Fate/Zero – 05 Review

Episode 05 – The Vicious Beast Roars

This was a awesome episode!!

The whole cast have gathered and things are definitely heating up!

Episode Summary

Having been interrupted by Rider, the battle between Saber and Lancer comes to a halt. Archibald makes himself known and taunts Waver for being weak and stealing his relic. Rider supports Waver and essentially tells Archibald that he is not good enough to be his Master.

Archer and Berserk then make their appearance and a battle between Archer and Berserk ensues.

Before the battle gets out of hand, Tokiomi summons Archer back and stops the fight. Berserk then continues on to attack Saber and Lancer comes to her rescue. Archibald then forces Lancer to attack Saber and Rider comes to her rescue. (Geez, Saber is starting to seem like the weakest of them all)

The episode ends with everyone parting ways and Saber still cursed by Lancer.

Review

Now this is what I call an action episode. Unlike last week’s constant rambling, this week had an awesome balance of action and dialogue.

So where do I start?

The fact that the whole cast have finally gathered together in one episode is exciting my blood, I can’t wait to see the next fighting scene that will take place in this series.

Archer VS Berserker

That fight scene was the scene that I have been waiting for since the start of the season. Nice animation, tension is running high and the way the fight had played out was so fun to watch. After all, no battle scene is dull when Archer is involved. I just love his holier-than-thou attitude, it always makes it so fun to watch him pimp everything up.

My question about the Matou Berserker pair was whether anyone else felt that Matou’s personality had changed and is slightly more twisted? It is understandable that he wants to win the war to save Sakura, but the whole “psyched about the war” attitude felt really odd for me. The statement that Kiritsugu (I think it was Kiritsugu) had made about how no sane Master would send their Servant out amidst this mess had red flags popping up in my mind signalling that Matou has lost it. Whatever the case, I can’t wait to see more.

Berserker was also really cool, he reminded me of a psychotic dark knight, I am really curious to see who he is meant to be but shall refrain from spoiling myself. =D

As for the Archer and Tokiomi pair, I am sad that Tokiomi had used up 1 of his command to force Archer to retreat. T^T I wanted to see more of Archer Noble Phantasm.

Rider vs Lancer

There is just no getting enough of Rider and Waver. This episode had actually showed us the bond between Rider and Waver, and that despite how much they argue, they are actually loyal to one another. It was so fun to watch Rider burning Archibald with his words, I am really starting to hate the snake-like attitude of Archibald and am glad that his “command” for Lancer to attack Saber was wasted because of Rider stepping in to stop the battle. That whole scene was so heartbreaking to see, Lancer had was really struggling against himself to fight Saber. Thank god for Rider and his impeccable timing, his appearance was like a message of “hey! don’t forget that I am still here” for me. =D

P.S: Can I say that Rider actually really looks quite similar a monkey on a horse? =P

The Saber Gang

Okay, I know that this group is meant to be the “main”group of the show. However, with a master like Kiritsugu, I am unsure who I dislike more, Archibald or him.

I can’t believe that he was going to sniper Archibald. That is cheating! Bloody hell! At least if it were some sort of magic bullet I wouldn’t mind. Right now, I am so confused as to what sort of character Kiritsugu is meant to be. Are we meant to like him or dislike him? Or is he suppose to be an interpretation of the “modern man” in a war between different ages?

Then we have Irisviel, am I the only one who found her existence to be forgettable? She had so little merit in the episode that I would have forgotten her presence at the battle if not for Saber constantly trying to protect her.

As for Saber, I think that everyone already knows who she is, what with Rider shouting it out for the whole world to hear. If that were the case, why is she still using the wind to hide her sword?

Overall, their presence was the weakest out of all the pairs in this episode.

Caster and Ryunosuke

Finally! Do I hear others rejoicing with me?

Although the screen time that they had in this episode was pretty limited and short, they still never failed to entertain me.

Ryunosuke’s excitement basically mirrored mine (minus his sadistic nature) and I can’t wait to see how a fight with this pair in the Holy Grail War will turn out to be like.

I sort of pitied Saber though, she seemed to have gotten herself a stalker by the name of Caster. =D His face filled with tears had really cracked me up.

Overall

This was a really fun episode to watch, although the first part did get a tad messy with how quick everything happened, the pacing of the show was better than last episode’s all dialogue no action style. The fact that this is also the first time we get to see everyone on screen in one episode has really got me riled up to see even more! To add to that, the Soundtrack of this series just pumps everything up to the next level. =D

Episode Rating: 8.5/10 – was so fun to watch! hopefully HxH and Ben-To would be able to continue this mood.

-ra

How do the servants rank on your list of favourites?

Right now, Lancer is at the top of my list for Favourite Servants, his character is just so endearing. Tied for the Number 2 spot would be Archer (cos his whole attitude always cracks me up) and Caster (The pyscho is funny). Followed by that would be Rider. =D The rest would probably be ranked like this – Saber, Berserker, Assassin (true to his nature, he is an enigma).