Fate/Grand Carnival

After watching the mash-up of Key characters in Kaginado, it reminded me that the Fate series too recently had something similar. Hence it was some sort of reminder for me to take a look at Fate/Grand Carnival which I don’t think is a sequel of Carnival Phantasm (holy sh*t, has it already been over 10 years since it debuted?!) but then again under the same category of it. Yeah, haven’t watched a Fate series in a while so I thought it might be good to see what antics this one had in store.

Episode 1
In order to keep costs down and see which Heroic Spirits to trim or be laid off, hence Nero suggests an Olympic competition among them. So we see many follies and antics from various events and it makes you wonder if they’re insulting the sport or the Heroic Spirits are just too dumb. Oh right. All in the name of comedy and entertainment. In the end, the stadium is devastated with all those power moves and it boils to the kibasen event. I guess that event itself is too much power to handle too and the whole organization takes a damaging hit. Not only it sits with a weird shape atop a mountain but resources continue to further dwindle.

Episode 2
* J. Moriarty the laughing bartender advices some dude about what he must do to win his daughter’s heart. Turns out he is forced to cosplay as some sexy furry which of course freaks the hell out of Mash. And what’s this about his advice to maintain some mental distance because they are still other people than yourself?
* Jeanne D’Arc Alter needs some money so Ruler advises this particular place in Kabukicho… Yeah, it’s a host club. And so we see Alter trying to learn the code being a hostess while dealing with all sorts of weird (sometimes perverted) clients as well as other rival hostesses. Finally she has to host Gilles and I’m not sure what he is blabbing about but it made Alter can’t stand him so she burns the whole place down. While Alter realizes she can’t allow further exploitation of these girls, she is then given her retirement package. Now get out of here. We see Shirou Kotomine celebrating Christmas with his loli orphans as Alter soon comes to join them. I guess that money is enough to buy them a Christmas cake.

Episode 3
Ortlinde narrates in this documentary about some Servant. Particularly Blackbeard and the squalid hobo-like conditions that he and some other Servants are living in. Although he is dissatisfied with the working conditions, those who are more intellectual like Zhuge Liang voice their opinion in a different manner. Then there is Christopher Columbus who just doesn’t work and continue to play pachinko. Eventually Blackbeard leads a picket to protest for better work environment and won. With the new laws coming into effect, that joy is short-lived because soon Zhuge Liang collapsed as he realized that under this equality law thingy, eventually somebody will still have to do the work and for those who really don’t want to work, will come up with excuses. Just look at Columbus. Still the same pachinko lover with or without the law. While Blackbeard returns to his same lifestyle, he will still continue to persevere since his rivals will increase.

Episode 4
* Moriarty is back to once again advice this robot on how to mend his relationship with his daughter. Uhm, can robots drink? Anyway, when he appears before Frankenstein in a different version, she doesn’t recognize him and blasts him away instead. And Moriarty’s advice that your self-assessment of others don’t always match up. I think this bartender just wants to laugh at other’s misery.
* Ereshkigal thinks her Master is bored with her. Dumuzid the sheep then suggests doing streaming and upload her videos on ServantTube for more appeal. He shows Osakabehime who is the most popular streamer around. Ereshkigal does that but her views aren’t much. She goes to talk to Osakabehime for advice but obviously she doesn’t want competition. With Ereshkigal getting desperate and doing riskier videos, soon her subscribers increase. This threatens Osakabehime so to teach that newbie a lesson, she has a live streaming collaboration with her. At first, Osakabehime tries to humiliate her by spouting all the embarrassing stuffs Ereshkigal has done. Two can play that game as Ereshkigal also returns the favour. Soon it descends into some petty mudslinging. Desperate, Osakabehime then strips herself into her swimsuit and promises to dress like this if she wins this streaming popularity. Even shaking some tits! In the end, the video is deleted and account terminated! Violated the T&C, eh? A Holy Grail drops before Ereshkigal. She gets desperate to wish on it that it causes a Singularity. Although that matter was contained, later she apologizes to her Master that she doesn’t want to be hated but is told her bond level is already maxed out. Ereshkigal now a very happy girl.

Freaky Out-Of-Order Carnival
Honestly… I did not really enjoy this short. Firstly, it is very obvious that if one is to enjoy and appreciate this series, you must have a very wide knowledge of the Fate universe itself. Uh huh. Technically you’re a freaking obsessed Fate maniac who knows about every damn character they have come up so far. Hence with so many characters, I bet that not every one of them makes their cameo here but for those lucky ones who did, many felt like blink or miss. Therefore, for a casual viewer like me who just barely knows about the Fate series, jumping into this one is a big mess and a headache. The jokes cannot connect because I do not even understand the basics of these characters and their backgrounds. I only have a feeling that the moment is supposed to be funny but cannot laugh at it because I don’t understand the jokes. Get what I am saying? And with so many unknown characters, most of the time I’d be like, “Who the f*ck this character I never seen before?!”. Uh huh. Mostly felt like that.

It is very unfortunate that this series is meant to bring in some laughs with the light-hearted jokes from the Fate series but with the universe itself expanding faster than the Marvel and DC counterparts, it will only get messier and more complicated and the good news is that I won’t give a f*ck and not obliged to follow it all. Not sure when the next Fate adaptation will be as I am well aware that I have missed quite a few of them (namely the movies especially the recent Babylonia ones) but I’ll see if I will change my mind on that when the time comes. There is only so much a crossover can handle before it becomes a big pile mishmash nonsense and garbage that doesn’t even matter. Sorry for you Fate fans out there who want to get hot under the collar for me not liking this (told ‘ya a billion times I’m not really its biggest fans), you’re free to compound your cranium with more Fate lore and trivia for all I care. Sorry but not sorry, felt like I walked into a sham carnival instead. But lucky to get out with my sanity still intact, though ;p.