Fate/Stay Night volume 1

I'm back and reviewing the first volume of Fate/Stay Night~!

A lot of information is established in volume one of Fate/Stay Night. We learn that every so often a war is fought between 7 mages (masters) and 7 spirits (servants). The last one of these was 10 years ago, but the war was called off after a disaster occurred. Now, another one is beginning to take place.

Shiro Emiya is just an ordinary teenage kid, except that he is obsessed with doing the right thing and helping people. Also, he has faint magical powers, mostly the ability to fix things. One day, when he finishes staying after school to clean a dojo (wow he's a do-gooder D=), he inadvertantly witnesses a fight taking place between two servants, Lancer and Archer to be exact. (Servants never reveal their true identities to anyone except possibly their master. It helps them to keep their strategies in fights less obvious). Lancer nearly kills him, but he is granted a 2nd chance. Though Lancer hunts him down, he manages to save himself by accidentally summoning a servant.

The servant he called was Saber, a young woman with a whole lot of fight in her. After fighting Lancer off, Saber and Shiro talk. That leads them nowhere. Rin, a girl in Shiro's class and a magus, shows up with Archer, her servant, and takes Shiro and Saber to Rin's mentor and the overseer of the Holy Wars so that he can explain the whole deal to Shiro. Shiro accepts his position as a master.

~ and that's all I'm giving on the plot. Here's my responses:

Wow. Just wow. The art is freaking gorgeous, the fights are exciting and fun to watch, the music is pretty (note to self: get this soundtrack), and Archer is eye candy. Put short, This is going to be one hell of a ride that I won't miss! I have seen this series referred to as a grown up version of Pokemon, and I agree for the most part. It's fun to put together different battle ideas and such. I also enjoy finding out who the servants are. My only complaints are that Shiro and his friend, Sakura are way too bland for my liking. And Sakura's dub voice needs to die.

In the enddddd~
-Art: 5/5
-Plot:4/5
-characters:3/5
-general appeal:5/5
-nitpicky stuff (now including music!): 4/5
-Overall: 4.5