Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 2nd Season

Jun 27, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

Okocha-sensei (All reviews)

641 people found this review helpful

Now, before I start this very long and in-depth review, I'd like to say three things.

1. As opposed to other people, I actually consider 6/10 to be a decent score. It doesn't mean that I thought that this was a bad show, it's without a doubt decent entertainment. I put a lot of effort into writing this review, so even though my opinion may not be the most popular one out there, you should at least give it a shot and listen to what I have to say.
2. I have read the entire Fate/stay night visual novel and am quite familiar with the Nasuverse read more

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Jul 24, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 1

CRIMEWIRE (All reviews)

453 people found this review helpful

A review for both S1 and S2 with spoilers

Only having experienced Fate/Zero, I never encountered a Type-Moon written work before. But after watching UBW, I’m truly appalled at how terrible Type-Moon’s writing is.

The basis of UBW’s plot is covered by its synopsis. In different wording, it’s a grandiose battle royale-like duel between seven masters who each get a servant to fight for them. The goal is to kill every servant to attain the Holy Grail, which can grant a master and servant any fathomable wish.

This plot, even though basic on the surface, can become a masterpiece with proper execution, as seen in Fate/Zero with its large-scale fights, charismatic characters, and intriguing battles strategies. As the follow up to such an impressive series, UBW had a lot of weight on its shoulders to deliver the same grade, or possibly an even better, of quality. But unfortunately, not only did this series become a wreck within itself, but it also became one of the biggest disappoints that I’ve ever experienced.

Both seasons of UBW suffer from the same pitfalls that include lacklustre characterisation, laughable battle strategies, and choppy protagonists. But the second season specifically has its own unique failures which I’ll get to throughout the review. Let’s get started:

The characterisation was one of the most noticeable falls of the show. The show virtually revolves around our protagonist two-teamed quartet Rin Tohsaka and her servant Archer, and Shirou Emiya and his servant Saber, while the other characters don’t get the proper circumstances and/or screentime to become worth talking about. The show’s first problem child is the “intelligent” Rin Tohsaka, who is the strategist on the protagonist side. Rather than intelligent, the word perseverant describes her more accurately. Many people say that she’s smart, and while it’s shown that she’s book smart, she has no experience in applying it properly. Examples of these failures are shown in her “strategies” that she comes up with. She's capable of generating multiple theories that appear profitable, but in the end all of her elaborate strategies amount to repeatedly showing up to a servant’s base, provoking them until a battle breaks out, and ultimately losing in the end. On the off chance that she does manage to kill a servant, it’s with an unexpected factor or the assistance of another servant. For example, after the oh-so-many attempts of trying to kill Caster, in the midst of yet another failure, the only way Caster was killed was by Archer - after his contractual separation from Rin - who launched an attack on her off-guard master, anticipating that she come in to protect him. The remainder of her victories are due to even more outside assistance that would otherwise leave her and her team dead.

Next we have Saber, one of the main servants of the show and on the protagonists’ team. Her gender bent character in Fate/Zero captured the eyes of many with her chivalric and powerful persona. But sadly, in UBW this strong personality was reduced to a slapstick tsundere and fanservice device. With erotic shots of her in BDSM-esque positions from her capture by Caster further corroding her character, it also gave the series an unintentional comical tone.

And unfortunately, to finish off, we have Shirou: our dense protagonist that’s plagued with a terribly-conflicting Samaritan complex; to such a degree where it makes it appear like his character is a parody of the average shounen protag due to how flat, irritating, and stupid his character is in the show. His boring dialogues with Rin and idiotic remarks aside, the most obnoxious part about Shirou was his philosophical stance towards the end of the season. The latter end of season two held a philosophical discussion with Archer and Shirou’s battle about the pursuit of seemingly impossible ideals and its potential risks. The show took an interesting take on this by adding in an element that, in my opinion, serves as a device of self-reflection that further enhanced the potential of this discussion. Shirou faces the scorn of Archer who, as a future version of Shirou, is morally-crippled and dispirited as a result of the despair and anguish he faced due to Shirou’s far-fetched altruistic ideal of saving everyone while ignoring himself in the process. Archer, trying desperately to convince Shirou to quit pursuing this seemingly impossible ideal to avoid the future tragedy that is himself, brings up several opposing points, including the most obvious one that shows how his ideals are contradictory: “It's true that you can probably achieve your wish to save others. But there's no hope of saving yourself in doing so.”
After Archer’s defeat in battle, Shirou fights Gilgamesh, who also adds onto Archer’s scolding by telling Shirou that his philosophy is contrived and “fake” as a result of trying to become like his father, Kiritsugu, who he essentially copied his ideals from him. Shirou concedes to all of the points given by Archer and Gilgamesh, but somehow manages to come to some sort of epiphany and unexplainably validates his ideals and insist that they are “right”, even in the presence of the overwhelming evidence that blatantly showcases that, without a sense of realism, his ideals will remain damaging and chaotic. The point this discussion was trying to sell was that the pursuit of one’s ideals and dreams is not in vain even with risks and failures up ahead. Where the discussion went sour was with Shirou’s final justification of his ideals, which none of it rebutted the statements and examples of Archer and Gilgamesh. His justification can literally be summarised with his new infamous quote “Just because you’re correct doesn’t mean you’re right.”

With my expectations so high for this series, it pains me to write such a scathing review. I truly wished for the best and tried to ignore the faults, but they became too large in number for me to continue to be blind to. With the fights and animation as the only two saving graces, I can say that in some moments, UBW was truly entertaining. But the journey overall was a boring and painfully bleak one with this show.

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Apr 26, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

Stelfalador (All reviews)

370 people found this review helpful

This Review is written in the perspective of an Anime only viewer thus far.
The overarching story of the Visual Novel is absent from this Review and is solely based upon Ufotables adaptation.

At the end of Unlimited Blade Works we were left with a rather monotonous and filler-full episode.
Season 2 kicks off with a rather hefty amount of character development and back story to further develop the overarching story as a whole.
It's clear and concise, and creates a competent understanding of who the characters are, and what their motives are for.
The first few episodes might be slow, but they are certainly important.

The story read more

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Jul 19, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

myronator (All reviews)

154 people found this review helpful

This review covers the Prologue, Season One and Season Two. My ratings are 6/10, 6/10 and 5/10 respectively. There are spoilers in this review.

