[Stripey] Fate/Zero 04~05 – Servants rankings

How much is that Berserker in the window?

After seeing all the Servants gather over 2 episodes, the burning question on my mind is - Why is Saber considered the most powerful class? After all Arthuria must be one of the most potent of this class yet the other Servants seem to overshadow her.

Anyhow, in lieu of an actual commentary, I'll summarise a very personal Servant rankings based on these 2 eps.

7. Caster - Bluebeard

I believe he's probably last on every sane viewer's list. Nothing Heroic about a bug-eyed psycho child-murderer. (Which explains why his summoning was not included in Ep 1 titled 'Summoning of the Heroic Spirits") I'm however curious about his 'Noble' Phantasm...

6. Assassin - Hassan(s??)

I was a Fighter during my teenage Dungeons & Dragons stint (Yes, paper, pencil 20 sided dices and the whole works). I play a Paladin in Diablo 2 and am a Warrior in World of Warcraft. Tanukis are just born warriors and have great disdain for the skulking, shadowy types. Although it's probably not be beneath me to employ the service of these backstabbing types to return a few 'favours' to their 'kind' at work...

[Stripey] Fate/Zero 03 – More than just Butler Saber and Maid Iri

Testosterone levels hit a new high this week as the loli cast stayed away and one of the remaining of 2 bishoujos turned butler. Nonetheless, Iri compensated with much feminine charm via her moonlit frolick at the beach and just generally being HAWT in Fuyuki.

 It appears that I couldn't have been more wrong about Iri's role in the Grail War from my previous post. I had assumed Kiritsugu loved Iri too much to put her in harm's way only to realise in this episode

1) Iri is not only participating but is THE BAIT to draw enemy fire.

2) Kiritsugu has another woman! *GASP* (Who incidentally has the makings of the PERFECT mistress.)

Maiya and Kiritsugu’s scene authenticating their ‘initimate working relations’ challenged all my pre-concepts of the Iri-Kiri relations. Iri clearly loves Kiri but is it reciprocated? Is Kiri merely a tool or family to Einzebeins? Would Iri don a maid uniform and enjoy marital bliss of running a maid café with Kiri and his mistress Maiya? One thing is clear though – Kiritsugu is a lucky man given that his Grail team comprises mainly of stunning beauties.

In contrast we see the Iskandar/Waver (2 ronery men) on war documentaries and generally being manly/pathetic respectively. For a moment, I thought Iskandar was propositing Waver since

1)      Greeks in Iskandar’s times were known to swing both ways

2)      Iskandar’s face was REALLY close to Waver’s when he was declaring the 4 great pleasures of life

3)      Waver was often in a compromising/tantalizing posture (the high-butt ORZ) that may have proved too much for Iskandar to resist.

Nothing happened of course (to the relief of underage viewers worldwide) though I’m sure someone is already working on the doujin.

[Stripey] Fate/Zero 02 – The Master-Servant liaison

3 Kings

After exploring the various Masters' motivations to participate in the Holy Grail war, episode 2 switches our attention to several intriguing Master-Servant liaisons.

Waver-Rider (Iskandar)

When I was fresh out of OCS (Officer-cadet-school), I was assigned to platoon where my 2nd-in-command was a Staff sergeant of 20 years of military experience. Contrast this with a greenhorn lieutenant in his 13th month of conscripted service who didn't know his left bootlace from the right. It had been a humbling and maturing experience juggling such inexperience with command responsibility; a coming-of-age ritual which I hope to see as Waver grow in his handling/dependence of Iskandar.

Kiritsugu-Saber (Arturia)

Shirou was an idiot for a reason in F/SN. Fate/Zero confirms the cause to be Kiritsugu. The telling conversation between Iri and Saber shows how a bundle of contradictions Kiritsugu is.  As fate (pun intended) would have it, Kiritsugu's involvement in the war has consigned Iri to certain death and misfortune to Illya (from what I remember from F/SN). Yet he laments Saber's tragic fate of her own choosing. From the OP, it looks like Kiritsugu would relegate Saber-in-tux to a SP role for the sole purpose of protecting Iri rather than use her actively in the Grail war - Similar to what Shirou initially did in F/SN. Of course the major difference between Kiritsugu and Shirou is sheer ability. While Kiritsugu is an renowned mage-hunter, Shirou loves to tank a full-armour clad Saber with a t-shirt (+5 cotton-T of invulnerability anyone?). In this sense, Kiritsugu is very much less hateful. Still with the caliber of Masters/Servants in this war, it'd be deadly to assume he can last a minute more with mere tactics, stealth and firearms.

[Stripey] Fate/Zero 01 – Motivations and Messiah complex

Irisviel - Beyond hot

Given that I’m semi-retired from the aniblogsphere and have not blogged a complete series for years, it’d take something AMAZING for this aged tanuki to try again. Apparently Fate/Zero is.

Well at least if the rest of the series is like its pilot episode. Despite what many thought was an overtly verbose debut, I thought Fate/Zero ran a tight yet coherent episode educating the viewer on the meta-narrative, crafting the somber mood/direction and most importantly, hinting at/divulging the motivations of the various Masters. These motivations would be key in driving the plot and I know I’m going to take pleasure in seeing ‘good’ lose their way and ‘bad’ earning our sympathy as the Holy war proceeds.

While the Holy Grail war is a battle royale, I thought the match-ups were subtle but clear given the motivations revealed so far

Archibald vs Velvet

Much like New money of the US versus Old money of UK during the Titanic era, Archibald vs Velvet would be a battle about mage pedigree and lineage. Of course the classic ‘teacher vs pupil’ Star war-esque angle would add texture to the rivalry.

Tousaka vs Kariya

Looks like to me that Kariya was in love with Rin’s mom who got married off to the heartless Tokiomi anyway. The contrast between the two men cannot be more stark.