Let me tell you about a very important thing that many studios have problems with but has always been able to mask it with the source materials or the visual or the soundtrack.
Writing.
World building and settlings are done through dialogues. For some reason Japanese visual arts are still obsessed with exposition, like in novels. Unlike visual arts where parts of the exposition could be told through the background or sound, words need to be written or spoken. The cleverness of literature comes from how exposition is narrated. Proses and rhythms are elements that colour words, allowing a vivid portrayal of the author's imagination to be presented through vague ideas. Nothing too explicit that hinders the all important imagination part. Incorporating these elements into visual arts requires a great deal of flair.
Fate Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works
Perhaps it is the fact that many people has not given Fate Stay Night Visual Novel a read, that lead to the rise of UBW animation popularity. If I need to express my feeling regarding this in one word, it would be "excruciating". It was one of the most cringeworthy adaption I could recall to date, exceeding even the original adaption. At least that has the charm of a silly, clumsy adaption that tries its best. After Fate Zero I thought Ufotable would revitalise, in my opinion, the best route in the visual novel. But alas it left nothing but disappointment, in unexpected ways no less.
The story is the strength of this one unfortunately and this one I can't credit Ufotable for. This route with all of the spoiler
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is about the main character and his journey to reaffirm his belief. Through it, he essentially grew into himself, by learning, understanding himself. It is such a personal and intriguing story that makes you relate to the main character as a person rather than an idealistic moron full of naivete. Nativity, youth and ego are pitted against maturity, cynicism and circumstance, represented with him of the past and him in the future. To me, Nasu was writing this path from the retrospective look at puberty. Shirou was going through puberty, to becoming a men, by going through the UBW path. Only in UBW that he made decisions for himself, regarding himself. It sounds strange, but that's what the core of theme of UBW is. No other route was able to make Shirou as relatable as UBW. Fate feels like an idealistic journey, quickly forgotten the moment I fall asleep on the way home. Heavenly feels is like a guided tour through a city with many attractions. Everything is touched and go, it is both too long and too short, too many details yet too little is said. Of the 3 routes that I would recommend someone to read if they choose to only read 1, UBW would be my choice.
I can't say the same regarding the adaption writing, unfortunately. There were tons of dialogue that seems like it was taken directly from the novel. The visual novel needed to spelled out almost everything like Hideo Kajima on weed, but it needed to do that because Kinoko Nasu is not a good exposition man even though he tried really hard. If you are capable of appreciate his writing then congratulation you are fitted to read 90% of the light novel out there. If you are not then like me you can go and do something meaningful instead of reading that loads of crap that sometime mixed with some rare sparkling stones, mind you stones, not gems. The effect of this importation is that sometime character makes this kind of comment such as "he's capable of doing xyz, looks like we can't zxy" and bloody hell did they repeat this every time we are introduced to someone powerful. It is quite difficult to make the show flows, if so much of the dialogues are shown. I never knew I hated the visual novel style dialogue so much before watching this. It makes me lose all respect for Ufotable and ended up watching their previous stuffs to reminds myself of what was done well.
Kara no Kyoukai for example is rather dialog heavy as well and one part people seems to have forgotten about it is that the dialogues were the central peace of that work. Looking pass the cool visual effects we find a soft, quiet, atmospheric, intriguing show. Its amount of dialogues feels just right. It doesn't kill the flow, nor contrast the high octane, flashy action with characters yapping about some nonsense. One notable difference is that UBW had a lot of boring angle that only shows Tohsaka's face as she mumble about something, while Kara no Kyoukai don't have noticeable amount of frame where that happens. Unlimited Blade Work TV version dialogue is atrociously awkward especially when it comes to Rin. Her appearance used to be fun, because UBW was also her route, which slowly pulled apart her shell and eventually exposed her to Shirou as her affection for him grew. Now she's a talkative awkward person instead of the impression you should get, which is that she might be arrogant, but she's using it as her shield for her loneliness, insecurity and loss. They could cut out tons of dialogues, yet they didn't. Perhaps the "purists" might had something to do with it. Some people mistaken these long exposition for pacing because they see them as things that happen between battle scenes. The battles are merely plot device to further character's drama. The focus of Fate Stay Night has always been the character drama, not the action. Else it wouldn't have been a novel. That is why I still respect and read Nasu works even though they make sleepy, same with Mr Kojima as well. The writing kills the pacing by packing in too many unnecessary dialogues that could have been left out.
