Fate/stay night

[masamuneehs]

I haven't posted here in a long time, and unfortunately this one isn't going to be such a positive one.

I am absolutely wowed by how many people here think this show is good. Yeah the action is pretty good at times, but I don't find the 'what is the servants true identity?' mystery to be entriguing at all. as such I feel that this is a really pretty shallow series that counts on its excellent action animation and hoards of pretty babes. The plot is skinny, to say the least. The characters, especially Shirou, more often piss me off than anything else. Annoying teacher, Rin who talks big and then lets a change of heart overpower her logic (she deserves to lose her Servant for that decision to rescue Shirou), I Must Be Strong Saber, cowardly and whiny Kenji, super shy and dedicated Sakura, creepy bloodthirsty little girl Ilya.

I seriously seriously do not see what you all do in this show. I do occasionally DL it when I'm bored or have some free time, but after watching episode 14 (and not being like 'OMFG Greatness!') I'm pretty much at the end of my rope with this show.


Can someone tell me what it is that they really like about this show?
(sorry to be a negative nancy, i just can't see it in this one)

[Ryllharu]

Basically, every reason you dislike it is the reason I enjoy it. I've always been really into mythology, and since most of the Servants appear to be following that trend, I find it really interesting to test my knowledge on vague clues from interpretated myths to guess at the identities. I'll admit the plot, as of late, has been a bit on the shy side. But for the most part the interactions with the characters are interesting. Why did Rin save Shirou twice? What past do the two of them seem to have? The one scene with Sakura looking out the window seemed to imply that she was more involved in this that it seemed. But they cleaned up most of the other plot points for now, which is why its a little on the shy side.

I have not found any of the characters annoying, aside from the all talk and no follow-up whiner Shinji, Rider's master. I've always hated characters that turn out like this, and he was exceptionally annoying. I was very happy when Ilya said she had killed him. I do not even find the teacher annoying.

I can see how some would not like this series, so I guess it's really just up to personal preference.

[complich8]

reasons I like the show:

(1) high production values. Same reason I liked X TV ... the plot there was just plain stupid (wtf dragons and seals ... bullshit pseudobiblical mystical babble ... two Kamuis ...), but the show is just so dang well put-together.
(2) good action... the fighting sequences are pretty impressive .... related to 1, more than anything.
(3) I like the characters. I like Shiro's hesitant naivete and self-sacrificing personality. I like the layers of Rin's personality ... the fact that despite talking big, she was able to put herself on the line to protect a friend (albeit a friend on uneasy terms). I like how Ilya's not just a one-dimensional villain, but rather is presented as a child given a grisly task to do and never really given a proper sense of right and wrong.
(4) The whole servants/identities thing is an interesting diversion. It's pretty meaningless, I'll grant you, but fuck man, what isn't meaningless about any given anime?
(5) Character growth. Shiro grows into his role (even while redefining it). Rin gets a chance to grow some humanity -- something largely denied to her by her upbringing as a magician. After Berserker goes down, you could see the potential for Ilya to become something of a decent human, too.
(6) Underdog syndrome. I, like most people, like cheering for the nice-guy underdog ... especially when you just sort of know the underdog has the potential to kick everyone's ass. While the people around him know what's up, Shiro's basically just dropped into the middle of a war with no skills and no knowledge of what's going on.

In short, I think this show essentially captures the good points you can have in any apocalyptic-type series. Sure, the plot is a bit shallow and light, sure the characters aren't exactly role models... but you know what? Any series set during a big potentially world-changing event is going to have that sort of flaw. Did you like Eva, despite shinji being a weak, spinless and revolting character and everyone else being horribly twisted? Did you like Rahxephon, despite the very very strange character development and the near-indecipherable mysticism? Did you like X, despite the fact that other than production values and novelty it had virtually nothing going for it? If you said "no" to all three, then why are you even bothering with this show?

