I think it's important to note that Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero are two completely different kinds of stories with different goals in mind so it wouldn't be fair to try to compare the two
Hmm...I don't know what to say, but the final episode sets up nicely for the second half. I just watched a review of this guy who is also a user on MAL, he has many points regarding the ups and downs of this first half as well as rants that he talks about regarding something that people dismisses.
Video is in this thread: http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1337099&show=0
I've no more arguments, lol. Somehow I just can't think of anything to argue against, mind is blank, lol. I agree but to some degree though. I guess I can tolerate some SoL moments than you do. But I suppose Nasu could totally wipe out the whole romance thing and those cliche teen personalities, then it might be better. I still need to continue on the VN, which maybe there are better stuff in the VN than the anime, since the story did go in depth in the VN. Nasu initially didn't have characters like Shiro in mind until later, if you have the chance, look at Fate/Prototype short clip animated by a studio based on the initial ideas from Nasu. This was Nasu's original idea of F/SN before he started anew with Shiro and a female King Arthur for reasons unknown. The atmosphere in this one somehow feels the same gloomy type as in F/Z, I suppose if Nasu made a VN out of this one instead, then I wonder how F/Z would become, maybe it would match better in atmosphere and won't be completely in a different style to each other.
My comment seem to be getting too long, so I'll put it in spoiler.
Hmm...I wouldn't say first impressions matter, since you never know when something good happens later on. I rather judge an anime when it's literally somewhere halfway through a series. This is why I insist on watching an anime until midway before I judge them whether or not it's good (except for ecchi, yuri and sports as they aren't my favourite genre, and I avoid hentai and yaoi anime). Though if you have watched tons of magic anime that were set in school and fed up with it, then I can see where your opinion came from. But I'm certain that F/SN isn't one of those later on, since the plot twists that F/Z had spoilt should all come together. I highly doubted that Ufotable is going to mess it up considering they knew that they have a huge fanbase after F/Z anime. I actually liked how plots were explained even if it takes one whole episode of F/Z, if you want to have as many info about the Holy Grail War as possible, as well as exploring a little bit about each Master, then clearly you won't see many moments of action or killing. An action anime is an action anime, but for many action anime, and even talking about some live action movies, plot suffers greatly if there are about 90-95% action and only a tiny percentage on focusing on the story/plot and the character development, which the movie version of this show by Studeio Deen suffered greatly. But indeed, it was intriguing enough after the first 2-3 episodes of F/Z before some action began and exploring characters further. The "slice of life (SoL)" parts, if you put them from F/Z's perspective, have some impact. Even though you think Sakura and Shirou scenes aren't necessary, but remember how Sakura was raped by those worms in F/Z in the Matou household? And now she's living a normal life. This will make you understand more on how Sakura, who had never smiled in F/Z, is now smiling and happy like everyone else who are living a normal life and tries to forget about her traumatic experience in the past. This goes for Shirou as well as I mentioned before, where he looked bothered even when living a normal life, since he also suffered a traumatic event. And some SoL moments like conversation near the end of episode 9 where Taiga, Saber and Shirou were talking about Kiritsugu's personality, it was a nice exploration of Shirou's character and how his ideals and be a "hero of justice" came from his inspirations of Kiritsugu. Although I guess if they do have more parts that are like the ones where they only greet their fellow classmates and such similar scenes, then it could be a pacing issue, but glad this only happens occasionally and didn't dominate many minutes of an episode. Ufotable in F/SN's case was just following the VN mostly, so the prologue episode (ep 0) as well as first few were mostly from the VN, so they're just doing it in failthfulness with the VN, only adding bits of their own to tie in with F/Z. Though I do think that both character exploration and introduction would be much better if there isn't a route diverge in the first place, since some characters were ignored and only focuses on the ones I mentioned in my previous comment. So VN is to the blame if not all characters were equally on the screen timie like F/Z did.
