Fate/Apocrypha #01 — Bait and Do Nothing

July 1st, 2017

 

Boy, that was a decent hook. I sure hope the rest of the episode has any kind of content.

Impressions:

Well, the flash-forward at the start promised eye candy and action. For about 2.5 straight minutes. So that's at least 2.5 minutes of the episode where they were trying to make the show be exciting. And I appreciate that. I can take in a little fun, especially before we start getting down to brass tacks. Devoid of any real context, but a hook's a hook. It exists to get you excited to for the rest and sets the tone for the series. At least in theory.

The problem is that it was followed by about 19 straight minutes of infodumping. At best, you can say that it was a tour of the characters. Even then though, all they did was review the things that everyone already knew, made more painful by it bouncing around between multiple of them all having the same conversation, so we learn next to nothing about any of them besides their ability to listen. Rare, perhaps, but certainly not in Japanese media. The big dude met with the old guy for nearly goddamned nine minutes. Close to half the episode on two guys in a room sipping tea. 2.5 minutes of eye candy is nowhere near enough to earn the pure tedium that followed. And not even interesting tedium. Us vs them. Summon servants. Fight. Go. That's it. That's goddamned all of it. It's not even trying to make any of the characters interesting, let alone anchor the story or setting to them. Cut out the first 2.5 minutes, and this was atrocious, which leaves me really wondering if we've already got all the fun that this is going to have. 

   

Posted in Fate/Apocrypha | 6 Comments »

6 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • The Phantom says:
    July 2, 2017 at 3:52 am

    Well if it has 2.5 minutes per episode of action I will still call it amazing, but that number is probably going to be reduced to 30 seconds at most most likely.

    This is supposed to be the most action packed show of the season so hopefully it delivers.

  • Tiresias says:
    July 3, 2017 at 4:55 am

    You’d think an “anime” would focus more on “animation” and yet here we are, at an episode that feels talkier than it’s fcking manga counterpart. Impresssive. Most Impressive. The only good thing to say is that this episode is less bad than A-1’s other recent product, Nanoha Vivid (aka Cure for Insomnia), but that’ a really low bar.

    Between this, the forgettable third Act of UBW (and the garbage “special” episode), and Nasu selling his soul to the dark gods of Gacha, looks like it’s finally time to let go of this franchise.

  • Fluffums says:
    July 3, 2017 at 5:05 am

    Don’t forget; this has twice the characters of any other holy grail war. So it takes a lot longer to introduce them. I can only assume like the light novel version there will be no action at all for the first 6 episodes or so (conservative estimates) – just long enough for the studio to use up all their funds making the flashbacks look nice, so when the battles come around it’ll be close-ups and stills.

  • jgoi says:
    July 3, 2017 at 6:25 am

    Look at that shitty sword fighting where we never see the swords clash each other in motion, too much flash stepping.

    At least Waver’s in this, too bad he isn’t the main character. Still need Assassin of Black and her lack of pants to save this for me.

  • OverMaster says:
    July 8, 2017 at 7:24 pm

    If it didn’t have the infodumps then you’d be complaining nothing is explained and that it makes the anime confusing, vague and badly defined because you’re damn nearly impossible to please.

    • Aroduc says:
      July 8, 2017 at 8:09 pm

      Yes, I often have issues when shows immediately jump into the interesting bits and focus on easy to understand and empathize with character drama. And that happens so much in Japanese media. It’s a real problem and I’ve often said that shows need more exposition.