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Kiseijuu (I'm just going to call it "Parasyte" from now on) is an adaptation from an over 20 year old manga by Hitoshi Iwaaki. The premise of Parasyte is nothing new by today's standards of anime or science fiction in general, but considering the source material's age, it's quite impressive and I think Madhouse did a pretty good job bringing it into animation form. One of Parasyte's strongest aspects in my opinion was the great dynamic between the two main characters, Shinichi and his parasitic "buddy" Migi and how they have to start co-existing with each other after the plot kicks in. Said plot flows ... pretty well for the most part and our two heroes always have something to do. This starts from Migi learning how the modern world functions by reading books or even surfing the web, to roaming the streets and interacting with other human beings at school, to fighting other Parasytes who - unlike Migi - have taken over their host's complete brain and body and start killing and eating people all over town in a not really subtle way.

But of course the threats get bigger and the stakes are raised quite often as the story progresses and this leads to some well-done character development for Shinichi and even Migi, who at first only has his own survival in top priority. The character development really feels natural and there weren't any parts which stroked me as odd or forced, except for the characters suddenly having to spout preachy monologues near the end of the show. But sadly the praise in the character department pretty much ends there, since the supporting cast is rather lacking to say the least, especially the female ones. Shinichi's somewhat girlfriend and her friends take the cake, their personalities are rather flat and one-noted and they seem like plot devices serving to Shinichi unfolding as a character and occasionally driving the story along. Not to say that they are terrible, but it just seems ironic to me that the Parasyte Migi feels more human than some of the actual humans in the series. There are some other stand-out characters as well, especially the Parasyte called "Tamura Reiko" who has an interesting character arc and makes for an intriguing sort-of antagonist from the beginning to the mid-portion of the plot, she was a good addition to the cast and allowed the alien Parasytes to be seen from a completely different light.

One thing I particularly liked about the show was that it didn’t fall apart at a certain point; it practically stayed true to itself and even took some time to introduce us to the protagonist’s daily life world before everything went more or less to shit. It also didn’t go down the wrong path and turned into a mindless fighting Shounen in which fan’s most discussed topics revolve around power levels and how cool the masks look (I don’t care about how the manga is) instead of themes or characters. It sadly took some head scratching detours at times and even became a bit preachy near the end. The ending wasn’t exactly what I would call a satisfying climax either, but the writing stayed consistent, the pacing was solid with hardly any downtimes and there was barely any filler content, if at all.

Parasyte also has its fair share of action bits and Studio Madhouse did a good job at them for the most part, but you can clearly notice that they spread their budget too thick in the beginning and the quality of the animation dropped noticeably after the first six or so episodes, which was very disappointing, but they’ll probably fix the biggest issues In the Blu-Ray release anyway, which I am not reviewing right now, though. While there were some really detailed and very fluid bits of animation in some fight scenes, the character models became quite inconsistent as the show went on and there was quite some detail put into some scenes, but others were plain awful. Character models also look rather plain and they often use cheap 3DCG to animate non-important pedestrians or crowds of students for example, which looks jarring. It really looked downright average at some points, which is not understandable considering they often delayed episodes for a week or so. The general directing and presentation of the show felt a bit underwhelming as well at times, but to the show's credit it used some well made visuals effects in some fights or dream like sequences of Shinichi and others.

In terms of sound many people’s first complains were “The dubstep sounds like shit”, and they weren’t completely wrong, but the soundtrack does have its moments and when it wants to shine, it definitely does. Not all tracks have this dubstep tunes to them and are quite beautiful to listen to, even on their own. The Opening and Ending Themes are a mixed bag as well. While I think the Ending Theme – while not being bad - was quite out of place in the beginning, it fit almost perfectly near the end of the show. But! And that’s a big BUT; I found the Opening Theme to be really atrocious. In terms of music AND vocals, I couldn’t even recognize if they were singing in Japanese or English, it was definitely a mood killer at some points.

Thankfully the voice actors did a great job on all fronts, from Shinichi and Migi, who were voiced absolutely brilliant, to some of the shorter appearances as well. All the needed emotions came across believable and the voices matched their looks nicely too. No complains there.

Now it’s time for the final verdict:

Parasyte is a nicely written show with a great duo of main characters which mostly stays true to what it initially sets up and some really gripping moments, it was a master of tension at some points. The presentation might be a bit lacking, the show's budget was mishandled and the soundtrack mostly consisting of dubstep and the rather lackluster appearing ending might not match everyone’s tastes and expectations, but it remains a well done Sci-Fi thriller with some interesting ideas, a well fleshed out and natural setting with only a few loose ends. If you like these types of stories or especially if you’re a fan of shows like Tokyo Ghoul, but don’t mind the lesser focus on action but more on characters and plot, I can definitely recommend this show to you. It’s one of the better shows to come out of 2014 and even 2015 so far for sure.