I think you're putting too much emphasis on the "what's the servant's identity" minigame though. It's NOT essential to the plot to know that Berserker is Hercules, or Rider was Medusa, or Saber is Arthur. It IS essential to know that Rider is a twisted creature, matching the twisted personality of her master, that Berserker is an amoral beast that's really freaking hard to kill. Saying "well, this character has its roots in mythology" is one thing ... but they're really not dwelling on that so much, beyond using pre-existing tools to tell a new story.

Don't get me wrong, I can certainly see how you could dislike the show. Just ... the criteria you're criticizing it for are the sort of things you could blast just about any show being made today for -- lack of plot progression (amg anyone?), characters that you might not like, minor details that don't appeal to you. If you are seriously going to criticize the show, criticize it for its horrible non-combat pacing, or because you just don't like the characters, but I don't think it's fair to call minor points major ones or to omit the other good things about the series entirely because you're so hung up on those things.

[masamuneehs]

i guess some people really just have starkly different opinions/tastes. I don't mean to attack your tastes, I just couldn't believe how popular this show is here and felt I had to say something. It really looks like (from Ryl and comps posts) that it's just an opposite sense of opinion that makes me dislike this show.

[Yukimura]

Warning: I in no way condone or encourage anyone to do anything after reading this post, I just wanted to share some information I found, though it might be of a questionable nature.





I was browsing mininova and came across something called Faith-Stay Knight and, being the curious person I am, I looked it up on google. Apparently the popularity of F/SN was enough that they made a live action porn of it, which I found to have a very funny, albeit stupid, trailer, in addition to being a hilarious concept in general. I know the games were 'H' but seeing that goofy ass trailer makes me laugh at how the same thing that inspired the anime that so many like, also inspired this terrible, or amazing porn movie. I'm not really qualified to critique japanese porn so I can't judge.

EDIT: I'm not telling anyone to go download it or anything like that, I was just commenting on it.

[Aeon]

Ep 16 is out by Eclipse. AVI and MKV

http://www.point-blank.cc:16384/allo...5D.avi.torrent

http://www.point-blank.cc:16384/allo...5D.mkv.torrent

[Knives122]

ooohhhh, this episode is gonna be good

[NeoBear]

That was a pretty good episode I thought the fight with zerker was great. Just two things that are starting to bother me, I don’t like the idea of Shiro being capable of wielding Sabers sword fake or real it’s her sword, it kind of takes away from her for him to be able to use her trademark weapon. If he had summoned it and gave it to her I would have had no problem with that. And I suppose this has to do with this series having been based of a H game and perhaps also serving to give Saber a humane side but im not digging seeing her get all flustered being close to shiro all of a sudden, perhaps the transition was handled better in the game but it seems like she has changed quite drastically in less then two episodes. I liked it better when she seemed unconcerned about being a female. I think saber is the ideal female warrior to see her all of a sudden develop a feminine side so quickly kind of bugs me =/

[Kraco]

I think this was a very good episode. Although Berserk's sudden death looked like a thing of convenience, as they would have otherwise needed to drag and drag the battle for a long time, it was thus understandable it ended like it did.

Shirou's skill is getting more clear, which is a good thing, and also, I guess, the inevitable summoning of the sword. I was against that idea earlier, but now I have to say it makes sense, especially after what Berserk muttered prior to his demise. It was just a thing I failed to consider earlier.

Also the kind of out of place H-elements keep popping up... Maybe I just didn't pay enough attention to them earlier, but after the episode with the forming of the bond between Shirou and Saber I guess I got a bit more observant. The bath scene in this ep is very evident of course, but then there are less obvious, but otherwise meaningless shots like Rin's leg and short skirt. I'm slightly baffled what the studio is trying to achieve with this lacking element that doesn't quite fit the atmosphere of the series.

[darkshadow]

err.. you do know the game has a h rating dont you? and that the "mana recharging" scene between shirou and saber was quite different..