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z827's Fate/stay night Tv Review

Fate/stay night

Fate/stay night tv Review

Fate/stay night was originally a game developed by TYPE-MOON, and is also the first creation which TYPE-MOON made after going into business (instead of being a group of Doujinshi artists).

Seven Masters, Seven Servants. Only one can correspond to the Holy Grail.

In the legend, the Holy Grail is an artifact that can make your wishes come true, in order to summon the Holy Grail, a ceremonial is required. The seven Masters chosen by the Holy Grail will be granted the seven Servants chosen by the Holy Grail: Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker. The Master must prove him/herself that he or she is the only one qualified to use the Holy Grail. In other words, he or she must defeat all the other Masters to prove him/herself.

Shiro Emiya lost his parents in a fire when he was young, and was adopted by a magician, even though he denied teaching Shiro magic, the un-talented Shiro still master a little. When the magician died, Shiro remained a worthless magician. Entangled with the "War of the Holy Grail" by accident, Shiro was granted the Servant "Saber" and was chosen to be one of the seven Masters.

Credits: kulthuzard


NOTES:
- Alternative retelling from the perspective of different characters will be merged here.
- Tag only what you see! e.g. do NOT add the "Saber" tag if only Saber Alter is in the image.

Story & Characters

This is a review of Fate/Stay Night : Unlimited Blade Works

Story Introduction

Emiya Shirou , a seemingly normal student of high school , is in fact a Magi , though an amateur.
He believes strongly in the fact that it is a wonderful thing to help others and that is because of what happened 10 years ago , when he himself was saved and he found that fact a beautiful thing. He held strongly to his ideals and cared little for himself , helping others as much as he can.
However , he was then dragged into a ritual called the Holy Grail War , of which 7 Masters and their summoned partners , Servants , must compete in to win the omnipotent Holy Grail. He have no interest in the Grail , but he wants to stop others being hurt but he will soon find his ideal challenged by an unexpected existence.

Terms Sypnosis

Masters
They are Magi who have managed to summon a Servant and had qualified to be part of the Holy Grail War.
Each Master have 3 Command Spells which they must hold as dearly as their life , which is a form of miracle which would allow them to force their Servants to obey an absolute order or to enchance their abilities but naturally , such power have their limits as well.

Servants
They are Heroic Spirits of the past , present or future summoned to the modern age to take part in the ritual of the Holy Grail War.
Unlike normal humans , their physical and magical capacities are monstrous but they are unable to survive without their Masters who supply them magical energy under normal circumstances.

Magi
Magi , Magus , Magician. These people are those who performs miracles that are not possible in the age they are in but magic is not without of a price.
There are also many forms of magic and many different Magi who specialises in such various arts.

Reality Marble
Reality Marble is the innate world of a Magi , the reflection of their inner heart and their lives.
It is a great forbidden magic that can only be performed by a handful.

Character Sypnosis

Emiya Shirou
Emiya Shirou , a plain , but extremely determined young man who soughts to help others as much as he can , with little regard of himself. In fact , he lacks a proper sense of self awareness.
He himself was saved 10 years ago when a great fire burnt the city at that point of time and he himself borrowed the ideals of his foster father , who had passed away 5 years ago.

Personality
Shirou is the honest , pure kind of guy and he is determined on whatever he had set his mind upon , though that might also cause him to be stubborn at times.
He is also somewhat naive , believing in things that seems too good to be true and believing in an ideal which he held so tightly to in order to save not only others , but himself.

Tohsaka Rin
Tohsaka Rin is the school idol of Emiya's school.
Though gentle , courteous and lady-like when in the presence of strangers , she does that to conceal her identity as a Magi for the sake of not herself but others.
Her real self is generally....much more rough.
She saved Shirou and helped him out on his first night in the Holy Grail War and soon cooperates with him , even developing further emotions for him.

Personality
Rin , as her name suggests , is relatively tomboyish yet girlish at the same time.
She possesses a personality not unlike a Tsundere , easily getting embarassed by certain remarks and losing her cool at the next second to cover it up. However , she is in her own way , a strong girl , both physically , magically and well , emotionally.
Despite what she says , she's really soft-hearted.

