Anime Discussion Thread - Page 2128

Right as Berserker's about to finish her, Kariya runs out of life heading toward the Matou resident to pick up Sakura. This causes Berserker to completely stop moving, allowing Saber to kill a standing foe. A+ luck.

Are you serious? THAT'S what happens? wow...I couldn't tell who died first Berserker or Kariya since they didn't actually show anything but I actually thought highly of Saber when I saw her get such a good hit on him. Silly me.

How can you think highly of the by far worst thing in both FZ and FSN?

Seriously I' have to look ridiculously hard to find good things she's done. Fuck that whiny bitch, seriously. I was expecting something cool from Saber vs Berserker when I figured out his identity or shit but just ~10 mins screentime of "OH NO LANCELOTTO" into anticlimatic death.

Everything else has been godlike though as expected.

Now, pain had become everything to Kariya.
Whether it was the human called Matō Kariya that could feel pain, or that the concept of pain had been stuck into the body of this trash that was called Kariya—there was no longer any difference between the two. He felt that none of this mattered any more.
Which part of him hurt for what reason, why he had to experience this sort of torment—he had never known these causes and effects.
It hurt to breathe. It hurt for his heart to beat. It hurt to think. It hurt to remember.
There was nowhere to run, nothing that could be done. It seemed that he had felt like this before, but he could not remember. Perhaps he had already given up on himself.
The worms were crying within his body. The worms were writhing their bodies in pain. The culprit of his torment was at this moment also making its final struggle.
Berserker. It must be because of that resentful black spirit. At this moment Berserker was fighting; because the prana he required far exceeded that which his Master could provide, he had gone beyond control. The worms were suffering because they had been drained of too much prana, and so they tore at Kariya’s internal organs, ceaselessly struggling.
But that could not be helped; there was no other way.
Berserker must fight—that was what that priest had said. Kariya no longer remembered his name—but they had both made an agreement; he had agreed to let Kariya have the Grail, therefore Berserker must fight.
The Grail—at this moment only it meant everything to Kariya.
As long as he had the Grail, the war could end. As long as he had the Grail, Sakura could be saved.
There seemed to be something else, but remembering was really too painful. Those must be things outside the range of his thoughts.
Kariya did not even know what this place was. At first he had been in icy darkness, but now he felt a strange heat, and even breathing was difficult. He thought he smelled something burning; perhaps it was his own body that had been burned, but that didn’t matter. In any case his body could not move; what was most important now was Berserker’s fight—and— saving Sakura.
Sakura—ah, he would really like to see her one more time. He would really like to see that child.
But not Rin; he couldn’t see her. He mustn’t see her—no, but why was that, again?
Even thinking made him feel pain. His brain, his consciousness and his soul were all being crushed.
There was something strange. It seemed that something important had happened. Something was wrong.
Though he had become aware that something was different, Kariya’s thoughts were quickly caught up once again in endless torment.
It hurt—
There was only pain. And suffering—

Before Arondight’s relentless attack, Saber’s holy sword gave out a groan. Her sword of light that promised victory—it had long since become meaningless, in the hands of its owner who had lost the will to fight. Berserker constantly rebuked Saber, who was unable to counterattack and could only defend. At this point he had already completely unleashed his true ability, and his skill with the sword was completely incomparable with his previous level. Even if Saber had been uninjured right now, she might not have been able to withstand that strong momentum.
But in the face of her opponent’s ferocious attack, and the sense of pain in her hands and legs that had long since become numb, Saber remained unmoved. The enemy’s strong prowess that was many times greater than her own, and his merciless attack, were gradually causing her spirit to crumble.
Ahah, my friend… Is this your true intention?
Do you despair thus at fate? Are you truly using hatred to curse the king and country that brought you despair?
Once we had embraced the same dream, and put our lives on the line for the sake of saving the country.
If there was no difference in our ambition, then why do you hate thus? Do you regret now?

