Fate/Grand Order: Shuukyoku Tokuiten - Kani Jikan Shinden Solomon

Having enjoyed the Babylonia anime, I was left feeling let down by this film sequel. While Babylonia buckled under the weight of it's own ambition at times, it was also this ambition that led to some surprisingly exciting and fun action set pieces and sequences. With this shorter "boss fight" singularity acting as both a film and a sequel to that series, my initial expectations were set rather high. Not only did they have much more time to polish and work on the animation, it's working with a film budget and adapting a hugely climactic battle. With all of that said, it is a competently ... made but pretty by the numbers Grand Order product at the end of the day. None of what the film did reached the highs in animation from the Babylonia Tv series and we're left with about 3 decent sequences which aren't even really that impressive and LOTS of CGI tentacles.

The story is generic, though there is a nice bit of tension in the final act and battle of the film. The character art is passable. The backgrounds are pretty great. What you're really here for are the servants, and since it's adapting the climax of the first singularities there are a ton of cameos. Unfortunately, since there are so many servants showing up, most of their appearances are nothing more than that, an appearance. There were probably about 30-40 servants shown in this film, with about half simply being shown, another 15 or so launching a single attack and probably another 10 that were included in a mediocre action sequence. Still, if you are a big Fate fan, which are the only people I could really see watching something this far down the rabbit hole, you'll grin when your favourite servant appears.

Sorry this review is rather short and also not incredibly detailed, but it's also a film where I don't believe there much to be said. The animation is not of a quality that will bring anyone in for the spectacle, so we are left with the die hards that will probably eat up anything Fate related and enjoy seeing their favourite servant appear for 7 seconds. I really had hopes after seeing some of Babylonia's sequences and seeing much of the same staff working on this film that we might get one of the better Grand Order adaptations, but unfortunately for me at least, Grand Order has still proved to be pretty mediocre in the anime adaptation department.

Note: I will mostly talk on how this one is adapted. And slight spoilers


Story 9/10: Well, the overall story compared to Babylonia is meh. But for how it was adapted, it's an anime that perfectly captured the essential parts and further enhanced it making it better than the source material.
People will think Avengers Endgame, but Solomon was never about that. It's a conclusion for Romani's choice, a resolution for Mash's life, a definition to the "Solomon" and a setting for Ritsuka Fujimaru's whole character in Cosmos in the Lostbelt.

Art 8/10: I like the use of CGs, It's one of the best and better than ... what ufotable uses and definitely better than Babylonia's. And the main antagonist not being a CG was a surprise. The same face syndrome is there tho so that's a meh to me(The new mystic code was cool tho).

Sound 8/10: Well, it's almost about the same as Babylonia but they atleast used some of the game OSTs making giving it some more points and hey, that ending song got me seriously, a definitely must not skip part.

Character 8/10: Babylonia Ep 0 has finally proved it's usefulness. Just like what I said in the story section, The main characters in this chapter is Mash, Romani, and Fujimaru. The existence of Babylonia Ep 0 have a great role despite the anime skipping chapters. And finally, Fujimaru is now just about as good as the manga.
One problem here tho is that most the appearing characters we're just there to be badckground. Not saying it was bad but the problem is alot of non-FGO players, or people who didn't read the story, won't get the hype. The event characters being cut was pretty disappointing tho.

Enjoyment 10/10: The animation, it was great. the combination of CGs and Sakuga was done well despite not being animated by ufo.
The fight scenes, well adapted. They finally showed what Fujimaru's fighting style is. Something that should be shown since Camelot. The final fight? Short but better than that atrocious Shirou vs Kirei in Heaven's Feel.

Overall: 8/10 This movie is a definition of "fan service". Most anime onlies who haven't read it will definitely disappointed. And alot of readers might be too if their husbando/waifu didn't appear or speak. But hey, atleast the overall story was better than in the game where there was about 3 hours of only banters.

"I am Fujimaru Ritsuka. So many people helped me, and here I stand on behalf of so many others, as the Master of Chaldea!"

Fate/Grand Order: Shuukyoku Tokuiten - Kani Jikan Shinden Solomon is finally showing at my local cinema and I finally had the opportunity to watch it yesterday. I will mostly talk about the trailers to avoid spoilers. That being said though, there will still be spoilers in the story area, so please proceed with caution. This might be a long review and as always TL;DR is at the bottom. Without further ado, let's begin.

-Story 9/10-
After Fujimaru and Mash's return from the previous ... singularity that is Babylonia, Chaldea is now about to face the final singularity in order to defeat the king of Mages Solomon. We've seen him from time to time in the Babylonia anime in Fujimaru's memories. We've seen how he thinks so lowly of the human kind, we've seen how powerful he is; he is practically stronger than any enemies Fujimaru and his Shielder Servant Mash have ever faced. In the series, Merlin has told us that 'Solomon possesses a strong clairvoyance, being able to see both the past and the future' and we are about to learn what that means in this movie.