Saber
Servant Saber , a beautiful blond swordslady who appeared in the nick of time to save Emiya Shirou from Lancer.
She then swears her to be his sword and shield and under this oath , she protects her Master to the very end.
Her abilities as a swordslady is beyond human levels and she plays a critical yet different role in this Movie , as well as the Unlimited Blade Works route of which it is based off.

Personality
Saber is knightly , noble but also proud.
She is also extremely loyal and will try her best to protect her Master with her own life if need be.
Saber is also kind and gentle when she is not in battle , but when holding a sword , she is ruthless and swift and ferocious as a lion.

Archer
Servant Archer , a mysterious white haired man draped in a red cloak and donned in black armor , the cynical Servant of Tohsaka Rin.
Archer's identity is shrouded in mystery and his ability to produce blades in thin air defies the common logic that each Servant ought to have at least one or two Noble Phantasms.
Unlike his title as a Servant , he prefers hand-to-hand combat and is quite skilled in it as well , though his archery skills are beyond impressive.
He is the central character of this plot.

Personality
Cold , cynical , logical , rational , calculative and yet , that's his own way of showing concern.
He may come up with plans that may harm others emotionally , but what he intends is another matter and he always look towards the best of results.
However , he despises the idea of saving others without a concern for oneself , an idea he absolutely detests.

Kuzuki Souichirou and Caster
Souichirou is the Master of Servant Caster.
Kuzuki is cold and unresponsive but despite that , Caster still seems to concern about him greatly.
Caster is , on the other hand , calculative , cold , sadistic and ruthless.

Illyasviel von Einzbern and Berserker
Illyasviel is the Master of Berserker , whom attacked Shirou on his first night on in the Holy Grail War but retreated shortly after Archer's attack , apparently impressed.
Berserker is a large a seemingly mindless Servant of Illyasviel , loyally protecting her against any opposition.

Matou Shinji and Rider
Shinji is a narcisstic and sick individual who thinks extremely highly of himself.
His Servant , Rider , follows his orders without complaints and she too , is bloodthirsty in her own way.
Shinji plays a wider role in this story.

Kotomine Kirei
Kotomine Kirei , the regulator of the Holy Grail War.
He is a fairly strange and suspicious individual , who talks about philosophy in a fairly twisted fashion.

Gilgamesh
The self-proclaimed King of Heroes and the antagonist of this plot.
Little information will be given due to spoiler reasons.

Story Overview

To be honest....I am....disappointed.
Well , I understand that it's a one and a half hours Movie but the contents from the Visual Novel was so horribly cramped together that everything seems to hasty to the eyes of even those who had played the Visual Novel and perhaps an utter fade of confusion to those who haven't.
It's a pretty bad mash-up of the critical points in the plot but fair enough , at least they managed to squash all the serious details but that in itself is already enough to confuse those who aren't familiar to Fate/Stay Night.

As for the concept and storyline , it is really one heckuva plot twist about Archer's identity and the epic-ness of it is really enough to make one's head numb for a second.
Also , those who have watched the Anime will be really in for a treat due to a different storyline and those who had played the Visual Novel can relieve the experiences they had from before.
But as I said , it's a really bad mash-up and a really hastily made construct so it's really difficult for those who are new to the storyline to understand what is really going on. The explanations aren't clear in the Movie and most of the "less-important" contents were cut out , causing things to become much shorter compared to the original , not doing it justice and well , causing everything to seem all too quick for the audience.

But fair enough , the concept is good as they managed to mimick a fair bit of the original content and they have in fact , followed the original content quite loyally as they can.
It is also interesting to see Emiya Shirou becoming a greater influence upon the plotline , becomining an even more important role compared to the Fate Route or rather , the Anime of which many had probably seen.

However , for the sake of your brain juice and to really relieve the true epic-ness of this plotline , it is suggested that you , for one thing , watch at least the Anime. Better still , read through the Unlimited Blade Works plotline or play through the Visual Novel for the storyline was constructed in a way to relieve fans of their Visual Novel experiences in Fate/Stay Night and not to attract new fans , but to entertain the old ones.

Just to elaborate on things just in case your new to Fate/Stay Night , it is an interesting plotline featuring a ritual involving 7 Servants and 7 Masters and them fighting for the Holy Grail.
This Movie is essentially an alternate plotline adapted from the Visual Novel featuring the Unlimited Blade Works route.
I daresay the content involved is highly original and unique , as well as having interesting character personas and design , which would really hook on fans like fishes on bait.

