WEBVTT 00:00:04.809 --> 00:00:08.070 You're listening to the After Hours Arc, your 00:00:08.070 --> 00:00:12.669 new anime podcast. My name is Antai, and I'll 00:00:12.669 --> 00:00:16.789 be your host. In this podcast, join me as I review, 00:00:17.070 --> 00:00:22.230 recap, and relive anime, one arc at a time. And 00:00:22.230 --> 00:00:24.890 as always, these are all manga -free point of 00:00:24.890 --> 00:00:28.329 views. In today's episode, we will be finally 00:00:28.329 --> 00:00:32.909 diving into the Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade 00:00:32.909 --> 00:00:38.350 Works. This is one I was super excited to get 00:00:38.350 --> 00:00:41.929 into. I ended up googling to make sure that I 00:00:41.929 --> 00:00:45.049 found the actual order. And I did figure it out. 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:47.509 I didn't want it to be ruined for me. I wanted 00:00:47.509 --> 00:00:53.189 it to be as close as possible. I will say, this 00:00:53.189 --> 00:00:59.350 was a really, really long anime for me to get 00:00:59.350 --> 00:01:02.579 through. I mean, the prologue was an hour. The 00:01:02.579 --> 00:01:05.719 first episode was pretty close to that. And I 00:01:05.719 --> 00:01:09.760 watched up to episode 7. So that was a lot to 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:14.599 take in. Now I was really confused. Because the 00:01:14.599 --> 00:01:18.459 prologue was all about this character Rin Tosaka. 00:01:19.420 --> 00:01:22.420 I love her name. It makes me laugh every time. 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:26.579 But she was the whole focus for the prologue. 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:30.439 So I had assumed that the story was going to 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:34.409 follow her. I will say she was really important 00:01:34.409 --> 00:01:38.209 to show us first because she is a proper mage. 00:01:38.250 --> 00:01:41.689 This perspective shows us what somebody who has 00:01:41.689 --> 00:01:44.510 been training their whole life can actually do. 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:49.150 Tosaka was so fun to get to know through the 00:01:49.150 --> 00:01:53.189 series. I thought the voice actor was the second 00:01:53.189 --> 00:01:57.069 Kagome in Inuyasha, the final act. I did check. 00:01:57.170 --> 00:02:02.290 It isn't. But they sound so alike. Oh my god. 00:02:02.530 --> 00:02:06.329 One thing I really enjoy about Tosaka's character 00:02:06.329 --> 00:02:10.370 is that she is extremely disciplined. She is 00:02:10.370 --> 00:02:13.930 competent. She's a little bit sarcastic. She 00:02:13.930 --> 00:02:17.590 was really fun. Why she was so important in that 00:02:17.590 --> 00:02:20.629 prologue, though, was because it offered us a 00:02:20.629 --> 00:02:24.030 chance to learn what we're going to end up seeing. 00:02:24.629 --> 00:02:27.289 how that's actually supposed to be done. we find 00:02:27.289 --> 00:02:30.930 out about this holy grail war and this grail 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:33.389 will grant the winner any wish. there's this 00:02:33.389 --> 00:02:35.810 church guy he's pretty much like the ringleader 00:02:35.810 --> 00:02:39.469 and he does play a major role later on but i 00:02:39.469 --> 00:02:42.110 really thought nothing of him. so what i really 00:02:42.110 --> 00:02:45.150 enjoy is we have seven mages that are called 00:02:45.150 --> 00:02:49.069 masters. they summon heroic spirits which they 00:02:49.069 --> 00:02:52.349 call servants and this is to fight for them in 00:02:52.349 --> 00:02:55.919 the war. It is basically a deathmatch, last man 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:59.159 standing type of deal. These servants get split 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:02.800 into seven different classes. We have Saber, 00:03:02.860 --> 00:03:10.400 Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Berserker, and 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:14.139 Assassin. Getting back to Tohsaka, this is where 00:03:14.139 --> 00:03:17.479 we were supposed to see a proper summoning, so 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:20.520 I believed. She was going for the strongest class, 