Fate/Zero Episode 17 – Prophecy Fulfilled

God damn, this fucking show, it’s so motherfucking good.  There’s so much stuff going on and so many different ideas and themes, but I can always understand what’s happening at the moment, and I’m always interested in it.  This episode surely put itself high in the running for the best episode so far, and it might just be better than last week’s, but I’ll have to wait a few days and see what I think about it then. But I think the fact that this episode finally brought something that’s been being alluded to for weeks to fruition may help it overcome last week’s in my opinion.

Although this episode was almost exclusively about Kirei, the scene with Irisviel and Maiya was also very good.  Her talking about how she was made only for the war and about how Kiritsugu gave her the scabbard to keep her alive, kind of helped show that he isn’t just some completely self-concerned asshole, even though he may seem like it.  Although Kiritsugu is trying to win the war for his own personal moral convictions, he isn’t completely “Fuck everything else, I’m doing this and only this”; he still cares about his wife and family.  And then, I remembered that there exists a show by the name of Fate/Stay Night, which is a show about the Holy Grail War.  So if that show exists, then logic would lead to the conclusion that Kiritsugu doesn’t win the War, so I pretty much spoiled a potential ending for myself.  But please don’t comment something about how he does or doesn’t win, because I can still hold onto some idea that he may win, and his plan just didn’t work or something.

The real focus of this whole episode is Kirei and how much of a badass he is.  He just may rival Kiritsugu in that field.  The show has done a really good job of developing his character and showing his transformation for a docile pawn in Tokiomi’s plan to his own man who usurps even his own Master.  Perhaps he always was the way he is now and just never really had any freedom to do anything himself – considering how he’s been a servant of the church his whole life.  But either way, I (along with several other people) said that Kirei and Archer were going to get together way back in episode 9 or some shit, so I’m ecstatic that it finally happened.  The reveal about what really happens at the end of the war was kind of weak – not in what actually happens but how it’s told.  There’s no real build up to it or anything, Kirei just says, “You have to die at the end” and Archer doesn’t even bat an eye.  To me it seems odd that the spirits don’t even know the procedure or ramifications of the contest that they’ve been called from beyond the dimensional star gate to participate in, considering that they all at least know why they’ve been summoned in the first place.

The murder scene was also executed very well.  It just goes to show that things like atmosphere and dramatic tension make the difference of any scene, be it in movies, television, or anime.  We all knew that something was going to happen the second Kirei got the knife, but that didn’t make it any less awesome when Kirei actually did what everyone knew he was going to do.  Then Archer and Kirei finally become Servant and Master, and the stage is set for more awesomeness.

Seeing as how everyone who has died so far has had a pretty rough time of it, it makes me kind of worried about what will happen to Waver.  By now, he certainly knows he’s in over his head, but he probably doesn’t realize how much danger his life is in if Kiritsugu targets him.  If he continues his trend of killing the Masters after their Servants are dead, that will make for a pretty sad moment.  I can’t really explain what I mean, but I guess it more goes along with his innocence and youth.  All of the other people in the war are older and more experienced mages, but Waver just seems like a child doomed be killed because of something he didn’t foresee.