(Nitsuj): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Well guys we’re only a few weeks away from finishing the summer of Fate as we’ve got two series to watch. While Fate/Apcrophya wasn’t as big a hit as FGO, it was warmly received by a majority of the fans so why not try again with another spin-off, Fate/Extra Last Encore.
(Yume): So right off the bat, Fate/Extra is by far the strangest in the Fate animes. It’s also the shortest of the bunch and the one I personally feel is the weakest of the bunch.
(Nitsuj): Wow, even more than the original Fate/stay night?
(Yume): Even more.
(Neo): Fate/Extra Last Encore was based off the Fate game called Fate/Extra which was an RPG that came out on the PSP in 2010 and once again takes place in an alternate universe to the original Fate series. The game would go on to receive mixed reviews worldwide with people saying while it works as a visual novel it falls short in the RPG department.
(Yume): In 2018 it would go on to get an anime adaptation done by Shaft (Magical Madoka and Mekakucity Actors) and would honestly go unnoticed throughout 2018. It’s the weirdest of the bunch, so let’s knock this one out quickly. This is Fate/Extra Last Encore.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Neo): The opening is “Bright Burning Shout” by Takanori Nishikawa. This opening is pretty good. I like the instrumental and the lyrics are actually pretty meaningful to the main characters. I think the only downside is that it is hard to hear Takanori at a few parts.
(Yume): For the ending we have “Tsuki to Hanataba” by Sayuri. Not the biggest fan of this song. Which is a shame because I usually love Sayuri’s songs, but I just couldn’t really get into this one.
Episodes 1-4
(Nitsuj): So the anime starts with a Saber-lookalike fighting against this Buddha like creature. Saber loses to the Buddha and begins to fall where she comes across a girl with similar wounds to her (https://youtu.be/Va5_rn3vG3A). We then cut to our main character Hakuno who daydreams of lying in the blood of his classmates while thinking his true nature is hate and anger (well you just made yourself creepy as all hell. (Yume): Yeah, this is a terrible first impression of our main character). He then wakes up in class where we learn about moon cell, servants, a virtual world and other crap that I either don’t care about or can’t really follow (Yume: Leading to one of my major complaints with this anime, it tries way too hard to sound smart and important. Going back to the other animes the plot is quite simple. Seven masters and seven servants battle each other for a chance to get the Holy Grail. It’s simple, clear, and to the point. This anime just introduces pointless elements that only serve to complicate things. It would have been better if they just introduced the series as this popular game that all the kids are playing and our main character gets roped into participating in the war. Simple, clear, and to the point). After class, Hakuno gets approached by his good friend Shinji and Shinji’s girlfriend, Amari (what messed up parallel world have we entered? (Neo): I said the same thing when I first played the game) where they head to lunch together. Along the way Hakuno can’t help but wonder why he feels so much hatred while Shinji explains to Amari what Limbo is (Neo: A very good indie game). Shinji explains that Limbo is a garbage heap where you see things that aren’t good and get attacked by beings known as nightmares (Neo: That too). The school is near Limbo which begs the question, why does the school exist? Before we get an answer, the characters get distracted by girls squalling for Leo, a pretty boy foreign exchange student from Europe. Leo is playing chess against the captain of the chess club where he mercilessly defeats the captain who collapses in front of everyone who couldn’t care less (Yume: What is this, Yu-Gi-Oh? Did his soul get taken to the Shadow Realm or something?). Hakuno seems to be the only one who cares for his condition and goes to check on him where he runs into this anime’s version of Rin who helps him take the captain to the nurse’s office being run by Sakura. Hakuno then gets tasked with taking one of the student’s bodies to the Incinerator which is a place that students are warned never to go to because it’s dangerous and gives students thoughts of suicide (what the hell, anime, get your story straight). Once he reaches the Incinerator, he gets visions of cities burning and wonders what these visions are before a man with glasses shows up and explains to him that what he saw was a vision of a childhood memory brought when he entered the Moon Cell (when was this?), a digital hell meant to be paradise. The man goes on to explain that anyone with even a little Master compatibility is dragged into it and suffers a hell of constantly living the same day over and over again (Yume: Until they finally kill themselves. https://youtu.be/BNsrK6P9QvI. (Nitsuj): This anime is trying way too hard to sound smart and deep that it’s hurting my brain). Alright, so what I can gather from this conversation is that Hakuno as well as the others are in some kind of virtual prison meant to help them discover who they truly are (it’s like Angel Beats only stupider and needlessly confusing). All of a sudden an alarm goes off followed by an announcement that says over a hundred people have advanced to the main tournament and there are now only 28 spots left. All remaining masters must now kill each other or risk being destroyed with the rest of the world and NPCs. Hakuno meets up with Shinji who tries to kill him (Neo: There it is. There’s the Shinji we all know and loathe). Shinji manages to kill Hakuno and advance to the next round, but Hakuno somehow rises back up and makes it to the Incinerator all while a strange being chases after him. Hakuno falls into the Incinerator where he doesn’t die (dude, how are you not dead or at least all your bones broken?) and comes across a red sword. Limping towards the sword he pulls it out and this summons the Saber servant we saw at the beginning of the episode who easily defeats the strange being and calls Hakuno her master (scene here: https://youtu.be/09n_GP1Jlpk).
