- Hachi wants to marry Shouji
- Hachi learns from her mother that the money she was sent was intended for her wedding. She can use it for anything but can’t return home
- The only reason she was sent the above money was because Hachi’s sister Nami told their mother that Hachi left to be with her boyfriend, so her mother presumed that they were eloping
- A drunken Nana kisses Yasu and confesses her love for him, giving Hachi more feul for her theory of their relationship
- Hachi gets a job to earn money for when she marries Shouji
- Shouji is conflicted over his relationships with Hachi and Sachiko
- Yasu officially joins Nana’s band
- Shouji and Sachiko have sex

And once again, the ditzy TL-chan takes the lazy approach to blogging and simply bullets the important points. Thankfully, the Nana staff is back to being less-lazy and we get another actual episode. There’s also a new ending animation, but it’s immensely boring. The song is still the same. The episode itself was pretty enjoyable. I’ll admit that I really love the idea of Shouji and Sachiko being together. I don’t dislike Hachi like some people, but I like Sachiko better and I just think that she’s more fit to be with Shouji. Shouji and Hachi’s personalities conflict way too much to have a successful relationship. Despite this, I freaked out a little bit when I saw Shouji have sex with Sachiko. Since a lot of this episode was devoted to Hachi’s desire to get married to Shouji, it was a kind of cruel way to end the episode for her. I’m anxious to see her reaction when she learns about this occurrence. Also, I’m starting to think that if Nana and Ren don’t meet up again (which I’m hoping they will) than maybe she will get together with Yasu. Since Hachi’s fantasies about Sachiko were real (to an extent) than this one has the possibility of also becoming a reality. I suppose I wouldn’t mind too much, though I’d still rather see Nana with Ren at this point.

Now for the second point of this message: I need a gimmick and fast! Honestly, I’m a lazy person by nature. While I adore this blog and would love to keep blogging, I don’t know how much of my summer I want to spend writing summaries. Also, the whole summary format is way too generic. Currently, a lot of other bloggers are taking new approaches to blogging and I get a lot more enjoyment out of reading their work than I do summaries (which doesn’t mean I don’t still read other people’s summaries.) Besides being lazy and ditzy, a third character trait of mine is my uniqueness. I don’t want to remain bland. That’s why I have to come up with some kind of awesome new format for my posts. I rather like the bulleted list thingy, but that’s really the same thing as summarizing the more I think about it. I’m open to suggestions for any ways to make this blog more awesome.

Once in heaven, the Laharl, Etna and Flonne meet up with Vulcan. Vulcan is angry at Flonne for conspiring with demons and wishes to punish her. At the same time, he believes that he’s perfectly justified with plotting against the demons. When Laharl and Etna prepare to fight him, Vulcan disappears. Flonne thinks that when they find Lamington, he’ll be able to justify everything. Etna wonders why he hasn’t come to help already and suggests that maybe he’s working with Vulcan. The three head to Lamington’s temple. There, Lamington punishes Vulcan by turning him into a frog. He also explains that he knew Vulcan was planned to have the humans attack the demon world but didn’t try to stop it. He thought of it as a trial and a necessary step to eventually achieving unity between all the realms. Laharl is angry at Lamington for all of this and doesn’t trust him. However, Flonne agrees with what Lamington is saying and has to repent for her sins. She first asks for Laharl and Etna to be forgiven in return. Laharl tries to stop this. Flonne is content with going through this repenting process because Laharl had taught her that demons can love too. She gives Laharl her pendant. When the process is complete, in her place is a flower and a blue thread. Etna and Laharl are angry at this and Laharl tries to kill Lamington. However, he stops in the middle, knowing that Flonne would’ve been happy. However, he decides that he’ll never acknowledge love again for the rest of his life. He decides to sacrifice his life, telling Etna to take his place. Flonne is reborn as a fallen angel, who’s now a teacher for demons. Etna is the new demon king. One day, one of the Prinnies warns the two of them that a new Prinny isn’t doing any work. They go outside and find on a lounge chair an evil Prinny wearing Flonne’s pendant and bearing Laharl’s eyes and voice.