The prologue/first few episodes of Unlimited Budget Works establishes the Fifth Holy Grail War; a battle royale between seven servants (made up of mythological figures such as Heracles) and mages where the last survivor is rewarded with being presented the Holy Grail which can grant them any wish they desire. During these episodes it is emphasized how dangerous this war is where even witnesses of the war will be murdered. Then in episode three the feeling of danger for our protagonists disappears in an instant when Ilya decides to suddenly quit her battle with Rin and Shirou for no reason and go home. This doesn't get followed up on nor does it develop into anything. Perhaps my expectations were too high expecting fights to have an impact from the beginning, but these kinds of moments happen frequently. Some examples include; Archer's many chances to kill Shirou, Caster and Kuzuki not finishing off Shirou and Rin in episode ten and every fight where Gilgamesh is involved.

With the characters not taking fights seriously, another way to create tension in these fights is to emphasize the stakes of the Holy Grail War. To an extent, this works in UBW. The mages and servants eventually get eliminated, there are stories of innocent people disappearing or dying and the end game for Gil involves attempting to kill everyone. But these aren't executed well. The mages and servants would have their backstories explained in the episode they are about to be defeated, making it predictable. The innocent people's deaths are left in the background and their effects are never seen.

As for the end game, only a simplistic understanding can be gained from it due to the lack of explanation of the history, function and importance of the Holy Grail. All that's told by the show is that the Holy Grail may potentially be able to grant a wish of some kind, it can be used for evil, might not even require the war to be summoned and can be summoned by using a mage as a host. The Holy Grail itself appears as a pink blob. Most of these things get explained properly in other Nasuverse publications, however I believe that for a better viewer's experience they should have tried to address these problems in UBW. Nevertheless, they already have sequels planned so perhaps they will go into more depth then.

The focus of UBW is the emergence of Shirou as a mage. As a protagonist, Shirou comes off as a generic anime male teen with a naive mindset. He is a self proclaimed "hero of justice" because apparently everyone needs saving and only he can do it... by murdering people. If this show had a darker tone he would sound like a crazier version of Batman. Sadly though, the only exploration of his naive ideas and any other themes in UBW comes during his battle with Archer, which mostly involves repeating lines ad nauseam. There is also a forced romance thrown in to attempt to show Shirou's progression. He's not terrible as a character, but he's nothing special either.

The other characters in UBW lack development. Some characters will be given short backstories before dying, but no characters show any real change. The closest are Saber and Shirou deciding that they're proud of themselves. Rin simply stays as a typical tsundere for the whole show. An argument could be made that there wasn't enough time given to character development. However, there would be more than enough time if the pacing was improved. For example, the character monologues during fights (Shirou vs Archer especially) could be edited down or episodes such as Winter Days, Faraway Home could be condensed into a few minutes. While I feel the phrase "show, don't tell" is overused, I believe it is appropriate in this case.

There are other issues and potential plotholes that could be nitpicked, such as Archer not having any knowledge of his earlier life, but I'd rather now look at the positives in UBW. The animation is incredibly fluid, especially during fight scenes. The incorporation of CGI feels natural and makes some scenes a real spectacle to watch. The sound effects are great and the voice acting is satisfactory. These technical aspects alone are enough to make UBW watchable. The soundtrack adds an extra level of enjoyment, especially the fan favourite OP Brave Shine by Aimer.

Even with all the faults in UBW, the journey the characters go through is enjoyable enough to make this show satisfactory. Watching this won't be a special experience and other than the fight scenes, most of it will be forgettable. Nevertheless, unless you're a big fan of the Nasuverse, I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to watch it.

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Jun 27, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Stark700 (All reviews)

109 people found this review helpful

The franchise of Type-Moon. Fate/Stay Night is a trademark for what the product has been with its key characters, premise, and setting. Fate Unlimited Blade Works is one of its major routes and returns for another season. A show about the Holy Grail sparkles into a pendulum of events and animated by the infamous Ufotable studio. Part 1 delivered what many fans wanted while part 2 attempts to do so yet again.

With the way the first half of Unlimited Blade Works was handled, part 2/Season 2 essentially sets up major events for the story. As for those who remembers, Saber is taken by Caster, Rin leaves after telling Shirou not to get involved in the Holy Grail War anymore, while Shirou wonders what awaits him next. The process of this buildup is quite thrilling as it sets up many potential events. Along the way, there are also other characters that becomes imperative to the ongoing storyline. A good amount of focus is Archer, Rin’s former servant who apparently betrayed her. This season focuses a lot about his past, role, and purpose for what he is doing. As a show that’s indulged by ideologies, it’s interesting to see his arguments with others in particular Shirou. It defines their personalities and existence in this show not only but what they do but their reasons. From Shirou’s viewpoint, his father Kiritsugu has inspired him to become a hero of justice. This becomes a central theme of Shirou’s character as he tries to save the people he cares about. At the same time, there’s some romance development between him and Rin. As cliché it seems, it’s not entirely surprising given the amount of hints the two have been throwing around.

Of course, the series’ main story still focuses on the Holy Grail War. Character building is important but at the same time, it allows the viewers to directly see their actions. While Illya isn’t the most powerful servant in the show, she does make quite an impression against Shinji’s servant, Gilgamesh. What comes around goes around and events that unfolds shows her devotion to Berserker. She even shows her genuine concern towards her maids. The show also does a decent job with characterizing her past including the Einzbern family. Do be warned that there will be some Fate/Zero spoilers involved. However, by this point, you should of watched Fate/Zero anyways. Later on, there are also some big reveals regarding Shirou and what his destiny may await him. It’s what really makes the show thrilling as it anticipate what viewers awaits next. What is holding the show back though is some of the omitted content from the visual novel. From what I understand, it added filler material (or so some fans call it anime original) and extended dialogue that makes some scenes unnecessary longer.

A strong point of this series is also the character relationships. At the center of it is Shirou who builds connections with others. In season 1, he build a prominent relationship of trust and respect with Saber. In the second part, he plays an important role alongside Rin. The first half of the series neglects Saber’s prominence as the majority of the time, she is trapped by magic. And without a servant, Shirou is running around without a servant. He can only put trust in people such as Rin and at one point even admits that he has feelings for her. In essence, it shows how Shirou’s role can have profound influence on others through his ideology. In the meantime, other characters such as Illya/Berserker, Shinji/Gilgamesh, Caster/Kazuki all gets their screen time of relationship connections. There’s obviously some contrast between these especially with their climatic moments. But for what’s worth, Fate Unlimited Blade Works can really make some impact when it shows the way these relationships are executed.

