Fate/Apocrypha Episode 1 [First Impression]

Eva’s First Impression

Oh my freaking God, I was just talking to the others about how they-who-shall-not-be-named licensing shows and only release them at the end of the season is so behind the times and how fansubs will have to rise from the dead to save anime…. AND LO AND BHOLD! UTW FANSUBS RISEN FROM THE DEAD.

Bless you UTW Subbers, bless you! I thought I’d never see you again!!! ; A ;

It wouldn’t be a Fate Series if the premiere didn’t have a full out info dump now would it? There’s a lot of details to absorb so let’s break it down. Unlike the other Fate series such as Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero, the war that takes place in Fate/Apocrypha is a little different from the usual. This time, it’s a war between two organizations, otherwise known as the Great Holy Grail War. The war was triggered by the Black Fraction, the Yggdmillennia Clan who declared they have withdrawn from the main organization and formed their own. As result their former brotherhood becomes the Red Faction. To make matters worse, the Yggdmillennia Clan declared they possess the artifacts that contain immense divine power of the Fuyuki War Era, that had one disappeared without a trace.
In cases likes these, there is an emergency system in the Greater Grail. Should seven Servants be controlled by a single power, seven more will be summoned, bring about a whooping total of fourteen Servants, enabling seven seven 7 battle. So the Red Fraction will also have seven masters to be responsible for the servants that are needed to be summoned, and Sisigo (recruited by Professor Rocco) who has summoned Red Saber, Mordred, King Arthur’s heir (who sounds like she has a total kickass personality!), and Shiro (let’s just bare in mind, this story is set in a parallel world, so lets not jump the gun just yet).

Now what’s crazy about this episode is that it appears the main character didn’t make his formal debut just yet. In fact we only got a glimpse of him, and much to my surprise he is actually one of the many homunculus to provide magical energy in Darnic’s steed for his servant Caster, Avicebron. (Who will be identified as Black Caster). It only makes me all the more curious of how he is going to become a master and what sort of role he will be playing in this warfare. That being said, I am really excited to see Jeanne d’Arc, she is a servant who I have always been eager to see the spotlight. Needless to say it’s refreshing to have a main servant who is other than Saber: King Arthur herself.

I will confess that within the first two minutes of the episode had covering my eyes shrieking, “HOLY SHIT SO MUCH BLOOD” (but really I over-reacted because when I went back to do the screenshots I realized, oh… I seen worse, haha… ^^;ll) – because as you may already know, I really can’t stand seeing blood, or gore – so much so one has to wonder how in the world I have ever gotten by watching any Fate series…. But that was quickly forgotten as I got hooked in with the plot, and how the war this time round was going to be different from the rest. I also had my usual mild freak out whenever a Caster servant is introduced because almost every time we meet a Caster Servant, they are messed up in the head and they are always up to insane and stomach-churning activities. This one, Avicebron (Black Caster) is a master of Golem Arts, and he can create golems – hence an army – so here to hoping he is not as crazy as the usual (of course that doesn’t lessen the damage and cruelty he can deliver. He was the one servant after all that took out 49/50 of the Red Fractions’ men they had sent out. The only reason one survived as to simply serve as the messenger – and I can’t imagine that was pretty in any way.) On top of that, he has a crazy master too, because the dude is actually over sixty years old and is known for his research on eternal youth. But while he’s crazy, he’s intelligent enough to come up with a stradegy to create a bunch of homunculus with magical circuits to supply Avicebron with magic in order to enable him to prepare his army of Golems. The poor homunculus though, someone of them are going to end up providing their hearts to serve as the Golem’s core.

Needless to say though, it was interesting to hear how Avicebron is more interested in completing his Noble Phantasm to enable himself to create the original giant of the legends of his people.

I gotta say A-1 Pictures did a good job of maintaining the fate art style and filter we have all grown accustomed to. All what’s really left is to see how they will deliver when we see the full fledged combat scenes. That being said, A-1 Pictures is by no means a shabby studio, so while it obviously isn’t going to be ufotable top-tier quality, it’s certainly nothing to freak out about (unless they end up having serious budget and time crunch issues).

But now I am in a tricky position. All the shows I have my eye on or have already committed myself to comes out on Saturday and Sundays. And frankly I wasn’t planning on picking up more than two summer titles this season. Just when I thought my decision to have to skip Fate/Apocrypha was made easy for me, now I have to be picky or take a risk… Do I attempt to fall back into my old habits of covering a bunch of shows, or should I ease myself back into the routine after a year of semi-hiatus…. Decisions, decisions.

Possibility of Blogging: Moderate – High: I will at least cover three episodes to see if I have time and the energy to can two shows in a day.
Possibility of Watching: Guaranteed