First of all, yes, I am still watching this in case anyone was wondering!
Secondary, what is God’s name happened during that break between the 1st and the 2nd half of this series?! I don’t know if it is I that changed in that break but the 2nd half has been so disappointing to me that it almost looks like two completely different series!
Actually, I wasn’t really that satisfied with the first 13 episodes which I guess explains why I was so looking forward to this second because I thought things would be picking up to blow me away! Not gonna lie, this is because I was totally spoiled by Fate/Zero!
Now, some might argue, and they might be truthful when they say I was only disappointed due to the lack of GayRin but let’s be honest here, the action totally sucked! There was no awe at all like how Fate/Zero blew us away! And this has nothing to do with the fact that we have seen it before so the wow factor is gone! No, this season plain sucks! I don’t think I have watched an episode in its entirety without skipping this second half, no kidding!
Complaining? Hey, I waited all this time to finally voice my thoughts so let me pent up a little bit! To think that Rin is no longer even remotely bi in this series! Seriously she is so straight that even Death the Kid would feel embarrassed at how straight she is! She even got Saber as her servant FFS!!! This fact and the action are the reasons why I still have that UBW movie on my HDD and I was so very looking forward to having another yurigasm when Rin finally got Saber but it was just like eating a chicken meal – just another meal! No gay moment to be seen anywhere meanwhile so much straight Rin everywhere! Arg!
Sakura, where the hell is she? The three stooges, where are they?! Taiga-sensei – who the hell is that even?! So much talking and no action! Seriously there is so much talking this second half you won’t even believe it! How can one fall asleep during a 20 min watch?
But there is a reason why I chose this moment to finally write about this series that has to be the biggest disappointment to me in the history of my anime life! It’s so bad that now I just get an episode as routine and it takes me less than 6 minutes watching them depending on the length of the action (Or Gil-sama screen time!).
Yes, Gil-sama being awesome gave me that jolt that I have missed so greatly! Archer is dead and I don’t even feel anything for him! But as I already mentioned, Lancer replaced Archer in the Servant ranks and I was sad but kind of happy too because Lancer had a great moment! He is a true hero! He deserves all the screen time instead of these emo Fakers! But I am getting distracted here…
I swear to the one and only God when I saw EA I completely lost it! I don’t even know why! I saw it in Fate/Zero but for some reason I completely forgot about it! Even when I saw the God Key I was like ‘What is that? What is the King of Heroes’’ up to and then BAM! My boredom with this series has all but been erased! That EA, it really does cut anything – mass, time even the damn feels! The look of terror on Shitrous’ face was darn delicious too…
That moment when you know you’re inferior fucked!
And he wasn’t even the target yet he was knocked out cold! Not only was he not the target but Gil used but a portion of EA’s power! Hell, he didn’t even swing his arm at all, that King of Heroes Awesome!
EXCALIBUR!
Tohsaka-Saber swaggering through Tsubame Gaeshi like a Boss!
Finally, after ages of noSaber we finally get her in action and guess what, 99% talk 1% action! Seriously, is this the uFotable we all know and love or did someone evade the headquarters and has the whole crew under suppression?!
Any way, Tohsaka Saber is infinitely more awesome than Emiya Saber! And it goes without even saying as well but Tohsaka Gil-sama is also awesomer than Kotomine Gil-sama! The only reason that Fate Saber was that awesome was because she was emotionally Iris’s servant! No one knows it but her contract with Kiri was only a connection for her and Iris!
Any way knowing all that the way they made very little use of Saber grinds me to no end! And now instead of finally getting the fight of Kings we are instead going to get the Faker not even worth of being in the presence of Gil-sama pull his asshax because there is no frikking way he should be able to beat Gil-sama! And Saber drunk on Rin’s mana would be the greatest opponent to hell with this UBW is GoB’s weakness bulcrap! Only Excalbur (especially one powered by Rin) can stand up to Enuma Elish! Instead Rin had to split her mana pool just because…Ah sorry Gil-sama, there goes the excitement you managed to birth from me!
Looking forward to next week a little bit!
Ja
June 14, 2015 at 07:37
There really should’ve been more battles in this series. When I think of the highlights of the first half, I think of battles like the one with Archer, Saber and Berserker. But the second half has really started to drag with all this uber-serious talking that never got anywhere fast. I had hoped that the 23rd episode would already start with wall-to-wall action but even now when it has been established who does what and to whom the series still gives Gilgamesh this speech that we already heard a few episodes ago (but now it adds a flashback to make the speech even longer!). Hopefully at least the next episode will deliver more action and less boring talking.
June 14, 2015 at 17:42
Sup M0rg0th, welcome and thanks for commenting.
I agree! With the amount of battles in the 1st half, you would think that things would be getting more crazy in the second but alas! It is almost like they were flipped on their sides and this is actually the first half judging by how incredibly boring it is!
Only reason I even came back to talk about this was because Gil-sama brought back the excitement of battle but we all know how long that lasted!
Seriously ufotable…
June 14, 2015 at 18:39
I wish this series would focus more on the action. Mostly because ufotable’s art- and animation-style for the battle-scenes is great! But F/SN can get really talky. Especially since its approach to its world-building is very “nuts-and-bolts”-y at times instead of making it seem mysterious.
Gilgamesh is a lame villain-character in this series but tonally he’s perfect as an antagonist in an action-series. His personality is so over-the-top that all the thematic stuff simply becomes unimportant because of how obvious his personality is. You just need to hear one line from this guy and you already know more than enough about what kind of person he is. But it shows how the direction and script-writer of this series took F/SN’s story far too serious and felt the need to give him these long speeches about why he wants to destroy the world (or at least he assumes that only the best of humanity will survive such an apocalypse). Gilgamesh isn’t a character that has to say a lot, he’s like a Bond-Villain in this series who just sits in his chair being untouchable until the finale where the hero finally gets his chance to confront him. And it isn’t like Shirou has anything worthwhile to say about Gilgamesh’s goals anyway.
And as an aside… I already liked this episode 0 which had focused on Rin as the protagonist because Rin as a protgaonist was a nice change of pace from the other two anime-adaptations of F/SN. But if you go all the way with the alternative route, I think, it would be really interesting to see Rin as a protagonist whose primary Servant is Saber. With Shirou you get the usual heterosexual romance-subtext of Saber learning to admire Shirou and Shirou proving his strength and capability to Saber. Creating some sort of dynamic between Rin and Saber certainly would be more interesting.
June 14, 2015 at 19:06
I hear you about that prologue episode. Actually that was all I played for the games. I stopped at the prologue with Rin and after that I just knew nothing was worth my while.
Would it kill them to change things and keep the series in Rin’s perspective? Then again at the very least this time around the show was less through emoya’s eyes than I was expecting. Imagine having to listen to all his thoughts through the episodes…arg!
I think Gil-sama is only as interesting as his opponents. Like you remember in Fate/Zero? He was exchanging blows with three other Kings and formidable Servants and you could see he was serious but this time around, if I were him I would be the same way to tell the truth.