Fate/stay night ep.4

February 4, 2006 | 10 Comments

I'm sorry for being slow in catching up with the reviews but I haven't been feeling well lately. I spent too many late nights during my holiday and it's starting to take its toll on my health. But I'll try to finish them whenever I can. Anyway, in comparison to episode 3 this is definitely a more interesting episode. The explanation about the game seems to be more evenly distributed within the episode and the plot seems to be moving towards a certain direction. Saber and Shirou seem to be the recipient of character development this time around. However, since Rin and Archer are my favourites, I have to admit that I kind of miss their interaction in the first two episodes of the series. Character design-wise, the series still maintain its quality although as usual. On top of this, the fight seems to be more animated and not merely consisted of speed lines. Overall, this is definitely a good direction for the series to take.

Continuing from the previous episode, this one begins with the little girl introducing herself as Illyasviel von Einzbern. It appears that she and Rin are aware of each other's family history. The girl then orders her Servant, Berserker, to kill Shirou, Saber, and Rin. Saber immediately moves forward to intercept Berserker's attack and the two begin to play a game of cat and mouse. After a while, however, Saber realises that the fastest way of killing Berserker is to kill Illya. However, before she manages to do this, Berserker manages to knock Saber off to a pole, injuring the Servant. Illya looks happy to see this and orders Berserker to finish off Saber once and for all. Despite Saber's attempt to deflect the attack, the injury she received from previous battle with Lancer reduces her stamina. Shirou, who worries for her condition, orders Saber to stop. Rin decides to move forward and casts a four magical attacks against Berserker.

Unfortunately the attacks prove to be futile since Berserker's body is as hard as a rock. Berserker then attacks again and this time Saber fails to evade and ends up taking the full blow of Berserker's attack. However, even as her body and eyes are bleeding, Saber refuses to back down or accepts Shirou's help. Illya then chirps up and tells the others that there is no way they can possibly win. After all, Berserker is the spirit of the strongest warrior in greek mythology, Heracles/Hercules. Unknown to Illya, while she freely gives out this information, another Servant, Caster, is seen observing the situation. Illya tells Berserker that since Saber has the ability to regenerate, it is better to cut her head off before killing her. Shirou, who feels the need to be a hero, decides to protect Saber and receives the full brunt of Berserker's sword. The incident shocks Illya to the point that she decides to retreat. She, however, threatens to kill Rin the next time they meet.

After Illya left, Rin scolds the seemingly dead Shirou, telling him that she can't possibly keep saving him like this. Meanwhile, Shirou remembers how his adopted father, Kitsurugu, once said that he gave up the idea on becoming a hero. Shirou decided to take on this ideal even though Kitsurugu doesn't seem to believe in Shirou's resolve. In the present day, Shirou wakes up only to find his body neatly bandaged by someone. When he goes to wash his teeth, he also find traces of blood coming out of his mouth. Despite this, he can't seem to remember what happened to him even when he sees Rin in his living room. After Rin demands that he thanks her for carrying him all the way back to his house, however, Shirou finally remembers that he was attacked by Berserker. Wow, the attack must have caused some kind of temporary amnesia or something. He, however, can't help but wonder how he manages to stay alive after the attack.

Rin explains that apparently after the incident happened, Shirou's injury started to heal on its own. Rin believes that Saber's ability to self-regenerate somehow flows into her master. Theoretically, however, it's impossible for a Servant's mana to flow into his/her Master. But then again, Rin thinks Shirou is an impossible Master who try to protect its own Servant. She tells Shirou that if he dies, Saber will disappear as well. Rin also wants to know what is Shirou's plan from now on. Shirou sheepishly admits that he just doesn't want what happened 10 years ago to happen again. He, however, has no interest in the Holy Grail itself. Upon hearing this, Rin tells Shirou that if Saber had heard this, she would have kill him herself. Rin tells Shirou that the reason Servants participate in the Holy Grail war is because they are interested in the Holy Grail themselves. Each of them has a desire they want to fulfill by obtaining it.

