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Old 06-15-2016, 11:58 AM   #476
Talon87
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 03:

Spoiler: show
In this episode, Ilya and Berserker launch an attack against Teams Saber and Archer.

I enjoyed this episode. ufotable did a good job with the fight. So did Studio Deen. I like parts of each of theirs better.


How fucked up is it that Saber has to fight Ilya!? ^^; That is something which I didn't fully appreciate when first playing through Fate/stay night. I don't know that many people did. Or could have! But after you read or watch Fate/Zero, you have a new and deeper appreciation for Saber's relationship with the Einzberns in War 4, you see her strangely sudden return in War 5 in a whole new light ... You finally realize just how much Saber suffered, how dark, sick, and twisted the corrupted Grail is. To summon a Heroic Spirit with fresh memories of War 4 to the battlefield and to subject her to the barbarous commission of cutting down the daughter of her beloved former master (Irisviel) as well as the daughter of her actual former master (Kiritsugu). And it would be perhaps somewhat easier a pill to swallow if her new master wasn't an Emiya, wasn't on Team Irisviel's Legacy. But he totally is! Shirou is totally on Team Kiritsugu & Iri. It would only be slightly less fucked up were she to have been summoned by Illyasviel and ordered to slay the boy whom Kiritsugu adopted after the war. Nasu's and Gen's tales interweave so brilliantly here. It's just exquisite anguish, such pure ecstasy of despair, to watch poor Saber in this situation. ... This sounds an awful lot like something Kirei would say. ^^; O-o;


Berserker has never been a personal favorite, but I think that mostly has to do with his physical appearance and madness-caused lack of personality. The identity of the Heroic Spirit is a fan favorite, and one who well fits the story premise. In fact, while I tend to feel like the Servants in War 4 were greater than those in War 5, Berserker is the one time where a War 5 Master managed to summon a greater Servant. It fits both the game's originally-conceived story, i.e. in a world where Fate/Zero hadn't been written yet, as well as the greater Nasuverse where we combine the tales of FSN and F/Z into one sprawling narrative. Given who and what Ilya is, it makes sense that she'd summon a Heroic Spirit like Berserker.


ufotable did a great job with this shot. Perfectly encapsulated here are Ilya's ice-cold lack of empathy for human lives, her childish delight, and how she is the spitting image of her mother in child form. Really, really well done. The balance between "I recognize this as Illyasviel" and "I see Child Iri here" is perfect.


Baby birds! :> Ilya and the made-for-TV scene where she uses miniature versions of Mommy's mithril falcon. I thought this was an adorable addition to the canon. It's a little revisionist, but it's good revisionism.


I also liked the made-for-TV scene for highlighting the relevant tactic here of taking out Ilya in light of the seemingly unstoppable Berserker. We just heard it explained at the church about how Masters are targeted by other Masters because it's a lot easier to kill a human than it is to kill a Heroic Spirit. So it was good of ufotable and the UBW 2014 committee to rewrite this scene a little and to have Rin going after Ilya while Saber tries her best to handle Berserker. Having Rin not do this just makes Rin seem dumb. If we're supposed to believe both that Rin is one of the smartest magi in this fight and that Berserker's Heroic Spirit is one of the all-time greats, it only makes sense to have a scene like this one where Rin targets a seemingly defenseless little girl while her big meaty bodyguard is off elsewhere.


Another made-for-TV nod this episode was when Saber laments that she and Berserker can't talk or exchange names. This wasn't something we really saw Saber do much of in FSN, but she always had the personality for it. It was something that Gen capitalized on when writing Fate/Zero, and now it's part of the canon that Saber delights in sharing these details with noble adversaries prior to battle.


Ilya withdrawing from the fight seems like a poor strategic decision. Now that the others know of Berserker's quasi-immortality, they need to be taken out. Withdrawing because Arhcer has "piqued her interest" is questionable. (Spoilers for the end of UBW follow.)

Spoiler: show
She doesn't know that he's Shirou, nor can she. Nor should she care, not even knowing or caring for Shirou yet.

And Archer's power, while impressive, wasn't so impressive as to withdraw over.


The animation is exquisite as always. Some of these shots look cinematic-grade. So many of the CGs from the original game being lovingly reproduced here by a team that has earned a reputation for great drawings.

These next two discussion points are spoilers for the end of UBW.

