Fate/Stay Night

[Kefit]

Uh oh episode 14 (spoilers and such, so beware)

UNLIMITED ****ING BLADE WORKS

Holy ****.

That battle was EPIC. Archer is amazingly awesome in this episode, and it is a shame that we likely won't get to see him battle again. And yes, considering that we actually saw him fade away, and that there was a special ED to this episode, I think it is safe to say that he is dead and not coming back (unlike Rider, who could plausibly make a return at some point). Oh, and just to clarify, Ilya's words after the fight meant that Archer killed Berserker 5 times with his final attack (apparently Berserker has 12 lives, corresponding with the 12 tasks of Heracles).

Now Ilya is out for blood. How in the world are they going to get out of this? Certainly restoring Saber's mana will be important, but I can't see them getting that done fast enough for Saber to be up to full strength by the time Ilya and Berserker get to them.

Hmm. I wonder what sort of role Rin is going to play in the story now. Her involvement in the series has experienced a major decline (starting at about the point where Sakura disappeared completely), so I wouldn't be too horribly surprised if she too ended up fading into the background. I hope this isn't the case, as this show tends to get more interesting with the more girls that are present. I can't really see what she can accomplish without Archer in the grand scheme of things, but hopefully she will surprise me.

ps



God I hope she ends up doing something so that I can feel justified about this purchase >_>

pps Rumors are flying around that the producers of this show have stated that they will be going forth with original material starting at episode 16. This could make for an interesting change in pace and tone, since I understand that the series has followed the game very closely up to this point.

[Squeek]

=(

Way to remove the coolest character in the show Geneon.

At least it was a blaze of glory. And thanks for clarifying that "5 times" thing. Totally didn't get it.

Like I said, I miss everything in anime.

~Squeek

Edit: DANGIT DANGIT DANGIT ACCIDENTALLY READ SPOILERS ABOUT ARCHER ARGH I AM RETARDED I'VE RUINED THE ENTIRE SHOW

[Kefit]

I don't think there was any real way to understand that part without outside knowledge of the game. When I first heard it, I assumed that Ilya meant that Berserker had to kill Archer five times before he actually died. I got clarification on a random blog afterwards.

And yes, Archer was unbelievably badass in this episode. I had always wondered why people like him so much, and now I undertand.

Edit: DANGIT DANGIT DANGIT ACCIDENTALLY READ SPOILERS ABOUT ARCHER ARGH I AM RETARDED I'VE RUINED THE ENTIRE SHOW

Heh, I've somehow managed to avoid any spoilers related to him. I don't think we will be seeing more of his storyline at this point, but I will still be doing my best to avoid any spoilers until the end of the show just in case.

[Kefit]

lmao at the way they changed the mana replenishment scene.

Very minor game spoilers that won't be showing up in the anime:
In the game, a master can replenish a servant's mana by having sex with him or her. Seems the anime changed that to what we saw in this episode, and I can't really blame it - a random sex scene here would have been horribly out of place.

Gah. The way this episode dragged its feet annoyed the hell out of me. I was really hoping that this whole vs Ilya+Berserker arc would finish up this episode, but I guess not. It's not that I am not enjoying this arc, but there are lots of characters that this story still needs to give some real time to (when was the last time any of the characters as much as mentioned Lancer or Caster anyway?) and the episodes left to do this in are running out. Of course, picking up the pace wouldn't have allowed for this beautiful cliffhanger, now would it?

Oh well. The fight scenes are still beyond godly. Saber vs Berserker in this had me drooling. Rin was also pretty awesome in this episode, which was nice to see, since she hasn't really done anything since like episode 7 or 8.

Oh, and the new OP ROCKS, even if the animation sequence makes no real sense (Shirou vs Archer wtf).

ps oh my god the CG dragon was bad bad bad bad BAD. I hope that this show never EVER does that again.

[sleeplessdragn]

Beautiful isn't the word I would choose to describe the cliffhanger in this particular situation. White-knuckle clenching seems a bit more appropriate.

[jamuko]

Yay, so I finally caught up in watching this... to be rewarded with the pain of a big ol' cliffhanger.

There was one thing that had me confused though. After Rin "killed" Berserker once, Ilya said he still had 7 lives left. If Archer killed him 5 times... uhhh, 5 + 1 + 7 != 12.

o_o?

[ninshikou]

I too detest the CG dragon although it made me lol.

I'm glad I played through the whole game once to compare/contrast etc. So far I like what they did with UBW.

[Squeek]

I saw the misquote with the number of lives left as well.

The only thing I could think of is that Ilya is trying to make it seem harder than it is.

Whatever... I already ruined the show for myself so I don't really care to analyze it or anything =(

~Squeek

[jamuko]

=( Was the spoiler really that bad? To ruin the entire thing from now on? Ouch...

