– SPOILER ALERT: THERE MAY BE SOME SMALLER OR BIGGER SPOILERS IN HERE, ALTOUGH I TRY TO KEEP IT TO A MINIMUM --
First of all, this is my first review, so don't be too harsh if my lack of experience shows.
I will be reviewing this anime based on the following elements:
1) Enjoyability (the most important one in my book)
2) Characters/story
3) Art
4) Sound/music
Enjoyability
I enjoyed this anime very much overall. This is off course very subjective, but to me personally the story was very engaging and quite unpredictable. I had not expected a lot of the twists in the story, for example the servants summoned by the masters turned out to have way more free will and autonomy then I had expected.
The fights scenes were very tense and enjoyable, and the interactions between the charactes were fun as well. I regularly found myself unable to stop 'before watching one more episode'. For overall enjoyment, I rate this a 9/10.
Characters/story
As said above, the story really kept me interested in the show. Especially during the last five episodes of the second season , I just could not stop watching. At it's core , I believe it is a story about what happens to a single person who tries to always do what is good for others in a world in which most people care more about themselves and maybe their immediate friends and family. We see this in the person of Archer, the servant, who is the future version of the main character and is bitter and depressed about the path this way of live put him on. He is forced to clean up for other people's mess all the time and fight enless battles to this end. Because humans keep making mistakes and keep doing evil things to meet their selfish ends, he never actually comes closer to achieving his ultimate goal of creating a perfect world where everyone can lead a happy life.
The story revolves around the Holy Grail War, a war which takes place once in a number of decades and involves seven master mages fighting for the holy grail using servants. Each master summons one servant. The master whose servant is the last one too live wins the war and the right to have his or her wish granted by the omnipotent Holy Grail. There are a number of different masters, all of which have their own reasons for wanting to use the power of the Grail. Some wishes are benevolent, some are evil. The fight for the grail provides a lot of exciting moments and fights in the story, and always remains interesting, and as such is a good basis for the plot of the series. This is also true after it is revealed in the second half of the second season that all might not be as it seems when it comes to the Grail and what it really is.
The characters of some of the servants and the six other masters are also explored in depth. They are of different character and all their character types are logical and realistic. Even Gilgamesh, the main villain of the series, is not completely insane, but has his own reasons to want to do the evil deeds he wants to do, which are understandable from his perspective. This makes him an interesting character. The other servants and masters are interesting as well, but not all get as much attention as Emiya, Rin, Saber, Archer, and Gilgamesh because their roles in the story are not that big or they die off early (like Berserker for example). I would want to write more about the characters and story, but I am afraid I would spoil too much for it to be acceptable under the site's review rules. Let 's just say there are very interesting and captivating, and a big part of why I enjoyed the story.
Art
This anime clearly had a big budget, because it looks really good. The art style is not unique, the series uses the standard 'modern anime art style', but in a very beautifull, detailed manner. There is good usage of lightning, facial expressions, etc to convey emotions in certain scenes, and the whole series is just very easy on the eye. The fight scenes especially are very nicely and fluently animated and are very energetic. They are a feast to look at and make the show a lot of fun. The backgrounds of scenes and stillshots are also very nice, with lots of tiny details drawn in which make the series look less bland then certain other anime, and again goes to show this was made by an experienced studio with a high budget.
Sound/music
The endings and openings of both seasons are not my favourite, I tend to like my openings more cute/happy/hyperactive, but such songs would off course not have fitted the story and overall tone of this show. The music in the episodes however was great. It effectively (like the art) conveyed emotions such as sadness, happiness, excitement etc. At certain times, it blended in so well with the show that I almost stopped noticing it was there.
The sound... is the sound. It's good, which mostly means that I did not notice anything odd or off about the way things sounded to tell me it was not good. Voice acting (I watched the Japanese version) was good, fight sounds were good, etc. It's perfectly fine, nothing more to be said really.
Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoyed the show because of the interesting story with the unexpected plot twists, the suspense, the cool fight scenes, the interesting characters, and the beautifull animation. I recommend anyone to watch the show if they're at all interested in action and/or fantasy anime shows. I rate it a 8/10 overall.
