After Episode Eighteen aired, Lancer Zhao Yun's miserable exit unsurprisingly sparked chaotic discussion among 'Fate/Zero' viewers, especially among users of 'BIUBIUBIU'.
Zhao Yun had already been quite popular within China's ACG community. After leaving the story in such an unexpected manner, many viewers voiced their dissatisfaction. They believed Lancer could certainly be eliminated, but he should at least have been given a more proper send-off. After all, even Caster had attained release by embracing 'Excalibur'.
Lancer Zhao Yun losing to Saber Artoria Pendragon or Iskandar the King of Conquerors would have been acceptable. Failing that, even forcing Archer Gilgamesh, who appeared to possess the highest combat power, to reveal his full strength before being defeated would have been tolerable.
Yet such an overwhelmingly popular supporting character had somehow received an exit even more frustrating than Assassin's. Being ordered by his Master to commit suicide with a Command Spell—what kind of ending was that?
And the viewers couldn't even bring themselves to blame the culprit, Director Kayneth.
Everything Kayneth had done had been for the sake of his beloved fiancée, Sola. In Kayneth's eyes, ordering his Heroic Spirit to commit suicide to withdraw from the Holy Grail War was an ending even harder to accept than allowing him to die in battle. It sullied the honor of the Archibald mage family.
Yet after sacrificing so much, Director Kayneth still wasn't rewarded with the peaceful ending of formally withdrawing from the Holy Grail War.
He was gravely wounded by explosives Kiritsugu Emiya had hidden on Sola's body and buried beneath the rubble of a collapsed building. The only thing he could do was resemble a vengeful ghost crawling out of hell as he cursed Kiritsugu Emiya and the Holy Grail War with bitter hatred.
Lancer Zhao Yun's departure caused a commotion throughout China's ACG community.
He had previously begun showing signs of falling behind Saber in popularity polls, but after his exit, he once again overtook her to become the most popular Heroic Spirit.
Saber was nominally the heroine of 'Fate/Zero', the protagonist of 'Twilight of the Knights', and benefited further from her image as a gallant female knight. The fact that she needed so many advantages just to edge past Lancer Zhao Yun in popularity showed exactly how beloved Zhao Yun was within China's ACG community.
The Lancer team's sudden elimination left viewers feeling deeply frustrated and unable to accept it, and Japanese audiences flooded the official website of Yosuganosora Animation Studio with protests.
[Hey, hey, hey! Isn't this development way too unexpected? That spearman who could use pure martial skill to contend with Iskandar's EX-rank Noble Phantasm 'Ionioi Hetairoi' just exits that easily?]
[I can accept Lancer leaving, but in the end Kayneth didn't even escape alive. All of Zhao Yun's efforts were wasted.]
[Zhao Yun's entire team completely wiped out!]
[A strangely fitting ending, though it was also within expectations. Kayneth is a mage who values honor above everything else, and he tried to fight a man called the "Magus Killer." Of course he'd end up this miserable. If I were Kayneth and had a Heroic Spirit as powerful as Zhao Yun, even if I lost, I definitely wouldn't lose that badly.]
[Kiritsugu Emiya is probably the coldest male protagonist I've ever seen in anime. Under normal development, shouldn't Kayneth have withdrawn from the Holy Grail War and gone on to live an ordinary life with his fiancée Sola!?]
[There should still be about eight episodes left. The remaining plot ought to be exciting. I'm guessing Berserker Lancelot will be the next one eliminated. From the earlier story, you can tell that although Tokiomi Tohsaka personally sent his daughter away, he did it out of love for her. After Goldie defeats Berserker Lancelot and learns the truth about Sakura's suffering, Tokiomi destroys the Matou family and rescues Sakura = perfect ending.]
...
There were so many dissatisfied responses that some viewers even threatened to mail razor blades to Kamiyā Yuu.
That comment was quickly seized upon and mocked by Japanese viewers.
Razor blades?
Someone had once charged at Kamiyā Yuu with a dagger, and he had still taken them down in a single move.
Kamiyā Yuu specifically gave a short interview to Chiyo Bookstore's animation magazine 'Newtype', explaining:
"From the very beginning, this battle was never meant to be fair and honorable. The Holy Grail War is a battle where people gamble their lives. That's why you'll have mages like Kayneth, who value honor above everything else, and killers like Kiritsugu Emiya, who will resort to any means necessary to achieve their objectives. Without question, Kiritsugu Emiya is precisely the kind of ruthless killer best suited to war."
"Lancer Zhao Yun was extremely powerful. His only failure was that his Master happened to be Kayneth."