—One cannot lead by salvation alone—

No. Tell me it is not like this.
Lancelot. Only you. I hope you can understand, because you truly are the people’s ideal knight.
I hope that you can nod in agreement that our methods are entirely correct…

—Abandoning the people who have lost their way, desiring to become a saint on one’s own—

"Stop!!”
Relying on the last of her reason, Saber blocked the black sword that fell heavily down; at the same time, she used all her strength to shout.
"Stop… please…”
Within the sound of sobbing, her knees fell weakly to the ground.
She couldn’t move; she had reached her limit. There was no way to defend against the next attack.
Perhaps this was the only salvation.
Since he was thus unwilling, thus filled with hatred—in that case, apart from using her body to receive the sharp sword that he swung, there was no other method of recompense.
At the exact moment that Saber decided to completely abandon resistance—suddenly, Berserker stopped moving.
Saber and Berserker could not have known that about ten seconds ago, the Crest Worms within the body of Kariya — who was hiding in the equipment room of the underground parking area – had ceased their activity. In order to sustain Berserker in the physical reality, the prana in Kariya’s body — which had already been in short supply — was absorbed in great amounts, and this need for prana was multiplied manifold when the final Noble Phantasm was unleashed. Finally, the Crest Worms were exhausted by their too-heavy burden.
And the backup prana, that could originally have sustained the Servant in physical form for several hours in the circumstance that the Master was not around, had also been consumed completely in ten seconds due to Berserker’s outburst (1). In this instant, the prana that drove this killing machine suddenly dried up, causing Berserker to come to an emergency halt as if having malfunctioned.
In the abrupt silence, Saber’s hand could clearly feel Berserker’s gradually fading heartbeat. The hilt of her sword tightly gripped in her hand, the sharp blade of her beloved sword pierced the black armor.
This ending was truly too ironic; who could have foreseen it?
In this fleeting instant, the victory had been decided; a slight feeling of greed made Saber ashamed of herself, and she could not but shed tears.
She knew that she should not have killed him, but had nevertheless struck a killing blow on this person that should not have been killed. Now Saber was only a prisoner to an idea—just like Diarmuid had rebuked her at the last moment, she who had stepped over countless corpses desired only the miracles of the wish-granting machine. This was the truest face of Saber in this moment.
"Even thus, I still want the Grail.”
Tears fell onto trembling gauntlets, mingling with the blood of Berserker which had slid down the blade.
"If I do not do this, my friend… If I do not do this, then I will be unable to give you any sort of recompense at all.”

"—Saddening indeed. Things have come to this, and you still make excuses to fight?”

A voice that inspired nostalgia.
She raised her head to look across. The knight’s gaze was just as it was before, calm as the tranquil surface of a lake as he looked upon the King’s tear-stained face. Having discarded the contract with his Master, in the time before he vanished, he had been released from the spell of madness.
"Lancelot…”
"Yes… Thank you. Perhaps, this is the only way I can convey my longing.”
Looking upon the sword that pierced his body with a gaze filled with compassion, Lancelot smiled wryly as he continued to speak.
"Actually… at that time I had hoped that you would personally punish me. My King… At that time I really wished that you would denounce me out of your own anger…”
The traitor knight, Lancelot who was called the culprit of the split of the Round Table — thus he spoke with sorrow to his only friend, who had never blamed him even until the very end.
"If I could have been punished by you… If you had demanded recompense from me… Then I would definitely believe in redemption… I would definitely believe that one day I can find a way to forgive myself. … The Queen is probably the same…”
This was—the regret of one man and one woman. They embraced the same ideal as the King, but because they had been too weak, they had not been able to carry this ideal through.
And these two people had, even in death, not been able to obtain salvation. They had blamed themselves deeply for having betrayed a most important person, and the burden of this self-blame they had carried for a lifetime.
Pain such as this—to whom could it have been told? Exactly what kind of admonishment, and dealt to whom, could have given them respite?
Sighing deeply, Lancelot relaxed his body, falling into the embrace of the King. The body in her arms was very light; Saber could not but feel a lump in her throat. The Servant’s gradually fading body seemed to be almost weightless.
"Even though it is in this way, in the end I still did borrow your chest…”
As if dreaming during a nap, the Knight of the Lake quietly whispered and sighed.
"To die in the King’s arms, before the King’s eyes… haha, like this it is really… as if I am a loyal knight…”
"You - shouldn't say that - "
Saber anxiously answered. Before he disappeared, there was something that she needed to tell him. She hoped that he would understand.
Not ‘as if’. It was ‘indeed is’.
She wanted to tell him, you are a loyal knight. No one knows better than I—the sincerity you devoted to the country, to the King.
So there was no more need for self-reproach. Even if it had been a mistake that was not allowed to be made—your character is not something that can be overturned by a single mistake.
I don’t want to shame you; I don’t want to lose you. Precisely because I have this wish, I can truly deny this so-called crime that you have committed.
These were Arturia’s true thoughts, but—could not become that knight’s salvation.
The knight closed his eyes as if sleeping soundly; his body was gradually dissipating. Saber saw that he was about to vanish, but nevertheless could not think of what would be the right thing to say.
"Lancelot, actually you…!”
You are not a sinner—but what significance would such words still hold for him?
Even if someone denied his crime, the one most caught up in this wrongdoing was not anyone else, but Lancelot himself.
Why had she been unaware of this lonely thought of his? Why had she been unable to release the noble spirit of this knight from a self-reproach that bordered on madness?