As the protagonist, Shirou’s ideal and growth is a pivotal part of the show. This becomes a bit controversial at some stages as some people may not agree with him. Furthermore, these put into conflicts with others such as Archer and Gilgamesh. His idealism is similar to his former servant, Saber in many ways as well. Unfortunately, the show doesn’t put much emphasis in Saber as much as part 1. It still gives her some time for development and evolves both her and Shirou, but just not them on a personal level or at least as much as Shirou and Rin. Similarly, Shirou’s battle against Archer seems more like the apex of the show to me rather than the final fights. Here, we can see that Shirou is fighting for an ideal rather than just winning the grail/fight. On the other hand, Shirou’s battle against Gilgamesh is stereotypical. Gilgamesh is a character that lacks strong characterization compared to the others although the show does flesh out his personality in full view. Egoistic, prideful, and arrogant are just a few words to describe him. But unlike some of the other servants, his relationships aren’t so well developed. Just look at Shinji for an example and see where how he ended up. As the latter half of this season unfolds, we’ll learn much more about each characters’ reasoning for their choices. And Fate being a show that emphasizes a lot on this with lectures and metaphors, it’s no surprise by this point. What I do have some issues with is the comedy and romance development. The comedy part seems like it has some improper timings. While it’s not a core part of the season, I feel like they don’t belong in this franchise at all except for some of the slice of life scenarios; mostly seen in season 1. The romance is also lacking. One of the episodes later on presents this in with a bit of symbolism. (yes I know what you are thinking, the infamous “dolphins”). However, what the fans got instead is a big question mark. On the contrary, the action bits of the show is a blockbuster hit. The climatic battles in the Unlimited Blade Works is a big part that was hyped from the buildup. Both times, Shirou shows his growth and what he has learned. Not to mention, he is a man that runs about his perspective ideologies so by some point, you’ll even remember his lines.

Ufotable does it again. When it comes to artwork and visuals, the series shows why it’s a powerhouse. Action is fairly solid especially in some of the more exciting fights. The Unlimited Blade Works is also highly decorative with the countless swords and symbolism. The backgrounds also has a mythic feeling to it when it matches its fantasy elements. My favorite parts would be the flower garden in one of the earlier episodes as well as the Unlimited Blade Works world. They really gave the word elegant a worthy meaning. Furthermore, we get a bit of violence to go along with all the action. Shinji, Illya, Caster are among some of these character that becomes a prime sample of this. On the other hand, the show isn’t immune to censorship. Some of the more graphic content is censored by magical context while we get a rather obscure symbolism between Shirou/Rin’s bonding. Hey, it’s not like this was surprising though. Did you actually expect them to do it on screen?

Soundtrack is a stronger point of the series. The OP and ED theme song has an eerie tune that matches with the coordination of its presentation. Shirou’s battle theme is also emphasized to show how much he has grown throughout the season. Finally, voice mannerisms is uniquely dynamic for the most prominent characters in this season. In particular, I find Gilgamesh’s narcissistic personality to be so matching with his voice. We can also feel the emotions that Saber expresses by her voice tone and Archer’s revelation. Unfortunately, I can’t say the overall soundtrack gets any better than that. In retrospect, it’s a strong technical aspect of the season but doesn’t exceed the expectations I got from part 1 either.

So how does Fate ultimately deliver? Well, for a show about magic, grail wars, and drama, it’s certainly a chilling thriller that any Type-Moon fan should see. Director Takahiro Miura makes this story stand uniquely with its themes and style. And although some parts of the visual novel is omitted and replaced, it still ultimately lives up to its mature magic. That’s because the real magic comes from the story and characters. For a talky show like this, it’s often important to capture a viewers’ interest before they are bored to death. Thankfully, on most parts, the show knows its strategies. It’s also no surprise that the series continues to maintain its visual wonder. Suspenseful, thrilling, and crafted with emotional storytelling, the second season of Fate Unlimited Blade Works is a magical gift from Ufotable.

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Jun 25, 2015

12 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 2

awerture (All reviews)

78 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

This review will be harsh, but second season of Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works fully deserved it. And don't be deceived by the catchy slogan "Unlimited Budget Works". The only thing which is truly unlimited in this anime is characters' redundant talking.

Some of the show's weak points were unavoidable - the original material's storyline quality is dubious at times and the fact that Unlimited Blade Works as a second route of Visual Novel is supposed to be built up over experiences from the first one definitely doesn't help when someone is adapting it. But VN's weaknesses aside, its premise is interesting enough to make an entertaining show with lots of cool fights. And first season of UBW managed to do that fairly well.

Second season, on the other hand, does almost everything wrong. The animation is still gorgeous, but all the rest, oh girl. First of all - the creators seem to think that main strength of F/SN UBW is its story and, inevitably, character of Shirou. It's a massive problem, because Shirou is really not that great (which essentially means: he sucks). He wasn't that great in original VN, neither in F/SN 2006 and he still isn't in UBW. But now not because of his sexism or blandness but because his central conflict (which is the central conflict of the story now) is shamelessly moronic. What's much, much worse (moronic conflicts in action flicks aren't necessarily a bad thing) - the series abandons much of the action and characters' interactions in favor of explaining his utterly idiotic conflict to the viewer. Explaining again and again by two, three, four (I've lost count) episodes of pure talking. And by the end of this talking they still explained not very much - the viewer gets crazy amount of plot holes and plot conveniences instead. It's very clearly inherited from visual novel, but transfer of this style of exposition and this lazy writing into TV is inexcusable. The exact same problems haunt the interactions with and exposition of the main villain of the anime. Both these arcs are just plain bad - and because they happen to be the final ones they basically kill the show.

Also, as a result of putting emphasis on Shirou and his internal struggles, the show wastes other, much more interesting characters. Rin and especially Saber are sent off to backgrounds and play a role of damsels in distress. Rin in second part of the season continuously acts out of her supposed character. Saber on the other hand is literally doing nothing - which was explainable in the VN (she had her own route) but in the stand-alone anime it looks bizarre, to say the least. The anime even manages to botch the highlight part of its fictional universe - the moment Saber screams "EXCALIBUR!!!" isn't particularly memorable in this version. Which is really a shame.

The other part which seems to be forgotten by writers is the romance part of the original material and constitutes another example of character wasting - it started off quite well but it gets abandoned in favor of Shirou's struggles for many episodes. And then the series returns to it for a brief moment, in most convoluted sex-scene replacement I've had an honor to witness. This replacement is out of place, out of character and completely out of story's coherence. And honestly, if the series wasn't bad in the first place, its low score would be warranted on virtue of this scene alone - the very idea that, gasp, physical contact between characters (even in form of a kiss) is something which needs to be replaced in the show for teens is insulting and actively helps to make the world a worse place. The only thing which could be said in defense of the replacement is the fact that the actual sex-scene from VN was also insulting, out of character and degrading to women. But certainly it doesn't justify horridness of the replacement. Shame on you, ufotable.

