Random Curiosity

Summary:
A bloodied Rin recalls what happened earlier when someone had rung the doorbell. She expected to see Shirou, but it was actually Kotomine. Shirou and Saber return home sometime later and sense that things are amiss because the lights are off. Inside one of the rooms, they find Rin lying against a wall, with her blood splattered everywhere. Rin apologizes for not being able to protect Ilya, having not realized that Kotomine was the seventh Master. She gives Shirou her final pieces of advice: First, Kotomine’s objective is Ilya – his plan from the beginning was probably to make her the vessel for the Holy Grail. Second, Rin thinks that Kotomine has gone to Ryuudoji – there’s nowhere better than there to allow the Holy Grail to arrive. And finally, Shirou is no match for Kotomine. However, seeing that Shirou is determined to settle things, she smiles and gives Shirou her Azoth, which is something she got when she became a mage. Rin instructs him on how to use the dagger, and says that she knew she couldn’t win, so she had hid it until the end for Shirou to use. Rin is now getting sleepy, so she ends it at that. Shirou says that when morning comes, he’ll wake her and give her a huge breakfast. Rin says that Shirou has to win – if he’s lost by the time she wakes up tomorrow, she won’t forgive him.
Before they go to the temple, Shirou wants to give Saber back her sheath. She says that she can’t guarantee a win against Gilgamesh even with it, and is worried about Shirou losing his healing ability. Shirou says that he’s become too dependant it – people should die if they are killed. And so, Saber reaches into Shirou’s body and he gives up the sheath. The two then make their way to Ryuudoji where the magic power density is really high. Shirou thinks that the summoning of the Holy Grail has already started or is already done. He decides that Saber should face Gilgamesh while he goes after Kotomine. As long as they can defeat one of them, they can prevent the enemy from getting their hands on the Holy Grail. As they walk up the steps, Shirou thinks to himself that whatever the outcome, Saber will disappear after this fight. He wonders if it’s not too late to turn back, and he turns around to address her. Seeing her eyes, he does away with those thoughts and the two head for the final battle. Gilgamesh is waiting at the top for them. He doesn’t actually have a wish for the Holy Grail – he’s only concerned about Saber. After throwing a slew of pre-battle insults and taunts at her, Gilgamesh tells Shirou that if he’s looking for Kotomine, he should quickly go and disappear. Shirou takes that as a sign that it’s time for him to leave and so he does, with Saber charging Gilgamesh soon after.
Shirou finds Ilya strung up naked with Kotomine standing below her. The Holy Grail has arrived already, but Kotomine says that the womb is still unstable. Referring to the black sludge, he says that this is overflowing power of the Holy Grail, which will create disasters everywhere – a cursed material. He explains that the Einzbern family created this summoning system, but until now no one has seen the complete Holy Grail. Sometimes it’s a failed summon and sometimes there are people like Shirou’s father who are trying to destroy it – this would be the first complete Holy Grail. And the reason he wants to bring disaster upon the world? Amusement. Kotomine wants the light of stars and says that the fire from 10 years ago wasn’t bad. Souls being blasted open make the most dazzling light. He says that although it’s in a warped form, no one loves mankind more than him and therefore, there is no one more suitable for the Holy Grail than him. Shirou tries to charge him, but Kotomine uses the black sludge to strike at Shirou, hold him in place, and burn him. During all this, Saber and Gilgamesh have been having their battle. Gilgamesh seems to be expending much less effort than Saber, but Saber has knocked a sword out of his hand and has broken a second one in half. Gilgamesh says that she can’t win and neither can Shirou, but Saber thinks otherwise. Seeing that it’ll take a decisive defeat for Saber to understand, Gilgamesh sends his numerous swords at her, pummeling her into the ground. He then pulls out his special sword and powers up his Enuma Elish. In response, Saber gets up and uses Excalibur. Like last time, the two powers meet evenly.
While that’s going on, Kotomine is telling Shirou that he’s been anticipating him since he knows that Shirou is Emiya Kiritsugu’s son. Kotomine really detests Kiritsugu because he hindered everything Kotomine did. He explains that 10 years ago, Kiritsugu had defeated him, but hadn’t killed him. Kiritsugu’s mistake was thinking that breaking the Holy Grail would end the fighting. He thus became cursed and died years later; thinking he had ended the Holy Grail War. Kotomine confirms that it was he who killed Kiritsugu and wonders if Shirou will have the same fate as his father. He calls forth Angra Mainyu, surrounding Shirou with the black sludge. Saber, on the other hand, finally gave out against Gilgamesh’s Enuma Elish. Hearing Shirou’s scream from afar, Gilgamesh assumes that the other fight is over, but Saber says that Shirou is still alive because she can still feel the link to him. Gilgamesh tells Saber that if she bathes in the curse/sludge, can become the same as him and enjoy a second life. He’s willing to let her drink, but as a precaution, he wants to get married. Of course he and Saber have very different viewpoints, including that of being king. Saber was destroyed by her country, whereas Gilgamesh destroyed his country. Since Gilgamesh had picked Saber up by her right foot, Saber delivers a swift kick to his face with her left one. Gilgamesh decides to stop going easy on her and orders the eyesore of a woman to disappear. He fires his Enuma Elish as Saber uses Excalibur again, and a bright light surrounds both of them.

Preview:

Whew, Rin really gave me a scare there at the beginning. I kept thinking that she was going to die any second, but she didn’t, and the preview makes it pretty clear that she’s still around. Even in that state, she still gave Shirou all that advice and even her dagger. That dagger didn’t show itself again this episode, so I assume it’ll come into play in the finale next week. Same thing goes for the sheath Saber got back from Shirou.
I have mixed feelings about the second half of this episode. It was a decent pair of battles, but there really weren’t any new moves involved except for Kotomine’s Angra Mainyu. I think my main problem was that Kotomine (and to an extent Gilgamesh) spent almost the entire second half in one long explanation monologue (bringing back not-so-fond memories of the first half of this series). Yes, it’s good that there’s story development about him and Kiritsugu while wrapping up the story aspects from 10 years ago…but I can’t help but feel disappointed because this was the next to last episode, and, well, I expected less talk and more things actually happening.
Next week is the finale of Fate/stay night! As some of you have pointed out, the preview looks pretty amazing in the animation department, so I’m hoping for big things.
And yes (in response to today’s poll), I do expect Saber to go back to her own time and leave Shirou.

