Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works

The Holy Grail War is a battle royale among seven magi who serve as Masters. Masters, through the use of the command seals they are given when they enter the war, command Heroic Spirits known as Servants to fight for them in battle. In the Fifth Holy Grail War, Rin Toosaka is among the magi entering the competition. With her Servant, Archer, she hopes to obtain the ultimate prize—the Holy Grail, a magical artifact capable of granting its wielder any wish.

One of Rin's classmates, Shirou Emiya, accidentally enters the competition and ends up commanding a Servant of his own known as Saber. As they find themselves facing mutual enemies, Rin and Shirou decide to form a temporary alliance as they challenge their opponents in the Holy Grail War.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Saber Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Toosaka, Rin Main

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Archer Main

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Emiya, Shirou Main

Sugiyama, Noriaki Japanese

Emiya, Kiritsugu Supporting

Koyama, Rikiya Japanese

Gilgamesh Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Kotomine, Kirei Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

von Einzbern, Illyasviel Supporting

Kadowaki, Mai Japanese

Matou, Sakura Supporting

Shitaya, Noriko Japanese

Lancer Supporting

Canna, Nobutoshi Japanese

Takeuchi, Takashi Producer, Original Character Design

Iwakami, Atsuhiro Producer

Kondou, Hikaru Producer

Kameyama, Masahiro Assistant Producer

Reviews

Mar 6, 2025

Excalibaaaa

Recommended

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works is Ufotable’s most recognizable work even a decade after its debut, and that’s by no means an accident. UBW is amazing, a rare occasion for a film adaptation that surpasses the original work.

UBW adapts the prologue and second narrative route (Unlimited Blade Works) of the 2004 visual novel Fate/stay night by Kinoko Nasu. Nasu’s talent as a writer is what made FSN such a success; the original story is incredible: its portrayal of the heroic ideal, bombastic action, and timely comedy, mixed with Nasu’s characteristic character subtlety make for a truly entertaining story. The narrative structure of FSN (three diverging ... narrative routes) is also something to be lauded. However, FSN wasn’t perfect, looking back on it two decades after its release, it becomes clear that it was written by a man in the early 2000’s, and the medium itself, visual novels, is somewhat limited, and (in my personal opinion) kind of silly.

Ufotable’s adaption maintains the integrity of Nasu’s writing, while simultaneously up-ing the bombastic action to a level that would become the gold standard for all of anime. The show is more fluid in pacing than the VN, the long expositions fly by much faster, and the dialogue is less separated from the action. And the Ufotable's writing team takes it upon themselves to clean up the awkwardness and lurking misogyny from the VN, as a result, the story is just, better. The only thing that holds UWB back is that Ufotable has not yet adapted the first route (Fate), which would have made many of the moments in UBW much more impactful.

If you want to get into Fate, this is the place to start! I absolutely recommend you watch it. At this point, it’s a modern classic, and it's earned that spot!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 8, 2023

FAKECROSS97

Mixed Feelings

Well, I suppose Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works isn't the worst anime I've ever seen. I mean, the story is pretty decent, if you're into that sort of thing. You've got your typical hero who's destined to save the world, a bunch of other characters with their own agendas, and a whole lot of fighting. It's not exactly groundbreaking, but it's good enough to keep you interested.

As for the main characters, they're...nice. I mean, they're not exactly the most memorable bunch, but they're not terrible either. You've got your brooding protagonist, your spunky heroine, and a bunch of other characters with their own quirks. They're ... not exactly original, but they're good enough to get the job done.

Now, let's talk about the music. It's...okay. I mean, it's not exactly Beethoven, but it's not terrible either. There are some nice pieces here and there, but nothing that really stands out. It's kind of like elevator music - it's there, but you don't really notice it.

And finally, the enjoyment experience. Well, it's...fine. I mean, it's not like I was counting down the minutes until the next episode, but I wasn't exactly bored either. It's the kind of show you watch when you've got nothing better to do. It's not exactly a masterpiece, but it's not terrible either.

So, there you have it. gets a 7.4444/10 from me. It's not exactly a must-watch, but it's good enough to kill some time. And hey, at least it's not Sword Art Online.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 30, 2022

VaioletteZ

Not Recommended

Funny

Where is the story? After completing it on the strength of the animation alone, I realized Shirou has so little personality that my brain somehow achieved the unprecedented feat of learning muscle memory, as in whenever this garbage character's mouth began to animate, my brain shut off and went on a vacation to something, anything more interesting, such as summoning memories of corporate meetings with interns freshly out of university who only know how to say "synergy, win win, vis a vis, breakeven point".

I could maybe tolerate this garbage "protagonist" if the plot is actually interesting, but the plot can be described as "hack ... of a writer who has no clue how writing works reads half of the first paragraph about legendary figures on wikipedia, turns them into cute girls, and makes them put on an apron and learn how to blush at the weirdest times as if this writer has never met a girl before.

This show is the natural evolution of Evangelion's "when you have no idea what you want to write, just talk vaguely about christianity/religion and pretend like your story is deep". At least when evangelion did it, it was fresh.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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