Pretty good ending. It’s not everyday that the main character dies, so I’m pleased that Disgaea was brave enough to do it. I love character death, since it’s such a dramatic thing. Even though Laharl was reincarnated as a Prinny, he wasn’t quite himself and he still did die. Plus, it’s already been revealed earlier in the series that people could be reborn as Prinnies, so it’s not as if they came up with a last minute excuse just to bring him back like I’ve seen other series do. The final plotline was very interesting and made up for some of the lesser episodes earlier on. To see a mostly comical anime have scenes in the final episode that were so dramatic was a very nice treat. Pretty much from the moment where Flonne repented for her insignificant sin on I was pretty tense. As a whole, Disgaea is a decent series at best. The whole thing is just absurd. Pretty much all episodes up until the Gordon and Jennifer plotline are flat-out comedy. The problem was, the humor was only funny for so long. There were some good moments in all of those episodes but they didn’t really make up for the utter stupidity that was also in them. The last couple of episodes were a blast though. Once there was a plot, it got really interesting and I thoroughly enjoyed each episode. For anyone who hasn’t watched this yet, start with the first two episodes that introduce you to the characters and than skip to episode 9. One thing that I liked about this series all the way through though was the characters. Out of the main three, I would be hard-pressed to choose a favorite. I guess if I was forced to pick one it would be Flonne, but they’re all great in their own way.

Ikki studies the various games in parts war. The Kogarasumaru team will be playng the F-class “dash” game in their next match. The studying must’ve been too much for him because he sleeps in school. Once it’s time for the match against the Sabel Tigers, Buccha goes first and loses. Onigiri is up next and also loses. Things are looking grim so Akito decides to turn into Agito. The problem is, Agito doesn’t want to play. Ringo is worried about all of this and wants to do something about it, so she reappears in a wig, mask, and school swimsuit, calling herself Croissant Kamen. Nobody takes her seriously from either team, but Onigiri finds her attractive and chases after her. She’s eventually forced to flee. Kazu is up next, but he first tries to knock some sense into Agito. This gets him nowhere, but Ikki turn Agito back into Akito. Kazu plays and gets the team their first win. Ikki’s up next and goes against their leader, who’s revealed to actually be a girl, Iriya Natsumi. She uses the fact that she’s a girl to her advantage and takes the lead while Ikki is still ogling. However, while remembering back to his childhood, Ikki is able to win. Iriya’s top somehow comes off in the process.

Not only was I forced to watch the Chinese subbed version (though I got a different group’s and the font wasn’t as ugly as usual) but the video quality on this episode was terrible. The sound was lagging behind the images, so it was quite difficult to pay attention to what was going on. If I hadn’t read this part of the manga a while back I wouldn’t have had a clue as to what was going on. Oh well. One unfortunate thing about the anime was that the big surprise this episode wasn’t much of a surprise at all. While they made a big deal about the Sabel Tiger leader being a girl, in the anime you could tell right away due to her voice. Though I guess, considering Akito’s voice, anything’s possible I still thought Iriya’s voice was pretty obvious. The highlight of the episode was easily the appearance of Ringo’s alter-ego, Croissant Kamen though. I’ve been anticipating this, since she’s rather funny. Her initial appearance was a bit funnier in the manga, but the anime is rushing things, so I’m glad that they at least put her in. Next week, two plot-lines will be condensed together once again as in the same episode we have the ending of this plotline and the beginning of the Rika arc.

Edit: Also, I feel it noteworthy to mention that my Air Gear gashapon have shipped. I don’t know which ones I’m going to get since I ordered them off of HLJ. While I’m not sure how I’d go about doing so, I’m considering selling doubles/triples/etc. There’s only 6 figures in the set, so I’ll be guaranteed to get at least some doubles in my box of 10. I’ll be pretty much satisfied if I at least get Ringo and Akito.

