Fate/stay night / Final Impressions / First Impressions

「エピローグ」 (Epirōgu)
“Epilogue”

Ah, the London epilogue! This was exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for when I talk about Unlimited Blade Works being ‘thorough’ last week. The original visual novel ended with Rin and Shirou accepting an invitation to the Clock Tower (the high seat of the Mage Association), but doesn’t dwell on what happens after. Their adventures in London has thus far remained predominantly in the realm of fan fiction, but has now received a coat of official paint. I approve of this addition. More Rin x Shirou is, of course, nothing to complain about, and London is to this day a remarkable place (did you know that the City of London remains its own corporate entity to this day? Fascinating). I do admit to holding a bias though; I seem to have a bit of an architecture fetish and I can be bribed to favour with a sufficient amount of old bricks. I can’t be the only person for whom medieval ruins rivaled Ponytail Rin for welcome visuals. No? Just me?

(Pretty though London was, it’s alas a reminder that Fate/stay night is still fantasy. I can’t imagine it getting this much sun in reality. And why the bagpipes? Probably to appease them rebellious Scots again (don’t hurt me Samu bagpipes are lovely).)

Even in epilogues, ufotable has an action quota

Aside from the somewhat out of place fight between Rin and her comic relief rival Luviagelita Edelfelt (Itou Shizuka), whom you’ll see more of in Prisma Illya next season, this epilogue served as a good way to wind down the rather messy conclusion to last’s week’s action (how did Archer come back? Don’t ask me). Almost obligatory is the where are they now segment, which at least assures us of who is still alive (yes, Shinji is too. If it makes you feel better, he’s mellowed out now). And as has been routine in UBW, Fate/Zero also gets mention, though I must say that this version of manly-but-long-haired Waver will never not be weird.

These kinds of loose ends need to be wrapped up before we can have a ‘happily ever after’. Which is why even Saber, the once and future king, needs a special appearance. Hopefully she sleeps content on the isle of Avalon. That said, the connection between Glastonbury and Avalon is likely the result of fraud meant to attract more pilgrims to the abbey, but that’s a different piece of cynicism for another day. Just enjoy the mood, okay?

Answer

The main question that pervades this epilogue and, indeed, most of UBW is still whether Shirou, as he is now, will still end up as bitter as twisted as Archer was. The conclusion that is reached in the end seems to be, quite confidently, no. Yes, Shirou will keep living by his ideals. Yes, those same ideals led Archer to a Bad End. But Shirou has more perspective now (fighting your future self would tend to do that, I suppose) and knows fully what he’s getting into. More importantly, he’s got a Tohsaka Rin now. Aw, that’s heartwarming. They’re a cute couple.

And hopefully, a happy ending for them means a happy ending for Archer too.

 

Full-length images: 11, 17.

 

Epilogue (of the Epilogue):

 

Final Impressions

I may have mentioned before that of the three routes of the Fate/stay night visual novel, Unlimited Blade Works is often considered the ‘action route’, and is quite popular as such. It is in many ways the ‘height’ of the general F/SN arc and Shirou’s coming-of-age story. Fate was about Shirou searching for his ideal and had to spend a lot of time setting things up, so it’s UBW, about Shirou living his ideal, that really gets the ball rolling. As you shall see when the movie comes out, Heaven’s Feel will be about Shirou abandoning his ideal, and will take a darker turn. It’s still plenty epic in its own right, though, and arguably writer Nasu Kinoko’s true form, so look forward to it.

Coming back to UBW, I would say that I am generally satisfied with this adaptation. Having read UBW before the anime is obviously not going to have as much of an impact on me. The first time, with all the twists and turns of the plot still unknown, leaves the strongest impression. All the ufotable-anime-only viewers are welcome to express their own unvarnished visions in the comments. I, on the other hand, will be focusing less on the substance of the story and more on the mechanics of how ufotable adapted it. I do this rant on adaptations often, and those who’ve read some variation of it before will have to forgive me. So much of anime is adaptation these days that it’s hard not to have to address this topic regularly.

