Hunting the Elusive

Fate/Zero Tribute Arts was released during Comiket 75 (28 December 2008) by Toranoana. It is a substantial-sized tome, weighing in at 144 pages, most of it full colour, illustrations taking up entire pages or page spreads, and thick high-quality paper adding to the weight of the volume. Two editions were available: the limited edition and the normal edition. Currently, the normal edition is available from Toranoana at 1890 yen. The limited edition includes a colour cardboard sleeve, the normal edition book, and a thinner book containing line art and grey drawings from the main artbook. I preordered it from Toranoana prior to Comiket. [Download: JPG review] [PNG]

First of all, let me note that Fate/Zero Tribute Arts is a book by a myriad of artists, dedicated to characters and scenes depicted in the Fate/Zero novels. Fate/Zero’s story precedes Fate/stay Night. Because of the sheer number of artists and styles featured in the book, any attempt to track down all the artists who drew my attention would take some time. That’s not what this review will do. Instead, it will be an overview of some of the artworks which stood out in the book. Of course, there are many more pages and artworks, but I just scanned those which looked good to me.

The limited edition cardboard cover, with cover illustrations by Itou Ben.

The normal edition book cover, and the contents page. As you can see, there are a few sections: Portrait, Highlights of the Fourth Grail War, Variety of Zero, Fate/Zero Another Story (this is a black and white manga/novel thing), and Guest Column (mini-profiles on all the artists).

The Portraits section is pretty long, covering all the Masters and Servants. In Fate/Zero, Irisviel von Einzbern (mother of Ilya) is the main character. She is wife to Kiritsugu Emiya, which is why you see him and her together in a lot of illustrations.

And this is Rin’s mum, Aoi Tousaka. Sakura Mato’s page is illustrated by a familiar hand: Ototsugu Konoe, half of Closet Child.

Berserker has to be one of the coolest-looking servants. True identity Lancelot of the Lake, he appears as a great black knight. Like most servants in the Berserker class, the Black Knight does not have memories and is insane during the majority of his servitude. Lancer, true identity Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, looks sickly.

Maiya Hisau, assisted to Kiritsugu, and Natalia Kaminski, a minor character.

Thus ends the portrait section. The second major section deals with events within Fate/Zero. It begins quite appropriately with the birth of Ilya.

And then various battle sequences and such.

Of course, Saber always looks cool.

Hot chick weakens as the battles rage on.

Many of these battle illustrations are very impressive page spreads, which unfortunately is not friendly to the scanner. For example, in the battle versus Iskander (left illustration), Saber is actually riding on a motorcycle. Saber versus submachine gun (battle against Berserker’s Noble Phantasm), yeah?

The final battle by Iskander (Rider) versus Gilgamesh (Archer), as he rushes against the Gate of Babylon attack. Multitude of swords is always cool. Ah, and huke makes an appearance!

If you know your legend, you should remember that Berserker (Lancelot) was a great friend of Arthur (Arturia, Saber). In their final battle of Fate/Zero, Berserker's helmet is shattered, and Saber is nearly beaten. However, Berserker’s master’s power is drained, and she takes the opportunity to run Lancelot through. That’s why she’s crying in this scene.

Also, the (corrupted) Holy Grail takes on the form of Irisviel. She has a similar dress to Dark Sakura’s.

One of my favourite scenes, the Battle of Camlann. This depiction of the killing of Mordred (who mortally wounded Arturia) is based on Arthur Rackham’s 1917 illustration “How Mordred was Slain by Arthur, and How by Him Arthur was Hurt to the Death”, which is found in Alfred Pollard’s The Romance of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

This scene matches up to Fate/Stay Night, when Shirou Emiya emerged from the flames caused by the Fourth Grail War.

The Variety section can be seen to be fantasy scenes which do not actually take place. Think stuff you might see in magazines. One of my favourite sections, though very short. I particularly like the Irisviel x Kiritsugu + Bar feel, which I think is very elegant.

This one of Saber and Irisviel later becomes the illustration adorning the cover page of Fate/Zero Tribute Arts no Sekai Ten: Kaisai Kinen Shi, which is another book in the Fate/Zero Tribute Arts set. It features greyscale illustrations not seen in this coloured book.

The back cover of the book (if you remove the jacket) has the command symbols from Fate/Zero.

Overall, this was a very big book, very long. With a bit of research into the story of Fate/Zero (you need to check individual character pages on the Typemoon Wiki to piece together some events), the scenes depicted really come to life. In terms of overall quality of illustrations, I would say they are average.

However, this statement must be qualified (because I know when I read the word ‘average’ it automatically means ‘don’t buy’). There are some poorer artworks, but when the illustrations are good (like those I have peeked at above), they’re really outstanding. With the page spreads of various battle scenes, those are absolutely awesome in physical form.

To be honest, I haven’t bought the Saber artbook that so many people seem to love. To me, Fate/Zero Tribute Arts is a much worthier purchase due to its variety and unusualness (and sheer heft). After all, it provides a great visual insight into how various artists saw the events of the Fate/Zero novels, an insight which most of us (who don’t read Japanese novels) lack. It is also a great resource for discovering new artists.