#escardos

[fallinblossoms]

Waver & Flat

fate/strange fake - special episode

[a-titty-ninja]

[gabbyp09]

Fate/Strange Fate Ep1 - The Heroic Spirit Incident - Servant and Master got arrested

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

How to read the Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Light Novels

I was recently reminded that there is a lot of people who simply don’t know that they can read the Case Files light novels, and that there are people who do know but have no idea where to find them. This is especially a problem when these people have only watched the anime and want to know where they can find more of the story. Since it kind of requires you to go through some hoops (not a whole lot but still), I decided to take a page out of @humbertozero​‘s excellent Fate/strange Fake resource post and make one for my other favorite Type-Moon Fate spinoff, the dossiers of El-Melon.

Read the First Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.1 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Second Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.2 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Third Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.3 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Fourth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.4 (PDF) (EPUB1) (EPUB2)

Read the Fifth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.5 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Sixth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.6 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Seventh Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.7 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Eighth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.8 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Ninth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.9 (PDF) (EPUB)

Read the Tenth Volume: Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Vol.10 (PDF) (EPUB)

Important note!

It should be noted first that I am just the compiler here. I am neither the translator nor am I the files’ creator. So all credits go to...

Credits

Credits and thanks to TwilightsCall on the Beast Lair forums (from which the majority of the other creditors originally posted their contributions) for translating the first 4 volumes and some of volume 5, thus getting the ball rolling. Further thanks to azwhoisverybored for translating the rest of the series from volume 6 onwards, and thanks to Kneenaw for starting the translation for the rest of volume 5. Thanks to Dotelias for making EPUBs for volumes 1-3, thanks to  cereal_ for making EPUBs of volume 4, thanks to u/confusedkuratowski on Reddit for making EPUB of volume 6, and thanks to ProtoformX for making PDFs and EPUBs for volumes 5 to 10 as well as for Adventures volume 1 and 2!

And big thanks to Makoto Sanda for writing Case Files in the first place!

Further explanations

Anime

The anime adaptation of Case Files, with the mouthful of a title that is Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note, is particular to use as an entry-point in the series, because it only partially adapts the series. See, the author, Makoto Sanda, said in interview that the two first arcs/cases in the series didn’t quite work as scripts for anime episodes, so the anime only adapted the third case/arc, Rail Zeppelin, which is more action oriented than the more mystery focused first arcs. But because they still needed to explain stuff like Gray, Reines, El-Melloi’s students, etc., many of whom are relevant characters to the arc, the first half/six episodes of the anime is about introducing them.

So to the question “where do I start reading after the anime?”, the answer is unironically to restart at volume 1. And then you may skip volumes 4-5 since they are the Rail Zeppelin arc and there are not much differences besides some characters not being present during that arc. This is why I think you can watch the anime first if that’s more your speed (I have my problems and criticisms of the anime but that’s irrelevant to this post).

And you can’t start with the anime and start reading with volume 6, the first 3 volumes have characters and plot points that come back for the final arc, so you’re gonna be incredibly lost if you think to consume the series this way.

Weirdly enough, despite being original episodes, the anime originals are most likely canon in some ways. Episode 0, the original OVA, is an expansion of an anecdote Gray mentions in the first volume’s prologue, and Episode 1 takes place during Waver’s travels before the story starts and is an actual story, one of the 3 incidents Sanda has in mind for Waver’s journey before he returned to London. Episodes 2 to 6 take place during the one month period between volume 3 and volume 4, and finally the special OVA take place on Christmas also in between arcs.

Manga

The manga’s translation used to be on hiatus for a long time, but it has fortunately been picked up by the team doing the UBW and HF mangas. As of the time of writing (14/10/24), it has been translated up to the Rail Zeppelin arc, meaning if LNs aren’t your thing, you can experience the first two arcs that weren’t adapted in the anime in manga form. It has really gorgeous art so definitely check it out.

The Adventures of El-Melloi II

The sequel series currently ongoing, started a year after the first Case Files ended in 2019. You might know it as “the (other) series where Rin shows up grown up and also a pirate” and, as of recent volumes, “that one series where Shirou comes back spending the entire time half-naked”. @call-me-noa has been compiling pretty thorough chapter-by-chapter summaries of the volumes by @kaibutsushidousha if you don’t mind being spoiled. Or you can be patient and wait for azwhoisverybored to finish translating them on Beast Lair in this thread.

