FINALE FEELS~ LET ME SHOW YOU THEM
Okay, here we go. >.> Obviously, this post will be rife with spoilers, so don't click the links or at least tread with caution if you'd prefer not to see some or all of them. xD;
So, two animated series which I have been quite invested in lately have both ended on Saturday, and OMG, I cannot feel more differently about the two of them. o_o
Endings are extremely important, especially for very plot-driven narratives as they can often significantly impact my overall enjoyment of the stories. The ending is usually what allows me to figure out exactly what a story means to me overall (as in, "what was the point of it all?"), so if it doesn't deliver, it can sour my experience of an otherwise great series. (e.g. Mirai Nikki. As flawed as that series was, it was highly entertaining and I had some hope for it, but the ending was just utter nonsensical crap. ugh. D8 Admittedly though, sometimes, if the series is solid and amazing enough overall, like NO.6 or Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom, both of which were utter perfection otherwise, I can manage to overlook the questionable endings a bit xD;). On the other hand, I have also experienced watching series that were going down the trainwreck path but still somehow managed to win over my heart with their absolutely stunning and moving finales (lol, Code Geass immediately comes to mind for this type. That series could have been so horrible considering all the crazy twists it attempts to pull, but...it wasn't. At least not for me. xD I know a lot of people hated it, but I actually ended up really liking it. It's not perfect by any means, but the powerful ending definitely saved the series for me and landed it solidly in the "series I love" list ;A; ♥)
Aaanyway, with all that said (woah, sorry for the whole side-rant on endings there xD;), how did the finales of Legend of Korra and Fate/Zero fare for me?
The Legend of Korra
Um. WOW. This has got to be the most disappointing ending I've seen in a while. D: It's particularly disappointing because I love the world of Avatar and LoK started off with such promise. There were so many good things going for it! D: What frustrates me about this ending and the series as a whole is that the creators just lay out all these potentially awesome things and don't. really. DO ANYTHING with them. :\ They spend way too much time on this ridiculously contrived "romantic" storyline and end up rushing through all the important plot points (gosh, the pacing in this finale was just atrocious DX ...and all that painfully awkward dialogue D;) and sacrificing any sort of real character development. D: I mean, out of all the characters in the series, I have to say that only Asami and the most prominent adults, that is Lin, Tenzin, Amon, and Tarrlok, managed to get any sort of decent development, and that's not really saying much, though they all had their great moments. xD; At least, they're not completely one-dimensional and static like what Mako, Bolin, and most frustratingly, Korra, had turned out to be. :(
Now about Amon and Tarrlok's backstory...though admittedly a bit cliched and predictable, it was still touching and was one of the few things I actually enjoyed about the finale. *is a sucker for moving sibling relationships* The parts involving those two were pretty much the most emotional moments for me during the finale. However, it is unfortunately still tainted by the fact that the whole thing was just so awkwardly shoehorned into the story. It's a bittersweet, touching little story on its own, but within the context of the whole series, it just gives me a sort of "too little, too late" feeling and just feels kind of ridiculous in hindsight. In the end, we still don't really know much about Amon and his motivations for going to such extremes (no, the stuff about his father doesn't really explain it :\) and we probably never will, considering his conveniently shocking end. *pun very much intended lol* He had such potential to be an amazing antagonist, but I feel like everything about him just sort of pathetically sputtered out at the end. :( We never really got to KNOW him, apart from Tarrlok's not very sufficient flashback infodump session. *sigh*
Now to address the thing that had been niggling me throughout the entire series since episode five. The romance. Ugh. Now, I never really did like the romance in Avatar: The Last Airbender either, but at the very least, the characters there got to know each other to a reasonable degree, were friends with each other for a while before actually hooking up, so there was at least some sort of basis for the romances. In LoK though? There was literally NOTHING. It's just...characters meet-->commence romance. Huh? Did I miss something? This is my biggest beef with Makorra (and also my problem with Mako and Asami as well when it first happened, but we all know what happens to that ship). :\ Nevermind the fact that it's completely unnecessary and detracts from the main plot, the relationship between these two is just so unbelievable, I can't stand it. DX There's absolutely no development or chemistry between Mako and Korra and somehow they still end up declaring endless love to each other anyway. :\ It just feels so contrived and artificial. *blegh*
