Fate/stay night

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 ... good. Boring and pointless conversations about ideals and the ethics of battle get put up front in the first half and the action the premise attempts to indicate is shoved to the background. Fortunately for those of you who turned in for the super-powered free-for-alls, you won't be disappointed too much. There are a handful of extravagant fights, but only a handful.

The second half does its best to reward patient viewers with impressive revelations, some good twists, and an amped-up focus on the war rather than on whether its okay to fight in the war. Unfortunately in its quest to make up for all it wasted early on, Fate ultimately burns out and fizzles through the last few episodes, which unfortunately are constructed to make us think this is some kind of grand climax.

The cast runs the gamut from expendable to enjoyable. Those who watch will surely take not of complacent victim-turned-mage Shirou who does nothing but whine and whine and whine some more for 12 episodes. This is not a biased complaint. He really does complain about his situation that much. He does grow past this, but not enough to prove he's entirely past that part of himself. His servant, Saber, is hardly any better. The silent type for the majority of the series, she does not provide much for conflict or relationships. She's there and she occasionally fights.

The real stars though have to be Rin and Archer. Rin originally serves as an antagonist to Shirou and her blatantly in-your-face personality and no-nonsense attitude gives this series a much needed and appreciated shot of energy. More so, she's one of the more interesting characters, especially when her past is later called into question. Her servant, Archer, is mostly famous for one particular episode, but the episode demonstrates enough of his ability and a revelation about his identity which enables the series to be seen from a second parallel perspective. If it weren't for them, I'd probably have dropped this a few eps in.

Art is often heavy-handed, especially with uses of light and shadow. Both are incredibly exaggerated at all times, often for dramatic purposes, but it only serves to annoy and makes the series look cheaper than it should. The series often cuts corners with long scenery pans, especially in the first part of the series. Fight scenes that aren't interrupted often show where the animation budget went for the series. They're extravagant and jaw-dropping, but only a minute or two each and then the energy drops off once more.

Character designs stay true to the game, inventive and hinting at future revelations. You can tell a lot of time and effort went into them and it shows in spades.

Sound had a few bright points, but it was often unmemorable. Voice work was standard, and the theme music was just below great.

As I mentioned in the beginning, Fate/Stay Night left me wondering what all the commotion was about. It's a very uneven series that shows rays of hope often, but never capitalizes on any of their finer moments. Even more irritating, it never expands on revelations and expects you to go play the game if you want the full story. It's a 24 episode series with an animation budget for 12 episodes and a story that could have been 39 episodes long. You do the math.

Overall, I give Fate/Stay Night a 6 out of 10.

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. ... If it loses points for ingenuity, it could redeem itself by being dynamic, or at least intriguing. But of course, the Shirou-Saber duo must confront successive enemies, one at a time. I could sum up the whole series by listing the enemies the protagonists face.
That being said, F/sn was adapted from an eroge game. Doesn't it seem that there are a little too many of those popping up lately? It doesn't help the plot at all that some scenes actually didn't show everything that happens (for obvious reasons). Usually it simply confuses the audience. Heck, it confused the heck out of me... until I read the summary on Wikipedia. And when you have to actually look up the plot to understand what happened... you're in trouble.

Art & Sound
I have nothing against the visual and audio effects. The music sounds epic, the opening and closing themes were ok (but not awesome) The artwork was beautifully done, though it might've helped if the characters (namely Shirou) changed clothes once in a while.

Character
This is where F/s n fails sadly. Character development is sparse, except for perhaps Shirou and Saber. We see Saber's slow change from an unfeeling servant into a person with... well, more emotions than she used to have. Shirou stays the same, to much chagrin, trying to save the universe all the time.
The horror starts when you try to focus on other characters. Rin and Archer to be exact. We're given absolutely no background information about Archer's past or what kind of character he is.(Same goes for many of the other supporting characters) All he does is fight. Little to no screen time is devoted to developing him as a character. He's basically a character you wouldn't pay attention to, even though his role as the second female protagonist's servant should warrant some importance.
Then comes Rin. There are some flashbacks that allow the audience to glean some information of her past, but her sudden spontaneous relationships with the other characters are largely unexplained. Of course, as a fighter, she resembles the classic damsel-in-distress character who tries to fight, but has to be saved by Shirou. If she's such a capable magician, then why does it seem that all she does is constantly fail so almighty Shirou can swoop in and save the day? Plus, let's face it. Those so-called "jewel bombs" are an utter joke.
It doesn't help that Shirou is also sexist, saying that Saber should stay home when she could easily kill him without a thought. All talk with no brains to back it up. I wouldn't particularly mind if there was some thought about developing him, but alas, he doesn't change at all.. almost as if the producers are telling us he's a perfect character. I could go on.

Conclusion
Fate/stay night is sensational, with devoted sound and artwork. However when you try to delve into the actual plot, there are many points that leave much to be desired. There are many positive aspects, many of which I did not touch upon, and others may feel that my criticism is too harsh. As the viewer, ... or whoever's reading this... it's up to you to make the decision to watch. (You're probably sick of hearing this)

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 ... not-too-bad.



Story: Mediocre (5/10)

Even the story in the game isn't that spectacular. Perhaps its greatest value is the carefully constructed world with intriguing characters and not many plot holes. Therefore, it was easy to get immersed in the game and get to like a certain cool servant or a master for its beliefs, actions, personality, looks or history. Albeit rather fantastic and idealistic ones, the motives behind the characters were thoroughly explained and thus brought to life.