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:23.270 which is apparently the Saber class. But she 00:03:23.270 --> 00:03:26.509 ends up getting Archer and his vibe is pretty 00:03:26.509 --> 00:03:31.389 amazing. He is moody, sharp tongue. And of course, 00:03:31.409 --> 00:03:34.270 he is voiced by one of my favorites, Kaiji Tang. 00:03:34.490 --> 00:03:38.669 But to be honest, Archer is not one of my favorite 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:42.330 characters. It was actually Lancer who stole 00:03:42.330 --> 00:03:44.409 my heart. And we're going to meet him next in 00:03:44.409 --> 00:03:47.650 the series. They really wasted no time in introducing 00:03:47.650 --> 00:03:50.530 him. And I probably will say this throughout 00:03:50.530 --> 00:03:54.419 this review. But those fight scenes, they go 00:03:54.419 --> 00:03:59.460 so hard. We have Tosaka and Archer who go out 00:03:59.460 --> 00:04:01.740 to scout the city. And that is when they run 00:04:01.740 --> 00:04:05.419 into Lancer. I wish they had more fights, but 00:04:05.419 --> 00:04:09.099 it is supposed to be like the start of the series. 00:04:09.199 --> 00:04:13.039 So I can sort of understand spending some time 00:04:13.039 --> 00:04:16.759 to lay down a little bit of structure. This being 00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:20.290 the first fight though. It really did set the 00:04:20.290 --> 00:04:24.009 tone. I was so excited moving forward to see 00:04:24.009 --> 00:04:26.529 all the different servants in action. The fighting, 00:04:26.589 --> 00:04:31.230 it looks more like fireworks to me. Again, visually, 00:04:31.569 --> 00:04:34.310 it was just stunning. During this fight though, 00:04:34.490 --> 00:04:38.149 the actual main character shows up. He witnesses 00:04:38.149 --> 00:04:41.310 the servant battle and apparently there's a rule 00:04:41.310 --> 00:04:45.709 that any witness must die. So real quick, the 00:04:45.709 --> 00:04:49.949 main character's name is Shiro. And I was not 00:04:49.949 --> 00:04:54.110 the biggest Shiro fan. It's not that he's a bad 00:04:54.110 --> 00:04:57.370 character, like at all. I just think they made 00:04:57.370 --> 00:05:00.790 him way too overpowered at the end of the series. 00:05:01.089 --> 00:05:05.209 Like the literal end of the series. And I usually 00:05:05.209 --> 00:05:08.709 love overpowered characters. But this boy is 00:05:08.709 --> 00:05:10.990 literally just figuring out how to use magic. 00:05:11.389 --> 00:05:14.910 And I just had a hard time buying it. Getting 00:05:14.910 --> 00:05:17.589 back to the situation though. Lancer goes and 00:05:17.589 --> 00:05:20.670 kills him, like stabs him in the heart. And I 00:05:20.670 --> 00:05:23.569 was not expecting it. He was like invisible. 00:05:23.769 --> 00:05:27.730 It was crazy. More so, I wasn't expecting Tosaka 00:05:27.730 --> 00:05:31.490 to find him inside the school and to save him 00:05:31.490 --> 00:05:35.350 with this special pendant. It definitely contrasted 00:05:35.350 --> 00:05:38.970 this perfect mage persona that the show was starting 00:05:38.970 --> 00:05:41.870 to give off for us. Unfortunately for Shiro, 00:05:42.189 --> 00:05:46.399 Lancer comes back to finish the job, right? The 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:51.139 thing about Shiro is his type of magic. And I'm 00:05:51.139 --> 00:05:54.899 going to say that very loosely. It's like examining 00:05:54.899 --> 00:05:59.540 and strengthening. And I wasn't sure exactly 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:03.699 what it was because he always says trace on. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:08.240 But really, what is he doing? It seems like he's 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:12.300 examining, but he can also project items. It 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:15.540 was so confusing for me. I'm not going to lie. 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:18.920 Unfortunately for Shiro, like I said, Lancer 00:06:18.920 --> 00:06:21.939 comes back to finish the job and he ends up cornering 00:06:21.939 --> 00:06:25.319 him. We see Shiro rolling up paper and trace 00:06:25.319 --> 00:06:29.040 on, right? He has this crazy desire to live. 00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:32.019 And because of this, these marks form on his 00:06:32.019 --> 00:06:35.579 hands. And what those are, are command seals. 