So at the start of this episode featured the big moment of Gilgamesh ripping out Illya’s heart and it was surprisingly underwhelming. It is true that in context this makes more sense and fits his character better. But it is a little disappointing. Strangely this wasn’t how it was in the visual novel and this is a rare moment where the Deen UBW movie is closer to the source than this TV remake. Basically Gilgamesh did first cut Illya’s eyes first rendering her blind but he ripped out her heart while she was still alive. There was images dedicated to showing him ripping the heart from her chest. Its a moment everyone remembers from the visual novel so to have it absent, even if it was to better the story, is a bit of a downer. Shinji once again shows up to point out that he still is a smug moron but again it comes across as rather funny. Maybe because it’s clear to everyone but Shinji that he’s in way over his head. It’s sort of endearing just how oblivious he is to his own situation. Also helping is that everyone is taking the time to knock him down a peg any chance they get.
Thus in front of Illya’s grave do we subtly bring up the core message behind this series…yes that wording was indeed sarcasm. If at this point you do not know that Shirou regards others lives more important than his then I would claim you were either blind or asleep while watching the series. But take note that there are people who want this series to have more of Shirou’s inner monologues from the source and trust me when I say that compared to the visual novel, this is subtile. I am a fate fan and I say we don’t need ten thousand monologues reminding us that Shirou is selfless and suffering from survivor’s guilt. This is a pretty key aspect of the story however as it is an interesting one. To be selfless is an ideal, but to achieve selflessness in it’s truest form is just wrong. The very nature of a hero is built on being selfless and helping those in need but Fate brings up that it’s important to enjoy and do such a thing for yourself. That’s what makes Shirou so broken. He’s selfless but does not enjoy being selfless. He does it out of an obligation and while it’s admirable you can’t help but find it alienating. Many of the servants have pasts related to being alienated or suffering due to their heroics. Saber being betrayed because no one could see her as human, Hercules driven mad against his will to murder his family and even Lancer was put into the position of unknowingly killing his son. The point is that being a hero isn’t a good way to live a life and that it’s important to value yourself as much as others.
Lancer once again proves that he is a criminally underused character and I am truly glad they choose the option of Shirou letting him join them under one condition. There was another option with Shirou letting him join with no conditions which had both Rin and Lancer lamenting how dense Shirou was to Rin’s affections. Typical harem protagonist nonsense really. So I am glad they avoided that pitfall. I would like to bring up the background art for a moment cause I must say that it’s marvelous. Yes, it is rather redundant to bring up Fate’s ridiculously high production values but its truly amazing the level of detail in these backdrops. On seeing Rin sitting on a bench I can look at the bench and see the grain of the wood with some chips on the edges. The greenery in the surroundings is landscape art piece worthy. From the cracks, clouds to the cobblestones it’s truly awe inspiring just how much work went into parts of the show that most would just glance over. But this to me is what makes Ufotables work stand out as it does and makes it special. Next week looks to be the big reveal based on Rin’s last words of the episode. Of course I highly doubt you do not know what it is at this point. If by some miracle you somehow managed to avoid the couple of hundred fans shouting spoilers at every chance they get, the foreshadowing is so in your face that you likely have a very good idea. Even in the visual novel at this point it was obvious. But lets not forget that we have a big action scene next week with Lancer vs Archer round 2 and that I am most certainly looking forward to.
So at the start of this episode featured the big moment of Gilgamesh ripping out Illya’s heart and it was surprisingly underwhelming.
Totally agree with you here. I suspect Ufotables was doing it’s best to tone down this whole arc for the benefit of vanilla audiences and diehard Prisma Ilya fans. Like you said, last episode was already brutal without the heart surgery. Imagine what the audience reaction might have been like with it. I suspect the blueray version of last episode may include Gilgamesh’s coup de grace composited into Ilya’s scene while she’s on the floor, with Ilya’s “going a little cold” line coming right after her heart is taken. She definitely has to be still alive; her heart is still beating in blondie’s hand. Man, what is the Heaven’s Feel movie going to be like? ^^;
If at this point you do not know that Shirou regards others lives more important than his then I would claim you were either blind or asleep while watching the series.
I had mixed feelings about Shirou’s reaction. What was his relationship to Ilya at this point? Ilya comes to him warning him to summon his Servant quickly if he wants to stay alive. 2nd encounter, she tries to kill him. Her Servant comes right after him from the get-go. Does he meet her again after this before her finale at the Castle? I’m wondering if the bluerays might have a hidden playground scene somewhere but I don’t remember Shirou having the option to meet Ilya in the UBW route in the novels. If such a scene had happened, it would make Shirou’s reaction a little more understandable. Maybe he might have a hint at her relationship with Kiritsugu.
