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wildvision) wrote2017-07-21 06:43 pm
wildvision) wrote2017-07-21 06:43 pm
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Anime Review: Fate/Stay Night
Another anime review. I've actually had this one in my to-be-watched stack for a while, now. I was mostly deterred by the fact that there are several series in this franchise, and that, with the exception of the first series, the DVD sets for the the others are ludicrously expensive. I didn't want to get started and be unable to continue. But, when I was looking for places to stream anime recently, I thought to check and see if Netflix offered anything subtitled. They did, and among them are the other two Fate series. So, I decided to go ahead and give the first series a watch.
First, the art. Honestly...I wasn't fond of it. The eyes bothered me, of all things. Shirou's eyes looked too big for his head; more so than is usual for anime, even. It was distracting. And, randomly, certain characters had no detail to their eyes at all; no pupils, nothing. It made them look weird and empty. Creepy. It'd be one thing if everyone had eyes like that, but they didn't. Most of the characters had 'normal' eyes, which just made the empty eyes stand out more. Bleh. And they really cheaped out on the action sequences. This is an anime with a lot of fights, but we actually see rather little of them. Lots of scenes where two characters go to clash, we see a flash or something, and then they're on opposite sides of the battlefield. I was disappointed. If one of the main characters is a sword wielder, I want to see some damn sword fights!
The soundtrack was rather nice, though. Of the themes, the first opening is my favorite. I'm actually kind of 'meh' on the other two. But I want to look for the OST for this, because there were some pretty BGM tracks. At least one or two had some really nice violin work; I need to find those, if nothing else.
As for the characters...truthfully, I was disappointed. For one, I kind of expected the Servants to be more important characters. Or, maybe I should say that I wanted them to be. In hindsight, I suppose it makes sense that they were used how they were. But when you see art from this franchise, Saber and Archer tend to be prominent. But they received little development, and the other Servants got even less. Saber got the most, but even that was problematic. (More on that later.)
Shirou was...ugh. It's a little hard to explain. He's not a bad person, really; he's generous and helpful. And he always means well. Whatever he does, it's because he thinks it's right, or that it'll help someone. But he takes it so far as to be obnoxious about it. Someone early on said something like, "He'd never deny a favor to anyone.", and that's pretty much it. If anyone asks him to do anything, he'll pretty much agree to it. It's kind of ridiculous. And he clearly doesn't have any interest in protecting his own skin. It's a little maddening. (I feel bad for Saber, having such an idiot for a Master!)
Rin was my favorite, and probably the only character that I got all that invested in. She's badass, but she's not obnoxious about it. And she does have a good heart, underneath it all.
Archer, as I said before, got pretty much no character development. Which was disappointing. I did tend to like him a bit, simply because he called Shirou out on being a moron. =D
I didn't really like Illya much, though I suppose that might not be fair. She's this sweet looking little girl...who will gleefully murder anyone in her way, giggling all the while. And then, randomly, she'll act like a normal kid, pouting because Shirou doesn't like her. (Trying repeatedly to kill someone isn't a dealbreaker, apparently!) It's honestly rather creepy. So, naturally, I don't like her. And then, after they defeat her Servant, Shirou...just takes her in. And she acts like a kid. Kinda bratty at times, but still. Like a kid. That's where the 'might not be fair' comes in. She doesn't act all psycho and sociopathic afterward, so I wonder if that attitude isn't inborn. She's just a kid, and if her parents taught her to be ruthless and murder people in the pursuit of the Grail, then it's not really her fault. Kids only know right from wrong if you teach them. If you teach a kid that it's okay to kill anyone in your way, they won't know otherwise. So, maybe I shouldn't dislike her. I dunno.
