Sep 2, 2012
Fate/Zero is part of the Fate series, originally a Visual Novel made by Type-Moon and takes place 10 years before the original Fate/Stay Night and the 5th Holy Grail War. This show has an interesting story, great animation, outstanding music and characters, basically minimal fan service and set in a modern day where no character has anything to do with High School. If I want to describe Fate/Zero with a few words, I would say it's mature , dark and action filled.
But what exactly is the Holy Grail War you ask? It's a seven way war between seven mages chosen by the Grail to participate.
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These mages are entitled Masters and can summon one hero found in history or legends to partner up with. With the winning team each getting one wish granted.
The heroes, or Servants as they are known as here, are set in one of seven classes:
Saber, the knight of swords, Lancer the knight of the lance, Archer the knight who is supposed to use bows, Rider which is the mounted knight, Caster a magus of high caliber, Assassin which is stealthy and Berserker the mad warrior who loses it's mind when summoned to increase it's power.Even all the Masters are all interesting and different, like the cold blooded assassin and the insane serial killer, and no one is an obvious main character as the story shows all of them and how they are in and out of battle.
Yes, a seven way tag team battle royale with no obvious main character and therefore lack of obvious winner. Alright, some get more screen time then other's as the story progresses since this is a battle royale, and character's will die, because people die when they are killed. But despite that, each character gets their attention. This anime also manages to tell us that there is no right way to end up victorious. Less a clash of good and evil and more a clash of ideals, including the Master and Servant pairs. Some become instant BFF's, some hate each other and some make secret alliances with each other.
Every character is given a purpose and just watching them interact with each other interesting in it's own right as well as how they develop over the course of the show. And then there are the stand out character's. Most notably Rider, whose charisma easily steals every moment he's on screen.
Even those of you who are only looking for awesome action has come to the right place, as Fate/Zero has some of the most amazing fights ever, helped by the fact that everyone has different fighting style's and tactics, that the fight's can range from one on one to free for all's and mind games, as well as the amazing music composed by Yuki Kajiura, as well as it's awesome opening and ending theme's.
However it can get confusing at times for those not already familiar with the Fate franchise as each character has a ton of back story and the fact that you might want to check up on the heroes legends. To be newbie friendly they made the first episode a 40 minute lecture you may or may not find boring. Me? I enjoyed it and it is a pretty good episode to tell you what you need to know and introduces almost every character in the show, so you can't skip it, whether you are familiar to the franchise or not. The first season also ends on the most atrocious cliff hanger which, if the second season wasn't out yet, you'd have to wait a little over three months to find out what would happen next.
I can basically recommend this to anyone since every aspect of it gets top marks or almost so. But if what you want is a more mature action anime this is a definite must watch for you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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