Shoot, I told myself don’t get attached to the masters and servants, but dang it, some of their have such a fun charm about them. I already enjoy the dynamic between Sisigo and Modred, they more or less meet eye to eye, making them a fun pair. An unexpected appeal came from (Black Beserker) Frankenstein and her master. The way the two interact was really too cute for words. However it was interesting to hear that should Beserker use her Noble Phantasm’s true form, it will end up destroying her. Fiore is Chiron’s (Black Archer) master, he is actually a centaur, but is appearing as a human to conceal his identity. Then among the crazies of the Black Fraction are of course, Jack-the-Ripper (Black Assassin) and her master (typical for such a pair), and (Black Rider) Astolfo’s master who wants to make him into her toy. Dear god, of all people Astolfo had to be summoned that that crazy lady. But as always it happens, servants gotta deal with their coo-coo masters.
Now truth to be told, I wasn’t expecting the leader of the Black Fraction to be (Black Lancer) Vlad III. Instead I find it ironic given the God awful track record Lancers are known to have in the Fate series in general. But since he’s running the show, I would assume he is in a better position than usual – especially since the Red Faction is aware is particularly dangerous. (Oh definitely, after what we saw last week…)
Among the Red Fraction, the servants are: (Caster) Shakespeare (of all people!), (Beserker) Spartacus, (Assassin) Semiramis, (Saber) Mordred, (Lancer) Karna (coolest Lancer character design to date), (Ruler) Jeanne. We know there’s another one who has been hoping around in the forest, but we haven’t met her just yet. Based on the OP, I’m guessing she’s an Archer Class.
It was interesting to say the least how the Black Fraction decided it would be best to reveal their heroes’ true names, all except for Black Saber (Fafnir Siegfried) because his master prevented him from doing so. While it would makes sense to share inside intelligence within your alliance, the problem here is that should their win the Great War, the fight for the Holy Grail will immediately follow, and now they all become each other’s enemies. We can see this exact intention playing out on the Red Fraction’s side, with Shiro and his Red Assassin (Semiramis, Queen of Assyria).
They managed to successfully obtain the names of several servants within their alliance, but both Mordred and Sisigo had a gut feeling that Shiro is not to be trusted. Sure enough they were right on the money, the dude is shady as hell. As the Ruler Class has been confirmed to be in the Red Fraction, Karna’s (Red Lancer) master had ordered him to visit Shiro (who is taking control of the Red Fraction), who then gave him the order to eliminate the Ruler Servant, due to being aware she will play a role in interfering with the war. (As the Ruler Class serves to ensure the balance of the holy grail war.)
However Jeanne already has her own share of problems she has to deal with. A mistake was made during the summoning, and as of right now she doesn’t know why she is there or who her current master is (or so it seems), so it looks like she has to track him down. For now she is pretty much going around and about trying to find answers. Admittedly, I was a bit peeved to see that both she and the other main character to be put off for yet another episode. Luckily for us though this is a 25 episodes series, so at least we don’t have to worry about having to wait for the second half.
A/N: First off let me apologize for the delay of this episode release, I have been sick for the past two days and felt it would be best for me to thoroughly rest. Second, I would like to announce that (so as long the Fansubs comes out on Sundays), my release window for Fate/Apocrypha entries will be on Mondays, so this way I can spread the shows out and not worry about overexerting myself of covering two shows in one day (especially since it’s been quite humid this summer so it’s irritating my condition).
Just FYI, Astolfo is actually a guy (even though he looks the girliest of the bunch).
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O___O ARE YOU SERIOUS? He.. he really does look like the girliest of the bunch…
I know there are many characters like this, but still has it become so much trend to design a male character to become so girly (sometimes even more so than the real female characters)? I’m really lost at words when I found out Astolfo is a guy.
shockingly the trap part is actualy a part of his story. somthing about roland grieving and forcing astolfo to crossdress.
Ah, Karna, the guy who was cursed 3 times and only can be killed after all 3 curses activated at the same time plus most of the Hindu pantheon pin him down for his half-brother to have a chance of beating him.
And if he hadn’t give his immortal granting armor and earing to Indra who dressed as a poor old man then i don’t think anyone could kill him.( But he did make Indra so ashamed that he gave Karna his spear that can kill anything once time.
Okay… As if Ernesti Echevarria (the protagonist of Knight’s & Magic) being a feminine-looking boy wasn’t enough, we now have another Trap here: ASTOLFO (Rider of Black). It’s kinda funny to see him trying to bond with other Black Faction Servants but only Chiron (Archer of Black) was polite enough to answer him back; Frankenstein (Berserker of Black) was rather pissed at Astolfo calling her “Frank” and Siegfried (Saber of Black) didn’t have the chance due to his Master (Gordes) being an asshole. It’s a shame that we only got to see Yggdmillennia Masters & their personalities (Caules was OK; Fiore had already fallen hard for Chiron <3; Celenike was an absolute perv :P; Gordes being a douchebag) while the Red Faction was very bland in that regard. That said, seeing Mordred being MOEdred & her interactions with Kairi more than makes up for the Red Faction, because I couldn’t take the name “Shirou Kotomine” seriously and his Servant Semiramis (Assassin of Red) was a sick bitch. I’m indifferent to William Shakespeare (Caster of Red), Spartacus (Berserker of Red) was batshit crazy & we didn’t even get to see Achilles (Rider of Red) & Atlanta (Archer of Red) yet and they dare make KARNA (Lancer of Red) appear only at the end without his full face.
Now onto the OP&ED themes, I only have a word to say: DISAPPOINTING. The OP song was okay, but the visuals appeared like they’re animated by a toddler AND KARNA DIDN’T APPEAR IN FULL, while the ED was probably my least favourite out of all the Fate EDs (excluding Fate Kaleid EDs), just put Jeanne there for some fanservice, seriously?
"Instead I find it ironic given the God awful track record Lancers are known to have in the Fate series in general."
At least in Fate Apocrypha Lancers are the trumps cards of their factions (Vlad & KARNA), which makes me more upset that Karna only appeared briefly in his clash with Siegfried during the OP.
It looks great i’ll go for it .:)