Reaction Shot: Fate/Apocrypha episodes 1 and 2

[spindizzy]

Hello my darlings! Lex is showing me Fate/Apocrypha as it comes out, because the Fate franchise is that rare beast: a fandom that we both like.

I am very cautiously excited, because this could be great. I am going to see about rough reaction shots as we go, you may well end up tracking me going through pits of despair as the characters I love die and the characters I was hoping for a gruesome death for get to live past the ending. (I am still not over Fate/Zero or Unlimited Bladeworks, it turns out.) WE SHALL SEE. But yes, this is all written after the fact, so nothing will be in the correct order, I'm afraid, just as I think of it.

• Ugggh the dragon who is a boy and the blonde girl are going to be our heroes, aren't they? And they're going to be in love or something and it's gonna be booooooooriiiiiiing. ;_____;


• I WOULD BE MORE INVESTED IN TYPE MOON ROMANCES BUT THEY KEEP PUTTING THE WRONG PEOPLE TOGETHER. Who allows Shiro to have relationships?! Why does Saber not get to date Lancer and Irisviel?!


• Oooooh, that in media res opening is good. Especially because it's really hard to tell who is the good side and who's the bad. (Me to Lex the second time we watched this episode: Look! There are skeletons! That means Necrodad lives to the end, right?!)


• I was unexpectedly emotionally invested in the cute girls who were magically lasering people in the face, which I appreciate was a mistake even before they got horribly murdered.


• ... I am terrified for Necrodad, not gonna lie, because I sat down in a pub with Lex and ran the numbers, and characters who have any chill whatsoever die horribly way more quickly than the characters with zero chill. This is not okay.


• (He is Necrodad because he is a necromancer who looks like someone's sweetheart of a biker dad. Am I wrong?)


• Me: I don't know what I'm going to do if Necrodad turns out to be evil.
  Lex: You're going to like him anyway, you'll just be really sad about it.
  *CRITICAL HIT! Susan took maximum damage!*
  Me: *collapses on sofa*


• I kinda appreciate that Necrodad did not in fact ask the girls who were visibly intimidated by him for directions. I know that's because they wanted to throw the main characters together, but also guys who don't bother women disproportionately please me.


• Okay, here's the thing. This is an AU off main Fate continuity, branching before Fate/Zero; the third Grail war happens during the second World War, the German army goes to Japan and seizes the Grail, the Grail gets stolen from the German Army. Waver Velvet has still somehow managed to find his chill. HOW?! Who did that?! Who helped Waver find any chill at all that wasn't Alexander the Great!


• The second time around, I was paying more attention to the description of Yggdmillenia and how they are a family that doesn't care as much about bloodlines, they're just trying to gather the strongest wizards.
  Me: Huh, that's interesting. Fate/Zero Waver would have probably joined up with that.
  Me:
  Me:
  Me: *STARES AT LEX IN HORROR*
  Creepy dude on screen: They've already infiltrated the Clocktower!
  Me: Waver, no! ;_;


• Me: I assume Necrodad wanted the jar of snakes for necromancy, but why is there a jar of snakes?
  Lex: It's a little baby hydra!
  Me: ... OMG IS HE GOING TO SUMMON AN UNDEAD HYDRA?!
  
  My expectations have been set, show, don't let me down.


• Me: How did you know it was a baby hydra?
  Lex: I spend far too much time on the Type Moon wiki.


• I have no idea who the little squishy hyper dude is, but I am assuming a) that he's a master, b) that he lives for quite a while because he is little and cute and hyper, and c) he is either going to die GRUSOMELY or turn out to be evil, and I am not ruling out both.


• Just in case you thought that this show wasn't going to be gory as fuck: Vlad the Impaler everyone!


• WHY IS MILES EDGEWORTH A MASTER IN THE GRAIL WAR?!


• Why oh why does the ginger dude look familiar. He looks like a Cowboy Bebop antagonist. Or the stoner who dies third in a horror movie.


• Huh, a failsafe in the Grail to make sure no one faction can just sweep the war by summoning all of the Servants first. I guess that makes sense?


• SHIRO WHO?!


• KOTOMINE NO.


• DARKEST TIMELINE, DARKEST TIMELINE, AND I INCLUDE HEAVEN'S FEEL IN THAT AND HEAVEN'S FEEL IS LITERALLY POWERED BY CANNIBALISM.


• Me: ... Wait, they got VLAD THE IMPALER as their Lancer?
  Me, about five minutes later: Wait, Vlad the Impaler is a PASTEL GOTH?!


• The summoning together is so cool, I love the sound and the visuals of it. Like, I have no idea that the mechanics of it make sense, but I enjoy it.


• My expectations for Saber being summoned: it's going to be another fucking Arturia clone AGAIN, like how Nero was Exactly The Same Character Model As Arturia But You Can See Her Knickers Now! (I was pissed as fuck about Nero, nobody talk to me).
  Mordred, literal child of King Arthur: *is both visually similar to but ACTUALLY FUCKING DISTINCT FROM Arturia like it's my birthday*


• Me: *squees about how great and cool and interesting Mordred's armour is, especially as it has the full-face helmet, which you rarely see on a female protagonist and it's vaguely practical and —*
  Mordred: *dismisses armour and is wearing a skirt, thigh-high socks, and boob tube*
  Me: I TAKE IT BACK, GO HOME.