As the result of mixing of the three routes that exist in the game in order to (try to) depict every servant/master and thus get more fans, not one character feels complete. Many of the game's monologues and dialogs are of course left out so once the ball starts rolling with the Holy Grail war one event tramples over another until the very end, making the story seem pretty unsubstantial and childish.

Art: Good (7/10)

The best way to explain the art here is to say it's like a well-drawn picture book with some cool photoshop effects sprinkled here and there. My biggest objection here would be the unexplainable inconsistency in the art style; somewhere around the middle of the show it almost feels like a slide show for a couple of episodes, even some characters were drawn sloppily (this is not the case throughout the show, but when and if you get to those few episodes, you'll know). While you will certainly enjoy the colors and art style which are both very fitting, you won't be thrilled by the lack of real animation.

Sounds: Good (7/10)

Disillusion, the first OP is an improved version of the game OP and is simply superb. ED is okay, the second OP is below average. Background music fits the mood well but you're likely to get sick of it. Voice acting is not extraordinary nor particularly bad.

Character: Mediocre (5/10)

What I said for the story applies here. Characters don't have their personalities explained well and its hard to get attached to pretty much anyone, even if you've played the game.

Enjoyment: Decent (4/10)

If you've played the visual novel you'll find this anime fun from the perspective of watching an animated set of CGs coupled with voices, though it might get excruciating after a dozen episodes or so. The parts which I have liked the most are those at the beginning when the characters joke, have meals, go to school etc. because it is probably the only part that differs from the game story and feels less like a retelling of it from one lazy teenager to another.
If you haven't, don't fall for the hype - the game is good, the anime is far less good - if you feel there are inconsistencies in the story and if it feels bland, it's because it is.



Overall: Mediocre (5/10)

Play the game instead.

I had high expectations of this show after watching its prequel, Fate/Zero. However, I was greatly disappointed. Here's why:

King Arthur is weak. She was once able to go head to head with the great heroes of the prequel, and now she has trouble dealing with everyone, even the weaklings. I understand her summoning was off, but this is ridiculous!

The show has become a shoujo. The servants fall in love with their masters, the masters fall in love with their servants, there are love triangles and Gilgamesh is the jealous guy.

King Arthur is out of character (OOC). She acts like a stereotypical shoujo girl. She ... blushes, likes stuffed animals, goes on dates, and becomes jealous of other girls.

*sigh* Did I mention that the male lead is surrounded with girls? He has a harem in his household.

Seriously, how did an amazing, serious shounen anime become a frilly chic anime? And I'm a chick! Yet I still find it bad. Everyone is weak and OOC.

Seriously, this is almost as bad as watching Sasuke decide to turn his life around, give up on revenge, and make it his dream to become hokage.

Fate/stay night is the first of several anime adaptations of the Visual Novel of the same name. The Visual Novel is divided into three routes: the Fate route, the Unlimited Blade Works route and the Heaven's Feel route. This adaptation by Studio Deen covers the Fate route of the VN. However, some people claim it is more of a loose anime which is freely based on the Fate route rather than a faithful adaptation. While this might be the case, this review will focus on the anime as a stand alone product and not look at how faithfully it has been adapted. In some instances, ... some references to ufotable's adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works route will be made but there will be no spoilers or any digressing commentary concerning any work other than this anime.

The story's protagonist is Shirou, who unwillingly has to participate in a survival game in which seven Masters, including him, each summon one so-called Servant – in his case, a young woman who calls herself Saber. Servants are heroic figures from different time lines or mythologies who fight for their Masters so that they then can obtain the Holy Grail, a magical artefact which grants one wish. At first glance, this sounds like a simple concept but as the fight goes on, numerous ways the game can be exploited by are used so that it does not become boring while still being relatively easy to understand.

Given the synopsis, it is logical that the anime mostly consists of battles between the Masters. While there is a lot of action, you can also enjoy some entertaining slice of life moments which lead to a nice change of pace once in a while. The fights are adequately implemented into the story even though the outcome is often very clear from the beginning. Moreover, sometimes they end rather abruptly and surprisingly which from time to time leads to pacing issues.

The anime touches some considerably interesting themes such as whether something fake can have the same worth as the original or how important it is to trust your friends. However, the first point is only hinted at and dealt with much better in other anime, including ufotable's adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works route or Shaft's Nisemonogatari. The second point, while being conveyed rather nicely, is something you can find in most shounen nowadays and Fate/stay night does not make any effort to utilize this concept in a unique way. Another theme the anime wants to convey is that you must not ignore your own needs while trying to help others and even though this could have been executed better, it gets the message across.

The characters all have distinguishable personalities but they suffer from either not enough exploration or illogical character development. There are a lot of supporting characters whose purpose and backstory is being hinted at but just when you want to know more about them, the story's focus shifts onto something else. The main characters unfortunately tend to make incomprehensible decisions which often feel forced and exist just for the plot's sake. In particular, Shirou's relationship to Saber is not believable and should have been handled differently entirely.
In general, Shirou's personality is often criticised, especially in this version of Fate/stay night. While it is true that it is a bad character trait to act like you want to help others even though in the end, it is for your own good, this trait does not necessarily make you a bad character in a work of fiction. It might be very annoying but it can also be nice to have a protagonist in an anime such as this who does not always act like you want him to. However, it is regrettable that most of his personality is built upon his relationship with Saber, which is, as stated above, not realistic. Still, the biggest character related issue with this anime is not the protagonist but the fact that some of them choose to act in ways that do not make sense if you consider their ambitions from the other adaptations.

