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I'm absolutely astounded coming off the heels of Gundam Unicorn, this OVA is put out just 1 year later with such a drastic nosedive in quality, yet somehow has received even more stellar critical praise. Unicorn was of course a fantastic modernization of UC Gundam; bringing us heeps of political intrigue, clever dialogue, careful pacing, and stunning hand-animated mecha battles. It was just about everything a Gundam fan could want.

If you're expecting any of that from The Origin however, look elsewhere. Instead, look forward to overused (albeit passable) 3DCG mobile suits, juvenile shounen-level dialogue, tone-deaf slapstick humor, and embarrassingly terrible direction. I'm really not even ... sure what they were thinking here.

Obviously at this point there have been numerous alternate timelines of Gundam adapted that experiment with different storytelling styles, but The Origin is neither an alternate universe nor an inconsequential side story where this kind of experimentation would be appropriate. This is about the origin story of one of the most iconic characters in Gundam canon; the Red Comet himself, Char Aznable. Often referred to as "Space Hitler" by the fandom for some of the heinous crimes he's been responsible for; one would think that his story would be treated with greater seriousness and reverence. What we get instead is characters constantly shouting their lines even though the scene doesn't warrant it, subordinates perving out on their female commander, and a Major quite literally squirting blood from all corners of his face; not because he was shot, stabbed, or wounded, but because he was just really mad.

This OVA honestly cheapens the lore and is a complete disaster. I won't be viewing the remaining episodes.

The Psycho-Pass movie is a solid return to form for the franchise after the edgy abortion that was Psycho-Pass Season 2. Gone is the gratuitous shock value gore and comically silly antagonist motivations; now replaced by, well... still a lot of gore and violence, but violence that feels earned and serves a purpose in depicting the deeply troubled situation of the world outside of the Sibyl System's grasp. This is most likely owed to returning writer Gen Urobuchi, who was previously absent from season 2.

Personally, I've never been a huge fan of Urobuchi's work, and while I appreciate his efforts to bring more depth and ... maturity to the medium, he also has a tendency to get a little too stuck up his own ass, with characters standing around waxing philosophical a bit too bluntly and telling too much rather than showing, to the point that the narrative starts to drag. Psycho-Pass is no exception to the rule with Mr. Urobuchi. However, Psycho-Pass by far has proven to be the anime that best meshes with his writing style, as the political dealings at the core of its plot make sense that they would invoke a lot of philosophical questions and discussion.

Thankfully, the movie mostly ignores all of the events of season 2 and can be watched having only seen season 1, which I highly recommend as the route to go if you still have yet to enter the franchise for whatever reason. Like the original Psycho-Pass, the movie continues to deliver on the mystery, thriller, and political philosophy that made the first season so captivating, while upping the ante with more action setpieces and a grander scale. It also marks the long-awaited return of Kogami, Akane Tsunemori's former partner in pre-crime, which for the most part is handled very well, and stays true to his character.

My criticisms with this film mostly come down to problems that have long plagued the anime industry as well as Gen Urobuchi's writing. But first: the overuse of 3D CGI. It seems unavoidable that every studio nowadays feels compelled to shoehorn it in simply because they can, even though it overwhelmingly makes the animation look worse, feel cheap, or be merely passable at best. Thankfully, this movie at least falls into the category of the latter, managing to blend the CGI in just well enough to keep me from cringing, but it still suffers from the typical unnecessary reduction in framerate during certain scenes which creates a Robot Chicken-style plastic toy effect that makes it hard to take seriously. And in an anime that is this serious business, you should really try to avoid that at all costs. Most of the CGI in the background environments however is used to great effect, adding lots of depth to the scenery, but the use of it on the mechs and other close-up moving objects is just unneeded, and would have been better-served if hand-animated.

I am not opposed to adding a nice jolt of action to the anime as well, but some of the action choreography started to cut a few too many corners with the animation, getting uncomfortably choppy and losing its cool factor. With a larger chunk of the narrative focusing on the action, it needs to consistently look good, and there's no excuse for skimping on the animation with the bigger budget provided for a movie adaptation. Luckily though, the animation works more often than it doesn't, and overall the movie does look marginally better than the TV series.

Finally, there is the issue of Gen Urobuchi. As I said, he has a tendency to get drab and let the story drag at times, and some of the middling segments of the film start to suffer from this. A series of plot twists in the third act happen a little too fast and everything gets wrapped up a bit too quickly. With these twists being particularly some of the more fascinating segments of the movie, I would have liked to see these points expanded upon and explored more while trimming some of the fat in the middle. And above all, despite everything that happens by the end, there isn't any fundamental shifts or character development for the main protagonists. Everybody is mostly in the same place as where they were when they started. Even in spite of this though, Psycho-Pass has always had strong and interesting characters, which helps lessen the disappointment in this area.

As far as the sound department is considered, this is where the movie excels in nearly all respects. The sounds of gunfire, the epic music, and superb voice acting all come together to make this world feel like a lived-in one. I heard that the Japanese voice cast attempts to speak a lot of Engrish with this taking place in a European setting, which after a while starts to turn off-putting, but I watched this in English dub where none of these problems were apparent. A litmus test I often like to use when it comes to exceptional voice acting is if you can take someone who has never seen the show before and place them in an adjacent room where all they can hear is the sound, and they end up mistaking it for a live action drama instead of a cartoon, you know that the voice actors have put in a good effort. And indeed with Psycho-Pass, I believe the English voice cast passes that test with flying colors.