Sakura and Fujimura aren't really big characters in this, so they don't get a lot of depth, either. Though, I have to say...the whole thing with them was confusing at first. And once I understood it, it was still stupid. Apparently, Shirou lives alone in this big complex he inherited when his dad died. Fujimura was his dad's friend, and Sakura was the daughter of one of his dad's friends. And apparently, they both come over every day to cook and clean for him. >_> Yeah. Sexist much? But what I don't get is this...Fujimura always claims that she's looking out for him. But if that's the case, why not just live together? If you're going to be there every day, anyway, it's just stupid. She never mentions a husband or kids of her own, so I don't see why she doesn't just live with Shirou. Oh, and one more random thing. Fujimura's first name is 'Taiga', and apparently she was nicknamed 'Tiger', but she doesn't like it. So...she hates being called 'Tiger'...but she wears an orange and black striped shirt everyday? XD
Finally, there's Saber. I went into this expecting her to be my favorite. Badass female sword wielder? Yes, please! But...they fell short on her, I think. Don't get me wrong, she's really cool, mostly. But sometimes the writers seem to forget everything about her, and have her act in ways that don't mesh. So, really...I guess you could say I like the character, but not how she's written. I thought her true identity being King Arthur was pretty cool. Though, I still think her wearing a dress is odd. Any country that would call a woman 'King' and follow her into battle would surely allow her to wear pants. =P Also, I found it a little weird that no one said anything at all about her being a woman, when they learned that she was King Arthur. Given how her identity was revealed, I can understand them not questioning the truth of it, but surely they'd comment about how the history books had gotten it wrong, or 'wow, I had no idea Arthur was really a woman!' or something. But no one did.
And it's a little funny...it's pointed out a couple of times that she's like Shirou, but I didn't find those traits obnoxious in her. Probably because she actually had a reason to be that way, and she was less stupid about it, even so. Shirou just refused to value his own life. But Saber was a king. And that's what (good) rulers do, they sacrifice and put their people first. And honestly? Saber felt like a knight, and a king. That sturdy sense of honor and dignity...Shirou sure as hell doesn't have that. Saber's convictions I can respect. Shirou just comes off as a cluelessly naive little boy.
Also, in this life, Saber is a Servant. Her sole purpose is to protect her master, and help him attain the Holy Grail. So, again. Her putting Shirou's safety above her own is perfectly natural, and what she's supposed to do. But when Shirou constantly tries to get himself killed by trying to protect her, or by refusing to let her protect him...that's just stupid. You have this incredible person, this living embodiment of the spirit of a great, epic hero. And you treat her like she's a helpless schoolgirl. =/ You are far too weak to protect her, and frankly, to keep insisting that she needs it is rather insulting. (And Saber actually yelled at him a little over this at least once.)
And this all kind of leads in to the so-called 'romance' of this piece, which is Shirou/Saber. I hated it, for a number of reasons. Until the very last minute, Shirou did nothing but disrespect Saber, and it was obvious that he didn't really love her, as he kept trying to change the most basic things about her! He was extremely selfish about the whole thing; it was all about him, and what he wanted. He didn't give a flying fig what Saber wanted. And I never got the feeling that Saber felt that way about him, at all. So, her suddenly saying that she wanted him, or loved him, toward the end? Came completely out of left field. Made no sense whatsoever.
And honestly? In addition to Shirou trying to push Saber into the mold that he wanted for her, this whole 'relationship' had kind of a creepy non-con-y vibe to it. First, the whole Master/Servant thing...that bothered me more than I'd thought it would. If you have a person who is your servant, and they cannot say no to you...to pursue them romantically is really sleazy. Add in the fact that Saber never seemed interested, yet Shirou just kept pushing. Also, I mentioned before how sometimes the writers threw Saber's characterization out the window. Like her randomly being all blushy (or honestly, maybe it's more uncomfortable) about touching Shirou. And the two instances when he walks in on her in the bath. The first time, she's unashamed. She says it's no big deal. The second? She looks ashamed, saying that her body is not that of a child, and that it's so muscled, that it must be unpleasant to look upon. That whole thing was really creepy, honestly. Oh, and? According to the wiki, in the original visual novel? Shirou has to have sex with her to 'recharge' her magic. =/ Yeah. You can tell where the first sex scene would have been, had they left it. And may I add...all the blushy/ashamed behavior starts after that. So, yeah. This whole thing feels kind of rape-y to me.
