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「姫の元へ」 (Hime no Moto e)
“To The Princess’s Side”
I love it when a good plan comes together. For a while.
Free the Maids, Free the Princess, Stab the Villain, Save the Onii-chan
I probably should have realized it would all work out when Kuro whispered their plan, in a classic Unspoken Plan Guarantee (trope!), but I didn’t. Or I did, but only so far as they’d figure out some way to free Rin and Luvia, if only because last week’s preview spoiled that. Blasting the roof off the castle? Whipping out Rule Breaker? Sending Gil-kun to save Shirou? It’s honestly a testament to how far ahead Illya’s allies planned this thing, and how well it went. I don’t know, but it’s nice to see the protagonists’ plan work up to the point they planned it for once. Things so rarely go well for our heroes.
The Real Villain
Of course, I said “up to the point they planned it” on purpose. Once their cards were all dealt, they were in a good place—until it turns out that Darius isn’t who we thought it was. I was always expecting Issei or Shinji to be the real Darius, so in a way I’m disappointed . . . though in the rest of the ways, this is better. That would have been derivative, depending on nostalgia from Fate/stay night fans instead of standing on its own. This is better—and the reveal that Julian Ainsworth (Hanae Natsuki) is the very same Julian that Beako was perving out about? Hah! It makes sense why she was going along with the plan now. That maso is even happy when Julian is threatening to Aztec her to death. Whatta hentai.
What I most like is that the protagonists’ plan went well, so the villains up their game and fight back with even greater power. Rather than the soft hands they’ve been using against Illya and co up until now, Julian is not fucking around. I especially liked how the conservation of ninjutsu (trope!) didn’t seem to apply to all the muck heroic spirits, even though I expected it to. We’ll see if that remains true once a certain someone gets his chance at Julian, but for now, even the horde is posing a dangerous threat on an individual level. Awesome.
Trust Your Onii-chan
There’s some serious contrasting going on between Miyu/Shirou and Erica/Julian. The former are every bit the loving siblings, with the aniki willing to lay down his life for his imouto. Miyu’s trust in Shirou is deserved, I feel, and I’m pretty sure the next episode will prove that in spades (so excited!). Julian? Not so deserved. He interprets Miyu’s words in the worst possible way (though it might have been accurate), and then douses Erica in (I assume) the Greater Grail. That can’t end well.
If this is a battle between two pairs of siblings, I know which side I’d rather be on. I’m not entirely sure who will make it out alive.
EMIYA Arrives
Fate timeline/multiverse antics being how they are, there didn’t need to be a reason why the Archer card that came from the heroic spirit EMIYA appeared, when the Shirou of Illya’s world does not seem in the least bit likely to become that man. It could just appear because it appears, drawing from the EMIYA of any other timeline, including that of Unlimited Blade Works.
Instead, they gave us an Angelica who was worried about Kuro for what looks to be very good reason, and an Emiya Shirou that will definitely give rise to the hero EMIYA, if only he can kill Julian and survive. Next week we’ll see what Miyu’s onii-chan can do, and from what some of you commenters have been hinting at (please continue to not spoil, thanks!), I’m super hyped. I don’t think we’ve ever gotten to see a fully developed Shirou unleash his full power, save through the guise of Archer.
Now we will.
tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Team Illya’s plan works, but it isn’t enough to stop Darius—I mean Julian. Now it’s EMIYA-oniichan’s turn #prisma_illya s4e10
Random thoughts:
- Pro work justifying the infiltration. Not only do we learn new information (they both have access to the same Gate of Babylon, or at least Gil has access to all of it), but it makes sense. That’s a neat (and difficult) truck.
- I wonder if Julian was impersonating his father just so Beako wouldn’t spend the whole time stalking him? Hmm . . .
My SECOND novel, Freelance Heroics, is available now! (Now in print!) (Also available: Firesign #1 Wage Slave Rebellion.) Sign up for my email list for a FREE prequel short story. At stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: Radical transparency. I’ll try, Freelance Heroics in print, and other matters, Freelance Heroics is available NOW!, and I love sales jobs.
