DO NOT discuss the source material beyond this episode. If you want to discuss future events or theories, please use separate threads. DO NOT ask where to watch/download this episode or give links to copyrighted, non-fair use material. DO NOT troll/bait/harass/abuse other users for liking or disliking the series/characters. DO read the Anime Discussion Rules and Site & Forum Guidelines.
THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE.
----------------------------------------
Anyone else see the world premiere of this at Sakura Con?
Gen Urobuchi, Atsuhiro Iwakami, and Katsuhi Ota, the creator, producer, and editor-in-chief of Fate/Zero were all there watching it with us and seeing it themselves for the first time. It was so cool to hear them complimenting us afterwards on how straightforward we were in our enthusiasm for the show during the screening. Every one of the dozens of epic or well-scripted moments of the show immediately drew cheers and applause, which is something we're pretty much used to as a western audience. It was their first time visiting America as a group, and said they would never have been able to get that type of vocal reaction out of a japanese audience - that it was their first time experiencing it for their show. That was just so cool in my opinion. :)
It never occurred to me that we at Sakura-con, in being incredibly privileged to meet these important people and in trying to get the most out the opportunity to interact with them and enjoy the exclusive the content they brought us at the con, that we might also be giving them an unforgettable, first-time experience. Rather than the fans just trying to extract as much as we could out of our guests, the whole thing ended up being an incredible, moving experience for both sides.
Anyway, it was an unforgettable event and weekend in general - I could not have asked for a better experience for my first convention.
Premiered as in teaser?
If it aired fully, they'd have talked about the episode's content/development I'd like to believe? Iunno, is what an 'episode 2' discussion means, but only saw things related to the event. Wanted to compare in advance with the light novel which is why I looked here ;A;
Glad to know people enjoyed the event, same for the guests.
TitanioVerde said: WHAT?! Was it shown in the USA earlier than everywhere?
Both episode 14 and 15 were shown at Sakura-Con on April 7 and in theaters in Japan the previous day.
Only episode 14 was shown in Japan the previous day, as scheduled (not episode 15). No one else outside of that room at Sakura-con will be seeing episode 15 until it airs in Japan at the regular time next week.
Hakoria said: Premiered as in teaser?
If it aired fully, they'd have talked about the episode's content/development I'd like to believe? Iunno, is what an 'episode 2' discussion means, but only saw things related to the event. Wanted to compare in advance with the light novel which is why I looked here ;A;
Glad to know people enjoyed the event, same for the guests.
It was the full episode - I guess most of the people who already saw it are still in the mode of information protection (they were very strict about making sure no one was using any electronics to be able to capture any images from the episode early). There was no mention about posting details online though, and even if there was, I'm sure people would be doing it anyway.
Anyway, here is a synopsis of the episode as I remember it.
(Note: Massive spoilers!! Obviously, please do not read if you haven't already seen the episode or read the book!)
Rider finally decides that he and Saber's efforts are futile and decides to capture the entire beast inside his Reality Marble. However, it is only a means of delaying the beast and will last just a few minutes - he doesn't have a plan for destroying it once the Reality Marble collapses.
Kiritsugu tries to call Irisviel's cell phone, but she doesn't know how to use it so Waver picks up the phone. Kiritsugu doesn't reveal his identity, but confirms from Waver that Rider can drop the contents of the Reality Marble anywhere within a 100m radius of the initial location. He tells Waver to wait for a flare and then to tell Rider to collapse the Reality Marble at that location.
Kiritsugu also tells Waver to inform Lancer that Saber's left arm has an anti-fortress power. When Lancer finds out, Saber confirms, but says it is her honor as a knight to bear the wound until her and Lancer finish their fight. Despite hearing this, Lancer takes his yellow spear and breaks it in half, releasing the curse on Saber's left hand. Saber's hand is immediately healed, and she dispels the wind around her sword, revealing the full form of the sword Excalibur.
Upon seeing this, Berserker, whose real identity is Lancelot, recognizes Saber as King Arthur and turns away from chasing Gilgamesh, instead firing bullets at Saber as she tries to get in position to destroy the beast. Gilgamesh is angry at Berserker apparently losing interest in him and turns around, charging at Berserker from behind. Berserker immediately deploys explosives behind him and Gilgamesh runs right into them, blowing his aircraft apart. At this point, Waver has called a messenger from inside the Reality Marble to inform Rider of the plan, but they can't do anything until Berserker stops interfering. Lancer goes into spirit form and materializes on top of Berserker's aircraft, using his remaining spear to sever Berserker's connections to the plane and destroy it. However, Berserker manages to hang onto on of the plane's machine guns as he falls out of the craft and points it at Saber, but this is also quickly destroyed by Gilgamesh, who reappears at the top of the bridge.
