And I must say it really is something.
One thing in advance, the pacing was really and I mean really fast. I doubt anyone not unfamiliar with the Nasuverse will have any idea what is actually going on. Even the anime Fate fans will likely have trouble understanding a lot of concepts this special talks about, without further context.
And while it is nice to see the attention to detail (Zelretch, Gray, Iskandar, etc.) and them adding new scenes (Rider being shown to stop Gil and Enkidu to relax their Master), I feel like this should have been at least 80-100 minutes long.
The special roughly adapted the first Light Novel, while cutting quite a bit, but the gist of it is in tact. Including the climatic fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. And I must say, I was a bit disappointed. The special didn't manage to properly depict the sheer gravitas of their fight, at least in my opinion. It cuts off too much and their sword clash looks rather generic. The animation is one thing, but the directing could create some tension if properly done. But I think both of these problems are most likely a direct result of the budget. Had they had more time and money to work on this, then the most important moments in their battle could have been given the proper time to breath.
A problem the teaser had when it debuted in December, was the animation quality. Some of shots looked really unfinished and while I must say that the overall animation quality was great, there were still some rough bits. Including Gil and Tiné walking.
All in all the Special is good, but not great. They did a great job with what budget they had, but having read the Light Novel, I must say it could have been much better.
Final Rating: 7.5/10