RATING:

STORY SECTION: 8/10
Premise 2/2 (interesting)
Pacing 2/2 (fast with no real downtime and basically filler free)
Complexity 1/2 (not much)
Plausibility 2/2 (set up its world and mechanics very well)
Conclusion 1/2 (a bit underwhelming, but solid)

CHARACTER SECTION: 8/10
Presence 1/2 (except the main two fairly generic)
Personality 2/2 (some are strong, some are weak, but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (there is some far and few in between)
Development 2/2 (great and natural development on the main characters)
Catharsis 2/2 (solid)

ART SECTION: 6/10
General Artwork 1/2 (basic)
Character Figures 1/2 (rather samey with mostly no distinct features)
Backgrounds 1/2 (rather generic but solid)
Animation 1/2 (good in the beginning, got weaker later on)
Visual Effects 2/2 (some nice touches here and there)

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 3/3 (pretty good performed all around)
Music Themes 2/4 (I didn’t like the dubstep, some other tracks were good to great)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok, I guess)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 6/10
Art 0/1 (looks fairly generic)
Sound 1/2 (songs are a mixed bag but the voice acting is good)
Story 2/3 (presented nicely for the most part and was engaging, meh ending)
Characters 3/4 (great main characters but mostly forgettable side characters)

VERDICT: 7/10

Oh, Zankyou no Terror... How much did I praise you during the early few episodes, but how could I know that you will turn out how you did. Zankyou no Terror (Terror in Resonance or Terror in Tokyo in English) was one of my most anticipated titles of the season and I am sure I was not alone. The show also gained a bit of a hype because of the famous Shinichiro Watanabe (Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop), who I am in all honesty no big fan of, but okay, let's get this review started. Just make sure that I will NOT be able to hide ... all possible spoilers, so just read this review if you have already finished the show or dropped it and don’t consider picking it up again! Or if you just don’t care about spoilers...

The plot, or rather the premise, was what caught my attention and interest at first. “An anime about terrorism?” Sounds thrilling alright, but sadly it turned out to be quite a train wreck with lose plot and lackluster characters in the long run. Basically the show is about two special kids, who build bombs and make them explode, but with no people around so nobody gets hurt. That’s a weird characteristic for two young blooded terrorists, but there are reasons for this, obviously. And they announce their terrorist attacks on YouTube and ask the police riddles, so they may or may not stop the bomb from going off. That’s what I was thought to be quite interesting and I was hoping for there to be a message behind the bombings and some deeper meaning and connections, but sadly that wasn’t so. Either I didn’t get them, or the riddles were just there to make the show appear smart. The show generally shows its story from two perspectives, from the bomber’s, naming themselves “Sphinx”, and the police’s perspective. What I found somewhat disappointing that there was no real tension during the moments when the investigations took place and the investigation process went waaaay too easy. I mean the main detective, Shibazaki, seemingly knows all of Greek mythology (that’s what the riddles are mostly based on) and at one point he clears a riddle because he watches his fat friend play a video game. It reminded me of some cheap Hollywood movie in which the protagonist finds out some very important clue due to something a kid spouts. I’m sure you know what I am talking about.

How the story played out felt a bit cheap in general. I mean Shibazaki (together with "Five" in the middle part of the anime) was the only one driving the plot along thanks to his super knowledge and his daughter who knows a lot about bombs and nukes. Also in the end he meets a few men who willingly agree to just tell him everything he wants to know in fullest detail, just because.

Another point when the show took a huge nosedive in my opinion, was when a former “friend” of the main characters “Nine” and “Twelve” was introduced as their nemesis, called “Five”. Five was basically the point on when I almost gave up on the show. She seemed just like a psychotic woman who had to stop Sphinx because the US said so. And to do this she went overboard multiple times, resulting in countless casualties, damages and wounded innocents along the way, for a ridiculous, nonsensical and compleely unjustified reason and motivation if you ask me. And she also did pointless and silly riddles with bombings, which the main characters now had to solve and disarm… While the character of Five was not complete useless, I do agree that she shouldn’t have been there. They should have spent more time on the "important characters" and explore those more. Speaking of which.