One of many issues many anime viewers have with Studio Deen is that its productions lack in quality, especially in the animation and art department. This is true for some of their other anime such as Higurashi no Naku Koro ni/Higurashi – When They Cry or Pupa but Fate/stay night is an exception, at least in the first half. The animation quality may not be on par with ufotable's adaptations but it certainly is not as bad as people make it out to be. This is especially true if you consider that this anime was made in 2006; other popular anime that aired at the same time, such as J.C.Staff's Shakugan no Shana, did not have memorably good animation either. That being said, animation quality drops noticeably in the anime's second half. There is one especially bad scene in which you can see a horribly CGI-animated dragon but luckily this scene only lasts several seconds.

The background soundtrack, albeit being a bit repetitive, fits the anime for the most part, as well as the opening and ending themes. Voice acting could not have been much better – in fact, it might be the anime's strongest component. There is no outstanding performance but overall, it is very solid.

Despite all its shortcoming, Fate/stay night is still enjoyable to say the least. The world building is handled well and the character interactions are generally interesting. It is a fun action anime with some intriguing symbolism that knows how to appeal to its audience. However, if given the choice, one should rather watch ufotable's adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works route first. It is the superior anime and conveys its themes much better. If you watch this anime first, major events will be spoiled and consequently do not have as huge of an impact as they are supposed to have. Still, Fate/stay night is definitely an enjoyable anime you might want to watch after UBW. Not only is it entertaining on its own but it also explains the setting and some characters' ambitions differently than UBW, which helps the viewer understand the world Fate/stay night is set in as a whole.

Most important thing first. Don't watch Fate/Zero before this show or before anything Fate/Stay Night related if you don't want to spoil yourself almost entire story.

However it's worth mentioning that the story isn't that terribly important, because it's actually quite idiotic and only an excuse to have battle royale with an extremely hot chick as a main participant. What distinguishes this anime is the fact that she is fully clothed - it may be a small thing, but nice nevertheless.

Fate/Stay Night is based on the popular visual novel. I'm writing this review in 2015, and as of now the 2006 anime adaptation tends to get ... more bashing than praise. But is it really a bad show? No, it isn't, but on the condition you don't expect it to be anything more than adolescent fight series. As I noted it has a ridiculous story, it can come at times dangerously close to harem series and its shounen protagonist is stereotypical to the extreme. And it takes place, all anime fans wouldn't believe, in Japanese high school.

However when you are ready to accept all of it then it does reasonably good work at putting its clichés together. Animation is quite good, although definitely not on par with newer series. I was impressed by the soundtrack of the show. It is very memorable and conveys emotions very well, particularly when the show wants to be epic. Characters are moderately interesting. On the whole F/SN could be even described as charming. I almost enjoyed it very much.

Unfortunately there are things which ruined my enjoyment of the series entirely. Firstly, it's inherent to the series highly questionable view on gender roles. Words "sexism" and "chauvinism" come to mind when one is confronted with numerous ingenious remarks of main protagonist on what women should or shouldn't do. Many anime series may be received as chauvinistic and as promoting gender inequality but F/SN has really taken it to the next level. Truth be told, it's not surprising, because the original visual novel is so absurdly sexist, it would really blew anyone sensitive away. It's really not by accident that the franchise is called sometimes Fate/Stay in the Kitchen.

But let's suppose someone is not sensitive and has strong aversion to feminism. Then there is still second problem, somehow connected with the above. Namely, F/SN is not only sexist but also morally archaic. Every discussion on the fundamental issue "girl and boy living in the same house? Abominable!", every time protagonist blushes when he sees naked female body, every time he risks his life by refusing to sleep in the same room with his freaking 1500 years old all-powerful guardian only because she's essentially a girl make you bark at the moon. It sounds like I'm exaggerating (and frankly, indeed I am), but really, the amount of cringe-worthy moments of this type is remarkable and on really rare levels comparing to other shows I saw. Given the choice I would prefer even blatant fanservice (which I genuinely abhor) over this exasperating para-Victorian morality.

Under normal circumstances I would give this entertaining mindless show 7 out of 10 but due to strong values' dissonance I'm compelled to rate it a bit lower. So 6/10. But if you don't mind such dissonances or you can honestly describe yourself as "(very) conventionally moral" than you should ignore most of my objections.

This anime only has one word:Basic.
Yea it was very basic im not going to lie to any of you.
To be honest i started watching this because in the anime community there was no one who did not talk highly about this anime but honestly it was pretty bland. Seriously the mc has to be the most stereotypical and hypocritical dude ever. I honestly dont mind the corny i want to save everyone ideal but they just did such a bad job with the mc. And really the female characters were similar to that as a rock. They were all so bland and boring. But i ... had to finish it and i did. I might consider watching the prequel to this but im going to give it a lot of thought. If you guys want a good anime from the '06 period i recommend watching Code Geass. But really guys only watch this if you are very bored but honestly there are so many good animes and mangas out there that you should not waste your time with this.

