Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] Anime Review

Hello! Inu here...

Following my review on Fate/Zero, I want to continue on the next installment of the franchise, Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] (UBW). Now, some of you may say that UBW is not the next installment to the series. Well, it is true that there are three Stay Nights route, and UBW is one of them. However, the original Fate/stay night (Fate route) was made back in 2004 and it is not by Ufotable, so I will be skipping it for now. I will however get back to it in the future.

Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] is an action, romance anime which follows the continuation of the events that had happened in Fate/Zero. It is a story about a boy named Emiya Shirou, who was brought to a secret war known as the Holy Grail War. In this installment, it is the Fifth Holy Grail War (the Fate/Zero being the fourth). Much like its predecessor, the Grail War is a battle royal between 7 magus known as the Masters who each own a familiar known as the Servants.

What do I like about the anime?
For me, UBW brought a new perspective on what the Fate series has to offer. Unlike Fate/Zero, UBW is much more light in terms of tone. It is a very fun show to watch especially those who are in love with the battle between the servants. Moreover, UBW also introduce us to a very relatable main character unlike its predecessor. It also takes in a romantic aspect besides the entire fighting and violence, which can be appealing to more individuals. The anime emphasises more on the servant's battle instead of the master's unlike in Zero, for those who really loves the concept of these Heroic Spirits, it can be extremely entertaining to watch. Moreover, the plot of UBW is less convoluted than that of Zero, making it easier to understand and connects more to viewers in general. Furthermore, much like its predecessor, UBW's animation proves to be much superior than most anime. It is an upgrade to the already great animation in Zero. Another point to take note is how, unlike Zero, this anime starts right into the action. It will definitely feel less boring than Zero.

What do I not like about the anime?
I feel that the character development in UBW is rather limited and scoped. Many of these characters are introduced in Zero, such as Sakura Matou, and Illyasviel von Einzbern. Myself, I wanted to know what exactly is their role and impact in the sequel which is UBW. However, perhaps due to the nature of the Stay Night title (it originates from a VN), the anime can only focus on certain characters but not all. People who watched Zero before UBW may feel rather disappointed because some of the characters play little role and sometimes even feels rather neglected.

Judgment
Overall, I would give this anime a solid A. Considering how UBW is much more action-oriented it can feel less boring than the information-heavy Fate/Zero. It also possess some element of romance which can be somewhat appealing to some people. To those who wanted to indulge in Fate, it is better to watch Zero first, but, if you can't stand the infobomb, then you may want to consider skipping to UBW (the satisfaction may not be fully there though).

From this point onwards.... SPOILER ALERT!

Let's delve deeper into the anime. Personally, I like UBW more than Zero primarily due to the likeable characters and the epic fights. At this point of time I kind of realised Ufotable's style of creating a short but epic fight scenes. The fight scenes in Zero are remarkable but those in UBW just leaves a ripple of epicness even after you finish watching it.

Characters
Just like I said before, one of the stronger virtue of this anime is the fact that the characters are likeable from the start. They started of likeable, and they ended off even more likeable. Most of the time, after watching the Fate series, stay night's characters tend to stick to your head more so than Zero.

I am going to reveal some of the servant's name as well, so it's really a HUGE spoiler. Especially regarding Archer! Please read with caution!

Emiya Shirou

Emiya Shirou is the boy Kiritsugu saved by the end of Fate/Zero. He is one of the victim of the Fourth Holy Grail War and the only survivor of the Fuyuki Flame Incident from the previous war. Shirou is then adopted by Kiritsugu, which explains where he got the name Emiya. Ever since Shirou is saved by Kiritsugu, he always see Kiritsugu as a hero, and he continuously aspire to become a person who is like his adopted father, a hero. This anime takes this ideal (of Shirou wanting to become a hero), and focus on it throughout. They build Shirou's character through this ideal. In fact, I believe that the entire plot of this anime revolves around Shirou's ideal.

