Official Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works General Discussion v.2 [SPOILERS]

CookingPriest said:


stepmoms step siblings are litterallly not related to you. how the fuck can THAT be a taboo apart from some christian moral ethics?

Aurioch said:
Archer (about Rin): "That magician in the nurse's office may be a waste of oxygen"
Oh Archer, why are you so tsun XD
And I finally reached most epic scene in Fate/Extra: "What's your relationship with Rin?"

Robin Hood isn't really a dick, it's just that he has bad compatibility with his Master as two of them have entirely different ways to approach to the problem. Robin Hood's approach is close to Hassan's, while Dan's (Master) approach is close to Arturia's. I think you get the idea.

For Mahouka (heavy spoilers incoming):

As mentioned earlier, apparently there is quite a bit of sexism in the original visual novel and I would have never guessed just from watching the anime.

I am told the worst of this route is yet to come but so far there's nothing problematic that would keep me from recommending this show and I don't think I could say the same of Fate/Zero by this point!

Speaking of F/Z, since these two stories really parallel each other in so many ways; one thing I did notice was that, not only are the characters less driven in this series but fewer characters are interesting. In F/Z Saber, Archer, Rider, Waver, and even Lancer were interesting and, while neither Kieri nor Kiritsugu's arcs really grabbed me, they certainly did shape both every character around them and the show itself. Here the cast is mostly children, since this Holy Grail War was only ten years after the previous one (instead of 40 or 50), and many of the characters openly admit they don't have a goal or even a wish for the grail.

Rin clearly wants to win (like her father did in F/Z) but she's also self-taught and therefore lacks some of the ruthlessness you see in the other characters who are professional talented mages and that contrast between what she believes are her ideals and what she acts out is interesting to see.

Since Rin and Shirou are interesting this means that Archer and Saber are interesting by extension (considering I know which heroic spirit Archer is I'm sure the story will deal more with him in the second half and I like what it's done already) but the rest of the cast falls flat and I kind of wish they focused more one everyone else and less on Shirou/Rin.

Plus, this story really does feel like the work of a more immature writer, Nasu just had less experience writing than Urobotchi and the anime writers did. We have more clearly evil and morally very-dark-gray characters here from the start and less justification for it. I should clarify that despite it's smaller scope I didn't find this story less engaging to watch for it. The standout scenes are just very different, F/Z had it's meeting of kings episode and here we just have some very fun interactions between Rin and Shirou (and the internet lied to me, Shirou is way more tsundere to Rin than she is to him, and for once the blustering and blushing is a bit cute!). The same audience can enjoy both shows but I think there will be a very clear difference in what groups enjoy which show more.

CookingPriest said:
Lawl someone just recommended Shakugan No Shana to a person who asked for something similar to FSN UBW.
Reasons?
"More focus on the badass females than the harem lead and it also has women with superpowers beating everyone so if you hate overpowered male characters this is great just as UBW"

WAIT WAT.

Compared to the wonderfully written prologue, this mid-series finale was stretched out too paper thin. Shirou faces the ultimate consequence of clinging to his shallow heroics: the loss of Saber and his right as a Master. Without these elements, Shirou is as vulnerable as the people he wished to protect and it was about time that he learnt what exactly he is fighting for in the Holy Grail War. This development had built early on that Shirou did not fully grasp what being a hero meant beyond helping others. He did not strategize with Rin on how to deal with Caster, stopped Saber when she intervene, and made a poor choice in giving Caster more power just to save Fujimura-sensei. Weakness was something Shirou needed to experience again so that he has a better idea on what exactly he wants to fight for in the next season. At this point, the series does not need to keep reminding the audience of Shirou’s inability to become the “ideal hero” so hopefully later on, the show will not keep pounding it into our heads and he learns that he needs to sacrifice others if he wants to grow up and achieve any of his dreams.

As an “hour-long” episode, most of the content could have been cut out and not lessen the context of the story. During the date, the only relevant conversation was Rin talking about how Shirou can grow into his height or, more literally, grow as a person. This scene comes back in the end where Rin directly tells Shirou that he is currently useless and can not help anyone: Shirou has not grown so Rin is clearly disappointed in him. Makes perfect sense for Rin’s character since she is kind to others but does not pacify those who can not help themselves and has been shown to be very intelligent and competent when compared to more cowardly and subdued male lead who is like a fish out of water. It is only normal she would view Shirou as a nuisance which would force him to grow up.

Saber, sadly, did not have much development in this season, which is a shame in comparison to her conflict in Fate/Zero. She was a strong and independent knight who valued honor over all in Zero while in here she is pretty much reduced to silly over-eating shadow of her true self as to not overshadow the two leads.

Other than revealing Caster’s true name, her taking over Kirei’s Church, and the reappearance of Lancer, this last episode tried to stretch out such little content that it resulted in a downplayed cliffhanger.

The heavy focus on Shirou and not enough time on other Servants or Masters limits the scope of the series. Shirou is by no means a terrible character but as one of many in this action fantasy, he is the least interesting part of the show and is way too passive and typical shonen hero. Characters who do have time are limited by their actions surrounding Shirou or Rin. Rin and Archer steal the spotlight whenever they are on screen but the other Masters are flat since their own side-stories are not fleshed out enough to care about, which is series biggest flaw compared to Zero, which I guess was evolution of writing, since this was originally a work written earlier before the author got grasp of ensemble cast. . Saber, the poster child and the main heroine for the Fate/Stay Night series, is woefully underplayed here and other than amazing fight scenes or small talk, her conflict from Fate/Zero does not continue here. Amazing action, beautiful art, and interesting ideals of heroism aside, Unlimited Blade Works ends on a shaky note not doing anything the other shonen genre shows have done already twice and over.