Summary:
Sitting alone at home, Saber thinks to herself that the stars have come out, forecasting Shirou’s future. She gets embarrassed after realizing that she’s acting like a girl in a love story. Rin comes out and asks Saber if she knows where Shirou is; she’s looking for him because Ilya’s fever has gotten worse. She also tells Saber about how she had found the dead body of Lancer’s Master, but his command spells had been taken. The two girls realize that Lancer must be under another Master now, a Master who has another Servant so that he or she could use Lancer for reconnaissance. But they’re still not sure who it is. Saber is worried about Shirou, and Rin thinks that he might be at the church. Saber heads over there, even more worried because the church gives off the same stagnation of death that the Ryuudoji temple did. She arrives and makes her way below ground where she finds Shirou lying facedown in a pool of blood. Standing between him and her is Lancer. The two start fighting, but Kotomine drags Shirou’s still-alive body out and stops the battle.
Kotomine is willing to give Shirou back to Saber if that’s all she’s here for. And if she wants the Holy Grail, he can give that to her now too. When Lancer is confused because he thought that the Holy Grail came out only once there was one remaining, Kotomine follows up by saying that the vessel is a different matter. The vessel that holds the power until the summoning of the Holy Grail is nearing full. But first, he asks Shirou if he really doesn’t have anything that he hated ten years ago. The memories trigger inside of Shirou of the time during the fire, when he had heard everyone’s pleas for help and continued walking through the fire because all he cared was saving himself. He was ultimately saved by Kiritsugu and spent his life wanting to become the ally of justice, but he had felt guilty because he knew that the dead wouldn’t forgive him if he didn’t stick out his chest and walk forward. Kotomine grabs Shirou’s head and tempts Shirou by saying that with the Holy Grail, the events of ten years ago can not occur and could be done over. However, Shirou says that he doesn’t want that because it would make meaningless all of the sadness and tears that people endured over the years.
Since Shirou doesn’t want the Holy Grail like that, Kotomine pushes him back to Saber. He then turns to her and tells her that by killing Shirou, she can get her wish. That wish, as she’s said before, is to redo the selection of the king. Shirou surprises Saber by saying that he believes this path isn’t wrong. Saber agrees, saying that she had sworn to uphold the king’s responsibilities when she drew the sword out of the stone. She tells Kotomine that she does indeed want the Holy Grail, but she’s not going kill Shirou for it. She wants Shirou more than the Holy Grail, and she’s already got everything she wants. Saber then takes Shirou’s hand and starts to heal him. Kotomine decides that Saber and Shirou should die here. He snaps his fingers and someone else enters the room – Kotomine’s partner in the previous Holy Grail War, Gilgamesh. Kotomine explains that he helped Gilgamesh remain after the last war by giving him things to eat, which would be the nearby room full of bodies. Lancer demands to know why he wasn’t told about this and Kotomine simply asks him back if he would have fought with Gilgamesh if he had known. The answer is of course no.
Kotomine compares this to ten years ago, though that time he had been defeated by Kiritsugu. Having been cornered, Kotomine had touched the Holy Grail that appeared and caused the giant fire. He says that his heart’s desire was to make everyone in the city disappear, but also that the Holy Grail would have done the same without that. He views the Holy Grail as a giant weapon that grants wishes through destruction – a pure strength. Thus, the Holy Grail that Shirou and Saber are after can annihilate everything – Kotomine calls it a cursed vessel. He makes his way out of the room and orders Gilgamesh and Lancer to finish off the “trash.” Gilgamesh starts by throwing a sword, but it’s deflected…by Lancer. He says that he’s not helping them so much as he’s following his own beliefs now. Gilgamesh easily dodges his lunge and counterattacks with an uppercut swing. At Lancer’s urging, Shirou and Saber make their escape. Gilgamesh injures Lancer with his swords, and then ties him up with chains. He then throws a special sword at Lancer, piercing through him and killing him.
In the cemetery above ground, Saber heals Shirou’s wound. She explains that she replenished the sheath’s mana, which should allow him to recover quickly. Shirou is confused until Saber tells him that Excalibur’s sheath is actually inside him. She thinks that perhaps it’s because of what Kiritsugu did in the previous war and explains that the sheath can heal the wounds of its holder. After the war, when Kiritsugu had found Shirou, he had given him the sheath as the only way to save Shirou’s life; this is the source of his healing powers. Shirou feels bad for using Saber’s sheath in this way, but Saber says that she’s actually happy that her sheath can save him. She has realized that Kiritsugu was right about the Holy Grail being not what she needed and that he knew that she was deluding herself. By now, the two have walked all the way to the pier during the sunset. Saber thanks Shirou, saying that she finally understands which road to walk. She hopes that he can forgive her for her mistake and asks that he see it all as a dream of a young girl. With a determined look, Shirou says that they should break the Holy Grail, which catches Saber a little by surprise. However, Saber says that she believed in him to make this decision.

Preview:

Lots of plot development this week, though there was some fighting that included the defeat/death of Lancer at Gilgamesh’s hands. The important things include Kotomine finally being exposed as the bad guy (the final bad guy at that), Lancer’s death, and Saber realizing her mistake. I thought Lancer’s death was a bit disappointing, given that he was only around for such a short period of time. It’s nice that he ended up helping out Saber and Shirou, but his overall character could have used more development. And he really wasn’t a match for Gilgamesh, though that was to be expected. As for Shirou and Saber, it’s about time the two got on the same page in terms of goals. You could almost thank Kotomine for doing it, since he was the one who brought about Saber’s change-of-mind by trying tempt them with their wishes and by explaining what the Holy Grail did.
Overall, it feels like this episode set out to tie up a lot of loose ends: what happened 10 years ago, why Shirou heals so quickly, etc. It’s a good episode, but I honestly didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as last week’s (though that’s a hard act to follow).
Next week looks like it’ll be Shirou and Saber vs. Kotomine and Gilgamesh. Ilya will be involved too. Only two more episodes left of FSN!

Summary:
With the appearance of the golden servant, Shirou pushes Saber back because he wants her to run away. He rushes forward, but before he can even reach their enemy, he gets shot right through his abdomen. Saber’s eyes widen as she watches Shirou collapse on the ground. She attacks the person she refers to as Archer, but his multitude of swords block her every swing. The golden servant dons his armor and opens the Gate of Babylon, bringing forth even more of his weapons. One of them is a chained scythe – he uses it to pierce through Saber’s arm and hit her neck. The servant tells Saber that he is the heroic king of the ancient kingdom of Uruk: Gilgamesh. The arrogant king doesn’t think that Saber can defeat him, but she says that she won’t know until she tries. Saber powers up her Noble Phantasm, so Gilgamesh pulls out a special sword and does the same. Excalibur clashes with Enuma Elish equally at first, but Gilgamesh soon gains the upper hand.
When the smoke clears, an injured Shirou sees Saber lying in a pool of her own blood. Saber calls out to Shirou, but she can’t tell where he is – her eyes have gone lifeless from the attack. With Gilgamesh laughing in the background, Saber admits to Shirou that she’s lost and that she wants him to run away. Shirou has no plans to do that; after struggling back onto his feet, he creates Caliburn and faces Gilgamesh. However, the Servant recognizes the sword and pulls out his own. One quick slash cuts Shirou’s replica in half and sends him flying back. Saber hears Shirou land behind her and start to gurgle in pain. She tries to get Gilgamesh to stop, but he wants her to promise to become his thing first. The ever resilient Shirou tells her not to answer and stands up yet again. Saber tries to make him realize that it’s futile – if he were to die, she’d… Regaining his focus, Shirou says that he doesn’t want anything other than Saber because he loves her. That’s why he can’t hand her over.
Gilgamesh decides to use Enuma Elish again, this time on Shirou. In response, Shirou activates his image powers and remembers Archer’s words about his strongest form. With that in mind, Shirou creates a pillar of light in front of him that surprises even Gilgamesh. What emerges from the light is a bright triangularly shaped object. Saber regains her vision and recognizes what it is. She rushes to Shirou’s side and passes him her sword. Together, the two of them place it into the glowing sheath just as Gilgamesh fires his Enuma Elish. The sheath protects them and reflects the attack back at him. Though Gilgamesh does not appear to be hurt too badly, he scoffs and disappears. With the battle over, Shirou collapses into Saber’s arms. She’s finally realized that Shirou was her sheath.
In his dreams, Shirou has another vision of Saber’s past where she is fighting an armored female foe. This person asks Saber why she won’t hand over the throne and her response is that this person is not qualified to be the king. Saber then slashes and stabs her opponent, but she herself takes a hit to the gut. The other person says “Father” and her helmet falls off – her face is the same as Saber’s. The vision switches to a scene of a mortally wounded Saber in the sunset and then what appears to be a monument or grave. Shirou wakes up and finds himself fully healed. He and Saber know that Gilgamesh will appear again. With Saber’s past fresh on his mind, Shirou wonders about Saber wanting to change the past through the Grail. She decides to make him something to eat, but her attempt at slicing involves holding the knife with both hands as if it were a sword and slamming it down on the vegetables. Shirou guides Saber through peeling and cutting while holding her from behind.
But with the dream still on his mind, Shirou asks Saber to stop thinking about trying to redo the selection of the king. He tells her about how he saw her dream and how she had fought to the death. He feels that she’s already accomplished her oath and that she’s done enough. After obtaining the Holy Grail, he wants her to stay here and smile for herself – he wants the two of them to stay together. Saber leaves his arms and walks back to her room. Shirou chases after her, and, unable to hold back, he grabs Saber and hugs her. Saber says that Shirou is being unfair since he knows her past from entering her mind many times. She thinks that he should already know her answer. But Shirou likes Saber so much that he can’t let go of her. Nearly in tears, Saber says that she can’t have freedom until she completes her responsibilities. During a moment of silence, Shirou leans in and kisses her, despite her gentle resistance.
The next morning, Shirou leaves the house and remembers what happened during the rest of the night. Saber had stepped away from him after the kiss. Sometime later, they were both in his room and she had told him that she had recovered her mana. She was ready to fight as his Servant. On this day, Shirou heads to the church again looking for Kotomine. No one appears to be inside, but Shirou soon detects something and starts to hear a young child crying. He stumbles through the grounds and into the church’s basement where he finds several corpses. Kotomine surprises him from behind, causing Shirou to turn around and take a step back. That’s enough room for Lancer to jump in between the two of them and stab Shirou in the chest.

