This is a review for season 1 and 2 for what is worth it. Fate/Extra is an alternative setting for Fate/Stay. As such there are elements overlapping in both anime. But that’s it. There is no relation to each other what so ever. So when you watch this keep that in mind.
Story:
Typical Fate/ story. Boy who was actually not involved in the grail war at all gets pulled in and gets a saber class servant. An important aspect is not if Hakonu (mc) will reach the moon cell, but how. As a more character driven story, the plot itself is ok, having the typical MC plot armor MC will be op, but that is somehow perfectly explained. I leave it at this, if I explain more it is just spoiling.
Note being a more character driven story than a story telling anime, there is not very much explanation of servants, the moon cell, earth and magic. Fate/zero would be an appropriate introduction (not explanation).
Art:
The art is okayish and Fate/ like, except the character design. Their face made it a tad awkward to look at after I was used to the style of Ufo-table (Stay, Zero, UBW). It is not bad. The action is fluent and vividly animated so that is a big plus. The still frames however killed it for me sometimes. What was rather impressive and sometimes distracting was how many times they switched frames. This adds to the aspect of Sabers noble phantasm (revealed in the finale). Switching so many times has to cost a lot of effort of animating.
Character & Voice Acting:
To understand the character you have to see the anime itself. They develop and get revealed with each new episode. Being a character driven show I think some aspects of Hakuno and the other enemies could have been more “human” or rather more interesting.
Saber: as I said before, UmU. They put a lot of effort into red Saber (not Arturia Pendragon). A. Lot. Of. Effort. As a main character she gets the most UmU, screen time and camera angles. It somehow does add to her character (which is rather awkward to see). To understand why Saber is so UmU you have to see her full noble phantasm. It is a theatre. All in all her details are well built, but still a bit too much UmU, OwO!? Her VA is rather good and enthusiastic and fits her face well. But gosh her UmU.
Hakuno: he is passive, but passive aggressive you know. It is like a dog who doesn’t really bite or bark but stands there. Silently growling. That struck me ass odd and bad character presentation but he was a lot less idealistic and annoying than Shirou in Fate/Stay. To fully understand him you have to watch it yourself. Even his VA feels passive aggressive. Love it, hate it, it is fully in character.
Rin: She is there simply as fan service for Rin fans. She gets here fair share of flare. In this anime it was her time to shine and she did. Being an active side character she does help the story develop, but don’t expect to get most actions of her while watching the first season. As for her VA, Rin is Rin. If you love Rin it will be an absolute Win.
The better part that was somehow lacking were the dialogues. I think the dialogues between the main cast and in the finale were quiet good and well-coordinated. What lies in between the start and finale was lacking so much emotions. It didn’t feel climatic or there was not enough tension. Again it just felt passive aggressive. So to say there was not much bombastic VA all together from the enemies.
Overal:
While I’m on my Fate/ crusade I thought that I had to see this to. Somehow I’m glad I did and somehow I wished that I went straight to Grand Order. While if you emerged yourself in the show, it was enjoyable. If you know what the grail war is, then this post-apocalyptic setting was unsettling. I think Fate/Extra is misunderstood because there was besides Rin not much likeable or hypeable characters. There was a lot of subtle and nuanced hints about the story throughout Hakuno’s journey (rather call it that than fights), but a not so attend viewer may miss it and might judge the anime as lackluster in storytelling. If you want UmU Saber this is your summon, other than that it might be only for Fate/ hardcore fans.
