Fate/Zero

This is a quick review of Fate/Zero, an amazing anime that quickly became a classic of the battle anime genre.

What is Fate/Zero about ?

In a few words, Fate/Zero is about seven Historical Figures (whether fictional or not) fighting for the Grail, a relic which has the ability to fulfill any wish. Therefore, their Masters (their summoners) will use anything that are in their power, to obtain it.
Violence, fight scenes, blood everywhere, this is definitely not your battle shōnen/nekketsu where the teenage boy beats everyone gradually, where his enemies becomes his allies and where he doesn't even think before acting.
Here, characters are adults, that have to think about every move they do, otherwise they get killed. Enemies can't become allies, as it has to be.

Trailer :

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Where does Fate/Zero take place in the Fate Timeline ?

Fate/Zero is the prequel of Fate/stay night. To sum up, Fate/stay night takes place in 2004, but Fate/Zero happens 10 years before the events of the original serie. You get to know some characters that will appear again in Fate/stay night, as well as an awesome backstory of what did happen before.

Is Fate/Zero a good entry point to the Fate universe ?

About the Fate/series watch order, this serie is the entry point that gives the more spoilers for the Fate/stay night animes. Considering that the others Fate animes aren't from the same timeline (not including Today's Menu for Emiya Family and Carnival Phantasm), they aren't good entry points as they don't really explain the origin of the "Original" Holy Grail War.

Fate/stay night is the main material and the origin of the entire Fate franchise. Therefore the best entry point to the Fate universe is the original material : the Visual Novel. Right now, the three animes aren't the best way to get into it, as each one of them do spoil the others.

If you want to watch the series chronologically and you don't mind some major spoilers from the three routes of Fate/stay night, then start with Fate/Zero. To be honest, I was in that case and it didn't ruin my Fate experience at all.

At the time I'm writing this review, only 2 Heaven's feel movies out of 3 are available. So, starting with watching all the three routes before Fate/Zero is quite complicated. If you aim to watch every Fate anime, including Fate/stay night (2006), then start with the latter. You'll get some spoilers from the other routes, but knowing this one is the worst animated Fate anime, your experience can only get better and better. Then continue and watch Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014) (not the movie), then the Heaven's feel movie trilogy. You can watch Fate/Zero after the second movie if the third one isn't available yet, as the third movie wouldn't give spoilers for it.

Notation Time

Here is my personal notation of the anime, using the advanced system of Anilist. As I became a big fan of the Fate franchise, I might have given too high notes.

I gave 99/100 for the main reason that I enjoyed every part of the anime. For a 2011 anime, the animation still surpasses most younger shows, Ufotable showed that they were ahead of everyone at that time.
Usually I'm not a huge fan of tragic stories, but this one did a really good job to keep me interested as well as making me feel contrasted emotions, such as hype, anxiety, happiness, disgust...
The Original Soundtrack was amazing and added another dimension to every scene of the anime.
Each character has a distinct personality, especially the Servants. As it was my first Fate anime, I loved their original concept. It gives them an awesome historical-inspired backstory, and you can quickly have historical figures that don't even are from the same era fighting each other.

And give Gilgamesh an Oscar (wait, he should already have one in his vault)

Conclusion

This was my first review on Anilist, I'm considering preparing other reviews of the animes I watched, so that people can either watch them or not. In these reviews, I don't want to only give my opinion on a serie, but I also want people to build their own opinion about it.

Thanks for reading, and have a good time watching Fate/Zero if you're starting after the review !