History YMMV / FateStayNight

** He'll also forever be called a StayInTheKitchen misogynist for his stubborn insistence that Saber shouldn't fight because she's a girl even though she's a million times stronger and more experienced than he is, and that one awkward time he suggested maybe getting assaulted would teach a tomboyish classmate some femininity.

* EstrogenBrigade: Owing to the many attractive male characters, and Shirou in particular being a KnightInShiningArmor househusband.

* FanficFuel: The general premise, that superpowered historical/legendary figures are summoned to fight in a battle royale, has led to large amounts of original character servants in fanfics.

** Thanks to it being revealed in the 2006 anime despite that not being the case in the original Fate route, and the extreme popularity of the ''Literature/FateZero'' anime, what was once one of the most major plot twists of ''Heaven's Feel'' (namely, [[spoiler:that Sakura and Rin are sisters]]) is known by almost everyone in the fandom now.

* FanonDiscontinuity: While the DEEN anime at least has its fans, no one seems to regard [[CompressedAdaptation the DEEN movie adaptation]] for Unlimited Blade Works, especially after release of [[Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks Ufotable's Adaptation]].

** Thanks to the extreme popularity of the ''Literature/FateZero'' anime, what was once one of the most major plot twists of ''Heaven's Feel'' (namely, [[spoiler:that Sakura and Rin are sisters]]) is known by almost everyone in the fandom now.

** Issei, Shirou's MuggleBestFriend get a lot of loves from fans because not only he's a foil to [[HateSink Shinji]] who's a toxic friend to the protagonist but as shown in the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route, he serves as a potential love interest for Shirou after the latter strips him against his will to confirm if he has a command seal as Caster's master which he doesn't unfortunately but made a funny impression on everyone who wants to ship him with Shirou.

** For a while Shirou got hit with being very dense/stupid, due to doujins playing up his naivete in the Fate route to absurd levels and the original anime going with the Fate route (mainly an info dump) one, hiding the fact he's really neither.

** While the Creator/StudioDeen anime adaptation was quite well-received when it came out, particularly for animation that was actually pretty good for the time, it was pretty much hit by a freight train of OvershadowedByAwesome in terms of animation by Creator/{{ufotable}} 's versions of ''Literature/FateZero''. A number of fans, especially those who got into the franchise via Ufotable's ''Unlimited Blade Works'' adaptations, will tell you to skip the former and watch the latter two, or better yet, start with the original VN. However there are many fans and defenders of DEEN anime's (including those that first got into the franchise partially or wholly through it) who will argue that while the 2006 adaptation hasn't aged well and was a terrible adaptation overall, they prefer its overall plot, storytelling, and character development over Ufotable's 2014 Unlimited Blade Works adaptation.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Like a lot of visual novel-based series, ''Fate/stay night'' is better known as an anime outside of Japan, especially since the VN [[NoExportForYou lacks an official English version]].

* CompleteMonster: [[TheWormThatWalks Zōken Matō]], head of the Matō mage family, is an [[EvilOldFolks ancient, revolting man]] who has long since forgotten everything save his pursuit of the Holy Grail and the power it can bestow upon him. [[ImmortalityImmorality Remaining alive]] by [[GrandTheftMe killing and stealing the bodies of his descendants]], Zōken later adopted the young girl [[Characters/FateStayNightSakuraMatou Sakura]] from the Tohsaka family, before using her as a host for magic worms, having them violate Sakura for over a decade. Zōken manipulates his wayward descendant Kariya into fighting the Grail War for him, fully intending on using Kariya as a sacrificial lamb, infesting him with the worms to shorten his life. After Sakura's power became too dangerous to control, Zōken had her adoptive brother Shinji rape her regularly to keep it under control. In the "Heaven's Feel" route, Zōken engineers a great amount of death and catastrophe, provoking Sakura into unlocking her hidden dark side, intending to seize her body as well and finally claim the Grail at long last.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Fans who've first started with the 2006 adaptation and despise the Shirou portrayed there improve their opinion of him after reading the visual novel (unofficially translated after the anime's premiere) or watching its later adaptations, where he's best fleshed out:

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Fans who've first started with the 2006 adaptation despise the Shirou portrayed there improve their opinion of him after reading the visual novel (unofficially translated after the anime's premiere) or watching its later adaptations, where he's best fleshed out:

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Fans who've first started with the 2006 adaptation of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and despise the Shirou portrayed there improve their opinion of him after reading the visual novel (unofficially translated after the anime's premiere) or watching its later adaptations, where he's best fleshed out:

* VanillaProtagonist: A common complaint of the DEEN adaptation is this. Shirou has no history of magic or any desire to compete in the Holy Grail War. This makes him contrast with the other mages, whose pasts are colored by generations. It's PlayedForDrama in the VN, where he is an inept self-taught magus whose adoptive father turns out to be deeply-tied to the history of the War, particularly for the other two routes the anime doesn't adapt where the player realizes he's so vanilla because he's a borderline EmptyShell.

* AccidentalInnuendo: Yes, some of them are actually unintentional.

* FandomEnragingMisconception: ''Literature/FateZero'' is considered the critical high point of the franchise, a Light Novel which served as the Prequel telling the story of the previous Holy Grail World and adding additional world-building to the franchise. The anime released to critical and commercial acclaim and introduced a large number of new fans to the franchise. On its own, that's not really a problem, but the "Enraging Misconception" comes into play where the routes of the original game started to get judged on "which is the 'best' sequel to ''Zero''." This is despite the fact that part of the point of ''Zero'' was to flesh out backstories and characters for all three of the routes and that it was always meant to be read ''after'' finishing the original visual novel.

* AccidentalInnuendo

* OneTrueThreesome: There are Shirou/Saber/Rin and Shirou/Sakura/Rider or Shirou/Sakura/Rin. Both are expanded at various levels in ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia'' and many other associated works or materials, and are very popular in fandom.

** His ''Fate'' incarnation is mainly accused of being a VanillaProtagonist whose relationship with Saber is unrealistic. Even [[Creator/GenUrobuchi Urobuchi]] agrees (although Nasu argued against Urobuchi's opinion), believing that it's mostly a "complicated relationship with a boy who met a girl". A good number of fans softened their opinion on him after finding out that his CharacterDevelopment and relationship with Saber are more focused on their SurvivorsGuilt and personal issues in regards to their past failures than his IdealHero beliefs. Even the critics look forward to his and Saber's relationship, calling it "interesting".
** His ''Unlimited Blade Works'' and ''Heaven's Feel'' incarnations are widely praised for being an {{Aversion}} of VanillaProtagonist, getting better CharacterDevelopment, [[TookALevelInBadass and showing his badassery at its peak]], with this side of him especially being known thanks to their respective series and film adaptations. These traits are later carried on to [[spoiler:his AlternateSelf from Miyu's world]] in ''[[Manga/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya PRISMA☆ILLYA]]''.

** The DEEN anime adaptation of the ''Fate'' route was initially widely praised back in 2006, especially for the fluid animation techniques shown at the time. After 2014, a good portion of the fanbase, especially those introduced to the ''Fate'' franchise through Creator/{{ufotable}}'s anime adaptations of ''Literature/FateZero'' and ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'' criticized the 2006 anime primarily for its plot (which primarily focused on the "Fate" route, but included elements of "Unlimited Blade Works" and "Heaven's Feel" as well) especially when Creator/{{ufotable}}'s animation completely blew DEEN's out of the water in comparison. However, it still has its fans and defenders (including a few that got into the franchise through it), who point out DEEN's version is the only one that avoids ContinuityLockout issues and assumes you have no knowledge of the visual novel and works from there (while ''Fate/Zero'' is an adaptation of a prequel that assumes the reader already knows the twists of ''Fate/stay night'' and spoils elements from the original game at well, and ufotable's "Unlimited Blade Works" and "Heaven's Feel" assume you already watched said prequel). Those who try to [[TakeAThirdOption take a middle ground]] admit that while the 2006 anime may not be as visually stunning compared to the newer series, it was still decent for its time and not a bad place to start enjoying the ''Fate'' series even now. Plus, no one on any side can argue with its SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic.

** At the end of ''Unlimited Blade Works'', [[spoiler:Archer still being alive, surviving a prolonged period despite his already low mana and being impaled by several of Gilgamesh's Noble Phantasms.]]