The whole cast of characters was so lackluster, with barely any real explained motivations or fleshed out ones among them, the only decent one being the detective Shibazaki. He was the only one advancing the plot, but even this with the most trivial and convenient ways possible, like I told you before. I mean his relative and one friend gave away the location of the bomb in the last episode, oh my, how convenient indeed. It was so cheap I had to face palm. A lot of answers to the already mentioned riddles by Shibazaki where really sudden and there was never a clear train of thought to follow either him or the actual main protagonists, which was a shame. This could have been a great cat and mouse game like in Death Note, but it was not. There isn’t much to talk about the two male main characters to be honest. Nine was the rather cold and distant guy, while Twelve was the funky and hyperactive one. They have flashbacks to their past every now and then, when the plot feels like it, and that’s about it. We literally learn everything there is to them in the first two episodes, with their motivations being revealed in the very last episode.

The last character I want to mention is Lisa, Sphinx’ female sidekick. She has a highly clingy mother and got bullied in school, that’s where she first met Nine and Twelve, which was the most convenient and cheapest way to introduce her, because for whatever reason Sphinx joined a local school in episode 1, but where never ever seen there again, which makes it pointless and the yet again really, really cheap. Her relation with her mother seemed like an important plot point in the beginning, but was quickly abandoned and never talked about again, which is quie a shame. The only things she then really did where trying to cook for Sphinx, but messing up, helping them out a few times, but messing up, staying at home, but messing up and so on. She also gets kidnapped a few times to drive the plot along, but contributed nothing important or meaningful to the story whatsoever. As you can see, the writing is not really strong with this one. Sadly this doesn’t change in the later episodes as well and even the conclusion was everything else than satisfying and quite anticlimactic. They basically shoved everything we already assumed down our throat in the most forced way possible, though at least it is complete and not inconclusive. That’s a plus.

But thankfully the show is good in two aspects; visuals and sound. The animation was really good for the most part and especially in the first episode gorgeous. The explosions were fluent, the attention to detail on backgrounds and characters remarkable and the use of lighting and shadows impressive too. But sadly the anime has a few quality drops during its duration of 11 episodes and often likes to use 3DCG to animate even two background characters, which is really cheap and effortless if you ask me. Characters tend to lose a lot of detail once they move away from the screen too. Nothing new, but when the show does want to look good, it certainly does. The other thing I want to mention is the soundtrack by the famous Yoko Kanno (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Cowboy Bebop, Jin-Roh), which was done very well and especially during the show’s high points in the last couple of episodes, the soundtrack really stood out. One particular scene being one scene in a Ferris Wheel, which was in all honesty my favorite moment of the show. The voice acting was solid, but no performance really stood out or caught my ear.

But even with all these flaws, Zankyou no Terror was one of my most anticipated shows each week during the summer 2014 season. The whole thrill of how things can turn out, what will happen next, really thrilled and captivated me, only to be let down again and again…

Okay, let’s get to the verdict.

Zankyou no Terror was such a huge letdown for me in multiple aspects. This begins at the flow of the story, tons of unanswered questions and thin writing, the flat and weak characters and the unsatisfying, yet complete, conclusion of the show’s plot. Zankyou no Terror could have been a great comment on terrorism and a huge controversial thing to talk and discuss about, but sadly it turned out to be a cheap and forgettable popcorn flick with fancy visuals and good music. Don’t worry, Sphinx. I will remember you. I will remember you for being in a show with the first good English I heard in a long time and in my biggest disappointment of summer 2014. Zankyou~

RATING:

STORY SECTION: 4/10
Premise 1/2 (interesting)
Pacing 1/2 (solid)
Complexity 1/2 (has some nice attempts)
Plausibility 0/2 (completely unrealistic)
Conclusion 1/2 (overblown, but well presented)

CHARACTER SECTION: 4/10
Presence 1/2 (fairly typical and not memorable)
Personality 1/2 (generic and some completely bland)
Backdrop 1/2 (some is shoehorned into the plot)
Development 0/2 (non-existent)
Catharsis 1/2 (overblown, but it's there)

ART SECTION: 8/10
General Artwork 2/2 (very detailed)
Character Figures 1/2 (quite generic but very detailed)
Backgrounds 2/2 (very realistic)
Animation 1/2 (sometimes good, sometimes average)
Visual Effects 2/2 (quite good)

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (quite good but no outstanding performance)
Music Themes 3/4 (good tracks and very well used)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok, I guess)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5/10
Art 1/1 (looks great)
Sound 2/2 (sounded good from top to bottom)
Story 1/3 (interesting hook, but that's it)
Characters 1/4 (Shibazaki was not that bad...)