All of the above maybe wouldn't be that annoying if only the action part of the second season was any good. It isn't. Most fights are static, anti-climactic and/or resolved too fast and constantly interrupted by excessive talking. I must also note uninspired choreography and lackluster design of some of the characters outfits. What's really weird - many earlier ones are actually not that bad, but in this anime the more important given fight is the more underwhelming it will be. Very peculiar and quite infuriating. The Gilgamesh's way of fighting is partially to blame for that, but still, zero imagination on the creators' side certainly doesn't help.

In summary: the series obscures the strengths of original novel (entertaining premise, cool servants, fascinating fights, good side-characters, romance), instead it emphasizes its weaknesses (main story, Shirou), amplifying it by ridiculous amounts of "tell, don't show". And as a bonus it damages the society by promoting petite bourgeois morality.

Finally, this show is nothing more than a proof that world doesn't need any more Fate/Stay Night adaptations.

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Jun 20, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

sayan002 (All reviews)

70 people found this review helpful

When news about this series was launched, I somewhat had mixed feelings; the original Fate/Stay Night was so horrible, I pity myself for watching it, while Fate/Zero was absolutely fantastic, plus Ufotable, responsible for Fate/Zero, were producing it.

That brings me to Fate/Stay Night UBW.

In short, I'd say that this series was absolutely stunning. I'm so glad it didn't turn out like the 2006 one.

Story- 8
Granted, the story was not as compelling as Fate/Zero. However, I was deeply surprised by the dark elements that were introduced. The 2006 one felt like a sad piece of shit, where viewers are supposed to feel sorry for Shiro throughout, for being the absolute dimwit he is. Rather than a hopeless romance that Stay Night (2006) was, UBW is more focused on progress and action sequences. UBW might not have an extremely good story line, but it is fairly entertaining, without the presence of any loopholes.

Art- 10
One word. Beautiful. Ufotable probably produces the most beautiful and amazingly stunning visuals I have ever seen to date. If Fate/Zero amazed me, this has managed to surpass even that in terms of animation.

Sound- 10
Both opening soundtracks, especially Brave Shine, have found themselves cemented on my playlist. Sound effects, outstanding.

Character- 7
If this anime has even a small flaw, this might be it. Obviously, this was a HUGE step up from the 2006 version, but it did lack character depth. Characters like Kirei, Ilya and Saber could have added more to the show, and I would have preferred slightly more prominent roles (but then again, it might not have been that way in the visual novel). The apparent lack of a distinguished antagonist didn't help the cause. Kirei was the perfect antagonist in Fate/Zero, so I was expecting quite a lot from him in this as well (as this was supposed to be a direct sequel). Nevertheless, the annoying character of Tohsaka Rin has had a huge improvement, and she is pretty likable now. The most significant change I've seen in terms of character, is Shiro's. The hopelessly pathetic sorry piece of shit in Fate/Stay Night (2006) has turned out to be full badass in UBW; I hated him in the 2006 one, and was quite disappointed that he wasn't killed off by the end. However, his UBW character is the definition of a shounen anime/manga protagonist; it's as if his UBW character was finally provided with some balls, which the original clearly lacked.

Enjoyment- 9
It's one of the few anime I've really enjoyed in 2014-15.

Overall- 9
Give it a watch if you're in for a ride.

(P.S. Some of the subs don't make even the slightest of senses, so bear with it, or wait for it to be updated with better translations)

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Jul 1, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

TearfulFriend18 (All reviews)

61 people found this review helpful

The Fate series holds a very special place in my heart, the escapades of Shirou Emiya and his servant Saber have enthralled me in a way that a lot of stories did not. From the romance in "Fate" to the climatic "Heaven's Feel", Fate/stay night hasn't just become one of my favorite stories, it's honestly become my favorite thing to come out of Japan.

To give you a bit of background as to where I stand with Fate, I have read the visual novel and its semi-sequel multiple times, I have seen and own the 2006 anime, the prequel Fate/Zero, and the 2010 film adaptation of this anime's route. So (not to toot my horn) but I think I have at least a fair understanding of the Fate universe, and from a fan's standpoint I can say without a doubt that this is an excellent adaptation of "Unlimited Blade Works".

Whereas the 2006 anime adaptation was mostly based on the 1st route (entitled "Fate"), but added elements of the other 2 routes which turned it into a strange mix (and pissed off a good deal of fans), this adaptation sticks completely to the "Unlimited Blade Works" route while adding some anime original material to add more to the story. Now as the Fate series is based around the concept of the Holy Grail War, "Unlimited Blade Works" is probably the most war-less of the 3 routes, with the main conflict being a clash of ideologies rather than swords (although there is a fair bit of those as well). It is in this that the anime can be at its most exciting... or its most tedious as the anime is very dialogue heavy, and while I myself loved each conversation, not everyone will be as enthralled.

I mentioned above that I felt that this anime was an excellent adaptation of the source material, and I believe that to be true, however that's not to say that the source material itself is perfect. As much as I love the "Unlimited Blade Works" route, I cannot deny when there are flaws with the story, and there are a few. There are many instances where characters seem to be coated in layers of "Plot Armor", some story details don't make very much sense, and side-characters are thrown to the side just to be picked back up for relevance later on. That being said I do think the story presented here is very strong, having a tense beginning, plenty of twists and turns,and having what I believe to be one of the most satisfying conclusions to an anime that I've seen in recent years.

Speaking of characters, the anime is populated with them, with the main focus being on our quartet. Saber is definitely the least developed out of the 4, as her story was the main focus of the 1st route, where she was also the love interest. That's not to say that she's a bad character here though, but her role is definitely toned down to being a nurturing friend. She conveys a very warm presence and is very welcome in the story. (There's also the fact that she may or may not be my favorite love interest of the franchise, and all anime in general.) Rin Tohsaka on the other hand is the main love interest, and as such gets the most screentime with our protagonist. She definitely has a very strong attitude and way of thinking, and has a lot of depth underneath what some would consider a tsundere personality. Her relationship with Shirou is also well done at points, but can be tedious if your not into teasing and excessive blushing.

Rin's servant Archer is the perfect definition of a badass, (You ever hear of the GAR meme? It came from him.) making short work of enemies with ease, with a smirk on his face. He could also be considered the deuteragonist of the series, with a good portion of the show being focused on his back story and overall mystery, adding a good layer of depth and being the focus of the show's most exciting conflicts. Then we have our protagonist, Shirou Emiya. The view of his character is very divisive within the anime community; some view him as an incredibly interesting character, others find him to be incredibly idiotic, I myself lean towards the former. Its hard to portray a character like Shirou in an adaptation as most of his character is shown through endless monologues in the visual novel, but putting that into an anime would grind the pacing to a halt. This results in a mixed bag from both anime watchers and visual novel players, but I personally found his character to be handled as good as it could for an anime adaptation.

