Why yes, that is a giant monster in the middle of the city.
What They Say:
Ten years prior to the events of FATE/STAY NIGHT, the War of the Holy Grail is a contest in which seven magi summon seven Heroic Spirits to compete to obtain the power of the “Holy Grail,” which grants a miracle. After three inconclusive wars for the elusive Holy Grail, the Fourth War commences.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While the show finished on a good note with its first season back in December, I did have some trepidation about getting back into again in the spring season. It’s not that I expected it to be bad, far from it, but I worried about the ease of getting back into the show with its cast, relations and the way things are interconnected in a way that could be a bit more complicated due to the time between episodes. And due to everything I watched in between. Thankfully, Fate/Zero does manage to smooth things out fairly quickly and it once again becomes a very engaging watch, which is no surprise considering the talent involved and the solid storyline that’s unfolding.
The arrival of the monster from before has sent things into a real mess at the start here as even the fighter pilots are surprised by what’s going on, unable to believe it and joking that if it’s true it’ll mean their deaths since they always get killed first in these kinds of movies. For the rest of the Grail warriors though, it’s proving to be a definite challenge as they’re unable to make much headway against it, doing some damage but not driving it back and proving ineffective in the larger view of things. Where the fight takes a fascinating turn though is when after one of the fighter jets is lost, the other attempts a bit of revenge but ends up being “taken over” by Berserker, who lands on it mid flight and begins to use it himself to give him the chariot he needs to engage the creature.
The episode goes big for the action in a lot of ways, which is definitely warranted for its return after taking the time off. And it pays off well here, especially once Berserker gets on the stage. But it deals with some smaller and more personal moments as well as the “family” relations and those on the Master side get involved in dealing with their personal disputes that intermingle with everything. Between what’s going on up in the air and then down on the ground with Saber and those with her and then the darker moments with the Master side, it brings a lot of things together, and forces a quick bit of reference lookup too if you don’t recall everyone, but also a good deal of the creepy with the giant monster at hand as well.
In Summary:
While not a knockout hit for a returning episode, it’s pretty much what I expected out of the series now that it’s back on the air and it does introduce some changes as not everyone survives this encounter. It has some very fun and well animated action to it that stands out beautifully, it has the requisite giant monster and a good deal of insanity as well, and it makes sure that not everyone survives so there’s some changes to the status quo. I wish there was a bit more Servant action overall, but it generally does balance things pretty well and makes for an engaging episode that gets you back on track It’s all just going to get bigger and more intense from here and this definitely pushes it in that direction just right.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Nico Nico
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
for me this episode was pretty meh so it gets a “C-” because I’m feeling generous. The entire first season was really boring and I was expecting much more because the manga was so bold and gory but most of it has been changed for the anime to make it more friendly to all those new censoring laws of Japan. But anyway, I didn’t Fate/Stay that much either anyway, this series really isn’t my kind of anime.