By far, Fate/Zero is one of the most poorly animated series (or at least inaugural episodes) I have seen in a very long time. The characters stick out from the CG backgrounds like neon signs, not unlike the various freeze frames that litter visual novels. Most of the shots are either close-ups of faces, or zoomed out shots where the characters become generic, faceless figures.

The former requires only repetitive lip flap, the latter allows the animation team to just loop footage of the characters walking around. Even then, the walk cycles are stilted and unnatural, especially obvious in a scene where two characters shuffle around in a circle for what feels like an hour. If the animation cost more than $500 and a cup of coffee,

I'll be stunned. Hopefully now that the exposition episode is over (please?), the series will be more visually interesting to look at. Still, rambling dialogue is no excuse for lazy animation. In a scene where two characters are talking in a playground, the background shows children in the distance, frozen midst play.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2010-10-01/bamboo