And I don’t say that just for the happily eating Saber pictures in the opening.
Though they do help a lot. Rather, it’s that they’ve taken the usually dour, staid Fate/Stay Night universe and made a comfy, cozy cooking and eating food with your family show out of it. Ufotable’s greatest flaw as an anime studio has been that their series have either been glitzy but soulless (God Eater, Tales of Zestiria) or glitzy and taking itself way too serious (Fate/*, Kara no Kyoukai). That’s why I actually prefer Deen’s original Fate/Stay Night over Ufotable’s efforts. With Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan however they’ve finally made a series with a bit of heart to it, one that actually allows itself to have fun and isn’t interrupted by fifteen minutes of characters philosophising at each other, badly.
And it has Lancer and Taiga being drinking buddies together while annoying Saber and Shiro, which makes a nice respite from all the “being Lancer is suffering” everwhere else in the Fateverse. I really like how Emiya-san treats these characters, make them feel like real family, where Lancer is the annoying uncle who invites himself to dinner, but is at least polite enough to bring the good sake. In general I like the Fateverse characters more outside of their own setting, like in Carnival Phantasm or even the Ilya magical girl series. The regular setting is just too poo-faced for me. Seeing all those Servants and Masters relaxed and eating good food with each other makes this the best Fate series.
Or maybe it is those Saber faces in the opening.