Remember my awful review about Fate/Stay Night? Well I can assure you that you will not be seeing history repeating itself. Here we have another work of Type-Moon, which is Fate/Zero. This is the prequel to Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works.
Okay let me break it down for you; Emiya Kiritsugu only has one mission for the fourth Holy Grail War and that is to end it for good. Together with his wife and other allies, he summons Saber and joins the war to save the world. As a magus killer, he tracks down every master and kills them. However, he doesn't realize how powerful and mischievous his potential enemies could get. At the same time, he fears for the life of his family and questions if it is worth sacrificing them for the success of his mission and radical beliefs.
I just realized I was a bit too harsh whilst critiquing Fate/Stay Night. Apparently, you cannot fully enjoy the anime or grasp the subplots shown there without patiently waiting for the prequel to come out (or to directly read the visual novels). Basically, all the random events occurring in Fate/Stay Night are explained or started to happen in Fate/Zero. This is not a major spoiler, but this anime ends with the beginning of Fate/Stay Night. Interesting right?
Putting that aside, the storytelling in Fate/Zero is much better. The church's involvement was much more established in this anime, and each character had a fair amount of developing. The setting remains the same, and they still fight in the dark. But there were still many subplots that went down in an endless yet senseless spiral or they haven't been fully concluded in Fate/Stay Night. First of all, the affair between Maiya and Kiritsugu was out of the blue and unnecessary. After that scene, it was never tackled again. I guess it's supposed to exhibit Kiritsugu's character, but there are many ways to show how unorthodox he can be. An affair with no conclusion will probably end up making other viewers not give him any sympathy because that scene made Kiritsugu look like an unfaithful douchebag rather than a man with mixed up morals. Also, I had no idea that the Church had this much involvement in a war. Fate/Zero showed how many times they butt in many circumstances. I get that Kotomine Kirei became the priest/judge replacement for the fifth holy grail war in Fate/Stay Night, but it seemed like he no longer mattered and so did the Church itself. It's like the building was there for the sake of being there. Since Kirei is the primary antagonist on the show, it would have been much better if he used the church in a corrupt manner rather than making its involvement in the war completely obsolete. Anyway, Fate/Zero is even more detailed with its plot. I was able to grasp the concept of the Holy Grail War in this anime. It's just so..detailed. And they included other elements that seemed interesting. I like how they mentioned that the war can last much longer, because anyone else can join the war even after a master dies. The Unlimited Blade Works, in my opinion, still showed the most spontaneity in a war story. But the Holy Grail war itself in Fate/Zero is also very creative. The Caster Arc, for once, is very interesting because the priest had to bend the rules just so Caster can be eliminated. However, there were some episodes that were too heavy on the dialogue, to the point that an episode would consist of just the characters talking to each other and that causes the plot to move slower, and it no longer gave room for other subplots that needed more weaving. In spite of that, the anime managed to fit large events in a span of twenty-five episodes. Nothing was rushed, some subplots left unsolved because it assumes that they will be dealt with in Fate/Stay Night. This also effectively handled the tragedy element well. The conclusion to almost every character ended up really sad, and it is able to make you feel defeated deep down. The impact of the ending is just crazy. Even if you know that this isn't the official end to everything, everything that has happened manages to leave you with a heavy heart. I felt bad for almost everyone in the series, including the underwhelming ones.
I am very impressed that Fate/Zero was able to represent seven masters, seven servants, give them all adequate arcs at the same time. Everyone was fleshed out fairly in such a short amount of time. I like the servants even more in Fate/Zero, because I am able to know them. I do not only get to know their names. I get to know who they were in history, and what their motives are for the Holy Grail War. Yes, I get this much character reading in such a short series. I'm impressed with how it tackles more historical figures who are not that famous. They all had an air of mystery to them, and you can see that they're not just servants in a game. They proved that they're still people with free will. Most of the servants abide by a noble code (that they learned from their time, naturally), and they served as the foundation of their personalities. And I like how they stuck to that till the end. Iskandar/Rider is one of my favorite servants by far. He's rambunctious, funny, and very headstrong. His character may be seen as light comedy for the show, and I think he provided just the right amount of it. Saber, on the other hand, had a bit more flare in Fate/Zero. Here, we get to see how she became the stoic and concentrated woman we all came to know in Fate/Stay Night. She had so much breakthrough moments, wherein we seriously get to see her crack. In this story, Saber seemed like the Knight who thought was aware of her actions, but realized that she miscalculated some of them. And this gravely affects her in this series. Gilgamesh's origin was just a shallow icy surface glazed over the deep waters. Most Fate/Stay Night fans and viewers already knew who he was and why he was butting in from time to time. So I guess you could say it is easy to come up with expectations for Gilgamesh's origin subplot because the curiosity of how he wanted to marry Saber so badly is a given. And yes, we get that reason in Fate/Zero. His interest in Kotomine Kirei though was a slightly surprising twist in the show. This was sorta done so we can see a bit more luster in Gilgamesh's character and to prove that he is not just some perv megalomaniac who thinks so highly of himself.
