The bloody Holy Grail War nears it’s conclusion. With several masters either dead or removed
from the game, along with their servants, it comes down to a handful of
combatants: Shiro, whose growing
feelings for Saber may hinder him from sending her to the final battle; Rin,
who learns a horrific secret from her past that could threaten her future;
Kirei, the priest who has played a long game to meet his own demented ends; and
Gilgamesh, a servant leftover from the last Grail War who has his own plans to
attain the grail. As fire threatens to
consume Fuyuki City once again, Shiro, Rin and Saber must combine all their
skill and might for one last battle. When
it all ends, will Shiro really be able to let go of the woman he loves? All fates have converged on this battle. It all ends tonight.
Ok. Before I get
into the final episodes of Fate/Stay Night, we’ve gotta talk about
Fate/Zero. As the title may imply,
Fate/Zero is a prequel to Fate/Stay Night, covering the Holy Grail War ten
years prior. Shiro’s Father, Kiritsugu
Emiya, along with Kirei Kotomine are two of the main characters along with
Saber and Gilgamesh. As one might
imagine, many of the tragic events from the war set the stage for the main
series to come (across all three Fate routes actually). Some of these events are actually talked
about (finally) in these final episodes of Fate/Stay Night. However, having seen Fate/Zero (which was
actually my entry point to the franchise), I can say that Fate/Stay Night’s
2006 adaptation is at a severe disadvantage without these events seen on
screen. The motivations of not just
Saber, Gilgamesh and Kirei, but also Rin, Sakrua and Illya are all fleshed out
in amazing detail, details that are only glanced at ever so briefly in Fate/Stay
Night. When Saber mentions to Shiro that
she was his fathers servant during the last Holy Grail War, I expected such a
revelation to have a bit more impact.
But Shiro doesn’t even dwell on it for five minutes before he kind of
just moves on. Same with Rin and
Sakura’s true connection. Again, I
thought that much of Rin rescuing Sakura was great but without seeing Rin
actually experience giving up Sakura to the Mato clan in Fate/Zero, it kind of
pales in comparison. Then there’s Kirei
and Gilgamesh’s true reasonings behind they they’re so F’ed in the head. My point is, going into these final episode
of Fate/Stay Night, I’m actually happy I started with Fate/Zero before coming
in. Without it, the sudden appearances
of several “familiar” characters and their motivations don’t have as big an
effect as intended. Instead, the revelation
of Kirei as the true villain of the series and Gilgamesh popping up out of
nowhere just feel like last minute tack ons to give the series one last push to
the end of the war.
With all that said, how was the finale WITHOUT looking to
Fate/Zero to back it up? It was ok. I liked some aspects of it but that didn’t
forgive a ton of missed opportunities.
Kirei being outted
as the final boss alongside Gilgamesh felt rushed. Even Castor and Kuzuki are swept under the
rug just as quickly as they appeared to make room for these two, same with poor
Lancer, who has spent most of the show out of sight and mind. Their evil was felt though. Time and time again, this show has tried to
increase the level of difficulty for Shiro and Saber. From Rider to Berzerker to Castor and Kuzuki,
this show has never run out of OP characters to throw at them. Kirei and Gilgamesh are a whole other level. Not only are they powerful, they’re also
incredibly F’ed up individuals. Kirei is
the true embodiment of Michael Caine’s description of The Joker in The Dark
Knight, “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” He claims to love humanity, but only when it
is suffering and in pain. Pretty
twisted. And then there’s Gilgamesh…easily
my most hated character in all of Anime.
His arrogance, that smug expression of superiority…and basically
threatening Saber with straight up RAPE to assert his dominance over her should
she be defeated in battle. I’ve ranted
about annoying character on this show before (Shiro and Illya especially). But Gilgamesh, never before in my whole of
watching Anime have I EVER wanted a character to get his ass kicked so
badly. Thankfully Saber brought the pain
and proved why she is one of the two best characters in this show. Though, ugh, I have to admit, Gilgamesh’s
take down in Unlimited Blade Works is a bit more satisfying…but that’s a tale
for another time.
