Fate/Stay Night: Volume 2

Introduction

Ten years previously, a secret war over the possession of the Holy Grail raged between mages and the powerful servants they had summoned. It was a conflict that laid waste to Fuyuki City, and the sole survivor, Shirou was rescued by a mage and adopted as a son. Shirou Emiya has an instinctive rapport with machines, and can sense how things are supposed to fit together, but before his father died, he was told that he had no magical talent at all. Having inherited the Emiya estate, he now lives alone, and goes to high school in New Fuyuki, but his past has left a mark on him. His ambition is to help people, and become a champion of justice. He's unprepared for the havoc that is to come. New Fuyuki will be the battleground for a new Holy Grail War, as seven mages will draw forth their servants and clash. He's also unprepared for the fact that he will be one of the mages, and he's totally unready for summoning the most powerful servant of them all, a cute girl named Saber. Now it's up to him to prevent the destruction that previously devastated his home.

The next four episodes of Fate/Stay Night are presented on this MVM disc.


5. Two Magi (Part 1)
Shirou is still trying to come to terms with Saber living under his roof, and he has no idea of what the Master Servant relationship entails in this case. She's supposed to fight in his stead, yet he is overly protective of her, to the extent that she's cooped up in a room with orders to remain discreet. That lasts as long as it takes Shirou to feel guilty about it, and so he introduces her to Taiga and Sakura. It's Saber's first experience at making friends, but she's still concerned with Shirou's safety. And so she should be, as he goes to school alone, and there's at least one rival Mage and Servant there already, Rin and Archer. Rin's patience with Shirou is running thin, and if he doesn't get with the programme, she'll just have to kill him to teach him a lesson. But there's something ominous going on at school, Shirou gets a bad feeling about the place all of a sudden, and mysterious eyes are watching. It isn't the best time for Rin to be teaching lessons.

6. Two Magi (Part 2)
Rin's 'trying to kill Shirou until he wises up' plan is interrupted by a scream. An unconscious girl, drained of her mana energy finally convinces the pair that something is up. So does the missile aimed at Rin's head, which Shirou gallantly gets in the way of. There's a new servant on the scene, a blindfolded, purple-haired girl named Rider who is intent on killing Shirou. There's obviously another master mage in the school, and this one sees no qualms with sacrificing the students to feed his servant's power. Rin and Shirou decide to call a truce in their own squabble until this more lethal mage is found and defeated.


7. Despicable Act
Saber's mad that Shirou broke his promise to her, and now she's insisting on walking to school with him. It's a bit of a headache as usually Sakura walks with him, but the headache turns into a full-blown migraine when Rin turns up wanting to accompany him as well. That's going to take a lot of explaining to square things with Sakura, but Rin and Shirou have bigger problems. The barrier is still up, surrounding the school, and Rin believes that it will activate within two days and start draining students of their energy. Fortunately, Shirou's ability to detect unearthly presences allows her to come up with a plan. The barrier is enhanced by mystical sigils, and if they can find and destroy them, they can buy time for the school, and they anticipate that the unexpected weakening of the barrier will draw the hidden Master out. It's just that Shirou isn't expecting that Master to be Sakura's brother Shinji.

8. Discordant Melody
Shinji claims to have become a mage in the same way that Shirou did, by accident, and certainly his Servant Rider is not as brutal and single-minded as Lancer or Berserker, reflecting the not so malevolent mind of her master. He also claims that he's not behind the barrier, but he does suggest that he and Shirou team up and bushwhack the other mages, especially Rin. That's something that Shirou isn't prepared to do, but he does learn something of interest. Shinji does tell him that there is another Master at the Ryudoh temple, a Witch that is gathering souls. That's more than enough to concern Shirou, as the Ryudoh temple is where his friend Issei lives. The problems don't end when he gets home, as now Rin's moving in and making herself at home, whether he wants it or not. Sakura is going to explode. And now Saber's disobeying orders.

Picture

Fate/Stay Night gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. It's an NTSC-PAL standards conversion of course, but it's the best one that I have seen in a long time. The animation is smooth, there's certainly no ghosting, judder, or problems with aliasing, despite all the dark scenes and well defined edges. In fact the only indication of a conversion that I can spot is an overall but not excessive softness to the image. The anime is impressive, well animated, with good, memorable character designs, a pleasant world design, and fluid and energetic motion.

