Story-4/10
Before i start, i just want to say that apparently this series is demographized as a Seinen anime, but the way that this anime was made is barely border-line shounen. If not for the violence, i could give this to little kids to watch...
What irks me the most is that this anime is all over the place, yes, the series does span out in a fairly linear fashion, and yes, there is a fairly noticeable central theme; but none of it actually seems to make any sense. Although the series had an pre-determined ending, the actual content of the series was outright shallow and disappointing. The main character was utterly clue-less and retarded throughout the entire series, but the other character's personality seemed to change every episode (whats up with that?) This had made it terribly difficult for me to even gather any sympathy for the characters. The lack of story-driven plot, and any signs of character development had removed my little spark of interest in this anime.
The basic idea of this anime revolves around the "Holy Grail." This grail materializes itself every few years in order to grant ones wish. Seven world champions are bound with seven humans for a fight to the death, only the last to survive is worthy of making a request for a wish. Survival of the fittest concept is actually appealing for me, which encouraged me to watch this anime.
This series is mostly devoted to fighting; which ironically made it more boring for me, as it was just the same sword-swing and trash talking over and over again, it seems like the creators just throws in a few fight scenes just to fill up time on each episode. Just like how everybody predicts, introduction of new side characters are just punching bags for the mc Shirou and Saber, there are no plot twists as saber always seem of emerge victorious. Generally, after a few slashes of saber's sword, the new characters disappears faster than they were even introduced.
Art-7.5/10
The art was not bad at all, considering the time in which the anime was made. The animation was fairly smooth, and Saber's character design was pretty cool, this made watching the 24 episodes much more bearable.
Sound-9.9/10
I don't really see any flaws in the sound track and voice acting as i don't care about this section that much. 9.9 because nothing is perfect :p
Character-5/10
To be honest, i hated the male protagonist, as his ignorance makes me want to vomit. He cannot seem to realize that he, Shirou, has summoned one of the most powerful hero to fight by his side. Being totally oblivious to the fact that Saber, who wears plate armor and holds a legendary sword, Shirou is going to protect everybody! His stupidity has no bounds, even as a teenager; but anime women dig stupidity i guess, with a spot of harem here and there.
The side characters were not all that interesting, as they all fight similarly, to be destroyed by Saber in the end.
Overall-6.5/10
This was a ok anime, due to my love for Saber. A similar comparison can be the HellSing series; where a single bad-ass character made me give the series a higher score than what i should have.
