Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace note

Episode 4

One thing that has been made apparent by earlier episodes is that this series is recycling characters from other works in the Fate universe. This becomes even more prominent in episode 4, where a number of familiar faces pop up.

• Atrum Gallista will be the ill-fated original master of Caster for the fifth Holy Grail War. He is briefly referenced in the Fate/stay night anime, but I don't believe he was named.
• Bazett Fraga McRemitz was the never-identified (in the anime at least) original master of Lancer for the fifth Holy Grail War. She also appears prominently in the later seasons of Fate/kalied liner Prisma Illya and in the visual novel Fate/hollow ataraxia, in addition to various other franchise games.
• Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, the mage secretly met by Reines, is the elder brother of the fiancée of Lord El-Melloi, the woman who became infatuated with Lancer in Fate/Zero. He has a small but important role in Fate/Apocrypha.
• Kairi Shishigou is the Master of Saber of Red in Fate/Apocrypha. His personality seems largely unchanged in Case Files. Hopefully Patrick Seitz will reprise his English voice for the role when this series gets dubbed, as he performed it quite well.

Meanwhile, Waletta Codrington and Hishiri Adashino seem to be characters original to this series. If anyone spots another cameo that I missed, mention them in the response thread; while I am familiar with all of the animated Fate content, my familiarity with games and novels is much more limited.

As for the actual story this week, this is the first case that necessitated a two-parter, and I welcome that; so far the story has seemed constrained by its more episodic structure. Although there is no sign of Flat and Svin, Reines is integrally involved for a change, which allows her to tease Waver to a degree that we haven't seen before. She's a fun and fairly twisted character, so more screentime to develop her is welcome. Her appearance also allows the series to bring up the concept of Mystic Eyes magic, which has popped up in other Nasuverse titles (especially Tsukihime and The Garden of Sinners) but I don't recall it being prominently employed in the Fate animated content. From the way it's used in this episode, I'm guessing that Mystic Eyes will be key to this mystery.

In terms of that mystery, we have another case of magic that has gone awry, communication with spirits of the dead being blocked, lightning storms that are killing people, and a fairy that's trying to give some kind of inaudible warning, with deaths happening shortly after each of her appearances. On top of that, politicking and power plays are still going on in the background. Let's not forget the spooky mansion that's having an adverse effect on one party member and the hostile spirits in the underground that seem to be drawn to Reines' eye. All of this makes for a juicy story, and as a bonus we learn that Gray is specifically a “grave-keeper” (whatever that means), we get a couple more great expressions from Waver, and more of the fine musical score.

The series may not be doing anything spectacular at this point, but it's absolutely dishing up fine entertainment.

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Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace note is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.