Four Reasons Why I Couldn't Get Into 'Fate/Stay Night'

Fate/Stay Night

Studio: Studio Deen
Producer: Geneon Universal Entertainment, Frontier Works, TBS,The Klock Worx, Notes
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Magic, Romance, Supernatural
Episodes: 24
Episode Length: 24 min per episode

After a mysterious inferno kills his family, Shirou is saved and adopted by Kiritsugu Emiya, who teaches him the ways of magic and justice.

One night, years after Kiritsugu's death, Shirou is cleaning at school, when he finds himself caught in the middle of a deadly encounter between two superhumans known as Servants. During his attempt to escape, the boy is caught by one of the Servants and receives a life-threatening injury. Miraculously, he survives, but the same Servant returns to finish what he started. In desperation, Shirou summons a Servant of his own, a knight named Saber. The two must now participate in the Fifth Holy Grail War, a battle royale of seven Servants and the mages who summoned them, with the grand prize being none other than the omnipotent Holy Grail itself.

Fate/stay night follows Shirou as he struggles to find the fine line between a hero and a killer, his ideals clashing with the harsh reality around him. Will the boy become a hero like his foster father, or die trying?

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Many have hailed 'Fate/zero' as this amazing anime, and Saber one of the most amazing waifus to ever walk this earth. I decided to hop on the bandwagon with this series, and I started my delightful journey with 'Fate/stay night'. 
And, man, do I disagree.

This anime is, simply, mediocre. The art is meh. The characters meh. Nothing really stands out about this show. Yet people seem to like the series (the whole Fate series. Not this show specifically. People actually seem to dislike this one.) 

Normally, mediocre shows have at least one interesting thing. This typically ends up being an interesting premise or some cool action sequence. 
But some things really made me dislike this anime. And I couldn't find any redeeming qualities.

So here are the four main things that I disliked about 'Fate/stay night'.

The Otome Game-esque Animation

I put the animation first on this list because it's one of the main factors that goes into my decision to watch an anime or not. An older style of anime (For example, 'Fate/stay night') is not as appealing to me compared to a new, brightly colored style of anime (For example, 'Hyouka'.) I thought that the characters looked like they jumped out of an otome game. (And as you know, or may not know, I kinda hate otome turned anime adaptations. They just don't sit well in my stomach.) 
Seriously, they strike poses that mimic otome character poses, and it really made me want to cry.
This funny (NOT) because the show is based off a light novel, not an otome game. Oh well. 2006 animation, right?

See? Otome game!

Lack of Interesting Plot

Sure, there's some semblance of a plot. There are fights and story arcs, but they're not well-done. We have the main characters (Emiya and Saber) who fight different people. For example, they fight Rider and her Master. This is one of the main 'arcs'. It's not much, and the fight scene isn't even good. Rider barely even uses her Rider-ness to fight. (One horse scene. ONE.) 

Rider barely uses her horse, and she fights with chains. That's it. (Well...Archer doesn't fight with a bow normally. So.)

The show basically implies a large Servant v Servant battle (Reminiscent of 'Future Diary'.) But we all we get are smaller arcs which aren't very interesting. The fight scenes were boring, and I just want the story to continue on. The last 'major' battle wasn't anything special, and I kept staring at my screen in complete confusion. Just what was happening?

As I sit at my desk and write this little list, I still have no clue how to sum up the plot.
And that shows you just how awful the plot was. 

Boring, 2-D Characters

Let's go down the list of main characters. And analyze them one by one.

Just look at his derpy face...

Emiya Shirou

He's this 'powerful' Magus (You know this because Archer helps him out with the visualization thing, and it actually works. Also, Toosaka mentions this 'special snowflake' quality of his a few times.) Honestly, he makes me mad. There was nothing special about him. If you have a character with a strong moral code, you can work with that. But Emiya was just so stubborn. I felt so annoyed listening to him talk. Even the people with the strongest morals would have backed down at times. He's supposed to be the good guy in it all, but I honestly didn't care if he won or lost a battle. I just wanted to get to the next scene, preferably without him. He was ignorant and completely childish at times. There was no character development whatsoever. 