ED3 Sequence
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ED3: 「WHIMSICAL WAYWARD WISH」 by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND feat. Kouda Yumeha
Preview
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You gotta feel sorry for Erica. She has such a finite and corrupted understanding of the world for such a sweet girl. Kinda hoping she survives and gets some proper guidance.
I get the feeling that 3rei is going to off Erica. It’s going to be one of the first times Illya experiences being unable to save someone.
I thought that was what just happened? O.o
No, Erica’s unfortunately alive. I’m not about to say what is happening to her because it’ll spoil Fate/Heaven’s Feel. Let’s just say that Erica is going to wish she was dead.
It might actually be a bit different from Heaven’s Feel, as there are other factors at play in this.
The rest of the episodes till the end of this season are gonna be the ultimate in terms of action as far as the manga goes. With Emiya there, it’s gonna be so epic. This is the action we’ve been really looking forward to in Drei.
I didn’t think it was gonna be Hanae Natsuki voicing Julian, but I shouldn’t be too surprised. Julian is definitely in his alley, and that laugh showed it.
With the Julian revelation, the crazy and theatrical Darius act makes sense. He was simply throwing them off by way of his bravado, because knowing your enemy is half the battle, which is a rule of thumb in the Fate/ universe, but it didn’t hold up for long.
I’m telling you people, Erica is just a lost cause now. There’s no bringing her back from this. She either dies for the sake of her brother, or she takes his place as the head of the Ainsworths because her world views are just way too deep rooted in her for her to ever open her eyes and see the same light Illya and Miyu are seeing. She’s really that much warped, and I can’t help but to pity her. But such is the Fate/ universe even in this spin-off.
And speaking of Fate/, I don’t need to say the obvious: EMIYA IS HERE, and he’s gonna wreck havoc!!
Forgot to add. Now with how that monolithic cube ingulfed Erica, her nature must also be questioned as much as the nature of Tanaka, who now seems more and more like a tool someone created for the sole purpose of destroying the Ainsworths. My guess is that Erica is some kind of catalyst for using that monolithic cube, like how you use catalysts to summon heroic spirits in the original F/SN, while Tanaka is a weaponized doll of sorts programmed to take down the Ainsworths. Though is just speculation as even the manga didn’t get to their true nature yet.
She’s probably a genuine child of Darius since that’d give her some good magic circuits and mana capacity, plus magus families never seem to have a problem sacrificing family members. Then either Darius or Julian “taught her about life” while probably tweaking her to fit the purpose of feeding the cube, so who knows what was happening to her behind closed doors that she never complained about because she thought was normal. I’d bet on Julian since it sounds like Darius has been gone a while, and a sister having a warped nature, corrupted body and then being sacrificed “for the greater good” makes her “tragic” enough to fit into the idea of his “grand myth.”
In case you can’t tell from all the air-quotes, I find cowards obsessed with themselves like Julian to be as worthless as ticks. He wants to live forever as a Heroic Spirit? Maybe he should take a writing class, since it’s never a good idea to start with the ending, plus he fails miserably at the editing process.
Where did he say anything about becoming a heroic spirit?
@yoloalchemist:
I’d rather you not talk about what has been and what hasn’t revealed yet.
I actually expected a Tanaka reveal in the last episode. Thanks to your “non reveal” spoiler, I now know that won’t happen.
You guys might think I’m exaggerating, but I’m probablzy not the only one who thinks like that.
@boingman
….what? Yeah buddy, you are exaggerating. I did not spoil anything about Tanaka. I merely referred to how she melted that ice dome Darius made in the school with heat that inexplicably came from inside her body, how she miraculously survived a full throttle strike from Beako’s Thor’s Hammer without as much as a scratch, and how her sole purpose is to destroy the Ainsworths when she doesn’t even know anything about herself. This is mere speculation, and I trust you know speculation is not spoiling.