In episode 2, a pod appears to carry Hakuno and Saber to the next part in the tournament. During their travel, they relax in the hotsprings where Saber (Neo: Who is Nero in this version. He was the fifth emperor of the Roman Empire. Often regarded as not only the worst emperor of Rome but one of the worst rulers of all time. His reign was filled with tyranny, extravagance, and debauchery as he murdered political figures, persecuted Christians and almost all of Rome was burnt to the ground by him) joins him and explains to him what the Holy Grail war is (also, why the hell does she look like Arthur? I’m okay with them turning one of history’s worst rulers into a female, but was there really a reason to make them look like Arthur? I get that she’s your most iconic character in the series, but even I know when someone is being lazy in character designs and just looking for a quick cash-in. (Yume): Now, to the anime’s credit they actually do give Nero quite the fun personality. She’s boastful, confident, energetic and curious, but at the same time focused on what she has to do. Out of all the Saber servants we’ve seen so far this is the one who displays the most personality for us to see. This makes her possibly the most interesting out of all the Saber servants I’ve seen so far. I’m just mad that she’s in this weird and hard to follow anime). They finally arrive at the first floor where they’re greeted to a grand city in the middle of a festival (this is not what I was expecting, but I’m glad it exists). They walk through the empty city taking in the sights (Neo: And giving us that famous Nero meme: https://youtu.be/rW3LAJrZoQ0) and grabbing something to eat before they go and face the master and servant of this floor. They find the master in a bar who is a woman and she laughs at them wanting to fight because no one has tried to advance from the first floor or fight in the war. She goes on to say that the masters sold off their servants in exchange for living in the city and celebrating nonstop. Angered by this, Nero storms out with Hakuno following after her before he’s stopped by the woman who asks if he wants to sell and he says no as he has no desire to live such an empty life. Impressed by his resolve, the woman tells Hakuno that there is one master who kept their servant on the floor. After catching up to Nero, they get surrounded by sexy police officers (hey, this virtual world may not be all bad. (Neo): Nero doesn’t seem to mind either) who escort them to the mayor’s office where we see the mayor is Shinji in hologram form (figures. That guy’s way too much of a coward to fight fair). Shinji once again offers Hakuno the chance to hand over his servant and once again he says no giving Shinji no choice but to eliminate them. Shinji separates Hakuno and Nero where Nero fights against other servants while Hakuno gets stabbed by the sexy police officers. You would think that would kill him, but nope, he survives thanks to his anger (wow, he’s like Guts from Berserk. Stabbing won’t kill him, it’ll just make him angrier).
