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Episode 9 thoughts:
That train redirection with the rail was the lowest point animation wise
Seeing Einnashe in some form in animation was a treat
Olga's attachment to Trisha gives me the feeling that Marisbury is still gaga for Wodime and mostly ignored Olga
Yvette is too much at times (the orgasm was... bad) but Melvin continues to be great (the mere fact that he decided to fly a helicopter to hop on the train, even flying into the forest in the middle of a blizzard is so endearing)
Hephaestion and Gray duking it out was my episode highlight.
Yeah Chaldea as its FGO incarnation is not a thing in the FSN timeline but Marisbury is still the Lord of Astromancy and doing astrology stuff, hence Waver being surprised at Olga even being at the auction with the reference to their isolation in the mountain observatories
FGO's London chapter indicates that the Clock Tower might have a ton of information on Servants since Chaldea finds a bunch of documents on how exactly people started summoning Heroic Spirits as Servants; I say might because it's later revealed that it was deliberately planted there by an outside party.
Well, it wasn't planted so much as it was organized: Holmes makes it clear that all the information about the Servant Summoning System was all already in the Clock Tower library, he just neatly compiled it in a single spot so as to make it easy for Chaldeas and co. to find it.
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New episode:
It was interesting to see Hephaestion and Gray having a truce for a bit. It seems a bit presumptuous for Gray to say she was the only one who pushed back against Iskandar's dream.
That sequence of Gray getting back to the train was amazing. Poor Add. ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
Welp after the okay B-plot last episode, it's back to mediocre writing with these two.
Lord Fast Wheels 2!!
Yeeepppp, there it is, Marisbury confirmed to still be pretty neglectful of Olga no matter the timeline.
I loved how numb almost everyone is to the deputy director directly extracting Karabo's eyes, makes it more horrifying.
Snow boarding at its finest.
Edited by Ominae on Sep 8th 2019 at 2:57:44 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
When Reines said way back in episode 1 that Waver would have to inherit Kayneth's seat, I didn't think she meant that one.
Instead of an fight, we get a talk. Well, it was a good talk at least.
Gray snowboarding was the coolest thing ever.
So Animusphere was working on the FATE system in this timeline as well.
Yeah, not gonna lie, the explanation on how the murder supposedly occurred confused the hell out of me.
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Episode 11
Olga Marie having a miniature Chaldeas was a neat detail, also feels bad for Trisha and Olga with that Marisbury detail
Melvin truly is the Screw the Rules, I Have Money! character of the Nasuverse
The auction was actually really mundane but at least the absurd prices match mage society
Something lewd as the key evidence to unravelling everything feels very appropriate for this franchise
Next time actually getting around to revealing everything
Feels like nothing happened in this episode until the end.
Every series has some "buffer" episodes.
Edited by HailMuffins on Sep 15th 2019 at 11:00:04 AM
I wouldn't call this a buffer so much as it was getting everything in place for the big climax.
Which is what "buffer" episodes do.
...I assume I'm not supposed to find the culprit's name hilarious?
Wait, why does Caules have a variant of the NP of the servant he never had?
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Caules has Lightning affinity and apparently just apropos of nothing in this timeline decided to specialize in the techniques that Frankenstein uses.
This was a good climax, though I find the animation to be increasingly dodgy the more this arc has gone on.
Nice, the Animusphere spell finally has an official translation.
The Rail Zeppelin projector is an amazing setpiece.
Dr. Heartless' nonchalantness about everything was amusing.
Faker seems weirdly fragile right now, but still a great antagonist.
Well, this time a lot has happened.
I love how the thing that gave Dr. Heartless away is the fact that his healing was too good for Caules.
They put a lot of emphasis on the fact that Dr. Heartless Grail is "fake", but it's not like Fuyuki Grail is the real deal either. And connecting to Fuyuki layline seems especially silly, it's not even the most suitable layline in Japan, just the best the three families could get their hands on.
Soooo... what does he even need Servants for anyway?
Man, even for Nasuverse that was some wonky logic that's behind Faker's existence.
Wait, how did the "past cuts" go from a nifty trick that needs to be preferred before hand, that he didn't even knew about, to something that he can spam at a Servant at will?
Olga Marrie casted Meteor shower.
Yeah, Faker seems kinda vunrable this episode.
Oh snap, Gray undoing the seals and releasing the Rhongomyniad was awesome.
The power of the leyline isn't what's important, it's that it creates a connection with the Holy Grail there.
Whether Fuyuki's Grail is technically real is irrelevant, he doesn't need the grail he needs the servant (and the reason why, i.e. his whole plan, isn't revealed till later novels). Same with the Leylines, he needs as many things connected to the grail system for his plan to work.
As for Karabo, I never really got the idea it was a 'nifty trick', just not something he ever had to use on his own will in the past
I absolutely cannot help but adore handsome 2D boys
Red Lagoon
If I get it right he created "fake" lesser grail and used leylines connect it to Fuyuki "real" Greater grail.
