(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the second half of The Summer of Fate.
(Neo): After the success of Unlimited Blade Works, the fandom of the Fate series was on the rise and Type-Moon struck while the iron was hot with videogames. The biggest one being the mobile game Fate/Grand Order.
(Yume): Fate/Grand Order would become a money-making machine for the series. Despite the game being a spinoff from the main series it quickly took on a life of its own. So much so that there would be OVAs, specials, and movies based off the game as well as a full-length anime.
(Neo): The spinoff really did allow the series to take off. They would introduce a wide variety of servants each with their own designs and personality and break away from the norm of the series to tell its own original story that featured time traveling.
(Nitsuj): With the spinoff being such a big hit it only made sense to try another spinoff. Enter, Fate/Apocrypha. Based on a light novel written by Yūichirō Higashide and illustrated by Ototsugu Konoe from 2012-2014, this series would be the fourth anime in the Fate series.
(Yume): The story behind this series is that it takes place in an alternate universe from the original Fate/stay night during the third Grail war. Originally, this was supposed to be an online game but the plans were changed and it was instead turned into a novel. In 2017, the novel would get turned into an anime by A-1 Pictures.
(Nitsuj): What happened to Ufotable?
(Neo): A good question. You see Fate/Grand Order was developed by Aniplex who bought the anime rights from Ufotable to produce the game. Since the game was such a big hit, Aniplex wanted to see if they could cash-in on the success of the series with this spinoff as well.
(Nitsuj): Did they?
(Yume): Sort of. A lot of people have mixed opinions about this series. Some people like it saying that while it’s not as good as Unlimited Blade Works and Zero, it’s still a solid series while others say it’s pretentious garbage trying to act smart and important when really it isn’t.
(Nitsuj): So this is the one that fans are split on? Well, let’s see where we fall in. Let’s take a look at Fate/Apocrypha.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Yume): The first opening for Apocrypha is “Eiyu Unmei No Uta” by Egoist. Yeah, I didn’t like this opening. Not once does this song feel epic. Not once does it get me pumped or excited to watch the anime. And not once does it feel like it has any direction on where it’s going or wants to convey to the audience. This is easily the worst opening out of all the Fate animes in my opinion.
(Nitsuj): The first ending is “Désir” by GARNiDELiA. While the ending sucks they manage to kill it with the ending. This is a powerful and emotional song that does a good job capturing the feelings and emotions of our female lead. This might just be the best ending out of all Fate endings I’ve heard so far.
Episodes 1-4
(Neo): So the anime begins in London at the Mage Association (Nitsuj: Wow, this world’s version of London looks pretty sweet. Nothing like the London we visited last year). We see a man by the name of Kairi is there to meet Rocco, the head of summoning (Yume: The body is nowhere to be found and struggles to keep up) for an important mission. Rocco informs Kirei that during the third Grail War, the Holy Grail went missing but is now supposedly in the hands of a mage named Darnic of the Yggdmillennia clan who controls Romania. Darnic was a participant in the third war and with the help of Nazis (because the third war took place during WWII. That must have been very inconvenient) he managed to steal the Grail from everyone. Darnic would of course betray and kill the Nazis after the Grail was secured. Darnic announced that he and his clan are seceding from the Mage Association and establishing their own organization (Nitsuj: With blackjack and hookers. In fact, forget the whole thing). Darnic has declared war on the Mage Association and has challenged them to a pseudo-Grail war. Unlike the previous wars we’ve seen which was a free for all, this war will be a team battle between the Mage Association (red team) and Yggdmillennia (black team). Each team will have 7 masters and 7 servants to fight against each other where the winning side will then fight against each other and the last master standing will get possession of the Holy Grail. Kairi gets asked to join the red team which he accepts and we see the other masters for the red team. First up is Feend, an instructor at the Clock Tower of the Mage Association. Rottweil, a freelance magus along with the Pental brothers, Cabik and Deimlet, Jean a mage who specializes in wind magic, and Shiro who is representing the church and is a Kotomine (and he’s the villain. Anybody related to Kirei is bound to be evil in some way). Kairi agrees to participate in the war and takes his leave. We then go to Romania and see a few of the servants and masters for the black team. The leader is obviously Darnic who explains that due to the impurity of his family’s bloodline, he was ostracized by the mage community and now wants to ensure the survival of his clan by discovering the Root of all Magic. We meet their Caster servant Avicebron, he was an 11th century poet and philosopher credited for supposedly creating a golem. Here, he’s the founder of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), hates humans, wears a featureless mask so he doesn’t have to look people in the eye (Yume: I bet it’s hard to see out of that thing) and only cares about creating the ultimate golem. His master is a young magus named Roche who specializes in the creation of golems and looks up to Avicebron going as far as calling him teacher (Nitsuj: And once again the master and Caster servant have the best chemistry, but also the creepiest relationship). We cut back to Kairi who successfully summons the saber class servant Mordred (scene here: https://youtu.be/e1nZ6qK9fjc) the homunculus child of Arthur and Morgan le Fay’s incestuous relationship (Nitsuj: You had one thing to do Arthur and that was not sleep with your sister and you couldn’t even do that. This is why Camelot fell). Elsewhere, another servant that happens to be Jeanne d’Arc (Yume: If you don’t know who that is, leave this instant) gets summoned as well.