By now Kiritsugu has taken a motor boat off of the ship he was on and finally fires the flare at the designated location in the center of the river. Waver sees this and the messenger disappears to inform Rider, who collapses the Reality Marble and drops Caster's beast in position as planned. Saber then stands underneath the bridge and draws on the power of the will of all the people who fought and served with her when she was king, in order to charge the Excalibur attack, which succeeds in killing Caster in one blow. As Caster sees the light of the attack and dies, he sees a flashback of a girl in a church who looks exactly like Saber, and says something along the lines of "Look at this thing we created together. What have I..."
After witnessing Saber's unparalleled strike, Gilgamesh and Rider trade views atop the bridge about Saber's style of kingship. Gilgamesh calls Saber a pathetic little girl and says she will eventually be sucked dry by trying to shoulder the entire will of her people. To this Rider reaffirms that he and Gilgamesh will never get along and says he'd rather not fight Gilgamesh since his noble phantasm is spent, though he would return force if Gilgamesh were to attack him. Gilgamesh tries to dodge the issue by saying it'd be a waste if he were to defeat Rider while Rider wasn't in full form, but Rider fires back saying that the only reason Gilgamesh won't attack is because he is himself trying to hide his own injuries.
Meanwhile Tokiomi has lit Matou on fire, and Matou falls off the building into an alleyway. Kotomine's job at this point was to finish Matou off in the alleyway with his blades, but when he gets to Matou, he remembers what Gilgamesh told him earlier and puts his blades away. He instead puts his hand on Matou's chest and begins a spell of some sort.
- End of episode -
(For those who have also seen the episode, please point out anything I've missed, and also post if you have a better memory of what Caster said when he died!)
TitanioVerde said: WHAT?! Was it shown in the USA earlier than everywhere?
Both episode 14 and 15 were shown at Sakura-Con on April 7 and in theaters in Japan the previous day.
Only episode 14 was shown in Japan the previous day, as scheduled (not episode 15). No one else outside of that room at Sakura-con will be seeing episode 15 until it airs in Japan at the regular time next week.
I also read details about the 15th episode before it was shown at Sakura-Con. And, according to the person who wrote that, his source was a Japanese friend who had seen it in theaters.
FlashFumo said: I hate you guys. ;_;
KingCez said: a nice big warm fuck you to all of you who saw it early
You have to look at it from a different, more positive, perspective; at least the rest of us won't have to wait two weeks to see a new episode.
TitanioVerde said: WHAT?! Was it shown in the USA earlier than everywhere?
Both episode 14 and 15 were shown at Sakura-Con on April 7 and in theaters in Japan the previous day.
Only episode 14 was shown in Japan the previous day, as scheduled (not episode 15). No one else outside of that room at Sakura-con will be seeing episode 15 until it airs in Japan at the regular time next week.
I also read details about the 15th episode before it was shown at Sakura-Con. And, according to the person who wrote that, his source was a Japanese friend who had seen it in theaters.
That actually might be possible, though what they were seeing in Japan would have been a lower quality version.
At a panel the day before, Aniplex informed us that the episode we would be seeing was an HD copy that was rushed to be ready specifically in time for Sakura-con and that we were "the first people in the universe to see it". Gen Urobuchi, the creator of Fate/Zero, said he had only seen the storyboard up to that point and was watching the episode with us for the first time, but a lower-quality version might still have screened in Japan the day before. It certainly was not mentioned in any of the panels though.
Knil said: It was the full episode - I guess most of the people who already saw it are still in the mode of information protection (they were very strict about making sure no one was using any electronics to be able to capture any images from the episode early). There was no mention about posting details online though, and even if there was, I'm sure people would be doing it anyway.
I was wondering about the information protection aspect as well, since I was considering making a review up to the first two episodes, but I was worried that I couldn't legally give out that information.
I think the most risque question one of the fans asked were if Urobuchi was expressing his religious views through Caster and Ryuunosuke. Everyone in the audience was like "Whoaaaa" when that question was asked.