Then there's the problem of Mako's character and his whole involvement with the stupid love triangle. :\ He just acts like such a jerk to both girls and his own brother, and never once gets called out for it by anyone except Asami, and yet he still gets rewarded in the end. No consequences at all for his sleazy, BS behaviour D: It's just so problematic that he's such an unlikeable person yet is still portrayed as the perfect "hero love interest" character that everyone is supposed to love just because he's hot, has talent in bending, and says that he cares about Korra. You know, I actually like a lot of characters that would be considered to be pretty douchey (I mean, I have quite a few favourite characters that are villains after all xD), but the difference between those characters and Mako is that the stories those characters are in actually acknowledge the fact that their behaviour is highly problematic. I can then appreciate them for being fascinating villains or whatever other roles they may have in their respective narratives. With Mako though, we're apparently just supposed to accept that he's a nice guy despite how his behaviour says otherwise. That's just plain bad character development. :\
...and Korra, poor Korra's character just got totally butchered thanks to both her involvement with Mako and the deus ex machina ending. She started off as such an independent and strong, though also stubborn and hotheaded girl. It was a refreshing change from Aang (loveable as he was), and I was really looking forward to seeing her grow and mature....except she didn't. At all. DDD8 I hated how the whole final encounter she and Mako had with Amon turned out. It just made Korra look so dependent on Mako and...ugh, I just don't like it. Am I seriously supposed to believe that Mako is powerful enough to break Amon's bloodbending hold while the avatar can't even do it? *eyeroll* ...and that Avatar State ending. WHAT. WAS. THAT. I have to say, out of all the things I've been raging about regarding this series, THIS is what bothered me the most. I can't believe, after everything that had happened, with Korra losing her bending and all, all she had to do was mope and cry to regain all her powers and get a bonus one on top of it D8 That just gives off such a bad message and makes her seem like a spoiled brat who has everything just handed to her on a silver platter. Got a problem? You don't have to work through it or learn any lessons or any of that tedious stuff, just cry a bit and presto! Magically convenient miracles! 8D Ugh. It just disappoints me so much that Korra really didn't mature as a character at all throughout this entire series. She's just as impulsive and naive as she was in the beginning D: (Honestly, this is how that part should have gone down lol. It would have made so much more sense both morally and in terms of storytelling.) Also hate how we never got to see Lin or anyone really learning to live with and accept the state of not having any bending powers before just getting it all back again. It just cheapened Lin's sacrifice and everything else that happened in the previous episodes so so much.
....
tl;dr - Legend of Korra finale was a rushed-as-hell trainwreck and I am very disappoint. >(
To be a bit more positive though, apart from Tarrlok and Amon's story, I did also really enjoy the little bits with Asami being awesome. She really turned out to be quite a likeable character, despite starting off as "the love rival" for Korra. I love that she's such a strong (both physically and emotionally) and genuinely nice person with a firm sense of morality x3 ♥ Also, it was nice to see Iroh and Bumi. They were both very entertaining to watch (Iroh's action scenes were amaaaazing *A*), but were really just there for fanservice lol. Although, I have to say that Iroh's voice still weirds me out. It's just so distracting. I can't help cracking up every time I hear it xD;;; Bolin, Naga, and Pabu were also fun as usual, though I can't help feeling sad for Bolin and his complete lack of any role beyond comic relief :(
As for the series as a whole, despite its many problems and how much I have complained about it, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. It had many great individual moments, excellent animation and action sequences, fun characters, a fascinating world... It's just a pity that all these great elements couldn't quite fit together into a coherent and satisfying whole in the end :\ *sighs* Oh well, hopefully, the second season will end up better, though I can't imagine what it could be about considering the way season 1 ended. xD;
Fate/Zero
laksjdlfkaj Fate/Zero had an utterly amazing ending omg~ Like practically every single other episode in this two season anime, I was just blown away by its absolutely gut-wrenching (and occasionally highly amusing xD) finale. *A* ;_; ♥ Now THIS series is an excellent example of how to tell a good story. The plot and characters are both so tightly woven and so carefully, subtly, and gradually developed, not a single moment ever feels wasted in this anime.
