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ファイト／ステイナイト 
It's been a while since this series shows an interesting fight but this episode manages to do just that. The battle is actually exciting and full of surprising revelation. And on top of this, Shirou finally grows up as a character and starts taking actions in order to achieve things that he wants to achieve. But with all of the surprises finally being laid to rest, it's clear that this series is finally on its way to completion. At this point in time, I don't think the anime will introduce other surprising elements to the storyline. I suspect that the next 2 episodes will simply deal with the latest enemy while the last one will probably be used to wrap up the series and shows what happens to the characters a few years later.
The episode begins with Saber asking Shirou to run away but much to her surprise, he pushes her back and tells her that the one who has to run away is her. He then runs towards the mysterious Servant with the intention of fighting him. The Servant, however, simply smiles and flicks his fingers. In an instant, Shirou stops on his tracks because something has pierced his chest. Saber becomes angry upon seeing this and screams "Archer" as she proceeds to attack the other Servant. Much to her surprise, her attack is blocked by several swords around the mysterious Servant. The Servant then decides to show off his full power and with this, he materialises his golden armour as well as his Noble Phantasm, Gate of Babylon. All of a sudden, Saber is being attacked by multiple invisible blades. When Saber manages to block the attack, the mysterious Servant produces a Scythe and proceeds to pierce Saber's hand and neck with it.
Despite this Saber still has the power to stand up again and asks the Servant about his identity. The Servant arrogantly tells her that he comes from an olden time, a time when the world was ruled by one King. Saber is shocked to hear this but the Servant confirms her guess by saying that he is the heroic King of a Uruk Kingdom, Gilgamesh. Because of this Gilgamesh thinks that Saber can't possibly defeat him. Saber becomes angry upon hearing this and tells Gilgamesh that she won't know until she tries. With that said, she powers up her sword to unleash Excalibur. Unfortunately for her, Gilgamesh also draws a special sword and powers up his own Noble Phantasm, Enuma Elish. The two Noble Phantasms clash in the air before Enmu Elish nullifies Excalibur and defeats Saber. Saber ends up being thrown a couple of feet away from Shirou and is now seen laying on the ground looking lifeless in her own pool of blood.
While Gilgamesh is cackling in the background, Saber tells Shirou that she's lost and therefore urges him to run away. Shirou, however, refuses to do this and instead creates a replica of Caliburn to fight Gilgamesh. Unfortunately for him, Gilgamesh produces a sword which he claims to be the origin of Caliburn and uses it to slices Shirou and destroys his Caliburn replica. Saber asks 'Archer' to stop but he will only do so if she'll become his posession. Shirou, however, will have none of this and stands up once more, asking Saber to ignore Gilgamesh. Saber attempts to tell the guy that it's futile for him to fight Gilgamesh and she doesn't want him to die. But Shirou tells Saber that he loves her and she is the only thing that he wants. Because of this, he won't give Saber up to Gilgamesh. As soon as he says this, Shirou uses his imaging skill and remembers what Archer said about his stronger form. He then activates all magic circuit in his body and produces a tower of light.
The tower of light eventually recedes, leaving a bright triangular shape light in front of Shirou. Saber immediately recognises the light as her sword sheath, Avalon. Because of this, she runs over to his side and together with Shirou, puts Excalibur inside Avalon. At the same time, Gilgamesh's Enuma Elish heads towards the two but the attack is reflected by the sheath back to Gilgamesh. The attack injures Gilgamesh a bit and he decides to retreat for now. As soon as he disappears, Shirou collapsed but Saber manages to catch him. She then softly whispers to him that she finally understands that Shirou is her sheath. While Shirou is unconscious, he gets to see another one of Saber's flashbacks. Back then, Saber was fighting a female warrior who asked her why she won't hand over the throne. In response, Saber told her enemy that the reason is because she is not fit to be a King. As soon as she said this, Saber slices her enemy while she gets stabbed by a sword.
