THIS ANIMATION IS INCREDIBLE?! | Reaction to Fate/Grand Order: Memorial Movie 2023

You know what this means Georgie. You either have to watch the anime, or play the game. Those are your options.

The video represents Humanity, it's folly and indomitable will. I especially love the part where it showed Iskandar in the same position as the beggar showed before, and Merlin looking at the atrocities of humankind

I'm obligated to write a lore dump on this, and it took less time to type all of this than i originally thought By the way the song is called 'flowers' by Hana Hope, there's also an english version for the FGO NA channel if you wanna check that out in your own time Also this movie was made for FGO JP's 8 year anniversary, that's why they kinda went all out on the production value As you know Fate basically has it's own version of human history, so most of the references in this video are just straight up references to our own history with a fantasy twist But before that, a brief synopsis on the story of FGO: In the year 2015 on a secluded observatory in the antarctic, the future-predicting magical globe of CHALDEAS is unable to see past the end of the year, prompting the Chaldea Security Company to recruit 48 Master Candidates in order to fix this malfunction by investigating anomalies at different points in time in the past called 'Singularities'. You play as Ritsuka Fujimaru, the 48th and last Master to join the Chaldea Security Company, your quest is to summon Servants, go to these 'Singularities', and fix whatever is causing them, along the lines you will meet such legends as the Saint of Orleans Joan of Arc, the Roman Emperor Nero, the legendary Privateer Sir Francis Drake, Karna the demigod son of Surya, the great Persian archer Arash, and the oldest known legend of Humanity King Gilgamesh himself, and you will also face such adversaries as: a Saint-turned-Witch, a coalition of Roman Emperors, The Argonauts, an army of Celtic warriors, a twisted version of the Knights of the Round Table, and a literal Primordial God which does not have the concept of death, so they're just straight up unkillable. And that's only the first arc of this game. Now that that's done, here's a play-by-play of the Memorial Video with explanation to the references Alright let's start from the beginning, the first shot of the video are the representations of each of the heroes shown in this video, (01:30) starting with a top-down view of the Holy Grail, transitioning to Joan of Arc's banner and cross, Alexander the Great's sword and coin, Karna's spear and earring, Arjuna's bow, idk what this one is, someone plz help filling this gap, Hassan-i-Sabbah's sword and skull, Excalibur being shattered in an explosion but in reverse (01:42) The shot after that is of a boat heading to Avalon, where the body of King Arthur is resting and healing preparing for their return to the world, presumably the boat is carrying the mortally wounded body of Arthur after the battle of Camlann, the image of Avalon was inspired by the painting of 'The Isle of the Dead' by Arnold Böcklin, (01:49) the next shot is of the Hassans, the progenitor of the word 'Assassin', the Hashashin sect, (01:53) then a shot Alexander the Great's deathbed as his subjects grieve for him and the carriage his body is being transported in, (01:56) then Frankenstein's monster holding the body of Dr. Frankenstein to the backdrop of a glacier like in the book (in Fate the female was built before the male), (01:58) then a shot of Joan of Arc being burned at the stake, (02:00) and then Merlin watching it all in Avalon as a distant observer (02:01) The next sequence starts with Mash, the main heroine of FGO, the first Servant we get at the start, opening a book, presumably a book about the heroes of the past, (02:08) then a shot of Saber climbing some stairs, (02:11) Joan of Arc heading out to battle with what is later revealed to be Angels in armor, (02:14) then Alexander the Great marching with his men, (02:18) Merlin and the knights of the Round Table (From left to right Sir Bedivere, Sir Gawain is the one leading the horse, Sir Tristan is the red head, and Sir Lancelot is he one in purple armor), cut back to a shot of them in a book being held by Mash, (02:22) then a shot of Karna taking off his earring, (02:23) Arjuna preparing for a shot, (02:24) then the Hashashins standing on a hill presumably preparing for an attack, (02:25) then Frankenstein's Monster running through the streets, (02:26) back again to the Hashashins, they have summoned the great grandpa of Hashashins, the first Hassan-i-Sabbah, during the Mongol attack that historically wiped them out, presumably they summoned Grandpa Hassan as a last ditch effort for survival, (02:29) then