As I mentioned in my Fate/Zero review, I tried to watch this anime a few months back only to be incredibly bored by it and dropping it after 5 episodes. For those who don’t know, I don’t normally stick to the regular reviewer’s policy of finishing an anime or book that I don’t want to finish. If I can’t find anything of value in a piece of entertainment that will take up a lot of my time, I don’t normally hesitate when I decide to drop it. That also happens to be the reason why most of the reviews I will publish are positive ones, or ones that were so entertainingly bad that I was able to enjoy it. Well, this is a special case. Since the new ufotable Fate/Stay Night remake is going to be released in October and it’s the anime that I’m most excited for this year, I figured I might as well go back and watch the original despite having dropped it a few months ago. So, am I glad that I watched it? Sit back, relax, and read as I review the original Fate/Stay Night.
The Setup:
So, to give a little bit of background, Fate/Stay Night is an anime based off of a Type Moon visual novel of the same name, or, by gigguk’s terms, it was based off of a hentai game. With that being said, Fate/Stay Night takes place in Fuyuki City, Japan, in the same city that Fate/Zero did. The protagonist of this particular story is Shiro Emiya, a boy who survived a tragic fire as a child and was saved by his late adoptive father Kiritsugo Emiya ten years ago, who taught him all about being a hero and saving the innocent. Now, Shiro lives alone, with his guardian/English teacher Taiga checking in on him every once in a while and his friend Sakura Mato helping out around the house. Everything is all fine and dandy until a string of mysterious murders began occurring and Shiro witnesses something he really shouldn’t have: two men, one with a spear and the other with two blades, fighting each other to the death with supernatural power. The man fighting with the spear then proceeds to kill Shiro (no, this is not a spoiler) because it is against the rules for a normal human to witness such an event. Thankfully, a girl named Rin Tosaka saves him with her powers, and leaves him in the school. After waking up, a disoriented Shiro heads home, only to encounter the man who attempted to kill him earlier. In defense, Shiro summons a woman who goes by the name of Saber, and she promptly defeats the other man. You then learn that this is all a part of the 5thHoly Grail War, a battle royal to the death between masters, who summon servants from either legend or history to try to win the Holy Grail. In order to stop this death game, Shiro decides to partake in the Grail War, but only to destroy the grail and prevent further casualties. Normally I would say that this is an excellent setup, but the main problem I had with it is the fact that the anime really begins on episode 2, and you have to watch a good percentage of flat-out filler to get there. Shouldn’t the setup be taken care of within the first episode? You aren’t going to hook an audience looking for an epic fantasy adventure if your first episode is watching high school kids be high school kids and getting kind of annoyed by Shiro’s inability to think for himself. Speaking of characters…
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| In Fate/Stay Night, a master has to summon an epic hero from history or legend to fight in the Holy Grail War |
The Characters:
I’m just going to cut to the chase and say that I really do not like Shiro. He’s the most straightforward character that I’ve ever seen, and is truly irritating to me because of it. His gimmick is that every innocent person must be saved from danger and that he’s willing to sacrifice his life for the cause of saving another’s life. That’s all fine and dandy, but did they have to make him such an idiot? He literally has no regard for his own life and practically throws himself in danger so he can save people when they can fight on their own. I think that the worst part about him is the fact that this is all that there is to him. He wants to save others because he couldn’t when he survived the fire, and it makes him happy. Good for you, Shiro, but beyond that he has no depth to him whatsoever. And then there are times where he completely contradicts himself. So, he wants to protect the innocent, but he’s not afraid to kill anyone who’s apparently evil? Um, okay… but what if the apparently evil person has a different motivation that’s pure at heart? For example, if you encountered Kariya Mato, would you kill him knowing that he’s committed some terrible acts, even if his intentions were good? Would you kill Lelouch vi Britannia, because he killed a lot of innocent people even if he were searching for peace? In fact, according to this logic, Kiritsugo should’ve been killed! He committed some truly awful crimes in Fate/Zero, and Shirou looked up to him as a father! I don’t believe that you can solve a problem as easily as Shirou seems to and protect everyone, and it just seems unrealistic. You have to make sacrifices and learn from them, but Shirou remains static throughout the anime, and even when he does have to sacrifice something, he’s like, “Yeah, it was for the best. I’m so selfless that I don’t even care about the fact that my heart’s been broken.” Dude, you just sacrificed someone that you loved in order to accomplish your goal and you feel no remorse or even heartbreak due to the action? How