Category: Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note

I can’t help but feel disappointed when the epilogue of  Lord El-M skips the entirety of the epic use of Rhongomyniad, and Hecatic Wheel smashing into each other. It doesn’t make for an exciting climax when the antagonist just simply teleports away before those two noble phantasm meet each other in a violent explosion. I understand that the show is simply following the source material and that wiping out the main baddie this early on in the game would be narratively unsatisfactory. It still sucks that after all the effort put into assembling the cast to help out Waver, Kabetro ends up dying and there is no payoff to show.

Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 13 [FINAL]” →

As I have speculated in the past couple of weeks, the culprit behind all the crime is Dr. Heartless. What did surprise me was him being a Caules impostor the entire time he was on the train. Lord El-Melloi II isn’t a show about the audience solves the mystery for themselves but there was still a lot of missing context especially when the reason that Waver knew from the beginning was that such medical treatment would not be possible from the real Caules. It was nice of the staff to tie in the original content of the first six episodes where Dr. Heartless was financing all the weird experiment into the leylines around England even if was a little janky in execution. I get the how and the who behind the creation of a fake Holy Grail and the summoning of a fake Heroic spirit but I don’t know why Dr. Heartless would go through all that effort to obtain Faker. Maybe he needs her for protection in his future schemes but that remains a mystery for now as noble phantasms are getting casted left, right and center.

Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 12 [Lightning and Shooting Star]” →

Contrary to last episode’s ending scene of Gray and Hephaestion charging into each other, it winds up being something very reminiscent of the that entire banquet of kings episode from Fate/zero. Although fewer in participants, less epic and far shorter than its predecessor, it’s filled with substantial dialogue between these two warriors about their own nature and desire. Gray, raised to having the body of King Arthur, doesn’t have any desires of her own like saving her people or world domination. Being the protector of Waver seems to be the only thing going for her with a hint or two of developing romantic feelings for him. On the other hand, Hephaestion resents Iskander for never letting go of his dream to see Okeanus which wasn’t achievable. In the end, it’s about the possibility of Grey having a part of King Arthur channeling through her, coming to understand what makes Hephaestion tick and the reveal of her mystic eyes. For the lack of action this episode, having a Mystic Code for a Divine Construct like the Rhongomyniad be reduced down to a snowboard for Gray to escape the forest more than makes it up. Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 10-11” →

Until the end of the season, Lord El-Melloi II will be adapting its fourth and fifth volume of Rail Zeppelin storyline. I can see why the director went with an anime original content for the first half as the first three volume would have worked better as movies rather than weekly episodes. It’s all builds up to a magical train where are Mystic Eyes up for auction, murders and Gray not backing down from a servant fight.

Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 07-09” →

It turns out that next week will be the beginning of the adaption of the source material of volume four and five and this episode marks the end of original anime content. I rather like this episode as it breaks away from Waver solving cases and has a fun little shopping adventure with the three main female characters of Grey, Reines and Luvia, The classroom lesson about wealth coming from the underground and Grey’s curiosity about Waver’s past is just a thin cover for Studio Troyca to play dress up. I don’t mind the fun cutety stuff but it turns into a literal slideshow and I would like to see to see a little animation in those scenes. Thankfully, the story goes back to the main points of Waver’s past and a bounded field going up.

Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 6 [A Girl, a Department Store, and a Gift ]” →

As the first multi-episode mystery, Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo does all right in setting up its case while having all sorts of Fate crossover from every series in its main timeline. From Fate/zero to Fate/hollow ataraxia, there is plenty of connections to make if you are an avid follower of Fate with the discussion of the two mages that the clock tower is sending over to fifth Holy Grail War and Kairi Shishigou becoming involved in the case. If you liked Sisigou in Fate/Apocrypha, then he’s pretty much the same person you know and love in this iteration, albeit without Mordred. Other characters like Reines shows why she is the equal counterbalance in the partnership between her and Waver. In her first case, she is shown to be witty and playful by enticing Waver to come into her bed for the sake of advancing her magus bloodline while heaping insults on his third-rate magical circuits. It’s not just her personality that she brings to the table as the mystic eyes that she processes is a necessary part in how the case moves forward. Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 04-05” →

This is the kind of show that got me into Nasuverse in first place where it methodically goes through its mystery before punctuated by an epic showdown. The entire show gives off such a Kara no Kyoukai vibe with Lord El-Melloi II doing the detective work while his apprentices do all the stabbing and disposal of rogue magus. The mechanics of the magic system in Fate franchise are often so convoluted that info dumps are necessary to understand exactly how all the pieces come together. Lord El-Melloi II avoids such mundane narrative devices like explaining while walking around in a circle by organically incorporating the different aspects of magic into its weekly cases. First up is the astrology driven magus that ends up being consumed by a faulty ritual and sets the pace for how mysteries are to be solved. In the world of magic, once the motive has been discovered then everything else should fall into place as opposed to the standard CSI approach of picking through the howdunit. The second case is alot less interesting with the rat man ruining Waver’s favorite place for tea but that because a whole slew of characters were introduced.

Continue reading “Lord El-Melloi II Sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note – 02-03” →