00:06:36.319 --> 00:06:38.519 The command seals are for the servant and you 00:06:38.519 --> 00:06:41.540 get three commands that the servant cannot refuse. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:46.199 He accidentally summons Saber and her entrance 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:50.959 was everything. I loved Saber. She appears in 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:54.680 all her armor, sword drawn, even though we can't 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:58.000 see it, and immediately goes at it with Lancer. 00:06:58.060 --> 00:07:02.180 Again, visually, the fights are fucking stunning. 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:06.519 What little glimpses we get. After that whole 00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:09.579 deal, Shirou becomes our main character and is 00:07:09.579 --> 00:07:12.579 the seventh master in this war. It does sort 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:17.680 of fit as the story goes on, but again, I really 00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:21.600 wanted Tosaka to be the main character. Speaking 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:26.740 of Tosaka, she is so mad. She is jealous that 00:07:26.740 --> 00:07:29.740 a noob like Shiro just got Saber because remember 00:07:29.740 --> 00:07:33.259 that is who she wanted. At this point, Tosaka 00:07:33.259 --> 00:07:37.360 and Shiro are supposed to be enemies. Tosaka 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:41.040 has a heart though. She feels bad. She knows 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:43.740 this boy is like not going to survive this war. 00:07:44.060 --> 00:07:46.399 It isn't until later that they're going to team 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:49.259 up, but Shiro is so confused by all of this. 00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:52.649 He really has no idea what is happening. Tosaka 00:07:52.649 --> 00:07:55.889 explains the Holy Grail War to him and that it's 00:07:55.889 --> 00:07:58.790 a battle to the death between mages. The heroic 00:07:58.790 --> 00:08:01.170 spirits from the past is what these servants 00:08:01.170 --> 00:08:04.470 are. And while she's going over this, she is 00:08:04.470 --> 00:08:08.290 just so casual. She's offering him tea while 00:08:08.290 --> 00:08:11.790 basically bombarding him with all of this bad 00:08:11.790 --> 00:08:14.529 news. So they're going to go end up to go see 00:08:14.529 --> 00:08:17.029 that church man. I don't know if he was actually 00:08:17.029 --> 00:08:20.579 a priest, but again, it was a church. It's like 00:08:20.579 --> 00:08:24.379 the safe zone of the Holy Grail War. We also 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:27.459 find out that Saber has been summoned here in 00:08:27.459 --> 00:08:31.579 this time period before, which I guess even surprised 00:08:31.579 --> 00:08:34.559 Tosaka. Apparently that is not a common occurrence. 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:37.919 They finally go to meet the priest and his name 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:41.759 is Kirei. And again, the visuals in the church 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:45.460 was just amazing. The way they were panning and 00:08:45.460 --> 00:08:48.879 walking throughout the church. It was incredible. 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:52.279 They're continuing to go over the whole concept 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:55.519 of the war. And the Holy Grail grants us one 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:59.159 wish. It makes sense though. The last Holy Grail 00:08:59.159 --> 00:09:02.860 war was like 10 years ago. There was this massive 00:09:02.860 --> 00:09:06.019 destruction of the city. It was a real catastrophe. 00:09:06.639 --> 00:09:10.059 And this boy Shiro was orphaned because of it. 