Too often anime fans, or rather fans of anything at all, confuse an adaptation with a transliteration. What do I mean by that? Well, one hears horror stories about light novel aficionados following an anime adaptation of their favoured book of the month with the text in their hand, comparing each and every line, and throwing virtual fits if the anime deviates in any way. That’s a bit of an extreme example, but the idea is that there are some fervent purists out there. Some think that an anime adaptation of a text is simply taking the words and putting them to sound and picture. That the original novel or manga or whatever is a script to be dutifully followed in animation.

Any half-decent screenwriter tell you that’s 1) bad 2) impossible.

I don’t remember how many words of text Fate/stay night is weighed in, but even if a picture is worth a thousand words (a loose equivalence) one is going to go broke just buying canvas. Nasu gets very wordy at times, everybody gets a monologue, and the complex mechanics of his world were bought with sacrifices on the altar of exposition. An episode of anime, on the other hand, is merely 23 or so minutes. How much can you even read in 23 minutes, let alone say on screen? Fate/stay night is already a visual novel, already having pictures and music, but some extra compression is still going to be required.

As such, I consider episode 20, in particular the second half with the insert song, to be the strongest of the series. It reinterprets the visual novel into the anime medium, taking a very abstract concept, about the beauty of the ideal and blah, and really running with it. I wish they did more of that. There are still several points in the adaptation where it feels like people are talking a bit too much, and maybe some trimming was in order. Perhaps the staff as well as they could, given the material. This is still, by far, the superior anime adaptation of UBW, though when the competition is really just the movie and snippets of the Deen anime that’s not the highest praise. Ufotable got 25 full episodes to play with, after all, and time is a tremendous resources for any story. So it’s no wonder this version tells it the best. But it also manages to be very shiny in action scenes, and is confident enough to add relevant anime-original material (extra backstory for some characters, this very epilogue). That is, one can certainly see the effort (and money) that was put into this production, which is to its credit.

I think ufotable’s adaptation will stand as the definitive Fate/stay night anime for some time. I’ll even call it a suitable substitute for reading the visual novel, if pressed. Sure, it’s not going to be the same but that should never be the purpose of an adaptation. As Shirou might say, it’s about the idea. And I think ufotable’s version is as close to Unlimited Blade Works‘s ideal animated form as we’re going to get. They might not have always been successful, but they sure did try, and the result was beautiful in the end.

105 Comments

    1. I thought there would be narration during the sunset scene, but it’s just there to let us absorb the breathtaking animation.

      Kind of fitting too, how everything that happened in still only a small part of the bigger picture, the world moves on no matter what happens to our protagonists.

      Raijin
      Reply

  2. artur grave with a sad wood sign lol
    they could add more skinship there but ok
    shinji alive and well T___T vn say that him stay in coma forever
    HF next but i hate these route, gore gore kill sakura&rin personalitys and the only thing good in this is the last fight and maybe few ilya moments

    dark
    Reply

  3. I realized something after watching this episode, future Archer said he was glad to see Tohsaka again before he disintegrated in previous eposode, that would mean before Shiro prayed to the grail and became counter guardian, Tohsaka was already dead.

    And the end scene where Shiro walks in the desert by himself despite Shiro saying it’s his turn to drag Tohsaka along in his travels, depending on time passed she also might be dead already. I’m wondering if that’s the key point that pushed future Shiro to become Archer, death of a close friend.

    FarEast
    Reply

    1. I’m assuming in Archer’s timeline, he didn’t hook up with Rin. More like in the Fate route (which, if you aren’t acquainted with it, was the Saber route). That is, after the Shirou who would be Archer and Rin graduated, they went their separate ways. I also think it’s left ambiguous whether the ‘Shirou‘ we see at the end is Archer or the Shirou we know. Now that they’ve found common ground in each other, likely both.

      Interestingly, in the visual novel, it’s hinted that Archer’s descent was sparked by a death—Illya’s. It seems she’s fated to die young except when she’s a magical girl.

      Passerby
      Reply

      1. My thoughts on Archer’s timeline is that he and Rin, when he was still Shirou, did hook up in one way or another and that tie is what drew him to respond to Rin’s summoning. I mean, what are the chances out of all possible archer classes she got her soon to be boyfriend’s future self? But then again, I have not had any time to look at the visual novel so I could just be spouting nonsense.