Episode 2 starts with Jeanne being led to the stakes to be burned to death (Nitsuj: That’s a pleasing opening). We then return to the present where Jeanne has taken over the body of a French student named Laeticia who looks exactly like Jeanne (clever satire or lazy character design? (Yume): I pick the latter). She’s a special class servant known as Ruler and was summoned to referee the Holy Grail War and make sure both sides play fair. She packs her bag and leaves her school to head to the battlefield (and yes, we might as well go ahead and say it, she looks like Arthur. Since Arthur was such a popular character, they decided to cash-in on her looks and have the strong and important female character look like her. Not once, but twice. Mordred also looks like a younger wilder version of Arthur. This appearance makes sense because they’re daughter and mother, but Jeanne’s appearance is an obvious cash-in). We cut to the black team where they just got done summoning their servants. First up is the iconic character Astolfo (Yume: He’s a fictional character from the novel Matter of France), a trap character who’s always upbeat, optimistic, and from the Rider class. His master is Celenike, a practitioner in the dark arts and a sadist (she summoned Astolfo for the sole purpose of torturing and raping him). Next up is Seigfried the saber class servant (Nitsuj: Hero of the German myth Nibelungenlied where he slayed the dragon Fafnir and became immortal after bathing in the dragon’s blood. He’s also one of the strongest physical personas in the Persona games) who is the servant of Gordes, a pompous overweight man who is easily offended and responsible for creating many of the homunculi that serve Yggdmillenia. Chiron is the archer class servant (the mythical Greek hero who is a centaur. Said to be the wisest of all centaurs and even taught many heroes of Greek mythology. He even has a tail in the anime. (Nitsuj): Hey, I didn’t know the Fate series had furries/animal girls), and his master is Fiore, a sweet and kind girl well versed in spiritual evocation and human engineering. She’s unable to walk and wants to win the war to heal her legs while keeping her magus abilities (Yume: Something that would be impossible otherwise). For the berserker class there’s Frankenstein’s monster (one of the most famous horror monsters of all time). In this series, Frankenstein’s monster or Frankenstein takes on the appearance of a young angry woman who rejected her creator after he refused to make a mate for her (Nitsuj: No wonder she’s angry. She’s thirsty and nobody wants to give her anything to drink). Her master is Caules, Fiore’s younger brother who he is devoted to and well-versed in summoning low-class spirits, insects, and animals. Darnic’s servant is the lancer-class servant, Vlad III aka Vlad the Impaler aka Vlad Dracula (Yume: Hands down one of the cruelest killers in history). Finally, the assassin servant, Jack the Ripper (yes, I did not misspell, Jack the Ripper. One of history’s greatest serials killers who remains unknown to this day. (Nitsuj): It was Gordon. Batman by Gaslight confirmed it) whose master was originally a guy named Hyouma (Nitsuj: Is he important? (Yume): Not really) who tried to sacrifice a woman named Reika to summon her. Jack, being a girl and child in this universe (Baron: Is she hot? (Nitsuj): You are aware this is the person responsible for killing God knows how many women right? (Baron): I’ve thought about it and I’m willing to roll the dice) took exception to this and killed Hyouma making Reika her new master. Reika is a prostitute and has no magus skills, so she has Jack devour criminals and other mages to supply her with mana (Yume: Now, to the anime’s credit this is a unique take on Jack the Ripper. Turning one of history’s greatest serial killers into a cute and innocent child is clever and scary at the same time. It also works to her advantage because nobody would