Fate Zero is the prequel to Fate Stay Night. It is about the 4th Holy Grail War. Several characters from Fate Stay Night appear in this show, masters and servants alike. Since I put off this for a while this impression is on the first three episodes.
In the first few episodes of Fate Zero there is mostly preparation and back story for the show. The show starts by showing the motivation for most of the masters. Then they show the servants being summoned and how they interact with their masters. This is just a bare bones summary though.
I am not a big fan of Fate Stay Night so I was not expecting much from this show. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it. I find it more interesting so far than the last one, probably because so far it gives motivation and intrigue instead of just fighting. I have heard many complaints that the show is starting out slow, but I think knowing why everyone is joining this war is important.
The worst thing about this show is that some parts are just nasty. The scene where they show the little girl among all the bugs and talk about what was happening to her was disturbing. Also when caster was summoned and showed what he was capable of and enjoyed was not pleasant. Hopefully caster will not last long. They have not shown him or his master all that much yet. Despite these grim parts of the series it still draws me to watching this and writing about it when I was planning on giving this one to Scholar.
The characters for Fate Zero are varied and interesting. There are the selfless characters trying to make the world more fair or better. There are those who are in it because they are obligated, at least as far as we know so far. Some are in it for glory for themselves. The last kind and most disturbing is the guy in it for the special ways he can kill people with his servant. I think most all of the characters have their good points. I don’t know who I would want to get the grail at this point.
Rider has an interesting personality. He doesn't really seem to want the grail. He only wants to recapture his former glory.
Status: I am still watching. This show is worth a try even if you didn’t like the first one.
Update: Review of the first season up now.
Fate Zero is available at Crunchyroll.