VERDICT: 5.6/10

Hype, hype, hype. If one show received a huge ton of it this season, it was A-1 Pictures' Aldnoah.Zero. But is it as great as all the big names and the hype make it out to be? Well... not really, but it certainly was a good watch. Thanks for reading my review on Aldnoah.Zero!

The show takes place in an alternate reality, in which the Apollo 17 mission discovered a hyper gate to Mars on the surface of the Moon in 1972. After these events, the astronauts discovered the legendary "Power of Aldnoah", which made technology beyond our imagination possible. With this power in their hands, ... a lot of people settled on Mars, created the Empire of Vers and declared their independency from Earth. After years of conflicts, in 1999, a fight between humanity and the Empire of Vers caused the hyper gate to get destroyed and it took a huge part of the Moon with it, thus "Heaven's Fall" began and lots of the debris from the Moon landed on Earth, destroying whole cities and landscapes. Both sides had to take in massive casualties. After 15 years and a long time of ceasefire, the Vers princess was sent to Earth for a peace mission, but it didn't turn out as expected and the princess got assassinated and right after this, the Martian soldiers began to descend from the sky, riding steel giants, intent on exterminating humanity, taking revenge and conquering Earth for themselves once and for all.

Sounds pretty epic, huh? Granted, for the most parts the presentation of the show IS really epic, just assisted and maximized by Hiroyuki Sawano's fantastic soundtrack. While the plot concept sounds quite interesting, the execution is rather meh to say the least. This starts off with some pretty obvious info and exposition dumps and a rather predictable story layout in the beginning; new Martian super robot shows up, kills a lot of people, protagonist beats super robot with a "clever" tactic, the end. The show offers some plot twists here and there to keep you engaged, but they somewhat lack depth and impact for the most part, which really was a shame. This is mostly the fault of the anime's characters, as these are obviously the show's biggest downside.

The main protagonist Inaho is your typical "2cool4u" smart hero a lá Lelouch, except that Lelouch actually has an understandable and relatable personality for the most part AND charisma. Inaho doesn't have that. A friend dies in front of his eyes; cool and straight face. He beats a bad guy's awesome robo; cool and straight face. He just saved someone's life and they are thanking him; cool and straight face. He is ice cold in whatever he does and this is what makes him distant and in my opinion completely unlikeable and unbearable as hell. I know he doesn't show his emotions from the outside and rather in his actions, but come on. Unrelatable and poorly written!

The rest of the cast was average at best, with the best ones being Lieutenant Marito and Slaine Troyard. In the Lt.'s case his backstory of the war before the show started was really interesting to watch and how he had to deal with his PTSD, because he lost a precious friend to him back then. That's a more realistic depiction of PTSD compared to... other shows this season *cough* Sword Art Online II *cough*. Sometimes during the show, I wished he was the protagonist instead of Inaho, because he felt a bit more human. But of course, they didn't do anything with him, wasted potential. Slaine Troyard on the other hand was not that bad. He had an somewhat understandable motivation for doing what he does, his backstory was quite interesting - even if presented poorly. Compared to other shows he may still be meh at best, but together with the Lt. they made the otherwise trashy and forgettable cast of Aldnoah.Zero somewhat bette, but that doesn't say much. All in all the characters felt very flat, unengaging, plot-devicey and unlikeable.

The villains were mostly one-dimensional, cartoony cardboards, with little screentime or focus put on them and the rest of the supporting cast was either not really worth mentioning or spoiler territory.

But I could overlook some of the writing flaws and the characters for the sometimes godly action sequences. Yeah, the robots are made with 3DCG and tend to not blend in with the background well, but the action A-1 Pictures presented was mostly jaw dropping in my opinion, especially in episode 3 and the finale episode. And yes, I know that the "tactics" rival those from Code Geass, but if you turn your brain off and just embrace the action with Hiroyuki Sawano's masterful Original Score in the background, you can probably ignore those flaws as well and just enjoy the show. Of course the flaws wont disappear, but at least it makes it all the more enjoyable. Well, at least for me.

In terms of visuals, Aldnoah.Zero looks really good and for the most part solid as well. The backgrounds are very detailed, the action is smooth and the colors bright. It only took me a while to get used to the kind of blobby character designs and especially in episode 10 there was a huge noticeable drop in animation quality. But thank god it was just for this one episode and the final episodes looked as amazing as they should.

