Wow, having almost no Shirou actually made this pretty good. They even made him to seem like an interesting character the way they made him so ambiguous by not yet showing us his face. This episode still kind of piqued my curiosity to see what this character is going to be like, even though I already know I don't exactly like this dude. Should've stayed dead tbh. People die if they are killed. Even as a main character, I feel like unlimited bladeworks could structurally manage without him, and heck maybe become even better. It's been awhile since watching this though, so I'm sure I forgot some important plot points that make Shirou integral to the story, no doubt.
Rin on the other hand, I love Rin, and pretty much everyone else loves Rin. What a great way to make a prologue to the show, with the first episode being from her point of view. As for her servant, Archer, yeah I like this dude. He has the perfect personality to make a dynamic character relationship with Rin. If she had actually gotten Saber, there probably wouldn't be much back-and-forth, and it'd be a lot less interesting. Speaking of Saber though, her appearance at the end was certainly hype asf. Definitely a great way to draw in new-comers to this series who probably don't know who anyone else is besides Saber. And I forgot even Gilgamesh makes a short appearance in this as well, apparently confronting Sakura about something, I forget what though. I have forgotten a lot of things, and it'll be like 80% watching this for the first time.
Just finished re-watching fate zero, and I can already tell and remember that this was not going to be nearly as deep as that was. Fate zero was a show about the clash of morals and ideals, fighting for what each other stood for as much as for fighting for the grail. Now back in one of the main routes however, while it still was entertaining to watch, it more or less is just servants fighting. Ufotable doubles down on the sakuga here, I remember the fights being even more glorious set pieces in this route. But at its core, its probably going to be far more shallow than fate zero was (again, as far as I can remember. Maybe this re-watch will prove me wrong), and a good example to use to compare the two is the character that takes up the "Lancer" class. The Lancer from Fate Zero? Highly honourable, stood for what he fought for, down to his bitter death of having to kill himself due to his master using a command spell on him, being forced to by another master (sorry I don't know if this counts as spoilers or not, but sorry I'm not going to bother with a tag because Fate Zero is like a prequel anyway), interrupting his and Saber's honourable fight for the greater good of securing the grail from falling into the wrong hands. As he knelt there dying with blood pouring from his eyes, he curses those who broke the code of honour, and with his dying breaths, promises that he will see them and make them pay in hell.
This Lancer though? He's just kind of cocky. I know it's just the first episode, technically not even the first, so he hasn't had much screen time for himself yet, and of course he seems like a cool enough character and is definitely adequate for the story. But still, fate zero lancer established himself like in the first scene he was in, as should be the case for all characters, and overall just had so much more to his character. Not saying the new lancer or any of the new servants are going to be bad. I'm just saying that there was just much more going on thematically in fate zero. But again, I could be wrong. There's a lot I have forgotten about from unlimited bladeworks, and I'm looking forward to possibly being proven wrong in thinking that it was FAR worse than fate zero.
This prologue was great though, I really enjoyed it. And no it's not just because we already got some Rin-blush and some Rin-thigh-highs. This was actually really good, and I'm really looking forward to watching Unlimited Bladeworks again.
8/10 |