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.
For the final climactic fight of the series, it was as grandiose as Studio Troyca could muster with everyone and everything being thrown in. From Luvia and friends sending Reines on some crazy mach one magical flight to the train to Animusphere casting a meteor storm to Father Kabaros pulling off his best Kieri impression, this fight has was clearly where the lion’s share of the budget went. Even the Rail Zeppelin train gets in on the action by sacrificing one of their prized mystic eyes in order to turn into a giant laser cannon and blast that creepy eye Child of Einnashe thing out of the sky. Of course, the big moment of the episode goes to Grey and Faker having their much delayed showdown. It makes sense that a non-servant, even processing a divine construct, like Grey can only fight defensively against Faker and it’s only through Waver’s trickery that she doesn’t get outright killed. Instead we get to see the super-charged version of Rhongomyniad blasting straight into Faker’s Hecatic Wheel in Dragon Ball Z style.
This is the end of Rail Zeppelin arc but there is so much more to adapt. I would assume that the final episode would be an epilogue of sorts about the entire case and hopefully set up another case for another unannounced second season.
I’ve been thinking about trying this show recently, though I find Fate/Series to be super dumb. But what in anime god’s name are these apocalyptic-looking screenshots? I thought this series was about solving dapper English mysteries and shit.
It’s has really epic looking screenshots because the whole mystery has been leading up to this battle where everyone contributes. Gray also processes a divine construct that can literally bring the Age of Gods back into reality. It’s structured like the Kara no Kyoukai movies where there is a lot of talking and investigating before the big action scene.
I share your sentiment. So let me chip in here, because – I tried… and I’m at ep10 here and must conclude…
That this not a good show.
I recommend Symphogear XV instead. Its the pinnacle of the (flawed, albeit entertaining) franchise. And Kirika’s transformation scene alone is probably better than all of this show’s animation together.
Just to add to what the other folk are saying: yes, this is a mystery show, but they’re magic mysteries, with powerful magicians behind them. So, sure, there’s a lot of mystery solving going on (mainly by the MC), in order to figure out who’s behind the mystery in question. But often powerful magic is needed to resolve the issue or stop the culprit (this mainly comes from the students of the MC, plus a few other allies), and that’s where the apocalyptic-looking screenshots come in (though in spite of what it may look like, the stakes aren’t nearly as extreme as that, mind). The Big Bad has to be stopped somehow, after all.
As for the show’s relation to the Fate shows, it is quite different from them (no Holy Grail war here, though it plays an important background role, in enthralling many of the show’s characters, most of all the MC), but it is set in the same universe, makes frequent reference to Nasuverse lore, and shares some of the same story beats (like the magic battles). So depending on what it is you dislike about the Fate franchise this may not be for you. Only way you can know for sure is to simply give it a try, though! I find the show pretty enjoyable, even if it is nowhere near a masterpiece. But then, I think the Fate/Series is quite fun too.