Spoiler: show

Archer's unsettling grin here is the first of our clear foreshadowings that he's trying to kill Shirou. It's the sort of thing I'd be commenting on like crazy if I were a first-time viewer, I know it!


Caladbolg makes its anime debut. I don't really understand what sets it apart from the numerous other Noble Phantasms he converted into arrows though. Like ... he fashions other swords into arrows and they don't even leave a scratch on Berserker, but he turns Caladbolg into an arrow and it's a fucking nuke. I know it's a legendary sword but isn't the idea that all of Archer's arrows are formed from legendary weapons?


Two final things real quick:

In the ufotable version ... did they just nuke Rin's father's resting place? ^^;

The Bible verse scene with Gilgamesh inside the church. This has to be a made-for-TV scene that is new to UBW 2014. And it totally spells out for the audience that both Kirei and Gil are bad guys. Gil points out that Kirei is mocking the Bible as he reads it with a sneer, Kirei doesn't deny it ... I mean, what more proof do you need that Kirei is both a bogus priest and is evil?
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Old 06-15-2016, 12:22 PM   #477
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C-Bolg:
Spoiler: show
Caladbolg is probably one of the most famous, if not the most famous sword in Irish mythology. Given Nasu's fondness of it its not surprising its given its moment of shine: especially since its the sword of Cu Chulainn's best friend, Fergus mac Roich.

Worth noting that as a Broken Phantasm its level is A+, so its essentially the same power as Rider's Bellerophon and only a grade shorter than Excalibur. It was also known in the lore to be able to destroy landscapes, so its a really powerful sword, compared to something like Beowulf's Hrunting...which is kind of not even Beowulf's main weapon in Fate. ^^;
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Old 06-15-2016, 12:58 PM   #478
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That only partially answers the question, though. If it's enough to say that Caladbolg trumps other Noble Phantasms in power and rank, then why simply doesn't: (spoilers for mid-to-late UBW)

Spoiler: show
Archer use Caladbolg as arrow fodder all the time? I mean, it's already established that what he's doing is conjuring blades from thin air using his mana. "Infinitely many" per the nature of his Reality Marble. Even if one wants to argue, "the greater the rank, the greater the mana he has to spend to attain it," I still don't see why he wastes his time conjuring lower-ranked swords to be converted into arrows all the time when all he needs to do is conjure up one Caladbolg per fight and just end it.
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Old 06-15-2016, 02:17 PM   #479
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Spoiler: show
It's possible that Caladbolg actually requires a ton of mana to create; remember that Archer couldn't actually recreate Excalibur and so using Caladbolg simply is a last resort. He was probably trying to lull Berserker into a state of complacency; Berserker doesn't react to any other of the broken Phantasms because they didn't bear any threat. Or he simply didn't know Berserker was immune to his traditional fare. Who knows what Archer was thinking during that scene.
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Old 06-15-2016, 03:27 PM   #480
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On the one hand, you just repeated my own words back to me.

On the other hand, you bring up a good point about Excalibur, something I had overlooked.

So you're I'm probably right. But I still don't like it.

Last edited by Talon87; 06-15-2016 at 03:34 PM.
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Old 06-15-2016, 05:02 PM   #481
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 04:

Spoiler: show
In this episode, we get a proper introduction of Kuzuki-sensei, it's established that Saber, Fuji-nee, and Sakura will be holding a sleepover at Shirou's for the next few days, Shirou talks with Mitsuzuri after school, and Rin fights animated skeletons.

I thought this episode was fine. Easily the most boring episode of the five I've seen so far, and the one which felt like it had the least happen in it. But I didn't hate it, unlike weekly viewers, I'm sure. I imagine it'd be very frustrating to wait two entire weeks between 03 and 05 because 04 was such a disappointment. For me, it was fine. We're not in any hurry, and it's doing a good job so far of holding newcomers' hands. Basically, ufotable is making sure at all costs that they don't repeat Deen's mistakes with the movie -- even if that means swinging the pendulum too far the other way.


