Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works high session 4 (finale)

Episode 23

Rin, Shirou, and Saber are now back safely at Shirou's home, planning their attack on the holy grail at Ryoudou Temple... Saber says she only has enough mana to unleash Excalibur one more time.

they get there, but aren't sure what to do... Shirou is about to just act without thinking and run in through the cursed muck.. then Gilgamesh approaches them... Saber can't help them because the fake Assassin has challenged her.

Gil explains that he wants to wipe out the humanity of this era, because there's too many of them, so their lives have little meaning now compared to the era he's from. Shirou goes to hold off Gil so that Rin can go through the goop and get to Shinji herself...

"You filthy sham, learn firsthand the difference between counterfeits and the real thing!"

meanwhile, Assassin, the Heroic Spirit Sasaki Koujiro, explains that he is not a normal servant, and that he is based off a fictional character who doesn't exist... he is merely a ghost who emerged solely to take the form of this servant, and he himself has no origin...
"I am empty, so all things are meaningless to me. However... If one thing could be said to give my existence meaning, it would be this moment."

the holy grail has already started spilling its guts...
"Those are wishes being drawn up by the holy grail... The true nature of you mongrels. The malevolence of humanity... To be able to grant any and all wishes... That is, to transcend the limitations of life, why is a wish not granted? That is because humans are inherently limited. Equality, peace, happiness... They are all the same. You, who are prisoners of your own flesh, will never be satisfied. That is why you humans constructed that Holy Grail. Not to be released from all suffering, but rather to conquer all suffering."
*laughs*
"But this is that ideal's end result. No desire to change the world is more powerful than human malevolence. But because it is fueled by malevolence, it uses self-annihilation as its means. That is your true nature."

... I just realized Gil's epiphany just now was the same as what that one bad guy from Kara no Kyoukai had...

oh man... a really creepy scene where Rin pulls Shinji out of the grail... and some disconnected arms come and try to grab her to get him back...
"I shouldn't be surprised that yanking out its heart angered it."

meanwhile

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works high session 3

Episode 00 - Prologue

It shows Tohkasa grab her dad's pendant before heading out to school... the war hasn't started yet, but she noticed nobody else is outside..

Tohsaka: "Listen, Matou-kun... Not only am I not interested in archery, I'm not interested in you."
She goes upstairs and sees the student council president standing outside a classroom, waiting for Emiya to come out with a fixed machine..
"Where's the next one? If it's dead, I can't fix that. Buying a new one would be faster... You're here early, Tohsaka."
Tohsaka thinks to herself as she walks by... "Was that his way of saying hello?"

even the other girls in class give Tohsaka a lot of unwanted attention. some don't trust her.. "When she's smiling, she's at her scariest."

later on the roof she recalls how she found this pendant and some expired magical stuff in a chest in her attic... it messed up all the clocks in the house.
"But it won't help me summon Saber, the most powerful Servant."

back in her fancy expensive looking house... she gets a message from the priest. then does an amazing looking ritual to summon her servant..

Tohsaka when she meets Archer instead of Saber: "Wait, all the clocks in the house were an hour fast today..."
"Seems I've been drawn by quite the unusual little Master."
Tohsaka has to ask him to clarify that he is her servant... he instead asks for proof that she's his master. but it's not the command seal he cares about...
"I wanted to see if you are someon worthy of my loyalty."
"You grudgingly acknowledge me, but you won't listen to my opinions?"
"When fighting, I will call my own shots. Until this Holy Grail War ends, I suggest you sit tight in the cellar or something."
finally Rin gets mad at him and decides to use up one of her command seals to make him more obedient.
he says that her command seal was too vague and didn't work... "Even 100 command seals couldn't compel true, absolute obedience in every word and deed... normally that would be true... But it would seem your skill as a mage is extraordinary."
"Your words now carry a powerful compulsion for me. You are a powerful mage. I was mistaken in looking down on you as a child and trying to keep you from fighting."

"I'd just been summoned, so I wasn't yet fully acclimated. But now we are completely connected. As a mage, you should be able to

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works high session 2

Okay so... back after this long...

Episode 17

Kuzuki is telling Caster about his past and why he thinks of himself as not human... Rin and Shirou are about start executing their plan to get Saber back. Berserker, the 2nd ally servant they had available to help them, is gone now, and they are left with just Lancer on their side somehow... he's taking care of both Saber and Archer... the fake Assassin can't leave the temple so he's no problem.. (and the real Assassin is on Lancer's side anyway)..

