Every 60 years, the most powerful of magical relics, the
Holy Grail, selects seven mages to enter a battle royale known as the Holy
Grail War. Their individual powers and
cunning are second to the special servants they must select, ancient heroes
from across all of history, sorted into seven elite classes: Saber, Archer,
Lancer, Rider, Caster, Berserker and Assassin.
As dawn arises on the 4th Holy Grail War, seven unlikely
souls travel to Fuyuki City to claim their ultimate prize: the single wish the
Grail can grant. Between sorcerers and
priests, killers and psychopaths, novices and veterans, this promises to be the
most intense battle to date. The war
begins in this exciting prequel to the Fate/Stay Night series.
Bet you didn’t think this was going to happen, did
ya? Well ill let you in on a secret:
rather than my normal watch every weekend approach, ive been chipping away at
this series when ive gotten the chance over the last few months so I could have
this, and its subsequent follow up ready.
I was a little upset with myself I didn’t get to it last summer, so it’s
time to rectify that. Welcome to Part 1
of my 2 Part Epic Summer Series coverage of Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night:
Unlimited Blade Works. The Fate series
can easily be seen as daunting for all of its characters, lore, and obsessive
fan base. But if the rest of Fate/Zero
proves as good as this opening act, then we’re in for a treat.
In a rare move for a series (I think), Fate/Zero opens
with a special 45minute extended first episode.
In it, we get most of the main cast introduced. More importantly though, we get a pretty deep
dossier on the general history and rules of the Holy Grail War. It can feel like a lot all at once,
especially one early scene where Kirei is literally in the middle of a
constantly circling father and Tokiomi Tohsaka (Rin’s father). There’s a real gravity to it all, like this
whole event is going to live up to its hype.
From the planning of various strategies by the key players and their
allies to the summoning of the servants, everything feels so damn big, it
almost makes you grin.
Actually, it’s kind of funny that since the first episode
is so long, why not go the extra 15mins, make it an hour and introduce everyone
outright? The psycho killer Ryunosuke
and his equally sadistic partner, Caster, aren’t introduced until the second
episode, an intro that, mind you, is one of the sickest and scariest ive ever
seen for a pair of characters. The Holy
Grail is said to have to occassinally pick outside of what would be considered
normal for its contestants…but this is just crazy. Ryunosuke specializes in family kills,
especially children. Caster, it seems,
has an equally sick fetish for such murder fare. Their whole first encounter produces a shutter
and feeling of nausea…these two definitely need to be taken out first. But seriously, why dedicate half of an
episode to their intro when they could have been folded into the first with a
little extra run time? Eh, 45 minutes is
a little unusual for an episode that isn’t an OVA, so making it an hour might
be pushing it.
Did I mention this series has a huge cast, bigger than
Fate/Stay Night itself? Unlike the main
shows narrowing focus on Shiro, Rin and Saber, Fate/Zero is determined to add
to the Game of Thrones like feel by including a sizeable cast that brings a lot
to the table. Fans will be quick to
welcome to return of long time franchise players like Saber, Gilgamesh and
Kirei. We even get a cameo from a little
Rin (and already she’s getting a jumpstart on hating Kirei). Naturally, besides
the three returning players (or starting I guess since this is where they
officially enter the story), two names that will pique interest are Kiritsugu
Emiya and Tokiomi Tohsaka, the parents of Shiro Emiya and Rin Tohsaka
respectively. Already, you can see how
very different these two are from their descendants. Both mages are interested in playing the game
by their own rules, rules that include lots of guns and magic bullets for
Kiritsugu and lots of back alley deals for Tokiomi. Clearly, honor is the last thing on the minds
of these two. Same goes for Kayneth, a
veteran mage who seems to believe he’s already won this war before its even
started. There’s a smugness to him I
just don’t like…but he’s got nothing on Gilgamesh, no one ever will in that
department.
Probably the most surprising mage to enter this war,
besides a serial killer, is Waver. He
was a student of Kayneth’s who wants to prove himself and not be shunned by his
teacher or classmates. Admirable BUT
CLEARLY Waver didn’t read the fine print as to what this Holy Grail War would
entail. So he spends most of his
screentime whinning and complaining about everything in general. The only reason his scenes are bearable is
because his servant, Rider, is one of the most energetic and lovable characters
introduced so far. With the feel of a
loveable giant and the power of…Thor? (lots of ligthinging), Rider has a thirst
for enjoying life to the fullest, the exact opposite of Waver, who cowers on a
high bridge while Rider watches battle unfold in the distance with no
fear. Hopefully Waver learns something
important from Rider about not being such a wuss all the time. Honestly what the heck was that kid thinking
when he set himself into this tournament, a game of Magic the Gathering? Clearly, he was unaware he was entering
Mortal Kombat.
Speaking of Kombat, HOLY FRAKING CRAP IS THIS SHOW
GORGEOUS!!! Studio Ufotable takes over the reigns of the Fate/Stay franchise
here (they also did the Unlimited Blade Works series and the ongoing Heaven’s
Feel movie trilogy) and I have to say…they can just animate every single Anime
for the rest of eternity. For a while I
forgot I was watching a show that aired on TV.
The quality of the character designs and the action rivals that of an
OVA production, even a movie (I cant wait to eventually see how good Heaven’s
Feel looks). The action scenes don’t
feel as stiff as with the Studio Deen adaptation of Fate/Stay Night. Every battle so far in Fate/Zero feels like
youre watching a river get more and more violent as it rains. It’s the prettiest picture and right now this
show easily ranks as one of the best looking Anime ive ever watched.
Given how everyone has a strategy for how to fight this
war, I can tell that things are hardly going to go smoothly as this show really
gets going. But as Leonard Snart once
said on Flash, “There are only four
rules you need to remember: Make the plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan go
off the rails.... Throw away the plan.”
Oh man, so many plans are going out the window in the coming weeks, I
can tell and I am exciteeeeeed. So glad
im finally getting to do this show. The
smile on my face is real cause Fate/Zero is off to a great start and I cant
wait to see how things unfold and how they tie things off to prep everyone for
the series that follows.
Welcome to the Summer of Fate/Stay Night.
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