Monday, June 29, 2020

Fate/Apocrypha Part 6 Episodes 21-25

In the clouds above, the final battle of the Holy Grail War rages on.  Desperate to stop Shirou Tokisada Amakusa from enacting his insane plan for Humanity’s salvation, Sieg, Jeanne, Astolfo and their allies collide with a nigh unstoppable force of Heroic Spirits.  Now is the time to settle old scores and find the answers to long held questions.  Will Sieg’s faith in humans give him the strength to face a nearly invincible enemy?  Will Jeanne discover that her feelings for Sieg are not the weakness she and others deem them to be?  Is Shirou truly the one to win the War while others sacrifice their lives to see his dream to completion?  Kings, Saviors, Witches, Mentors and Mages clash one final time…but who will the Holy Grail shower with victory in the end?

As I sit down to write this review, im in a very odd and rare state.  Ive watched several Fate stories before and usually I have some grief with them heading into their final acts, be it the confusing world of Fate/Extra: Last Encore or Shiro Emiya literally arguing with himself in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works.  Even Fate/Zero’s final moments hindered it from true greatness as it felt the need to set up Fate/Stay Night rather than end its own story without true connective tissue to stand alone (and even that’s a bit of a nitpick).  Fate/Apocrypha, however, has defied the odds.  Despite some interesting choices in animation and the true power of one particular Servant, I don’t have any real issues with these final five episodes, in fact I enjoyed them a lot.

As predicted, gone was the sheer spectacle of two massive armies with Mages and Servants scattered throughout on one huge battlefield.  Instead, we got a set of powerful and intimate showdowns between all of the surviving Servants and some Masters.  Everyone got their moment in the spotlight and their time for closure.  No matter how late their character development came, if there was a loose end, it was tied up in a perfect bow.  And man did these fights hit the hardest, definitely the best was saved for last.  Achilies and Chiron pummeling the crap out of each other; Atalanta turning into a Werewolf to try and kill Ruler; Mordred and Kairi double teaming Semiramis aka Assassin of Black (though she and Shakespeare might as wellve had their roles switched cause she is the furthest from an Assassin Class as can be); and then the icing on the cake which was Sieg vs. Shirou.  This was just…ahhhhhhh so freaking amazing and each fight got better and better as the finale moved on.

Let me try to break it all down.  Teacher and Student Chiron and Achilles kicked things off nicely with a duel on the wing of a plane that felt more like Rocky than Fate/Stay Night.  Body blows, blood spewing everywhere, even some last minute trickery, neither opponent held anything back and it was a fitting end to their rivalry.  Did Achilles surpass Chiron?  Maybe not quite in the duel since Chiron managed to knock out Achilles invincibility by hitting (you guessed it) his heal.  But Achilles more than proved himself a true hero by stepping in to face a transformed Atalanta to make sure she didn’t truly subcumb to her vengeance filled darkness.  Seeing them in a romantic embrace, even if they didn’t fully admit their obvious feelings, was so sad. For what I thought was a lack of character development on her part, I always enjoyed Atalanta’s will she/wont she banter with Achilles.  And then there was Mordred’s blaze of glory charge.  I’m not sure id classify Mordred and Kairi’s relationship as father/daughter, more sibling like id say.  Still, the pair managed to realize their true wishes before their time came to an end: Mordred wanting to rule so that Aurturia wouldn’t have to bear the burden that came with being King; and Kairi wanting his adopted daughter back.  Obviously, neither got their wish but they went out like true champs and it was all worth it just to see Mordred put the pompous Semiramis in her place.