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:13.279 Shiro decides he's going to fight because of 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:16.659 this. And now him and Tosaka have their little 00:09:16.659 --> 00:09:19.299 moment. I had a feeling they were going to be 00:09:19.299 --> 00:09:22.720 love interest. So I was kind of excited to see 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:26.659 it form. Although Tosaka deserves much better 00:09:26.659 --> 00:09:29.220 than Shiro. That's all I'm going to say. At one 00:09:29.220 --> 00:09:32.559 point before this whole ordeal, Shiro was walking 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:35.220 home at night and he had passed a white haired 00:09:35.220 --> 00:09:37.980 girl who's a little important and a little later 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:41.460 on, which I'll get to. But she says something 00:09:41.460 --> 00:09:44.019 along the lines of you're going to need to summon 00:09:44.019 --> 00:09:47.309 soon, brother, or you'll die. I don't know why 00:09:47.309 --> 00:09:50.090 she keeps calling him brother. But he turns around 00:09:50.090 --> 00:09:53.230 and she's gone. So obviously this was before 00:09:53.230 --> 00:09:55.950 the saber summoning. We end up meeting the white 00:09:55.950 --> 00:10:00.309 haired girl during a fight. With Tosaka, Shiro, 00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:05.250 Archers somewhere. And sabers there. And this 00:10:05.250 --> 00:10:08.529 white haired girl has berserker. I thought she 00:10:08.529 --> 00:10:11.610 was going to be an absolute menace. During the 00:10:11.610 --> 00:10:15.110 battle we finally see Archer with a bow. Up until 00:10:15.110 --> 00:10:17.779 this point. He has been fighting with swords. 00:10:18.179 --> 00:10:20.679 It did nothing though. Even having a barrage 00:10:20.679 --> 00:10:24.039 of arrows, that spirit was still standing. Cut 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:26.980 to Tosaka and this white hand girl. They're still 00:10:26.980 --> 00:10:29.759 fighting. And again, 10 out of 10 for the visuals. 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.980 When they did have fights on the screen, it was 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:35.480 absolutely incredible. They were just so short. 00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:38.440 I didn't really get to enjoy them. So Archer 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:41.379 ends up shooting this spear -like sword thing. 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:45.230 It was super crazy to watch. and the girl originally 00:10:45.230 --> 00:10:49.690 wanted Saber, but now wants Archer, and again, 00:10:49.909 --> 00:10:53.049 I don't really know why she kept calling Shiro 00:10:53.049 --> 00:10:55.889 big brother. We have a lot of mystery with her, 00:10:56.009 --> 00:10:58.950 and we don't see her for very long either. The 00:10:58.950 --> 00:11:02.809 next issue we run into is Shinji, and I do not 00:11:02.809 --> 00:11:07.549 like him at all. Shinji is such a dick, but he 00:11:07.549 --> 00:11:10.590 is a fellow master, and he's a fellow classmate 00:11:10.590 --> 00:11:14.269 of Tosaka and Shiro. He had some hand in setting 00:11:14.269 --> 00:11:16.870 up this magical barrier over the entire school. 00:11:17.190 --> 00:11:20.029 It was designed to drain energy from the students. 00:11:20.309 --> 00:11:23.429 Like I said, he's a total dick. His servant is 00:11:23.429 --> 00:11:26.649 Rider though. And what I found out is Shinji, 00:11:26.870 --> 00:11:30.909 even though being from a mage family, he has 00:11:30.909 --> 00:11:34.730 to rely solely on Rider because he cannot properly 00:11:34.730 --> 00:11:38.870 use magic. It was the best karma ever. I loved 00:11:38.870 --> 00:11:41.389 hearing it. Moving on from him for a minute. 