Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note (ロード・エルメロイⅡ世の事件簿 -魔眼蒐集列車 Grace note-, Lord El-Melloi II-sei no Jikenbo -Rail Zeppelin Grace note-), also written as Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace Note, is a 2019 television series based on Makoto Sanda’s light novel series The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II with illustrator Mineji Sakamoto. The series was directed by Makoto Katō and produced by studio TROYCA, with script composition writer Ukyō Kodachi, script writers Kiyomune Miwa and Kou Shigenobu, character designer Jun Nakai and music composer Yuki Kajiura. The series first aired in Japan as a special on December 2018 before beginning its episodes months later on July 2019.
Background:
“Waver Velvet from Fate/Zero returns as Lord El-Melloi II to a world of magical mystery and intrigue. Years after the Fourth Holy Grail War of Fate/Zero, Waver Velvet – the boy who fought alongside Iskandar, the King of Conquerors – has assumed the title Lord El Melloi II. In this position, he takes on myriad magical and mystical mysteries for the Clock Tower, the mecca of the magecraft world.
Based on the popular novel by Makoto Sanda, this incredible story has finally been adapted into an animated title. This series sees the beloved Rail Zeppelin arc brought to life, along with original episodes to lead into this exciting story. Prepare yourself! This epic adventure is about to leave the station.”
Plot Synopsis via Aniplex of America, December 2020.
The Fate franchise is filled with various instalments and spin-offs that it can be pretty hard to keep track of what’s going on. The visual novel still hasn’t been fully adapted (having missing a complete adaptation of its first route) and over the years we got various stories being told. One of which features a character from Fate/Zero with Waver, now known as Lord El-Melloi II in this story taking place in the United Kingdom of all places (sure why not).
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note is more focused on mysteries than non-stop action like the other Fate stories have been and you could arguably watch this one without having seeing any of the other ones. In terms of continuity it does take place between Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night for those who choose to watch it in a specific chronological order. Like the rest, we have a different anime studio adapting this story with TROYCA, the same company that also produced Re:CREATORS but Fate composer Yuki Kajiura does return to compose the music which is cool as her scores for the franchise were very good.
From what I have read, the anime adaptation took a weird direction by focusing on original material before adapting only the middle portion of the novel series (essentially skipping the first few volumes). A weird move to say but this was likely due to wanting to promote the novels but also focus on the arc that stood out the most perhaps.
Aniplex of America secured the streaming and home video rights for Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note in the United States & Canada as well as the United Kingdom & Ireland, which simulcasted on Funimation at the time before eventually appearing on Crunchyroll. UK distributor MVM Entertainment and Australian distributor Madman Entertainment both sub-licensed the home video rights for a release in the UK and Australia respectively for those who want an affordable option.
Limited Edition Contents:
Aniplex of America have been rather inconsistent with the Fate releases. Sometimes they’re DVD sized, sometimes they’re Blu-ray rigid boxes and then sometimes they’re slipcases with Blu-ray cases. Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note is more in-line with Fate/Grand Carnival‘s packaging.
The limited edition Blu-ray release is presented with an o-card slipcase featuring a obi-strip wrapped around the set (like the previous Fate releases have done), an Amaray case housing the discs, and a 26-page special booklet featuring episode information, character designs, background artwork and interviews with the creator and director of the series.
The obi-strip wrapped around the set includes the information and specs so that the main artwork is clean. The limited edition Blu-ray set was released for an SRP of $174.98.
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note was ordered together with its Special Episode as well as the Mashle: Magic and Muscles series from the Crunchyroll Store during its final sale before the store locked out most consumers to be exclusive to their Mega Fan & Ultimate Fan tiers. Price for this set were $139.98 each.
Physical Contents:
- O-card slipcase with clean artwork
- Amaray case packaging
- Obi-strip wraparound includes specification and details of the set
- 26-page Special Booklet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Aniplex of America
Released: 15th December 2020
The limited edition Blu-ray release for Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note contains all 14 episodes (as the series first started with episode 0 which was released on New Years Eve in 2018) across three Blu-ray discs, with the encode and authoring done by Aniplex.
The set includes the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and the Bang Zoom! English dub commissioned by Aniplex of America with optional English subtitles for the on-screen text.
The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the Blu-ray discs are region accessible to players set to A & B.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese, English |
| Audio | Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 English Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | A B |
| Subtitles | English, English (On-Screen Text) |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 3 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 3:
- Web Previews (09:11 runtime)
- PVs (03:48 runtime)
- Textless Opening and Endings “starting the case: Rail Zeppelin” & “Hibari” (雲雀)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Aniplex of America for the United States & Canada.
The limited edition Blu-ray set is available exclusively through the Crunchyroll Store (currently for $139.98) which is now locked exclusively to members who are on the Mega Fan tier (£6.99/m or $13.99/m) or Ultimate Fan tier ($17.99/m). That said, you can get around this by ordering at Robert’s Anime Corner Store (currently for $187.87).
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