Fate/Apocrypha
Fate/Apocrypha
Overview
Fate/Apocrypha is a series in Type-Moon’s Fate franchise that began as a light novel written by Yuichiro Higashide with artwork by Ototsugu Konoe. The light novel series spans five volumes and also spawned a manga series that began in 2016 and a TV anime adaptation produced by A-1 Pictures that began in 2017.
Plot
Fate/Apocrypha takes place in a parallel world to Fate/stay night in which the Greater Grail was stolen from Fuyuki City after the Third Holy Grail War and disappeared for many years (In the world of Fate/Apocrypha the events of Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero never happened).
It is later revealed to be in Romania in the possession of the Yggdmillennia clan when they announce their secession from the Mage’s Association to form their own organization. The Mage’s Association sends 50 mages to retrieve the Greater Grail, but all but one are killed almost instantly by Lancer of Black. The one surviving mage activates the reserve system of the Greater Grail, which begins a contingency known as a Great Holy Grail War in Trifas. Differing from previous Holy Grail Wars, the Great Holy Grail War allows the summoning of 14 Servants and two factions fight each other for control of the Grail, with the winning faction then fighting themselves until only one remains to claim it. The Yggdmillennia clan makes up the Black Faction, and mages selected by the Mage’s Association along with a clergyman of the Church make up the Red Faction. A Ruler-class Servant is also summoned by the Grail to oversee the war. However, soon after the curtain rises on the war, Ruler soon realizes that things aren’t entirely what they seem and that something is terribly wrong.
Factions
Black Faction
The Black Faction consists primarily of the members of the Yggdmillennia family. Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia is the leader of the faction along with his Servant, Vlad III. The faction’s main combat force consists of homunculi created by Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia and golems created by Roche Frain Yggdmillennia and his Servant, Avicebron. Due to having family spread out through many organizations including the Mage’s Association, Darnic is able to get information and updates on the opposing faction. The Masters of Black also have a significant advantage over the Masters of Red in that they don’t have to supply their Servants with their own magic energy. Due to a system designed by Gordes, he is able to use the homunculi for this purpose, meaning that their Servants can more freely use their Noble Phantasms and other magecraft without worrying about draining their Master’s magic energy.
Red Faction
The Red Faction consists of mages selected by the Mage’s Association for the purpose of stopping the Yggdmillennias from activating the Grail and a clergyman from the Church to give their cause an air of legitimacy. The faction is a mix of members of the Clock Tower and outside professionals, including freelance necromancer Kairi Sisigou.
Media
Video Game
Fate/Apocrypha was originally developed to be an MMO game. Type-Moon was working on the project with an unnamed developer, however the project was cancelled in the planning stage. The project would later go on to be rebooted as Fate/Grand Order.
Light Novels
The first official release in the series is the light novels written by Yuichiro Higashide and illustrated by Ototsugu Konoe. The series was announced in November 2011, and it first appeared the following month as a short story in the seventh volume of Type-Moon Ace magazine on Dec. 15. The series was published in five volumes by Type-Moon from December 2012 to December 2014.
Another light novel for the series written by Higashide titled Side of Survivor was released as a bonus with the second Blu-ray box set of the anime. The story follows the travels of Rider of Black (Astolfo) after the events of the anime.
Manga
In August 2016, a manga adaptation written by Yuichiro Higashide and illustrated by Akira Ishida began being serialized in Comp Ace. The series is published by Kadokawa Shoten, and eight collected tankobon volumes have been released to date.
Anime
An anime adaptation premiered in Japan on Tokyo MX and other channels on July 2, 2017. The anime is directed by Yoshiyuki Asai with series composition by Yuichiro Higashide, character designs by Yukei Yamada, and music by Masaru Yokoyama. The anime became available to stream internationally through Netflix on Nov. 7, 2017. Two sets of Blu-ray box sets featuring a full English dub were also later released by Aniplex of America, with the first set, which covered episodes 1-12, released on Nov. 20, 2018 and the second set, which covered episodes 13-25, released on Feb. 12, 2019. The series has also been licensed for home video release in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment and in the UK and Ireland by MVM Entertainment.
The anime’s opening theme song for episodes 1-12 is "Eiyu: Unmei no Uta" by Egoist and the ending theme song is "Désir" by Garnidelia. Beginning from episode 13, the opening theme song changes to "Ash" by LiSA, and the ending theme song changes to "Koe" by ASCA. An original soundtrack spanning two discs of composer Masaru Yokoyama’s music for the anime has also been released.