While Shinji wanders around like a murderous drunk, Shirou decides they should take out Rider and prevent anymore of these incidents. Before Shirou and Saber can blindly rush into battle, however, Rin points out that Rider’s Noble Phantasm is much higher level than Rider herself, and is of a magnitude high enough to take out armies. Shirou makes a statement about just taking out Rider before she can use her Noble Phantasm, and Rin makes some excuse to avoid having to fight alongside Shirou again.
They track down Rider, and Rider seems to have a slight advantage in the air-battle. Rider then summons Pegasus, indicating why she is named “Rider”. It turns out that Rider’s Noble Phantasm is some kinky SM device that turns Pegasus from a gentle horse into a demonic, sex-crazed, Trojan horse. However, since no one notices when weird stuff happens on tall buildings, Saber deems it acceptable to summon her Noble Phantasm, the golden sword, Excalibur. She then hits a home run with Rider.
Wouldn’t you know it, Rider was actually aptly named. However, there is clearly more than meets the eye. It was interesting that Rider calls out Bellerophon‘s name as she charges, but they never do clear up what kind of heinous sins Rider committed. It looked like she had square pupils too, when the blast cut away her blindfold. However, I suspect that Rider is not done, and moreover that Shinji is not her real master. After all, why does Shinji have a book instead of real command marks, and why does it look like Rin has spotted Sakura giving the real commands to Rider? Also, I highly doubt that Rider is gone, since the animators seem to love camera angles like this way too much.
There were some cute Shirou-Saber moments in the park, but that dude is so not smooth with the ladies. A mere brush almost caused him to lose it, and he was so excited by the thought of sleeping in Saber’s lap that he immediately fell asleep. This is a sign that Shirou is very likely narcoleptic.
The preview makes it look like Berserker was hiding in the shadows so he can grab Shirou and bring him to the park where Ilya will proceed to molest him.
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Kabitzin – who has written 1940 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
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>>>> “Wouldn’t you know it, Rider was actually aptly named. However, there is clearly more than meets the eye. It was interesting that Rider calls out Bellerophon’s name as she charges, but they never do clear up what kind of heinous sins Rider committed. It looked like she had square pupils too, when the blast cut away her blindfold. However, I suspect that Rider is not done, and moreover that Shinji is not her real master. After all, why does Shinji have a book instead of real command marks, and why does it look like Rin has spotted Sakura giving the real commands to Rider? Also, I highly doubt that Rider is gone, since the animators seem to love camera angles like this way too much.”
The name, ‘Bellerophon’, and her square pupils, in addition to her blindfold, are all clues to Rider’s true identity. Speculation is still rife on whether they will revive Rider to flesh a certain story path( there were three paths in the F/SN game, but the anime is mainly following one path, the Fate path. Bits and pieces of the other two paths are added in as well though. Heaven’s Feel and Unlimited Blade Works.), so I hestitate to immediately give out her true identity. If you do not mind being spoiled, I can email you Rider’s real identity.
As for how Shinji became Rider’s master, well… that’s another biggie spoiler, and I really, really, hope to honest good that they do something about that part of the plot.
It’s funny that Wikipedia article you linked to gives Rider’s true identity… without spoiler tags…
I’m a total fanboy of F/sn, but admittedly, Shirou’s attitude with Saber in this ep is so boring it hurts. I would have slept joyously in her lap.I really wanted to whack him on the head with a rolled newspaper (reinforced, of course) on this scene.Damn.
In the heat of battle, sacrifices have to be made Shirou! Now put your damn head in her lap!
Nooooo!! All Saber’s lap are belong to Rin.
I’d really like to know where they got the idea to turn excalibur into a giant golden laser beam… I mean being un original is fine and all…but with the whole king arthur thing you’d expect them to at least avoid that stereotype (that all uyber weapons have to be some kind of giant laser beam) O_o
I see it more as a mana-based attack, with Excalibur as the channeling point.
It’s possible it has other attack modes, but Saber felt the only way to defeat Bellerophon was to channel all her mana through Excalibur. We’ll have to see if she ever uses it again before we make any judgements. Hopefully it is not just a big laser…
The true identity of Rider is
>> Hopefully it is not just a big laser…
If that’s the case, she might as well tack on a DRAGOON system. And a dorky mask.
I wrote on memento blog about my choice for the heroes and the name of the class. I like to re-classify them a little more.
I. Infantry
1. Heavy Infantry: I think this is what Saber Should be. Armored person with large weapon. The best choice based on popularity would be Tristan, Beowulf, and Zhang Fei from romance of three kingdoms.
2. Light Infantry: I guess they used Berserker for this. Lightly armored with small weapon relying on speed and versatility. Hercules is a choice I agree with. If you really want Berserker, you should go to Norse Mythology and get Thor.
II. Calvary
3. Heavy Calvary: This is the Lancer. Armored steed with large spear-like weapon. Most famous would be Lancelot. Another good choice is Lu Bu from Romance of Three Kingdom.
4. Light Calvary: This is probably Rider. Fast steed with various light weapons. Again, speed and versatility is the key. The best choices would be Guan Yu, Vishunu, Krishuna, and Monkey King, all of them gods, actually.
III. ranged attack
5. Archer: Any one shooting personalized projectile weapon. The obvious choices is Robin Hood and é»ƒå¿ from romance of three kingdoms. If you want historical legend, nothing beats the archery feats of the founder of Chosun Dynasty, Yi, Sung Gae.
6. Artillary: This is given to any unit which shoots heavy projectile missle that requires two or more people to launch. Since we need one, this is where you would have the area effect Spell Caster. The most legendary spell caster is Merlin, followed by Gandalf.
IV. Subterfuge
7. Assassin: Someone who relies on indirect method of killing. Hassan Sabbah is an excellent choice, which I agree. A better known choice would have been Hattori Hanzo.
>If that’s the case, she might as well tack on a DRAGOON system. And a dorky mask.
DRAGOONs make everything better. I added it to my fantasy NBA team’s name, and I won the championship after two years of futility. DRAGOONs make the impossible possible.