I really wonder what they'll do with him in the manga. He's known around the world for his evil and crimes yet he suddenly has this "oh no I'm good now it's alright no jokes" episode. But he's always been the sneakiest and the one that plots the most so who knows maybe he'll try to take Sasukes corpse after Naruto is done with him. The manga shouldn't continue after this but it feels like there hasn't been any real closure for Orochimarus character and would feel weird if he's simply turned to the good side. And most important of all...why does he look like a [radio edit]ing snake to begin with and who the [radio edit] were his parents?

Yeah, I find Orochimaru's sudden turn pretty weird too. And he's just kind of...doing nothing ever since he brought the four Hokages back. I'm not even sure Kishi knows what to do with him now.

Sounds like they just have no real idea how to handle a large cast and the story's gotten bloated and is weighed down due to caving to fan pressure. Orochimaru should've been finished years ago when his relevance ended, I'm not sure why they'd have brought him back. Death seems even cheaper in Naruto than it does in Dragonball

Yeah, the story pretty much became a mess ever since a couple years ago at least. Kaguya, for example, is clearly a last minute villain, and she lasted no longer than 10 chapters. I'm not even kidding.

I literally haven't kept up with anything since the leaf village died and got ressurected in literally like, the same page almost.

I'm guessing you don't really care about spoilers at this point lol

Not in the slightest. I don't intend to read any more, so.

I swear you could see the thousands if not millions of yen being thrown at all of these freaking effects. It's really, really good.

It's just... the story is about the same as I remember it. The only difference is that I care a lot less about the whole school thing, the need to conceptualize every single little thing about its own universe, and the goddamn tsundere archetype, so I can't help but notice people (especially Archer) just saying how amazing everyone is without much to back that up and Rin just being so GAR for Archer. Maybe it's because we're not able to read the character's minds or maybe it's just because of what the anime may have omitted from the VN, but it's clear to me that F/SN is catered to a concurrent therefore slightly different audience than F/Z. I don't even think F/Z is amazing, but one of the things I respect about that show is that it was a battle royale between (mostly) adults, which allowed for a more nuanced if stonefaced approach to storytelling.

That doesn't mean that this particular episode showcased F/SN's inherent flaws, however. I mean sure, it's a bit talky and relies a wee bit too much on background shots to fill up its 45 minutes of runtime, but I really didn't have as much of a bad time watching this episode than I thought I would. In fact, I'd say it was a pleasant experience overall. The real difference between me watching this today and back then, however, is that I am no longer interested in the character interactions as much because of their repetition, especially between Archer and Rin. Ah, Archer's being an asshole but he's still totally [radio edit]able holy shit stop it dont point that smoulder at me. Hey look, Rin's getting flustered for the fifth time. LOOK AT HER. GET HNNG, PLEBIANS. I really, really just don't care that much about that anymore.

However, I did like how ufotable executed the repressed atmosphere between Rin and Sakura. It only makes sense when you know their relationship, but I think you could accurately guess that something is up between them based solely on their interactions in this episode.

Yeah, I definitely here you on the school setting being a little tired. But, now that I'm teaching in Japan, I can't help but wonder if that's just a cultural thing. School seems to be such a definitive and heavily emphasized part of Japanese culture that it's not surprising it's a common setting for popular media. I think Japanese students spend the most time at school of any nation (and correspondingly, get the least sleep lol).

The infodump/conceptualizing/worldbuilding details, as always I can take or leave. I like it because I enjoy nerdery, but I can equally acknowledge it as a flaw.

Rin's cited a lot for being a tsundere, but I think she has some clearly defined reasons for being a tsundere. Most of it comes down to the public or family legacy/image she has to cultivate as the "head of the family" and as a mage vs. what she actually wants and feels as a person. I agree Ufotable maybe makes that too obvious with Rin getting flustered, but it's at least relatable. Would you say this tsundere depiction is or isn't within the realm of real human behaviour and plausibility?

RE: Archer being [radio edit]able. I do like that there's "sex appeal" to both genders here, but whether you think that's a good thing or not is up to individual taste, I think. I'm just happy it's a two-way street.

A particular point I liked about Rin and Sakura's dynamic, surprisingly, came when Rin was saving Shirou. From what I remember, I think in the VN it was a mix of some kind of weird suppressed feeling Rin had for Shirou coupled with the Sakura thing, but in the anime, Rin's key point is "How can I look her in the eye tomorrow?" or something like that. I thought that was a nicely subtle way of pointing to Rin's motivation as being to preserve Sakura's happiness, even if at arm's length.

I think a point this had over F/Z so far is, ofc, the single viewpoint character. F/Z introduces a ton of characters in its first episode without too much space to make them compelling (some say). While it didn't bother me, I can see why some would say it's a flaw. I think with Rin being the sole viewpoint character allows a bit more time to naturally look at some interactions, and learn about Rin as she reacts to different people and situations (Archer, classmates at school, getting hit on, getting smacktalked, Sakura, mage trouble with the bounded field, Lancer, etc.)

tl;dr: I see where you're coming from in your criticisms and have no problem with that :awsm: