Review of Fate/Zero

Fate/Zero is the prequel to Fate/Night and is recommended to be watched first The first episode is 1 hour long just for the record. The story of fate/zero to put it simple is mages who make contracts with mythological and long dead villains, rulers and kings thoughout history and utilize them in battle all to win the "holy grail" a magical item capable of granting any wish that appears every several years. The story follows several different mages and shows their viewpoints rather then focusing on 1 person. none of them are the "hero" of the story as they all have ulterior motives and willdo anything to achieve them, even murder and theft. They're all shown to be human and show struggles with depression, mental illness, loneliness etc. They're all the heroes and the villains depending how you look at it.

Each character has 1 servant (named by their class i.e Lancer) they choose to serve them. which I won't spoil if you plan on watching it. The characters are typically employed by 3 mage families that for years have fought to attain the holy grail:

Emiya: an anti-mage hitman who works with the Einzbern mage family who desires world peace and will do anything to achieve it while trying to protect his family

Tokiomi: the powerful head mage of the Tohsaka family who works with Kirei to ensure the grail is not won by a more unworthy group and fights to protect his daughter.

Kirei: the priestly son of the overseer of the 4th great holy war who works with the Tohsaka family (and Tokiomi) to win the war and is also a literal assassin for the church.

Kariya: a man driven into insanity to save his adopted daughter from the Matou family's clutches and enters the war though force to save her

Archibald El-Malloi: an egotistical English professor of magic who originally was to possess Waver's servant and enters the war for his own gain

Waver: a young student of Archibald who stole his servant to enter the war so he could win recognition for his magical theories.

Ryuunosuke: a literal insane serial killer who isn't even a mage and enters the war though a forbidden book.

The servants themselves also have tons of personality that range from goofy to kingly. They're very interesting to watch and when they inevitably die it's a real shame because they are missed in the later episodes, they have a lot of depth and they aren't just pawns to the audience. They have dreams and interests.

The writing is VERY entertaining and it's full of drama and suspense, character development is very high as mentioned and you'll likely be hooked thoughout the course of the show and grow attached to some of the characters.

The animation is very high quality with heavy shading and most of the show taking place at night. It's a marvel to behold and enthralling to watch. Flashy effects, high speed battles, it's glorious to behold and hard to look away from.

Sound is fine and both the English and Japanese versions are both good. Personally I liked the DUB more then the SUB so take that as you will.

The show itself was a joy to watch and I was sad as characters were killed off however and I will admit some scenes when they just sit around talking and some of the fight scenes were dull. (Especially by the end) but it's still highly entertaining thoughout it's course. I never wanted to drop the show and I binge watched the entire thing. The characters in the show are just too intriguing to turn off. I wanted to see who wins in the end, I wanted to know the fates of the mages and servants.

If you're a fan of adult anime such as Mirai Nikki or Death Note or you are a history nerd and you want to see King Arthur duke it out with Alexander the great ..this will be right up your alley.

I highly recommend Fate/Zero to newcomers and fans of the Fate/Zero franchise.