Preview:

Saber and Shirou vs. Gilgamesh! Excalibur vs. Enuma Elish! The use of Avalon! Saber and Shirou kissing!
All of that was more than enough to get me excited and keep me excited through the episode. Gilgamesh was quite powerful, but Shirou’s cockroach-like resilience help him around until he and Saber finally used Avalon. The look on Gilgamesh’s face was priceless. So, the fighting scenes were superbly done, and the romantic moments were touching, thanks in part to their use of music during the kiss scene. I had been looking forward to this episode so much because of last week’s preview and I certainly was not disappointed.
And if you thought Shirou had taken enough of a beating from Gilgamesh, by the end of the episode he has another weapon stuck in his chest – Lancer’s. It’s been a long long time since we’ve seen him, but he’s still in the war, as is Gilgamesh. He appears to be Kotomine’s Servant, but the clues would indicate that Gilgamesh is also Kotomine’s Servant. We should be able to find out more next week. And keep in mind, the end is only three episodes away!

Summary:
Kotomine tells Shirou that if Saber doesn’t want a second life, all Shirou needs to do is leave one Command Spell. On the way home, Shirou thinks to himself that he can’t let Saber get the Holy Grail, but the only way to save her is with the Grail’s power. He knows that since he met Saber, he’s hasn’t wanted to leave her alone and hasn’t wanted to lose her. In short, he realizes that he likes her. Back at home, he has a chat with Rin about Saber. When Shirou says that it’d be good if she doesn’t become a complete Servant, Rin comments that Archer had said the same thing. Apparently Archer had regretted becoming a Servant and didn’t want Saber to become the same way. Rin wonders if Archer and Saber knew each other from back when she was a king. She then asks Shirou what he’s planning on doing. Shirou’s response is that he’s taking Saber on a date, which puts Rin into a fit of laughter. After she gets over it, she tells him to do his best – she likes both of them. However, she does warn him that a date is like a battle.
When Shirou tells Saber about it, she’s not sure what a date is. She doesn’t understand his explanation, nor does she see a reason to go on a date. Rin finally describes it as a lover’s rendezvous, a statement that causes both Shirou and Saber to blush. Rin continues on by saying that it’s a guy’s chance to appeal to the girl he likes. It’s at this point that Ilya bursts into the room and announces that she likes Shirou. But with one chop of her hand, Rin knocks out Ilya, who she considers the strongest enemy of Shirou’s date. Shirou and Saber then set out into the city. They first go to a store where Saber rips apart a shirt. Next is the movie theater. Shirou tries to touch Saber’s hand, but she gets a bit too caught up in the movie. At the aquarium, Saber comments that it’s unnatural for the fish to have their freedom taken away and be confined this way. However, she also feels that it looks beautiful. The two stop for tea, and then go to a store selling stuffed animals. Saber takes a liking to a stuffed lion and Shirou starts laughing. An angry and embarrassed Saber tells him that it’s not good to laugh at another person’s tastes, and then she storms out of the store.
Outside, Saber sees an old sunken ship sticking out of the nearby water and relates a story from the previous Grail War where she sank a ship with a Noble Phantasm. The two then end up on the bridge watching the sun set. Shirou says that they can do this again another time, but Saber shakes her head, saying that a Servant exists to fight. Something like today would just be denying their own existence. And Saber knows that every fight brings her closer to the Holy Grail. Shirou says that Saber is very contradictory – she says that she wants to fight, but she doesn’t really want to. He thinks that she’s fighting because she has no other choice; he points out that she likes to keep the fighting to a minimum in order to prevent casualties – she’s afraid of fights that would produce victims. What’s more, Shirou thinks that Saber is saying that fighting is her only goal because it’s an excuse to deceive herself. Saber objects to what he’s saying and once again says that she has no choice but to fight. Shirou tries to make her understand that there are many roads ahead of her and that she’s not the same person she used to be. It’s not good if she doesn’t live for herself, and he just wants her to be happy here.
Saber says that a king’s oath cannot be broken, and she has a duty that needs to be fulfilled. From the beginning, she’s had only one wish and that hasn’t changed. But to Shirou, Saber only wants to redo something that she couldn’t change when it occurred, which is thinking akin to a selfish child. Saber falls silent for a while, and then softly says that she thought he’d be the one to understand. She calls him foolish because he gives priority to others and doesn’t even know the importance of his own life. She also says that if he’s angry, he could cancel the contract and it wouldn’t matter. She’d just destroy the Masters by herself and get the Holy Grail. Shirou can’t believe what he’s hearing, but Saber continues by saying that her only purpose is the Holy Grail – everything else is unnecessary and Shirou is no exception. Shirou calls her obstinate, and says that if this is how she wants it, this is how she can have it. He runs back home and lies on the floor of his room. He thinks that he’s not angry at Saber so much as he’s angry at himself because he’s unable to save her. He looks over at his bag, which has the stuffed lion that he bought for her sticking out of it. Shirou knows that even if he is wrong and Saber is right, even if she’s really important to him, he can’t apologize.
He then falls asleep and stays that way until Rin wakes him several hours later. From Rin, he finds out that Saber isn’t around, which sends him into a bit of a panic. Shirou searches the city, and finally finds Saber right where he left her: on the bridge. Saber says that she hasn’t gone anywhere because she can’t decide where to go; Shirou had told her that she could do what she wants, but Saber doesn’t know what she wants to do. This entire time she’s been thinking about where she should go. Shirou tells her that the place she can return to is his home. Saber protests because Shirou doesn’t understand her. He doesn’t deny that, but he still takes her hand and says that even a Servant would catch a cold in this chilly weather. He wants her to quickly go home with him and have something warm to eat. Shirou says upfront that he won’t apologize for earlier, but if she has any complaints, she should voice them after they go home. Saber willingly lets Shirou lead her home hand-in-hand, but before the two can get very far, a voice calls out to them. The Golden Servant from the previous battle appears behind them and tells Shirou not to take someone else’s thing without permission.

Preview:

Extra serving of Saber goodness this week. :)
Aside from that and the humor (courtesy of Rin and Ilya), there was some really heavy drama in this week’s episode. The story devotes itself mainly to Shirou and Saber, who grow closer on their date (kind of), but then have a major argument about what Saber wants to do vs. what Shirou wants her to do. Saber seems to be motivated currently by her duty and nothing else (or so she says), whereas Shirou is mostly motivated by his own ideals and his feelings for Saber. By the end, it doesn’t feel entirely like the issue is settled, but Saber does realize to an extent that Shirou cares about her, as shown by the way that he wants to get her home before she catches a cold and by the way he holds her hand.
The other thing I do want to mention are that this episode has yet another comparison of Shirou to Archer. I can’t help but wonder if they’re actually going somewhere with this or if they’re just going to make allusions like this until the end of the series.
But anyway, the most shocking moment of this episode lies in the preview for next week. I think this first shot just looks awesome in so many ways. It’s doubtful Shirou or Saber will die, but both do look like they aren’t faring so well in those shots. I really can’t wait to see next episode.