Minori gets a sketchbook. Since Saki can’t draw at all, she wants to draw with Mai. She calls Mai up, who accepts. To Minori’s disappointment, the next day it rains. They go out as planned though and soon enough the rain subsides. While looking for something to draw, Saki, Mai and Minori run into Michiru and Kaoru, who had just been meeting with Dorodron. Minori is excited to see Kaoru-oneesan and invites her to come along. Kaoru’s got pretty much no choice but to come along. It starts to rain again so Minori offers Kaoru an umbrella. Kaoru decides to share it with her. Feeling bad for Michiru, Saki brings her along as well. The rain does eventually stop, but because of it, Minori’s got something pretty to draw, the sparkling wet flowers. Flappy and Choppi are enjoying themselves as they play in the flowers until it starts to rain again. They’re most bothered though when they find Dorodoron and run back to Mai and Saki. Figuring out that Dorodoron is there, Kaoru takes Minori to safety. Michiru notices this. Mai and Saki realize that they’ve got quite a bad situation this time. Dorodoron has been absorbing the mud and is increasing in size. *Queue stock transformation.* Even transformed they’re having difficulty facing them and he traps the girls in a net. They break free, but Dorodoron just takes in more energy. He destroys all the plant-life in the area and creates armor for himself. That leaves Mai and Saki with one option, the all-powerful Twin Stream Splash. Of course it works, though Dorodoron managed to survive for a moment afterwards before turning to dust. The girls get another marble and place it inside their container which bears a striking similarity to the Futago Hime jewelry maker. They’re warped to the seven springs and restore their next spring. Meanwhile, Kaoru and Michiru discuss what happened earlier. Michiru comments on Kaoru protecting Minori, but Kaoru acts as if it didn’t really matter. Later, Minori shows Saki and Mai her artwork. She drew the three of them, as well as Michiru and Kaoru.

As I stated previously, I feel like covering this at least for the summer, since it’s so much better than it’s mediocre start. There’s that and the fact that the staff remembered that Minori existed. Minori sure was cute today, not that that’s a change from the usual. She’s certainly good at playing favorites too. I kind of feel bad for Kaoru, because she doesn’t know how to deal with the girl. Minori’s quite the ball of energy. Even Kaoru seems to like her though. If Minori knew that Kaoru was actually bad though, I wonder what would happen. I’m sure I’ll never know the results, because Minori’s far too oblivious. Besides, not even Mai and Saki know the truth. Speaking of those two, they’re just too strong and only getting stronger. Despite what Dorodoron became this week, they were still able to beat him effortlessly. As a personal request to Toei from both me and my brother: make Twin Stream Splash lose!!! It’s annoyingly efficient. I know this is meant for kids, but even in other kid’s series, the special techniques usually fail after awhile. I’m hoping that at the halfway point of the series, the girls will get a new attack.