Personally, I had a good time with the show and I looked forward to it almost every week. Probably it was the hype getting me fired up every time the fantastic OP by Kalafina started playing, but Aldnoah.Zero was one of the few shows of the season I really wanted to watch. The start was quite dull, then it got better for a long period of time, then it slightly dropped and the nice final episode made up for it. I know, it was mostly SHOCK FACTOR and Urobutcher being Urobutcher (well, Boku no Pico man trying to be Urobutcher), but the way the emotions of certain characters came across really made my blood boil, but not completely in a good way. It somehow reminded me of Code Geass... weird, a lot of Code Geass comparisons in this review.

Well, time for the verdict.

Did I like Aldnoah.Zero? Sure, I did. Do I think it's a great show and everyone should watch it? Nah, no way. While you can (and most likely will) enjoy it as a brainless watch for tons of good looking and sounding action scenes, it falls flat in terms of good, consistent writing, offering a plot with at least some depth and even mediocre characters. Just don't take this show too seriously and embrace it as the stupid fun it is. Exactly as it was with Code Geass. DON'T PRETEND IT'S SMART! It's just another below average mecha with teens saving the world, only this time with more hype and less good writing. A shame that all the big names didn't amount to anything.

RATING:

STORY SECTION: 3/10
Premise 1/2 (generic mecha premise)
Pacing 1/2 (kind of repetitive formular, but solid)
Complexity 0/2 (pretends to be)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (a really mixed bag)

CHARACTER SECTION: 2/10
Presence 0/2 (barely interesting or stand-out)
Personality 0/2 (flat as a rock or too impulsive and dumb)
Backdrop 1/2 (only tiny bits)
Development 0/2 (non existent)
Catharsis 1/2 (fucked up, but it's there)

ART SECTION: 7/10
General Artwork 2/2 (very detailed but static)
Character Figures 1/2 (kind of blobbish and samey)
Backgrounds 2/2 (highly detailed and far from generic)
Animation 1/2 (solid)
Visual Effects 1/2 (some ugly CG, otherwise solid)

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (basic)
Music Themes 3/4 (feels like a Frankenstein'd Sawano OST, still good)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok, I guess)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 5/10
Art 1/1 (looks good)
Sound 2/2 (sounds nice)
Story 1/3 (interesting start and fucked up ending, that's it)
Characters 1/4 (Slaine and the Lt. were okay at some points)

VERDICT: 4,8/10 (putting it down to 4,5; 4/10!)

Fate/Zero was the very first experience I had with the Fate franchise by Type Moon; I never played/read the Visual Novels/Light Novels nor watched anything Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Kaleid related before, so I’m not going to make endless comparisons to any other things Fate related. Just to make that clear. Also, this review covers both seasons for convenience.

To be honest, Fate/Zero's premise sounded rather cheesy to me at first. But I'll promise you, the execution is fantastic, thrilling, and mature. That ranges from the fantastic visuals to the excellent soundtrack, the interesting and intriguing characters, their dialogues, as well as to the very well realized ... fight scenes in between.

The story is set place in an alternate reality, in which Magis (mages) exist, magic can be studied and used to bring back old heroic personalities from across the history, such as King Arthur or Alexander the Great, to fight in a battle royal to the death with the goal of obtaining the "omnipotent-wish granting device" called the "Holy Grail", said to grant one miracle to the winner of said battle royal. This battle is called "The Holy Grail War" and takes place in Fuyuki City every 60 years. Seven Mages (“Masters”) are chosen, and each of them get a Servant to join the fight. These Servants are separated into seven different classes; Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Assassin, Caster and Berserker. Each Servant is, as already mentioned, a Heroic Spirit from the history books, brought back to life to fight for honor and the power, which the Holy Grail supposedly possesses. After three failed attempts, the 4th Holy Grail War takes place and that's where the story of Fate/Zero begins.