The enemy then calls Saber "Father" and her mask fell over, revealing a face similar to Saber's. The scene then dissolves into a shot of a dying Saber kneeling on top of a ground as well as a quick flash of a grave. Shirou then wakes up from his dream and finds himself completely healed. The scene, however, shows flashes of what seems to be the inside of his body, which is now full of thousand blades. Saber then comes into the room and lets Shirou knows that she's recovering as well. However, they are aware that Gilgamesh will return to finish his job. Saber, however, thinks that in order to obtain the Holy Grail, they have no choice but to face him. Shirou wonders if Saber still wants to redo her past again but Saber refuses to answer his question and instead chose to cook for him. Unfortunately, Saber can't even cut vegetables without looking like a butcher so Shirou decides to teach her the finer points of peeling union while holding her from behind. Shirou then asks Saber to stop her from trying to change the selection of King in her past.
He thinks that she's accomplished enough and asks her to stay here with him after the Holy Grail is over. Saber tries to avoid the conversation by walking away from Shirou but he follows her and hugs her tightly. Saber tells Shirou that as someone who has seen her past, he should have known her answer. She can't be free until her responsibility is over. When Saber cries, Shirou decides to lean over and kiss her. Despite Saber's attempt to resist him, she eventually gives in to his kiss. The next day, when Shirou is on his way to see Kotomine, he remembers how Saber told him inside a room that her mana has return to her so that means she can fight again as his Servant. Inside the church, Shirou can't find anyone but he suddenly senses something and hears the crying of a little girl. When he checks the basement, Shirou finds a bunch of corpses. Kotomine then surprises him from behind causing Shirou to step back. This, however, gives Lancer a chance to stab him with a spear.
Impression:
I've never been Shirou/Saber fan so unfortunately their pairing here kind of makes me feel a bit annoyed. It's mostly because I don't see what makes them attracted towards each other. It's true that Saber is the embodiment of many good values that Shirou upholds. But for some reason, I just don't feel the chemistry between the two. On the interesting front, Shirou seems to undergo some interesting changes in this episode. First of all, he managed to produce Avalon, Saber's Excalibur sheath. I think this is one of the point that shows how the anime expects its viewer to have a little bit of a background about the game or at least have read a little bit about it. Because without the knowledge, a viewer will probably get confused as to why Shirou managed to summon Avalon to begin with when he had never seen its shape or form beforehand. On the plus side, the animation that accompanies the summoning of the artefact was quite good. And it was nice to see Gilgamesh eating his own attack.
The most interesting development in this episode, however, is Shirou's slow transformation into Archer. Those who have paid attention will notice that when Shirou realises that he's healed, there are flashes of thousands blades in what is possibly Shirou's body. This makes me wonder if the anime will actually show Shirou's realisation that he's slowly turning into Archer. Another development included in this episode is related to Saber and the female warrior who fought against her. It's hard not to feel a bit confused when the said female warrior actually called Saber "Father". While the explanation for this can be found in the discussion below, the gender role in Fate/stay night, especially in regards to Saber's true identity is quite difficult to comprehend. I also wonder if something more will emerge out of this development or if this is something purely intended as a fanservice for those who follows the game's storyline closely.
Preview
On next week's episode: Boo, Gilgamesh is still alive. If Avalon doesn't work on him, what could possibly work? A rock on top of his head?
That other warrior Saber fought in the past was none other than MORDRED.
He/She/It even calls her "father.."
Yes, Saber killed her own son/daughter/child/whatever
Mordred... the bastard child of Saber x Morgana commiting incest!
There's almost no indication of Mordred in the game, so methinks this character is Deen's effort to hint at Black Saber from Heaven's Feel. A pity True Assassin does not get the same treatment.
How can Saber has a child? I thought she's some kind of a spirit? If that was a flashback then it doesn't make more sense.
So Avalon didn't work? Gee...I wonder how they are going to kill Gil.
*cough* *wheeze*
It was Mordred. Check the credits.
She's listed as Mordred.
Duh. But Modred isn't game-canon, so why Deen put "her" in a Saber flashback is subject to speculation. She's probably a simple nod to Black Saber.