Karen goes on a killing spree while a Sukyura attacks Sayaka and Aya. Ryota is unable to help after being shot in the leg. Morimoto takes the hit for the girls. Ryota freaks out and kills the guy temporarily. Sayaka, Aya and Ryota go over to Morimoto, who tells them not to be worried. Sayaka and Aya realize they have other important things to do and run off. Morimoto reveals to Ryota that he knew Sayaka as a child. He shows him a picture of Sayka and her father in a locket and tells Ryota to protect her smile… protect Sayaka, his daughter. Morimoto then dies. Sayaka and Aya come back with Nao and Sayaka is shocked to overhear this. Nao takes care of Ryota’s wound while Sayaka stares at the locket. She tries to be strong though for herself and Ryota, who’s also very concerned. Meanwhile, Nanami finds Celleria. Celleria intimidates her right away and Shuhei tells her to run. While Nanami tries to remember everything Shin told her, Celleria continues taunting her. During Karen’s slaughter-fest, she eventually gets in trouble but is saved by Yu and Shin. They all return to the main control room of the Botein. In the meantime, Celleria has started physically hurting Nanami. Much to Celleria’s amusement, Shuhei is too weak to do anything. Nanami tries to attack Celleria, but Celleria grabs her hand. She’s distracted when Kuu-chan runs in, and Nanami is able to touch her with her liquified hand. Celleria is in a lot of pain and frees Nanami. She tries to make one last attack on Shuhei, but melts. Nanami collapses afterwards and Nao senses this somehow. Aginst Ryota’s protesting, Nao goes to find Nanami and Shuhei while Aki is counting down to the separation of the two parts of the Aries. Meanwhile, Nanami wakes up with Shuhei. Nao shows up and the “family” is happy to be reunited again. As the pieces of the separated portion of the ship crash down, Nanami states that she’s happy. After the others land, Sayaka stays with Ryota, kindly drilling him a bit. They seem to be sticking with their current jobs. Yu meets up with Shin at a park. She makes sure that he’s in good health. She also takes down her hair for Shin and decides to stay with him. Shuhei, Nanami and Nao are still alive and decide to take a shuttle to get back to Earth. It turns out, they made it back a while ago and Shin and Yu are remembering when they met up again. Karen was there as well. Aya, meanwhile, is carrying a ton of flowers for Gale, probably for some kind of memorial. Kazuhiko and Aki are sticking with their current jobs as well and back to their usual bickering. They meet up with Karen, who’s surprisingly wearing a dress. Aki decides to let Karen and Kazuhiko spend some time together. Sayaka and Ryota visit Morimoto’s grave. The little boy from the first episode comes to give a letter to Ryota, saying that he doesn’t know who it’s from. Inside is a picture from Shuhei, Nao and Nanami.

Aww.. a mostly happy ending, albeit a poorly animated one. They should’ve saved the nice animation from last week’s episode for this one. Unfortunately, this week was just more ugliness. I was pretty surprised to hear that Morimoto was Sayaka’s father. It was obvious that he had special interest in her, but I had guessed that he was just some sort of pervert. I’m kind of surprised that Sayaka didn’t realize it. Though he did look different, one would think she’d at least recognize his voice. Despite that plot line being a stretch to believe, it was at least interesting. Morimoto’s death was the last thing I would’ve expected and it was kind of sad to see. While at first I had no interest in his character, his unique and charming ways really grew on me. I thought of him as a comic relief character and the comic relief isn’t supposed to die. The Kazuhiko/Karen thing was somewhat of a surprise, but I like it. I didn’t mind the whole incest thing that was very hinted in the early episodes, but it did seem that there was something more to Kazuhiko and Karen’s interactions in the later episodes. I’m fine with all the parings that came out of this, but the Yu/Shin was probably my favorite. Granted, anyone can make Yu go deredere, but Shin got the furthest at it. Yu’s been much fun for my tsundere needs this season. For now, I guess I’ll look forward to Tsuyokiss. In all, despite the bad animation and iffy start, I’m very glad I watched Soul Link. It was an enjoyable series with a cast of very fun characters. While it certainly had less of a plot than other things I was following this season, it somehow turned out to be the series I was most looking forward too each week.

Poorly drawn, spoilerific images ahead.

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I really dislike the fact that I’ve been unnable to find a torrent of episode 12. At least they’re having an episode, unlike Nana’s recap torture this week. Still, This leaves me to speculate, which is never a good thing. As much as I doubt this happened, my prediction:

Akito’s brother is able to intimidate Akito enough to get him back and locks him in a cage. In an effort to save his friend, Ikki punches Akito’s brother and also reveals that he stole a part of his truck. The truck rolls down a hill and Akito’s brother chases after it until it lands in the water. Meanwhile, Kazu is practicing his skating. He sees a guy getting antagonized and goes to save him. Buccha winds up doing all the work though. Kazu pretends not to care. The next day at school, Akito transfers into Ikki’s class, much to the horror of Ton-chan. Akito seems to be enjoying the extra time around Ikki though. After school, Ikki gives positions to his teammates. Akito and Buccha get the good positions. Kazu and Onigiri aren’t happy to have the lesser jobs. Kazu goes off sulking when he runs into a friend of his who wants to talk. This friend takes him to meet a gang who has a position open for Kazu. However, there are some terms to it. Kazu doesn’t like it, because he doesn’t want to go against Ikki. He accepts his position and fights them all off. Some time later, Kazu and Onigiri are neglecting their work by watching a commercial for the Parts War A-T tournament. Meanwhile, Ikki, Ringo and Buccha are shopping for a team uniform. They’re not having a lot of luck, especially Buccha, who can’t fit into anything. When they get home, they go to Ume for help. Ume introduces them to a friend who makes the creepy dolls she likes. The designer works on getting uniforms for the team. Ikki’s team eventually chooses the name Kogarasumaru. At school, Ikki, Kazu and Onigiri run into the gang from earlier. Based on what Maki said, Ikki gets the idea in his head that he’s a legend. One night, the Kogarasumaru team discovers that the Sabel Tigers team is in the area. They decide to beat the crud out of the Sabel Tigers. However, Ringo is upset by this. She thinks that Ikki’s team is becoming like the Skull Saders. The Sabel Tigers come back and challenge Kogarasumaru. They have some sort of gadget that allows them to calculate their success. The terms of the fight are, if they win, Ringo and the other girls will have to strip. Ikki accepts the match and places his emblem on top of the Sabel Tiger’s.

And here we have the cramming of a ton of manga chapters into one episode. I find it kind of funny how they abbreviated the arc where Kazu angsts about being overshadowed by Ikki snce he’s still quite a bit overshadowed. It would have been more logical if it played out closer to the way it did in the manga. I wonder if they’re trying to make this 26 episodes or something. While I really don’t need anymore 50+ episode series to watch, there’s so much manga material here that it would be the obvious choice to have a large episode count. While this was one of the lesser episodes, it still had its good points. The defeat of Akito’s brother was rather funny. I’m betting that he’ll be back though. I haven’t seen it happen yet in the manga, but I’m quite behind. Buccha’s clothes shopping was also amusing. How did he get the clothes he wears now in the first place? Anyway, there was no Air Gear on last week, apparently because of the World Cup. You’re telling me people would rather watch soccer than cheesy extreme roller skating? ^_^;

Rather than arriving immediately in heaven, the group winds up on a bridge crossing to the moon. There, they find a large amount of Prinnies. Laharl isn’t pleased by the fact that they won’t follow his orders. The red Prinny tries to stop him and eventually causes him to storm off, with Etna following. FLonne questions the red Prinny, because she notices how different she is from all the other Prinnies. Seeing the red Prinny’s reaction, Flonne decides to forget she said anything. Red Prinny comments that thanks to Flonne, Laharl finally has some love in his heart. Meanwhile, Etna teases Laharl about his treatment of the Prinnies, which gets him mad enough to send her away. Flonne comes to talk about Laharl’s love, but he also becomes furious at her. Flonne and Etna talk about Laharl’s potential for love, causing Etna to eventually admit that Laharl is a special case. This is because his mother was human. She tried to teach Laharl kindness. However, Laharl caught a disease at some point. The only way to save him was to sacrifice the life of the one who loved him the most. His mother willingly sacrificed herself. After that, Laharl was only hateful. Later, the Prinnies are seen sending little orbs of some kind up to the red moon. Red Prinny explains to Etna and Flonne that they’re sending up the souls of those who have committed sins. The ones who have repented for their sins are following the path of light. Mid-boss is simultaneously explaining this to Laharl. Laharl beats him and tries to interfere with this to get his servants back. Red Prinny begs him to treat the souls with kindness and love. Her words remind Laharl of his mother, so he stops and allows the ritual to continue. The Red Prinny says that she can now go to the red moon without any worries. Flonne asks what kind of sin she committed. Red Prinny replies that she threw away her own life for her son’s sake. Because of her death, he locked away his feelings. They’re now coming out again thanks to the people around him. Before giving up her soul, she tells Flonne and Etna to take care of Laharl. As they all watch, Flonne realizes that denying love and kindness is Laharl’s way of accepting his mother’s death.

