Fate/Zero #01b — Summoning

October 1st, 2011

 

Yeah, I can’t think of a witty title either.

As a side note, there was a commercial for the next episode of Carnival Phantasm during the airing that had Saber dressed up as a maid running around and Caster rolling around the floor. I think it had more animation in those 15 seconds as Kiritsugu had for the entire one hour affair.

Impressions:

Okay, time to struggle for remaining things to say. Almost the entirety of this first hour long episode is just exposition and setup, most of which is likely unneeded due to the series being what it is. The characters should drive the story, not the story drive the characters, and only really Waver and Kariya of all characters were really doing that. Kariya sacrificing himself for Sakura’s sake and Waver being… well… Waver are about the only particularly interesting parts so far because they’re the only two characters who really did anything or showed any kind of engagement to what was going on. Ending with a big ol’ cluster-montage of the different mages all summoning their Servants just reinforces that.  Everything else was just explaining the Grail War and introducing the other characters and setting through the power of exposition. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Whenever I can turn up the volume and walk out of the room for minutes at a time and miss nothing, a show is completely squandering its medium.

Hopefully things will get better next week. UFOTable did have some impressive promos for this show, but so far it has not lived up to any of them. It has reiterated a setting that almost everybody who would watch the show already knows about in an exceedingly boring fashion. Things don’t need to begin with explosions and bangs, but there is a world of difference between engaging storytelling and 40 minutes of "Monotone Heads In a Wide Angle Lens."

Posted in Fate/Zero | 21 Comments »

21 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • ted says:
    October 1, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    i don’t know why people are so excited to see this . The original show was great but why make a prequel 1 reason to milk money. we all know what happens pretty much just another boring show with a ton of hype that will be nothing but a good old flop. should have just made a sequel to fate stay night would have been a much better idea. prequels blow period.

    • nat says:
      October 1, 2011 at 1:49 pm

      For fans who have read the novel, this is a big thing. While I agree that their could be a potential amazing idea, having read the novel, I must tell you that I believe this is more than them just milking money out of the series. There is a more serious tone in this, more cut throat tactics, and overall I think the back stories of the characters are done really well. If this applies, try to think of it like halo reach to the halo trilogy. We are all entitled to our opinion, I’m just saying that if you liked the original, then this should be a treat. ;)

    • Nyanto! says:
      October 1, 2011 at 2:23 pm

      Well for one thing, the Fate/Zero novel is almost as good, or even surpasses the Visual Novel of Fate/Stay Night. So having it being made into an anime, by Ufotable of all people; it’s bound to be epic.

      And besides, the anime of Fate/Stay Night is laughable, if you’ve actually played the Visual Novel. The reason this is getting so much hype is because of its producer. Kara no Kyoukai, another of Type-Moon’s works, was adapted spectacularly by Ufotable. Studio Deen handled F/SN’s anime but you know how well THAT turned out.

    • Anonymous says:
      October 2, 2011 at 12:32 pm

      Ted, you know nothing.

    • S.C. says:
      October 3, 2011 at 11:32 pm

      I thought the original was mediocre at best, but when I read about Fate/Zero I was much more excited. No more of that “People die when they are killed” crap, always hated the protagonist of the original; though I liked most of the other characters. (Talking about the anime here)

  • Anonymous says:
    October 1, 2011 at 2:34 pm

    I was hoping with one hour long they’d at least get to the bridge. One hour long setup seems like a waste.

  • temyo says:
    October 1, 2011 at 4:07 pm

    This was the prologue of the novel. The author and the studio said that they will do their best to stay as close as possible to the novel and up to this point they delivered that. As a reader of the novel I like the fact that they did the prologue the way they did it.

  • SlashZero says:
    October 1, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    Well, they do have a lot of action packed battles to animate in the coming episodes.

    Or so I really really hope.

  • Pronas says:
    October 1, 2011 at 5:18 pm

    I didn’t read the novel but fuck this was fucking awesome, i don’t even feel like checking out the rest of the shows this season.

  • Utena30 says:
    October 1, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    Agreeing with Pronas. I really enjoyed watching this episode and so far, it looks fucking awesome compared to other shows. But the season just started so we’ll see.

  • Anonymous says:
    October 2, 2011 at 7:50 am

    No matter how mediocre the animation is, it’s still better than what DEEN would have turned out.

  • The Phantom says:
    October 2, 2011 at 12:06 pm

    It will be great so long they DO animate those fights and not switch to another character at the begining of the battle, then switch back to the battle when is almost/already over.

  • burnout says:
    October 3, 2011 at 8:48 pm

    I’m not quite sure who the lead is, but I’m assuming it’s the smoking guy or the priest- Both of them seem rather different from your usual protagonist, in that they appear to be rather bad-ass.

    Unless it’s Waver, who is kind of a klutz, but also fortunately seems to be more of, well, a *character* than your bland insert-name-here harem lead.

  • Serp says:
    October 4, 2011 at 8:21 am

    “Yeah, I can’t think of a witty title either.”

    Would have put my money on “crawling in my skin”.

  • Anonymous says:
    October 4, 2011 at 10:20 am

    …

    I have read through a bunch of your reviews, and I’m going to tell you one thing you probably already know.

    You are REALLY nitpicky about the small details. For every review you make, It always seems like you regret watching that show in the first place and that it doesn’t meet your standards. You obviously can’t bring yourself to enjoy a show without being a total critic, unless of course that is what you are aiming for.

    You will have much more fun with anime if you get rid of that critic attitude, and just relax.

  • Anonymous says:
    October 5, 2011 at 3:48 am

    If anything I’d say Aroduc was pretty friendly with this, for how dull it was. If this was something from a source he was unfamiliar with I’m sure he would have torn it to shreds, but he was actually pretty tame here.