suspect her as a killer. (Neo): Agreed. Still, as great as this concept is they do drop the ball with this setup. I was hoping they would have kept Jack’s identity a secret up until the end. Like we didn’t know who the master or servant was. Is it the child or this grown woman acting as a mom?). Returning to Kairi and Mordred we see that Mordred doesn’t really like Arthur all that much (Nitsuj: And that’s a family matter you don’t want to get involved in) and wants to win the war to try and pull out the sword in the stone so that everyone including Arthur will have no choice but to acknowledge her as their king. Back with the black team, they get more acquainted with their servants with Celenike trying to rape Astolfo, but he gets bored with her and leaves (Nitsuj: Good God, she’s like a female Shinji only hotter). Kairi and Mordred make it to the church of the villain, I mean Shiro who introduces his servant, Semiramis the assassin (she’s from the fables of Movses Khorenatsi and was the wife of Onnes and Ninus as well as the Queen of Assyria). They exchange information with each other with Kairi not fully trusting Shiro (see, even the characters can sense he’s the villain) and deciding to act on his own from the team. We do get a chance to meet the red team’s caster servant, William Shakespeare (Nitsuj: Holy crap, that’s awesome) whose master is Jean who tells Shiro and Semiramis that one of their own has gone off to fight the black team himself (Nitsuj: I’m beginning to think the red team isn’t as organized as the black team). The servant going off on his own is the berserker, Spartacus (Yume: Thracian gladiator who fought against the Roman Republic) who has defied his master, Diemlet’s orders and is advancing quickly to the black team’s castle. That night, Kairi and Mordred get ambushed by golems and homunculi of the black team where they get to show off their skills (scene here: https://youtu.be/q_UDX4S-r4U) and get the attention of Vlad who is assuming command of the black team (Nitsuj: Well it is his home country). The episode ends in Shiro’s church where he orders a new servant to go and kill Jeanne so that she’s not a threat to his plans.
Episode 3 starts off with Celenike playing with Astolfo once again and him just being bored by it (Yume: Which I find hilarious). He takes his leave where he runs into a homunculi in the hallway who escaped the lab by himself and decides to help him. He takes him to Chiron who heals the homunculi but warns him he only has 3 years to live. Meanwhile, Jeanne makes it to Romania where she gets attacked by Karna the lancer class servant of the red faction (Nitsuj: Oh wow, a little Hindu mythology here. He’s a demigod and son of Surya and Kunti from the Hindu epic, Mahābhārata. Kunti gave birth to him as an unmarried teenager and had to abandon him for fear of outrage and backlash. It’s ironic he’s the lancer servant considering that his primary weapon was bow and arrows. I’m surprised he’s not the archer servant). His master is Feend. Siegfried and Gordes show up to save her where we get a short fight between Siegfried and Karna (Nitsuj: With the speed and explosions of this fight, I feel like I’m a watching a good Michael Bay action scene) before Karna retreats voluntarily (scene here: https://youtu.be/Wj0KITk20fs). Gordes tries to get Jeanne to return with him to Trifas, but she says no and he takes his leave. Back at Yggdmillennia castle, we get a cute scene of Frankenstein picking flowers (scene here: https://youtu.be/KKG8vkfaCsg) and learn that Chiron wants to wish for his immortality back (Yume: I think we all know what Frankenstein will wish for). Somewhere at a mausoleum, Kairi and Mordred find out about Spartacus charging at the black faction headfirst (and wearing very questionable gear. Not the image I expected Spartacus to have. (Nitsuj): History has been known to exaggerate minor details. Scene here: https://youtu.be/A7oQaLsGPdo).