I was referring to your last sentence.
“I wonder if Julian was impersonating his father just so Beako wouldn’t spend the whole time stalking him? Hmm…”
Considering that she really got sexually aroused from Julian grabbing her heart (after having only a dakimakura of Julian for who knows how long), it’s possible.
Also, for those who play Fate/Grand Order: I wonder if this scene contains cameos from “corrupted” versions of Heroic Spirits from that game? A cameo from a corrupted Scáthach would be interesting to see…
Wow. I legitimately no long care who’s right or wrong: Shirou, kill that asshole!
YESSSSS!!!Finally we get to see EMIYA kick some ass now!
@Stilts I’m not entirely sure, about this one turning into EMIYA, same powers yes, but this one seems like it would be more similar to the “Heavens Feel”, Shirou. If anyone watched the preview, you’d see that he’s abandoned being a hero of justice, just to save Miyu, this also fits with what Kuro previously mentioned about a person who chose to be a man instead of a hero of justice.
On another note, while this one has developed(most likely due to the war), I doubt this is his full potential. The “Rho Aias” that he used only has five petals, meaning this Shirou is not able to use it as well as EMIYA.
He’s held in a cage, and Angelica is wary of the Archer card, no prizes for guessing which card he used…
Well Kuro was talking about their Kiritsugu since he gave “the greater good” the finger for Illya in their world, but nice call on Heaven’s Feel. Didn’t see that similarity, but it’s definitely there.
And now I miss Sakura again…
Yes, I know she was talking about Kiritsugu, but this Shirou made a similar choice, albeit more extreme. Well it is Shirou after all… He always takes things too far… Speaking of Sakura, her origin would be pretty useful right about now…
Ah my bad, I meant her sorcery trait. That said, someone please, step up and implement an edit button already…
Good point on Rho Aias, I forgot it has more petals at its full potential. Also a good point on Heaven’s Feel . . . honestly I think I thought of that partway through, but forgot by the time I was writing. He’s sacrificing himself for his imouto instead of his friend/girlfriend/whatever, but same difference. Shirou does indeed take things too far.
This is actually something that bothered me about his entrance in this adaptation. While not necessarily a spoiler (instead an artistic detail), I’ll hide it just in case.
Show Spoiler ▼
I see, but then again he’s been imprisoned for quite a while. It’s possible that this adaptation means to portray him at below his full strength.
Are you sure it’s not Erica?
Miyu’s words about Erica not being Miyu’s friend. Edited the sentence for clarity, since it didn’t make it clear that Erica is the second her.
Loved the stop flirting comment to Illya and Miyu up in the air. Boy the Yuri is strong when your enemy can tell your hugs are not just friendly from the ground. And then Beako talks about them mating like DragonFlys so I have to wonder how they do that with magical sticks? 😉
Miya should have given Kuro a quick deap kiss when she said no time for hugs just to keep the OT3 going. 😉
Beako and Julian true stalker level Siscon just to keep the “family love” of this story growing. 😉
We discussed the rather bothersome last second interruption when Beako stopped her attack swing when called back in second episode. I forgot at the time that this is a fast and dirty way of showing absolute obedience by an author when less last second interruption ways of showing this can take more time and leave the audience not as sure of the obedience. Plus now that we know of the Darius, and assumed son skill, of remote windows so Darius could have been watching Beako’s encounter and timing his interruption call so that Beako got maximum scare in while still leaving Illya undamaged which for some mad reason Darius has been reluctant to hurt Illya. This makes the last second save less luck than planing.
Luvia your tiny strips of cloth were giving perfect coverage no need to cover up, I do not know how they were giving coverage but they were. 😉
Poor Vulcan response Miyu, being in character when she said we are not friends so sad. The smart thing to say is, “yes I know you tried to be my friend so I appreciate it”, to keep the little enemy confused and save a favor in reserve. Plus being nice here is the right thing to do with a very damaged little girl as long as you spell out when you have time what level of friend she is and how to improve that. This talk would be on the lines of do you want to be a better friend and here are things you do not do for a real friend. Sort of a Mister Rodgers “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” approach.