Fate/stay night is the 2006 sequel to Fate/Zero. As the UFOtable remake is airing within the next month, I figured I'd review this version to segway into the newer version.



Story: Blah blah blah Holy Grail War blah blah blah *insert generic plot twist here* blah blah blah. There's your explanation of the story. Satire aside, the premise is very intriguing and the execution could have been worse. There are a few rather expected plot twists here and there, but for the most part, the Fate route of the novel (being the one this adaptation was based on) feels like a shounen with a few more ... mature bits. The first 10 episodes or so are very filler-ridden and really detract from the overall story. The ending, while being predictable, was very well done.



Art: The art is... well... bad. Even for 2006, it was bad. It was bad then, it always has been bad, it always will be bad. The character models themselves are very good, albeit rather low quality and scratchy. The fight scenes seem to be where DEEN's budget went, as they look a level above the rest of the show. They are actually very impressive for 2006, and when compared to the rest of the show, they are miles ahead.



Sound: The composition for this one is rather forgettable, and the voice acting for the dub is rather average. Not much to say here.


Characters: The characters are as follows: Shirou Emiya, the main character. He is a typical "I want to save everyone" type of character and his ideals never really change through the show. He is also a huge idiot, throwing himself at danger at the drop of a hat. Rin Tohsaka is a classmate of Shirou's who explains the Holy Grail war to him and guides him through the war. In this route, at least, I thought that her reasoning for helping Shirou was rather weak. At first, I figured she was the love interest, but nothing really ever happened with that. (Most likely because this is a visual novel and she has her own route anyways.) The last character is Saber. Saber is Shirou's servant, being a very noble and proud medieval knight. She is very stubborn in her ideals, and ends up being the series' love interest. I thought this was the weakest way to go route-wise, as Saber really belongs as her own character, not just a love interest for Shirou.



Enjoyment: With all its faults, I still enjoyed the series. If you have watched Fate/Zero, can't wait for UBW 2014, or don't want to play the VN, I would recommend this one to you. Although it isn't extremely well executed, it is definitely worth watching to get the idea of Fate/stay night.


Overall: This show is a stark contrast to Fate/Zero. It has a much lighter tone, that most likely due to the fact that 1). It is based on a harem VN and 2). It was written long before Fate/Zero, and Type-Moon's writers have much improved since then. I would recommend it to anyone who, as previously stated, has watched Fate/Zero and can't wait for Fate/stay night 2014, or if you want an easier way into the Fate series than Fate/Zero or even the VN.

I understand why some people love this anime. The art and music are outstanding. They practically save the show. I have to say that the entire story concept is really good. The legendary heroes fighting it out is awesome and many of the fights in the series are wonderful. The problem lies with the characters. They are sooooooo freakin terrible. How is anyone able to stand them? Each and every character with the exception of a few heroes is ridiculously annoying and stereotypical. Shirou is absolutely predictable and one dimensional. His back story is lame and his personality is annoying. Then of course he has ... a harem. What purpose is there for a harem? Of course every girl is just as annoying and predictable as Shirou is. Seriously, this story had serious potential if they actually made some real characters. Disappointing.

Story-6
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Very mediocre story telling but overall kept me interested enough throughout the series.

Art-5
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Bad character design. Bad animation in general. The only thing I kind of liked was sabre's look.

Sound-6
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... Ok opening and ending songs. Voice actors were horrible. Though, I did watch the dubbed version...most of the time when I do that though, I wish I hadn't.

Character-5
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Super 1 dimensional characters. Pretty childish writing.

Enjoyment-6
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I really enjoyed Sabre as character(at times). but other than that, I feel like this show just wasn't going for anything special.

Overall-5
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I don't see how this show spawned something so iconic. It's cool that it did though and I'll most likely enjoy the future things that come out of this show being so successful.

I've heard a lot about this anime, so I assumed it should be good. I was wrong.

The anime is very talkative, and spends a lot of moments with characters talking about what they want to do, and a lot of talking during the fights itself. They don't really reveal a lot of what the character's motives are, but makes you think they are thinking real hard about very philosophical questions.

Fights ultimately boil down to a rather dull clash of swords that have little variety in pose and camera placement, and skill ultimates that are continually spammed again and again until they miraculously work. It is ... a bit like Ichigo of Bleach spamming his Getsuga again and again.

The show actually started on a better note, with a proper mystery and characters with a lot of personality. Somehow that got lost along the way, especially when a random loli appeared out of nowhere. Although I have no knowledge of the anime's source material, I think the show should have stuck to either doing it as a medieval fantasy fight, or a school-based supernatural mystery. At times, you have the feeling that it might be a slow-pacing supernatural mystery slice-of-life show, or a harem in disguise (especially when every girl ends up in the protagonist's house). It ended up as a mix between magic swordsmanship, sorcery, and school mystery.

I would not recommend this show. Not for its plot, nor its action or animation. If you do watch the show though, look out for Archer. I think he's a pretty interesting character that pretty much carried the show for me.

Fate/Stay Night isn't that bad. Sure the art leaves a lot to be desired, and the plot is pretty thin, but that doesn't mean it is bad.

I had fun watching it, and while it pales in comparison to the Visual Novel, I didn't hate it.

The biggest problem is the art is horrible. I mean it looks terrible. The studio could have done much better but some characters just look plain awful. And the CG dragon was just looked retarded.

