(Yume): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome everyone to next part of the Summer of Fate. When talking about a series with multiple animes and spin-offs and it’s always important to take a look at the beginning. That’s why this week, we’re taking a look at the original Fate/stay night anime.
(Nitsuj): But don’t a lot of people dislike this anime?
(Neo): I guess. Even I consider it to be the worst of the bunch, but still for some people this was their first exposure to the Fate series and it deserves to be looked at and give our opinion about it.
(Yume): Isn’t that what we’re all about? Offering a second opinion or first impression on an anime people have or haven’t seen and reviewing it in a fair and unbiased way all while pointing out both the positives and negatives to see what the anime got right and wrong? All while presenting it in a fun and comedic way for everyone to enjoy.
(Nitsuj): I thought we were talking about anime. Women are always doing something different. I’m kidding, kidding. That’s exactly what we’re here to do. Tell the fans a little bit about this series Neo.
(Neo): Released in 2006 under the production of Studio Deen (Is this a Zombie?, Konosuba, Hell Girl, and Jing: King of Bandits) this would mark the first ever Fate anime. This anime would follow the Saber route and keep the focus on her and her relationship with Shirou as opposed to Unlimited Blade Works which focused on Rin as the heroine. However, while that anime succeeded this anime failed and came to be regarded as the worst Fate anime out there.
(Nitsuj): To which I ask, is it really deserving of that title? Is it really that bad? Is there nothing good to be seen in this anime? Well, we’re here to find out. Let’s check out Fate/stay night original.
Opening and Ending Theme
(Neo): So the first opening for this anime is “disillusion” by Tainaka Sachi. Now, despite my distaste for the anime, I have to admit this opening is great. It’s one of the best openings in the series. The melody is hypnotic. It pulls you in immediately and the lyrics perfectly summarize all of the characters chasing their dreams and how they seem so far out of reach, but they keep chasing after them. Saichi’s voice is also perfect here, she captures the emotions of the song perfectly and the conflict going within the characters.
(Nitsuj): We only get one ending throughout this anime and it’s “Anata ga Ita Mori” by Jyukai. This is very peaceful and beautifully sung. Every time I hear this song I just keep picturing Saber in a grassy field falling asleep as the wind blows. For the first time ever she can truly relax, feel safe, and not have to worry about anything. Nothing much else to really say about this song. Peaceful, relaxing, and puts a good image in your head.
Episodes 1-4
(Yume): So the anime starts off much like Unlimited Blades Works in the first few episodes with a few noticeable differences (Nitsuj: The first one being the downgraded animation and the characters having more over the top/cartoony expressions when they get angry. Particularly on Taiga. (Yume): Which always annoyed me. While it does fit her character, she’s the only one who has them. Everybody else has normal expressions making her feel out of place in the anime). We see Shirou lives alone while being taken care of by Sakura and Taiga where in this version it’s her grandfather (Neo: Who may or may not be yakuza) who is the landlord instead of her. Rin summons Archer where she’s mad because she wanted to summon a Saber class servant instead (Nitsuj: She sounds like a person playing a gacha game and didn’t get the character she wanted). Students are told to go home early because of the recent murder incidents where we see Shirou has a part-time job and still wants to be a hero that saves everyone.
In episode 2 we get to meet Shinji (Neo: Still an unpleasant experience. (Yume): I feel like he’s a bigger tool here than in Unlimited Blade Works) and the fight between Archer and Lancer where Shirou gets killed and gets revived by Rin. However, instead of reviving him out of a sense of love she does it out of pity (speaking of love, Archer this time does seem to flirt with Rin a lot more). When Lancer comes back to kill Shirou at his house, he summons Saber where he’s blown away by her beauty (Nitsuj: Again, I can’t help but wonder how the Arthurian legend would pan out if Arthur was in fact a woman).
In episodes 3 and 4, Saber fights off Lancer who retreats after having his identity revealed and by order of his master (Nitsuj: Who was that again?). Saber then attacks Archer where this time she actually injures him before Shirou stops her. Rin takes Shirou to meet Kirei who tells him about the Holy Grail War where at first Shirou doesn’t want to participate but when he finds out the fire he was involved in as a child was a result of the previous war he agrees to participate to prevent that tragedy from happening again. After that, the two run into Illya and Berserker when in this fight Shirou gets hurt protecting Saber from a fatal blow puzzling Illya and making her retreat for the time being. Shirou miraculously survives the attack thanks to his self-healing factor (Nitsuj: Is he Wolverine from X-Men?) and goes to speak with Saber at the dojo where he sees she’s a noble knight who would never hurt the innocent.