Alexander playing a game of what i can only assume is ancient chess, PHALANX, (02:31) the knights of the Round Table marching towards the camera, presumably about to deal with a threat since Sir Gawain is pulling out his sword (and 2 more knights has been shown, on the rightmost is Sir Agravain, and the one wearing the horned helmet is Sir Mordred, yes, that Sir Mordred), (02:33) next is a shot of the Dragon Witch, an alternate version of Joan of Arc where she was revived after being burned and became a witch filled with vengeance, then a shot of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China with what i can only assume is liquid mercury flowing around him (02:34) The next scene is a battle between Karna and Arjuna, 2 Indian brother demigods from the Epic of Mahabharata, (02:42) then Alexander charging with his men, (02:43) then Qin Shi Huang again showing his power to his subjects, (02:45) the next shot is Grandpa Hassan walking down the steps filled with the decapitated corpses of the Mongols about to confront even more Mongols, (02:46) then a shot of the knights of the Round Table transitioning into the battle of Camlann, where Saber (King Arthur) is about to impale Sir Mordred with her holy spear Rhongomyniad, (02:50) next is a shot of Joan of Arc standing tall holding her banner with angels charging from behind her, transitioning to the Dragon Witch, (02:53) then a shot of Arjuna holding Karna's hand, (02:54) Alexander extending his hand (i think, i can't really tell if it's him), (02:55) Grandpa Hassan holding the decapitated head of a Mongol, Joan of Arc holding a cross as she's being burned at the stake, (02:56) Frankenstein's Monster hugging herself, (02:57) King Arthur handing off Excalibur to Sir Bedivere, ordering him to return it to the Lady of the Lake, and then (I'm just gonna spoil it) a shot of Sir Galahad's hand grabbing the shoulder of Mash (03:02) The next sequence is of Saber/King Arthur looking back at her life, (03:22) then a shot of a statue of King Arthur on the side of a road, the statue is based on the real world statue of King Arthur at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, (03:24) a coin bearing the face of Alexander the Great in the possession of a beggar as he witnesses the rise and fall of civilizations, (03:27) a shot of WWI French soldiers resting on top of a statue of Joan of Arc, (03:30) then a forgotten statue of Karna with the bright city lights in the background, (03:31) a sword stabbed on the ground becoming more overgrown with time, people have theorised that this is Lancelot's sword after he had forsaken his knighthood due to the guilt of his betrayal to King Arthur, Mash closes the book, (03:34) a shot of a house exploding, as Merlin witnesses the evils and suffering of the human race, watching as a bystander on his prison in Avalon, (03:37) a shot of soldiers from across the ages dying, a shot of human suffering, (03:39) then a shot of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (03:57) During the scene where King Arthur grabs the hand reaching out to her we also see the heroes again in a flash, as she's pulled up by the hand this is the most cathartic scene in this whole movie for any Fate fan because Saber finally has a carefree smile after her long years suffering as a king making the hardest decisions in order for her kingdom to prosper, and next is just a bunch of shots of the heroes doing cool stuff, (04:23) then a shot of Saber and her many many alternate versions, then more shots of the heroes, (04:27) and many more heroes who i can absolutely name but I'm really not going to waste my time doing that right now, and then more shots on human suffering And then there's the final scene where all the featured heroes get to pose and look cool cool, (04:37) starting from Saber (King Arthur), Alexander the Great, the Dragon Witch (Joan of Arc), the First Hassan-i-Sabbah, Qin Shi Huang, Karna, Arjuna, Frankenstein's Monster, and last but not least Merlin (04:44) The movie ends with Ritsuka Fujimaru (Self-insert main character) extending their hand to Mash My most favorite part of this movie is just the Mongol invasion, and how the Hashashins were so desperate for survival that they had to summon the literal PROGENITOR OF THE WORD 'ASSASSIN' in order to help them fight the Mongols off (though unfortunately they do get wiped out as per real world history despite the awesome power Grandpa Hassan posseses) Anyway that's all that i can personally spot by myself, if anyone wants to add anything or correct me on some things, I'll welcome you to Do forgive me for any mistakes i made, i literally typed this up at 1AM in the morning, so I've definitely gotten more than a few details wrong lol

