Fate/Apocrypha is a 25 episode anime based upon the light novels, which itself is a spin-off from Fate/stay night. It is set in an alternate timeline to Fate/stay night and features a completely different cast of characters. However, the core concepts and the character classes remain similar or the same. Thus, there is a Grail War, there are Masters and Servants, and Servants are categorized in the same classes that we are all familiar with such as Caster, Rider and Saber. In the third Holy Grail War, the Greater Grail was stolen and taken to Romania by the Yggdmillennia clan. Sixty years later, they declare war against the Mage’s Association and each side summons their Servants to fight. Yggdmillennia takes on the name of the Black Faction while the Mage’s Association is referred to as the Red Faction.
The anime is actually really confusing at first since it introduces the huge cast of characters pretty much one after another. This is made worse because each side summons seven Servants, which along with their Masters, means there are at least 28 major players. You’ll mix up who is who, what allegiances they have and how the different characters intertwine with one another. The Servants are once again famous heroes and heroines from both the past and from legends, so we have characters like Siegfried to ones like Frankenstein’s monster. The character choices and their designs will definitely surprise you, which can be questionable in a few circumstances.
The biggest difference compared to Fate/stay night is that it is the two factions fight against each other. This is in contract to a free-for-all that we are used to, where the last one standing gets the Grail and has their wish granted. As you watch the anime, it can be hard to tell who the good guys are and who are not. The Yggdmillennia did steal the Grail and instigate the war in the first place, but the Mage’s Association isn’t doing themselves any favors in their retaliation either. A key figure is Jeanne d’arc, who appears as the “Ruler” class. She acts as the independent overseer to ensure both sides are following the rules.
The anime has a more classic high fantasy vibe to it than previous Fate/stay night anime, mainly because all the characters are wearing armor or older styled clothing. It helps that a lot of it is set in Romania with its forests and castles. The key themes to link it to the Fate universe including of course, the Grail War aspect, but also homunculi having a sizable supporting roles, and the rules between Masters and Servants.
The progress of the war seems much faster than expected since it doesn’t take long before the two factions clash on the battlefield. All the Servants participate, unleashing their most powerful moves. Although the flipside of this is that is doesn’t feel like that there is much scheming or planning ahead. Furthermore, there is a lot of fighting… because that is what they do. The clashes don’t feel meaningful when there are so many skirmishes and then what little plot there is, is very boring since it’s mainly comprised of character monologues.
Thanks to the gigantic battle that starts pretty much immediately, naturally one battle cannot last the whole season. There is a major development in the middle of the season but this also stalls the pacing, which wasn’t that great to begin with. Unfortunately, at the end of the day, it’s still a Holy Grail War with characters fighting against each other to summon it, so it just feels like a slightly different way to tell the same story.
The second half of the season ramps up to another clash as the finale, although none of the characters feel properly anchored. There is an obvious romance between Ruler and a homunculus but it doesn’t quite work since it feels superficial at times. There are heaps of backstories which are revealed and explored towards the end but naturally, focusing only those that survived. Thus this character development is a tad bit too late for it to leave a big impression, because usually it means that the character is about to die but there wasn’t time to properly build up the emotional attachment. This problem stems from the large cast but not focusing on a small number, instead opting to constantly cut to different characters in each episode.
The animation is quite average and generic throughout most of the season. There are times where there is some really wonky animation. However, the animation in the finale, where there were a lot more flashy fights, is of a poorer quality with its lack of detail and refined shapes. It’s distracting when this happens, especially when it’s a character that’s talking and they are supposed to be expressive.
Overall, Fate/Apocrypha is not a bad anime, but is generic and bland. There are too many characters but it leave sit too late into the season to actually start developing them. By then, it’s only the surviving ones left which meant that earlier deaths lack impact and the upcoming ones also didn’t have enough time to leave a significant mark either. The soundtrack does capture your attention in several scenes and there are some genuinely good bits, but the overwhelming feeling of the anime being average is hard to shake off.
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