Gilgamesh

Artoria Pendragon

Shirou Emiya

Kojirou Sasaki

Bedivere

Ayako Mitsuzuri

Mordred Pendragon

Taiga Fujimura

Kirei Kotomine

Archer

Cú  Chulainn

Medea

Kiritsugu Emiya

Rin Tohsaka

Illyasviel von Einzbern

Shinji Matou

Medusa

Sakura Matou

Soichirou Kuzuki

Issei Ryuudou

Heracles

Tokiomi Toosaka

Bazett Fraga McRemitz

Gai Gotou

Otoko Hotaruzuka

Raised by a mysterious sorcerer after the death of his parents in a catastrophic fire, Shirou Emiya has only just begun to learn small tidbits of magic. When he is caught in a battle between two powerful Magi, however, he ends up performing a spell above his expected ability, accidentally summoning a beautiful woman knight to protect him. 
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Shirou is thus unwillingly thrust into the competition known as the Holy Grail War where Seven Magi called Masters, together with their spirit partners called Servants, fight to acquire a powerful artifact said to grant every wish. 


Adaptations of visual novels to anime are something of a mixed bag. Sometimes, like with Clannad and Comic Party, the adaptation is a hit. Other times, it doesn’t work quite so much. Fate/Stay Night falls into the former case, though there are times where the work stumbles in its execution, primarily on the animation front, though there are some narrative issues.

The series follows Shirou Emiya, an 18-year old high school student, approaching graduation, and planning to join the JSDF in order to fulfill his childhood dream of being a “hero of justice”. As with most rom-com heroes, he has a female childhood friend who is something of a Yamato Nadeshiko archetype – Sakura Matou. He has some slight magic ability that allows him to recognize faults in electronic components and, to a degree, mend them. However, life has other plans in mind for him – as while the setup of the series might imply that this is a harem comedy, the game’s source material is quite the opposite.

Instead, Shirou has been selected to be one of the masters in the Holy Grail War, a tournament held among mages to determine who is worthy to make a wish from the Holy Grail – each Master summoning a servant from through time who fits various classes – Caster (can cast spells on their own), Assassin (sneaky bastards), Archer (Range attacks), Rider (can summon a mount for improved mobility), Lancer (uses a spear), and Saber (uses a sword). Shirou ends up getting drug into this without knowing what he’s getting into, and purely (it seems) by accident summoning the Servant Saber – and in particular the figure of King Arthur, or rather Arturia Pendragon (the real King Arthur being a woman who passed herself off as a man after drawing the sword from the stone).

Shirou forms an alliance with one of his classmates, Rin Tohsaka, who is a more accomplished magus, and another participant in the tournament, who has drawn Archer – whose identity is a unknown even to her. Shirou learns that the incident that left him orphaned as a child (and lead to him being adopted by another magus), was the result of the previous Holy Grail War. In order to prevent a similar incident from happening to others, and in the hopes of using his wish to become a true hero of justice, he and Saber decide to win the Grail War.

The animation for the series is done by Studio DEEN, and this is made during their dark period, after their high points back in the 80s with works like Angel’s Egg, and before their modern redemption with Konosuba and Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu. This leads to some weird animation moments – such as clear moments where dialog scenes are taken off camera, to avoid having to animating mouth movements. Some of the action scenes also feel under-animated – including some of the shows more significant fights – like Archer’s battle with Berserker. It feels like a deliberate attempt to save money on the animation budget so they can go all out in the series finale, which has an incredibly dramatic animation bump – so dramatic that it almost feels like it was animated by a completely different studio.

That said, the show’s music is generally good, with a score composed by Kenji Kawai, who is known for his work on Ghost in the Shell – though the scope of the music feels, once again, limited by budget – as if he envisioned the music to be played by live musicians, only to be informed that all they could afford was a really nice synthesizer, loaded with some really good MIDI voices.

The writing is generally good. The women, particularly Saber, Rin, Taiga, and Ilya are all very interestingly and entertainingly written characters, with some great character moments. In particular, Miki Itou as Taiga livens up every scene she’s in with the work, and you can almost feel her energy liven up the rest of the cast in the scenes she shares with them. That said, some of the writing around the character of Shirou stumbles. He’s overly patronizing of Saber. In particular, early in the series he’s unwilling to acknowledge or recognize her combat skills to a real degree – choosing to fight instead of her even when it’s been demonstrated to him that she is far better with a sword than pretty much everyone. Later in the series he shows a better degree of trust, but it is still frustrating early on in the show.

Later on in the series the show develops a twist that comes more or less out of nowhere, but it introduces one of the show’s better antagonists, so I’ll cut them some slack for that.

As far as whether you should watch the show – Ufotable has spent more time in this universe than Deen has, with prequel Fate/Zero, and the Unlimited Blade Works anime (which adapts another route through the same game). Fate/Zero sets up the rules of the Grail War, much as this does, but Fate/Zero front-loads the exposition with a massive infodump in the first, double-length episode, while this show paces the exposition better – and explains some other concepts that Fate/Zero doesn’t get into (like how the magic system works).

A well done adaptation, but not without some real animation issues.

Warning: This review contains spoilers.

