Fate/Zero Review
Fate/Zero was a tough watch. Mainly because of its pacing. The story revolves around a magical contest (known as The Holy Grail War) where various powerful mage families (and a few randoms) compete against each other to win the Holy Grail. The winner gets one wish. Most of the character development in the show is good. The dub, not so much. The art style is also inconsistent. I wouldn’t recommend watching this, but if you are still on the fence about this have a look at the details bellow and decide for yourself.
Story
Fate/Zero
consists of 2 seasons, 25 episodes in total. Both seasons feel very different
from each other, the first setting up the world that the story takes place in,
and the second, getting the plot to progress. And when the story concludes,
let’s just say you might be left wanting.
It isn’t all
bad though, the strongest part of the series are the characters. Only four
characters are very clearly portrayed as good and evil. Everyone else is grey, and if you are wondering how many
characters there are let me explain, there are over 16. 14 of which are the
contestants and their summoned spirits…
“Summoned
spirits?” Again let me explain, the contestants summon the spirits of ancient
heroes from times of old to serve them in the Holy Grail War (eg. King Arthur).
Here in lies the problem with the show, all the contestants have their own
motivations and back story for wanting to win the Holy Grail War. All the
heroic spirits have distinct personalities, motivations, and back story to
become servants. So there is no way to be able to do all the characters justice
in telling their stories leading to most being well rounded, and others wasted.
6/10 (5
being mediocre, 10 being amazing)
Art Style
The art
style in the show is pretty, but inconsistent. Season 1 has a great use of
subtle lighting effects. Season 2 however is not so subtle, making all kinds of
gains with bloom and depth of field effects. The difference for myself at least was pretty jarring. I find
myself debating over which style I liked better because both are good, I just
wished they stuck to one.
6/10 (10
being breathtakingly awesome, 0 being uninspired and crappy)
Sound, Music, and Dub
The sounds
in the show are pretty standard fair, without a special attention to
environments in each scene. The musical score was also not memorable and only
really helped to enhance 2 scenes in the entire series. And the dub… not good.
The voice actors here are experienced for the most part, however they didn’t
really seem to suit the characters. It seems like one of those situations where
actors have no real context of what is actually happening and who they are
portraying. To add to that, the script was not translated very well. Once again
having such a diverse range of characters meant that only a handful would be
given attention to detail that they require.
5/10 (0
being terrible, 10 being flawless)
Conclusion
All in all,
as a stand-alone series, I can’t recommend this to anyone. There really are
better shows to watch. The other series that take place in the same universe as
this may build on this show and be better for it, but as someone who had no
idea about what the Fate universe was about, it has done little to peak my
interest.
5/10 (0
being utter crap, 5 being mediocre)
By Hellsknight Sujay.
Free! Review
Free! is a
show that revolves around a group of swimming obsessed teenagers who want to
try and rebuild their old swim team and rekindle the fun times they had as
kids. The animation and art style are beautiful. The characters are just okay.
The plot is alright for the most part though the show does have some pacing
issues at the start. I’d recommend this to anyone who might want to watch
something slow paced with a bit of sports.
For more
details, read bellow.
Story
Once upon
time, three teenage boys who happened to be childhood friends decided to
rebuild their swim team. What followed next were the trials and tribulations of
trying to create a swimming club in their school, such as finding new members,
organizing facilities etc.
While this
story is unoriginal, the same can be said about the characters who fall into
the usual anime tropes. You have the moody protagonist who is sometimes an idiot, the innocent one, the group leader, the uptight one, the rival, and the
wise old man. A trope that is missing is a love interest, which to be honest,
is kind of refreshing.
Instead of the plot being the main focus, you have a
very character driven story that deals with the relationships between the
tropes, both in how they overcome most of their personal issues and how they
cope with each other.
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 0 = uninspired, unoriginal and boring)
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 0 = uninspired, unoriginal and boring)
Art Style
Kyoto
Animation did the show, and boy is it pretty. The background scenes look
amazing and wallpaper worthy, but the biggest star with the art style is the
water. All the shots with the water look incredible both outside and in with
the use of reflections and distortions that look amazing. Even the character
designs seem linked to the water, with them moving and looking a little awkward
when in school uniforms away from the water and then looking smooth as hell in or
around the water.
Rating 10/10 (10 = beautiful, 5 = uninspired, 0 = bad)
Rating 10/10 (10 = beautiful, 5 = uninspired, 0 = bad)
Dubbed Voice, Sound, and Music
I watch a
lot of English dubs, and this for the most part has some of the same
recognizable voices. All in all, it was just ok, not great, not bad, just ok.
The sound design on the other hand is great with some underwater scenes having
that underwater distorted reverb sound effect that anyone who spends time
underwater will recognize. It’s done really well and adds a lot to the shows
atmosphere. As for the music, the opening and closing tracks were ok, but they
didn’t really stand out to me, nor were they very catchy, the same goes for the
score.
Rating 7/10 (10 = outstanding, 0 = crap)
Rating 7/10 (10 = outstanding, 0 = crap)
Final Thoughts
So this
anime gets a lot of grief for being ridiculously fan service heavy, homoerotic,
homosexual, and such. Personally I didn’t get those vibes at all. Sure there
are lots of scenes where guys take of their shirts, but seriously, why would
they swim fully clothed. Think that would be a little strange, in any case
though I can’t think of a single anime show where guys weren’t shirtless at
some point. That said, the female representation in this show is a little
lacking. It didn’t really bother me, but if you are the type to get bothered by
such things, you may not like this. The only two female characters are the swim
club manager who pervs on the boys every chance she gets and the teacher, both
of whom were really underdeveloped in the show.
Another
strange thing with the show is the severe lack of completion. There are
literally just two tournaments in the show, which makes it feel not so sporty. All
this aside though, Free is worth watching despite having a slow start.
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 5 = average, 0 = avoid like the plague)
Rating 7/10 (10 = amazing, 5 = average, 0 = avoid like the plague)
By Hellsknight Sujay
