FATE/APOCRYPHA

DESCRIPTION

CAST

NOVEL ActionFate/Apocrypha
ANIME ActionFate/stay night
MOVIE ActionFate/stay night Movie: UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS
ANIME ActionFate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works
MOVIE ActionFate/stay night [Heaven's Feel] I. presage flower
MANGA ActionFate/Apocrypha

REVIEWS

• 

  ancientpower

  65/100
  A clunky breakaway from the Fate formula

  Following the trend of Fate adaptations comes Fate/Apocrypha, an anime based on a light novel based on a scrapped concept for an online game (a niche which was ultimately filled by Fate/Grand Order).

  Apocrypha provides a different take on the "Holy Grail War" format of previous entries in the series by depicting an all-out war between two teams with seven magic-using "Masters" each partnered with a "Servant" based on a historical (or mythological, or literary) figure.

  Fate/Stay Night--the initial entry in the series--as well as its prequel Fate/Zero deal with half the number of characters in a battle-royale format and both do an excellent job at developing their characters, themes, and general narrative. On the other hand, Apocrypha feels as if the narrative is spread far too thin. Many interesting characters are sidelined while the main storyline feels like a re-telling of Stay Night's "Fate" route with watered down themes and characters.

  The production quality of the TV anime is middling. A-1 Pictures is far from a bad studio, but the animation quality is rather inconsistent with sudden dips and peaks at various points. The soundtrack is nothing special, though it's ear-pleasing and well-fitting enough that there's nothing to complain about.

  There are redeeming factors in Apocrypha, and fans of the Fate series may derive a good deal of enjoyment from the occasional scene where those factors shine through. For newcomers to the series interested in Apocrypha it would be a far better decision to start with the Fate/Stay Night visual novel or Fate/Zero anime (despite it spoiling much of Stay Night), then to come back and check out Apocrypha if they find the series to their liking.

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• 

  Itsigo

  0/100
  It's a nice try with an ok viewing experience.

  Fate/Apocrypha is an new entry to the fate franchise and was produced by our good old friends A1 Pictures, which is totally.. acceptable?
  It describes the alternate story of the 4th holy grail war and that war is kinda different from that what we used to see in Fate/Zero.. for example. It's not an 7 Masters and 7 Servants free for all this time it's an 14 v 14 war with 7 servants and 7 masters on each side. Team Black vs Team Red

  After reading some reviews on the glorious internet it's easy to see that some people are confused about this anime or are just disappointed.

  Some people stating that it's just a bad try to get the Fate formula running.

  I mean Heroic spirits fighting against each other with the goal to obtain the holy grail.. that's fucking awesome holy shit

  But the thing A1 Pictures missed while creating Fate/Apocrypha wasn't the formula, Apocrypha had an interesting plot with interesting characters.. just like fate/zero.. but where did A1 Pictures mess up?

  That question is easy to answer.. time
  They had the perfect formula to make an great anime like Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works.
  Interesting Plot
  Cool characters
  but it doesn't work if you try to fit this formula into 24 episodes while you contain more mass than Fate/Zero for example (ca. 16 characters)
  Like shit spills over and if you put it into the oven it's not even completely baked and still semi – liquid at the end

  

  There was not enough time to introduce 30 characters in this anime so the characters suffered from bad writing or better said they had only a bit to no writing and the anime left us after 24 episodes without the viewer knowing anything about more than 50% of the characters which makes
  Jack the Ripper really awkward sometimes as a character.. I mean a 12 years old girl is the famous jack the ripper.. I mean what.
  If there is no time to introduce characters then there is also no time to explain some plot points which also leaves the viewer back with some question marks.

  To get closer to some of the characters:
  We have our main character couple with Sieg and Jeanne d'arc.
  Siege is a homunculus who escapes from team black which intended to use him to create a big fucking golem. And it's just about how he gets his own ideals and finds the the reason why he wants to fight. And he also falls in love with Jeanne d'arc.. well if that wasn't obvious
  Jeanne d'arc is the 15th servant in this war as the ruler class, which means she has some more punch than the other servants. As her class name states she has to observe the great holy grail war and pays attention that everybody is following the rules... am I right Shirou Kotomine??

  Saber of Red (Mordred) is confusing for people who are not familiar with the fate verse or only have seen the other fate anime so of course their question is going to be: Why does she look like Saber from UBW?? And why is she the son of king Arthur? She is a girl that doesn't make sense..

  

  Well King Arthur is also a girl in the fate verse and it makes it really strange when Mordred refers to Artoria as “father”.
  But don't worry there is no need to be confused a short look into the Type Moon wiki explains everything.

