In my opinion, Fate/Extra is a massive mistake by Shaft. At the same time that the studio is adventuring into strange waters by adapting a TYPE-MOON title, they`re diverting too much from their usual adaptations when they decide to go for a linear-focused narrative. Fate/Extra being adapted by this manner, in my opinion, is a recipe for disaster.
In Fate/Extra, differently from other Shaft titles, there`s a linear narrative that has to be told by clear, objective and focused means. Fate`s world is rich in important details that NEED to be stated in a clear form for the universe to make sense. Shaft builds up a headless, footless monster when they decide to use the stylized approach that became famous in the non-linear -monogatari titles to be the vanguard of the series. This stylized approach, in Fate/Extra, becomes more important than the narrative itself. This becomes a serious problem for the linearity of the script because it leaves the spectator lost in the timeline and in the sense of the universe. Each episode starts and ends in a completely different manner than the previous – a basic continuity mistake that is TOO basic for an acclaimed studio as Shaft. I had to check the number of the episode while I watched to confirm if I wasn`t jumping over any of them by mistake.
The first episode of Fate/Extra is so badly-scripted that I thought I had been watching the second episode by mistake. It raises more questions than answers. Builds up an universe but doesn`t explains it. It completely ruins the suspension of disbelief. It`s in my list as one of the worst title debuts ever produced.
Fate/Extra is VERY objective when it only shows Saber/Nero in a 1-minute-25-second-action Opening. It tells us Nero is the marketing point, and she really is. Not only that, but Nero is the ONLY character with a backstory built-up that is concrete enough to be developed upon. The unforgivable mistake is, perhaps, the worst contradiction of the series – focusing the screentime on amorphous, monotonous, shapeless blobs that pretend to be characters -instead of in the actually interesting character that is Nero.
Just like other TYPE-MOON titles adapted to animation, the main character is once more an insertion mass for the spectator. Kishinami Hakuno is an extremely bad-built and bad-developed character, with the unique and essential function to react to the mishaps in the narrative while pretending to be you. Even after all this, he still fails to deliver while having, on average, two dialogues per episode and, on average, the most screentime of all characters. Hakuno`s backstory is badly-written, confusing and has many non-capped holes to be relevant. His personality has no taste and his motivations are empty. When animation studios adapt TYPE-MOON main characters, they seem to write it down while taking a massive poo dump.
This doesn`t get better if we compare Hakuno to the supporting characters. They are merely touched by the narrative, with no intention of development. Shinji, Rin, Rani – they`re all characters with no development potential that are used solely as story-progression tools. They`re used, then get discarded. When the narrative freezes, there they are to unfreeze it. Then they get discarded again.
What really irritates me when the topic is Shaft is the absurd quantity of unneeded, uninteresting, confusing and evasive dialogue. This is not only a problem of Fate/Extra itself, but of a lot of other Shaft-adapted titles: the characters say words, but they`re not speaking anything. These types of pretentious dialogues make the characters look like college philosophers – they only serve as hole-fillers to extend the lifespan of the episodes. Fate/Extra, with its humble 10 episodes, shoots its own foot when it adds these redundant dialogues. The script jumps over a whole floor because of the limited screentime – it`s a tragedy.
One of my problems with Fate/Extra is the monotony in the adaptation. The script is essentially descriptive. The series doesn`t want to surprise you, or to make you feel with the characters, or even create a bond between you and the story. The only function of the narrative is to communicate the facts in the most tasteless, abrupt form possible. When only one of the characters is in the scene, it seems as like all the other characters are frozen in time, only to not ask anything about what happened when they were not in scene. This kind of wearisome approach was principally noticed in the final scenes of the series, when Hakuno makes the `hard` choice between Rin and Rani. A potential climax was being built only for the decision to be communicated in the most abrupt and monotone way. It let me down immensely.
I won`t even comment how much of a let down the ending was.
In Fate/Extra`s case, it really seems like the Opening is the cover of a book. We can`t really judge the book by its cover. The animation budget was probably completely wasted in the opening, because we don`t really see much of good battle scenes like we do in the Opening Song. Animation is mediocre, it really seemed stiff at times. Art direction is also not one of the best – the characters design chosen doesn`t really go well with the narrative in my opinion.
Fate/Extra is a title to avoid. Much of the promises are not delivered and the script is very confusing and full of holes. This makes the series really frustrating to watch for the spectator. I hope the continuation can, at minimum, bring this ship back to the surface.