Mordred was mentioned in the game. Just never shown.
btw... I forgot to comment on this
http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/images/fate/staynight21epi2.jpg
I am the bone of my sword. I have created over a thousand blades...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordred
Mordred or Modred (Welsh: Medraut) is a legendary figure of Britain, known in Arthurian legend as a notorious traitor who fought King Arthur at the Battle of Camlann, where he was killed and Arthur fatally wounded. Tradition varies on his relationship to Arthur, but he is best known today as Arthur's illegitimate son by his half-sister Morgause. In earlier literature, he was considered Morgause (Anna)'s legitimate son with her husband King Lot of Orkney. His brothers or half-brothers are Gawain, Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth.
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What this series, F/SN, has proved is that most Japanese have very misguided notions concerning most of legends from outside of Japan.
I think I need to say this to further explain my statement. Most Americans, Chinese, or Koreans that I know of either knows what you might consider more 'authentic' stories from various legends or not know them at all. In this Fate series and in many other statements from various Japanese literature, many legends are mentioned but majority of them gets the details wrong or from a source that is recognized as wrong due to bad translations,personal bias, or lack of credible data at the time of compilation. Too often people rely on Bulfinch's Mythology which was published in 1855, before there was serious study of mythology, and also before the discovery of Troy, in which Bulfinch deliberately changed many details to suit his taste. He got so many things wrong concerning various Asian Mythologies, including Japanese and Chinese, I am somewhat shocked that Japanese were not offended enough to not use Bulfinch as their resource.
I really think Shirou needs to use UBW, and soon - although at least we know he can manifest Avalon now that all his circuits are running.
Of course, now Saber and Shirou have to deal with Kotomine and Lancer... and I suspect they're doing the full Fate scenario, now. Which means good things for Rin... at least in theory. :D
Amplification
About saber
In this story, Arthur was "women".
Her true name is "Artoria".
But the former king did't have son.
She concealed that it is a woman,and became a king as a man.
She doesn't age by her Sheath'power.
About Mordred
Artoria'son.
Artoria often became a man by Merlin'magic.
Mordred is Artoria's true son.
Artoria is Mordred's true "father".
>What this series, F/SN, has proved is that most Japanese have very misguided notions concerning most of legends from outside of Japan.
I'm sure Kinoko Nasu had a grasp of the original myths; but, like Bulfinch, he changed the legends to suit *his* tastes. Looking at Medusa's biography, it's safe to assume Nasu gave the Arturian mythology a bit more of a spin than simply the "Saber is a girl" device, but it's likely we'll never know.
And the supporting characters fade into the dark...
>> And the supporting characters fade into the dark...
I don't like this either but it can't be helped since the anime seems to be heading towards 'Fate' ending. That ending puts its focus mostly on Shirou and Saber. I think in general you can say that 'Fate' is about Shirou and Saber's relationship, 'Unlimited Blade Works' is about Shirou and Rin's relationship, and 'Heavenly Feel' is about Shirou and Sakura's relationship.
I would love to see Gil beat Shirou and have it end that way. Gil is like 100x more awesome and way cooler.
Ok, This seems to be a good show, well anyways...On your comment that said about Shirou and Saber not making chemistry, they are actually. -.-; Well, Saber is like the more stubborn, fighter, serious type. ( I can go on about her personality, but too much to write) And Shirou is more like the kind, kind of understanding and more like the non-serious attitude like Saber. Their both complete opposites, but you the old saying says, "opposites attract to each other" so yeah, it was obvious from the start that they would be with eachother. That's my point pfd view, is different from yours...I'm not trying to change yours either...
It's funny that Shirou didn't just tell Saber that he loves her. Instead, he says something like "I like you the most."
Translation: "I know I have a large harem, but you are my favorite."
What ???Avalon didn't work?? i thought at the games it will work..wew....i can't belive it...who will kill him then? shirou? UBW stories?
Avalon _did_ work. Read up on what Excalibur's sheath does.
wtf how did shirou actually summon avalon? could sombody tell me?
leetcider, Shiro summoned Avalon because...