My favorite part of the episode was Sakura's reactions. One, to Saber's existence, two, to the news that Saber would be staying at Shirou's; and three, to Fujimura's assist, to her invitation to Sakura to spend the next few nights at Shirou's too. It's a little hard to believe that Zouken would allow Sakura to do this, but I guess I'll have to revisit Heaven's Feel to see what his justifications for it are, if any. But back to Sakura, it's gently cute to see her anxious reactions to this new beautiful girl standing so close to Senpai. You've got Taiga doing her best to set Sakura up with Shirou, from making Shirou bring her lunch at the dojo (where he will, in her mind, catch a glimpse of the beautiful Sakura letting fly a volley of arrows) to arranging for Sakura to spend the night with Shirou by choosing to spend the night there herself. It's sweet to see Taiga shipping ShiroSaku as the OTP. And it's delightful to see this girl in love fret when a challenger appears. Her anxiety, her jealousy ... That's twice now I've said something that sounds like it would come from Kirei. O-o;


It's nice to have Kuzuki-sensei formally introduced. He first appeared at the start of the series, but he was barely on camera and only there for like a second. Here he features rather prominently in a 30-second scene where he and Saber meet for the first time. Saber assesses that Kuzuki is not a magus nor does he have the smell of blood lingering on him. But she also notes that he is clearly not normal -- his breathing, posture, all of it is too perfect. This scene balances well between titillating returning fans like myself and exciting newcomers who are trying to figure out what's going on.

The episode also gives us a lot of Mitsuzuri. (Spoilers for the game in general. If you've played Fate but not UBW you should still be fine.)

Spoiler: show
If I recall correctly, Mitsuzuri is in the original game about as much as she is in the 2014 anime. But it just feels strange to me how much she keeps showing up, I suppose in part because we know she's neither a magus nor otherwise involved in this war and in part because, relatedly, she's not a major character in the franchise. Even though I know the truth about Mitsuzuri's unimportance to the plot, watching the show I can't help but to keep musing at how lovingly they're animating her and how eerie she sometimes seems to be. "Is she a vampire? Is she a witch?" These thoughts cross my mind ... My mind! Even though I know the truth! I can only imagine that newcomers suspect her to be much more important than she really is, which is why I decided to go ahead and spoiler box this. (Though in retrospect I probably already let the cat out of the bag in my Episode 00 post that she's only a side character. Hmm ...)


I only vaguely recall the skeletal dogs from FSN. I have no memory of a skeletal synapsid. If I'm right and this is an embellishment made by the 2014 production team, then I have to say that this might be one step too far with the Special Edition changes. Like, I get that you want to spruce up the tale and patch any holes in Nasu's writing. But let's not get too carried away with ourselves, huh? If the original story has Rin fighting off skeletal dogs, let's not have her now fighting 30-foot skeletal prehistoric reptiles, shall we? I get that you probably wanted this scene to subtly communicate that (UBW spoiler):

Spoiler: show
Caster's Heroic Spirit belongs to the Age of Gods, but since when did the Age of Gods equal the Age of Dinosaurs?
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Old 06-15-2016, 05:22 PM   #482
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Spoiler: show
Clearly that's a skeleton dragon. Clearly.

No that's actually really odd, and I don't even remember the skeleton dogs. All I remember were the Dragon Tooth Warriors.

>Mitsuzuri
Spoiler: show
But Mitsuzuri is confirmed to be the girl that Rider ends up noming before Shirou steps in, and that's probably what the anime is trying to do: make Mitsuzuri seem like less of a random target and more like someone deliberately nommed.

F/HA Spoilers below though
Spoiler: show
She features a lot more in F/HA, where her relationship with Rider really had me questioning the sexuality between the two of them XD. (Although I think officially its considered something more of a prey/predator thing: the normally more demure Rider teases and toys with Mitsuzuri every chance she gets, while Mitsuzuri clearly recognizes her but doesn't know exactly what to say and just blushes and tries to get away. x3
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Old 06-20-2016, 02:56 AM   #483
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Well..just finished the Fate line of Fate / Stay Night in 21 hours total, getting the TrueEnd, which seems to imply there's either 2 more endings to the Fate line or it means Unlimited and Heaven's Feel.

Spoiler: show

Quite a perfect ending, honestly. Driven to tears, and while I do somewhat wish Shirou and Artoria were reuinited in the end, it works a bit better the way it did. Not sure how I'm going to beat the other two lines, honestly. Tired and choked up right now ha ha.
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Old 06-20-2016, 05:37 AM   #484
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Oh man, if you're in tears now ...!

The true ending is the best ending. There's the true ending, the good ending, and numerous bad endings. You have to achieve the true ending to unlock the next route, so congratulations!
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Old 06-20-2016, 08:22 AM   #485
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Fate only has the True Ending actually, probably to make sure people can get to UBW and HF easier. But the bad endings to exist (and get them all the dojo's are great.)

