I hope the other episodes from now on can keep up with this level of entertainment. This was probably the most action-packed episode so far. I would never have thought Archer would be defeated so early on in the series. He did put up a good fight though. Beserker was just way too powerful. Now I’m wondering how they will ever beat him if he could recover so quickly after Archer’s final attempt. It was unfortunate Archer used English for certain parts because I felt they took away from the intensity of the scenes. With Archer gone, Rin is no longer able to fight in the war. If I were to make a guess, she will probably continue to do her best to help Shirou. I’m interested in seeing how she will react to Archer’s defeat in the next episode. She knows Archer fell in battle, but we didn’t get to see much of a reaction yet.

Shirou needs to find a way to help Saber recover or she will disappear eventually. Through his dreams we get a glimpse of Saber’s past. I guess that pretty much answers the question of her true identity. Once again we see that Illya is extermely dangerous. She killed Shinji after Rider was defeated. I guess we need to thank her since we don’t have to see Shinji anymore. After Shirou refuses to become Illya’s servant she leaves to kill Saber and Rin. Maybe we’ll get a better idea of Archer’s strength in the next episode. As dangerous as Illya is, I hope they don’t end up killing her though. The next episode should be exciting, but I really just want more scenes with Rin. She hasn’t been getting much time on screen for a while.

This episode is pretty easily one of the best ones so far. I’ve been wondering why Rider was named Rider. It is all revealed in this episode. Rider appears to have been defeated by Saber’s attack so this may be the last time Shinji will be around to annoy. We got to see Saber’s sword for the first time. Now that we know she wields the Excalibur we have an idea of her lineage. I’m not too familiar with the myth of King Arthur, but if I were to make a guess I would say Saber’s real name is Gyneth. Some new questions surfaced with this episode. For instance, why was Illya in the building where the fight took place and what was Rin doing outside of Sakura’s residence. At the end of the episode we see Sakura looking out the window when she muttered something. She must know something about this war if she’s not already part of it. I’m looking forward to the soundtrack for this series. I think it has some pretty nice instrumental BGM’s.

We get more insight into Shirou’s ability in this episode. It appears to be a pretty big deal, but Shirou himself does not yet realize it. Shinji being the evil-looking guy he is turns out to be a coward. I was surprised by how helpless Shinji was even against Shirou. Seeing Rider stab herself through the neck was quite unexpected, but it made it into a pretty intense scene. It took many tries, but Shirou finally accepts that he cannot take on the other masters by himself. From now on we will probably get to see more of Saber, which of couse is a great thing. I found it unfortunate that Rin wasn’t in this episode much at all. The scene between Shirou and Rin when Shirou woke up was nice since we get to see another side of Rin.

This was one of the most uneventful episodes of the series so far. That’s not to say it was all bad. On the contrary, there were some scenes I enjoyed in this episode. Shirou begins his training with Saber, which I thought wasn’t all that entertaining. Illya shows up in front of Shirou later on acting like a completely different person than when she was with Beserker. We get a better idea of what Illya is like and she seems just like a normal girl. It just goes to show sometimes the most innocent-looking people are the most dangerous. In a later scene we see Shinji talking to Rin. Although Rin told Shirou what supposedly happened, I’m beginning to think maybe he shouldn’t trust her so much. Near the end of the episode Shirou accidentally walks in on Saber when she’s in the bathroom. We see that Saber could care less about seeing naked, which I thought was pretty funny. The next episode should make up for the lack of action in this episode.

As of this episode we have seen all seven servants now. Well technically we saw them all since last week’s episode, but we couldn’t get a very good look at Assassin and Caster. The action sequences in this episode were pretty fun to watch. I found Assassin and Saber spent a bit too much time talking, even though some of it was quite intense. We got a taste of what Saber’s potential is during her fight against Assassin. The moment was cut short, but it renews my hope in even more action-oriented scenes later on. In order to settle their differences, Shirou and Saber made a compromise. For the moment I can’t say I’m overly thrilled with watching Saber train Shirou how to use a sword, but with a little work I’m sure they could make it interesting.

If we are to believe Shinji then he isn’t the one who attacked the girl in an earlier episode. With his kind of personality it’s hard to trust him, but there is support that a 4th master goes to the same school. According to Shinji, Sakura is not involved or has any knowledge of this war. In a way I think that’s a good thing, but on the downside not being involved will probably cut back on the number of scenes she’s in. One of the key scenes in this episode was Rin deciding to temporarily live with Shirou. It was pretty unexpected, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless. Defying Shirou’s wishes, Saber goes off to engage a new servant. I didn’t think a servant would disobey their master. I guess it just goes to show their loyality isn’t absolute.

The main thing we get out of this episode is character deveopment. We get to know Rin a little better after working together with Shirou. Once again we get another episode with minimal scenes with Saber in them. They’re doing an awfully good job at making Saber seem like a pretty minor character. Shirou, being an individual who doesn’t appear to be so bright, further supports that notion by entering back into the school grounds alone. The hints in the previous episode was obvious, but this time we get to see first hand that Shinji is indeed Rider’s master.

It looks like I was incorrect about Rin’s intentions from the previous episode. This time we get a better look at the mysterious new slave we caught a glimpse of from last week. I like how all the slaves have their own unique style of combat. Rider doesn’t appear to be as strong physically, but it looks like she can compensate for that with her tactics and maneuverability. For the time being Rin will work together with Shirou to try and figure out who Rider’s master is. All hints point to Shinji as Rider’s master. Saber was barely in this episode so hopefully they will try and make up for it in episode seven.

Shirou introduces Saber to Sakura and Fujimura-sensei after feeling guilty for asking Saber to stay in one room all day. To be honest I didn’t find that entire scene to be all that entertaining. It was nice that Saber got a few more scenes this time around though. Rin notices that Shirou didn’t bring Saber long with him to school so she ends up attacking him after school. I’m guessing she’s only doing that to teach Shirou not to be so careless anymore. On the other hand she may really be trying to take him out, but I don’t think that’s the case. We get a glimpse of what appears to be a new servant late in the episode. Hopefully the next episode will be more entertaining than this one.