And then the story. Mixing the Fate Route, Unlimited Blade Works Route, and Heaven's Fell Route just doesn't work. It would have been much better had it ... been three seasons, each season dedicated to a different route. Or the Fate Route, so then people would read the Visual Novel to find out what happens in the others.

On the other hand the sound is amazing. I loved both the OP, the ED, the voices. Everything was perfect. Especially Archer's voice during the fight with Berserker.

The characters were good, although the development is lacking. This may be due to the fact it is not as descriptive as a book, but it could also be that some characters, especially Sakura, don't get enough screen time.

I enjoyed it though. A lot of moments were really cool and the fights were the most well done parts of the series.

If you liked this, then go buy the Visual Novel, it is SOO much better and you will love it.

This TV series is an attempt at adapting the [Fate] route from the visual novel Fate/Stay Night, the beginning of the Fate franchise as a whole. Overall, this project does a good job adapting elements from this route when it chooses to do so. Unfortunately, it does not always stay true to the plot of [Fate], occasionally bringing in storylines from the [Unlimited Blade Works] route and introducing new scenes detrimental to the experience.

It is hard to recommend this as someone's first experience with the Fate franchise, not because of the dated 2006-era production, but because of the flaws in the presentation of this story, ... and the spoilers present for the following [Unlimited Blade Works] and [Heaven's Feel] routes.

Episode 6 replaces the story with alternate events from [Unlimited Blade Works]; Episode 10 overshares information with the viewer in one scene, that could spoil later surprises; Episode 14 shows a fight scene that isn't supposed to be viewed, as to maintain an air of mystery around one of the combatants; Episodes 16-19 introduce a new original storyline at odds with all of the Fate/Stay Night routes, starting at the 21 minute mark of episode 16 and concluding at the 13 minute mark of episode 19, which contains spoilers for all three routes, mainly for [Unlimited Blade Works].

This production did an admirable job adapting the story of Fate/Stay Night [Fate], enough so, if it weren't for all the blunders I probably would've given a score of 8. I almost gave this a 6, but the ending was handled so well it made up somewhat for its flaws.

The visual novel is now officially available in English, as of August 7th, 2024, and is still the best way to experience Fate/Stay Night.

The Video Review is up, but here is the written Review

I’ve never played any of these games before, so please, I’m sorry if I make terrible judgement, but I plan on playing them if I can find it.

Story - 6/10

Fate/Stay night setting is based in a fictional city in Japan, known as Fuyuki. There is are war going on between 7 masters and their servant for the ultimate wish granting chalice known as the Holy Grail. Shirou Emiya, a normal student, with little magical knowledge gets himself forcibly dragged into the war after witnessing 2 heroic spirits clash in duel, and being chased down by ... one of them, nearly gets himself killed, until he accidentally summoned, his own servant, Saber.

Now here is my simple explanation of what the Holy Grail is, because it’s vaguely described in the anime. Masters summoned powerful heroic spirits, known as servants. Now servants are ranges of different characters from history. So you have heroes from different times clash against one another for the Holy Grail, an ultimate wish granting device that lets you wish for anything. The grail is given to the final Master and Servant that is left standing, now obtaining something that’s gives you any wish is worth dying for.

After learning all this, Shirou enters the war in order stop innocent people from getting involved in the collateral damage due to the servants fighting. He also fights because he doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt, especially his own servant Saber. The story follows Shirou and Saber’s relationship, where Shirou constant views differs from Saber.

The problem with Fate/Stay Night story, is that it doesn’t explain itself very well. The Holy Grail war itself is not explained very well, and that could get confusing to some people. Because there is magic in the world, they keep, adding something to magic, because magic. The whole lore and setting on Fate/Stay Night is vaguely explained and can get really confusing at points. Also there are a lot of points in the story, where they keep adding something and never explaining it, that is somewhat fixed after the prequel was made, but keep in mind this was made before the prequel existed, However despite that confusing point, it’s an interesting concept, because it has the ability to take different heroes from different eras and have them fighting one another, to see who’ll win.

Characters - 7/10

The main character and biggest idiot of the show, is Shirou Emiya. Shirou is an idiot, even though he is a good guy at heart, willing to go to lengths to protect and help people, it’s frustrating to the point when you can see he doesn’t have to do it. For too long in series, he doesn’t seem to take the Holy Grail War seriously, he doesn’t seem to understand it’s a death game, literally people are trying to kill you. And yet he doesn’t let Saber fight and he gets in way of fights, because he is an inexperience mage. He does in the end, change a bit and learns what’s it really like to help others, however that path takes a while.

Saber the other main character and Shirou’s servant, is considered the more powerful class of servants. She is fighting in the Holy Grail war to fulfill her wishes, which is similar to Shirou. She can hold her own very well, except for the fact she is limited by Shirou’s ability as a Master, because he cannot give her as much as a fully fledged mage could, so she ends up resting for a long time. Saber is a very serious character, she wants to get the job done, but Shirou won’t really let her, because she is a girl.

Another character that gets attention is Rin Tohsaka. The master of Archer class servant. Rin plays the role as a mentor for Shirou, for he is a novice in magic, she teaches him the basics of magic and the ups and downs of the Holy Grail War. I find the problem with her character is that, she is never really given any proper explanation for working with Shirou in the first place, she is perfectly capable herself to win the grail, as she is considered an outstanding mage at that. I don’t feel like her character was given much motivation in the Holy Grail war or why was she really in it.

