My most anticipated series of the entire year is here, and it does not disappoint.
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, the sequel to Fate/Zero, and if you somehow do not know about the series, check out my beginner's to the Fate franchise by clicking here.
Also, for those who have yet to watch the episode, I will hold off on the spoilers until after the rating, and if you do not have not access to Crunchyroll, you can click here to watch the first episode on KissAnime.com.
Fate/stay night takes several years after the events of Fate/Zero during the Fifth Holy Grail War. From the start, the series almost expects that you have seen Fate/Zero since it does not provide a lot of exposition as to what exactly the Holy Grail War is, or how it works. It provides hints, but if you have not seen Fate/Zero, you are likely to be a little confused. Of course, for viewers of either Fate/Zero or the original Fate/stay night, it is relatively easy to follow. Since I have intentionally avoided the original Fate/stay night and most spoilers about the series in general, I do not know exactly how the series will play out, so if you have seen the original series please reframe from spoiling it in the comments. However, this remake is taking a different route from the original series, so the ending will be different.
Rin Tohsaka is the main character of this version of the series, and the majority of the episode focuses exclusively on her. Having only seen Rin briefly in Fate/Zero, I do not know much about the character. From the onset, Rin is obviously a tsundere with an antagonistic demeanor but with an obvious softer side to her, as she blushes after Archer's comments. Archer is the other character introduced, and he is Rin's Servant. If you are not familiar with the Holy Grail War, each mage that participants summons a Servant based on various historical figures each with their own special abilities. The mages and servants battle to determine who will have their wish granted by the Holy Grail, and thus a game of death and deception begins.
With the heavy focus almost exclusively on Rin and her Servant, the series does appear to be taking a narrative structure similar to the original opposed to Fate/Zero, which split the screen time among the seven masters and their servants. Providing that Fate/stay night is able to develop the characters effectively, the focus on the characters could work well. Even after the first episode, Rin and Archer are adequately established characters with likable traits, so hopefully the series will continue to execute the characterization well.
Wow, just wow! Unlimited Blade Works’ animation amazing! The series is from studio Ufotable, aka the best animation studio in the entire freaking universe, and Fate/stay night's animation does not disappoint in the slightest. Seriously watch Kara no Kyoukai, Fate/Zero, or this new Fate/stay night and tell me that the animation is not the mind blowing. They are delivering film quality animation in an anime series. Throughout the 45 minute episode (the first two episodes are twice as long as a typical series), the animation is beyond amazing, and even the school setting had high quality animation. However, the action sequence towards the end is, hands down, the best action sequence of the year; nothing even comes close. It was intense, expertly animated, and stunning.
Even though famed music composer, Yuki Kajiura, did not return to score the new series, Hideyuki Fukasawa is doing a fine job of reusing some of her amazing music, while also adding in some new tracks. All of the voice cast is top notch, and without any negatives as well.
Knowing that the original Fate/stay night lends itself more to a shounen action series than the psychological suspense thriller that is Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night will hopefully add more serious, seinen, aspects like Fate/Zero. If it does remain a mostly serious shounen action series, Fate/stay night can still be one of the best series of the year providing that the characterization and plot are well executed, like last year's Attack on Titan.
Overall: 9.0/10- Fate/stay night is off to a visually stunning start that continues to make me hyped for what is to come. Of all the series released this fall anime season, none are off to a more satisfying and impressive start than Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works.
Note: Ratings of first episodes are relative to all other pilot episodes only.
Please do not forget to check the first parts of my review of the summer anime season by clicking on the links below.
What did you think of the episode? If you have not seen it, do you plan to watch the series? Please comment below and let me know.
If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.
Glad to hear it delivered!!!!!!!! Such good news!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete~Jamie
It blew me away!
Delete-James
Glad to hear the first episode was good! :) If I hear it continues to be awesome quality, then I'll definitely watch it, since I loved Fate/Zero! :D
ReplyDeleteAfter watching episode two, it is different than Fate/Zero, but it is still fantastic. I highly recommend it! :D
Delete-James
Awesome, glad to hear it! :D I'll definitely have to give it a watch, then! :)
DeleteI'm dying to watch this. >w< I am trying to catch up with anime again so I'll definitely be checking this out. I was a fan of the Fate/stay night visual novel since high school, but the movie for UBW was so bad, I was laughing with my friend while watching it... I'm so glad they got ufotable to do this. >w<
ReplyDeleteHope you are not disappointed! Although, I seriously doubt that you will be. Even though I don't play h-games, I would like to play the VN for this. I am such a Fate fan! I have heard about Studio Deen's adaptation, but I have thankfully avoided. :)
Delete-James
You shouldn't let the "H-game" label color your opinion. Many H VN are great and avoiding them just because they happen to have sex scenes in there is a shame. At any rate, F/SN had a PS2 port that removed such scenes. I believe there is a fan patch that removed them from the PC version also.
DeleteOn that subject, it is weird to see you call F/SN a "shonen series" when you know the original is 18+. That series does indeed focus more on younger characters as well on the action scenes than F/Z, however it also have some "serious" elements as well. In fact, most of F/Z came from F/SN (the finale specially). Both series were meant to appeal to the same public, even if they focus slightly differently.
In general, even finding VNs are difficult, at least in my experience, so I have never had the chance to play them. However, I would definitely give one a try if I had the option to do so, if it is said to be well made.
DeleteAs for calling it a shounen, someone who has seen the original series said it is more shounen-esque because it focuses on the action more so than the other. Having not seen the original myself or the VN, I am basing on what others have said. After watching the second episode, I will say that it is lighter in tone because of the high school setting. However, it is still my pick for anime of the season, if not the year.
Thanks for commenting!
-James
One small bit of context. It is not that Fate/stay night expect you to have watched Fate/Zero (in fact, it is the opposite), it is just F/SN does things differently, in its own pace. While F/Z revealed most of the master/servant duos in the prologue, F/SN only showed a single one of them plus an extra servant. And we don't even know the name if either servant yet.
ReplyDeleteF/SN is slow burning. It reveals information gradually. The anime might change things, of course, but the original VN haven't explained the Holy Grail War by that point in the story either. I expect the full explanation to come eventually in the next few episodes.
You have an excellent point. Having played the VN, the prologue did seem a bit light on exposition. Although, I still think it would be best if the viewer has seen Fate/Zero, since this is technically a sequel series. Thanks for the explanation about how the series will reveal the information though! And thanks for the comment.
Delete-James
It is a lot more fun in your case because you are not familiar with how the Fate Stay Night story goes, since you intentionally avoided it. In my case, I wasn't very surprised with the turn of events because I knew them beforehand.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I have to agree with everything you said. Animation is great, characterization is showing hints of depth, and how the story will turn out is exciting. I hope the quality remains consistent in the next episodes.
It certainly seems that way, because the series has been completely different than what I was expecting, but in a good way.
DeleteIndeed, hopefully it will continue to be this good.
-James