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.
