Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note - A Grave Keeper, a Cat, and a Mage
ロード・エルメロイⅡ世の事件簿 {魔眼蒐集列車[レール・ツェッペリン]} Grace note 墓守と猫と魔術師 (Lord El-Melloi II-sei no Jikenbo: Rail Zeppelin Grace Note - Hakamori to Neko to Majutsushi)
- Fantasy
- Mystery
- Urban Fantasy
- Episodes
- 1
- Duration
- 24 min
- Aired
- Dec 31, 2018
- Status
- Finished Airing
Synopsis
Years after the Fourth Holy Grail War, Waver Velvet has risen to lead the Clock Tower’s Modern Magecraft Theories department, inheriting the name and responsibilities of Lord El-Melloi II. Now a professor among the Mage’s Association, he navigates a world where scholarship and politics are inseparable.
Alongside his apprentice, Gray, Waver is drawn into an investigation involving a strange shadow that seems to follow their steps. As they dig for answers, tensions simmer within the Association’s ranks, turning their search for the truth into a case with far-reaching consequences.
Otaku Consensus
TROYCA’s one-shot Grace Note opener lands as a polished, mood-forward piece of Fate-adjacent urban fantasy, with its strongest appeal in Clock Tower politics, restrained mystery direction, and the adult follow-up to Waver Velvet’s post-Grail War life. Its 7.1 MAL score and 70/100 AniList score reflect a solid but niche reception: fans value the atmosphere and franchise texture, while the most common drawback is that a single episode can feel more like a prologue than a fully satisfying case.
Why You Should Watch
Watch this if you want the Fate universe to trade arena-scale heroics for occult academia, institutional politics, and a detective-story rhythm. It scratches a nearby itch to The Garden of Sinners in its modern magecraft mood, but with more faculty-room tension than horror; it also has the appeal of seeing a familiar Fate/Zero survivor reframed as a weary professor rather than a battlefield participant. The compact runtime makes it a sharp sampler for Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files: you get Clock Tower hierarchy, curses, urban London texture, and Gray’s quiet apprentice dynamic without committing to a long arc. Viewers who like magic systems treated as scholarship, not just spectacle, will get the most out of it.
Key Characters
- WWaver Velvet
Waver is compelling because the story treats him as a man still carrying the weight of Fate/Zero while forcing him to function as Lord El-Melloi II, a teacher embedded in Clock Tower bureaucracy.
- GGray
Gray works as a restrained counterpoint to Waver: an apprentice whose quiet presence gives the case a grave, observant texture rather than the usual loud sidekick energy.
What Makes It Stand Out
- 1
This is a single-episode special that aired on December 31, 2018, making it a compact entry point into Grace Note rather than a full seasonal commitment.
- 2
TROYCA’s handling emphasizes urban-fantasy atmosphere: modern streets, institutional interiors, vehicles, and Clock Tower social pressure matter as much as spell effects.
- 3
The source lineage is unusually dense even for a Fate spin-off, with Makoto Sanda, Azuma Tou, and Type-Moon credited as original creators and Mineji Sakamoto credited for the original character designs.
- 4
AniList’s tag profile is unusually specific for a fantasy mystery: Magic at 93%, Foreign at 85%, and Politics, College, Animals, Urban, and Curses all clustered around 79%, signaling a case built around setting texture rather than generic action escalation.
- 5
The episode’s reputation is tied to its function as a Grace Note prelude: strong at establishing mood, hierarchy, and Waver’s post-war identity, but less rewarding for viewers expecting a self-contained mystery with a major payoff.
Fun Facts & Trivia
- Fun fact 1
- The special is officially one episode and finished airing the same day it premiered: December 31, 2018.
- Fun fact 2
- Its MAL footprint is sizeable for a one-off special, with 36,677 votes, a 7.1/10 score, rank #4323, and popularity #2974.
- Fun fact 3
- AniList records it at 70/100 with 131 favourites, closely matching the MAL consensus that it is respected more as a niche franchise piece than a breakout standalone.
- Fun fact 4
- The key animation credits listed for the episode include Masako Matsumoto, Ryuushi Tokunaga, Nobuyuki Kitajima, and Jun Nakai, while Hiroki Hayashi is credited as episode director.
- Fun fact 5
- The tag mix includes Cars and Werewolf at 70%, which is an unusual combination for a Fate-related magecraft story and points to the Case Files preference for modern, case-by-case occult oddities.
Studios
- TROYCA