—A King will not understand someone else’s feelings—

These words that she had heard as she left the Round Table—who had spoken them?
The knight’s dead body did not say anything more; alongside the last remaining light, he vanished.
"—wait… wait… Lance—“
Staring at the crook of her arm that had lost its weight and was now empty, Saber began sobbing.
She could not even make a sound. She did not allow herself to make even the slightest sound. In the last moment that she had been facing a loyal knight, she had actually been unable to say even a word of reassurance—then what right had she to cry now?
A King can only be lonely and proud—
This she had said to herself; as she searched for the path to her kingdom’s salvation, exactly how many people’s opinions and troubles had she neglected?
Gawain who had heroically sacrificed himself, Galahad who had lost his life in the line of duty—what did they think of, in their last moment? Did they leave this world with the same regret and unwillingness? Why was she so certain that that was not true?
Saber cried soundlessly, tormented as if countless thorns were piercing her heart.
Could it be that she as a King should never have been high above—
If things had been thus, would it not have brought about a broken end? Could everyone be saved?
"... It isn’t finished.”
From her sobbing throat—that was the determined voice of a constantly victorious King.
"It can be compensated for… It’s not too late… I still have the Grail. I still have the miracle that can overturn fate…”
Leaning upon the sword of victory, Saber stood up.
Even if she was unable to listen to the hearts of people, even if she was rebuked for being a proud and aloof King—none of that mattered at all.
Even thus, as long as she could win the victory for her homeland and her subjects with her own hands, it would be enough—this was what she asked of herself, what she must do as a ‘King’.
As long as she could obtain the Grail, everything could be made up for; all the previous mistakes could be righted.
Now this belief was everything to Saber who had chosen the path of the King.
Covered with wounds, Saber stepped forward.

so you're saying if Saber actually beat Berserker, who is an incredibly skilled melee fighter, in a swordfight by impaling him straight through the chest as opposed to something simpler like disarming him, that would be "the worst thing in both FZ and FSN"? That's what the anime pretends happens. it's fine to hate on Saber (she annoys me too), but you seem to have missed the point of my post in your rage.

Nice read, thanks for the post. Fortunate that Kirei vs Kiritsugu vs Grail more than made up for the sidelining of the Berserker fight.

On a side note, it feels like Gilgamesh really upped the projectile speed this episode. Or maybe it's just the perspective?

RAGE!!!! GAHHHH DAMMIT!!! why only 9 pages. WHY YOU NO H YET!!!! all this pretense is kill me.

Kinda confused about lancelotto and saber. Guess they expect you to read the vn because they did not explain anything during their fight? saber was just qqing a lot and that was about it.....

Also what are the true intentions of kirei? what are his "doubts" that he wanted answered?
And kiritsugu's whole life basically meaningless lol, sacrificed everything for grail and it turns out to not be the miracle he expected. When he strangles Iri he says "I will save the world" and he starts to cry, because he basically knows its not possible anymore. Was actually expecting him to kill himself o_o, but great episode

Basically Saber was a shitty ruler. Lancelot ended up despising Saber for it, and would have killed Saber except that Kariya froze. See the excerpts from the novel above or on previous page.

Kirei has no idea what he wants. He just knows that he enjoys seeing death and suffering, particularly of people he knows. He loves scripting the most terrifying of ends (ie. Kariya and Aoi). What he wanted to know was what he wanted from the Grail, as to the bitter end he never understood why the Grail selected him (twice!) and what his subconscious wish upon the Grail was.