May 1st, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 01
Fate/stay night episode 01
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Ten years after an incident that was part of the Holy Grail War, the lone survivor of a devastating attack, Shirou, is now a high school student. He was adopted by a wealthy man, who revealed himself to be a mage. However, his step-father is dead and Shirou is taken care of by underclassman Sakura (who cooks and cleans) and FUJIMURA Taiga, whom he refers to as “Fuji-nee” and who’s also his homeroom teacher. Shiro has a gift for “seeing” things within objects and with this power, he is able to easily fix something like the broken heater in the student council room for his best friend Issei. Also attending his school is Rin, a mage who has summoned a Servant named Archer for an upcoming continuation of the Holy Grail war.
Around the area, there have been an unusual number of gas explosions and robbery killings. When Issei points out a recent one to Shirou, Shirou becomes troubled and ends up leaving school a bit early for his part-time job. He returns briefly to the place where he was found before working at a local liquor store. Shirou wants to be able to save people, which is a trait that Sakura loves but Fuji-nee dislikes for someone Shirou’s age. On his way home, Shirou encounters a young girl who tells him he better summon a Servant or he’ll die. Meanwhile around town, Rin and Archer are scouting locations for the upcoming fight.
Thoughts/Review:
This has been on my radar to watch for quite some time but now I finally decided to watch it and even blog it on an episode basis rather than just as a DVD-whole (which is probably what I should be doing). I’m always amazed at the number of eroge titles that are then converted into non-hentai anime series. Some, like Popotan, keep an ecchi feel to them while others (Air, Kanon) abandon the ecchi stuff altogether. I believe that’s how this anime is going to do things but we’ll see.
Regardless, this first episode was not all that I expected. I did expect some intrigue, which we received with Rin summoning Archer and then scouting out the town. We received more of that with the young girl giving the warning to Shirou and with the brief flashback showing how Shirou has at least some minor magical abilities. One would assume that the deaths and explosions are part of the hinted forthcoming conflict, whether from Rin, the little girl, or other party.
What I didn’t expect was the comedic moments. For example, since Fujimura-sensei’s given name is “Taiga,” the students sometimes tease her and call her ‘Tiger” or “Tiger-sensei.” Considering my recent viewing of Toradora! where the lead female character is also named “Taiga” and is known as the “Palm-top Tiger,” this tiger joke for Fujimura-sensei went over well with me. Further, there were several other comedic moments and frankly I didn’t expect there to be any comedy at all. So that was a pleasant surprise.
I’ll continue to try to blog this episodically and hopefully complete it sooner rather than later so as to knock down another backlog anime title. *lol* I do welcome the thoughts of those who’ve already watched this anime and would be interested in knowing details from the eroge story if anyone has played it (details in comparing the anime adaptation to the original game).
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If it gives you any idea about what direction the series takes, I was startled to learn this one was an eroge. There’s some blatant fanservice on a few occasions, but it has much less of an eroge “feel” than even Kanon.
“This has been on my radar to watch for quite some time”
Better later than never… 🙂
Good show, but wish it was better IMHO.
@Arimareiji — good to know. Thanks. ^_^
@toonleap — I see other Fate/* titles out there so I’m wondering if there is room for a sequel or not.
I hope to soon welcome you into the world of Type-Moon fandom. Watching the F/SN anime is usually a first step. I hope you enjoy it– despite the pacing problem (glacial in the beginning, breakneck in the second half) that the show has. And don’t get me started at how upsetting it is that the anime primarily follows the (least interesting, IMHO) Saber route.
As for sequels, there is only one anime (yet). There is a sequel eroge: Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, a prequel novel: Fate/Zero, and a few video game spin-offs: Fate/Tiger Colosseum series and Fate/Unlimited Codes. I would love to see a Fate/Zero anime.
Nice to see a review from this anime. I hope it is fun for you…
There is just one big problem: The eroge has three “routes”. Every route features another heroine and differs greatly in its story!
I think, the anime follows the first route, but there are some scenes of other routes…
There is also no sequel to this game: Fate/Hollow or Fate Unlimited Codes are just spinoffs, which are more or less incoherent to the original game.
Ahh Fate/, so many memories. This game had everything, Love, Action, Drama, Mystery, Tragedy, and some of the most epic moments that will stay in my mind forever. The tears, squeels of excitement, and laughs I had with this… The anime wasn’t bad either (lol)
Comic relief was definately welcome to this story, especially in the eroge which had so much gore and so many sad moments (also an incest rape aspect *_*)
I know you’ll enjoy the anime though.
NO SPOILERS PEOPLE!
Finding this entry was quite a surprise. I agree with everyone so far that Fate/stay night is indeed a good anime to watch. I haven’t yet had the chance to play the game myself yet, though I have heard great things about it ^^’
Well since it’s based on a visual novel, the character design and effects are quite topnotch. I agree that the comedy is a good balancer for the more serious aspects of the plot. I’ve managed to read a part of the manga (which is said to follow another route than the anime does: Ultimate Blade Works)
Like arimareiji, I was actually surprised to learn that this was based on an eroge ^^’
Well, anyway I’m looking forward to your future reviews of the next episodes, hopefully you’ll find the anime just as enjoyable and memorable as many Type-Moon fans did (myself included) =^-^=
[…] started my journey into the Fate/stay night franchise by watching the first anime series back in May of 2009, hearing that the series was being redone by a new animation studio (ufotable) and that instead of […]