Fate/Zero - Episode 3 Discussion / Poll

[SoldierOfDarkness]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Last Week: Wow, Assassin sure is weak...
This Week: Wow, Assassin sure is amazing!

Since Assassin should be one servant and there are so many, I guess "Assassin" is one and split into a whole bunch of sub-Assassins?
Which means the real Assassin must have spent an entire night thinking about the designs of his clones... I mean, look at them, every one is different. Sure must have been hard for the guy to come up with all of them!

Weber...
His voice actor really is good at acting. (^^)b

Clinton...?!
Makes you feel how much time has passed...

Some lover of Shiro's dad apparently is named "Maiya".
But whenever he calls her name, I hear "Maa, Iiya"...

Was anyone else wondering why Clinton was even being shown?

Took me a few seconds to remember that this was a prequel.

[FlareKnight]

An interesting twist with Assassin. Sucks for the one used as a sacrifice. With dozens of assassins hanging around it really will be dangerous. Almost no one will think about the fact that there is an assassin around much less a lot of them. Could definitely be a clincher advantage.

Waver didn't do too bad on intel considering there wasn't that much to go with. Assassin was taken down so damn fast you could barely keep up. Still it at least gives Rider something to think about.

Saber gets to warm up against Lancer. An interesting enough guy using a couple spears. A pretty strong master is behind him somewhere and they'll have to be careful. At least Saber gets a chance to fight and get a feel for things. Sucks that the end is just the set-up, I want the fight .

Gilgamesh is a pain as an Archer when you think about it. He'll just do whatever he pleases .

[Tiresias]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

My only disappointment with this episode is it didn't end with Saber and Lancer charging each other.

Yeah, I thought so too, especially after all those stances.

Next week, we'll finally know the true animation quality of Fate/Zero's action scenes!

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Hooves

As expected, the first major battle is between Saber and Lancer just like Fate/Stay Night was.

It was Archer and Lancer, actually.

It was veeery strange that they would just kill Assassin off in episode 2 with a master like "Kirei". He had all the confidence in the world that with his group of Assassins, he can basically do anything at the moment with subtle approach. He probably merely wanted to confirm which Archer-class servant Toshaka had so he better prepare himself for the future.

As said previously, it was a set up. Tokiomi is a devious guy. It's in the Tohsaka blood, I think.

Originally Posted by jzmagic

How is the Church giving Kirei sanctuary when his "servant(s)" aren't dead? That's pretty hacks, so his dad (representing the church) is in it together with Kirei?

As said before, they are all conspiring together.

The music is so f'in epic, loved the bgm during the lancer vs saber.

That music really got me going too. Made the cliffhanger all the more painful.

Also Kirtisugu, using his wife as bait... He's a BAMF, and saw right through Kirei's little show but I can't help but feel that he's a douchebag for putting his wife at risk.

Kiritsugu is not the shonen hero will be be pure and do what's right. Don't have any illusions about that because you will be disappointed. And I don't think she is in too much risk... Saber rules.

Originally Posted by Nosauz

Pretty damn awesome episode, setting up Saber Vs Lancer, I'm on the fence with whether or not I like Ufotable Gil or Deen Gil, but then again Ufotable has Gil's better version so it's hard to say. Was hoping for an actually transformation sequence a la the OP when Saber when srsface.jpeg but we can't have everything we want.

Can't compare Zero Gil and Zero Stay night Gil easily. One just came from the Void while the other stuck around for ten years.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

I can see why Ufotable is balancing out their budget here and there, but I wonder if they couldn't do it in a better fashion: frankly, the discussion between Tokiomi and Gilgamesh was nearly nothing close to "composition", or subtle direction. Meanwhile, am I the only one who was a bit taken aback by the CGI cars? I don't have any problem with CGI usually (such like mecha in guilty crown), but these ones were really out of place.
Of course, it isn't anything major whatsoever, but I think other "cutting" methods would have been possible, without breaking huge numbers for the animation.

I do agree that some of it is a bit off, but once I felt it was too much, they switched it up.

Anyway, this was a good display of Alexander/Waver and Arturia/Irisvel interactions, while giving a simple yet accurate depiction of Kiritsugu. That being said, with all their efforts in showing Kiritsugu's plight regarding Iri, the utter lack of narration just kills his character, not matter how good the rendition was.
I'm starting to be a little nervous how they will handle Kiritsugu and Kirei in the future, and hopefully, this isn't the "cut scenes" they were talking about.

Oh well, a good episode nevertheless.

One of the losses of adapting the written word (as you know). They could do some monologue or narration but I'm not sure how that would sit.

