Fate/Zero VS Fate/Stay Night (ubw)...So Far

I was one of those people that watched Fate/Zero without any context to the original Fate/Stay Night. And I am one of the many people that loved Fate/Zero. It is, in my opinion, not only one of the best anime ever, but one of the greatest television shows ever. Seriously people, watch it, it's amazing.

This year, much to my happiness, they announced that another version of Fate/Stay Night would be released. If you don't know, F/SN is a visual novel and takes several different routes, or different events occur with the choices you make throughout the journey. This show, this F/SN [unlimited blade works] if you will, follows a different route than the previously released show.

And yeah I know there's a movie that showcases the "unlimited blade works" arc but frankly I feel like I'll get more out of the show than the movie so don't spoil anything that happens.

When the show was announced, it had a bit of an issue. It had to live up to the standard F/Z had set for it. So it had to be one of the best anime ever, or it wouldn't really succeed. Honestly, I put it at that standard, too. It was essentially all about the next generation, about the little kids that were on F/Z but were minor characters. Now, they are the Servants, for better or for worse.

Before I get into which I think is better, I will say that there are many things, which I like, that carry over from F/Z into F/SN. First, many Servants are the same and it appears that they have their memories from the previous series intact. Saber, for instance, refused to see Kirei because of his feud with Irisveil and Kiritsugu. Likewise, we saw a brief scene in which Kirei and Gilgamesh (hate that guy) were talking in the church.

F/SN is indeed the sequel to F/Z that I hoped it would be, in so far as it does bring up the monumental events of F/Z to the point where viewers who haven't seen it won't be lost. The vague mention of "an evil Mage who was undeserving of the Grail" by Kirei would be taken differently by a new viewer than by one who knows the true identity of said Mage, but either way, there is intrigue as to who he is talking about. The many callbacks to Kiritsugu's mission in F/Z through Shirou is yet another great nod to the previous show.

F/SN deals with all this with great subtlety. There are a few things that are still up in the air and are still bothering me. It may be because a new route is being taken, but it's still something that bugs me. First: Is Sakura a Master? In F/Z, she was being trained by the Mato family to become their next great Master, even becoming essentially a twisted little doll. Ten years later and I honestly can't tell what her involvement is in the war. Second: How can Rin not recognize her sister? It's only been ten years, you would think that you should recognize someone you used to be really close with.

It doesn't feel like F/SN has necessarily dropped the ball (and there are still 16 episodes left) with some of these things, but, it is a little disappointing to not see them come to fruition.

Luckily, the show does manage to keep up with itself. There are very little things that are left up in the air that we need to know. Sure, about half of the Masters have been identified, but they aren't necessarily the priority. The show does a good job of prioritizing rather than it being a jumbled up mess of characters.

That, there, is where F/Z did it right. In the first episode it introduced every character it needed to, and brought up what their overall goal was for the show. We knew what these guys were going to be like, and any mystery characters were followed around for a better idea. By the end, we knew most of the Masters and their respective Servants.

Eight episodes in and I'm slightly frustrated by F/SN that we don't know much. If I had to write up character bios, I feel I could only best write up ones for Shirou, Rin, Saber, and Archer. They have been the focus of the show and I can barely remember who the other characters are. Sakura and Ilya I know mostly because I watched F/Z so their presence has an impact. Kirei is there but only as the High Priest, and then the other characters such as Shinji and Caster I'm just kind of "eh" about because they haven't done much.

With F/Z, though, I knew characters pretty well. I knew that Waver and Rider were comic relief, I knew that Kiritsugu and company were our main crew, I knew Tohsaka and Kirei were a big threat. Lancer was growing as my favorite Servant. And, most importantly: we'd gotten to see every single Servant, and got to see seven of the eight in battle. Episodes three, four, and five all focused on the battle that raged on between Lancer and Saber, then the introduction of Archer, Assassin, and Berserker, as well as showing off part of Rider's strengths.

With F/SN, I can only assess the Servant's skills based off of brief skirmishes. Their identities are also difficult to asses. If you don't know F/Z then you don't know the secret behind Saber's identity. Another question I have is if Lancer is Diarmud? There's a striking resemblance but I don't believe he's shown off his Gae Dearg Noble Phantasm.

So while some people may like the ambiguity of it all, I must say that based off of my first impressions that I was much more involved with F/Z than I am now with F/SN. Does that make it a bad show? No, it's one of the better fall anime I've watched, and is only my second favorite behind SAO II (but it's a close second). There are major tonal differences in the show that I can't really compare. When F/Z is about powerful adult mages who know the way of the world and F/SN is about teenage mages who really aren't fighting for anything outside of loose dreams, there's going to be a bit of a tone shift. Still, F/SN does a good job of keep this tone.

As far as the music goes I will say that I'd heard a better battle soundtrack based off of F/Z than F/SN, but the general background music with the latter is entertaining. Also F/SN has my favorite opening song of all 2014 anime, so, it also has that going for it. The fight scenes and their animation are also pretty similar so I'll call it a draw there. But when the fights get bigger and cooler I do think that F/SN will be superior.

Who knows? Maybe F/SN will prove to be the better show in the end. There is a lot of characterization between Rin and Shirou, and lots of room for other characters to come in. With Kirei and Gilgamesh still out there, as well as psycho Ilya, I'm sure there's going to be tons more happening in the coming episodes. Just for now, based off of eight episodes, F/Z is the better show.


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