Summary:
Though Sakura is saved, there are still fierce fighting going on between Saber and Assassin and between Shirou and Kuzuki. Saber and Assassin are both running out of time (the latter because it’s almost morning time). Assassin unleashes his Tsubame Gaeshi attack, but it only manages to shave off some of Saber’s hair. Saber, however, injured him to the point where blood starts coming out of his mouth. He lets her go ahead since he knows that he’s lost and soon disappears in sparkles. Caster, meanwhile, has decided to make Rin the sacrifice. She’s briefly interrupted when Kuzuki knocks down Shirou’s body between her and Rin. Caster turns to finish off Shirou with her magic, but Saber jumps in and attacks her first. However, since Caster has stabbed Saber with the Rule Breaker, it’s impossible for Saber to defeat her. Since she thinks she’s won, Caster plays with several ideas, among them using both Shirou and Rin as sacrifices and having Saber become her servant.
Suddenly, a new voice speaks up and everyone notices that there is a sea of swords behind now floating above them. This new person, dressed in gold armor, compares Caster to a struggling clown and claims that Saber is his thing. And people who try to take the King’s treasure must disappear. He sends his swords flying down towards Caster and Kuzuki, but when she blocks them with her magic, he personally throws three swords through her barrier. As Caster uses herself to shield Kuzuki, she remembers Kuzuki telling her that he’d help her if she needed the help, even though he has no interest in the Holy Grail. Having been impaled many times, Caster is still more concerned about Kuzuki’s safety than her own. She’s feeling regretful now, but Kuzuki says that he’ll take her place and carry out her wish. Caster says that it’s no good because her dream just came true. For her sake, Kuzuki keeps himself from collapsing until after Caster disappears.
With Caster gone, the entire place has begun to disappear in sparkles. The mysterious man asks Saber if she remembers his decision. Since he sees that she still hasn’t determined, he decides to wait until they meet next time for her 10-year-due reply. Saber and Rin start running out, but Shirou first pauses and stares at Kuzuki’s still-alive body. Whatever thoughts are going through his head are quickly interrupted by Saber telling him to hurry up. With Sakura in his arms, Shirou makes his escape along with Rin and Saber. Once they return home and put Sakura to bed, Saber admits to Rin and Shirou that she knows the new Servant, who is of the Archer class. She had fought him in the previous Holy Grail War on the final day, but could not defeat him. Rin asks if she lost, but Saber doesn’t reply. Rin then surmises that this new Servant probably remained from the last war since only seven Servants can be summoned per Holy Grail War. This Servant must have gotten the Holy Grail and used its powers to keep himself around. Unfortunately, the three of them don’t know who his true identity is. Saber also confesses that this Servant proposed to her the last time they fought. Of course she had turned him down with her sword. Rin then decides to go attend to Sakura, and Shirou and Saber move their conversation outside.
Shirou asks Saber about what had been said earlier about a Servant being able to stay in this world if the Holy Grail is obtained. Saber says that she has no intention of doing that because she wants to return to her own world. She remembers more rumblings from her past when people had complained that she didn’t understand her people, and she wants to let the people choose a more appropriate king next time. Shirou tries to convince her that she shouldn’t try to change in the past, but rather start from now on. Saber wants him to stop saying those things. She asserts that the mysterious Servant couldn’t have obtained the Holy Grail in the last war because on that day, the Holy Grail was destroyed by of Saber’s betraying Master, Emiya Kiritsugu – Shirou’s father. They had the grail and only needed to defeat Archer and his Master to end the war. But Kiritsugu had thrown it away and as a result, the town was engulfed in flames. Kiritsugu had actually used his last command spell to force Saber to destroy the Holy Grail, since only Servants can touch it. Her memory ends there because when the Holy Grail disappears, the Servants can’t stay in the world. And she can’t to find out what had happened with that gold Servant since Kiritsugu isn’t around anymore to ask. Truthfully, Saber had cursed the existence of the command spells rather than curse the person who betrayed her. In any case, she’s not about to let anyone else get in her way for the next Holy Grail.
Afterwards, Shirou decides to go alone to the church where Kotomine Kirei is. Kotomine explains that Saber only needs to drink water from the Holy Grail in order for her to no longer be a Servant. She’ll obtain a second life in this present world for as long as her Master stays alive. Shirou realizes that the Holy Grail is still needed for this too. Before he leaves, he has another question for Kotomine: it’s about the 8th Servant.

Preview:

This episode reminds me a lot of Episode 16 because it follows the same end-of-arc-then-new-arc-exposition format. Here, we conclude the battle with Caster and Kuzuki and introduce a new enemy. The Golden Servant has quite the attitude with the way he talks and how he refers to Saber as his thing. Of course, the sea of swords scene made for a very impressive entrance and attack. And it made up for the fact that the animation quality was all over the place in the first few minutes of this episode (ranging from good to bad to stock footage, etc).
I ended up with mixed emotions about Caster. With her hood on, she was really evil, but with it off, she was quite the sympathetic character. Even Kuzuki got to show a little humanity with how he promised to carry on her wish and then stayed standing until she disappeared. I got a little worried when Shirou started to stare at him because I thought that Shirou would try to help him. And that somehow led to the thought of Kuzuki being added to Shirou’s harem… -_-;;
After having not shown up for many many episodes, Kotomine Kirei finally makes an appearance again. With the war nearing the end (and the series too), you just know that he’s going to play a part. Next week though, Shirou takes Saber out on a date. :)

Summary:
In a series of flashbacks, Caster remembers her past. She had collapsed and lay outside of Ryuudoji one night until Kuzuki took her in. After helping her recover, he had told her that it was ok for her to leave, but she elected to stay with him. The current Caster is nostalgic about that time, since it’s raining now much like it was then. At that time, Fuji-nee is watching over Ilya while Rin, Shirou, and Saber are approaching the temple. Rin is sure that Sakura is ok because Caster wouldn’t kill her sacrifice so easily. Saber is unsure why Caster targeted Sakura since she isn’t a mage, but Rin knows that it’s because Sakura has a magical circuit and is part of a family of mages. Rin then finds a secret passage to a different temple. While running through it, she smells blood and gets a vision of Sakura.
The three reach a small underground city, but are forced to fight hordes of summoned monsters. After burying most of them by destroying a nearby structure, they start climbing a long set of stairs to the temple area, but are then stopped by the appearance of Assassin. He only wants to fight Saber though, so he lets Rin and Shirou pass. The two of them reach the top of the stairs and find Sakura in the middle of a pit. As Rin starts running towards her, Shirou notices something to the side. He protects Rin, in the process bringing out Kanshou and Bakuya, from an attack from Kuzuki. While the two men start fighting, Rin approaches Sakura and calls for Caster to come out. The servant scares Rin by appearing right behind her. Caster seems to know all about Sakura and Rin after having taken a peek inside Sakura’s head.
Caster also thinks that Rin is misunderstood, and claims that she has no intention of fighting Rin. Rin can take Sakura away if she wants, but Caster doesn’t know if Sakura herself still wants to continue on living. She then proceeds to tell Sakura that the person she’s been waiting for has come. This triggers a memory and a painful reaction in Sakura. As a result, dark whip-like tentacles spring forth from beneath her and attack Rin. Shirou notices that Rin is in danger, but that distraction leaves him wide open to Kuzuki’s fists. After taking cover behind a pillar, Shirou asks Kuzuki why he became a master if he’s not a mage and has no interest in the Holy Grail. Kuzuki surmises that perhaps he’s the same as Shirou, since they both aren’t doing this for their own desires. Kuzuki then smashes through the pillar, but Shirou blocks his fist with both swords.
Below them, Rin’s attacks are having little effect on Sakura. She knows that the most important thing to mages is not their life, but rather it’s defending the dignity of the soul. And since Sakura is from a family of mages, she should be able to understand that. Rin decides to make use of her jewels in a final charge against Sakura. She remembers a scene from their youth where she confirmed that Sakura’s name was Matou Sakura. The current Sakura tries to attack her with a dagger, but Rin gets out of the way and lands her magic squarely on Sakura’s abdomen. She then remembers the two of them being separated, with the young Sakura in tears. Rin had also cried later when she was by herself, apologizing for leaving Sakura alone. Back in the present, everyone notices that the magic underneath Sakura’s feet has receded. Rin has Sakura in her arms, and there is a bloody dagger on the ground. The real Sakura manages to regain consciousness and Rin tells her something (we see mouth move, but no words). She asks Sakura to forget everything – the bad dream has ended – and then kisses her on the forehead. Sakura smiles and the two girls hug. Floating above the two, Caster laughs and says that the sacrifice only needs one mage with a magic circuit.

Preview:

Ahhh, so that was Sakura in the preview last week. They don’t explicitly state it, but it’s heavily hinted that Sakura and Rin are related (i.e. sisters) who were separated when they were young. I assume that one scene from the past was of Rin telling Sakura that her new name is Matou Sakura. The two then get separated as Sakura is taken to the Matou household and Rin laments letting her sister go. It seems that Caster was manipulating whatever repressed grudge Sakura had against her sister, which is why Sakura attacked Rin.
Well, it’s fitting that the Sakura episode had a lot of Sakura fanservice. Not only did she get a topless shot, Sakura also wears that dominatrix outfit and her seiyuu (Shitaya Noriko) got to do some rather orgasmic-style screams.
I hate to sound wishy-washy, but I think FSN is now going a slightly too fast in terms of how fast the plot is moving. The first ten or so episodes moved at a snail’s pace, but now we appear to be covering entire arcs in 2-3 episodes. For example, Sakura and Rin have had their connection hinted at several times before, but they pretty much show what it is and resolve whatever conflict through this one episode. And although bits and pieces of Caster’s past were shown in the flashback, they don’t make much sense unless you know the story of Medea. Having said all that though, I would much rather watch it go by a little on the fast side than a lot on the slow side, so I can’t really complain.
Next week, the introduction of a new (kinda) character!
Note: Large versions of screencap 13 and screencap 26 are courtesy of 2chan’s FSN thread.