And those characters...THOSE CHARACTERS ;A; ...especially the main players of the Grail War, were all utterly fascinating. You really come to feel for most of them, evil or not, because they're so complex in so many ways, even the more flat-seeming characters, oxymoronic as that sounds. xD I love that they're all morally complex or ambiguous, and all have their own unique motives for joining the war that are founded in different backgrounds and ideologies. It's such an endlessly fascinating clash of personalities and ideas. *A* Out of all the excellent characters, Rider (Iskander), Waver, Archer (Gilgamesh), and Kirei definitely stood out to me the most and ended up being my top favourites both as individual characters and as teams. These two pairs (RiderxWaver and GilxKirei xD) were just epic in so many ways and had the most incredible chemistry together x3 I also particularly enjoyed Kiritsugu's fascinating character development and have a major major soft spot for the loyal and honourable yet tragically luckless Lancer (Diarmuid) as well. ;A;
A major part of what makes these characters so amazing is the absolutely incredible dialogue between them. If I had to choose one aspect of this series that I loved the most, it would be that. The dialogue. It's so subtle, clever, profound, and thought-provoking, I always look forward to the scenes where characters just stand or sit around talking and debating with each other. xD The chemistry generated between the characters in these sorts of scenes is just so amazing. *A*
Of course, this is still a series about a magical war, and that means action scenes are important as well. Though the first season didn't really have much action due to it spending most of its time on quiet character development, the second season certainly delivered in this area. xD I was really surprised at how consistently amazing the animation managed to remain in this 25 episode series. :O The action scenes of the second season definitely blew me away with how breathtakingly awesome and creative they were. Talk about eye-candy~ *A* My personal favourites have to be the crazy dogfight between Berserker and Gilgamesh (lol it just feels weird calling him Archer for some reason, even though that is his role xD) in the beginning of the second season, the unleashing of Gil's ultimate weapons along with the destruction of Rider's reality marble in the second last episode, and the mind-bending duel between Kiritsugu and Kirei in the penultimate episode. *O* All of these scenes had me literally on the edge of my seat ooh-ing over how stunning they looked. xD
Now that I've got all that covered. I guess I should get back to my thoughts on the actual finale. xD
First of all, let's just take a moment to bask in the gloriousness that is butt-naked Gilgamesh 8DDD
Ugh, why is this guy so utterly fabulous in everything he does ♥
Ahem, anyway. 8); Before I get into the stuff that I particularly loved about the episode, I have to admit that some elements could have benifited from some more explanation and development, such as Berserker's (Lancelot's) backstory, his connection to Saber (King Arthur/Arturia), and the whole deal with the Grail and Angra Mainyu, but considering what we already got in the anime, I'm not too upset about them not getting as much time to develop ^^; I mean, despite everything, I still really felt Saber's bitterness and despair quite viscerally in this finale. ;A; (Those scenes will probably be in the BDs anyway, so that's another reason why I'm not really complaining. xD Speaking of which, I still need to watch the extended episodes for the first season. *W*)
Now for the good stuff 8D
Definitely, the highlight for me was the above-pictured scene with nekkid!Gil. xD ...but really, the fanservice is just a pleasant bonus (though it is actually highly appropriate for Gilgamesh and serves to demonstrate just how shamelessly confident and comfortable he is in his identity as an ancient, powerful, semi-divine king. ;D) What I particularly loved about this scene is the conversation between Gilgamesh and Kirei. These two just never fail to captivate me with their exchanges. *A* It was quite thrilling to see Gilgamesh watching bemusedly in his imperious fashion as the normally stoic Kirei finally cracks, mad laughter bubbling up out of him as he comes to a realization about his dark desires and begins to acknowledge and embrace the destructive nature within him. It's really a rather funny yet also chilling and fascinating scene. *A*
Other things I particularly loved were:
~ EVEN MOREBroken!Kiritsugu desperately digging for survivors in the rubble while Kirei looks at him in contempt for losing his will to fight.