        Camora
        Reply

      2. You didn’t watch it, did you? He was summoned because Rin had catalyst for summoning him. There never was a chance in it as well as there never was a chance in Saber summoning.

        Urizithar
        Reply

      4. You’re both right. Since they both had the same pendant, they both had the catalyst.

        Given that Nasu has said on multiple occasions that none of the routes involve the actual Emiya who will become Archer, it once again begs the question of who Rin summoned in Archer!Emiya’s Grail War… Did she do something else with the jewel, or did she summon someone else despite using the jewel?

        quigonkenny
        Reply

      5. I remember reading somewhere that Archer had a girlfriend and friends… However, his friends realized that Archer/Guardian Emiya, would not put his friends first; meaning that he would willingly cut down his own friends for peace. As a result, his friends were the actual people that compiled evidence to eventually kill/hang Guardian Emiya.

        My guess that Guardian Emiya did not come from the exact timeline UBW, but probably started with Rin saving young Emiya when Lancer attacked him in early UBW, but Rin did not summon Guardian Emiya to lead to the RinxEmiya love line.

        cenedraa8
        Reply

      6. I’ve always been of the mindset that the Archer in UBW is Shirou after the fate route, and the Archer in HF is the Shirou after UBW’s arch. There are some small changes in the personality of archer between each arch that seem to support this. I think most people talking here are familiar enough to connect the dots from Fate to UBW. I don’t want to get into the details of HF too much, but many of that Archer’s actions would not be taken by this guy, and are more reflective of the wiser more worldly Shirou from UBW.

        Nobody
        Reply

  4. I’m pleasantly surprised, I didn’t expect this at all. I spent the week wondering what kind of additions for the VN epilogue would be added. UFOTable decides to adapt only 2 scenes from the VN into barely 5 minutes. Instead majority of the episode is anime original involving London and the Clock Tower. The moment Shirou narrated it was 2 years later, I was ecstatic since it would mean we would see Rin and Shirou as adults, something barely alluded to even in supplementary materials

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    Speaking of the VN. I always love this shot and glad to see it recreated. To quote the VN:

    Her words and expression blow away my humility and my dislike of the Magic Association.
    …This is what I mean by Tohsaka holding my weakness.
    I can’t help it if I fell in love with her.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
    No one can blame Shirou because even as an adult Rin is lovely.

    As for the whole series itself? The first season was amazing from the start, mixing the VN material with anime original almost perfectly. The second season however stumbled a bit especially when some important scenes from the VN weren’t adapted very well. However, toward the end UFOTable regained their footing with scenes like Shirou Epiphany or the battle with Gligamesk being perfect. Overall its a great adaptation for UBW and as fan of that route and I’m very happy how it turned out.

    fragb85
    Reply

  5. >London
    >older dere Rin
    >Luvia
    >sunset Rin
    >El Melloi II
    >hand holding
    I was grinning so much during this episode.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
    I disagree with anyone calling Luvia a ‘Player 2 Rin’. She’s a fine character on her own even if she’s always compared to Rin. And she’s fundamentally different from Rin, from the body proportions to their martial arts. Wish we would get more details of her meeting with Shirou as well as that story from the alternate Luvia in Ataraxia about their incident in the Tower that got them weird nicknames. Looking forward to seeing her next season in 2wei Herz.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    Was worried we wouldn’t get this part of the epilogue given that we were thrown in a flash forward. Alternate Rin in Ataraxia was right. In just a few years, Rin would really go dere towards Shirou, as we see in this episode. It’s just so adorable seeing her in a lap pillow with Shirou. They’re even living together somewhat.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
    Of course the Clock Tower wouldn’t be complete without seeing the famous El Melloi II. A lot has changed after the 4th HGW and it shows on his face. I’d love to get full story of him Show Spoiler ▼

    Also would like to read that new novel of his, the El Melloi Case Files. He does get a bit of screentime in Apocrypha and Strange fake so there’s that.