Also , just to add on , the story is closer to that of the Realta Nua version of the Visual Novel and there are some changes here and there , but it just get things better for one thing.

Rating: 7

Art

Artwork Review

Right , artwork review....Geez , I'm really bad at this.

Well , for one thing , I can only open my mouth in awe when I watched this movie with my own piggy little eyes. Oh wait , forget the words piggy and little.
For one thing , the artwork had dramatically improved and is in fact , a cut different from many Anime and even Movie standards.
The movement of the characters are fluent , attractive yet exaggerated and the battles are really impressively done , with all the sparks , sword swings , maneuveurs and effects. Not to mention smaller details like shadows , the textures of the blades and static objects are much improved.

It is also interesting to see the Movie intergrating some of the familiar scenes found in the Visual Novel into the Anime as well.
However , personally , I am fairly disappointed by the artwork for the actual Unlimited Blade Works. In fact , the whole thing looks a bit messy with all the swords stuck clustered together like sardines in a can.
They also made the world look...say..a bit more rusty and dirty that it originally was in the Visual Novel. That certainly followed the story concept but it certainly ain't a pretty sight to see.

Also , they seem to have implemented too much computer effects on the Unlimited Blade Works , causing the characters and surroundings to stick out awkwardly in contrast to each other , but it's not entirely that unpleasent truth be told.

Rating: 9

Sound

Music Review

Music ain't really too common in the Movie but their implemented at the right time to enchance the mood greatly and to give a serious numbing to the head from all the epic-ness in the scene before your eyes.
Generally , most of them are Orcherstra music ( No rocking here and there to jolt your ears off ) and well , a fair bit of them are pretty familiar truth be told. ( Either from the Anime or Visual Novel )

There is also the familiar EMIYA music played at a particular duel scene , but I was hoping they'll play it again somewhere near the end in the other duel scene...mmm...

Voice Acting Review

Well , I'm sorta impressed with the voice acting and somewhat disappointed with it.
Illya's voice acting has sorta degraded to be honest. She was much , much better in the Anime and Visual Novel , but she sounds as though she have a fatigue and is in a hurry in the Movie , for one thing , I can't sense the killing intent and well , cuteness in her voice this time 'round. Even her screaming is...well , degraded.

However , for the other characters , their actually better than usual. Gilgamesh sounds as though he had a head cold at first but well , when he laughed maniacally , I can confirm that's Gilgamesh alright XD
As for Shirou , he does sound more emotional and Rin sounds more...well , Tsundere.
Saber's battle voices are stronger than usual though her normal speeches seem to have been affected somewhat early on , though it improved as the Movie progresses.

Also , the screamings , heaving , oofs and ahhs have all improved to the state of realism. In fact , I was kinda shocked when I heard Tohsaka scream :O
Well , it's so darn realistic that I won't be surprised if my next door neighbour would come running here with a phone ready to call the police or something.

Rating: 8

Presentation

This is a Review of Fate Stay Night : Unlimited Blade Works

Truth be told , this is really just meant for the old fans and directed at the ones who had actually played the Visual Novel for it is...well , a general summary of the original Unlimited Blade Works story , purely a sum-up of the route.
It is hard for new fans to enjoy this fully since the story arrangement is a bit messed up due to the Movie time limit but everything is made up by the artwork , the awesome battle scenes and how this Movie proves to all that Emiya Shirou is not a spineless wimp....hey , did I just say that?
Anyways , I heavily recommend the Movie solely to those who had played the Visual Novel. You would only ruin the experience by watching it before understanding the plot.
Oh , by the way , there is a small bit of morality lessons to this story as well. It just depends on how you view it and how you learn from it.

Just to add on , Visual Novel players would be able to remniscent about the original game itself when they had seen certain scenes , which are really complete replicas of some of the CGs of the Visual Novel but in Movie form! :D

Overall (Others)

Age Recommendation : 16+

Genre : Action / Supernatural / Romance ( Even weaker than the VN though )

Romance :
Pitifully brittle compared to the Visual Novel and the Anime , in fact , it seems to hardly exist.
Well , at least it's a twang in the heart to see Rin getting angry and depressed 'cause of Shirou's thick headed personality.

Humor :
There is a fair bit of humor here and there , particularly in chibi form!
Well , truth be told , humor lasts only a while so there isn't much to be said about it. It will bring a smile to your face though.

