It's a matter of translation really.

 

Every time a new episode comes out I end up putting off watching it a few days being already familiar with the story and less excited to see what is going to come. In my head, the scenes are uninteresting and hence my lack of motivation.

Then I actually go watch it and feel like I'm watching Iskander vs Gilgamesh from Fate Zero, or some equally epic scene. Even the 5 seconds of Archer vs Assassin we saw were epic! And I'm loving the pace of the battles - Assassin's Tsubame Gaeshi came out of nowhere, with little fanfare - it was awesome. They've managed to give the rather dull FSN Servants the same aura of epicness that all the FZ Servants had.

Holy shit ufotable, how are you this awesome?

 

I love the series as a whole and definitely celebrate every fight for the sheer awesomeness, but it's bugging me that the servants always break off the fights due to weird shit. I get that every servant has to be introduced, but after a while, excuses like 'you're pretty'; 'I'm a pacifist'; 'I want to fight you at your full strength', or 'I'm bored for today' become old.

So far, it seems as though every fight ended because one of the combatants found a weird reason to stop and not due to actual defeat/death, a breakneck flight, or something similar... It doesn't detract much for me, but something to break up the monotony of battles ending like this would be nice.

Also, as someone who didn't read the VNs, I had different expectations from what I learned through earlier episodes. That weird priest guy held quite the speech about the necessity of taking your chances and killing as many enemies as possible whenever you can. For such a rough contest, they sure take it easy when it comes to actually finishing what they started.

 

I'm not sure if you've read the visual novel, but honestly, almost every single time a fight breaks up due to those "excuses" have a pretty valid reason. Well, except for Illya. She just does what she wants.

 

In short, in Fate/Zero, everyone schemed how to win the grail war. In Fate/Stay Night everyone schemes how to fuck everyone else over... except Shirou and usually Rin.

 

I gotta say i'm not enjoying this as much as I wanted to. It's not ufotables fault either as the animation and art has been top notch. It's Shiroe and Rin that frustrate me the most.

In the case with Shiroe, its his attitude towards the war despite having been in life threatening situations multiple times as well as his naive ideals. Also with how weak he is. I get Kiritsugu wanted him to have a peaceful normal life, but jesus.

As for Rin, it kinda feels like there's some scenes missing because her falling for Shiroe is happening way to fast and for no good reason. All the blushing and shit she does around him just seems out of place. Almost like a certain relationship that popped up out of nowhere in Akame ga Kill.

But anyway, I was told that Fate/Stay Night UB Shiroe was supposed to be a bad ass, and i guess we're not even halfway yet but...so far i'm unimpressed. Severely unimpressed. Just really not liking most of the masters in this war unlike how i did with Zero. It's almost as if every master is like Rider's master in the beginning of Zero.

 

Pretty sure it's sorta implied that she had a thing for him even before.

If anything, I think ufotable have done a good job at toning down Rin's tsundere manner. Apart from one scene, she generally feels like the character she's meant to be - a competent magus who is struggling with the little bits of compassion and humanity she still has. Not like the tsundere archetype she was in both the VN and Deen adaption.

Yeah, it's a very different war. Fate Zero was full of prepared and skilled assassins, Church Executors, top notch maguses or people so desperate to win, they'd do anything. Many of them were chosen as they were the best of the best, and had then spent years preparing for the war.

In comparison Fate Stay Night is filled with boring Masters, most of which were forced into being Masters and are just kids or randoms. Ufotable has done a great job of at least making the Servants seem a bit more like the epic heroes they're meant to be, since in the original adaption (and even the VN to an extent), that wasn't really the case. Part of that is because FSN is just Shirou's story and you don't really see the other teams much, unlike FZ.

 

Well Shirou is a badass in his fight against Archer near the end of the route. I don't remember what he does thats cool before that.

 

And what would your alternative be?

By the way, I simply cannot bring myself to finish Heaven's Feel.

 

I think that there is one very important distinction between Fate Zero and Fate/Stay Night.

Fate Zero was an Anime that was all about the Holy Grail War. Honestly, as much as Kiristugu feels like a protagonist, he's not really. Pretty much every master and servant have an equal role to play.

Fate/Stay Night was first a VN, and then an Anime about a characters journey, his growth during the events that occur. This Anime will never only be about really badass people fighting each other, it will be an exploration of Shirou's ideals, and how they fit into the reality he finds himself in. Oh, and badass servant battles.

I honestly think that the only people who will truly appreciate the Anime for what it is, are those who have already read the VN. There is so much depth, so many little things that give us insight into Shirou's thought process and character in the VN, that it's not possible in the Anime. Don't get me wrong, you can still enjoy the show, but you won't truly understand everything that's going on.