00:11:41.850 --> 00:11:44.389 One of the most dangerous and important servants 00:11:44.389 --> 00:11:48.509 to bring up is going to be Caster. I love mages 00:11:48.509 --> 00:11:52.090 and I really wanted to love her. As a whole, 00:11:52.149 --> 00:11:55.730 I guess I did. It just didn't feel as balanced 00:11:55.730 --> 00:11:58.789 for me. She's able to break the rules and even 00:11:58.789 --> 00:12:01.690 has a dagger to do so. She just does whatever 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:05.389 she wants, which I mean, you go girl. But I had 00:12:05.389 --> 00:12:09.450 much higher expectations for her than I believe 00:12:09.450 --> 00:12:12.590 were met. So Caster is able to summon servants 00:12:12.590 --> 00:12:15.149 apparently. And it does become this big shit 00:12:15.149 --> 00:12:19.610 show. There really wasn't as much action as I 00:12:19.610 --> 00:12:23.889 was hoping for. At this point, Tosaka and Shiro 00:12:23.889 --> 00:12:27.669 have a little truce and team up. Because Caster 00:12:27.669 --> 00:12:30.750 is way more dangerous and definitely more important 00:12:30.750 --> 00:12:33.169 to take out. And the story starts really picking 00:12:33.169 --> 00:12:36.570 up again once we get to the Caster Temple's arc. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:39.519 This is where things start really turning into 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.440 a conundrum for people. Because again, Caster 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:46.379 isn't just strong. She's breaking all the rules 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:50.039 of the war. She ends up taking Saber from Shiro. 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:54.039 And that was a wild moment for me. Because up 00:12:54.039 --> 00:12:57.879 until that point, I knew she could summon her 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:01.600 own servants. I did not expect to see her steal 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:05.299 the command seals from a master. Saber was basically 00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:09.879 Shirou's entire game plan. And without her, he's 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:12.620 basically just a regular kid with no magical 00:13:12.620 --> 00:13:16.059 experience who's planning to try to survive a 00:13:16.059 --> 00:13:19.440 war between legendary heroes. It's not looking 00:13:19.440 --> 00:13:24.379 good. We find out that Caster's master is this 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:27.379 guy, Kuzuki. And he was a teacher at their school. 00:13:27.950 --> 00:13:31.149 I did not expect him to be as strong of a fighter 00:13:31.149 --> 00:13:34.129 as he was, but when he starts throwing hands, 00:13:34.490 --> 00:13:38.610 this dude is a beast. I was so impressed with 00:13:38.610 --> 00:13:41.870 him. Shiro and Tosaka decide they have got to 00:13:41.870 --> 00:13:44.570 attack the temple and take Castor out pronto. 00:13:45.110 --> 00:13:46.769 Again, this is where we're going to get some 00:13:46.769 --> 00:13:49.590 amazing fights. We got to see Saber versus Assassin, 00:13:49.830 --> 00:13:52.769 which was fantastic. Again, I really wish the 00:13:52.769 --> 00:13:55.129 fights were longer. By the time I got excited, 00:13:55.710 --> 00:13:58.889 It was fucking over. It was such a tease. As 00:13:58.889 --> 00:14:01.629 amazing as it was to watch, that part made it 00:14:01.629 --> 00:14:04.830 a huge letdown. But then like the biggest plot 00:14:04.830 --> 00:14:08.570 twist happens. Archer ends up betraying Tosaka. 00:14:08.929 --> 00:14:14.110 And I sort of saw it coming. First, I just assumed 00:14:14.110 --> 00:14:17.649 it was a plan to deceive Caster. But Archer has 00:14:17.649 --> 00:14:20.250 been acting super suspicious since he was summoned. 00:14:20.549 --> 00:14:25.070 He has amnesia, can't remember his past. what 00:14:25.070 --> 00:14:29.029 heroic spirit he is. So Archer joins Caster, 00:14:29.129 --> 00:14:32.169 but it does turn out that Archer was just using 00:14:32.169 --> 00:14:34.629 her. The moment he gets what he wants, he just 00:14:34.629 --> 00:14:37.230 straight up destroys her. The whole situation 00:14:37.230 --> 00:14:41.750 ended way too fast. It was a huge buildup for 00:14:41.750 --> 00:14:45.029 such a quick kill. Again, it was another letdown 00:14:45.029 --> 00:14:49.149 for me. I expected so much more. Then we do finally 00:14:49.149 --> 00:14:52.789 start to learn what Archer's real goal is. And 00:14:52.789 --> 00:14:57.110 this is where the story got a tad more interesting 00:14:57.110 --> 00:15:00.509 for me. Because Archer isn't just a random heroic 00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:04.309 spirit. We find out Archer is actually a future 00:15:04.309 --> 00:15:08.090 version of Shiro. And he ends up kidnapping Tosaka 00:15:08.090 --> 00:15:11.490 to pretty much make Shiro be forced to come and 00:15:11.490 --> 00:15:14.649 fight him. He hates Shiro. He hates his ideals. 