Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - III. Spring Song

If you are a Fate fan I don't have to tell how much we have been waiting for this final movie of the trilogy to come.

Disclaimer: Anyone who watches this movie can enjoy the visuals and the actions to the fullest.
But to understand the plot and the characters YOU MUST WATCH THE FATE/STAY NIGHT: ULTIMATE BLADE WORKS, FATE: ZERO AND FATE/STAY NIGHT + The previous two Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel movies.

I truly enjoyed the whole trilogy of heavens feels and this 3rd one was a perfect ending for the trilogy. We can say this trilogy can go down in history as the masterpiece ... trilogy in anime history. [like Lord of the Rings].

STORY - the continuation of the whole story from where they stopped in the Heavens Feels 2: lost butterfly where how Sakura is corrupted and a little back story on Toosaka. Within Heaven's feels 3 the stories on characters backstories are concise. But given good touchpoints with the origin of the Holy grail and the Berserker backstory as Hercules. But again people who straight come to watch this will be so confusing as in the last battle between Tosaka Rin and Sakura Matou, Tosaka mentions the name "Zelretch" as in Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, this name hasn't been mentioned in any of the fate anime series. Also, the ending was a bit confusing at first and I'm not going to spoil it here but you might need to watch the ending 8 min few times and some youtube reviews to understand how Emiya Shirou came back to life. The ending was very beautiful and touching how they ended Illiya story With also how Sakura and Shirou embark forward into a Sakura filled park was very touching and ended perfectly giving the audience a message in a semiotic form.

CHARACTER - in this movie there aren't many characters development as we got in Heaven's feels 1 and 2, but there were few moments that was very subtle and did justice to the character as well. First I must take Raider, Her character development is exponentially much more in the movies than in the series where she had more screen time also how she bonded with Shirou even though she is Sakura's servant. Her face reveals in a normal outfit was so touching and it shows how she adapted to Shirou's Household as well.
When it comes to Saber she was converted by sakura in the previous movie and she fights against Shirou and the rest of his team. Even tho Saber was in team Sakura she was still concerned about Shirou's life. Also the same story with Berserker where in his last moment he is still the dearest servant of Illyasviel and told Shirou to protect her and that moment was so moving.
A touching moment that we cant see in the anime was the sisterly bond between Tosaka and Sakura. That few minutes must have hit the audience, With the music and the direction of the whole scene it was at that point Sakura regrets her decision on evil doing.
In the movie Interaction between Archer and Shirou were only one point. And the Destruction of Matou, Zouken was articulated in an astonishing way where it also gives how Sakura is freed from his grip.

SOUND AND ART - When it comes to sound Fate series has always kept its benchmark at a whole level with the ost and the endings. With Aimer 春はゆく (Haru Wa Yuku) was a major plus point for the movie. As Aimers voice is one of the most recognized in the Fate universe. And in this movie Haru Wa Yuku instrumental was a great ost, as well as the song in the ending, was most stunning and Emotion evoking as well. With the deep meaning of the song, it suited the ending excellently. The Ost that has been used in the action-packed scene was really tense and suits it flawlessly.
When it comes to the ART Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel movies were astonishing and breathtaking. with the environmental design and the ambience design. Also, the action animation was also done excellently by Ufotable. We all know when Ufotable Does any work becomes Supreme in art quality and animation [ Demon slayer Animation ]

I truly enjoyed the whole movie and this trilogy will be in every anime fan and fate fans mind for being the best trilogy that concluded in anime history.

Thank you.

This movie is not perfect.
Why? Well...

The story itself, as a whole, is something many may have seen before; a save-the-world combined with save-the-girl storyline with a satisfying ending to many. It does manage to add its unique spin to it though, mostly through the characters and their motivations. I would, however, have preferred seeing the "normal end" rather than the "true end" from the VN, but that's just me nitpicking. What isn't nitpicking, though, is the fact that they failed to properly explain several important scenes, undoubtedly causing confusion among anime-only watchers. At the same time, it added to the story by showing us ... more than the VN did during certain scenes.

The art and animation were outstanding. The motions were fluid and the camera angles, lightning and colour palettes were pure eye candy. I really don't have anything else to say other than that I believe it's pure perfection.

The sound fit the scenes phenomenally well, and added to the emotions and hype. I admit I even started crying when a certain theme song started playing because I was simply way too happy seeing all of it animated. Needless to say, the sound was perfect as well because of how it complemented each scene.

The characters are all great ones. However, here's when the movies' short runtime causes them to suffer from it by cutting some well-needed explanations of character motivations. While 80% of the VN's inner monologues or explanations can't be adapted to a TV series, much less to a movie trilogy, I felt that at least some extra lines of dialogue or inner monologue would have gone a long way to make up for it. I'd even argue that Shirou's condition is one of the largest and most important plot points, but it felt rushed, and the character characterisation suffered as a result.