First impressions: When I first heard about this series I had very mixed feelings about it. For starters, it’s based on an erotic visual novel, at the same time though it's also a free-for-all battle series, complete with mages and historical figures fighting each other to the death over a magical all purpose macguffin. “Sounded right up my alley” I thought and this series became my gateway to Type-Moon, which has provided me with tons of entertainment and has become one of my favourite franchises, in part due to me being an amateur history buff. Plus, I think the whole idea of the Fate franchise is a very novel idea, which as of yet, I don’t seem to have grown the least bit bored of.


Story: 6/10
The story of this anime is an adaptation of the Fate route from the Fate/Stay Night visual novel, which is probably my least favourite route for various reasons which I’ll get into later. As far as battle shounen titles go, I’d say this one is in general a pretty decent one. Not only does it deliver on cool fights, but it also provides a slightly interesting, albeit shallow commentary on morality for the uninitiated. It explores the different ethical viewpoints of its characters while they're going through the holy grail war. The major problem though is that this series tries to have its cake and eat it too by juggling a serious death battle with slice of life and pseudo-harem elements, making it that much more jarring when any serious plot elements come into play. Case and point, despite the fact that Emiya is kidnapped, or even nearly killed multiple times while either at school or doing mundane things around town, as if the fact that there are people out there trying to kill him is completely a non-issue, serving to both make the show look tonally inconsistent and him look very very stupid. Even worse, quite a few of the masters who lost their servants during the war end up taking residence in his house. Including ones that tried to kill him before, who are still a potential threat. This is completely hand-waved in favour of playing out various slice of life romantic scenarios. As a result of this tonal whiplash, I stopped taking anything in the series seriously and decided to enjoy the ride for what it’s worth. Unfortunately, to me, that’s not much, as the route the anime covers is pretty vanilla when compared to the visual novel’s other routes. The anime just gives you the basics of what you need to know about the series, while leaving a lot of things so deprived of detail that the provided world and characters end up, as a whole feeling very sterile. Plus in all honesty, the plot twists in this series are iffy at best, not to mention predictable if you’ve any experience with any kind of stories that feature magic or objects that grant wishes. For example, the plot twist concerning the true nature of the holy grail isn't really that shocking when you consider that so far no one has won the holy grail and made a wish with it. The only reason the Fate route is even remotely worthwhile is due to the interest it builds for the franchise as a whole. That, and the route’s character of focus, Saber and her fascinating internal conflict in deciding whether to make her wish and redo the past or accept the past and live a normal life with Shiro. Although I feel the romance that happens between them is somewhat forced in some regards, I still find it cute and enjoyable.

Characters: 6/10
Main character Shirou Emiya is probably this series’s weakest point. At first glance he seems to be a one-note character, who’s selfless nature compels him to become a just hero, to the point that he’s willing to risk his life to protect people with no concern for his own safety, and no amount of additional glances will change that perception. Minor cynicism aside though, his major problem is his bare bones characterisation, a problem that could be supplemented with some internal monologue, but he doesn’t have any of that. This is quite the missed opportunity too, as in the visual novel he’s significantly more layered than what one would initially think, specifically because he has that one factor going for him. Additionally, he’s held back character-wise by the fact that there aren’t many tests of his character, which if existent, would allow his character to bloom into something a little more reminiscent of a human being. It’s because of this lack of trails to overcome and grow from that his outlook isn’t really validated in any meaningful sense, making him mostly just come across of the same naive, ignorant kid he was in the beginning.

Saber, the heroine of this route thankfully has at least a little depth to her Character, at least when compared to Shiro. The clash between her stoic warrior side and her feminine side, which comes out increasingly more due to her growing bond with Shiro is quite interesting, Unfortunately, she mostly just comes across as a plank of wood that only deals in extremes, taking away greatly from that aspect of her character. To emphasize my point, early on in the series there’s a scene where Shiro walks in on her in the shower and she doesn't care, as she feels that any particular emotion being inspired over such a thing unreasonable, but later into the series, during a very similar scene, she get extremely self-conscious, mainly due to her awareness of her physical appearance, to the point where she comes across as an entirely different character. What that tells me is that to properly function as a warrior and as a leader she had to sacrifice her femininity, mind, body and soul. A very interesting concept, as it shows both the strength of her resolve and the crippling effects of the momentous weight that’s been placed on her shoulders during her whole life. I will say though, I’m kinda bothered by the fact that she’s King Arthur turned female, as I think that that idea, while interesting, is rather problematic, due to seemingly being done more for fan service more than anything else. Because this is based on a what’s essentially a porn game, there have to be sex scenes, therefore there has to be a female lead, otherwise I think it would’ve ended up alienating most of the main demographic or anyone who would even bother with watching it, unless saber was a Trap.

