Fate/Stay Night – 17

The episode opens with Emiya and one of those spooky dreams he has about Saber's past. Apparently, she was forced to sacrifice an entire village and it's people to win a battle, a feat that her troops weren't too happy about, as they knew her sheath would guarantee victory either way. Emiya considers the notion that this may have something to do with Saber wanting the Holy Grail, but pushes the thought aside and heads to breakfast.

Saber raises her sword to the heavens in Emiya's dream.

Saber being cuter than normal during breakfast. "Private talks during meals are not beneficial for your digestion!"

Sakura conveniently makes her reappearance, just in time for Caster's pinpointing her as her target, and, of course, to make breakfast and otherwise fawn over Emiya. Sakura and Tiger-sensei are introduced to Iliya, who is ragged on by Rin for her bad manners (she forgot to say "itadakimasu" before eating). Iliya returns the favor by commenting on what I assume to be Rin's weight (all she asks is if that Rin is full, she'll eat what Rin doesn't. Of course, she's pre-preempted by Tiger-sensei).

Tiger-senseihelps herself to Rin's food. Unbeknownst to the masters three, she's a magician who specializes in empty spaces…her head and her stomach.

After a brief argument and subsequent Janken battle to decide on who gets to pick desert first, the group overhears a news report about more people slipping into comas due to a "gas leak". Sakura looks unusually concerned, which totally goes unnoticed by the masters three. Sakura runs off to clean things that don't need to be cleaned, and Rin, Emiya, and Saber wander off to discuss the people in comas.

Loli vs hot teacher vs hot chick with sword in a Janken battle to the death! WHO WILL WIN?

The trio contemplates on who is master at Ryudoji, where the only known Servant left, Assassin, resides (note that they have completely forgotten about Lancer.). Iliya shows up, complaining that she has to play the good girl around Emiya's friends and wanting in on the conversation. She eventually discloses that Caster, not Assassin, is the true culprit in draining people of their power, and of Caster's true identity (Medea, for those interested.). Assassin was apparently summoned by Caster, which makes sense, as Caster is a magician after all. Iliya also reveals (whilst preforming some absurdly cute ballerina moves) that Caster murdered her original master and took on another, who was not a magician, so that she could stay in the Holy Grail War and not have to follow orders from anyone. Issei, Emiya's best friend and the guy who has a gigantanormus crush on Rin, suddenly decides to stop by and conveniently tells Emiya that Kuzuki-sensei, a teacher at their school, has been living at Ryudoji for the past 3 years. Plot contrivances FTW! Emiya and friends come to the shocking conclusion that Kuzuki is Caster's new master, and Rin decides that they should just beat the hell out of him until he fesses up to being a master.

I think someone from Sunrise recently joined the Studio-DEEN writing staff…

Iliya busts out her mad ballerina skillz.

Rin, Emyia, and Saber sit and wait for Kuzuki, and once he comes around Rin attempts to shoot that black ball thingyjobit at him. Unfortunately for them all, Caster makes her grand appearance, and Emiya and Saber immediately step in front of Rin to take control of the imminent battle. After some requisite "yes I'm the bad guy" dialogue (in which Kuzuki's seiyuu demonstrates that he needs a new job, cuz he sucks), Saber attacks Kuzuki, only to find he's not as normal as he seems.

Oh snap! It's on now!

Kuzuki asks Caster to enchant his fists, and then proceeds to wallop poor Saber, who can't seem to keep up. Kuzuki then easily takes out Rin, and destroys Emiya's makeshift pipe-sword effortlessly. Emiya panics, and suddenly remembers Archer's words of advice: "Image something you can win with, for that is the only thing you can do." Emiya immediately thinks of Archer's twin swords, Kanshou and Bakuya, and traces them into existence, surprising the hell out of Rin. Unfortunately, Kuzuki's insane speed is no match for Emiya's inexperience with a sword.

Kuzuki shows off his training with The Undertaker.

He's no Orlando Bloom, but he pulls of the dual wielding well enough.

Just as Saber's about to enter the fight and take out Caster, Caster stops the trio and offers a truce. Caster has found a way to summon the Holy Grail without the Servants killing each other, and offers to share it with them if they cooperate. Caster says all she needs to summon the Grail is something to form the core and the required enormous amount of mana. Rin quips that they'll just have to kill more people to finish the summoning, and Caster responds that they wouldn't have to kill just any people, they'd have to kill a shit ton of people. Rin says that the core has to be a magician, and after Saber refuses Caster's offer, Caster and Kuzuki run off, right after telling our heroes that a candidate for the core has been found. Emiya and Rin immediately think of Iliya, and rush back home. Saber finds Sakura on the floor, and rushes to her side, only to have Sakura plunge a magical dagger through her amour and into her chest. Ouch.

Sakura turns out to be under some sort of spell, as Caster's voice comes out of her mouth, explaining that the dagger is Caster's Noble Phantasm, Rule Breaker. Fortunately, Sakura's mana wasn't enough to break Saber's contract with Emiya, but it was enough to seal Saber's "secret weapon", Excalibur. The brainwashed Sakura then flies off to where Caster awaits, to use her to summon the Holy Grail.

Well, that was certainly interesting. They're defiantly pushing Archer's true identity, and I'm sure it'll be revealed eventually, even if he's already dead. The whole thing with Sakura is interesting too, especially given that she's already involved in the war, unbeknownst to everyone else (note that I found that out through a synopsis of a storyline in the game that will probably not make it into the anime). The show's shaping up nicely, and throwing off the bad impressions it gave to some people with it's slow start.

Hopefully I'll be able to do long posts and summaries like this every so often, but don't expect them for every series (I'm thinking about sticking to Fate, AMG, Haruhi, and Strawberry Panic). And before I forget, it looks like someone has renewed the efforts to translate the game, and has been working on it for the past month or so. They're already half way though Fate, the first storyline, so hopefully the whole thing will be done by summer or so. I need me some RinxSaber action :p. Check it here: http://mirrormoon.org/Fatestaynight