The story of Fate/Stay Night is deceptively simple, but it's the many events that make the show a little bit more complex than it might seem like. Naturally, the meat-and-gravy parts are generally related to the battles the players will have to engage in during the war. But Fate/Stay Night also seems to relish keeping -- and eventually revealing -- secrets. Expect a lot of "the truth isn't quite like it seems at first" scenes to pop in every now and then, especially as the show draws to a close. Allignment shifts are almost a given during the many face-offs, some of which might come across as more ridiculous than the others.
In another note, the battles are generally nice to look at. Most of them are actual physical combat, and since we are talking about characters that generally adhere to their given summoning names -- Saber, Archer, Lancer, Assassin -- battles do take on different flairs from time to time. There are a few cases of "my schwarz is bigger than yours" kamehameha™ fights near the end, but thankfully, those are few and generally quickly over with. The anime also ends conclusively, which is another thing to be thankful about, although titles that generally overstay their welcome mostly center around harem or big shounen fight titles, wherein Fate/Stay Night might fit into both in some way, but only barely so.
So yeah, I enjoyed this show. Even if I had to resort to reading Wiki articles and the likes about the characters to get the full picture, I see no reason why I should consider Fate/Stay Night any less than good, if not great, entertainment.
Fights, secrets, plots -- it's enough of either in here to make most people happy, I should think.
Shirou is a self-styled Champion of Justice. Not of the mask-wearing, cape-sporting variety, but of the quietly helpful, self-sacrificing, unyieldingly principled variety. The only survivor of a tragedy that cut a swath of destruction through his town ten years earlier, he witnesses an altercation between two supernaturally skilled warriors, and is soon drawn into a battle between seven magi and their seven Servants, resurrected legendary warriors from around the world. Paired with a powerful female Servant known only as Saber, Shirou must take his place as the seventh, and last, of the magi.
Recommended Audience: Naturally, there'll be violence, even a little bit bloody one. The redstuffs doesn't splatter all over the place, though, but viewer caution is recommended. There's also some darker imagery regarding a shield of some sort meant to drain students of mana, which has.... bad consequences for a local school. In other words, nothing too excessive.