~ Kariya's cruel and ignoble death as Sakura coldly observes. Gosh, this guy has to be the single most depressing character of this show (which is saying something since practically EVERYBODY is tragic in one way or another ;_;) He sacrificed absolutely everything to save Sakura and it was all futile. :(
~ WAVER~♥♥♥ The conversation with his "grandparents" was just so bittersweet, as was his return to his bedroom which still contains all the traces of Rider having lived there once. asldkfjalskj MY HEART ;A; Waver's scenes were probably the most moving and emotional for me in this finale. ;^;
~ Kirei's surprise Engrish 8DDD Kirei's cruelly ironic gesture of handing the very knife that he killed Tokiomi with to his daughter as a gift, and that subtle change in his expression that shows his amusement as she cries over the memory of her father.
~ As mentioned before, the scene where Saber cries bitterly in loneliness and despair over the death of Lancelot and her own failure as a king. Lancelot's last words (thoughts?) to her were also quite poignant.
~ Kiritsugu's epilogue scene with little Shirou (the protagonist of Fate/Stay Night) was so bittersweet and poignant though it does end off the series with a desperate and rather ironic little shred of hope. As a side note, I actually haven't watched the Fate/Stay Night anime or played the game yet, but I do plan on checking out the game now that I'm done Zero. It's supposedly no where near as good as Zero as the writer is different (I'ved loved all of Gen Urobuchi's works that I've experienced so far (well, sort of, I still have extremely mixed feelings about the nightmare fuel that is Saya no Uta o_o;) even though they manage to disturb me and break my heart EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. T_T), but still, I'd like to see what supposedly happens next, just for the sake of curiosity and completion, even though I know I'll most likely be disappointed considering how utterly amazing Zero has been. xD;
~ Oh, and the music. I forgot to mention the music. The soundtrack to this series is wonderfully epic and gorgeous and really enhances emotional moments *A*
tl;dr - Fate/Zero is utterly amazing in every way. GO WATCH IT NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T/AREN'T DOING SO ALREADY. *W*
So, two animated series which I have been quite invested in lately have both ended on Saturday, and OMG, I cannot feel more differently about the two of them. o_o
Endings are extremely important, especially for very plot-driven narratives as they can often significantly impact my overall enjoyment of the stories. The ending is usually what allows me to figure out exactly what a story means to me overall (as in, "what was the point of it all?"), so if it doesn't deliver, it can sour my experience of an otherwise great series. (e.g. Mirai Nikki. As flawed as that series was, it was highly entertaining and I had some hope for it, but the ending was just utter nonsensical crap. ugh. D8 Admittedly though, sometimes, if the series is solid and amazing enough overall, like NO.6 or Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom, both of which were utter perfection otherwise, I can manage to overlook the questionable endings a bit xD;). On the other hand, I have also experienced watching series that were going down the trainwreck path but still somehow managed to win over my heart with their absolutely stunning and moving finales (lol, Code Geass immediately comes to mind for this type. That series could have been so horrible considering all the crazy twists it attempts to pull, but...it wasn't. At least not for me. xD I know a lot of people hated it, but I actually ended up really liking it. It's not perfect by any means, but the powerful ending definitely saved the series for me and landed it solidly in the "series I love" list ;A; ♥)
Aaanyway, with all that said (woah, sorry for the whole side-rant on endings there xD;), how did the finales of Legend of Korra and Fate/Zero fare for me?