The side characters are a really mixed bag. Most of the ones that aren't Shiro’s school friends are either one-note or multi-layered. This route is, in general, very good at characterising its cast in a very subtle show, don't tell way. Caster for example, who’s at first built up as just an evil witch, is later on showcased as having various different sides to her in a very subdued, natural way. For example, there’s a scene in which she and her master get backed into a corner by Shiro and friends, only for another heroic spirit to enter the battle and try to kill her master. It is then that she chooses to stand in the way of the attack, and die as a result. Its actions like this that some the cast have some semblance of depth, as well as add a very interesting theme, that of morality being in the eye of the observer. Even though quite a few of the cast members are supposedly evil, or commit evil actions, they are proven time and time again to have the capacity act in selfless, and in some cases even honourable ways. Thanks to this, the show manages to create very nuanced take on morally. Unfortunately, there’re still the odd characters that are so inhumanely evil that you can’t bring yourself to care about them beyond the way in which one care about a funny joke, like Shiji. Alternatively, there also characters that are so blandly good people that they’re entirely lacking in flavour, who only exist to either provide some sense of normalcy or information on what the average Joe thinks is going on in the city, like Taiga.

Art/Animation: 5/10
Considering the time this came out, the art and animation are more or less passable, maybe even above average, excluding the god-awful CGI dragon scene, which to be honest looks like it was rendered using a PS1. Although, when compared to other series like Death Note or Ergo Proxy, which look astronomically better, despite coming out during the same year. Hell, even when compared to a lot of 90’s anime, like Trigun or Cowboy Bebop, Fate/Stay Night doesn’t even come close to competing, something which is very telling of where it’s at on the totem pole. All in all, the production values aren't exactly great and definitely haven't aged well either, which I feel is the reason why quite a few people don't watch this series. This is a major problem, because it also affects how the battles look and play out. The fights often feel stiff as a corpse and to add insult to the injury, most of them are the characters just talking. This means that the entirety of a lot of confrontations is a sleep inducing few minutes of a clunky mess, preceded by an only slightly less sleep inducing dialogue. But hey, on the bright side, who needs Ambien? On a more seriously positive note though, I actually do really like the stylishly anime character designs a lot, especially in regard to how Lancer, Caster and Assassin look and feel.

Sound: 6/10
Despite how it’s been doing so far, this series at least somewhat excels in the sound department. The first and second openings are decent enough and help capture the epic feeling that goes hand in hand with the content. Unfortunately, the ending songs aren't really that noticeable or memorable, even if they fit the series well. The OST was done by Kenji Kawai, who’s worked on other series like Higurashi, Barakamon and Ghost in the Shell, among many others, so one would expect nothing less than quality from someone with such works on their profile. Unfortunately though, while on point in most scenes, is way too subdued for its own good and doesn't build on series’s strengths. One could argue that the more subdued nature of the soundtrack helps capture and amplify the emotions and feels of the characters, who in there lives have come to shoulder many burdens and regrets, in particular their heroic spirits. Now in that regard, I’ll give it points for adding some sort of  narrative subtlety. However, I feel a more epic sounding one, like for Unlimited Blade Works or even Heaven’s Feel would fit this series better, given that the material it goes with is essentially about mages and fantasy heroes of old duking it out. The sub and dub are both passable, with both the versions’ voice acting teams doing quite a good job with what they had to work with and more than successfully capturing the personality of the characters they were playing.

Enjoyment: 6/10
I’m an amateur history buff, and therefore quite enjoy learning about history, I found the pseudo-historical element of this series to be very interesting. Additionally, the idea that history isn't exactly as it is written, which especially evident with the characters of Caster, Rider and Saber in particular added quite a lot of extra appeal for me, something which Fate/Stay Night managed to do a really good job of capitalizing on. Although the flip-side of this is that for the history you’re presented with, you have to have an open mind and take everything with a pretty hefty grain of salt. The fights were also quite enjoyable, because of the philosophical perspectives expressed by characters during them, lending them some much needed engagement and impact. This is because these additional aspects serve to make the fights, not just over glorified sword and club fights, but rather broader reaching ideological conflicts. It’s thanks to the aforementioned that Fate/Stay Night was, enjoyment wise at least pretty much love at first site.

Overall: 6/10
As far as battle royale series go, Fate/Stay Night is pretty decent overall. Unfortunately, it’s as deep as some would make it out to be, due to the fact that the route this anime covers is the fate route, which I said before is kinda the barebones vanilla route of the set. It only show the bare basics and doesn't really shine on its own, unless you really like the character of saber. As an introduction to the franchise and Type-Moon in general though, this series does a very good job of selling on it, even if the production values leave just a little more than a little to be desired. However, if you’re looking for more depth or generally something more extreme you're better off watching the Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel adaptations, which are in all honestly are the peaks of this entire franchise. Specially since they are not only way more interesting in story and characters than Fate/Stay Night, but also feature a god tier OST and animation, not to mention being very pleasing on the eyes. 


Special thanks to my paid in Yu-Gi-Oh cards editor Lonecrit.


Warning:  This review will have spoilers. 

Before I watch this show, I knew that the Fate franchise is really popular.  Also, I knew there tons of animated options to choose from and a visual novel.

After watching this show I can see why this series is beloved to many anime fans. The problem that any person who has not read the visual novel will have is  choosing the right Fate show to start with.  I will be honest and say I was one of those anime viewers who had the same problem.  The reason why this is so hard is because there are so many ways and suggestions into the best ways to get into the Fate franchise.  Even with all the research I did, I though starting with Studio Dean Fate/StayNight would be the best decision for me because of accessibility for me. 

