User Reviews

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.

I like it. Nice animation and story. It made me cry at the end 😢

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

This is the best anime I have ever seen, not hyping. If you are here for the plot and especially the dialogue writing this is your show. I just watched season 2 episode 6 ans I cried, I never cry but this episode was so awesome, the depth is too much. I am a story, plot kind of guy and mostly fast forward the action scenes but I never once fast forwarded it because it is that good. Highly recommended I would say. I am not giving much about the plot because just watch it you are here for fan service then avoid this show. Watch fate zero before watching this, watch fate stay night and later watch this, there is a unlimited blade works movie avoid it, don't watch it because it is based on this show with lots of shortcuts.

~*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.

Oddly enough, this is essentially a remake of "...Stay Night" with various outcome changes; not sure why they did that, but, here we are.

Once again, as I have criticized before, the trouble with stories that have magic in them is the amount of magic the authors use. The temptation is to use magic everywhere to solve every problem and develop every plot, no matter how ridiculous and impossible the magic is. When the creators go too far, they lose you, shatter your willing suspension of disbelief, and wreck the story and drama. In this, "...Unlimited Bladeworks," they have done that occasionally, especially with the character Caster, the witch, who uses magic liberally. Sometimes, it's just too much, and you have to ask yourself why doesn't she just destroy everybody, since she could certainly employ enough magic to do so - but then there would be no drama and no story, so the writers have to stop, and put limits on her. But that becomes apparent, and takes a little away from the believability of the story. A brilliant writer-philosopher I once knew said "life is about the struggle." Period. In every storyline that has ever been, the struggle of the characters, of one kind or another, is the key element. You take away the struggle of the characters, because you have magic doing everything, and you lose your story.

That little problem aside, there is a decent storyline here, with a little romance that everyone can see coming from the first episode, but there are enough youthful problems in developing it to make this story arc interesting. The graphics and artwork are excellent and pleasant to watch, the music satisfying, the battle scenes well-done and gripping, while the animation itself, that is, the technical moving of the characters, is good for this type of anime, better than many, while naturally nowhere near the Disney-Pixar level, which is 3D and another expensive thing altogether.

Although this is not truly light entertainment, it is not heavy and serious either, but something you can watch & enjoy without using major brain work. It's a fun ride and most people will find it gratifying.

So good, why is it underrated ! Beautiful animation. And unique story wowww.

I watched Fate/Zero first and loved it, so naturally I was excited to watch this one too. I was incredibly disappointed.

The story was slow-paced. The same one narrow theme is repeated so frequently that you are almost tempted to fast-forward through some of the dialogue because you already know what they are going to say. The other Masters are given only a small amount of back-story, so you don't forge any sort of emotional connection to them. Rin and Emiya (and their Servants) are the main focus of the show. This is unfortunate for several reasons.

Emiya, is a dunce whose only worth/uniqueness is his unyielding stubbornness. In any realistic situation, he would have been eliminated in the first few episodes, but he seems to survive countless near- death experiences simply because he is a main character rather than any clever solutions or tricks (for example, he runs into multiple fights without the ability to actually fight, and another character saves him or the opponent decides it's "more fun" to wait to kill him). He apparently doesn't understand the simple concept that if he dies in a situation that he clearly cannot handle, he would be unable to save any more people. But his plot- armor is essentially infinite so... He also does not go through any character development. He is the same person in the beginning of the show as he is in the end, just with more fighting ability.

I don't have much to say about Rin. I like her personality, but she doesn't get any character development either.

The romance in this anime is also incredibly obvious and childish. There is no question or mystery to it. Just combine all the middle school clichés.

Fortunately, Archer is interesting. But he is the only multidimensional character. The motives of all the other characters are incredibly obvious. There are absolutely no surprises in this anime except for one twist.

Story-line => 3/5 (I liked the uniqueness of the plot but they got some major loose ends.); Acting => 5/5 (The voice acting was good. Portrayed the characters nicely.); Directing => 5/5 (The directing was awesome. I liked the way things were directed and presented. The soundtracks were also syncing with the battle scenes. ); Animation => 5/5 (The animation is amazing, treat to the eyes. I don't know the budget. I almost feel like this is 'Unlimited Budget Works'); Screenplay => 3/5 (The screenplay was not very deep. The character buildup in many cases were not up to the mark so the dialogues got bland in some cases.); Personal Recommendation => 4/5 (I would highly recommend watching this for the animation and the plot. Also watch Fate/Zero.); Most Favorite Character => Rin Tohsaka (Most mature, considerate and badass character here);

Best Animation of All Time at This Point in Time.Very well done. 10+

Standards are of movie levels.

