Fate/stay night / First Impressions

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?

33 Comments

  8. Hmm…Archer talking to Shirou again….very interesting….let’s hope it won’t be long before we get to see Shirou’s actual ability. Btw, is fate one or two seasons long?

    dward
    Reply

  17. I suspect they’re humanizing Ilya so there can be some tragedy later on… although it’s nice to see that she CAN be cute, rather than just horribly callous.

    That reminds me – I don’t recall if Shirou lost more than his parents during the last Holy Grail War, so I wouldn’t know if he was effectively ‘adopting’ Ilya here to replace one he’d already lost or not. Anyone know?

    Haesslich
    Reply

  18. Whoa dude, Saber chuckled! HOLY CRAP! That was a real treat. I don’t even remember Saber chuckling in the game until Hollow/Ataraxia (it still wouldn’t be better than in anime because you can actually HEAR her chuckle!).

    This episode had so many entertaining scenes. A nice little breath take from all the dialogues…oh wait.

    Rasmiel
    Reply

  19. Hmm…funny that Archer said Shirou is no match for a servent when Archer is actually….oops…almost spoil the show. Anyway, it seems like Archer can be a little talkative in front of Shirou. I remember reading somewhere that Shirou sort of master his ability through Archer?

    dward
    Reply

  24. Dward, almost blow the cake with your statement

    I’d like the way Archer tries to keep Shirou in the path of justice, if you don’t believe me, then go and play the game. And then, in this episode, Archer said something interesting about defeating a Servant with his powers, maybe a little hint. Anyway, finally Shirou is going to engage in a fight.

    I want to see Saber vrs. Rider fight and their Noble Phantoms

    Syaoran Li
    Reply

  25. actually there is development this ep… it is about the power shirou will actually aquire in the end of the series as well as little bits and pieces that build up the berserker arc and the Rider arc… i am assuming they are gonna pull a shuffle on this… intertwining all the storylines and pulling off a major ending in the end… my guess sakura’s story will come a little later as well although now we are fixated on both Rin’s and Saber’s or rather UBW and Fate. Trust me with mention of how Shirou must sacrifice something to save something else it is the plot of HF and i guess this series will end with a Sakura ending.

    cyw1988
    Reply

  28. Show Spoiler ▼

    blazingshadow
    Reply

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