Story 8/10
Being a prologue, this episode is LONG. Having more than 40 minutes to play with, we have a lot of leisure time to develop. It is from Rin's perspective, which is to my delight, since the first season focuses more on Shiro. The story in this episode may seem like a normal slice of life. However with this premise I feel the story flows more naturally, introducing characters one by one as Rin explores the school. It also reveals more of how Rin and Archer meet and their bonding.
Art 10/10
Ufotable, you never fail to amaze me. Fate/Zero was enough to blow me away, and this is a whole new level up. Flawless animation with a lot of minor details.. with nice color combinations pleasing to your eyes, very very thin lineart which makes the characters fit better into the intricately drawn background... The fight scene between Archer and Lancer was awesome. One of the best animation I've seen so far this year. The character design have slight changes compared to the first season, but I feel it is for the better.
I have high expectations before watching and finding myself squealing at how perfect the art is. I hope they will keep up the standard for the series..
Sound 8/10
Honestly I focused too much on the visual when watching rather than the sound, but it does help building up the atmosphere and mood for certain scenes. The voice actors/actresses are still the same and they played their characters well as usual. The ending song is quite nice but I'm not sure if they are going to use the same song for the series.
Character 9/10
We got to know better about Rin and Archer in this episode.. a bit backstory on Rin, how she feels and her motivation about this Holy Grail War. I find it cute to see her girly and shy/blushing side which was not so obvious in the previous installments. So far I am satisfied on how they interact with each other, from quarreling then start to accept each other.
I hope more characters can play more roles in this prologue, but well.. I guess as the series goes we will eventually see more of the others.
Enjoyment 9/10
I really like this prologue. It is beautiful, and a nice introduction to magic / mana, the Holy Grail War and touch a bit on the servants, especially for those new to Fate/stay night.