Ouch getting sentimental with Fred Rodgers retirement in 2001 and death, reruns ending 2007 combined with internet this cultural landmark is fading away.
Forgot that Julian made clear the Ainsworth plan is evil when he said the darkness of their plan will spread to everywhere if Miyu will not cooperate. This reforges my earlier thoughts on never trust evil on necessary evils to save the world. One reason to not trust is will the way of saving humanity be a fate worse than death to humanity? And of course is this evil mana drain a result of your other plans, if so how about you stop your world control evil plan. The craziness as side effect of the power that the Ainsworth gained is very much shown. The craziness that will probably outweighs the power gains when it comes to the Ainsworth defeat.
Reminds me of the original version of Champions superhero role playing game (might be similar now have not played in 25 years) In that game your characters and villains would be built on a set number of points. To get more points you could give your hero or the Game master villains weaknesses for the extra points. Villains would get extra points from the Gamester to make up for being outnumbered and the type of villain they were. Gamesters were encouraged with their master villains to give them weaknesses that would allow the hero’s to win even though in points the villain would have considerably more than the hero’s had.
This all just makes me REALLY stoked for Heaven’s Feel movies <3
I like how much this reveal doesn’t really change much, it’s still effectively the same plan, but now he’s just more angry. I dunno if the plan is now “save the world…along with my father,” but man, I just didn’t care for something they spent so much time trying to reveal, because it just seems dramatic for the sake of being dramatic. It’s almost like the Matrix Reloaded Show Spoiler ▼
But here, I’m just “Okay, that happened.”
Also, I really hate empty threats that villains throw out. Julian says “If you mess with my conclusion, I’ll end you.” But not rescuing Miyu before that and preventing Miyu from joining him again later on in this episode, he’s still…kind of laying back from wanting to do that “end you” thing. I’m also amused how the reveal seemed to be so impactful, Angelica and Beatrice basically disappear for the second half of the episode aside from one scene. I thought they’d be of some importance but I guess not, they’ll just wait around. I’ll give the fact that the talk between Julian and Erica was a bit haunting, and had some nice moments.
But at this point, things are really rolling nicely for the protagonists, to the point that there’s…really been no suspense and no doubt going to persevere and makes it rather dull. Major saving grace is how much I still like the protagonists.
Sorry to say this, but you’re likely the only one thinking there is no suspense. You know the odds are stacked against them when Kuro struggles this much against only one of those fallen heroic spirits. Of course they’re gonna persevere because that’s what they do, that’s where the suspense comes from. Kuroko, Kagami and Seirin persevered against the overwhelming might of Aomine and Touou in their second match until Kuroko and Kagami came up with something new to use against them in the heat of the moment that both made sense and had its limitations, making it more believable. Would you know they’re gonna triumph by the end of it? Of course you would. But it’s the how that will be the essence of it. And at least Prisma Illya is way more logical and therefore better for it than other fantasy action anime out there (I’m looking at you, Fairy Tail). Everything is foreshadowed well, nearly everything is technical, and whatever isn’t can simply be chalked up to Prisma Illya being a magical girl series, which is basically part of its unique DNA.
It’s a matter of presentation. I just haven’t seen the antagonists present themselves as being capable of being a threat. They let Tanaka live because of a word, Illya live because of a phone call, Angelica slashes the Illya doll and just lets Illya get her stuff back, none of those really seem technical, maybe it’s magical in the sense that the antagonists mind is somewhere else. Maybe in the manga, it’s different, but I’m just saying everything I’ve seen in the show so far, the antagonists are not written very well.
And that Kuroko example is one thing, they had to make a plan to overcome odds. The only real plan Illya made was this rescue they did early on this episode. But almost everything else? It’s all convenience! They didn’t have to fight their way out of most of it, luck was just on their side. But at least with the Illya doll, she had to do something.
