Post — Aaron Ngo

Welcome to another anime review that caters to my Fate obsession. I plan to write a review on the mobile app game, Fate/Grand Order as well. I have progressed far enough in the game and learned enough to write an effective assessment on it.

Anyways, let’s dive into this anime.

This is like the previous Fate series except it is more of a standalone with fun Easter eggs to the previous series. However, it is not the most joyful experience. In fact, it makes me wish they designed this anime to resemble more like Fate/Zero, arguably the best Fate series out there.

Short recap: the story is set in a parallel world from the other series. This Holy Grail War is conducted differently compared to the previous wars. There are two factions called Red and Black, who each summon seven servants to fight on their behalf. So, there are seven masters and seven servants facing off against another set of seven masters and servants.

The Red Faction are mages from the Clock Tower Mages’ Association and the Black Faction are a Romanian Group called Yggdmillenia.

I’m not sure if it’s a “what-if” scenario like the Fate routes, but in this version, Unlimited Blade Works and Fate/Zero never happened. The setting is also different, shifting from Fuyuki City to Romania because the Holy Grail was moved there.

Based on the recap alone, I’m going to start where I was most frustrated. There is no clear main character in this series. During the first three or four episodes, the focus on several characters lead me to believe each of them could be the protagonist…

Mordred, Saber of Red and Artoria’s bastard “son”, was the first candidate. Don’t ask me how that works. I have no idea. Her Master is Kairi Sisigou, a freelance mage. She wants the Grail to claim her birthright as King and to earn recognition from her “father” as her rightful heir. The relationship between her and Kairi is fun and arguably the best team out of the fourteen so far.

However, these two barely appear after the first few episodes, so they got ruled out as main protagonists.

Shirou Kotomine was my next guess. The name alone got me on high alert. It is a literal name combination of Shirou Emiya and Kirei Kotomine from the Fate/stay night series. Shirou is a Priest like Kirei and part of the Red Faction too. He is the Master of Assassin of Red but hints heavily to have ulterior motives.

The reveal was unexpected. Shirou is also a Ruler Servant and wants the Grail for his own selfish reasons, seizing almost complete control of the Red Faction’s Servants. So, his name was an Easter egg and has no real connection to Shirou Emiya. I think that’s lame, but whatever…

The main female protagonist is declared Ruler Jeanne based on Internet Search. She appeared early but made too many sporadic appearances in the first half of the season for me not to consider her as the MC.

The Grail summoned her as the 15th servant to monitor the war. Towards the end of the season, it is made clear that she will become the central character moving forward with another… who I will get to.

The Main Male Protagonist is Sieg, who did not appear until like episode 3 or 4. He is a homunculus boy who had no name or purpose. After being nearly killed, Saber of Black Siegfried offered his heart to save the boy and brought him back to life. This gives him purpose, a name in honor of his savior, and the goal of saving other homunculus like him. He also earns his place in the war as a Master.

He grows a bond with Rider of Black, which leads them to forming a pact with each other.

The anime’s fight scenes are both clean and inconsistent. There are certain fight scenes that made me go, “this doesn’t look good”, but others that look superb. Inconsistent at its finest.

The story doesn’t allow us to see which side is “Good Guys” or “Bad Guys”. We see the two Factions go off but aren’t given a clear idea on who deserves the Grail more or the slightest idea on who to root for. Although we spent a good amount of time with the Black Faction, all I get is, “Lots of Servants are fighting each other!” Individual servants are clear on the good and evil spectrum, but the teams aren’t.

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Fate series without a rogue Servant. The rogue Servant is Jack the Ripper. She is child-like in nature but has a murderous thirst, killing innocent women to consume their mana and hearts. She briefly fought against Mordred, which was an entertaining fight, but not long enough. Jack will most likely get more screentime in the second season.

Overall, first season is kind of a mess with no clear focus. By season’s end though, the focus is clearly going to Sieg and Ruler. As they have established a new status quo going into this Holy Grail War. I am taking my time watching second season, haven’t even started it, so the season two review won’t come for quite some time.

Thanks for reading. Join the Fate fandom. It’s “fun”.

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