It was nice seeing the characters I read about be animated and to see some new scenes too. Most of the fights were cool expect for a few. If it wasn't for the last few episodes, I would have said that Mordred's fights were the best. The battle with Karna vs Siegfried at the beginning was horrible. It was mostly just a few blurry clashes, it looked like a mess. They completely changed stuff like how Ruler and Sieg first met and cut out the conversation between Vlad and Ruler which was one of my favorite parts from the novel. They also made Siegfried give his name to Karna when they first met.
This really gets to me since he was specifically told not to do so because if the enemy knew Saber of Black's true identity, they’d obviously target his one weak point which is his unprotected back. Looking back on it, I'm kind of amazed that that weak point never came up again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
They might have changed or cut out a few other things that I might have or couldn’t have noticed.
The anime also made me realize even more how short this war was. Jack was even scarier than she was in the novels at some points. Like when she sniffed Mordred to find out she was a girl is one example that immediately comes to mind. I was happy that Waver’s and Gilles’ voice actors came back to reprise their roles, unlike Artoria’s… I liked how Gilles had a nice normal tone and look when he first appeared, then could suddenly take the tone and face that his Caster version had.
Mordred and Shishigou were fun to watch. They were the best Servant and Master pair for sure, they were awesome in their fights and their talks were cool too. I just wished that Shishigou could have survived. At least he and Mordred had one last moment to talk to each other before he passed away and she disappeared. As for Mordred, I guess it comes down to being able to see the other side of things I guess. She’s known best for her betrayal of King Arthur, so it was interesting to see her side of the story and her realizing what she truly wanted in the end. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I don’t think what she did was the right thing to do, but I understand why she did it.
I wish I could have gotten to learn more about Karna, he was so cool, but he didn’t really talk that much and the anime never showed a flashback of his past or even mentioned it. I don’t think I could have guessed which Servants would kill each other in the last few episodes, I was totally surprised. I still don’t like Gordes, he was such an idiot. Darnic planned for the war about the same amount of time as Shirou did, had an interesting past and powerful Servant, but I also realized he died pretty early despite all that after.
So Shirou’s goal in the end was the use the Third Magic to materialize everyone’s souls, grating them what he though was “salvation” by turning humanity into immortal spirit beings, freeing them of pain and suffering if I understand correctly,f eel free to correct me if I’m wrong. He was a villain who was called a saint that tried to save the world in his own was which was pretty cool. He was interesting in how he had no ill feelings towards the people who killed his comrades when he was alive; he held no grudges or hatred towards others in the past or the present. He just wanted to achieve his goal and was willing to do whatever it took to do so.That last fight between him and Sieg was so good, even with one arm he was able to fight so well.
His and Semiramis’ last moments were nice I guess, I would have preferred that he died when Sieg used Blasted Tree on him, and that Semiramis died when she got slashed by Mordred. Seriously, I was kind of shocked when she came out of nowhere and bound Astolfo, she should have been cut in half. The fact the she survived made Shishigou’s death and Mordred's disappearing even more sad considering they weren’t able to kill their opponent.
Shakesphere was fun, but I’m not in love with the idea of a Servant that can’t fight. Like what’s the point of that? After reading his entry in materials, I understand that he's meant to boost his Master's power, but still... He was like a character in the story and the narrator at the same time. Since he can’t fight, he never saw real combat and he ended being the last Servant to disappear. I was kind of hoping that someone would have just cut him down mid-speech, but that didn’t happen.
I truly don’t understand why Atalanta was mad at Ruler for exorcising Jack the Ripper. Like sure Jack was made up of kids, but they were a bunch of ghosts that made up the world's most famous serial killer. I mean Atalanta shot Jack and killed Reika in the first place, then when she sees what Jack is made up of, she wants to save them when they were already dead. Atalanta’s fight vs Ruler and her last fight vs Achilles were some of the best fights in the show though.
I didn’t know what to think of Astolfo at first. But after watching the show and reading the novels, I can say for certain that he's a cool guy that’s earned my respect. Like he might act goofy at times, but when things get serious, he’ll get serious. He really showed that when he destroyed the Hanging Gardens' defenses. He was fun and I guess he got incarnated just like Shirou did and is now flying off to make people happy. I just wished he got more chances to show that coolness.
Oh, and thanks to the guy that kept talking about Sieg transforming into a dragon over and over across the forum. I’m not going to name names but, you pretty much had me going, “Ugh, when is it going to happen…”. So that was ruined for me.
Ruler, Jeanne, was awesome.
She can really fight, with a flag pole of all things. She only drew her sword towards the end to use her Noble Phantasm and even then it was countered by Shirou’s Noble Phantasm. She has an extremely powerful defensive Noble Phantasm, but the offensive one she has is a suicide attack, which kind of sucks.
I thought the ending with her and Sieg finding each other on the Reverse Side of the World was sweet. I think I’ve actually become quite fond of Ruler. She really is a saint, even if she doesn’t consider herself one.
The first opening and ending were okay, I thought the ending was better than the opening though. I’ve never listened to Garnidelia before this, so maybe I’ll listen to more of their music. The second opening and ending beat the first ones though, LiSA is such a good singer and I’ve never listened to ASCA before, but she’s great too.
As for how things turned out, it would have been cool if the Great Holy Grail War was played straight,
without Shirou stealing the other Master’s Servants. Someone just has to find a way to bend the rules in a Holy Grail War or go on a murder spree pretty much ignoring the main conflict between the Servants and Masters…
I’ve probably forgotten a few things while writing this, but those are my thoughts. I just wish I could have read the novels to completion. There could be so many details in the untranslated novels that never made it to the anime that I won’t know about and it really sucks.
Oh, and I like Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans soundtrack more than Fate/Apocrypha's. It's just more exicting.
Originally Posted by Kariya
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