Overall, the enjoyment I felt while watching this movie was immense, and I'd even say it's my all-time favourite. As someone who's been obsessed with the franchise for several years now, this movie was pretty much perfect to me despite my criticism of it. I feel as if Ufotable knows their own strength, and thus went all-out when it came to the animation, camera and sound composition.

It's not perfect, but it sure as hell is worth watching.

[Spoiler-FREE Review]

As the third and final act to the trilogy, the movie scores a 10/10 in all departments. Ufotable truly has blessed us during this global pandemic with this magnum opus. A perfect parting gift for what appears to be the last adaptation they will be doing for the Fate Stay Night franchise, as they move towards grander projects with titles such as Demon Slayer (Kimetsu No Yaiba) and the Tsukihimi Remake.

[STORY]
The story, being adapted from the Visual Novel, is adapted well and faithfully, outdoing even the novel's depiction of some fan favorite scenes going beyond plus ultra. For someone who has kept up with ... the franchise, the way this movie ends the trilogy will leave you satisfied and fulfilled, having seen the Fate Stay Night trilogy to its climatic and thematic end. It ties together all the themes and character development/profiles built up in Fate Zero and Fate UBW, paying homage to them all. This is the one route where I can faithfully say that each and every character had a satisfying conclusion to their arc.

[ART]
We all know that Ufotable is godly with their animation team and budget. We have all seen Unlimited Budget Works and Demon Slayer. But this movie blows both shows' art out of the water with its blockbuster budget. If you were lucky enough to see this movie in theaters, then you have been blessed by God. For those who have watched the movie already, I only have to mention one scene: KYRIE ELEISON.

[SOUND]
The Music and VFX team did a SPLENDID job. The lead composer is a GENIUS. The EMIYA THEME REMIX IS PERFECT ENCASPULATION OF THE FRANCHISE, paying respects to the original rendition with a musical call and response while also being a representation of Shirou and Archer together. The rest of the soundtrack is also just as good. The composer uses many elements and samples from the soundtracks from the previous shows, incorporating elements and musical motifs from Fate Zero and UBW, paying homage to artists like Kalafina. This in turn, adds to the feeling of the movie being a true finale to the Fate Stay Night series, going full circle and expanding upon all the musical themes of Zero and UBW while also introducing new sounds and instrumentals to truly embody the theme of Heaven's Feel.

[CHARACTER]
I already chimed in on how each side character had a satisfying conclusion to their arcs so I'll talk a bit about the protagonist.

The heroism and humanity of Shirou Emiya undoubtedly shines the most in this movie, building upon all the previous routes adapted by Ufotable, as well as himself in the previous two movies. He goes from a flawed, weak individual to a heroic figure who surpasses his own limits to become an unlikely hero for those he love and cares for. The trilogy follows his dynamic character development, with this movie capping it all off and showing the viewers what the end result of his development leads to.

People may not have liked Shirou's stale development and Shounen-tard personality in UBW, but in Heaven's Feels, he truly is a tragic character that has evolved to become someone beautiful. He has surpassed his father and his rivals, eclipsing both of them and overcoming his limitations that bounded him to his father's flawed ideals while incorporating elements of his own desires into it. He evolved his own ideals and beliefs using his father's as the base, and is now showing how he applies them into his reality. He has shaped his own path and is applying maximum determination to see his desires to the end.

[Final Words]

If you made it this far and you still haven't watched the movie yet, go and watch it. For anyone new to Fate, watch Fate Zero and Fate Unlimited Blade Works (UBW) first. You will appreciate this movie trilogy much more that way as you will appreciate how much the trilogy builds upon both shows thematically.

Think of it like watching movies in the MCU. If you skipped all the movies like Guardians of the Galaxy or Captain America and Iron Man, and just watched Avengers Endgame right off the bat, you wouldn't have the same level of enjoyment or understanding of what just happened in the movie as the fans who did.

"Look how they massacred my boy."

*SPOILERS WARNING*

This review is not just gonna be about he third movie, its about all three.

I will start this review by saying Heaven's feel is easily the best story in the fate franchise when we look it in a technical level there are nearly no plot holes. (At least I got no.)
But that is only valid for the novel format when we look into the anime adaptation its the worst between Ufotable's Fate adaptations

Ok Its not that terrible especially compare to SAO or Elfen Lied at least its not trying to insult your intelligence but its still a ... wasted potential. I was waiting this adaptation to be Ufotable's third masterpiece after Fate/Zero and Kara no Kyoukai but it couldn't be.

