Fate/Zero - Episode 5 Discussion / Poll

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by yukirosuzuka

I don't see anything wrong with the CG either. In fact, I was expecting Berserker to be animated this way because of how he was described as in the novels -

"Just like an off-focus photograph, the outlines of the black armor were always shifting, like a mist, and you would sometime see it double or triple. Somehow, the material seemed to be made out of a hallucination."

It's no wonder they resorted to CG, it would have been impossible to have that level of quality hand-drawn unless they got a budget like Akira's for each scene where he appears (exagerrating about the scale but you get my comparison).

I didn't mind the CG so much.

[Kanon]

That was outstanding! I never thought Rider's rash action from last week would turn the battlefield into such a mess. Gilgamesh was as arrogant as ever, so it was satisfying to see him get his ass handed to him (ok, not really). Berserker's special ability is damn cool and pretty handy when it comes to dealing with Gate of Babylon. He can use Gil's own weapons against him.

Seems like Caster mistook Saber for Joan of Arc? Figured he couldn't see well with eyes like these
It's a nice nod to original F/SN speculations. I was one of the people who thought Saber was Joan too, eh.

Originally Posted by yukirosuzuka

I don't see anything wrong with the CG either. In fact, I was expecting Berserker to be animated this way because of how he was described as in the novels -

"Just like an off-focus photograph, the outlines of the black armor were always shifting, like a mist, and you would sometime see it double or triple. Somehow, the material seemed to be made out of a hallucination."

I think CG is a really good method for giving off that otherwordly feel in anime.

Also, this episode was awesome. I was looking forward to it all week.

Hmm, it does make sense to use CG to carry this across. It's pretty smart to use this method in this particular case, in fact. Since Berserker is entirely covered in armor, the CG isn't jarring. It reminded me of Karas, which is a good thing.

[Haak]

That's too much of spoiler Tenchi. It wouldn't kill you to stop giving out hints like that either, Kuroi.

Anyway I find it rather unamusing how fixated Caster is on Saber. I'm her number one fan and no one else.

[jeroz]

Love those fight scenes, the brute strength from Berserker is so satisfying to watch

[Kuroi Hadou]

Originally Posted by Haak

It wouldn't kill you to stop giving out hints like that either, Kuroi.

Wait, how am I giving out hints?

Anyway I find it rather unamusing how fixated Caster is on Saber. I'm her number one fan and no one else.

I don't recall ever hearing you call Saber "your holy virgin maiden", Haak.

[thundrakkon]

Wow, that was quite a nice episode with all the characters assembled except for Caster.

As for speculation, from this episode, it looks like 3 of the servants are from King Arthur's era.

I am speculating that Berserker has a grudge against Arthur, and since he is a knight, my guess is that he is either Lancelot or Mordred. Both were excellent knights and are highly skilled. Both betrayed Arthur in the end.

As for Caster, I speculate that he is either Morgana or Merlin. I would lean more towards Morgana, since she is quite demented.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

Wait, how am I giving out hints?

I don't know, since I haven't read on. It just sounded like a hint. Sorry.

I don't recall ever hearing you call Saber "your holy virgin maiden", Haak.

Not that you know of...

[Guardian Enzo]

Is it a LN spoiler to ask why Caster is so fixated on Saber, or something I missed? Gilles de Rais has no connection to Arthur that I know of - does he think she's actually Joan of Arc?

Seems almost as if the servants are dividing into chivalry and non-chivalry alliances. Or rather, the three chivalrous ones are allying and the others are fending for themselves.

[Kuroi Hadou]

Originally Posted by Haak

I don't know, since I haven't read on. It just sounded like a hint.

It was just what anyone could have figured out by simply watching the episode with some semblance of intelligence.

Not that you know of...

If it's in your wet dreams I don't want to "know of" it...

[Reckoner]

Berserker was simply awesome. CG or not, it looked really good.

Yuji Kajura's OST these last two episodes is finally demonstrating more of what I'd expect from her, so that's good.

Almost all the players were on stage this time, which allowed for some really fun interactions between the servants. Fate/Stay Night rarely had moments like these where a bunch of servants were together and interacting on a battle field.

I really like the dynamics of the character relations in this war too. We have the Kotomine - Kiritsugu dynamic, the waver - kayneth dynamic, Kariya - Tokiomi. These sorts of grudges or conflicts make the fighting all the more interesting. Of course Ryuonosuke just wants to kill everyone

Rider's entrance certainly didn't disappoint. It's too bad that sort of attitude in this war is probably going to end up getting him defeated.

10/10 for the episode. Loving every minute of it.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Is it a LN spoiler to ask why Caster is so fixated on Saber, or something I missed? Gilles de Rais has no connection to Arthur that I know of - does he think she's actually Joan of Arc?

That is indeed a spoiler, but knowing his legend doesn't make it hard to put together.

[Slick_rick]

Originally Posted by Kuroi Hadou

It was just what anyone could have figured out by simply watching the episode with some semblance of intelligence.

Not really. You said you've already read the novel so I assume most of "hypothesizing" you doing in this episode thread is already coming from an informed position. It would then be disingenuous to claim that people would don't catch things you do wouldn't have any semblance of an intelligence because it is quite possible that you wouldn't have if you weren't already known to you. From an informed position things are always much more obvious than come from a neutral position.

This is generally why I dislike threads on adapted works because you have a few who try to make them selves seem smart by pointing out "obvious" things. If it obvious or not let people who are actually neutral to the information piece it out. No need to go around playing the genius. Too many of those on the internet already.

Also I quite enjoyed the episode.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

That is indeed a spoiler, but knowing his legend doesn't make it hard to put together.

