Depressive Screenwriter

February 4th, Sunday.

The broadcast day for episode 5 of Fate/Zero.

By now, the Xia country audience had a clear understanding of this drama.

The main plot is the quest for the Holy Grail.

The story revolves around the battles and conflicts between seven Masters and seven Servants, totaling fourteen main characters, with several secondary characters introduced through the social connections of the seven Masters, such as family and friends.

For example, Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou, the daughters of Tokiomi Tohsaka, his wife, and Kariya Matou, another Master who is in love with his wife.

Then there's Kiritsugu Emiya's wife, Irisviel, his daughter Illya, and his assistant Maiya.

Although only four episodes have aired, there are already twenty to thirty named and significant main and secondary characters.

However, each character is well-developed, far from being the shallow characters that viewers forget minutes after seeing them.

The audience in Xia country enjoys it, finding it easy to watch and getting thrilled by the intense battles.

But their peers in the industry are learning from it.

Although Su Yan is hard to surpass, many screenwriters and directors have successfully imitated him in recent years.

Basically, every successful work of his is followed by imitations a few months later.

Like the Qingkong TV station's self-made drama "Magic Boy A Bing."

And others like "Cyberpunk: Slaughter Battlefield," "Time Travel Journey," "The Truth of July," which are obviously imitations of Su Yan's works, but Su Yan's fans are happy to find gems in them.

Although the film industry is mostly dominated by the promotion of Spring Festival movies these days,

on Sundays, the broadcast day of Fate/Zero, even those films with heavy investment in promotion struggle to surpass Fate/Zero in popularity.

On major film forums, the number of discussion posts about Spring Festival movies and Fate/Zero are basically equal.

"Tonight, we're charging!"

"Last week's episode ended so abruptly, the battle between Kiritsugu Emiya and Lord El-Melloi II was suddenly cut off, it's been a painful week."

"Watching Fate/Zero today, going to the cinema to see Rurouni Kenshin in six days, ah, Spring Festival, I love you!"

"Is this how the plot will be, Kiritsugu Emiya solving an enemy every one or two episodes, and then it's over? Won't that be a bit monotonous?"

"What else could it be? Isn't that how battle dramas are?"

"Not really, it just feels very different from Old Thief's previous style. Even Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, was story-driven, and the fights were just a product of character conflicts. Fate/Zero's character development doesn't feel as shocking as Edgerunners."

"It's only been four episodes, what are you expecting? In the fourth episode of Edgerunners, the protagonist was still chasing girls! Just keep watching, it's too early to question it, you'll easily be slapped in the face by Old Thief."

"I also think there's something wrong with me. I used to feel terrible watching Old Thief's depressing dramas, but now that I'm watching this pure battle drama, I feel a bit unaccustomed!"

"Don't doubt it, there's nothing wrong with you, you're just being pretentious!"

Near 8 p.m., Dong Ran shifted his gaze from the online forums.

Although browsing forums is fun, Fate/Zero is about to start.

Having already started his vacation and returned home for the Spring Festival, he began to enjoy a carefree life, with barbecue snacks and drinks prepared in advance, paired with tonight's battle drama, perfect.

Soon, the TV screen flickered, and the theme song of Fate/Zero began.

Although he had seen the theme song five times, the special effects of the drama still amazed him.

"Old Thief's works, he really spends money!"

Every second is full of the texture of money.

Episode 5 of Fate/Zero picks up from the end of episode 4, with Kiritsugu Emiya launching a surprise attack on Lord El-Melloi II.

Artoria and Lancer Diarmuid are fighting when they encounter the Caster-class Servant Gilles de Rais.

The latter's real identity in life was a marshal of a certain empire who killed countless people, and then became a killing fanatic in order to revive his close friend Joan of Arc.

Coincidentally, the female lead Artoria looks exactly like his goddess, his white moonlight, Joan of Arc.

The story begins with him and his Master Ryuunosuke Uryuu interfering in the knightly battle between Artoria and Diarmuid.

Dong Ran doesn't quite understand what the classes of Magus, Berserker, Saber, Archer, and Lancer mean in the plot.