Episodes 5-8
(Neo): Episodes 5-6 are the last episodes that bear any resemblance to Unlimited Blade Works before telling its own story and route. Shirou introduces Saber to Sakura and Taiga where Taiga challenges her to a kendo match for the right to stay in Shirou’s house. Saber wins and is allowed to stay but Taiga has no intention of leaving a boy and girl alone in a house together (Nitsuj: That’s how you get babies). The next day at school Matou of the archery club is missing and Shinji is the main suspect who is also missing. After school Rin attacks Shirou where their fight isn’t as good as in Unlimited Blade Works. I’m sorry, I know we’re trying not to compare the two to each other too much in this review, but it really does seem like Studio Deen didn’t get the importance and significance of this fight. In Unlimited Blade Works Shirou’s life is in danger as Rin is seriously trying to kill him (granted she’s forcing herself to do it but you can tell she’s not messing around) and the animation and characters capture that importance and intense situation Shirou finds himself in and him doing his best to survive. Here, the fight tries too hard to be comedic with over-the-top arms and legs animation as Shirou runs away, anger marks on foreheads, and even stopping to make a panty shot joke from Rin jumping down the stairs (Nitsuj: Yeah I agree. This moment feels out of place for an otherwise serious moment. (Neo): Exactly. I don’t mind comedy in this series, but if you’re going to do it let it come out naturally like in Unlimited Blade Works. Don’t try to force it into a scene and draw too much attention to it like you’re doing here). As they continue to fight, they hear a woman scream and find an unconscious Matou who had her mana stolen. This leads to Rin pouring her mana into her and getting attacked by Rider where Shirou protects her. Shirou goes out to face Rider where this time she actually seems to overpower Shirou until he gets saved by Rin and Rider is forced to retreat. Rin takes Shirou back to her place to properly tend to his injury where they agree to team up and find Rider’s master who is a student at the school who is of course Shinji. As Archer walks Shirou home, he calls out Shirou for not using a command seal to summon Saber saying his selfless sacrifice is disgusting and criticizes his dream to save everyone.
At the start of episode 7 we see Saber is upset with Shirou for not summoning her when he was facing Rider and not consulting her about partnering up with Rin even though she’s not against it (Nitsuj: Yeah, not gonna lie, Shirou is a pretty crappy master). When Shirou and Sakura get ready to leave for school, Saber insists on accompanying them for safety until Rin shows up saying she’s going to accompany Shirou making Sakura believe that they’re dating (in another timeline maybe) and she runs off crying (Yume: Good job protecting your prey. If this was the wild, you wouldn’t last a day). Once they reach the school, Shirou manages to clear the misunderstanding with Sakura and then works with Rin to remove the sigils around the school (Nitsuj: Even having the cheesy early 2000s montage music). After getting rid of the sigils the two bond on the roof of the school as the sunsets with Rin talking about her dad (I have to admit this is one of the few differences I liked when compared to Unlimited Blade Works. This one feels more natural as the two have agreed to work together and it shows Rin trusting Shirou and opening up to him with stuff about her past she normally wouldn’t tell anyone else about). As the two leave the school and go their separate ways, Shirou senses one more sigil in the archery club room where he finds Rider (Yume: I’m curious how long she’s been waiting there) and her master Shinji (Nitsuj: By God! I did not see this coming. (Neo): Nice sarcasm).
In episode 8 Shinji defends his barrier saying it was a defense mechanism against Rin and other masters. He explains that just like Shirou, he too has weak magic despite coming from a family of mages and was dragged into this whole thing not wanting to fight (Yume: Oh you can just smell the BS radiating from this piece of trash). He offers an alliance with Shirou to take down Rin, but he refuses and takes his leave (Nitsuj: You’re really gonna let this guy run free knowing he can’t be trusted? Is it just me or is Shirou stupider here than he was in Unlimited Blade Works?). Shinji does give him a tiny nugget of information saying that a master has set up base at Ryuudou Temple. Shirou tells Rin and Saber about the temple where we find out that the temple is a dangerous spot for servants because that force field lowers the power of all servants who enter (didn’t seem to matter in the other anime). Still, despite this danger, Saber says they should launch an attack on the master at the temple but Shirou and Rin say no as they don’t know who the master or servant is, not to mention Archer and Saber haven’t fully recovered and it’s the home turf of the enemy (you might as well just go up there with a sign saying: kill me, I’m a servant). Instead, the two want to focus on Illya and Berserker and Rin decides to move in with Shirou (Nitsuj: At this point Shirou’s house is becoming the Japan branch of the Playboy Mansion). Taiga and Sakura are of course unhappy about this, but Rin manages to convince Taiga to let her stay. After Taiga and Sakura leave, we see Shirou and Saber argue with each other about the temple where Saber doesn’t like how cowardly Shirou is acting. Once everyone goes to sleep, Saber sneaks out and goes to attack the temple herself (Nitsuj: She’s entering her rebellious phase. Although given the way Shirou is acting it’s understandable).
