Story: 10-A thrilling ride from start to finish. It's pacing is on point, the action scenes don't drag on and you really feel the rush while they are occurring. Every now and again the story slows down for some Slice of Life moments to help build the characters and their depth, so you know...we actually care (something that this series prequel Fate/Zero failed horribly at). But after the slow scenes are over it picks up the pace again with smooth transitioning. Filled to the brim with interesting plot twists that were foreshadowed with excellent skill.
Art: 10-Art is just AMAZING. Both character design wise and animation wise. The character designs are all pretty and actually make them look like real people, unlike certain other studios *cough*ufotable*cough*. And the animation is crisp and fluid especially for 2006, it really adds to the epicness of the fights along with the music and already engaging story and characters. And some people say ufotable is better than DEEN...HAHAHA. DEEN is far superior to them in every way possible. And their great animation quality that isn't filled to the brim with crappy CGI proves it.
Sound: 10-Man oh man...how do I put this into words...put simply the music is epic. Not only does the legend Kenji Kawai improve all of the tracks from the VN (which were still decent enough even before being modified) but he adds some of his own songs to the OST as well, such as Unmei no Yoru, Tenchi Tou Hake, and La Sola. All of which are the greatest pieces of music in any FSN OST ever. The music is always played at exactly the right moment and fits the atmosphere of FSN very well. At times it can be intense, suspenseful, and eerie, other times it can be soothing calm and peaceful. And there are even times when it can be completely epic or heartbreakingly tragic.
Characters: 10-All around great characters, main and supporting casts both. Shirou as an MC and his development was handled with amazing care but I'll just let this quote of his speak for him "The weakness of wanting to die became the strength of wanting to live." He's also a supporting MC meaning he doesn't fight much and is more back up than anything, something you don't see often, especially not in anime of this nature. Then there's also other characters who don't come off as you expect them to or as they would first seem. Illya, Saber, Rin, Sakura, Kotomine, etc. Even Kirei gets to show off how great his character can be, something that Fate/Zero unfortunately was not capable of doing. All of these characters have an amazing amount of depth behind them which you will get to see as the series progresses.
Enjoyment: 10-Definitely enjoyed this one. It was a very interesting show which I don't regret watching at all. In fact, I would probably never get sick of rewatching it either, it just has that charm about it.
Overall: 10-A masterpiece of anime by Studio DEEN which deserves to be checked out. Great story supported by tons and tons of interesting well rounded characters, who each end up getting their own development in a different arc. Animated beautifully alongside and rocking OST, engaging and natural character reactions, and smooth plot twists at every turn, and what's not to love? Definitely a huge improvement upon the Visual Novel it was based on which suffered from only developing a very small closed in group of characters in different routes and completely ignoring all the others, leaving them out in the cold, Shirou's irritating and whiny monologues, and many other flaws which I won't get in to as this an anime review. Anyway, if you haven't gotten into the Fate series yet and are looking to start, this is the way to go. NEVER watch Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works, and just go to the good one instead. I promise you, it's well worth it and that you won't regret it. It's nice knowing that underneath all that garbage, there was this masterpiece lying around just waiting for someone to experience it's glory. After this, I am most certainly willing to call the Studio DEEN, the best anime studio there is. Because if they can make something this incredible, then it's definitely true. So don't miss out on this masterpiece of an anime by this to-tier studio, go watch it ASAP.