Spoilers for the Fate ending:
Spoiler: show
It's definitely one of the more emotionally powerful endings in the game. I don't like it as much as I did the UBW and HF true endings, because I like many others wanted to see the happy end between Shirou and Artoria. I wanted to see a Saber that was finally free from her burdens as a king and a knight, and allowed to be whoever she wanted to be. But in the ending, it reminds us that these things just simply aren't possible. You can't change Fate. The scene with Saber and Bedwyr at the end is the best part though, because its clear that its exactly what Saber wants as well, and even though Bedwyr doesn't understand, he tries his best to comfort and console his King as she is dying.

The anime does it a tad differently, and unlike Dopple I don't think its an inferior ending. But that's just my opinion and if you do get around to watching the DEEN anime, I'd like to hear your thoughts on it too.
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Old 06-28-2016, 11:34 AM   #486
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New Update Is Going To Kill Emulators for F/GO

I am super sad about this but if you've ever thought about playing you better get a halfway decent phone.

*spreads sadness and despair at having to be separated from my daughter*
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Old 07-09-2016, 12:17 PM   #487
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Why didn't you people tell me about this?

It's too bad that stupid music was in the background. I wonder if anyone could rip that out.

Naaaaameeeeeeek.
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Old 07-27-2016, 12:28 AM   #488
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Finished Unlimited Bladeworks, finally. Next is Heaven's Feel. Also forgive if this post sends twice or something internet is being evil.

Spoiler: show


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Old 07-27-2016, 10:15 AM   #489
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crys View Post
Finished Unlimited Bladeworks, finally. Next is Heaven's Feel. Also forgive if this post sends twice or something internet is being evil.

Spoiler: show


Cool! Now these two songs will have a completely different meaning for you:

Spoiler: show
BORKED
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zfx8-c63u0Q

BORKED
link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78EKF80QhGo

As always, don't read the comments section. Too many spoilers for Heaven's Feel material that you've not yet reached.

And to be perfectly honest, you're still not done redefining your take on that second song ...
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Old 11-02-2016, 08:47 AM   #490
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Fate / Grand Order is being animated!

From what I can tell, it seems like we're getting the First Order, which is Fuyuki F, in this season. This means that we are going to see Caster Cu! ^.^ Otherwise, it seems like the animation studio is pretty new and so people are wary because of that. The main protag's name is Ritsuka Fujimaru...which makes me wonder if he's part of the Fujimaru clan or not.
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Old 11-02-2016, 10:46 AM   #491
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emi View Post
Fate / Grand Order is being animated!

From what I can tell, it seems like we're getting the First Order, which is Fuyuki F, in this season. This means that we are going to see Caster Cu! ^.^ Otherwise, it seems like the animation studio is pretty new and so people are wary because of that. The main protag's name is Ritsuka Fujimaru...which makes me wonder if he's part of the Fujimaru clan or not.
Quote:
The story is set in the year 2015, during the final era over which magic still held sway.
Does this mean what I think it means? "Magic ceases to be influential/important after the year 2015?" Because I think that's what this sentence is saying. And if that's what it's saying, then I gotta say:

This is why I can't stand and don't get involved with most of the FSN spin-off material.

How fucking stupid is it to reason that in 2004 we've got this entire society of magi who do awesome shit that normal people can only dream of ... and that by 2015 all of those people and all of their powers are no longer relevant because YAY TECHNOLOGY! Oh please. As if technology in 2015 -- the 2015 that we know, that we lived through -- is anywhere near capable of the same feats as those depicted in FSN or Fate/Zero.

This is just stupid. Fuck this "Neo Tokyo" bullshit that always seems to crop up in Japanese games. Fuck this "we gotta go back to 2004! To Fuyuki City!" boring and uninspired crap, like everything has to go back to the time and place of FSN, like we're not allowed to ever explore anywhere else in the world.

The only thing keeping me interested in this at this point is the undeniable hottie that is Scathach:



You bet your ass this is otaku bait.

Take away the hoihoi and what reason do I even have to be interested? It's not Heaven's Feel. It's not Mahoyo. It's not Tsukihime re-make. It's just some one-time animated special for a side game whose bullshit idea for a plot premise is, "In 2015, magic is no longer what it once was. In 2017, mankind perishes. GOTTA USE MAGIC TO GO BACK TO A TIME AND PLACE Y'ALL ARE SICK AND TIRED OF BY NOW! "
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Old 11-02-2016, 01:17 PM   #492
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No literally the world is destroyed at that point by something that's stronger than magi from the Age of the Gods. And if this continues, its not just traveling back to Fuyuki (although this is not the Fuyuki Grail War that happened in F/Z or F/SN), its also traveling to all different points and places in human history.