I’m perfectly fine if I’m the only one who thinks this, that’s the power of opinion. I saw the cards dealt to me, and I’m saying what I think about them. I’m not forcing my opinion, I’m just strongly exerting why I think some stuff isn’t very good and why this season doesn’t feel very strong. If you don’t think so, that’s alright, I’m just stating my particular stance about some issues I take umbrage with, it’s up to others to concur or disagree.
Actually I do agree the antagonists aren’t very well written. So far nothing they’ve featured of themselves would make me sympathize with them and want to root for them in any way, and are so far looking like they were designed just to make the protagonists look better. But at the very least if they are this crazy, it must mean they’re quite powerful and we just didn’t see it yet, so they should provide a great challenge for our party. I mean, look at Gyokuen from Magi.
On the other hand, “They didn’t have to fight their way out of most of it, luck was just on their side”….I have no idea what you’re talking about with this. First of all, they’re still quite in the middle of it, and Julian isn’t gonna let them go that easy, unless there is some deadlier plan up his sleeve which is a different matter altogether. They were clearly aiming to free both Rin and Luvia from their mind control and to have Gil free Shirou from his imprisonment so the Ainsworths no longer have any leverage against them. And it’s only logical that Shirou comes to help them because he can. I wouldn’t call that luck. The only downside to all this that I can see is that even though they came up with a rescue plan, it looks like they didn’t make an escape plan as they were just aiming to rescue Miyu for now.
And lastly, I fully respect your opinion.
On the aspect of luck, I was mostly intending the stuff in the last paragraph, the phone call business and the like, I formatted that strangely, my bad. But at the very least, it seems like the protagonists are getting more organized with having things planned out, so I give kudos for that. Maybe the antagonists can still turn things around…it’s a big maybe, but one nonetheless.
And I do apologize if I have sounded harsh at all in any of that, I just get really invested in words if I have strong feelings about a topic.
Last* as in the previous paragraph…when I really could have just said the first paragraph. Boy, I bumbled that one. >.>
“And I do apologize if I have sounded harsh at all in any of that, I just get really invested in words if I have strong feelings about a topic.”
No need to apologize my friend. Opinion exchanges like this excite me 😉
Haha, that’s good to hear. I just want to ensure what I say is not pure rage, moreso passion. 😛
I’d also like to add, I totally love my share of nonsense media. The Crank movies, for example, are completely cheesy films, but I really find them a joyride, the characters are having fun, it has a premise it takes advantage of, and really goes out with some scenarios. I’ll never claim they’re written like a Coen Brothers movie or anything of that caliber, it’s its own thing and something I enjoy. It certainly has stuff to not qualify it as a “good” film, and not everyone will like it and I’m okay with that, too.
So to tell me “Prisma Illya is way more logical” when in earlier seasons, it was a little bit, but almost everything this season, I see little to no proof of, I’m having a hard time believing. If you like it, go for it, if you think it’s a goofy show or whatever, I’m all for it, but don’t tell me that when I’ve seen and stated examples of it not being the case. That’s just something I find as overly clinging onto something.
But it IS logical as far as magical girl anime go, and within the confines of the Fate/ universe on top of that, that’s the beauty of it. I just don’t see how you can say it was only a little bit. I followed Prisma Illya from the beginning and yes, it has its fare share of BS moments that even Stilts kinda struggled to categorize as magical girl kind of BS. But these kind of moments are far in-between. I mean, if you like Crank, then Prisma Illya should make sense for you. Now I’m not trying to tell you to love it if you it’s not your cup of tea, but to say it doesn’t have more than a little bit of logic is just not right. And yes, this season of it did have more convenience than ever, I’ll agree with that, but I think the end of it makes up for that.
I really do love the Fate, and especially the Illya universe, I had a blast with the first season, and most of 2Wei was kind of all over the place, but I could still get behind it. The trouble I find with 3Rei is they’re trying to go for this serious tone, but in the midst of non-engaging antagonists and taking it overly seriously, I just can’t find it working and can’t get into it, they don’t have fun with a lot of ideas, and the story just feels rather basic.