I guess this gives us more of a reason to read the novel. If I was Aniplex, I'd release the novel stateside and put the first volume with the part one box set.

Originally Posted by Kanon

& Screw Kiritsugu. I'll be shipping Iri x Saber from now on! They look so adorable together.

You never disappoint.

Originally Posted by ars89

So how did Kotomine summon more than one servant? Lol at the army of assassins though. Alexander is funny, easy to like him. Poor Iri hasn't been outside and can't even spend it with Emiya. Lancer looks cool, has it been told who he really is? Can't wait to see a real fight now.

In the Nasuverse, things are stretched out to unbelievable lengths... such as King Arthur being a woman. This number of Assassins is a great example.

Originally Posted by Yuna Amakura

Nah, there's been repetition already. There's the song that I will call for now "Rider's theme", the one from the beginning of episode 2, that was repeated in this one. I think a SFX track was also repeated, but that's okay. I'm personally glad they're, for the time being at least, not spamming a single song in each and every episode (people sure liked it, but I was sure pissed with Sis Puella Magica's usage). I agree on the part about the actual use of the songs. I personally think that Kara no Kyoukai was THE series that really used every single in the right place and time, and I'm truly glad that F/Z is following the same steps.

The music has been fantastic so far. I too have named it 'Rider's Theme' and think its a great piece. Music makes a big difference.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by jzmagic

How is the Church giving Kirei sanctuary when his "servant(s)" aren't dead? That's pretty hacks, so his dad (representing the church) is in it together with Kirei?

The music is so f'in epic, loved the bgm during the lancer vs saber.

Also Kirtisugu, using his wife as bait... He's a BAMF, and saw right through Kirei's little show but I can't help but feel that he's a douchebag for putting his wife at risk.

i suggest you re-watch the first ep, apparently you miss quite a bit of it.

[Student no.0]

Geez. My conscience is starting to tell me that I should've watched stay night first after watching this episode. It was a great episode without a doubt(minus the frickin' cliffhanger), but some terminology, details, rules here are really giving me a headspin. For example: Noble Phantasm, Iiya's hinted weightlessness that Kiritsugu mentioned, this thing about the Great Knights being able to sustain themselves without mana for a longer period of time according to one of the posts, rules such as servants forbidden to name themselves, etc.

That aside I'm really enjoying Waver(or is it Weber?)/Rider interaction. I was a bit bothered by that kiss at first but that went away thanks to the posts here. Assassin made up of a group of Assassins sounds pretty stellar, but strangely I wasn't very blown away by it. Just to be sure, is it this Assassin in particular can do this or is it an ability that all Assassin-class servant share?

Hoping for some major killer fight scenes in the next episode~

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Mare Boy

Geez. My conscience is starting to tell me that I should've watched stay night first after watching this episode. It was a great episode without a doubt(minus the frickin' cliffhanger), but some terminology, details, rules here are really giving me a headspin. For example: Noble Phantasm, Iiya's hinted weightlessness that Kiritsugu mentioned, this thing about the Great Knights being able to sustain themselves without mana for a longer period of time according to one of the posts, rules such as servants forbidden to name themselves, etc.

It would be ideal to play Fate/ stay night first. The anime does go into some of it, but it can't compare to the visual novel (which has extra info screens in the menu as you play). And you may want to play Tsukihime too, we've gone into stuff from there already, so who knows what else will be used.

And don't forget to watch Kara no Kyoukai (Garden of Sinners) if you haven't. It's a fundamental part of the Nasuverse and it (along with Tsukihime) explains more about the Origin (/Root) that the magi are working towards in the war.

[Clarste]

Noble Phantasm is actually a pretty terrible translation, but you have to blame Nasu for that. Well, we're stuck with it. They're basically what Rider said they were: legendary weapons or skills that are associated with the hero. King Arthur's would be Excalibur for example. Excalibur is Arthur's sword. When you summon Arthur you get Excalibur as part of the deal, and frankly it'd be kind of pointless if he didn't have it. That's all a Noble Phantasm is. The series takes a lot of liberties with giving them magic powers and such though.

Being multiple people is this Assassin's Noble Phantasm, the "legendary skill" thing that Rider was talking about.

[Shiryuu]

How many episodes is this supposed to be anyways? I don't want to watch 50 episodes of talking with 2 seconds of action every now and then.

[Kataryn]

I so far like the way the anime is going so far. It's a bit slow, but at least it's better than a half-assed rushed episode.

I was taken aback when Maiya kissed Kiritsugu although, I guess she only did it since Kiritsugu was talking about Ilya and her weight (I found it kinda sad the way he said that she was 8 and the gun weighed more than her.

