Fate/Stay Night

When I started watching the show I said "Oh, no! It's as corny as Elfen Lied and not even that bloody!". And indeed, the setup is almost identical, with the single young boy living in a big house all by himself, then suddenly getting involved into a fantastic adventure while sexy young girls come live with him.

But this is where the resemblance stops. The love story is almost as subtle and intense as the one in Inuiyasha, while the childish remarks and behaviors are very few. The magical setup is a bit corny, because it's about seven people, with seven servants, fighting for the Holy Grail, all servants being someone famous, half of all masters being from the same school, rules of engagement, etc. However, this soon dims and fades from the beauty of the drawing and of the script.

I actually watched all 24 episodes in one day and, without comparing it with animes that I liked more, but were from other genres, I have to say that I was very pleased.

In the beginning of the series, the main character Shirou Emiya was enjoying his normal school life. But soon against his wish, he had to enter the Fifth Holy Grail War, where combatants fight with magic to have their desires or wishes granted. Shirou soon faced attacks by his competitors but was saved by Saber, who Shirou summoned accidentally. Saber would then resolve to be his servant and would fight beside him in the Holy Grail War. Shirou soon was determined to join the war as he realizes that if he wins the war, he could avoid many disasters.

The storyline looks simple for this kind of a theme. However, the kind of the characters that we see in the anime really suit to this theme. Whether we talk about Saber's kuudere personality or Rin's tsundere personality, they all fit very well in the story. There are multiple and various types of villains in this show. You would really enjoy the things they have to offer, whether we talk about their cool abilities or the overall action scene or their backstories. The action scenes and the animation both are mesmerizing. Perhaps, among the villains, the one that stands out is Gilgamesh. His powers, arrogance, cruelty and mad obsession for Saber would make sure that you despise this person from the core of your heart. Saber is also one of the best female characters I have ever come across. Some new Otaku may find it surprising that such female character existed even during Pre-Attack on Titan time period.

The anime also has a good soundtrack. It's been more than a decade since I have watched this and the opening and the ending songs used to be my favorite back then. I totally recommend this anime.

It has its flaws with keeping consistency with majority of the characters present but it does a well done job beong consistent in the atmospheric and emotional impact department, If you care so much I would recommend you watch this first then watch the remake show Fate: Unlimited Blade Works, the tone is completely different and characters are behaving differently as well, I'm almost halfway through the remake and it tries so hard to fix the mistakes the original did and I appreciate it so far even though they made it feel more anime and cheesy the original is more grim compared to it, so it's your call if you want to watch both or whatever.

VN Route Rating: 8.0

The Fate series consists of three-story routes. I am rating the source material (Visual Novel) for this route, not this anime adaptation. The Fate/stay night Fate route was great, the lore was executed well and nearly all major questions were answered. The dark undertone of the story was well done and the ending was satisfyingly realistic. It was unpredictable and there were little to no plot armors. Cons: it had a slow start, there were large wordy info dumps, there were a little too many flashbacks and it doesn't have a good anime adaptation. Other than that this is a solid story.

When I first heard about this series on AnimeTV,I have to say that out of all the shows that I have seen,this one tops it all off. I had to see this show,and that is what I really did. When I got the first volume of this show,it was the best. I really liked the animation,and all the fight scenes were awesome. I have to say that my favorite characters in the show were Saber,and Archer and of course I also like Illya. And of course,all the episodes on the volumes were interesting,and very cool. Another thing I have to say about the series is Michael McConnohie(famous for Transformers,and others) playing the voice of Berserker. He does have a cool character. And I even watched the entire series all over again before watching the final volume. So if you to see something good,then see this show,it's the best.