This is it, the perfect episode of Unlimited Blade works. Constant action, next to no unnecessary dialogue. A sense of real danger, characters thought dead being alive. Characters you want to live dying! This has to be nearly the perfect episode, well except maybe Shirou projecting Rias twice when he shouldn’t be able too at all…but whatever, IT WAS STILL COOL AS ALL HELL!
So we left off last episode with Shirou being knocked down by EA after Gilgamesh used it to destroy the giant grail arm. He dismisses EA and Shirou stands up, it’s time for the fight between the true king and faker to start again.
Meanwhile, the grail has a tight grip on Rin and Shinji and is amendment about not letting them go. Saber approaches but Rin yells at her not to come any closer, there’s no knowing what will happen if she steps into the grails curses.
To keep her from coming in, Rin uses a command seal to stop her. Slowly, Rin is accepting the fact she’s probably not going to live also, she couldn’t save Shinji. [which I can’t figure out why she cares for the life of me. Shinji isn’t people.]
While that is happening, Shirou begins summoning the Unlimited Blade Works. This is the part of the post I stop and proceed to fangirl all over the place. THE MUSIC, THE ANIMATION, THE PACING. EVERYTHING IN THIS PART OF THE EPISODE IS PERFECTION. Alright, so, the fight is beautiful.
Back to the grail, Rin gives Saber the command to destroy it with her and Shinji still trapped inside. This looks as if it pains Saber. She doesn’t want too kill Rin, good thing Archer rains down a path for Rin and Shinji to escape.
Wait, ARCHER?! I’m pretty sure he died a few episodes back. Ah, it was all a rouse, a thinly veiled one that the anime isn’t going to explain to us unless it’s included in the epilogue somehow but still a rouse.
Rin gives the last of her mana to Saber and Saber destroys the grail, with the always epic moment, and a amazing remix of the theme from Zero for Excalibur…and then. Then, she vanishes.
NOOOO, STUPID TRUE ENDING. I WANTED THE GOOD ENDING, GIVE ME MY THREESOME! I KNOW WE HAVE THE FATE ROUTE FOR SABER TO BE HAPPY, BUT THAT’S ONLY BEEN ANIMATED BY DEEN AND WAS AWFUL AND IT HAS STUPID SEXIST SHIROU.
I JUST WANTED MY HAPPY THREESOME ENDING FOR THIS ONE. I MEAN, ILLYA DIES, SHINJI LIVES AND I DON’T EVEN GET MY OT3…..bleh.
So back with Shirou and Gilgamesh the fight rages on, and just as Gil deems Shirou worthy enough of EA and would destroy him. Shirou slashes off his arm, and then proceeds to slash him across the chest.
UBW goes down, Shirou is out of mana and even without an arm Gilgamesh is still standing. However, that’s when a black hole opens up and the grail tries to drag him back in. Gil won’t stand going down alone so he grabs Shirou with the chains of heaven to drag him in too.
Archer throws a sword and nails Gilgamesh in the head. Then we move to maybe the most heart wrenching scene in the episode. If I totally WASN’T crying at Saber vanishing, then I most definitely did NOT cry at Archer and Rin’s last exchange.
As he smiled that dumb smile and looked like Shirou for the first time since summoning. As he vanished, despite Rin offering to contract with him again.
The long and the short of this episode is that it was perfection, from the action, to the animation, to the music chosen for each scene. Everything was carefully taken care of this episode. I’m just a little sad the fight couldn’t of lasted longer. Watching swords fly up out of the ground and collide in mid-air was pretty damn cool!
All that’s left now is the epilogue, well at least we’ll hopefully get to see Shirou and Rin in London and maybe some animation of older Waver? Lord El-Melloi II?? please?
~Midnight
Oh, Gil… arrogant as ever, I see. I really, REALLY loved the hesitation Gil displayed to draw Ea out. Well, if sheer power was the only thing that one needed to be a warrior we’d hardly have any interesting Heroes to call on, just bloodthirsty brutes.
I agree, I would have LOVED the ending to be based on the good ending (Must… resist… urge to buy THE Saber figma!) It’s one of the few things I remember from my time reading the Fate/Stay Night wiki, frightened and yet enchanted by this vast work. Thank goodness for Ufotable’s Fate/Zero and Unlimited Bladeworks!
As for Archer, either it was rouse or he was summoned back by the Counter-Force because the world was in peril, you know? I think that’s why he told Rin he might not have the right to form a contract this time as his presence was outside the jurisdiction of the Grail, more or less. Now I’m really hoping they nail the Archer 2.0 Figma. I NEED a perfect replica of his “EMIYA expression”. It’s so precious :’)
Note that the particle effect used to show Archer’s “remains” fading wasn’t the one normally used to depict the death of a servant, but the one used to depict a servant going into spirit form.
Supposedly, he survived by abusing his Independent Action skill, though that was a stretch even in the novel, let alone in this adaptation where he used UBW.
It’s the one major gripe I have with this adaptation – the fact that Archer had anime-only uses of UBW. This episode provided a much better representation of its effects and mana cost – Shirou was able to counter Gil with it where he was struggling without it, and the reason he couldn’t continue doing him in was because he ran out of mana. I get that it was meant to provide more oomph to the clash of ideals between Archer and Shirou back during their fight, but Archer deployed it then didn’t do anything with it, which reduced it to mere pretty scenery. Archer within his UBW should have effortlessly wiped the floor with Shirou, regardless of the former’s lack of mana or the latter’s accelerated skills. It killed Berserker 5-6 times in Fate, for goodness sake.
I got the ‘Don’t worry Tohsaka, I’ll try my best from now on, too’ line I was waiting for though (AND THAT SMILE) so I’m an appeased viewer. Sort of. Grail-kun was hard to ignore.