All in all, the Psycho-Pass movie is a worthy addition to the franchise; one that is definitely worth seeing if you were a fan of the original series and hoping that it could still be salvaged after the second season shat its story into a paper bag and lit it on fire. I'm looking forward to this hopefully not being the last of Urobuchi's best work.

21 minutes, 12 seconds.

This number is your one chance to save yourself from the disasterphe that is the Oreimo ending. Once you reach this point in the final episode of the OVAs, stop the playback and end it right there. So long as you do, it provides a perfectly solid conclusion to the series with no cop outs or asspulls, and the rest of the story can easily be left to your imagination. If you are a glutton for punishment however, proceed at your own risk. Know that what you see cannot be unseen though. Trust me on this one, take the blue pill and ... stay in wonderland Neo. You don't want to know how far down the rabbit hole goes in this case. I'll take you out for a juicy and delicious steak instead.

I originally was planning on writing a review for the entire series, but upon completing this crime against humanity, that idea was quickly jettisoned out the airlock like a refrigerator aboard the Bebop. I consider myself fairly lenient when it comes to entertainment that pisses me off, as I can usually see at least some redeeming qualities about it to overlook its flaws and misgivings, but what Oreimo did was such a travesty, so anger, much shitty, wow... Erhmm, what I mean to say is, this is basically the worst ending to a series I've ever seen; beating out Berserk in maximum trollage of its fanbase. There is simply no justifiable explanation for what it did. It is the one cop out ending to rule them all. Thus, out of sheer anger and resentment, I feel compelled to write this very specifically targeted review in the off-chance that I might spare even one other poor soul from being sucked into the empty void that is the experience you will feel in the aftermath of Oreimo.

As this is a sequel to an anime entitled "My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute", by now everyone who has made it this far should be well aware of the incest undertones that are pervasive throughout the series. For some this has been off-putting, but they've managed to stomach it because of the interesting relationships and situations that have developed, or perhaps because it is animated and therefore not real, they don't see it as a problem. In my case, I've never had any problem with it. In fact, I actually rather liked this aspect about the anime. Much like the series' focus on otaku culture, it allows viewers to see how a social taboo could be painted in a positive light, but instead of just preaching to the choir by only focusing on otakus, the author also gets us to consider other socially unacceptable conduct and whether we should be quick to judge others when suddenly confronted with another behavior that we might not understand. With all this in mind, much of what you will see in this sequel finale should really come as no surprise for the most part, as the series continues to deliver exactly what it bills itself as.

I wanted to preface myself with all this so as to not be misconstrued as hating on this anime because of moral objections or because I just didn't get my favorite waifu pairing. To be honest, regardless of who Kyosuke decided to pick in the end, I would have been mostly satisfied so long as the execution was handled well enough. While I do have my personal preferences, at this point I had grown attachments to all of Kyosuke's major love interests, so I could have easily seen the story going many different directions. But the problem is that it wasn't executed well enough. It was executed abysmally. Actually, I take that back. The narrative did a pretty good job with its execution I guess. By dropping a guillotine on itself in its final moments.

What's so baffling about this whole debacle is that the vast majority of the content in these OVAs was in fact handled masterfully. Unlike so many other nameless harems, the main character isn't a clueless dunce that is just going to string his love interests along indefinitely; he had actually chosen who he wanted to be with, and he was prepared to suffer the consequences and fallout that would inevitably come of it. Therefore, this finale largely consists of Kyosuke confronting each girl of his harem and turning them down until he is eventually left with the only one he truly wants. As a result, we are given a dramatic and satisfying display of emotions from all the characters that, even though it was often heart-wrenching to watch, it tugged at my insides in all the right ways, and it was building up proper closure to the series. For this, I was preparing myself to give the OVAs the highest rating of the entire franchise, as it was shaping up to be the most fulfilling arc of them all. Then, inexplicably, with a single whisper in the ear, the story completely derailed itself and threw away everything it was building up to. All of Kyosuke's efforts and sacrifices up until this point were rendered effectively pointless, and absolutely nothing was accomplished by the end of the series.

To explain precisely how everything I just described is possible would be to spoil the story, and I'd like to keep this segment of the review spoiler-free until I get to my final footnotes, but if you really must know why it is so broken, the best way I can describe it to you in vague terms is that this is the Mass Effect 3 ending of anime. Huge breaches in logic, no closure, no resolution, no nothing. In fact, the scale of the cop out was so great that with the way Oreimo ended, viewers could start watching a theoretical third season of it having no foreknowledge of any of the events that transpired in the OVAs, and they wouldn't even notice that they had missed anything of substance. Despite a series of what should have been life-altering decisions, drama-packed confessions, and heart-breaking rejections, none of it actually amounted to anything and the anime was practically right back to square one where it started in the first season. Everyone has varying tastes when it comes to storytelling, but I think it's fair to say that no one would want an ending that is virtually identical to its beginning.

