Fate/stay night Final Thoughts & Overall Impressions

[Haak]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

I'm just super picky, lol. But yes, the greatness comes from Nasu alone.

And ufotable. Don't forget about ufotable....

[LostHanyou]

Not sure if someone already brought this up, but ufotable recently announced they had another type-moon project in the making.

As long as it's ufotable, Fate/Zero or Heaven's Feel please. If not that then an actual Tsukihime.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Haak

And ufotable. Don't forget about ufotable....

They had a hand in the F/SN anime???

Originally Posted by LostHanyou

Not sure if someone already brought this up, but ufotable recently announced they had another type-moon project in the making.

As long as it's ufotable, Fate/Zero or Heaven's Feel please. If not that then an actual Tsukihime.

They have to do HF before Zero. But I would prefer the entire series re-done, like Fullmetal Alchemist.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

They had a hand in the F/SN anime??

¬_____¬

I'm a massive Kara no Kyoukai nuthugger if you hadn't noticed already...

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Haak

¬_____¬

I'm a massive Kara no Kyoukai nuthugger if you hadn't noticed already...

Yes, I know that, but no where did KnK come up in our conversation, so you threw me off with that.

[Rag]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

They had a hand in the F/SN anime???

They have to do HF before Zero. But I would prefer the entire series re-done, like Fullmetal Alchemist.

Dunno if you know this yet, but they announced a Fate/Zero adaptation (though that was quite a while ago).

*tears of joy*

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Rag

Dunno if you know this yet, but they announced a Fate/Zero adaptation (though that was quite a while ago).

*tears of joy*

There's a thread for it in the Upcoming Series forum if you want to join in and discuss it.

[roriconfan]

REVIEW TIME

Fate/Stay Night is a rather typical romance with a lot of random action and stories going on in the background. As long as you see it as a romance with a lot more going on that just some school and some teenagers, chances are you will love it. If you try to see it as an action or adventure show, chances are you will again love it… if you are a Bleach fan. Because the action may look fancy but it is completely simplistic and unreal in its execution. Sure, it’s all about superpowers and magic, anything is possible, and unreal is cool. That is exactly what makes it so superficial as well. Any swordfight in Serei no Moribito or Sword of the Stranger looks a billion times more interesting and as for superpowers and energy rays blowing up stuff, I am content with the brain-dead action of Dragonball Z.

Anyways, what I am trying to say is to not give credit to the show for its action. It is very juvenile and to frank, completely useless in the overall story; they just threw it in for fancy attraction. And sure, that makes it far more interesting than any typical school romance. But to its core F/SN is closer to a fantasy romance with low action. It is a very ideal scenario around very ideal characters and it works as wish fulfilment and escapism. Which is not a bad thing if it’s done right.

But it’s not done right. Well, not all the way at least. You see, the anime is an adaptation of a very famous visual novel, known for its complicating storyline and poetic way of writing. If you so happen to have played the game, it is 99.99% guaranteed that you will consider the anime adaptation as short and poor. The story is hardly presented in the poetic and complicating way of the game and you practically get a more childish version of the characters and the setting. Plus, the game has many different paths that affect the progress and the plot, and it also has several different outcomes and endings, all of which need several hours of reading texts and picking choices. It is far more interesting, artistic and interactive. The anime on the other hand just picks one of the routes, takes out a lot of context, and poorly mixes in some events from other routes that only make the overall plot looser and watered down.

Then again I will be honest to admit how F/SN is by far the best visual novel adaptation ever made. After so many years and so many adaptations of so many other visual novels and videogames in general, it still ranks as the best in the field. Because it is watchable unlike the case of EVERYTHING ELSE ever adapted so far.

As long as execution is concerned, the anime is just fine at making you care about the characters, its story is easy to follow and there is a plethora of weird creatures, weird powers and weird name references to various mythologies from all around the world. Sure, it is a fine fantasy story with interesting personalities and a romance that transcends time… and gender. As long as you are content with that, you will love the show.

On the other hand, if you are one of those viewers who looks at the finer things of a show, chances are you will be disappointed with what is going on in a deeper level. For example, the core story begins as a gathering of powerful fighters and magicians, titled Masters and Servants, all of which are destined to fight until only one remains, so he or she can have any wish granted. Well ok, sounds corny but it is an objective. The thing is, you clearly see how for most of the show the Masters and the Servants are not defeating one another even when they can do it right away. As if they don’t care about winning or as if the scriptwriter is clearly showing you that he needs to prolong the showdown as to fill a whole season. Thus you feel that the show moves really slow and usually involves completely useless skirmishes that are there just as shallow entertainment.

Plus, the lead character has broken powers that give him an almost unfair advantage over the others. I mean, first he gets resurrected by another Master when she would normally let him die. Then he summons his own Servant without even knowing how and gets saved. Then he gets slashed hard but survives because he got fast regeneration, then he is spared by other Servants for no reason, then he gets trained by a Servant when in effect than lowers the chances of his Master to win the war. The same happens to all other main characters. Plus, everybody else seems completely blinded to what is going on with the war, despite the fact that on each skirmish many roads and buildings get trashed. All that simply make the story to feel laughable in terms of realism or convince-ability.

