Fate / Apocrypha

 This is now the second series of the Fate franchise I watched, after Unlimited Bladeworks, and I must say I really like the premises of them.

Iconic heroes (and villains) from history being summoned to aide their masters in the search for the Grail, it has a nice knack to it.

In this instalment, there are actually two decks of servants: Red and Black.  The Black faction are all members of the Yggdmillenia family, while the Red faction consists of magi send by the Clock Tower out to retrieve the Grail from the family, who had been victorious during the third war.

But there is a third player in the game, as Shiro, a priest, takes out most of the masters of Red and enlists their servants to his cause, to bring harmony to humanity.  Other servants of Black also join him, betraying their masters, as the first assault on the castle takes place.

Homunculi, artificial humans created to serve as batteries, aid in the defence and gain independance from their creators, as one of them is saved by Saber of Black, Siegfried.  Naming himself Sieg, he becomes a master himself, though he can briefly transform into his servant.  Together with the 15th servant, the Ruler Jeanne d'Árc, they set out together with the survivors of the black faction and Saber of Red to stop the machinations of Shiro.

An enjoyable series for sure, with some really tragic moments, it had for me also two very memorable characters.  Caster of Red, aka William Shakespeare, was just epic (that Noble Phantasma!) and I seriously have put him on my shortlist as a cosplay goal.  

And then there is that very, very creepy Jack the Ripper Assassin servant...

A good series for sure, and great fun to watch during my lunchbreaks!