• Like, it's not practical as in actually wearable, but it's impractical in the same way that a male character's armour would be impractical and that matters to me.


• I like how Mordred is the SUPER BRASH PUNK ROCK version, A+. The backslapping and good cheer about Necrodad being competent at murder makes me smile.


• INTERESTING QUESTION I HAVE: I understand pretty much enough Japanese to understand that Mordred is referring to themself using male-coded pronouns? And they object intensely to being referred to as a woman. Are we better on internalised misogyny, male-coding themself for greater respect/disguising, or actually legit trans??? I mean, I assume it's a combo of the first two, but I would love it to be the last one. ... But also I don't think anyone refers to Mordred with a) pronouns that I can recognise, or b) pronouns that get translated in a gendered way, so I don't knooooow. I'm referring to them with gender neutral pronouns for now anyway?


• I like how Lex guessed that the random person who shows up at the end of episode two was Lancer because of process of elimination and I guessed it was Lancer because of the character design.


• RIGHT, OKAY, RUNNING THROUGH THE CLASSES THAT WE KNOW BECAUSE OTHERWISE I'M GOING TO FORGET WHAT I'M MAD ABOUT:
  Lancer (Black): Vlad the Impaler. Lancer (Red): Some fancy dude.
  Saber (Black): Siegfried. Saber (Red): Mordred.
  Archer (Black): Chiron. Archer (Red): ????
  Berserker (Black): Frankenstein. Berserker (Red): Spartacus.
  Caster (Black): Avicebron. Caster (Red): Shakespeare.
  Rider (Black): Astolfo. Rider (Red): ????
  Assassin (Black): Jack the Ripper. Assassin (Red): Semiramis
  Ruler: Jeanne D'Arc
  
  
  • I approve Archer's master being okay with straight up murdering her brother.
  
  
  • Me: ... Why is Shakespeare the Caster for red?
    Lex: Because he's the Bard, and Bards are spellcasters.
  
  
  • I have an awful feeling that Siegfried's master is going to live for more than three episodes. He's going to keep being there with his godawful personality and his terrible moustache. WHY.
  
  
  • ... Holy fuck, we might break the curse of Lancers being sweethearts who die terribly! All of the Lancers in this line-up look like awful people!
  
  
  • ... Oh fuck me sideways why is there a predatory lesbian, have we not moved past that. Why is she trying her Servant to a table and licking her. (The Servant indulges her and then breaks out when she gets bored, I dunno if that makes it better or worse.)
  
  
  • ACTUALLY REMIND ME TO POINT OUT TO LEX THAT THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHEN I SAID THAT RAPIST MCFUCKNUGGET IN FATE/STAY NIGHT WOULD TOTALLY ABUSE RIDER AS SOON AS HE HAD POWER OVER HER.
  
  
  • Frankenstein... Was a fictional character... Not a mythological one... I thought there was a degree of... I dunno... Mythological weight they had to have? And if they were fictional that was... Fate/Strange Fake, thank you Lex, knower of facts! ♥ ... What I'm saying is that I'm surprised people later than the 19th century is being summoned.
  
  
  • Of course Jack the Ripper is a creepy little girl who eats people, with a creepy mother figure.
  
  
  • Apparently Avicebron is not the guy from myth who summoned the original golem, but he is a philosopher whose goal in the show to replicate that?
  
  
  • I didn't realise that the kid trailing after Avicebron was his master! I thought he was like Avicebron's minion or something! Things I did not know!
  
  
  • Spartacus is terrifying.
  
  
  • Astolfo baffling people with good cheer and charm is great.


• You know what, I'm not even surprised that Mordred, when left to dress themself in a Type Moon series, ends up being excited about hot pants, crop tops, and red leather jackets.


• Mordred catching that golem punch in one hand. Mordred armouring up in pieces as they fight. THAT FIGHT SCENE, ACTUALLY. Like, Mordred is my favourite, but I am somewhat invested in Necrodad and his heartgrenades.


• You know what, I ain't even mad that Shiro is evil. Shiro is boring when you can't see that he is actually secretly an utter madman. This is fine.


• (*quiet screaming in background*)


• I don't know what's going on with Jeanne D'Arc. She started off in a school, right? She's in a school uniform, that room she was in was a bedroom that looked like it was a dormroom? Was she just... A normal girl who got booped to be Jeanne D'Arc and also a servant? Was she summoned in a random place? Was she delusional and believed that she was Jeanne D'Arc and this has just validated her? What is going on?! Like, I ain't even worrying about the whole "This servant has command seals" because there's prior for servants summoning other servants. Are those the command seals for herself, and she is her own Master? Are they the command seals for the homunculus dragon? Who knows.


• Will I ever be over Vlad the Impaler, Pastel Goth? Signs point to no.