At the time I was reviewing this series, I was unaware
that Fate/Extra: Last Encore would have three final episodes set to air well
after the end of the tenth episode (the last one of this weeks set). Knowing this now, and knowing I still have
those three episodes left to review, fills me with actual relief. Because if Fate/Extra had ended on the notes
of Episode 10…idve been really pissed off.
The show finally gets itself into a good place by the midpoint of this
set, both in terms of story and its main character (finally). And Episode 10 would threaten to destroy that
progress were it actually the finale (which it was when I was reviewing this
and I was seriously reminded of Pilot Candidate…except it’s worse here because
I expected a garbage ending from that show and expected far better from a Fate
series). But let’s get into this (now)
penultimate set of episodes.
Like I said, things started to get good. I mean sure, we skipped the 4th
Stratum outright but apparently it was so easy it didn’t even matter. But still, once we got to Stratum 5,
Fate/Extra was finally ready to answer some questions. Turns out theres a reason Hakuno is so
quietly angry. According to “The
Architect” (aka the scientist dude who threw Hakuno into this in the first
place), Hakuno isn’t even Hakuno. Turns
out the original Hakuno was a girl and Saber’s last master to boot. This new Hakuno is a collection of pissed off
Masters who actually made it to the last level of Seraph and were cast down for
being unworthy. So…does that make Hakuno
Neo? It would explain the OP skill set
and the dull emotional performance (sorry Keanu youre awesome and youre better
than this guy). This revelation is the
kind of thing I had been hoping for since the beginning. And it got plenty of emotion FINALLY out of
Hakuno as he broke down and confronted his own existence.
Which makes it more obvious than ever that Saber, aka
Nero, is the best character on this show…cause she finally gave Hakuno the
literal slap he has needed from Episode 1.
Saber’s own history was detailed as well (in that animated puppet style
fashion that Shaft does oh so nicely), showing us the rise and fall of one of
the most powerful Emperors in history.
It’s a sad story but Saber Nero…im just gonna call her Saber, is still
smiling and keeping that indomitable spirit.
She isn’t even the real Nero, she’s a digital copy like everything else
in Seraph. Her words actually help
Hakuno embrace who he is and affirm himself as Sabers partner. As frustrating to watch as Hakuno has been,
this moment felt genuine and now he is fully capable of complimenting Saber’s
spirit and skills with how own. It made
for good character work and lead to a great battle where Saber summoned A
FREAKING OPERA HOUSE to kill Berserker…while Hakuno had a pretty lame duel with
the dullest of the Floor Masters yet.
Julius was so bland and one note it was such a letdown after three floors
(maybe 4 but we’ll never know will we) of great final bosses. Still, it ended things on a good note. Even Rani made a surprise return to help out. If this were a season finale, it could have
actually saved the series overall from its shaky run.
Honestly, this was a decent culmination of a good string
of episodes that gave us stellar animation, good character exploration and
solid action. Were Episode 9 to be a
Season Finale, I think idve been ok with that.
After all Episode 9 is where most of these great developments took
place. However, there was one more
episode left in this set…and it threatened to bring every bit of good will
built up crashing down around it.
Episode 10, the former “final” episode of Fate/Extra
doesn’t see Hakuno and Saber reaching the Angelica Cage and facing off against
the Hindu God Boss that we saw kill Saber in the first episode. Instead it drops them into a mist filled
world where an army of Rin and Rani clones are locked in an eternal war while
the real Rin and Rani sleep in hibernation waiting for Hakuno to arrive and
perform a sacrifice so they can both live…HUH?!
I think Saber said it best, “Honestly, I have not understood much on our
journey. But this is ridiculous. This makes the least sense so far.” And even Hakuno had to agree, screaming
“WHY?” endlessly in his head. Even if
some of this had been hinted at throughout the series, this is the last thing I
wanted to see as a potential final episode for this series. I wanted closure, answers, hell I don’t think
I really know what I wanted to see at the end besides just that, the end. Instead, we got a mess of an episode that
feels like it should have been stretched into two parts and paced out in a way
I could process it all...it also feels like this is the start of a second
season whereas Episode 9 felt like the end of a first season. When the episode does conclude, it’s like the
writer and staff just said…yeah we cant do this anymore and pulled the plug
without thinking of delivering a proper payoff.
HOWEVER!!!!! We
are in luck because this final episode isn’t actually THE FINAL EPISODE. Turns out, as I was reviewing this on
Netflix, only 10 episodes had been posted of Fate/Extra: Last Encore, and right
now I was ready to give it a 5.5/10. But
something happened that doesn’t happen often.
Three more episodes were aired in Japan over the summer and only now
have they made their way to Netflix.
Which means folks, Fate/Extra is getting a very, very, VERY rare chance
to redeem itself from the travesty that was the “original” series finale. So, will Fate/Extra actually manage to make
good on tying up these loose threads and give us an actual ending? Or will these last three episodes be as
pointless as that random OVA special from Pilot Candidate that did absolutely
nothing in the long run. A night of
Christmas Eve Anime Reviews kicks off next week with the TRUE series finale of
Fate/Extra: Last Encore…followed by the debut review of Psycho Pass 2. See ya then.
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