Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Mash is gonna want to change which eye her Peek-A-Bangs cover after having her left eye assaulted.
Fate/Grand Carnival is the long-awaited, long-requested sequel to Carnival Phantasm, a series that was known for running on sheer absurdity and hysterics. With a potential cast as massive and quirky as F/GO you bet you're in for some laughs.
- The opening is this in spades!
Case in point.- That Mapo Tofu pull... every master's nightmare.
- How Ritsuka not noticed the single ring instead of three and decides to celebrate is anyone's guess.
- Nero and Artoria are at each other's throats in every frame where they're next to each other. Notably, there's at least one shot where they're on opposite sides of the screen and separated by several people, and they're performing the routine just fine. Meanwhile, Lily is just happy to be there.
- Gawain, Saber!Lancelot, and even Tristan dancing the Wotagei to a poster of Artoria's Archer form while in their summer-outfits. Saber!Artoria finds out about this and is horrified about it while the three stooges continues gushing over her instead.
- Gilgamesh trying to flirt with Jalter. Unfortunately for him, he didn't learn from his flirting with the part-time waitress Saber in episode 8 of Carnival Phantasm, and he gets a fire attack to the seat of his pants from the Dragon Witch for his troubles, with two of the Mysterious Necos collecting the QP he scatters in his wake.
- This is also an homage to the original Carnival Phantasm's opening, where Gilgamesh was the one being annoyed by Shinji Matou's groveling and he responds by attacking Shinji with one of his signature abilities. Not so fun on the receiving end, is it Goldie?
- Gilles holding an Emergency Jeanne d'Arc Meeting with Fuuma and Arash, screaming like some obsessed fanboy and popping his eyes out at random. What makes this even funnier is that this is supposed to be the saner Saber version of Gilles, and not the Caster version we've known him for. Apparently that Madness Enhancement EX isn't just for show...
- Artemis used the form she had in Lostbelt 5 in the OP just to nuke teddy bear-Orion for fawning over the female summer-servants.
- The wall of monitors Dantes has on Gudako not only makes sense in retrospect, but is hilariously genius, to say nothing of how in each cut, as the monitors get more and more numerous, Dantes is just laughing his head off.
- That Mapo Tofu pull... every master's nightmare.
Pilot/Episode 1
- The entire episode is practically an homage to the Holy Grail Game Show from the first episode of Carnival Phantasm with everything scaled up much much bigger.
- With Chaldea low on resources due to an influx of servants it comes down to two options: Cut costs or get what they need to support everyone by taking it out of Ritsuka's paycheck. Ritsuka starts debating her sociopathic parameters for who to burn, deciding to start with those with the lowest bond levels. Mash very strongly objects.Ritsuka: Mash, you have to understand. Someone has to get their hands dirty. I figure we can start with anyone with a lower bond level...
Mash: Please don't say cruel things so emotionally! - With Nero's help a contest to determine who's burned and who isn't is formed...and it's quickly declared to only be for 4-Star servants and above eliminating all three versions of Cú Chulainn. When Berserker Cú tries to brag, he's burned too because Ritsuka decided there's too many Cús around, and thus is Carnival Phantasm's most well known running gag reborn.
- Mash realizes that out of all the three-stars, Red Hare is the only one remaining. Ritsuka immediately gets defensive of him, revealing that she's grailed him to 100, and used up a good amount of Chaldea's resources in the process.
- Atalante and Achilles eagerness to test their speed against one another builds hype for the race that is ultimately deflated when Kingprotea finishes the race in a single stride. This gets even more hilarious when you realize what Atalante's legend entailed.note
- During the archery event, Orion makes his way up to Ritsuka and Mash's booth since all the work in that event is up to Artemis...and promptly dives into Mash's boobs. When Mash screams, Fou responds by kicking him into the air to get caught in the neck by the arrow of a furious Artemis... And then a few dozen more for good measure.
- True to form, he doesn't learn his lesson, moving to interrupt the swimming event only to suffer the same fate and is shot into Ritsuka and Mash's booth again.Artemis: (Maliciously) Oh, darling... We've talked about your habit of peeking in on girls' baths, remember?note
- True to form, he doesn't learn his lesson, moving to interrupt the swimming event only to suffer the same fate and is shot into Ritsuka and Mash's booth again.
- During the swimming event, the girls (Nero, Carmilla, Ishtar, Medb, and Meltryllis) all argue about who is more beautiful, only to be shocked when Nitocris wins while they were all distracted. Nero outright dies from shock.
- During said argument, Summer Nobunaga is flying around on Summer Okita, inexplicably ignoring the race they are supposed to be participating in.