Summary:
Shirou is having another dream about Saber. This time, he hears the unhappy murmurings of her men after she sacrificed a village to win a battle. Waking up from the dream, he starts wondering what she meant back when she told him about the duty she didn’t accomplish in her lifetime and that she wanted to start over. The girls have gathered in the dining room, where Sakura has cooked enough food for everyone, which now includes herself, Fuji-nee, Saber, Rin, Ilya, and Shirou. Sakura appears to be worried after hearing about another gas leak accident on the news. Relating to what they saw on TV, Rin, Shirou, and Saber discuss the Ryuudoji situation. Ilya joins them and explains that there are two Servants there: Assassin and Caster. Caster was the one who summoned Assassin, and killed her original master. Her current master is not a mage, but just a normal human. Ilya also says that Caster was originally Medea.
Issei drops by to see Shirou. When the topic of Kuzuki comes up, Issei says that their teacher has been living at Ryuudoji for 3 years. Rin overhears this and starts suspecting that Kuzuki is the master. In order to find out for sure, Rin, Saber, and Shirou ambush him that night on the street. However, Caster appears and blocks Rin’s magic – Kuzuki is indeed Caster’s master. He says that he doesn’t care that she’s taking people’s lives. Kuzuki admits that he’s not a mage and that he has no interest in the Holy Grail War – he’s just a horrific killer. Caster launches a magic attack at Shirou, but Saber deflects it. She attacks Kuzuki, but he’s able to avoid all of her swings and even catches her blade between his elbow and his knee. He has Caster enhance his fists and is easily able to defeat Saber and then Rin. After Kuzuki shatters the pole Shirou was using as a weapon, Shirou realizes that he needs something stronger and remembers Archer. He recreates Archer’s two swords (Kanshou and Bakuya) and starts fighting Kuzuki with them. However, Kuzuki is still far superior in technique and in strength. The impact of the blows wound Shirou’s arms to the point of bleeding.
Caster stops the fight and proposes that they work together. She explains that there is a way to summon the Holy Grail without killing each other. If they help her out, she’ll give them some of the Holy Grail’s benefits. Rin figures out that in order to do this, Caster needs a mage – a sacrifice. Of course Shirou and company aren’t going to work with Caster, so she takes Kuzuki and disappears after mentioning that she knows of an appropriate mage. Rin and Shirou think that it must be Ilya and they all rush home. Saber gets there first and finds Sakura on the floor. She helps Sakura up, but Sakura stabs Saber in the chest – it’s actually Caster controlling Sakura. She’s used her Noble Phantasm “Rule Breaker,” but with Sakura’s level of magical power, it can’t cancel out Saber’s contract. Instead, Saber just won’t be able to use her sword anymore. Shirou and Rin arrive to find Saber on the ground and Sakura floating outside. Caster says that she’ll be using Sakura as the sacrifice needed to summon the Holy Grail. If they want her back, they’re welcome to come to the temple. Sakura then flies off and disappears.

Preview:

So all of the Sakura hints they kept dropping really do mean that she’s getting involved in the story now. But Sakura herself doesn’t appear to be evil, it’s just Caster controlling her. I’m still personally hoping that Rider will make a return, but that seems unlikely (though not entirely impossible).
I was very surprised to see Shirou recreate Kanshou and Bakuya. Doing so seems to only further reinforces the links between him and Archer. With the way they’re going, maybe Shirou will learn to use Unlimited Blade Works before this is all over.
And I really didn’t expect Kuzuki himself to kick so much ass. With Caster’s magic buffing him up, I don’t see a way for Shirou, Rin, or Saber to stop Kuzuki. And they also have Assassin to worry about if they plan to attack the temple, which is what they appear to be doing in the preview. It appears to be more fusion of the three storylines.

Summary:
Saber tries to save Rin from being crushed by Berserker, but her sword swings have no effect. Berserker responds by smashing Saber into the ground. When Shirou tries to help, he also gets hit. Saber decides to try to use her Noble Phantasm, but, remembering what happened last time, Shirou uses one of his command spells to stop her. Archer’s words once again float into Shirou’s mind, and so he tries again to see the image of the sword in his mind. This time, he’s able to form it into a physical sword. His first swing severs Berserker’s left arm and frees Rin. But doing so also shattered the sword, so Shirou creates another one. Berserker goes on the offensive to keep Shirou from attacking again, and the two lock blades. The massive strength of the Servant sends Shirou tumbling backwards. Fortunately for him, Saber parries Berserker’s next swing. Master and Servant join hands and launch an attack that breaks Berserker’s club and stabs right through him – it succeeds in permanently killing Berserker. Before he disappears, Berserker asks Saber about the sword, so she reveals that it is Caliburn, the sword from the stone, the sword she had forever lost. Berserker knows that Shirou had only created an illusion of it, but it still killed him seven times. Ilya falls to her knees in disbelief at Berserker’s death, and Shirou has to stop Saber from going to execute Ilya.
While resting from the battle, Shirou has a dream about Saber sitting on a throne with a room of armored men staring at her. When he wakes up, she’s sitting at his bedside, watching over him. Saber is worried about his health, but their conversation gets interrupted by Ilya, who’s apparently snuggled in bed with Shirou. Both Saber and Rin don’t like the notion of Ilya staying with Shirou, but he doesn’t want to leave her alone since she’s just a child. Rin can’t forgive Ilya because of Archer, and she’s also worried that Ilya would join with another Servant. However, Ilya says that Berserker is the only Servant for her. Much to Saber’s and Shirou’s surprise, Rin decides to accept Ilya. During practice, Ilya comments on Saber holding back against Shirou, and Saber starts to blush because she’s trying not to hurt him by attacking him head on. Afterwards while they’re eating, Saber surprises Ilya by wiping off her face. Saber has decided that she can at least be civil with Ilya since Ilya is Shirou’s guest.
That night, Shirou accidentally walks in on Saber in the bath. She becomes embarrassed because she doesn’t think that her body is feminine like Rin’s – it’s too muscular and ugly to a man’s eyes. Shirou leaves and ends up talking with Rin about his imaging technique Rin mentions that the most important thing about Excalibur is not the sword, but the sheath. With that sheath, King Arthur was immortal. However, according to legend, Arthur died after the sheath was stolen. Later that night, Shirou is in the storeroom trying to create the sword again. Saber interrupts him, and so he takes the opportunity to ask her about the dream she had started talking about earlier that morning. Saber says that Servants don’t have dreams, and what she had seen was Shirou’s dream – his past. Master and Servant are mentally connected, and if the relationship strengthens, they are likely to start seeing each other’s pasts. She thinks that they are similar, and says that his ally of justice ideal is a mistake. His devotion is strange and she knows that he hadn’t put much consideration into his own life. Saber thinks that she must obtain the Holy Grail, but Shirou also needs it. She feels that it was inevitable that she was summoned by him.
Meanwhile Kuzuki Souichirou (a teacher at Shirou’s school), Caster, and Assassin are together. Caster says that with Berserker gone, they have nothing to fear. She talks about the storage of magic reaching a critical point and how they need to find a mage to act as a vessel – a sacrifice – so that they can summon the Holy Grail by force. Rin is the ideal choice in terms of ability, but she’s a bit too tomboyish. Instead, Caster has got her eyes on Sakura.

Preview:

Lots of Super High-Quality Animation of Saber Fanservice :)
They’re really playing up the SaberxShirou aspects, with Saber now acting embarrassed half the time she’s with Shirou. Oh and he’s also got Rin & Ilya, and his own powers are now a force to be reckoned with. Things are looking up for Shirou, who was spouting idealistic crap for the first several episodes of this series. Now he can at least back that up. I do have to say that the combo attack with Shirou and Saber joining hands came off as just slightly cheesy to me. But that’s probably just me…
The first half of this episode concludes the Berserker and Ilya arc, and the second half is transitioning us to a Caster and Kuzuki arc. I’m not sure what the direction of the series is taking as they appear to be dabbling in all of the scenarios with the renewed focus on Caster, Kuzuki, and Sakura. At this point, I’m willing to believe that they’re going to try for a unique plot that involves elements of all three scenarios. Who knows what will happen…

OP2

OP2: 「きらめく涙は星に」 (Kirameku Namida wa Hoshi ni) by タイナカサチ
Watch the OP! Mirror 1 Mirror 2
I’ve got lukewarm feelings toward the new OP, but the animation that accompanies it is pretty juicy. Archer vs. Shirou in particular o_O Honestly, I don’t think that the OP scenes necessarily reflect what’s going to happen in the show, but are instead maybe just scenes to make the fans happy.

