Fate/Zero

Episodes 5-6

The first major battle of the Grail War may have started in episode 4, but episodes 5 and 6 (especially 5) are where the series finally shows the full potential that it has hinted at so for. And that potential is glorious indeed.

Unsurprisingly, Iskandar's brash interference in the duel between Saber and Lancer only irritates both of them, but his bold declarations serve their intended purpose: he draws out two of the others. First Archer appears in all of his arrogant glory, then the black-shrouded monstrosity that is Berserker finally makes his full debut, which brings all of the Servants but Caster onto the playing field at once (albeit few are aware of Assassin). Amidst the action, Archer is confirmed to be Gilgamesh, the great hero, presumed king, and later demigod of ancient Sumer; this is a major-league spoiler for Fate/stay night if you are seeing this series first, though he has since also been identified in other franchise installments. Contrarily, barely any hint is provided about Berserker's identity, with the only real clue being that he went out of control when his attention fixated on Saber. Does he know her from before? His will be the last Servant identity revealed, and a lot more of the series will pass before that happens; perhaps not surprisingly, he was a subject of much speculation during the original broadcast.

I can also remember all of the buzz when Berserker's fight against Archer first aired. Jaws dropped at the time over the use of CG in the scene, and even today the battle remains quite impressive. Their exchange sizzles with an intensity and energy that even Saber and Lancer's earlier battle didn't manage, and it continues when Archer is forced to depart and Berserker's attention turns to Saber. Some of the credit for this goes to Yuki Kajiura for kicking up the musical score a few notches (and finally distancing the series some from SAO comparisons), but this is also some of the series' best animation and scene-staging efforts. If your enthusiasm for the series was sagging a bit over how slow things were moving before, this should perk up your interest quite nicely.

The battle is far from all that is happening here, however. Command Seals get tossed around for the first time, Kirei now knows that someone is still watching the Church where he is holed up, and Iskandar makes it clear that he's pleased with Rider – at least more so than he would have been with Kayneth, anyway - because at least Waver had the courage to go into battle with him. As events move into episode 6, Caster confirms that he is Gilles de Rais, and he is clearly mistaking Saber for Jeanne d'Arc; the irony here is that Jeanne d'Arc, when she years later appears as Ruler in Fate/Apocrypha, is, indeed, practically a dead ringer for Artoria, so Caster's confusion is understandable.

Then there's the nastiness that Caster and Ryunosuke are up to. Yes, they really are kidnaping and crucifying young children, with the implication that they are being tortured as well when not killed outright, and Caster thinks that they need to offer up even more sacrifices in some twisted notion that this will bring Saber's supposedly-lost memories of being Jeanne back to her. Going off-track like this is something that the Grail War cannot tolerate, as it threatens to wantonly reveal the existence of magic (not because it's, you know, horrific), so it looks like caster and Ryunosuke are going to be “it” next episode.

Downtime with Kayneth in another episode 6 segment shows that he has an unusual arrangement: his betrothed, Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, is providing the mana for Lancer, while he holds the Command Seals. (This is actually similar to what Irisviel and Kiritsugu seem to be doing, so it's not as unique as they think.) The way she looks at Lancer's mole while also deriding Kayneth spells future trouble, but that's assuming they survive a more immediate concern: Kiritsugu demonstrating that the way to get around a potent magical defense on a building is just to collapse the whole thing. Mages don't die quite that easily, but it's safe to say that Kiritsugu proves with this how dangerous he is. He certainly has enough of Kirei's attention that he comes out personally and shows the first glimpse of how much of a bad-ass he is.

And that's not even the end of it. Kirei also later has a very curious conversation with Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is clearly dissatisfied with the bland Tokiomi but seems to find Kirei much more interesting; he's being way more congenial (in his own way) here than anywhere else and is about one small step short from flirting with Kirei. The debate over the relationship between joy and sin strikes at the heart of Kirei's motivations (or rather his lack thereof) and portends future trouble of a different kind. Those who have seen F/SN know how this eventually ends up, so the mystery for those fans, then, is how the story gets from here to there, as that was never explained in F/SN.

We also cannot forget about possibly the best scene of the series so far: Irisiviel driving. Let all who share the road with her beware!

In other words, episode 6 is, in its own way, just as significant and thrilling as episode 5 was. With events kicking up a notch further even from episode 4, the series is really starting to take off.

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Fate/Zero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.