Saber

Saber's Emiya's wonderful Servant. Who is of the Saber class. She's this strong heroine...who seems to always need Emiya. She has this really cool Noble Phantasm but passes out after using it and...you guessed it NEEDS EMIYA. The fact that show subtly adds some lovely sexist tones with Saber's character made me want to roll under my desk and hide for a million years. No, you can't say 'But that was 2006! It's 2016 now!' I'm still going to hide. Has our culture changed that much in ten years? Nope. I don't think so, but that is a topic for another time. Back to Saber. 
Not only is she a 'strong heroine', she is also as interesting as a piece of wet cardboard. Her character barely gets any interesting lines, and she has no characterization at all. I know she might get better with 'Fate/zero', but, so far, my opinion of her isn't very good.

Toosaka Rin

Toosaka might be the only interesting character in this show. She is sassy and quick to retort. But the fact of the matter is, she is really just an ally for Emiya. I know that she isn't the main main character, but she could get some characterization too. We have a hint of backstory, but it's never explored enough for me to care. I felt like she was just the more experienced Magus for Emiya to learn from. She could have been a great mentor...if she wasn't basically another girl in the Emiya Harem. (She's the smart...but sexy one. Mysterious and pushes you away. What will happen next?) Plus, in the last few episodes, she's completely ignored for the bull romance. Thanks? And it's not like I'll watch 'Unlimited Blade Works' and see her side of things. So she's forever this empty sort of harem girl in my mind.

Archer

I can't even start talking about him without cringing. For one of the main characters, Archer gets no action. He's seen maybe...three times total in the whole show. Really. And he's supposed to be one of the main characters? Uh...no. And he also gives advice to Emiya (whom he hates.) I deny your argument. I can't care about him if he is given no role in this show. So bye-bye. 

The Bull Romance

Oh, look. The lovely couple. How cute... -rolls eyes-

The second Emiya whipped out the 'I care for her' card, I wanted to slam my fist against the wall. (Which I may or may not have done.) Romance can be done right, but, normally, that's not the case. And with 'Fate/stay night', the romance was unnecessary. You can build up a great romance between friends, and that would have been fine. 
What's even worse is that you can't believe the romance. There's no indication of a crush, and the things we do get can be labeled as 'Virgin Dude Unexposed to Sex Appeal'. (Namely, the scenes where Saber stands naked in front of Emiya.) 
The romance is too forced, and it lacks the spark a normal romance does. So no. Just no.

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I Can't Get 'Erased' Out Of My Mind

Boku dake ga Inai Machi (Erased)

Studio: A-1 Pictures
Producer: Aniplex, Dentsu,Kadokawa Shoten, Fuji TV, DAX Production, Kyoraku Industrial Holdings, Kansai Telecasting Corporation
Genre: Mystery, Psychological, Supernatural, Seinen
Episodes: 12 
Episode Length: 23 minutes per episode

When tragedy is about to strike, Satoru Fujinuma finds himself sent back several minutes before the accident occurs. The detached, 29-year-old manga artist has taken advantage of this powerful yet mysterious phenomenon, which he calls "Revival," to save many lives.

However, when he is wrongfully accused of murdering someone close to him, Satoru is sent back to the past once again, but this time to 1988, 18 years in the past. Soon, he realizes that the murder may be connected to the abduction and killing of one of his classmates, the solitary and mysterious Kayo Hinazuki, that took place when he was a child. This is his chance to make things right.

Boku dake ga Inai Machi follows Satoru in his mission to uncover what truly transpired 18 years ago and prevent the death of his classmate while protecting those he cares about in the present.

This anime seemed to go under the radar for me. I didn't hear too much about it, but I saw that it had amazing ratings. This got me intrigued. So I started to watch it.

Rhis anime pulls you in. You can't help but binge watch it. (Which is what I did.)

