you've come to the right page. now please enjoy my first review.
fate/zero is the prequel for the extremely popular fate/stay night visual novel.
the fate/stay night anime received mixed reactions and if you ask me, its extremely overrated.
studio deen known for butchering adaptations did it again. and the result wasn't pretty.
fate/stay night was a pretty bad anime if you ask me, even if the animation was pretty good for its time.
all the story was presented in the most boring way possible. the fights werent exciting, the voice actors did a much better job on the obviously superior visual novel.
and the unlimited blade works movie was a mixed bag of bad storytelling compared to the counterpart visual novel route. the only good things about the unlimited blade works movie were the animation and the fights.
and then, in 2011, ufotable who is known for the amazing kara no kyoukai movies decided to adapt the fate/zero novel to a full fledged anime, spanning 25 episodes (after that it was decided that one cour will air on october 2011 and the other cour will air in april 2012).
finally, the talented type moon visual novel staff gets an excellent adaptation to their amazing work. i already forgotten about the tsukihime anime adaptation and fate stay night adaptation.
story - 10
the story may be not that original, but even if its not original it doesnt mean its not good.
seven masters fight a deadly battle for winning the holy grail war to acquire the holy grail and to fulfill their biggest desires. accompanying each master is a servant, and each servant is a heroic spirit summoned by magic from the past.
the concept is the same as the fate stay night visual novel, but with mostly different characters and different setting (10 years prior to the events of the fate stay night visual novel).
the story is battle of wits and strength. each master has a unique personality and each servant has a different measure of strength and heroism/anti-heroism. the servants fight for their masters and the masters command the servants splendidly. each master is a magus skilled in the arts of magic and the spirit of the masters and servants are connected.
just from what im describing here you may already notice its not a silly generic romantic harem anime. it doesnt have any fanservice. it has a real story with believable characters and exciting setting and fights.
the story has no major flaws. its not presented in episodic fashion (a thing i really hate about anime). its like reading the novel, just animated. it doesn't stray from the original source material.
art - 10
i mentioned the kara no kyoukai movies. remember the animation in them? yes, the animation in fate/zero is movie-like, just in a tv series. ufotable did it again. and the result is very pretty.
the animation is extremely fluid. even the cg, that is usually bad in anime shows (gonzo, deen etc) is done extremely well. berserker is made from 100 percent cg. and he moves so good my eyes tear from the prettiness!
sound - 10
the voice actors do an amazing job.
the music is by kajiura yuki. i said enough.
character - 10
notable characters:
saber - the best character in the series. she is also mai waifu.
emiya kiritsugu - a magus that is an expert in firearms. this guy is a machine.
kotomine kirei - this motherfucker is back, and more badass than ever.
irisviel - adorable.
gilgamesh - mongrels!
rider - an extremely well written character. he and waver are one hell of a combo.
lancer - this guy shits heroism out of his ass. that's how heroic he is.
caster - janneeeeee~! a bit of a freak. but i like him.
assassins - not much to say, aside that i like their design.
kayneth - this dude is in my profile avatar. he's pretty cool.
kariya - being kariya is suffering.
ryuunosuke - a mass murderer. he and caster like to make people suffer in the most horrible ways.
waver - without rider this dude is invisible.
tokiomi - i like his voice.
loli sakura - oh god the suffering.
loli rin - hngg.
illyasviel - she doesn't have many appearances. she becomes much more important to the story in fate/stay night.
enjoyment - 10
i cant remember how i enjoyed a series to this extent. a winning formula for every anime lover.
overall - 10
if you want to watch anime, don't watch some moe slice of life that swarms the market these days. you better watch something good, something with meaning and depth. watch fate/zero. read the fate/stay night visual novel. play fate/extra. thank me later.
