Fate/Zero returns to finish what it began, and after comprehensively dealing with Caster, the focus of the story moves on to Kiritsugu. Always seen as a total bastard, it turns out that he has very good reasons for being the person that he now is – as a trip into the past lets us see…
What They Say
Taking place 10 years before the events of Fate/stay night, this series chronicles the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
The Review:
The Servants have converged on Caster’s location, but the creature he’s summoned up to fight his battle for him has impressive regenerative abilities, and so far no-one has been able to strike even a disabling blow, never mind a fatal one. The military have been called in as well, moving the conflict beyond what the Holy Grail War’s controllers can, well control – the first failure of its kind in the War’s history. But where the other Servants have failed, perhaps Gilgamesh can succeed..?
Later, the focus shifts to Kiritsugu. As a child, he lived on a small island in the Phillipines with his father Nori, who was researching immortality with local woman Shirley. Kiritsugu had struck up a friendship of his own with Shirley – but it was a friendship (and a working arrangement) that the locals strongly disapproved of, fearing that Nori’s work would bring disaster on them all. They were soon to be proven right, when an experiment gone wrong unleashes Ghouls – the undead – on the island, and while young Kiritsugu managed to survive the outbreak, it was an event that was to set the course of his life…
So. At the end of Fate/Zero‘s first season, I made the comment that the first half of the series was clearly setup for what was to come, which was great as a promotional tool but not so great as far as watching those particular episodes went. Now, the series gets the chance to follow through on all that setup – and the good news is, the second season does that rather well.
After a short break for some political maneuvering – something else that both this show and I love – the story then moves on to its final chapter. Kiritsugu features strongly here, likely thanks to it already being known via Fate/stay night – but with him having been portrayed so far as a complete out-and-out bastard, a little bit of background work is needed to explain how he came to be the man he is – and to maybe help you actually sympathise with him along the way. Anyone who’s lived through a zombie apocalypse will never exactly be normal, after all, and after the two flashback episodes that explain his past (low on action but high on emotion), it’s a lot easier to take his side as the story switches back to the “present” and the end of the Holy Grail War draws near. The rest of the servants get their moments to shine here, as well – but it’s also where a few misteps are possibly made. Most notable of them is the conclusion to Saber’s story, which ties in with the revelation of Berserker’s true identity and feels rushed and poorly thought through.
In Summary:
But there’s far more good than bad. The conclusion to Rider’s tale, the revelation of the Grail’s true nature and aims, the fairly constant scheming and backstabbing between the War’s more ruthless Masters, some wonderfully-realised set-pieces, all combine to make it a series that races towards its conclusion with style and flair, and drags you helplessly along with it. Throughly entertaining, visually impressive, and always with a few surprised up its sleeve, Fate/Zero is well worth watching.
Content Grade: A
Streamed by: Nico Nico Douga, Crunchyroll
This article originally appeared at Anime Vision where Bryan writes about the UK anime market and the world of anime itself.