The first thing I want to say is that the plot for this version of show is really helpful for the most part.  The reason why I feel this way is because I gradually was learning the world just like Shirou. If the show was not taking it's time with helping me gets more familiar with the story, I would not been as invested in seeing how the Holy Grail War will turn out this time.  Also, the historical aspect of the Servants are intriguing to me and I found the Servants to be the best part of the show.  The first main problem I have with the plot is that some of the details mentioned in the series can be very vague and rushed at times.  Another problem I have with the story is that the conflicts throughout  can sometimes be anticlimactic due to how predictable the show can be.  Despite those gripes I have,  the story is really fun if can focus on not nitpicking all the flaws this story has in general.

Another part of the show  I want to talk about is the characters.  The problem I have with the series is that some of the characters have little depth to them as a whole.  The worst offender to this complaint I have is Shirou. Shirou in the beginning was a naive teenager who didn't know that much about the Holy Grail Wars, but at the end, he is still naive.  Shirou barley learn anything from his mistakes throughout the whole show. If Saber didn't help him, he would of been this first Master to die from making reckless choices.   Also, anybody who is supposed to be  friends with Shirou doesn't die at all.  To me, this make no sense at all because this doesn't challenge Shirou as a characters in any way if all his friends live in the end besides Saber.   Besides my major gripes with Shirou, all the other characters who have character development are alright, but I honestly wish that I cared more about the characters since a lot of the Servants and Masters die throughout the twenty four episodes this show provides. 

 Before I get close to my conclusion of the show, I want to mention that the animation and soundtrack are some the best part of the show besides the fights.  The soundtrack from Kenji Kawai is because it captures the hardships and what ifs  the characters face in the show.  The only thing I didn't like from the soundtrack is hard rock anime opening credit that on episode fifteen throught twenty-three because I felt it didn't match the tone of the series in general.  Also, the animation is really pretty to look at and I find it to be eyepleasing depending on the frame is shot or how the characters look.  The only problems I had with the animation is that horrible CGI dragon and the fact that fight sequences can look lackluster at times. 

Finally, I am going to talk about the best part of the show, which is the fights.  The fights are really entertaining and addicting to watch.  I literally couldn't get enough of them.   The only compaint I had on the fights is that they could be anticlimatic if the opponent is really easy to beat like some of the Servants that got killed early on in the show.  

In conclusion, I’m glad that I started watching the Fate franchise by this watching this adaption of Fate and I hope this review is helpful.  If anyone is looking for more complex characters and storytelling, I don’t think this is the best entry point for you, but I have a feeling there is an entry point for any who is interested in this anime franchise.

__Introduction__
Studio DEEN's Fate Stay/Night (2006) is an adaptation of Type-Moon's visual novel by the same name. The visual novel branches into three routes - (Stay/Night, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel). This anime aims to cover the first, making it an excellent place to start if you are new to Fate.

Although the series would rise to acclaim with the help of critically received Ufotable works such as Fate/Zero and Fate Unlimited Blade Works. No other attempt has been made to cover the events of Stay/Night and from the perspective of someone who has read the VN, the adaptation is more than satisfactory. 

img220(https://s2.vndb.org/cv/85/24185.jpg)

__Plot__
Every few decades, a holy grail war takes place in the city of Fuyuki. The grail chooses seven magic users (masters) who fight alongside their summoned heroic spirits (servants) until only one pair is left. The last remaining master and their servant can have their wish granted by the holy grail.

The story begins when our protagonist Shirou Emiya unexpectedly finds himself involved in the 5th Holy Grail War after being chosen as one of the seven masters and summoning Saber.

Although, the story is about a Battle Royale between pairs of masters and servants, it doesn't just focus on the fighting aspects and instead chooses to dwell deeply into characters and character relationships. Who each servant or master is, what are their goals, personality, etc. As the main duo overcomes different challenges they learn not just about the opponents the are facing but also each other.

The story in the anime is mostly faithful with the Visual Novel except in a 2-3 episode mini arc starting episode 17 where it takes some liberty to change events as they took place in other routes as a subsequent spoiling them, though I would argue the change gives a more fleshed out ending to the involved characters as a result and the spoilers aren't that major so as to ruin the enjoyment of other routes in any way.

img220(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS40CWcZ28OKYleF0Nf6AfM6IP6kLLOOpVBTREbjF1fe226EugGOOuJnQbIBOjujIKukPE&usqp=CAU)

__Characters__
Strong characterization is one of the main selling points of Visual Novels and the anime does very well at translating that here.The way the Visual Novel is written, it chooses to focus on only a small selection of characters per route, as it's meant to be enjoyed as a whole. However I find that Fate Stay/Night has the best mix of the characters it chooses to develop among all three as is given for it being the first route. 

Stay/Night chooses to focus primarily on the duo of Saber and Shirou. Both are multi faceted and rather unique characters, although you may have to spend a bit of time to get to know the deeper truths. The eventual romance which does develop between the two is done naturally and is one of the high points of the show. 

img220(https://karmaburn.com/files/screenshots/fate-stay_night/emiyarin2001.jpg)

__Atmosphere__
Given that the show is from 2006, the artstyle and animation can feel quite dated especially compared to stuff which is out today. But the dialogue heavy nature of the anime helps alleviate some of that burden. The music is also really nice borrowing some themes from the VN as well as adding new ones. Openings and Endings are quite unforgettable too.