Another episode of solid plot! That’s always a good thing. It was cool to get some more back story on Laharl. I never really considered his mother, as she hadn’t been mentioned until now. Regardless, I wouldn’t have guessed that she would be human. It was a nice plot twist though, especially because it gave more depth to his hate for kindness besides the fact that he was a demon. Red Prinny always did seem mysterious, so it was cool that there was a reason for her to be so different. One thing that I didn’t get about this episode was the whole thing with the Prinnies being transporters of human souls. I’m pretty confused as to exactly how that works. Is that the only thing they exist for? I kind of doubt that, otherwise the whole revolt thing would’ve been completely pointless. I probably shouldn’t be putting so much thought into the purpose of the Prinnies. This is children’s anime, not psychology.

Edited 6/20/06

Sayaka was abandoned in the park by her father. One day she met Aya there, who invited her to play. In present time, she’s contently with Ryota, who’s giving commands on the Aries. He tells everyone to prepare. Nao soon realizes that Nanami isn’t with them. Nanami says farewell to Kuu-chan before going through some duct in the ship. Afterwards, Ryota talks to Sayaka about how he’s trying to keep everyone safe, which leads Sayaka to mention Aya. She explains what happened in their past and that’s why she wants to protect Aya now. Ryota is able to cheer Sayaka up. She’s impressed by the fact that he’s always so strong. Meanwhile, Kazuhiko and Karen leave Aki in charge before going to do their job and Yu makes sure Shin is feeling better. He says he is, so they go as well. Nao searches for Nanami, Gale and Aya continue running and Shuhei worries about the safety of Nao and Ryota. Throughout the ship, everyone has now joined in the search for Nanami (accept for obviously Gale, Aya, Shuhei and Celleria.) While crawling through the duct, Nanami remembers her talk with Shin. She asked if Celleria was going to stop. Shin says that Celleria can still live with only one cell. He asks if Nanami will put in end to her since she’s a fusion of human and Sukyura. Nanami thins that she’ll do her best. Eventually, Kuu-chan’s howling attracts Nao and Ryota. When the dog enters the duct, they realize that’s where Nanami went. An explosion is then heard. Aki tries harder to hack, but is unaware that she’s being watched by a Sukyura. As it approaches, she realizes something’s there and screams. Luckily, Yu and Shin show up just in time to stop it. Both of the mechs go into space, one with Kazuhiko and Karen, the other with Sayaka and Morimoto. Meanwhile, Nanami communicates with Shuhei. By the time she’s done, she’s reached the end of the duct. When Kazuhiko and Karen leave their destination, another control area, Kazuhiko takes control of the computer and the two split up. Aya is now in one of the mechs and is ready to go when more enemies show up. Gale stays behind to fight them, closing the door so Aya can escape. Watching through a window, Aya tries to stop him but Gale can’t here her. He fights them all but is badly hurt. At the last minute he blows everyone up, including himself. The force sends Aya into space. Later, Nao and Ryota return without success. Sayaka sends a message, saying that preparations are ready. Ryota sends out Nao and Aki since they don’t have much time. More Sukyura attack and Yu and Shin decide to stay and fight him. Yu tells Ryota to go. Ryota says they’re being too reckless, but Yu throws back the fact that he’s the leader so he should go. Shin adds that they’ll be fine, so Ryota goes with Nao and Aki, cramped into the same mech as Sayaka. They drop Nao and Aki off with Kazuhiko. Then, Sayaka receives a message. Surprisingly, it’s from Aya. They’re both overjoyed to be able to talk again. Once Sayaka learsn where her friend is, she and Ryota go after her. Morimoto decides to help. When both Sayaka and Aya are back on the Aries, they hug. Karen is happy to see Aya again too and asks where Gale is. Aya starts to cry, causing Karen to realize what happened and cry as well. As Karen goes off angrily, Celleria states that she found something.