I could talk about the voice actors, which were great at their roles. I could talk about the animation, which was fluid and lives up to the quality of the rest of the series, but all of this doesn't matter. The ending was just so broken and so forced that nothing else could save it. In spite of all this, my leniency still managed to squeeze 3 points out of 10 from me because there was so much else that the OVAs got right, but it's still bad. Really bad. This is the first time where such a small segment of the narrative has so greatly affected my score simply because it is that atrocious. When all is said and done, we are left with a conclusion that emotionally manipulates its viewers and then kicks them all violently to the curb. It's particularly more nefarious than most because other cop out endings are usually done due to their source material being incomplete, but Oreimo doesn't have this excuse. The light novels are finished, and this was the official ending that was chosen, which means there is likely no planned continuation that gives a proper resolution to the story, and there is nothing to look forward to in its source material to provide any solace. Still, for an anime to be capable of eliciting this much emotion out of me, there obviously has to be something special there. And there is. Oreimo is still overall a good series and it was a fun ride while it lasted, but the ending will break you, so I repeat: 21 minutes, 12 seconds. Save yourself and do not forget this number.

***** SPOILERIFIC FOOTNOTES *****

Now if by some chance you didn't listen to my advice and foolishly stumbled ahead anyway, I'd just like to say right now that I told you so. Anyways, it's time to take the safety gloves off and make some final points that I couldn't touch on in my spoiler-free section of the review. So as we all know (since you didn't listen to my advice), Kyosuke chose his sister Kirino, but we find out later that the secret words Kirino whispered in Kyosuke's ear were a suggestion for them to end their relationship after they graduate, and perplexingly Kyosuke agrees as if this is actually a great idea. She doesn't really give an explanation for this proposition, which is what makes it all the more confusing that Kyosuke would accept it right away, but presumably the implication is that because this is an incest relationship, they must have believed it could never work out in the end due to society rejecting them, so this was the only way they thought they could go forward. Well that's all fine and dandy, except then WHAT THE HELL WAS THE POINT OF ALL THAT SACRIFICE? So the writers expect us to believe that even though Kirino's selfishness would never allow this, and even though Kyosuke already told everyone his true feelings and turned down several confessions that could have easily resulted in life-long fulfilling relationships, they would both cast all this aside just so they could have an intimate relationship for a few weeks? There is absolutely no way this would realistically happen, and it is completely inconsistent with the characters' motivations. Granted, Oreimo has hardly been a realistic series, but even relative to its own rules that it establishes for itself, it just doesn't work.

Given this sudden and massive breach of common sense, it seems rather obvious that it was the writers' intent to cheaply avoid controversy while still trying to have their cake and eat it too. However, even putting aside the huge inconsistencies this creates with the characters just so they could have this contrived ending, how does this even truly evade the moral outrage that they sought to tap dance around? I don't know if anyone noticed, but Kirino and Kyosuke already confessed to each other! They already slept together! They already held a wedding and kissed each other! For anyone who strongly objects to incest at this point, the line has already been thoroughly crossed, but instead they think they can still just back up their car and no one will notice that the finish line was passed. And that's the most frustrating thing about this all. The anime had already reached the perfect place to finish, but it just kept on going. Going backwards that is, and yet if it had simply ended where it was supposed to, it was already set for greatness.

If you don't have the balls to fully commit to your incestuous ending, then at least have the decency to not completely screw your main character over and make him choose someone else. Otherwise this is just insulting and it doesn't satisfy anyone. It doesn't appease Kirino fans, it doesn't appease Kuroneko fans, it doesn't appease Manami fans, it doesn't even appease the moral prudes that object to the incestuous undertones which is the whole reason for the asspull ending in the first place, so again I ask, what was the point? Now because of the way the producers chose to chickenshit out at the last minute, not only does it leave the conclusion completely unfulfilling, but it also ruins one of the biggest messages that was emphasized throughout the series. Kirino was always struggling to reconcile her true feelings with the clashing values of the society that will judge her for holding them, and in the end she always decided that it was more important to be herself and not give up who she truly is, yet I guess in this case the message is, "Just kidding, go back to repressing your true feelings because now they're suddenly a bridge too far." What a fantastically hypocritical pile of bile. Screw you dickless, ball-less producers at ASCII Media Works that are likely responsible for this sleight of hand from the mangaka.

*Drops the mic*

"People die if they are killed." -Shiro Emiya

Truer words have never been spoken, and yet, despite how obvious this truth should be, ironically so many anime violate it on a regular basis; Fate/Stay Night being no exception to the tradition. Yes, in fact one of the characters requires being killed at least a dozen times before he is truly dead. So don't make fun of Shiro guys; he really isn't stating the obvious. Quite the contrary actually, when anime tropes are concerned.

At the time of writing the latest revision to this review, there's only been a few hundred instances where a bunch of old rich ... men gathered together in a room and asked each other, "How can we make like, a bizillion yen really fast?" And before the question was even finished, someone immediately interrupted mid-sentence, "Another Fate/ adaptation." Indeed, with Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Zero, Fate/Prototype, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, for franchise newcomers there's enough slashes to cut right through your skull and watch your brains spill out. Luckily for you, I'm here to guide you back to Kotomine Church and make sense of it all. To cut straight to the chase, Fate/Stay Night is an anime adapted from a visual novel of the same name. In this VN, there are three branching story routes that depending on which one the reader chooses can wildly alter the course of events throughout the story. This anime is (primarily) an adaptation of the first route, referred to simply as "Fate" respectively. At this point in the franchise's development however, things have gotten rather complicated. There are now two anime adaptations of the second route (Unlimited Blade Works), an adaptation of the prequel story (Fate/Zero), and a planned adaptation in the works for the third route (Heaven's Feel). Furthermore, all of these adaptations so far are debatably very different in tone and feel, as well as quality, so where the hell to begin in order to get the best experience out of Fate? Well you can always start with just reading the source material first, as it is the most fleshed out and comprehensive version of the story, but I'm assuming most readers of this review are anime-only watchers, in which case I will do my best to give a recommendation for what I think is the best watch order for those who have no intention of delving into the source material.