The overall feel of the show is fairly light hearted as the route is less darker than the other ones. This helps with the comedy skits and the various hijinks of supporting characters.

youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy7Q77ZD_ME)

__Final Thoughts__
Before I watched Fate Stay/Night, people used to tell me of horror stories behind it, how it was some sort of Boogieman of bad Visual Novel adaptations, but after having seen more than a fair share of bad VN adaptations, this doesn't even come anywhere close. In fact it is mostly faithful and translates very well from the source to anime in terms of story, feel and characterization. Only parts I would dock points off are for its average to subpar action scenes. 

The community outlook that FSN route should be skipped is fairly preposterous. The fate route develops and explores crucial elements which are not covered in the other routes and just it's relative low art and animation quality compared to the newer adaptations isn't enough to dismiss all its merit. Therefore, I encourage all fate fans old and new to at least give the Deen Stay/Night a chance. You never know what you are missing.

A criminally overlooked show through no fault of it's own

First off a couple of disclaimers:

__1. This is not going to include a watch order of the series, however I will explain whether the new comers should start here (or not) and my reasons for it__

__2. I will be evaluating this entry on it's own merits, and thus, comparisons with the visual novel will be kept at a minimum__

__3. I'm skipping over the history of the series and it's entire background as I wanna get to the point I want to make about it__

With that out of the way, let's jump in:

Starting with the more apparent characteristics of the show, those being the overall presentation and the sound design, and I will start by saying that for a show that premiered in 2006, it's not that terrible looking, with very detailed background shots, good story boarding to where it even replicates notable shots from the Visual Novel, and the fight sequences are exhilarating to watch, some of which are decently choreographed, plus the character designs do a good job at replicating the original ones from it's source material, however the age starts to show when some still shots ocurr, either during sweeping shots or shaking camera effects, as well as when characters go slightly off model from time to time, and I will only briefly mention the infamous CG dragon scene.

Sound wise it's where this series holds up the most, given the repertoire of it's composer, and I'm no expert in this area, but the score itself was fitting enough for the scenes it played on, plus the remixing of some tracks from the media it's adapting also seem pretty decent sounding, the sound design is also fine on it's own too, as it should give a good audio setup some work to do, and that's all I'm gonna say on that front.

Now here's the meat and bones of it, in terms of it's narrative, I can safetly say that it's consistent enough on what it tries to tell it's audience, at least on this specific route, in terms of the main character's severe hero complex, the backstory and development of him and his love interest, and how they juxtapose each other in terms of them being a heroic figure, as well as becoming champions of justice, while also being technically two birds of the same feather as far as how their ideologies go, my complaints are as follow though, I wish there was enough time for the show to explain some of the intricacies of how magic and servants mechanically work, which is prompted by what is my biggest issue with this show, and that is what happens midway into the 2nd cour of the show, where somehow they fitted in a very crucial plot point from the Heaven's feel route, presumably due to them being uncertain about future adaptations, on the plus side though, I appreciate the inclusion of a proper confrontation between Archer and Berserker when it was only relegated to the outcome of such in an interlude upon reading the VN, and I was pleasantly surprised upon my 2nd viewing of this show.

In conclusion, the first thing I wanna say is that, if anyone is interested in getting into the fate anime adaptations, this is a good place to start, albeit with the following fan editted version of it, as it gets rid of what I complained about earlier, and it's the most spoiler free ticket, you will have to download the episodes though, as they are in english dub by default, you also can't change both the audio and subtitle track in GDrive if you wish to do so, some of the cuts can also be a bit jarring, but this is the best we all have, until ufotable decides to readapt this route and make the events that were trimmed here, flow much better: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aviwmFX5qdEiHAXAWr3SQzspXhvM5b2N 

My overall thoughts on this adaptation is that I like it on it's own and what it's about, as long as I don't preach about it's short comings, and ignore my greatest gripe with it, with all of that said, I believe this to be a decent experience, all things considered.

Is this show really that bad? And should newcomers start here?