It just...really made me kind of mad, listening to Shirou thinking about how he loves her and blah de blah, when it's glaringly clear that he doesn't even respect who she is, at all. Finally, at the very end, he admits that what he wants isn't what she wants. But I can't give him any credit for it, after being such a pig for the whole rest of the series. Maybe I disliked Shirou more than I'd thought. >_>
And as for the plot...what plot? The premise is that they're all fighting to get the Holy Grail. But out of everyone...only Saber ever says why she wants it! No one else, out of six other Servants and seven Masters. And we could have used some more world building, I think. Or, hell, just consistency would have been nice. In at least two separate occasions, someone says that Shirou's dad destroyed the Grail in the previous War, which caused the huge fire. But then again, on two other occasions, someone says that Kirei grabbed the Grail and wished that everyone around would just go away, and thus caused the huge fire. So, which is it? Also, the whole question of whether destroying the Grail will stop the Wars. They claim Shirou's dad did it, but the Wars kept coming. So, Shirou does it this time. Will that change anything? No clue!
And I'd like to know more about the Servants. Normally, they said that when a Servant dies, they just go back to where they came from. Some kind of spirit plane, or whatever. But how do they become Servants in the first place? Some of them (like Saber) were real people, once. And Saber went back to her own time after destroying the Grail. (Where she was apparently dying already?) They didn't make a wish on it, they just destroyed it. So, why did she go back there? Will she not be a Servant anymore? If so, why/how?
Overall...I think Rin was just about the only good thing about this series. Well, Saber, too, but she'd be a lot better if Shirou wasn't around. =P
Final verdict? I honestly didn't like it much. There were a couple of good characters, but that's about it. I will say, though, that most fans seem to think that the later series (Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works) are much better than the first one. So, I might give one of those a chance, despite how I felt about this one. I've got access to them, so I do think I'll try them at some point. But not right now. Plus, Fate/Zero has Saber but no Shirou, and UBW is supposed to be Rin's route, so maybe she'll get more focus there. And those two were about the only things I liked about this series, so. It might be worth a try.
First, the art. Honestly...I wasn't fond of it. The eyes bothered me, of all things. Shirou's eyes looked too big for his head; more so than is usual for anime, even. It was distracting. And, randomly, certain characters had no detail to their eyes at all; no pupils, nothing. It made them look weird and empty. Creepy. It'd be one thing if everyone had eyes like that, but they didn't. Most of the characters had 'normal' eyes, which just made the empty eyes stand out more. Bleh. And they really cheaped out on the action sequences. This is an anime with a lot of fights, but we actually see rather little of them. Lots of scenes where two characters go to clash, we see a flash or something, and then they're on opposite sides of the battlefield. I was disappointed. If one of the main characters is a sword wielder, I want to see some damn sword fights!
The soundtrack was rather nice, though. Of the themes, the first opening is my favorite. I'm actually kind of 'meh' on the other two. But I want to look for the OST for this, because there were some pretty BGM tracks. At least one or two had some really nice violin work; I need to find those, if nothing else.
As for the characters...truthfully, I was disappointed. For one, I kind of expected the Servants to be more important characters. Or, maybe I should say that I wanted them to be. In hindsight, I suppose it makes sense that they were used how they were. But when you see art from this franchise, Saber and Archer tend to be prominent. But they received little development, and the other Servants got even less. Saber got the most, but even that was problematic. (More on that later.)
Shirou was...ugh. It's a little hard to explain. He's not a bad person, really; he's generous and helpful. And he always means well. Whatever he does, it's because he thinks it's right, or that it'll help someone. But he takes it so far as to be obnoxious about it. Someone early on said something like, "He'd never deny a favor to anyone.", and that's pretty much it. If anyone asks him to do anything, he'll pretty much agree to it. It's kind of ridiculous. And he clearly doesn't have any interest in protecting his own skin. It's a little maddening. (I feel bad for Saber, having such an idiot for a Master!)