Knil said: Gen Urobuchi, Atsuhiro Iwakami, and Katsuhi Ota, the creator, producer, and editor-in-chief of Fate/Zero were all there watching it with us and seeing it themselves for the first time. It was so cool to hear them complimenting us afterwards on how straightforward we were in our enthusiasm for the show during the screening. Every one of the dozens of epic or well-scripted moments of the show immediately drew cheers and applause, which is something we're pretty much used to as a western audience. It was their first time visiting America as a group, and said they would never have been able to get that type of vocal reaction out of a japanese audience - that it was their first time experiencing it for their show. That was just so cool in my opinion. :)
I agree, I was amazed that they all hadn't seen the episode yet even though they did such important work creating it. I'm not familiar with the process of creating anime, so this could be very normal for all I know, but it still felt great knowing that this was their first time seeing it too and they could enjoy it alongside the fans.
As for it being unusual for them that the audience was cheering and applauding scenes, given how indescribably amazing that episode was I can't imagine just sitting there silently and holding in my excitement. Like when
Saber finally used her Noble Phantasm
I just couldn't contain myself and cheered madly, and when
Gilgamesh and Berserker had that awesome battle
I was on the edge of my seat wondering how it would turn out. So when
Gilgamesh's starship blew up
I shouted "NOOOO!" because I didn't want the battle to be over that easily. x3
I hope Gen Urobuchi, Katsuhi Ota, and Atsuhiro Iwakami had a great time, because that really was an once-in-a-lifetime experience for both the fans and them. =]
i was lucky to get to see this at Sakura Con, this and episode 14 are really well done and it was exactly i imagined from the light novels. plus i found it neat to watch it with mister Urobuchi himself.
Alyx_Phantomhive said: Me too! (^ - ^) Maybe I saw you, were you cosplaying as anything?
Oh, and does anyone know what day this airs in Japan?
No I wasn't cosplaying at all... I went by myself couldn't build the courage at all >.< hopefully next year ^-^) btw were you cosplaying?
We saw the Episode (#15) 2 days before the TV broadcast in Japan! We're the first ones to see it, in the entire world. It wasn't shown on theaters or anywhere else but Sakura-Con. EP 14 was the one shown on theaters on Japan the day before!
Congrats to all who saw it early. There's one thing killing the rest of us until next week, is there a Kajiura cover of Saber's Sword of Promised Victory theme? That would make my year.
Subby said: Congrats to all who saw it early. There's one thing killing the rest of us until next week, is there a Kajiura cover of Saber's Sword of Promised Victory theme? That would make my year.
Gen Urobuchi, Atsuhiro Iwakami, and Katsuhi Ota, the creator, producer, and editor-in-chief of Fate/Zero were all there watching it with us and seeing it themselves for the first time. It was so cool to hear them complimenting us afterwards on how straightforward we were in our enthusiasm for the show during the screening. Every one of the dozens of epic or well-scripted moments of the show immediately drew cheers and applause, which is something we're pretty much used to as a western audience. It was their first time visiting America as a group, and said they would never have been able to get that type of vocal reaction out of a japanese audience - that it was their first time experiencing it for their show. That was just so cool in my opinion. :)
It never occurred to me that we at Sakura-con, in being incredibly privileged to meet these important people and in trying to get the most out the opportunity to interact with them and enjoy the exclusive the content they brought us at the con, that we might also be giving them an unforgettable, first-time experience. Rather than the fans just trying to extract as much as we could out of our guests, the whole thing ended up being an incredible, moving experience for both sides.
Anyway, it was an unforgettable event and weekend in general - I could not have asked for a better experience for my first convention.
That's great to know. I'm glad they're taking into account the American audience and what we like to see compared to the Japanese audience's tastes.
akutasame94 said: If episode one was pre-aired we need to wait two more weeks?
No, but the people who saw episode 15 early have to wait two weeks for episode 16, while the rest of us get to see an episode we haven't seen before on April 14.
akutasame94 said: If episode one was pre-aired we need to wait two more weeks?
No, but the people who saw episode two early have to wait two weeks for episode three, while the rest of us get to see an episode we haven't seen before on April 14.
You know what? If I hadn't read the novel I'd be really angry right now. Please have some consideration for other people, will ya? Because most don't like to be spoiled. Not to mention that your spoilers, besides super detailed, go up to the epilogue.
So would you mind editing your post?
Alyx_Phantomhive said: Me too! (^ - ^) Maybe I saw you, were you cosplaying as anything?
Oh, and does anyone know what day this airs in Japan?
No I wasn't cosplaying at all... I went by myself couldn't build the courage at all >.< hopefully next year ^-^) btw were you cosplaying?