The best way to tell how they killed the story is this:

In the VN Heaven's feel is the longest of three routes but in the anime adaptation it is the shortest one...
For you to understand it properly it took me 23 hours to read Heaven's feel and 17 Hours to read UBW. The anime adaptation of UBW is nearly 9 hours and HF's adaptation is just 6 hours you get it now?
if you look into the crop content you will see how they fucked up the story. Kirei, Rider and Illya are the most imported characters of the route and they literally have no screen time for example:

You know Kirei is a piece of shit from the beginning of the HF route because you read the first two before reading HF, but in HF you start to understand the character you learn his motivations and past and you start to emphasize with him at the end of the route you like him even though he was just a piece of shit in the first two routes. Its due the time you spent with him but in the movies he literally has no screen time.

EVEN THOUGH HE IS ONE OF THE KEY CHARACTERS OF THE ROUTE!

Another example is the 5 days after Zouken's attack to the Einzbern Castle. After the attack Rin and Illya moves to Emiya residence you see 4 mentally broken person trying to live under the same the same roof, (Shirou,Rin,Sakura and Illya)and they fuckin cropped the entire 5 days you nearly see nothing.
The relationship improvement between characters feel so weak due to the crop content they spend no time together to improve a solid bond at least you don't see its just a montage of their time spent and it breaks the emotional impact of most scenes.

I talked about the crop content so far from know on I will critcise what they executed something so well it is Sakura and Shirou's relationship
Shirou's dilemma about his ideals and the girl he loves and Sakura's broken past and personality But this is the only part they executed well. :/
Let's take look into Kirei Shirou relationship everything between two is so rushed up at some in the first movie Shirou tells he hates Kirei but there is reason for him to hate him. I mean there is but its not in the movie...
I don't even wanna talk about their discussion about what good and evil is but I am gonna.
In the VN its half an hour discussion between the two but in the movies its nearly 5 minutes its so rushed up Shirou's ideological progression throughout the discussion is so stupid.
In the VN he rejects Kirei but as the discussion goes on he slowly understands and accepts the truth
But in the anime he rejects after a few punch he "accepts" its not beliviable they mess up entire scene in order to make it short

Ok imma summarize the problems i have with the adaptation

First, they crop so many things that creates plot holes in the story even though it is orginal story nearly has no plot holes

*Second:Due to first problem the content they adapt loses its emotional impact like in the Golden Age trilogy of Berserk

*Third: The scenes they adapt is so rushed up and this again breaks the emotional impact

*Fourth: Director's vision for the ones that doesn't know trilogy's director is a Fate fanboy especially a Sakura fanboy and you see his love and passion for the character throughout the trilogy thats why Shirou and Sakura relationship is executed so well but I can't say the same for others it loses to capture Nasu's vision to put the watcher/reader in the same dilemma as the characters you don't feel any emotional bond for the characters aside from Sakura and Shirou

Story aside animations and soundtracks are fuckin brilliant scenes like Shirou Sakura under the raim and Saber Alter vs Rider and Shirou made my eyes cum I still listen to soundtracks while writing this review but they are just the vehicle not the purpose of the story

First: 7
Second: 8
Third: 6.5

If I could I would give a kiss on the cheek of everyone involved in this. After you finish watching this movie, you understand why its called "Heaven's Feel".. Yeah, I pretty much experienced Heaven watching this! The art is gorgeous! The animation is unbelievable. The sound, the voice acting, everything is just perfect! You could literally pause this movie at any frame and BOOM you get a wallpaper worth image!There were several moments in this movie that gave me chills all over my body!

This is by far the best animated movie I've ever seen in my life.


10/10. Thank you for this piece ... of art

This movie damnnnnnnnnn,

where do I start, I don't know where, the art, the music, the climax, the fight scenes. I nearly came during Emiyas theme.

He was soo boss in this movie, glad to see him not being such a cuck.

I was exhausted after watching this movie, what a journey, I can not wait to rewatch this at home with with Dolby atoms.

Don't get me started on the artist decision to draw sakura dump truck. give that man a pay rise.

... Still, Rin will always be my forever girl.

I can't believe that I live in a world where all routes of the VN have been animated, and to such a high quality.

Just watch it, as soon as you can.

Maybe Heaven's Feel shouldn't have received an adaptation whatsoever.

Typemoon, in most of their anime, have been careful to provide the casual viewer with sufficient information to understand the single show and become "introduced" to Nasuverse. Until Heaven's Feel movies started coming around, I genuinely found the question "where do I start the Fate series" often asked by potential new viewers dumb. You could start literally anywhere (except the Last Encore adaptation, that was failed at too many things tbh) and just get going with the rest. Even Prisma Illya works, to some degree. And the majority of these shows (SN, UBW, Zero, Apocrypha, even the ... GO adaptations) would be mindful to (re-)establish the world and setting for casual viewers and just leave some minor-ish references for the oldies and nerds.

