3rd Best Anime – Fate/ Franchise

Yeah, if you consider ‘anime’ by a singular series basis… you are going to hate me for this one!

Let me just mention the anime that I considered a part of the franchise. Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works, Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel I, Fate/Zero, Fate/Prisma Illya, and the unforgettable Carnival Phantasm.

That’s a lot of anime! Hours and hours!

I could write a few thousand words on each of these series… Because I think the Fate/ franchise is one of the best anime experiences I’ve ever had!

 

 

 

First off, let me explain the most important thing to understand about this series. The source material that began the Fate/ franchise is the Fate/Stay Night visual novel (2004). It spawned several different anime, and you need to understand why. There are three main routes in the visual novel, Fate, then Unlimited Blade Works, and finally Heaven’s Feel.

3 routes, 3 main heroines… And yes, this is an eroge… And I wish I had the money to play it!

Now, those with experience in visual novels might note that I used the words ‘then’ and ‘finally’. That’s because Fate/Stay Night is meant to be experienced in a sequence! First Fate, then UBW, then Heaven’s Feel!

You might try to watch the new Heaven’s Feel movies without knowledge of the other routes… which is a terrible idea!

Because, the greatest strength of Fate/Stay Night is its meta narrative.

There are several points in the Ufotable UBW anime, that must be pretty anti-climactic for new viewers.

They must go, “What a waste of a villain,” without ever seeing the Fate route where Kirei is the final boss! To a viewer with knowledge of the Fate route, his death is cathartic, and signifies a significant change from the previous route.

Medea (Caster) is an example of this in reverse. A joke in the Fate route, turned significant villain in UBW!

And don’t even get me started on the first Heaven’s Feel movie…

Holy crap, that stuff got to me!

But to understand, let me just explain the modus operandi of Fate/Stay Night.

The first arc, Fate, introduces the world and major characters. The main character, Emiya, is never challenged in his ideals, and wins all of his fights through his deus ex machina like powers. In retrospect, with knowledge of other arcs, Fate begins to look less terrible… but your first viewing of the Fate route will probably leave you bitter.

The second arc, Unlimited Blade Works, is actually fantastic. Emiya’s ideals are directly challenged, and his previous ‘chosen one’ powers are nowhere in sight! The major theme of this arc is personal growth! Watching Emiya grow as a mage, fighter, and person is fantastically engaging as he tries to protect those around him. There are three specific fights that made the opening slog worth it…

He protecc!

But never minding that-

From what I’ve seen of Heaven’s Feel, its quality is unbelievable. The villain is actually terrifying! I’m saying this as an edgy teen who nearly fell asleep during Another (Cus Another is the worst anime ever!), there is a single villain who had me on edge whenever he appeared. In a mix of perfect writing, animation, timing, and atmosphere…

…

I can’t spoil. I may be bad at this, but I’m not that evil that I would spoil any more of the series secrets!

The existence of this villain is a mild spoiler by itself. If I were to even mention his name, I would spoil a major part of his existence.

Flaws

Before I get into my wrap-up, let me address the flaws of Fate/.

The visual novel, which I’ve heard is the best way to experience the Fate route, is not legally translated.

UNLIKE SOME VNs!

There is actually no good way to experience the true Fate route in anime either! The 2006 Studio Deen’s Fate/Stay Night was mainly based in Fate, but it also took from other routes in order to seem more ‘complete’. And I think it turned out as a mess!

If you expect a Fate/ anime to be completely standalone, even if in different canons, you are not going to enjoy the experience. Again, the appeal in Fate/ is the meta narrative, and the emotional ties to the characters you get from playing and experiencing other parts of the series.

Fate Illya is really just a funny loli-bait homage to the original… until the GAR movie

Also, Fate/Stay Night seems to have a problem with any characters other than Emiya Shirou growing… they might be complex characters, but they are static! Fate/Zero is even worse in that regard, since character growth is impossible for adults when Urobutcher writes a story.

Oh look, the only dynamic character is also a student… so much for people praising it for just having adult characters!

TL:DR – this series is hard to get into!

But if you can manage it…

The payoff

Have you ever heard of Carnival Phantasm?

It’s a show of pure fun and insanity…

I can’t recommend this enough! It easily makes my list of top 3 comedy anime, by itself! If you need motivation to get through this series, this is it!

I’d say that Carnival Phantasm is very nearly the pinnacle of anime…

Taking characters that went through the most messed up, despair inducing stories… and mixing them up in crazy situations that almost make the pain go away!

Also, this is the Tsukihime anime! Gal Undo!

…

Carnival Phantasm may be a masterpiece, but the series that serve as its baseline are also well-written too!

Like, ever hear of Fate/Zero?

Have you seen the hours of analysis on the themes of it? I might not care one bit about any character who isn’t red haired or a spineless whiny mage… but I admit that it’s an interesting little tragedy.

Don’t stare at this gif for too long… you might mistake him for doing something else!

All the quality Fate/Stay Night adaptations, UBW, Heaven’s Feel, and Today’s Menu for the Emiya Family… they’re all great!

Also, the resident scum of the series, Matou Shinji, is delightfully terrible! Voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya, (yes, Levi from AOT, and Araragi from Monogatari), it’s always a delight to see this blue haired jerk suffer!

Ever wanted to see Izaya Orihara suffer? This is his voice actor. Have at him!

Conclusion

I really suggest getting into the Fate/ franchise.

It has good production values, especially the Ufotable adaptations, and the music is just so right!

If you haven’t gotten to watch Fate/ yet, and want to now, or just discovered the greatness of Carnival Phantasm-

It’s great stuff!

Hold on, one more Carnival Phantasm plug-

…

Okay, by considering Carnival Phantasm as part of Fate/, it moved up from 8th to my top 3! You caught me red handed! Do your worst!

“Oh no, Lancer died!”

“You aren’t human!”

 

Also, Berserker is best boy!

Lancer best dog.