But he can roughly sense that Su Yan's settings in the plot are probably for game adaptations after Fate/Zero becomes popular.

But even if he can't fully understand these detailed settings, the battle scenes between Kiritsugu Emiya and Lord El-Melloi II, Artoria and Diarmuid, Gilles de Rais, and the joint battle between Kiritsugu Emiya's wife Irisviel and Maiya against Kirei Kotomine,

the shifting perspectives on the three battlefields dazzled him.

The plot is also very dramatic. Kenneth loses his mind due to Kiritsugu Emiya's despicable methods and is tricked by Kiritsugu Emiya, who shoots him with bullets made from his own ribs, destroying his magic circuits, which is equivalent to crippling his abilities.

Kirei Kotomine kills Irisviel and Maiya and leaves.

Before leaving, he wondered why Kiritsugu Emiya, whom he felt was similar to himself and would never be understood by anyone, would have someone like Irisviel who was willing to fight to the death for him?

Irisviel is spared from death because Kiritsugu Emiya implanted Saber's scabbard into her body in advance, giving her self-healing abilities.

The plot setting is a bit complicated for Dong Ran, but he can still understand it.

Even if he doesn't fully understand it the first time, he can go to the forums to find explanations from other fans later.

But the next plot is a bit delightful.

Lord El-Melloi II is seriously injured by Kiritsugu Emiya and then rescued by Diarmuid. If Diarmuid didn't admire Artoria's chivalry and didn't want to kill Artoria's Master by such means, he would have killed Kiritsugu Emiya on the spot.

However, Lord El-Melloi II, who was rescued, lost the possibility of becoming a Magus because his magic circuits were destroyed. Under the coercion of his wife Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, he was forced to transfer the Command Seals controlling the Servant to her.

Then,

Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri looked at Diarmuid with adoring eyes.

Diarmuid looked at Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri with sorrow in his eyes. She was like this in her previous life.

The wife of the lord he served fell in love with him, eventually leading to the disintegration of the relationship between the lord and his vassal.

This time, it's the same.

This plot directly stunned Dong Ran.

This Lord El-Melloi II, was so awesome in the first episode, mocking Waver Velvet's family for not having a good bloodline, which led Waver Velvet to steal his relic and join the Holy Grail War.

Now, only a few episodes later.

He became a cripple, his wife directly betrayed him and forcibly stole his Command Seals, and

she fell in love with the Servant he summoned.

Old Thief, you really know how to play.

Dong Ran really wanted to write a big "tragic" on Lord El-Melloi II's face.

But the most exciting point of this episode is not these.

Because of the battles between Servants in the Holy Grail War, Fuyuki City has seen a large number of casualties.

Alexander the Great, the King of Conquerors, who had been inactive, summons his chariot, driving it with his Master Waver Velvet through the streets filled with victims.

Fires rise everywhere, and the music is tragic.

Waver Velvet's heartache in his eyes for the sacrifices of ordinary people caused by the Holy Grail War contrasts with Alexander the Great's solemn but weathered expression.

The scene of King Alexander driving the chariot with Waver Velvet became the first famous scene in Fate/Zero in Dong Ran's mind.

Although this plot doesn't use too many characters' words to describe their feelings, the emotions, atmosphere, and artistic conception are all conveyed through the actors' performances.

That tragic and touching emotion lingered in Dong Ran's heart.

The ending song appears.

Dong Ran came back to his senses.

The scene of the King of Conquerors and Waver Velvet standing on the chariot is really like a king and queen inspecting the world.

Although this drama has been emphasizing that Alexander the Great is a solitary king in history, Dong Ran doesn't have much of a concept of that.

But this half-minute plot made Dong Ran start to have a little bit of longing for this virtual character.

It seems that this is how a king should be.

It's over.

Old Thief's character development is really strong.

Dong Ran felt a little lost, he was too invested.

He has to wait another week.

But after this week, his expectation is no longer for Artoria.

But for Alexander the Great, the King of Conquerors.

Opening his computer, Dong Ran began to check the character setting collection of the King of Conquerors on the Dimensional Film and Television official website.

"Are these things really virtual?" Dong Ran sighed after reading for a long time.

How did Su Yan come up with these characters?