HF sucked at that. If you're not a die-hard fan with the focus, memory and attentionspan on some celestial level, to you this adaptation tells an incredibly short and simple narrative over 3 long movies with edgy confusing dialogue and cool fight scenes. The work's immense contribution to the lore will just go unnoticed. That is to say, I have been acquainted with the Fate universe for a while (GO, anime, manga, not the VNs) and still felt awfully lost in some moments.

It is therefore essentially a bad adaptation for a casual viewer and doesn't even provide enough memory refreshment in terms of the lore and characters to the established fanbase.
And the problem is, with the complexity of the plot, the terrifying abundance of references and easter eggs, it couldn't have been done better. Most likely, even as a show. Heaven's Feel's narrative is perfect in doing what it has to, yet what it has to is too much for most to handle.
And most definitely, I am not serious about saying the adaptation would have been better of not existing, because it brings the decade-and-a-half-awaited close to the original F/SN route trinity and is made with Ufotable's breath-taking animation, Yuki Kajiura's brilliant scoring, all extraordinarily directed, and having the characters be voiced by amazing, renowned seiyuus.

But, the emotion I felt the most of upon finishing the last movie was confusion, regardless ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I will try to keep it short and sweet.

This movie was the perfect end to the perfect adaptation. The ending of the movie left you questioning weather he was really there or not. It had so many emotional scenes, moments that jerked at your heart strings.

Personally I always loved Sakura as a character but in the original stay night and UBW she didn't really do much. The Heavens feel adaptation gave me the character growth that I wanted set up the couple I wanted to see and held nothing back. Every second I was on the edge of my seat because anything could ... happen and at any point some major event could take place.

Everything was just so perfectly executed in Heavens feel.

40/10

(Serious rating): 10/10

P.S. Lancer is underrated and deserves more

That moment Shirou decided to use Archer's arm. That was where the non-stop action started. Connecting his present self to Archer in the future, he saw a mirage of Archer challenging him, "Can you keep up with me?", to which he refuted, "No, can YOU keep up with me?", followed up by the powered-up green Trace On coursing through all his magic circuits.

Story: 9.5/10
I thoroughly enjoyed the pacing and the prose. While not nearly non-stop action as I'd have hoped, the slow paced moments were like the silence before the storm. It keeps you on your toes, and many a time I had expected Tohsaka ... to cower and die then and there - what a brave girl! - but she didn't. There were so many touching moments, such as the entire Shirou vs Heracles scene, where he traced all the way back to Illya's and his past; the trust between Shirou and Rider, leading to the combination of Rho Aias + Rider's Noble Phantasm, which I'll leave it up to you to discover, and Illya's reveal at the end.

The ending did feel a bit rushed though, and slightly anti-climatic, but other than that it was perfect.

Art: 10/10
No qualms here. I wish I could draw well enough to illustrate what I saw, so that everyone else can appreciate just how epic it was. I was blown away by how a simple exorcism(?) of Zouken could look so peaceful yet so cool.

Sound: 10/10
Every bgm fit and nothing felt out of place. I particularly appreciated how the sfx illustrated how deadly each attack was, and yet act as a fitting backdrop for those scenes where a character expresses shock or sadness.

Character: 10/10
Heaven's Feel is the arc where everyone reaches their max potential. We're given development for every character, including Kotomine Kirei. During the fist fight with Shirou, he revealed his true motives that he has been reiterating for ages. Not only did they mutually accept each other - something which Kiritsugu couldn't do in Zero - no dirty tricks were used, which was very unlike the Kirei we have been shown.

The same goes for Tohsaka. We're shown how she is unwavering, seemingly uncaring and knowing the right thing to do, as well as fully committing to it. But yet in the end, at the crucial moment, she couldn't.

Similar for Shirou - he was willing to give up everything just to save Sakura. But yet, his wavered before he was about to conjure his final projection, instead choosing "I want to live on",

Enjoyment: 9.5/10
It was a rollercoaster of emotions. What dies might not say dead, and people do not simply die when they are killed. No matter how dead they may look. The final master did his job thoroughly and skipped past the True End into the Good End. All's well that ends well, and we're even given the cameo of some characters from the Clock Tower. There were no plotholes, but maybe just a tad too much plot armour.

Overall: 10/10
I'd recommend everyone to watch this movie. There was also a present at the live screening, which is related to the upcoming FGO movie - stay tuned for the trailer which should be released soon!
I found this review Helpful TOTEMO TSUKI

As much as I enjoy watching any of the Fate series, this particular movie had many questions that are quite often left unanswered, what can be very frustrating for someone who doesn't have any additional experience in the series apart the anime and movies. However, I assume that it was to be expected considering the huge fame of the series.

