Fate/Zero 09-10

Cute tsunderes are the best~

Hey there, readers. Sorry for this late review but flu got me on weekend and I was all dozy and sniffly. One should never get sick on the weekend, no fun ruining off time rather than taking leave on a weekday, which I’ve now taken, kukukuuu. Anyways, it might seem a bit strange going back to the seriousness of Fate/Zero when I’ve just rewatched some Carnival Phantasm but let’s dive into this and not make it long. Fat chance but still.

Diarmuid, of the shining face~ (*°∀°)=3

For episode nine, when things start with someone lying dead, your heart flips towards the worst situation. In this case, we have some walk down memory lane of Lancer (Darmuid), shared by Kayneth. Though, he didn’t get much detail before awakening in front of Sola, who had her hidden dagger ready to get his command seal. From her introduction, every viewer has caught on to her yandere demeanor (this season sure have plenty). She breaks Kayneth’s pinky like a twig and literally swindles out his remaining command seals, posing as his true lover and doing all of it for him. After all, healing him needs nothing short of a miracle and Grail is conveniently one.

YANDERE ALERT!

Oh crap, don’t listen to her bullshit, Lancer!

It’s sad how we didn’t get the details of how Sola got the command seal but maybe she just cut off Kayneth’s hand? Whatever transpired, she not only supplies mana to Lancer but is technically his ‘sole’ master now. The blondie has turned into a vegetable and this woman took full advantage of the situation. Of course, Lancer didn’t just give in because of his Knight’s honour and knows about the repercussions of his cursed beauty spot. Girls have swooned at his feet and against all odds, even a princess (Gráinne), did the same forfeiting her husband to be, the King of land. Her pleads and Sola’s are no different and the déjà vu he feels must be nothing short of horrific, but he accepts Sola’s excuse for now. Oh valiant hero, how mistaken you are from this women’s tenaciousness.

A true team, works together!

On the other hand, distance between Kiritsugu and Saber has grown wider with their different values, while the bond between Waver and Rider is strengthened as they work together. Rider refuses to budge from his physical form and even goes out to buy jeans (awesome pants for him). The water he brings in different vials from all over Fuyuki is analyzed by Waver to pinpoint the hideout of Caster and Ryuunosuke. They quickly follow the trail and find a few Assassins checking out the place to my glee. Some more people definitely need to know what Kirei has been up to and Rider even kills one of them, though the other two run away sensing danger. Assassins are really not good in frontal combat; they are better at creeping up on people; as Gilgamesh would say, little worms crawling on earth.

DAWWW, WAVERRRRRRRRRRRR!

Brosakander like a true bro gives proper burial to the many victims of the insane Caster/Ryuunosuke pair using his Gordius Wheel to burn the whole place down. My heart went out to Waver, who showed true emotions against all the blood that was spilled. However moe or tsun he is, out of all masters he has the least destructive reason to join the war. For which he’s looked down upon by Tokiomi, branded as a third-rate magus. Though, I hope he quickly eats his words because our Iskander is no ordinary servant. Also, I have a feeling that Kirei is pretty bored of these mundane monitoring commands from his sensei. Anyone wants to bet on his rebellion?

The tenth episode, as the titles suggest is ALL about Rin, well mostly. Ufotable is sure dishing out the moe of Type-Moon, delighting the fanboys who were almost salivating over the NND channel. Highly amusing, I tell you. Not a lot of development happened but it’s still one of those in-between development episodes for getting to know the characters and their motivation. After all, this war is rife with individual aims for which the masters are putting their own lives on the line.

Like Kiritsugu and Ilyasviel previously, Rin and Tokiomi share a father-daughter moment. He teaches her how to concentrate her mana on crystals to change their shape. Some very basic stuff but she’s still learning the ropes and is far from the Rin you get to know in Fate/stay night. Lessons aside, you see her very pissed for getting kicked out of the house just because of the Holy Grail War. But like a good daughter, she doesn’t say anything because she understands her father’s aim of reaching Heaven’s Feel and reverently idolizes him; whatever his choices are.

Rin sure makes MANY cute faces

The timeline goes a bit back and forth with her being all protective of a girl named Kotone, who she saves from some bullying kids. Seriously, these days anime are full of dumbass kids (Chihayafuru, Guilty Crown to name a few), who are too full of themselves being opinionated and doing whatever they want without using their brains. Rin of course won’t have it and being the bright person she is, is actually the center of attraction being a good student and helping others out in studying rut. I can bet, like any other normal insecure kid, Kotone didn’t know why she was being too nice to her but that’s how Rin is. When Kotone doesn’t come to school and rumours flying of the infamous kidnapper (Ryuunosuke), Rin takes it on herself to rescue Kotone. We also see funeral picture of the poor sap, who hugged Saber and was turned into a tentacle monster by Caster; oh dear, my heart.

CREEEEEEEEPEEH!

Going out in the dead of the night when a dangerous kidnapper’s openly on prowl is totally dumb. She’s too young and doesn’t possess strong tools to fight, except for a mana detecting compass gifted by her father. But this is RIN we are talking about, the adorably cute little tsundere who will do whatever to protect a friend. So, she goes out and even manages to find Ryuunosuke’s base as he leads some other kids there. He has more than a room full of kids, who were charmed by his glowing bangle; a present from the scheming Bluebeard? You betcha. Against all odds, she destroys that bangle concentrating her mana and the sweet fate/stay night BGM that plays, made my fangirl-heart soar. THESE ARE THE THINGS WHY UFOTABLE IS SOOO GOOOOD IN ADAPTATIONS! Other studios, watch and learn, damn it!

