It finally ends…
Since the first episode, which probably the longest out of any series, it was a fun ride. Sadly, things come to an end as Fuyuki City gets decimated. However, one of the few things that were inconsistent with Fate/stay night is the fight between Saber and Archer while the city burns. Aside from that, some things such as Kiritsugu saving Shirou with the Avalon and adopting him as his son that will carry on his legacy were obvious.
As for Kirei, he is just downright evil. Besides getting his wish granted by the Grail and basically becoming the victor, he gives Tokomi’s dagger to Rin that he used to murder him after the burial. That is just downright cruel, although she doesn’t realize the truth until several years later. On the other hand, it’s also surprising and sad to see Aoi in that state. She is simply in her dream world thanks to brain damage. This is probably worse than death. Man, Urobouchi is simply cruel to all the women in this show and give them such bad fates.
With that, this leads us to the beginning of Fate/stay night, which I will complete… someday!
Final Thoughts
Believe it or not, Fate/zero was actually better than the first four episodes of Fate/stay night. I think most of this is contributed to Studio Deen not animating this and that the adults are in it to win the Grail. While the masters were okay, the most attention-grabbing ones were Weaver and Kirei. Also, most of the servants were rather interesting, although Assassin bit the dust before any real action occurred.
While the first part had many interesting moments, it was dialogue heavy. It’s not until the second part where the killing off of characters and strangling began. However, Kiritsugu’s past was fascinating and brought some light to his ideals.
Despite a few minor flaws like leaving some important details from the original source material, I really enjoyed Fate/zero and certainly going to miss it.
Overall Rating: 9.5/10, A, Masterpiece
Review coming soon… hopefully!
That “fight” was added by Deen Studio when they adapted the anime. Fate Zero novel had Saber almost dying from the trashing Lancelot gave her (only surviving because Kariya ran out prana) and getting used as target practice for Gilgamesh.
As for Kirei. You should readthis . Although the tone of the analysis is a little on the fangirly side, it does cover the character. F/Z stole a lot of his richness and, sadly, FSN anime adapts Fate route which he’s just a background villain. Maybe they’ll fix him in the Bluray. They made him too expressionless.
I kind of expected that, although the finale kept out Saber dying… Still, I probably get around playing the source material one of these days… but I wonder how the blu-rays will fix this as Kirei is a rather interesting character for his… well, evilness.
Yes, she was in trouble.
The tragedy of Kirei is that he was born as evil man and he was raised to be good. Being evil pleases him, but also drives him into self-loathing because he wants to be intellectually good. He has a nature vs nurture struggle constantly which is why Gilgamesh finds him absolutely fascinating.
Zouken mocks him in one point of the VN: “Hahaha, hahahaha! Such a hopeless wretch! Do you still seek mundane happiness!? Do you not understand that such a thing does not exist for you!? You will never find it. Kirei, you were defective from birth. Just stand and watch, never fitting into the world…!”
That’s why Kiritsugu is the one person he hates so much. He could so easily love and find mundane happiness he tried so hard to obtain without results. Yet he chose to empty himself like he does for the sake of something unreachable and childish. It’s the ultimate insult to Kirei.
On the other hand, Kirei really likes his son Shirou, who is exactly like him.
The Fate/Stay Night anime is not very good. Studio DEEN did a horrible job adapting the story, and as you said, it shows. If you want to see a worthy continuation of this story, you should read the Fate/Stay Night Visual Novel which is the original version. Its much, much better then the sadly terrible anime.
Yeah, I have heard that Sudio Deen really botch up the adaptation and added moar fights. Might cover the visual novel one of these days, if there is a translation and I can get my hands on one. But considering that there are a number of arcs that they didn’t cover besides the Fate and Unlimited Blade Words, its might be worth the trouble.
From my side, I do think that Studio Deen hasn’t done a bad job animating Fate Stay Night. Their problem was mainly delving into original territory by trying to merge up all three routes in one route instead of adapting faithfully.
(Oh, and the bad animation too…:P)
It seems that this is a major problem, although their animation kind of lacked in my opinion. It’s difficult to adapt a visual novel since there are many routes and the fact that you can’t satisfy everyone. But yes, it leaves a lot to be desired.