Now that we've gotten all that prefacing out of the way, it's time for more prefacing. You might be thinking that the best route would be to start with Fate/Zero, as it takes place first chronologically in the story, but you would be wrong. The thing is, Fate/Zero was written to be a prequel, and as such, it is meant to be viewed after experiencing F/SN. Watching Fate/Zero first will spoil many key events of Fate/Stay Night. It could be likened to seeing the prequel trilogy of Star Wars first; ruining the surprise of uncovering Darth Vader's identity in the later episodes. However, it's hardly the end of the world either if you do decide to watch Fate/Zero first, and despite exaggerations by the fanbase, I'd say it's OK to start with it, but I wouldn't personally recommend it for a number of reasons in addition to spoilers. Narratively, Fate/Zero feels very different from the rest of Fate/Stay Night, and its opening episodes are rather slow and exposition-heavy, so not only would it set some unrealistic expectations when you move on to the rest of the franchise, but you may not even get that far because you thought the introductory act was too damn long and drawn out, jumps all over the place between a bunch of characters, and there's way too much technical bullshit to keep track of, so you shuffled it on to your dropped list. I think it would just give a wrong first impression of what Fate is all about. On the other hand, you could start with this anime, but that still comes with its own caveats as well. While this series should technically be the entry point for newcomers, nevertheless being that this was the first adaptation of the franchise with a very limited budget, the production values have not aged well, especially when stacked against the other adaptations, which don't just have vastly superior animation; they have some of the best animation in the industry period. On top of that, the pacing and storytelling isn't quite as polished either. And yet despite all of this, I must insist that viewers at least consider watching this series first, as it does carry some pivotal plot points and standout moments that you will not be able to see in any of the other adaptations. Fate/Stay Night may have its fair share of flaws, but I think it is a series that is still enjoyable and deserving of your time. Another viable option is to watch the more recent Unlimited Blade Works TV adaptation first, as this will most likely provide you with the most polished and best entry level experience to Fate yet, but in doing so you may spoil yourself so much with its god-tier visuals and expert storytelling that I'm afraid this series may become unwatchable for you by comparison, and you won't be able to appreciate what it offers. Hence the need for all this prefacing, because ultimately it really comes down to a toss-up between F/SN and F/SN: UBW as your first viewing, as they both have consequences on how you may view and approach the franchise going forward. Personally, I would recommend at least giving this series a shot first, as it is the first anime adaptation of Fate, and technically the "correct" watch order if you intend to follow the same format as the VN. If you can stomach some of its more drab points, I think you'll find that the emotional payoff is worth it in the end.

FINALLY, THE EFFING WATCH ORDER:
Fate/Stay Night -> Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (Season 1) -> Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (Movie Version) -> Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel (if you have the patience to wait for its release) -> Fate/Zero -> *BONUS* Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (Season 2) -> *EXTRA BONUS* Carnival Phantasm, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, Fate/Prototype, etc. (these are all spinoff series)

(SIDE NOTE: Personally, I found the second season of Unlimited Blade Works to be a disappointment, hence why you might notice the strange-looking order here. Start with season one and then finish with the movie, which was more true to the VN and had generally better direction and fight choreography in its final acts.)

Well holy shit, if you got this far and realized that I still haven't even gotten to the synopsis of this anime yet, you should now have a good idea of what it feels like watching the first episode of Fate/Zero. I promise though, I'm actually going to talk about the anime now.

Fate/Stay Night follows the story of Shiro Emiya, who is an ordinary high school studen--wait a minute. Siiiiiigh. Isn't this the same as every other nauseating SoL setup? We haven't even gotten past the first sentence and you're already boring me to tears, reviewer. Well it's not my fault that the producers chose to fall back on the same old cliches again because they didn't have enough confidence in their story to try and sell it on its own merits. I didn't write the damn plot, so don't blame me. Wait, why am I arguing with myself? Erhmm, let's continue.

So Shiro, being your typical slice of life protagonist, goes to high school to do your typical schoolboy things. But hold on a second, there's a twist! Thank Haruhi, because I was half a centimeter away from clicking on my hentai bookmark. As it turns out, Shiro suddenly gets thrust into this super secret and dangerous conflict known as the Holy Grail War, wherein seven magi and their servants each compete for possession of the mythical Holy Grail. The Holy Grail itself apparently has a mind of its own, and it's decided that the best way to choose who is most worthy of its miracles is to have everybody kill each other. Because as we all know, might makes right, and what could possibly go wrong if a murderous sociopath obtains the power to wish for whatever he wants? Not that a person like this would have any sort of advantage in such a scenario I guess. Nope. None whatsoever. But Shiro, being our usual idealistic champion for justice, rejects violence and finds the whole thing despicable. On the other hand though, he just accidentally stumbled upon a sexy blonde chick that calls him "Master", and if he refuses to participate in the war then she will disappear. So Shiro naturally does what every horny high school student would do in this situation: vote with his dick. And thus, the fifth Holy Grail War commences.

OK, so it doesn't go exactly like that, but I'm sure you can sort out the fact from fiction in my improved synopsis, which Type Moon should totally pay me for writing.

