“How are the Cards related to the Holy Grail War?”
Impression
I want to hold hands with Kuro.
I was initially sceptical about sitting through half an episode of more filler, but my doubts vanished with the return of twintails Kuro doing more age-inappropriate things. In a cramped pool, you can touch her anywhere and it’s just an accident! Kuro is bad for my heart.
I’d like to think Sella punished Shirou for not having any balls whatsoever – we now know why the butler is so intent on going after Shirou, but he’s harmless! At this rate, Shirou is more in danger from Luvia than the other way round. Also, we had Miyu feeding Illya with the happiest expression she’s had on since the birthday party.
It’s all aboard the hype train now! From here on out, slice-of-life will be in scarce supply, let alone filler – the construction has finally finished, and Team Illya will be going to confront the mysterious eighth Class Card. As they’ve left it alone for a long time, it’s been absorbing a hell of a lot of mana – and on top of that, it was situated right in the trunk of a ley line. It would already be a challenge if it was a normal Card, but instead it’s an eighth that shouldn’t exist – there’s all sorts of abnormalities this time round, so it’s a good idea to try and take it out from the very start with maximum firepower. Of course, the preview has already spoiled the fact that this strategy fails, but I’m sure you weren’t expecting things to go perfectly according to plan, right? I’m not surprised that Miyu didn’t say anything about the potential of using Install instead of Include for the Cards they currently have, which is arguably the proper way to use them – because it’d only serve as another clue to the perceptive people around her, all of whom know that something’s up but care to varying degrees.
The last thing of note in this episode was Kuro asking Irisviel about how the Class Cards are related to the Holy Grail War. Now, this is important – not because of the answer to this question, but rather it’s wider connotations for the story and all these characters. We know the answer, because Iri said as much – they’re not. The Class Cards have nothing to do with the ritual in which Heroic Spirits are summoned through catalysts into seven classes to fight a war on behalf of their Masters. Without saying too much, it’s important to remember that this timeline is an alternate iteration of the events of Fate/Zero, i.e. what would have happened had Kiritsugu and Iri both abandoned the war for the sake of their daughter. A few changes were necessary, such as all the Einzberns being human instead of homunculi with limited lifespans, but the foundation of it is identical. They abandoned the Fourth War, in which Lancer was Diarmuid and Rider was Iskandar. If this war had anything to do with anything, then surely all the Class Cards would have Servants from this war. Yet, they only feature Servants from the Fifth War – which shouldn’t even have any reason to exist, especially if the war before it never happened. Lancer is Cu Chulainn. When Miyu uses Include with Lancer, Gae Bolg appears. So what I’m trying to get at is, where are all these Servants coming from?
All this is eventually explained, but it’s interesting food for thought in the meantime – it’s clear the Class Cards have nothing to do with the Fourth War. So they shouldn’t even be a thing – and yet, they exist. The why and how of it is what the second half of 2wei! is really all about, alongside the big Miyu mystery – and now it’ll finally start being what it should have been a month or so ago.
So I can resume watching with this episode, then? I’ve actually been skipping the last few episodes of filler and just following reviews. Those episodes could not tell me anything I didn’t already know, and I’d rather not be distracted from the godo stuff that’s coming up.
All this filler has been driving off the people they most needed to convince, and if the creators of the anime had just put the plot in its proper place those folks would have already seen the awesome that this series has to offer. Instead I’m pretty sure we’ve lost some viewers because they’ve concluded by now that there’s nothing worth watching here.
Yes, feel free! The second half of the episode was canon content, and covered the prelude to the fight with the eighth Card – they discussed their tactics, and later that night Kuro confronted Iri about the Fourth War.
I completely agree. Maybe there are some who are treating this as a slice-of-life, but many will have found it a huge disappointment compared to what the first season and 2wei showed them.