Monday, November 28, 2011

fate zero ep 7-8

Hey guys, exams and all so im falling behind on the blogging. Im up to date in the viewing, so by the time you see this review, i have already watched 9. Im still only going to blog 7 and 8 for now, because i want to elaborate on the show, but dont want to clog up individual post with too many episodes. Epsiode 9 and 10 will be blogged together after i finish 10.

Summary 7:

Episode 7 reveals lancer's master managed to survive but more importantly the overseer of the war has declared a temporary ceasefire for the other servants and orders them to take out caster first, as he is killing innocent people indiscriminately, with the offer of an extra command seal as a prize. the overseer and Tokiomi know every master will be tempted by the offer, and they play to have Archer finish him off and get the seal. Meanwhile caster is gathering and killing more children to try and get Jeanne (actually saber) to see his evil ways. Saber engages, but without the use of one hand, she is unable to hold against Caster's monsters. Lancer joins to help and they fight Caster together. Meanwhile Lancer's master is going after Kiritsugu and we see some of Kiritsugu's magic abilities.


Summary 8:

Lancer's master and Kiritsugu continue to fight. Lancer's master is using mercury to scout attack and defend all at once. He renders all of Kirisugu's conventional weapons useless at once. Kiritsugu then uses his contender to punch through the shield by using a rifle size caliber bullet. Lancer's master continues chase, but is now injured. He catches up with Kiritsugu and when Kiritsugu tries the same trick, he uses even more magic to stop the attack. However this is exactly what Kiritsugu wanted, as his bullet this time is made from a part of his ribs. This contains his "origin" and essentially acts like a overload for magic circuits. The more magic they use, the more strength the shot has. By using the rifle shot first, it makes them more defensive and draws out more power on his second shot with the "origin bullet" Lancer's master is nearly killed and severely weakened.

Meanwhile, Saber and lancer combine to blow past the monsters of caster and land a damaging blow, forcing Caster to retreat. Lancer senses his master is in trouble and saber allows him to go. Lancer goes and saves his master, and warns Kiritsugu that only because of Saber's chivalry is he alive. (However it should be noted Lancer's master was the first to pick a fight, and had Saber not been chivalrous and blocked him from going, they would have both died. This point really irks me)

Meanwhile Maiya and Iri try to hold off Kotomine, but he is easily able to beat the both of them. it is only the a arrival of saber. He retreats, but it reveals that Iri has Avalon and is nearly invincible if she stays around Saber. Saber is unaware Iri has it.


Review:
Its interesting to see how Kiritsugu is actually really scared of Kotomine. He doesnt know much about him, but to be honest, at this point he hasnt really shown an evil side. Besides that we see that Lancer's master has some impressive skills, but his arrogance will be the end of him. We know he survives, but he doesnt seem to be holding up too well. Another point is just how well caster is holding. From what i read, its always just "caster shows up, caster is defeated" to see him actually prove to be a challenge for TWO servants at once. Speaking of Servants, we can see a real respect between lancer and Saber. and to be honest, Lancer is getting damn proud when he could have easily been defeated. He tries to but Kiritsugu in his place, but is saber was slightly more selfish lancer would have died right then and there. Also, Lancer's master was the one to attack first so i dont see why hes chastising Kiritsugu at all. Kirisugu's origin bullet looks damn impressive and it will be interesting to see how he proceeds from here. it looks like he will use saber and Iri to distract, while he goes for the masters. We see more scheming from the overseer and Tokiomi. I really wanna see this all end badly for him because hes taking advantage of the church.

Saber's attitude is so very different between this and FSN. Here she views Kiritsugu as immoral for trying to take out Lancer's master, yet it was Lancer's master who attacks first, as well in FSN SHE attacks rin head on and its only because Shirou calls her back she didnt kill Rin then. In the more relaxed and imprefect war, she seems more cold, calculated, and determined. Here she seems unsure of herself. Interesting was to balance things out as if she took every advantage like she did in FSN, the war would be over very soon. shes the main thing holding her back, and knowing what that will lead to, maybe thats why she abandons it in FSN.
Read more!

