With a truce called and a command seal offered as a reward, the Holy
Grail War has been put on hold until Caster and Ryunosuke have been
defeated. Kiritsugu quickly comes to the conclusion that there is no
need for them to seek out Caster because he will come to them due to
Saber. His assumptions turn out to be right, as Caster comes approaching
the castle with a number of children under his control that he later
kills during a game of “tag.” Disgusted, Saber confronts Caster and
walks directly into his trap. The children have evil starfish-shaped
spells within them that attack her. The fight looks bad for Saber
until Lancer shows up, as she is without the use of her left arm and
she is combating the seemingly endless mana that Caster has. While the two team up to fight Caster, Lancer’s
master occupies himself with attacking the castle in search of Saber’s
master.
Before Saber confronts Caster, she and Kiritsugu were conflicted about how to take him out. Saber wanted to take
Caster head-on and deal with him before more innocent lives were taken.
Kiritsugu however thought it would be best to lurk in the shadows and
let  another servant take care of him. Their conflicting ideals had been
hinted at in past episodes, but come full circle during “Evil Forest,”
as Saber stands clenching her fists while Kiritsugu offends her honor.
Exploring the relationship between the two will prove to be interesting
in the future and will ultimately decide how they advance in the war.
Will Saber be able to follow someone so “cowardly”? Kiritsugu
comes off as harsh and uncaring but moments later he has a small
breakdown with Irisviel, asking her if she would flee with him. His
breakdown came on suddenly and felt a bit odd given his usual demeanor,
but at the same time it reinforced Kiritsugu’s human qualities that have
been present since the birth of his child. Irisviel brings him back to
reality and with Maiya they prepare for the upcoming fight.
As
I’ve said before, Caster is the servant you love to hate. He not only
murders children, he now turns them into monsters to do his bidding. You
just can’t help being in awe of the horrendous actions Caster takes.
Since there are a lot of servants that use weapons in combat, Caster
provides a nice change of pace from that particular battle style. The
spell he uses is relentless and can cut upon direct skin-touch. The
worst part is that they are nearly endless due to Caster’s noble
phantasm. Despite this being a different type of battle, there was still an
impressive display of choreography and animation for Saber as she
danced around the attacks. She makes a noble attempt, but with her injury Saber finds herself fighting a losing battle. When
Lancer steps in, Caster goes even crazier. He claims that every part of
Saber is his and that Lancer will pay dearly for interfering. I get the
feeling that we have only scratched the surface of Caster’s abilities,
so I hope in the next episode we see some new spells.
Meanwhile Kiritsugu is dealing with his own problems as Kayneth attacks
the castle with an enchanted ball of mercury that can attack, defend and
detect enemies. The sphere made for some nifty animation tricks and
showcased more of Kayneth’s magic abilities. It would seem  Kayneth has
the upper hand but Kiritsugu uses a magic called time alter; it allows
him to control the time of his own body and enhance or decrease his speed.
It proves to be useful, but it comes at great cost to his strength
and stamina. Kiritsugu is a man with many secrets, and I find myself
becoming more enticed as they unfold. The episode ends on a juicy
cliffhanger, and I can’t wait to see how he got his nickname as
the "mage killer" next time.
Waver and Rider get a small amount of time in
this episode, but those few minutes are glorious. Rider purchases a
shirt on the internet with the world across it and wants to follow Saber's example of going out and exploring the modern day world. Waver says he
can’t go out without pants and so they strike a deal - if Rider defeats
another servant Waver will buy him pants. Totally in-character for Rider
and hilarious to boot, and now we will hopefully get to see what
Alexander the Great can do.
I eagerly look forward to the
twists and turns in the next episode, because with a command seal at
sake we all know Saber and Lancer won’t be the only ones fighting
Caster. The question is whether or not Caster will make it out of the
next battle alive.
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