"To be honest, if I personally participated in the Holy Grail War, the opponent I'd least want to face would be Kiritsugu Emiya."
"In the upcoming episodes, viewers will also see why Kiritsugu Emiya grew into such a cold-blooded killer and what exactly happened to him."
This interview served as a preview for the upcoming flashback storyline about Kiritsugu Emiya's past.
Maiya Hisau's death led into Kiritsugu Emiya's memories.
That flashback was extremely important to his characterization. As the spiritual core running through the entire anime, he possessed almost every defining quality commonly found in hot-blooded shounen protagonists—
a desire to become an ally of justice.
However, Kiritsugu Emiya didn't pursue justice by talking the world into changing.
Instead, he carried out the justice in his heart with an almost cruel ruthlessness, turning himself into a set of scales upon which the weight of justice was measured.
Originally, his ideal had simply been to save every person in front of him whom he had the power to save.
Yet along the path of carrying out that justice, every sacrifice he abandoned had gradually become an obsession buried deep in his heart.
He lived almost mechanically under the belief that "the sacrifices made in the pursuit of justice cannot be allowed to go to waste."
For someone like that, it was only natural that he would develop an overwhelming desire for the Holy Grail, the omnipotent wish-granting device.
He had never truly been heartless.
He loved everyone.
That was precisely why the scales of his justice would always tilt toward the greater number of people, even if that form of justice fell within the realm of "evil."
To shape a character like Kiritsugu Emiya, innate personality traits alone weren't enough. The experiences he underwent later in life were even more important.
Kamiyā Yuu adjusted the overall pacing of the latter half of the 'Fate/Zero' anime.
As Kiritsugu Emiya's past was gradually revealed, criticism surrounding Lancer Zhao Yun's departure began to diminish.
If one were to talk about sacrifices, Kiritsugu Emiya had paid more than anyone else.
Once viewers accepted his methods, Lancer Zhao Yun's elimination naturally became easier to accept as well.
The growing controversy surrounding the characters and plot only demonstrated how deeply the anime had portrayed its cast.
...
On the recording studio monitor, the muted anime footage was playing.
"So this is the Holy Grail..."
Kiritsugu Emiya walked through the grand and spacious corridors of an opera house, staring at the magnificent golden Holy Grail floating in midair.
There was nothing in his eyes but absolute coldness.
He slowly raised his right hand.
The final Command Spell engraved on the back of his hand glowed faintly before disappearing.
With an indifferent yet solemn expression, he issued the order:
"With my third Command Spell, I command you once more. Saber—destroy the Holy Grail!"
"Kiritsugu..."
Saber abruptly turned around and stared directly at Kiritsugu Emiya.
She couldn't understand the meaning behind his command.
The only thing she could read in his eyes was an almost hateful disgust toward the Holy Grail.
Under the absolute authority of the Command Spell, her body moved beyond her control.
She raised the golden holy sword high overhead, and under the Command Spell's influence, its True Name was released in an instant.
'Excalibur'.
Golden radiance gathered into a blazing torrent.
Before that golden brilliance, even the vast opera-house hall seemed far too small.
"You should desire the Holy Grail more than anyone. So why are you ordering me to destroy it now?"
Saber's expression was bitter, holding onto one final shred of confusion.
The golden torrent raised above her head crashed downward with a deafening roar, annihilating everything before it.
She didn't understand.
Perhaps this was punishment for her, the cold and unyielding King of Knights.
...
More than half a day later, all voice recording for Episode Twenty-Six of 'Fate/Zero' was officially completed.
"Stop. Good work, everyone."
Kamiyā Yuu took off his headphones and nodded toward Shindō Tsukasa.
"I'll head into the recording booth and say a few words to the voice actors."
Shindō Tsukasa stretched as well and waved dismissively.
"Yeah. Looks like I'll finally be able to get a good night's sleep next week."
Kamiyā Yuu pushed open the door to the recording booth and nodded approvingly toward the voice actors who had finished their work.
"Everyone, thank you for your hard work. The voice acting for Episode Twenty-Six of 'Fate/Zero' was just as excellent as always."
"With this, all voice recording for the entire anime is officially complete."
"Thank you for cooperating with me throughout this period, and I also apologize for any inconvenience I may have caused everyone during production."
Tōgi Yūko, the voice actress playing Saber, was the first to stand. She bowed respectfully toward Kamiyā Yuu.
"We're the ones who should be thanking you for taking care of us. We've learned a great deal from working with you."
Amamiya Kae, the voice actress for Irisviel von Einzbern, mischievously replied using Irisviel's voice.
"We're the ones who should say that."
"Good work."
"Good work, Director Kamiyā."