At the time of writing (14/10/24), the first and second volume of Adventures have been completed and compiled into PDF and EPUB forms:

First Volume: The Man Who Devoured God (PDF)(EPUB)

Second Volume: The Demon of the Wandering Sea I (PDF)(EPUB)

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files material

This is absolutely not required reading in any shape or form, those lore books are usually of interest only to dumb nerds like me lol. A timeline of the Clock Tower? An explanation of its politics? Yes please. But it also has insights into the characters by the author that aren’t in the books proper, as well as behind-the-scenes explanations for some decisions (for example, why it’s Gray with the American spelling instead of Grey with the British spelling). Only the glossary/encyclopedia is translated, but give it a look...after you read the series, because it assumes you did and has some big spoilers.

Drama CD

What’s that? You heard something about a Buzzfeed quizz about the most handsome Clock Tower teachers and how it’s somehow a plot point? Look no further than one of my only posts that did numbers. Read the summary, it’s hilarious.

[call-me-noa]

[lastencoregraphics]

@giftober 2024: DAY 12 - HIDDEN

I ask of thee... Art thou the Master who hath summoned me? Y-Yes, hello? Am I to understand that as an affirmative? If so... Our contract is signed. Let us be merry pals, as comrades vying for the Holy Grail together.

[fou56]

[letalisotium]

[eiichiro]

— please, i beg of you, professor el-melloi— no, the greatest instructor in all of the clock tower... great big ben london star! — to hell with that ridiculous nickname! not only you are an idiotic moron, you're absolutely impudent!

FATE/STRANGE FAKE -WHISPERS OF DAWN- (2023) written by narita ryougo

[pan-gya]

1 | 2 | 3

[minluce]

Flat Escardos + Textposts

[fallinblossoms]

Fate/Strange Fake - Episode 1

[kaibutsushidousha]

What are your thoughts on the entity known as Thia Escardos?

Thia feels really organically written for a creature that never had to deal of existence until he suddenly has to. He's loyal to the purpose of his creation, but "continue existing indefinitely" is a completely passive objective that provides no clue as to what Thia needs to be in terms of personality.

Despite seeing the world through the same eyes, Thia lacks Flat's intuition and has to define both his personality and his actions through rational thought. He's emotional and his devotion to Flat after being spared shows this, but emotion is not second nature him. He needs to process it through words in his head.

Without any life experience or guidance from his creator to define Thia's character, he chooses to define himself as the yin to Flat's yang. He's a fan of poetry and melodrama because Flat is a fan of B-movie action. He's standoffish because Flat is open and friendly. It feels like childish and misguidedly tacked-on attempts to form an identity separated from Flat. Because it probably is.

Not much else to say now but I look forward to his heroic moments in Volume 10 now that he was violently forced to gain the power of friendship.

[gabbyp09]

Fate/Strange Fake Ep1 The Heroic Spirit Incident

[intrepid-fictioneer-7]

One thing I find interesting about Waver's students is that a lot of them face similar issues of the possible loss/death of their identity and personality by way of being subsumed by a greater supernatural force.

Gray was raised as the vessel of King Arthur and everytime Artoria was summoned more of her body changes to become like her and erase who she was.

Flat is the conclusion of a 1,800-year plan in which the next step of human evolution secretly implanted within his family's Magic Crest would eventually take over his body.

Svin is more of a vessel for his magecraft than its user, and he is acutely aware that his Bestial Magecraft will eventually consume him and he will become a beast in truth. Already he has trouble remembering some of his past.

Ergo contains three gods within his body from consuming their flesh but because they are so much vaster than him, everytime he uses their powers it erases his memories to make more "space", and eventually the three gods will completely erase him. As of the latest novels, Ergo has even forgotten most of the first novel, including how he first met Rin.

I find that interesting. There's probably some link that could be made between this tendency and Waver and how his "Lord El-Melloi II" title has overtaken his "Waver Velvet" identity.

[call-me-noa]

El-Melloi Adventures volume 8 summary

As before, all of the work writing these was done by Comun (@kaibutsushidousha) on Beast’s Lair. I am simply gathering it all in one place. Each chapter has a link to Comun’s original post.

Volume list: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II Volume 8: Fem's Casa (Part 3)

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Epilogue

Afterword