Ahem, just when you dread the worst, of Caster getting to Rin and one of his tentacly monster does show up but she’s quickly protected by the hooded knight, Kariya Matou an army of mutated locusts (reminded me of Aburame but I’m sure these are not Crest Worms but manipulated insects). The episode ends at a heart-wrenching standpoint with Kariya declaring his true intentions of saving Sakura from Zouken so that she can be reunited with her mother. Aoi finally realizes that everything will be torn apart by the conflict that Kariya represents and cries for her childhood friend, who she never asked help of. This persona has drastically changed from the gentle man she knew and she rightly predicts Kariya’s action leading to his death. However, to him it’s all for a noble cause to save Sakura and returning her the semblance of family. Oh, Kariya, you are the biggest optimist I’ve ever come across.

Extra Zeroes

RIN fanservice! The best tsundere service out there.

Assassins: “Shit, another one of us died! :<“

DAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWW~

Broskander’s charm is so disarming that everyone like him instantly

The many faces of Waverrrrrrrrrrrr~

In another news, Kirei has been brooding consistently about one Goldy~

You will do good, Rin! <3

End Thoughts:

Every week, this gets better and better. If the fanboys and fangirls are going over the top, there has to be a reason and for Fate/Zero there are many. The original material’s depth and detail is what gives meat to an adaptation and ufotable has done an almost perfect job of it, even when it comes to deriving some original material out of canon like the Rin episode. You also have to give it to Type-Moon and Kiniko Nasu for being detailed with FSN-verse and of course Urobuchi Gen to breathe life to a backstory that Nasu didn’t have the heart to complete himself. It was actually during the development of Fate/hollow ataraxia (sequel to FSN), that Gen took up the Fate/Zero to salvage his writing passion and he did get it back. If you can’t wait like me, you can always give the light novels a spin as they are brilliantly written.

Oh also, you know what I hate? People who don’t know jack about the franchise and branding the characters lifeless or grey. Of course, I know these are fictional characters but the people behind this franchise have actually thought everything about them from the way they were born to the way they live or die. Everything has a concrete reason so if you are unable to determine it for yourself, just because your thinking is limited, at least don’t blame it on the franchise because it’s rich with not only many multi-faceted characters but an actual plot that is so diverse that multiple offshoots are possible. /rantover

I’m playing the FSN visual novel these days and whenever Kiritsugu’s voice comes around during Shirou’s meanderings and training, I always get a chill down my spine as the VA is the same (Rikiya Koyama) and does a brilliant job of sounding smexily mysterious. He does play a perfectly ruthless master, not even hearing a suggestion from his servant, treating Saber as a tool and same goes for Maiya. Though, he’s gone rusty and the relapse to his old deadly-ways is putting him through a lot of grief. If you think back to his outburst in front of Iri to run away from all of this, you can still glimpse the humane side of him. He’s a tortured soul but he believes that to save more lives, he has to sacrifice the same number of lives and has hardened his heart to being a distant, emotionless person moving in shadows. He’s not a valiant hero, who would enter the battlefield with a cry, rather would stab the enemy from behind if it was shown it to him. But all of this is for a reason and his ideal to save the world. Yep, twisted this one.

Now, Broskander is DA MAN! He sure lights up the screen whenever he’s on and I can’t help but empathize with Waver, who’s not a cutthroat magus like his counterparts participating in this war. He’s entered this war out of a piffany and has never thought seriously about spilling blood. Coming face to face with Ryuu and Caster’s masterpiece has awakened that feeling but hopefully he’ll cope. At least, being Rider’s master will have its perks because Broskander supports him fully; not to mention the three ‘King’ servants do have an advantage with their special brand of powerful Noble Phantasms.

Rin was adorable and such a trooper, going out to find her kidnapped friend. She sure has more than spunk and even if she’s blind to Tokiomi’s creepy ways to get the Grail, you have to applaud her optimism. Kariya’s confrontation with Aoi was very emotional with him baring all of his cards to her. He proudly asserted his reason for the first time, unlike previously when he couldn’t even tell her how he felt about her. His meetings with Aoi were cordial in the least but this time, he shows his possessiveness and the extent to which he has gone to save Aoi’s daughter. It’s a sign of his true love for her, due to which he’s hosting the crest worms that are literally eating him from within to supply with magic circuits. His only utopia is the thought of killing Tokiomi and get the Grail to make everything right. I can bet the Assassins spying on them reported the said ‘motivations’ to Kirei but would he pass it on to Gilgamesh is the question. Also, someone kill Caster NAO; that dude needs to bite the dust and soon!

Preview:  Rider, Saber and Gilgamesh have a dialogue party. Ménage à trois?! Aww, seems like poor Saber will be getting bullied some more. And yeah, Waver too. :3 If we get to see Rider’s Noble Phantasm, hear me people, get ready for a mindblown moment.

Countdown: Also, I have to remind you all, ONLY 3 MORE EPISODES TO GO FOR THIS AWESOMENESS… I’m so gonna miss this next season… Anyways, ja ne~

About Kyokai

The Boss lady of Metanorn, who makes it all happen. An animanga enthusiast, who watches/reads almost anything that strikes her fancy. Just beware of her Death Perception and always keep her happy. Regularly found at @KyokaiTM & #[email protected].