Reaction Shot: Fate/Apocrypha S01E24 (or, TYPE-MOON WUT)

[spindizzy]

• Okay, so we're doing this.


• The way that both Shiros are talking, doing the narration, is kinda cool.


• I don't think that Shiro is quite sane either to be honest.


• Not!Irisviel does not look impressed with the I Will Call The Manager tone of Shiro's demands.


• Is Shakespeare's argument literally "I am a master of emotional manipulation and you are a seventeen year old girl, you never had a chance of beating me." What the fuck.


• "Things are as they should be," says Gille de Rais of a woman he knew being on her knees and emotionally destroyed.


• Throwing the watch into a pool of water feels like it should mean something AND YET.


• Oh, he's been fused with his original self? Or taken on a variant of his old look?


• I don't think that's how humanity is going to work, because YOU DON'T HAVE HUMAN EMOTIONS. How would you know what feelings humans are going to have!


• "This will erase my sins" lies a mass murderer of children, like a liar. And you notice how he dumps the blame for the murders on her as well?


• Gille de Rais is scum and the fact that he a very visual tic for when he lets his grossness out honestly kinda makes it worse.


• Fuck the three of you and your "Oh, she's not broken yet" complaints.


• HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU GUARANTEE ANY OF THAT, BECAUSE THE ONLY THING THAT SHIRO WISHED FOR IS HUMANS TO MATERIALISE THEIR SOULS. HE'S GIVING THEM IMMORTALITY, THAT'S ALL.


• Jeanne, if the end of that sentence was "live longer than five minutes" and/or "not get killed in a Grail War" then I am gonna throw down, because SIEG WOULD NOT ACCEPT THAT.


• Oh, hey, speaking of —


• Sieg explaining to Jeanne that he ran here expressly to help her or at least be with her for the end is BLOWING HER MIND.


• Jeanne. Honey. HE WAS LITERALLY IN A VAT ABOUT TO BE TURNED INTO POWER TO FUEL NOBLE PHANTASMS. HE WAS ALREADY A VICTIM OF THE GRAIL WAR BEFORE HE DREW HIS FIRST UNASSISTED BREATH.


• Gille de Rais: Innate goodness doesn't exist! Not even in you!
  Sieg, who has been alive for like a week: That's not true.


• LISTEN WHEN THE KID WHO HAS BEEN ALIVE FOR LESS THAN A MONTH KNOWS THAT SYSTEMIC EVIL EXISTS AND THAT PEOPLE ARE STRIVING AGAINST IT ANYWAY, YOU FUCKERS HAVE NO EXCUSE!


• I should just write MAKING A MISTAKE IS NOT A SIN on a big post-it and stick it up where my favourite perfectionists will see it.


• LOOK AT ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO'VE HELPED HIM. ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO CARED ABOUT HIM.


• I love Jeanne's argument. Shiro "manifesting people's souls" is based on him believing that humanity is incapable of changing, and it's him stepping in to make sure that they can't. He's a long-dead hero, and changing the world directly is a matter for the living; he wants to shortcut the process of people getting better, but by doing that he essentially stops them growing for themselves and teaches them that growth is something handed down to them from on high rather than something that they should work for. ... Basically in our political climate Shiro's the one going "Fuck it, let's just burn down society and start all over," and Jeanne's the one going "Motherfucker some people need society to stay alive, we need to work to make society better."


• Gille de Rais: If that is so, I cannot atone for the sins I have committed!
  Me: Yeah, turns out that abusing and murdering like a hundred children is just not something you can make up for!


• Jeanne: For victims that have long been dead, there is no way to atone.
  Gille de Rais: *freaks out at the idea of never being forgiven*
  Jeanne d'Arc: The Lord pardons all who seek it, but those you murdered will never forgive you for taking their lives.
  Me: Welcome to actions having consequences!


• I like Jeanne telling him to harbour hatred for himself. He should!


• Wait, if he wants humans to live in a stagnant world where nothing is changed or changeable... The fuck is his salvation.


• "An end to all creation" is not something you would be calling for if you were the hero, I'm just saying.


• Oh shit, Jeanne actually using a sword, shit's got serious now.


• I know that the lesson here is "Even if you're scum, you still have to help others, not for your own benefit but for theirs," but also... This entire conversation is more kindness that Gille de Rais deserves.


• Look at Jeanne acknowledging that she had a whole entire emotion!


• WHY CAN HE PRODUCE GLOWING ALIENS THOUGH WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION FOR THAT.


• Jeanne you need that hand to hold your sword what are you doing.


• Jeanne's entire thing has been trying to convince Sieg to not sacrifice himself, when that's literally what she did in life and what she's doing now! Okay, sure, pretty sure hypocrisy is not a sin either.


• (I should really stop worrying about what is and isn't a sin for Catholic characters. I think my brain has slotted it into the same area as "Is this kosher?" and "Is this halal?" as something that will come up regularly and need to be checked.)


• Caster: Oh shit I summoned a competent combat character, I swear that wasn't what I meant to do.


• "Hope awaits us all beyond despair!"


• Not gonna lie, I do kinda love Jeanne's magical girl transformation look.


• ... Wait, destroying the grail is an OPTION?! You can DO that?!


