NOTE: For the purpose of this review the 'Hero King' Will be referenced as 'Archer' To avoid the spoiling of his identity, which is a major first season plot point
As the prequel to a well known show based on a Visual Novel by Type-Moon. I was very reluctant to actually try this show. Mainly due to the fact that the original adaptation of "Fate/Stay Night" By DEEN studios, was in my personal opinion, a failure, while DEEN are not known for amazing animation, the adaptation strayed in short WAY too far from the source material, trying to combine the 3 Routes together into one plot, It isn't a bad anime however if you don't plan to play through the source material and I would recommend trying it out. The point of this however, Is the emphasize my uncertainty like many others at watching fate/zero, I was extremely surprised to find what I consider to be the best anime of the season, and probably the year. Let's begin.
STORY/Nine : I'm giving this story a nine mainly due to the way the story is woven together as such an intricate mind game between seven opposing party's. Each party has their own ideals and motivations for wanting the holy grail, which is praised as an omnipotent wish granting device, without including any spoilers of course.
The story centers itself around these seven 'Masters' who have descended from a family of Magi, People who are capable of harnessing and controlling magical energy, These masters are 'Called upon' By the grail to participate in a battle royal of sorts, Each master summons a 'Servant' an epic hero from history. Naturally one would expect these servants to fight for their masters without question, however this is not the case with Fate/Zero. Each servant also has ideals and motivations of their own, and the plot is set up in such a way that most of the masters learn something from their servants and/or vice versa.
The central focus of the story at the end of the day is the clashing of ideals and doing what is right. There is no REAL protagonist until the very end with the exception of the ever absent during the first season Kiritsugu Emiya.
ART/Ten : There is not much I can say about the art other than it is as near to perfection as I can possibly imagine, in my honest opinion the only anime I've seen that surpasses this one in terms of sheer art and animation is its sequel also developed by ufotable which for the sake of this review we shall refer to as "Fate/Stay Night : Unlimited Budgetworks" A well known term which has become all too common among this shows fan base, and a well earned one at that, considering the shows animation quality is top of the range. All I can say for Fate/Zeros art, is : Amazing. Just watch episode 15 and you'll understand. Excalibur!
SOUND/Nine : Same thing goes for the sound as the art, Ufotable did a great job putting the soundtrack together however the real standout tracks if I do say so are Season 2's OP which I highly recommend you check out and even download and the Character themes, specifically that of 'Archer' who's name I won't reveal due to a quite nostalgic reveal from him during the first season. Soundtrack is one massive eargasm and I recommend you all support Ufotable by purchasing it should you have the money. I would go so far as to say that the soundtrack in this anime compares to greats such as Mirai Nikki and even Your Lie in April
CHARACTER/Ten : Now it is in this section that Fate/Zero truly comes into its own, the characters all have their own Ideals as I mentioned before and motivations, even the servants from history, who are all participating in this grail war to achieve something they failed to in life. I would class the servants as the best, most well developed characters in the show if it wasn't for one MASSIVE stand out exception, that being the closest thing we have to a protagonist. Kiritsugu Emiya.
Emiya has always wanted to be a hero since he was just a child but as his adolescence unfolds we see that his motivations, although pure can be clouded, He usually prefers the Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one approach although we see later in the series that although he leads on to us that this is the approach he wanted to take, his true desire was to save everybody, and create a Utopia where everyone could live in piece, as shown in a major plot point which I will not spoil, Kiritsugu is my SECOND favorite character in this series, however my personal favorite has a lack of screen time in this prequel.
Archer: 'Archer' comes across as your typical cocky antagonist, however if you watch and read all adaptations, you will come to realize his motivations are just and he merely seeks a means to an end, this is until he develops an obsession with a certain character, and so ends his decent into madness, he has suffered great loss and bested many trials, however loss burdens him, for he will only ever have ONE, companion.
You will no doubt develop your own attachments and likeness for each character, due to the fact that they're all so well developed and captivating and I feel as though with this particular show it just matters who you relate to the most. however, there is one stand out character who I must admit, outshines BOTH of my personal favorites in every aspect, and if you've read this so far, you'll be wondering why I left him out to this point.
RIDER: Without a doubt, the best character on the show, I'll let you find out for yourself.
ENJOYMENT/Nine : My personal enjoyment of this show was extremely high due to my interest in various mythologies and history. I loved the premise from the start and the second season of this show was one of my favorites to date. this review would be a ten if not for the slightly slow start in the first season.
ENDING/Ten : The ending was in my mind, without a shadow of a doubt, the best thing about this show. The character development we get in episodes seventeen through nineteen set up the ending perfectly. and without ruining anything, six words describe why this was a perfect ending: I want to be a hero.
These categories along with my personal attachment to 'Archer' and my understanding and enjoyment of the source material lead me to award this show with a score of 9.5/10 overall.