The masters, were not so bad either. Kiritsugu as the main character, wasn't so dominant in this series. In the first season, we do not get to see him flesh out that much. He is seen, trying to murder as many masters as possible with Maiya. But in season two, I was able to see that the writers were somehow cramming much more character development in two episodes. They give him a backstory, and then his beliefs were eventually demonstrated. But his idea of saving the world is not so new, but it hasn't been used for every heroic or anti-hero character made in anime. He is willing to put everything in the line, just to save as many people as he can. That's basically his character. Irisviel was a very tolerable character; I liked her but she was kind of underwhelming. For me, she's possibly the only major character, that needed a little more fleshing out. Most of the time, she's there standing around not doing much but there rare moments where she showed her potential. I wish they showed her backstory evenly, like they could've tackled more on the subplot of her being a homunculus and how she was able to become more human-like because of Kiritsugu. She had a very interesting origin that what was worth at least one episode, but then they decided to show that idea in the very end. Kotomine Kirei, was probably the most confusing character I ever came across in an anime, He starts off as this guy with no passion, just this very hollow character. Basically, he starts off as uninteresting, but the other characters force it on you that he isn't someone to be taken lightly. But thanks to Gilgamesh's intervention, we get to finally see a push for Kirei, who slowly turned into the sadistic person. This reminded me of the time when Frollo of The Hunchback of Notre Dame convinced himself that he was a holy man until his fireplace convinced him otherwise. I'm not sure what I really think about this guy, but this is the best analogy I can give you. Then we have Waver. Put him with the King of Conquerors, and you've got your dose of comedy. But I refuse to see Waver as just a touch of shenanigans for this show. For me, his character was able to touch a part of the show that hasn't been seen that much inType-Moon before, which are underrated Magi Families. I had no idea there was such an issue in the Fate series. It was new and alarming. All of the sudden this anime turned into Harry Potter for me, thanks to the value they put on the Magi Families. Even though it was taken lightly, I appreciated how they managed to squeeze it into the show and into Waver's character, since he came from an indistinguishable magi family. And he developed very nicely alongside Rider. Kariya, was also very interesting, and quite sympathetic. His motive was also very fresh and new to the series. Actually, this series was able to show all the motives of the masters. May it be for credibility to a heroic act. Because of those honest (but not always clean) intentions, we get to see the essence of their personalities blossoming throughout the show.
Music
I was honestly not a big fan of the soundtrack and music score for the anime. Luckily the fight scenes and the dialogue were enough to keep me hooked on the show. Unfortunately, I didn't encounter a time, where the music played an essential part in moving my emotions or even my estrogen. But do not get me wrong, I still think Yuki Kajiura is still a great composer, and I think her work and credibility are much more visible in other anime shows, such as Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. The videos shown here plays my favorite song in the entire anime, which is Sora Wa Takaku Kaze Wa Utau by Luna Haruna. First is the actual ending theme of the second season, and the second video is the music video for the song itself. So if you want to listen to the full-length song, I suggest clicking the second video.
The art still never ceases to amaze me. It maintains the dark blue hues and the moon highlights in most episodes, showing off its dark element, as well as the orange flames and red hues for the grand finale . You know it's a Fate series when most of the actions occur at a dark blue night. The fight scenes are still superb, and the designs of gore and terror were fantastically drawn. The designs of the Dead Apostles were surprisingly my favorite. For me, it most definitely reminded me of the aswangs in the Philippines and it was captured perfectly for an animation. The character designs were also really good. I love Saber's design here, because I am simply infatuated with her black suit attire. The settings in the show were also beautiful. From the snow storm in Einzbern Manor, to the war between the servants and Caster. I love how most of the characters are very distinct. The servants do not clash colors for once, and they come with very distinguishable features. Most of the masters are very consistent when it comes to stature, to show how proud they are of their magi lineage.
The creation of this anime has certainly improved since Fate/Stay Night. As much as I wish Type-Moon and Ufotable can push through with Fate/Prototype, all I can say is that this anime is tremendously detailed and it was a fairly good tragedy. However there were a few subplots and elements that were not fully resolved and were not kept in consistency with the events of Fate/Stay Night, such as the issues of the Church and the Magi Families. With that, I will give it three eggs. It's a greatly improved anime, and it is very entertaining to watch because you will love and hate the dialogue between such great characters. The action scenes and plot twists are totally to die for, and it has more luster compared to the first adapted Fate series.
And that is it for my review. Be sure to check my previous review about Fate/Stay Night, if you want to see a comparison. Till the next post~
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