Summary:
Because Saber is feeling so weak, Shirou carries her through the forest. They arrive at some ruins that Archer had scouted out in case they needed a place to hide. After Shirou lays Saber down, he asks Rin about Archer. Holding her arm, she says that he was conceited to the end. But she doesn’t want his death to be in vain, so they must defeat Berserker. And in order to do that, Saber has to make a recovery. Since there are no people in the forest for her consume souls from, Saber will have to replenish her power by having Shirou transplant his magic circuit to her. Shirou decides to do it, so Rin walks up and kisses him. When he pushes her away in surprise, Rin tells him that she was trying to give him a little preparation before the ceremony. Rin also gets Saber ready by untying her shirt and pushing her onto the bed. She says that all this is necessary to raise the success rate. Shirou then takes Rin’s place on top of Saber and Rin starts chanting. It causes Shirou’s spirit to leave his body and enter Saber’s. There, he finds an open area filled with lava that’s guarded by a dragon. The dragon rips off Shirou’s arm and eats him, but inside is Saber and her magic circuit.
Shirou wakes up the next morning with his arm around a blushing Saber. She’s been recharged and seems ok now. The plan is for Shirou and Saber to face off against Ilya and Berserker while Rin hides until she can launch a surprise attack. Rin and Saber start discussing what Shirou will be doing while Saber is holding off Berserker, so Shirou takes a tree branch and turns it into a bow. He asks Saber not to use her Noble Phantasm and she agrees. Ilya eventually finds them, and since Shirou can’t convince her to stop, Berserker and Saber face off after Ilya orders her servant to kill everyone. Saber is barely able to hold her ground, so Shirou tries to help her out by making himself an arrow and shooting it at Berserker’s head. It hits its target, but harmlessly bounces off Berserker’s skin. As Berserker starts to wail on Saber, Shirou realizes that he still can’t do much to help. He remembers Archer’s advice about mastering the one thing that he can do and how what he images is his strongest form. A vague image of a sword starts to appear in Shirou’s mind. At this point, Berserker shatters Saber’s armor. She still manages to push forward and knock Berserker back a little. Rin decides that now is the time to launch her attack. She uses her jewels to freeze Berserker and to blow up his head. In doing so, however, Berserker catches her in his spare arm. And he’s still alive despite the damage. Ilya explains that Berserker has twelve lives, one for each of Hercules’s twelve labors – this is his Noble Phantasm: God Hand. Rin has knocked off one of his lives, but Ilya explains that Berserker still has seven lives left. At Ilya’s command, Berserker starts to crush Rin; the situation looks hopeless.

Preview:

So the question that started my day was: How the heck are they going to handle the sex scene between Shirou and Saber? Well, this is how they did it. In order to transplant his magic circuit, Shirou has to go inside of her, confronting the dragon and everything. I guess you could make a pretty strong argument that it’s all a giant metaphor for sex. Still, there was some great fanservice, courtesy of Rin preparing Shirou and Saber for the ceremony (including her kissing Shirou and all of the RinXSaber shots).
Is there something wrong with the way Ilya is doing math? If Archer killed Berserker five times and Rin once, wouldn’t Berserker only have six lives left, not seven? Or do they count the first one as not one of the twelve he’s got stocked? Something seems fishy…
I’m glad that Shirou looks like he’s going to create one of Saber’s swords for himself. He’s proving himself to be pretty adept at making weapons. The whole bow thing seems like a vague reference to Archer though.
Anyway, I hate cliffhangers, so I’m eagerly awaiting the conclusion of this battle next week.

Summary:
Rin, Saber, and Archer enter Ilya’s home and retrieve Shirou. Still feeling weak, Saber falls down while the group is making their escape. When Shirou tries to help her up, Archer tells him to stop because he can’t do anything for Saber. The group tries to leave through main hallway leading out of the house, but Ilya appears behind them. Rin figures out that Ilya has never actually left the castle, meaning that the Ilya they’ve seen is only an imitation. Ilya brings out Berserker, and since Saber is still too weak to fight, Rin has Archer step up to delay Berserker so that the rest of them can get away. Archer asks Rin if it’s ok for him to defeat Berserker and she replies by telling him not to hold back. Before his fight begins, Archer gives some advice to Shirou. Shirou can do only one thing, but he should master that one thing. Shirou must not to forget to image himself as the strongest. Archer then throws one of his swords into the ceiling, bringing it down and forming a barrier between the fight and the three running away.
As the battle gets underway, Archer is unable to hurt Berserker, so he ends up on the defense. After getting knocked into a wall, Archer jumps back up and says, “I am the bone of my sword.” He summons a bow and arrow and fires it at Berserker, but it does little more than temporarily slow his enemy down. Archer then jumps through the hole in the ceiling and manages to trap Berserker on the roof. “Steel is my body, and fire is my blood. I have created over a thousand blades.” He summons four swirling blades that explode when they hit Berserker. “Unknown to death. Nor known to life…” The next attack uses two large wing-shaped blades in a downward slash. But after all that, Berserker is still standing. Archer then takes a hit that sends him into the wall. He briefly remembers Shirou’s face and walks back in, only to be hit again.
Archer’s body lands back inside the castle, but he’s still alive. When Ilya orders Berserker to hurry up and kill him, Archer responds by saying that Ilya is as merciless as ever and Ilya is surprised that he calls her by her first name. Archer knocks out the lights and reappears in a spot of moonlight. “Have withstood pain to create many weapons. Yet, those hands will never hold anything. So as I pray, unlimited blade works!” Ilya and Berserker are transported to a place with giant gears floating in the air and infinite swords in the ground. Archer and Berserker then make a final charge at each other. From outside, Rin suddenly stops running. The crescent symbol on her arm has disappeared. She wants to press onward, but Saber then collapses. Back in the castle, Archer disappears in a wave of sparkles. Ilya seems surprised that Archer was able to kill Berserker five times. At Ilya’s urging, heavily injured Berserker quickly regenerates his wounds. After those two leave to give chase to Rin and the others, we see that Archer’s red clothes also disappear, leaving behind only Rin’s pendant.

Special ED

ED: 「ヒカリ」 (Hikari) by 樹海 (Jukai)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1 and Mirror 2

Preview:

I thought this was a fabulous episode, with some terrific action sequences. I’m really sad to see Archer go because he was one of my favorite characters on the show. It’s a shame he didn’t get more screen time. The special ending just made it even more poignant. The music in general was used very well this episode, contributing quite a bit to each of the scenes.
They don’t explicitly say who Archer was, but there are a LOT of hints given, from his fixation on Shirou to the pendant he leaves behind that’s the same one that Rin used to revive Shirou back in episode two. My policy remains to not say anything that they don’t explicitly state in the anime, so I’m not going to say it here in case they decide for whatever reason to bring him back or something (who knows, it could happen, especially if they plan to diverge from the game storyline). If you really want to know, the comments below state Archer’s real identity several times.
And in case you’re wondering, Berserker supposedly has 12 lives, one for each of the labors of Hercules. Archer here took off five of them (I believe it was six in the game, dunno why they changed it).
Next week is the episode I’ve been wondering about for a while now. Supposedly Saber’s mana needs to get replenished before she can fight again. The way they do it in the game is, well, not something they’d be able to get past TV censors. I’m curious how they’ll handle it, especially since the preview shows Rin and Saber together in bed…

Summary:
Saber is having a dream of herself leading a legion of armor-clad men. Her physical condition has Shirou very worried. Rin tells him that Saber used all of her magic power on her Noble Phantasm and will disappear if she used it again. For Saber to recover, she either needs her Master to supply the magic or she has to replenish it herself, like Rider did by using the students at school. Shirou can’t do the former and he doesn’t want to use his command spells to force her to do the latter. Later that night, Shirou is watching over a sleeping Saber when he gets a vision of her approaching a sword in a stone. A nearby cloaked figure tells Saber that by drawing this sword, she will be become the king of Britain, Arturia. After Saber successfully pulls the sword, the scene changes to her in front of the legion of men. Shirou starts to realize who she really is, but then notices that her sword is different from the one he saw from the previous night. By the time he wakes up, it’s already morning. He finds Archer outside and Archer tells him not to forget that Saber knows about the risk of disappearing from using her Noble Phantasm, but would endanger herself to protect him.
Shirou goes to the park to think some more and happens to meet Ilya. She knows about Saber’s situation and about Saber’s fight with Rider since she was there with Berserker. She uses magic to knock Shirou out and takes him home with her. During this time, he has another dream about Saber’s sword, but then wakes up in Ilya’s room. Shirou thinks that Ilya is going to kill him, but she says that he’s special and wants him to become her Servant. Meanwhile, Saber has woken up and is looking for him. She seeks out Rin because she feels that something may be wrong, but Archer wants Rin to leave the matter alone. Seeing how concerned Saber is, Rin makes Archer help. Back at Ilya’s home, Shirou refuses her offer because he still has Saber. Ilya decides to go kill Saber. She reveals that she had Berserker kill Shinji last night after he had run away from Shirou. Unable to stop Ilya from going, Shirou decides to use his magic to free himself. But when his powers flare up, he starts coughing up blood. Of course, this doesn’t discourage him. During this time, Saber, Rin, and Archer are approaching the house from the woods.

