Fate / Zero 17 — A Family Man

Damn it. The creators sure like to set people up for tragic deaths. For most of the show, I’ve had little to no sympathy for Tohsaka, especially after what he did to Sakura and how plain boring he is. But, when I see how Rin looks forward to seeing him, I can’t hate him anymore! What a cheap shot!

But my sympathy wanes as he triggers all his death flags. And all he has to say to Rin is to keep the church in her debt and win the holy grail. I’m starting to see what other commenters were saying in that magic comes first for him. It’s all about magic. It’s more important than his own life or his family.

I feel even worse for Tohsaka because of the way he died: stabbed in the back by his own student, after entrusting Rin to his care. Tohsaka even provided the knife that would be used to kill him.

He clearly does feel better. This is, I think, the second time he’s smiled aside from when he saved Matou.

I’m looking forward to seeing what these two will do! It should get even more exciting.

Random Thoughts

I could totally ship this. Maiya is infinitely better than Saber.

I think she’s already taken though.

The one thing in this entire show that Saber is consistently good for is making dumb jokes about her “Riding” ability.

8 thoughts on “Fate / Zero 17 — A Family Man

  1. I find it remarkable how Fate can take inelegant, mad characters like Ryunuske and give them beautiful, serene deaths while taking elegant people like Tokiomi and making them die in the ugliest way possible.

  2. If you’ve watched the first season’s specials, Irisviel Consultation Room, then you should be able to get a gist on what Tokiomi’s all about. He’s a “Champion of Tradition”, or someone who uses conventional methods in Magecraft in order to attain a Mage’s ultimate objective: Reach Akasha, the beginning and the end of everything. This includes preparing the next generation of Tohsaka for the next Grail War.

    Nobody actually knows what Tokiomi wants the grail for (aside from swag and penis issues stemming from the long standing conflict the Einzberns and the Matous), but he possibly wants it so that he would wish to be able to reach Akasha.

    Thing is, Tokiomi made a big mistake by relying on an empty person such as Kirei. With just a little goading from Gilgamesh, and the empty Kirei was filled with thoughts and feelings that conflict with his objectives. Result? Dead Tokiomi.

    Funny though, if you look at F/SN’s Fate route, you’ll see that the same dagger Kirei used to kill Tokiomi is the same dagger Rin uses to kill Kirei on the fifth war. So much for the manipulators and subservients!

    1. Yeah, that was pretty much my understanding of Tokiomi as well. Kirei was led astray pretty easily. I guess his biggest mistake, though, was getting Gilgamesh as a servant, someone prideful enough that he would betray his own master.

      And I didn’t realize that Rin later killed Kirei with the same dagger! That’s pretty cool.

  3. “And all he has to say to Rin is to keep the church in her debt and win the holy grail.”

    Two things I wanna say about this:

    1. There is a translation error. Keeping the church in her debt, when they are already her allies, as she is Christian and not a danger for the world doesn’t make sense, he meant the Magic Association. Kyoukai=Church, but kyoukai can also be the short form for majutsukyoukai=Magic/Mage’s Association.

    2. Two VERY important scenes are missing. First, what I basically told you in your EP14 review. The reason why he gave Sakura to Zouken. Sealing Designations and all that stuff(just wait for next episode to see what happens to those who are designated to be sealed, though I’m not too sure how much ufotable will cut out again).

    Second, a flashback in which his father lets Tokiomi decide to become a magus or not. He can’t really give Sakura and Rin the option to live a normal life in his opinion, so he at least wanted to give Rin the same feeling he got when he took the responsibility of a family leader. This is where Tokiomi got his determination and willpower to become a good magus, even though his skills are only mediocre.

    “Beyond that, I’ll leave the rest to your judgment. You’ll be fine on your own. […]If you wish to become a Mage, that is the path you must follow. ”

    It was Rin’s decision to become a magus, not her father’s. She is extremely ambitious and proud in FSN and this is probably one of the reasons. But essentially Tokiomi is a goof-up, just like the rest of the Tohsaka family. His decisions were all wrong and he pretty much screwed up everything. A typical Tohsaka. ;D

    Irony at its best in this episode. Tokiomi literally handed Kirei the knife that kills him, he was literally stabbed in the back and it was the Azoth dagger(a parting gift of trust), for God’s sake. The very same dagger Kirei would see again at the end of the Fate route…

    About the rest of the episode… well, let’s just say I’m disappointed. Scenes were merged, dialogue was again cut out, all the transitions are missing or changed in an imo unpleasant way, etc. Certainly, it is not very easy to animate a Light Novel.

    Basically, Kirei’s development was more subtle in the novel and now it just feels rushed. For instance, Kirei was crying when he held his father’s corpse in his arms. It was a reference to his wife’s death scene I posted two weeks ago or so(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF3b4WWMLvg&t=4m30s) I won’t say too much about the art this week (*cough*episode11*cough*), it’s apparent they’ll fix it for the bluray release.

    Episode 18… finally Kiritsugu flashback…

    P.S. Have you actually listened to Kalafina’s new single already? The second song Manten(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2hb7BJE908) is a vocal version of one of the tracks(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwYbi0atP6M) Kajiura composed for FZ. That’s kinda cool.

    1. Ah, that’s a pretty big translation error. The Mage’s Association makes much more sense for her to suck up to.

      And good to know about the missing scenes. Both of those would have cast Tokiomi in a more sympathetic light, I’m disappointed they were taken out.

      You’re really making me want to read the light novel now…

      And thanks for the song links. It sounds pretty good.

  4. This show is quite outstanding as it captures me just by its plot and dialogue. Kotomine Kirei w/ Gilgamesh as servant is quite a formidable foe. I’m rooting for Matou, though, as I don’t wish to see Sakura eaten by bugs. Rider might be cooler but he’ll get over it.

    On a totally unrelated note are you still following Pirates? I thought you might like the sensational last episode 🙂

    1. Yeah, Rider is too awesome to even notice if he loses.

      I’m still following pirates, and yeah, that was a vast improvement. 🙂 Finally they seem to be going somewhere!

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