Despite being a fan of Fate/Zero I’ve never been able to watch Fate/Stay Night because of how…well, crappy it is. The writing is awful, the animation isn’t that great, and I’ve never found it to be a compelling package, even with the Fate name strapped on. And then there’s the abominable Fate/Kaleid series that is, by the way, getting a third season despite shitting all over everything that Fate/Zero built up and making this serious series into a joke.
Unlimited Blade Works has a film version that I never got around to watching, so this is all new to me. The series itself is based on a different branch of the visual novel, so there will be a lot of similarities to the first Fate anime, but it does diverge at one point.
For those who don’t know the gist of Fate, every once in a while there is a Holy Grail War officiated by the church. In this war, seven mages summon Heroic Spirits, heroes of myth and legend, who duke it out in life or death battles. When one Spirit (also called Servant) is standing, the Holy Grail appears and wishes are granted to the winner.
Everyone participating in the war gets three command seals which magically compel their Servant to do whatever they wish. Once the seals run out, they have very little control over what their Servant does next.
Unlimited Blade Works takes place ten years after the Fourth Holy Grail War and follows the children of that battle’s contestants. As such, they’re all (for the most part) in high school.
Blade Works opens when Rin Tohsaka, daughter of a man killed in thelast war, summons an Archer-class Servant who dukes it out with a Lancer-class after school one night. A young kid named Shirou Emiya, adopted son of the now deceased master of Saber in the previous war, bears witness to the battle and is chased down and killed by Lancer. Somehow, he is brought back to life by Rin and he summons Saber to fight for him in the Fifth Holy Grail War. Joining this battle is the daughter of Emiya Kiritsugu as well as a few surprise characters.
Shirou and Rin wind up forming an alliance to take down the other Servants and that’s pretty much the extent of the plot of this first half of the series. The two battle against the bad guys, go to school, and develop a cute romance.
Compared to Fate/Zero I felt the series paced itself a lot better. Probably my biggest problem with Zero was how slow it was to get to the action. But that complaint will be a double-edged sword as I loved the cast in Fate/Zero and felt that the story’s focus on adult characters (for the most part) made it much more compelling to me. Unlimited Blade Works is focused on teenagers, which I thought would alienate me. The high school setting made me nearly groan, figuring it’d fall into the conventions of the place. God forbid Saber be dressed as a schoolgirl and made an “exchange student”.
But Fate handles the setting really well with teenage characters who aren’t conventional enough in thought and action to make me quit. Shirou is an interesting guy who is learning magic as best he can, doesn’t really want to be a part of the War as it was the catalyst for him becoming who he is, and also has developed a caring for Saber despite her being a weapon essentially. And the same can be said of Rin, who cares deeply for her Servant as well as Shirou, hides the fact she is an emotional and somewhat impulsive girl behind her supposed love for magic, and really is seeking an acceptance that her lonely life most likely hasn’t given her. These are kids who were bred specifically to fight in a war and living in the shadows of the dead.
That’s not to say that the character’s are totally deep in any way, but I enjoyed their company and constant readers know that Rin ranks as one of my favorite, if not my favorite tsundere, of all time. Rin isn’t tsundere enough to be a bitch, nor annoying enough in what she says to turn you away. She has her “character trope” moments, but she also has a sweet side the show likes to shine a light on.
Despite all that, compared to the characters of Fate/Zero, Unlimited Blade Works is lacking the interesting cast that kept me so glued to my seat. But Zero liked to jump around to characters and have huge swathes of development and talking rather than action, something that did detract from it for me and something Unlimited Blade Works rectifies. Action scenes are plentiful and gorgeous. No action scene in this show is poorly done; I’d go so far as to say that this is the best action of any anime I’ve ever watched.
And this is mostly thanks to the ridiculously beautiful animation. Every episode is film quality with beautiful colors, meticulously detailed backgrounds, and usually pretty character design. Faces can be a little strange, especially from the side, but it’s still of a quality few if any anime strive for nowadays.
When the action heats up, the animation never misses a beat–it’s damn near impossible to explain how amazing the animation for these action scenes are. You can feel every hit, even when the fighters are crossing swords at a hundred miles an hour. It’s freaking amazing the detail in these battles.
And music? The opening and closing credits aren’t anything memorable but the soundtrack of the show is pretty good and works will with the intense action.
I occasionally spoil the shit out of anime to tear apart the plot or complain about characters but I’m loathe to do so with a show as good as Unlimited Blade Works. If you haven’t watched it, quit watching whatever you’re watching and get ready for the best anime I’ve seen out of 2014. The dialogue is great, the characters are memorable, the plot is an anime classic, and the entire package is presented in a format that appears directed like a film and has the production value of such.
The worst part about this show? Knowing nothing you watch after it will likely satisfy you. And also having to wait till April to see how the series continues.
…I know I can cheat and read about the game and watch the movie and all that but I won’t. I’m stubborn like that.