Shirou can hold off Kuzuki, and Rin can take Caster down by sheer projectile spam... so Gil is now the biggest problem for them... but I suspect that Shirou will somehow be able to hold his own against Gil too by now... they want to defeat Caster to force Archer/Saber back to their side, and finally win the holy grail war... (see that's the real reason Lancer's master is letting him help them)

Caster: "Are all mages of this era so foolhardy? Now I understand why Archer deserted you."

Shirou: "Kuzuki can see that we have a plan up our sleeves, but he's letting Caster do things her way."

meanwhile, Lancer declares that he was forced to hold back against Archer last time...
Lancer: "working with that little lady, you probably would've been a match for Caster."
Archer: "I chose the option with the higher chance, however slight... Unfortunately, I am devoid of pride."
"If you have a hero's pride, cast it aside while you still can."
Lancer: "You've heard of my spear's special abilities, haven't you Archer?"
Archer: "Of course. It has a curse that reverses cause and effect. It's certainly fearsome, but unless you get close, it's nothing but a sharp stinger."
Lancer: "But spears can also be used like this..."
Gae Bolg, the spear whose curse kills with a single blow. When thrown, it is an anti-army Noble Phantasm. It strikes for the heart. Careful aim is crucial. In which case, taking the blow head on is the only way."

uh... not sure if that last part was translated right..
Archer projected Rho Aias to protect himself from the spear... but Lancer's spear is mightier than even the original Gungnir... looks like the spear somehow only hit Lancer's arm...

Archer then tells Lancer that he can feel Caster's watch gone away, suggesting that she's having some trouble right now... did he turn on Caster just now too?

Shirou is taking on Kuzuki.. but

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works high session 1

Watched the first 12 episodes like 6 months ago, but didn't start writing log posts for it until now. So far it's pretty much exactly the same story as the VN, except more animated. Some of the background and animation quality looks gorgeous. Now that I'm behind on the releases, I can watch the rest of this while high at my own pace.

This UBW series really is a great, faithful adaptation of the VN story... it has some new things added, but its storytelling style emulates the VN very well... While Fate/Zero was more like... Think of this in terms of Ryukishi07-style writing. Fate/Stay Night was the "question arc", and Fate/Zero was the "answer arc"... F/SN is designed to keep you in the dark about a lot of its plot details... mostly showing things from Shirou's perspective and teasing other perspectives once in a while... while F/Z was more about showing its story from multiple different perspectives, challenging the reader a lot less while still giving them a chance to figure the rest out on their own.


Episode 13

Archer is like the embodiment of Shirou taking his dad's old path (before he destroyed the holy grail)... the path of fighting to sacrificing a few to save the most people possible.
Archer ends up hating the human world after he becomes a heroic spirit...
"In the end, he continued to be betrayed by his ideal, even after death."

... omg this animation quality is phenomenal...

Archer: "Tohsaka Rin can believe in her own path right to the end."
Tohsaka asks him if he can...
Archer: "That question is meaningless. My "end" came and went long ago."

Rin plans to take on Caster herself. Her rule-breaker makes it too dangerous for Archer to fight her. She tells Archer to take care of Kuzuki..
Archer says that no mage is a match for Caster.. but Rin is confident she can take her down. She wants to save Saber and have Shirou rejoin the war.
meanwhile Shirou is already at Caster's hideout trying to save Saber.. not even fully healed from his wounds yet...

Rin: "If you didn't see his corpse, he's probably clinging to life somewhere."
Rin thinks Caster doesn't have a human shield now, and Kuzuki will be no match for Archer... so she'll be very easy to beat. Caster has more command spells left to get Saber to fight, and probably knows Shirou is there too...

Rin starts tossing tons of high powered gems at her... one of it gets passed her defenses to act as a distraction... wtf... Archer suddenly comes and knocks Rin down. He decides to ally with Caster?

"She's a woman who would tear apart her own younger brother to escape."
"Familiars that use dragon teeth as vessels are the hallmark of the King of Colchis's magecraft. His daughter, Princess Medea, was hailed as a witch without peer."
Archer asks Caster if she has enough spare mana to support another servant...
"The situation has changed. If Saber is under your control, isn't it only natural that I go over to the winning side?"

I sort of remember this from the VN I think? This was all part of Archer's plan to get back at his former self who cursed him with these ideals...

Rin loses Archer and is now helpless against the 3/4 of them.. Shirou then jumps in to save

Fate/Zero high session 5 (finale)

Episode 21

Rider challenges Saber to a race. She uses her sword's invisible air to speed up the motorcycle beyond its limits, catches up to Rider and Waver, only to learn Rider isn't actually the one who took Irisveil... Kiritsugu concludes that it must have been Kariya who took Iri.