If it was on its own, I’d just think it’s borderline run-of-the-mill. In comparison with the prior series, it just feels lacking. Nothing wrong with the universe in this run, just what they do with it is what I find bizarre.
Then I think you’ll like it more after this battle ends, even though we’ll probably have to wait a lot more for it. Not gonna give any hints though 😉
Your basic stance seams to be that if there is no chance of a story ending bad guy win you cannot find a story interesting. Last episode you basically called for a villain story ending win that episode.
You are not getting the crazy more powerful than the villain type of story line. It is clear that if not crazy the villains would have crushed the hero’s by episode two. That is ok, your loss, but I still can not make myself like tomato’s and I’m sure that is a loss for me.
I dislike the commentary using the term well written, first because the term is being used too broadly. Second if something is well written or not is actually a technical evaluation with the standards determined by Professors of Language and Literature and well recognized and well paid critics and authors. I am no where close to this skill level to even have a point so I avoid using terms involving writing. I do know what actual writing criticism looks like, things like sentence structure going into way more complex terms including the elements of a plot. Third I love works like the Lord of the Rings which gets attacked for poor writing by many of those who actually have the standing to make such a claim and do so in great depth in the language of literary critics. I can not stand some of the things that are considered well written so I tend to avoid using writing as a word when describing what I dislike or like in a story.
Here a clear meaning of “Antagonists aren’t well written” would be Antagonists are shallow, as it is difficult to make a Antagonist deep and yet keep an element of surprise. Especially here as the true nature of the Antagonists is contained in the mystery of what is going on. A one or two demential villain does not make a story bad if the story needs them to be that way to work. Sauron in the Lord of the Rings is a one dimensional villain and works good for his place in the story. I like complex layered villains, loved Trwin Lanister in Game of Thrones as a magnificent bastard and his great talks with Arya. But Trwin’s skill set and true nature still allowed him to surprise because they did not tell you what plans he was writing down and mailing off. But with a political and military plots of a normal human being that persons true nature is not needed as part of the plot. Here in fantasy the true nature of characters can be part of the magical plot and thus depth often must be avoided at least till the reveal. I guess this is one reason many literary critics dislike fantasy is that often characters have to be shallow to hide plot points.
Any top list of best written stories of all time has many that I can not stomach, that does not make them poorly written.
Hmmm, I can agree with that. If that is the purpose of Prisma’s author for the villains here, then it would be like another case of hiding the best cards for later. Hopefully that’s the case.
Shallow does seem like a better term to describe them, I will grant that. I’d also add Anton from No Country For Old Men as an interesting antagonist. I don’t know if many could call him deep, he was just a guy who wanted money back from a deal gone wrong, but he had a way of working mentally that made him imposing. He carried around that air compressor for multi-purposeful use, set off car explosions to create a distraction to get first aid, and rarely, if ever, let people go after conversing with them to ensure no clues are left behind. He had a method of working that made sense, he fully knew what he wanted and how to go about it, it was an interesting character in a pretty good movie. And the one instance he catches Llewelyn at the hotel, he had to fight for his life to make any kind of getaway and it was tense.
But here, it just takes phone calls to prevent death of a major character, no fighting or anything. It’s a shallow moment with no good payoff or good solution. But most of those issues were stuff in the earlier half, and it seems to be getting better as of now.
@Fuwa: since it seems to bother you so much, I’ll just mention that the anime toned down the fights a bit, especially that first one. Tanaka got wrecked before Beatrice got the call. Not sure why they changed it.
