Much like episode 5, this one managed to provide a very satisfying conclusion to a major conflict built up and developed throughout three episodes. Seems like the show is really well planned and structured, at least from the viewpoint of someone who hasn't read the novels. I guess those who have might find them to be burning through them at too quick or slow a pace at times.
Being a total Kotomine mark, I ate up every single second of screen time he had in this episode. His brutal and pragmatic fighting style is a sight for sore eyes, especially when up against two female opponents in an episode shared with such chivalrous characters as Saber and Lancer. His impalement of Irisviel was particularly awesome and I think I might have let out a "holy crap" there. Still, as good as the action was, Kotomine's perplexed reactions to Irisviel and Maiya's resolve to protect Kiritsugu were still the most interesting bits and go a long way to show just how colossal an existence Kiritsugu has become in Kotomine's mind. The latter must be thirsting even more to hear the former's "answer" now, but one has to wonder if he'll like what he hears and what impact it will have on his being.
On a relatively unrelated note, I wonder if Tokiomi will actually realise his student's going on these risky and self-absorbed escapades this time. He should suspect not being provided a real time report as usual for such a major battle in the Einzbern grounds.
Speaking of Einzbern, this Caster arc, so to speak, has made me warm up quite a bit to Irisviel, who had up until now been the character whom I was probably least interested in. She didn't really seem to have anything going for her besides being a flawlessly loving wife, but I liked the spunk and emotional fortitude she showed in these episodes in order to support Kiritsugu in every way she can, even going as far as cooperating and bonding with his "mistress" through their shared motivation and conviction.
Anyway, no less brutal was the rest of the fight between Kiritsugu and Kayneth, and I actually felt kind of sorry for the latter in this episode. Not just due to the agonising suffering and humiliation he went through, but because you can really tell how Kiritsugu's truly sucking all the prestige and glory out of the fabled Holy Grail War in his eyes. To him, it's gotta be something akin to running across a button masher in a fighting videogame you've worked so hard to excel at it. It eats away at him and now he's scarred for life both physically and mentally, and Sola-Ui's general attitude towards him probably won't help matters. As
jeroz said, I can only guess the Lancer team is in for one terrible downward spiral. Gotta wonder if they'll even live to see the "second season" at this rate. Either way, it should be quite entertaining to watch them struggle to do so.
I also gotta agree with
hoarfrost in that this episode captured the bone-chilling atmosphere the Holy Grail War should aspire to possess oh so well, thanks to a fantastic use of lighting, music, camera work and all of the other components that make this into such an immersive anime. Keep up the stellar work, ufotable.
Last but not least, I'd like to say that even though I can somewhat understand the sentiment of those who seem to be mildly disappointed that yet another major conflict concluded in a relatively neat manner with no actual deaths (well, besides that of Kayneth's emotional stability), Urobuchi Gen did a fine job of executing it in a manner that doesn't feel forced and can be understandable given the nature of certain characters. And ultimately I think it's a good thing that we are yet to have a permanent loss of one of the participants (besides that one unfortunate Assassin), since the longer they stick around, the more fleshed out, and consequently the more interesting, they will be, and the more we'll feel for them when they truly bite the dust for good. And you have remember that unlike Fate/Stay Night which had three routes to tell three different versions of its war, Fate/Zero can only tell one, so if one of the teams went out this early they probably would not have had a satisfying enough amount of exposure and development.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fate_Archer
Aozaki Touko making an appearance it seems.
I might be mistaken but it seemed to be the same voice actor as in KnK
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Even though the woman's identity being Touko has already been disproved, I would like to clarify nonetheless that they also had different voices. Touko's voice actress was Takako Honda and the woman in this episode was voiced by Akeno Watanabe.