SPOILER:
When his stepfather first found him after the fire during the Holy Grail war before this one, the only way he could save him was to leave Avalon in him to save his life by healing his wounds. That's why he can recover from fatal injuries.
SPOILER END
I think the most scariest moment of this episode is watching Saber cook, the way she chop vegetable is like watching her choping ppls head in a stand during ancient times. XD
You know.. The japanese aren't the only ones who confuse mythology.
The majority of the people in this world believe King Arthur pulled Excalibur from the stone.
In fact, he didn't get Excalibur until the Lady of the Lake gave it to him.
What he pulled out was just a sacred sword.
Now if most people can be misled with the legend, then the japanese can do some funky shit and be even more confused.
Well you know.. With the Hscenes and one char portrait from Hollow Ataraxia..
Saber is SMALL ENOUGH in the chest to pass for a man if she'd wear full midevil armor..
Depends on which legend you read actually.
Sometimes the lake sword and the stone sword are both called Excalibur. Sometimes Excalibur is Caliburn reforged. And sometimes they're entirely separate.
In any case, Avalon isn't an attack, it's defensive (likely the strongest). Lucky for Gil, he didn't use his own EA at full power (otherwise he'd vaporize Saber and the city along with her) so he didn't have to take the full power of his own weapon.
eEither way anyone who writes a post and doesn't bother to check his sources can be laughed upon, because the least he could do was google wiki whatever to check if at least one other person on the whole net had the same opinion.
now if you're going to make a video game or an anime series. well there's just no excuse it's on purpose
Hey, does anyone know about MirrorMoon's fate stay night translation? they are almost done with the Fate scenario translation. I hope they realease their work by scenario so they can release it sooner.
Also, they mentioned fate stay night is coming to the PS2. Can anyone give me more info about that?
MirrorMoon's fate stay night translation?
What's this? Is it Type-Moon?
It's what it sounds like: a fan made English translation patch for Fate/stay night. Google for "mirror moon" for more info, but be warned: they haven't made any public release of it yet.
I'm eagerly waiting for Tsukihime, myself.
still kinda confused as to how a FEMALE arthur could be a father.... =="... to ANYONE...
but the stuff between sabre and shirou is REALLY gd... pity they cant stay together.... *sniffs*
CR is right tho. There are multiple legends surrounding the Excalibur which contradict and supplement each other in varying degrees. In F/SN, they appear to have chosen to use the intrepretation that Arthur had TWO Legendary swords, one which is withdrawn from the stone called Caliburn, and the other is Excalibur, which is given by the Lady of the Lake.
I have never played the game, so maybe I am nuts. But I don't think what Saber saw in the flashback is real. While she probably did fight Modred, the face she saw (basically her own face), was an illusion and a reflection of her personal anguish. The "Father" part actually comes from Saber herself, as her father, Uther, rejected her at birth because she was female, and I believe it is symbolic of the fight she had all her life to prove that she was the true King in which she feels she ultimately failed.
Alternatively, maybe she did have a daughter and decided that her own daughter should not have to go through the same things she did. Being called "Father" by your son when you are pretending to be a male Monarch all the time doesn't seem all that surprising.
I am a saber fan.I like that shirou and saber kiss it was sweet.I think you got the information wrong in the game yes modred is saber's son.But in this series modred is not saber's son mainly because she is a girl.how can she has a child with her half sister. Anyway i read in wikipedia it said that moderd is a hummonculus born by saber blood.it said that modred is a clone of saber.thats what it wrote so modred is not saber's son.read it in wikipedia.
im a great fan of F/SN and its one of my fav anime. Just wanna clear this up, saber wants to redo the selection of the king as she feels she is not good enough, is this because she did many bad things when she was king? its just that she wouldnt seem like the type of person, but in the anime, it says that she sacrificed a village when she could have protected it and she supposedly killed her own son. In this episode, saber also says she commited alot of sins, so is this why she feels like she's not fit to be king? if theres some other reason, id like to hear it please :D
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