Shirou became Saber's master in the Fifth Holy Grail War. His goal in this war is to prevent the Fuyuki Flame Incident to occur again, in other words, he wish to truly become a hero like Kiritsugu in his own way. Unlike the Fate route, UBW takes Shirou's relationship, strictly as a servant and her master, much like Kiritsugu, although Shirou is less harsh and more open to Saber.

This anime, much like other stay night routes, focuses on the relationship between Shirou and the main heroine. In the case of UBW, it is the romantic relationship between Shirou and Rin. I personally believe they are a much cuter couple than Shirou and Saber... However, I kind of feel that UBW does not emphasise enough on this aspect. They kind of establish that they're a couple, but due to the action-oriented anime, it feels most of the time that they are partners in the war. Yes, they do share some cute moments but that's that.

Anyway, the more interesting aspect of this character is his connection with Rin's servant, Archer. This relationship also later become the fundamental factor on which Shirou develop his powers.

Tohsaka Rin

Tohsaka Rin is the main heroine in the UBW route of Fate/stay night. She is the daughter of Tohsaka Tokiomi who fought in the Fourth Holy Grail War. Rin is an over-achiever whose goal of winning the Grail War is merely, to win. Rin summons Archer as her servant, which is her most important role in this series.

Rin is this classic tsundere character who is first cold towards Shirou but eventually she opens up. They became a couple mainly due to Shirou being continuously unshakeable towards his ideals of becoming a hero. Rin feels that Shirou's ideal is kind of stupid because there is no way everyone can be saved. This makes Rin to become closer towards Shirou, because she kind of know that his ideal can bring him to ruin and she wants to be there to make sure he don't. This chemistry is really interesting to honest. Because despite the two having romantic feelings for each other, it is drawn such that, the girl is trying to be a good wife / a good partner in life. Therefore, due to this approach, their scenes together weren't so much portrayed to be extremely intimate and couple-like. It was more of Shirou asking for advice and Rin giving advice, vice versa. 

The tsundere moments of Rin is extremely entertaining and cute to watch. It emphasise more on the relationship between Rin and Shirou. 

Rin's relationship with Archer is also exceptionally similar to her relationship with Shirou. It is not romantic, but it involves a lot of Rin reprimanding Archer and vice versa. In many instances of the anime, Rin would say how much Archer resembles Shirou. 

Archer

Ok... So why is Archer so special in UBW? Why is Rin's most important role is summoning Archer? And why is Archer the key to Shirou's powers? This is because Archer's true name is Emiya Shirou.

Archer is Emiya Shirou from an alternate timeline where his ideals bring him to ruins. He has no wish for the grail and the reason why he is summoned is because he wants to kill Shirou, his past. He wants to be rid of the person who aimlessly chase for his ideals. This is why Shirou's ideals is a very important key to the plot in this anime. He became the pinnacle of this anime. In fact the title Unlimited Blade Works actually is referring to Archer's Noble Phantasm.

Archer is an anti-hero type of character who has his own goal. He is enigmatic at first, yet he is also likeable due to his somewhat amusing relationship with Rin. In fact some anime fans despise Shirou yet they like Archer who is practically the same person. This is mainly because Archer shows much more maturity compared to Shirou, and approach issues resourcefully. 

He is to be honest the highlight of the series, and his conflict with Shirou is very meaningful. Sometimes, when I think about it, it feels as if it reflects how two conflicting ideals clash with one another. Yet, the two acknowledges each other that there are some truth in their words.

Saber

Remember when I said that some characters feel neglected? One of the characters is Saber. Saber is the same Saber in the Fourth Holy Grail War. In UBW, she is kind of.... useless. Maybe I am kind of harsh, but her character does not have as much significance as compared to Fate/Zero and the Fate route of stay night. In stay night, Shirou is meant to fix Saber's broken ideal in Zero. However in UBW, this aspect of the story feels rather rushed, and it is compressed into how Saber "bear witness" to Shirou's fight with Archer. In some sense, it becomes implicative how Shirou is determined in pursuing his ideals and how she should herself, accept what happened in Camlann and her life entirely.