I doubt it was Ilya trying to make it seem harder; if she wanted to do that, she probably could have said he had all 11 lives left after that and Archer had just been massacred without killing any. They didn't witness his fight, so they wouldn't know if Ilya was lying or anything about it being 5 lives. They just know he stayed alive for a good amount of time. (Or for that matter, she didn't even have to explain the 12 lives thing. She could have told some lie about how he was impossible to kill because he would always regenerate... that would make it seem hopeless, if that was her goal.)

It was probably just an error on someone's part, and not a plot point. Seems kind of careless, though. >_>

[Kefit]

12 lives granted by 12 tasks of Heracles + original life = 13 lives total.

13 - 5 - 1 = 7

Either that, or the producers simply screwed up. Not a big deal if they did, really.

[Rebirth0]

I started watching this show one week ago, and I'm drooling. This easily filled up the sad gap of seeing Shakugan no Shana end. I simply can't wait for the game.

[Squeek]

HAhahaha I beat Kefit to posting about the latest episode.

Looks like you're in luck on the next episode for justifying that purchase.

Well, in any event, I knew this episode would be coming sooner or later. I guess they chose a good time to do it so they can have a rise, then fall, then climax at the end like all other anime does.

~Squeek

[Kefit]

Hmm, another slow episode. Art and animation were down, and the takedown of Berserker wasn't as impressive as I had hoped it would be. The entire second half of the episode was kind of boring too, although Ilya being officially added to the harem makes for some good fun.

End of the episode rocks my world, of course. I was like "oh my god could it be could it be GOD ****ING DAMMIT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT RIN ARGH oh wait YESYESYES REST OF SERIES NOW PLZ" :>

Hmm, aside from that I don't really have much to say about this episode, I guess - it simply cannot compare to the amazing quality of the last two.

Originally Posted by Gamepro17616

I started watching this show one week ago, and I'm drooling. This easily filled up the sad gap of seeing Shakugan no Shana end. I simply can't wait for the game.

You will be waiting for a while. Although a group has started work on translating the game, it is probably two to three years away from completion.

[Squeek]

It's all falling into place now.

At least I get how the relationship between Caster and Assassin works now. That was one of the spoilers that made no sense to me at first.

~Squeek

Edit: Removed words that could potentially make Kefit angry at me for saying.

[Kefit]

Thanks for being understanding of my wishes Squeek. That being said...

Sakura <3<3<3

Yeah so this episode won with me, although the fight against Kuzuki-sensei wasn't quite as fantastic as it could have been - the animation only reached the high standards set by this show at the very end of the fight, but that little bit was still awesome.

God dammit I don't want to wait a week for episode 18 :<

[jamuko]

WHILE WAITING~~

I found a game for Fate/stay night. *_* (No, not the hentai one XP )

It's a fighting game. Fan-made, but it's very well done. It's called FATAL/FAKE. You can see a little video of it in action here, but it allegedly doesn't show a lot of the cool flashy moves.

The official site of the game is here. They have a trial version up for download, but it is pretty limited. There is *cough* a full version up on the interwebs somewhere, *cough* in a torrent. You totally did not hear that from me though, and I most definitely did not download it myself either, so you certainly cannot PM me for the link if you ever had such a strange idea.

[Kefit]

I have no real idea of what happened during the second half of this episode. It seems that Sakura and Rin knew eachother in the past, but beyond that I am clueless (this isn't an invitation to fill me in, by the way - there is always the chance that the show will do that for me in a later episode).

That being said, Saber vs Assassin is the most amazing anime sword fight I have ever seen.

But dammit, if that is the extent of dark Sakura that this series presents, then I will be rather miffed =/

ps Sakura needs to spend the rest of the series in that leather outfit

[sleeplessdragn]

At what point did Saber stop using her invis sword? Did that happen prior to the Kuzuki street fight?

[Squeek]

I believe at this point she is using the sword made for her.

I noticed the same thing, so that's the assumption I came up with as I saw it.

Well, I'm glad the spoilers said nothing of the events of the story, but... I don't know if they're going to get to them all in the remaining 5 episodes.

AND WHERE THE CRAP IS LANCER HUH.

~Squeek

[Kefit]

I hear that Lancer will do something important. I have no idea what though. About the only thing I have to go off of is that he was spying on Saber vs Assassin way back in episode 9, and that really doesn't tell us anything.

I expect next week's episode to be all about GILGAMESH though - well, once Shirou and friends find a way to take down Caster + teacher.

Anyway, the only real question on my mind about this series now is if it can outdo Saber vs Assassin. I wouldn't be all that surprised if it never manages to do so.