The story is follows are path that really focuses on the relationship between Shirou and Saber. Because of Shirou’s naivety of the Holy Grail war and his method of fighting in the war conflicts with Saber, you see them really build bond overtime, where they both respect each other, takes a while before anything really happens though.

All the other characters in the Holy Grail war have their own motivations for being in the war. And I’m glad that they don’t have a generic attitude of wanting the Holy Grail for greed or anything, you see their past lives and explanation on wanting the Holy Grail, however, I don’t think they were given enough screen time to make them all that interesting. The show focused so much on Shirou, all the other characters felt like they were lining up to fall to the hands of Saber in a way. However come later towards later in the season, comes a villain, I adore so much.

Animation and Sound - 6/10, 6/10

If you watched ufotable’s rendition of the Fate series, you’ll know how much different and worst this adaptation is to that. Granted it was made back in 2006, but you can see the animation being very average. It looks alright when they are still images, because it felt really like a visual novel, but when the characters start moving, it doesn’t feel completely right and natural. However there is the exception of some action scenes looking pretty good, although not the most amazing thing I’ve seen in that era. And is it me, but do all the characters seem to have a chubby feel to them. And I know Saber’s sword is supposed to be invisible, but when you see her fighting with it, it genuinely looks bad because it just looks the like the animators were lazy to add a sword there, it just looks stupid at times. Plus who thought it was a good idea to put a horribly 3D rendered dragon in, seriously.

I can’t say too much about the sound, because I don’t think they were that good to listen to. The music suits the setting that they’re in, but it’s not as recognizable, and feels kind of generic. Except some fighting scenes soundtrack sound like a step towards achieving something. Plus I find the opening of themes and ending theme of Fate/Stay Night, kind of boring. It doesn’t really setup for an epic fantasy action series, the 2nd op to an extent, but not much.

Enjoyment - 7/10

Now I would say, you’re probably not going to like Fate/Stay Night if you’ve seen ufotable’s adaptation of Fate/Zero. I really enjoyed this show because we get see fantasy heroic characters come to life and battle it out with one another. I also enjoy seeing how these characters from different Eras interact with people of the present, giving them some personality to them. And plus since I did watch Fate/Zero first, I did get a some satisfaction, on watching some of the characters I knew from Fate/Zero make an appearance, even though some of it is not that relating, cause it’s a different company. It’s a really cool concept, I enjoyed watching.

Verdict - 6.5

As for my final verdict. I give the story of Fate/Stay Night a 6, because there were too many times where the story really drags and doesn’t explain much on the lore itself, making it rather confusing. However I do like the concept of it, you just need to explain that concept clearer next time.

For characters, I give it a 7, because Shirou is an idiot and takes a while to develop. However the relationship between Shirou and Saber gets interesting, because the more they interact with each other more they learn from each other, and Saber being a mysterious character an all. The supporting cast got their small time to shine, but it was short lived.

For animation and sound, I give them a 6 each. Because the animation at times looks alright, but then it can look rather average, and uninteresting. The action scenes look fine, when they get it right, however some sequences look stupid, like Saber’s invisible sword fights, plus that 3D rendered dragon. The sound is kind of generic, they do their job, and opening themes do get into your head over time, however, I find it really hard to love it.

As for my own personal enjoyment, I give it a 7. Because I really like the concept and enjoy watching these characters interact and fight each other. I enjoyed the story, it did take a while, but I did enjoyed it.

For my final score, I give Fate/Stay Night a 6.5/10. It’s an above average anime, but it doesn’t compare to its other anime adaptation. Once you get your head wrapped around the lore, the story and characters get interesting.

I recommend you watch this show, if you are planning to watch all the Fate series anyway, however it’s okay to start with this one, then watch Ufotable’s work. However you don’t necessarily need to watch this one to get into the Fate series as well, it’s skip able. I can also recommend this to fans of action fantasy anime, as I believe the concept itself will sell, because it’s watching your fantasy heroes clash against one another.

I have to say fate/stay night didn't quite make my expectation. With its rating on MAL as 8, I had expected an anime that speaks 'Wow' to me. Instead, I found an anime that said 'watch me because I'm just popular'.

Story: The plot starts off quite interesting. Introducing the Holy Gail War where seven servants and masters are to fight each other. There are many elements in this anime which become utter confusion for me. It might have been just my incapability to understand such complicated situations.

Art: In fate/stay night, the art didn't really cut to me. When I look into the characters' eyes, ... I always feel an emptiness radiating from them. Although I have to say the animation during the fights has been one of the only things that impressed me. Ah, the fights, well I didn't think they have been put at the right time in the story. Often, they have come quite unexpectedly in an anti-climatic way.

Sound: The opening and ending themes are quite fitting. The sountracks used are also quite appropriate. But none of the sounds really stood out for me.

Characters: I didn't really like any of the characters apart from Ilya who is just totally adorable. In general, I find the characters in fate/stay night to be quite flat. Although, most of the main characters appear to be strong physically, which is demonstrated through the numerous fights, I feel that they are kind of weak in the heart. Fate/stay makes a lot of references to well-known historical and legendary figures.This aspect of the anime makes it interesting but the let down is that not much of each character has been thoroughly explored.