Three back to back amazing fights…and it was only getting better.  Color me surprised when Shakespeare resurrected (somehow) Jeanne’s old friend Gilles de Rais to taunt her and test her resolve; mainly that for not playing favoirtes, Jeanne’s clear love for Sieg is hypocritical. If Gilles looks a bit familiar that’s because he’s everyone favorite murderous psycho Caster from Fate/Zero.  And then it was time for the big showdown, Sieg vs. Shirou.  Both wished the best for humanity but Sieg had more faith that humanity could save itself rather than the forced salvation that Shirou proposed.  Cue Mortal Kombat music and execute some of the best damn action ive ever seen in any Fate story EVER!!!  Sure Sieg had some secret power ups from Frankenstein and Siegfried but damn was it sweet to seem him lay the smackdown on Shirou (maybe im projecting a little cause except for his Heaven’s Feel iteration, I generally hate Shiro Emiya with a burning passion).  This did come at a cost as Jeanne sacrificed herself to give Sieg the will to fight. Yeah Laeticia is fine but poor Jeanne didn’t get a chance to tell Sieg the words she wanted to tell him…yet.  But man did that light the fire in Siegs heart.  There was no way Shirou was walking away to fulfil his plans the way Sieg looked at him (that’s a death glare if there ever was one).

When all was said and done, did the true ending match the epicness that preceeded it?  You know what…yeah it did.  I might not understand why Sieg has had a dragon within him this whole time…or maybe the Grail turned him into one IDK.  What I do know is that Sieg taking Immortality to another realm was a good move and it meant that with all the odds stacked against him, Sieg was gonna be ok.  In fact, pretty much everyone I wanted to be alright, was alright.  Fiore’s learning to walk.  Caleus is gonna study at the Clock Tower under Waver’s tutelage.  And Astolfo is gonna travel the world making people happy cause that’s what he does best.  Best of all: Jeanne and Sieg do reunite and get their happily ever after. As far as conclusions go for a Fate series, that’s pretty neat and weirdly happy.  Not to say that others haven’t ended on a bright note (Fate, UBW and, more or less, Last Encore though that last one was just boring), but Apocrypha gave us the happiest one to date…and I loved it.  Buuuuut if one thing did bother me it was the sudden change in animation style during several of the fights. Suddenly battles seemed to look less polished and more rushed.  I wonder if there was a time crunch of if this artistic change was intentional.  I mean sometimes they tended to look almost Studio Trigger-ish, especially Jeanne vs. Atalanta and Sieg vs Shirou, which isn’t bad, it’s just weird theyd break consistency with the overall presentation look this late in the game and at several important intervals.

Well…final thoughts time.  I’ve spent five weeks on Fate/Apocrypha and ive been continually impressed.  I honestly didn’t expect to like a show that jam packed a lot into its very beginnings.  But the bulk of the cast was very balanced and everyones stories got to play out in satisfactory manners.  Some characters like Jack the Ripper and Atalanta took a while to find their place and their motivations.  And Shirou’s desire to bring the world together through Third Impact wasn’t the most original, nor was Darnic’s power play endgame.  But Sieg’s journey from disposable Homunculus to bonefied hero of the people was inspiring and he played very well off of Jeanne and Astolfo, the latter of whom was my absolute favorite character on the show.  Actually, Apocrypha might’ve had my favorite set of Heroic Spirits to date in Fate.  Most were incredibly noble, all were incredibly bad ass and, in the end, everyone had their part to play or had their own tragic tale that tugged at the heartstrings when I didn’t expect them to.  And from an artistic presentation standpoint, A-1 nailed it from beginning to the end (even with the wonky animation choices in the last battles) and deserves to have another Fate project thrown into its hands down the line (God knows we aren’t running out of them anytime soon).  Even if it lacked the prestige of Studio Ufotable (Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel) or the avant garde approach of Studio Shaft (Fate/Extra: Last Encore), A-1 gave us a show that at times looked even better than the best Sword Art Online they’ve ever put out. 

I cant remember the last time I had this much fun reviewing a Fate project that wasn’t Heaven’s Feel.  While that movie trilogy is my gold standard for the franchise overall, I think Fate/Apocrypha might be my second favorite Fate TV Series behind Fate/Zero.  Therefore, I’m going to award Fate/Apocrypha an 8.5/10.  I’m gonna miss this saga and these characters but if this is truly goodbye, then I’m glad its with a smile rather than a groan (or in the case of Last Encore, a snore). 

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