Monday, November 7, 2011

Fate/zero ep 4-6

Holy shit, Fate zero is good. Have i said that yet? because holy shit it is. I haven't been following a series, like full out get first release watch it first day kinda following for a long time. Fate zero is just that. I know this season is suppose to be the season of awesome, and to be honest i might be holding off my year end awards, simply because at this point fate zero would probably win every single one. Knowing how great this season is suppose to be, i might hold off until i watch a few different titles. Anyways, onto Fate Zero

Episode 4

So we get the fight between lancer and saber finally, and saber is heavy on the defensive. With lancers two spears she cant let her guard down and attack, but at the same time lancer cant judge saber's sword because of invisible air. Meanwhile, an assassin is watching the entire fight, and Kiritsugu catches sight of him. Lancer's master wants to end this quick and tells him to use his noble phantasm to finish things. Lancer drops his small spear and starts chipping at the invisible air, determining its shape. He later manages to pierce through saber's magic air. Saber realizes that his long spear negates magic. She releases her armor and decides to go full out, knowing she cant be defensive anymore. However this is a trap as lancer uses his second spear to inflict a wound on saber that Irelsveil cant heal, before saber can use Excalibur. Due to this, they both have revealed their identities. Saber returns her armor as only the long spear can pierce it and not the short one, but the damage is done.

Episode 5

Rider joins the scene, revealing his full name and all, and asks if they would rather join him and share in the glory of concurring together. Waver is annoyed at riders indiscretion, but that reveals lancer's master. Rider comforts Waver by saying only a man brave enough to ride with him can be his master, also calling out other servants who may be watching. Archer appears ans starts to berate them. However Berserker also joins the fight. When archer launches his swords at him, he is easily able to catch them and block all the attacks. This enrages archer who uses even more weapons, but still cannot hit him. Beserker even manages to use two of the weapons to break the lamp pole archer was standing on, making them stand on even levels. Archer prepares to go full out, but Tokiomi calls him back with a command seal to prevent giving away too much information. Beserker attacks saber when he sees him and Lancer's master orders him to do the same, but he refuses as it would not be fair. Lancer's master uses a command seal to force him to attack, but rider intervenes knocking away Beserker. Rider forces lancer's master to withdraw, or he will help saber to defeat him. with no other choice, they leave and the fighting ends for the night.

Episode 6

Caster, watching all of the previous nights action goes to saber thinking she is Joan of arc. Saber tells him she is not and forces him away. Caster despondent decides to keep killing children to show her that god is not worth following, thinking her forgetting her identity and all is part of gods work. Meanwhile Lancer, his master, and sola, the master's fiance, are discussing the last night. the master is upset with lancer, but sola steps up for him saying the master was too cowardly for hiding in the shadows, and since she is supplying extra mana, they still have an advantage. Meanwhile he take pleasure in the fact his hotel is strongly reinforced, as any attempt to attack them here would be useless. However Kiritsugu ignores that and blows the entire damn thing up after making sure to evacuate the innocent. we get a bit more of kotomine talking with archer, who is upset at how passive Tokiomi is being. Its clear by now archer is the one to steer kotomine to the path of evil.

Reaction:

The action and fighting in the 4th and 5th episode are amazing and a treat for the eyes. Just to put it in perspective, the average episode size is 300MB or so for the high quality releases, these two episodes pushed to 500MB, thats half a gig each. Lancer showed to be a much stronger servant than i expected, even able to cripple saber. Not too much of a surprise given how, like i said before, fate/zero is suppose to be when everyone is competent and at their best. Rider is just always good for laughs, and Waver too. i really just want to see more of them for the lawls. Baserker is amazing to watch in action, like an intricate dance. this is surprising given his class being... you know, Beserker. Still, its nice to see the conflict. Matou only wants to destroy Tokiomi, and Beserker only cares for saber. Nothing special in episode 6. very much a breather episode. even the whole blowing up a building stuff isnt too exciting given what has been happening. i dont expect caster to stay around too long, which is not a bad thing cuse hes probably the most boring of all the servants.

p.s. if your wondering why i keep calling lancer's master, lancer's master or the master, instead of his real name, its because i dont care to learn or to remember how to spell such a long name.
Read more!