Maloghurst said:

as much as i love rin you can see she has arguable fucked up much more than shirou.....though she had very good reasons for her actions....

HungryPriest said:

The funny thing is that neither have harems and in both the MC ends up becoming complete badass. And both focus on the internal development of the MC a lot (or one of them should). So, it's a good recommendation in the end? xD

HungryPriest said:
I can't wait for the second cour to destroy those illusions.

CookingPriest said:
Moar:

CookingPriest said:


I can't wait till they won't and more complaints will arise due to mistakes in first cour.

there are still people who believe Rin is the lead character and not Shirou

Maloghurst said:
wel dude you know the old complaints are probably just gonna be discarded for new ones, a lot of complaints didnt even have to do with the anime's missed chances itself hell there was even one or two people here that had to rewatch episode 1 just to "get it"

Maloghurst said:
the only minor excuse i can offer is that UBW isnt done yet so he can't fully understand the story in terms of ideals and even then it still shows lack of paying attention to the anime itself

Aurioch said:
Sigh... I read that review and only thing I see is clucking of a chicken.
Adaptation has problems, but gems like this one are not result of the adaptation, but of ignorance of the watcher.

Shrimperor said:
Guys, we already talked about this a thousand times before......

Shrimperor said:
Guys, we already talked about this a thousand times before......

The episode starts lightly, continuing on Rin’s flirting streak from the previous episode, she forces Shiro on a date where he ends up blushing like a virgin most of the time. Truly, Rin’s cuteness is wasted on someone like Shiro, who has shown no interest in her at all, as typical of main character.

The episode continues on with Caster taking Shiro’s sister in hostage and locking Shiro, Rin and Saber in a field. There’s so much room for epicness in this show, but he’s always wasting those opportunities and this episode really shows - out of all intriguing strategies that could be employed here and instead of badass battle against Caster, Shirou wimps out and his blunder results in a disaster for Saber. Using Shiro’s sister, she coerce him into giving him his command seals, and he ends up losing saber to her and getting gravely wounded. Really, Shiro has to be one of the anime character that annoys me the most. That white knight attitude of his simply rubs me the wrong way.

Caster is now a master proper, she goes to the church and confront Kotomine Kirei, who is somehow much weaker than he was in Fate/Zero(or he would not have so easily be beaten by a caster, considering he fought of Kiritsugu), to get a smaller Grail that is supposedly the key to getting the real one(yay more pointless mcguffins out of nowhere because plot demands!).

The episode ends with Shiro getting dumped by Rin because he’s basically as useless as can be now. While he was already useless coward before, he has reached new depths by handing his servant to caster and is wounded to the point where he can barely follow people around, pitifully crawling around, that even Rin is annoyed by him promising to kill him next time she sees him, realizing her mistake of allying with someone like that.

All in all, I want to see the next episode! Even if Shiro can be annoying at time, Rin is enough to raise the level! From now on the focus will most likely shift to Rin anyway as she is the only master left out of two we followed, so it should be interesting to see how she confronts the grail war and her sister Sakura who still has yet to play a role. Add some interesting plots and battles, and you get a good anime!

CookingPriest said:


I'd say a lot of factors factor into those gems:
1) Fate/Zero expectations.
2) Second-hand knowledge(sexism, shirou is dumb, saber saber saber, etc)
3) deenpoison.
4) UfoFSN's lack of detail and character building and world building (Miura's biggest flaw)

Sure the 1 2 and 3 would be there, but 4 just makes it worse and gives them fuel. And frankly quite a bit of 1 2 and 3, except for dumbest examples I post here, could have been aleviated by lack of 4

HungryPriest said:
Wait. Wait. Shirou's sister? How much of an attention span does this guy have? Oh my god, this is so good.

nocorras said:
I don't know how these people miss the point of the end of the episode and interpret it as Rin 'dropping' Shirou because he's 'useless

Expecting Rin to be lead and and Sakura to do stuff, be ready for disappointment. At least there are apparently a lot of viewers out there that aren't spoiled I guess.

Every person posted thinks Shirou has no interest in Rin :(

nocorras said:
Needed at least one monologue about Rin if anything. Preferably the perfect girl one at night, oh well.. :(

Aurioch said:
People will cry buckets when Shirou owns Gil...

Tears will be sooooo delicious...

nocorras said:


Good luck explaining UBW >GoB. I hope the show showcases this well so that it's really fucking obvious.

CookingPriest said:


as obvious as Shirou blocking lancer's kick?

nocorras said:


Inb4 it's like DEEN and he just uses Caliburn in UBW and they never fling swords at each other.

nocorras said:


Good luck explaining UBW >GoB. I hope the show showcases this well so that it's really fucking obvious.

Aurioch said:


There's really not much to showcase... if viewers will need additional explanation then their comprehension is kindergarten level.
Gil must pull out his swords out of Gate.
Shirou's swords are already there and ready to use; they're basically already in his hands.

Really, that part can't be worse than what DEEN already did.

nocorras said:


DEEN never showed that at all though. He casted UBW then they never threw swords at each other. Shirou gets out Caliburn and Gilg pulls 2 swords out of GoB from behind him. Then Shirou PROJECTS K&B to cut his arm off.

UBW was just pretty desert scenery.

nocorras said:


DEEN never showed that at all though. He casted UBW then they never threw swords at each other. Shirou gets out Caliburn and Gilg pulls 2 swords out of GoB from behind him. Then Shirou PROJECTS K&B to cut his arm off.

UBW was just pretty desert scenery.

Zuihou said:
Today I learned that Rider of Black is actually a guy. I did not know this for a long time.