Ranked #2294

Fate/Prototype

*Fate/Prototype- Before Fate/Stay Night was around as we know it, the creator Kinoko Nasu had many prior thoughts of what FSN could be like. As a teen in high school this was actually the original concept he came up with before they where entirely reworked for the Visual Novel.

Updated 1/23/12: Yay Subs that are easier to understand =], Added a bit to story, and characters

====Story====

From what I can gather Fate/Prototype is the *original version* of Fate/Stay Night (FSN) before it was completely redone into the FSN Visual Novel as it is today. Substantial changes were made to the script and characters to get the FSN Visual Novel underway. So with that being said all the original characters, and concepts return to before they were either changed completely or altered in some way or another (for instance Saber being a male instead of female). As of now it is still left in an unfinished state, and that no more adaptions other than this 12 minute OVA will be made.

The premise of the storyline (as what I concluded from the OVA) supposedly follows Ayaka Sajyo ,the main protagonist and Emiya’s original concept, who doesn’t want to have anything to do with the Holy Grail.

This is because she is just an average person as compared to her father and sister. It has been 8 years since her Father's and Sister's death from the Holy Grail War they were in. She still regrets that she wasn't strong enough to do anything, and However she still studies. Since, she is of the lineage of a magi she can’t escape the Fate that is handed to her but still she resist in becoming one of them*.

In these 8 years that have passed. She hasn't made any attempts to fight to get the holy grail. So when one of the servants comes for her head, her servant is finally awakened to fight for her.

===Thoughts===

What I like about the storyline is that it seems to feel much darker and grimmer than Fate/ Stay Night and Fate/Zero. I can also say that the premise is actually very good.

In one of the scenes you see what looks to be Ayaka as a child and her father explaining what the Holy Grail is. He explains that the Holy Grail has been *corrupted* which leads me to believe that the Holy Grail isn't as what it is said to be, and adds an even deeper aspect.

It gets me thinking that what if a person won and asked for a wish, but then the person and the wish they asked for also gets corrupted in some way or form. The possibilities of the main thing people are after being false are limitless.

But that’s really all I can say about it since we don’t have more information on it. I wish that the creator would finish Fate/Prototype because to me at least the storyline would be very interesting, and great to follow.

=====Art=====

Once again Type-Moon’s artwork and animation skills are top notch. The character designs are very nice clean, and concise. The backgrounds are very spectacular especially with the city given a more realistic layout and feel. There isn’t as much CGI this time around though, but there is some(as with the Noble Phantasms). The color palate is also great as usual with bright colors being brilliant and dark colors being deep. Everything just looks pretty wonderful.

====Sound====

The sound is also done fairly well. The voice actors chosen fit their parts pretty good, with none sounding out of place. There are a few OSTs given the short OVA, and from those OSTs the music is amazing. We are met with some great orchestrated pieces, and they set a pretty ominous mood, along with being suspenseful, and mysterious.

====Character ====

Since this OVA is only twelve minutes long and may be the only one made. I can’t really say much about the characters. However, I can say each is to his or her own. The characters seem again to be just darker than the previous iterations, but are still well flushed out.

There are some key difference from the original concept that I found interesting-

1) The main one being that now Saber is a male, and serves a female Ayaka, as it was opposite in FSN.

2) Lancer acts a lot more brutish and dastardly. He charges in almost without care to achieve his goal, as he was a good bit opposite in FSN

3) Archer still acts about the same except that he tends to think more about his moves instead of going straight into battle, as opposed to being much more brash. Seems that Saber and Archer actually have fought before in the 8 years prior.

4) Saber is a bit more “quiet” I guess you can say. He is also seems to be less stubborn, and playful than the one that is currently in FSN.

5) Ayaka seems to be a bit more of a coward, scared and doesn’t want to take responsibility of what lies ahead. She really want to have nothing to do with taking over from where her father, Hiroki Touch, let off whereas Shiro Emiya can’t stand the sight of people being hurt and actually pledge to be a hero of justice to protect people devoting to helping others before helping himself. On top of that he took on the responsibility of Emiya Kiritsugu , which again Ayaka did not.

and these are just some...

Having Saber be a male makes a bit more sense too and changes things up quite a bit. There are a lot of nameless characters in Fate/Prototype with one catching my attention. She says that she is in love with Saber and that he is her prince. That seems a bit weird to me. The character reactions and interactions still are as true as ever, and that’s what I like about the series. Emotions are also defined very well. But I still think that some fans will have mixed feelings about them.

====Enjoyment ====

For such a short OVA it got me pretty hyped about the story, but still don't except too much though. I really think that Kinoko should further develop, and release this as a standalone to the Fate Franchise. I found it to be quite the experience, and it was time well spent. This should be pretty enjoyable to those of the franchise, and hopefully with enough positive feedback we can get Fate/Prototype its own VN and TV series.

====Overall====

I highly recommend people who are fans of the Fate Franchise to watch Fate/Prototype to see where it all started from. It fascinated me on how much things changed, and it should also do the same for other fans. So just watch it, and see how interesting it can be.

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This is basically what Fate/staynight could have been. The format is kind of similar to a trailer.

First of all, the animation is absolutely fantastic, and the soundtrack isn't bad either.

In this version of the Holy Grail War, the main character is instead a girl called Ayaka, whose family was involved in the previous war. She doesn't want to get involved in the present war (apparently they take place every 8 years now). However, she gets attacked by Lancer, and ends up summoning Saber. Who is male.

The rest of the OVA is composed of really quick flashes of scenes and battles. It's confusing to watch, and I had to go search online for more info about the characters and such in order to fully understand the OVA. There are many battle scenes in the OVA, and they all seem to be really epic. Special mention goes to Gilgamesh's new powers.

The characters are similar to Fate/staynight, given that this was the prototype for Staynight. The Servants have been slightly redesigned, including making Saber male. The protagonist Ayaka seems to be the generic scared & shy girl type, but then again the OVA didn't really give much time to develop anything. During the quick flashes, we get a glimpse at the villlains, all of which seem to be very interesting.

The character who stood out to me blonde girl at the very end who seems to be yandere for male!Saber. Later online searches tell me she is named Manaka, and she's actually Ayaka's sister and a main villan. She feels kind of like Illya to me.

Overall, I think this was a really cool concept. I really wish the OVA was longer, as a few searches online gave me some really interesting information that I didn't catch during the quick flashes. read more