All in all, I didn't feel that there was much enjoyment in this anime. I absolutely agree to those who have called this anime overrated. I guess that might have been due to the fact that it has been dubbed and aired in many different countries. On the other hand, I find the prequel to fate/stay night, called fate/zero, to be a lot more interesting. If you really enjoy watching the fantasy genre then you might consider watching fate/stay night.

"Bro, you haven't watched Fate? You MUST watch Fate"

"Well, so I just go and start Unlimited Bladeworks, thanks..."

"NONONONO you MUST watch the ORIGINAL Fate Stay/Night first! And then..."


- This is why I watched this. I get it, you have to watch everything to get all the parts and then you can watch it again after watching the other stuff and... Hell no!

While Fate/ Stay night is not a terrible Anime by any means, it's clearly overrated as hell. The story ist a little above average on it's own, and I don't get why people try to use this as your introduction to the fate ... series.

The artstyle did not age well. There is a dream sequence with horrible CGI that looks like it's straight out of Diablo I or a PS1 game. But everything else is not that good looking either. Yes, it's older. But come on, you want people to come and join your favourite Franchise? Don't force this on them.

It's not a masterpiece. It's an old anime you have false memories of. It is okay, but doesn't stand a chance on it's own.


Characters? No real growth, motivation feels cliche and has no real depth behind it. "I want to be a hero so bad that I jump on every opportunity to sacrifice myself to save a single person." - MC, probably.

Love subplot? Kinda forced.

Story? Probably better if you watch the other Stuff.


Because that's the thing. If I get this correctly, fate does not work alone. You have to watch all the paths so everything makes more sense. But Fate was originally a game where you had mulitple paths and that does not translate that well into anime, at least not in my case.


I will watch the other series as well, but this was not as good as I was told.

This anime was in my opinion, "meh". I feel like it is overrated in MY opinion and throughout watching the anime, I was not hooked. I did not get the "OH MY GOD GOTTA WATCH THE NEXT ONE" but I enjoyed it to some extent. It turned kinda shoujo towards the end but I felt like this series can be enjoyed by some.

There’s something about the Fate franchise that has such a Westernized influence. The show itself (along with its prequel Fate/Zero) is partially derived from a series of visual novel games, made for the PC and then later for the PS2 and PS Vita made by Type-Moon, but like many visual novel games, it didn’t left a mark in the Western part of the world and then in 2006, an anime adaptation was made into the fray as it would come to that eventually.

Shirou Emiya lost his parents in a fire when he was young and was later adopted by a sorcerer by the name of ... Kiritsugu Emiya. Although he was full of admiration for his adopted father and yearns to become an ally of justice, Shirou has limited powers and was unable to become a strong sorcerer like his father. That is until one fateful day, he was drawn into the Holy Grail War and had to summon a female "Servant" known as Saber in order to protect himself. It turns out that the Holy Grail War involves a series of battles among powerful sorcerers to fight for the possession of a relic that will grant one's wishes, the Holy Grail. There are altogether seven "Masters" who can summon their respective "Servants" from different classes known as Saber, Archer, Rider, Berserker, Lancer, Caster and Assassin. These "Servants" have to hide their names in order not to reveal their weaknesses to the enemies. The story revolves around Shirou and his entanglement in the Holy Grail War.

Well, after watching through the whole series and possibly getting into the movie, Unlimited Blade Works, I got to say that the show feels like most other shounen anime, meaning there are many epic fights, a plotline involving somebody’s life on the line, and the occasional magic. Albeit it’s been done before, but what type of story hasn’t? The execution of it was mostly on a medium note, as in it was tired, predictable but something you can stomach thru for the time being.

As for the characters in here, the range is either minimum to weak as the main character Shirou Emiya is the noble dumbass savant of the series, as if he wants to fight and protect the people he loves, but the one he’s protecting are overall better fighters than him and more invincible since the few times he tried to fight, he ended up dead….or very seriously injured. The rest of the Masters were hardly noticeable in the show or barely a standout, except for Rin Tohsaka, whose character is handle OK in the plot, despite sometimes being a damsel-in-distress and Illyasviel von Einzbern and she fills in the role for creepy little girl with white girl but in the second half, she rarely often used in the main plot much. As for the Servants, the two standouts are Saber and Archer, whom have more involved character development into the show than the other Servants, even if Berserker can kill you savagely and violently. I will say that some characters like Taiga Fujimura, English teacher and Shirou’s guardian & Sakura, who often is Shirou’s caretaker, didn’t really felt like if they were offscreen, they were to be noticed that they were missing although involving the latter in the main plotline seems way out of left field.

The animation by famed anime production company Studio Deen (Ranma ½, Hetalia, Higurashi: When They Cry) and it looks pretty impressive, considering it was in 2006. The battle scenes are animated excellently and the backgrounds/art are often utilized to their full extent. Plus, character designs are mostly basic, aside from the Servants, and it does have that Victorian classic feel to it. The opening theme (and some extent, even the 2010 version) was actually one of the better opening themes I have heard in a while, although the second opening was a downgrade to how too fast-paced it is, since the first one builds it up to that pace. The ending was remarkably decent but still something you can back up.

