A-1 Pictures throws down a challenge to Ufotable: this is how you do a proper Servant battle:
For most of the series Fate/Apocrypha had been pleasantly meandering towards the inevitable battle royal, one of those series that held my attention week to week but was never all that impressed with, the next permutation in the seemingly endless line of Fate spinoffs. This week’s episode though kicked things up a notch or two. The video above is just a small sample of what’s basically an episode long fight between various Servants, all epic distortion, dirty animation and blast effects. Everything is in motion and blurry, giving a sense of the enormous powers being thrown around.
It’s a different approach from that what we’re used to from Ufotable’s take on the Fate series, which is much more focused on providing clean, sleek action and the sensation of speed more than raw power. Personally I prefer A-1’s approach here. Much of what Ufotable did in Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works felt glitzy and too sleek for its own good. The fights especially felt unmoored from physical reality and while the source material is good enough to overcome this in those series, if you look at some of Ufotable’s other work, like its various video game and pretty boys adaptations, they become all glitz and no substance. Technically the animation is brilliant, but there’s no soul to it.
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