Monday, December 10, 2018

Fate/Extra: Last Encore Part 2 Episodes 4-7


Having defeated the first stage, Hakuno and Saber ascend to the next level.  Traveling with them is a new ally: the beautiful prodigy Rin Tohsaka.  The further Hakuno heads into battle, the more he begins to learn the true twistedness of this world and the effects of the Holy Grail War.  Some of these combatants have been fighting for centuries without end.  In the back of his mind, Hakuno can feel he might be one of these lost souls.  Though if he is to learn the truth, he must brave snipers, mind traps and servants who are deadlier than the last.  Saber vows to protect him but will her confidence and sword be enough?

As of right now, im of two minds with Fate/Extra.  On one side, this show bugs the hell out of me with all of its complexity, lack of clear cut motivations and directions and the worst lead character in this franchise yet.  On the other side, this show has got some rather deep stories to tell through some amazing artwork.  Both of these mindsets collided in this weeks string of episodes that saw Hakuno, Saber and Rin ascended through two more Stratums, each with their own revelations and tragic stories to tell…and theyre way more likeable ones than Haukno.

As the awesome Rani VIII revealed, the world of Seraph and the Holy Grail War that has been running within it has been running for over 1000 years and with its continuation, Seraph has continued to degrade.  Oh and humanity is near extinction back on Earth it seems.  That’s a lot to take in and further adds to the complexity of it all.  With a reveal like that, shouldn’t getting the hell right to the final boss be more imperative?  I mean, the fate of the world is at stake and all.  And yet, Fate/Extra’s cast just seems to accept everything and move on like it’s just another day at the office.  I still don’t get why Mooncel exists or why Seraph suddenly went all self destruct.  At this point, it really does feel like someone decided to give Fate/Stay Night a Sword Art Online style setting to play in and damn if nothing is established or explained as a whole.

Once again, though, where Hakuno fails to be compelling or the world building continues to falter, the characters remain Fate/Extra’s saving grace. Im actually glad these Stratums are not one episode and done kind of deals.  The tales of Dan Blackmore and young Alice were so tragic that one episode could never do them justice.  For Blackmore, it was the possibility that he’d been trapped in his Stratum for so long that he’d forgotten why he wanted to win the Holy Grail War and just kept fighting just to fight.  His mind and character felt warped from being stuck in the same place for over a full millennia…not the fate id wish for (no pun intended).  And then there was poor little Alice, who turned out to be the ghost of a long dead girl who just didn’t want to be forgotten.  Yeah she ended up literally slaughtering hundreds in gruesome fashion in the process (btw this series is bloody as hell).  But I always felt so sorry for the poor girl.  They say Seraph was supposed to be a utopia but stories like Alices only strengthen everyone belief that is has become a digital hell.  It was here also that we were treated to much of the artwork Studio Shaft is best known for.  The whimsical world of Alice’s Wonderland was dark, foreboding and busy in every single frame, just like the darker dimensions of Madoka Magica.  Fate/Extra has looked ok so far but it has never felt like it was taking full advantage of Shaft’s true animation powers until the Alice episodes.  The overall designs does wonders for illustrating Alice’s oh so sad fairy tale ending (remember the OG ones never end well themselves as Alice and Rin both point out) and helped make them some of the best episodes of Fate/Extra thus far.

I really cant stop singing the praises of Saber.  Even in the darkness of Wonderland, she never lost her cool, confidence or never ending optimism.  The differences between her and her blue clad predecessor continue to astound me.  Whereas Arturia was dead set on selfishly reworking her own past to right her wrongs, Fate/Extra Saber seems to have embraced her entire history, the good and the bad, with an unkillable smile.  She believes in chivalry and a fair fight but also doesn’t mind walking around Hakuno in very little clothing…just cause she can and she will always own that attitude.  It almost makes me hate Hakuno more cause he’s so stiff and internally brooding he really doesn’t feel deserving of such an energetic guardian who will even hold his hand through the darkness.

Surprisingly for me, Rin on the other hand is kind of a mixed bag.  I love that her voice actress from the old shows is back, I love her new look, and even when I don’t understand it all, she can still do exposition like nobodies business and make it sound so fascinating.  But her overall role is being just as shrouded as everything else in Fate/Extra.  Is she using Hakuno to get to the Angelica Cage and then win the Grail War herself?  Most puzzling is how the hell can she turn into Lancer?  This isn’t even explained like it is in Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya, where the servants are Card Captor Sakura style cards who magic can be accessed to give the user a Servants power.  What’s more, Hakuno and Saber both seemed stunned by this…and then just shrug it off or just plain ignore it.  I don’t know about you but this is one mystery id very much like answered, no matter how cool Rin looks in a Lancer outfit.

Fate/Extra had some good tales to tell and gave Studio Shaft a chance to remind the world why it’s one of the most beloved studios in all of Anime.  But Seraph still makes no sense.  Hakuno is basically walking into a wall and not caring while everyone else cares for him.  Overall, I feel so freaking lost and not in a good way.  Even when the show is at its best with Saber, the action or another tragic floor master, it makes me wonder if any actual thought went into making this show besides the visuals.  Yeah…something tells me this isn’t going to wrap up so nicely next week.  I’d say, brace for a rant, yeah a rant is most certainly coming.

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