First of all the story, whilst unremarkable, was nice and simple. Acquire a MacGuffin of power through a deathmatch. A good idea and it stays as a focal point for most of the story. There are twists of course, but it follows the straight action thoroughfare. The weak and dumb are first to go. I applaud that but it has a kind of been there, done that feel to it.
The art overall looks a bit dated, but then again, is more than made up for it by the sheer awesomeness of the fight scenes. I'm not talking about the one-sided fights though. It's about the goodness to honest clashing of steel. They were well animated, as expected and it makes sense, this is a war they are fighting. What mars this however is the reuse of animations. It may not seem glaringly obvious but sometimes its too noticeable. Oh and bonus points because Saber has an ahoge.
The sounds do their best to support the fights, no complaints. The background music could have been better handled though. It sometimes fades to almost nothing and requires a good sound system to get everything, which sometimes may ruin the mood if a good song was supposed to be playing at certain key scenes. Otherwise, the composition is fitting and seems to be restrained by the overall theme it tries to adhere to. The OPs and EDs are fine, I don't think anyone would complain.
Character is the only category where Fate/stay night was given the short stick. Sure we are well aware of Shiro and his commitment to sticking to his guns(a little respect is given to him by for that alone). Even Saber gets has her humanity restored somewhat. I would however, like to know more about the other Masters and supporting characters, especially Matou, he comes off as a bit off and with no clear goal of his own. It almost seems like he was there to just to step up and get served. Though you'll have to admire the Seventh master, he was doing it for kicks, but that's about it, nothing special. Simply shallow.
Enjoyment is above average. I probably enjoy seeing people beat the tobacco juice out of each other more than the next guy and that's what kept me viewing. If you're looking for something deep, well, let's just say that Shiro is a persistent little SOB and the only real thing you should be looking forward to is the next fight scene. Now say it out loud with me. I AM GAR FOR ARCHER!
