I have written plethorically on FSN especially the UBW route that is my favorite. And before anybody gets mad: I have read all FSN VN. I simply acknowledge that while FSN is excellent, Fate/Zero is much better.
I just rewatched Fate/Zero, and... I was blown away just like the first time I had watched it.
Fate/Zero panders to no one, has no tropes or high-school romance.
FSN is full of fanservice and pandering tropes:
- Fate route: the trope of "the main villain obsessing over the heroine in a chase-and-reject circle".
- UBW route: the trope of "the highschool underdog can emerge as a hero without any absurd amount of work/sacrifices".
- HF route: the trope of yandere girl hate-fucking the world just because "no one loves me!!!" + femme fatale "I'll kill you so that we can be together forever".
The FSN characters originally belong to Nasu, but Urobuchi took them and made them much more interesting. Because of this, F/Z features an extremely strong cast. All of the characters are strong, yet none of them gets nerfed or overshadowed by the others. Each and every one of their personalities gets to shine - all in ONE route!
The brilliance of F/Z is that there is no clear line between good and evil. No character in the series is 100% good, and no one (except Ryuu) is full-blown evil. F/Z also did a really good job making sure that each and every Master and Servant had their own memorable moment in the spotlight.
I love Fate/Zero because of the adult battles, the stratagems and the ideologies. It is not only a battle of strengths but also a battle of wits and philosophies. And if you delve into each of them, they all have something that makes you think seriously about. I love the fact that there's no MC and all the sides are written so well that whichever side's perspective you look from, you'll find it interesting.
Fate/Zero has a dark, no-kidding-around gritty and gloomy atmosphere and the characters had to go through so much shit to reach a destination that's also shit. It keeps the audience on edge to see what'll happen next.
CHARACTERS:
All F/Z Servants are insane, and the Masters are strategic as fuck. It's not about strength but about the characterization. FSN Rider got nothing on F/Z Rider. FSN Caster simply cannot compare to F/Z Caster. FSN and F/Z Lancers and Archers are equally interesting. UBW Assassin is boring as fuck. HF Assassin is more interesting than F/Z Assassin.
All of the battles in F/Z are epic + perfect coordination between Masters and Servants (even when it shows conflicts like the Tokiomi-Gilgamesh relationship)! When the Servants are fighting, the Masters are killing each other. And the Servants more often than not receive tactical instructions from their Masters about what to do.
FSN Servants are strong, too, but the Masters are grossly incompetent - no strategy whatsoever. I feel that the FSN Masters are extremely lucky that their opponents happen to be more or less at their levels. If only they had to fight with F/Z Masters, they'd be utterly owned. Rin is hailed as a "prodigy mage" but hardly does anything. Even Waver is more competent than most of the FSN Masters.
FSN Shirou got that classic shounen power boost; all 3 heroines he encounters end up becoming a pseudo-harem because he's such a noble and nice guy.
Some characters in FSN have the potential to be extremely interesting - such as Lancer Cu, Gilgamesh, Kuzuki - but FSN fails to develop them. FSN makes Gilgamesh a one-dimensional villain as boring as he could be. Lancer gets extremely limited screen time.
PLOTS:
I think each has its own appeal; their foci are just very different. Both do focus on Master-Servant relationships. F/Z focuses on battles; FSN focuses on romance and Shirou's development.
F/Z battles are perfectly animated (like any other Fate series adapted by Ufotable). It also doesn't forget to focus on the intricate relationships among characters. It's both EPIC and heartwarming! Masterpiece 10/10.
F/Z truly feels like a life-or-death battle royale. FSN feels like a teenager playground.
In summary:
The only Servants I respect in FSN are Lancer Cu and Archer EMIYA.
