Just finished this show a couple of moments ago, the hype I got before watching this was IMENSE, but after sitting trough it all I can definitely see where it comes from... for the better and the worse.
I will refrain myself from commenting on the show before I give my view on specific issues. I will try my best to refrain myself from spoilers, but rest assured, some will exist SO if you didn`t watch it yet you are better jumping straight to my conclusion.
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Animation
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In simple words it’s GORGEOUS. If you take into account it’s from 2006 it gets even better, surely nothing that year
...
can get remotely close to it, and even for today standard’s it is top notch, specially on the color pallet department.
The backgrounds, the CGI, the still animations, the fight sequences... everything clicks beautifully, but what really shines are the character designs and the color employed on the scenes.
This show is definitely worth HD (I got the THORA release) and I wouldn`t settle for anything lower then 720p, it really deserves it.
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Sound
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I`ve tried my best to find issues with the sound, but to put it simple it’s not bad at all!
The songs are catchy in their own merits and somewhat memorable. They do come off occasionally on the wrong scenes but for the most of the time they are spot on.
Aside the soundtrack, the sound effects are also ok and fit the scenes they take part into.
The voice acting is also pretty well done, and I would like to add a special note that the English and German segments are amongst the best I have ever seen in an anime (as cheesy as they might be).
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Story
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This show reeks ambition so much it ended up being smacked down by the usual budget / time frame reality, and this is the part where we feel it the worse.
More than once I felt like I needed a manual to watch the show and it wasn`t included. Terms they use all the time never get explained and this gets in the way of understanding stuff every now and then, it’s quite annoying and you have to put up some effort to understand stuff based solo on the sentence context.
The arc`s are well staged, but again the lack of proper treating and over ambitious director leave us with some problems. It is aggravating that some important stuff that happens later on have to rely on quick flashbacks to pack any meaning and even then the results are quite bad.
This gets the most aggravating when we deal with relationships between characters, but I will write about that on the latter topic.
Overall the story is nice and has a tremendous amount of care to it, sadly the director didn`t have time to fulfill all he had in mind and it suffers a lot from it. If I had to pinpoint what areas suffered more I would have to say the romance. The action can carry itself pretty well due to the beautiful visuals and the drama focus on the “sacrifice” aspect most shounens drag from so no biggie, but the romantic relationships between Shirou and Saber are awkward to say the least, and his relation with Rin and Sakura are simply “deleted” from the plot halfway through for no apparent reason!
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Character
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All the characters are well made. They all have distinct traits, they all have particular looks, they all have background, objective and dept, but the problem is most of the time this is all crammed up so much it end up not living to the expectations.
I could go on in this subject for hours, but instead of pointing out how obviously Saber lack proper introduction about her past, or how Shirou desperately needed some more development and diversity or even how some characters like Sakura disappear from the plot after a few episodes (and we actually miss the continuation) I will just use my favorite character as an example, Rin.
Rin is an astonishing character that actually carry the show trough its worse moments all by herself, but the lack of episodes this show is plagued with (it deserved at least another season) makes some of her most interesting aspects lack and most of her relationships with other characters underdeveloped.
Why does she care so much about Sakura? Is the preach a fatherly figure to her? Does she love Shirou? I really wish all these aspects where developed, but instead they throw a few flashbacks and rush everything out to the point they don`t make the slightest sense and hurt the otherwise REALLY cool character she is.
Even her relationship with archer is crammed up to the point he barely shows his face and 5 episodes latter they kill him and we are supposed to care?! And that is another major issue, the servants have NO development AT ALL so all the cool traits they own are wasted since we don`t know who they are, why they fight for or even their origin... we don`t even get introductions to them it’s just sad.
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Value/Enjoyment & Conclusion
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From the moment the show start to the end its quite clear the director set the standard on the stratosphere but sadly got smacked down by reality mid way through it. Either lack of budget, lack of time or both the fact is, most of the show builds such a tremendous hype around itself and sadly don’t live up to it leaving many shortcomings by the end.
I do however congratulate the director for taking the hard route and abiding itself for making a complete show instead of a “first part” that would never seen an end. Still, it hurts to see so much potential being left untouched.
I would say this show is really worth for people that like the genre, this IS a shounen after all, and even though it have many qualities that deviate from the standard and make it different, the typical affair is all here… like people never EVER getting killed, the main weak protagonist with untapped potential and the usual good = good | bad = bad ordeal where every good guy is a saint and every bad guy have snake eyes, do rough voices and have a satanic smile… so it does tick all the boxes for the standard show.
Now for other people that are not all that into shounen, I would still highly recommend this but with a warning, you WILL get disappointed. This anime was destined to be a masterpiece but it faced shortcomings that hindered expectations in every possible way. This would’ve been bad on a regular show, but the amount of greatness this anime reeks is unparalleled and this just make it all the bitter.