The plan is simple; go to the singularity, defeat Solomon, and return to Chaldea. However, things have never been this easy and this time is not any different. If you've seen the trailers, there are firing beam, demon-like creatures with tentacles; those are the first hurdle Fujimaru and Mash have to overcome if they ever hope to defeat Solomon. They are called demon god pillars. In the game, you raid them with other players and memes about the raid surfaced. However, it's not the same in the movie. These 72 demon god pillars are no laughing matter. Even with sheer will the protagonists have, there is no way the demon god pillars can be defeated. This is where the next big part of the movie comes in: the servants showing up.

[MINOR SPOILER]
Jeanne d'Arc hears and decides to come and help us. As someone who is shouldering the life of millions of people, Jeanne sees this and agrees to lend us a hand. However, it is not only her; other heroic spirits from previous singularities, whether they were our allies or enemies, soon come after her, lending their mighty power. Jeanne tells Fujimaru and Mash to leave the demon god pillars to the servants and proceed to meet Solomon. Fujimaru and Mash agree and leave. Now, I think this is where most people feel unsatisfied with the movie. People, including myself, are expecting the servants to have dialogue or any conversation at all; they don't. They are there only for a short minute and none of them talk. There are animations, but mostly still frames. The fight feels very fast, too. Of course, I would love to see more of the servants battling the demon god pillars, but I don't think it's a bad take. [END OF MINOR SPOILER]

Fujimaru and Mash then meet Solomon. They have a little dialogue and share their point of views. Solomon yet again asks Fujimaru and Mash the same question he has asked previously, 'why do you fight?'. This time, Solomon explains what he means by that question. If I have to explain what that mean is, it's along the line he's said before in the London Singularity. And I quote, 'Why do you fight? When you already know your life is going to end, why are you clinging to live? When you know it more than anyone else that your future has no salvation?'. Fujimaru, Mash and us the viewers did not know just how true this rhetorical question was. In this movie, now facing the King of Mages Solomon and his might power, we now do. Their ideas clash and the mind game begins. Thus begins the final battle.

I cannot explain what happens next because it will be major spoilers, so now I'm going to explain why I don't give this movie a 10/10 for its story. Up until this point I've only been praising this movie, but it is not to say it has no flaws. The biggest and most noticeable flaw in this movie is its pacing. Again, it's just like the Camelot movies. It is as if the director and staffs working on this want the movie to end as fast as possible. There are no roundabouts, only moving in straight lines. The movie moves the plot forward by moving the protagonists from point A to point B, then from point B to C and so on. The duration of the movie itself is too short, in my opinion. 94 minutes will not suffice to adapt everything from the game. Of course I get that, but I wish they weren't so in a hurry and let the viewers enjoy the moments a little bit. One scene you see the servants fighting and then the next scene you see Fujimaru and Mash having a dramatic conversation and are sharing intimate moment. The movie feels rushed. That is the most noticeable flaw.

-Art 9/10-
We now see Fujimaru in a new mystic code. It looks so different from the one you see him wearing in Babylonia. The previous one has this casual, laid back feeling to it, while this one they took a 180 degree turn. This mystic code looks rough. It has tubes all over it, hose, and seems like it is made out of metal for protection. I love this design. You can see that this mystic code he is wearing isn't made to protect him from danger, but to support him in battle. Before this, Fujimaru wears a mystic code so that he does not die. Now, however, he is wearing a mystic code so that he can participate in battles and fight off the enemies.

I don't have much to say about Mash, Romani, Da Vinci, the Chaldea Staffs, Fou and other servants' designs, especially the Babylonia gang; they all look the same. This movie has a very 'Takeuchi' feeling to it, so the servants from the Camelot Movies look a bit weird here.

The demon god pillars look great. The original design from the game looks creepy enough, and this movie boosts it. They are large creatures with red eyes plastered all over their bodies with tentacles coming out of the ground. When you see Fujimaru and Mash standing before them, you know how puny the human race is. I will say this, though. It is hard to tell the demon god pillars apart. They all look the same, have the same color scheme with only one of them has slightly lighter tone. I guess since the demon god pillars aren't the focus of this movie, they don't give them much detail so people can differentiate one from another.

The scenery looks cool, I guess. You have floating rocks all over the place, indicating everything that exists here is outside of time flow. Honestly I can't think of a better way to express 'outside of time'.

-Sound 8/10-
Sound is the most lacking in this movie. The sound effects they use here are mediocre. To give you an idea, think about Ishtar's Maana when it shoots, lower the sound so it sounds deeper, and you have the sound effect of demon god pillar firing magical energy. The sound whenever something is moving in a high speed (close to teleporting), equals to Lahm's moving in a high speed. Nothing special.

