And yeh, Saber obessed Gilgamesh also was not my thing. Iactually dislike stories where everyone are after one person and where main character is basicly unbittable.
But here comes the movie with alternative story and I have several things to say about it.
Despite not liking anime much, this movie would look bad without watching anime first... or playing the game.
Major minus of the movie is that it had rushed a lot of things especially at the begining. One moment we have Shinji and Rider meeting Shirou and Rin in the forest and then suddenly we see them all at school fighting some random skeletons. It's like if they had skiped several days there. If not the anime, I would have been lost even more while watching the movie.
Another minus just for me was the fact that my favorite servant got almost instantly killed without any background or actually doing anything.
Those things made me want give movie lower mark. However, the upcoming pluses made up for it.
1. The movie has great quality animation as well as fantastic action scenes.
2. I enjoyed this story version much more. Shirou didn't piss me off even once here, though his ideals still seem to be the same.
3. It isn't all about Saber and her romance with Shirou. The romance is kept to minimum, actualy I would call it more on friendship stage, so it doesn't get in the way of actual story. Things are progressing and other characters managed to get more background and screentime.
4. More characters got their deserved screentime.
5. We are able to understand Archer much better since he mainly is the lead character here. He seriously lacked in attention in anime series.
6. Despite still being one of the strongest servants, Saber doesn't look like unbittable main character anymore. She actually looks on even ground with everyone else what makes fighting and her characte more enjoyable.
7. Gilgamesh is not Saber obessed and has new looks.
You might dissagree with some of the pluses, but I'm sure that you will agree on majority. And to those who love Saber and her romance with Shirou, don't get depressed. Saber still had some cool moments and they did have several moments.
If not the cut out scenes, the movie would be perfect. I hope that if studio will decide to animate other routes, they will create a series version but this time with 12 episodes. Because old anime version was too dragged while movie was too short. 12 episodes should be a good alternative, or maybe 4-6 OVAs.
