Series Overview (Part 2)

Fate/Extra: Last Encore – Illustrias Geocentric Theory (Fate/EXTRA Last Encore イルステリアス天動説) is the second part of the Fate/Extra: Last Encore anime series. This part is only three episodes long compared to the first part’s 10 episodes, but the final episode is double-length.

Something strange that I noticed about this series is that the two parts each have two different English subtitles. The first part is either Oblitus Heliocentric Theory or Oblitus Copernican Theory. And the second part is either Illustrias Geocentric Theory or Illustrias Ptolemaic Theory.

That might not seem too strange considering “heliocentric” and “Copernican” can be interchanged, and the same goes for “geocentric” and “Ptolemaic.” But what makes it strange is that Netflix didn’t stick to one system (and so neither did I for the titles of these reviews).

You’d expect to either use “heliocentric” and “geocentric” or “Copernican” and “Ptolemaic.” but instead they went with “Copernican” and “geocentric.”

Netflix’s questionable subtitle choice aside, these final three episodes of the series cover the seventh level of the Moon Cell and the final area called Angelica Cage. Here, Hakuno and Nero (and Rin) face off against the final two masters, who like all the others aren’t true masters anymore.

And just like the first part of the series, this second part really only made me want more Fate/Grand Order singularity adaptations. This time around, since Gawain was the main antagonizing servant, it made me think of how much better the Camelot movie adaptation is going to be.

The various levels of the Moon Cell really are just like watered-down versions of the singularities from Grand Order. The only real reason to watch this anime is if you like Nero, but once the Septem singularity gets an anime, even that reason will be gone.

More Masters and Servants

The master of the seventh level is Leonardo “Leo” Bistario Harwey — the king of the world. Or at least he was said to be the king of the empire that ruled the vast majority of the world. Either way, he’s a king with Divine Right magic, so he’s fairly strong.

Leo’s servant is Gawain, which is pretty fitting for him. At first, you might think a king like Leo should have a Ruler class servant, but a knight like Gawain makes much more sense. Also, if he had another king as a servant, I think that could cause some problems. Imagine Gilgamesh taking orders from someone claiming to be a king; it wouldn’t happen.

The final master of the series is Twice Pieceman, who I thought was supposed to be the creator of the Moon Cell, but the end of the series seemed to imply otherwise. Twice also doesn’t really have a servant of his own, which is also a bit strange.

Originally, Twice’s servant was best fox-girl Tamamo-no-Mae, my favorite servant (I have every version of her available in FGO). However, he somehow lost her as a servant. And the only time we see Tamamo in the entire anime is as a silhouette for a second in the background.

Netflix, my guy, you can’t use images of Tamamo to promote Fate/Extra: Last Encore if she’s not even really in the series.

However, I think there are three routes of the /Extra timeline, just like /stay night has the Artoria (stay night), Rin (Unlimited Blade Works), and Sakura (Heaven’s Feel) routes. Last Encore is obviously the Nero route, but from what I can tell there’s also a Tamamo route and an Archer (maybe Emiya?) route.

Oh, and after Twice lost Tamamo as his servant, he made a pact with a new servant, Buddha (who is also gone now). Why was Buddha not released as a servant in FGO during the fourth Lostbelt chapter? He could have at least been one of the bosses.

Final Thoughts and Impressions

As I expected would probably be the case, the final three episodes of Extra: Last Encore are worse than the first 10 episodes. And the first 10 episodes aren’t what I would call good.

As is typically the case for Fate anime, some stuff happens at the end that goes against the rules and makes no sense. I can sort of forgive the rule breaking this time around since the Moon Cell isn’t a real Holy Grail War, but the fact that Buddha, an entirely new and unique class of servant, is involved makes no sense.

Honestly, the anime would have had a better ending if Twice actually had Tamamo as his servant in the end — and I’m not just saying that because I love Tamamo. I don’t quite know how Tamamo would fit into Twice’s ideology, but at least she’s classified as an evil servant so she can still be an antagonist.

Maybe I just forget all the other Fate anime endings I’ve seen, but is this also the first one to actually have someone claim the Holy Grail? It’s not a real Holy Grail, and the Holy Grail War ended 999 years prior to the Grail being claimed, but Rin does claim it.

I think in most of the other Fate anime there’s a winner, but for one reason or another the winner is unable to actually claim the Grail and have their wish granted. So the fact that we see Rin have her wish granted is pretty unique — but it’s also a pretty boring ending.

And speaking of wishes being granted, Nero’s wish for the Grail is granted at the end of the series too — so does that mean she can never be summoned again (in that timeline)? I’m pretty sure heroic servants are only summoned by the grail if they have a wish to be fulfilled. So since Nero got her wish of not dying alone, she technically can’t be summoned anymore.

But I’m sure that technicality is voided by this being a Moon Cell Holy Grail, not the real one.

Conclusion

Fate/Extra: Last Encore – Illustrias Geocentric Theory is a 3/10 from me. And despite it only being three episodes and the first part being 10 episodes, I think this part drags the series as a whole down to a 4/10. Like I said earlier, unless you really like Nero, there’s not much of a reason to watch this anime.

If you enjoyed this review or found it to be helpful in any way, remember to click the like button ❤ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

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Series Overview (Part 1)

Fate/Extra: Last Encore – Oblitus Copernican Theory is the first 10 episodes of Fate/Extra: Last Encore. I don’t know why the last 3 episodes are a separate season, but I also don’t care enough to look up the answer. I’ll be reviewing that second part of the series later this week (I haven’t watched it yet).

