’s talk about some of the Servants who were lucky enough to get some of the spotlight this week.

Starting in order of appearance, boy was I happy to see Frankenstein’s Monster get some of the spotlight this week. And while it may have been brief, I thought it was great how the episode managed to humanize her even more than it already had. Because up until this point, I think it was clear that Frankenstein’s Monster was a wee bit different than your typical Berserker. Instead of constantly wanting to be in battle due to the Mad Enhancement, we saw her either being cute with her Master or out in the fields picking flowers. Things that out of context would make for a simply adorable character, but when combined with her back story, turns into something almost tragic. Tragic not only for the fact that Frankenstein’s Monster was robbed of her ability to speak and show emotion because of her class, but also because she has the perfect master to provide her all these things except the head of the family seems to have completely different plans in mind.

Changing gears to something a little more positive, it was pretty cool to see Astolfo finally strut some of his skills this week. And even though it was a shame that he wasn’t able to take on the immense power of the Hanging Gardens, it was pretty awesome to see him mounted on (what I’m assuming) his Hippogriff as he tried his best to fight without utilizing too much mana. What really sucks though is that after getting blasted out of the sky, he just had to run into Mordred of all people. I figured that the two might eventually have to fight, but boy was it tough to watch Mordred mouth off about Siegfried as Astolfo was trying his best to protect Siegfriend’s honor (while also unable to heal or do anything significant that would require mana). Luckily it looks like Sieg managed to show up in the nick of time to do something about Alstolfo losing his head to Mordred. That said, I’m really curious to see just what Sieg can do, especially against someone like Mordred.

So while I may have teased at it in the opening paragraph, I truly have no idea what Darnic has in store for all of us in the coming weeks. As a character who has been on the sidelines for the most part, I don’t think it was that surprising to see he had something going on behind the scenes. The thing is, anytime anyone attempts to mess with either the Grail or something that works like it, they’re usually in for a bad time. In Darnic’s case, I’m curious if the horde of Homunculi that Sieg freed will hamper his plans since it looks like Team Black lost a significant strategic resource. In any case, I’ll catch you guys next week where we’ll hopefully get a chance to see Ruler catch up to Shiro as well as watch Sieg finally wield that darn sword of his. See you then!

26 Comments

  2. No matter if it is the original novel of Mary Shelley or any adaptation made acrross the years, to me Doctor Frankenstein is the true monster of that story and his creation the poor victim of an insane man playing god when he couldn´t even play to be a human.

    haseo0408
    Reply

    1. The seven-branched candlestick or menorah was originally a Jewish symbol, but has been adopted by various denominations of Christianity. Romanian Christians are predominantly Orthodox rather than Roman Catholic, and would often place a menorah on their altar.

      Angelus
      Reply

    2. Also, don’t forget that the Holy Grail in Fate has nothing to do with religion. They even said it in Fate/Zero (and Fate/Strange Fake) that the Grail in Fuyuki is not the cup of Christ.

      Lelo
      Reply

  6. Every time I watch that scene with Frakenstein’s past, and hearing her cry over it always gets me teary-eyed. I do like the animation direction they took with her breakdown. I’ve seen people complain about it but honestly I can tell this was their intention. Something doesn’t always has to look crisp to be animated well. In a scene where its supposed to show her mental breakdown and inner turmoil, having her look distorted really helps hone the scene in. Basically I would describe it as trying to show someone an abstract painting who only likes things that are easily recognizable.

    SDFGS
    Reply

  7. The episode had the overall theme of Fathers.

    – Modred’s ‘Father’ didn’t provided that love which was the catalyst why she rebelled. However having come here, her master provided what she needed; a parental surrogate.

    – Fran’s was similar to Morder however a more abusive one. Her master might not be a love interest but he truly acts like a father to the girl.

    – Sieg was saved in his eyes, two father. Astolfo who defied the others to save him and save Siegfried who saved his life. Sieg coming to Astolfo’s rescue was him to protect his father figure.

    G Koh
    Reply

    1. While Fran’s master might not be a love interest, it seems that she feels like he counts as both a love interest and a father figure at the same time.

      Also if Fran had succeeded in getting her wish with the grail, it might just transform her master into the perfect mate for her, rather then simply creating one from scratch.

