Fate / Zero

This prequel to the Fate/stay night anime series is based on the light novel written as a prequel to the original series’ source visual novel. Like most prequels, its main purpose is to show what happened to set up the original story and one of its main draws is seeing characters who were referenced and/or appear in the original story in earlier forms; fans of the franchise will doubtlessly delight in seeing youthful versions of Rin, Sakura, and Illyasviel and seeing Kiritsugu Emiya and Kirei Kotomine at the heights of their powers. Being familiar with the franchise is not necessary for understanding the proceedings here, however, for this double-length premier entirely eschews action in favor of spending its full time carefully setting up its main players and explaining the franchise's premise. Few beginnings to follow-up series in anime franchises are as accessible to newcomers as this one is.

The first episode covers a time frame from eighteen to ten years prior to the events of F/SN, beginning with the birth of Illyasviel, child of a descendant of one of the most prominent bloodlines of mages and Kiristugu Emiya, a former mage-killer who married into the family. It concludes with the prelims for the fourth Grail War, a battle between seven mages held every sixty years for the right to make a wish upon the Holy Grail. Kiritsugu and Kirei are not only two participants but the ones who worry each other the most due to thier unknown motives. Another mage bloodline scion, Kiriya, struggles to fulfill his family's part in the Grail War in an effort to protect young Sakura from getting drawn into the mess, while a fledgling mage absconds with his teacher's relic in order to participate himself. Each mage chosen to participate gets to summon a Servant, a representation of heroic spirits from across history who hail from one of seven types, and those Servants - including, yes, Saber - finally appear in dramatic fashion as the episode ends.

Even from a newcomer's viewpoint, this beginning shows a lot of promise. The technical merits and artistry, courtesy of ufotable, are superb and, for a change, the basic premise is quite clear. Despite the lack of action, it finds just the right amount of drama and pathos to keep viewers involved and has enough hooks to keep the attention of established fans who might find the lengthy set-up boring. It provides plenty of plotlines for story development, too. Overall, it marks a great start for the new season.