• Listen, the sword with roses on it is 100% a magical girl look and you will never change my mind. (SEE ALSO: everyone including me losing their entire shit over fancy_foxtrot being bisexual sword wives.)


• Giving the girl who died by fire the ability to summon fire. Right. Yep. I've seen horror movies before, I've seen anime before, this is exactly how it works.


• HOW THE FUCK DOES HE HAVE THE POWER TO CUT OFF HIS OWN ARM AND TURN IT INTO A BLACK HOLE. I KNOW TYPE-MOON MEANS NEVER HAVING TO EXPLAIN SHIT, BUT COME ON.


• Oh shit.


• One of the best things in anime and sf movies is where everything goes white like that, closely followed by dead silence for dramatic moments and/or an explosion appearing on screen and the sound hitting afterwards. I like it, good job.


• Wow, Caster and Ruler are still alive and don't appear to have taken any damage from that. What ABSOLUTE bastards.


• Okay the grail contains seven homunculi that I can see, which sounds like mystical nonsense that Lex will be able to explain to me because he memorised the Type-Moon wiki that one time. Like, seven is a magic number in some fields? A lot of female bodies get sacrificed in Type-Moon things? I genuinely have no idea whether those statements are related here though.


• The grail is alive? What?!


• Jeanne promising that they will meet again some day even though there's no way to guarantee it! ;______;


• Oh no, Jeanne! Jeanne is actually dying! And she's left Leticia behind!


• Shiro: You're aware that I do not harbour a grudge.
  Sieg: Yeah, well I do.


• WHY IS CAULES HERE


• Rider: I got this!
  Assassin, who is somehow STILL NOT DEAD: No you do not.


• (I'm assuming that Caules showed up and helped Rider get away from Assassin, but I still kinda want that fanfic to exist.)


• Oh, Assassin telling Shiro to use a Command Spell on her is kinda revealing; it means that she knows she doesn't have the power left to do this on her own.


• (I am not used to the idea of Command Seals being something that can give a Servant a power boost, but I think that's because they're a limited resource so my finely honed during years of gaming instinct is that THEY MUST BE HOARDED UNTIL AFTER THE FINAL BATTLE.


• I am so annoyed that Fiore's been written out. She has enough magic technology that they wouldn't even have to work out how to get a wheelchair over the rubble, but nope! ... I think all of my frustration about competent female characters being side-lined in favour of incompetent male characters are being stuck to Caules, and while that's not his fault nor the writers', I'm still annoyed.


• I think Rider missed their window to talk Sieg out of this.


• "The winner of this battle will gain everything." ... Welp. This is it. The is the point where Fate/Apocrypha is the closest it will ever get to being like a regular grail war.


• I just ended up spiralling down a path of the importance of names and how Shiro's name tells you his family and his history and on the surface Sieg's DOESN'T until you know why that's his name. WHY AM I LIKE THIS.


• OH, this is like the Rey vs Kylo Ren fight at the end of The Force Awakens! The dramatic injury to make sure that the more skilled fighter has a plausible reason to not be outright obliterating the less skilled one!


• ... The green glow is new, right?! He doesn't usually glow! Or have superspeed!


• SERIOUSLY THAT'S NOT A POWER THAT HE'S EVER USED BEFORE! THAT'S NOT HIS USUAL FIGHTING STYLE! THAT'S NEW! (Caster in the background being like "The homunculus is a worthy opponent?!" is just rude.) I am intrigued and confused!


• "He's as strong as a Servant" she says, and SIEG WHAT DID YOU DO HOW ARE YOU GETTING SUPERPOWERS WHEN ALL OF YOUR COMMAND SEALS ARE GONE


• Oh shit emotionally significant flower petals!


• WAIT DOES SIEG HAVE BERSERKER INSIDE HIM TOO


• HAS HE BEEN KEEPING THREE SERVANTS ALIVE UNDER HIS OWN MAGICAL POWER


• WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING NOW


• ... The subs have Caules' reaction as "So that's where you've been" and what what what EXPLAIN THAT REACTION SUBTITLES


• "She wanted someone to pick up the pieces of her hopes" oh no, oh no. Bless her.


• I love Berserker and how speedy she is, and the way that physics and physicality start changing as soon she's acknowledged.


• You know, for someone who's discarded anger, Shiro looks pretty fucking angry.


• SIEG NO


• WAIT


• WAS THE LESSON SIEG LEARNT FROM ALL OF THIS THAT SOMETIMES SACRIFICE PLAYS ARE THE BEST WAY TO GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO YOUR OPPONENT.


• OH. oh THAT'S what Blasted Tree looks like when it goes off at full power.


• And that's the cliffhanger?! ... Do I need to un-strikeout Berserker?
  
  

  Lancer (Black): Vlad the Impaler. Lancer (Red): Karna
  Saber (Black): Siegfried. Saber (Red): Mordred.
  Archer (Black): Chiron. Archer (Red): Atalanta.
  Berserker (Black): Frankenstein. Berserker (Red): Spartacus.
  Caster (Red): Shakespeare / Avicebron.
  Rider (Black): Astolfo. Rider (Red): Achilles.
  Assassin (Black): Jack the Ripper. Assassin (Red): Semiramis
  Ruler: Jeanne D'Arc / Amakusa Shiro Tokisada