The dub by Geneon/Bang Zoom! Has more weaknesses than strengths, which is unfortunate since I happen to like Bang Zoom’s dubbing work (yes, even more than Funimation). The biggest weakness being Sam Regal and he wasn’t exactly as whiny as I pictured him as Shirou but his voice feels slightly off due to the appearance of him and comes off as a jerk to me. Mostly the biggest deal in this whole franchise as a whole is the English voice of Saber as of now, three voice actresses’ play the part of her while the Japanese counterpart is only played by one. Kate Higgins has the role of Saber for this time and she was rather decent in her performance. Mela Lee, Sherry Lynn & Liam O’Brien was also decent in their roles while Julie Ann Taylor annoyed me in her role as Taiga, considering how screechy her voice in her character is and Jennifer Sekiguchi (aka Stephanie Sheh) is good but is type-casted as the little girl character but more of a creepy vibe from her.

FINAL VERDICT: This series is mostly okay for the execution but in the end, ends up clumsy at the final result. I get some of the hatred or “meh”ness of this show and how it leaves some questions hanging about the Servants and Masters but on the other hand, I’m glad I watched this first, so that way when I eventually watched Fate/Zero, I would feel satisfied in some way. For that, I’ll advise you if you ever watch this or F/Z, either watch Stay Night first or just watch Zero and forget about this one.

*This review is based on the main story based on everything that happens CHRONOLOGICALLY.* I know nothing of how it plays to the visual novels or anything, so if you’re looking for a review like that? I’m not your guy.
I decided to get into the main Fate series based solely on the synopsis, and decided I would watch chronologically rather than by release, as was the overwhelming consensus by those who had watched already. As such, I began with Fate/ Zero. Then came to this.
That is how I’m basing this review.

Let’s get started, I’ll keep it simple.

Fate/Stay Night, If judged as a chronological continuation of ... its prequel, Fate/Zero, is utterly disappointing by comparison.

Art and sound:
Credit where it’s due, the music is great and fits with what’s going on very well, and the art is beautiful considering it was made in 2006. Nothing about this was bad.

Unfortunately...THESE were...
Story:
You have the 5th Holy Grail War. After having bore witness to the brutal heartwrenching events of The 4th Holy Grail War. I was pumped for this. But what was expected to be a true battle between masters and servants wound up being a mediocre, fairly sexist, romance, with slight harem tendencies, and sprinkled in between that were some 2 minute fights here and there.
It felt like an insult to Fate/Zero, which sucks, because THIS came first. Honestly, looking at it the other way around, Fate/Zero felt more like the author was saying “I’m sorry that sucked, let me do it better this time.”
The plot as a whole is very linear, and leaves much to be desired. Fights are underwhelming, we learn so little about the servants and masters, outside of the main pair Shiro and Saber, which is lame. The ending episodes were the only point where any sort of plot twist happened, and honestly, if you’re paying attention throughout the show, it’s really not that surprising.

Characters
My issue lies with only one character. And as such, is the only one i will focus on.
All other characters I felt were fine in terms of what we were even shown about them, because it is impossible to actually connect to any of them. You learn next to nothing about them, and see very little outside of interaction with the main characters.
Speaking of main characters.
Shiro is awful. Just a completely unlikeable person. And whether anyone wants to admit it, his views towards women? They’re sexist. His “bleeding heart” attitude towards protecting the women in the show is annoying and unappealing. I couldn’t even see it as admirable. Despite his full knowledge of just how powerful Saber is, he repeatedly almost dies simply preventing her from fighting, or protecting her WHEN SHE DOESNT NEED HIS HELP. And the worst part of it is that the author justifies his stupid views towards this, by simply making him strong like her, and therefore actually able to protect her, and eventually, she comes to accept his way of thinking.
Maybe you like that kind of guy in a story, But I can only see him as a poorly written, unappealing main character. And I hate everything about him.
Saber starts out being the calm cool serious honor bound king of knights you know her to be, but unfortunately falls victim to shoujoization and it just made me feel let down.
Side note: Rin is great. You’ll easily love her as a character, no doubt.


In Conclusion:
If you are watching this because you want to see how it lives up to the visual novels? you may love it I guess. I don’t know nor could I say for sure.
However

If you are watching it because you heard it was a romance? You’ll also be disappointed, because it’s a poorly written pile of melodrama laced with sexist ideals, and men must protect them no matter what. And I’m sure that ain’t what you’re looking for
If you started this series because you wanted to see a war for the Holy Grail, between masters and their Heroic Servants as a continued story from Fate/Zero? Im sorry to say you will be very disappointed. It’s a mere shadow in comparison to Fate/Zero, and honestly should only be watched for continuity sake before moving on to Fate/ SN UBW(as I did).

Story: From the beginning the main character wasn't very likable. Falling so far into shounen cliches that it was painful to watch virtually every scene in the entire anime that he took part in. But was doubly so towards the second half of the season where they start cramming even more cliches into him. Then they resort to the "good guys" winning not one, but two fights with magical Mcguffins of instant cheese.

Art: The art is generic foresay, nothing special. Especially when compared to Fate/Zero(prequel) and Unlimited Bladeworks(alternate).

Sound: Average, if not subpar. Especially when it comes to Berserker...

Enjoyment? I found more enjoyment in pointing out ... plotholes and bad character design than watching it. It almost falls into the category of being so bad it's good.

Overall: 5/10 - Only watched so it didn't look "fewlish" to have watched Fate/Zero and Unlimited Bladeworks.