At the start of episode 3, Nero reunites with Hakuno who defeated the police officers. The two then get rescued by Rin who is rebelling and patches up Hakuno with some code casts which are basically spells in the digital world (okay, that’s pretty clever). Rin then dumps exposition on us and explains that SE.RA.PH the system that is supposed to be running the war hasn’t been working properly thanks to a big circle in the sky called the Chakravartin (it’s the ancient Indian concept of universal ruler). The Chakravartin appeared out of nowhere and overwrote the rules of the war. All of the floors were separated from each other and given their own floor master. Since Shinji won the first battle after Chakravartin took over, he became the floor master and decided to stop the war on the first floor. Those who hit a dead end on the upper floors gave up and returned to the first floor while those who didn’t want to fight just gave up their servants (the cowards). Rin thinks the Chakravartin is trying to destroy the SE.RA.PH and wants to stop it, however, they need to advance to the upper floors and the only way to do that is to fight and beat another master. Hakuno and Nero agree to form an alliance with Rin and take down Shinji. Using a fire as a distraction, Hakuno and Nero manage to get inside while Rin defeats the servants. They make it to the top floor where Shinji accepts their challenge and we meet his servant which was that woman they met in the bar, the Rider class servant sir Francis Drake (famous English explorer and sea captain best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580. He’s also the ancestor of Nathan Drake the star of Uncharted). We see her noble phantasm is a ship fleet which overwhelms Nero and drops her into the water. Nero tries to use her noble phantasm, Imperial Privilege which allows her to steal the ability of an enemy that’s still standing on a ship but doesn’t have enough mana to raise it back up. Hakuno dives in and kisses her to supply the mana she needs and she returns to the surface to distract Francis while her ship rams against Francis’s ship. This allows Nero to close the distance and finish off Francis with one slash as she ran out of ammo. Francis lies on the ground slowly dying where she tells Shinji to cancel their contract or he’ll die as well, but he chooses not to (say what now?). He’s decided to take responsibility for his choices and not run from them as he said it would be meaningless if he did (wow, they’re actually letting this character die with dignity for once. (Yume): I know right? This anime is crazy). While Hakuno doesn’t care about Shinji’s choices he does say he won’t hate him anymore (scene here: https://youtu.be/PJFxectMsDg).
Nothing much happens in episode 4. We go up to the second floor where Rin disappears on us and Hakuno and Nero have a short battle against the floor master Dan Blackmore and his servant Robin Hood (I’ll give you one guess what his class is). Dan was the one who chased everyone to the lower level and killed off anyone who stayed to fight him. He and Robin Hood now stay waiting for the hunt (https://youtu.be/Wu0lr3YObIg). Now, I do like how both of them are long range fighters. Dan uses a gun and Robin Hood uses a bow and arrow (it’s a combination I really don’t see all that much, but I’m happy when I do see it). Dan forces Hakuno and Nero into the forest where they have a moment before Robin Hood attacks and hits Nero. After Hakuno uses a command seal to supply power to Nero, they get saved by another master named Reni. Reni is part of the rebellion just like Rin and takes them back to her place where they’ll be safe and she can treat Nero. During this stay we learn that Reni participated in the previous war (Yume: Back when there was structure and rules to follow. Now it’s just kids doing whatever the hell they want and still finding something to complain about. Damn millennials) and learn that it’s the year 3020. The place where Hakuno originally existed was a recreation of society that once existed (Neo: Don’t remember society being so clean and high tech). SE.RA.PH collapsed a thousand years ago and humanity is down to only 100,000 meaning all of humanity is currently within SE.RA.PH and if it falls so will humanity.
Episodes 5-9
(Neo): At the start of episode 5 we find out that Dan isn’t really a master. He died in the previous war a thousand years ago so he can’t ascend to a higher level no matter how many masters and servants he kills (Nitsuj: So he’s a madman killing for the hunt). After resting, they head out to fight with Nero taking on Robin Hood while Hakuno and Reni go to fight Dan. As they make their way to Big Ben, Reni gets sniped (Yume: With a shot I’m sure Isis would applaud) but is still alive. Hakuno saves her (pointless, seeing as how he’ll leave her behind to die later) and then figures out Dan’s trap he used on so many other masters. Hakuno sets off the trap to lower Dan’s guard and then snipes him from afar (Nitsuj: Talk about fair game) to kill him. Nero also manages to defeat Robin Hood (scene here: https://youtu.be/32f6ClVSf_Q) and the two meet back up just as the floor is about to collapse on them. They board the shuttle leaving Reni to die just like she wanted.