- Gawain is confident that he will win the fencing battle against D'Eon thanks to Numeral of the Saint until D'Eon points out that it is completely useless if he's in a place without the sun... like the indoor piste. D'Eon easily runs through him.
- THE ENDING. Fed up with all the time-wasting shenanigans up to this point, Altria and Nero decide to start a cavalry battle, and things go downhill from there...
- The reason for this? Gawain claims that Nero's use of "Thrice Setting Sun" is 'cheating'.
- Tristan, Gawain, and Lancelot ask to serve as Altria's mounts... and promptly do so before she can even get a word out. She just rolls with it. Nero meanwhile employs Elisabeth and both versions of Mecha-Eli-Chan, and when Elisabeth questions this, Nero responds that fellow idols must stick together... while a subtitle appears stating that in truth Elisabeth's her Only Friend. Poor Eli calls her a tyrant.
- Becomes even funnier when Fridge Brilliance sets in. One may ask why Nero didn't just team up with the other Roman emperors... until you realize most of them were 3* and below, meaning they already got burned.
- Altria was eating a giant riceball when her knights roped her into the cavalry battle. She finishes it off in one gulp. And it's not even the only one she had — she's surrounded by dozens of "Emi-ya brand" riceball boxes.
- Pausing at the right times during the line up for the cavalry battle reveals several amusing scenes:
- The Chaldea kids (Jack, Abigail, and Jeanne Alter Santa Lily) form a team, with Nursery Rhyme (in book form) strapped to Jack's back. And their opponents? Astraea, Quetzalcoatl, and Ruler Saint Martha.
- Helena riding atop Edison and Tesla, who are more interested in fighting each other than their enemy.
- Sitonai riding Shirou (the bear), who is being carried by Heracles.
- Chacha riding a bunch of Mini Nobus, squaring off against her aunt who's flying on Okita while wearing her final ascension outfit, something Okita doesn't appear too happy about.
- Also on Nobu's team is Nobukatsu, clinging to Nobu's back, somehow having managed to avoid getting burned with all the other low rarity Servants.
- A smug Caster Gil riding a very bored looking Enkidu.
- EMIYA Alter, Hessian Lobo, and Moriarty, who for some reason is wearing his bartender outfit and has a shaker in hand.
- And lastly, Reines straight up riding on Lord El-Melloi II's shoulders while a worried Gray follows after them.
- A panicking Mash tries to ask Da Vinci for help... only to find her replaced by a cardboard cut-out with a sign saying "I'm Going Home".Mash: YOU SLACKER!
- Altria's justification for not retiring to Avalon? The food they serve there isn't as good as what they have in Chaldea.
- Given the only other resident of Avalon is Merlin, this implies that Altria doesn't think much of Merlin's cooking.
- As Altria and Nero clash, the former insults the latter by calling her a "franchisee" (and Gawain also calls her a "palette swap", with Liz silently agreeing with them), a "Child Emperor," and an exhibitionist who can't even competently cross-dress. Outraged, Nero breaks out Laus Saint Claudius, while Altria counters with Excalibur. The resultant explosion is so powerful that Chaldea's foundation is destabilized, leading to a comedically stylized clip of it sliding down the mountain slope it was on and flying off a cliff.Foundation Restoration Failed
- While Nero charges up Laus Saint Claudius, Ritsuka opens up Fate Grand Order's in-battle menu and turns off the option to play NPs at normal speed to get them both to hurry it up.
- Not to mention Elisabeth freaking out as her mecha counterparts take off, followed by her panicked expression as they charge headlong into Excalibur.
- Finally, Chaldea is seen on its side on a mountain peak. Then Gawain, who survived being at ground zero of Altria and Nero's cataclysmic battle, bursts out of the snow, having grown more muscular due to sunlight exposure.Gawain: FINALLY! I feel the glorious warmth of the sun!
- It has been noted that this is technically the only other external picture of the facility, which reveals that it is actually U-shaped. Many longtime fans were actually flabbergasted at this, as for the longest time since launch, they thought it was circular and the mountainside simply covered a portion of it from view.
Episode 2
- In the "Laughing Bartender" interstitial, Saber Lancelot visits Moriarty's bar, complaining about how his inability to bond with his son, Galahad a.k.a. Mash. Moriarty's response is to hypnotize him by whispering into his ear... which leads to Lancelot showing up at the door to Mash's room to crudely recreate the Dangerous Beast Craft Essence, outfit and all. Screaming and Brain Bleach ensues, naturally, while an observing Moriarty chuckles evilly.