Studio Ufotable (the animators behind The Garden of Sinners and Fate/Zero) return to the Fate series and they return in style. The animation in this series is some of the best I've ever seen, with the entire series looking like 1 massive movie (leading to some to call this "Unlimited Budget Works"). The action sequences are absolutely jaw dropping, with characters zipping all over the screen with the jarring clashing of swords, its truly amazing stuff. It's not only the animation and the action that's great, the backgrounds are also stunning, with the art designers doing their best to create a photo-realistic representation of Japan, I'd get framed wallpapers of some of these backdrops.

On the music we have Hideyuki Fukasawa, composer of the other Type-Moon visual novel Witch on the Holy Night and the 2013 anime Flowers of Evil. Whereas most anime composers tend to create a few tracks and constantly replay them throughout a show, Fukasawa has decided to do something different : film scoring, having new music play throughout each episode. (That's 26 episodes filled with original music, 3 of which are an hour long. That's a lot of music.) His method is certainly ambitious, but how is his actual score? I found his score to be excellent, maintaining a consistent quality throughout the entire series. His action set-pieces filled me with adrenaline, his emotional moments moved me, and his renditions of of the classic visual novel music are just pure bliss.

Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] is not a perfect anime, nothing is. Some characters are flawed, story details don't make sense sometimes, and the pacing can feel really jumbled at some points. With that being said however, I've come to love this adaptation just as much, if not more than its visual novel counterpart. I came into this series expecting the core story of "Unlimited Blade Works" to be told in the anime format, and Ufotable has done that and so much more. I have enjoyed this series from beginning to end, not once feeling bored or let down throughout all of its 26 episodes. I cannot recommend this enough, why wouldn't I? It has become my favorite anime I've seen thus far after all.

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Jun 30, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

Amphetamine (All reviews)

61 people found this review helpful

Ever since I first watched Fate/Stay Night anime, I got hooked. A lot of people were complaining how it didn't live up to their expectations especially the ones who played the Visual Novel before, but as someone who didn't, I quite enjoyed the anime a bit. Of course afterwards I immediately went to play the game, and I managed to only finish the Fate route for some reason. Then I went to explore a bit for other TYPE-MOON series and discovering Tsukihime and Kara no Kyoukai, which the latter is one of my all time favorite.

Now for years people have been saying that Unlimited Blade Works is the best TYPE-MOON story in the game, and how amazing it is and that it is levels above the Fate route. So of course, an anime adaptation at last of the best route should be pretty enetertaining - and it was.

Unlimited Blade Works is about a boy named Shirou with a strong sense of justice, and selfless boy who rarely or almost never says no to anyone. He gets pulled into a sort of an age-old ritual, where the Holy Grail chooses Masters which in turn they summon servants, who are heroic spirits from the past (ex. Heracles, Gilgamesh, King Arthur etc.) to aid them in their quest. It is said that the Grail can grant the winner any wish he desires

Now, the plot sounds very interesting - and it is, especially when in the series we get to see some famous and interesting characters from other tales we heard like Heracles and King Arthur. The series also has some high quality animation with flawless character designs, ways improved from the past adaptations. However, as far as the OST goes, I must say I prefered the version of the 2006 Fate/Stay Night adaptations, especially the opening "Kirameku Namida wa Hoshi ni", one of my favorite anime openings. I never skipped listening to it in Fate, while here I always skipped them.

However, Unlimited Blade Works is not without flaws. I felt like a lot of people expressed in their opinions that some episodes were very rushed, and it seemed like a lot of it was cutout. The fight scenes were very impressive, however the constant dialogue and flashbacks occuring ruined the intensity which resulted in being a little anti-climatic. The main character doesn't just suffer from the typical idealistic shounen character views as to "save everyone without anyone getting hurt", but also suffers from out of nowhere "power-ups" like how he could fight on equal footing with the Heroic Spirits and even defeat them, when he didn't really have that much time to properly train. I can see why many people would dislike Shirou also because other supporting characters are much more interesting than him, like Archer, Gilgamesh and Lancer (Lancer suddenly acting out of character and dying for Rin and all, what the hell was that about? It didn't give a proper explanation for his actions).

His idealistic views can be considered childish, especially in the world we live in today, with all the corruption, terrorism, crime and povery all over the world. The truth is you can't save everyone which is why a lot of people failed to symphatize with our main character. Rin also sometimes annoyed me with the over-used high-pitched voice tsundere archetype. However I must admit I admired how sometimes straight forward Shirou was with expressing his feelings for Rin and how she gets all flustered and embarrased, it was pretty funny.

I felt a little backstory on some characters would have made the show more entertaining and we could have connected with the characters more. I would have liked to see some Gilgamesh, Lancer, Caster and Heracles backstory. Also Rider felt like it barely was part of the series. By the second season I completely forgot about her.

Still, this was a pretty entertaining and fun ride. It had a lot of potential and great build up, but it ended up being anti-climatic and a little rushed, but the the ending was satisfying and a happy one. I admit I expected a lot more since as I said, for years I've been told that Unlimited Blade Works is the best damn thing TYPE-MOON came out with, but it was still good. The other Fate anime defiinitely had more memorable moments but every fan of the Fate series and TYPE-MOON has to watch this. Maybe it's time to resume playing the game for me and finish UBW and Heaven's feel route.

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Jun 28, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

ChristopherKClaw (All reviews)

57 people found this review helpful

"Just because you're correct doesn't mean you're right!"

The legendary words of Shirou Emiya have spread far and wide around the world ever since the 2006 adaptation of Fate/Stay Night with his infamous "people die when they are killed", and now our frustrating hero is back with more internal contradictions and bullshit ideals than ever. Through the course of Unlimited Blade Works one can watch Shirou go through the difficult process of realizing that his ideals are not only absurd but also simply borrowed from his father in a series of powerful scenes such as "saying the same thing to Archer for two episodes," "never talking to Saber," "flirting with full-on tsundere Rin" and "fighting all-powerful heroic spirits with some swords he made, somehow."

Now I want to be clear about one thing upfront. Unlimited Blade Works was FUN. It was fun for nearly the entirety of its run. It's legendary to-die-for animation done by Ufotable, Lord of Action made sure that every single fight scene (of which there were plenty) was pretty much like getting an injection of cocaine. The story was rarely stagnant, always throwing itself onwards and upwards with more heroic spirits, more noble phantasms, and more right-before-death backstories. There were plenty of delightful cameos from all over the Fate universe, there were just enough scenes involving bro Lancer and SAO villain Shinji, and there was everyone's favorite Arthurian legend yelling "EXCALYBIUUUUUU" at just the right moments. For me this is definitely a show to be watched with friends, especially those who already have some background in Type Moon's elaborate universe, but that's not a requirement.

