Review of Fate/Zero

This review is to cover both seasons of this anime. There is a lot of hype surrounding this series, and it does deserve good marks. This is a very visually appealing anime and it's filled with amazing action. I love some of the characters, and really love the concept. Since this is a prequel, it already had a solid fanbase when it was released. It's the crazed fan reviews that made me give this series a look. From the beginning you're thrown from character to character as the story simply starts. There is a lot going on, but it's not difficult to follow. I feel thatit is missing a proper setup (probably due to it's prequel status). Visually, I was impressed from the start, but I had no attachment to any of the characters even after a few episodes. I had never seen Fate/Stay Night, and someone had recommended I watch this first to see them in chronological order. That may have been a mistake, however, I feel a story needs to at least have a good setup and minimal character development. This series brought up the different mages histories, but saying a character is one way and then showing it are two different things.

The main characters all flip flopped between good and evil personas, but the heroes were the saving grace for this series. They were consistently in character, and their desire to have honorable fights kept them the stars as the story trudged on. Every one of the mages played dirty at one point or another, which is understandable, but it made it difficult to root for any of them.

This is not a happy tale, and if you've seen Fate/Stay Night then you already expect a depressing story to some degree. It has a dark feel throughout, and there's a lot of deceit and backstabbing as the mages attempt to win by any means necessary.

This particular series gets high marks on the art, sound and characters (though I feel more on the hero side), but I personally found the story/plot lacking in development and I wasn't waiting for each episode with any kind of anticipation. It's sort of the opposite of the series that chronologically follows (which is older so lacks in the art/sound but makes up in story and character development).

In short, it's a good anime and worth watching, but I would watch Fate/Stay Night before this one so you don't have to worry about setup and development.