So there is going to be another episode. What occurred last week was actually a special episode. Technically, that’s 10.5 and this is 11, but I’m just going to call this episode 12 to keep a consistency. This episode was far easier than others to translate, though there were still some parts that I was iffy on, so my eternal disclaimer of “100% accuracy NOT guaranteed” holds true here. The episode was excellent though. The animation quality went way, way up at points, especially during the Gale death scene and the Sayaka/Aya renunion. However, some other parts looked beautiful as well. The show hasn’t been this nice looking since episode 1. I’m afraid that the quality will drop again by next week though since I doubt the staff can stay on top of thinks for two whole weeks in a row. As for highlights of the episode, Gale’s death was the most interesting scene. It was pretty depressing to watch, especially because I was really rooting for the Gale/Aya pairing to be successful. Yes, I’m sick-minded sometimes. While I could tell that his inevitable death was coming throughout the whole scene, it was presented in a way that kept me very tense, hoping that he would find some way to win and survive. Now Yu and Shin are left in a dangerous situation, but they seem to be faring better than Gale. It was also interesting to learn about Sayaka’s back story. It makes the fact that she wanted to save Aya make more sense. Seeing how much Sayaka owes to Aya gives her a better motive for caring so much about this mission than merely the fact that she and Aya were friends. Anyway, I’m looking very forward to seeing the conclusion (at least I think it’s the conclusion, unless they added another episode) and discovering what Celleria found at the end.

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During the battle, Shirou and Saber both realize that the place in Saber’s dreams was Avalon and simultaneously reach for a sword. Shirou is freed from the mud. Saber is now able to kill Gilgamesh and Shirou is able to kill Kirei. Before dying, Gilgamesh explains to Saber that the ability to reach Avalon can be done by nobody but her and is her true noble phantasm. He also allows the fact that Saber was an abominable woman. Kirei also has some words before death. He’s shocked that Shirou haad such a weapon, since he had given it to some girl, Rin, years ago. After both Gilgamesh and Kirei are dead, Shirou creates a blanket and catches Ilya. Saber then comes and requests for Shirou to allow her to destroy the grail. Shirou is reluctant to do this because he loves Saber, but allows it for the same reason. Saber destroys the grail and before disappearing permanently, tells Shirou that she loves him. Shirou is woken up by Sakura afterwards. Things in his life continue as they would. He meets up with Rin on his way to school. As they talk, Shirou thinks about the fact that he may forget everything about Saber someday, but he’ll always remember that he loved her. Shirou tells Rin to go without him and runs off. Meanwhile, Saber wakes up in Avalon with a man named Bedivere. Saber tells him that she saw a dream. Bedivere explains that if she sleeps some more, she can see the continuation of that dream. Saber gives Bedivere the orders to dispose of her sword. After this happens, Saber states that this time she might sleep for longer before falling asleep.

As far as last episodes go, this was a pretty enjoyable one. It started off a bit slow, but I was able to get into it pretty quickly. The ending was quite typical and predictable, but that didn’t make it any less pretty. While I like crazy endings that leave you staring at the screen with your mouth gaping open, they don’t always work. In this case, something like that wouldn’t have fit. One would expect a fantasy series to have a fantasy ending, just as this did. While it took the bittersweet path instead of the happy path, I’m perfectly fine with that. I loved the final ending theme as well. It was a bit fast paced for the ending theme of a final episode, but I prefer faster songs over ballads any day. They also picked some great scenes to show during it. Anime such as Fate/Stay Night only show up once in a while. There’s a lot of series out there that get hyped like crazy, but they often don’t live up to it. Maybe this series wasn’t as good as the rabid Japanese fanbase would like you to believe, but it came pretty darned close to being of that level of quality. I was one of the few people that actually liked the fact that this series started off slow. It was a great way to ease the viewer in and get them to know the characters before the show became more action-packed. Even in the early episodes, there was still quite a number of good action scenes. If the UBW or HF routes ever get made into an anime I’ll be sure to watch. For now though, the Fate route is almost ready to be released by the group who’s translating the game.