As you would suspect, the animation quality was fantastic. Of all the routes, I believe this route allowed me to witness the most appropriate and mature Shirou, his interactions with other characters felt much more reasonable and commendable. It might be just the animation or decisions ... of the studio, and that might not hold for all of the movies or all of the scenes, but this was the most fulfilling ending I could hope for as an anime-only viewer.

My enjoyment was skyrocketing, however, the ending might leave you with many questions if you have no idea what is going on. I believe that squeezing in a little bit of explanation would have been more beneficial.

Other than that, the story was adapted quite well, although I really craved for more information and explanations, but the power of the internet eventually answered my prayers for knowledge, which allowed me to enjoy it even more.

If you are checking this out, I believe there is no way to say 'no' to watching this, especially if you have seen the previous two movies of Heaven's Feel route. Have a good time and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did in the end.

If you decided to watch this trilogy because you wanted to see connections to other series in the Fate franchise you came to the right place. In this film you will get an explanation for the Great Holy Grail and what is Heaven's Feel as well as how Rin, Sakura, Shirou and Illya are related. If you have only watched Fate/stay night along with this trilogy, you can now watch the prequel Fate/Zero and the anime series in the alternate universe of the Great Holy Grail War known as Fate/Apocrypha.
This finale offers what Unlimited Blade Works did not, a greater threat to all humanity and ... the true power of mages. Earlier in the trilogy we are explained that there is no being more powerful than a Servant while mages remain as human spectators of the Holy Grail War, but in this film we get to see more of the mages than of the servants, we really get to see Shirou as the hero of the story whose powers increase as he matures as a character and Sakura being an actual dangerous mage and thus the greatest enemy to fight.
In the previous film Sakura claimed she cannot be saved by anyone and Shirou insisted that he would do anything in order to protect her although that seemed quite imposible. As Sakura grows stronger, the feeling that there is no possible way for her to be saved becomes even more certain. The feeling that everything cannot get any worse is present at all times putting every character in danger of being killed and making it impossible to have a happy ending.

WOW I do not know where to begin to describe this audiovisual marvel, the last film of the trilogy fate heaven's feel was simply beautiful, both visually, musically and in history.
Ufotable excelled in all these aspects since being a very long route to adapt they did very well and in technical aspects, I think it will be very difficult to overcome and only uotable itself can be overcome.
It was simply beautiful how the story of these characters ended, with the human characters taking the lead instead of the mythological heroes, shirou, rin, ilya, sakura, kirei and rider were excellently worked and all had their moment ... to shine everything to end the way more beautiful with the background theme of Aimer. Highly recommended the fate saga for anyone looking for a great experience.

We see the resolution of the Fate triology. It seems to me a correct resolution. The animation is very good, with the final fight, for God's sake how well animated this is an audiovisual delight. It then goes deeper into the relationship between the sisters and the conflicts each faced. The soundtrack accompanies the animation very well. There is a character design that I fell in love with which was the little black thing with eyes, it's so cute. I love the design. I think the end of the movie is very consistent with the characters and their motives. I really like how it all ... ends, but the only thing that bothers me is that the protagonist ends up staying with Rin's sister and I love Rin so I think that was a serious mistake. Spoiler I am going to talk about something that happens in the end and that I had not understood the protagonist dies, rather his soul is left without a body. I don't like that, it's like they cheated. He died but he didn't die, his body just broke so they get him a new one. I recommend it but I already rotted from the characters so I'll see the fate prequels next.
En español:
Vemos la resolusion de la triologia de Fate. Me parece una resolucion correcta. La animacion muy buena, con la pelea final por dios que bien animado que esta es un deleite audiovisual. Despues se profundiza mas en la relacion entre las hermanas y los conflictos que enfrento cada una. La banda sonora acompaña muy bien a la animacion. Hay un diseño de personaje que me enamoro que fue la cosa pequeña negra con ojos, es re tierna. Me encanto el diseño. El final de la pelicula creo qeu es muy coherente con los personajes y con sus motivos. Me gusta mucho como todo termina, pero lo unico que me molesta es lo del protagonista se termina quedando con la hermana de rin y yo amo a rin asi que creo grave equivocacion fue esa. Spoiler voy a hablar de algo que pasa en el final y que no habia entendido el protagonista muere, mas bien su alma se queda sin cuerpo. Eso no me gusto, es como que hicieron trampa. Se murio pero no se murio, solo se le rompio el cuerpo entonces le consiguen uno nuevo. Lo recomiendo pero ya me pudri de los personajes asi que vere las precuelas de fate a continuacion.

