Going from Fate/Zero I was excited to see what they would follow it up with never did I think I would be so utterly disappointed. When watching UBW its best to not think about Fate/zero or to compare the reoccurring characters to past versions of themselves or you'll only end up with disappointment.
Fate/zero was beautifully put together with the dark, serious thriller like atmosphere it had. The characters reflected all of this outstandingly as well. Now lets take a look at UBW, at first it seems similar with the summoning of servants however as episodes pass on it is quite obvious this is nothing like the first. It feels like a lightheaded slice of life with action and some serious scenes that were forced due to the nature of the prequel. However just because it doesn't follow the same themes and atmosphere as the prequel does it automatically make it bad? No, although when trying to mix 2 completely separate themes together all it creates is disaster. It can go from a serious dark scene to a romantic comedy in the next minute, it doesn't mix well. Even if it could have been executed better it wasn't terrible.
When I got to the first episode following the ending of the first season I was excited to see what Shirou was gonna be capable of due to him being taken in by Kirtisugu, however my disappointment was uneral. He was the complete opposite of what I thought would become of him, he was naive, predictable, and all around generic. He is the classic save everyone type with no real complexity to him. Comparing him to kirtisugu is a joke. Speaking of Kiritsugu they killed him off with no significant purpose, although consideirng everything hes been through it wasnt a terrible decision for him to peacefully die, however, if they didnt kill him off and we got to see him interacting with the cast such as shirou, maybe it would have saved this anime just a bit. All we get concerning kirtisugu is a fwe looks from saber when his name is mentioned and a little saying from Kieri, quite the disappointment. And how does Rin not know of Kiritsugu? he was a major part in the war and she has been training for it all her life, surely she would have investigated and looked into everything about the previous war that killed her father? but no she doesnt know. Makes perfect sense.
Speaking of Rin lets get into the characters. Ill start off by saying Rin is what made this anime better for me, no not because she was a good written character, quite hte opposite actually. Its purley due to my soft spot for tsunderes and her appearance, however its quite evident her character is lacking in quite some ways. For starters when she was a child she was involved in the war albeit a little, she lost her father at a young age and her mother became well.. quite something. How does this not have any traumatic effect on her life at all? That' not a poorly written character though just something that is odd, moving along, in the early episodes Rin is described as the ideal mage and will do what needs to be done, sounds good right? maybe well get to see another badass mage who has what it takes, episodes pass and I feel cheated. Rin in fact does not do what needs to be done, missing several opportuinites to kill people such as Emiya and doesnt prove waht she said at all, she doesnt do anything thats needed and instead everything she does feels forced. Her whole life she was raised for the grail war yet she blows many opportunities for herself and instead plays the tsundere love interest for the main character disregarding all the advancements she could have made in the war, practically doing nothing besides that. I could go on about how much of a disappointment shirou and Rin were but I dont want this to be longer than it has too. Besides Shinji the other masters we saw, Mr.Kuzuki and Ilya were much more interesting and felt more like how a master should actually be for the war. We know Ilya is kiritisugu daughter yet we only see a little bit of her, Im guessing she will be more in the second season but at this pace I cant believe they are going to fit everything else in 12 more episodes. Ah the pacing, even in fate/zero there were a little bit of times I had trouble with the pace early on, I guess that didnt change. We see useless fights after fights where us viewrs know no ones going to win. There is tons of dragged on dialogue and all around and feels like a snails pace which will cause problems with the pacing in the future. Saber is a former shell of herself and her character that was built in Fate/Zero was completely destroyed, she inst anything like how she was in the prequel, quite sad. Archer however is a well written character and I enjoy his interactions and his mindset, if only he could have been paired up with a better master and a better cast. He calls Rin an ideal mage and is exactly what he would want in a master but that feels hard to believe considering how different there actions actually are. Im saving off on talking about Kotomine and Gilgamesh due to the hope of them being touched on more in the second season which at this moment have not watched yet.
Although the characters may be lacking and the overall pacing of the story what really shines is the art and soundtrack. Ufotable did a brilliant job once again with the jaw-dropping animation and fight scenes, they truly are the best. The soundtrack is also out of this world. Its some of the best ive heard, the use of the music and sounds is also well done, greatly adding to scenes and amplifying them. Basically, the Art and sound are a perfect 10/10 which I have no complaints about. They truly are the reason why this anime isnt lower for me.
Servants obviously play a big role in the anime due to there strength and power however I found the servants quite lacking. Saber is a Walmart version of what she was and shows no signs of the personality and outlook she once had. Archer however is a fairly decent character which I will enjoy seing more of. Rider, who was she again? Played the role as the early bad guy whom did absolutely nothing and compared to the past rider was quite a disappointment, she also could have easily killed shirou in the forest bit at the school yet she didnt, plot armor activated! Caster is not bad but not good either she, she was portrayed to be so strong yet is constantly losing which to be fair happens to every other servant besides the main ones. Once again caster could have killed shirou multiple times but no, plot armor activated!. Assassin was cool and I hope to see more of him, im waiting to write on him though due to the limited screen time he got. Berserker was described as insanley strong and had the ability to singlehandly win against the 6 other servants yet appeared to be losing to saber 1v1 minutes later, then fatally being injured. Funny. Lancer, oh wait Lancer the guy who had one episode to introduce archers character, yeah that guy! I wonder where he went. Oh he also had the chance to kill Shirou multiple times as well! plot armor activate x2!
Apart from the characters not much else was notable in the 13 episodes i watched, we saw a whole bunch of flashy fights with no real outcomes and results from it and saw a lot of slice of life.
Even though it sounds like this is just a rant about how poorly the anime executed everything I would be lying if I said i didn't enjoy it, If you dont look too deep into things and take it for what it is, its a pretty enjoyable show with purely fantastic fight scenes.
TLDR; Fate/Stay night unlimited blade works lacks in the character area,especially compared to Fate/Zero, only having a few noticeably good ones, the animation and soundtrack is beautifully done however the problems with pacing and overall progression of the story is painfully slow with no outcomes or results really happening. Its disappointing to think about what this could have been if they only had produced better characters or had followed the atmosphere and style Fate/Zero had. All in all, still an enjoyable watch with tons of fan service fight scenes!