I have quite a bit to say about this train wreck of an anime but I'll try to keep it brief for my own sake. Let me start off by saying this. I did enjoy it, maybe not as much as some other shows, but I enjoyed it none the less. That being said, the amount of things that ticked me off about it outweigh the things I enjoyed about it. To start off, the ENTIRE anime has undertones of sexism that make it extremely cringeworthy. I do acknowledge that it was made in 2006 but that really means little to nothing. There are more scenes than I can count in my own head that go along the lines of: Shirou and Saber are talking, Saber believes that a certain way of going about their combat strategy would work best if she is doing the fighting, Shirou throws a temper tantrum about how he's a man and it's his duty to protect a girl, even if she's a holy spirit. There is only one time I can think of where Saber actually revolts to the outrageous shit he says too, every other time it happens her and the anime just act as if it's normal. Why would you feel the need to protect a girl who can literally destroy a city with the swing of her sword?? You wouldn't. And yet they act like it's so normal. That leads me to my next point. We know Saber is perfectly capable of destroying cities. You could say "this is a different path, she could be less strong than she is in Blade works/Heaven's feel" But we see in this version she has the power to destroy not only the holy grail, but most of the destructive power of her "Excalibur" in it's entirety. We know also that she is a renowned swordsman and that she wields a sword that is unbreakable and has extreme power. Knowing ALL this, the anime still portrays Saber as a clumsy weak girl in need of saving in most scenarios. The show expects you to believe that the king of Britain, whom wields the power to destroy an omnipotent wish granting device, and once owned a scabbard that negates next to all incoming damage to the recipient, would trip on a root in the forest while running and blush at the fact Shirou grabbed her arm. This isn't only seen in Saber either, pretty much every servant, which are supposed to be extremely powerful beings summoned and breathing only to fight, are downgraded to an extent I didn't even know was possible. Now, I could go into how unheedingly sexual the show is in the way it goes about portraying Saber and Shirou's relationship, but it isn't enough to garner much criticism. There is a scene where Shirou walks in on Saber about to get into the bath, in pretty much any other self respecting anime it would just be that. An accident that is kind of funny. But instead of leaving it at that, she walks out into the hallway seemingly unfazed and there is a scene that lasts at least a full minute of her just talking to Shirou naked. Like why??? It really was just a minor detail that annoyed me but it still felt unneeded and forced. I've heard from a few different people that the story is a conglomeration of all three Fate/Stay Night paths, which I wouldn't have known before them telling me that but you can seriously tell if you pay attention. The plot feels all over the place, like it doesn't know where it wants to go and is trying to make every ending possible in the same story. Plot points that seemed like they were going to affect the story pretty greatly are usually brushed under the rug a few episodes later, only to introduce another problem that had nothing to do with the last one. There is no structure in this anime whatsoever and I mean it when I say it. You think you know what the ending is going to be, and then whatever you based that assumption on is usually gone within the next couple episodes. Let me end off by saying I think the anime as a whole had an AMAZING soundtrack, and for a 2006 anime I really wasn't extremely disappointed in the animation. Of course comparing it to it's counterparts, which are animated by Ufotable makes it pale in comparison. But it wasn't horrible either. I really enjoyed the downtime in between fights that gave us insight on what life is like for them when they aren't fighting in the holy grail war. And I really appreciated the fact that all of the voice actors stayed consistent from the more current Stay Night trilogy. They are really talented VA's and it made watching the anti climactic fight scenes a little bit more barrable. That's about all I have to say about this show, I think it would be amazing if Ufotable came back and animated Saber's path themselves and really did it justice, but I doubt that will happen. In total I think it was around a 6, no higher no lower.

It was pretty much horrible but I still enjoyed it kinda lol

_~~~Warning: Before anyone decides to watch this anime, I'd highly recommend that you read the visual novel of Fate/stay night first. I say this because the anime has major spoilers that ruin the reveals and events in the other two routes of Fate/stay night, those reveals being executed a thousand times better there than the catastrophe seen here. The visual novel itself is leagues above the anime in every way, giving so much more context and depth to the world and characters of Fate/Stay Night. Reading the visual novel prior to this is a must, I can't say this enough. Also keep in mind that 'vn' is 'visual novel' for short, as I'll be bringing it up a lot in this review._

img220(https://i.imgur.com/ZBsSxPA.jpg)

___Story - 6/10___
The story is brought down a real notch by the stupid decision to borrow and spoil parts of Unlimited Blade Works and Heavens Feel, while including downright laughable filler (referring to the whole fiasco with Caster and Sakura, or you could say the 'Caster arc' in the anime.) There wasn't enough of an explanation behind many important details in the story either, which in turn would only confuse people who haven't read the vn. Although a lot of these things make the story horrible, where the story really shined were the parts it adapted beautifully from the source material (specifically the last few episodes) and an episode where we were given an original behind the scenes fight that we never got to see happen in the vn (fans of Archer will be happy about that one, including me.)
___
img220(https://i.imgur.com/uNnwknf.jpg)

___Art/Animation - 5/10___

Not much to say on this one, really. The animation is nothing special for it's time; you could call it the bare minimum or simply okay, but sometimes it's horrible. I will give the art props for resembling the vn's art style by Takashi Takeuchi faithfully. 
___
img220(https://i.imgur.com/pCfFmY2.jpg)

___Sound - 9/10_
__
Kenji Kawai really outdid himself with the soundtrack, it's a clear contrast to everything else. Many songs from the vn were redone by him and fit the tone perfectly for the Fate Route, even with his own renditions of a few Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart songs added in the mix. Just take a listen. 
youtube(https://youtu.be/A4sWbAS4-do)
Opening and ending songs had me singing along with the lyrics every time they played. There's really nothing bad I can say about it except for some of the track placements in scenes not fitting or being a little repetitive. Sound design didn't stand out, it just does it's job. Voice acting is in tandem with the vn, no complaints there.
___
img220(https://i.imgur.com/KTLqa8J.jpg)