However, I can't say that I wasn't disappointed as well. As someone who came into the Type Moon universe through Fate/Zero, my expectations were fairly high. This was likely in part due to the fact that the writer for Fate/Zero was Gen Urobuchi, as the lending of his ideas and philosophies to the story made the inevitable monologuing between characters actually quite compelling. Basically, Fate/Zero was a fantasy epic: a fun, gorgeous, over-the-top battle royal marked by compelling characters arcs, sharp-enough writing, and a crescendoing conclusion that kept you on the edge of your seat and felt truly earned by the development that had been interwoven throughout the show, making full use of the show's slow start. It was fun, definitely, but is was also GOOD; it was akin to Game of Thrones for me and I loved it. When it was announced that Ufotable was adapting Unlimited Blade Works into a TV series of similar length, I was ecstatic. The epic could continue. Grown-up Rin and Sakura having to clean up after their fathers to try and stop the all-powerful Gilgamesh Reborn and his sociopathic sidekick Kotomine? Sounds AMAZING. I already found all of those characters compelling, I couldn't wait to see what kind of creative development had occurred during the time skip, and I was practically drooling for more Gilgamesh.

What I got instead was pretty much a wall of orgasmic fight animation and a plethora of awesome one liners. And not much else.

Unlimited Blade Work's most fatal shortcoming is without a doubt the lack of a strong supporting cast. In contrast to Zero where characters were like to discuss their philosophies and ambitions while facing off, in Blade Works they usually just talk about their power levels and abilities and how much they are going to win. Because of this we don't really get much of an insight into the minds of very many heroes and masters, and that leaves us feeling less like we're watching the battle royal that the Grail War is in which many different sides compete for different reasons for their own all-important causes, and instead watching "the adventures of Shirou, Rin, and Saber when she talks occasionally." Usually the only time in which the other masters and their spirits get development is through flashbacks that show us little about who they are now, just who they were, and often take place right before their deaths as if they are shoehorned in there just to make us care at the moment we're supposed to. That's not how it works: you can't make me care about a character by killing them, you have to make me care enough about them before anything happens to them that I don't want them to die in the first place. There's no tact to the way that the story unfolds: it's pretty much broken up into chunks in which the protagonists deal with struggles of increasing difficulty, and the other characters pretty much wait their turn until it is time for them to appear and have their chunk of time, forcing all of their development into this conveniently blocked-out area. That's not how good storytelling works: you have to weave these strands together from the beginning, slowly building the characters and the nature of their struggles until these arcs begin to culminate. Unlimited Blade Works does not do this, and when the second half comes and it starts pulling off its big moments, they aren't really all that big because they rely on elements that are essentially introduced on the spot. We aren't watching the satisfying culmination of previously set-up story elements, we're watching what in another show might be an outstanding scene if it had and prior weight to back it.

With the lack of a strong supporting cast, the burden of the story falls almost entirely to our screen-hogging duo, Rin and Shirou, and their heroic spirits Archer and Saber. Saber's been around before, and her story is FASCINATING: last time, we left off with her realizing that it was her own martyrdom that made her fail as a leader, then she was forced to destroy her one piece of hope to change that and sent back to the waiting place to despair over her failure. Now she's back, and all i want to see is how she's changed, how she's going to express those changes, what kind of path she's decided to take now, etc. But do we get any of that? Ever? Not in Unlimited Blade Works at least: Saber is pretty much a side show and a fighting tool, throwing around her epic city-leveling noble phantasm when necessary and besides that just quietly telling Shirou that she'll protect him and eating his sandwiches in silence. Rin takes her place as a female lead, doing everything she can to keep the audience emotionally invested, and at first she does a pretty good job: the hour-long prologue is amazingly good, especially for her character, and at first her drive in the Grail War and her distant yet not completely uncaring relationship with Shirou are the makings of a strong lead and potentially tragic adversary. However, it's not a particularly long period of time before the entirely of Rin's character can be summed up in two lines:
- Knows useful things about magic
- Is a tsundere
It's tragic, really, and while her character never really makes the story drag she doesn't really do much to make it compelling either. By the end she's mostly defined by Shirou, talking almost exclusively about his struggles and internal contradictions, blushing aggressively at times and telling him how to use magic the other times. I feel like the show almost forgot about her own extremely passionate desire to uphold her father's name and avenge his death, and she seemed to have most of her complexity sucked out of her.

Which brings us to Shirou & Archer. I don't want to go to far into them for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but the show is essentially their story at this point, and as such it backs itself into a corner where they pretty much make it or break it. On the one hand, they make it: the ideas behind their characters and the philosophies that they espouse are fascinating, and the basis for both of them could be taken great places and no doubt was in the visual novel. However, they are undermined by a single factor: the writing in the show is appallingly bad. It's contrived, insultingly repetitive, watered-down and lacking in virtually any substance. This isn't helped by the fact that the story is disjointed and poorly-organized. Combined, these shortcomings inflict irreparable damage both to these two characters and to the show as a whole, and now we're back to the beginning:

The show is fun to watch. That's about it. It has phenomenal animation, plenty of hilariously cheesy lines, a beautiful soundtrack including a second opening that will never get out of your head (Brave SHINNEE!!), scenes that should be too stupid to exist, and have I mentioned the art yet? However, unlike Zero, it is no longer seriously compelling, it no longer earns emotional engagement, and it loses much of the epic feeling of the story through lack of proper buildup and insane excuses for writing. This would have been more bearable if it wasn't supposedly a sequel to one of the greatest fantasy epics of our time: this was like watching the Phantom Menace or the Hobbit movies and watching characters that I loved and cared about get tossed around by some insane director until they were reduced to poorly-written shadows of their former selves. On it's own, it's a blast, but as a sequel to Zero it's a disappointment. This is in no way an attack on the source material: the story that was trying to be told seemed to be one of merit, but it was slaughtered ONCE AGAIN (Fate/StayNight cannot catch a break) by appalling execution. The budget might be higher than Japan's GDP this time, the voice acting may be superb, the music hype (apparently several songs from the visual novels were pulled and used in the show) but the pacing and arrangement of the story combined with the terrible writing (as well as a few scenes that were just straight-up adapted awfully) made Unlimited Budget Works into a bit of a letdown and an unworthy successor of Fate/Zero.