Anyway, the first thing that really stood out to me about Fate/Stay Night was its character designs. In fact, the way I initially discovered this series was through stumbling upon some artwork of Saber online and instantly falling in love with her, which consequently prompted me to research what anime she originated from. Then I discovered Rin Tohsaka, and with me being a sucker for cute tsunderes, it didn't take any amount of time for me to warm up to her. It's really rare that I come across an anime that has not just one female character with an iconic design and a personality that is straight up waifu material, but two. Then the awesome characters just keep piling on, like the pretentious badass that is Archer, who is also the character that coined the term "gar" just for being such a manly stud. There is simply no shortage of fantastic characters in this anime. Though many of them may appear to be stock archetypes at first, when more of their backstories are elaborated upon we get to see that they are more complex than meets the eye. Although, for some characters you may need to read the visual novel to really see the full depth of the character, which brings me to my next point.

Not all fares well with FSN's characters. Some of the magi participating in the war don't get as much character development or focus as they should, such as Illyasviel von Einzbern who commands the servant Berserker. Furthermore, Shiro's unwavering dedication to his ideals can often lead him to making incomprehensibly stupid decisions. He is overprotective of his servant despite that Saber is perfectly capable of defending herself. In fact, it is the sole purpose of her summoning in the first place that she is supposed to fight for him, yet Shiro continually denies her the chance at every opportunity, as well as foolishly runs into the fray, which usually results in him getting severely injured because he is grossly outmatched against a battle-hardened heroic spirit. This can too often leave the viewer with the impression that Shiro is annoying and ignorant, but at the same time it is this exact trait about Shiro that provides for some of the more interesting conflicts of the series. Ironically both Shiro and Saber are so dedicated to their ideals that even though they share the same beliefs, they often cannot get along with each other. The fact that they are so determined to uphold these ideals to the point of tragedy makes for many intriguing situations throughout the series.

Part of the reason that some of the previously mentioned characters don't receive as much attention as they should is due to some prolific narrative problems throughout the anime. Namely, it spends a considerable amount of time just having the characters indulge in silly antics at Shiro's house or sitting around sipping tea while listening to tedious lectures from Tohsaka. I'm sorry Rin. I love you, and imma let you finish, but you aren't the greatest mage of all-time. Oops, did I strike a nerve? Who am I to second-guess your magical prowess I suppose. Just keep condescending to Shiro then; what with your incomplete summon of a heroic spirit that can't even remember his past, while Shiro in his amateur ways managed to summon forth a more powerful servant than you. But I digress. The point is, like my irrelevant tangent that I just finished rambling off, Fate/Stay Night's themes struggle to remain consistent at times, as it can't seem to figure out whether it wants to be a typical comedic slice of life or an epic dark fantasy tale. Couple this with its painfully slow pacing at times, and the story overall takes a huge hit due to these flaws. There really is no excuse for all these pointless and slow moments because there is so much interesting backstory from the source material that they could have otherwise drawn from. Whereas the visual novel elaborates on the summoning of Illyasviel's servant and reveals how she is able to control such a seemingly unruly heroic spirit like Berserker, the anime will in contrast waste an entire episode having Shiro and Rin repetitiously track down and dispel some sigils throughout the school, or hold a silly mock duel between Saber and Shiro's teacher, Taiga. Nearly every other episode feels like it needs to take a break from the grail war and go on vacation at Shiro's house when it should have kept the momentum moving along at a steady pace instead. Many of these types of scenes could have been trimmed in length or removed entirely in order to make way for some more important plot points that got left out.

In spite of these problems, Fate/Stay Night's story never really crosses the line into being unequivocally bad. Even the more juvenile moments at Shiro's house are at least entertaining on a superficial level for their humor, as well as minimally offer up some small amount of character development between the anime's two main protagonists, Shiro and Saber. What really sets FSN's story apart from what could have been a typical shounen series is that even though it starts out in your standard and cliche high school setting, it quickly moves away from that and takes a decidedly darker and more philosophical tone throughout the rest of the series, delving into Saber's tragic past when she was still a mortal human being, as well as exploring Shiro's stubborn determination to uphold his ideals even in the face of impossible odds. The struggles and tragic romance that these two characters go through culminate in a very emotionally fulfilling and bitter-sweet ending that will likely leave a lasting impression on you. The evolution of the main protagonists in this series is very thoroughly developed, and arguably one of the most satisfying aspects about this anime. Furthermore, the extended cast of characters and other magi get a decent amount of screentime too, and watching all the servants slowly reveal their secret abilities and identities during the course of the various battles is entertaining to see unfold. Overall, the narrative has a refreshingly dark and mysterious tone to it throughout, which keeps the viewer intrigued and always eager to uncover more of the Holy Grail War's secrets.

As the anime is based on a rather lengthy 50-hour visual novel with three major branching story arcs, it was inevitable that some cuts and alterations to the story had to be made to fit the anime's 9-hour long runtime. Studio DEEN opted to borrow some plot points from the two secondary routes (Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel respectively) while mostly sticking to the Fate route, which was the main route of the VN. Some of the alterations worked well, others were questionable. Chances are though if you haven't read the visual novel going into this, you're probably not going to notice anything particularly strange anyway, aside from a few minor plot points that don't get fully explained like they should. Nonetheless, this hasn't stopped the fanbase from thoroughly panning the series for taking the liberties that it did, but I think it's important to judge works on their own merits independent of whether they follow their source material, and while I would agree that the anime doesn't live up to the quality of the visual novel, it is still an enjoyable series for what it is.