The Legend of Korra
Um. WOW. This has got to be the most disappointing ending I've seen in a while. D: It's particularly disappointing because I love the world of Avatar and LoK started off with such promise. There were so many good things going for it! D: What frustrates me about this ending and the series as a whole is that the creators just lay out all these potentially awesome things and don't. really. DO ANYTHING with them. :\ They spend way too much time on this ridiculously contrived "romantic" storyline and end up rushing through all the important plot points (gosh, the pacing in this finale was just atrocious DX ...and all that painfully awkward dialogue D;) and sacrificing any sort of real character development. D: I mean, out of all the characters in the series, I have to say that only Asami and the most prominent adults, that is Lin, Tenzin, Amon, and Tarrlok, managed to get any sort of decent development, and that's not really saying much, though they all had their great moments. xD; At least, they're not completely one-dimensional and static like what Mako, Bolin, and most frustratingly, Korra, had turned out to be. :(
Now about Amon and Tarrlok's backstory...though admittedly a bit cliched and predictable, it was still touching and was one of the few things I actually enjoyed about the finale. *is a sucker for moving sibling relationships* The parts involving those two were pretty much the most emotional moments for me during the finale. However, it is unfortunately still tainted by the fact that the whole thing was just so awkwardly shoehorned into the story. It's a bittersweet, touching little story on its own, but within the context of the whole series, it just gives me a sort of "too little, too late" feeling and just feels kind of ridiculous in hindsight. In the end, we still don't really know much about Amon and his motivations for going to such extremes (no, the stuff about his father doesn't really explain it :\) and we probably never will, considering his conveniently shocking end. *pun very much intended lol* He had such potential to be an amazing antagonist, but I feel like everything about him just sort of pathetically sputtered out at the end. :( We never really got to KNOW him, apart from Tarrlok's not very sufficient flashback infodump session. *sigh*
Now to address the thing that had been niggling me throughout the entire series since episode five. The romance. Ugh. Now, I never really did like the romance in Avatar: The Last Airbender either, but at the very least, the characters there got to know each other to a reasonable degree, were friends with each other for a while before actually hooking up, so there was at least some sort of basis for the romances. In LoK though? There was literally NOTHING. It's just...characters meet-->commence romance. Huh? Did I miss something? This is my biggest beef with Makorra (and also my problem with Mako and Asami as well when it first happened, but we all know what happens to that ship). :\ Nevermind the fact that it's completely unnecessary and detracts from the main plot, the relationship between these two is just so unbelievable, I can't stand it. DX There's absolutely no development or chemistry between Mako and Korra and somehow they still end up declaring endless love to each other anyway. :\ It just feels so contrived and artificial. *blegh*
Then there's the problem of Mako's character and his whole involvement with the stupid love triangle. :\ He just acts like such a jerk to both girls and his own brother, and never once gets called out for it by anyone except Asami, and yet he still gets rewarded in the end. No consequences at all for his sleazy, BS behaviour D: It's just so problematic that he's such an unlikeable person yet is still portrayed as the perfect "hero love interest" character that everyone is supposed to love just because he's hot, has talent in bending, and says that he cares about Korra. You know, I actually like a lot of characters that would be considered to be pretty douchey (I mean, I have quite a few favourite characters that are villains after all xD), but the difference between those characters and Mako is that the stories those characters are in actually acknowledge the fact that their behaviour is highly problematic. I can then appreciate them for being fascinating villains or whatever other roles they may have in their respective narratives. With Mako though, we're apparently just supposed to accept that he's a nice guy despite how his behaviour says otherwise. That's just plain bad character development. :\
...and Korra, poor Korra's character just got totally butchered thanks to both her involvement with Mako and the deus ex machina ending. She started off as such an independent and strong, though also stubborn and hotheaded girl. It was a refreshing change from Aang (loveable as he was), and I was really looking forward to seeing her grow and mature....except she didn't. At all. DDD8 I hated how the whole final encounter she and Mako had with Amon turned out. It just made Korra look so dependent on Mako and...ugh, I just don't like it. Am I seriously supposed to believe that Mako is powerful enough to break Amon's bloodbending hold while the avatar can't even do it? *eyeroll* ...and that Avatar State ending. WHAT. WAS. THAT. I have to say, out of all the things I've been raging about regarding this series, THIS is what bothered me the most. I can't believe, after everything that had happened, with Korra losing her bending and all, all she had to do was mope and cry to regain all her powers and get a bonus one on top of it D8 That just gives off such a bad message and makes her seem like a spoiled brat who has everything just handed to her on a silver platter. Got a problem? You don't have to work through it or learn any lessons or any of that tedious stuff, just cry a bit and presto! Magically convenient miracles! 8D Ugh. It just disappoints me so much that Korra really didn't mature as a character at all throughout this entire series. She's just as impulsive and naive as she was in the beginning D: (Honestly, this is how that part should have gone down lol. It would have made so much more sense both morally and in terms of storytelling.) Also hate how we never got to see Lin or anyone really learning to live with and accept the state of not having any bending powers before just getting it all back again. It just cheapened Lin's sacrifice and everything else that happened in the previous episodes so so much.
