Fate/stay night [F/sn] is an anime based on TYPE-MOON's visual novel of the same name, and first aired in 2006. 7 years after it ended, I picked it up after seeing an AMV for it's sister series, Fate/Zero [F/Z]. I read that F/Z was a prequel to F/sn that was released more recently, but I decided to watch in real-world chronological order rather than in accordance with the fictional universe's timeline (I have yet to watch F/Z as of writing this review). I also decided to watch the English dub of this anime purely based on my personal preferences. This actually had a bit of an affect on my opinion of the anime, which I will detail momentarily
My first impression was one of confusion and intrigue. For a viewer that was unfamiliar with the visual novel or had not watched F/Z, the opening episodes of F/sn will successfully convey the pure "What the hell is going on?" mindset of the main character by guiding you along with him in his process of learning about the plot. You learn as he learns, you feel connected to him in his confusion and insecurity, and you are able to connect with him in this way. For me, connecting to the main character is essential for me to consider a show significantly noteworthy.
Another thing I noticed about the show was, as I watched it 7 years after its release, that it does look a bit dated. However, this may be due to my stream, so I'll partially suspend my disbelief until later in the review.
The voices were also awkward at times, a point which I previously mentioned I would discuss later.
So, without further ado, here is my review of Fate/stay night:
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Story — 8/10
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The initial introduction to the plot of F/sn is done, in my opinion, very well.
The main character, Shiro Emiya, is an untaught magic user, or "magus" in the show's vocabulary, who is suddenly thrust into the middle of a magical war for the fabled Holy Grail. Seven magi from various magical families each summon one of seven classes of Servents, spirits of historic figures, and act as their Master while fighting to the death over this powerful magical item. The remaining Magus/Servant pair that obtains the Holy Grail are granted one wish, which can be used in any way the wisher chooses.
Shiro, being ignorant of magical lore, knows absolutely nothing about this; but, when he is suddenly attacked and his latent magical energy calls forth a Servant of his own, he is unwillingly dragged into the life-or-death struggle for the legendary Grail. With the help of his popular classmate and fellow Master, Rin Tohsaka, Shiro and his Servant, a beautiful blond girl of the Saber class, learn what it means to live and survive in the midst of a titanic clash for power.
For those familiar with the visual novel, the plot follows the "Fate" path from the game, and focuses on Shiro's relationship with Saber, who is the series' main heroine.
As I mentioned before, coming from a place where I had never heard of this series, I was totally on board with Shiro's anger and confusion with his situation. As I watched, I could feel the frustration as Shiro tried to piece together what was going on, which sold me on the series right off the bat. Getting deeper and deeper into the show and understanding more and more of what the Holy Grail Wars are about, you can feel Shiro's confidence grow and the story expands to cover more angles accordingly, which is another positive for a show as short as this.
This show covers a lot of material and emotional checkpoints in only twenty-four episodes, which for some may be overwhelming. I personally find nothing wrong with this, but for those of you who aren't big fans of info-dumps or flashpoint plots, be wary of this series.
The main plot points all revolve around Rin and Shiro helping each other to discover and defeat the five other magi participating in the Holy Grail War. In terms of originality, I find this series to fall into a grey area. The enemies are more developed to be considered "monsters of the week," but they are still dealt with relatively easily and I am hesitant to call them "villains," as that term connotes a saga of opposition not truly present in the series. There are definite stages of engagement (discovery/research/contact/conference/assault) that can be seen in each enemy's arc, and they seem to be sort of "wash, rinse, repeat" in terms of what you can expect from the characters. Saving their individual character traits' roles in these stages for the "Characters" section of the review, you begin to predict more or less what will happen next and I found myself saying more than once, "Well, here we are doing this again," which was something I was unhappy with.
Another point I want to make before I move on is relevant to my last point, the predictability of events; at no point during the series did I feel genuine concern for any of the characters' safety. Save the immediate events of the first episodes, before the plot was fully fleshed out, I never once thought that Shiro, Saber, Rin, or any of the minor characters were in danger of actually dying. I don't feel like I'm spoiling anything by saying that one of the first things that happens is Shiro discovers his magical energy allows him to heal injuries at a exponentially increased rate, meaning he can recover from the brink of death in a matter of hours. Once that fact was revealed, I lost all sense of concern for his safety. Not to say the main characters go untouched, they sustain some extremely heavy damage during their fights, but (to continue from my last point) I found myself saying things like, "What does it matter that they're hurt? By the end of this episode they'll be fine." Not something I was happy with.
SPOILER FREE: The end of the series really seals the deal for me. The final set of enemies are slimy and hateable, the fights are spectacularly well done, the emotions run rampant, and I'd be a liar if I said I didn't cry a little. Fantastic end.
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Art — 7/10
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For a show drawn in 2006, the art is respectable. If you are a fan of the original FullMetal Alchemist from the same time period, you will really enjoy the way this show looks. Having just watched a more recent show, I found the art style to be a little lacking, but, again, I intend to suspend my disbelief due to the possibility that my stream was subpar.
In general, though, lots of the regular animation just felt unnatural and awkward. I understand that the show is based on a visual novel, which has no flowing animation, but in an anime there needs to be more emphasis on making regular character interactions more engaging for the viewer. In a visual novel, there is text that must be read, so having static images is no problem, but in an anime the visuals are just as important as the dialogue, and looking back on the show there were a few instances where I could have opened a new window in my browser and surfed the web and been able to follow the plot without needing to watch the characters awkwardly sit across from each other and chat about plot.