Sound

We have just the basics for the audio, with DD 2.0 English and Japanese soundtracks, with optional translated subtitles or signs. The dialogue is clear in both versions, although I must state that I found the dub to be surprisingly inferior given the current state of anime dubbing in the US. It's been a long time since I watched a dubbed anime that actually sounded cartoonish, and it was a shame to see this particular blast from the past. The music itself is fairly innocuous and forgettable, despite Kenji Kawai's name over the end credits. There is a hint of Vampire Princess Miyu in the opening credits theme, otherwise the music just didn't register with me.

Extras

It's your usual anime disc treatment, with animated menus and a jacket picture for when the disc isn't spinning. The extras on disc are limited to the textless closing and trailers for Gunparade March and Aquarion.

Conclusion

Fate/Stay Night is definitely turning out to be a difficult series to review. I'm sure this review is going to turn out to be a half-baked whinge, or a wishy-washy hastily assembled comparison, and I won't be surprised if the rest of the series received the same treatment. All of which is wholly unfair on Fate/Stay Night, as the truth is that it's an enjoyable show, full of entertainment, comedy, action, supernatural stuff, and even a little romance, albeit of the harem variety. You can sit down, switch off and enjoy, and afterwards come away with the satisfaction that it was money well spent, as there's no doubt that you will return to it again in the future, for that same fix of comedy, action, supernatural stuff, and romance (harem). It's just that it's like so many other shows out there. It's middle of the road, fun anime, and there is nothing at all wrong with that. It doesn't challenge, it doesn't excel, it doesn't innovate, and once again there is nothing wrong with that. It also doesn't get the brain cells in gear, it doesn't hit you with any major surprises or anything unexpected from its genre. Again, nothing wrong with that. Sometimes all you need is something average and middle of the road, a familiar story well told, and you can come away entertained and enlivened. It's just hard to review something that is in this way nondescript, beyond a trite comparison. I could tell you that if you liked Shakugan no Shana, then you will enjoy this, and it would be true, and also probably helpful, but it still feels like a surrender.


On the other hand, Fate/Stay Night doesn't stink, which is an odd thing for a reviewer to say. But if there was something truly odious about a show, if it were dire beyond belief, then a reviewer could be inspired to convey his or her disgust with enthusiasm and gusto. It wouldn't hurt if there were minor niggles, little character annoyances, or story flubs, just some little nit to pick, some little flaw to exploit. Even something as simple as 'this show would be great, if only…' is enough of a hook for a reviewer to hang a hat on. Fate/Stay Night does nothing wrong, or at least anything it does that causes me to scratch my head, is so insignificant that if I mention it, it wouldn't be a critique of the show, rather a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder. This second volume doesn't even have that odd story development issue that provoked me into writing a whole sentence of criticism for volume 1.


Fate/Stay Night carries on its merry way in this second volume, evenly dividing up the episodes into harem antics for comedy value, and supernatural grail hunting combat for the drama. It still goes together surprisingly well, with no significant discontinuities between the two moods. The characters still fit into the neat little pigeonholes, which means that the dinner table clash of personalities has all the dynamics that you would expect from your harem comedy. Shirou is still the hapless teen male, Sakura the shy softie who nurses a crush, Taiga the brazen and uninhibited older sister type, and Rin develops a playful and sadistic streak that throws the well-established pattern for a loop when she invites herself to move in. Of course Saber is the aloof strong and silent type, who's confused about her feelings, and is trying to stop herself from warming to Shirou.


When the harem doesn't threaten to explode, the mage wars do, and we meet more of the Masters and Servants in this volume. Most unexpected of all is Shinji, Shirou's friend from school, and his servant Rider is also an interesting and complicated warrior who is to Shinji much as Saber is to Shirou. As the disc ends, we learn of yet another Master in the area, and meet a Samurai looking Servant who gets all dangerous and anticipatory of Saber just prior to a cliffhanger. It's very much a case of introducing the pieces and setting them on the board at this stage. We still have no idea who Lancer's Master is, and there are still a couple of pieces yet to be introduced. It will still be a good few episodes yet before the battle for the Grail can begin in earnest.


I had a thoroughly enjoyable time watching volume 2 of Fate/Stay Night. It's entertaining, it's by turns funny and dramatic, but never excessively so. It doesn't stand out, but it doesn't disappoint either. It's the sort of fun that you appreciate when you don't need your brain cells exercised. Ah hell! If you like Shakugan no Shana, you'll like this. There, satisfied? I said it. Expect the review for volume 3 to be just one sentence long.