Fate/Extra: Last Encore Part 4 Episodes 11-13

Hakuno and Saber have faced many trials since they first met at the lowest level of Seraph.  Together, they have unlocked each others potential and defeated foes that have been untouchable for almost a thousand years.  Now, they have reached the end.  With Rin Tohsaka watching their backs, Hakuno and Saber seek to end a conflict that has lasted longer than it should have.  Their final opponents are the strongest yet, with wills and ideologies as distorted as their insanely powerful abilities.  Can a conglomerate made up of the fury of hundreds of dead masters and a woman of indomitable optimism and beauty bring about a new beginning for mankind?  Or is this humanitys final hour?

It has never really occurred to me, or rather it has and I might just be numb to it at this point, but the Fate franchise is really in love with the sound of its own voice.  It’s hard to define this franchise as a whole but one could say it’s basically a very, very, VERY long winded Philosophy 101 course featuring iconic figures from history beating the crap out of each other.  For every epic piece of battle, theres an even longer stretch of two people hashing out their world views and personal takes on what it means to be human.  Sometimes, this can be pretty interesting (Fate/Zero).  Other times, its frustrating as hell (Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works).  Fate/Extra: Last Encore I feel teeters towards the latter in its final three episodes (the last of which is a double sized one).  In the end, does it embrace some of the strides the show has made in its short run and push to a satisfying conclusion?

Eh…

After the irritating Episode 10, I kind of felt tired of dealing with Hakuno and his emotionless state while Saber had to pick his slack in both compelling character growth and overall entertainment factor.  I think by the end, any and all emotion I felt towards their partnership and friendship is mostly centered on Saber and her indomitable will.  Even against overwhelming opponents (of course theyre OP cause its Fate), Saber’s smile never fades and God is she just the best freaking Saber out there (sorry fans of Arturia and Mordred).  I could honestly care less about Hakuno’s final fate (pun intended).  Saber, however, it was sad to see her story come to an end, even if it was the end she wished for: going out with a bang with her master and friend by her side.  We all need a Saber Nero Claudius in our lives.  Saber even managed to outshine my favorite Fate character Rin, both in this finale and in the series as a whole…that’s not easy.

The last three episodes of Fate/Extra basically boil down to three opponents who have had millenia of pent up frustrations to work out and are at the end of their rope.  After all, they’ve all been stuck in the same computer program for over 1,000 years…theyre gonna be a little loopy.  For Twice Peaceman (God that is a horrible name) and Leo, they pretty much wrote off humanity and decided that if Seraph crashes, frak it, not worth the effort to hope anymore.  To his credit, despite his (intentional but still) dull portrayal, Hakuno manages to break the mold and say he’s still willing to give a damn and give humanity a proper restart inside the Seraph Matrix.  I couldn’t help but think about the major letdowns that were The Matrix sequels, how the story became more enamoured with spouting random philosophies for thirty minutes that made no sense rather than summing things up in five minutes and then getting back to the action.  Twice does nothing but ramble on and on and on about his lack of faith and…you know what I don’t know what else, I kind of just tuned him out after a while.  Leo’s arrogance reminded me of Gilgamesh and the second a plan of action was made and he delayed it to spout out some more reflective notions, I groaned so hard.  I was so done with this confusing as hell computer world and the lost souls within it who really needed a better hobby than just sitting around and feeling sorry for themselves.

In the end, we get a finale that is equal parts The End of Evangelion (from a visual standpoint) and the worst parts of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (the long philosophy lectures and the action that got less impressive as time went on).  It was cool to see Saber take on her fellow Saber counterpart, Gawain, in an impressive looking sword duel.  But once we got to the Angelica Cage, the action looked epic but I wasn’t invested and neither was the show for that matter.  For every second of a  swing of the sword, there was a ten minute speech from Twice or Hakuno about either how humanity sucks or how life is worth it.  Naturally, the latter is a more preferred topic but still, even Unlimited Blade Works had Shiro giving Gilgamesh the beatdown he rightfully deserved.  I guess it’s just not paced very well and by the time Hakuno Neo resets The Matrix (and gives Rin blonde hair though I guess she’s now a Rin/Saber hybrid)…I was done.  This show was exhausting and definitely didn’t need the 45 minute finale to do what could have been done in half the time.  But you know, gotta sound important for importance sake I guess.

The concept of making a Fate/Stay Night iteration with a Sword Art Online twist was a curious approach.  In developing it further, the writers got lost in the sound of their own voice and somehow forgot where it was all going and couldn’t find their way back.  Still, there was Saber, the Animation, the deep storytelling, even some of the action.  This series did a lot of what makes any Fate/Stay Night series stand out in the first place and I did want to see where it was all going.  It just forgot to tell a story that made sense and wanted to play at being cryptic and mysterious to feel important and more intellectual.  In the process, it felt as flat and hollow as Hakuno for most of the season.  The finale suffers the most from a lack of anything truly memorable and compelling and instead just goes for more boring long winded speeches while Saber tries to salvage what she can.  In the end, Fate/Extra: Last Encore did manage to find way towards getting better in the middle.  But it peaked at Episode 9 and never gave me the ending I hoped it would.    Come on Fate, you can do better than this (right?).

Fate/Extra: Last Encore’s final score is…a 6/10.  The best Saber yet and the power of Studio Shaft’s art work does its best to keep things going.  But a forgettable protagonist and a concept never adequately explained hampers it all right til the very end.  Had Episode 9 been the conclusion, I would have rated it higher for finally getting its lead character in a good place.  The bad outweighs the good on this one…no matter how much I want Saber Nero to help me believe otherwise. 

Well that was disappointing…but better things are coming…rant filled comedy trust me.  Cause over the next couple of days you’re getting the gift of Anime Reviews galore.  In a few moments I’ll be posting my premiere review of Psycho Pass 2.  And tomorrow, Christmas Day, you’re getting Part 2 along with a special bonus review of another Anime I caught earlier this year.  Ive heard the rumors, ive heard the disdain Psycho Pass 2 has accumulated…boy…are you all in for a treat.  Keep watching dear readers and hope you all have a happy holiday.