Top 5 Carnival Phantasm Skits

Yeeaah, if you haven’t heard much about the Fate series, or at least know only the barebones structure of it, you might be wondering….

What the hell is this insanity?

Carnival Phantasm is just a huge clusterfuck of episodes that contain parodies and skits involving various characters from the Type-Moon universe, a franchise generally known for their dark and gritty themes, as well as generally having great characters and fleshed-out storylines.

So what happens if you take the seriousness of Type-Moon, and take away the……uh…….seriousness?

You get this fun, happy-go-lucky glitter-fest that celebrates all that is Type-Moon in a way that will make you go “WTF AM I WATCHING????” with it’s lake of sense and complete insanity.

It’s a nice little homage to the characters we all know and love, bringing a comedic perspective to the usually dreary worlds that Type-Moon stuff generally belongs to, but some skits obviously stand tall above the others.  And so, as it is with Fate February, it is my duty to give you guys my top favorites from this little slice of wackiness.

What’s up, everyone, my name is Ken, from thebuttonsmashers.com  Reviews, and today I present to you my Top 5 Carnival Phantasm Skits.

5.) “Holy Grail Game Show”– Episode 1

The Holy Grail War has started.

A momentous occasion featuring heroic spirits from legends and history-

-playing in a game show for an omnipotent wish-granting device?

Ok, why not?

This is just pure insanity.  Seeing all these heroes and their masters just juking it out on card games and friendly rounds of tennis against each other, among other things, is just brilliant comic fodder.

Parodying the whole concept of the Grail War itself into a hilarious set of wacky games instead of this bloody war with lots of death and tragedy.

Again, why the hell not?

4.) “Berserker’s First Errand”– Episode 5

Ilya asks Berserker to buy some batteries.

You can already tell where this is going.

Yes, as one would think, hijinks ensue as Berserker runs of to who knows where to buy batteries and get distracted along the way, battling Lancer, and eventually befriending the guy…

…if befriending involved using him as a blunt weapon then yeah.

He goes off to unknowingly win the Holy Grail, because in his rampage he accidentally kills off every other Servant in the game.  In the end, he forgets his original mission:  to buy Ilya batteries.

The beauty of this skit is just in the absurdity of a menacing herculean creature running off to buy batteries for his master, while still keeping the whole Holy Grail War schtick that the show is known for.  That combination makes the humour in the episode work in a weird slapsticky kind of way, and it’s always a great thing to make slapstick a viable comedic strategy.

3.) “Magicians Hate Machines”– Episode 4

Shirou calls home from work and asks Rin to record an episode of a show he likes on TV.  THe instructions were simple:  press the “record” button on the Blu-Ray player.  But Rin, being technologically…uh…..lacking, screws everything over and agonizes too much on how to use the Blu-Ray  player to record, with Archer just smirking at her actions from the sidelines whenever she messes up.  He offers to help, but of course Rin just beats him up slapstick-style.

Classic Rin.

Essentially, this skit works because it is just so Rin-ccentric.  Everything she does is just adorably funny and Archer serves as a great foil to Rin’s confusion.

You know, before getting his ass handed to him, because of…..well…..tsundere reasons.

2.) “Saber at Work”– Episode 8

This skit gives us Fate fans something that we never thought we ever wanted until the beautiful people at Type-Moon presented this gem to us:

Saber in a maid outfit.

I’m not sure how, but someone in the head office must have wished on the Holy Grail to create something so adorable and commanding at the same time.

I just want Saber to step on me-

Uh.

Sorry.

Moving along.

Saber gets a part-time job at a cafe as a maid to get Shirou a present for his birthday.  She does her job well, but things take a turn for the ironic, however, as Saber’s commanding presence instead had the cafe patrons follow HER orders around.  Things get EVEN wackier when Gilgamesh showed up and just walks around the cafe like he owns the place, probably because he can own the place.

But then things get EVEN CRAZIER as, upon claiming her as his own, Saber just goes full ape-shit and transforms into SABER ALTER, which turns the tables around, makes Gilgamesh HER bitch, and just flamboyantly parties all night, returning home drunk and cutely reverting back to her old self upon seeing Shirou, whom she hands her present to (it was a pressure cooker, like WTH how is Shirou into these things?).

I’m pretty sure you can see how this skit right here belongs in the #2 spot.

1.) “The Holy Grail Grand Prix”– Episode 9

OMG, where do I even start?

The Holy Grail War morphed into a race-car competition?

BERSER-CAR?

Team Saber’s vehicle?

The fact that Lancer blew himself up in the first 10 seconds of the race?

Caster eloping with Shouichirou?

Assassin arriving with a truck carrying the shrine and being all bromantic with it?

Gilgamesh crashing the party?

Rider and Shinji’s best E.T. impression?

Team Saber’s comeback?

There’s just soooo many things done right with this parody, and with a series that consisted of plenty of great skits (seriously there are a couple more of these Fate-type parodies throughout Carnival Phantasm and they’re all great), “The Holy Grail Grand Prix” stands out by being an innovative twist on the Grail War and the characters that we know and love.

………………………………………………………………………

So yeah there goes your WEIRDNESS-quota for the entire month or so.

If you’re a fan of Type-Moon or even just the Fate franchise, you’re sure to love Carnival Phantasm and their collection of skits and parodies.  Hopefully this list has given you guys a precursor to the insanity that is this show, and hopefully, you will enjoy it just as much as I did.

As per usual, leave a comment down below pertaining to your thoughts on this list, on the shows themselves, or if you would like me to review/make a list of anything.  And, speaking of liking, give the review a thumbs-up if you enjoyed it and follow me on twitter @tbs_ken for updates and general shitposting, if you feel like doing so.

Aaaaaaand, with that, I bid you all adieu.  This has been Ken for thebuttonsmashers.com Anime Reviews, and I’ll see you guys in the future!