"Director Kamiyā, how about everyone going out for a drink to celebrate finishing the anime's voice recording?"
The voice actors for the other characters came over one after another to greet him.
Because Kamiyā Yuu had previously voiced Lancer himself, he had already become quite familiar with some of the male voice actors, so they didn't speak to him with much formality.
Kamiyā Yuu didn't decline the drinking party and had Shindō Tsukasa arrange everything as usual.
Skipping drinking parties at other times was understandable.
But if he refused to hold one even after finishing all voice recording for the anime, he would come across as rather unsociable.
...
As the gathering reached its liveliest point, Kamiyā Yuu couldn't help marveling inwardly at the strange effectiveness of Japanese drinking parties.
They could erase barriers created during work.
Unless workplace conflicts had reached the point where both sides absolutely despised each other, at a drinking party, most problems could essentially be solved by raising a glass together.
By now, the atmosphere among the male voice actors had already grown lively.
They were sharing amusing stories from their voice-acting careers and had almost completely forgotten the differences in status created by seniority within the industry.
"Please."
Tōgi Yūko's delicate, refined face was flushed red.
Whether it was from drinking or something else was unclear.
Holding the bottle with both hands, she respectfully poured Kamiyā Yuu a cup of sake.
"Thank you."
Kamiyā Yuu took a sip, then asked with mild interest, "Miss Tōgi, you're still doing voice work for 'Twilight of the Knights', right? How is production progressing?"
"Yes. There should only be around two more recording sessions before we're finished."
Tōgi Yūko nodded carefully.
That meant 'Twilight of the Knights' had also entered the final stages of production, though its overall progress was slightly behind 'Fate/Zero'.
The anime adaptation of 'Twilight of the Knights' had also achieved excellent results.
Among the anime airing in October, its popularity was second only to 'Fate/Zero', while leaving the third-place series far behind.
It was already easy to imagine the BD selling extremely well afterward.
The popularity of 'Twilight of the Knights' had also won Saber a massive number of new fans.
On Nice-net's popularity ranking for female characters among October anime, she had taken first place.
"Hey~ Hey, Director Kamiyā, when are you going to arrange another voice-acting job for me?"
Amamiya Kae, sitting opposite Kamiyā Yuu, interrupted their conversation.
She maintained the practiced smile of a professional, her face similarly flushed from drinking. Holding her cheeks in both hands, she looked at Kamiyā Yuu and asked with a cheerful grin.
Well-known anime directors generally had teams of their own.
These weren't limited to staff within a single animation studio, but were instead cooperation networks formed from industry connections accumulated over time, including music production, voice actor selection, series composition, and more.
Gen Urobuchi wasn't an anime director, but his reputation still gave him a certain amount of influence over animation productions.
He was particularly fond of Rikiya Koyama, the voice actor for Kiritsugu Emiya, and Tomokazu Seki, the voice actor for Gilgamesh.
Both voice actors from 'Fate/Zero' had appeared in multiple works involving Urobuchi.
After working together twice, Tōgi Yūko and Amamiya Kae could already be considered Kamiyā Yuu's regular voice actresses.
Whenever a role suited either of them, they would naturally be among the first people he considered.
Kamiyā Yuu put down his cup and teased with a smile, "Our company is indeed planning to produce a new anime next season. If you want to secure a role, then work hard and pass the audition yourself."
"Eh... I don't have much confidence in myself. Director Kamiyā, can't you loosen the restrictions a little or give me a hint?"
Tōgi Yūko glanced sharply at her and softly reprimanded, "Kae, that's rather disrespectful toward Director Kamiyā."
Amamiya Kae blinked innocently at Kamiyā Yuu.
That kind of slyness from a young woman didn't make him dislike her.
He waved dismissively and smiled.
"It's fine."
"The next anime we're planning to produce does indeed have a major character who would suit you very well. She's relatively mature and calm."
"Hmm~ You could say she's the opposite side of the same archetype as Irisviel."
"There are also characters who would suit Miss Tōgi."
"To be honest, the next anime has a very large cast. Reusing some of the voice actors from 'Fate/Zero' would actually save us quite a bit of trouble."
Tōgi Yūko tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and poured Kamiyā Yuu another cup of sake, smiling gently.
"I see. When the time comes, I'll be relying on your guidance again, Director Kamiyā."
—This was what modern people were like.
She might say that asking such a thing was disrespectful, but once something concerned her own interests, she would spare no effort in competing for it.
Amamiya Kae chuckled softly.
"Kae, what did you just say?"
"Me? I didn't say anything."
Amamiya Kae sat upright with an innocent expression, covering her mouth with one hand.
—Oops~ I accidentally said that out loud.