    Was a fun ride. Though I did feel that my hyped lowered at the beginning due to the minor changes that kept piling on top of each other. I would have liked it more if we had more of Shirou’s thoughts as most of the time we were going through the story from outside his perspective. Still, I very much enjoyed it and kept looking forward to it every week. I got a new Emiya and a great fight against Archer and Gilgamesh. I’m satisfied no matter what the public says. Gonna miss the show.
    There’s 2wei Herz next season to keep up my Fate needs. Meanwhile, I need to dive deeper in more TM stuff while waiting for HF movie. Already done so the past few months with Apocrypha and CCC.

    belatkuro
    Reply

  6. I’m not sure if Shirou is going to have a good ending. He probably won’t end up as bitter and cynical as Archer, but it seems Shirou is going to die the same way as Archer did, hanged by the crowd. There is not much Shirou could do to about this. He will probably die statisfied with the things he had achieved, but that makes it bittersweet at best.
    I also don’t think, that he ended up with Rin in the end. The last scene was him alone in a dessert and if end ups dead in his late 20’s, they probably won’t live happily ever after.

    All in all this was a good show, though I would say Fate/Zero was better. But from what I got, this is not the fault of ufotable, but of the VN. My two biggest and probably only problems were Shirou and how ep 24 ended. Gilgamesh was defeated to easily and Archer randomly appearing was a giant Asspull, but that was the case in the VN, right? Kowing what kind of way Shirou is going to take, mendles that problem I had with him for the most part. But even if that weren’t the case, he was much, much more endurable than Fate Shirou.

    Now I’m really interested in the Heaven’s Feel movie. I reallywant to see him abandoning his ideal and how he will end up then. Btw, is it only one movie or several movies and is ufotable making them?

    dean
    Reply

    1. That’s one way to interpret it if you want to take the cynical point of view. I prefer the optimistic view.

      Couple of points:
      – Eggplant himself already said that none of the Shirou’s on the VN routes would end up as Archer
      – Shirou actually has formal mage training from his Clock Tower courses and being Rin’s apprentice. Its unlikely he would overexert himself like Archer did which resulted on his darkened skin and white hair.
      – His experience with Archer has basically put his ideals in perspective for him and make less likely to make rash decisions (such as the contract that made Archer a Counter Guardian). As Rin said, its about how far he can go. As long as Rin is around she will be able to keep him grounded.
      – Shirou in the final scene is smiling. That type that shows hope for the future, as opposed to Archers who lead a thankless life and only had his own self-satisfaction for his heroics.

      fragb85
      Reply

      1. I didn’t say he will become Archer. What I meant is, that his death via hanging is still going to happen. Under normal circumstances, to be excecuted by the crowd, would be a bad end, but since Shirou will die actually being statisfied and thus not become Archer, Shirou’s ending will be more bittersweet.

        dean
        Reply

      2. Actually, Archer died happily. He was perfectly happy with his life of saving people even as he was executed. It was his after-life as a Counter Guardian that he regrets. Essentially, Archer’s own issue was (ironically) how naive he was on just rushing blindly to be a hero. No one ever knew who he was, since he was a lone person saving others and he was fine with that because the act of helping was enough for him. That’s why the people he was saved were deeply suspicious of him and he was eventually hanged.

        Shirou is unlikely to follow this path though, Archer was able to give him the perspective he needs to follow a better way to reach his ideals and he has Rin to guide him.

        fragb85
        Reply

    2. Ufotable is indeed gonna be handling the HF adaptation
      At this point we don’t know if it will be a single movie or more than one (Like Kara no Kyoukai and Persona 3)

      As a VN reader, I think HF would be best adapted as more than one movie. But that’s my opinion
      It’s unknown what Ufo will do

      bassgs435
      Reply

      1. Given how…rushed and a bit disorganized the movie version of UBW was, I would hope that they take the Kara no Kyoukai/Rebuild of Eva/etc. route and release it as multiple 50+ minute OVA movies.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
        Reply

    3. The conventional wisdom about the Heaven’s Feel route is that Shiro abandons his ideal. I believe that he instead redirects it. Shiro wants to be a “seigi no mikata/champion of justice”. In HF he Show Spoiler ▼

      As for this episode, nothing but love (wrestling excepted). It felt absolutely right, because I don’t think it’s even possible for Shiro to give up his ideal.

      kourous
      Reply

    4. Its not necessary for Shirou to die via hanging. The post credits scene was meant to represent the fact that he goes further than Archer. So Yes, a ShirouXRin happy end not only is possible, but most likely to happen.

