Fate/Apocrypha Anime (no spoilers)

[John D. Pliskin]

Man, I really liked episode 14. The most personally fulfilling one since Episode 10 (the one with Fran's flashback right), really. It's become a bit easier to extract some presumably underlying themes! Which I'd love to get into right now but, you know, thread catch-up and forum reader patience and all. Likely a somewhat later post.

Mordred showing up was was like a school yankee negotiating with the school council president in order to wipe out the local delinquents while demanding for Jeanne's lunch money (command seals) for payment. xD

Mordred extorting Command Seals out of Jeanne was great. Pity about her flipping Adam off getting censored, though. I liked those Attack on Titan-style shots too.

Jeanne is cute, CUTE, even when she's bullied.

And also, Mordred flipped Adam off? What, in the LN, or did A-1 actively blur Mordred's flipped bird at some point? If that's a thing that was strictly in the books, then it's not censorship, but just something A-1 didn't adapt for whatever reason. Just like the scene where Mordred apparently princess-carried Shishigou as she jumped off the Hanging Gardens and Shishigou hilariously freaked out. (A-1 doesn't do blu-ray extra scenes, do they?)

---

Anyway, the English version of the preview is up.



Is this going to be the first real Slice-of-Life-ish episode we're having? Parts of it look genuinely fun and cute, at least as far as the Black Faction is concerned (well Shakespeare looks like he's having fun for some reason too).

And might we finally be able to learn more of Leticia (or is it spelled Laeticia?)? Still a bit disappointed that the show has hardly even humored her existence outside any OP/ED. She's been explicitly mentioned/acknowledged exactly once in that dialogue between Jeanne and Sieg after Sumanai's death, IIRC.

[Rafflesiac]

In the LN, yeah.

[Reign]

That bit with Jeanne brushing her hair specifically made me wonder if Laeticia will be brought up again too.

[Stasis]

Shakespeare's face with Astolfo saying "looking forward to it" is genius.

[Iceblade44]

Shakespeare's always looking foward for it, he just never gets it.

[asterism42]

Shakespeare must hate being in Apocrypha. He longs for a great story but he's stuck in a mediocre one.

[LJ3]

Dude should have been voiced by Sugita

you guys know what show I'm referencing

[Kratosirving]

So it looks like this will be a slice of life episode featuring Kairi and Jeanne's host. I'm on board with that, considering we've been dealing with the battle at/around the Yggdmillenia Castle since Episode 7ish. Finally getting a break.

[Wandering Swordwoman]

Shakespeare must hate being in Apocrypha. He longs for a great story but he's stuck in a mediocre one.

lololol

[TheSeaDragon]

lol, Sishigo is something straight out of an american 80s action movie. They finally realized that

[Historia]

just watched ep 13

the one crazy chick, astolfo's master -- i forget her name -- got beheaded by mordred. which makes me wonder: in the novel, did the masters get fleshed out? or were they all this... cookie-cutter and boring?

what else... everytime i see mordred in this all i see is 'female yankee naruto uzumaki' ... ed 2 was better than the op 2 (just like ed 1 and op 1) ... sumanai 2.0 finally grew a pair; maybe he'll use them on astolfo later ...

oh and jeanne + semiramis in the rain is best thing

[John D. Pliskin]

I hope APEX and/or UTW will be better about their scheduling (or even more decisive about whether or not they'll sub) for the episodes. Was a bit peeved I couldn't watch the episode on my day off work on Columbus Day.

Meanwhile, some further thoughts on episode 14 as an anime-only, as we head into the next one:

I'm surprised that I was able to enjoy Avicebron as much as I did. (Though I find it funny that a Caster was yet again a mid-boss in a Fate/story) There was a surprising bit of pathos on Avicebron's part, even if the roots of it are presented in simple terms in his flashback in the cold open, and I found his plan imaginative for a "bringing salvation through a reformative-destruction"-kind of scenario, using a giant golem that literally brought an Eden into existence by walking around.

His whole deal seems to tie into an thematic fabric of Apocrypha, too, particularly in regards to Amakusa? Both Amakusa and Avicebron are not only 'dead men walking', by virtue of being Heroic Spirits given substance in the world, but are also dead men clinging stubbornly to selfish ideals with roots in their respective pasts. Even if these antagonists aspire to 'selfless' ideals of salvation for humanity, they so far seem rooted in a kind of pathological selfishness. And besides, it would be like how "the dead cannot bring the dead back to life" (a quote from Hollow Ataraxia comes to mind); it would fail, creating "life" from a rustic "death".

