RE: Fate/EXTRA trilogy, of dreams and heroes
Another wonderful post. Fate/Extra: Last Encore really got my attention. Having Studio Shaft from Monogatari and Puella Magi Madoka Magica is an Extra Plus. I'm not that interested in the games. The Deen Stay Night was OK. The UBW movie made Emiya Shiro into my most hated anime character ever and the UBW series did an excellent job in all departments. But I still felt that it could get a little edgy with a minor Gen Urobuchi rewrite. Although I want to like UBW more than Fate/Zero I consider the masterpiece to be perfect. Both directing and writing is top notch and Ufotable is Ufotable.
Anyway try giving God Eater a Chance. It's on of the greatest flawed masterpieces ever made. It only gets good at the end of episode 5. The ending was one of the greatest ever (it's really the message). I could define the series in one simple sentence: The Bleakest Story Ever Told About Hope.
Maybe you could even call it a post post-modern shounen. Just bear through the first few episodes.
Thanks for stopping by vimuthki!
It's just like you said, from the moment I saw Studio Shaft I knew I was going to like it, period. Well, the games were interesting on their own back then, but if you aren't an avid gamer there are certainly other games and other things to do so I can understand that you're not that interested :D
You can say that again... 100% agreed. It seems we share an opinion with UBW and Fate/Zero... I mean, both are awesome with Fate/Zero having an slighty upper hand but UBW is more... IDK, sentimental or easier to get in? I don't know the exact words but I kind of understand what you mean.
I've played God eater 1,2 and Rage Burst and of course I watched the anime too :) which BTW is TOTALLY unrelated to the games. It truly is a flawed masterpiece, but the god tier quality animation helps a ton in ignoring those flaws. The games go farther than the anime in terms of history, let me spoil you a bit about it:
God Eater 1: The protagonist are Lindow, Soma and the russian girl (I think it was Arisa). In the first part you work for the far east branch of Fenrir in a "investigation" department whose main objective is to obtain information about the Aragami in order to develop a countermeasure. At one point in history Lindow is left to die due to Arisa's issues with the Aragami and how her family was killed and past traumas and stuff, plus the fact that she had some kind of drug interfering with her thought patterns. The reason is that the upper government wanted to get rid of Lindow because he knew stuff that normal god eaters shouldn't know and was investigating the dirty stuff.
At one point in the late game you discover an Aragami with human form named Shio (I think) and she and Soma open up to each other in a weird way. A lot of things happen in the mid but at the end Shio explains part of the reason of existence of the Aragami and transforms into a vessel to nurture the moon and bring life to it. At this point Soma abandons the front lines and decides to become a scientist like his father in order to better understand Shio and the Aragami. In the meanwhile you'll discover some of the dark stuff Lindow was investigating and they set up a trap for you, yet Lindow comes and saves your ass and explains how he survived and the effects of having the god eater merge with you.
God eater 2: This one is in the same setting from the anime. In this one you're in the military instead of a research facility and your objective is to subjugate the advancing Aragami in order to provide for your family and to protect the citizens. A strong mutation starts appearing in several Aragami, effectively pushing mankind to the brink once again and the team is forced to go to the far east to speak with doctor Satake in order to resolve it. Lots of stuff happen and the backstory of the characters is told to you, as well as the explanation of how Lindow became the base for unlocking the potential of the god eaters. At some point in the mid game the villain appears, a scientist gone rogue that had been injected Aragami cells as a child to promote tissue regeneration but ended up becoming an human-shaped Aragami. The villain explains how YOU had been extending the evolution of the Aragami by following her commands and, like in any game, decides to face you because you're a thorn on her side and dies by your hand.
Burst is an extension of God Eater 2, adding more lore and a continuation to the story.
BTW, the anime is pretty toned down in comparison to the games, which are already toned down.