00:15:15.230 --> 00:15:19.049 He hates his whole hero of justice dream. We 00:15:19.049 --> 00:15:21.629 find out it's because he already lived that life. 00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:24.919 I was like, oh my god, I knew there was going 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:28.320 to be some connection. I just wasn't expecting 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.720 future Shiro. He ends up becoming something that's 00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:34.700 called a counter guardian, which basically means 00:15:34.700 --> 00:15:38.659 he's just spending eternity cleaning up humanity's 00:15:38.659 --> 00:15:41.919 mistakes. A lot of the times, that means killing 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:44.960 people. And Archer's plan is super dark. But 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:48.139 before we get into that, when Tosaka gets kidnapped, 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:52.480 we find out that church guy is actually Lancer's 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:55.179 master. And Lancer was there to try to rescue 00:15:55.179 --> 00:15:59.100 her. And the church guy, Kiru, wants him to kill 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:02.700 her. He plans to use her as the vessel for the 00:16:02.700 --> 00:16:05.980 Holy Grail, which we find out is a little bit 00:16:05.980 --> 00:16:08.600 darker than we had originally known. And even 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:11.279 though he used a command seal, and mind you, 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:15.159 his whole arm was covered. Normally you get like 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:19.980 three. This dude had a full sleeve. It was ridiculous. 00:16:20.419 --> 00:16:24.019 He commanded Lancer to kill himself. I thought 00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:27.360 he was going to have him kill Tosaka. So Lancer 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.259 does. But of course, before he's actually dead, 00:16:30.580 --> 00:16:33.759 he takes out Kiryu. And getting back to the Shiro 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:39.480 and Archer fight, this was one of the most annoying. 00:16:40.350 --> 00:16:44.649 fights in the whole series for me and i mean 00:16:44.649 --> 00:16:47.450 this fight isn't just about who's stronger it's 00:16:47.450 --> 00:16:51.370 really about their ideals clashing it's it's 00:16:51.370 --> 00:16:54.570 an important fight don't get me wrong archer 00:16:54.570 --> 00:16:57.889 is basically saying that shiro's dream is stupid 00:16:57.889 --> 00:17:02.870 and he can't save everyone which he's right honestly 00:17:02.870 --> 00:17:07.599 but Shiro's response was very on brand for Shiro 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:10.819 because he's like yeah it may be impossible but 00:17:10.819 --> 00:17:13.720 like I'm still gonna try. That is when we get 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:17.119 to see Archer's true ability which is unlimited 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:21.440 blade works. Now this was a very cool visual. 00:17:21.559 --> 00:17:25.460 I really enjoyed any of these reality Marvel 00:17:25.460 --> 00:17:29.799 scenes. There were gears in the sky, countless 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:33.279 swords stuck in the ground. And this is a place 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:36.359 where he can copy and project any weapon he has 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:38.880 seen. This will end up becoming Shiro's reality 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.000 marble. Because again, Shiro becomes Archer. