Episode 16 –
Well, this was arguably one of the best episodes of Fate/Zero so far. I mentioned last week how it’s ironic that Saber’s Excalibur, a stunningly beautiful and overwhelming attack, was the ominous trigger that would resume this battle royale to the death. The first half of this series had been all about building character relationships, as well as sowing the seeds of discontent and anger amongst these said relationships. Caster was pretty much a plot device that forced the other masters to cooperate and not kill each other off, but with Excalibur’s magnificently destructive introduction, there’s no longer a need for such reservations. The result is an exceedingly brutal and ruthless battle with multiple casualties, mixed in with a bit of strong idealogical confrontation and intense dialogue.
The highlight to this episode was, without a doubt, the meticulous and ruthless way in which Kiritsugu completely decimated Lancer and his master, Kayneth. However, there is one other little story being told outside of Kiritsugu’s ruthless battle campaign that is worth metioning. Mainly, while Kayneth himself was quite vain and arrogant, this episode does make you realize that he has a more humane side to him that tells a more tragic story. To put this idea into context, think about Kayneth’s magus title; Lord El-Melloi, a title bestowed onto prestigious mages from the Mage Association. Of course, for any high-status mage, there would be a proportionate amount of pride, honor, and arrogance that is born from the title. Kayneth certainly didn’t forget this while he was furiously debating over whether to save Sola-Ui from Kiritsugu’s blackmail.
The significant detail to note here is how Kayneth, the prideful mage that he is, chose to save his wife, Sola-Ui, over continuing the Holy Grail war, something that would obviously destroy the man’s reputation in the magical world. On top of that, he also sealed away any chance he had of restoring his magical circuit through the Holy Grail when he killed Lancer with his command seal, which would have made him forever a crippled mage. For a prideful mage who could have coldly continued the Holy Grail War in hopes of reviving his wife with the magical Holy Grail, this small but significant action seems to show that Kayneth did indeed hold a genuine affection for his wife. What makes this situation rather tragic is how Sola-Ui does not seem to love him back at all, and heck, she doesn’t even show him respect whenever they’re seen interacting. What we have here is a one-sided love which was never honestly requited, even up until the couple’s very deaths.
While I didn’t particularly like Kayneth, Fate/Zero continues to amaze me with the level of depth it has for it’s entire main cast. Heck, while I didn’t like Caster at all, even he gets a tragic backstory and some rather intriguing bits of dialogue. The characters are all exceedingly complex creatures with their own motivations and ideals driving them forward, creating an ever-changing landscape of emotions that shape the flow of the story. This is present in Kotomine Kirei’s defiance of Tokiomi, where he is slowly becoming addicted to the thrill of defiance, and is also present in the superbly written dialogue between Saber and Kiritsugu. The Saber-Kiritsugu tensions are deeply rooted in each of the respective character’s personas and experiences, and I suspect it will be a central tension prevalent for the remainder of this series.
Fate/Zero has started to really up the ante with the death of Caster, where we are starting to see some truly devastating tactics being used in the quest for the Holy Grail war. At the same time, the series is slowly providing little hints at the direction to which conflicts will break out, all while exploring each of the character’s motivations and personalities; there’s the obvious tension developing between Kotomine Kirei and the ever-so-vulnerable Tohsaka Tokiomi, as well as a brooding issue between Saber and her master that will be even further exacerbated with Irisviel starting to seem rather sick. The writing to this series has been absolutely amazing, and I can only imagine what this series has in store for us in the future.
Overall Enjoyment: 4.3/5
Screenshots are later in the post.
Distant Paradise 
I thought Lancer’s last curse to the masters (and probably Saber as well) was exceedingly bone chilling. Looks like Saber’s taunt of how everyone wanted to be a hero once in their life did get to Kiritsugu. Need more backstory 😀
I agree with Lancer’s final curse. It was bone-chilling, almost like the moment Ionian Hetairoi was revealed, as well as Saber’s use of Excalibur last week. Fate/Zero really knows how to make these moments have a powerful impact.
As for Saber’s taunt on Kiritsugu, there’s been hints in the OP and ED themes at root causes of Kiritsugu’s hatred of “justice”. There’s also the bit of backstory we saw back in the first season, where there was a brief flashback revealing the origins of Kiritsugu’s special magical-circuit-shredding bullets. I suspect there might be some relationship here, though I don’t quite know what.
One thing is definite for sure, this season will have much more of Kiritsugu playing a major role, as opposed to the supporting roles he’s played up until this point.
Kiritsugu i forgot about how the bullets and the how to came to be, going to rewatch that episode & pay more attention to op for the hints. What struck me though was it cold and right within the ideology we know for him to do that even if i scared/outraged his wife & Saber. Can not wait to see else occurs with him in a more central position within the story now.