The backstory of the Fate series is huge and could literally fill books. The very first episode plays it nice and safe for everyone not familiar with the franchise and takes a 50 minute long, almost exposition dump, on you, explaining some important details about the history of the war, the main families involved in it, their connections and so on. We also get introduced to the several different Mages and get a small glimpse of what they are fighting for. While I agree that it was necessary to understand what the hell is going on, it also was one of the less entertaining parts of the show, but I personally didn't have a problem with that. I'd rather “suffer” a huge info dump instead of having to scratch my head at everything that's happening during the show any time. The story of the show flows pretty well actually and the balance between lengthy dialogues and impressive battles was handled really nicely. The cliffhanger at the end of the season was really nasty though. I still don't see why this was split into two halves anyways…

Each Servant gets a different Master of course, and each Master has different reasons to participate in this battle alongside different tactics to win it. Some are playing it out honorable in a traditional fashion and others are going on rampages with their new best friends because they can and feel like it. That makes every one of the different characters never feel really dull and especially as the cast of characters mostly consists only of fully grown adults (meaning no high school-girls, tsunderes, no token lolis and so on) very refreshing and it also includes no random fan service to ruin the otherwise serious and dark mood of the show. Fate/Zero is a mature anime but it can seem a bit “edgy” sometimes, especially as one Master is a psycho who loves to torture and kill children with his new Servant and said Master doesn't really get much explanation for his behavior, other than "It's art and so coooooool!". The characters are a mixed bag; on one hand some are intriguing and on the other hand some were barely fleshed out or just contribute nothing to the main story then sitting around and talking. I’m looking at you, Tokiomi! But my overall impression of the characters was genuinely positive though and I rooted for a lot of them. They weren't perfect though and tend to act stupid at times, but nothing that would make me upset or dock a lot of points for.

So with being a battle royal in its core you might think that it's quite obvious who is the winner because there is a main character and everything, but it's really not. Yes, there are some characters that get (a lot) more screen time and dialogue than others, but among the main ones it's always a struggle because every Servant and Master has different strengths and weaknesses and especially one fight between two Servants in the early parts of the show was really gripping to watch. But sadly, most battles between Servants boil down to dialogues and speeches about honor and chivalry and it makes the characters appear a bit dumb at times, when they let the enemy get away for like the 10th time instead of just finishing them off. It may be necessary for the continuation of the plot, but as a viewer it wasn't that enjoyable all the time and I sometimes ended up shaking my head. But some fights between the Masters and their use of magic and weapons are where shit really hits the fan. You really feel the difference when watching the Masters and Servants fight. The Masters act a bit more realistic and out to really win the war and have their wish granted, while the Servants mostly fight in and for their honor. It makes a real nice change of pace to see the Heroic Spirits fight one another in a duel like fashion and the Masters fighting one another like it was an extermination, so the action doesn't get old fast and some Master/Servant combos even have a clash of ideologies sometimes as they don't agree on their methods used in the war. It was really interesting to watch how some relationships between Master and Servant didn't bloom perfectly but were also spread with doubt and hatred for each other.

Speaking of relationships between Master and Servant... What also spiced the whole thing up more were these different interactions between some Masters and their Servants. Especially the duo of Waver and Rider made for two solid developed and likeable characters, the same goes for Irisviel and Saber. Sadly that’s not true for all of them; those two groups definitely took the cake in this first season for me. Another honorable mention goes to Archer helping Kotomine Kirei to develop as a character and changing his view on the whole situation he is in. While their interactions mostly consisted of talking and can be boring for some, I found them to be interesting and necessary to get a better view on the character of Kirei, who starts of as a pawn by Tokiomi but becomes a strong and more confident stand-alone character later on. But the character interactions didn’t just consist of the Master and Servants, but dialogues and discussions between some multiple Servants as well. They also get to talk with each other, share their thoughts and ideals – and not always for the better. For some people Fate/Zero may be too much talking and too less fighting and I would agree with those to an extent. But all in all I was pleasantly surprised with the aforementioned balance between dialogues and crossing swords this show has to offer, especially since the pacing in Season 1 is a slow, steady build-up, only to have it all tumbling down in Season 2. It was a worthy pay-off and I really loved the ending, though some scenes might confuse people not familiar with anything else Fate related.

Another thing which made this already well executed story even more stand-out was the great animation done by ufotable, which most notable works include the famous Kara no Kyoukai - The Garden of Sinners movie series. Everyone who saw their films know how they make an anime appealing and exciting, this is also helped by the excellent visual and sound direction the show has. The art is detailed; the animation smooth and fluent, the use of lighting and shadows brilliant and even the obligatory ufotable 3DCG looks really good. The quality got even stepped up in Season 2 and it looks even more impressive. Truly a sight to behold.