      Inverr
      Reply

  7. As always, Rin proves why she is the best girl. Her adult version looks so beatiful and dignified at the same time.

    On a side note: do you guys think there’ll be the adaptation of Hollow Ataraxia in the near/far future? Personally I would love to see it, mainly because a part of doesn’t want to say goodbye to the series after the Heavens Feel movie.

    DarkHeartedAlchemist
    Reply

    1. Certainly possible, though it’s a much harder adaptation. I’ll be interested to see what they do with it.

      What I want immediately, though, is the Tsukihime Remake, and then a Tsukihime anime. Because we’ve never had one before. Yes.

      Passerby
      Reply

      4. Tohno Shiki has no business being in the Clock Tower. He’s not a magus and he has a flimsy connection with Aoko even if he calls her Sensei. Plus it’s the older sister who’s the one that’s been in the Clock Tower and made a name for herself.

        belatkuro
        Reply

    1. to 1. from the 2nd picture angel of her arm. She is standing aside of the table, so she stand up

      to 2. Well, you can of course use your own fantasy. But this is more a display of Trust. She rest her head in his lap. If it would be other around, you would accept this as an display of Trust and Love for the Girl

      WorldwideDepp
      Reply

  11. I think they exceed themselves in give our Rin a more Mature touch. it was nice to see some Mature lines, on both of them. And finally for us Anime only Viewer (and Illiya spin-off Anime spoiled us) the “Blond hair girl” friend of Rin has an appearance.

    Me loves the mature techniques, and the London setting. looks like they invested many time to create these City and House Backgrounds, or to the recycled them of their Archive? Anyway that was awesome

    Oh boy, when only 2 females in close combat wreck the ground, i fear when boys going all out. the repair bills must be great, or they have some kind of restoration magic or an battle sphere

    Only the talk with this “stranger” (through reddit spoilers i know him), i do not get the meaning of this. Is he also some kind of Holy War survivor?

    Anyway, Fate/stay Night. I love you, you entertained me on your Way, and i was unsure in the beginning if you can please my needs. But i was persuaded bye your Unlimited Background Works and Unlimited Seiyuu’s Works (Rin overpowered Saber this time. Saber and Rin are now equal) and the Emotion ride.

    Yes UBW was great

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

  13. to Avalon:

    i saw some Documentary that Avalon was a small village in France at his/her Time. The King rushed there to help and was heavy wounded in a surprise attack. Of course the king that symbols “Saber”

    WorldwideDepp
    Reply

    1. Ah, you must be speaking of Avallon, which is indeed a town in France somewhere. It fits if you believe that King Arthur was some Roman guy. There’s a lot of different theories about where Avalon is, though. It could be Avallon, it could be Glastonbury, it could be the Canary Isles. It’s the kind of vague tale that gets people speculating.

      Passerby
      Reply

  14. That scene with Waver and Shiro, felt more like Broskandar talking to Sabre.

    Also with views like these

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2011.jpg

    I don’t mind UFOtable taking the helm for Prisim Illya.

    Now thaT Unlimited Budget Works has ended, we’ll have Budget Eater next season

    cruiser2710
    Reply

      3. I don’t know, but it’s a safe guess. Of course ufotable will dedicate a much higher budget to a gigantic franchise/property like F/SN than something like God Eater. I’m not sure how big GE is in Japan but I doubt it’s as big as the Fate franchise.

        Eugene
        Reply

      4. God eater is pretty big in japan.
        As for the money, I doubt ufotable would have accepted taking the helm of a project with the budget of a ham sandwich. They are known perfectionists. And even in the event of having a tight wallet, you can expect them to make miracles with it.