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Fate - Stay Night
Japanese: Fate/stay night
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
24
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Jan 7, 2006 to Jun 17, 2006
Premiered:
Winter 2006
Broadcast:
Saturdays at 01:30 (JST)
Studios:
Studio Deen
Source:
Visual novel
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
R - 17+ (violence & profanity)
Statistics
Ranked:
#27762
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#167
Members:
939,258
Favorites:
7,293
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 215 / 221
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Your Feelings Categories Jun 30, 2009
Just finished this show a couple of moments ago, the hype I got before watching this was IMENSE, but after sitting trough it all I can definitely see where it comes from... for the better and the worse.
I will refrain myself from commenting on the show before I give my view on specific issues. I will try my best to refrain myself from spoilers, but rest assured, some will exist SO if you didn`t watch it yet you are better jumping straight to my conclusion. --------------------- Animation --------------------- In simple words it’s GORGEOUS. If you take into account it’s from 2006 it gets even better, surely nothing that year ... Oct 30, 2008
Fate/Stay Night is a bit of a sore spot for me. It's the first time I ever sat down, giddy to watch a certain series and came away scratching my head thinking "this is what all the commotion was about?" But in all fairness, Fate/Stay Night is not a terrible anime, just a very overrated one.
The story takes place in modern-day Japan, revolving around a boy named Shirou Emiya and has reluctant participation in a city-wide battle royale known as the Holy Grail War. While this sounds like a shounen set-up, Fate is rather talkative. Scratch that, Fate is way too talkative for its own ... Jul 7, 2007
This has to be one of the best animes I have seen a while. This review may come out a bit biased as I just finished the series and remain blown away by it. Fate/Stay Night (F/SN) is a seinen about a magical war between 7 magi and their powerful servants who were great heroes and demigods from across time. The Heroes are all mythological figures which give background to their motivation although only the main character\'s servant is ever fully explored. The story lacks in that regard but can be easily supplemented through wikipedia. The message of the story was clear by the end
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Jun 19, 2008
In an earlier review, Bluesnow talked about how despite being a good anime, F/SN has a tradition of being overrated. I pretty much agree with this sentiment. This is a good anime, but it definitely has plenty of areas that could be improved.
The plot of this series, is to be honest, pretty horrible. It's extremely linear, it's pretty boring, and there isn't really very much in terms of plot twists or suspense. And what little they had, which was more towards the end of the series, was executed rather badly with bad pacing and ass pulls galore. In mitigation, this was likely caused by ... Oct 27, 2007
Fate/Stay Night is a fabulous Romantic, Action, Adventure that will leave you amazed by the beautiful visuals and interesting fights. Just don't let the main character annoy you too much, as he did with me. ^_^
After watching just the first 3 episode you basically learned the main plot of this anime, which was the Holy Grail War and also learned how similar this anime was with others; having the same little annoyances. I personally was annoyed with the whole “my parents are dead” and I just wanted this show to be different with the parents’ still alive at least. But most of all I was ... Oct 21, 2013
**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**
After finishing Fate/Zero, which went on to become one of my all time favorite anime, I couldn't resist checking out the wildly popular prequel know as Fate/Stay Night; an adaptation of what many have called "the greatest visual novel of all time". Considering the attachment to Fate/Zero and the hype around the source material, it's only natural that I got my hopes up for this anime. Well... Whoops. There are very few anime that I would say have managed to "shock" me. I am usually a relatively unflappable person. However, out of all the shows that succeeded in surprising, Fate/Stay Night is the only ... Apr 3, 2008
Fate/stay night is definitely a great anime, but it lack some "chemistry" that makes it a masterpiece level of work. That is not to say the anime is bad in any way, in fact it is a total success in my opinion. But nonetheless, I will be making comparisons with other similar themed anime as the review proceeds.
I will not go through repeating what has been said in the other reviews already. However, I want to make 2 points clear as to why I find it not as great as many claim it to be (ultimately it is these 2 points that made me ... Mar 6, 2008
This anime is considered by many fans as the best anime of 2006; while it is a good anime its popularity is often over hyped and most ignored the major flaws of the series that kept it from being a masterpiece.
The basic plot is about Shirou; a high School boy with a very righteous kind heart but has a weak character and knows little magic. By fate he falls into an epic battle over the holy grail taking on the powerful Hero Summon "Saber" as his servant. The Servants do battle with one another till only one is left then taking the Holy grail ... May 16, 2008
Edit 8/08/2008
When I see the ratings people give to Fate/stay night, I can't help but be amazed at how highly it scores. Overall, I couldn't help but feel F/sn was an overrated, mediocre anime with an unreasonable fanbase. Reasons why: Story A mythical and mysterious tournament for the holy grail takes place, and the protagonist is dragged into it. Then epic battles ensue between the masters and their servants, until of course, one emerges as the victor. Let's see... a "mystical"... "tournament"... where you have to save the world by winning. Oh. Wow. That has to be the basis for at least half the shounen anime out there. ... Oct 17, 2015
This is less of a comprehensive review of the series and more of a reaction to what I saw. The reason here is that I haven't finished Fate/Stay Night. I couldn't finish Fate/Stay Night. My body physically rejected this anime halfway through episode 12, causing fever symptoms. As such, halfway through episode 12 is all I will be able to cover.
