Tag Archives: Fate/Apocrypha

The Fate Franchise is Confusing, But That Does Not Matter Too Much

October 31, 2018 Jack Scheibelein 3 Comments

Welcome, weebs and authors alike, to The Aniwriter

Watching one of the recent iterations of the Fate series Fate/Apocrypha has made me realize something: The franchise is kind of a mess. Between multiple spinoffs that have little to nothing to do with the main story, and aspects of the main story that seems to have only been added in as a weird gimmick, like King Arthur being a woman, the franchise feels peppered with a lot of nonsense. However, that does not mean that the franchise as a whole has not been entertaining.

Do not get me wrong. In no way am I excusing a lot of the franchises bad writing elements. Its always important to criticize bad writing so that it can be made more logically consistent, and therefore better. As someone who wants to write for a living, I try and look for ways to improve my own stories every day. But, semi-bad writing and nonsensical story elements can be overlooked in many cases if what is being shown on screen is entertaining, and with the Fate/ franchise it certainly is.

A lot of the stories in Fate have, at least to me, always come off as more style over substance, fan-fic-esk brawls than shows that were attempting to say something revolutionary, and in that way they succeed greatly. Whether it be the original Fate/stay night by Studio Deen, and much more so the recent adaptations of Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel done by Ufotable, the show’s action has been top notch. Each of the character’s powers, with a few exceptions, seem unique to them as a historical figure, and much of their motivations for fighting makes sense within the fairly imperfect story that is being told.

The same is true for the prequel story, Fate/Zero, in which Saber, one of the franchise’s flagship characters, looks her coolest ever. It is always entertaining watching her fight with Excalibur, and her power to make the sword invisible adds to the suspense of any given fight she is in.

The Command Seals are also an interesting mechanic in the show’s world. While fighting for the Holy Grail with their servants, Masters are given three command seals. When used, each of the seals gives a master the power to force his or her servant to perform one action. The action is performed near-instantaneously, which means there is no lag from communication.

Even the nonsensical spin-offs in the Fate Franchise like Fate-Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya, despite having not actually seen them, look like enjoyable enough watches. And while Fate/Apocrypha does not seem to fare much better in the writing department overall, its fourteen main character cast certainly does bring a lot to the table when brought together.

Let me reiterate: the point in writing all of this is not to say that the Fate/ franchise is bad, quite the opposite actually. Despite its often times lackluster writing, the franchise as a whole is thoroughly enjoyable, and if you have not actually seen any of Fate/, then just ignore everyone and start with the original by Studio Deen. #noregrets

But seriously though, how do you guys feel about the Fate/ franchise as a whole? Let me know in the comments below. Also, if you want to support the Aniwriter through donations or are just feeling generous, consider buying me a coffee on Ko-Fi. Otherwise, thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!

Anime/Manga, This Week in Anime

This Week in Anime: 1-18-18

January 18, 2018 Jack Scheibelein 1 Comment

The news never stops coming. Each week is getting busier and busier, but its time again for another dose of Anime Knowledge. Welcome to This Week in Anime, where I give you the news that important for the week.

Work For Young Animators is Disappearing

Loulse from Goboiano wrote a piece detailing the decline of working conditions for young animators. In the article, she details how average pay for in-between animators is below the yearly salary for the average Japanese worker. This is because much of the work for in-betweeners has gone to overseas studios in places like China and South Korea. This practice of sending work overseas, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Director Yasuhiro Irie, is creating a labor shortage. As I’ve said previously in this series, I can understand that costs for studios are high, but that does not give them an excuse to ship labor offshore.

Batoto, One of the Largest Manga Scantalation Sites, is Shutting Down

RawR, owner and administrator of Batoto, said recently that he is tired of running the site and that he “just don’t have the will” to run the site anymore. The site’s servers ended today, and its content will officially be erased from the web on the 25th.

Fate/Apocrypha’s Second Half to Air on February 9th

Netflix will finally be releasing the second half of Fate/Apocrypha. On the Feb. 9th, the show’s second cour is set to be released. The show’s first half was released on Nov. 7th of last year.

What things are you looking forward to in the future? Let me know down in the comments. Thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!

Anime/Manga, Initial Results

First Impressions: Fate/Apocrypha: A Show That Needs Some Work.

November 20, 2017 Jack Scheibelein Leave a comment

My initial reaction to this new iteration of Fate was admittedly more influenced by reviews than any evidence of the production. A lot of those reviews painted a picture of Apocrypha as mediocre and not really worth watching. Although I mostly didn’t pay attention to it because it was a Netflix exclusive, and because of that there was no way to watch it legally until recently when they released the first half. So, after watching the first three episodes of Fate/Apocrypha what did I think?

Well, mediocre isn’t really correct. As of episode three, the show has done a good job of establishing the show’s main characters without getting dragged down by the fact that there are already more than thirty characters. Making the main focus so far Mordrid and Shishigou is good starting points and also gives fans a place to focus while harkening back to the original Saber. The show has established already that this focus will shift to Ruler and the homunculus later on, but it looks as though it is going to make that transition a bit slowly.

However, it is by no means perfect. Even with its handling of the cast so far, the sheer volume of characters is a distraction. And this is more a problem with the setup, as just the information you get from the plot description implies that there will be 28 unique characters you will have to be aware of at the minimum. Luckily, the character designs in the show are distinct enough to tell them all apart, but it is not a good sign when you have to rely on character designs in order to tell them apart.

Aside from those initial pros and cons, there is a fair bit to like about the show. Just the idea of a seven on seven war between mages leaves room for a lot of awesome stuff, which the show is filling well. The Yggdimillenia’s break off from the mage’s association in order to start their own makes it so that we know that the people who are fighting are fairly competent

The servants in this series are also cool as well. While it may be a bit of a stretch for some of them, servants like Shakespeare and Frankenstein add a pinch of fun and makes it so that the show isn’t taking itself too seriously.

Overall, I think I’m going to enjoy this show. As much as I don’t like boiling ratings down to numbers, I think the current MAL rating of 7.29 most accurately reflects my opinion so far, as being above average but definitely not approaching the level of Fate/Zero. Hopefully, the show fixes its major problems moving forward and ends up being a great show.

Have you seen Fate Apocrypha? If you have, what did you think? But please no spoilers! Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading and bye for now, Friendos!