The soundtrack was made by Yuki Kajiura and if you already listened to a soundtrack done by her, you know how most of her music sounds; epic choirs, orchestra and so on - Fate/Zero is no exception. At some points I could have sworn I was listening to a Madoka Magica or Kara no Kyoukai OST instead, they really sound that familiar. While that's a good thing to those fond of her style of music, it's also off putting for those, who don't like the “typical Kajiura flair” that much. I personally like her style and tracks like "Point Zero", "the beginning of the end", "fate to zero", "this day, and never again" or "The Battle is to the Strong" made a lasting impression on me and got into my favorites on iTunes. The rest of the audio design is fantastic as well, with good sound effects and the voice actors did a solid job as well. They really made the characters feel alive. I can't speak for the English dub, but the German dub was slightly above average. To all German speaking readers: Stick to the subs please, it’s not worth the money. All in all Fate/Zero is one of the best looking and sounding anime I had the pleasure with yet, it was a feast for my eyes and ears in 1080p Blu-Ray quality. It was a great experience to say the least.

Let's get to the verdict of Fate/Zero:

I really had a good time with this show, I like it a lot. But as much as I enjoyed the intriguing characters, the well animated fight scenes and the dialogues, it of course felt rather incomplete and the cliffhanger at the end of Season 1 left a bad taste in my mouth. I can just imagine all the disappointed faces when they had to wait for so long for this to continue airing back in the days. But I didn't have that much of a problem with it. Another thing which put me off was some of the decisions some Masters and/or Servants made during important fights. If they wanted to, they could have ended this all in one season, but no. Also, some characters didn't get any real light shed at all, but I think everyone will have someone to root for at the end. Another thing which could be a bummer is the extremely slow pacing at times, especially in Season 1 and compared to the very dynamic events in the "Second Season”. In my opinion, though, that’s what makes the whole watch of Fate/Zero all the more rewarding. The first season is the slow and careful buildup while in the second one everything comes crashing down (in a good way). All in all, Fate/Zero is a fantastic anime with few misteps here and there and a rather week plot. I still recommend it to anyone looking for something a bit different from the generic moe-blobs and ecchi harems we usually get these days. It's worth checking out for this reason alone. And on top of that it's well made and exectued and you get an interesting story with great looking action.

STORY SECTION: 6/10
Premise 1/2 (not that mindblowing)
Pacing 1/2 (kind of slow in S1, too fast in S2)
Complexity 2/2 (a lot of mindgames, intrigue etc.)
Plausibility 0/2 (all the technobabbling still amounts to lose rules)
Conclusion 2/2 (great setup for Fate/stay night)

CHARACTER SECTION: 7/10
Presence 2/2 (cool and strong)
Personality 2/2 (well founded for the most part)
Backdrop 2/2 (a bit forced but fits well and rounds the characters a lot)
Development 1/2 (only a few get it)
Catharsis 1/2 (overblown, but it's there)

ART SECTION: 9/10
General Artwork 2/2 (very detailed and creative)
Character Figures 2/2 (stand-out and distinct)
Backgrounds 1/2 (great looking, but very samey)
Animation 2/2 (very fluent)
Visual Effects 2/2 (great for a TV series)

SOUND SECTION: 9/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (solid)
Music Themes 4/4 (all around great and fit the show very well)
Sound Effects 3/3 (great for a TV series)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 8/10
Art 1/1 (looks great)
Sound 2/2 (sounds amazing)
Story 2/3 (lots of intrigue and the grand scale of things felt epic)
Characters 3/4 (I liked and rooted for most of them, but some are weak)

VERDICT: 7,8/10 (putting it up to 8/10)

With the obvious big shot of the season being No Game No Life, a lot of otherwise also decent and sometimes even better shows get pushed in the background, while I think some of these deserved a bit more attention. One of these titles would be Hitsugi no Chaika (Chaika, the Coffin Princess) by Bones.

Just like many other titles every season, Hitsugi no Chaika falls under the category of light novel adaptations and it has many things which indicates this, such as the medieval setting with a magic system. But at some points this anime was a bit different from usual light novel adaptations. For ... example we have no teenagers as protagonists, but fully grown adults. Well, except for Chaika Trabant that is. But Toru and his half-sister Akari are both adults and saboteurs who were used in war. But since the war is over for a while now, Toru and his sister have nothing to do and are easily bored and hungry since they have no jobs. This especially affected the character of Toru as he is constantly looking for the meaning in his life in the beginning of the show, as he still sees himself as a soldier. But a soldier in a land without war and in peace is useless. Thus on an errand to gather some food for his sister and himself, Toru then proceeds to accidentally cross the patch of the awkwardly speaking, coffin carrying and confused looking Chaika Trabant in a nearby forest. After an encounter with a unicorn which gets defeated by the two, Chaika - who turns out to be a sorceress who is a bad ass with her magic rifle- asks Toru and his sister if they could accompany her on her journey. They agree and thus their story begins. I won’t go into further detail because light spoiler territory.

