Fate/Stay Night

author: Type/Moon
review type: anime
status: completed
genre: Shounen, Fantasy


Synopsis

Fuyuki City has a big secret unknown to many except a secret group of people. It is the battleground for the Holy Grail. A violent war among competing magi; each staking their very own lives to win the covert prize of having one's wishes granted.

The format is simple.

Each sorcerer is called a Master. They are aided by a spiritual warrior called a Servant. Each Master can only summon one Servant from the following classes: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Rider, Assassin, and Caster. The Servants are legendary warriors through time and they possess special powers called Noble Phantasms. There is one catch to obtaining the holy grail; only the Servant can touch, hold and bring it to the Master; which means a partnership is required to win the war.

The story is a biography of the life of a certain Shiro Emiya; whose parents died due to huge fire that set Fuyuki City on fire. He was found as a child by Kiritsugu Emiya; who decided to adopt him. They both maintained a quiet relationship until one day Shiro discovers that Kiritsugu is a mage. Enthusiastically, Shiro asks him if he could also be one. But to his dismay, Kiritsugu firstly forewarns him that the life of a magi is perilous and that he can't be one because he does not possess any talent for magic.

Kiritsugu dies mysteriously, but before that happened he adviced Shiro that if he is bent on helping people, he should then muster up whatever he has and master it in secret because of the apparent danger. At this point, Shiro does not know the secret Fuyuki City is keeping.

But there was a turn of events, when one day as he was cleaning up the archery dojo. He stumbles upon two Servants; Archer and Lancer duelling it out in the school couryard. Lancer notices Shiro, pursues him and stabs him in the heart. Shiro was fortunately rescued by schoolmate and fellow magi Rin Tohaka; who's also the owner of Archer.

Confused, Shiro returns to his home, only to encounter Lancer again. And just before Lancer could finish him off, he is warded off by a figure in armor who introduces herself as Saber.




Rempits Vrooming Review

I would say Fate/Stay night has two good things that make it a worthwhile watch. Firstly, would be the Servants or heroes. The fight scenes were awesome and they all had a sense of valor. Each were original in nature. I would think Type/Moon did quite a neat job in creating them and sticking to parts of history or legend that defined such characters when necessary. Their character development is also not bad either. But as for the Masters, the character development was pretty bad. You would need to be really sharp if you were to piece certain puzzles together.

I wouldn't label this purely shounen, even though we have Shiro who can act like a pre-puberscent adult or with a massive schizoprehenic hero complex. But other characters like Rin Tosaka only comply to the shounen standard to a certain degree in terms of art and character depth (her nature, attitudes, etc).

Saber is a reminiscent of a hero gone wrong; and this is something new. Redemption. Reconciliation. All this as a personal goal. Which i think is utterly superb simply because your average shounen-nite would go for a hero that's seeking to bring all losers to the frontlines on a national scale. Examples include Naruto and Bleach. But here is a hero in regret of being a hero, hoping that at the end of this, she can live a life totally estranged from the life she lived.

It is not an entirely must watch anime, but it isn't bad either. So I would say it is quite a watch.




Rempit Rates

Originality: 4/5
Art: 4/5
Plot: 3/5
Character Development: 3/5