Genre: Action, Fantasy, Supernatural
Season: 2
Episodes: 26
Producer: Atsuhiro Iwakami
Director: Ei Aoki
Studio: Aniplex, Ufotable
Original Airtime: October 1, 2011 – June 23, 2012

Plot

The Holy Grail war is a death battle that involves seven mages who are partnered with one servant each. The winner will get the Holy Grail, an omnipotent device that has the ability to grant any wish. But is this Grail truly omnipotent? Can it really grant the winner’s wish? What hardship one has to endure during this war? These are the issues Fate/Zero reflects upon and the whole plot is centered around these issues.

Story: 9/10

Fate/Zero has an extremely good plot. The story revolves around the Holy Grail war, a death battle where mages fight each other until one remains. Each mage is accompanied by servants. These servants are not your day to day servants. They are heroic spirits who each specialize in different battle styles. They are either good with swords, skilled archers even expert spear handler. The constant turn of events and elements of surprise make Fate/Zero one of the most thrilling action anime out there. The story is absolutely immersing. To be brutally honest once you start watching you may not be able to stop. Such is the immersive ability of the deep plot of Fate/Zero’s story line.

Character: 9.5/10

Despite a good plot and excellent execution of story the true potential of Fate/Zero is in the characters of the show. The show has a wide variety of impressive characters. Each character possesses some unique features and contribute to the advancement of the plot. There is Saber, the heroic spirit of King Arthur, who is elegant as ever. She is a charming woman who specializes in sword fighting. However, her philosophy of a king makes her seem childish even unrealistic to the other heroic spirits. Rider probably possesses the best philosophy about a king. He is a true leader and one of the most loveable characters of Fate/Zero. Kirei is one of the prime antagonist. A fitting antagonist he is for a truly epic anime. Quiet, mysterious, cold hearted, merciless and cruel these adjectives properly sum up kirei. He is the only one of the mages who does not have any specific goal in the war. One of the prime attraction and probably the most charismatic character of Fate/Zero is Gilgamesh. He is cool, strong, arrogant, confident and self obsessed. Everything about Gilgamesh oozes badassness. Not to mention his gate of Babylon is a thing of beauty.

However, among all these fantastic characters who individually posses the quality to be the lead of any anime, the one who truly took away the limelight was Emiya Kiritsugu. Kiritsugu is one of the most captivating character in the history of anime. Gilgamesh, Rider, Lancer these are all mind blowing characters. So you know how special Kiritsugu is when you realize that he outshines all of them.

“If it takes tainting my hands with all evil of this world I will gladly accept it”.

Kiritsugu is a noble yet realistic person. He wants to save people and become a hero of justice. But he realizes that it is not possible to save everyone. So, pursues to save as many as possible. I have seen very few anime that can go toe to toe with the set of characters in Fate/Zero

Here are some notable characters from the anime:

Animation and Art: 9.5/10

Fate/Zero has absolutely flawless animation and visual effects. The drawings are clear perfect. Each scene is represented masterfully by the astounding level of animation especially the action scenes. The fight scenes were beautifully animated and can give the viewers a sudden rush of adrenaline and keep them at the edge of their seats. The dark ambiance of the anime is masterfully depicted by the use of dark and striking colors and cutting edge visual effects. In a word it was absolutely stunning.

Here are some screenshots from the anime:

Music: 9/10

A great plot and some unbelievable characters, after getting these two elements you really don’t need anything to enjoy an anime. But Fate/Zero went a step ahead. Each and every single Fate/Zero soundtrack is amazing. The opening and ending themes are great. My personal favorite was the second opening theme ‘To the Beginning’ by Kalafina. The background scores a absolutely amazing and complements the accompanying scenes in a perfect way adding a whole other layer of depth and emotion. They convey the gravity of the situations in a profound manner.

https://youtu.be/2NfUq-PYUaU

Final Thoughts

Fate/Zero is a top notch anime with everything executed to perfection. When I was done with Fate/Zero I was actually shaking, my eyes were filled with tears and I didn’t know what to do with my life anymore. This is an anime that will tear you apart. The anime is dark and filled with action. The consequences of the works of the mages are severe and painful. It is definitly in my top 10 favorite anime. If you like dark anime anime and enjoy great action you must try Fate/Zero. You’ll love it, trust me.