I'm also wondering; what year did Fate/Zero take place at? If I do recall, didn't Kiritsugu have a laptop in episode 1?

[.:Jason:.]

26 episodes split up. So fter episode 13 airs we have to wait till April to get eps 14-26.

[TrueKnight]

Hmm very good ep yet again. Assasin turns out made from group of Assasins. Tohsaka and Kirei are planning something with Kirei being protected as part of the plan. Alexander is hilarous as usual, liking how he wanted to buy 10 B-2’s for his campaign conquering the world, and the Clinton reference is just wtf. The only thing that made me cringe was Kiritsigu’s blatantly shown affair, not good at all..Other than that its cool.

[ZeKeR]

the people who animated this KNOWS how to bring the LN to life.... animated life....

that is all.

[spieler]

Finally, next ep will come a fight scene.Hoping UFO can keep the qaulity. Poor lancer...

[Allium]

A steady buildup for Saber and Lancer's battle next week. Now for the wait. *sigh*

Nice to see Saber and Irisviel together; Rider and Waver, as usual, hilarious to watch (Bill Clinton and B2s, lol).

And Maiya and Kiritsugu...yeah, the kiss was awkward, but Kiritsugu talking about the gun being heavier than Ilya was touching. Somehow I interpret the scene as Maiya urging him to focus on the war. Kiritsugu definitely has no romantic feelings for her - he didn't embrace her or anything. (Not sure about Maiya though...)

Other than that, seeing the numerous Assassins appearing one by one in the church just makes your jaw drop. This time's Holy Grail War really has a much more fearsome atmosphere to it.

And now...the wait.

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by Kataryn

I'm also wondering; what year did Fate/Zero take place at? If I do recall, didn't Kiritsugu have a laptop in episode 1?

Clinton is president so in the 90s. No exact yr and yes for those who are not enough to remembers the 90s, We had laptops back them. very expensive stuff.

[Grey]

Two at once? Which Emiya is the eroge protagonist again?

[Kaioshin Sama]

Looks like the planning and strategy phase is over and the players have made their way to the battlefield. The episode was a bit slow and not much happened other than everybody analyzing the crap out of Assassin seemingly getting borked before the war even starts. I'm sure the time spent introducing our characters will pay off later though and I fully support the use of a cliffhanger at the end of this episode. Wouldn't have it any other way.

As an aside, I may be the only one that thinks this, but I just find Yuki Kaijura's score mostly passable and just sort of there right now as opposed to outstanding and defining like other people led me to expect it would be. The show could easily have far far worse music mind you, but it's just not gripping me by any stretch. Then again I've literally found that with every Yuki Kaijura soundtrack I've heard. Guess she just doesn't do it for me like she does for others.

As of now I'm really liking the characters of Irisviel, Saber, Waver and Rider more than any other right now. Most of the other characters with the exception of Gilgamesh who just wants to win and build his treasure collection are still a bit of a cipher to me though. When it comes time for their arcs I'm sure I'll learn more though. Not a bad first quarter for this first half of the series and I'm looking forward to the fight next episode.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Shiryuu

How many episodes is this supposed to be anyways? I don't want to watch 50 episodes of talking with 2 seconds of action every now and then.

There is going to be action, don't worry.

Originally Posted by Kataryn

I'm also wondering; what year did Fate/Zero take place at? If I do recall, didn't Kiritsugu have a laptop in episode 1?

Early-mid 90's. I am going to go with 1994 since Fate/stay night was released in 2004 and I know that took place in the early 2000's. Anyone with a better memory feel free to correct (or confirm, hehe) that.

[Ragna92]

Originally Posted by Mare Boy

Geez. My conscience is starting to tell me that I should've watched stay night first after watching this episode. It was a great episode without a doubt(minus the frickin' cliffhanger), but some terminology, details, rules here are really giving me a headspin. For example: Noble Phantasm, Iiya's hinted weightlessness that Kiritsugu mentioned, this thing about the Great Knights being able to sustain themselves without mana for a longer period of time according to one of the posts, rules such as servants forbidden to name themselves, etc.

That aside I'm really enjoying Waver(or is it Weber?)/Rider interaction. I was a bit bothered by that kiss at first but that went away thanks to the posts here. Assassin made up of a group of Assassins sounds pretty stellar, but strangely I wasn't very blown away by it. Just to be sure, is it this Assassin in particular can do this or is it an ability that all Assassin-class servant share?

Hoping for some major killer fight scenes in the next episode~

Well the best thing to do would be to play the original visual novel, before watching Zero.