In terms of art and animation, Fate/Stay Night is overall slightly above average for its time, though not truly great either. It has its noteworthy moments such as the duel between Saber and Assassin, which showed some pretty slick-looking and fast-paced swordplay. On the other hand, in the very same episode during another fight, we are treated to a high-detail close-up of Saber dashing forward followed by a jarringly low detail animation of her slicing away at some skeletons. There is an occasional inconsistency to the quality of the animation that can be disappointing at times, and then there was the perplexing decision to animate an awkward-looking CGI dragon at one point that would have been best left out. Regardless, it works more often than it doesn't, and the artwork effectively creates the dark atmosphere that the anime aims for. This is further complemented and enhanced by the music composed by Kenji Kawai, who I am a major fan of from listening to his other work in Gundam 00. The opening intro is accompanied by a remixed version of the song "This Illusion" from the opening of the visual novel, which sounds really good, and the animation flows very nicely with the music. This goes for the second opening too, which was very well-animated and accompanied with a quality hard rock-themed arrangement. It's just unfortunate that the animation quality for the series as a whole rarely approaches that of its opening segments.

For the English dub, the voices for the most part fit all of the characters very well, with Sam Riegel as Shiro, Kate Higgins as Saber, and Mela Lee as Rin. Kate Higgins in particular did an excellent job portraying Saber's voice with a sense of authority and stoicism befitting to her character while tempering it effectively with a more feminine and vulnerable side when the scenes called for it. Unfortunately though, all future iterations of the Fate universe never see Kate return as Saber, as the Unlimited Blade Works movie instead cast Michelle Ruff, and yet again she changed voices in Fate/Zero with Kari Wahlgren, which is a shame because Kate really is the definitive voice of Saber as far as the English version is concerned. Mela Lee's voice brings out Rin's haughty attitude quite well, though occasionally she could sound a little stiff. Liam O'Brien plays Archer and likewise delivers an impeccable portrayal of the pompous badass. Other notable performances include Stephanie Sheh as Illyasviel, who strikes a perfect balance between cute and creepy as her character is intended to be, as well as Jamieson Price as Kirei Kotomine, whose deep and somber voice is absolutely perfect for Kirei's cold and gloomy presence. I could go on, as there are plenty more veteran actors that make appearances in this series, but needless to say the English voice cast is all in all one of the better ensembles I've had the pleasure of listening to in anime. Due to a number of odd casting decisions in later installments of the Fate franchise though, some may want to opt for the subtitled version instead if you don't want to deal with continually changing voice actors. Just a fair warning.

All things considered, Fate/Stay Night gets a lot of things right, but as emotionally satisfying as I felt the anime's conclusion was, I couldn't help having a pervasive feeling that in the hands of the right artists it still could have been so much more. With a story and characters as rich as the Fate universe, this series could have easily reached legendary status as a true masterpiece if it just had the proper budget and capable studio to do it justice. Due to a bevy of pacing and consistency issues with FSN's narrative and animation however, it just doesn't quite reach greatness. However, even a mediocre attempt at adapting superb source material still rounds out to be above average overall, so if you're looking for a good entry point into the Fate universe, Fate/Stay Night is a perfectly acceptable place to start.

Are people merely a collection of their memories, or is a personality innately part of one's self? Ef: A Tale of Memories attempts to explore interesting questions like these, and while its heart is often in the right place, its execution ends up being problematic for numerous reasons.

Ef could really be thought of as two tales combined into one, as it follows two different sets of protagonists in their struggles to overcome their life problems. Hirono, an unmotivated high school student and fledgling manga artist, often has to have his longtime best friend Kei pick up the slack for him and make sure he keeps ... up with his education. One day however, Hirono encounters a girl named Miyako who frequently attempts to drag him away from his studies, which not only angers Kei for distracting him, but also starts to fuel her jealousy, as Miyako and Hirono increasingly become more attached to each other over time. The other tale focuses on Kei's sister Chihiro, who had suffered from a serious accident early in her life causing her to only retain the last 13 hours of her memory along with the memories she had prior to the accident. As a result, she continually has to relive the pain and realization that she will no longer be able to accumulate memories for the rest of her life. Through a chance meeting with a boy named Renji however, she is presented with a glimmer of hope that the remainder of her existence may not be so miserable as predicted. And that more or less sets the stage for the majority of the plot to come.

I really liked the idea of having two different plotlines essentially running parallel to each other with a completely different cast of characters placed in each thread. It's an interesting way of presenting the narrative that is rarely explored in anime or most any medium for that matter. Unfortunately though, it missed a huge opportunity to explore this concept to its fullest potential by eventually having the two plotlines intersect, which would open up interesting possibilities for the two sets of characters to share insights with each other. For example, Renji struggles with his future not knowing what he wants to do with his life. In contrast, Hirono is already living out his passions as a manga artist. Having the two characters eventually cross paths would have allowed Hirono to offer up some advice for Renji in helping him discover his passion, and likewise Renji--being the more sensitive-minded protagonist of the series--could have helped Hirono understand Kei's feelings better, but none of these possibilities are ever explored. Instead, we are only given a handful of situations where Kei and Chihiro occasionally exchange text messages on their cell phones. Consequently, this leaves the whole dual-plotline aspect of the narrative feeling mostly superfluous, and it just left me wondering why they didn't simply tell the two stories as completely separate anime. Since there was so little attempt at linking the two plotlines together, there wasn't much point in presenting them together when they have no real impact on each other. It merely breaks up the flow of the story unnecessarily. This problem is especially exemplified in the first episode. Because it has to spend time setting the stage for two sets of main characters instead of one, the introductory episode just ends up feeling like a series of jumbled random events that fail to hook you into the story and don't even find enough time to establish that Chihiro has a disability yet.

