Fate/zero – Episode 18 – The Incident that Made Kiritsugu the “Mage Killer”

Now, Kiritsugu’s past and how everything started.

One of the minor problems in the first season is the underdevelopment of Kiritsugu compared to the other characters. This has caused many to view him as a man without any ethics from the cold-hearted killing in the last episode. With this, I think this episode does a good job clearing some things up as it shows his childhood on an island in the Philippines.  There were a few lighthearted moments such as him playing with his friends and spending time with his childhood friend named Shirley. When she calls him “Kerry,” I found it rather amusing since many people in the US tends to botch up the pronunciations of Japanese words.  But still, she is rather cute, until the second half of the episode.

On the other hand, Shirley is a tragedy waiting to happen.  It’s a known fact that Kiritsugu’s Father is a mage that is currently researching on something. However, I didn’t know that it’s something that dangerous. Like any teenager, she decided to experiment on herself by taking a potion to prove his research without knowing the effects. Well, she became a failed “Dead Apostle,” which is basically a type of vampire that is hard to kill and begs Kiritsugu to kill her. This is possibly where he got his ideal of “killing one to save many.” If he euthanized her, the whole island would have got spared from that fate. Probably the reason he didn’t do it because of the dramatization. Despite this, I think this incident was preventable if his father kept his experimental potions well protected and hidden.

Lastly, there is the awakening of the Kiritsugu we know now. When Natalia hires him to kill his own father, he just did it in cold blood. I suppose he assumes that his father would continue his research that might give the same result. On the other hand, it goes downhill from here with him becoming the “Mage Killer” to eradicate the evil that plagued his childhood.  Sad, isn’t it?

After watching several episodes of Fate/zero, I’m amazed of how it progressed. Yeah, the shock value in this episode easily beat the bug pit scene with Sakura in Episode 1. On the other hand, it explains more about the incident that caused Kiritsugu’s post dramatic stress, which he never really gotten over. Also, the village being set on fire gave a similar feeling at the beginning of Fate/stay night with the end of the 4^th Grail War. With that, the next episode will show the escape and the mage training before we head back to the last part of the Grail War. ¶