  So she is infact a clone of Artoria and was raised, by Artorias sister, to believe that she is Artorias son and that she is going to be king one day and didn't know that Artoria also was a girl...
  Artoria is master in crossdressing as it seems

  But Mordreds relationship with her master and the way she acted was really entertaining to watch. She was the opposite of Artoria which means that she was loud and aggressive.. and don't you dare to call her a girl.

  And while we are talking about cross dressing we have this thing..

  

  no not him

  

  also not him, pls give me the right one

  

  there he is

  Astolfo the trap already everybody knew about.. no seriously everybody was referring to him as a he since he had screen time and his master was a total creep.. WHAT IS SHE DOING
  He was even if he was just a trap an actually love able character.. because he didn't try to make many situations awkward for the viewer.. ok most of the time.
  BUT WHY IS HE WEARING A FUCKING SKIRT

  What else do we have?

  Hercules only with more steroids, less lives and an serious crack addiction (actually Spartakus)

  

  Karna who is Gilgamesh with bleached hair

  

  Fucking Alucard.. haha you know Alucard = Dracula spelled backwards.. WE GET IT

  

  Jack the Ripper who is a disturbingly cute loli with an mental crack and no pants

  

  Frankenstein.. WHO IS ALSO A FUCKING GIRL

  

  Dr. Octopus

  

  Nazi Mage

  

  fucking William Shakespeare... I told you the cast is interesting

  

  and Holy shit is that a crossover episode!?

  

  So you guys know now the basic story and some characters.. right? Right

  Let's come to the fun part now Animation and Music,

  and I have to say that anime is looking good. Well that's something A1 Pictures is kinda decent at
  Characters are looking beautiful and the set building as well but there is one thing that was striking my eyes every time it came to an fight.
  The downgrade of details to make an more fluid animation which is totally acceptable.
  The fights were looking great and it was fun to watch but it was noticeable to a certain degree.. especially in the last six episodes..

  Same thing goes for the music, the music is good nothing outstanding but it supports the fights and the different scenes pretty decent.
  PLUS the openings are really really nice. I didn't like the endings that much, well they are just normal endings. Not every ending can be like Kekkai Sensens.. I love that fucking ending or that one from Youjo Senki.. that damn nazi loli

  All in all Fate Apocrypha was an ok viewing experience and would be even more enjoyable if you just watch and don't use your brain.. the same reason why we are having fun with stupid harem and ecchi shows.. I mean maybe you enjoy watching it.. or you just hate it
  To be honest this anime is ok,
  I would recommend it to people who like action anime and don't really mind how the characters are written and so on.
  And if you are just starting with the Fate series, Just watch Fate/Zero and UBW first and then watch apocrypha if you still want to.

  I'm not going to give this anime a score (that's why there is a 0/100),
  I'm just gonna say watch it if that what I wrote sounds interesting to you or don't watch it and move on to watch different shows.

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• 

  Toriko

  70/100
  Enjoyable show that failed to live up to its name yet managed to deliver a decent fantasy action nontheless.

  Yet another one of my mistakes~ oh, no, those are Escape The Fate lyrics. Silly me. Of course we are talking about completely different Fate and completely different mistakes, which this alternative story from the oh so famous franchise undoubtedly is full of.

  ---

  Fate/Apocrypha is 25 episodes long anime produced by studio 1-A Pictures during summer 2017, adapting light novel written by Yuuichirou Higashide in cooperation with Kinoko Nasu, author of Fate/Stay night, Fate/Grand Order or Kara no Kyoukai (Nasu also supervised the creation of Fate/Zero). F/A is set in alternative universe and with little to no connection to any of the previous seasons, yet still remains a part of the Fate universe and thus the watcher cannot but compare. And that is precisely where Apocrypha is perfectly fucked, since, well, it simply doesn't live up to the expectations.

  What we do this time and what we have done before

  Previous Fate series take place in a world with magic, where magi get a chance to partake in a Holy Grail War, a conflict between seven magi (Masters) and heroic spirits they summon (Servants). The goal is simple - to obtain the Grail and have one's wish granted. Grail itself chooses the seven Masters and it is up to them to use an artifact, catalyst, that will allow them to summon one heroic spirit from seven Servant Classes who will fight for them. Masters also possess three Command Spells, extremely powerful sorcery that enables the Master to force their Servant to... do anything, really. It can be used as means of enforcing obedience or simply pouring extreme amount of magical energy into the Servant to make them surpass their own limits.

  Yet, Apocrypha is not based on the concept seven Masters (plus Servants) against each other. In this world, the Grail had been stolen by a powerful mage family Yggdemillennia, commencing Great Holy Grail War between two fractions - Black, that being Yggdemillennia, and Red fraction representing Mage's Association, ultimately summoning fifteen Servants in total. Fight for the Grail begins!