As for the production values, it’s not like they are awesome; there are still many scenes with static characters, badly designed body proportions, and an OST that sound nice but you will forget soon afterwards.

Turns out that the best part of the show is its characters. They are given far more attention and emersion than most others out there and the major characters are easily becoming likable and memorable. Saber, Archer and Rin may steal the show but the others are great too on their own. The problem lies when their motives feel messed up when they interact with one another. For example, why is Rin helping Emiya if they are meant to fight each other? Why is everybody going easy on one another for the same reason? Even Saber, after her love for Emiya starts to come out she seems to turn from a dynamic uncaring woman into a girly romantic passive sheep. Feels like a very bad development if you ask me. We even made a joke about it by calling her Fate/Stay Kitchen. Not to mention how in the game she needs sex to refill her powers. WTF??? All that are nothing but otaku baits and no mater how cool they feel, they are still not doing their characters much justice.

But beyond that, ok, the characters do get lots of development and colorization along the way and we do get a good finale. It’s just that by that time the romantic part feels a lot more important than the war and getting the Holly Grail feels like a minor extra when it began as the main objective. Not that it’s a bad thing but it does feel weird how it turned around. And hell, how conveniently was the murder of Emiya’s father revealed in the finale? And what, was that supposed to be a great showdown? Felt pretty simplistic to me.

Is it a good anime? Yes, but not exactly a masterpiece. It sure ranks as the best visual novel adaptation and has a very interesting cast and a very powerful romantic subplot that overshadows even the main objective. Still, several storytelling elements play out slow and too childishly to elevate the show to truly grand heights.

I normally would give it a 5.5 but the technicals elevate it to 7.5

[team_Dai-Gurren]

I must say I liked the anime. that being said, I also must say I did NOT play the game, so now I will forever be in love with the Shirou x Saber depiction from the show.....the story drew me in, just the wonder of summoning a legendary hero, and that hero happening to be king arthur ( and a female), and you also have badass powers that are so badass u dont even know about them......but im also a sucker for a romance (especially when it transcends time and space), so seeing the end really pissed me off and made me sad...
If I were to change one thing about Fate/Stay Night it would be the whole "main hero saves teh day in exchange for losing the girl thing"....I saw it in Gurren Lagann and i didnt like it there, so it only makes sense id hate it here too....plus, shirou COULD HAVE kept saber around if he hadnt of wasted his command spells like he did.

1st spell - he used it to summon saber when he took a 4 story tumble from riders attack - could have been averted if he hadnt been a dumbass and went to the school alone in the first place.
2nd spell - he used it to stop saber from using her EXCALIBUR attack during the fight with berserker ( i believe)....he could have just, u kno, told her to stop, or got in her way so she couldnt use it ( he DID summon Caliburn two seconds later)
3rd spell - he used it to make her destroy the holy grail.

Now, If shirou had even saved ONE extra spell, he could have kept saber in his time after destroying the grail by maintaining the master/servant pact thru his remaining spell(s).....much like rin does with saber in one of the other routes when she becomes her master.....that way, no sadness, no goodbye saber, no romance lost, and no goddamn cute lion staring me in the face at the end of the credits reminding me of the girl who will never come back.....but hey, thats just how id have done it if i was callin the shots ( i guess thats what fanfiction is for)


Plus, how cool is it to accomplish your goals, have them backfire on you, get killed and then rezzed as a counter guardian, fulfill your goals, albeit in a twisted way that leaves you full of contempt and disillusionment, then become so distraught with your fate that the only thing keeping you alive is the slim chance that you could be called back to the exact era necessary to try to kill YOURSELF to create a fucking PIME TARADOX in order to DELETE FUCKING EVERYTHING that is your life from ever existing......now thats drama if you ask meh

[GDB]

Originally Posted by team_Dai-Gurren

I must say I liked the anime. that being said, I also must say I did NOT play the game, so now I will forever be in love with the Shirou x Saber depiction from the show.....the story drew me in, just the wonder of summoning a legendary hero, and that hero happening to be king arthur ( and a female), and you also have badass powers that are so badass u dont even know about them......but im also a sucker for a romance (especially when it transcends time and space), so seeing the end really pissed me off and made me sad...
If I were to change one thing about Fate/Stay Night it would be the whole "main hero saves teh day in exchange for losing the girl thing"....I saw it in Gurren Lagann and i didnt like it there, so it only makes sense id hate it here too....plus, shirou COULD HAVE kept saber around if he hadnt of wasted his command spells like he did.

If you don't intend to play the game, at least YouTube the "Réalta Nua - Last Episode". You'll enjoy it since you like Saber/Shirou.