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:47.140 Somehow though, Archer loses to Shiro. Which 00:17:47.140 --> 00:17:51.579 made absolutely no sense to me. I had such a 00:17:51.579 --> 00:17:56.309 hard time with Shiro becoming... This amazingly 00:17:56.309 --> 00:18:00.009 strong and powerful character in the blink of 00:18:00.009 --> 00:18:03.609 an eye. I just really had a hard time swallowing 00:18:03.609 --> 00:18:06.529 that. But this does bring us to the final villain 00:18:06.529 --> 00:18:10.829 of the series, Gilgamesh. And before Archer like 00:18:10.829 --> 00:18:13.710 disintegrates being killed by him, he pushes 00:18:13.710 --> 00:18:16.690 Shiro out of the way and tells him to take care 00:18:16.690 --> 00:18:19.569 of him. So the Gilgamesh character has popped 00:18:19.569 --> 00:18:22.509 up a little bit. I might have forgotten to bring 00:18:22.509 --> 00:18:25.460 up that white haired girl with Berserker. Again, 00:18:25.539 --> 00:18:28.920 I'm not sure. She wasn't in it too much. I did 00:18:28.920 --> 00:18:31.599 think she was going to be more of a vocal character, 00:18:31.859 --> 00:18:34.019 but she ends up getting killed for her heart. 00:18:34.259 --> 00:18:37.019 She was supposed to be the Holy Grail, apparently. 00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:40.619 And Gilgamesh, who I absolutely love this dude, 00:18:40.740 --> 00:18:43.259 I couldn't care less that he was a villain or 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:46.839 an asshole. My only issue is I could not figure 00:18:46.839 --> 00:18:49.660 out what his whole deal was. I didn't know his 00:18:49.660 --> 00:18:52.660 name. I didn't know his class. He didn't seem 00:18:52.660 --> 00:18:56.509 to have a master. He is very arrogant and over 00:18:56.509 --> 00:18:58.849 the top, and he treats everyone like they are 00:18:58.849 --> 00:19:01.829 just completely beneath him. This does make sense 00:19:01.829 --> 00:19:05.250 though, because he himself is the king of heroes. 00:19:05.569 --> 00:19:09.170 His power is called Gate of Babylon, which basically 00:19:09.170 --> 00:19:12.970 is this treasure vault filled with every single 00:19:12.970 --> 00:19:16.549 legendary weapon you could imagine. And he can 00:19:16.549 --> 00:19:18.710 just like launch them at people as if they're 00:19:18.710 --> 00:19:21.609 missiles. So when Shiro ends up being the one 00:19:21.609 --> 00:19:25.859 who fights him, I was a little confused because 00:19:25.859 --> 00:19:30.240 again, this dude just learned magic and he's 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.619 not archer yet. So fighting one of the strongest 00:19:34.619 --> 00:19:38.579 heroic spirits really didn't work for me. The 00:19:38.579 --> 00:19:41.779 cool thing for Shiro though is unlimited blade 00:19:41.779 --> 00:19:45.480 works apparently counters Gilgamesh's perfectly. 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:49.140 So every weapon Gilgamesh fires, Shiro can copy. 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:52.180 And for once, Gilgamesh actually gets overwhelmed. 00:19:52.980 --> 00:19:55.619 Mostly this is because of his pride. He is too 00:19:55.619 --> 00:19:59.440 proud to take Shiro seriously, which I don't 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:02.980 blame him. Again, Shiro sucks. The archer fight 00:20:02.980 --> 00:20:05.079 and this fight were the worst fights for me. 00:20:05.299 --> 00:20:08.200 This ends up becoming his downfall. And another 00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:11.900 reason is Gilgamesh never mastered any of the 00:20:11.900 --> 00:20:16.180 weapons he used. So somehow Shiro is able to 00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:19.319 keep up with him because of this. Again, this 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:22.630 was not my favorite lineup. These fights really 00:20:22.630 --> 00:20:25.150 didn't do it for me. But this is where we learn 00:20:25.150 --> 00:20:28.769 that the Grail is corrupted and Gilgamesh's plan 00:20:28.769 --> 00:20:31.690 is to activate it. Instead of granting wishes, 00:20:31.950 --> 00:20:35.450 what it does is it just causes a massive disaster. 