....
tl;dr - Legend of Korra finale was a rushed-as-hell trainwreck and I am very disappoint. >(
To be a bit more positive though, apart from Tarrlok and Amon's story, I did also really enjoy the little bits with Asami being awesome. She really turned out to be quite a likeable character, despite starting off as "the love rival" for Korra. I love that she's such a strong (both physically and emotionally) and genuinely nice person with a firm sense of morality x3 ♥ Also, it was nice to see Iroh and Bumi. They were both very entertaining to watch (Iroh's action scenes were amaaaazing *A*), but were really just there for fanservice lol. Although, I have to say that Iroh's voice still weirds me out. It's just so distracting. I can't help cracking up every time I hear it xD;;; Bolin, Naga, and Pabu were also fun as usual, though I can't help feeling sad for Bolin and his complete lack of any role beyond comic relief :(
As for the series as a whole, despite its many problems and how much I have complained about it, I still enjoyed it quite a bit. It had many great individual moments, excellent animation and action sequences, fun characters, a fascinating world... It's just a pity that all these great elements couldn't quite fit together into a coherent and satisfying whole in the end :\ *sighs* Oh well, hopefully, the second season will end up better, though I can't imagine what it could be about considering the way season 1 ended. xD;
Fate/Zero
laksjdlfkaj Fate/Zero had an utterly amazing ending omg~ Like practically every single other episode in this two season anime, I was just blown away by its absolutely gut-wrenching (and occasionally highly amusing xD) finale. *A* ;_; ♥ Now THIS series is an excellent example of how to tell a good story. The plot and characters are both so tightly woven and so carefully, subtly, and gradually developed, not a single moment ever feels wasted in this anime.
And those characters...THOSE CHARACTERS ;A; ...especially the main players of the Grail War, were all utterly fascinating. You really come to feel for most of them, evil or not, because they're so complex in so many ways, even the more flat-seeming characters, oxymoronic as that sounds. xD I love that they're all morally complex or ambiguous, and all have their own unique motives for joining the war that are founded in different backgrounds and ideologies. It's such an endlessly fascinating clash of personalities and ideas. *A* Out of all the excellent characters, Rider (Iskander), Waver, Archer (Gilgamesh), and Kirei definitely stood out to me the most and ended up being my top favourites both as individual characters and as teams. These two pairs (RiderxWaver and GilxKirei xD) were just epic in so many ways and had the most incredible chemistry together x3 I also particularly enjoyed Kiritsugu's fascinating character development and have a major major soft spot for the loyal and honourable yet tragically luckless Lancer (Diarmuid) as well. ;A;
A major part of what makes these characters so amazing is the absolutely incredible dialogue between them. If I had to choose one aspect of this series that I loved the most, it would be that. The dialogue. It's so subtle, clever, profound, and thought-provoking, I always look forward to the scenes where characters just stand or sit around talking and debating with each other. xD The chemistry generated between the characters in these sorts of scenes is just so amazing. *A*
Of course, this is still a series about a magical war, and that means action scenes are important as well. Though the first season didn't really have much action due to it spending most of its time on quiet character development, the second season certainly delivered in this area. xD I was really surprised at how consistently amazing the animation managed to remain in this 25 episode series. :O The action scenes of the second season definitely blew me away with how breathtakingly awesome and creative they were. Talk about eye-candy~ *A* My personal favourites have to be the crazy dogfight between Berserker and Gilgamesh (lol it just feels weird calling him Archer for some reason, even though that is his role xD) in the beginning of the second season, the unleashing of Gil's ultimate weapons along with the destruction of Rider's reality marble in the second last episode, and the mind-bending duel between Kiritsugu and Kirei in the penultimate episode. *O* All of these scenes had me literally on the edge of my seat ooh-ing over how stunning they looked. xD