Haha, both seasons of Clannad was a fun ride. But I guess it would fell into the generic romance anime if After Story (AS) never existed. But both seasons are slice of life, hence all I'm looking for is character development. But yes, one season cannot do without the other, as season 1 introduces the characters while AS explore them further. Even though there is some supernatural stuff in it, I still felt it was out of place most of the time, other than "reviving" Nagisa via this alteration of timeline thing. And this is the point with F/Z and F/SN, one cannot do without the other and some scenes won't be understood well if the other isn't watched.
Considering the amount of school-based anime out there, I see what you mean. And I guess in the second half, there might be an exploration around the other characters, and if not much, then maybe a little touch on it. But second half should be much more enjoyable. Archer and Shiro should be more developed by then. The thing about the visual novel routes is that, if I read correctly, each route was focused on different main characters. Fate route focuses on Saber and Shiro; UBW route focuses on Archer, Shiro and Rin; while Heaven's Feel focuses mainly on Sakura where she became a Master in the 5th Holy Grail War and turned dark (she isn't a Master on the other two routes btw). So maybe Nasu designed the story in a way that could be what a typical high school show is like except in an action genre, not just the tropes you mentioned. Though I think HF route is different according to what I see from people's posts, so I hope that one won't be a disappointment to the fans of F/Z, as some people say the atmosphere in that route is nearly matching F/Z. Not to mention Sakura turned dark as mentioned, same goes for Saber. And there's rape in there as well, which already indicates Sakura is a messed up character in that route.
Still, if Ufotable adapted F/SN first, and F/Z afterwards, then in this case people will enjoy much more out of both than the other way around. F/Z spoiled a major plot twist from F/SN, as well as it was assumed people knew something of F/SN routes as I mentioned some replies ago. So I'm not surprised that there are people who were having negative time enjoying F/SN after F/Z if they watched F/Z first from the Fate series. Nearly all the threads on MAL having people say that watching F/Z first was a bad idea. So I guess the damage is done already...the sequence of production is the blame, lol.
People say that both the visual novel of F/SN and the anime of Fate/Zero are qually good, and maybe the light novel as well. But I guess due to the different style, and since you arrived from Fate/Zero, this will be hard to say. And Nasu based the visual novel on the "archtypes" to appeal the players maybe, while F/Z was based on the actual story, I guess this can become a difference. But I suppose for teen characters, it's hard to put them in a setting like adults? Still, better thing is to not compare them side by side, since as I said in the earlier comment that, they are completely two different wars and two different styles. If Nasu decides to ever make a 4th route for F/SN, then he might base this on F/Z's atmosphere and mature style? Who knows. I've yet to finish the visual novel, so I cannot judge if all three routes are equally good or not, but I think that eventually the story will come together.
And there are people complaining about the slow pacing of F/Z, lol. So it all comes down to personal opinions I guess. But one thing for sure, there will be a horrible and inhuman death comes to a Master in the new UBW anime (shown in Deen's version movie too). So that might make this a bit of a thriller.
Remember that F/SN is an early 2000's visual novel, while F/Z light novel came around 2006 or so, and both were written by different authors. Since Fate/Zero tried to be a kind of a historical event to F/SN, I guess the author decided to make this much epic than F/SN, since the ending of the 4th war was a tragic one, so the writer took this into account and made F/Z more mature with mostly adult characters who are more into the war than F/SN. The original VN for F/SN was designed to have slice of life moments as well, in all three routes of it. So even though both deals with the Holy Grail War, but the styles are absolutely different. If F/Z novel was made first, then I think F/SN could be more darker as well. Heaven's Feel, the 3rd route of F/SN VN, was reported to be the darkest route compare to the Fate route and Unlimited Blade Works route, and since it's going to be a movie, hopefully it will be as dark as Fate/Zero and be like a movie series similar to Kara no Kyoukai (same studio as F/Z and the new F/SN series).