- Mash and Ritsuka's problems continue as the Servants go on strike regarding Ritsuka's overuse of Stella (which kills Arash every time it's used). Mash points out that they wouldn't be in this fix at all if Ritsuka hadn't wasted all of Chaldea's resources on Red Hare, which sets Ritsuka off.Ritsuka (with creepy eyes): What did you say?Mash (intimidated): N-Nothing...!Ritsuka: Obtaining carrots for Red Hare is the highest priority above everything else.
- This episode's main skit involves Jeanne Alter getting a job as a hostess so she can buy gifts for the kid servants, like Saber did in Carnival Phantasm. Unlike Saber, she doesn't earn the QP for being charismatic and successful as a hostess, but because she got it as severance pay from Merlin after she destroyed the hostess club after burning Saber Gilles (and most of the club) for dismissing the hostesses.
- In his appearance in this skit, Gilgamesh (in his Gorgeous P getup) acts like a pompous rich guy in the gentlemen's club, just like his appearance in the restaurant sketch of Carnival Phantasm.
- Club M has an Elite Four of top hostesses with their own titles describing their appeal. The first three are Helena (Mahatma Motherhood Grandma), Medb (Impish Horny Queen), and Tamamo (Man-Manipulating Good Wife-Type). And final, top hostess in the club? Altria Lily (Natural Born Pure White).
- Altria Lily's pureness is so overpowering that everyone in the building, even Gilgamesh, succumbs to Cuteness Proximity, with many patrons ignoring their current hostess to fawn over her. Not even Jeanne Alter is totally immune to it.
- Among those patrons enamored with Altria Lily are Jason with both forms of Medea and both Mozart and Sanson with Marie Antoinette at the same time.
Episode 3
- One skit has Dantes shipwrecked on an island and doing nothing but laugh and then cry until he passes out. The next segment shows one of his clones devoured by a shark while fishing for food, the other clones brushing it off and doing their jobs faster. The last skit has his army of clones laughing his Signature Laugh then blasting Gilgamesh, who inexplicably joins the cacophony of laughter, with his noble phantasm.
- In "Oni-Cure", one frame has Cu Chulain's chalk outline investigated by Sherlock Holmes. It's revealed in Taiga-dojo that Jaguarman is actually the culprit, kicking poor Cu with her Jaguar Kick as she's upset the Carnival is ending.
Episode 4
- The "Laughing Bartender" section this time involves Babbage, who wants Fran to see him as something other than a machine. With a little pushing, Moriarty hypnotizes Babbage to go through a metamorphosis into something at least closer to a human. Unfortunately for Babbage, Fran mistakes him for an intruder and attacks him. Moriarty, in the sidelines, gloats about how only he can be Fran's father and let's out a good bout of laughter.
- Dumuzid's self-introduction to Ereshkigal.Dumuzid: I am the radiant sheep that counts the number of your broken dreams on sleepless nights. That's right, it's Dumuzid.
- One of Ereshkigal's initial videos seems to be her reading children's stories, with the book she's reading from actually being Nursery Rhyme.
- The videos that lead to Ereshkigal's rise in popularity can best be summed up as "causing trouble around Chaldea." These include:
- Sending various Amazones products to Achilles, delivered by Penthesilea herself.
- Filling up Salieri's room with Mozart merchandise.
- Electrocuting Edison and Tesla.
- Faking an injury in front of Nightingale (although she might regret that one).
- Playing real life Pop-up Pirate with Blackbeard as the pirate, much to his dismay.
- While not seen, the last video she uploads is apparently telling Artemis about Orion's cheating.
- Hilarity Ensues when Osakabehime was losing a popularity contest against Ereshkigal, she resorts to changing into her swimsuit variant and going overboard with fanservice, proclaiming that she'll stream that way exclusively if the viewers vote for her. She wins only to get banned and her channel locked immediately afterwards.
- There's a fridge hilarity here. The Fate series has its origin in eroge, an influence that can still be seen in FGO's numerous scantily-clad servantsnote . And yet Osakabehime rocking her bikini is somehow going too far for Servatube community which gets her banned.
- A despondent Ereshkigal rapidly shakes Dumuzid, who says hilariously deadpan statements like "Oh. Oh. Amazing shake." in Gratuitous English, until the Holy Grail pops out of his butt, prompting a "Holy shit." (literally!) from him.
- Osakabehime from the English Dub uses a lot of Japanglish when voicing her. Comments are flooding regarding the cringe but it really shows how Osakabehime speaks even it was only in English Translation. Here's the video that shows how her voice acting is to the point even the voice actress comments on it.
