F/SN UBW TV - Episode 23 Spoiler Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the spoiler discussion thread for F/SN UBW TV, Episode 23.

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[Fizix]

Is this the penultimate episode? Is it 24 or 25 eps?

If its 24 I hope this is the final battle as an episode that wraps the characters up would be nice.

[GDB]

Honestly not sure if the last episode is 24 or 25, but I do recall hearing the last episode (whichever it is) is an hour long.

[Stark700]

Oh it's Assassin...

Spoiler:

Not bad for the action in the second half although bits of it felt kinda fast. I think Shirou is about as prepared as he can be for the fight tbh. Thought the flashbacks were a bit long in the first half.

[bakato]

Absolutely loved the screen fizzing when Ea made its debut.

[HtwoN]

Saber vs. Assassin is too short.

[Levani]

Oh god, it was epic as fuck.

Gilgamesh in Uruk was glorious and beautiful.

[Ultragunner]

In the VN, does Saber also come out from the fight with Assassin unscratched like in this episode?

I thought our Kojiro could have at least grazed her a bit?

[Levani]

If I remember it correctly, yes, she owns him.

[Amarantine]

I was expecting Saber vs Assassin to finish this episode, but I didn't imagine it would take up so little of it. Kind of makes you feel ufotable somehow managed to make Assassin feel even more irrelevant in the only route where he's remotely relevant. More actual swordplay and a better portrayal of why Saber won that final clash probably would've helped, but hey at least the aesthetics in Kojiro's flashback were nice and the music was quite good in general.

I suppose they had to make space for Gilgamesh chewing the scenery, which thankfully was enjoyable for the most part, as was the glimpse of his life as king. Shirou's first instance of multiple simultaneous projections was appropriately exciting and his inability to read Ea was very well conveyed to great effect.

Rin got the short end of the stick in what is technically her route. Rescuing Shinji is not a task most viewers will feel particularly compelled to cheer for, even if the fate of the world sorta depends on it, and then they went and made it look far too easy, with the mud looking more gross than threatening and the grail blob thingy giving Shinji away all too easily.

All in all, it was a pretty enjoyable episode, but I hope next week's is much better still. The real climax of the route was always Shirou vs Archer, but if ufotable go all out with Shirou vs Gil I'm sure they can make something special out of what is still a great action sequence.

[Geburah]

Well, "own" is not the proper word. Basically Tsubame Gaeshi is an instant kill if fully performed (aka 3 slash version), but on the earlier clash of Monoshizao against Excalibur, its blade got slightily bended which allowed Saber to slip between the 2 first slashes and kill Kojiro before the third slash using her Eye of the Mind to find that tiny breach. Unlike Gae Bolg on which you can survive with enough Luck, Tsubame Gaeshi is a perfect sure kill if allowed to use to complete version

[ShadowSamurai365]

Originally Posted by Ultragunner

In the VN, does Saber also come out from the fight with Assassin unscratched like in this episode?

I thought our Kojiro could have at least grazed her a bit?

If I remember and read the scene correctly, I believe that the only "damage" that Saber received was only parts of her armor. It happened when Assassin used Tsubame Gaeshi; in which she was able to dodge the attack and only received slight damage on her armor.

[Rising Dragon]

Tsubame Gaeshi has to be performed pretty much perfectly in order to work. The weapon has to be in perfect condition, the stance perfect, and it can only be done by someone who has Sasaki Kojirou's build, height, and skill. If any of those is even slightly off, the technique can be defeated.

And Monohoshizao is not a weapon meant for clashing. The damage to the hilt must've thrown off the balance of positioning of the blade, allowing Saber to find the gap in its attack and cut him down through it.

[QS_Bilal]

I wish Gilgamesh didn't have to dirty his hands with the mongrels meddling his peace keeping efforts. Death to Shiro.

[Fizix]

Decent episode, I knew the final battle would go over two episodes, its one of my pet peeves having to wait a week for the battle to continue. So that bugs me, they could have hour longed it

Thanks for the answer on episode count. I'm hoping its 25.