Rin was my favorite, and probably the only character that I got all that invested in. She's badass, but she's not obnoxious about it. And she does have a good heart, underneath it all.
Archer, as I said before, got pretty much no character development. Which was disappointing. I did tend to like him a bit, simply because he called Shirou out on being a moron. =D
I didn't really like Illya much, though I suppose that might not be fair. She's this sweet looking little girl...who will gleefully murder anyone in her way, giggling all the while. And then, randomly, she'll act like a normal kid, pouting because Shirou doesn't like her. (Trying repeatedly to kill someone isn't a dealbreaker, apparently!) It's honestly rather creepy. So, naturally, I don't like her. And then, after they defeat her Servant, Shirou...just takes her in. And she acts like a kid. Kinda bratty at times, but still. Like a kid. That's where the 'might not be fair' comes in. She doesn't act all psycho and sociopathic afterward, so I wonder if that attitude isn't inborn. She's just a kid, and if her parents taught her to be ruthless and murder people in the pursuit of the Grail, then it's not really her fault. Kids only know right from wrong if you teach them. If you teach a kid that it's okay to kill anyone in your way, they won't know otherwise. So, maybe I shouldn't dislike her. I dunno.
Sakura and Fujimura aren't really big characters in this, so they don't get a lot of depth, either. Though, I have to say...the whole thing with them was confusing at first. And once I understood it, it was still stupid. Apparently, Shirou lives alone in this big complex he inherited when his dad died. Fujimura was his dad's friend, and Sakura was the daughter of one of his dad's friends. And apparently, they both come over every day to cook and clean for him. >_> Yeah. Sexist much? But what I don't get is this...Fujimura always claims that she's looking out for him. But if that's the case, why not just live together? If you're going to be there every day, anyway, it's just stupid. She never mentions a husband or kids of her own, so I don't see why she doesn't just live with Shirou. Oh, and one more random thing. Fujimura's first name is 'Taiga', and apparently she was nicknamed 'Tiger', but she doesn't like it. So...she hates being called 'Tiger'...but she wears an orange and black striped shirt everyday? XD
Finally, there's Saber. I went into this expecting her to be my favorite. Badass female sword wielder? Yes, please! But...they fell short on her, I think. Don't get me wrong, she's really cool, mostly. But sometimes the writers seem to forget everything about her, and have her act in ways that don't mesh. So, really...I guess you could say I like the character, but not how she's written. I thought her true identity being King Arthur was pretty cool. Though, I still think her wearing a dress is odd. Any country that would call a woman 'King' and follow her into battle would surely allow her to wear pants. =P Also, I found it a little weird that no one said anything at all about her being a woman, when they learned that she was King Arthur. Given how her identity was revealed, I can understand them not questioning the truth of it, but surely they'd comment about how the history books had gotten it wrong, or 'wow, I had no idea Arthur was really a woman!' or something. But no one did.
And it's a little funny...it's pointed out a couple of times that she's like Shirou, but I didn't find those traits obnoxious in her. Probably because she actually had a reason to be that way, and she was less stupid about it, even so. Shirou just refused to value his own life. But Saber was a king. And that's what (good) rulers do, they sacrifice and put their people first. And honestly? Saber felt like a knight, and a king. That sturdy sense of honor and dignity...Shirou sure as hell doesn't have that. Saber's convictions I can respect. Shirou just comes off as a cluelessly naive little boy.
Also, in this life, Saber is a Servant. Her sole purpose is to protect her master, and help him attain the Holy Grail. So, again. Her putting Shirou's safety above her own is perfectly natural, and what she's supposed to do. But when Shirou constantly tries to get himself killed by trying to protect her, or by refusing to let her protect him...that's just stupid. You have this incredible person, this living embodiment of the spirit of a great, epic hero. And you treat her like she's a helpless schoolgirl. =/ You are far too weak to protect her, and frankly, to keep insisting that she needs it is rather insulting. (And Saber actually yelled at him a little over this at least once.)