We go up to the 3rd floor in episode 6 with Rin returning (Nitsuj: Where the hell was she last episode?) where the group is in another forest (Yume: The difference being the forest looks like something out of Madoka Magica. (Neo): Nope, not enough moving animation. (Nitsuj): Although, they got the creepy factor down). They come across a castle and enter where I have to admit the backgrounds are very well done and interesting (Yume: Yeah, that’s the one thing I will give this anime credit for. Despite my complaints with this anime the backgrounds are very good and creative. They’re never boring to look at especially in this episode where the theme seems to be a forgotten wonderland). After traversing the castle, Hakuno comes across a little girl named Alice (Nitsuj: Is that Aqua from Hololive?) who normal people can’t see because she’s a cyber ghost (a ghost in the system so to speak). Hakuno plays with Alice for a little bit before rejoining the others where they continue to traverse the castle. During his playtime we discover that Alice was originally a sick child with an illness the doctors couldn’t cure no matter how many surgeries they did. Eventually, she died from her illness and was reborn in SE.RA.PH as a ghost. We get a few odd scenes with Amari where we see she made it to the third floor by using those weaker than her to take down stronger opponents (like a queen in a game of chess using her pawns) and she seems to have a bit of a rivalry with Rin (Yume: And that’s a rivalry you’re going to lose. You’re not as pretty or as popular to take her spot in the series). They finally come across a monster that apparently can’t be killed because it rewinds time whenever it’s about to die. Rin recognizes this ability as a skill that can only be done by the legendary Nursery Rhyme (Yume: Also known as mother goose rhymes, poems and songs for children, and probably our first real look at surreal storytelling for children).
I have no idea how to describe episode 7 (Yume: I don’t know how to describe this whole anime. (Nitsuj): And yet here you sit. (Yume): Close your eyes and pretend you’re watching something else. That’s what I do). We find out that Alice is both the floor master and servant that they have to defeat. Nero and Rin manage to beat her with Rin using her trump card Gae Bolg (Nitsuj: Oh shit, Rin’s a Lancer servant. I hope she doesn’t fall to the Lancer curse) and they move on to the next floor.
So in episode 8 we skip the 4th floor (Yume: I’m sure we weren’t missing anything important) and go to the 5th floor which takes on the appearance of a destroyed city and it’s constantly raining (Nitsuj: Geez, when did we arrive in Seattle?). The good news is there’s no floor master here, so Hakuno just has to reach the ladder to the next floor and he’ll be able to advance (Nitsuj: That’s good). The bad news is there’s a servant on the floor and it happens to be from the Berserker class (Nitsuj: That’s bad). However, Nero has faced this berserker in the past and beaten them (Nitsuj: That’s good. (Yume): The berserker is the Chinese warlord, Lu Bu Fèngxiān. (Nitsuj): *Stares silently*. (Yume): That’s bad. He was a warlord who constantly worked under and betrayed other warlords. While he was an exceptionally mighty warrior, he had a bad temper and poor management skills which would ultimately lead to his downfall at the Battle of Xiapi). As they traverse the city, they get attacked by Lu Bu and his master Julius. Julius focuses on Hakuno where we discover that he and Hakuno are what’s known as a Dead Face, a prisoner of death while still being alive. Basically, Hakuno and Julius are a collection of dead masters who came close to winning only to fail and their grudges took the form of Hakuno who has a hatred for the living and only desires to kill other masters (feel my hatred). Hakuno gets his heart ripped out but doesn’t die. He soon gets saved by Nero who collapses from Lu Bu’s attack earlier which damaged her magic circuits. Just when Julius and Lu Bu are about to finish them off, they get saved by a mysterious giant who scares them away. Hakuno desperately crawls to Nero cursing himself for not being a proper master and failing her before he finally passes out on top of her.
