Story: 6
The story itself is relatively generic as a battle-royale for the holy grail, but is made more complex by the interesting heroes that are summoned to fight and their interactions with their masters. This season however was quite boring. There were not nearly enough fights or interesting story elements to justify the amount of downright dull scenes of Shirou at school or at home.
Art: 9
Ufotable sure didn't skimp out on the animation for this show. Backgrounds are beautiful and character animations are solid. Fight scenes are magnificent, but too few and far between to completely showcase the animation at its finest.
Sound: 8
Sound effects are great and the Japanese voice-over is well done. Hideyuki Fukasawa's soundtrack is a bit lackluster in my opinion and lacks some of the impact that Yuki Kajiura's Fate/Zero soundtrack had, and while it certainly never detracts form the show, it isn't anything special.
Characters: 4
This is where I was truly disappointed. Shirou is one of the least interesting main characters that I've seen in an anime. While his back-story is interesting enough to make you slightly sympathetic, his idiotic ideals and brash ignorance make him incredibly boring. Equally disappointing is Saber's portrayal. While she was characterized as a complex and tragic king striving to attain the grail in F/Z, In F/SN she is now a straight-up robot with hardly any personality. Archer and Rin can be fun to watch in comparison, but neither accomplish anything in this season. The show really wants you to care about Rin and Shirou's alliance so it hardly focuses on anything else happening with the other servants. I understand that development of the other servants/masters will come with the 2nd season, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they were nearly non-existent this season.
Enjoyment: 7
My enjoyment of this show mostly came with it being a sequel to Fate/Zero and getting to see what happens after the events of F/Z. Though the characters are boring thus far, I do have hope that they will develop more throughout the 2nd season which I am greatly looking forward to. I just wasn't as attached to the show by the end of this season as I was at this point in F/Z.
Overall: 7
It's fine, but not spectacular. Can't wait for things to pick up in season 2.