About Shirou’s reaction, I get why someone like Shirou would be outraged at seeing a little girl getting brutalized right in front of him but I’m not sure if he would be reckless enough to confront a Servant that could take out Berserker so easily without any Servant backup of his own, especially when he now has to think of Rin’s safety too. But maybe he wasn’t thinking. He was that recklessly stupid at Ryudouji Temple when he tried to confront Caster after Archer had just saved him but he was alone then. Would he risk Rin in an all-out suicidal confrontation with Blondie?
And I still don’t understand why blondie made Ilya suffer so much. Was blinding her necessary? I get that she’s a potentially powerful magic user that even Caster was reluctant to try to subdue but I don’t know. Was blondie being needlessly cruel here? Was he trying to bait Shirou and Rin out into the open? Also wondering about blondie’s comment about the “situation having changed”. Did he say this when he noticed Rin?
He’s selfless but does not enjoy being selfless.
I wouldn’t go that far. He’s only so far claimed that he doesn’t enjoy practicing magic. He is forcing himself to practice magic but I don’t know if he’s really forcing himself to be selfless. He does feel happy when others are happy and he does want to save others, even if he doesn’t think of himself. But it is what he is, rather than him forcing himself to be something he’s not. The only part that I find broken is him recklessly picking suicidal fights against impossible odds. And that “brokenness” could be applied to Rin too in this case, after she breaks cover to threaten blondie with killing his “Master”, a bluff he calls on the spot.
even Lancer was put into the position of unknowingly killing his son
Bad example. =.=; Lancer put himself into that position with the crazy conditions he left his son’s mother. And it felt like he himself forgot the conditions he would need to recognize his own son after all those years. Either that or he wanted to kill or be killed by his own son. At least from the wording of the tale, he was reaping the rewards of the seeds he sowed himself. >.>;
Still love the guy this episode. Interesting how he compares Rin to the kind of Master he would want if he got a female Master. Very curious if ufotables has a hollow ataraxia project in the works somewhere.
“Lancer put himself into that position with the crazy conditions he left his son’s mother.”
Wrong. It was his sons mother who put the three Geasa on his son. Lancer gave him a ring and asked to send the boy to him once his finger could wear it. But Aoife, the boys mother, found out Lancer married a girl back home and was most likely in love with that girl even while he was was her. So as cruel revenge she sent her son to him with those three condictions, knowing full well it would likely get him killed.
As for Shirou jumping in to rescue Illya, I doubt he was thinking which is in his character. Really as long as Rin staying hidden, she wouldn’t be put at risk. They only found out about her after she targeted Shinji.
But Aoife, the boys mother, found out Lancer married a girl back home and was most likely in love with that girl even while he was was her. So as cruel revenge she sent her son to him with those three condictions, knowing full well it would likely get him killed.
Hm. Where’s this from? All sources I’ve looked up from Nasuverse and general wikis point to all three geas on Connia put there at Cu’s request.
I was going to say that’s the actual legend but it doesn’t seem certain. Some sources say it was Aoife, others say Lancer did it. So I had to go install Hollow ataraxia again and put in a 100% save file to check the scene where he talks about his past. And yep, appears in the Nasuverse Lancer was the one to give him the conditions.
Kinda pissed off about that, considering that the other explanation makes a good deal more sense.
Yeah. Who knows. Interestingly, according to his wiki, there’s a parallel between him and a few other heroes from different cultures who apparently all killed their sons.
Btw, I took a look at the scene on the Vita. If I’m not wrong, according to Lancer, he asked that the boy be named Connla and gave those 3 instructions to Aife because it was the minimum requirement the boy had to be able to bear to be Cu’s son. After a bunch of other events, Lancer goes on to say that years later, in a lull between wars, a kid suddenly came into the kingdom that was so strong, none of the king’s men could beat him and it was said that only Cu was strong enough. The King sent Cu after the kid but Lancer, mentions that Emer tried to stop him, apparently the 2nd of only two times she tried in his life. But it was the king’s orders, so he had no choice. And the boy was so strong, Cu had to use Gae Bolg to beat him. At the end of the story, Lancer just passingly mentions that the boy’s name was Connla.
Frankly, if Ufotable had made it like the DEEN movie, I’d feel like my heart has been ripped out alive as well. I’ve dreaded this scene and wished they would somehow change the story.. but that’s impossible, at least not in that universe. I’ve come to like Ilya even more thanks to Fate/Kaleid which was a nice change of pace from the UBW Deen movie I’ve watched maybe a month prior and now it’s once again all the same ‘dem feels’.