The story itself is rather mediocre and not that worth mentioning to be honest, but it has a few twists and turns along the way. The setting on the other hand is a nice mix of a medieval post-war world, mixed with some steampunk elements, which can be noticed especially at the clothing of some characters as well as some machines like various vehicles and guns. What really hurt the immersion of the experience for me was the severe lack of world-building and background information to the characters themselves. After the 12 episodes of the series’ first cour we don't really know that much about Toru's or Akari's past, which I personally found a bit disappointing. The world itself, besides looking pretty, doesn't offer any lore or explanations to really get invested in like say Attack on Titan or for a better example the Toaru Majutsu series does. Magic and how it works doesn't even get hinted in the slightest, and we just have to take it how it is. While this saves some annoying info dumps and boring expositions, it also spoiled my enjoyment a little, as I always would have loved to know what was going on when a spell was casted, Toru activated his blood-iron transformation, you name it, thus making the story part easily the weakest point of the show for me.

But thankfully, though we have a really lovely cast of characters to help the show along the way. Let’s start off with our main trio which consists of Toru, Akari and Chaika. Later on we get one additional side character that is rather a plot device than a real character on her own in my opinion. Like she’s just there to clear an obstacle or help a few times in battle but doesn’t do too much besides that. The main three on the other hand serve the plot very well; none of them were annoying or hurt the experience for me. And when some battles take place - which is not a rarity - the whole group got involved into the battles. No one really stood at the side lines and watched, no. They were all active which made the well animated action scenes all the more powerful. Also great to look at were some of the saboteur tactics and gears used by Toru and Akari during said fights. While we not always get explained how they are used, they are always there in the right time and are used practically to make the battles appear a bit more strategic and thought out. This was an aspect of the show I really liked in the beginning, but when we advanced after the first half of the show things started to slow down a bit. The action was still there but not in the dimensions like in the beginning. But thankfully the last two episodes speeded up again and gave me more of the exciting action I was hoping for The character development of the main characters wasn’t anything outstanding but noticeable, so it was there.

On the other side of the spectrum we have Gillette-sama and his companions, trying to stop Toru, his sister and Chaika from completing their goal of spoilers. Gillette is a soldier and nobleman trying to fight for the sake of good because they and the high class people think Chaika and her new found friends are a threat to the peace of the land. Toru and his group actually appear like the bad guys for a change as they are confronted by Gillette as they are supposedly the trigger for another war. Unlike every other light novel main character would try to fight for there to not be war, Toru doesn't really care. Why? Because he's a soldier, a weapon, and a weapon without a use is useless in his eyes. These made for an interesting change in perspective in the early parts of the show and made this show stand out from the usual clichés and tropes a bit. Unfortunately they didn't really do anything extraordinary or worth mentioning with this premise later on...

Overall the characters were all likeable in my opinion, especially Toru and Chaika really grew unto me and I even understood the "villains" as they got a surprisingly huge amount of screen time during the course of the 12 episodes. Story wise it came to a satisfying conclusion with a cliffhanger plus an announcement for a second season in October. Count me in.

In terms of visual and audio the show didn't really do much to me to be honest. Even though the colors were bright and the character designs rich it somewhat looked cartoony and lacked detail at some points, pretty disappointing for a show made by BONES. Thankfully during the fight scenes when it wants to look good, it does. The soundtrack was sadly barely noticeable and the Opening as well as the Ending song weren't that outstanding either, but fairly alright for my tastes. Otherwise the soundtrack ranged from average to slightly above average.

So, we finally get to the verdict. Should you watch Hitsugi no Chaika? Well, that depends. On its own it's by no means a special anime in any particular way, so it may be just another time sink for about 5 hours for you. But if you're trying to catch up with the less bad stuff of spring 2014, I'd definitely recommend you to check this one out. It may not blow your mind but I do think the hours with this were well spent and even if you’re just looking for a small action snack, this one should do you well.

Scoreboard:

STORY: 5/10 (okay premise but it didn't do much with it, lack of world building was disappointing)
ART: 6/10 (pretty colors and character designs but an often lack of detail, good action scenes)
SOUND: 5.5/10 (just slightly above average as the OP and ED songs were alright)
CHARACTER: 6/10 (likeable characters but a lot of background info to them was missing)
ENJOYMENT: 7/10 (I had a good time with it, only after the 1st half it slowed a bit down)
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OVERALL: 5.5/10 (Mediocre)