They were all awesome, but:
Rider > Archer = Saber > Lancer > Caster > Berserker > Assasin
Berserker really got too little screentime. For ten seconds he was awesome, but everyone else got many more times that - except for Assassin, who wasn't used at all except to showcase the awesomeness of Rider. Caster was extremely unpleasant, but he had his moments and his monologues on religion and God were nothing short of genius. Lancer was a fantastic character, and reminded me a lot of Zack Fair.
I can't decide between Saber and Archer - as a character, Archer was much more interesting, but the sheer character development and background Saber gets in relation with the trainwreck that was the FSN anime (compared to FZ) is astounding - she went from one of my least favorite characters in anime to the opposite, one of my favorites (And I refuse to believe she's 16 or whatever age Nasu told us. No way.). In this incarnation I could really see her as having been King Arthur.
But Rider is the obvious first choice - he hogged all the best scenes! And his defeat ended up somehow even more climatic than the climax.
And as for masters:
Kiritsugu > Waver > Kariya = Tokiomi > Kayneth > Kirei > Ryuunosuke (>Sola)
I had a lot of trouble understanding Kiritsugu at first; someone had to explain to me why he did what he did in the flashback. But in the last couple of episodes, when they started explaining his motivations more and looking beyond his stoic mask, he suddenly clicked with me and everything about him made sense. In a way we're even a bit similar - if there's a choice between saving 10 humans and 1000 humans, I would always choose the second, even if I had friends or family in the first 10 (as it's the rational choice).
Waver had the single most character development in the show. Tokiomi was fantastically written - a family man first and foremost, but not all knowing and so, so human - and he was at his best when contrasted with Kariya, the most tragic character on the show; I wish they had used Kariya more.
Kayneth had his moments, especially once his pride was broken.
I could never and still can't understand Kirei's thinking. He seems empty somehow, and that appears to have been the point except not? I can't see his train of thought or his motivations. I'm sure they were explained subtly at some point, but his mindframe is so far removed from mine that I never picked up on it.
I could never take Ryuunosuke seriously. He was comic relief, except in an utterly gruesome way, and his role seemed more that of a cheerleader for the much more intriguing Caster.
Sola takes the last place, as she was the only character on the show I actively disliked. The best thing about her was that she died fast. |