Likes:

• The art is gorgeous. I loved the character designs. The young Kenya was adorable. (Admittedly, he was my favorite character. A genius and a cute one to boot.) And the gloves! So adorable. I wanted a pair. Knitted gloves...a great present. (Though, I'd prefer a jacket over gloves any day.)
• Murder mystery? Hm...interesting. This definitely intrigues my inner murder mystery fan. (I do love Castle and NCIS and all.) But...I guessed who was the murderer early on. The red eyes were pretty obvious. (Not that the main character could see it.) I didn't like the lack of clues, though. I wanted more murder mystery. The story revolved around the prevention of the murder. But there was no mystery to solve. I love solving mysteries! There just wasn't enough of the mystery. Even though I loved the little wisps of mystery we had.
• The emphasis on friendship and family was amazing. Friends can pull you through things. That's true. So I was happy that this anime had the element of friends. And the power of mothers! Wow. I loved how the main character's mom really stood up for him and plowed through his problems. Respect.

Dislikes:

• The supernatural elements were confusing. I really didn't like the Revival. There were many questions. How did it work? Why? What changed? Can anyone else do it? And the switch back to reality in the middle was even more confusing. Why did it happen? Why didn't it happen again? I wanted the reasons why. There has to be a reason.

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I Didn't Quite Fall in Love With 'The Love That Split the World'

The Love That Split the World

Author: Emily Henry

Goodreads / Amazon

Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves. 

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start... until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken.

This book had lots of potential. It could have been amazing. But there were a lot of elements that I liked that were lacking. And, overall, I had too many questions to feel satisfied.

Likes:

• The paranormal aspects were fantastic. But I wanted more. I wanted to know more about the science of the parallel world. Why is everything revolving around Beau and Natalie? There are hints of other people this happens to. Where are they? Who are they? What do they have in common with Natalie and Beau? I didn't feel satisfied about the information I was given. I wanted more.
• Beau was a complex character. But he didn't get enough screen time. I felt that if the book was in his PoV, things would be much more interesting. After all, he had a complex home life. Problems were hinted at in Natalie's home, but they didn't have a lot of meat. He had reasons for his existence, reasons for his personality. But nothing is continued. He's a teenage piano-playing, footballing alcoholic. He's kind and gentle even though his family life is rough. He's good at football but really slacks off in every other way. I wanted to know why he was like that. I felt like he was just Natalie's Beau (haha, I get the joke) and not his own person.

Dislikes:

• The romance was meh. I know this book was about romance. I knew that walking in. But still. I really didn't like the instalove. These two barely knew each other before the first kiss. The story didn't expand on their romance. It was a lot of momentous firsts that aren't really compounded on. I wanted to know why Beau loved Natalie and why Natalie loved Beau. Even if you just gave me the cheesy 'I love your hair. I love your eyes. I love you smile' stuff. I'd actually be much happier if that had been written in. They met maybe three times before the lip locking. Why was Natalie drawn to him? What did she find interesting? His kindness? His warmth? Explain, girl, explain!
• The plot was unsatisfying. If you look at it, not a lot happened. The two met and fell in love. Not a lot happened. Not things that were written outright at least. The story was about their romance, but that wasn't interesting either. Nothing was given meat. The story had so much potential, but it didn't go beyond bare bones.

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The Eight Emotions You Get With 'Welcome to Night Vale'

Welcome to Night Vale

Author: Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Goodreads / Amazon

From the creators of the wildly popular Welcome to Night Valepodcast comes an imaginative mystery of appearances and disappearances that is also a poignant look at the ways in which we all struggle to find ourselves...no matter where we live.

Located in a nameless desert somewhere in the great American Southwest, Night Vale is a small town where ghosts, angels, aliens, and government conspiracies are all commonplace parts of everyday life. It is here that the lives of two women, with two mysteries, will converge.