If this is your introduction into the Type/Moon universe, you probably couldn't pick a better place to start. This show is incredibly fun by itself, and when you've finished it everything else you watch will exceed your expectations (except the 2006 Fate/StayNight) whether it be the mighty prequel or the acclaimed Garden of Sinners or the soon-to-be Heaven's Feel and Hollow Ataraxia. However, if you liked or loved Zero for any of the reasons I did and you've been waiting until this show finishes to decide whether to watch it or not, I must unfortunately advise you to stay away from it. The closure it provides for Zero isn't good enough to warrant tainting the characters/story. You're better off with the strong yet open ending of Zero. Watch Garden of Sinners instead, or wait for Heaven's Feel and hope that they get a different writer and director.

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Jun 27, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

BonnibelPeebles_ (All reviews)

42 people found this review helpful

The first cour had a great progress. However, it declined a bit this second cour.

We had more action and character development. Giving focus mainly on the clash between Shirou and Archer. The animation in general was very good, just gave a fallen light in some scenes, but nothing too serious. In this adaptation of Fate managed to convey very well what the Visual novel wanted to spend. It was not a 100% faithful adaptation (maybe 90% faithful ), but unlike the previous studio, that enriched the story, adding more detail and develop harmoniously. We have seen some situations from the perspectives of other characters like read more

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Jul 1, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Zarrior (All reviews)

37 people found this review helpful

The anime first of all had a different feeling compared to season one for me while the animation style was great as well as the sound the storyline didn't really indulge me as much as the first season did their wasn't that want for more really and the need to watch more and hate the fact that you had to wait a week to watch the next episode there was a lack of that really i mean some episode had a splash of cliff hangar but only three or four really did.

Really the producers replicated some of the antic of popular anime in which something read more

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Jul 6, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

EbiNewin (All reviews)

35 people found this review helpful

This Review applies to both seasons of Unlimited Blade Works. The Video review is up on my channel, but here is the written.

Story - 8/10

If you’re familiar with the Fate series, its pretty much is the same. But in Unlimited Blade Works it follows a different scenario. Sure the beginning is pretty much the same as it was in Fate/Stay Night, but the focus is much different. But to put you up to speed, 7 masters and heroic servants fight in the war to gain the ultimate wish fulfilling device known as the Holy Grail. The story this time around focuses a lot more on read more

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Jul 2, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

superzombie23 (All reviews)

33 people found this review helpful

Warning: Partial spoilers for Epilogue

I gotta say I love the sunset fading to night scene leading to the ending credits. It makes the viewer actually feel like they are experiencing that world in real time alongside those characters. Something about it was too beautiful to put into words. Guess you could say it's a perfect way to end a thought provoking epilogue that makes you think twice about dropping out of school. Right before, Rin was saying there is so much in the world that is worth suffering for and experiencing, so it was worth dropping their things and taking a risk going off the read more

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Jun 28, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Wasshio (All reviews)

31 people found this review helpful

*spoilers down below for the review of this series*

Here's going to be my Fate/stay Night Unlimited Blade Works anime review as a whole. Now before anyone goes and attacks me, just because either of my rating score or my review, keep in mind what I will say first. The series is pretty much debatable, people can like it, people can despise it. There's an amount of people that goes and tries to debate on the show, me personally, as a person who likes this series, I won't take the show as a masterpiece, because it's not even a 10/10. And if there are people from read more

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Jun 27, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

X10A_Freedom (All reviews)

29 people found this review helpful

For visual novel readers and anime-only watchers alike, the attraction of the Ufotable-Type Moon pair-up is obvious. Nasu's highly intricate and appealing designs brought to life by Ufotable, who are excellent in visuals and art. This partnership works to great extent but was unfortunately lacking in the other important components such as character development, relatability and execution of the story that are needed to create a compelling narrative.

The problems have mostly to do with the conversion from one medium to another. Visual novels thrive on details, through the use of monologue while anime simply thrives on visual gimmicks. In essence, reading VNs require a very long attention span, while anime caters to those who want instant visual stimulation. Going straight to the point, anime as a medium is appealing to those with shorter attention spans. Converting a details-heavy story into an anime therefore has its problems and UBW is yet another adaptation which falls into this trap.

It is no surprise that the anime felt hollow, especially in the second season. The anime misses out a lot of highly important dialogue that fleshes out emotions meaning we never got to fully understand the characters. Servants and masters with their own deep thoughts and motives simply became cannonfodder in the anime. What was a carefully crafted setup to a fight simply became "Boom! Explosions! Blood! Dead!". While the anime keeps the very barebones of the story intact, the lack of detail really removes any chance of forming connections with characters. This also reduces the "shock value" when a certain character gets killed off. In the end the anime becomes a "sit down, watch explosions, the end" experience.

Except it even fails on that regard. There are long moments in the middle of battles where the characters simply stand up and recite lines from the VN. Details is good, no? Except that it fails to satisfy neither VN or anime medium fans. The dialogue is too shallow and brief for VN fans while anime-watchers are treated with info-dumps which exceed their attention spans, and their craving for explosions go unsatisfied.

In the end, the amazing story that is UBW can only be told in one medium. The VN medium, as animation as a medium is incapable of telling a deep narrative, nor do their fandom want it. This makes the VN and VN fandom objectively superior to anime and anime fandom. For those distinguished people who want a complete experience, please go read the VN, for it is far deeper than any anime out there which thrives on the gimmicks of explosions, moe and fanservice.

Some say VNs are too hipster, but hipster anime also exist. The Aria the Animation franchise is highly popular and acclaimed by hipsters. However, this should never be watched or supported for it really is only fanservice, with unrealistically proportioned hips and costumes to suit those with a leg fetish. The hipster of anime comes nowhere near close to the hipster of all VNs; Asairo and Subarashiki Hibi. Now, this is a true masterpiece in narrative and execution that no anime comes close to, and will never come close to in the future.

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Dec 17, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

RakiRaki (All reviews)

29 people found this review helpful

I don't get it, guys. I don't.

Why Unlimited Blade Works? Why this underwhelming, anticlimactic excuse for a spluttering car crash of a visual novel route? Did ufotable have to faithfully adapt every wheel-spinning two hour conversation in which Pollyanna protagonist Shirou is repeatedly called a dweeb for his goofy idealism? Did they have to make sure we were reminded what a complete loser Archer is every time he appears, legs spread like his balls are prickly pears, perched on some conveniently placed rubble? What is actually appealing about Archer when his only major personal distinction from fellow Fate/stay night snarkster Lancer is his adolescent moral nihilism? What is there to admire about a character who is so unimaginative that his inner world is literally a wasteland full of imitation swords? Why do people like Archer?