  (from upper left to right: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider; from lower left to right: Caster, Berserker, Assassin

  

  Black Fraction Servants

  

  Red Fraction Servants
  
  wait... what? why is there half naked kid? why is berserker class wearing a wedding dress? why is there a neko girl? is that pink haired girl a...?!

  Characters... or something

  For anyone who has never had the pleasure to watch previous Fate series, (i'm not talking about you, 2006 DEEN version of Fate/Stay night though, no one likes you) this character design may seem... OK. And that's the fucking problem. Fate series reduced to nothing but your average fantasy struggling to appeal to the widest audience possible, using nasty, nasty tropes.

  As I've said, fair or not, as a fan of Fate franchise, I simply MUST make comparison. Only to shed some light onto what we thought we would get and what we actually got.

  This is Fate/Zero Rider, Iskandar.

  

  This is Fate/Apocrypha Rider, Astolfo.

  

  uh okay, nevermind, even other Fate series had some characters designed for nothing but looks, it's no big deal, pink haird girls ar~ OH. IT'S A GUY. Fate's doing traps now! cool. anything for the joke, am i right fellas! haha and what's this??

  This is Fate/Stay night: Unlimited Blade Works Berserker, Hercules.

  

  And this... is Apocrypha's Berserker, Frankenstein.

  

  OH i guess it just... It just is that in this reality... Servants just... are... schmucky...

  WAIT. WHAT IN THE FUCK'S NAME

  

  WHY IS THE ASSASSIN A LITTLE FUCKING KID WITH NO FREAKING PANTS WHAT HAPPENED TO ZERO AND UBW ASSASSINS HOW DID WE GET INTO SEXUALIZING CHILDREN WHEN WE HAD THESE
  

  Nevermind! You know what! Visuals aren't everything! Those characters may appear desperate to seem unique and original, but let's not be too quick to judge! They surely do have actual personality and aren't simply assigned flashy colours and one (1) extravagant trait to make them differ from each other! HAHA THAT WOULD BE SIMPLY RIDICULOUS! Let's discuss these complex personas!

  Before that, I must say that I'm aware of the fact there are just way too many characters for all of them to be authentic and fully fleshed-out, yet the manner in which the situation has been handled is nothing short of poor. Not only did the creators fail to portray those characters in a way for us to become anyhow invested with them, they also managed to disregard the very basic fact that Servants are supposed to serve the Masters. That is, unfortunately for F/A, reality. The Holy Grail Wars are only able to take place if Servants take their Masters' wishes as priority. That is not a matter left for discussion - that's real. Summoned heroic spirits of course do have their own free will (and ocassionally demonstrate it even if it is in contradiction with their Master's), but they come to this War 'programmed' to serve. Of fucking course. AND YET

  apocrypha master x servant relationship summed up:

  Masters: "Hello could u um maybe do what i told u to do like at least once or maybe just don't act completely independently as if i didn't exist pls u literally can't ignore me that's physically impossible"

  Servants: "New season who dis"

  Don't even get me started on how I hate this new approach 'all Servants are now independent beings and are not obliged to respect their masters's wishes, also they can and WILL do whatever they feel like doing'. Another aspect of this tricky part I despise is that 'Masters give literally zero fucks as to where their Servants are and what they are doing'. There are exceptions, indeed. But why the fuck is the majority defying the most fundamental rule of the Fate Universe, like the whole concept is based on this and they just threw it outta the window you can't do tha~ u know, nevermind. Moving on.

  I will now explore the important characters. We may begin with Black Fraction, (mostly) the Yggdemillennia family.

  • Fiore and Chiron

    

    Fiore is the successor of the Yggdemillennia family and her legs aren't working, so she yeets around on a wheelchair and also uses spider-like machine to run around while fighting. Spoiler alert, her younger brother decides she isn't fit to be a mage because she cried when her dog died when she was like 8.
    Chiron is exceptionally obedient and does what he's told. Nice guy, very considerate and his homie Achilles is in enemy fraction which inevitably calls for drama. Unfortunately, there is no development and the relationship between Chiron and Fiore remains identical for the whole 25 episodes.

  • Celenike and Astolfo

    

    Celenike = Crazy sadistic yandere who would obviously enjoy raping Astolfo. Never contributes to the story, but don't worry, she gets her share of screen time, so we know that she has a room dedicated to sexually harassing her Servant.
    Astolfo is funny 100% gay trap that never once even thought that he is supposed to listen to his Master. Also, falls in love with the main character and serves as the comedy relief. Command Spells don't work on him because the power of will. Although it is, yet again, not physically possible.

