Fate/ Grand Order: First Order Anime Discussion

The first anime on my "to watch list" of the new Winter 2017 season happened to air right after New Year's Eve. It was actually one I was really looking forward to, but in the end I can just say that I was really disappointed. A side story of the original Fate series, Fate/ Grand Order aired its first part on January 1st-The First Order. Now let's discuss my disappointment in more detail.

PLOT AND STORY LINE

When I read the synopsis on the internet my first though was, that this could be really interesting. Finally someone realized that the Holy Grail War represents a threat to society and that someone is finally willing to take care of it. I thought this will again be an interesting and intriguing Fate story, with amazing characters and highly entertaining fights, but I was so wrong. As for the story I've never seen more rush in any other anime than in this one. Everything happens for no reason, suddenly and out of nowhere. In addition to that....Plot Holes. Plot holes everywhere. The story was definitely nicely imagined but horribly done. Besides, after the Holy Grail War of 2004 in Fuyuki, new evil servants appear without any master and they're all being controlled by evil Saber. So, if you hoped for an intriguing and deep plot like Fate is supposed to be...look elsewhere because First Order is not worth it.

 CHARACTERS 

This whole time I've been thinking of whom do the main characters remind me of. Their interaction between Ritsuka and Mash, the sudden love interest ...It's like I've seen that before in anime...Later I remembered the "Senpai, we can do it together" kind of relationship from Strike the Blood. They are the same characters. No development, no depth in the personality but a high level of annoyance. And guess what, in the end they both become just overpowered-good-for-nothings. The only character worth mentioning was Caster. He was the only one that actually did something in the anime. Not to mention is cool attitude and power...he was really great. But even tough Caster was pretty good, I liked evil saber the most. With her good-honest-girl-leader attitude finally off she became 50% less annoying but a 100% more bad-ass than before.

ANIMATION

Guess what was the only good thing about Grand Order:First Order. Well, as expected from a Fate movie, the animation was amazing. Amazing colors, smooth movements, amazing fight visualization and choreography...It was just perfect. Also something that has to be mentioned...Saber's armor! It was gorgeous and yet so bad-ass. I loved the new Saber. 

CONCLUSION

As I said, the whole "Save the human race from extinction because of the Holy Grail War" was nicely imagined, but horribly done. A forced story is never a good idea especially not with so many plot holes. As a side effect, the characters didn't have time for any significant development whereas their boring personality made them even less entertaining. So, as a conclusion, if you really, really want to see Grand Order, do it. Casters fights and the animation are enjoyable ut don't expect too much from the story alone.