This is the only Stay Night where they have developed into both the Rhine-Sakura and Shirou-Illya relationships. What was needed, bringing that up to spectacular animation perfectly could have been the best route.

But the fact that they haven't made a series if not a trilogy of movies has screwed up a bit: A lot of unre explained things are left uns explained and many servants and masters die in the 1st half hour of the 1st film. In addition to having streamlined important events such as the invocation of Saber and the explanation of the War of the Holy Grail, ... besides that the character of Saber is not taken the same affection as on the other two routes precisely for lack of minutes. It is very clear that to find out everything one must have seen at least one of the other two routes.

If this route had been a straight-made series with all the chapters needed to give screen minutes to all masters, servants (including Saber) and other characters no matter how many chapters the series would have had and assuming they maintained the same level of animation (the latter in a series would have been more complicated) we would have had the best stay Night route.

For now I stay with Unlimited Blade Works, however I do not regret seeing Heaven's Feel.

Not everything that is beautiful you have to understand.
This movie trilogy is absolutely beautiful. I thought Fate UBW was good but then I watched Heavens Feel and I realize that this take on the story is a lot more heavy and genuinely more interesting. The characters all have more life and I feel that a lot of them are improved, especially Shirou. Shirou in UBW was annoying to me. His character was respectable and I really do get what they were going for, but he was genuinely just annoying with his stupid ideals. In Heavens Feel however, Shirou is somewhat different. He keeps his ideals ... but he is willing to put them behind for the person he loves and I find that beautiful. Character wise, Kirei is badass as usual, Sakura is fucking awesome, Rin is cool as hell, and RIDER! Rider is so cool and the animation in these movies just elevate this servant to one of my favorite servants in the franchise. (also alter saber is so hot) Speaking of the animation, it is probably the best animation I have ever seen in an anime. IT IS SO PRETTY, and it helps elevate the story to even higher levels. The music. OH my GOD! The first ending for the movies is my favorite but all of the songs are incredible, not even mentioning the OST which is also SO GOOD. This trilogy is emotional and it is intense. and while at times I was confused at bits of the story, everything else about these movies have to make it one, if not my favorite fate shows.

When we talk about the series "FATE / STAY NIGHT", we must also remember FATE / ZERO which brought us a very intriguing story, with immense despair, along with a tragedy and happiness above all, what UBW did right, Heaven's Feel did even MORE right.

Now, with this movie, almost every question someone asks gets detailed answers. And we finally get a little bit of happiness compared to all the tragedy we've been used to before.

This is a movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat, waiting to know what happens next and crying tears of sadness in some parts and tears of ... joy in most, especially the end.

But of course, what makes this movie work for me is the exceptional story. If you haven't watched this trilogy or series, do yourself a favor and enjoy what is easily one of the most satisfying endings of a story that has been going on for over 10 years.

This movie perfectly ends the fate heaven's feel trilogy, Even though it's a bit vague in its story especially at the end. but if you're a fate fan, you'll understand most if not all of its premise. Ufotable has proven themselves as a reliable studio, pumping out amazing animes and movies, this movie is the proof of that. the use of CGI in this movie is outstanding, the ost is amazing and memorable, the animations are fluid with amazing effects, and the choreography is great as well. Viewers who want to watch this movie for the first time, try to prepare yourselves cause I guarantee ... that you'll be at the edge of your seats for the entire duration of the movie. The one thing that I can complain about is its ending, I'm not going to spoil anything but I will tell you, viewers, that at first watch you may not get the full story especially about what happens at the end of the movie. But as long as you've watched the past two movies and pay attention to this one, you'll probably be fine. As a fate fan, I consider this as the best movie ufotable has ever released ( not including animes of course )

Please note that this review covers my thoughts for the full film trilogy of Heaven's Feel. In addition, there are potential spoilers I may have in this review concerning some details from prior animated adaptations of the Fate franchise. This said, on with the review.

This latest installment of the Stay Night continuity of the Fate franchise explores Sakura's route from the Fate/ Stay Night visual novel game. The darkest route within the game, Heaven's Feel runs over three two-hour films exploring the main heroine's slow descent into darkness due to the manipulations of the Matou family elder, Zouken, who puts his own plans into action ... to eliminate the other Masters and Servants within the Holy Grail War for his own ends. Realizing Sakura's descent as their relationship deepens, Shiro finds himself conflicted over how to help Sakura as the Grail War pushes onward.

