Fate / Stay Night

Reviewed by Jeremy Gonzales
February 7, 2006

Director: Yuji Yamaguchi Genre: Anime Drama, Supernatural Distributor: Geneon Age Rating: Mature (may contain blood, violence, bad language and nudity) Review Rating: 8 out of 10

Emiya-Senpai is a young man who is the only survivor of a tragedy that occurred ten years ago, when his village is engulfed in flames from an epic battle between two masters and their servants. He is rescued by a magician whose name is Emiya Kiritsugu. Eimya-Kiritsugu adopted Senpai so when Kiritsugu passed away, Senpai inherited his estate. Senpai thought of his adopted father Kiritsugu as a hero. He wanted to become a strong Magician like his father, but his powers were limited. The only spell he knew is “Reinforce”, which allowed him to grasp and imagine the internal structure of objects. Senpai is an amateur magician when he un-willingly summoned Saber. This began his involvement with a secret war referred to as “The War for the Holly Grail”.

“The War of the Holy Grail” is a battle of seven magicians who summoned the power of seven servants. Each master had a different class of servant. Magicians had servants battle one another until each of the seven master magicians is defeated. One of the rules of the war is that there cannot be a witness. If there is a witness during the servant battle, he or she must die because it is a sacred and secret war.

This is where the main character learns who he is and what he can do Senpai is introduced to Kirei, a guardian of one of the magician masters. Kirei informed Senpai of what destiny has imposed upon him. Senpai finds out he is the seventh and last master. Senpai is also informed of what the “War of the Holy Grail” is. The object of the war is to defeat the seven masters or servants, and obtain the Holy Grail. If one touched the Holy Grail and is not worthy of it, the Holy Grail will disappear.

I would give Fate Stay Night a medium evolution factor because the story got me hooked and I'm dying to see what happens next. The anime has a very in-depth and interesting story that seems to get more intense each moment. The story is filled with roots in magic and had many action-packed sword fights. This series will not disappoint you. The only reason I gave it a medium Evolution Factor is because there are only seven masters and servants. The plot can only go so far with a number limiting the number of antagonists in the story.