Sorry guys. I let reviews pile up. Darn exams! Fairy Tail and Unlimited Blade Works will be done as Double Mini Reviews
Since this is a short review. I’m going to go over the important points.
First up we’ve got Lancer vs. Archer.
So with Episode 17 we’ve got the epicness of Archer vs. Lancer round two. The battle is epicness distilled in visual form! Ufotable…just Ufotable. I love it.
Turns out that Lancer’s Master, who shall remain nameless for those that either didn’t torture themselves with Studio Deen’s version or read the VN, put Lancer on a Command Spell to fight but not defeat all Servants that he meets in battle but only during the first battle. So it basically lowered his stats while he fought all the Servants.
Wait that means that he fought Berserker and Assassin with lowered stats and still got away. And according to the Wiki, he killed Berserker like this with only a B Rank Noble Phantasm…granted he buffed Gae Bolg up to A rank with Runes but still awesome accomplishment.
So Lancer’s just lays down the beating on Archer. Just sad. The Gar chooses to side with Lancer on this fight.
Lancer is truly best bro. He would win the entire war if he had Bazett as his Master. Shoot. Nothing would be able to Gae Bolg and Fragarach
So then Lancer decides to go all out. He was just playing around before? Archer’s exhausted!
He goes up in the air and throws Gae Bolg, activating Gae Bolg’s second Noble Phantasm, the The Spear of Striking Death Flight.
And he throws it!
And Archer tries to block it with nothing less than Rho Aias, a conceptual weapon that has the defensive power of seven fortress walls. Wow be grateful that this Noble Phantasm is anti-army and not anti-fortress or Lancer would have cut through Rho Aias like butter.
He still beat it…or rather the spear stopped at the last wall before it killed Archer. This little part actually references Rho Aias’s legend which Hector the hero of Troy threw his spear at Aias or Ajax whichever you prefer and it drilled through 6 of the 7 layers before stopping inches away from his heart.
And then this happens.
That spear’s legendary!!!
Archer barely and when I say barely I mean like micrometers survives Gae Bolg only to casually basically say “Oh that was good”
He got the Gar back after that one. And after Archer notes that Caster isn’t watching them anymore.
Now saying we switch over to Caster. And by that I mean Caster and Kuzuki laying down a whipping on Shiro and Rin.
Not bad. I don’t have any pics of Shiro vs. Kuzuki because frankly it was too short of a battle.
But wait. What is this?
Oh Rin’s going in! Rin uses Close Combat and it’s Super Effective!
But then Kuzuki comes over and whacks her around after he beats Shiro. Damn Shiro you had one job!
But looks like Archer’s taking care of it.
And then he impales Caster on his swords…wow that sounds wrong…but sounds so right when you see this.
Why did you take off the hood earlier!? She’s freaking hot!
So Caster fades away while Kuzuki gets himself killing for trying Archer and avenge Caster.
Archer: 1
Kuzuki: 0
So then Archer does this to Rin.
When all you have is a hammer all of a sudden every problem looks like a nail. I know you’ve got swords and nothing else but gosh Archer can you project something else.
So now Archer’s free of Rin and Caster and ready to kill Shiro!
So we move on to Episode 18 and the hype is literally projected into the real world from the Reality Marble.
Basically the episode starts with Archer just dominating Saber because since she’s been fighting Caster so long and now she’s without a master she could disappear at any second.
Meanwhile Archer’s got two whole days to work with since he’s got Independent Action from the Archer Class.
Damn you Independent Action, said by all Tohsakas with Archer Class Servants.
Once Saber can’t fight anymore Shiro jumps into take her place. Poor boy has a death wish. However he’s able to stall Archer long enough for Rin and Saber to make a contract.
When their fingers touch like that I think it’s ecchi for some reason. I don’t know why.
So once Saber’s running on Rin’s mana, she’s all the way powered up.
These are Saber’s stats under Shiro.
Spirit: King Arthur
Master: Shirou Emiya
Alignment: Lawful Good
Strength: B
Mana: B
Endurance: C
Luck: B
Agility: C
N. Phantasm: C
Class skills:
Magic Resistance: A
Riding: B
And here they are under Rin.
Spirit: King Arthur
Master: Rin Tohsaka
Alignment: Lawful Good
Strength: A
Mana: A
Endurance: B
Luck: A+
Agility: B
N. Phantasm: A++
Class skills:
Magic Resistance A
Riding B
There’s a reason that I say if Saber wants to win the war she needs to dump Shiro like a bad habit. Look how high those stats are!
So Saber gets into with Archer again but with those stats Archer loses almost immediately. But Saber you have yet to see his true form!
What are you doing?
And here it is. The namesake of the route and Archer’s Noble Phantasm, Unlimited Blade Works.
So when it’s time to get serious Archer’s got swords in the air ready to fire and he’s got Saber pin down. She can’t use Excalibur because Archer would project the same sword and kill them all.
So what to do? Answer? Shiro rushes in and hope for the best.
And by some almost divine mystery Shiro manages to survive but Archer gets away with Rin. This battle has too many interruptions so the battle between the Heroic Spirit Emiya and Emiya Shiro will continue tomorrow at the Eiznbern Castle.
So then we flash over to Rin and Archer and she has another dream about him. That’s odd. She shouldn’t have a connection to him since he isn’t her Servant anymore.
God I thought being Lancer was suffering but being Archer is suffering.
So Rin and Archer get into a conversation about Shiro’s naivete but Rin loves it while Archer wants to kill him because of it.
As that conversation comes to an end, Shinji and Gilgamesh come in and Archer just hands Rin over to Shinji. Dude do you know what Shinji does to Sakura! He doesn’t but still!
So the next day Shiro wakes up after getting owned by Kuzuki and then Archer. Once he wakes up, he asks that Saber doesn’t interfere in his battle with Archer. This is a battle he’s got to do himself. Saber agrees with him in the end.
As they leave to face Archer, Lancer joins them, saying that his new orders are to get Rin back.
And with that episode 18 ends. That was a good episode. I need to catch up again. I still have one more episode to do for Fate.
So until the next review where the battle between Shiro and Archer starts,
Later Days
Extra Pic
Japanese elegance from Rin Tohsaka with Archer by her side. I get my pics from the Zero-chan board not Pixiv.
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