This episode brought to you by Exposition, Incorporated, co-sponsored by its affiliate, Awkward Situations, LLC. Speaking of which: Saber, maybe there’s some sort of unspoken rule that repeat participants of a Holy Grail War cannot divulge what happened during the previous wars–even though I don’t think such has ever been mentioned anywhere in the series–but you do know the man Shirou is talking to tried to kill his adopted father, is a horrible monster of a human being, and is more or less responsible for everything that is happening now. That information seems a bit too pertinent not to reveal. At this point, of course, none of the characters have an inkling that Kotomine Kirei is a participant of this Holy Grail War as well, so it’s not like spilling the beans on Kotomine would really change anything from their perspective. It would just make Shirou more suspicious of him.

What else is there to say? I mean, yay, whatever-her-name von Eizenburg showed up, so next week we should get some juicy violence, but anyone who’s watched the previous series wouldn’t find this episode interesting. It sets up the basics of the Holy Grail for the newcomer. At least Shirou wasn’t so goddamned preachy about his morality like last time. He just listened and accepted things a bit more readily instead of going “PEOPLE DIE WHEN THEY ARE KILLED.”

I do love Kotomine’s voice actor, though. Such a unique timbre.