unrealistic is THAT?! I know that I’m probably looking way too deeply into this, but Shirou’s character is so black and white simplistic that it just bugs me, and the fact that he can be a hypocrite just annoys me even more. As for the other characters, they hold up relatively well. My favorite character is without a doubt Saber. I really like how there’s a majestic atmosphere surrounding her, and how you can feel humbled by her presence. Her personality is also very well written and her backstory is fantastic. Though, to be fair, the only reason I understood it was because of Fate/Zero, but I’ll be covering that more in the story section. I also really liked Rin, though to be fair she really isn’t focused on all that much. She basically got downgraded to just being a side character, which I wasn’t very happy with. All the other characters are pretty good too, with standouts among them being Archer, Rin’s servant, and the villain characters, but the main problem that I have with the character cast as a whole is that we only get to see Shiro’s side of everything. In Fate/Zero, there was no true main character, and we saw what every character’s goals were and what they wanted to do when they obtained the Holy Grail. We learned different ideologies, different backstories, learned about each character and potentially related to them, and overall it just made the character cast interesting because you could choose who you wanted to side with. In Fate/Stay Night, I felt like Shiro’s ideals were being shoved in my face, and if I didn’t believe in them than I was a bad person. Yes, I know protecting the innocent is good, but shouldn’t you also consider how to save them without getting yourself killed instead of recklessly sacrificing your only life? Now, I’m not saying that I dislike having a main character in a Battle Royal, but when you have a setup like the Fate franchise, where you see a whole ton of heroic philosophy thrown around by famous heroes from history and legend, you probably want to see more of that instead of listening to some naïve kid, right? That also happens to be one of my main problems with the character cast: why are all of the Holy Grail masters HIGH SCHOOL KIDS?! Considering how dangerous this Grail War is, especially after viewing Fate/Zero, why the heck does the Holy Grail think it’s a good idea to select HIGH SCHOOLERS to participate in its death game? At least in something like The Hunger Games there’s a pretty good reason for it, but in this anime everyone’s all fine and dandy about the fact that HIGH SCHOOLERS are participating in a death game. You know, there’s no waythat it’ll harm anyone, right? No scaring kids for life, no making them grow attachments to their servants because they’re young, no making stupid decisions due to lack of experience, I don’t think ANYTHING can go wrong with that! Now, I know some might criticize me for saying this stuff while I, myself, am currently in high school, but it takes one to know one, and I don’t think that high schoolers are cut out for something like the Holy Grail War. Heck, I don’t even think that adults are cut out for something like this! Yeah, it’s kind of nitpicking, but it still bothered me enough so that I had to mention it.
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| From left to right: Shirou, Saber, Archer, Rin |
The Story:
I thought the story was engaging to some extent, because it had some problems with tone and mixing of genres. There were two types of moments in this show: the funny and lighthearted ones, and the dark and suspenseful ones. While on their own these two types are entertaining, when you put the two together, you’ve got some issues when it comes to balanced storytelling, as the tones are as similar as a blue whale is to a mouse. I also can’t help but criticize the insane amount of questions in this anime that were barely explained or just flat-out glossed over. In fact, I’m sure that if I hadn’t watched Fate/Zero beforehand, I would probably be pretty confused. Everything from Rin and Sakura’s dark history to Saber’s backstory to who the villains are and what their motivations are to information about Kirtsugo to even the background about the Holy Grail War is about is all explained better in Fate/Zero, and some of those elements weren’t even relevant to the main plot! In Fate/Stay Night, they literally don’t address some of these elements to make way for the totally important character that is Shiro, and it just left the story incomplete. In fact, there were moments in the show where I was seriously thinking, “Hey, remember when this was covered in Fate/Zero? Remember how much better Fate/Zero is than this anime? I really want to be watching Fate/Zero right now instead of this show!” That’s not a good thing when you want to watch a show’s prequel that came out after the original did and explained everything that was left ambiguous in the original. Another problem that I had with the story were its scenes that were pretty obviously based off of adult scenes from the visual novel. I mean, in episode 15, Shirou, Saber, and Rin were all trapped in a shack, with one bed, and Shirou had to share some of his magic circuits with Saber, and then when Shirou’s inside Saber’s head (I’m assuming) there’s a dragon. I’ll get to that. Seriously, though; I’m pretty sure that you could’ve come up with a better way to integrate a scene like that without making it so obvious.
