Fate/Zero

Episodes 7-8

Did anyone actually believe that Kayneth El-Melloi (Lancer's Master) was dead following the incident with the building collapse last episode? Or that he was going to solely devote his efforts to defeating Caster and Ryonosuke now that the Grail War has been suspended temporarily to deal with them, given how great an offense Kiritsugu has committed against him?

Nope, I didn't, either. (And wouldn't have, even if I hadn't seen this series before.)

Kayneth turning the tables on Kiritsugu and directly going after him may initially seem out of character for someone who has played so cautiously so far, but this all goes back to what he said in Waver's class back in episode 1. Kayneth regards bloodlines as the supreme determiner of a Mage's power and prestige, so as a ninth-generation Mage he clearly sees himself as one of the elites of the magic community. Never mind destroying his base of operations or almost killing him; Kiritsugu trying to take him out personally, and using such an unmagical way to do so, is an affront that he cannot tolerate. Such things must be squashed personally.

However, as the second of these two episodes show, that arrogance is also his undoing. He taunts Kiritsugu over the latter's evasiveness and indirect means of fighting by saying that he expected better of a known “Mage-Killer,” but he seems to forget in the process that there have to be very good reasons why Kiritsugu earned that moniker. Kiritsugu successfully shooting him the first time was not just a case of Kayneth letting his guard down; if anything, he was the one who was lucky there that Kiritsugu only wounded him. He ultimately loses because he gets so blinded by his arrogance that that he never considers that Kiritusugu–despite some of his desperation being real–is setting yet another trap for him. A bullet made of a Mage's own powdered ribs sounds potent on its own, but one which can disrupt the magic circuits of a target and hit harder the more powerful the Mage is? Nasty, nasty, nasty. Since Lancer came to his rescue, Kayneth should survive this, but he might not ever use magic again. Fortunately, his team has a back-up...

The Kayneth/Kiritsugu struggle is the most intense battle of these two episodes, but hardly the only one. Seeing Saber and Lancer team up against a common foe is a real treat, especially the combo move they pull off; these two would probably get along quite well if the circumstances of the Grail War did not force them to be adversaries. Caster is his normal hideous self, turning murdered children into CG monsters, albeit a better-animated set of CG monster crowds than any other series from the early-to-mid-2010s. Dan Woren's English voice work as Caster also deserves special mention here; hard to believe that this is the same guy who voiced Byakuya in the Bleach franchise, but the performance is easily one of the English dub's best. He gives the character a vaguely creepy vocal quality while still somehow managing to sound appropriate for a bug-eyed male yandere.

Then there's the Irisviel/Maya battle against Kirei. He showed a small taste of what he could do in episode 6, but episode 8 is the first time that we see him go all-out. After seeing that, it's not hard to understand why Kiritsugu is nervous enough about facing him that Irisviel has to console him. Maya shows she's handy with more than just guns, and Irisviel shows that, despite not being a combat mage, she still has a trick or two up her sleeve, but what I have always found most interesting about the scene is the relationship shown between the two women in it. Irisviel suggests here that she knows about Maya and Kiritsugu, and not only does not hold it against Maya but even condones it. Occasional earlier comments from both Kiritsugu and Irisviel suggest that they both believe that Irisviel is unlikely to survive the Grail War, so perhaps she sees Maya as her replacement? Not hard to understand why Maya might be a little weirded out by that. In fact, Irisviel's number certainly seemed to be up until the revelation that Avalon–the Noble Phantasm sheath for Excalibur–is within her body, thus allowing her to heal in Saber's presence.

Not all of the episode is intense action or gloomy reality, however. Unsurprisingly, Iskandar and Waver show that they are quite capable of being the comedy relief, and the whole business about the T-shirt and the pants constitutes one of the funniest scenes in the whole series. It also shows, again, how well the two play off of each other, whether it be lighter moments or more intense ones. They make a welcome complement to the more dire events going on elsewhere.

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Random Observation: Those familiar with Fate/stay night who listen closely in one scene in episode 7 (where Kiristugu is strategizing over a map with Irisviel and Maya) might catch a reference to one of the key battlegrounds in that series.

Fate/Zero is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Netflix.