The story might have been interesting, had it been presented pretty much any other way. The Holy Grail War sounds like it could be a good concept, and probably is a good concept in Fate/Zero, which I will attempt to watch as soon as ... Oct 8, 2009
This anime feels like a plain retelling of the original story, and those who have played the visual novel game won't find great content in watching it. On the other hand, those who haven't are unlikely to find it any better either - chances are they would find the story and the characters completely uninspiring.
Fate/stay night does not have any horrendous flaws in it, enough to make your watching experience miserable. That said, it will fail to instill many emotions in the viewer and putting the hype aside, I cannot fathom how those new to the Fate/stay night universe might find it anything other than ... Mar 28, 2015
Fate/Stay Night - 4/10
It looks awfull, art is lazy and cheap, the writing is horrible and characters do what they do without any reason for them to do so. The story, the concept, the world and soundtrack were all right. Might check out the VN itself one day, but the anime was certainly nothing special and quite mediocre, aside from maybe the ending. Feb 24, 2009
Fate/stay night was, for lack of better words, "pretty good." It was not GREAT, nor horrendous, but it was riding the fine line of mediocrity at times. I understand that it is quite difficult to be original in a day and age where it seems like everything new and innovative has already been used. But I digress.
Much of the mediocrity found in this series is in the story itself. There were very few twists and the ones that were there have already been done many times over. A fairly useless kid is our protagonist, by the name of Emiya Shirou, who turns out to ... Nov 8, 2013
"People die if they are killed." -Shiro Emiya
Truer words have never been spoken, and yet, despite how obvious this truth should be, ironically so many anime violate it on a regular basis; Fate/Stay Night being no exception to the tradition. Yes, in fact one of the characters requires being killed at least a dozen times before he is truly dead. So don't make fun of Shiro guys; he really isn't stating the obvious. Quite the contrary actually, when anime tropes are concerned. At the time of writing the latest revision to this review, there's only been a few hundred instances where a bunch of old rich ... Apr 4, 2008
This is probably the worst anime I've ever seen. I was very disappointed in this anime, especially the characters and how it carried out. The main character irrates me so much. He acts like he's so strong and he can protect everyone but he's really weak and doesn't use his brain a lot and he's really ugly(In my opinon) He get's a little stronger but not much. Most of the characters seem to only have 1 move they use over and over in a fight. It can get pretty annoying after someone uses this 1 move like 10 times in a fight. The art is
...
Jul 23, 2009
I quite enjoyed this series. For anyone that knows me, I am usually very brutal in Reviewing anime and very specific when I praise an anime. This one rightfully deserves praise.
Story: 9 The story somewhat reminds me of .hack//SIGN because it can get confusing if you don't pay close attention and if you don't do your research. The plot in the beginning is very basic... that goes through the first couple of episodes... then you arrive to a rival: Rider. From then on, the plot gets more and more interesting, and it makes it so that you want to keep on watching. I know I was ... Mar 30, 2013
Fate/Stay Night Review
There are no spoilers in this review. Fate/Stay Night I had some mixed feelings coming into it. I've heard of it's bad reputation many times, but I was a Fate/Stay Night fan (Via the Visual Novel) before watching it. I already knew the story and characters so I had hope that it wouldn't disappoint. I am both happy and annoyed at how it turned out. But overall I was happy on how it turned out and I cried at the ending just like I did in the Visual Novel. Story The anime series follows the events of the Fate route of the ... Mar 1, 2015
Hey you! Yes, you there! Do you want to see a review of Fate/Stay Night from somebody that is not a butthurt fan-boy? Come click expand more already! I promise you will be entertained and informed of this series with no spoilers! Well? What'chu waiting for?
Story-4/10 Before i start, i just want to say that apparently this series is demographized as a Seinen anime, but the way that this anime was made is barely border-line shounen. If not for the violence, i could give this to little kids to watch... What irks me the most is that this anime is all over the place, yes, the series ... Dec 25, 2007
story :
i liked the story, it´s not boring like some i watched, and its very interesting because has lots of suspense and action.. art: Great art, design was good and i liked it. The quality of the animations is also good and makes this anime great to watch. sound: i think its the least positive caractheristic in Fsn.. but still quite good, so a 8 fits well Caracther: Simply amazing..i like almost all caracthers, the only problem for me is the same i mentioned before..the story focus too much in 1 caracther, so the others have less space. Enjoyment: great anime, again i have no words to express ... Jul 25, 2009
I finished the series and wished I just dropped it. I didn't understand the connection between Shirou and Archer and all that history stuff at all until I read wikipedia. Maybe I just missed something during an episode. I don't particularly remember anything really special or bad about the art so I'll skip it. The music matched well with the plot, especially the opening/ending songs.
Okay, the characters almost had me trying to murder someone, especially Shirou. I'm sure everyone understands why. The guy with the most obessesive hero-complex I've ever watched was one of the most weakest guys I've ever seen. He gets slightly ... |