Reception
Writing for The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Piotr Konieczny praised the series' exploration of existential themes such as identity alongside its ambitious world-building, but considered its demanding narrative structure, slow pacing and extensive exposition significant barriers for newcomers. Similarly, Theron Martin of Anime News Network awarded the series a C+, criticizing its incoherent narrative and unclear character motivations while praising the creativity of Shaft's visual design and arguing that Nero's energetic personality carried the show in contrast to Hakuno's subdued characterization. In a separate Anime News Network discussion, Nicholas Dupree and Jacob Chapman likewise argued that the anime's dependence on knowledge of the original game and deliberately opaque storytelling made it difficult to follow even for long-time franchise fans, while identifying Nero as the emotional centre of the series and praising its stylized visual direction.
At Anime UK News, Darkstorm argued that unlike the previous anime entry in the franchise, Fate/Apocrypha of 2017, Last Encore assumes familiarity with the concepts of the Fate universe and retains the floor-by-floor structure of a dungeon-crawling role-playing game, although the reviewer praised the gradual revelation of character backstories, Nero's charismatic personality and Shaft's imaginative backgrounds. Reviewing the concluding Illustrias Geocentrism Theory episodes, the same critic felt that philosophical discussions and exposition came at the expense of emotional impact. The reviewer award the main arc (episodes 1-10) a score of 7/10, while the ending arc a score of 5/10.
James Mizutani of Anime Trending awarded the series 58/100. While praising Shaft's visual direction, soundtrack, environmental design and Sakura Tange's performance as Saber, he concluded that the unconventional pacing and narrative structure made the anime difficult to follow and recommended it primarily to established fans of the franchise, considering it one of the weaker animated entries in the Fate series.
Reviewing the premiere for Anime Feminist, Caitlin Moore was considerably more negative, calling the series "terrible" and criticizing its reliance on technobabble, passive protagonist, and excessive visual style. Moore questioned the decision to use the male version of Hakuno, suggesting that adapting the female protagonist of the game could have provided opportunities for queer representation. She also criticized the presentation of several female characters, particularly Nero's revealing costume. The exaggerated fanservice-focused design of female characters has also been observed by several other reviewers.