Even without thinking about Fate/Zero, I did enjoy the
theme of “legacy” going into the final battle.
Tying the two wars together through Saber’s connection to Shiro (her
being his father’s former servant) and therefore his connection to Kirei (his
father’s arch nemesis) gave a full circle kind of feel to this conflict. You could feel the weight of all these
revelations building on Shiro. To top it
all off, we even learned the reason why it seems impossible for Shiro to die:
Kiritsugu implanted Shiro’s ultimate healing sword sheath into him to keep him
safe…wow that’s fatherly love there and also explains why Shiro can suddenly
become a bad ass and take on Master and Servant alike even though he trained
with Saber for like five minutes. I also
liked how the series built upon the idea that Servants and Masters are matched
together based on personalities and various qualities. I like how Saber and Shiro both thought about
potentially using the Grail to reset time and make sure the tragedies of their
two era never came to pass (Shiro losing Fuyuki City and Saber losing her
kingdom). These two really were more
alike than I gave credit for and, to their credit, they did grow together as a
team. When Shiro wasn’t trying to force
his philosophy in everyones face, he had a lot going for him falling for Saber. Knowing Saber probably wasn’t going to be
around after the battle was over was a tough decision to endure. Still, it was a suitably sad but well done
farewell between the two.
Still, their issues and stubbornness aside, my bets ended
up being all on Shiro and Saber. This is
mostly cause I really wanted Kirei and Gilgamesh to just die. And also…because they freaking sidelined Rin
right before the final battle…WHY? Rin
had just as much right to be there at the final battle just as much as Shiro
and Saber. Hell, without her they
wouldn’t have gotten that far. But
suddenly the writers decide to just brutally injure Rin off screen and leave
her to nearly die giving Shiro advice for taking on Kirei. As much as I’m all for the outcome of the
final battle, Rin needed to be there. I
said Saber was one of the two best characters on the show, well Rin is the
other favorite. I think she and Saber
did more of the work while Shiro just got sliced up and beaten more than half
the time. I suppose I should be grateful
that Rin ended up surviving…and that she has more screen time and story
importance in the other routes of Fate/Stay Night.
Well, not sure what else there is to say but my final
thoughts. As an entry point to a much
larger franchise, you could do worse but you could also do better. The action is pretty good and the characters
(annoying or otherwise) are pretty memorable, for all the right (Rin and Saber
are hot and bad ass) and wrong (Shiro thinks he’s the wisest kid on the planet
when he’s a total incompetent) reasons. There’s
a hefty amount of interesting lore to go along with each character but many are
just scratched at the surface. The
series tends to make more time for Shiro posturing or Rin explaining every
single aspect of a magical element rather than go in depth into each Servant and
Master. Seriously, I love Rin but many
times I felt I was in a Magic 101 course when the show needed to be moving
forward at a brisker pace. So long as
Shiro, Saber and Rin are the focus, other characters come and go at a pretty
rapid pace without much extra thought.
However, if you’re looking for a solid action Anime steeped in magical
mysticism, the show does its job well sure.
As I said, you could also do better.
I’d actually recommend Fate/Zero first before going into Fate/Stay
Night: Unlimited Blade Works and I’m going to try my best to see if I can
review them for the blog in 2017.
Fate/Stay Night receives a final score of 6.5/10. Solid female leads and good action don’t
spare the fact that the show is slow at times and needlessly hampered by a less
than stellar lead hero and some really annoying side characters. It’s not the worst but maybe not the best
entry point into the Fate franchise.
And that’s that…or is it?
Actually no, there’s one more review (maybe two) I have to post before I
close out 2016…and you’ll see it on the Anime Corner on New Year’s Eve. Keep an eye out everyone and thanks for an
amazing year.