Gore :
Ah crap , the blood!
Well , they have upgraded the gore content compared to the Anime , so be prepared.
To give you an idea , if your not prepared to see ample blood flow and disgusting pumping sorta things , prepare a plastic bag instead.
Well , it's not that bad but just a fair warning to kids and saints. :)

Psychology :
Well , the Anime does twing your heart a little if you understand the plotline and Shirou's reason for his distortion.
Emotionally , this is a bitter-sweet storyline , with several characters to feel sorry for and well , is depressing in it's own way if you are indeed emotionally attached to the characters.
So , like I said , understand the original plot first , because the Movie ain't gonna help you in the emotional attachment part.

Trivia :
- Changes from original include :
- Number of times Unlimited Blade Works is used
- Flashbacks
- Lots of scenes are cut away :(
- Some scenes are replaced with the Realta Nua version
- Incantation of UBW is cut short
- Swords used in both duels
- Battles are cut short
- Some story sequences
- Conversations are cut short =.=
- The duel between two particular characters
- Berserker final scene
- Saber final scene
- ...That's about all I can sum up

~ Thanks for reading the review and if you want to spam , I'll go Unlimited Blade Works on your Guestbook >:D ~

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

8.1667 (good)

Reviewed by z827, Oct 05, 2010

Comments

  1. rukasu44 Oct 07, 2010

    Really good review, I don't like your opinion about Archer, though.

  2. Archer89 Oct 09, 2010

    Good review. I agree on what you say that UBW route is quite cramped into the short one and a half hours movie. But my rate is just 7.50 for me as when they decided to skip the UBW incantations, the movie was as good as dead. Tbh, the reason why FSN has a 10 in my watchlist is mainly because of the fact that Suwabe Junichi pulled off an epic job with the English incantations for releasing the reality marble UBW. Voice acting in the movie is better as you say but it makes no sense if UBW's incantations are all skipped and all since the epic-ness got removed. It's like removing Kamina from the Gurran Lagann franchised; which would kill it off.

  3. CyanideBlizzard Retired Moderator Oct 11, 2010

    While I completely agree with your view, I feel it necessary to point out that you cannot expect a movie to even remotely be able to properly cover the visual novel content. Especially considering that the TV series had far more to work with.

    However, if you look at it as condensing it into maintaining the more important elements and eliminating everything else, it did a pretty good job.

    My only problem is that this is a movie completely geared towards fans. Anyone else going into this will be completely confused because hardly anything is properly explained and little is except for the focus on Archer. However, it was very nice to see some amazing fight scenes for a change. That was one aspect of the TV series I was extremely disappointed in (for the most).

    My personally recommendation would be to focus less on the visual novel and tv series comparisons, since it's a completely different medium, and rather look at the conversion on the whole. If we were to do that, almost every book/comic that was made into a movie or tv series would pale in comparison to the original material.

    Just a suggestion : )

  4. ab12xyz Oct 27, 2010

    Good review.T_T

  5. JamesSarrow Nov 19, 2010

    To be honest, a fair review. I will have to agree with the fact that UBW is pandering to Fate/Stay Night fans, particularly those that enjoyed the VN than the anime. It something of note that I have to put in place when I suggesting the movie. And yes, this is going to be an annoyance to anyone new to the series, or the Naruverse as a whole.

    Visually, I am not really surprised with the beauty. It is animated by the same studios that worked with the Kara No Kyoukai Series. That was some jaw dropping work, regardless of the resolution, so the fact that not a lot has changed is pleasing.

    Myself a fan of type-moon in general, I would have rather that the move was may be a two parter movie OVA (maybe three) since there is one thing that bugged me watching UBW. It seriously need more time to flesh out a already massive plot, which was a bit of a missed opportunity. Rather glad that the fights stayed intact for the most part (if shorter than expected), but I honestly would have loved to see more. Because of this, the characterizations do seem rushed... since they establish themselves early and stay set to that point for the most part (with Emiya as the exception).


    All in all, a fun watch.

  6. Warpten29 Jan 11, 2011

    Good summarization!

  7. Baraka-Senpai Jul 05, 2011

    Oh my god! Sincerely THE BEST ANIME!

    Rating: 1000000 *---* So excelent!

  8. hitsu-chan Jul 20, 2011

    a nice review, thx a bunch
    I appreciate this anime

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