        Helvetica Standard
        Reply

  15. Overall as someone who read the visual novel (a while back so I’m kind of hazy) I can say I enjoyed this adaptation. Yes, certain points dragged and they most definitely talked a bit too much for my taste at certain points, but ultimately it was still a fun ride that was well worth the time (Oh, and manly Waver is awesome).

    I love Saber and everything but this being Rin’s route she basically elevated herself to best girl in my opinion. I guess I just like em feisty hehe.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2011.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2029.jpg

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2034.jpg

    All my yes.

    MisterMarty
    Reply

    1. Not just a teacher. He’s one of the best professor there. He’s said to have handled students who then became the best in their fields. He may be average as a magus but he’s excellent as an instructor.

      And of course this is the True End. The Good End of UBW is where Show Spoiler ▼

      It was obvious since last week what ending we would get.
      There’s only 2 endings for UBW route, not counting the bad ends, which is a lot of course.

      belatkuro
      Reply

      1. A little something from the supplementary materials on Waver or Lord El-Melloi II as he is known now.

        Known as “Great Big Ben London Star”, “Professor Charisma”, and “Master V”, he has been even named “the number one man female students would like to sleep with”, among others.

        That’s right, he is not just a teacher, he is that hot teacher the makes the girl squee over him. Quite a long way from the lovable dork he was back in Fate/Zero.

        Also he is a huge video game geek, something he inherited from Broskander.

        fragb85
        Reply

  19. @Passerby :

    I get what you are saying about adaptations and I generally agree with what you said. There is just no way that you can cram all of that “text” into 26 episodes (I think there were 2 1 hr ones) of an anime series and naturally some things will have to be cut while others updated or modified slightly to better fit the medium it is going into.

    That said, I do believe that it is still important to “stay true to the original” to a large extent, especially when it comes to the main idea and the general plot. uFotable did an admirable job with this and while we can knitpick on certain points on the whole this was a great adaptation and one that did the source material justice.

    Another example of a good adaptation, and personally actually a better way of presenting it, was White Album 2 Introductory Chapter. They honestly did a better job of keeping the suspense there than in the actual VN without straying from the actual plot.

    There are however some adaptations that you really do have to complain about as they don’t do the source material the justice it deserves. From this season DxD is a good example where they went against many “established” facts of the series (not talking about simply deviating and having an anime original but rather completely pulling stuff off that goes agaisnt the “laws” set by the writer himself). From a while back the Ichigo 100% anime is another example of a badly done adaptation.

    I think on the whole any reasonable anime viewer will have to accept that there will be alterations and cuts. Not all of our favorite scenes will make it to the final product and some events may change. The measure though, I guess, is whether it still feels true to the original rather than starting off with it then casting it aside. That’s what really gets the fans annoyed

    Juan
    Reply

    1. Oh no, I don’t deny that some adaptations verge from the source and completely bomb. That’s entirely possible too (seen my fair share), and I’m not saying that adaptations are free from their source. ‘Staying true’ is certainly the important part, but I think there’s multiple ways that can be done. I think, at it’s core, it’s about looking at the source and working out exactly what makes it good, and then translating that to your medium. Some anime do it better than others, of course.

      Passerby
      Reply

      1. That’s the problem, if they don’t understand the source material or think they can do better for some reason, they can turn something great into crap. Occasionally, and only occasionally, they can “fix” or change a story to make it fit into the new media and improve on the original. Many movies have taken mediocre novels and managed to turn them into blockbusters that way. Unfortunately it’s a crap shoot. Though many liked Arpeggio, those of us who love the manga felt it just didn’t do justice to the source. Oregairu OTOH, managed to stay true to the original LNs and enhanced the story by letting us see the characters facial expressions and here their voices. Here, since I never read the VN, I can’t judge it from that direction, though what I’ve read leads me to believe the director understood what he had for source material and stayed true to it though modifying it to account for the different media.

        Bear
        Reply

    1. Think about it like this:

      Show Spoiler ▼

      There, better.

