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Meanderings
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Saturday, 01 October 2011 21:00 |
The Holy Grail War is soon to be upon the world again, and the seven people chosen to take part are coming to the fore. Fuyuki City will be the venue for the War this time around, it seems, and the Mage's Association and the church are making arrangements to ensure that the battles that will take place will take place fairly. Well, as "fair" as can be, given that both groups have certain vested interests. Kirei Tohsaka, who along with his father is a priest in the church, has unusually been chosen as a Master despite his lack of magical ability - and is about to start a crash course to ensure that he has the best possible chance of victory. Elsewhere, Kariya has learnt of a disturbing adoption by his family, who have taken Sakura Tohsaka under their wing with the aim of breeding a Mage that will allow them to gain control of the Holy Grail - and decides that he must do what he can to set Sakura free...
...and that's just a small part of what happens in this double-length season opener (back to the usual 25 minutes from next week, apparently). If you watched Fate/Stay night a few years back and were confused by what the hell the Holy Grail War really was, then Fate/Zero should answer all your questions, as it takes us back to the previous War and, if this episode is anything to go by, goes into a hell of a lot more background detail on it. Here, we get 47 minutes that introduce the 6 of the 7 Masters that the Grail has so far chosen for this round of the war, get to look a little at their motivations, and see them summon the Servants that will fight for them in the War. With it being made clear at the start that magical ability plays some part in at least some of the Grail's selections, and that magical ability runs in families, it shouldn't be any surprise that a lot of the family names that get trotted out here are very familiar: Tohsaka (Rin herself is featured, although she's obviously ten years younger than in Stay night), Kariya, Emiya... a lot of this will seem vaguely familiar.
Which is both reassuring, and part of the problem. It's been a while since I saw Fate/stay night, and I ended up watching this with my old review of its predecessor sitting open & trying to work out the family connections. They're everywhere, they're distracting, and they have me wondering how much of this series is going to be little more than a remake of Stay night, just with slightly different characters.
THE GOOD: TYPE-MOON atmospherics are still there, there are plenty of explanations about what's going on this time so you're unlikely to get lost in the plot, and we're a little bit clearer on the motivations of everyone this time around. Oh, and LiSA on the ED theme, which brought back happy memories of Yui & Girls Dead Monster for me.
THE BAD: Pacing. Slow. Again. Very tempting to try and connect everyone through to their Stay night successors, but down that road lies madness. Retreading some of the same territory as its predecessor.
Still, can't quite bring myself to diss it, as I do have a soft spot for TYPE-MOON, and once this series gets past the necessary scene-setting I'm fully expecting it to pick up nicely. I hope it doesn't disappoint me.
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Backbites 
