fate/zero 11 and ben-to 10
Categories: ben-to, episodic review, fate/zero
Tagged: ben-to, fate/zero
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“The matter will clarify itself as we drink.”
“Splendid indeed.”
Iskandar proposing to settle the Holy Grail War with a drinking game and managed to get Saber and Gilgamesh to play along. Added to that? His awesome WWE T-shirt. That is probably the best random TV moment of 2011 that fit the show well along with:
– Matthew Crawley and Mary Crawley singing the song for the troops.
– The first time Khal Drogo bonked Daenerys Targaryen. No.
– This scene.
– When Madoka went back in time and saved all the ethnic magical girls. Egyptian girl! Native American girl!
– When Joshua outed Anya’s threesome sex tape.
– “Dude, I buying a Cinnabon.”
– The penguins making takoyaki in Himari’s hospital room.
– When we discover that Daru had sex, thus giving hope to fanboys everywhere.
“What is this cheap swill?”
Gilgamesh’s the best. Loved his typical condescending attitude. Loved his contempt for people trying to make friends with him (since he’s too good for them, yet he’s alone). Loved his, “I can do this better than you!” routine. Loved his pining for Saber. Gilgamesh would be a great anime blogger. He just needs a few more memes…
“Behold! And acknowledge your folly.”
The way Gilgamesh was describing his treasure trove, I half-expected him to reveal that he’s the CEO of Goldman Sachs. “You know, I don’t really need any more money as I don’t even know how much I have anymore, but the moment I see that you have any money, I must take it from you.” Occupy Gate Of Babylon! Gilgamesh isn’t the 1%… he’s the only percent!
(I also like how he keeps everything in Gate of Babylon not just weapons. At some point, I quarter-expected him to materialize two hawt twins just to try to get Saber jealous. “Saber, I can have hawt threesome anytime I want, yet all I want is for you to tie me up, spank me, and call me, ‘Goldilocks.'”)
(I noticed how both Gilgamesh and Orthos refer to their enemies as “mongrels.”)
Explain the mysterious black mist emulating from the shopping baskets. Wut? Only in my battlin’ bento show do I question mysterious black mist emulating from shopping baskets. Otherwise, it’s perfectly normal. This happens at Wal-Mart all the time.
Sato and Shaga not realizing who Orthos was… gah. They’re so dumb. But they’re not dumb enough to be on Guilty Crown.
(Yet.)
Poor Waver. He was freaking out like a little chihuahua in a room full of pit bulls. It is sad that by the restrictions the next Holy Grail War will have, Iskandar and Waver be eliminated. I just hope Iskandar goes out in a blaze of glory like Graham Acre or Kamina and not via some cheap shot like Jadzia Dax or Jiro Yamada.
At this point, I gotta wonder if Waver wears Depends, or he just doesn’t let his wet pants bother him anymore.
“The Holy Grail is not a drinking cup!”
What? I so wanted the winner of the Holy Grail to drink cheap champ-ale out of it like the Stanley Cup. And then maybe take it home and drunkenly spoon with it for one night. Nonetheless, I liked how Saber and Iskandar had such different views on power. The whole setup just disguised some philosophical wrangling instead of actually moving forward the Holy Grail War… it reminded me of all the times in Stand Alone Complex when Major Motoko would dive into a forum and get nothing accomplished for an episode.
The women-folk are terrified.
The women-folk are terrified. In da shower.
“We’re stronger than any one of them!”
Duh. There’s two of you. Not amount of twincesting will make the two of you equal one. But try! Please, do try!
(I predict Ben-to will have healthy and robust BD sales.)
Best fight scene I’ve seen recently. Orthos against Ice Witch lived up to its billing. The Kyo twins… wow… just wow. Kyo twins are a top five anime twin pairing along with Xia Yu Lan/Xia Yu Fan, Mion/Shion, and Ryou/Kyou. Orthos has the fighting prowess of Xia Yus, has the crazy of the Sonozakis, and delicious thigh meat of the Fujibayashis. Wow. Just wow. The only way this battle would have been better is if David Productions snuck in some sneaky fanservice.
Best move. Awesome. Both sides gave it their all, and nothing was left on the table. Reminded me a lot of the first fight between Rocky and Apollo Creed.
Unfortunately, because Sato was too much of an idiot to warn Ice Witch and because Sato was too much of a pussy to help her, Ice Witch gets taken down. Wow. I admit I got a bit emotionally… Takumi Fujiwara’s first loss felt about the same way. Wow. Just wow. I wonder if Iskandar’s loss will be more or less awesome than this, since this is the new bar that is set for awesome character being taken down.
(And, Sato, for fuck’s sake, is completely useless until a plot battle he has to win. Dude is so rigged. He didn’t even put up like 10 frames of fighting… at least Shaga managed to stall a bit of time with her Unlimited Disposable Chopsticks.)
I… I… gotta give David Productions some props for having the balls to show Ice Witch so defeated. Damn. That feeling of defeat felt so real. The hate for the twins for rubbing it it and being poor sports is LeBron The Decision level. Aside from Sato and Shaga’s stupidity, this was a great episode of Ben-to. Plenty of twincest fanservice, a great fight, and some emotional loss. At the end of the episode, you want to hate the Kyo twins, but you also want them to make out, thus creating weird frustrating hate for them. Grr.
(Hard to say who won this week. Ben-to was excellent as was Fate/zero. It’s a good first world anime blogger problem to have. I much rather wonder about this than wondering which terrible episode of Baka to Test Ni or UN-GO to blog about.)
(Also, is it wrong that I suddenly have an urge to see a strip tease featuring thigh highs and shopping baskets?)
Another great part of this Fate/zero episode is when Iskandar backs up his philosophical bullshit with some action. A man of action is worth more than a man who only writes in 140 character increments. The way Iskandar’s legion yelled for him… my gosh… totally reminded me of the rugby team backing up Sagara in Fumoffu. I mean, Sagara’s squad was definitely more bloodthirsty, but Iskandar’s bros weren’t far behind. KILL! KILL! KILL! YES! YES! YES! I was shouting along too. Good fun.
(A disappointing part is that the mass character CGI for Maji de Watashi ni Koishinasai! was on par with the Assassin vs. Iskandar big battle CGI. Also disappointing is that there’s probably like 80 more Assassin left. He’s like a coachroach combined with a Team Rocket.)
Reminded me of the Rohirrim from Lord of the Rings. There we have some natural Servants… Gandalf as Caster, Aragorn as Saber, Legolas as Archer, Grimli as Berserker, Eomer as Rider, and Gollum as Assassin.
(Though maybe it’s all the Skyrim in me, but I’m disappointed that the horse didn’t do more.)
“Surely you have a garden fit for a banquet.”
Next up on Whose Wedding Is It Anyway: Iskandar doesn’t agree to location, eats the entire wedding cake, and orders an extra 500 bottles of cheap wine from Trader Joe’s thus getting on the bad side of his bride, LOL FANG-TAN.
“You are not a true king. You are but a little girl, bound by the false idol of a king who serves others but not [herself].”
Holy shit Iskandar. I can’t wait for him to tell Waver that there’s no Santa Claus. Dude is just becoming more and more awesome. So awesome that I can’t call him “Brokandar” as that’s not befitting to give someone so awesome such a bland meme. It’ll be like offering cheap swill wine to Gilgamesh.
tl;dr
1. Great of episode Fate/zero this week. Go watch it.
2. Great episode of Ben-to this week. Go watch it.
it is Gai Daigoji
From what I hear, the LN was even more brutal with the Kyo twins. Satou goes bonkers at the Ice Witch being defeated, stomps Tamura Yukari’s Kyo’s face into a shelf, and proceeds to pummel her drawing a shower of blood while she laughs like a maniac.
Gilgamesh doesn’t have any friends, not just because he’s thinks he’s too good for them, but because he is also secretly into traps and reverse traps (check out the concept artwork for Enkidu, his BFF and therefore that crushing on Saber). Now that gives me some weird images of a Haganai Holy Grail War…
Also being Saber is suffering, she’s basically the Shirou of this series, so it’s probably a fitting idiot Heroes of Justice pairing.
Incredible week for both shows. When Iskandar changed back to his armor to fight Assassin and I saw Saber watching his back with his cape blowing, definitely had some Kamina flashbacks. Have to agree with Kherubim that being Saber is Suffering:
-Loses use of thumb fighting Lancer
-Has a creepy stalker who she lost in a fight to in Caster
-Looked down on by Archer (who isn’t)
-Gets schooled in kingship by Rider (I mean even Gil appeared to respect the man after that speech)
Wouldn’t be surprised if her next opponent is Assassin and she lost just to round it out. Have to say that having not read the Novels, I’m surprised Saber has been so ineffective for being a strong spirit in the strongest class.
I’m under the impression (just by how impressive it was) that Iskandar just killed all the Assassins by making sure there was nowhere for them to run or hide. You could even tell Assassin was afraid. There are like 100 Assassins….but they were against the Army of Alexander the Great…some 10,000 or more strong. Rider’s got probably the best weapon. 10,000 armed Servants that are loyal to him and him alone. Waver’s got it good that he’s get such a man as his Servant and friend. About the only thing I can think of that could outnumber this Rider would be maybe F/SN’s Archer’s Unlimited Blade Works or maybe every weapon in the Gates of Babylon. Saber can’t over power that many (can she?). Caster, Lancer, and Berserker should be overwhelmed by that many Servants.
Also the music for that scene was awesome and reminded me of the Ride of the Rohirram as well. The only thing Theoden King didn’t get to do was tell off the orcs before the charge like Rider told off the Assassins.
gah i called him brokander!
emulate/emanate — they are different!
I like fate/zero but Holy Jeebus this episode was talky. More talk than an Oprah show. This is supposed to be an action/battle series, not a therapy encounter group.
Iskandar is amusing and seriiously cool, but despite his contempt for her, Saber is still the best, because I would fap to it.
@Bob
“This is supposed to be an action/battle series,”
You are wrong.
“Holy shit Iskander”
I read that as “Holy Shitskander”, which I think is quite apropos considering everything he does is epic.
…
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…
Help support independent artists.
Can we agree on “IskanGAR” instead, if BROkander is too common for him?
How about just “The Great”?
[quote]“You are not a true king.”[/quote]
ooh, burn.
[quote]being Saber is suffering[/quote]
That feel when Alexander’s army still fiercely loyal and willing to fight for him while your own knight just wants to beat the crap out of you.
Am I the only one that things UN-GO is great? :(
Man, Iskander was amazing this episode and when I saw Bucephalus I was happy. Iskander is great!