Nineteen-year-old Night Vale pawn shop owner Jackie Fierro is given a paper marked "King City" by a mysterious man in a tan jacket holding a deer skin suitcase. Everything about him and his paper unsettles her, especially the fact that she can't seem to get the paper to leave her hand, and that no one who meets this man can remember anything about him. Jackie is determined to uncover the mystery of King City and the man in the tan jacket before she herself unravels.

Night Vale PTA treasurer Diane Crayton's son, Josh, is moody and also a shape shifter. And lately Diane's started to see her son's father everywhere she goes, looking the same as the day he left years earlier, when they were both teenagers. Josh, looking different every time Diane sees him, shows a stronger and stronger interest in his estranged father, leading to a disaster Diane can see coming, even as she is helpless to prevent it.

Diane's search to reconnect with her son and Jackie's search for her former routine life collide as they find themselves coming back to two words: "King City". It is King City that holds the key to both of their mysteries, and their futures...if they can ever find it. 

If I should creepy throughout this review, I'm trying to be mysterious and odd. That's required for anything related to Night Vale. So ignore my lame attempts at creepiness.

1) What in the world am I reading? This makes no sense!
As you start your journey down the path of Night Vale, you'll think everything is weird. Even to a veteran of the podcast, I think some aspect of this novel are a little weird. Essentially, you'll be thinking 'This doesn't make sense' throughout the whole book. Night Vale makes no sense, and the book doesn't make sense as a result.
Feral dogs. The glow cloud. Antiques. You'll be wondering if the writers were high while they wrote this. Maybe they were. It's not a known fact or anything. Maybe you're the one who's high. Haven't you thought that?

2) CEECCCILLL

This photo is not owned by me. The rights go the owners. 

That first snippet of the podcast script got me almost-squealing. You could hear Cecil's voice in your ear, quietly whispering sweet nothings. What? He's dating Carlos? I know. But still. People have dreams, you know.
Cecil Baldwin has a voice of rich chocolate and silk. If I had a narrator for my life, it'd be Cecil Baldwin. Not to mention the fact that he sounds like that in every day life.
Don't get what I mean? Turn on your radio and stick in your headphones and listen. And try not to be hypnotized.
Do it now.
See? It's impossible. His voice just makes you want to run to your nearest bloodstone circle and chant him to your side. Need a bloodstone circle? I'm not sharing mine. I need it for important things like summoning the book demons and the writing demons and the blogging demons. Essentially, all the demons.
Oh goodness. Get back, Lucifer. I'm trying to write! Sorry about him.

3) I think I got this...

You'll think that you understand Night Vale. You'll pretend that Night Vale makes sense. In a way that doesn't make sense at all. You just have to accept things. Oh? You're not going to accept things? What's wrong with you? Did your parents never teach you acceptance? It's a need if you live in Night Vale. Do I live in Night Vale? Maybe. You'll never know.

4) Nope never mind. I'm still lost

And then you'll realize that you're completely lost and need someone to guide you. Don't worry. The faceless old woman who lives in your house is a very good guide. She pointed me to my lost watch once. But she takes part of your soul as payment. But who needs a soul anyways? Not me!

5) Okay, I'm enjoying this. Even if it makes no sense.
Stop resisting. You can't figure Night Vale out. Don't even try. Just accept it.
It is a little odd, but that's Night Vale for you.
Acceptance is key.

6) -shiver- I'm getting chills

Yes, Night Vale is a weird town. It is also a little creepy. I remember shivering at my first experience with the podcast. But in the good way. Is there a good way to shiver, Wren? Yes. There is.

7) Aw...anticlimactic!
I'm sorry, but the whole King City and Troy thing was very anticlimactic. They just talked to him? That's lame. Especially if the entire book had great buildup.
I wanted more creeps, but you don't always get what you ask for.

8) Satisfying. Let's go listen to WTNV
Now, you just want to shower and have your house whisper thoughts to you. Or hail the glow cloud. Or die for a bit while you pawn your 'object' (as if personal possession exists.)
Or I'll forcibly make you listen. Your choice.

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