Anime Sunday: Fate/Stay Night (2014 Series)

Michael Blaker
Game Industry News is running the best blog posts from people writing about the game industry. Articles here may originally appear on Michael's blog, Windborne's Story Eatery.

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This week on Anime Sunday I’m talking about the amazing 2014 remake of the terrible 2006 Anime adaptation of the classic Visual Novel Fate/Stay Night. However this one covers Unlimited Blade Works instead of the Fate route. Three cheers for everyone’s favorite Tsundere character Rin Tohsaka!

Before Watching: First off you should probably watch the series in order, because things will get slightly confusing. The Fate series is highly complex and if you want the full experience of the storyline you need to watch the series in a certain order. Or just play the freaking Visual Novel!

Suggested Viewing Order:

  1. Fate/Stay Night (2006) Anime Series [This one follows the Fate route of the Visual Novel while touching upon the other routes a bit.]
  2. Fate/Zero Anime Series [Fate/Zero is a prequel, but it spoils things for Fate/Stay Night a bunch if you haven’t watched it yet.]
  3. Fate/Stay Night (2014) Anime Series [This one follows the Unlimited Blade Works route.]
  4. Fate/Stay Night: Heavens Feel Movie [This one follows the Heavens Feel route.] {This is forthcoming as of the time this is posted it is currently in production by the terrific studio Ufotable}

Confused yet? I hope not because I’m just getting to the part where I talk about what I like about this series thus far, and so far I’ve only watched Episodes 00 (Prologue) and 01. Back to your regular post format from now on, I promise.

Plot Synopsis: Fuyuki City is the setting for a secret and violent war among competing magi. For the past two centuries, seven sorcerers have gathered and engage in a battle royale known as the Holy Grail War, each gambling his or her own life to obtain the Holy Grail, a legendary chalice capable of granting wishes. The past four Holy Grail Wars have typically occurred every sixty years or so. However, the fifth war has started prematurely, with the most recent concluding less than a decade ago.

The seven sorcerers, known as Masters, are aided by seven beings known as Servants, reincarnations of legendary heroes from all time. These resurrected souls possess superhuman characteristics and wield powerful artifacts or abilities called Noble Phantasms, symbols of their heroism during life. Only one Servant can be summoned in each war from one of seven classes: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Rider, Assassin, and Caster, each representing their distinctive role in battle. The Servants are summoned by the power of the Grail itself and aid their Masters in doing battle, protecting them from harm and killing other Servants or Masters. In return for their aid, the Servants also seek their own wish from the Holy Grail, should their Master become victorious.

Shirō Emiya is a serious yet helpful, hardworking, and honest teenager and a student at Fuyuki High, whose parents died in a fire years ago. He was then adopted by Kiritsugu Emiya. When he was a child, his adoptive father told him how he had failed at his life ambition to become a “Hero of Justice”. Shirō affirms to his adoptive father that he intends to devote his life to achieving that distant ideal, much to Kiritsugu’s chagrin. To do this, Shirō pleads with a begrudging Kiritsugu to teach him sorcery; but being born without the capabilities of a magus, Shirō proves to be talentless in almost all the fundamental sorcerous disciplines. Kiritsugu dies in Shirō’s youth. From then on, he grows up as an orphan in the occasional company of Taiga Fujimura, his English teacher at Fuyuki High, and Sakura Matō, his underclassman.

Plot: Well since I’ve only watched the first couple of episodes, and never had the chance to play the Visual Novel (I really want to though!) I’ve enjoyed the plot quite a bit. That said if you haven’t watched the first Fate/Stay Night series it is going to confuse the heck out of you. Once you do that, you should watch the Prologue episode (episode 00) though, as it’s just as amazing as the next one and helps set up the story. I really enjoy this route as I liked Rin quite a bit more as a heroine over Saber in the first Anime series; though Sakura is a very, very close second from watching these first two episodes. In case you haven’t understood it yet, each route has a different heroine. The Fate route (the first Anime series) is Saber, Unlimited Blade Works (the 2014 Anime series) is Rin, and Heavens Feel is Sakura.  One final thing to note, and it was heavily implied from what I remember of the first Anime series, is that there are high chances of this series having sexual scenes. It will probably just be implied, or it might be offscreen, but the Fate series is based off an Eroge Visual Novel and it will not be suitable for children to watch. Hell the amount of violence in the first episode is insane. If it’s anything like the first Anime series it’s going to be an incredibly bloody series.

Characters: Like I said above, I like Rin as a main heroine much more than Saber. Saber is nice enough I suppose, but if you are stuck for eternity trying to win a cup to get a wish you are way too screwed up for my tastes. The rest of the cast is much better done in this series than the first one. I can relate to Shirou a hell of a lot more in this series, and I like Sakura a hell of a lot more in this series over the first one. Fujimura is a hoot to watch in this series too, way too funny to be in this overly serious series. That said I find that her humor will probably be missed in the coming weeks.

Art: Like I mentioned above Ufotable is a fantastic studio and they are the ones producing this series. If you find the artwork familiar, it’s probably because you’ve seen their work while you were playing Tales of Xillia 1 & 2. They were in charge for the artwork and animated scenes in those games, which were fantastic by the way.

Music: The music thus far, and we haven’t even gotten to the good parts I bet, is amazing so far. The Opening and Ending themes are amazing, with Kalafina performing the Ending theme and the Opening by Mashiro Ayano. The soundtrack is just as amazing as the Opening and Ending themes.

Overall: Can you tell I’m excited about this series yet? If you’ve watched the first two on my suggested viewing order list you really need to be watching this series.

For those who like: Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Epic fight scenes, Amazing artwork, Fantastic characters, Outstanding plot, Superb musical scores, The Fate series, TYPE-MOON, The Nasuverse in general.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but how can you hate all of that?

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