Regardless, don't watch this if you only want epic battles with epic people that always make consistent rational sense. (Fate Zero is the only Anime i've seen this do) Watch this if you want to see someone who has no fucking idea what's going on, grow into someone that understands exactly what the fuck is going on, and then... I think you mentioned the term "Badass?"

 

I really don't get why people keep comparing F/Z to F/SN... it's annoying and just plain retarded.

---------- Post automerged at 09:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 PM ----------

Have you read the F/SN VN? If not then you're clearly not qualified enough to say how "dull" FSN Servants are. Each and every fight in FSN was and is badass and "epic". Archer/Lancer fight in UBW, or Berserker/Gilgamesh, Shirou/Archer, Saber/Assasin etc.. they were all very good esp. with their BGMs. Fits like a glove. On another note, have you read Fate/Zero? I assure you that the "fight scenes" and the "epicness" of the servants were not as grand as they were in the anime.

In fact, I'd say the opposite. I find some parts in the anime fights between the servants severely lacking. We don't get the see the in depth insight, explanations, heroism, background..

 

As a point of order, it's canon that both Rin and Sakura had crushes on Shirou from way before the series start.

It derives from an instance where they watched - both, from different vantage points - Shirou try to vault a high jump over and over on the track field at some indeterminate point previously at school, continuing on with mindless determination despite his failures, until he finally managed to do it, for no other reason than he decided to. Their crushes originate from their admiration of his do or die attitude.

Later on, when Rin realizes that Sakura also has the crush, she decides to leave Shirou to her as apology for never acknowledging their connection. The ribbon that Sakura wears in her hair is actually from Rin.

So, for the record, the crush isn't out of nowhere, and Rin's tsundereness about it isn't out of nothing. She's trying to deny it because she already decided to cede him to Sakura.

Just a slice of FSN canon for you.

 

ITT: Severe quantities of Sodium Chloride.

 

Despite ufotable delivering as usual, (based assassin was based as fuck) I am a bit worried that the removal of monologues might affect an important fight later on.

 

I'm glad that they're being true to this Route, but I'm sad Rider couldn't get more screentime.

Spoiler

Still, goddamn Kuzuki. Even if you are being Reinforced by a magus from the Age of Gods, snake style is fucking OP as dicks.

Kuzuki is one of my favorite parts of FSN canon because he's just so goddamn random. It's not like anyone planted him in Fuyuki - he literally just happened to be a former assassin with an Eirei-level martial arts style, who just happened to run into and accidentally seduce the perfect complement to his skills.

What's even funnier is that it's also canon that Kuzuki and Caster have a perfectly normal and healthy relationship. GG Souchirou-sama.

What's even funnier than that is that it is also Word of God that Caster could have fixed the Greater Grail to be not corrupted, given time.

So basically, Caster and Kuzuki are the people best set up and best suited to win the Holy Grail War, without even the added drawback of fucking the world over because of Angry Manjew.

 

Lame episode. They couldn't deliver the humor properly and they couldn't deliver the horror and disgust when the Bounded Field was erected.

The VN was very specific on that regard too. Melted faces and bodies. It was something akin to being semi-digested in a huge stomach etc. Oh well, I guess they couldn't show something like that and risk being "white-lighted".

Still, the first part was really lame. The BGM didn't really match the lulzy atmosphere they were trying to make and they skipped some important dialogues as well.

Now, I'm so sad Rider is dead. No more sexy boobs to look at. Time to play Fate/Hollow again for the Shirou/Sakura/Rider orgy.

 

http://gifsound.com/?gif=i.imgur.com/rY70tKi.gif&v=d1rdkJz8nxM&s=8

 

Okay...did I miss something or what? Why is Shirou having all these flashback dreams of Archer's past and not Rin. This is his 2nd one now. I know Rin wanted Saber and not Archer but its getting a bit ridiculous now.

Also did Rider really just die without even showing off her noble phantasm or you know...her even ride something? Simply because of that it's almost certain she's not dead, least I hope so. Just glad Shinji got put in his place, though i wish he was killed or at the very least had his command seals taken from him by whoever killed/made it look like Rider was killed.

I still feel like Rin/Shirou's relationship is moving way to fast but I guess i'm in the minority on that one. Shirou is acting perfectly normal and expected, but Rin, while i get she already had a crush on him is acting borderline clingy as fuck now when she wasn't just 3 episodes ago.

 

That, my friend, is why the anime is lacking in comparison to the LN. I admit the visuals are great, the fight scenes are awesome--- but when it comes to the little parts like character development and especially relationships, it gets hard.

 

Do you want spoilers now? Because it's going to be a long wait for answers to some of those questions until the 2nd cour in 2015.