Fate/stay night ep.11

March 18, 2006 | 31 Comments

This is a fantastic episode that is full of battles and light on talk. I'm also quite impressed with Shinji's VA, who is capable of bringing various kinds of emotion, into his character. It's amazing to think that this is the same VA who voices Takemoto on Honey and Clover. Anyone who has seen that series will know that Takemoto is an all around good guy and his voice couldn't be more different from that of Shinji's. I am also very interested in the soundtrack now after hearing some of the scores that have been used within the series. The one that appeared during a major battle in this episode is one of my favourite. I think the same score was used during Archer vs. Lancer fight back in the second episode. Another favourite score was the one used when Saber appeared for the first time from her magic sphere. I think that particular score has this wistful note that matches well with Saber's personality and background story.

The episode opens with Shirou continuing his training with Saber. Rin is surprised to see Saber exchanging blows with Shirou for 3 straight hours without a single expression on her face. Terminator Saber explains to Rin that when one holds a sword, that person may have to withold any kind of emotion that he/she may have. Upon hearing this Rin wonders if this has something to do with the fact that Saber is a swordwoman. Since female's physique is inferior, Rin wonders if their emotions need to be tougher. Saber denies this and claims that she does not regard herself as a woman. This is because she came to this era to fight and therefore she believes that thinking about gender is meaningless. There is some kind of meta-feminist theme here but since I'm not the expert on this, I don't think I'm going to talk about this further. Shirou, however, looks kind of disturbed when he hears this from Saber.

Rin, however, looks as if she's going to practice what she learnt from Saber. So she approaches Shirou and tells him that the next one is her lesson. When Shirou claims that he's having a break, Rin manhandles him and drags the poor guy out of the dojo. She then orders him to strengthen the lamps as usual much to his chagrin. And just to ensure that she covers all bases, Rin has provided no less than 48 lamps. Rin, however, is surprised when she enters the shed and finds some cookery and cutlery looking as if they've been turned into metal by Shirou. She asks Saber if she's aware of this but Saber claims she's not Mage. Rin tells her that Shirou is not a Mage either. Magic requires equivalent substitution. In Shirou's case, he creates something out of nothing. At the same time, Shirou is in the middle of practicing his magic with the lamps when all of a sudden he gets a phone call from Shinji asking him to come to the school alone.

Shirou foolishly agree to come to the school but when he arrives there, he suddenly feels a heavey chest pain. Upon looking out of the window, he realises that the entire school has been enveloped by a kekkai. Shirou then realises that an entire class also suffers from the same condition. Shinji then appears and tells Shirou that he is basically bitter of Shirou and Rin's partnership. When Shirou asks Shinji to stop this, he mocks Shirou by telling him that it seems Shirou is similar to Fujimura-sensei, who not long ago was asking Shinji to call ambulance. Shinji, however, kicked her face instead. Shirou becomes angry to hear this and asks Shinji to release the kekkai. When Shinji refuses, Shirou charges towards Shinji. In retaliation, Shinji unleashes a magic spell from a book but thanks to Saber's training, Shirou manages to withstand its attack. Before Shirou can reach Shinji, however, Rider appears and begins to attack Shirou with her weapon.

While Rider's weapon manages to hurt Shirou, it seems she can't use it to kill him. Because of this, Rider decides to kick Shirou out of the window so that he'll plummet down into the ground. In his desperation, Shirou uses his command seal to summon Saber and the Servant appears just in time before Shirou turns into a splattering goo. Shirou tells Saber that they don't have the time for explanation because everyone's life is in danger. Shirou even asks if he needs to use another command seal so that Saber will follow his instruction but Saber tells him that it's unnecessary. Because of this, Saber goes one on one with Rider while Shirou goes after Shinji. Shinji tries to get Rider to help him but his plea is ignored by the Servant so he has no choice but to run away. In his attempt to escape, Shinji unleashes additional magic force towards Shirou. Shirou stops and picks up a broom then uses his strengthening magic to turn the broom into a metal bar.

Shirou then manages to cast off the magic force very easily using the iron, shocking Shinji in the process. Shirou finally manages to catch Shinji and as he squeezes Shinji's neck, he asks the other guy to deactivate the kekkai. Shinji thinks that Shirou can't possibly have the heart to kill him. However, Shirou tells him that even though both he and Shinji are only half-mage, Shirou has always been prepared to kill another magician due to his father's advice. As Shirou's grip tightens around Shinji's neck, Shinji screams to Rider, asking her to deactivate the Blood Fort spell. Despite her reluctance, Rider ends up deactivating the kekkai. Shirou, however, is still not satisfied and orders Shinji to hand over his command seal. Much to Saber's surprise, however, Rider breezes in through her defence so she can protect Shinji from Shirou. Saber quickly runs towards Shirou warning him that Rider is going to unleash the magic that she has gathered using the kekkai.

True enough, Rider suddenly stabs her own neck spluttering blood all over the place. The blood then forms a red seal before releasing a bright light that is accompanied by two white wings. The light then destroys the entire floor although Saber and Shirou manage to survive through the explosion. Shirou then passes out due to overuse of his power and dreams of the time when he was saved by his father. Shirou wakes up and thanks a blushing Rin for taking care of him again. Rin then tells Shirou that everyone in school is okay although some has to be taken to hospital. Shirou then decides to visit Saber in the dojo, who chews him out for going off on his own as usual. This time, however, Shirou sincerely apologises and promises not to do this again. Having said that, he'll still fight alongside Saber. The episode then ends with Rin asking Saber why she wears that simple white shirt. Saber smiles tenderly and much to Shirou's surprise, tells Rin that the reason is because Shirou once said that the shirt suits her well.

Impression:

There is no word to describe how excited I was when I saw Saber and Rider confrontation. But unfortunately, as usual the fight was very short and saved mostly due to the great soundtrack. I think the soundtrack did help in making the fight a lot more grander and longer than it really was. I was, however, quite happy to see Shirou and Shinji's fight. Shirou seems to have gone more powerful by the minute and the way he shakes off those black magic was way cool. It was great the way he showed a slightly darker personality, which reminds me of what he would become in the future. I am not too sure though about Saber's character development, which seems to have gone from a seemingly cold killing machine to someone who looks as if she's a teenager in love. It felt as if there is a missing information in between but that will probably be dealt with on next week's episode. This, however, will make Shirou's love life more complicated.

Preview:

On next week's episode: While Rider is busy showing some tongue to knife action, Shirou and Saber look like they are on hot date. At the same time, Sakura looks out of her window thinking what kind of a weapon she should use to kill the other girls.

© memento 2003