Before heading to my thoughts, a little background on what i think about Fate as a whole (From Zero to UBW Season 1) (also this may have some spoilers)

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Fate overall is quite a journey to behold, it has quite complex lore and themes that make it feel very great, the characters are a TAD bit of a hit or miss but i still liked them nonetheless.

I watched Fate/Zero, and THEN UBW.
Fate/Zero was a good starting point for the franchise, but it didn't really reside with me most of the time.

UBW Season 1 is an excellent improvement and serves as a great continuation to the overall Fate lore, and it's much more enjoyable than i thought it would be.

I watched Fate for the purpose of a source of patiently waiting for the Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc (as of the time of writing)

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Animation:

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Ufotable just never misses with animation, every single scene, action or not, just looks stunning visually, and when it's action, BOY! that's an amazing sound and animation combination

The sound really enhances a lot of the already-great animation and it makes every single action scene, just so much better than it already is.

___ Characters: ___ Quite endearing cast of characters each with their own very distinct personalities.

Let's start with Shirou:

Established before that he lost Saber due to Caster, he is a cool and well-developed character and easily the most emotional character out of the main cast, every single scene with him AND Tracing Magic just serves very well in making his character feel alive.

EASILY the best part about him is the part where his Unlimited Blade Works moment, he plans quite ahead and he uses the swords IN the Reality Marble as a countermeasure, which is a part i like.

Speaking of Archer, he's a tad bit better here, being a twist villain (somewhat) and is actually the future Shirou, he is pretty cool and every single of his "I am the bone of my sword" moments just sends chills down my spine (no pun intended).

Rin is also a good character, not only does she help others (especially Shirou) in defeating and accomplishing goals, but also has a bit of emotional depth to him, she's not like "very-good-out-of-the-bat" and can easily be pummeled just like with the rest of the cast.

Saber is also good. Shown before that she is captured by Caster, she was quite helpless, and she really serves as a great plot hill that the others have to trudge over (along with Archer too).

When she was released, she still is great and despite NOW Rin's Master, she still has an endearing soul to Shirou.
Also the "Excalibur" scene is definitely my favorite.

Illyasviel is also a great character and her backstory is awesome and heartwarming at the same time.

All of the villains are also quite good and have understandable motivations:

Caster (Medea) fixes a lot of the problems i had with the old Caster (Gilles) and is actually very threatening when she's around.

Assassin (Kojirou) is more or less an inclusion, and is the least compelling out of all of the villains, still though, i love to see more from him though.

Gilgamesh is EASILY my favorite villain out of the 3, he is very likeable, he serves as an actual big threat for the main characters (after Caster), and really is just overall a very solid antagonist that has great motivations in getting the Holy Grail, and he's also quite brutal.

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Story:

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Still, the lore is deep just like with Fate/Zero

and ON the topic of Fate/Zero, this draws somewhat of a parallel to it (Caster is established as the main villain in season 1, and becomes a pivotal one in season 2)

The pacing is quite fast, with some slow moments that didn't drag out.

The world-building is also excellent, and combined with the overall story, the entire atmosphere of this show just feels very alive

Past Caster's Death, the show just gets better and better in terms of the story.

The final episode is KINDA filler but it still serves a purpose in developing the characters.

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Overall thoughts

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If you enjoy Fate/Zero, you will DEFINITELY enjoy it (along with UBW season 1 too), and you will have quite an eye-gasmic experience, with a great cast of characters to boot.