Fate/zero – Episode 12 – Kirei’s Extremely Short Retirement

Kirei is finally relived that he’s not in the Grail War anymore… Well, not so fast because you are coming back!

First off, it seems that this episode had received a lot of complaints with the lack of action. As I previously mentioned in the last post, Fate/zero focuses more on the behind the scenes rather than upfront action scenes. Still, I have to admit that Saber and Irisvel have become somewhat uninteresting in the recent episodes. Aside from that, they move into another mansion, which plays a big role for the rest of this season and of course the sequel. Not only that, the creation of the magic circle in the shed also has an important as well. Except for these details, that segment wasn’t too interesting.

However, Kirei’s discussion with Gilgamesh was quite the opposite. If you already know, he lacked a command seal on his hand after all his Assassins were officially defeated. As a result, he felt so relieved for not having to participate in the war that he can now relax along with having his command spells sent back to the Holy Grail. Still, this wasn’t the reason why their discussion intrigued me. It’s of course Gilgamesh dragging him back into the war by enticing him. To achieve his, he explains how human beings naturally seek pleasure. It’s expressed through interest and concerns of something.  Eventually, he brings up Kirei’s interest on Motou Kariya to entice him. Shortly after, he gets his command seals back and thus, thrown back into the war. Clearly from this, he can never escape the wrath of the Grail War because underneath it all, he enjoys the suffering of other people. Not only that, didn’t he forgot his obsession of Kiritsugu, the very reason why he joined in the first place? Either way, he has to find another servant to take up the challenge and the choice is obvious.

As the first half of Fate/zero wraps up next week, it leaves a lot to think about. Surprisingly from their discussion, Kirei cares less about Kiritsugu and now focused on his personal desires. Thus, the tables turned since Kiritsugu becomes increasingly anxious about him. From this, it could potentially hurt him in the end. Thankfully in the finale, Caster and his master will probably get taken out, thus leaving us with only five to deal with in the second half. Not only that, he needs to receive justice for all the atrocities he committed to the children. ¶