In episode 4 as Spartacus continues to advance to Yggdmillennia castle recklessly, he’s followed by the rider and archer servant of the red faction who belong to Cabik and Rottwell respectively. Achilles is the rider for the red faction (the immortal Greek hero taught by Chiron and hero of the Trojan War. Said to be the greatest Greek warrior of all time. Just don’t attack his heel). The archer of the red faction (Nitsuj: And their furry representative) is Atalanta (Yume: A heroine from Greek legends who was raised by Artemis) who loves children and plans to wish for all the children of the world to be kept safe and loved. The servants of the black faction fight against Spartacus where they easily immobilize and capture him with plans to turn him to their side (Nitsuj: He would look good in black. Scene here: https://youtu.be/yEMSRaRBC5Y). Achilles and Atalanta get attacked by Siegfried and Frankenstein where Achilles does a good job holding his own against them. Gordes gets angry thinking Siegfried isn’t taking the fight seriously and uses a command seal ordering him to use his noble phantasm only to use a second command seal to cancel that order by Darnic (Gordes is one of the worst masters in the series). Siegfried retreats and Chiron takes on Achilles while Frankenstein tries to attack Atalanta where both Achilles and Atalanta retreat for the time being (scene here: https://youtu.be/zIpBpGto1CQ). Jeanne shows up where she notices that the presence of the red masters is very weak and how the servants are acting on their own with little to no guidance from their masters. While all of this is going on, Astolfo uses this chance to help the homunculi escape, but they get spotted as they leave. The homunculi isn’t sure if he should leave seeing as how he doesn’t have long to live and won’t make an impact on the world. Astolfo says that’s okay, he doesn’t have to do anything major. As long as he has the will to live that’s fine. The two soon get attacked by Gordes and Siegfried where Gordes kills the homunculi. Siegfried wanting to help the homunculi asks Gordes to heal him, but he refuses, so Siegfried knocks him out (Nitsuj: I wished he would have hit him in the face). Jeanne shows up sensing the in-fighting just in time where Siegfried rips out his heart and gives it to the homunculi so he can live (Yume: I’m 100% sure that’s not how heart transplants work). Before vanishing, he asks Jeanne to look after the boy which she agrees to do and Siegfried vanishes (scene here: https://youtu.be/huAB37UJHaM. There goes, the kindest hero of them all).
Episodes 5-8
(Yume): At the start of episode 5 the homunculi who will start calling himself Sieg in honor of Siegfried (Nitsuj: That’s cool of him) regains consciousness just as the rest of the black faction arrives to discover what happened. They try to take Sieg back, but Jeanne says he’s under her protection and will be taken out of the war for his safety. Astolfo gets punished for treason and locked up in the dungeon with Celenike mad and jealous that he showed affection for someone other than her (Nitsuj: Well maybe if you stopped trying to rape the guy). The black faction continues to have problems as they find out Jack the Ripper has gone rogue on them in Sighisoara (is anybody really surprise, it’s Jack the Ripper. In the form of a child. I’m surprised she hasn’t gone on a massive killing spree like Gilles from Zero). Darnic decides to send Fiore to investigate, and Kairi is also asked to investigate as well. Jeanne takes Sieg to a farm where he’ll be safe and encourages him to live a good life making his own choices. However, Jeanne fears Sieg won’t stay on the farm as she had a vision that showed him dying on the battlefield and she vows to change that fate. At the end of the episode (Neo: And she means after the credits), we see Shiro approach the masters of the red faction who have all been subdued by him using some kind of aroma that puts them in a catatonic state (Neo: Told you he was the villain). He says that they have won the war and tells them to hand over their command seals (Nitsuj: I ain’t giving you shit, you’re evil).
Episode 6 opens with Mordred’s past. We see how she led a rebellion against Arthur after she refused to acknowledge her as her daughter and heir to the throne (https://youtu.be/906lPhQo9cA). Arthur would defeat Mordred not because of hatred, but because in her eyes she lacked the qualities to be king (Nitsuj: Oh what, distancing yourself from the people and putting up a wall between you and them? Because that really worked out for you. Scene here: https://youtu.be/OkMnXmHHbo8). Returning to the present, Kairi and Mordred are in Sighisoara investigating the string of murders left by Jack the Ripper. All of the victims were mages who had their hearts stolen by Jack as that’s the only way she can replenish her mana. Now that Kairi is the only mage in town, that means Jack will target him. Meanwhile, back with the black faction, Darnic considers using Gordes as the heart of Avicebron’s ultimate golem (Nitsuj: Good, give that man something to do. All he does all day is eat our food and get drunk. Just prop him in front of a computer and his life will be no different than an internet troll. (Neo): That’s depressing. (Nitsuj): That’s the truth). Celenike also vows to kill Sieg for stealing the attention of Astolfo (that’s the logic of a yandere). At night, Kairi and Mordred wander the streets to get the attention of Jack where she finally attacks (Nitsuj: I do like how she uses a poisonous fog to weaken her targets and go in for the kill). Mordred fights against Jack where surprisingly Jack puts up a good fight, but it gets interrupted by Fiore and Chiron who were trying to take them both down (and he calls himself a hero). Jack retreats (scene here: https://youtu.be/5fPGXirx6VE) while Mordred goes after Chiron, Kairi fights Fiore who is using the arms of Dr. Octopus from Spider-Man. Kairi manages to hit Fiore with a car (good God man, that’s a crippled girl. Show some respect) and then prepares to finish her off with his finger bullets (Neo: She’s not joking. His bullets are literally fingers. (Nitsuj): The middle finger bullets are the strongest).
