I'm a firm believer in the idea that an audio visual medium needs both understanding of audio and visual aspects to be best enjoyed. As such watching subs is not now, nor has it ever been something I can get behind (excepting the dubs which wholly mangle the original version like Sailor moon and so on) without a doubt I would have lit zero on fire for it's dub if it was bad but it's actually pretty great.
The cast
Kiritsugu: resident evil has a history of pretty wooden or derpy acting so he's one of the four I was fairly concerned about. Fact is for someone who, to my knowledge, has never done anime before he plays Kiritsugu well.
Saber: Kari sounded horrible in clips but I have to admit she pulls it together well enough, I think I wouldn't have a problem with her being cast again for the new adaptations.
Iris: well this was an absolutely perfect choice VA wise, Bridget has been voice acting for a long time and the delicate, soft crazy chick is a role she has a lot of experience with. This gave me shivers like back when I first watched Lain. Fucking awesome, nuff said.
Rider: Without Price I don't think I would like Rider honestly, the bombastic cheerful attitude Jameson puts into every word really sells the king of conquers. Trivia note, this va played Kirei in the deen adaptation dub.
Lancer: played by the og Gilgamesh I thought I'd grow to hate him but he was alright. Not a stand out but serviceable.
Berserker: I hated the concept of Lancelot being a berserker from the out set, however the va for what time he gets is good enough.
Assassin: much like soylant cola it varies from person to person, decent overall though.
Gilgamesh: our replacement VA does a good job here.
Caster and his master: unlike the others I can't speak of them separately since they are almost exclusively speaking to each other. JYB as a serial killer works awfully well, blue beard is played by Igor from the persona games, they work rather great together.
Waver: This guy is a total unknown to my ears, pretty likeable though.
Tokomi: the character is exactly what he's supposed to be, a boring idiot.
Aoi: I pity Michelle Ruff, she played Arc in the Tsukihime anime and here she's playing this wispy waste of skin.
Karaiya: Liam has experience with this role, he played Archer in the fsn dub so another good performance.
Kirei: well this is Crispin Freeman, you're guaranteed a good performance with him but he really did a fucking excellent job here.
The animation: great with three exceptions. Firstly the effect on Lancelot, gross, just terrible imo. Secondly the creatures of caster, not their design but the effect used. Finally the fish face look some characters get (excepting caster who it fits to a T) it's deen levels of bad.
The plot: the only stand out things in the plot are the interlude with Kiritsugu and Gilgamesh palpatine-Ing Kirei. The rest of it is pretty by the numbers enjoyable action. Although two things bother me, one the Rin stuff, it drags down the show a bit and creates a potential plot hole. And secondly the continuity error at the end where Saber isn't at the tree dying.
So yeah, that's how I see it. How do you see Zero?