___Character - 4/10___

In the visual novel Shirous personality is made all the more clear to you. You're given a huge amount of insight into his mind, way of thinking, beliefs, and the importance of the relationship he had with his father; how it shaped him, as you play throughout the story from his perspective. Sadly in the anime there isn't enough time spent showing us any of it, not enough information for us the viewers to see the core of his being: only sprinkles compared to the feast you're given in the vn. This makes him seem like the common shonen protagonist: immature or stupid, when really his decisions are more than justified. It's the same idea again having Saber dragged in the mud. You just aren't given enough time with her to truly understand how much regret she holds in her heart and how much the past is weighing her down. If they had instead replaced the spoilers, borrowed scenes and unnecessary filler with screen time spent focusing on it's main characters psyches, this wouldn't be such a disappointing issue/missed opportunity. Fate/stay Nights anime adaption is more likely to give a bad first impression because of this, and is the biggest drawback when compared to the vn. You'd be able to appreciate the characters development and complexity to the fullest in the vn, but here? Don't even think about it. If there's anything good I have to say, it's how well they made the characters portray their emotions in some scenes, but that's about it. 
___
img220(https://i.imgur.com/XN9Ib68.jpg)

Despite all of it's flaws, I will admit I did still enjoy it for the things it did well. Some of the scenes with Shirou and Saber made me shed a few tears, and... Archer. The ending especially was done justice and again, made me shed some tears. I can't recommend this to anyone who hasn't read the vn, but if you have, there is still so much to salvage from the anime; The soundtrack, the ops and eds, the episodes that adapted the source material nicely and even added to it. There's a lot here to love in-between the unforgivable sin that is spoilers, poorly done original plot points and other junk. It's not as bad as people say it is, but it's certainly not where you should begin the fate/stay night journey. 