F/GO has a really strong story and its pretty shitty to see someone instantly dismissing it because of the Prologue. Nasu has done a really good job of this. :/
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Old 11-02-2016, 01:26 PM   #493
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emi View Post
No literally the world is destroyed at that point by something that's stronger than magi from the Age of the Gods. And if this continues, its not just traveling back to Fuyuki (although this is not the Fuyuki Grail War that happened in F/Z or F/SN), its also traveling to all different points and places in human history.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ... Reserved judgment on that. Much better sounding than what it sounded like before.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Emi View Post
Nasu has done a really good job of this. :/
Seemed highly unlikely that Nasu had an active hand in this, so I looked into it. Quoting for others:

Quote:
Staff
Scenario Supervision and Scenario:
Kinoko Nasu

Character Design and Art Direction:
Takeuchi Takashi

Scenario:
Yuuichirou Higashide (Fate/Apocrypha)
Hikaru Sakurai (Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Blue and Silver)

Development: DELiGHTWORKS
Sounds like the script was written by the guy who did Fate/Apocrypha. Not a surprise; Grand Order seems like it's basically Apocrypha again, and the Wikia suggests it is more than that -- it's a reboot of Apocrypha.

Sounds like Nasu, though, was involved heavily with the project. Probably told the Apocrypha script writer what he could and couldn't do. So it's not as though this game doesn't have Nasu's stamp of approval.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Emi View Post
F/GO has a really strong story and its pretty shitty to see someone instantly dismissing it because of the Prologue.
WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU DISMISS A GAME BASED OFF OF WHEN THE PROLOGUE IS ALL YOU HAVE SEEN!?
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Old 11-02-2016, 01:34 PM   #494
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Nasu himself wrote many of the later chapters. If I remember correctly, he wrote London, America, Camelot, and the upcoming Babylon chapter, and from his blog, he sort of treats Grand Order like his baby. xd

And yeah I was probably a little knee-jerk there, so I apologize, but its not the entire story and even then, the Prologue does not really align with F/SN or F/Z at all. For example, the Servants are different and the events that take place are not at all the same.

It's a reboot of the scrapped Fate / Apocrypha game, but outside of that it has virtually nothing to do with F/A's story. F/A had to do with the Greater Grail War in Romania, while F/GO is much more expansive than that.

I don't want to spoil too much preemptively, but I'm pretty sure you know from Skype who the big baddie is. It would be really odd if the F/GO anime stopped here (its a multi-chapter work after all), and because it says "1st Order".
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Old 11-02-2016, 02:10 PM   #495
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I actually don't know who the end-game boss of the story is. I could hazard guesses, but I've little confidence in any of them.

Spoiler: show
● Kotomine Kirei
- except he's dead
- and his game is pretty much F/SN (along with prequel F/Z); he doesn't need to be revisited imo, he's good where he is

● Avenger / Angra Mainyu
- but we already pretty much fully explore this guy in F/HA, from what I understand
- and if we were to take a closer look at him, surely it'd be through a prequel set during the 3rd Grail War and not during a sequel set in 2015/2004

● a Gilgamesh variant
- but what can I really say about this other than "Maybe there's an evil Gil who's behind all this?"

● an alternate timeline Emiya Shirou
- because why not
- also, iirc, there is a Shirou character in one of these games but he's not like the Shirou we know from the original ... maybe that's the other game, though, with the red and the white teams. *shrug* Don't know!

● Merlin
- because I'd really like to see Nasu write about Merlin :>
Spoiler: show

- TOO BAD MY DREAMS ARE CRUSHED BY THE FACT THAT THEY WENT AHEAD AND WROTE MERLIN INTO THIS SHITTY SIDEGAME
- also too bad it looks like Merlin is a Servant and not an end-game character.

● none of the above
- in which case, cool ........................
- .............. except where does that leave me to guess? ^_^;

Part of my frustration, also, is that Nasu is "wasting time" (read: getting filthy richer, tapping into that sweet, sweet mobile market) with more F/SN universe stuff when, not gonna lie, as much as I adore the F/SN universe I'd like to see him branch back out to other properties! Specifically ...

Where is my Mahoyo Part II!?