The OSTs though are a banger. If you play the game, you know which OST(s) are the stars of this movie. When that Shikisai Grand Battle OST plays, I shed a tear. The combination of the amazing fighting scene accompanied by one of the most if not the most amazing soundtracks in the game really pumps you up. As soon as that soundtrack plays, you know you're watching a great movie. Mobile players know this, too, of course, but the other soundtrack is executed very well. I shed tears when that soundtrack plays.

The voice actors/actresses really outdid themselves here. You know every single one of them poured their heart and soul into this recording. You have top level voice actors and actresses in this movie, combine that fact with amazing direction, you can never go wrong.

-Character 9/10-
Boy can this review be any longer? Let's continue. As I mentioned in the story section, for a lot of people including me, the moment servants joining the battle in order to help Fujimaru and Mash is the most anticipated scene in this movie. Some of you may/may not feel satisfied with what you get, but it is what it is. Me, personally, I like the decision they made for this movie. This movie highly emphasizes on Fujimaru Ritsuka, Mash Kyrielight's characters; different from previous adaptations. Before, you see what the servants think, how Gilgamesh is trying his best to not let Tiamat destroy the Sumerian civilization, why Tiamat actually wakes up and wracks havoc, and why the Knights of the Round Table still fight alongside of the Lion King even when their King is in the wrong. Up to this point, we've only heard tales from other people. Up to this point, we've only been shown how other characters react to something. Up to this point, we've only seen resolution other characters have made. Up to this point, it has always been about other people.

This time, however, is different. Fate/Grand Order is a gacha game where you self-insert as the main character. This means, this movie is now focused on you. YOU, the player. This movie is telling us how far WE have come from the moment WE became a master. This movie shows OUR resolve, OUR will, OUR ideals, OUR growth. YOU are the focus of this movie. All the servants that are helping US, are here because WE have interacted with them in some ways. After clearing the previous singularities, meeting different people, fighting their fights to save the world from incineration, YOU are fighting the final battle and YOU are not alone. They're fighting beside YOU. Everyone is here for YOU, for US. All those interaction, all those meetings, all those battles, all those sceneries WE have witnessed, are now clearing any doubts in OUR heart. They show how much YOU have grown as a master.

Not only you, but this movie shows Mash's character development as well. I hope you have watched the episode 0 of the Babylonia series, because this movie will have more depth. Mash is a life created by humans, a life created by Chaldea. She was born there, grew up and treated there as a test subject. That's how she has been living her life for years until Romani joined the team. He taught her that she was not Heroic Spirit Number 2, but Mash Kyrielight, a young girl. He taught Mash everything about the outside world. He taught Mash, who didn't know any other way to handle things but to just accept them the way they are, that there are in fact other ways to handle them. Romani is the guy who makes Mash a human. Fast forward after she turned into a Shielder, Mash still does not understand what it means to live. She still does not understand what is good and bad. She has only begun learning what being alive means.

However, as she learns more about being human, she also learns how unsightly the human race is. They are engaged in war, killing each other, robbing one another's wealth. This sparks conflict in Mash's heart. The more she continues her journey, the more she learns how disgusting humans are. However, amidst all that, she also learns how beautiful the human race is. There are people helping each other through tough times, sharing food and shelters, exchanging laughter and giggles. She learns that humans are not all disgusting, savages, but also kind creature. Mash feels warmth from the people she is surrounded in.

After knowing the true identity of the Heroic Spirit residing in her body, Mash has decided that she will not waver anymore. Her shield is there to protect her master, as well as other people. Standing before Solomon, Mash still has that believe. This movie truly captures Mash's development as a character, from a girl who didn't know any better, to the great person she is now.

-Enjoyment 10/10-
Despite its flaw, I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie. Not a single time did I yawn or moved my eyes away from the big screen. Every second, every moment is dear to me. I got giddy whenever something happened and that's a sign of a good movie in my opinion. There's not a lot I can say in this part, other than I really enjoy it.

-Overall 9/10-
I would like to use this opportunity to give my conclusion. This goes without saying, but no movies are perfect. This includes Fate/Grand Order: Shuukyoku Tokuiten - Kani Jikan Shinden Solomon. Despite its rushed story, mediocre sound effects, not so fluid animation, this movie still manages to adapt one of the best chapters in the game. I had high expectations for this movie, and it surely didn't fail me. I don't think I need to say this, but this movie will be more meaningful if you play the mobile game. Going through each singularities, gathering experiences, reading the story in its entirety, and actually facing the enemies by yourself will definitely make this movie more meaningful. However, those who aren't players, can still enjoy this movie without a doubt. If you followed the two Camelot movies and the Babylonia series, then you will have no problem following what's going on.

So, the million dollar question is: is this movie worth watching? Without a doubt, yes. I believe both mobile game players and non-players will enjoy this movie. This movie is there with the better Fate adaptations. Thank you for reading this long review and I hope you're interested to watch it.

-TL;DR -
Amazing story but feels rushed, great art, mediocre sound effects but banger OSTs, amazing character developments, very much enjoyable and would recommend for you to watch.