      Passerby
      Reply

    2. Shirou actually works part-time as her butler(subs were wrong on this). And the Edelfelt and Tohsaka have pretty similar magic, the Gandr bullet and jewel magic. Coupled with Luvia’s attitude, magical talent, preference to practice martial arts and attraction to Shirou and she’s pretty much a foil to Rin. Show Spoiler ▼

      belatkuro
      Reply

  25. Thanks so much for blogging Passerby, it was a fun ride and I do think it’s a worthy adaptation. It’s crazy how we had different blogger for each season since zero S1 but it was nice getting all your opinions of the show.

    I just can’t believe we got a UBW adaptation. I thought zero was it, so to be at the end of UBW now just felt like a long journey. I’m just happy we got lots of rin for a awhile saber was really popular but it’s nice to go back to what made me love the VN Rin, get her due screen time.

    Hope to see you guys again in HF.

    Sherylfan
    Reply

    1. I don’t think that’s a very fair thing to say. Each of the routes had their own focus and dealt with each of the assigned parts. As with any other good VN, you have to actually play through all of the routes to see the whole story

      Juan
      Reply

  28. tbh I would have much preferred an ending where Shirou and Rin stayed in London and live a good life till adulthood as husband and wife. Rin continues to be a magus, Shirou does his whole ‘hero work’ through dedicating his life to social work, helping the poor and destitute and rehabilitating those who have fallen to crime.

    I don’t insist on a happy ending, but the above is much more relatable and represents a maturing of Shirou’s ideology (without him deviating from the central spirit of it). Rin and Shirou are both obviously more mature and less frenzied than their Fuyuki selves and I would have liked to see that reflected in the evolution of Shirou’s ideology.

    Eugene
    Reply

  29. https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20Zero/Fate%20Zero%20-%2022%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
    To think our little Waver-chan grew up to be such a handsome man. Would have enjoyed seeing Iskander’s face; I think Waver grew about 30 centimeters.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
    On the side note, I wonder if anyone knows about Shirou’s ability; technically it would make any normal magus faint.

    L002
    Reply

    1. Well the VN did clearly state the Shinji’s near death experience scared him straight and he may yet mend his ways. Which is the best fate he has considering the other routes. Also did you see the smug look on Sakura’s face? Shinji is scared of Sakura now, and those who play the VN would understand how scary that is. Sakura owns her brother now.

      And if you refuse to accept that, you can subscribe to the fanon theory that Shinji has been directly exposed to the grail’s corruption and will now die a slow agonizing death like Kiritsugu has.

      Either one works for me really.

      fragb85
      Reply

      2. I’m interested in hearing why he becomes scared of her…anything you can say without revealing too much? or will it be explained in HF? will it be explained at all? ._.

        Synic
        Reply

  32. This was far, far better of an anime for UBW than I expected. Knowing that are animes either a subset of the source material, or a re-imagining of it, I did not expect a proper representation as a full story with its own merits to the extent that we got. For me the thunder was already taken away by having read the VN, but there was so much to enjoy, and the anime original content was deserved & so appreciated.

    I really didn’t expect an anime this good. I did expect that ufotable would do a good job, but F/Z was definitely a subset of the source material, and given that HF is going to be adapted as a (single?) movie, I expect that one to be more about drama & emotion like Kara no Kyoukai (although to be honest, I think several movies is better than trying to adapt HF into a series of 24-minute episodes).

    This anime had its faults to be sure, but the fact that this epilogue exists shows the dedication & effort that was put into making this anime stand as its own definitive representation of Fate/stay night. Yes, it’s not as complete as the VN with all three routes and its wealth of content, and without the Fate (Saber) route it’s doomed to be fundamentally incomplete, but I did not expect Fate/stay night to ever be treated as well as this.

    I also really appreciate the time spent on the Archer vs. Shirou fight. I assumed well beforehand that it would be a typical action-packed episode, two at the most. Instead it felt like the focus of the second season, as it should be. As a VN reader not everything was conveyed, but what was conveyed was still brilliant.

    It is a shame that we’ll never get a remake of the first route, the one we got was horribly butchered. Imagine if it was given the treatment that this anime did.

    And LUUUUUUVIIAAAAAA! Oh god I loved that so much. Luvia is part of the canon and her interaction with Rin & Sherou deserved representation, even if it was unexpected. And yes, after having just re-watched Fate/Zero, manly-man Waver is pretty alarming.

