Fate/Zero Volume 1 Manga Review
Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.
On January 31, 2021, I borrowed Fate/Zero’s first three manga books from a friend at my Digi-Locals, and finished the first volume on February 9, 2021. I was busy with life, work, and Digimon, so finding time to read was a real struggle. Reading the first volume was a great experience. Now I want to rewatch the anime or the very least rewatch the fights.
For my anime reviews on Fate/Zero, the links are here (season 1) and here (season 2).
Summary: In Fuyuki City, seven Masters have summoned beings called Servants, heroic spirits of historic figures, summoned to the present day to fight to the death in order to obtain the Holy Grail, the ultimate prize. Kiritsugu Emiya, the main protagonist, has summoned Saber to fight for him, but she feels uneasy regarding their relationship and accompanies Irisviel, his wife, to Fuyuki.
There’s more to the story than that brief summary, but that’s how it begins. Unlike the anime version though, there were new scenes that added great character depth to the story for Saber, Irisvel, Waver, and Rider. The main issue of Fate/Zero is still the massive exposition dump about the Holy Grail War, but the added characterization was a great touch. I almost cried reading Irisvel and Saber traveling the city, and laughed hardcore whenever Rider slapped Waver across the face.
“YOU FOOOL!” - the artwork whenever this action occurred was also amazing!
Of course, the Ufotable animation is still superior, but the artwork was nonetheless great to watch. The colored page opener was good to look at as well, and a good reminder of its not-so-happy conclusion. The pacing to the story was slow, but at least the view was nice! Everything was just so nice!
The exposition about the Holy Grail War does get really tiresome after awhile especially for Fate fans like myself, so newcomers might not enjoy it very much, but Volume Two is gearing itself up to action-packed with that cliffhanger. The “Saber versus Lancer” battle is one of my favorites from the series.
Overall, I love Fate/Zero and need to rewatch it now. Thanks for reading this manga review. I’m going to keep it reading with Volume 2 and 3s this week.