The problems worsen for the series when we examine Hirono's story arc, which mostly rehashes typical love triangle tropes and doesn't do anything particularly interesting with them. Further adding insult to injury, neither of Hirono's love interests are very likeable characters, nor is Hirono himself for that matter. Miyako mostly comes off as selfish and clingy, with very few if any redeeming qualities at all. She has no real hobbies or personal interests that make her unique, and she shows no genuine concern for Hirono and his problems beyond any that pertain to herself, which really makes me wonder why Hirono finds any interest in her at all. Kei is at least a slightly more palatable character, being that she has a talent for basketball and she makes an effort to look out for Hirono, but when her jealous side starts to kick in, she can be almost as cruel and selfish as Miyako. On top of all this, Hirono is painfully bad at recognizing Kei's feelings, and his inconsiderateness similarly makes him unlikeable. The one good aspect to this story arc however was the revelation that Kei had where she realized that she waited far too long to express her true feelings for Hirono. It's something that I could relate to in my own life and it is well-handled in that it shows how people continually delay saying things that need to be said thinking that there will always be a more appropriate time in the future to do so, but in reality that ideal future will never come and there is no better time than the present. All things considered though, this story arc was mostly underwhelming in its execution.

Thankfully Chihiro's story is significantly more worthwhile, offering up more relatable characters and a satisfying conclusion, along with its much more in-depth exploration of the anime's key theme: memories. Watching Chihiro struggle with her memory problems was heart-wrenching and engaging, and Renji, unlike Hirono, actually gives a damn about the things he does and the people he affects; making the characters on this side of the plot a hell of a lot more sympathetic.

Even in spite of Chihiro's tale offering a better story though, both sides of the plot suffer from still more narrative problems. Very little actually happens from episode-to-episode, with many of the characters often trailing off into long bouts of small talk, monologues, and introspections that aren't particularly enthralling or justifiable in wasting your time, and considering that this anime is only 12 episodes long as it is, there really shouldn't be any excuse for such slow pacing. These tedious moments are often further exacerbated by the animation, which seems like it's trying to pass itself off as being "artsy" with experimental abstract techniques, but what it's really doing is just allowing the animators to be lazy and take a break. For instance, at one point in the plot Miyako has an emotional breakdown on the phone when she realizes she can't reach Hirono, so she proceeds to leave a very long series of messages repeatedly begging him to answer. Not only is the dialogue lengthy and monotonous here, but it's all set to an entirely static backdrop with nothing else but text appearing on-screen. We never actually get to see Miyako's facial expressions the whole time, which would have added much more dramatic effect, aside from being more interesting in general than having us stare at a static background for an uncomfortably prolonged period of time. As for the art and animation overall, it seems merely passable when it's doing its job and feels like it's trying to take shortcuts when it ventures into the experimental like the example above. The color palette has a sort of "washed out" effect to it which creates a melancholic atmosphere that was likely done as a stylistic choice to differentiate the anime, but as an unintended side effect it makes the visuals look more dated than they actually are.

As I have only seen the dub, I cannot make a comparison between the two audio tracks, but I will give a brief overview on the quality of the voice acting. If you're a frequent dub watcher, you'll probably recognize that most of the voice cast from Clannad is present in this series, with experienced actresses like Brittney Karbowski as Kei, Monica Rial as Chihiro, and Luci Christian as Miyako. On the whole though, the quality of the dub doesn't quite stack up to Clannad's; in part because Greg Ayres feels miscast as Hirono, who sounds less mature than he looks as a result. Monica Rial also tends to be cast in a lot of moe roles when her voice is far from moe, and unfortunately this is another one of those cases. She is a talented actress, but much like Greg Ayres, she is frequently misused. Regardless, even if Ef had a better dub, it would have done little to alleviate the bigger problems with this anime.

Ef: A Tale of Memories attempts to explore many interesting and relatable themes dealing with love, jealousy, memories, and loneliness. Though sometimes it succeeds, the pointless use of dual plotlines and the often uneventful pacing take a severe toll on the narrative, aside from Hirono's story arc being mostly disappointing to begin with. I can only recommend this series to enthusiasts of the genre, as Chihiro's tale may be just enough to satisfy, but for a more casual romance viewer like myself, it's difficult to justify the time spent.

Guard, Save, Belive. No, you didn't just misread that. These are in fact the words etched into the stone of Chester Cambell's grave; spelling errors and all. I guess he must've been a little dyslexic. After he passed away from a serious illness, his daughter and only child Cecily was left with the responsibility of becoming head of the Cambell House, which has long been a prestigious representative of the Independent Trade Cities of Housman. Having now succeeded her father, Cecily enlisted as a third generation knight to uphold the tradition and respect of the family name. However, she is inexperienced and clumsy, and often ... has to rely on intimidation using her title as a knight to hide her weaknesses. Eventually, this strategy ran out of luck, and when her combat skills finally had to be put to the test, Cecily was defeated and her family's precious sword shattered. Now she must seek out the blacksmith Luke Ainsworth to forge her a new sword, which consequently thrusts her into an unexpected chain of events that threatens her life and involves her in a dangerous plot. Between this and the fact that no one can take her seriously because of her huge breasts, it's needless to say that Cecily has plenty of stress on her hands.

