spindizzy | Reaction Shot: Fate/Apocrypha Episodes 7 and 8 (Reply)

It turns out that Lex and I missed an episode of Fate/Apocrypha, so enjoy this twofer, I guess! (Also I'm gonna TRY to separate it out into the right episodes, but uh... That might not work so well...)

Episode Seven

AS IF THE IDIOT BROTHER DIDN'T DIE

THAT IS CHEATING

I MEAN, OKAY, PUTTING SHIELDS UP IS INFINITELY MORE SENSIBLE THAN JUMPING IN FRONT OF FINGER BULLETS, BUT SERIOUSLY HE IS SUPPOSED TO HAVE TAKEN THAT BULLET FOR HER, WTF

And her reaction to him is really ungrateful but also I respect her devotion to the cause. ... But also seriously, wtf kids, wtf.

Chiron apparently did not plan this out as well as he thought, but respect to him for actually telling his master and withdrawing instead of doing something stupid. But it's... Kinda anticlimactic after the end of last episode, right? That's a little odd.

Saber is SO OFFENDED.

NECRODAD IS TOO OLD FOR THIS, BLESS HIS HEART.

Shiro is so suspicious about waking up in Assassin's lap.

Wait, did someone booby trap the church against Jeanne d'Arc? RUDE. SHE'S THE JUDGE. SHE'S SUPPOSED TO GO THERE.

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are really cool. Also is it bad that I'm surprised that they fly rather than just exist as an extradimensional space that opens up to other places?

Shakespeare yelling that he's not a fighter, he's here to witness the greatest story is ABOUT WHAT I EXPECTED REALLY because SHAKESPEARE IS A FUCKING PLAYWRIGHT NOT A WIZARD. Like, can you imagine that line up?
Fate/Zero Caster: *literally sacrifices children to Cthulhu because his Master thinks that it's cool*
Fate/Stay Night Caster: *has the ability Rule Breaker because she uses magic to break EVERY FUCKING RULE IN THIS CONTEST OH MY GOD MEDEA*
Caster of Black: *creates golems for fucking miles*
Shakespeare: *gives a speech*
... What I'm saying here is that Shakespeare's Noble Phantasm had better be something FUCKING AMAZING, okay.

On the plus side I am impressed by the quality speeches they've got going on; if you're going to have Shakespeare in a thing, he NEEDS to be ridiculously dramatic.

... Uh-oh. They're staging all-out assaults now. THIS IS GONNA END SO BADLY.

... Did Vlad the Impaler talk Spartacus into working for him because "Without me you'll die" and also "Oh, if you want to kill the oppressors, you'll want to go that way and kill everyone you find"? AT LEAST HE KNOWS THAT THAT IS A TERRIBLE PLAN THAT COULD/SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM.

Are – are they sowing the fields of Romania with dragon teeth to sprout soldiers? Also why do these skeleton warriors not exist above the jaw?

Moustache Dude is STILL NOT DEAD, what the fuck, I can't believe we're going into this fight and Moustache Dude is STILL not powering a golem.

Doomed Brother worrying about Berserker! And she's SUPER ANGRY, it's kinda great.

Episode Eight

HOW MANY HEROIC SPIRITS HAVE SPACESHIPS AND WHY

PREDATORY LESBIAN IS ABSOLUTELY GOING TO DO SOMETHING TERRIBLE USING THIS BATTLE AS A COVER. D:

OKAY BUT WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IS BERSERKER PROTECTING THE HOMUNCULI.

Vlad the Impaler is still a ridiculous pastel goth, but the speech Darnac gives about why he's unbeatable is really cool.

Also the way he uses his stakes while fighting Karna is GREAT, especially because it's taking Karna AND Atalanta to hold him off.

ACHILLES YOU JPOP DOUCHEBRO FUCKBOI WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING LIFE

Legit I'm kinda impressed that he doesn't just have corpses trailing after him. :\

(Does it sound like Chiron is saying "Archilleus" to anyone else?)

(The internet assures me that the correct transliteration is "Akhilleus" but IDK I dropped Ancient Greek.)

ACHILLES DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS CHIRON

HE DIDN'T KNOW

AND NOW HE'S GOING TO HAVE TO KILL HIS MENTOR

GIMME THIS SWEET SWEET DRAMA

ESPECIALLY BECAUSE CHIRON IS THERE LIKE "EMOTIONS WERE ALWAYS YOUR WEAKNESS"

Okay, this is a version of the Achilles myth I didn't remember! This version has Thetis putting Achilles in the sacred flame and sparing his heels because her husband wanted some part of their son to be mortal, whereas the usual version is that she dipped him in the river Stix. *checks internet* Oh, no, the version where Thetis puts him in the fire to burn away his mortal aspects does ring a bell, the version Chiron gave honestly sounded too pleasant for Greek Myth.

Old Man: *gives Sieg an answer about freedom that involves following orders as an example*
Me: Wait, was he a soldier?
Old Man: *gives Sieg a sword belt*
Me: Eyyyyy! :D

Immediately after this: oh my god Sieg you are gonna get killed.

Sieg rescuing one of the homunculi and staging a prison break is CONTENT THAT I AM HERE FOR.

("It's a twelve episode series, right?" I ask Lex, torn between sadness that the series is nearly over and excitement that we're heading into the end game.
"No, it's a twenty-four episode series."
*SLOWLY DAWNING HORROR AS I REALISE THAT WE'RE IN THE IN MEDIA RES OPENING AND NOT EVEN HALFWAY THROUGH THE SERIES YET*

ASTOLFO! DON'T GO ALONE! ... Also I love that she's decided not to risk griffins just to save her own neck.

NO WHY ARE THERE DEMONS DROPPING FROM THE WALLS WHEN ASTOLFO IS THE ONLY PERSON DEALING WITH THE CASTLE.

Necrodad regrets letting Saber drive. He regrets it so much.

I really love how Shirou is not raised by Kiritsugu in this timeline, but also manages to be distilled Kiritsugu in his goals here. It's not the "I want to be a superhero, I want to save everyone" of the main timeline, it's that he wants to use the grail to create a world free of suffering. HE IS GOING TO JUST END UP KILLING LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET BECAUSE THE GRAIL IS LIKE THAT.