There is a definite tonal shift in how the Heaven's Feel film trilogy feels with its content and mood. While Fate and Unlimited Blade Works were equally as serious with their story directions, the moods with both were a bit more lighter and the content with both would be on par with what you could typically find in many action TV anime aimed for a more general audience as both adaptations were based off the "all ages" version of the original visual novel game. Plus, the developments with Shiro in both story routes, despite their different developments, are largely the same to a degree as they don't greatly change the direction in which he chooses to come to terms with his ideals.

For Heaven's Feel though, Sakura's involvement in the plot makes for a different beast in that Sakura's character story is one where a more mature-aimed storyline and content would be necessary to adapt it considering its occasional sexual focus and dabbling into elements of horror. No longer constrained by TV content standards, the movie format allows Heaven's Feel to get more intense with it content given the more graphic level of its violence and not being shy to dabble into the sexual developments of Shiro and Sakura's relationship. For the latter, it isn't on the explicit level of the original visual novel. But it's the first animated adaptation of the Stay Night game not to shy away from exploring its more sexual elements.

Outside of the higher levels of content, the story focus also offers up a more psychological element to its developments in the exploration of Sakura's character. Without spoiling too much, I'll just say that Sakura's life has been a literal hell being raised by the Matous and you at least got a sampling of how that life was seeing the animated adaptation of Fate/Zero. The psychological toll of this is explored throughout the film trilogy, with Shiro's presence in Sakura's life becoming both a source of joy and inner torment for her as she witnesses the close bond Shiro also shares with Rin.

Besides Sakura, several other major characters get their own developments focused on with how Sakura's developments affect them. Shiro gets major focus as coming to learn more of Sakura's ordeal causes the biggest inner conflict for his ideals compared to prior Stay Night routes as he is forced to sort out how to react to his beloved's corruption. Rin and Illyasviel find themselves dealing with issues related to family bonds as they interact with Sakura and Shiro respectively as the world of magic strained these bonds to varying capacities.

Moving onto plot developments, Heaven's Feel does a great job for the most part of following the general story developments of the visual novel. The six hour total runtime of the film trilogy allows for a reasonable amount of time for major story and character developments to naturally progress, while still advancing the plot at a fairly reasonable pace. Because the film trilogy is made in mind for viewers of Ufotable's animated adaptations of Stay Night made throughout the 2010s, Heaven's Feel does skip over a good amount of the scenes and events that played out from the two other story routes of the visual novel under the expectation that fans would have already seen these in prior installments. This also includes removing a good amount of the visual novel's filler that explored the inner thoughts of characters and lengthy conversation scenes that slowed the progression of the story down. The movie does, however, expand on some key scenes from the visual novel that help enhance the impact that major events have on some characters and also adding in a sequence of scenes in the first film that show the beginnings of Sakura and Shiro's bond.

This said, the effort to try condensing the story route's events into a three-part film trilogy with each film being at two hours a piece does comes with its imperfections. Typical of visual novel adaptations, certain characters with more larger roles from other story routes of Stay Night get limited to no character exploration as they get quickly killed off due to the Matou family's increased relevance within the Heaven's Feel arc. Disappointingly, one major story development in Heaven's Feel with reduced exploration is the more closer family bond that Shiro and Illya have. A number of visual novel scenes focused on exploring their relationship either got removed or reduced in their length for the movies. This creates a rather jarring point during the third film's ending with Illya's role in it as the visual novel had explored more about how events with her got to that specific point instead of feeling like some sort of deus ex machina as the film portrays it. The compression of events also affects how some other scenes play out and may come across with Fate anime fans who aren't fully aware of the particulars of how specific events originally came about from the visual novel.

Presentation-wise, Ufotable returns to offer its animation talent for the film trilogy and retains the gorgeous, highly-detailed visuals and fluid animation offered up from its prior adaptations of the Fate franchise, which especially gets emphasized during the film's action scenss. Fan reception to the film's soundtrack may vary, as nearly all of it are original, dramatic compositions and lack any of the original music tracks from the visual novel, except for another remixed version of EMIYA played during the third film. Far as my thoughts go on the soundtrack, it's hit-or-miss for me as the dramatic compositions work nicely in a number of the film's major moments. However with the horror element offered up in Heaven's Feel involving Sakura and the Holy Grail, the soundtrack isn't the best fit to incorporate into scenes that put any emphasis on said horror.

Having been wanting to see an animated adaptation of Fate/ Stay Night's Heaven's Feel route for years now, I'll admit I'm content for the most part with what this film trilogy offers up. It retains the darker, more mature story elements of the story route offered from the visual novel with the psychological toll of the Holy Grail War's events affecting Sakura and the inner conflict Shiro faces with his ideals when deciding how to save his beloved from her cruel fate. The transition into anime format does have its shortcomings with some elements to its story focus condensed or removed and the choice of soundtrack composition feeling questionable at points. But beyond that, I'd still recommend long-time fans of the Fate franchise to at least give this film trilogy a watch.