And this all kind of leads in to the so-called 'romance' of this piece, which is Shirou/Saber. I hated it, for a number of reasons. Until the very last minute, Shirou did nothing but disrespect Saber, and it was obvious that he didn't really love her, as he kept trying to change the most basic things about her! He was extremely selfish about the whole thing; it was all about him, and what he wanted. He didn't give a flying fig what Saber wanted. And I never got the feeling that Saber felt that way about him, at all. So, her suddenly saying that she wanted him, or loved him, toward the end? Came completely out of left field. Made no sense whatsoever.
And honestly? In addition to Shirou trying to push Saber into the mold that he wanted for her, this whole 'relationship' had kind of a creepy non-con-y vibe to it. First, the whole Master/Servant thing...that bothered me more than I'd thought it would. If you have a person who is your servant, and they cannot say no to you...to pursue them romantically is really sleazy. Add in the fact that Saber never seemed interested, yet Shirou just kept pushing. Also, I mentioned before how sometimes the writers threw Saber's characterization out the window. Like her randomly being all blushy (or honestly, maybe it's more uncomfortable) about touching Shirou. And the two instances when he walks in on her in the bath. The first time, she's unashamed. She says it's no big deal. The second? She looks ashamed, saying that her body is not that of a child, and that it's so muscled, that it must be unpleasant to look upon. That whole thing was really creepy, honestly. Oh, and? According to the wiki, in the original visual novel? Shirou has to have sex with her to 'recharge' her magic. =/ Yeah. You can tell where the first sex scene would have been, had they left it. And may I add...all the blushy/ashamed behavior starts after that. So, yeah. This whole thing feels kind of rape-y to me.
It just...really made me kind of mad, listening to Shirou thinking about how he loves her and blah de blah, when it's glaringly clear that he doesn't even respect who she is, at all. Finally, at the very end, he admits that what he wants isn't what she wants. But I can't give him any credit for it, after being such a pig for the whole rest of the series. Maybe I disliked Shirou more than I'd thought. >_>
And as for the plot...what plot? The premise is that they're all fighting to get the Holy Grail. But out of everyone...only Saber ever says why she wants it! No one else, out of six other Servants and seven Masters. And we could have used some more world building, I think. Or, hell, just consistency would have been nice. In at least two separate occasions, someone says that Shirou's dad destroyed the Grail in the previous War, which caused the huge fire. But then again, on two other occasions, someone says that Kirei grabbed the Grail and wished that everyone around would just go away, and thus caused the huge fire. So, which is it? Also, the whole question of whether destroying the Grail will stop the Wars. They claim Shirou's dad did it, but the Wars kept coming. So, Shirou does it this time. Will that change anything? No clue!
And I'd like to know more about the Servants. Normally, they said that when a Servant dies, they just go back to where they came from. Some kind of spirit plane, or whatever. But how do they become Servants in the first place? Some of them (like Saber) were real people, once. And Saber went back to her own time after destroying the Grail. (Where she was apparently dying already?) They didn't make a wish on it, they just destroyed it. So, why did she go back there? Will she not be a Servant anymore? If so, why/how?
Overall...I think Rin was just about the only good thing about this series. Well, Saber, too, but she'd be a lot better if Shirou wasn't around. =P
Final verdict? I honestly didn't like it much. There were a couple of good characters, but that's about it. I will say, though, that most fans seem to think that the later series (Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works) are much better than the first one. So, I might give one of those a chance, despite how I felt about this one. I've got access to them, so I do think I'll try them at some point. But not right now. Plus, Fate/Zero has Saber but no Shirou, and UBW is supposed to be Rin's route, so maybe she'll get more focus there. And those two were about the only things I liked about this series, so. It might be worth a try.