Before we begin, this review is going to have spoilers, including the true names of the servants. If you don’t want to be spoiled, I suggest coming back after watching the first part of the series.

If you ask Fate series fans what the worst anime entry in the series is, you’ll probably get one of two answers. Either they’ll say it’s Apocrypha or Extra: Last Encore. Apocrypha definitely had its problems, but I enjoyed it for what it was — fan service. Extra: Last Encore is definitely the worst as far as I’m concerned.

The best way I can describe it to someone who hasn’t seen it is as such: It’s a Fate version of Sword Art Online. The entire series takes place within a virtual world created by a supercomputer known as the Moon Cell. And within this virtual world, there are seven levels the masters must climb in order to reach the Holy Grail.

But, since this is still Fate, nothing really makes sense. For example, something like 200+ masters started on level one, and they have to battle to the death in order to progress to the next level. However, only one master can progress. So once one master reaches the second level, it’s unclear how they progress further — there are no more opponents to fight.

I guess the logistics of this virtual Holy Grail War don’t really matter though because the series takes place 999 years later.

Masters and Servants

In classic Fate anime fashion, the protagonist, Hakuno Kishinami, has a cardboard personality. He’s definitely a better protagonist than Shirou from Unlimited Blade Works and Seig from Apocrypha, but he still falls short of someone like Kitisugu from Zero.

Also, obviously Illya is better in Prisma Illya.

Hakuno’s servant is Nero Claudius, a Saber. She’s often referred to as Red Saber to differentiate her from Artoria Pendragon. However, that still can cause some confusion because there’s also Saber of Red, which refers to Mordred. Ranking the three of them, I’d have to say Mordred > Nero > Artoria.

Nero has a fun personality, but that’s mainly all she has going for her. I know this is probably sacrilege, but I don’t particularly like her character design.

The master of the first level is Shinji Matou. He has a Rider servant like always, but this time around it’s Francis Drake rather than Medusa. And also like always, his Rider servant is one-shot by the protagonist’s Saber. I like Drake, but I’ve never liked Shinji, which is a shame since I love Hiroshi Kamiya, his voice actor.

Dan Blackmore is the master of the second level. He’s a sniper who’s partnered with the Archer servant Robin Hood. I don’t really have anything else to say about them since they’re pretty straightforward.

I believe Alice and Nursery Rhyme were the master/servant combo of the third floor, though it could have been the fourth. One of the floors was skipped in the anime for some reason. There’s only seven floors, so why one of them was skipped over and simply mentioned in passing makes no sense to me.

Julius Belkisk Harwey is the master of the fifth floor with his “Berserker” servant Li Shuwen. Li is actually an Assassin class servant, but he’s been infected with madness enhancement, making him a Berserker for all intents and purposes.

And the final two masters are Rin Tohsaka and Rani VIII — both of floor six. Rin’s servant is Cu Chulainn (Lancer) while Rani’s is Lu Bu Fengxian (Berserker). What’s weird about Rin and Rani is that they don’t have separate servants; their servants are installed like in Prisma Illya.

Thoughts and Impressions (so far)

As I mentioned already, Fate/Extra: Last Encore isn’t good. The story is pretty bad (mainly because it doesn’t really make sense), the characters are generally boring with the exception of Nero, and I don’t see it getting any better in the second part.

Also, I thought best fox girl Tamamo-no-Mae was supposed to be in this series. It’s possible she could still show up in the final three episodes, but I think Netflix just lied to me.

But I think the thing that hurt this series most of all was that it just made me want more of the Fate/Grand Order singularities to be animated. For example, the whole level one part of Extra: Last Encore with Drake was pretty lackluster, but an anime for the Okeanos singularity of FGO would probably be good.

I don’t want to only say bad things about Extra: Last Encore, though. So there is one thing I actually liked about this series, and that’s the historical accuracy (with regards to Nero). I never thought I’d say Fate was historically accurate.

As you probably don’t know (even though this has been relevant a few times before), I actually studied ancient Mediterranean (and Near Eastern) civilizations at university. That’s things like Greece, Rome, Egypt, Persia, etc.

The background given for Nero’s character in Extra: Last Encore is actually a lot better than in most pop culture depictions. Something Nero mentions is how she was beloved by the people, which is true. And she also mentions that although the people liked her, the Senate did not.

Besides graffiti, basically the only writings we have from that period come from the senator class of society. And for a Roman emperor, there were three main classes they needed to have on their side: the people, the military, and the Senate. If the Senate didn’t like an emperor, they generally went down in history as being bad (and some really were bad).

Conclusion

Fate/Extra: Last Encore – Oblitus Copernican Theory is a 5/10 for me. I think there’s enough entertainment value here to keep it from being a 4, but it’s pretty close. Depending on how the final three episodes go, the second part of the series may very well end up rated even lower than this one.

I’ve known the OP and ED songs for Fate/Extra: Last Encore for a long time — long before I watched the series. And I think both Bright Burning Shout and Moon & Bouquet are good songs. I might say Bright Burning Shout is slightly better. But I really didn’t like the visuals of the OP. The ED has much better visuals, so I’ll say it’s better overall.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button ❤ down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank HeavyROMAN for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.