00:20:36.109 --> 00:20:39.509 And this doesn't make sense because Shiro was 00:20:39.509 --> 00:20:42.730 this orphan boy who got adopted by this mage. 00:20:42.789 --> 00:20:45.609 It was actually because of the aftermath of this. 00:20:45.769 --> 00:20:49.029 So that was 10 years ago. And that's also... 00:20:49.420 --> 00:20:52.539 why Saber was brought into the same time period 00:20:52.539 --> 00:20:55.480 again so recently. It is all tied in. So the 00:20:55.480 --> 00:20:59.039 aftermath of this, we had seen scenes of Shiro 00:20:59.039 --> 00:21:01.940 just as a little boy and he's in the rubble, 00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:05.420 there's fire all around him. It really did go 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:08.200 full circle for me once they kind of explained 00:21:08.200 --> 00:21:11.140 that. But after all the hype, in the end the 00:21:11.140 --> 00:21:14.500 grail gets destroyed, the war comes to an end, 00:21:14.619 --> 00:21:18.779 and Shiro and Tosaka survive. Like again, I expected 00:21:18.779 --> 00:21:22.359 so much with all this buildup. It was a very 00:21:22.359 --> 00:21:27.079 short ending to such a long series. I did think 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:30.220 it was cute though, because Tosaka and Shiro 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:33.559 leave Japan to go study magic in London. And 00:21:33.559 --> 00:21:37.079 even though Shiro still has his crazy hero ideals, 00:21:37.539 --> 00:21:41.140 he now has Tosaka to keep him there and be a 00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:43.599 little more grounded. And she was so cute after 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:46.460 the war. She turned into a straight up girlfriend. 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:52.220 Again, I love Tosaka. Overall, I really did enjoy 00:21:52.220 --> 00:21:57.180 the animation, the character designs. Just a 00:21:57.180 --> 00:22:00.059 lot of these characters were amazing, especially 00:22:00.059 --> 00:22:04.759 Lancer, Saber, and Gilgamesh. Those are my top 00:22:04.759 --> 00:22:08.119 three. Archer would be number four, but that's 00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:11.009 probably because I found out he's Shiro. And 00:22:11.009 --> 00:22:12.710 that's probably why he'll get booted from this 00:22:12.710 --> 00:22:15.509 list. I still think Shiro getting as strong as 00:22:15.509 --> 00:22:21.490 he did was a little wild and probably why I was 00:22:21.490 --> 00:22:24.230 not as thrilled with the outcome of the series. 00:22:24.569 --> 00:22:28.750 I had been so excited to get into it and it was 00:22:28.750 --> 00:22:31.450 a little bit of a letdown. Maybe I gave it too 00:22:31.450 --> 00:22:35.829 high of an expectation. Who knows? The fights 00:22:35.829 --> 00:22:39.309 were amazing, like I said, so maybe the next 00:22:39.309 --> 00:22:41.990 one in the series will do more for me, since 00:22:41.990 --> 00:22:44.910 the foundation has been laid down now. We'll 00:22:44.910 --> 00:22:49.630 see. But that is my take on the Fate Stay Night 00:22:49.630 --> 00:22:52.170 Unlimited Blade Works. I'm currently working 00:22:52.170 --> 00:22:55.829 on Let This Grieving Soul Retire, Season 1 of 00:22:55.829 --> 00:22:59.690 Freerun. and Mashal for reviews. And I will be 00:22:59.690 --> 00:23:03.210 switching from Jujutsu Kaisen season three recaps 00:23:03.210 --> 00:23:06.690 when our little core break starts. And I'm going 00:23:06.690 --> 00:23:09.130 to start recapping the new anime that's coming 00:23:09.130 --> 00:23:12.210 out, The Witch Hat Atelier. It airs the same 00:23:12.210 --> 00:23:15.349 days as Jujutsu Kaisen, so it's not going to 00:23:15.349 --> 00:23:18.569 affect my week at all. And I saw the trailer. 00:23:18.869 --> 00:23:24.109 It looks amazing. It looks so good. Right up 00:23:24.109 --> 00:23:28.549 my alley. I am crazy about fantasy. And a few 00:23:28.549 --> 00:23:32.250 of the Japanese voices, they sounded a bit familiar. 00:23:32.390 --> 00:23:35.750 So I am beyond ready to dive into that one in 00:23:35.750 --> 00:23:38.690 April. Again, every Friday I am uploading these 00:23:38.690 --> 00:23:43.549 recaps. And I did say Tuesdays I'll be doing 00:23:43.549 --> 00:23:47.130 reviews and breakdowns. But I'm just going to 00:23:47.130 --> 00:23:49.869 continue building a catalog for now. When I have 00:23:49.869 --> 00:23:52.819 enough episodes... I'll start uploading a little 00:23:52.819 --> 00:23:56.539 less and more consistent for that. Hopefully 00:23:56.539 --> 00:23:59.460 you enjoyed this episode. And until next time, 00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:00.759 I'll see you then.