Visual effect is not a point of discussion really. The term "Unlimited Money Works" is colloquial within the fandom. Colourful, eye-catching visual effect and high octane fights with huge frame rate are not something that should surprise you anymore. I admit when I see them in Kara no Kyoukai, I was blown away but by now I am kind of over it. I would also add that I feel it lacks artistical expression. Art is not really about looking life like, it is about leaving an impression. They used up all the money on fight scenes, they neglected the dull conversations. To be fair, dialogues often take place around Shirou's house, but that's not an excuse. Shirou's house overlooking the town is one of the reason why the damn background in UBW always shows the city landscape, hiding behind the misty morning fog over the sea, or among the sea of light at night. I vividly remembers how unimpressed the river fight in Fate Zero was, and UBW reminded me of that.
The sound is another disappointment. DEEN might not be the best when it comes to, well anything really but the old Fate soundtrack was, let's face it, really really good. Moody, atmospheric and mysterious, it almost saves that atrocious adaption. This one is just forgettable, which I also in Kara no Kyoukai, as I only like one track in the entire album. I guess Ufotable strength isn't in the music. The sound of magic and weapons are pretty cool, they sound clear and loud. But, I am no expert in weaponries, nor really interested in fight scenes, so I will leave that to your judgement.
If I have to admit I did enjoy watching my favourite route making an appearance full length and seeing the heart scene and the dual scene brings back all the memory of my youth. However I would have to say, this is not worth your time. For series new comers, I can't recommend UBW as well unfortunately, as Fate sets up the basic concept and knowledge about the world, UBW explores the main character and Heaven's Feel flipped the rest of the stones to reveal the rotting internal darkness. If you like some cool action stuffs, UBW TV is too talkative to be fun and exciting. Fate series has always been about character and world building so action fans won't be fully satisfy here.
That begs the question to me, what was the point of making this one?
To please the fan? As a fan I think it pretty much flopped.
To jump start newcomers? The story of this one is kind of convoluted compares to Fate.
My guess is to capitalize on the Fate Zero hype. The thing is Fate Zero has great characters, good dialogues, good plot, decent writing (due to an actual writer wrote it) and enough emphasis on action and tension. UBW doesn't have any of that. Fate Zero is a whole meal while UBW is a part of a 3 course dinner. It cannot be done the same way.
Unfortunately, since Fate adaption isn't anywhere to be seen as of writing, I do recommend trying to one out if you have not watched a Fate entry, even if it's boring, tedious, has lacklustre action.
Beyond the show
If I have to give Ufotable one advice that would be finding a writer right now. Their show writing has always been the reason why they are successful. Kara no Kyoukai blew up the animated movie series scene with rich art, good writing and TV show standard was frankly shattered by Fate Zero. The Japanese suck at writing dialogues but are masters at creating an interesting overarching story. For instance, Kojima's dialogues are long and excruciating but its synopsis made me did the stupid thing of playing through the whole series many years ago when its entries are still countable with one hand (exclude the ones without the solid). Conversation writing is hard but it has been done well before and there is no reason the Japanese studio can't do it again. Bones with director Tensai did a good job on Darker than Black and older ones like Ghost in the Shell or Cowboy Bebop have proven that the Japanese has more than enough capability to bridge this gap.
I also want to comment on why recent Japanese games are so shit in terms of story (specifically FF series). It used to not be voiced and the letter was their only mean of communication. Voice acting ended up slowing down their dialogues (due to us having to listen) and at the same time taking away the joy of imagining these voices. Chrono Trigger and FF6 with voice would be disastrous after I try playing them and having to hear every piece of dialogues. Their story might retain the grandeur of old but the charm has been squeezed out. FF series is even worse because they only focus on the shitty graphic engine that no one really cares about. This is why the Fate Visual Novel for me is better even though the show is basically moving the dialogue in the game to the show. Still, Japan needs to learn more about dialogue or at least shorten them, telling them "Dark Souls style" that is so quintessentially Japanese that makes them so great and adored. Show don't tell should be tried more. Remember in Howl's Moving Castle, Sophie's ageing wasn't explicitly explained? Merely displayed? I miss that.
