Eight out of ten for this episode. The actual episode flows a lot better this week, without as many jarring asides as the last one - despite the several flashbacks, they enhance rather than detract from the main experience of this episode.
In reference to Shinji's death... I never hated the character as much as many people here seem to have - in fact, I highly enjoyed him. Certainly, I considered him to be the relative 'scum' of Fate/stay night so far, but all of his scenes were worth watching, he made the show more amusing.
His main crime was, to me, being nowhere near as developed as I would have liked. It would have been so much more interesting to see
why Shinji is a twisted and contemptuous psychopath than to, say, have had so much fanservice of his Servant. Sure, market the product, but at least make something there for those who aren't as interested.
Nevertheless, I think that Shinji dying is an important step forward - I am in two minds about the nature of his death. In one sense, i am somewhat relieved that he did not realise the error of his ways and become a monk or some such to atone for it; that would have diluted his character. At the same time though, i would have liked to see some brief flickers of remorse, rather than a cowardly attempt to save his own skin, as we did see.
Still, his death was necessary. Not so much for Shinji's character, but for Ilya's. And, I wish, for Shirou. Shirou hasn't been acting much in character when relating with Shinji - he was, from my watching of the show, a good friend to Shirou before the actual program starts, so Shirou naturally should still have some compassion for the guy. Yes, yes, I'm aware that Shinji has trodden all over that by sucking the life out of the school, imprisoning and abusing Fuji-nee, and generally being a twit, but I didn't mind him doing them, they were useful plot devices. What I did mind was never really seing how Shirou's perspective on one of his oldest friends changed - from one moment of 'hrm, wonder where my ol' buddy Shinji has gone' to 'I will kill you for being a stupid bastard!' Yes, the motivations are there, but we don't see them so much within Shirou.
Anyway, to refer back - Shinji's death is a necessary precursor for us to see what Ilya will be like - or so I am assuming. We've had the nice friendly 'sister' Ilya a few episodes back, which made the Ilya of episode 4 seem incongruous, but now they are revealing more about the 'darker side' of Ilya - where she is perfectly willing and able to order another's death. It is also a nice reflection upon her having some sort of deeper connection with Shirou - Shinji was 'just' another Master, but Shirou is special to her. And that's a nice way to show it - her carelessness to all others, except for him.
It will be interesting to see how Ilya's character evolves in the next episode or two. And also to see how Shirou changes in response - though from the way his attitude to Shinji changed (being off screen and simply assumed), I can't be too hopeful.
As to all the recharging innuendo - I doubt they'll take the game path. The pace of Fate just doesn't seem to be heading towards a sexual element, it would be too incongruous within the context of the rest of the show - fanservice with no respect for the plot (much like a lot of Rider's scenes
). I'm sure they'll amaze us somehow though, or at least attempt to. Will be interesting. ^_^
-Andiyar
Then umm.. well..
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