Fate is one of the biggest franchises in anime & manga, and when I say “biggest”, I mean in terms of both popularity and quantity. I think there are close to a hundred Fate anime, manga, novels and games, so the prospect of getting into the series might be quite daunting to most. Now, this isn’t going to be a review where I go all “Get into the Fate franchise, here’s a watch order”. Well, at least not yet, this is literally the only Fate I’ve watched. I’m just going to give my overall thoughts on the series.
So, the first time I watched Fate/Zero was last year, and until today, I considered it to be one of the anime & manga I wasted time on. Now hold up, hold up, I’m not saying the series is bad, I mean just look at the score I gave it, it’s literally in my top 10! But the reason I say I “wasted time” on it is… well…
So last year was the year I got back into anime. I stopped watching anime in 2017 or 18 and then didn’t watch anything till December of 2019, which was when I got back into anime. So, I pretty much wanted to watch a bunch of anime, and I prioritized quantity over quality. I rushed through classic anime I’d probably rate higher if I rewatched them in a proper way, such as FMA:B, Steins;Gate, Vinland Saga, and of course, the subject of this review, Fate/Zero. I mean, I was literally watching Fate/Zero as I was getting my hair cut, so I obviously didn’t pay much attention to it.
At first, even though I didn’t grasp the show at all as I was inattentive, I gave it a 10 (S tier, not perfect) because I was a bandwagoner and was scared of rating the show lower. Later on, I changed my rating to a 9 (amazing) because I didn’t remember anything about the series except for some small, basic plot points. I knew I had to rewatch the show, but I kept putting it off….until today, when I binged both seasons of the show. And hoo boy, what a show it was.
I honestly can’t believe how I missed practically everything that makes Fate/Zero, with no exaggeration intended, a masterpiece. I’m going to try to go through it now, but I might miss some stuff so please bear with me.

PLOT:

So, the first time I watched the show, I thought the plot was very convoluted and pretty much understood nothing. I didn’t know most of the plot points and was confused upon the ending. I don’t know why that happened, maybe because I didn’t pay attention to 75% of what was going on? Anyways, upon rewatch, I was pleasantly surprised by how incredible the story of this anime was.
The source material (a Light Novel) was written by Gen Urobuchi, who also wrote for an anime that I really liked, which was Madoka Magica. He’s also the guy who wrote Psycho Pass Season 1 & the movie, neither of which I have watched. The plot is not actually that complicated on a surface level, but on a deeper look, there are a lot of themes portrayed through this anime that are very interesting to see.
The show is basically about a proxy war for the omnipotent wish-granting magical relic, the Holy Grail. 7 people participate in this Holy Grail War through their “Servants”, who are influential figures from history summoned under one of 7 classes: Archer, Saber, Lancer, Berserker, Caster, Rider & Assassin. The masters duke it out in a variety of ways, sometimes directly through their Servants, and sometimes by using other underhanded methods.
Fate/Zero is, to put it bluntly, a Greek tragedy. This is probably a phrase you’ve heard a lot before, since literally every single person who has made a review on this series has called it a Greek tragedy. I’m not going to try and elaborate upon this concept too much, because it could potentially spoil the series. To put it bluntly, Fate/Zero shows you a bunch of ideologies, and then shows you why every single one of them is wrong, and that is something I love about this show. It also has some really cool fights, and the strategy is also great to see. An example of this that I can think of is… well, the protagonist Kiritsugu does some stuff when a duel is going on. I think the people who watched the series get what I’m talking about. Well, what I’m trying to say is, the plot of Fate/Zero is a simple concept executed brilliantly. All the strategies and tactics employed are really great to see and the ending is very thought-provoking in my opinion.

CHARACTERS:

Now I know I kept on talking about how the story of Fate/Zero is incredible, but I think the strongest point of the series is definitely its characters. The first time I watched this series, I thought that Iskandar & Gilgamesh were the only good characters in the series. However, that has changed a lot after this rewatch.
Every single character is given a distinct personality and ideology, and they are all brilliant in their own right. The masters & servants are all definite characters who are all, in my opinion, realized to their fullest. Like I stated before, every single character has a distinct ideology or goal, and they might use another character to try and fulfil that goal. Sometimes a Master and a Servant may see eye to eye on their goal, but employ different tactics to achieve that goal. Personally, my top 3 characters in the series are:
1: Iskandar, an absolute chad who is also a very deep character, and in my opinion, the most upstanding out of all the characters
2: Gilgamesh, another chad who is arrogant, cocky and prideful, and that’s precisely why I love him so much as an antagonist
3: Kiritsugu, the protagonist of the story and a great take on utilitarianism, or, to put it bluntly, the philosophy of “The Ends Justify The Means”
Of course, these aren’t the only incredible characters in the series. Fate/Zero has a VERY character driven narrative, and I think it executes this to perfection. Oh, and did i forget to mention that the episode “Grail Dialogue” is one of my favorite anime episodes of all time? The way it talks about what it means to be a “true King” is incredible.

ART AND ANIMATION:

I’m not going to talk about much here because frankly, I don’t think I need to. The anime is done by studio UFOTABLE, known for anime like Demon Slayer. Of course, the show looks AMAZING, with some of the best animation in the industry in my opinion. The fights are all fluid and incredibly choreographed, the characters are all expressive, and the atmosphere in this show is executed very well. Definitely one of the best adaptations I have seen, even though I haven’t really read the source material.

Well, that brings us to the end of this review. Fate/Zero is, as of writing this review, my 8th favorite anime/manga of all time, and for good reason. It has an incredibly compelling narrative that will get you hooked, a wonderful cast of characters where you will love at least one of them, and incredible art & animation. Oh, and not to mention, the opening of Season 2 is, at the current moment, probably my 3rd favorite anime opening of all time. Overall, I’m giving this a 10/10 (S tier). I really don’t have anything more to say about this anime. I hope you watch it. If you do, don’t make the same mistake I made by rushing through the show, If you have watched it, well, kudos to you.
I hope you have a fantastic day!