Lastly, pray that ufotable decides to give us a Fate/stay Night remake that fixes all the problems I mentioned. 
~~~

I'll say it time and time again, nothing beats the visual novel. 

_Este texto asume familiaridad con_ Fate/Stay night _y el Nasuverso en general, pero no incluye ningún tipo de_ spoilers.

__He perdido la cuenta del número de veces que he visto a alguien preguntar por dónde empezar a ver _Fate___. La respuesta más habitual suele ser que _Zero_... y es normal: además de ser un thriller bastante cojonudo, es la entrada más accesible a la franquicia por su tono serio y considerables valores de producción. Una vez la ves y te enganchas, le puedes poner mejor cara a los oscuros orígenes de la franquicia. Pero, de primeras, nadie quiere meterse 50 horas de una novela vendida como el juego en el que te puedes follar a la versión _genderbended_ del Rey Arturo.

img1000(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iF-PJuRa_ju1d-9qMcg4d5LCtJUIgmboO8f7RizLrZR9Ay7eplrdZ9lqYSYg4fVv8JjJgAi7WpBB3kYEoOIZqe-QYaN1jjnGPKVN1GQXdKFVkj74oFzsF0J2OlVixhguOGG4qc5F39mctcNc6cUupqHeWYG0X4N45SnX5x7RJ4_aeKUloiZieRtn/s16000/Saber.jpg)

Ciertamente, ufotable, Yuki Kajiura y compañía han hecho mucho por lavar la imagen de _Fate_ (sobre todo en Occidente), __vendiendo una estética intensa y mística__. Sin embargo, antes de que la adaptación de _Kara no Kyoukai_ cambiase la manera de entender visualmente el Nasuverso, cuando Stay night era un éxito solo dentro de su nicho, la obra ya había recibido un anime. Esta interpretación tiene mala fama entre los fanáticos de la franquicia por mezclar elementos de diferentes rutas, y es poco querida entre los espectadores más casuales por su __cierto olor a rancio__. Es una serie de 2006, __producida con lo justo y planteada como una obra independiente__, a lo mucho conectada con la novela visual cuyas ventas probablemente era su misión mejorar, pues tampoco había mucho más multimedia que vender.

No sería impopular tildarla de "un poco cutre", pero __es una cutrez que se siente coherente con el desparrame de ideas, algo estúpidas pero interesantes, de la obra original__. Al menos, más que la seguridad _blockbustera_ de lo que vendría después. Es la única versión sobre la que _Zero_ no proyecta su alargada sombra, y en ese sentido, resulta mucho más honesta y pura: la adaptación en la que puedes ver cómo Nasu era un universitario cuando se le ocurrió toda esta fumada. ¡Mirad esta [escuela](https://imgur.com/fKjXDW9)! ¿Qué grita más "años 2000" que fondos poco texturizados con rayos de sol en una capa separada? __Puedes saber exactamente la velocidad a la que están rotando solo con mirar este _frame___, y repiten el recurso en todos los exteriores.

img1000(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguplYyVW1E17EZaFDFkzfdT6O6AchIRJVJ1TEN1MwTV0yivnzUwyTNMTXBGouDL-G_hU0x-c-WUlx3NcKHINpk9F62kvoCKjx_roVi69HqQeQZ_y2vbocbkmgDFhr9v6Xdr3WBOK4T9QL_GBAN-nR8lLfXkUAyfzkNKgvxl0ak6Q7xXNeow18p-Hjc/s16000/High%20contrast.jpg)

_~~~En ufo le tienen demasiado miedo al éxito como para tirar de sombras negras.~~~_

La historia de Shirou y Saber es, de todas las rutas, __la más centrada en el romance__, un hilo conductor que guía la trama sin que gran cosa obstaculice su desarrollo o quite protagonismo a la pareja. En ese sentido, también __es la que responde de manera más directa a la fórmula tradicional del [nakige](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_novel#Nakige)__: primero, una introducción relativamente ligera con bastante comedia que va derivando a un intermedio meloso, seguido de una separación trágica y rematando (en ocasiones) con una reunión emotiva.

Reconozco que mis manos están llenas de quemaduras de tercer grado de tanto jugar con fuego. Ni siquiera es la primera vez que dedico un post a decir que la adaptación cuestionable y enterrada de una novela visual me gusta más de lo que debería... pero voy a arriesgarme a proclamar que, en general, __la _Stay night_ de Deen no es necesariamente que la _Unlimited Blade Works_ de ufotable__. Incluso apostaría por que muchos fans de la franquicia disfrutarían de su visionado como la única adaptación de la primera ruta, una que __ayuda a entender mejor el significado de todo lo que sucede en arcos posteriores__ e incluso en Zero. Con respecto a la película de UBW... bueno, esa igual sí que es un puto desastre.

Pero, volviendo a la serie de 2006.

Creo que el mal recuerdo de mucha gente viene del rechazo producido por un __protagonista tan idealista como Shirou__ y un __sistema de magia lleno de frustrantes excepciones__. Ambos elementos son ciertos. No creo que Emiya sea un mal personaje, pero por el propio concepto de la _visual novel_, no se desmarca de otros de su quinta hasta que en rutas posteriores se examinan a fondo sus ideales. Con respecto a la incomprensibilidad de sus reglas, parece que inventarse excepciones para justificar nuevos conceptos locos es deporte olímpico en TYPE-MOON. La primera vez que llegas al final de una ruta y la serie pretende que entiendas lo que es el Angra Mainyu, es normal querer pegarse un tiro en la sien. Pero, cuando llevas suficientes horas de franquicia a tus espaldas, se desarrolla un gusto culposo por tratar de entender todo el trasfondo posible de esta cosa. Puede que sea síndrome de Estocolmo, no lo niego, pero __hay una textura específica en esta narrativa confusa, solo posible en nichos tan concretos, sin la que Fate sería muchísimo menos idiosincrática__.

img1000(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfcNsIV8soODRQsBnJ1A8d_49P8_VjJ2utjRZIdi8XhIjyWG4WtvzcHzEbnjiP2T14QQdPjE0SEWSPyIomnEuOwKnRQxHkhCCI2IuO6HnDTrRmjr5mGGfvk37Jfktn3bQKHjXRrjGi9MA64ZvR3-PXCkYaroQR6EA21uq4ya6wkdFUYS6m43l70uc8/s16000/Archer.jpg)

Cambiando radicalmente de tema, puede que el apartado mejor considerado de la obra sea su banda sonora, compuesta por Kenji Kawai, y que no solo __responde fantásticamente a la estética dosmilera__ en comparación con la interpretación de [Fukasawa](https://anidb.net/creator/1595), sino que esgrime __una variedad de la que Kajiura, por muy buena compositora que sea, no puede presumir__.

Al final me he ido por las ramas sin articular un discurso claro. Puede que _Fate/Stay night_ no tenga lo necesario para ganar el premio a "Anime del Año", pero carga con mucha más idiosincrasia de la que se le atribuye. Está __injustamente olvidada como una adaptación prescindible e inferior a la época post-_Zero___, cuando, a mi entender, resulta más satisfactoria que la mayoría de _spin-offs_ que esta sobreexplotada franquicia ha recibido. __Es una cápsula del tiempo__, una _rara avis_ que nos habla del origen de esta colosal saga, que de tanto derivar y apilar contenido, ha retraído por completo su esencia inicial, cruda como ella sola, para bien o para mal, hasta volverla casi imperceptible.

img1000(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNvpQQApooiLtW9dKPxcswLVRjAnbuujuHzIl6-XS2OW1M7_KOJiQjktasKueidCfch57wyFzzCToeWMBIG1uZapgklW7YT5mcrYvpCXtklr4TtLrFxXYCtbLoYPToHf7l337rqj9X1ioFr3FqZq706IpKGU7t7nEJeXwenls6nCEt-2AbSPt1Ibjh/s16000/Are%20you%20my%20Master.jpeg)

Así que, si os interesa tener una imagen más auténtica de la serie que ya creíais conocer, perdéis el culo por el anime loco de los 2000s o sois unos fans acérrimos de la franquicia pero habéis evitado esta adaptación a toda costa... __¡dadle un tiento!__ Y si nunca os habéis puesto con el Nasuverso y os veis con ganas... ¿por qué no dejar que este sea vuestro primer paso? Para mí, y para mucha gente, fue el principio de todo.

Fate Series Watch Order

Fate/Zero

Fate/Stay Night

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works

Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei!

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei Herz!

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 3rei!