Kirei was the one who made Kariya kidnap Iris, using Berserker's ability to disguise himself as Rider... in exchange Kirei fills him up on command spells... With unlimited command spells from Kirei he can now control Berserker. Zouken is there watching, seems to disapprove of Kirei's actions but allows it anyway.

Kariya goes to the church, and finds out Tokiomi has been killed, and then Aoi (Tokiomi's wife, Kariya's friend) comes in after him and thinks he did it... Kariya denies it, and tells her about how Tokiomi was a jerk for handing Sakura over to Zouken. Then he goes insane and kills Aoi out of frustration... Kirei set this all up on purpose, and him and Archer watch in enjoyment...

Fate/Zero high session 4

Episode 16

That pathetic asshole Kayneth goes to Risei and manages to get the credit for killing Caster, and right after he's rewarded with a command seal, he kills Risei...

...wow, Kiritsugu and Maya are so cold hearted... Maya finds Kayneth's wife and cuts off her arm so that she loses her command seal... Then Kiri threatens Kayneth and his wife at gunpoint, unless Kayneth agrees to using a command seal to force Lancer to kill himself... then after he does it, Maya goes and shoots both of them anyway... jeez, I thought Kayneth was a jerk, but these two are even worse...

Saber chews out Kiritsugu for his dishonorable methods... Kiri doesn't care, he says there's nothing honorable about chivalry, and all that matters is that he saves the world from war.

Fate/Zero high session 3

Episode 10

Rin is attempting to help Tokiomi in his magic studies... Tokiomi seals the book that she snuck into, then sends his wife and Rin away to live somewhere else for their own safety...

Rin goes to try and investigate the missing children... senses a servant's presence with her mana detector... not knowing any better, she goes after Caster's master, and actually manages to destroy his bracelet and free the children he captured...

Then as she's running away, her mana detector goes crazy as Caster's demons ambush her... then she gets rescued by Berserker and Kariya. Kirei is spying on Kariya this whole time...

Fate/Zero high session 2

Episode 5

Rider offers Saber and Lancer to join his army. After they refuse, Lancer's master Kayneth shows up, and starts mocking Rider's master Waver... Rider then eviscerates Kayneth, calls him a coward for hiding in the shadows and making Lancer do all the work...

Then Archer and Berserker both show up and start fighting each other. Berserker uses his noble phantasm "For Someone's Glory", which makes him shrouded in fog... then Archer uses his own noble phantasm, the Gate of Babylon, and summons a bunch of weapons from his portals to attack Berserker... but it doesn't work... Berserker just catches the weapons and uses them against him. Meanwhile, Kirei relays Assassin's intel to Tokiomi, who then uses a command seal to force Archer to withdraw and prevent him from revealing more of his identity...

Fate/Zero high session 1

This series has a lot of spoilers for the visual novel Fate/Stay Night, but it also can stand alone and it introduces the story and the concept of masters/servants and other magecraft stuff just as well as the VN does... I would still suggest reading through the entirety of F/SN before watching this series though.

Episode 1

A bunch of things happen in this first episode.
It shows when Ilyasviel was first born, in the Einzburn Castle hidden in the forest... Emiya Kiritsugu tells his wife Irisviel that he's worried about Ilya getting involved in the Holy Grail War...
Kirei is introduced, and is chosen as a participant in the next Holy Grail War... Kirei's father, a priest in charge of overseeing the war, is colluding with Tokiomi Tohsaka, another Holy Grail War participant.
Kariya Matou is introduced... He's a friend of Aoi Tohsaka, Tokiomi's wife, and her daughters Rin and Sakura... Kariya learns that Sakura has been adopted into the Matou family and his father is doing a bunch of horrible things to this girl to increase her magical powers... Kariya's father Zouken is obsessed with trying to win the Holy Grail, and Kariya tries to save Sakura by agreeing to take the worm injections and win the Holy Grail for him instead of using Sakura...

Two other mage characters introduced, Kayneth and Waver... Kayneth is a natural prodigy at magecraft, and acts really harsh and mean towards his student Waver who thinks that hard work and practice matters more than bloodline... Waver steals an artifact from Kayneth to try and summon a servant and prove him wrong...

Kirei summons his servant, Assassin. Then it shows Kiritsugu, Tokiomi, Kariya, and Waver each summoning their servants... Kiritsugu and Irisviel are introduced to Saber.
Kirei... he goes from one path to the next, never completing anything... Kiritsugu wonders what's driving this person and what his goals are...
Kiritsugu... he focuses on killing mages and nothing else... Kirei is puzzled by his actions... neither of them know what the other could want the Holy Grail for...