Preview:

Last week they revealed the sword Excalibur and this episode they reveal who Saber really is – Arturia, aka. King Arthur. I was definitely surprised at this twist when I first learned since the legend of King Arthur is based around a male figure. They seem to make a big deal about how Saber seems to have multiple swords and the one she pulled out of the stone is not Excalibur. I wonder how that’ll play into the FSN story or if it just makes for good trivia.
Overall the episode is disappointing compared to the last couple of weeks because they returned to the heavy-dialogue format. I really like the battle episodes more, but I’m getting more used to these slower ones. Next week seems like another exciting one with a battle between Archer and Berserker. Rin and Archer are finally getting back into the action.

Summary:
Shirou gets a phone call telling him that Fuji-nee is up and well. On this day, Saber doesn’t want Shirou to go pursue Shinji because his body hasn’t recovered yet, but Shirou wants Shinji to take responsibility for what he did. Along with Rin, the three start talking about Rider’s Noble Phantasm and how it’s anti-army instead of anti-personnel. An anti-personnel Noble Phantasms (like Saber’s) can be used limitless times in one go, whereas an anti-army Noble Phantasm like Rider’s is a one-shot missile. Shirou realizes that they need to defeat Rider before she uses her Noble Phantasm. But Rin won’t be going with them to search for Shinji because she has her own things to do. Shirou and Saber go to the Matou home, but Saber is unable to detect anything. The two figure out that they shouldn’t be looking for Shinji, but rather a barrier.
While they are searching the city, Shirou starts showing signs of fatigue. Saber takes him to a park and sits him down. She spots a couple on a nearby bench – with the guy’s head in the girl’s lap – and so she offers her own lap to Shirou. He’s of course too embarrassed to take it and ends up sleeping on his arm. Shirou again dreams of that day 10 years ago when his father found him. He wakes up one hour later; Saber hadn’t woken him because he needed rest. Shirou tells her about the past with the great fire, his old house burning down, and his adoptive father finding him. Saber thinks that Shirou want to prevent there being more victims of the war because he was a victim himself. But Shirou knows that it’s because he was the only one who survived that day and he wants to repay the dead by preventing it from happening again. Saber says that Shirou should think more of himself.
The two eventually sense something and follow it to an isolated area. A projectile comes flying out of nowhere, but Saber is quick to defend Shirou from it. They see that the aggressor is Rider. Saber tells Shirou to stay put and launches herself up the side of the building, transforming into her battle armor in the process. Saber doesn’t fare so well fighting on the side of a building, but then Rider leaps towards the roof. Shirou isn’t about to do nothing and heads into the building. The elevator stops short of the roof, so Shirou runs the rest of the way up. In the shadows, Ilya and Berserker are watching. When Saber reaches the rooftop, she sees a bright light surrounded a winged-horse on top of which is Rider. She eventually comes to realize that Rider isn’t the spirit of a great hero, but is instead the spirit of something more malicious. Saber gets hit by one of Rider’s swoops down, but avoids the next one.
Shirou eventually gets up top, but then he hears Shinji’s taunting voice. Keeping himself hidden, Shinji orders Rider to first destroy Saber. Rider rides high in the sky on her Pegasus as Saber starts channeling the power of the wind. Like a meteor, Rider charges downward while yelling “Bellerophon.” The winds gather around Saber’s sword and then dissipate to reveal a long golden blade. While yelling “Excalibur,” she fires off a yellow blast towards Rider. Before Rider gets vaporized, her mask shatters, revealing her eyes. The resulting explosion is huge and leaves a yellow trail in the night sky, one that is seen by Rin. For whatever reason, Rin seems to be at the Matou house. Sakura is inside, looking out of her window. She says something, but we don’t hear what it is. Back on the rooftop, Shinji’s magic book – and thus his command spells – goes up in flames. But before Shirou can go after Shinji, Saber collapses. Shirou cradles the heavily breathing Saber in his arms and screams “Saber!!!”

Preview:

If it weren’t for the first quarter of this episode, this would have been absolutely awesome. Instead, it’s merely very awesome ;) So yea, I really enjoyed watching the two Noble Phantasms go up against each other. The great animation made for some great fighting that eventually led to Rider’s demise (probably). I loved the music this episode too.
I kinda hope Rider didn’t die because I rather liked her character. I’m as curious as everyone else to what Sakura was saying though. Initially I thought she was saying “Rider,” but her mouth was moving too long for that, so I dunno what it really was. On the other hand, we do get a major hint about who Saber’s real identity is by the name of her Noble Phantasm: Excalibur. I won’t explicitly say it until they do, but if you don’t already know, then I’m sure you can figure it out fairly easily.
Next week, the focus switches back to Ilya and Berserker. It looks like Ilya will be kidnapping Shirou. Either that or Shirou enjoys being tied up while Ilya sits on top of him lol.

Summary:
Right after Shirou finishes an intense training session with Saber, Rin drags him off to do more magic training. She wants him to continue trying to reinforce the lamps, and this time she’s brought dozens for him to work on. While he’s doing that, she visits the storehouse where Shirou used to practice. She comes to the realization that Shirou’s ability is not as she originally thought because it doesn’t follow the rule of equivalent exchange. Instead, Shirou seems to have been originally specialized in some incarnation of reinforcement magic. By this time, Shirou has managed to shatter almost all of the lamps in his attempts at magic. When the phone rings, he answers it and finds Shinji on the other end. Shinji convinces Shirou to come to school alone without telling Rin or Saber. But when Shirou gets there, a red barrier envelopes the building, giving Shirou another set of chest pains. He stumbles into a classroom where all of the students are also suffering. He’s reminded of what happened ten years ago, but then notices that the marking on his hand is glowing.
Shinji shows up in front of Shirou to taunt him. It seems that Shinji is still quite bitter about Shirou and Rin pairing up. He gets Shirou really pissed off when he tells of how Fuji-nee had crawled to him asking him to call an ambulance, but he had kicked her instead. Something inside Shirou starts to power up, but he asks Shinji to stop the barrier one last time. Of course Shinji won’t comply, so Shirou is left with no choice but to use force. Shinji tries to stop him with a magical book, but Shirou has learned a few things from Saber’s training and is able to press the attack. Fortunately for Shinji, Rider comes to his rescue. Shirou is still no match for the Servant who is able to stab him several times. However, her attempted killing blow into his collarbone never pierces through because he uses his magic. Instead, she simply kicks him out of the window. Time seems to freeze for Shirou as he once again remembers 10 years ago. However, this time he has Saber. He uses his magic to summon her and she appears to catch him.
After telling her what they need to do, the two re-enter the school. Saber faces off against Rider while Shirou goes after her master. Shinji starts running like a coward and in the process knocks over a bucket full of mops. Shirou breaks the handle on one of them and makes it into metal. He then uses it to smash through Shinji’s book’s next magical attack. The scared Shinji starts calling for Rider, but she continues to fight Saber. Having finally caught up, Shirou punches Shinji into the wall. Shirou once again tries to get Shinji to stop the barrier, this time threatening to kill him. With his neck cracking under the pressure of Shirou’s hands, Shinji yells for Rider to stop the Blood Fort. She scoffs, but complies with his order. Shirou doesn’t let go just yet because he also wants Shinji to give up his command spells. While Shinji is resisting, Rider finds the opportunity to speed past Saber and save her master. Saber warns that Rider is going to unleash the magical power of the barrier. Rider tells Shinji that although she’s inferior to Saber, her Noble Phantasm surpasses everyone else’s, and no one can stop her sprint. With that, Rider stabs herself in the neck, spurting blood everywhere. But that blood gathers in front of her to form a seal and that seal becomes a bright light that sprouts wings. It completely obliterates the hallway in a beam of destruction.
With his opponents gone and the battle over, Shirou passes out. He dreams of the pain he went through ten years ago and thinks about following in his father’s footsteps. When he wakes up, he finds Rin watching over him. She tells that everyone at school is ok even though a lot of them had to go to the hospital. Rin once again attributes Shirou’s healing to Saber, so Shirou seeks her out in the dojo. She starts lecturing him about going off alone, but this time Shirou is quick to apologize and he promises not to go fight alone again. He now realizes that he needs her strength to be able to beat the other Masters. Having said that, he still thinks that he should fight alongside her instead of letting her fight alone. She accepts his stubbornness and agrees to be his sword. Rin walks in on the two shaking hands. She has brought Saber’s clothes, though she wonders why Saber wears such a simple design. Saber replies that it’s because Shirou said it suits her.

