This is the kind of show that got me into Nasuverse in first place where it methodically goes through its mystery before punctuated by an epic showdown. The entire show gives off such a Kara no Kyoukai vibe with Lord El-Melloi II doing the detective work while his apprentices do all the stabbing and disposal of rogue magus. The mechanics of the magic system in Fate franchise are often so convoluted that info dumps are necessary to understand exactly how all the pieces come together. Lord El-Melloi II avoids such mundane narrative devices like explaining while walking around in a circle by organically incorporating the different aspects of magic into its weekly cases. First up is the astrology driven magus that ends up being consumed by a faulty ritual and sets the pace for how mysteries are to be solved. In the world of magic, once the motive has been discovered then everything else should fall into place as opposed to the standard CSI approach of picking through the howdunit. The second case is alot less interesting with the rat man ruining Waver’s favorite place for tea but that because a whole slew of characters were introduced.
There seems to be a real pattern of magus going to despicable lengths to reach The Root but at least they took both violent and non-violent approaches in taking down the offending maguses and that’s where Grey comes in. It’s not a real Fate series if a Saberface doesn’t show up and Gray does a great job in filling that role without being an actual servant herself. Contrary to the self-righteousness and valiant of her ancestors, she is reserved and quiet but when it comes time to kick some ass, she doesn’t disappoint in least with her massive scythe. If I had to wager a guess on Grey’s power levels, I would put her on par with Shiki Ryougi (of Kara no Kyoukai) that put up a defensive fight against a servant but would ultimately lose. She still has that beastly noble phantasm of Rhongomyniad, but using on such low-level opponents would lessen the mystery behind such as a weapon like that. Other characters like Luvia make their debut in a serious role (UBW’s cameo and Prisma Illya doesn’t count) and I just love her new white and blue dress. There are also glimpses of others like Volumen Hydrargyrum-chan and the crazy pink girl of which we’ll probably go into depth as the show goes on.
From what I understand of the source material, the first half of the anime will be original material with the latter half adapting volume four and onwards. Hopefully it keeps up with one of the central themes, that Fate/Zero only touched on with Waver and was personified with Kiritsugu Emiya, of the clash between Modern Magecraft and Old Magecraft. Overall, I’m quite pleased with how Lord El-Melloi II is turning out by connecting all the different Fate shows together in the generally unexplored clock tower of London while staking out its own course with it own unique brand of Fate without resorting to nostalgia or ludicrous fanservice.