[team_Dai-Gurren]

ah, I very much enjoyed that ending
fitting rewards for both of them that could not be rewarded in their lifetimes
*manly tears* i havent had such tears since Lord Kamina died

[Cherry_Lover]

Originally Posted by team_Dai-Gurren

1st spell - he used it to summon saber when he took a 4 story tumble from riders attack - could have been averted if he hadnt been a dumbass and went to the school alone in the first place.

What other choice did he have? She can't turn invisible, and the school would not look kindly on some random girl wandering around.

2nd spell - he used it to stop saber from using her EXCALIBUR attack during the fight with berserker ( i believe)....he could have just, u kno, told her to stop, or got in her way so she couldnt use it ( he DID summon Caliburn two seconds later)

Then Saber dies. It's a choice in the game, and if you choose just to shout at her to stop she does it anyway and then vanishes.

Now, If shirou had even saved ONE extra spell, he could have kept saber in his time after destroying the grail by maintaining the master/servant pact thru his remaining spell(s).....much like rin does with saber in one of the other routes when she becomes her master.....that way, no sadness, no goodbye saber, no romance lost, and no goddamn cute lion staring me in the face at the end of the credits reminding me of the girl who will never come back.....but hey, thats just how id have done it if i was callin the shots ( i guess thats what fanfiction is for)

Shirou lacks enough prana to support Saber without the Grail so, no, that would not have worked.

Seriously, you need to play the game before trying to make such assertions, because the anime does not contain enough information.

[sharingan0619]

Spoiler:

only in the UBW good ending does saber stay, and thats only after the help from tohsaka and shirou together providing the mana.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by team_Dai-Gurren

Now, If shirou had even saved ONE extra spell, he could have kept saber in his time after destroying the grail by maintaining the master/servant pact thru his remaining spell(s).....much like rin does with saber in one of the other routes when she becomes her master.....that way, no sadness, no goodbye saber, no romance lost, and no goddamn cute lion staring me in the face at the end of the credits reminding me of the girl who will never come back.....but hey, thats just how id have done it if i was callin the shots ( i guess thats what fanfiction is for)

Even if Shirou had done that, ignoring the question of whether or not he would have even been able to maintain Saber on his own because of his limited mana, the simple fact is that isn't what Saber wanted. She had a goal to accomplish, and in the end she managed to do it. In her time with Shirou, she got to live the dream she had abandoned when she chose to become king; she didn't want anything else by that point. There was no reason for her to stay, because she had done everything she had wanted to do.

[sharingan0619]

She never accomplished her goal. She THOUGHT she did....but....

Spoiler:

in the fate route, only the outer container of the holy grail was destroyed, like in the last war. It'll be back in a couple years. Only in the HF route does the job really get done.

[Cherry_Lover]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

Even if Shirou had done that, ignoring the question of whether or not he would have even been able to maintain Saber on his own because of his limited mana, the simple fact is that isn't what Saber wanted. She had a goal to accomplish, and in the end she managed to do it. In her time with Shirou, she got to live the dream she had abandoned when she chose to become king; she didn't want anything else by that point. There was no reason for her to stay, because she had done everything she had wanted to do.

Well, that is perhaps true, but I'm pretty sure that, if he could have found a way for her to remain, she'd have taken it. For his sake if nothing else.

Originally Posted by sharingan0619

She never accomplished her goal. She THOUGHT she did....but....

Spoiler:

in the fate route, only the outer container of the holy grail was destroyed, like in the last war. It'll be back in a couple years. Only in the HF route does the job really get done.

Spoiler:

Yes, but it's been explicitly stated in canon that it gets dismantled permanently in ten or so years.

[sharingan0619]

Originally Posted by Cherry_Lover

Well, that is perhaps true, but I'm pretty sure that, if he could have found a way for her to remain, she'd have taken it. For his sake if nothing else.

Spoiler:

Yes, but it's been explicitly stated in canon that it gets dismantled permanently in ten or so years.

well there was a way,

Spoiler:

drink the mud oozing out nastily from the holy grail

Although shirou could never have made her do that.

And yeah,

Spoiler:

waver velvet

come backs and does it.

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by sharingan0619

well there was a way,

Spoiler:

drink the mud oozing out nastily from the holy grail

That would have failed either way.

Spoiler:

In one of the paths for another game (Unlimited Codes, I think?) Gilgamesh forces Saber to drink the mud and she's immediately corrupted by it. So even if she drank from the Holy Grail, it wouldn't have saved her as she was.

[sharingan0619]

Originally Posted by RadiantBeam

That would have failed either way.

Spoiler:

In one of the paths for another game (Unlimited Codes, I think?) Gilgamesh forces Saber to drink the mud and she's immediately corrupted by it. So even if she drank from the Holy Grail, it wouldn't have saved her as she was.

REALLY??!
which one is that?

[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by sharingan0619

REALLY??!
which one is that?

If I'm right, I think it was the end of Gil's path in Fate/Unlimited Codes.