We saw the Episode (#15) 2 days before the TV broadcast in Japan! We're the first ones to see it, in the entire world. It wasn't shown on theaters or anywhere else but Sakura-Con. EP 14 was the one shown on theaters on Japan the day before!
I almost went by myself, but managed to get a friend who wanted to come with me at the very last minute.
Yes, I cosplayed as Megpoid Gumi in her standard outfit (and I think I was the only one at the convention in her original outfit too).
It was a great experience for my first convention. ^^ I'm hoping to go to another in Vancouver this year as well.
I was cosplaying as Yosuke from Persona 4. This was the best thing at Sakura con for me. Watching it on the big screen with a big crowd of people it made it all more epic with the fights.
There was also a raffle for limited edition posters and my friend won one but he doesn't watch Fate Zero so he gave it to me. Got it signed by Urobuchi, Iwakami and Ota. Best day ever. Really wanted to win the signed novels though.
Alyx_Phantomhive said: Me too! (^ - ^) Maybe I saw you, were you cosplaying as anything?
Oh, and does anyone know what day this airs in Japan?
No I wasn't cosplaying at all... I went by myself couldn't build the courage at all >.< hopefully next year ^-^) btw were you cosplaying?
We saw the Episode (#15) 2 days before the TV broadcast in Japan! We're the first ones to see it, in the entire world. It wasn't shown on theaters or anywhere else but Sakura-Con. EP 14 was the one shown on theaters on Japan the day before!
I almost went by myself, but managed to get a friend who wanted to come with me at the very last minute.
Yes, I cosplayed as Megpoid Gumi in her standard outfit (and I think I was the only one at the convention in her original outfit too).
It was a great experience for my first convention. ^^ I'm hoping to go to another in Vancouver this year as well.
Glad u got a friend to go with... I did saw you hahaha I wanted to snatch a picture of you but you were a little far away from me. It was great — I laugh it off when someone asked "Who would win in a fight? Homura or Kiritsugu?" lol
It was my first convention too... I had a great time. ^-^) are u going to anime revolution??
I still think the new OP is lazy though. It doesn't have the impact of the first one and they could have skipped out on the ~10 seconds of looking at the exhaust of Saber's VMAX since that just seems redundant.
Dat Jeanne. Seriously, dat Jeanne.
Farewell Caster.
And epic Excalibur is epic. Along with the Sword of Promised Victory theme playing.
Just...epic. Where was the boat though that Kiritsugu placed?
And I could have used Gilgamesh laughing while he was disappearing in the end as well as a flashback with Enkidu. Oh well, BD I guess.
And if next episode is what I think it is, it's going to be tragic as well.
McRib said: I still think the new OP is lazy though. It doesn't have the impact of the first one...
Because there's no action? It has a more emotional and meaningful impact for me, showing most masters and servants facing away and being all gloomy, while focusing more on Kiritsugu and foreshadowing what's to come. I prefer this opening and think it's a perfect fit for the second season. Musically, it's a lot better too, imo; but then again, I'm probably biased because it's Kalafina... Well, it's all subjective and opinions.
It's a pretty good rendition of Sword of the Promised Victory by Kajiura. I expected more since Fate/Zero's Sword of the Promised Victory was amazing. It kinda set the standard too high for me. Overall, great episode.
Goodbye Caster. I'm glad they put Joan on this episode, I really want to see an animation of Fate with Joan animated. Perhaps if I make another Fate fanfic I'll make Joan the servant of the protagonist.
And for say goodbye to Caster we can have this picture:
Even though he was a mad bastard no one can deny Gilles de Rais was an unique servant.
Damn, rewatched this twice, and LOVED IT!!!
The whole episode was great, but of course, EX CALIBAH was the best part.
Feeling it for Kariya... And damn, next weeks seems like its gonna be awesome
but i did get KINDA spoilt unto whats gonna happen next week... hopefully, the spoiler i got was just a false clam!! >_<
I honestly find Kiritsugu attractive. Thanks, ufotable, for making your character designs so freaking awesome. I love Lancer and his chivalry. This episode is the start of Gilgamesh's "love" towards Saber. I totally ship those two. Fuck Shirou.
Brilliant episode.
Now that one maniac is out of the picture the war will start again. Although I will miss the all-hero-minus-berserker-cooperation. Although Bersercraft and his ability to almost ruin every possible plan is top notch thing for me. Like this unpredictable maniac.
Looking forward to next eps.