Shirou argues that he thinks Saber is a human judging from all of the blood that she shed last night. Rin tells him that there is no such thing such as birth or death for Servants. If they perish, they simply return to where they came from. Shirou thinks that even then, they can't let these Servants kill each other. On the other hand, Rin thinks that if they let other Masters do what they want, innocent people are going to get killed. She then explains that a Servant's fuel is called 'Mana'. The more Mana the Servants have, the more ability from their previous life they can use. Because of this, if the Servants eat human's soul, they can get energy from us. In other words, there will be Masters who order his/her Servant to kill humans and devour their soul so that the Servants can replenish their Mana. Rin then asks Shirou what he intends to do and is surprised when Shirou tells her that he's just going to fight the bad ones.

Rin thinks Shirou contradicts himself and on top of this, they have another problem: Illya still wants to kill them. Rin thinks that they've been ridiculed badly by the girl because she revealed the real name of Berserker and yet they still can't fight the monster. This makes Shirou realises that he doesn't know Saber's real name. Rin, however, thinks that it's better that he doesn't know her real name because he's the kind of person who easily let slip of such information. When Rin decides to go home, Shirou thanks her for taking him all the way home. Rin, however, tells him that it'll be better if he doesn't see her as a human. Shirou seems to be conflicted upon hearing this because all he wants is to save others not to hurt them. He, however, remembers how Saber protected him to the point of sustaining so much injury and realises that he hasn't seen her at all today. Because of this he begins to search for her.

Meanwhile, on her way back home, Rin meets Sakura on the street. Sakura wonders what Rin is doing in the area this early in the morning. Rin decides to lie and tells Sakura that she too sleeps at night and wake up in the morning. Sakura immediately looks suspicious and tells Rin that she was asking about something else. Rin begins to blab out about how she's just talking a walk. Sakura, however, can sense the smell of blood on Rin. Sakura, however, is shaken off her creepy daze by Fujimura-sensei and they proceed to talk about breakfast. At the same time, Shirou is seen checking every single room in his house for Saber's whereabouts. He finally finds Saber inside the dojo, fully healed from her wounds. Upon noticing Shirou's presence, Saber tells him that they need to talk about his action last night. She thinks that it is troublesome for a Master to take such action since combat is her expertise.

Saber also thinks that there is no need for a Master to protect a Servant or a reason to do so. Shirou, however, claims that he doesn't need a reason to protect a girl but then changes the conversation if he can call her 'Saber'. Saber thinks it's okay since she already made a contract with him. Shirou, however, warns her that if she's with him, the chances of her winning the Holy Grail is slim. Saber wonders if this is because Shirou has no desire to fight. Shirou tells her that is not the case but rather it's because he doesn't believe that his chance is high. Upon hearing this, Saber tells him that in this case, she'll increase his chance by any means necessary. Shirou is alarmed to hear this and asks if Saber will start killing human to increase her Mana. Much to his surprise and relief, however, Saber tells him that is not a viable option because doing she will betray a kinght's oath if she injures a defenceless civilian.

Having said that, Saber adds that she has no choice but to comply if her Master orders her to do so. But in order to do this, Shirou needs to use one of his stigma for stepping over her pride. Shirou assures Saber that he'll never ask her to do such thing. Shirou tells Saber that he's sorry for unknowingly insulting her. In return Saber tells him that it was her who could not see the intention behind his words and made a wrong conclusion about him. Shirou then feels hungry so Saber invites him to have breakfast. Shirou wonders if Japanese breakfast is okay with her and Saber doesn't seem to mind since she thinks extravagance is an enemy of theirs. As the two walk side by side to the main house, Shirou realises that even though many unbelievable events have happened in the past few days, he knows he can believe a few things. Things such as the fact that Saber is not a cold-blooded killer.

Impression:

It looks like Shirou has met his match in Saber. The two seem to be equally righteous and noble in their approach to the Holy Grail war. This, however, makes me wonder if the Holy Grail somehow matches the personality of the Servant to that of its Master, at least in the case of Shirou/Saber and Rin/Archer. While Shirou and Saber shares belief in nobility, Rin and Archer seems to be on the same wavelength as far as intelligence and adaptability. If this is true though, I wonder what this says about Illya/Berserker pairing? That the two are equally matched in their desire to defeat others? But then why did Illya decides to back out upon seeing an injured Shirou? I am also intriqued to see Sakura's little suspicion towards Rin. In addition to this, she seems to have awareness that there is blood smell on Rin. I think even if anything else does not go towards this direction, Sakura's story is definitely heading towards Heavenly Feel

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