The main character(archer) i.e created by authors is legit.

The storyline is also so good and most importantly It reflects reality. We can relate it.

Some context as to the kind of media consumer I am before I continue: I consider myself a sort of Anton Ego when it comes to media and I take a very, "if I don't love it, I don't swallow" kind of approach to the things I consume, which is something I'm not really proud of and I wish I could let myself enjoy more things and not complain about them. So the fact that I finished this series makes me very proud of myself and it speaks volumes to the quality of this show.

I was convinced to watch this by a friend who has been a long-time fan of the Fate series, and while we see eye-to-eye on just about everything when it comes to video games, shows, etc., I just could not find myself getting super invested in this.

The best way I could describe this is that it feels like your run-of-the-mill "cookie-cutter" anime. And while there are many many things about this show that put it well above the average anime, at its very core, it still feels like something that came out of an anime factory.

So sorry Fate fans but even though I ended up liking this more than I disliked it in the end, I think I'll be okay with keeping my viewership of this series limited to this for now.

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.

The one thing of 'fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works' that is truly outstanding is the animation. Not only does the show hold up extremely well for something that's almost a decade old, it still can easily outpace pretty much everything that's on the market today. The visual effects are especially gorgeous, though the highly detailed backgrounds are also a feast for the eyes.

But excellent animations do not make an excellent show. That is not to say that 'Unlimited Blade Works' is in any way bad; I'd even say that there isn't anything the developers and producers have done wrong. But neither did I feel like the show really took hold of me.

The story of fate/stay night revolves around seven mages who summon heroic spirits to fight for the holy grail. What sounds like a bunch of fantasy mumbo-jumbo that would require a lot of exposition is actually pretty straight-forward, as there really isn't much worldbuilding to be done. Unfortunately, what is saved by the lack of heavy exposition is spent on keeping all the characters straight, as the premise requires a minimum of fourteen reasonably important characters (though about half of them quickly fall my the wayside).

And the characters really are my main problem. I just didn't find the protagonist very compelling. He's the same generic and earnest good guy who just can't fail because he's so earnest and good. There's literally a scene where he finally realises that his ideals are unrealistic and wrong, but he nevertheless sticks to them because they're just such a neat idea.

Similarly, the love interest feels like a discount Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion, just without the interesting character traits. The antagonists include a one-dimensional creep, a one-dimensional near-omnipotent dude who lets every chance to win pass by because he doesn't feel like it, and the most boring psychopath ever. I had my problems with Fate/Zero as well, but at least those characters were interesting.

The production value is pretty good, though. Apart from the absolutely magnificent animations, the (English) voice acting is also pretty great, the direction is good, and the sound effects are solid as well. The soundtrack is a bit of a mixed bag to my opinion; Yuki Kajiura delivered a Magnum Opus with her soundtracks on Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but the Fate/Zero soundtrack already only had two or three good themes, and Unlimited Blade Works doesn't even have those (except where it borrows them from Fate/Zero).

Nevertheless, there are a few excellent episodes that give quite touching backstories to a few of the characters. I particularly enjoyed the second and third episodes of the second season, which explore the characters of Caster and Illyasviel. The rest of the show is consistently good but never stellar, with a mild highlight every now and then.

Ultimately, I can't say that I regret watching the show, but I probably could've spent my time on something better.

With this budget you can expect amazing visuals combined with good soundtrack which generates some incredible action scenes!!! And that's where it stops, I wish the action was non stop because I would honestly pay money to save myself from these characters. The characters are two dimensional at best, and the interactions are very boring and bland coupled with really flat dialog which is the 80% of the anime, which as a result leads to me trying not to fall asleep. You have a Holy Grail War setting with magic and warriors and you center it around boring kids? Archer might be just the only interesting character.

Watch this for the incredible visuals and fight scenes, nothing more.

Good anime Good Story but in my opinion something is missing that makes the anime better.

Hey! I will try to keep it short and simple, without spoilers. This is the perfect sequel to Zero. Yes it starts a bit slow, but it's so worth it! The characters are amazing, really easy to attach to them, their development is so wonderful. The plot is legendary, it has a very deep notion and it really makes you think about the real problems in life. There are a lot of unexpected events, and it keeps you on your feet most of the time. Overall it's a must watch (coming from someone who has watched over 50 animes in the past 8-9 years). I'll leave it at that, it has become my favorite story out of all books, shows and animes.