If you were keeping up with new anime back in 2017 than you probably remember when this show came out. The new Fate anime being handled by A1 Pictures ooooooooo thisll be horrible is what a lot of the discourse around this show was on the internet. Because of this I didnt even give this anime a passing glance. At the time I was still watching Fate/Zero and didnt want to start a completely new Fate series so soon. While I didnt really end up liking a lot of aspects of Zero and think its generally an overrated show it still got me interested in Fate as a franchise. Historical figures fighting in a battle royal in an alternate history present day with magic is an incredibly cool premise. A lot of the spin offs differentiate themselves with some gimmick but thats the general hook for most Fate series. And Apocrypha is no different being the most similar to Zero and UBW as its setting is still the real world albeit in an alternate timeline from those shows. So despite how I felt about Zero I still decided to give this show a chance and see if my second outing with the Fate series would prove to be better. And boy oh boy am I glad I chose this one. For starters I think my preference for what I wanted to see from this franchises premise seems to be what the creators of this series wanted as well. Nonstop epic battles with crazy historic figures wielding badass weapons and super powers. Zero had this but had a larger focus on a nihilistic message and strategy. From beginning to end Apocrypha delivers supercool battles that are honestly some of the best animated fights Ive seen in the medium to date. Id go as far to say that the fights in the later episodes might even eclipse the best from One Punch Man which is still incredible as well. From episode 20 to 25 every single fight had me in awe of how awesome the animation was. Its not often I will audibly say No fking way or Holy sht to myself just from seeing something badass on screen but Im glad to add these fights to this small list. While the fights are always consistently epic and entertaining the story as well proved to be a lot better and thematically rich than I expected. The internets reaction to this show definitely set my expectations low which I why I ended up being so pleasantly surprised. Atonement acts as a primary theme for the series as each Servant and Master fights to right a wrong they committed in the past. Sieg one of the only characters who isnt as he fights to prevent to the creation of an immortal world that will exist as a result of a wish to atone from the main villain. Its simple theming but it goes a long way to create a strong emotional core for the narrative. The story is very hopeful about human nature and Siegs actions are fairly inspiring even if you cant really relate them too much to the real world. Presentation wise Apocrypha is a very strong series. As stated before the animation quality is excellent but the score in particular stood out to me almost just as much. I was already a fan of the composers work before I watched the series but this might be some of his best stuff. If you are a fan of Masaru Yokoyamas work in this series than I highly recommend listening to his scores for Gundam: IronBlooded Orphans and Bubuki Buranki because they are equally as good as well. Voice acting is also really great in both Japanese and English. I started watching the anime in Japanese and thoroughly enjoyed the performances but I watched the rest of the show dubbed as it was easier to focus on the spectacle on screen and I personally really like a lot of the dub voice actors they got for this show. Its not an amazing dub but it was definitely worth watching the show in English for. As for downsides if youre not really sold on the show within the first few episodes than I probably wouldnt recommend watching it all the way through. Its the kind of anime that you probably know if whether or not youll like it within the first two or three eps. I will say that towards the middle portion it becomes a little repetitive but once the finale starts it makes any misgivings I had well worth going through because its something you really should see if youre a fan of action animation. I seriously cannot stress enough how awesome the fights in this show are and Its something that really should be applauded more in this community. This show as a whole deserves a little more respect honestly. Its not boring the story is pretty good the characters are really entertaining with very strong visual designs and the animation is god tier. I know its a contentious opinion but I personally enjoyed this one way more than Zero. It not only delivered on crazy historical figures duking it out with insane superpowers but it did that while also having a decent story with a great lead character in Sieg. If you didnt give this show a chance when it came out than I highly recommend giving it one now. If youre anything like me youre not gonna regret it anytime soon.