It's 2016. Mahoyo Part I came out in 2012. It still hasn't been fully translated into English. And there's still no update on whether Nasu has even begun work on Part II or not.

Nasu keeps dragging his feet with the Tsukihime re-do, but if he would've released that by now I am sure we would've had much more vocal demand from the community that he continue his work on Mahoyo. Aozaki Aoko and Aozaki Touko backstory, yes please. You please the Tsukihime fandom with the one, you please the Kara no Kyoukai fandom with the other. And in mine and most fans' cases -- PORQUE NO LOS DOS!?
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Old 11-02-2016, 05:32 PM   #496
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Perhaps because of the Grand Order special episode news, someone's gone and released all of the card art for Grand Order on E-Hentai. (Gallery link here.) Some choice samples:

(Spoilers for Fate/stay night paths, Fate/Grand Order, and even other Kinoku Nasu properties like Kara no Kyoukai are to be found within. Do not click unless you're prepared!)

Spoiler: show


Saber Alter. :>



Gorgeous official artwork of Archer.



Gorgeous official artwork of Gilgamesh.



Waver! >D<



Heeeeeeeeeello! :o And who might you be? (Would guess Scheherazade.)



One of the cool things about this card art is, there are three standard cards for each character and one bonus art card, it seems like. And while sometimes the three standard slots have little to no variance, sometimes they allow Takeuchi to depict the character in different and significant ways. Here we have Caster, who with the simple addition/removal of her bonnet and the tying up / letting loose of her hair goes from being the evil magus we all knew and feared in FSN UBW to being the I-wanna-be-Souichirou-sama's-housewife lady in love we all adored. :3



I think I remembered who the end-game boss is ... :p



Wait, Prisma Illya? :o



And Shiki!? What's going on here!?



So this is what Takeuchi's been doing! Instead of working on Mahoyo 2 or Tsukihime Re-Do, he's been working on card art for Fate/Grand Order!
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Old 11-02-2016, 05:54 PM   #497
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>Talon

Spoiler: show
The dancer girl is actually Mata Hari aka Margaretha Geertruida "Margreet" MacLeod aka one of the weakest Servants in existence. I'm pretty certain she doesn't show up at all in the story so its not a real spoiler.

There have been a number of crossover events in F/GO, including one for Prism Illya, Fate / Zero, and Kara no Kyoukai.
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Old 11-02-2016, 08:43 PM   #498
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>Talon With all due respect, no e-hentai links please. Even if that one page is safe, that site has content on it easily not for all the many ages of people who use UPN. There are ads which make even skimming that page not completely safe either.


Spoiler: show
Fate / Kaleidoscope is hilarious though. Top notch cards, nice of you to link them. Apparently there's another season of the anime as well. I might have to pop in on it.

Also trying to get into f/go for the third time. Let's see how this goes ha ha.
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Old 11-02-2016, 08:56 PM   #499
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 05:

Spoiler: show
So.

... I have watched this episode more times than I care to acknowledge. I fell into the trap that has damned so many other anime runs over the past few years -- Barakamon, Nourin, Suisei no Gargantia's re-watch, Prisma Illya 2wei, just to name a few -- the trap of caring too much to make a flashy, anime magazine article-style post about an episode and then end up never posting because LE EFFORT and I have other responsibilities in life that take up so much time as it is.

Well, while I was working on one of those responsibility, I put Episode 05 on in the background. It was the first time I've had it on in the background, but was probably the sixth or seventh time overall I've watched the episode from start to finish. (I told you -- more times than I'd care to acknowledge.) Then just now, I put it on in the background AGAIN while continuing work on the same thing as before. The episode just ended. And I decided, "Alright, hey -- how about we just post?"

Saying it right now -- going forward, there will probably not be much in the way of images or "essay-style writing". Not intentionally, anyway. If the writing flows essay-like, then it flows essay-like. So be it. And I'd like to at least have a header image for each episode, but we'll see. That's not a necessity.

Also saying it right now -- the reality is that I have the entire show at my disposal and I hate, hate, hate having to pause myself to write up an unbiased thoughts post before I can move on to the next episode. So, while it is with slightly heavy heart, I'll go ahead and say right now -- brace for some "lost episode posts" of sorts. I'll still be discussing the entire show. But I won't commit to an episode-by-episode post-by-post approach. Sometimes an episode will get an entire post to itself. Other times, it'll have to share.