Meanwhile, the 'good guys' in opposition are topped off by Sieg, a young homunculus made in the image of man by man who, for all of his relative lack of popularity, seems to be emblematic of how "the living" should be the ones to bear responsibility for the advancement of humanity and humanity's wishes. Or something to that effect. Which is a big humanist theme across other Fate/works, isn't it?

I look forward to seeing Jeanne's convictions further explored and how they set her apart from Amakusa, considering how they are both Catholic "saints" and yet are in opposition to each other in the Great Holy Grail War. We will be seeing this right.

- - - Updated - - -

On a lighter note, I also got a good laugh out of the Hippogriff scene. It also yielded a pretty funny in-between shot of Astolfo/Hippogriff/Fiore evading (as seen in the bottom right).

Spoiler:

[Arashi_Leonhart]

oh how terrible that you couldn't watch a free translation of an illegally pirated show

[Historia]

finished ep 14

so the jeanne/sieg romance in the LNs, how bad was it?

- - - Updated - - -

gonna read them later, but i'd prefer to know if i need to throw my tablet at the wall

[Wandering Swordwoman]

I hope APEX and/or UTW will be better about their scheduling (or even more decisive about whether or not they'll sub) for the episodes. Was a bit peeved I couldn't watch the episode on my day off work on Columbus Day.

Meanwhile, some further thoughts on episode 14 as an anime-only, as we head into the next one:

I'm surprised that I was able to enjoy Avicebron as much as I did. (Though I find it funny that a Caster was yet again a mid-boss in a Fate/story) There was a surprising bit of pathos on Avicebron's part, even if the roots of it are presented in simple terms in his flashback in the cold open, and I found his plan imaginative for a "bringing salvation through a reformative-destruction"-kind of scenario, using a giant golem that literally brought an Eden into existence by walking around.

His whole deal seems to tie into an thematic fabric of Apocrypha, too, particularly in regards to Amakusa? Both Amakusa and Avicebron are not only 'dead men walking', by virtue of being Heroic Spirits given substance in the world, but are also dead men clinging stubbornly to selfish ideals with roots in their respective pasts. Even if these antagonists aspire to 'selfless' ideals of salvation for humanity, they so far seem rooted in a kind of pathological selfishness. And besides, it would be like how "the dead cannot bring the dead back to life" (a quote from Hollow Ataraxia comes to mind); it would fail, creating "life" from a rustic "death".

Meanwhile, the 'good guys' in opposition are topped off by Sieg, a young homunculus made in the image of man by man who, for all of his relative lack of popularity, seems to be emblematic of how "the living" should be the ones to bear responsibility for the advancement of humanity and humanity's wishes. Or something to that effect. Which is a big humanist theme across other Fate/works, isn't it?

I look forward to seeing Jeanne's convictions further explored and how they set her apart from Amakusa, considering how they are both Catholic "saints" and yet are in opposition to each other in the Great Holy Grail War. We will be seeing this right.

- - - Updated - - -

On a lighter note, I also got a good laugh out of the Hippogriff scene. It also yielded a pretty funny in-between shot of Astolfo/Hippogriff/Fiore evading (as seen in the bottom right).

Spoiler:

Wow that's Deen level in between shots

- - - Updated - - -

finished ep 14

so the jeanne/sieg romance in the LNs, how bad was it?

- - - Updated - - -

gonna read them later, but i'd prefer to know if i need to throw my tablet at the wall

Their romance will make you jealous

[John D. Pliskin]

oh how terrible that you couldn't watch a free translation of an illegally pirated show

All I said was "a bit peeved," knowing that it's nothing more than a comfy first-world problem. (Uh, sorry for raising that bit of irritation? Even though that was a tiny fraction of my prior post?)

Having been much more active in following seasonal anime in the post-official-simulcast world than the pre-official-simulcast world, I've been spoiled by super-timely subbed releases OK.

[Stasis]

I couldn't watch the episode on my day off work on Columbus Day.

I thought they changed it to indigenous-people day, the day where everyone is ripping each other and tearing each other down?

[Keyne]

I thought they changed it to indigenous-people day, the day where everyone is ripping each other and tearing each other down?

Ouch!

[Iceblade44]

just watched ep 13

the one crazy chick, astolfo's master -- i forget her name -- got beheaded by mordred. which makes me wonder: in the novel, did the masters get fleshed out? or were they all this... cookie-cutter and boring?

what else... everytime i see mordred in this all i see is 'female yankee naruto uzumaki' ... ed 2 was better than the op 2 (just like ed 1 and op 1) ... sumanai 2.0 finally grew a pair; maybe he'll use them on astolfo later ...

oh and jeanne + semiramis in the rain is best thing

She was fleshed out or at least they fleshed out why she was so insane.

[Iceblade44]

With everything going on in GO right now is anybody remembering to watch the ep?