  • Reika and Jack the Ripper

    

    (these two are serial killers btw)
    Reika Rikudou is the most random person to ever appear on this show. She is just there, doesn't belong to the family. Where did she come from? What's she doing there? WHO THE FUCK ARE U? Oh, you can play the piano. Nice! That's it? Ok.
    Jack the Ripper is the sexualized kid with truly heartbreaking backstory, so we will fit her whole arc into one episode and there will be like 10 more subplots going on at the same time, so good luck with getting invested. They play no bigger role than another plot devices exploited for the sake of main characters anyway.

  Now, onto the Red Fraction.

  • Shishigou and Morderd

    

    Cool Necromancer Shishigou and Morderd, the son of Arturia (THAT Arturia!). One of the few characters that managed to somewhat grow thoughout the show although they were given literally minimum of screentime. While their development is limited and mostly off-screen, this duo still manages to leave the watcher satisfied and concludes their story with enough closure. Their Master - Servant relation follows the tradition and still, what a shock, pulls off interesting, fresh and actually likable perspective on such relationship.

  • Atalanta, Karna, Achilles

    

    (from left to right: Achilles, Karna, Atalanta)
    All three of them being Servants of Red, Atalanta and Achilles get some sort of development - rushed, forced and off-screen one that took place in the second half of anime, which is, well, fucking late for the creators to begin building up the characters. Not to mention both of them couldn't care fucking less for their Masters or Grail or Fraction.
    Karna on the other hand demonstrates quite the unique traits and holds perhaps most of the potential to be Fate worthy character. Also, you won't guess who got the least screentime. Haha, definitely not Karna, that would be... well, schmuck.

  • Semiramis

    

    One of the best attempts on decent portrayal of entertaining and somewhat deep personality. Semiramis is the Assassin of Red and while most of her development occurs in the latter part of anime, she does in fact get screen time before that and even is given some opportunities to show her true colours throughout the story. Loyal, intriguing, ambitious woman. Strong female character.

  But who is the fucking main character?

  There are three of them, at least from my point of the view.

  • Sieg

    

    If you suspect this anime had way too many characters to begin with and that such diversity already could have provided us with some quality MC material, you are absolutely correct. Why add absolutely hollow guy with no aspirations nor amibitions and make him the centre of attention? No fucking clue, but the idea of artificial human who becomes sentient and somehow is saved by numeruous Servants (who just felt like saving him) and also later on becomes the most OP fighter is pretty fucking bad. Sieg possesses very thick plot armor thus is invincible. Moving on.

  • Jeanne d'Arc

    

    The fifteenth Servant, Class Ruler. Jeanne is summoned to the Great Holy Grail War as neutral overseer whose sole purpose is to supervise the course of the War and to make sure that the participants abide the rules. Few episodes later Jeanne picks a side and actively partakes in the War due to, well, somewhat understandable reasons; Jeanne seeks comrades in order to be able to defeat the enemy despite the fact she should be able to single-handedly strike down anyone in her way, even when greatly outnumbered. Also, later on is reduced to nothing but plot device for unnecessary romantic entanglement.

  • Kotomine Shirou

    

    Basically the antagonist of the show, yet one of the few relatable characters the viewer might have been able to root for. Shirou shows his cunning, skill, dedication to achieve his goal (which isn't even anything remotely evil) all while remaining composed and an actually kind leader. Shirou's presence makes Apocrypha seem like less of a shit, in a way. Had he only been the protagonist instead... At the very least, he is arguably the most complex and thought-provoking character in the series.

  The Rest.

  What is Apocrypha if we strip it from the oh so problematic characters? The main theme is simple, battle after battle until there's none but the main cast left. There are some entertaining twists in regards to the fighting strategies and ending itself carries some shock value, too. They also apparently try to create emotional atmosphere, to make us feel for the heroes when they pass away. The nerve to pull actually well constructed scene without the proper built up for the characters! The nerve!

  Simply put, there are ideas. Situations, lines that could have worked. They even did sometimes. There are present takes on relationships unprecedent in the Fate franchise, stuff we've never seen before and it even is animated and overall done so well - just if we cared for the people on the screen. The attempts to make us sympathize with these Masters and Servants were at times done better than in the previous seasons. The attempts to humanize those characters and create any sort of bond between them and the watcher were carried out so poorly I was appalled.

  F/A is without a doubt extremely hard novel to adapt. Especially while being pressured by the standards the previous seasons have set. Should we take Apocrypha as a standalone anime, without the necessaary comparison, the flaws would still be there, nevertheless. Having said that, Apocrypha isn't outright bad.

  It's enjoyable, exciting show that failed to live up to its name yet delivered above average fantasy action with some bold and fresh ideas.

  All in all, is Fate/Apocrypha worth watching? Definitely. Flashy fights, heroic spirits, betrayal, love, epicness. It is saddening that such a promising concept hadn't been done in a more suitable manner but since this is what we get, we may as well enjoy it for what it is.

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