Episode 9 starts in Hakuno’s consciousness where he meets Hakunon, the former master of Nero and the person who Hakuno inherited his traits from. She shows him the past when she discovered she wasn’t a human, but instead a glorified NPC (Nitsuj: That somehow gained a will of her own) she was shaken to her core and it was Nero who cheered her up. We then see the past of Nero (not for the faint of heart) and Hakunon tells Hakuno to stop worrying about himself and instead worry about the people he holds dear to him (Yume: Which let’s face it, isn’t that many people). Hakuno soon wakes up where he’s being treated by Rani who is still alive somehow (Nitsuj: Don’t question it, just roll with it) where he’s still having a pity party about not being human (Yume: Oh for God’s sake! Just get the Grail and use it to turn yourself into a real boy Pinocchio). Nero gives him a good slap and speech about being his own person and this brings him out of his funk. The two then head out to face Julius and Lu Bu again. We get Nero and Lu Bu first where she just completely owns him. She uses her noble privilege to copy his martial art skills which stops her from getting destroyed like last time. Then she uses her second noble phantasm to summon a golden theatre (https://youtu.be/Y5JxIrn4OVs) and just slices him in one-shot (Nitsuj: Where was this in the first fight damn it?). The next fight is Hakuno vs Julius where at first Julius dominates, but Hakuno remembers Nero’s speech and that gives him the power to fight back. They fight in the air for a few seconds (Nitsuj: Oh hey, the anime turned into DBZ) where Hakuno comes out with the victory, but Julius warns him that he will eventually be like him soon enough before vanishing. Hakuno and Nero prepare to go up to the 6th floor just as Rin and Rani watch them from afar. It gets revealed that their mission was to guide a master and servant to the 6th floor, and now that that mission is completed they can finally rest. However, Rin decides to keep traveling with Hakuno and Nero while Rani opts to stay behind once again.
Episodes 10-13
(Yume): Episode 10 is a very confusing episode for much of the time. Hakuno and Nero make it to the 6th floor where they get attacked by clones of Rin and Rani. They find the Rin who was with them before where she reveals that both her and Rani are the floor masters. In the past, Rin and Rani were masters who fought against each other where their servants both died. They couldn’t tell who won and neither could the system, so the two were put in a suspended state where they created avatars of themselves to fight a meaningless battle for 100 years. That’s when they came up with a plan to find a master and bring them up to the 6th floor where one of two things would happen. One of them would kill the master with their avatars or the master would reach their real bodies and have to decide which one to kill (Nitsuj: Okay, I could barely follow any of that. (Yume): Exactly! Isn’t this needlessly complicated?). Naturally, he chooses Rin (Neo: Did you really think they were going to kill off one of the most popular characters in the series? They may be Avant Garde, but they’re not stupid) and says farewell to Rani who isn’t upset by his choice.
In episode 11 Hakuno and the others make it to the 7th floor where they’ll be fighting against Leo who is said to be the strongest master in the history of masters. We actually find out that he also participated in the previous war but lost to Hakuno and Nero (Nitsuj: So how is he still alive? (Yume): Haven’t you been watching? Rules be damned). As they explore the floor, they run into Leo’s servant, Gawain (Neo: King Arthur’s nephew and member of the Round Table. Said to be one of the greatest knights and closest companions of Arthur), who doesn’t fight as he’s in no state to fight and has no reason to either. He tells them that before Leo was killed, he got saved by a man named Twice who has defeated anyone who gets close to taking the Grail because he wants to eliminate the existence of humans. After Twice saved Leo, Leo became his follower and took out every master that tried to climb to the Grail. After a hundred years no more masters came and Leo put himself into a deep sleep. They wake up Leo and the rematch between Nero and Gawain begins (Nitsuj: Where we see the fight has a budget behind it) while Hakuno takes on Leo. Gawain unleashes his noble phantasm which blasts Hakuno and Nero away and they’re presumed to be dead.
Episode 12 opens up with Twice winning over Leo in the past. After that, we see that Hakuno and Nero are still alive, but they’re on the lowest level (Neo: You mean they have to climb all over again? (Nitsuj): Rage quit). Thankfully, they manage to teleport themselves back to the 7th floor and continue their fight with Gawain and Leo where Hakuno gives Nero all the mana she needs to go toe to toe with Gawain and eventually beat him. (scene here: https://youtu.be/JzIKB450pKg). Leo surrenders and sends them up to the next floor where the final battle awaits them (Nitsuj: You know, I just realized something. This whole game has been nothing but one big elevator fight in a beat’em up game. (Yume): Oh my God, you’re right).