      SageM
      Reply

  8. https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20Apocrypha/Fate%20Apocrypha%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2004.jpg

    I’ve to say, brief as it was, this was truly satisfying. Also, does anyone recognize who Darnic’s Servant was or what happened to him (if this is a spoiler for future events of the series, then please don’t mention it all). If I got that correctly, then Darnic was canonically a participant of the third grail war, but in the main timeline did lose eventually, right? If I remember correctly the involvement of the Nazis lead to the (temporary) destruction of the grail in the original time line, right? Also were the two other people Darnic killed supposed to be Kirei’s father and Hitler, which obviously didn’t happen in the original time line?

    dean
    Reply

    1. That was a german soldier alongside Darnic, not a Servant and it seems Zouken was sent to hell earlier and he so much deserves. By the way, the Grail was not destroyed, the Greater Grail was only stolen by the Nazi and Darnic put a bullet in their backs first chance he got, what Darnic wass looking during the entire episode was the phisical form of the Greater Grail.

      haseo0408
      Reply

    3. In that scene, Darnic had Fionn Mac Cumhaill as Servant. He also appears as a Lancer in Fate/Grand Order.

      We don’t have many details about the Third Holy Grail War, but we know that it was a mess, and both the Nazis and the Imperial Army intervened in the ritual, regardless of the timeline. In the original timeline tho, the vessel for the Grail (not the Greater Grail) was destroyed, so the whole thing ended without even completing the ritual. The Einzbern decided then to make an homunculus the vessel, so that it would be able to protect itself from dangers: that’s why in the next war (in Fate/Zero), the vessel is a homunculus (Irisviel).

      The main difference in this timeline is in something that Show Spoiler ▼

      The two people Darnic killed were simply the Nazi officers piloting the blimps. Remember: Darnic basically tricked the Nazi into helping him to steal the Grail. Once he succeeded, he stole it from them and went into hiding.

      Lelo
      Reply

    4. Apocrypha seems to be randomly inserting Fate Grand Order stuff so I wouldn’t think too much into it (I mean I don’t mind, as someone who plays the game its a pretty nice easter egg). With Fionn, and the design for the Knights of the round table in Mordreds’ flashback.

      SDFGS
      Reply

  9. Well, in this episode, I learn that Dr. Frakenstein’s assistant, Igor, doesn’t exist in the nasuverse.

    On the side note, I do wonder if Risei Kotomine taught Shirou how to use Kung-Fu.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20Apocrypha/Fate%20Apocrypha%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2003.jpg
    I am shocked that blimps are that strong, or the Grail isn’t as heavy as I thought it was.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20Apocrypha/Fate%20Apocrypha%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
    Sometimes, I wonder if Sieg is aware of how dark the world his. At worst, I can imagine that his siblings may become victims of human trafficking and so forth. Anyway, because Sieg is against having Homunculus fight to the death, I would wonder what can happen if Sieg meets Sella and Leysritt, who don’t mind fighting and dying for the sake of Ilya.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20Apocrypha/Fate%20Apocrypha%20-%2009%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
    The more I look at Mordred the more I think she is compatible with “cold” people, like EMIYA (archer) or Kiritsugu Emiya, since Mordred thinks it’s stupid to die for one’s beliefs.

    On the side note my biggest surprise, from this episode, was how that car can still move even when abused by Mordred. One would need an armored fighting vehicle for Mordred next time.

    L002
    Reply

    1. Well, in this episode, I learn that Dr. Frakenstein’s assistant, Igor, doesn’t exist in the nasuverse.

      Frankenstein also doesn’t have an assistant in the original novel. The typical assistant character Igor was only invented for movies and wasn’t even named Igor originally. In the first Frankenstein movie his name was Fritz.

      Zannafar
      Reply

  12. Has no one noticed the dialogue when red assassin was trying to shot dead ruler? When ruler says that although being an assassin, she has the same power of a mage from the age of gods? I think that might turn in something really interesting.

    hitman
    Reply

      1. Well not really

        “While the achievements of Semiramis are clearly in the realm of mythical Persian, Armenian and Greek historiography, the historical Assyrian queen Shammuramat (Semiramis), wife of Shamshi-Adad V (and not the fictional Ninus or semi-mythical Nimrod) of Assyria, certainly existed. After her husband’s death, she served as regent from 811–806 BC for her son, Adad-nirari III.[4]
        Shammuramat would have thus been briefly in control of the vast Neo Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC), which stretched from the Caucasus Mountains in the north to the Arabian Peninsula in the south, and western Iran in the east to Cyprus in the west.” straight form wikipedia.

        So adding fact that no matter how you look servants are at least loosely based she is something about 4.5k years after Gil.That ain’t same era let alone period

        RandomGuy
        Reply

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