First of all: if you want to watch this either watch the movies in a row OR be familiar with the route beforehand because otherwise you can forget important details between movies.

Visuals: each Fate film that gets released I'm convinced I've seen the epitome of animation. It's so fluid, so mesmerizing, so fantastical to watch the action scenes. And yet, each theatrical release finds new ways to prove me wrong and show me of even better looking anime movies can get. I'm running out of words to accurately describe how gorgeous and hypnotizing the battles are animated.

Sound: the seiyuus have been giving their ... voices to these characters for many years and all of them are true legends in this industry. Their performances have always been top notch and this movie is no exception. Regarding the soundtrack and sound effects, I also loved them.

Story: this movie ends the Heavens Feels route and to be honest I'd appreciate a short summary at the beginning of the film just to assure that the audience hasn't forgotten any important detail shown on the previous movies. I think the pacing could be better, which is why I watched this film at 1,5x times faster after 30 minutes in.

This film was both entertaining and enjoyable, regardless of who you ship Shirou with. Personally, I'm a Rin fangirl. She used to be my waifu but then I got too old for that x'D Anyways since the original Fate/Stay Night days, I've always had an interest for Rider and this movie really gives the audience the oportunity to watch the best Rider she can be as a servant. I loved every second of it.

Because of the pace, this film is a 7/10 from me.

Heavens Feel 3 – Spring Song is the last part of the Fate/Stay Night routes. It is part of a grant story and told in 3 different fashions. From the 3 routes, HF feels like the most theatrical. It is because its in a movie format, the music is more composed and the fights feel a bit grander. This animated piece of bliss is wonderful to watch but there are also some points where it fell short

The story is just a continuations of the Sakura route. Were now up the point where things are looking grim and the main actor takes the stage. The dazzling ... kouhai takes place for a dark side, a dark past and an evil which must not be released upon the earth. This spectacle was so good due to the fact that rider had more screen time. Gotta love that Greek booty.

----Likes----
What I liked about the last movie is that the animation quality stayed the same. The CGI looks good and the characters looks awesome. If you liked the first 2 movies like I did, then there is not much new to discover here. Same goes for the sound department. I noticed a grim but cutesy tune going on the Sakura transformation in HF 2 which had a more pronounced appearance in HF 3. It really set the tone and the focus of the movie to Sakura. That she is cute, and innocent but at same time very creepy and dangerous. Not to mention her submissive kink side of her. The overall music is what kept me interested in the scenes overall as well as seeing buff daddy Kotomine in action.
Of course the praised trademark from Ufo-table is also here. Most of the fighting scenes looks crisp with a masterful display of camera rotation and CGI.
Fate fans would probably like how Rin got quite a bit of time to shine next to her beloved sister Sakura. The whole movie feels like the missing puzzle to a grand piece. It stiches part of storylines together that were loose ends in the other routes.
Another thing to look forward to is yet another legendary quote from our wise hero Emiya Shirou, yorokobe shounen! We get to see Father Kotomine Kirei in action as we’ve seen it in Fate/Zero, making a beautiful link to the last battle. And ofc there is a happy part for our little grail Illya.

----Dislikes----
But there are thinks I liked a lot less, and those things were very prominent for me and also part of the reason why I didn’t gave it a high score.
I didn’t read the visual novel (which I’m planning to do) but even then I felt the underwhelming feeling of the lack of context or descriptive narrative. Fate is based of a novel where the reader can “see” inside the minds of the cast. They can perceive things differently by knowing certain motifs or feelings. At the most critical points I just felt like that such a narrative missed or wasn’t as well showed as I wished it to be. An example is the fight with Heracles. Shirou could have died by using the noble phantasm “9 lives” but survived by the interference of Illyasviel. This crucial part where we get to know his pain and anguish and the part where Illyasviel interrupts Heracles is omitted and simply replaced with some flashy flash move. There were a lot of scenes which felt empty because of this.
While I loved the music overall, there were some moments where the music simply didn’t deliver. It wasn’t powerful enough or the tone didn’t match the mood of the scene.
Lastly the final battle felt kinda meh. The fight was really fun to watch but some of the movements/punches didn’t feel satisfying. When the camera panned out it sometimes felt like they just flailed around with their arms.

---- Final thought----
Maybe my expectations were to high of HF3 or my mental image of what Fate could have been is to different. Nonetheless I really enjoyed watching the final part and I’m content with the ending. The critical moments like Rin vs Sakura or Kotomine vs Hassan just felt good to see it happen and that is also what I came looking for. I’m glad that my whaling in FGO didn’t go for naught. Thanks for reading and see you at Grand Carnival!