And really, Julian is the main problem. Unintentional or not, his obsession with his own “grand myth” is pretty much the source of every issue you have. He’s the top of the food-chain, but to his this is all paint-by-numbers, or a board game, along those lines. Have to go to 1 to get to 2, then go to 3, etc, and if anyone messes that up or tries to skip ahead he throws a fit until it gets fixed and everything’s back on track, even if that means the good guys get away so that the fight can happen again “properly”. I don’t mind because I find the contrast of absurd power with the maturity of a two-year-old to be amusing, but I can see how it could be stifling.
Basically while Miyu and Shirou were captives he was the director of everything and no-one could do anything about it. If his girls got too heated and killed someone they weren’t supposed to they’d catch hell, hence all the near-misses. It wasn’t the right time yet, etc, so the good guys get away. “This is my myth about how I saved humanity, I don’t need your damn ad-libbing!” I guess? Like I said, immature, but personally I think the writers sold it well enough, and kinda told us what was what when he went to the school. Now that he has no hostages and all the guns are out, though, I’m guessing he’ll have less room to be so arrogant about what he thought was a sure thing.
Alright, I’m glad to know the manga made something more out of that fight. But yeah, I find it amusing Julian really wants to succeed, but not now, he has to do it later. I think it’d be a good opportunity to show Beatrice or Angelica having their own intention of wanting to fulfill the plan, because “saving the world” seems like it should be a big priority, but they just seem nothing more than yes mans, which really limits their roles.
And some people criticized it, but Kylo Ren in Force Awakens, I kind of liked as a character. He was childish and went on a spree of cutting down major circuits when he probably shouldn’t, but it was funny, especially that one scene of the stormtroopers seeing the destruction then walking away, they had fun with it. But he’s also learning and eventually rising up to be a threatening Sith force.
But Julian, since the start, hasn’t expressed much concern, and they don’t poke fun at it when I think it’s silly how much he has to abide by his play idea. They treat it seriously, when it really shouldn’t be. Sure, that goes more along his “paint by numbers” mentality. But at the same time, say you have a splinter in your thumb. You could say that you’ll prove you’re better than it by leaving it there, clean it out with disinfectant and ignore it for now. But there’s not much stopping you from taking it out now. And on the important scheme of “Save the world,” his interest still feels kind of lacking.
But I guess Julian is that kind of character, and I have to accept it, which I could go along with in a Kylo Ren scenario, fun but a bit serious. But the way they handle him now, all serious, it’s so underwhelming. Still, I will say he is kind of amusing, but in a way that I like to imagine him pouting because he succeeded too early. “Oh, I saved this world, that’s cool, I guess.” Maybe it’s an empty victory for him, but with the world at stake, that should be the least of his concerns.
@Fuwa: I actually have a theory on that. See, I don’t think saving humanity is his big goal. It’s one of his goals, sure, but I think the big thing for him is becoming a Heroic Spirit. That makes more sense with how obsessed he is with doing everything “right” and his “myth.” Saving humanity is just kinda the only opportunity that he has with the world as it is, plus if there aren’t any people, there’s no one to appreciate all the work he did, right?
To him, I think his victory and saving of the human race is a forgone conclusion, so he’s just obsessed with the “how” and making it grand enough so that when he dies the Holy Grail comes over and says “buddy, got a special seat for you, right here.” I don’t know why he’s so obsessed, but that’s my working theory right now. It’s better than him just being arrogant, and the way he keeps using the word “myth” is way too deliberate. He probably isn’t telling people because “saving humanity” just sounds better and no one would question any reward for something as huge as that.
@Aex: Oh man, if that ends up being the big(ger?) reveal, then I’m totally all for it. It’d make up for the prior stuff of “No, that doesn’t work with my plan even though it’d be efficient now, plz don’t kill her” and be build up for something along the lines of something he would do. I’d still harp on it a little, because the execution would still be wonky with how the previous episodes handled the situations, but I’d certainly give it a thumbs-up for trying to be grandiose.
The greater grail was built by humans, which the cube is described as not being something human in origin. It does, however, resemble a corrupted Moon Cell, which was built by aliens.
Beako having dakimakura with Julian was brilliant foreshadowing…
I went wild with “Trace ON!”