It's soo hot right now and I contemplated just skipping this month's favourites since I didn't have much for anime or manga, but I thought I might as well do it even if there's only one haha. I watched other stuff like Oregairu S1 but it didn't really make an impact so I guess I'll see if S2 changes my mind? Lol. I've also been spending more time on visual novels, so maybe if I don't find anything interesting next month, I can talk about the visual novels I liked instead? Haha.
Fate/Zero
Genre: Action, Supernatural, Magic, Fantasy
Episodes: 25 (2 seasons)
My Rating: 8.5
Honestly, I think Fate/Zero is what I wanted Fate/stay night to be like - much better and more mature characters all around and establishing their individual desires for the holy grail much much better, whilst still keeping up with the visually beautiful fights. I've never really been a fan of Saber, so I also enjoyed how a lot of the other characters were developed and how they interacted with her. I especially liked Irisviel and Rider/Iskander as characters the most, but Kiritsugu, Lancer and Kariya's motivations really resonated with me. I think what makes up Fate/Zero to be so good in my eyes were definitely the characters, because there wasn't a dull moment with them! I actually found it difficult to not like any of the characters, because even if they weren't my favourite, I understood their reasons for doing what they did and enjoyed the roles they played out in the story. To be fair though, Fate/Zero is adapted from a novel and Fate/stay night is adapted from quite a long VN so it was inevitable that a lot of things would feel cut out. Which is also why I've started reading the Fate/stay night VN (finally!) and I'm already enjoying it quite a bit with the extra information that's kinda glossed over in the anime adaptations. Anyway! The premise of the Holy Grail War has always been interesting to me but it was always more of a means to an end to me, so the reason Fate/stay night never appealed to me was that aside from Archer, Rin and maybe Lancer, no one really interested me enough to care about the rather contrived story.
Fate/Zero is the prequel of Fate/stay night (must watch Fate/stay night first though!) where it showcases the previous Holy Grail War 10 years ago that caused the fire and destruction in which led to Shirou being saved by Kiritsugu. So really, you already know the ending of the series but that doesn't detract from the story at all since you never really get to know how and why exactly everything happened like it did. Kiritsugu is the protagonist and is hired by the Einzbern family to participate in the war, in which he summons Saber. Now, in terms of characters! Tbh, in most of S1, you barely see any development for Kiritsugu but it's really worth it to make it to S2 to see it because it really is saddening to see how pure and simple Kiritsugu's dream and motivations were, and yet it was so hard to achieve without destroying himself in the process. (which is kinda what you mostly see in S1, the apathetic Kiritsugu). For Irisviel, Kiritsugu was the one who showed her the world outside of her mansion through words and by bringing her out, and even if part of it was to achieve his objectives, she was still immensely grateful to him for it all, and I think it really reflected nicely in her character how much she loved him and embraced his ideals as her own. Maiya is similar to Irisviel in that she would do anything for Kiritsugu and even though her role was small, her unconditional love for Kiritsugu was memorable. Kiritsugu and Saber's relationship was also understandably estranged, especially with what happened to Lancer, and I have to admit, that definitely left a bad taste in my mouth as well, considering how much I also loved and admired Lancer for the loyalty he had and the story behind it. Kotomine Kirei and Kiritsugu's "hatred" for each other was rather amusing, but mostly one-sided from Kirei since he was mostly the one that always wanted to understand why someone similar to him could have so many people care for him etc, when really, Kiritsugu was nothing like him.
The best relationship dynamic was definitely Rider/Iskander with Waver (his master), because omg did I think Waver was going to be nightmare of a character being the childish guy he was, but when paired with Rider, they were definitely the best Master/Servant duo. Not only did Rider guide Waver into being a man like he was, he also made every tantrum Waver had into something very understandable and funny rather than annoying. Rider for me is the epitome of what a king is and I think that was greatly reflected in the conversation he had with Gilgamesh and Saber, alongside what his Noble Phantasm is. I really liked Kariya so I honestly feel like he was robbed of actually doing something besides having the tragic story that "created" and couldn't change the Tohsaka/Matou situation in Fate/stay night.
If you like mercenary fights, I think you would enjoy how Kiritsugu chooses to fight - with information, tactics and manipulation. Honestly, it's pretty refreshing from the usual just getting Saber to deal with everything kinda fights since I've never been a fan of them (aside from the animation lol). Overall, I feel like the ending felt a bit anticlimactic considering how I loved the previous parts much more, it did serve its' purpose in showing how exactly things happened and why Saber hates Kiritsugu, the impact of it all really hurts though, especially knowing how Kiritsugu had to live with the aftermath. Overall, I really enjoyed Fate/Zero mainly for the characters and their individual motivations that interweaves into the fight for the holy grail. The overarching story with the existence of the holy grail etc was never something really important imo but the character interactions and dialogue was simply great and entertaining throughout. Btw, I found it really cute when Waver went to the library or whatever to read a book about Iskander to learn more about him haha, it's simple things like that that really make the characters be more than "that annoying guy" or the "cool guy" and I think Fate/Zero really shines in that area.