Now that I've got all that covered. I guess I should get back to my thoughts on the actual finale. xD
First of all, let's just take a moment to bask in the gloriousness that is butt-naked Gilgamesh 8DDD
Ugh, why is this guy so utterly fabulous in everything he does ♥
Ahem, anyway. 8); Before I get into the stuff that I particularly loved about the episode, I have to admit that some elements could have benifited from some more explanation and development, such as Berserker's (Lancelot's) backstory, his connection to Saber (King Arthur/Arturia), and the whole deal with the Grail and Angra Mainyu, but considering what we already got in the anime, I'm not too upset about them not getting as much time to develop ^^; I mean, despite everything, I still really felt Saber's bitterness and despair quite viscerally in this finale. ;A; (Those scenes will probably be in the BDs anyway, so that's another reason why I'm not really complaining. xD Speaking of which, I still need to watch the extended episodes for the first season. *W*)
Now for the good stuff 8D
Definitely, the highlight for me was the above-pictured scene with nekkid!Gil. xD ...but really, the fanservice is just a pleasant bonus (though it is actually highly appropriate for Gilgamesh and serves to demonstrate just how shamelessly confident and comfortable he is in his identity as an ancient, powerful, semi-divine king. ;D) What I particularly loved about this scene is the conversation between Gilgamesh and Kirei. These two just never fail to captivate me with their exchanges. *A* It was quite thrilling to see Gilgamesh watching bemusedly in his imperious fashion as the normally stoic Kirei finally cracks, mad laughter bubbling up out of him as he comes to a realization about his dark desires and begins to acknowledge and embrace the destructive nature within him. It's really a rather funny yet also chilling and fascinating scene. *A*
Other things I particularly loved were:
~ EVEN MOREBroken!Kiritsugu desperately digging for survivors in the rubble while Kirei looks at him in contempt for losing his will to fight.
~ Kariya's cruel and ignoble death as Sakura coldly observes. Gosh, this guy has to be the single most depressing character of this show (which is saying something since practically EVERYBODY is tragic in one way or another ;_;) He sacrificed absolutely everything to save Sakura and it was all futile. :(
~ WAVER~♥♥♥ The conversation with his "grandparents" was just so bittersweet, as was his return to his bedroom which still contains all the traces of Rider having lived there once. asldkfjalskj MY HEART ;A; Waver's scenes were probably the most moving and emotional for me in this finale. ;^;
~ Kirei's surprise Engrish 8DDD Kirei's cruelly ironic gesture of handing the very knife that he killed Tokiomi with to his daughter as a gift, and that subtle change in his expression that shows his amusement as she cries over the memory of her father.
~ As mentioned before, the scene where Saber cries bitterly in loneliness and despair over the death of Lancelot and her own failure as a king. Lancelot's last words (thoughts?) to her were also quite poignant.
~ Kiritsugu's epilogue scene with little Shirou (the protagonist of Fate/Stay Night) was so bittersweet and poignant though it does end off the series with a desperate and rather ironic little shred of hope. As a side note, I actually haven't watched the Fate/Stay Night anime or played the game yet, but I do plan on checking out the game now that I'm done Zero. It's supposedly no where near as good as Zero as the writer is different (I'ved loved all of Gen Urobuchi's works that I've experienced so far (well, sort of, I still have extremely mixed feelings about the nightmare fuel that is Saya no Uta o_o;) even though they manage to disturb me and break my heart EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. T_T), but still, I'd like to see what supposedly happens next, just for the sake of curiosity and completion, even though I know I'll most likely be disappointed considering how utterly amazing Zero has been. xD;
~ Oh, and the music. I forgot to mention the music. The soundtrack to this series is wonderfully epic and gorgeous and really enhances emotional moments *A*
tl;dr - Fate/Zero is utterly amazing in every way. GO WATCH IT NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T/AREN'T DOING SO ALREADY. *W*