Hi there. Just read your short review on the new F/SN. One thing I would say is that, if one compares F/SN to F/Z, sometimes it's not a good choice, considering that F/Z was designed to be watched after knowing events from F/SN. I agree with some Fate fans who read the original visual novel of F/SN that, character development shows up via slice of life moments. Unlike the old UBW movie done by Studio Deen back around 2010, which looked so rushed and no character development, since there were nothing but action, action and more action. Action alone usually have no room for character development, while a normal scene where it seems there's nothing going on does. Even if it's not obvious, but they actually compliment quite well, since it shows the effects of the 5th Grail War have on their normal lives. Sometimes you can see the uneasiness on Shiro when Taiga was asking why he came back so late etc. And in some cases throughout the episodes, you can see how Saber tries to fit into the normal daily life without revealing herself her identity and about the war.
If you recall from F/Z, the first half of the series was also kinda slow-paced, since they mainly deal with the Masters planning to take out each other, so mainly focused on planning, as well as character development or exploration into them, such as Kirei's conversation with Archer/Gilgamesh, which was an important step to the murder of Rin's father. Pretty much, since the characters in F/Z were mostly knowing about the history of the cycles of the Holy Grail War due to their connections to the original three families (Tousaka, Matou and Einzbern), which means they don't have to figure out what's going on and why the war took place, while some characters in F/SN were mostly dragged into the war, and even Shirou doesn't know that Kiritsugu participated the 4th Grail War until later on when Saber told him about her participation in that war. If a character doesn't know what's going on, of course it takes longer to find out what's going on before settles in. The second half of this new series shouldn't be slow paced I predict, and there is an important duel near the end when Archer reveals his identity. So hopefully this might be like F/Z second half where nearly every Masters and Servants kept getting killed per episode.
And seems like you missed the prologue episode of this new F/SN: http://myanimelist.net/anime/27821/Fate/stay_night:_Unlimited_Blade_Works_%28TV%29_-_Prologue
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Video is in this thread: http://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1337099&show=0
Still, if Ufotable adapted F/SN first, and F/Z afterwards, then in this case people will enjoy much more out of both than the other way around. F/Z spoiled a major plot twist from F/SN, as well as it was assumed people knew something of F/SN routes as I mentioned some replies ago. So I'm not surprised that there are people who were having negative time enjoying F/SN after F/Z if they watched F/Z first from the Fate series. Nearly all the threads on MAL having people say that watching F/Z first was a bad idea. So I guess the damage is done already...the sequence of production is the blame, lol.
And there are people complaining about the slow pacing of F/Z, lol. So it all comes down to personal opinions I guess. But one thing for sure, there will be a horrible and inhuman death comes to a Master in the new UBW anime (shown in Deen's version movie too). So that might make this a bit of a thriller.
If you recall from F/Z, the first half of the series was also kinda slow-paced, since they mainly deal with the Masters planning to take out each other, so mainly focused on planning, as well as character development or exploration into them, such as Kirei's conversation with Archer/Gilgamesh, which was an important step to the murder of Rin's father. Pretty much, since the characters in F/Z were mostly knowing about the history of the cycles of the Holy Grail War due to their connections to the original three families (Tousaka, Matou and Einzbern), which means they don't have to figure out what's going on and why the war took place, while some characters in F/SN were mostly dragged into the war, and even Shirou doesn't know that Kiritsugu participated the 4th Grail War until later on when Saber told him about her participation in that war. If a character doesn't know what's going on, of course it takes longer to find out what's going on before settles in. The second half of this new series shouldn't be slow paced I predict, and there is an important duel near the end when Archer reveals his identity. So hopefully this might be like F/Z second half where nearly every Masters and Servants kept getting killed per episode.
And seems like you missed the prologue episode of this new F/SN: http://myanimelist.net/anime/27821/Fate/stay_night:_Unlimited_Blade_Works_%28TV%29_-_Prologue