At the beginning of episode 7 Fiore gets saved by Caules and the two retreat along with Chiron who got his arm injured (Nitsuj: That’s his bread and better. Scene here: https://youtu.be/9YKRb15KgdE). Jack the Ripper gets healed up nicely after eating a mage’s heart (Neo: I don’t know what’s more disturbing, the heart eating or the prostitute being okay with this. (Nitsuj): To be fair, in her line of work, I’m sure she’s used to weird requests) and they get ready to head toward Trifas. Jeanne finally makes it to Shiro’s church to investigate the red faction only to discover that they’re all gone. The members of the red faction have boarded the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the noble phantasm of Semiramis that takes the form of a flying fortress and is heading to the black faction’s castle. Jeanne follows after them while Sieg discovers his true purpose and leaves for the battlefield (they’re all going to laugh at you. (Nitsuj): Quiet Yume, you’re making the night too damn special). The black faction catches wind of the red faction’s attack and rallies the troops to prepare for war.
The war begins in episode 8 as Atalanta strikes first and heads out with Karna to fight against Vlad who receives a major boost in power because he’s in his homeland of Romania (homefield advantage FTW). Achilles takes on Chiron where he’s shocked to see his former master and friend as his enemy in the war (Neo: Guard your heels Achilles). Sieg finally arrives where he’s decided he’s going to free all the homunculi. With the help of a female homunculi, he manages to sneak into the castle undetected. Kairi and Mordred also arrive (Nitsuj: And who’s idea was it to let Mordred drive? I would be terrified if I saw her on the road) where she’s upset that she missed the start of the battle (Neo: Late to the party, but not late for the fun). Astolfo uses his hippogryph and flies up to the Hanging Gardens and prepares to attack all by himself. Shiro decides to head out to the battlefield where he runs into Frankenstein and tries to convince her to join the red side (Nitsuj: He can give you a mate). Speaking of berserkers, Avicebron manages to convince Spartacus to join the black faction and releases him onto the battlefield (Nitsuj: Shame, I was really looking forward to a fight between him and Frankenstein). Jeanne finally arrives and gets surrounded by bone soldiers of the red faction (Nitsuj: I bet she hasn’t seen this many bones since the Hundred-year war. Hey oh~).
Episodes 9-12
(Nitsuj): In episode 9 we start with Shiro fighting against Frankenstein with Shakespeare providing the support. Shiro manages to hold his own against Frankenstein but gets forced to retreat when Jeanne starts making her way to him. Frankenstein pursues him (wow, even she knows this guy is the villain and must be killed) where Shakespeare shows her an illusion of the one she hates the most (scene here: https://youtu.be/mZnQm3-XHrc). She manages to break out of it (Yume: Giving us some very weird animation. Well, at least we know which parts were sent to a third party) but is so traumatized by what she saw that Caules has to use a command seal just to calm her down (scene here: https://youtu.be/VSYOV0jdnCM). Spartacus gets attacked by Atalanta who keeps regenerating from her attacks (Neo: Yeah, no offence to Atalanta, but archers haven’t had the best of luck when it comes to berserkers. (Nitsuj): What about Gilgamesh? (Yume): He’s Gilgamesh, he’s the exception to the rules). Sieg manages to get all of the homunculi out of the castle where he sees Astolfo getting shot out of the sky and goes to save him. Astolfo gets found by Mordred where the two fight and Mordred makes fun of Siegfried’s sacrifice without knowing all the details about it (Yume: Bitch move Mordred). Semiramis tries to take down Jeanne from the Hanging Gardens, but has no luck so she tells Atalanta to lure Spartacus to Jeanne and have him take her out (Neo: Won’t that raise more suspicion about you guys? (Nitsuj): She can’t suspect us if she’s dead). After the credits, we see Mordred stop playing around and beat Astolfo, but before she can deliver the final blow, Sieg arrives to stop her.