OK, 'nuff said. Consider it dropped, and thanks for the reply.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Seems like Caster mistook Saber for Joan of Arc? Figured he couldn't see well with eyes like these
It's a nice nod to original F/SN speculations. I was one of the people who thought Saber was Joan too, eh.

I can't believe i didn't think of this connection sooner regarding Caster. It should have been obvious that he would mistake Saber for Joan.

[AvatarST]

Judging from that pic of the knight in the middle of water in the ED, is Berserker's identity...

Spoiler for Berserker's identity:

Lancelot of the Lake?

That he's unarmed seems consistent with that too.

[Kuroi Hadou]

Originally Posted by Slick_rick

Not really. You said you've already read the novel so I assume most of "hypothesizing" you doing in this episode thread is already coming from an informed position. It would then be disingenuous to claim that people would don't catch things you do wouldn't have any semblance of an intelligence because it is quite possible that you wouldn't have if you weren't already known to you. From an informed position things are always much more obvious than come from a neutral position.

You know what, I give up. Forgive me for trying to interject any semblance of discussion into an episode thread.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by AvatarST

Judging from that pic of the knight in the middle of water in the ED, is Berserker's identity...

Spoiler for Berserker's identity:

Lancelot of the Lake?

I was thinking that myself, though to be safe no novel readers should answer this question is it's true or not.

[.:Jason:.]

Originally Posted by thundrakkon

As for Caster, I speculate that he is either Morgana or Merlin. I would lean more towards Morgana, since she is quite demented.

We already know who he is, he said so when he was introduced back in episode two.

[thundrakkon]

Originally Posted by .:Jason:.

We already know who he is, he said so when he was introduced back in episode two.

Hmm.. I thought he was only suggesting a name, since I did not know that Bluebeard had any magic to be considered a castor, and that his real identity would be revealed later.

[Vicious108]

Best episode yet and the best one since the first episode. That potentially catastrophic assembly of godly forces of nature ended far more neatly than I would've expected, but it still managed to be extremely awesome, developing nearly every character present in one way or another, while also providing a feast for the eyes with wonderful action sequences.

Berserker was obviously the one that shined the most in those. Speaking of which, I came into this thread expecting the typical endless whining about CGI use in anime, so it's a pleasant surprise to see that people can actually be accepting of it when it's well done, which was definitely the case here. It certainly gave him the otherworldly vibe his character calls for, making his crazed and frenetic movements all the more mesmerising. And of course, Yuki Kajiura appropriately stepped up her game and pulled out the big guns for his moment of glory. Fantastic track right there and also one rather reminiscent of her previous collaboration with Ufotable.

Anyway, the thing that probably impressed me the most in this episode was how levelled the playing field in this war seems to be. You know this is an entirely different assembly of Servants from F/SN when the almighty Gilgamesh doesn't actually come off as extremely overpowered. For once we get to see him being humiliated rather than doing the humiliating himself, which was quite amusing, though I still thought his lines were gold as usual (no pun intended). It doesn't get much more arrogant than being pissed off that your opponent's forcing you to stand on the same ground as him. Another interesting detail was how he handled Tokiomi's Command Spell, since unlike Lancer, with whom it seemed to have an extremely swift and silencing effect, Gil still managed to take his time and spout off a bunch of insulting farewells to the remaining Servants before following the order. For a moment there I thought he was actually gonna be able to resist it, but I guess that'd be a little too much, even for him.

As for the rest of the Servants, Rider finally proves to be every bit the bro I'd heard him to be, standing up for Waver against Archibald's onslaught of elitist trash stalk. As for Saber and Lancer, only one thing can be said… get a room, you two. Seriously, I can already smell the doujins... Though after that ending to the episode, I'm personally more interested in seeing one of her and Caster. I have to say though that I find it a bit annoying that Saber still manages to be the centre of attention for damn near every Servant when she clearly had the worst performance amongst them in this "warming up" of theirs.

Last but not least, Kariya's scene was hard to watch. Surprisingly enough not because of his physical state, but rather due to his mental one. Honestly, I fear for him and his already nearly non-existent composure if he ever comes face to face with Tokiomi. Granted he did get the upper hand on him this time, forcing him to waste a Command Spell and probably deal with Gil's wrath next time they meet, but it's definitely not healthy for Kariya to be that happy about it, as if it somehow proves he's the superior potential man of the family for Aoi/Rin/Sakura, as he clearly what he envisions and drives him.

Originally Posted by Haak

My only complaint about this adaption is that they cut out the fact that Kiritsugu's decision to become active was actually a bit more of a dilemma between practicality and love. In fact I think that's actually been a bit of problem with the entire adaptation so far, not giving Kiritsugu the focus he deserves (and here we thought he'd get too much focus )

Yeah, that was pretty subtle, but I thought the implications were still there. And they should definitely satisfy those who were pissed off at Kiritsugu for his kiss with Maiya in episode 3, since it became clear enough in this episode for whom he truly cares about: he was basically ready to sacrifice Maiya (by having her be a decoy of sorts to Assassin, whom he admitted they weren't prepared face in the previous episode) in order to save Iri from the tag team of Zerker and Lancer.

And speaking of the lack of focus on Kiritsugu, his rivalry with Kotomine appears to have been put on the backburner for the sake of Kariya and Tokiomi's and Waver and Archibald's. Which is fine for the time being, since they'll obviously get their turn, but I do hope we start seeing more developments on it sometime soon.

[vansonbee]

Great episode! Now with Berserker introduced, now I want to see Alex in combat, other than riding his pimpmobile over other servants.