Fate/zero – Episode 19 – Justice and Endless Suffering

May 13, 2012 by chikorita157 2 Comments

What should I do with him...

Quite a fitting episode for Mother’s Day even though it was sad…

Surprisingly, Natalia took him in as her son after he escaped from the island that got decimated by an outbreak of “Dead Apostles.” From there, she simply used Kiritsugu’s ability to her advantage. This is interesting since it influences Kiritsugu to become an “emotionless killing machine,” thus strengthen his ideal of killing one to save many. Also, the creation of the mystic code that he used on Archibald gets explained in the beginning, although we knew some details about it in the first season.

At least she taught him well...

However, that wasn’t the thing that caught my attention, but the remarks she said several moments before the plane got shot down. When she mentions that he can kill people without any thought like a machine, it shows that he hasn’t gotten over the event that caused his trauma. In fact, the towns getting slaughtered by people like his father had worsen the situation since it reminded him of all the people he couldn’t save. His ideals and inability to convey any feeling after the incident feels like a Shakespearian tragedy. He can kill one or a group of people to save many just to have another bunch killed by another individual. He simply learned the wrong lesson that could haunt him for the rest of his life.

His breakdown was bound to happen...

As for this tragedy, it’s foolish to think that this mission will be a piece of cake since she didn’t realize that the magus had killer bees inside his body. Not only that, she didn’t have a parachute packed into her supplies to allow her escape. However, I think Urobuchi intended on having her stay on the plane to reveal the flaws of Kiritsugu’s beliefs as shown with his decision to shoot down the plane. For most people, they would just allow her land the plane because of their close relationship. On the other hand, he simply pulled the trigger without any hesitation to sacrifice her and prevent another outbreak. Although her death is not as emotional, I still felt the impact since she is his mentor. Still, it’s surprising that he didn’t cry specifically over the death of her, but Shirley instead. I understand since she was his crush and it’s devastating to have two people that he loves gets taken away from him. At least Natalia died happy and knows that her foster son is not a failure.

From the two episodes, the back story shows a lot why he took the actions in the first few episodes in the second season. While this doesn’t change my feelings towards his character, I felt sympathetic towards him for all the despair he went through. His broken philosophy is not doing any good for him and only leading him to the path of destruction. Hopefully, the grail has an answer in redeeming himself from all the terrible acts he committed. ¶

This post was conjured up by chikorita157

Author and Owner of Chikorita157's Anime Blog. If you want to learn more about me, see the "About chikorita157" page.

2 Comments… read them or add your own.

Thess says:

May 22, 2012 at 1:39 am • Magical Level: 19

Hopefully, the grail has an answer in redeeming himself from all the terrible acts he committed.

LOLOL.

It’s a pity that the anime did cut down the part of Angra Mainyu awakening in answer to Kiritsugu’s posturing of carrying all the evils of the world. I could post that bit in the novels, it was after the Lancer team death.

Thess says:

May 22, 2012 at 1:40 am • Magical Level: 19

Spoiler Inside	Select Show
‘It’ was lost in an abyss of shallowly slumber within the darkness sealed in the bottomless earth. What ‘It’ dreamed of in the shallow slumber – was the endless ‘prayers’, unreasonable and unattainable, that have been entrusted a long time ago. A beautiful world. A beautiful life. A flawless soul. Because such longings were too strong, so they had to entrust all other evils to one place; that was the wish of the fragile men. Through answering that ‘prayer’, ‘It’ had once saved a world. There is no evil apart from me. This is no imperfection apart from me. I am the only one who should be hated. I am the only one who should be abhorred. Like thus, ‘It’ saved the world, and let them obtain peace. Therefore – ‘It’ was not a saint who saved men and aided the world. Without praises, without reverence, without tributes, but only with spurns, only curses, only disdain… before ‘It’ knew it, even its name as a human had been rubbed away, only left with a title of its ‘way of existence’, and finally became a concept that was passed down through the ages. Until now, all that had already became a dream of memories that had had its full share of time’s baptism. Just how much time had passed since then? Right now, ‘It’ was thinking dazedly on top of the bed it had slept on peacefully. It felt like some complicated changes had occurred. That’s right; it was about sixty years ago. Something had happened almost in the blink of an eye. Because it happened so suddenly, ‘It’ didn’t understand everything completely – when ‘It’ came to, ‘It’ was already at a place like a mother’s warm placenta. An infinite darkness that sighed in the deepest place beneath the earth. Back then, it had been a place that had concealed an ‘egg’ that had endless possibilities. One day, like a seed, ‘It’ entered and planted its roots into this place. From that day on, that place because the abdominal cavity that nurtured a darkness that didn’t belong to anything, veritably became a uterus with the purpose of fostering ‘It’ into maturity. Since then, ‘It’ had surely absorbed the prana that flew in from the leylines in the earth like a baby that obtained nourishment from the mother’s placenta while ‘It’ slept in its shallow slumber. While ‘It’ veritably grew, ‘It’ waited without being discovered by anyone for the arrival of an opportunity. Waiting to one day leave this scorching profound darkness, the moment of delivery. Suddenly, ‘It’ – perked up its ears and listened for the sound coming from near ‘It’. Just then, someone really did speak. “…all the evils of this world… it won’t matter… gladly accept it…” Aaah, someone was calling ‘It’. Blessing and itself were both called by someone. Answer him. It must be able to right now. The prana whirlpool that had swelled long ago to an incomparable size in the darkness gave ‘It’ a concrete form. The endless ‘prayers’ that had been entrusted in the distant past should also be able to be fulfilled right now. An ‘existence’ like something that was prayed upon. ‘Going to do’ all the things that were wished for. All the pieces of the puzzle had been assembled. The gears of fate grinded together, and were now turning bravely, accelerating with the day of completion as their goal. All that’s left – was waiting for the birthing canal to open. As ‘It’ dreamed in its shallow slumber, ‘It’ emitted cries that will dye the world crimson red… ‘It’ also repeated its contractions in the darkness beneath the earth, unknown to anyone else.

Spoiler Inside

Select Show

‘It’ was lost in an abyss of shallowly slumber within the darkness sealed in the bottomless earth.

What ‘It’ dreamed of in the shallow slumber – was the endless ‘prayers’, unreasonable and unattainable, that have been entrusted a long time ago.

A beautiful world. A beautiful life. A flawless soul.

Because such longings were too strong, so they had to entrust all other evils to one place; that was the wish of the fragile men.

Through answering that ‘prayer’, ‘It’ had once saved a world.

There is no evil apart from me. This is no imperfection apart from me.

I am the only one who should be hated. I am the only one who should be abhorred.

Like thus, ‘It’ saved the world, and let them obtain peace.

Therefore –

‘It’ was not a saint who saved men and aided the world. Without praises, without reverence, without tributes, but only with spurns, only curses, only disdain… before ‘It’ knew it, even its name as a human had been rubbed away, only left with a title of its ‘way of existence’, and finally became a concept that was passed down through the ages.

Until now, all that had already became a dream of memories that had had its full share of time’s baptism.

Just how much time had passed since then?

Right now, ‘It’ was thinking dazedly on top of the bed it had slept on peacefully.

It felt like some complicated changes had occurred. That’s right; it was about sixty years ago. Something had happened almost in the blink of an eye.

Because it happened so suddenly, ‘It’ didn’t understand everything completely – when ‘It’ came to, ‘It’ was already at a place like a mother’s warm placenta.

An infinite darkness that sighed in the deepest place beneath the earth.

Back then, it had been a place that had concealed an ‘egg’ that had endless possibilities. One day, like a seed, ‘It’ entered and planted its roots into this place. From that day on, that place because the abdominal cavity that nurtured a darkness that didn’t belong to anything, veritably became a uterus with the purpose of fostering ‘It’ into maturity.

Since then, ‘It’ had surely absorbed the prana that flew in from the leylines in the earth like a baby that obtained nourishment from the mother’s placenta while ‘It’ slept in its shallow slumber. While ‘It’ veritably grew, ‘It’ waited without being discovered by anyone for the arrival of an opportunity.

Waiting to one day leave this scorching profound darkness, the moment of delivery.

Suddenly, ‘It’ – perked up its ears and listened for the sound coming from near ‘It’.

Just then, someone really did speak.

“…all the evils of this world… it won’t matter… gladly accept it…”

Aaah, someone was calling ‘It’.

Blessing and itself were both called by someone.

Answer him. It must be able to right now.

The prana whirlpool that had swelled long ago to an incomparable size in the darkness gave ‘It’ a concrete form.

The endless ‘prayers’ that had been entrusted in the distant past should also be able to be fulfilled right now.

An ‘existence’ like something that was prayed upon.

‘Going to do’ all the things that were wished for.

All the pieces of the puzzle had been assembled.