Why did ufotable pick the route where the mid-boss is Caster and the teacher with the upside-down glasses? How did they fail so hard at making a pair of cynical murderers interesting? Why include a half-hearted tribute episode to the tragic homunculus Illya in the route where Illya and her Servant, Berserker, are a mere afterthought, as though ufotable realised that she deserved more attention than Caster ever did? Why couldn't we just have had the Berserker vs. Saber fight like in the Fate route? Why couldn't they at least have spared a thought for the narrative arc of poor neglected Saber, left to wilt after the misery she withstood in Fate/zero? Why did every free second of this show have to be filled with endless identical monologues about youthful idealism?

On that note, what is even the point of adapting a route where breakout character and franchise cash-cow Saber is fully relegated to the background throughout and possesses barely any agency of her own? Why did they retain the awful premature ejaculation of an ending, in which school rapist Shinji turns into the Smooze and Shirou has the worst fight ever with the supposed King of Heroes, Gilgamesh, who can't even be bothered to change out of his chavvy streetclothes? What kind of action anime peaks with two angry men yelling repetitive dialogue at each other while swords fly everywhere? Why is Saber's only half-decent action scene a stilted sword battle with a literal fake Servant whose entire shtick adds up to a convoluted version of the air conditioner's dilemma in The Brave Little Toaster (I was designed to stick in a temple! I like being stuck in this stupid temple!)?

Why was the last episode an OVA set in a twee version of London? Why is this new environment merely used to stage an oh-shucks cameo from Luvia and an extended moment of incredulous Jaden Smith-esque brain-death from Shirou as he spews all over Saber's dimly remembered non-heroics by wondering how it could be that history is real if English people aren't real?

Why do people like Unlimited Blade Works? How was this better than the Studio DEEN anime besides its production values? Is it really any less slow and repetitive? What is there to like about Shirou's stupid, abortive psychodrama? Is it just Rin? Is that it? If so, how can you account for the horrible, horrible reality that this route isn't even about Rin so much as it is about Shirou literally talking to himself for hours and hours only to come to the same conclusion with which he began? Is she really worth it, guys? Is it really worth *this*? Really?

I hope you're all happy, Tohsaka fans. Go cross-dress in some thigh-highs and hate yourselves, you failures. Roll on Heaven's Feel.

Clarification edit: UBW does work well in the context of the VN, but holy holy it was a bad idea to adapt it straight.

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Jul 27, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

BanjoTheBear (All reviews)

27 people found this review helpful

(This has been adapted from my blog/reddit thread. Spoilers ahead!)

Everyone has their own set of convictions. Whether they are religiously, politically, or morally based, there are certain creeds that we, as individuals, follow. Depending on the ideals we hold, our very person is shaped, directing the lives we lead and the paths that we take. For me, I uphold a simple one: “a little kindness goes a long way.” So I try to do just that. I hold the door for others, give my thanks whenever I can, and call my family to check up on them. Small stuff, and probably pretty common too, but read more

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Jun 28, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 6

SpikeykoaLa (All reviews)

26 people found this review helpful

After the first season of FSN:UBW I had high hopes that the second season would make up for at least some of the issues I had with season 1. It turns out it did not in almost any way. I am not a reader of the VN, but that doesn't change the fact that a series needs to work as a standalone piece without the aid of extra information provided by the source material to completely enjoy it.

Story: 6
The story continues directly after season 1 (as one might assume) and the pace picks up considerably since season 1 had so much Shirou cooking and Rin whining to get through that it was like the Holy Grail War just hit the freakin' pause button for the majority of the season. However, the quicker pace is not necessarily a good thing. In fact, after the first couple of episodes there were so many character farewells that it was almost like, "I can't WAIT to see what this character has in store for the series-... oh... they're dead now... after being in 2 episodes... hmm..." The pacing of this season was odd, to say the least, with important events being hurled at you one after another in one episode, then in the next episode nothing happens at all. Some plot elements were left dreadfully vague as well, most often dealing with Archer's backstory and Shirou suddenly obtaining OP Servant-level abilities. Because of this, the climax was poorly executed.

Art: 8
The art is still top-notch for the most part, but with some flaws mostly dealing with mediocre CG integration for some backgrounds. Fight scenes still look awesome (even if the outcomes of some fights make no sense). The Opening theme in particular is more entertaining to watch than season 1.

Sound: 5
I may never hear an anime score as bland as this one ever again. The only salvageable track is EMIYA which comes from the VN anyways, but the original tracks are disappointingly dull. Fight scenes sound like something that was rejected from Hans Zimmer's studio with enough fast percussion and BWAHs to make me feel like I was being incepted. The insert song by Aimer was similarly bland and actually made me laugh when it showed up in an integral scene as it sucked out any of the drama or impact the scene possessed. Besides that, the Japanese VAs do their job well. I particularly like Archer's voice since it really suits him. In regards to SFX, hearing the same sword clash sound for the thousandth time got a bit annoying.

Character: 4
I had hoped the second season would make up some lost ground on this front, but it failed to in quite a few ways. First of all, many characters who deserved further development were killed off so quickly and pointlessly, that by the end, I forgot they were even a part of the show. Some characters don't show up for 10-15 episodes just to be killed in a single episode as if they never mattered. Shirou remains one of my least favorite anime protagonists. The show does a poor job of explaining anything about his trace ability making it seem like he gains random powers out of nowhere that he can use to beat anyone/thing. Not only that, but the big power-up he receives from Rin is one of the biggest Deus Ex Machina I've seen since he's pretty much unstoppable afterwards. Shirou's personality is fittingly terrible as well since he wants to save everyone so much that he lacks any form of common sense. While I get that that's kind of the point of his character, it doesn't make it any less frustrating when he somehow succeeds at everything. Can he just die? Seriously. How is he not dead? Why did Gilgamesh go from being the strongest servant to being a complete joke of a character? I think Lancer is the only character that I came out liking enough to consider my favorite. He had admirable screen time and was a total badass. I attribute the lack of good characters both to potentially poor adaption as well as flawed source material.

Enjoyment: 5
There were some episodes of FSN:UBW that I thought worked well and enjoyed watching while others were flat-out frustrating and left me weary of watching the next episode.

Overall: 6
I can only hope that the Heaven's Feel movie will provide a more interesting story with more interesting characters, a more interesting soundtrack, and a less buffoonish MC.
*avoiding spoilers*

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Jul 13, 2015

13 of 13 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

azzazin5577 (All reviews)

24 people found this review helpful

Alright lets make this quick

The story was good, the animation was excellent, sound was good, and the characters were okay. So where this anime falls short is the pacing of the entire show.

The pacing was excruciating slow each episode. It took a really long time for the characters to do something resulting in bad payoff each week of an episode. They should've cut some of that slice of life scenes as well as their investigation scenes and concentrated on various characters instead of following just those two main characters all the time.

This is why fate/zero was awesome, we got to know various characters stories read more

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