Episode 10 just focuses on Sieg and Mordred. Sieg fights against Mordred but is easily defeated and killed by her (it’s amazing how they’re making this likable and tragic character look like a villain). Not even Frankenstein can beat her and she used her noble phantasm on her which resulted in Frankenstein’s destruction because Caules used up all of his command seals to give her power (scene here: https://youtu.be/bzi_SjEAyzE). In his mind, Sieg meets Siegfried where he gives his powers to Sieg who resurrects himself and transforms into Siegfried for a short while to fight against Modred. Both swordsmen battle intensely where they come to a stalemate and unleash their noble phantasms on each other resulting in a massive explosion to end the episode (scene here: https://youtu.be/tH09cQSlXyQ). Oh, and Jack the Ripper arrived where she killed a few of the homunculi to restore her mana (Yume: Just another night on the town for this adorable little killer).
In episode 11 Atalanta guides Spartacus to Jeanne where we see he’s become a mutated monster thanks to all the regeneration of his noble phantasm. Before he can attack Jeanne, the bright light from Mordred and Siegfried’s battle gets his attention and he heads there to fight. We see Mordred and Siegfried are still standing after releasing their noble phantasms where his body finally reaches its limits and he reverts back to Sieg (Neo: Where at least he’s cuter now). Mordred goes to finish him off, but gets stopped by Spartacus where she slices him in half and escapes just as he unleashes a powerful laser beam attack. Jeanne protects Sieg and Astolfo with the flag of Orleans (Yume: Wow, the power of Orleans compels you) as well as the surrounding area from massive damage. We return to the fight between Vlad and Karna where Vlad has the advantage thanks to his spears that can strike from anywhere Vlad chooses, but Karna seems to be holding his own. As the two continue to fight Semiramis makes her move with the Hanging Gardens and attacks the black faction’s castle where she retrieves the Holy Grail for the red fraction (Neo: At this point we might want to consider calling them the Shiro faction). The black faction goes up to the fortress where they get attacked by Karna, Achilles, and Atalanta. Karna continues his fight with Vlad who is now at a disadvantage no longer fighting on his homeland and Darnic prepares to use a command seal and orders Vlad to use his noble phantasm which he hates because it ties into the legend of Dracula. A legend that Vlad despises because it tainted his family name (Yume: He hates it so much that his wish was to have it erased from history all together. Imagine, having the opportunity to have anything you wish granted and you use it on erasing the knowledge of a story just because you hate it so much. Scene here: https://youtu.be/KkrNGKeHB2Y).
The first half of the anime concludes in episode 12. Darnic uses his command seals to force Vlad to use his noble phantasm which turns him into Dracula. Vlad takes exception to this and attacks Darnic killing him by biting his neck (Yume: Funny. When Alucard from Hellsing Ultimate does it, it’s epic. When Vlad does it, it’s meh) not knowing that Darnic’s soul has merged with his body and has taken over his mind. Jeanne arrives and sees the vampirized Darnic realizing that if he comes into contact with the Grail the whole world will be destroyed (it’ll become Seraph of the End. (Neo): Huh? (Nitsuj): Exactly). Using her powers as Ruler, the servants of the red and black faction form a temporary truce to defeat Darnic where they manage to gain the upper hand against him (scene here: https://youtu.be/6S6bTW1MmrE) before the red faction’s mana gets cut off by Shiro who just got done stealing the command seals from the other masters of the red faction (Neo: Evil to a fault). Darnic uses this momentary distraction to get past everyone and make it into a chapel where he gets confronted by Shiro (why he would enter a chapel in the first place is beyond me. Power of Christ compels you, dumbass. (Yume): At least he broke the curse of the Lancer servant and didn’t stab himself to death). We find out that Shiro and Darnic know each other as they fought against one another in the third war (Yume: Of course while Darnic has become an ugly vampire, Shiro has aged like a fine Brad Pitt). Shiro’s holy weapons manage to easily defeat Darnic and Jeanne arrives where we discover the true identity of Shiro. He didn’t just participate in the third war, he was the Ruler from the previous war and his real name is Amakusa Shiro Tokisada (he was a Japanese Christian who led the Shimabara Rebellion during the reign of the Tokugawas. The Tokugawas would win and enforced stricter rules on Christianity and banished Portuguese traders). Just like in his past life, Shiro wants to save the world and plans to use the Grail to put humanity in a state of absolute bliss free from both death and sin (just think Mementos from Persona 5. (Yume): You really do like coming back to that don’t you? (Neo): To his credit, the analogy works well).
(Neo): And that wraps up the first half of Fate/Apocrypha. So far so good. But how does the second half hold up?
(Nitsuj): You’ll have to tune in next week to find out.
(Yume): Until then, thanks for reading. We’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.