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| There are some moments like this... |
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| ...and then there are moments like this. |
The Animation and Sound:
The animation, especially for its time, is great. Considering this is from Studio Deen, whose animation can be…strange…but they pretty much nailed it with this anime. The movement in the action scenes is fluid, I liked the camera angles, and the lighting was sometimes a bit over-the-top, but still a nice touch. If I had to point out my favorite aspect about the animation, however, it would probably be the facial expressions. I really liked how you could tell what a character was feeling just by the subtle or not-so-subtle facial expression without outwardly telling it to the audience, and it’s a nice cherry on top of a generally good ice cream sundae. Then there's the dragon in episode 15. Just...watch my reaction to that episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NAxA6jNdNQ
As for the sound, the OST was pretty good. My favorite song is definitely Emiya, which you can find on Youtube (a link will be featured). As for openings and endings, the first opening will get stuck in your head rather easily, the endings are okay, and the second opening is god-awful. I absolutely hated the second song, it just sounded wrong in so many ways. Finally, should you watch this in English or Japanese? Well, with this one you should probably just go with your personal preference. The English version is okay, with the best performance being Kate Higgins as Saber, but other than that the voice acting is average. If you like dubs, this probably won’t convince you otherwise, but if you like subs, this won’t change your opinion of English dubs as a whole.
As for the sound, the OST was pretty good. My favorite song is definitely Emiya, which you can find on Youtube (a link will be featured). As for openings and endings, the first opening will get stuck in your head rather easily, the endings are okay, and the second opening is god-awful. I absolutely hated the second song, it just sounded wrong in so many ways. Finally, should you watch this in English or Japanese? Well, with this one you should probably just go with your personal preference. The English version is okay, with the best performance being Kate Higgins as Saber, but other than that the voice acting is average. If you like dubs, this probably won’t convince you otherwise, but if you like subs, this won’t change your opinion of English dubs as a whole.
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| Animation and sound are above average, especially for its time...with the exception of that one dragon. |
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works
Along with the original series, a movie based off of the Bladeworks arch in the original visual novel was also released. I don't think that it's really worth its own review because its story and characters are practically the same as the anime series, so I thought I'd just voice my thoughts about this movie briefly in this review. As for the movie itself, I thought it was better than the anime, but not by much. While it did have some decent character development concerning Shiro and Archer, everything about the movie just felt rushed and wasn't handled very well. I'd recommend watching it over the anime series, but you might have to watch it two times to really process what was going on in the movie.
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| While better than the anime, the movie still leaves much to be desired |
Final Judgment:
Overall, I thought this anime was a waste of potential. While the characters (except Shirou) were enjoyable and the story was entertaining, it just felt like something was missing, something that would have made this series epic beyond belief. I can’t quite pinpoint what that element is exactly, but I think it may just have to do with the fact that while there are unique ideas and concepts in this anime, Fate/Zero just handled them better. I give the original Fate/Stay Night a 2 out of 5, and a recommendation to just wait for October when the new remake comes out. I can’t guarantee that it’ll be amazing, but I get the feeling that it will at least be better than this. Maybe I was a little too harsh on it when comparing it to Fate/Zero, but considering how they tell incredibly similar stories, I can't help it. But, like always, it is up to you to decide your own opinion.ScoreCard:
Fate/Stay Night (Sub): http://www.hulu.com/fate-stay-night
Fate/Stay Night (Dub): http://www.englishanimes.com/watch/fate-stay-night-eng-dub-online/
Emiya OST: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSm6nnwesV4
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| So excited for the remake...so excited. |
Fate/Zero
Epic, captivating, and one of my all-time favorites, this anime takes the concept of the Holy Grail War and creates one of the best stories, characters, and presentations of said characters and story that I've ever seen. If you haven't seen Fate/Zero yet, you're missing out.
Shakugan no Shana
Another anime about a normal boy who's been summoned into a dangerous supernatural world, this anime has great action, characters, and is a fantastic fantasy series. Go ahead and check it out.
Book review next week! Here's the hint: I don't think that the supernatural is this author's strong point...
See you then!
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