Nevertheless, this show's intensity weighs heavily on the combat sequences, and it does not disappoint in that area. There are a couple instances of recycled shots, but by and large the fights are drawn very well and flow smoothly. And, as I said earlier, they do a fantastic job in the finale to really drive this point home.
I also enjoyed the way the magic was animated, especially Shiro's magic. The analogy to a circuit board firing along various numbers of lines was an easily accessible way to understand just how powerful Shiro was and what it's like trying to use magic. Rin's magic was cool as well, though a combination of the art and voices made it kind of awkward in the flow of the rest of the show. More on the voices in the "Sound" section.
Overall, I did like the art. One of the first anime I watched was FullMetal Alchemist (2003), so I have a bit of nostalgia for that type of art. I would, however, have enjoyed the series more if the non-combat animation was less awkward.
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Sound — 7/10
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The music was fantastic. Despite a limited number of tracks, I really enjoyed the background music throughout the series. Both instrumental and choral numbers add mood and feeling to some of the otherwise stagnant scenes.
The opening themes left a little to be desired, but I can't say I disliked them totally. I would usually just browse the web and wait for them to be over, but I wouldn't go so far as to mute them or skip them.
SPOILER FREE: The final ending song had me in tears, so there's that to consider.
The voicing, however, was hit or miss for me. The voices of Kate Higgins (Saber) and Liam O'Brian (Archer), that established themselves Bandai's dub of Code Geass (where Higgins played C.C. and O'Brian played Lloyd Asplund), were solid, and for me made up ground for where voices of Sam Reigel (Shiro Emiya) and Mela Lee (Rin Tohsaka) struggled. It may have been the translation, or maybe the timing of the lip flaps, but lines from Shiro and Rin failed in their delivery.
I did felt bad for Mela Lee, as her character used many incantations in Latin and German. Having studied both of these languages, I was more attuned to mispronunciations and struggles with delivering the lines in Latin or German, and thus they stood out more. Putting aside the fact that Lee was asked to to a lot in speaking foreign languages, I did feel that the German was simply out of place. Coupled with some of the more lackluster magical animation, the German lines were the ones most guilty of making me say "Oh, God, this is so…blegh."
In sum, the music is great, but if you are a fan of English dubs you can expect a 5/10 performance. I haven't seen the Japanese, but I would be interested to see how this show sounds in Japanese.
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Characters — 8/10
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As a visual novel, the characters in this show are fantastically written and portrayed. While they have their shortcomings, as does every character, they quickly became personal. I will go into as much detail as I can about the three main characters without spoiling much of the plot.
Shiro Emiya: Shiro is a pretty relatable guy, especially after all the time you spend with him learning the plot. He has an honorable cause, a logical view on things, and I found myself connected with him almost immediately. One thing that I disliked about him is his stubbornness, as it contributes to the repetitive predictability of the different arcs. I found myself shouting at him on my screen on more than one occasion, pleading with him to just concede and make a different decision because I was almost physically pained by how unreasonable he was being. If I had to rate him, I would give him a 7/10, due to how many times his negative qualities showed themselves amongst all the times I was rooting for him to succeed.
Saber: The show's main heroine, I actually purchased a collectable figure of her when I finished the show. I really like Saber; she is blunt, rational, and stubborn in her own right, but uses her stoic exterior to hide a tumultuous emotional conflict. As you learn about her, you start to connect with her deeply rooted sense of duty and develop an attachment to her despite her shortcomings. When she and Shiro encounter an obstacle, their mutual stubbornness comes to a head and creates a painful cycle of "Let me do this because I don't want you doing it" that is overused and unnecessary throughout the series. I had less of an issue with Saber's stubbornness, however, because she is actually extremely capable from the early stages of the show, and actually has the ability to back up her desire to take the situation by the throat. I would give Saber an 8/10 for her refreshing honesty and reasonable nature.
Rin Tohsaka: The third major character in the series, who you meet early on in the show. She is a pretty typical tsundere female character, who finds Shiro useless and incompetent. She probably grows the most out of all three main characters; as Shiro learns the plot and develops capabilities, Rin becomes much less critical and far more enjoyable to see on screen. She begins as overconfident, rude, and critical, but softens greatly as the story progresses. I would give Rin a 9/10, the only thing keeping her from a perfect 10 being how annoying I found her at the beginning of the series.
If I could also mention one of the minor characters, I really liked Sakura Matou. She plays a bit role in the series, only really featuring in the early stages and a few episodes in one of the middle arcs, but in the first few episodes she is the cutest, most adorable girl I've ever seen. She's extremely archetypal (sister of main character's best friend, loves doing household chores, calls the main character "senpai"), but I couldn't stop myself from smiling when she was on screen. Oh my God, she's the most adorable thing ever.
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Enjoyment — 9/10
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I enjoyed this series very much. I thought the idea was strong and the execution was sufficient. I felt like I connected to the characters and I walked away wanting to play the visual novel in order to explore the universe further. I'd say that thought means the series did it's job.
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Overall — 8/10
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In the end, I would recommend this show to anyone who asked for a good action/supernatural/character-driven anime. I would warn them about awkward animation and dubbing, and I would let them know that the characters were difficult to deal with some times, but overall I would give Fate/stay night an 8/10.
Hopefully you found this review helpful! Happy viewing!