Episode 05 would've been one such episode. This was easily the worst episode of the six I've seen so far. Not bad! Not bad! (Or I should sure hope not, not if I managed to watch it six or seven different times over the course of as many months ...!) But this was the first episode to feel like, "Ah, we've hit a pause." Or like, "Ah, we've taken our foot off the gas some." The previous episodes were each filled with so much excitement and plot development. This episode ... it has a lot of the same, recipe-wise? But it doesn't feel the same. It feels dilute compared with its predecessors. It's like a thin, watery soup that doesn't sate your appetite. It's a bridge episode, connecting 0-4 (prologue/Ch.1) to the episodes which immediately follow. In that sense, I can see why it might've been a disappointment back when the show was airing one episode a week on television.

But I enjoyed the episode nonetheless. From Rin's disgust with Shirou's Servant-less arrival at school to the implication that Shinji is murdering students to Shirou and Rin renewing their alliance (or as Rin would insist, truce) to the debut of Rider in all her ufotable goodness, the episode provides a lot to enjoy, both visually and narratively.

I also really enjoyed the minor touch-ups that pay service to Fate/Zero, itself a major touch-up to Fate/stay night. Specifically, I enjoyed the scene at the end of the episode where Shirou explains his situation to Rin and how Rin takes it. It's a familiar scene from the game, but there is some subtlety now to the dialogue and visuals which inevitably make Fate/Zero fans think back on how Kiritsugu and Tokiomi behaved in the 4th Grail War (and, in Kiritsugu's case, the years after). If we can expect similar touch-ups to Tsukihime if and when we should ever get the Tsukihime do-over, that will be good.

Spoilers for pretty deep into UBW territory. Safest to click after you know the full plot:

Spoiler: show
It's remarkable to see in action what the visual novel only provides in text and asks us to imagine. Much of the time what is shown matches the intensity of what I imagined from the words, but still: seeing Shirou [i]actually go toe-to-toe with a Servant time and time again really makes you appreciate the foreshadowing that he himself is a Hero in the making. It would be stupid if Rider couldn't handle a mere high school boy. Shirou even remarks as much. But the blow is softened knowing full well that this is no mere "boy."
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Old 11-03-2016, 11:24 AM   #500
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Unlimited Blade Works Episodes 06 & 07:

Spoiler: show
Together, these episodes were entertaining. I enjoyed re-experiencing the story, and was even taken for a few minor surprising turns here or there. Individually, I can start to see why fans who watched the television broadcast accused the show of being paced a little too slowly and of having way too much dialogue.

The talking, I don't personally have a problem with. I understand it's a big complaint for a lot of anime fans, but I don't mind it when an anime is dialogue-heavy and characters just stand around not moving or anything. That stated, even I noticed it. And even I started to feel a little suffocated by it in early Episode 06 when Archer and Shirou are just standing on the road to Shirou's house doing nothing but talking.

The pacing, that's a different animal. While I do share in having a problem with it, like a lot of fans seem to have had, at the same time I feel like it really can't be helped. As someone who's played the visual novel before, I recognize that ufotable is trying to leave as little of the game on the cutting room floor as possible. I also realize that there is a lot left on the cutting room floor.1 That doesn't change the fact that the episodes feel awkwardly paced, with bursts of action punctuating long stretches of exposition. And even the action itself is punctuated by yet more exposition! But that's exactly how the visual novel reads. And in a novel, I think it makes much more sense. Each "chapter", poorly demarcated, consists of a long stretch of plot development followed by a climactic finish with action and the most important exposition. Taken together, Episode 06 represents that long, unbroken expo&dialogue phase while Episode 07 represents the climactic finish with the most crucial exposition tossed in. But taken separately, Episode 06 can be a slog (and a disappointment, I'm sure, to weekly viewers) while even Episode 07 is noticeably "bogged down" by these weird micro-spurts of action interrupted every so often by yet more talking. Again, I think it works just fine in a novel. In a novel, you're used to lots of narration accompanying action. Hell, it's how the action is conveyed! But in the visual medium, I guess that suddenly Nasu's writing style is revealed for what it is -- and what it is, I guess, doesn't work terribly well on screen. It requires editing. Deen tried but upset fans. Ufotable refrained for fear of backlash and produced what we're watching now. It's kinda sad. And in its own way, kind of amusing too. "The fans made their bed, and now they have to sleep in it," I guess you could say of the ufotable anime.