In the final episode we start with the past of Twice who was born in a time of war and saw the horrors of humanity. When his data was uploaded like the rest of humanity, he became an NPC that slowly regained awareness and inherited the memories of his former life who supposedly fought in the war (Neo: The past just keeps on haunting the present). He soon became an irregularity just like Hakuno and tried to get others to sympathize with his goals. He tried to get Hakunon to join his cause, but she refused saying that the past has no right to interfere or make decisions for those in the present (Nitsuj: Amen. The past shouldn’t define the present, but instead show us what we need to change to avoid making the same mistakes in the future). This led to Twice having his servant, Chakravartin, kill Hakunon and defeat Nero. Returning back to the present, everyone arrives where Twice attacks them but Leo protects them and summons Gawain where they unleash one massive attack sacrificing their lives to buy the group some time. Hakuno uses his last command seal to give Nero a major boost and then stays to fight with her while Rin goes to Moon Cell which is where the Grail is. Despite Nero’s best efforts she couldn’t win and fades away entrusting her sword to Hakuno to finish off Twice. Hakuno flies up to Twice who tries to manipulate him with his powers but it has no effect on Hakuno who just passes through all of them and makes it to Moon Cell where Rin was waiting for him. Hakuno makes his wish which is a new world for humanity at the costs of his life and memories trusting Rin to lead them in the end. Hakuno fades away and the world gets reborn anew with Rin vowing to do her best in this new world that Hakuno has given her and humanity.
Final Thoughts
(Nitsuj): Yume, I have to admit, this is the strangest out of all the Fate animes.
(Yume): Told you! While I hesitate to call this an awful anime, it’s the one that takes itself way too seriously. When it’s just trying to be a Fate anime taking place in a digital world it’s actually interesting to watch. But when it tries to sound smarter and more complicated than it really is it fails hard and loses you in its needlessly complicated story that you have no idea what they’re talking about and get bored by it. I’ll give the anime credit for creating its own original story and not just adapting the game’s story, but if the game’s story is anything as complicated as this anime then I can see why it got the scores it did and I wouldn’t have any interest in picking it up.
(Nitsuj): Yeah, I have to agree with Yume. Aside from that the anime doesn’t have much going for the characters. Hakuno doesn’t have much personality, they try to make Rin a mentor figure again but she really doesn’t do much, and the other masters and servants aren’t anything special either. The character that seems to have any personality is Nero who out of all the Saber servants I’ve seen has the most character. She has an energetic and confident personality, but also a caring and motivational side that helps Hakuno gain more faith in himself as a master and as a person. Another major letdown with this anime is the fight scenes. The Fate series usually has some good fight scenes in it, but here the fight scenes fail to capture just how good and epic these fights can be. The fights are either done way too soon or don’t have much going in them. I will give credit and say that the fight between Nero and Gawain was good, but other than that all the other fights were a letdown especially when you consider some of the more interesting servants they had this time around.
(Neo): While the fight scenes may not have been all that great the one thing this anime did well is the music and animation. While the character designs aren’t as graceful and eye-catching as the previous animes, the backgrounds are beyond stunning. They’re really beautiful to look at and the music matches up wonderfully with what’s going on. While I admit the anime can be needlessly complicated I found myself engrossed in what was going on and most of the time and wanted to know what was going to happen next.
Final Score
(Nitsuj): My final score for Fate/Extra Last Encore is 4.5/10
(Neo): I have to give it a 6/10. I liked it more than Fate/stay night and when it works it works.
(Yume): I’m giving it a 4/10. Out of all the Fate animes this is the one that I consider to be their weakest.
(Nitsuj): This brings our total combined score to 14.5/30 which averages out to a 4.8 and going by our system we end up with final score of 5/10. Between this and Fate/stay night it’s hard to say which one is weakest. Both animes have their positive and negative points, but I think we can all agree that this one was the strangest of the bunch. Well guys, summer is almost over and it’s time to wrap up the summer of Fate with one more series. I think it’s time to talk about Heaven’s Feel.
(Neo): YES! FINALLY! Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.