Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works

This show is compared to the big popular animes underrated. Forget about the couple reviews that complain about the plot or the characters. The artstyle and the level of detail in all animations is by no doubt simply magnificent, especially for its time. The fights are fast paced and with the camera flow from different angles and some slow-mos visually top notch.

The plot is very decent, much improved written than the original, which wasnt bad either. You can almost never foreshadow whats coming next. Due to the core of the story beeing a competion between seven magicians and their (usually) on the front fighting servants over some holy grail, it is not clear who the bad guys are. Despite having some unlikable characters with clear bad intentions they can all be distinguished in what their motivation of winning the grail is (some dont care about it, some have yet to find out or change their mind, some master and servant agree with each other, some dont).

The character build up is fantastic, from having way better introductions than in the original with improved writing and dialogue. Its not the stereotypical anime with the main characters beeing the strongest and winning every fight, they especially at the beginning get their ass beaten up quite frequently, even though you know that there is yet more to come from them. Some characters do surprise you in terms of what their abilities are, with ,what i liked the most, early subtle hints that they might be more dangerous than their appearance suggests, what adds to the writing level.

You definitely will have a great time watching this anime and probably the whole series, if you like.

~*This show starts at episode 00 NOT 01, currently 00-25 & the OVA ep SunnyDay(watch last)*~ Wow...just wow.. I heard while this was airing back in 2014 that the animation was "the greatest thing thats currently made" & how "amazing & awesome" this was, but I still put this off for two years somehow just thinking in the back of my mind that it has to just be over hype because of its retarded massive fan base. Holy Jesus was I wrong. Right off the bat the first thing I was thinking was "WOW this animation pretty amazing", but I expected it to be equal to Fate/Zero or really any Aniplex title(they're all done very well) but that was just in the beginning(first 5minutes/less?). After it got to the first fight scene I literally bugged out, hands down the best animation of ANY anime to date, the budget for this series HAD to break records for an anime i'm 100% certain. So lets start off, the story is just WOW way better than I expected (fyi I was completely ignorant to any of the story except its prequel Fate/Zero). It surprised me quite a few times and held my attention 100% of the time. Every single episode from 0 & onward didn't skip a beat. You finished one and NEEDED to see the next. The music is just so great, the ops & eds are simply amazing, match perfect. The music in the show matches flawlessly, so much effort & time was put into every single inch of this show. Even things that are so minor you don't even notice every detail has had the time taken out to make it perfection. The English dub is perfect, every voice fits amazing & you can feel the passion in every bit of it. The character designs & artwork are breath taking, no better way to put it. 100% of every detail has been taken for everything. & as I already stated the animation is something that has set a new bar of achievement for the anime world. Now I do have to say there's aspects of Fate/Zero I really enjoyed that were lacking from this like the older group of characters & no hesitation dark actions. But thats not really a complaint as this is the sequel & theirs nothing that can really be done about that, I just thought I should point it out. Definitely watch Fate/Zero before this, even if your not the biggest Fate/Zero fan i'm 100% sure you'll love this. Even though it lacks a bit of what Zero has it brings to the table a lot that Zero didn't have. & If you are a big fan of Zero, you'll be in heaven.

5/5 Why? Perfection. This is what every anime should stride to be. This show set a new bar in the anime world. The animation is THE BEST you will currently find, every single episode is theatrical level quality with no half measures the entire show. The story is amazing, nothing to add. The pacing is perfection. The character design & artwork are breath taking, every little detail has been added to everything. You can feel the passion the creators put into this. The music is amazing, everything matches perfectly. The English dub is amazing. I'm not even that big of a Fate fan and I have to say this is hands down one of the greatest well done anime I've ever seen. You WILL like this, I don't care who you are. Quality is quality.

Many people watch this show for the fight scenes. And while it has some of the coolest and best animated fights ever, I cant help but feel these guys are really missing out. The main theme in Fate/stay night is "conquering oneself". There are three alternate versions of fate stay night. The first one Fate, is the "oneself as an ideal". The second one Unlimited Blade Works, is "struggling with oneself as an ideal". The third one Heaven's Feel, is "the friction with real and ideal".

Kinoko Nasu (the writer of fate/stay Night) is SO GOOD at interpreting human experience in a story. Sometimes to the point that it gets difficult to keep track of everything. Cough*Garden Of Sinners*Cough.

Anyway my point is the characters (expecaily their morals and motivations) are the best part of anything Kinoko Nasu makes. There is anyways much more depth in the characters than you probably realize.

If you like this show then watch Fate/Zero right away. Kiritsugu Emiya is by far my favorite character from anything. Just watch it.

True to its hype, Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works is a must-see of the year whether you're a fan of the visual novel or coming into the series as a newbie. There's much to adapt, but the first half captures that very well with the setup. To say the least, this show has that sort of momentum every episode. It is set up and then delivery, with the series capitalizing on every opportunity. Along the way, we also get breaks with useful info dumps, humorous gags, and relationship building. The action will no doubt leave you in awe thanks to Ufotable's technical qualities. Still, there are some characters you may like and some you'll despise; more people will probably have that decision by the second four of the show. Characterization is not a masterpiece though and neither does the story offer perfection. There are parts in this series that will sometimes waver off with its mood and peculiar balance. Still, there's a saying that third time's a charm, and Ufotable hit the bull's eye on this show. Now, the second half of the series awaits.

This show is absolutely fantastic. The animation, voice acting, and story are all great. Its really interesting, and I'd highly recommend it.