Episodes 9-12
(Nitsuj): So episode 9 starts off with Saber fighting against Assassin who straight up reveals his true identity (Yume: Because he’s that confident he can win). The fight moves at a slow pace which kind of takes me out of the moment, but I will say it is cool how Assassin was able to deduce the size, weight, and length of Saber’s sword. As these two are fighting, Shirou senses Saber fighting and hurries to the temple and Rider sneaks into the temple as well. Rider soon faces off against Caster (Neo: Who is bigger this time around). Rider of course retreats when Saber decides to unleash the full power of her sword (releasing mana that can be seen all throughout the city) but stops at the command of Assassin who senses Lancer spying on them and he decides to put their duel on hold at the moment. Saber collapses from the lack of mana and Shirou carries her back home. Once Saber wakes back up she and Shirou argue with each other until Rin steps in telling Saber that Shirou doesn’t want to see Saber get hurt (because he loves her); to him, the safety of others is more important than his own safety. Saber understanding this now decides to start training Shirou in swordsmanship so that he’ll become accustomed to battle.
Nothing much really happens in episode 10. Saber trains Shirou (Yume: More like beats him up. (Neo): He hasn’t mastered the importance of dodging) and then he goes out into the city to buy some groceries for dinner where he runs until Illya and they chat for a bit where Shirou can’t help but feel a sibling bond with her (she definitely gives off that little sister vibe). At school, Shinji tries to form an alliance with Rin, but she says no. Shirou gets to see a naked Saber (nice body, Saber. (Yume): Not a trace of fat all on that body) and later on, Rin feeds him a jewel which wakes up his magic circuits.
Episodes 11-12 end the first half on an epic note as we get the fight between Shirou and Saber vs Shinji and Rider. It starts off with Shirou receiving magic training from Rin where she tries to teach him duplication magic (Neo: Only he sucks at it) and discovers that his specialty is a different kind of magic altogether. Shirou then receives a call from Shinji who wants to tell him something in person and like an idiot he goes to the school to see him (Yume: Okay, you were right, he is stupider here than in Unlimited Blade Works. (Nitsuj): I know right, I could see this trap coming from a mile away). Once Shirou enters the school, Shinji activates the Blood Fort seal on the school and drains mana from everyone. After getting kicked out of the window, Shirou summons Saber (Yume: Smartest thing he’s done all anime. (Neo): Amen) to fight against Rider while he takes on Shinji (kick his ass). Saber is more than a match for Rider and Shirou catches Shinji and forces him to deactivate Blood Fort or he’ll kill him. Rider saves Shinji and they escape using her noble phantasm. This event finally makes Shirou realize that all this time he’s been acting like an idiot and promises Saber that as long as she’s here he won’t fight alone. However, he won’t let her fight by herself (Neo: He was so close, and then he had to go around and say something stupid again). Sometime later, Shirou and Saber go out to hunt down Shinji and Rider before they create another force field. During their search, Shirou opens up about his past and how he wants to save people, but Saber tells him that while that’s honorable he should also think about himself more than others (Yume: Now where have I heard that line before?). They finally find Rider clinging to the side of a building (like a sexy cockroach or spider) and Saber goes to fight her (no Saber, she has the higher ground. (Yume): You underestimate her power). They fight up to the rooftop where Rider summons a Pegasus (well she’s definitely from Greek mythology) which puts Saber in a bind, but she unleashes her noble phantasm to defeat Rider and passes out (scene here: https://youtu.be/VT_M26um4XY) thus bringing Shinji’s run to an end in the Holy War (Neo: This time).
(Nitsuj): And that brings an end to the first half of Fate/stay night. Tune in next week as we take a look at the second half and see what other changes they made. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
(Neo): Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Welcome to the second half of our review of *sigh* Fate/stay night original.
(Yume): *Chuckles* I can tell you’re looking forward to this, Neo.
(Nitsuj): Last time, we ended with Shirou and Saber managing to defeat Rider thus bringing an end to Shinji’s run in the war, but where does he go from here? Well let’s find out as we continue our review of Fate/stay night original.