Haven't caught up yet, but quick reminder that Cases takes place before stay night and therefore Justeaze's corpse AKA the Greater Grail is still out and about.
So I found this little Wall of Text on the fora of the Anime News Network, about this review
of the 12th episode, especifically talking about the magic system in the story.
Granted, the main issue with any show dealing with magic is that you either make magic stupid by relying on some haphazard magical system or makes it extremely hermetic by delving into actual magic and its concepts. It's kinda like making a mystery about physics- most people just won't get it and will call bull.
Just to show what I mean, the part about hair is reasonable for a few reasons, some of which are specific to Type Moon and some which are employed in real magic. I'll start with the later.
The concept of using body parts as catalysts for magic is incredibly common - you most famously have it with blood or organs, be it human or animal, but many magical traditions also hold other body parts (organs, bones and so on) to contain magical properties. Indeed,mthere are many esoteric traditions that place the body as itself a image of the universe (the concept of macrocosm and microcosm, which was mentioned before in the series). Hair, in special, is associated with power in many different places and for many different reasons. It is often considered a status symbol as good quality hair has long been indicative of high social position. Not only that, but you also have stories which associate hair directly with power, like Samson or the Medusa. Now, unlike other things, like nails and blood, hair grows a lot, can be easily cut and, if lost, causes no major risks to the individual. Thus, if we join points A (the body as a nexus of power)and B (the practicality of it) the it would be obvious that in a society of mages, a move like Waver's would happen. This kind of thing has also been shown in other moments in the Nasuverse, being mentioned in Tsukihime, Talk, Fate and Mahou Tsukai no Yoru thus it's really nothing new. As such, for someone who knows about what's behind it all, it makes all sense.
Now, do I expect people to know that? Of course I don't. Yet, when I read that the system is as coherent as diarrhea I truly do feel like I'm watching the US senate talk about the nature of language. That was just a showcase but the issue seems rather widespread, not just in this site but in a lot of places where this show is being discussed. I'm honestly saddened by it. This show is a pretty interesting exploration of occultism and the inner workings of a magical society in a way that nearly no other show is. When you have magic in fiction it's usually something very badly explored, stupid or both (hello, Mr. Potter!) so it feels nice to have some work take a more inquisitive, even academic approach towards it.
TL;DR: the reviewers think they know shit but don't actually know shit, and Case Files shouldn't have been marketed as a simple Monster of the Week mystery because it just creates the wrong expectations on people.
What do you guys think?
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I mean, on the one hand, yes that's absolutely correct and even though the knowledge can be esoteric and often obfuscated by spotty writing at times, there's a coherent logic being set up.
But on the other hand, the memes about Waver's often patchy at places sleuthing are now my absolute favorite thing about Waver.
Oh my god that was tedious. Every individual scene felt like an epilogue in it's own right, and the series is so obviously unfinished that it doesn't feel like it deserves any of them other than the part with Adashino
The series overall is okay, though. The big issue is that it's clearly a small part of a much larger story, so there's all kinds of stuff that doesn't really go anywhere. On a more personal note, I found the characters to be very hit-or-miss. Not sure if I'd recommend it, except maybe as an example of how Japanese media handles the occult
What do you guys think?
I thought it was fairly obvious that the magic here was derived from real occult principles, but with the logic not being explained to the audience ahead of timenote it doesn't really help with figuring out what the plot is doing and may as well just be random bullshit
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Focusing on Gray and Waver as the core relationship was a good way to close out the series, very miffed they didn't even give Karabo the dignity of an on-screen death, still don't care for Iskandar but at least this does represent a significant shift.
The Pride ceremony with Svin is probably the most interesting from a writing perspective, I imagined it'd be indoors rather than outside which creates a pretty different atmosphere.
I wasn't a fan of some of the creative decisions for adaptation so this wasn't quite as good as I hoped but I do look forward to the probable season 2 in the future.
MONSTER COACH
I'm glad I've read what's translated of the novels so far before watching this series, I think it helped me to forgive some of its weaker moments. Overall, I found it very enjoyable, I hope there will be another season. I just really like the atmosphere here; out of Type-Moon stuff I'm not that big on Fate, but I like Kara no Kyoukai, and Case Files reminds me more of this series.
Well, this is so obviously setting up for a continuation I hope they got one secured, or I'll be miffed.
Then again, anything Fate related is probably going to be released.
Wait, how did Faker survive? We like, see her take the face full of beam last episode.
It's hilarious how much people in this series talk up Kayneth, given that his reputation among fans is not great to say the least.
Svin became Pride. The ceremony was kinda dorky, which makes sense as mages are all huge nerds. Sociopathic ones, but still nerds.
Waver have grown since the start of the series. He even gave up on participating in the Grail War, which is a big character development. It's nice to see how much his students mean to him too.
Gray is adorable and I'm happy she gave the present. Good job Gray.
That weird cooking show concept though...