Preview:

Well that was pretty awesome; two thumbs up for this episode. They finally got past all of the repetitive idealistic talk/heavy dialogue and actually showed the characters acting in accordance with their ideals. Not only that, Shirou proves himself to be quite a fighter (at least compared to the coward Shinji). It took hearing about Shinji abusing Fuji-nee to get him to snap, but once he did, he was pretty cool. I’m hoping that this is only a taste of what he is capable of doing. And at the end of it all, he admits to needing Saber but vows to fight alongside her. Shirou is becoming a lot more of a respectable character for me.
Rider’s Noble Phantasm (Blood Fort Andromeda) was also very impressive looking, though the start of it was a bit gory. I can see why she considers her Noble Phantasms to be unmatched. But I do have to say that the art for this episode isn’t quite as good as that from previous episodes. There were more long distance shots and a couple of them during the scene where Saber catches Shirou looked odd to me.
So I’m actually looking forward to the next episode for once. The preview shows Rider fighting Saber again, and I’m guessing that Saber will get a decisive victory.

Summary:
After doing some cleaning of the dojo, Shirou finds out that Rin is not a morning person. On this day, in order to train with Saber, Shirou decides to skip school. Training consists mainly of Shirou trying to land a hit on Saber with a shinai, but failing miserably. After two hours, they take a break. Remembering what Rin had said before about Servant’s having their own desires that they want fulfilled by the Holy Grail, Shirou asks Saber what hers is. She eventually tells him that it’s so that she can fulfill a responsibility, something that she couldn’t do when she was still alive. She wants to be able to redo her life.
Saber’s stomach growls, so Shirou goes out to buy some food. Outside the supermarket, much to his astonishment, Ilya comes up to him wanting to talk. She’s left Berserker behind this time. Because Ilya is clinging to him, Shirou tries to shake her off, but almost knocks her over. After seeing her sad eyes, he agrees to talk with her. The two go to the playground where Ilya tries to balance herself on a log, but ends up falling into Shirou’s lap. Shirou wonders if she’s cold and Ilya tells him that she dislikes the cold. Despite that though, she likes snow (which is the same color as her hair). Seeing her like this, Shirou finds it hard to believe that Ilya is Berserker’s master. Actually, even though Ilya is a Master, she never learned magic. She also reveals that she lives with her two maids in a western-style house in the woods, but she’s usually confined to her room. Shirou offers her the taiyaki that he had bought earlier, but their eating is interrupted by a distant yell from Berserker. Ilya hurries home, and Shirou is reminded that Saber is still waiting for him.
In the evening, Rin returns home and tells Shirou that she was approached by Shinji. He wanted to work together with her, but she rejected him and told him that she was already partnered with Shirou. Shinji didn’t take too well to hearing that. Later, Shirou steps into the bathroom and finds Saber standing there naked. He rushes back out, but she follows him and he suffers through her telling him not to worry about seeing her naked. Of course Shirou tries to keep himself turned around and runs away at the first chance he gets. It seems that in addition to the physical training he’s getting from Saber, Shirou is also getting magical training from Rin. She has him try to strengthen a lamp, but Shirou breaks it instead. Rin then makes him swallow a jewel that causes him to be very dizzy. She explains that it’ll force the switch inside of him to turn on the magical circuit. For now, she wants him to work towards learning duplication magic. Taking a rest after the training, Archer comes to have a chat with Shirou. Archer makes it clear that he doesn’t think Shirou has any chance of winning a fight because he won’t be able to beat a Servant. His advice for Shirou is to use his imagination to defeat enemies he can’t defeat in reality.

Preview:

I actually enjoyed this episode for the cuteness of Ilya and the fact that we get to see Shirou get smacked around by Saber. Ilya’s quite different compared to her previous appearance, and I definitely prefer this version to the evil one. Because her character has this cute side, I assume that she’s going to eventually turn out to be one of the good guys and join Shirou’s harem. That being said, I still don’t trust anything she says, unlike Shirou who’s already comparing her to be like his little sister.
Unfortunately, the plot is still moving at a snail’s pace. It’s basically the same complaint I’ve had through all the episodes so far: too much repetitive dialogue and not enough things happening to advance the story. From the preview, it looks like Shinji and Rider are going to fight Shirou and Saber next time. Hopefully it’ll be as least as good an episode as last week’s.
About ten seconds into the preview, is that Shinji kicking Fuji-nee?

Summary:
In front of the temple, Saber meets her opponent: Assassin. To her surprise, he introduces himself with his True Name – Sasaki Kojirou. Saber is ready to return the favor and tell him her name also, but he stops her because it’s sufficient that they know their enemies through their swords. The start of their fight is marked by the sound of metal against metal. At home, Shirou wakes up with another pain in his chest. With Saber not in her room, it’s becomes apparent where she went. While Saber and Assassin are locked in battle, Rider bypasses them and enters the temple grounds. However, she’s confronted by a horde of skeletal warriors.
Assassin is pleased with Sabers abilities, and manages to figure out the dimensions of her invisible sword by her attacks. He also thinks that Saber is holding back. He decides to use his Tsubame Gaeshi attack, which knocks Saber back with three consecutive hits. Inside the temple grounds, Rider tries to attack Caster, but her opponent makes effective use of her magic to block. During this time, Assassin is explaining the Swallow Reversal technique, and Saber figures out that it was because of a multiple dimension refraction phenomenon. The reason that she’s relatively unhurt is because the stairs gave him bad footing for the attack. When Assassin raises his sword to do it again, Saber decides to unleash her powers. Rider uses the resulting winds as a distraction to escape from Caster.
Shirou, who has arrived at the base of the stairs, notices that his tattoo is reacting to what must be Saber’s magical powers. He then sees a fleeting shadow from the forest. That same figure catches the Servant’s attention, interrupting Saber’s attack and dissipating the winds. After Assassin ends the match for now and vanishes, Saber falls over from exhaustion, right into Shirou’s arms. He carries her body home and puts her down inside the house to catch his breath. Rin finds him trying to pick her up again and teases him for trying to do something to her. But Rin also figures out what really happened. By the time Shirou has made the tea that Rin requests, Saber is back up on her feet. Shirou wants to know why she fought, so Saber responds by saying that it’s natural for Servants to fight. Of course, Shirou feels that girls shouldn’t be fighting and getting hurt. The two start arguing because Saber thinks that Shirou is looking down on her. Rin tries to calm Saber by telling her that Shirou is only trying to prevent her purity from being damaged. After some thinking, Saber decides to let Shirou fight, but she’s going to give him sword training first.

Preview:

If there’s on thing I can commend this episode on, it’s production quality. The fight scenes were done absolutely wonderfully in both animation and background music. This is the action episode that I’ve been waiting for all this time. Well…kind of. As Mentar noted, they really killed the momentum of the fights with the chatter between Saber and Assassin. As interesting as it is, I could do without the explanation of the Tsubame Gaeshi attack. In contrast, the Rider scenes were a lot better about keeping the action going, so I enjoyed those a lot more.
It’s good news to me that Shirou is actually going to get some training from Saber. It’ll be a lot more fun to watch Shirou fight his battles rather than be a punching bag. Maybe he’ll finally be able to back up some of those ideals of his. The preview doesn’t show any sword training, but it does make it look like we’re getting a semi-comedic episode next week (as evidenced by Shirou running away from a nude Saber). Ilya probably also hasn’t turned into a good girl overnight, so she’s probably planning to do something to Shirou