[Fizix]

Originally Posted by Amarantine

I was expecting Saber vs Assassin to finish this episode, but I didn't imagine it would take up so little of it. Kind of makes you feel ufotable somehow managed to make Assassin feel even more irrelevant in the only route where he's remotely relevant. More actual swordplay and a better portrayal of why Saber won that final clash probably would've helped, but hey at least the aesthetics in Kojiro's flashback were nice and the music was quite good in general.

I suppose they had to make space for Gilgamesh chewing the scenery, which thankfully was enjoyable for the most part, as was the glimpse of his life as king. Shirou's first instance of multiple simultaneous projections was appropriately exciting and his inability to read Ea was very well conveyed to great effect.

Rin got the short end of the stick in what is technically her route. Rescuing Shinji is not a task most viewers will feel particularly compelled to cheer for, even if the fate of the world sorta depends on it, and then they went and made it look far too easy, with the mud looking more gross than threatening and the grail blob thingy giving Shinji away all too easily.

All in all, it was a pretty enjoyable episode, but I hope next week's is much better still. The real climax of the route was always Shirou vs Archer, but if ufotable go all out with Shirou vs Gil I'm sure they can make something special out of what is still a great action sequence.

Totally agree regarding Rin saving Shinji.

[hinode]

Advertisements for the S2 boxset clearly list it as #13-#25.

Also Plastic Memories, the show that follows UBW on TV, is 13 episodes long based on BD/DVD info, so there's no room for any more double length episodes. S1 could only have all though hour long TV blocks because the show that aired afterwards, Mushishi Zoku Shou, had a second cour that was only 10 episodes long.

[HtwoN]

Yeah, I'd like some AO next week for Rin to shine a little. Like the mud attacking her for example.

Btw, orange sky or blue sky? If it is blue, I think some people may explode their heads.

[GreyZone]

Originally Posted by Geburah

Well, "own" is not the proper word. Basically Tsubame Gaeshi is an instant kill if fully performed (aka 3 slash version), but on the earlier clash of Monoshizao against Excalibur, its blade got slightily bended which allowed Saber to slip between the 2 first slashes and kill Kojiro before the third slash using her Eye of the Mind to find that tiny breach. Unlike Gae Bolg on which you can survive with enough Luck, Tsubame Gaeshi is a perfect sure kill if allowed to use to complete version

Saber has "Instinct", not "Eye of the mind". The ones with "Eye of the mind (false)" are actually Sasaki Kojirou and Heracles, while Archer EMIYA has "Eye of the mind (true)".

[Amarantine]

Originally Posted by HtwoN

Yeah, I'd like some AO next week for Rin to shine a little. Like the mud attacking her for example.

I'd say there's a decent chance of that happening. In the VN, both Shirou and Rin get aid from Archer in their respective tasks (stalling Gilgamesh and rescuing Shinji). He projects Rho Aias to shield Shirou from Ea and uses his arrows to cut down the mass of the grail in order to allow Rin to escape. But based on this episode, it seems ufotable may have removed Archer's participation altogether, since they changed it so Gilgamesh didn't use Ea on Shirou directly, but rather against the grail, with Shirou suffering from collateral damage and therefore without needing to be bailed out by Archer. So they may just have Rin cut through the grail and possible attacks from it on her own.

But who knows, maybe they just changed the Shirou and Gil scene to explain why the grail is going after Gil (which will make the scene where it does swallow him understandable to people who haven't read the source material) and Archer still saved Shirou off-screen. But frankly I'd say it makes more sense that he didn't. It already requires a rather large amount of suspension of disbelief to accept that Archer survived Gilgamesh's barrage of swords, so having him project Rho Aias and other attacks only makes it worse. If he simply lingers around stealthily in spirit form and then materializes one last time to throw one last projectile at Gil and say goodbye to Rin, it's a little easier to swallow him still being around.

Still, even if Rin doesn't really get to shine action-wise, the point of her rescuing Shinji is that she's still shining as a forgiving human being. It's not that Nasu expected the audience to care about Shinji's survival (I hope ), but rather that by being willing to save even someone as despicable as him, Rin has shown how much she's abandoned her pretense of being a cold, detached magus and instead embraced her humane and compassionate nature. I do feel Shinji is too much of a caricature, however, for the scene to be really effective, but I can still appreciate what it's trying to say about Rin's growth as a person.