I saw a reply to a comment on the English version of this saying something along the line of FGO's thesis statement being: "Humans and humanity suck, and this world is cruel and unforgiving, but it's worth fighting for." And I think that's a beautiful message. Because looking at all of human history, when compared to the rest of the universe, humanity is still in its infancy and we have so much more to learn.

Rewatched your reaction and was genuinely in tears. We don't play FGO for the gacha or the game play. We play for the characters, stories, and emotional bonds we make. FGO is a love letter to humanity, showcasing the best and the worst of humans and embracing our existence with love. No other story has as much weight for my friends and I as FGO does. I wholeheartedly love this game.

It’s even more beautiful and hits harder when you know what’s happening. Especially the part with merlin

All the character present in this video are important figure of history: The girl in blue with the armor is King Arthur (she's a woman in Fate, don't worry about it), the tall guy with the skull mask is called Old Man of the Mountain and he's the founder of the Assashin Clan who fought against the crusader during the Crusade in the XIIth century, the man lying down is Iskandar aka Alexander the Great who conquered basically half of the world (from Greece to almost India), the girl with the bride dress is Frankenstein's Monster and it's on a glacier because that's how the book end, with the Monster finally catching up to the Doctor that was running away from him The black and white girl side by side are both Joan of Arc, the legendary saint who saved France during the 100 years war. The white version is her "pure", idealized version while the dark version is her dark thoughts given physical shape The man who is watching the stars sitting on a tower is Merlin, Arthur's court mage and probably one of the most well known mage in fiction. The man who is taking of the earrings is Karna, a hindu demi-god of generosity and the moment depicted is him giving away the armor that was fused with his body at birth to a begger because the begger asked him to, the begger turned out to be a god though and for his generosity Karna gained a staff that allowed him to channel the power of the sun to generate huge beams of pure light The dark-skinned man immediately after is Arjuna, Karna's half-brother. He and Karna are the protagonists of one of the oldest story in human history called Mahābhārata. He kills Karna with an arrow after Karna gave away the armor that made him basically immortal

this animation shows the true heart of Fate's summoning system, the summoning and the resulting contract between past heroes and the living aren't supposed to just be something for mutual benefit it's a bond made between the past and the present for the sake of the future btw the games story gets almost as long as some of the longest books and it's the best adventure I've had in a game

From 2:52 onwards, in order, we have Arjuna holding Karna's hand after defeating him, Iskandar witnessing Hephaestion's death, First Hassan holding the head of a Mongolian soldier who invaded Alamut Castle, Jeanne d'Arc holding a cross in her hands and praying to God before getting burned at the stake, Frankenstein's monster grieving because her existence was denied by her own creator, Victor Frankenstein, and Artoria, right before dying, ordering Bedivere to return the holy sword.

7:36 That's Mash Kireylight. She doesnt represent the player, she is more like Amiya from Arknights. We play as her master. Fate is a multiverse and each story happens in a different timeline, so outside a few references FGO has nothing to do with Fate Stay/Night.

My favorite part of this whole thing, and what I think is actually the single most powerful sequence of animation, is the part where Saber/Artoria turns around in that black void and sees the star that's being offered to her by a disembodied hand, which she then takes (with a quick overlay of other Heroic Spirits taking that same hand), before being pulled up and back into the world, full of life and color. Its a metaphor for the summoning of Heroic Spirits/Servants, and the hand representative of Humanity calling to them - specifically the Master that calls for their aid (in this case, the player of FGO) reaching out to offer them a second chance at life - and how they will always respond to our call if we have need of them.

Seeing someone who knows practically nothing about Fate enjoying the video so much brought a tear to my eye.

Glad to see my money were well spent and put into good use.

2:17 merlin smiling at the camera and behind him the knights of the round table 2:32 from leftmost, Sir tristan Sir lancelot Sir gawain Sir mordred Sir aggravain (sir bedivere was in 2:17) Btw the guy on the thumbnail is chinas first emperor, qin shi huang di

It was incredible to watch I had to rewatch it countless times.

This short Movie (which is also PV for 8th FGO Anniversary) also has English 'flowers' song version by same singer Hana Hope, its good too. Also If you love this one - I really recommend to watch "Essentials of Fate Series" (which is a brief introduction to the core ideas of Fate Series using the edited anime adaptations and other original Fate media bits) FGO 3d Anni PV, and especially PV for 4th, 5th and 6th Anniversary's. They have amazing animation and really give you an idea of FGO vibe.

I am so glad you watched this, it was such a beautiful video to represent FGO in ways beyond the memes and the wholesomeness but the overall reality of it. The good bad and ugly but also the hopefulness of it, humanity will continue to evolve but the past will always be there lingering

It makes me so so happy to see people from the outside finally having something to watch that really shows off FGO and the Fate series like this does. The game may be well known but most people know it for the less positive reasons, so it's wonderful for me to see someone able to look at this game I love and feel something similar to how I feel about it. This series means so much to me.

There is a hassan of the comically large spoon

This animation is truly epic, as an old player of the game and fate fan this is make me emotional