    And that sunset scene,

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2029.jpg

    I knew it wouldn’t be as touching as the VN without the exposition, but I’m glad it was still included (and hey, it’s not the ending itself this time anyway).

    flap
    Reply

  33. The epilogue was nice – certainly thorough as it covered just about any loose end I could think of. The Luviagelita Edelfelt vs. Rin “battle” felt a bit tacked on – there so they could have some sort of action. At least they gave some context for Edelfelt whereas Waver puzzled me for a few seconds before I figure out who he was (long hair threw me off). That was pretty random, IMO – just a F/Z shout out. If you’ve watched F/Z, fine, but if you didn’t, it’s just some random guy who seems to know quite a lot about what happened.

    Regarding the series as a whole. First the obvious – the visual quality was amazing, benchmark setting, game changing – whatever phrase you want. LOL, I remember when I watched the UBW movie and thought “Wow, I wish FSN looked this good!” After UBW TV, my thought is “wish FSN and the UBW movie looked this good”. Well, a LOT of shows really. Unlimited Budget Works indeed.

    I honestly can’t think of any real complaints for the first season. It was very well done IMO. To my surprise, given how the story plays out, I found the second season not as good as the first. Personally, I found the Caster episode the weakest episode of the series. For the time spent, it didn’t really fill in much gap other than her master was an evil ass**** (almost comic book evil IMO) with some (unconvincing for me) PR thrown in for Caster. Meh.

    What surprised me the most is that some of the battles in Season 2 fell short of Season 1’s mark. FAR too much standing around and talking even for this series. Nowhere was this more evident IMO than the Shiro vs. Archer “battle”. Honestly, that was disappointing. While the UBW movie rushed through that scene (along with everything else) too much, at least it felt like a fight with something on the line. IMO, UBW TV went too far the other way – it was padded. Sorry, but that how it felt to me with the fight debate being dragged out over 2+ episodes – bogged down covering the same ground repeatedly (including copious imagery/symbolism) to the point near the end I’m mentally yelling “Shut the hell up and fight”. Ep. 24 opening by going over the same thing again just made matters worse. Thankfully, they got down to business after a couple of minutes.

    To be clear, Season 2 was good, but IMO it wasn’t as good as Season 1 which set a very high standard. Still, the anime did a lot of things right, and it’s impossible to ignore the production quality benchmarks set. Year’s not over, but it would take something pretty amazing to make me vote for another show as AOTY.

    daikama
    Reply

  34. Just one thing – one part about Havens Feel is wrong. Nasu didn’t wrote it – several guys working in his team did. Nasu was too busy writting UBW route that he only gave green lights for ideas that his team had. This is why HF route is so wastly different and uncompatible from both Fate ans UBW ones.

    FateFan68
    Reply

    1. I find that hard to believe. Citations?

      Tsukihime and Kara no Kyoukai are very much similar to Heaven’s Feel in tone, and they are written by Nasu himself.

      TsukihimeFan68
      Reply

    1. shirou can replicate the weapons merely by looking at their blue prints or even seen them in memories,

      if he is able to see it in a movie or a picture, i think he can reproduce it too

      maiku
      Reply

  41. When I saw that pan view of London..I squealed and repeatedly said OMG OMG OMG!!!…then the adult Rin, Luvia..and finally El Melloi II (for those that know the VN- where is the bromance!!)…I couldnt take it anymore. Always a Fate series fan. Can’t wait for AX panel!

    Bakanekokun
    Reply

  43. That would be the most satisfying epilogue that you could ask for from a long-running anime. Can’t get that from a movie.
    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2038.jpg
    But I was still focused on Archer taking the spotlight. Cue the opening song.
    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2037.jpg
    I can say this much…it’s worth buying or watching this anime again 10-fold.
    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20stay%20night/Fate%20stay%20night%20ubw%20-%2025%20-%20Large%2039.jpg
    P.S. The hero of justice does get his happy ending in so many ways if I do say so myself.^-^ b

    random viewer
    Reply

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