Review for Fate Zero Part 2

Introduction

I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting great things from this series when Part 1 showed up for review. Having had the bar set rather low by the original adaptation of Fate/Stay Night, I was completely bereft of enthusiasm for the prequel, Fate Zero. And then I actually watched the first thirteen episodes. It turned out to be better than good; it was fantastic, spectacular, an anime tour de force of intelligent writing, great characterisation, and production values to die for. It might just turn out to be the dramatic anime release of the year. So now Part 2 of Fate Zero is up for review, and I’m coming at it with exactly the opposite problem. The first part of Fate Zero pushed the bar into the stratosphere. I have wholly ridiculous expectations for its conclusion. Can it actually better the first part? Frankly I’d be satisfied if it just matches it!


10 years before the events of Fate/Stay Night, the Fourth Grail War took place in Fuyuki City, but following three previous inconclusive conflicts between the factions of the magical community, fighting to gain the power of the Holy Grail; this would be a war with a difference. The biggest and most obvious change was that this time, one of the mages selected to do battle was actually other than a mage, rather one of the priests that would normally oversee the Grail War. And this time, mage Tokiomi Tohsaka would form an alliance with the priest Kirei Kotomine to take the grail. But at the same time, The Einzbern family have against all expectations allied themselves with the notorious mage killer and mercenary assassin Kirutsugu Emiya. As the grail war begins, and the mages summon their servants, Tokiomi summons the king of kings himself, Archer, a.k.a. Gilgamesh. At the same time Emiya calls forth none other than King Arthur herself, Saber.


At the end of the previous collection, Caster and his master Ryunosuke had been the first to make a major play in the Grail War, although against convention, Caster had opted for a grand display of power that threatened the secrecy of the Grail War, by creating a giant, immortal monster in the middle of the city.

Disc 1
14. The Mion River Battle
15. Golden Shine
16. The End of Honour
17. The Eighth Contract
18. Distant Memories
19. Where Justice is Found

Disc 2
20. Return of the Assassin
21. Knight on Two Wheels
22. All the Evil in the World
23. The Sea at the End of the World
24. The Last Command Seal
25. Fate/Zero

Picture

You get a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer for Fate Zero, and it’s really quite a nice one, presented in native PAL with the usual 4% speedup. The image is clear and sharp throughout, with strong, consistent colours. Fate Zero gets a rather splendid animation from studio ufotable, characters are detailed and the animation is fluid. The backgrounds and world design are very appealing, and the action sequences speak of a decent budget and a whole lot of work. It’s a great DVD transfer for an anime, yet seeing the level of detail that is apparent at standard definition suggests that the Blu-ray will be very much the preferred option.

Sound

You have the choice between DD 2.0 English and Japanese, with optional translated subtitles and a signs only track. I was very happy with the original language track, the dialogue was clear throughout, the show’s music came across well, and the stereo gave enough space to the action sequences to offer some immersion. Of course a 5.1 track would have been appreciated more, especially with a show of this quality. The subtitles are accurately timed and free of error. I gave the dub a quick try, and found it to be one of the quality dubs, with actors well cast, even for the minor characters, and performances that did justice to the story.

Extras

The discs present their content with static menus and jacket pictures. The only extras are on disc 2, and happen to be the ubiquitous textless credits. If you really want extras, you’ll have to arrange an overdraft for the Aniplex version.

Conclusion

This show did have one thing in common with the original Fate/Stay Night anime. I became reluctant to watch each subsequent episode. The reasons are totally different though. Fate/Stay Night became increasingly mediocre as it went on, but Fate Zero just got better and better. I began to decry my reviewer schedule of two episodes a night, as I really wanted to take my time with this series, give each episode my full attention, and savour it completely, let it sink in before moving onto the next. I’m actually disappointed that I flew through these episodes at the pace I did, as this is a show where you want your first time with it to be memorable. It is that good.


Part 1 of Fate Zero was fantastic, a slow build up of story and character, with the Grail War unfolding in the manner of a chess game, all strategy and tactics, little cuts and thrusts of the preliminaries as the players in the game tried to gain the measure of each other. It was slow-paced, deliberate and enthralling. Part 2, from the moment it kicks off, is all endgame. This is where the game is played for keeps, where making the wrong move means losing, and losing means death. From the first episode in this collection, as Caster and Ryunosuke make the first real move in the battle, everything is up for grabs, and the stakes keep on rising, the pace keeps on intensifying, and it’s an edge of the seat ride from episode 14 all the way to the end of the show.


That’s except for episodes 18 and 19, which are a pair of flashback episodes that look into Kiritsugu’s childhood and past. You might think that they are oddly placed, but this is a show where you get to know the characters by their deeds, not through exposition, and the writing is such that you understand people like Kotomine, Kariya, and Tohsaka with relative ease. Kirutsugu on the other hand is by his very nature close-lipped, secretive, and apparently cold-blooded. It comes with being a mercenary, but makes it difficult to expound on his character in real time. Hence the show devotes two episodes to his past to explain why he is the way he is, and establish some audience sympathy for him. At this point in the narrative, the show is racing headlong towards the conclusion, the end looks imminent, and this two-part side-story also serves as a nice breather from that relentless pace.


From that point, it’s headlong to the conclusion, with plot twists, revelations, shocking developments, and where every character’s arc gets developed to its conclusion with upper-lip wobble induced on more than one occasion. This is a show that deals out tragedy and heartbreak, the back-story of Fate/Stay Night is certainly indication that there is no happy ending to be had here, but the details of how the Fourth Grail War ended are only revealed here, and for the players involved it is tragic indeed.


I love the animation in this show; it is sublime, rich in colour and detail. The audio is no slouch either, with a grand soundtrack, and truly engaging voice actor performances in both versions. But what impresses me most still, is the writing. The way that each character grows and develops through the story is so well written, it always feels natural, never contrived. The show makes full use of each character too, both the participants in the Grail War, and the heroes they summon. One thing that Fate/Stay Night failed to do was make use of the histories of these characters, and that is something that Fate Zero does really well. One unexpected moment of heartache was when Saber learned the identity of Berserker, something that calls on Arthurian legend in big way. That Arthurian obsession with the Grail also feeds into the conclusion of the show where...


Oops, almost spoiled it. This is definitely a show that you do not want spoiled, and neither is it a show that you want to rush headlong through. This is a show that you will want to savour, and watch again and again. It really does bode well for ufotable’s forthcoming take on Fate/Stay Night. I thought Girls Und Panzer would be MVM’s release of 2014... I was wrong!