Yes, you'll find that there's no shortage of fanservice here. In fact, it's pretty much the running gag of the entire series that everyone pokes fun at Cecily's chest. This is further explored by convenient costume malfunctions and shameless bathing scenes. Thankfully all the pandering is at least tasteful enough that it never interrupts the flow of the story. The writing carries enough wit to know when sexual humor is appropriate.

At a glance, much of Sacred Blacksmith's story is standard procedure for an average fantasy anime. It has all the elements one would expect; knights, magic, demon swords, and giant mythical creatures are abundant. It even comes complete with an angsty tsundere romance. Where the series falls short in originality though, it makes up for this in its near-flawless execution. All of the main characters are rich with distinct personalities and deep backstories that are revealed steadily as the plot unfolds. The story progression also strikes a perfect balance between comedy, drama, and action; constantly keeping the viewer engaged with these three elements while the pacing never stutters or moves too quickly. Even episodes that could potentially be considered filler don't really feel like it, as they serve up plenty of character development to excuse them. Although at its core the plot is fairly familiar and straightforward, Sacred Blacksmith is not without some of its own twists on the genre either. It mixes a strangely light-hearted tone to the story with very dark and mature medieval themes, and while demon swords may sound conventional for the setting, their ability to transform into rather unassuming humans with more nuanced intentions is quite unconventional. Though it may seem like this odd mixture wouldn't blend well at first, the series somehow manages to make it all mesh together nicely.

It's worth noting that Sacred Blacksmith's narrative is heavily character-centric to such a degree that traditional fantasy tropes one would expect to see in its setting are often absent or take a back seat to character development. This may be off-putting for some coming into it expecting to see a Tolkien-esque expansive epic, which is unfortunate because the series does otherwise tell a very good story for what it is, but it often gets a bad wrap from critics who may be judging it based on something that it was never aiming to be. Sacred Blacksmith takes its time to flesh out its characters and doesn't invest much in the adventurous side of fantasy or exploring its world. Although it's clear that there is still a rich history behind it from the brief glimpses we are occasionally given, nonetheless this is not the story's focus.

The series' character-driven plot does often work to its advantage though, because where Sacred Blacksmith truly shines is in its ability to masterfully craft a cast of characters whose interactions make them instantly likable and constantly engrossing; never leaving the audience with a dull moment. Cecily's unwavering dedication to helping others is interesting to see being put to the test as her inability to defend others frequently conflicts with her convictions. Aria's mysterious past as the demon sword of wind hides behind the veil of her lovable friendliness, making you eager to find out more about her history and motivations. Even the most seemingly loathsome characters can become hard not to sympathize with as more of their histories and backgrounds are uncovered. It is commonplace that conflicts arise between them purely because of of how sharply contrasting and vibrant their personalities are. Luke's cold and dismissive attitude perpetually clashes with Cecily's stubborn determination, which makes for some particularly entertaining dialogue. The script is often written rather heavy-handed, but it helps establish the strong characterizations of the protagonists. Still, Cecily's melodramatic monologues can occasionally overstay their welcome.

The production values of Sacred Blacksmith's art and animation are nothing short of superb as well. Character designs are thoroughly detailed depicting even the subtleties of Luke's fake eye, and animation is consistently smooth and fluid. Couple this with its epic orchestral soundtrack and solid voice acting that fits the characters and effectively brings them to life, Sacred Blacksmith satisfies in nearly every aspect of its design. All of this is accompanied with quality intro and ending segments set to some J-pop tunes. The ending in particular has a rather catchy and cute arrangement, which is further enhanced by the associated artwork with it that really shows off the impressive designs of the characters. In fact, it's possibly my personal favorite ending piece just because it's so adorable and the music and visuals play off each other so well. The intro on the other hand has a decidedly more standard song choice that isn't quite as interesting, but it more than makes up for this with a good mixture of action scenes and beautiful perspective shots of the characters. Sufficed to say, this is one of those rare cases where I found myself watching both the intro and ending for every episode because they were simply that enjoyable.

With everything right that Sacred Blacksmith has going for it however, it's difficult to take notice of any of its major flaws--until it ends. Just as soon as it feels like the journey is only beginning, it is abruptly cut off. This unfortunately is Sacred Blacksmith's greatest shortcoming. By the time the series come to its conclusion, many major plotlines and ambiguities in the story have yet to be fully fleshed out. It's clear judging by the finale that there was still much more of the story to tell, but for one reason or another there appears to be no sequel coming in the foreseeable future. As of the writing of this review, you will need to consort the manga that the series is based on if you wish to delve deeper into its story. Despite this, it's not enough to break Sacred Blacksmith's strong momentum from start to finish. Even with these problems, the anime still manages to deliver as satisfying a resolution as can be reasonably expected while leaving the plot open for continuation. With its colorful cast of characters, high production values, and engaging narrative that has its own twists on the genre, Sacred Blacksmith is sure to entertain many fans of fantasy anime.