1 A great example of this is Assassin's identity. Episode 06 has him introduce himself as Sasaki Kojirou. Episode 07 has him reveal that that's not his real name. But it's so quick that, unless you've played the visual novel before, you probably either missed it or caught it but didn't understand what he was saying. And he doesn't explain it. Saber doesn't pursue it. It's a single, solitary off-hand comment about how he's a "nameless swordsman" -- even though he previously introduced himself as the legendary Sasaki Kojirou -- and on we continue. Whereas of course in the visual novel, this is a big point for exploration. The idea that Assassin isn't even really the Heroic Spirit of Sasaki Kojirou, but that he's instead some no-name Japanese swordsman who deeply admired the legendary Sasaki and who has been summoned into the 5th Holy Grail War in the likeness of Kojirou.


Enough with the art analysis! Let's talk the episodes! I enjoyed 06 fine. I enjoyed 07 slightly more. I had expected to be more excited by 07 than I actually was. When I played the game, this scene was one of the first of many exciting scenes to come. I think that's because it's one of the first new scenes to someone who hasn't played the visual novel before but has seen the Studio Deen anime. A battle between Archer and Caster at Ryuudou Temple ... Caster's aerial attack involving the use of True Magic ... The war of words between Archer and Shirou ... and ultimately Archer's attempt on Shirou's life ... All of it is very exciting when you play the game for the first time, but for some reason my excitement level here was only like an 8/10. Still good! But not at full capacity like it was when I played UBW years ago.

I'm pretty sure it's not the first time we've heard it, but Episode 07 provides the first massively clear case of Shirou's vs. Archer's ideals. The idea that Shirou wants to save everybody, i.e. effectively he wants to become the superhero that Kiritsugu could not, whereas Archer believes that in order to save a life you must give up a life, that sacrifices have to be made. Shirou isn't willing to accept Archer's worldview, considering it cruel, whereas Archer considers Shirou a naive fool. Pay attention to this, first-time viewers! It'll be important as we go forward throughout the series.

I believe this is the scene (Episode 07) where it's revealed for the very first time in the game that Assassin was summoned by Caster. I know the Deen anime revealed it too, but I'm pretty sure that in the Fate path it's not clearly revealed. We know they're allied, insofar as Kojirou is standing guard on the stairs leading into Ryuudou Temple. But we're not told outright, "Caster summoned her own Servant in the form of Assassin. A Servant is another Servant's Master in this war." That comes here, in Episode 07. A fun surprise for you first-timers, I'm sure.

Sasaki Kojirou's famous tsubame gaeshi. I didn't know much about it when I first watched the Deen anime, and yet even back then it was everywhere -- I'd seen it in The Prince of Tennis, and I soon saw it somewhere else. Now, years later, I can't even begin to number all the times I've heard tsubame gaeshi being referenced. While it still sort of makes me roll my eyes at Nasu that he opted to make a samurai one of the seven original Heroic Spirits when there are so many other greater, more legendary heroes in global culture, I have to admit that the tsubame gaeshi has left a deep impression on the Japanese consciousness, that to not include such a legendary attack in this story about legendary historical warriors would be insane coming from a Japanese writer.

Lots of subtle hints in this episode about future developments. Nothing I can really say without spoiling first-time viewers, so into the spoiler box we go! Don't click if you haven't beaten or seen UBW already!

Spoiler: show
Archer kicking Shirou as if to retaliate when Shirou claims he doesn't need to be protected, when in fact he's legitimaetly kicking the boy out of harm's way because he senses Caster's impending spatial imprisonment attack ...

Archer making as if to kill Shirou with his sword, only to expertly slice the boy in such a manner that it would prove fatal without medical attention but is sure to not be fatal provided Saber's ministrations (and the help of Avalon!) ...

Caster remarking on how similar Archer and Shirou are ...

As for surprises, as I had mentioned there had been a couple ...

While I hadn't remembered that Mitsuzuri falls victim to Shinji between Episodes 04 and 05, once reminded of this I hadn't remembered that she survives either. Episode 06 had to tell me she did.

I misremembered Episode 07 being the scene where:

Spoiler: show
Spoilers through, if I had to roughly guess, Episode 17 or so of the anime? Not exactly sure. Click at your own risk.

Spoiler: show
Archer teams up with Caster.

and thus was surprised when it didn't happen.

I didn't recall Archer's attack on Shirou.

I didn't recall Shirou being taken to Ryuudou Temple in the dead of night by Caster and her strings.
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