Anyway, Saber's goal is different in the Fifth Holy Grail War due to the events that happened in Zero. Instead of wanting to prevent what happened in Camlann, Saber wanted to revoke her title as King. She wanted to not pull the Sword in Stone and not become a King, because she feels that she did not deserve to be one. 

Although, Saber does fill a little bit of humour for the anime. I really like the joke on how Saber really loves to eat. It's really cute to see her eat and asking for more. 

Gilgamesh

He is the Fourth Holy Grail War Archer who managed to achieve reincarnation as a human at the end of Fate/Zero. In Unlimited Blade Works, he is the primary antagonist, wanting to use the Holy Grail to purge the world. For me Gilgamesh in this anime, is already a well-developed character to begin with due to the events in Zero, so I don't think he need further development. However, he feels kind of like a filler character. It feels that Gilgamesh and his goal is undermined with the conflict between Shirou and Archer. 

Regardless, Gilgamesh still impose a huge threat to the main characters and he serves as a really powerful final boss. His role in character building is probably to show how much Shirou has improve as a person.

Other Characters

There are of course other characters like Illya with Berseker; the Matous (Sakura and Shinji) alongside Rider. They play little role in this route and is merely a supporting characters. They are kind of there just because it is stay night. Well, they will play more roles in other routes.

Plot

In overall, Unlimited Blade Works have a really interesting plot with a twist that is executed perfectly. Unlimited Blade Works is one of the few anime I have watched that managed to pull of a plot twist and not ruin the entire series. 

stay night occurs 10 years after Zero.

The anime starts off just like any stay night route, with Shirou being forced into the Fifth Holy Grail War and how they needed to fight off opponents like Caster, Assassin and of course Kotomine Kirei and Gilgamesh. Initially you would think that the main plot is actually the War itself, much like Zero. Well, that's the main plot alright, but within that plot, there's a bigger plot which is Shirou's conflict with Archer. It is a huge plot twist, yet it still fits the entire anime perfectly. In fact without it the anime will feel rather bland and kind of repetitive. I like that about Unlimited Blade Works. 

Now, some of you might think that I am contradicting myself by saying that the plot is less convoluted than Zero and yet it is has plot twist in it. Well, not exactly, Zero has a lot of information bombed towards your face sometimes the plot seemed blurred. It is meant to be straightforward but you have to think about certain stuff once in a while. Furthermore, unlike Zero, Unilimited Blade Works briefly touch on the rest of the supporting crew and focuses more on the main Characters which is Team Saber and Archer. Zero on the other hand, takes some time on each and every characters. They are both good in their own ways!

Coherence

Unlimited Blade Works ignores the fact that the original Fate route exists out there and re-tells the stay night story from scratch. The first episode is another infobomb but they welcome you with a lot of action soon afterwards. They took their time in retelling the story of stay night and they do a great job at it.

The journey towards the plot is a bit disturbed with the plot twist, but it is expected for any plot twists. However, I am really impressed that it does not deal a lot of damage to the anime. In fact, I believe that the plot twist actually add more value than the choice of leaving the main plot for sometime. 

I honestly feel that UBW is much easier to understand compared to Zero and definitely deserves a good grade for Coherence.

Effects

If you think that Fate/Zero has an amazing visual effects, which definitely is true! Wait till you see Unlimited Blade Works. When I first watch this series, I literally felt the chills when the servants materialise. Yes when they materialise and disappear. Ufotable's light work is definitely upgraded in this anime. Furthermore, due to the fact that there is more fight scenes in UBW compared to Zero, there are a lot more instances where the studio shows their superiority in their works. One example is, when Lancer uses his Noble Phantasm, Gae Bolg. Excalibur isn't exactly used a lot in UBW so can't see it often, she did use it in the final battle and it look as good as in Zero. Of course everything that involves Archer, such as his aura and his attacks are amazingly created. And of course, who could forget that moment he uses his Noble Phantasm!

The music is fitting to the more action-oriented theme of UBW. I was glad that Kajiura didn't do the soundtrack for this one because I don't think it will fit her style. We are also given a special treat to Emiya theme for the second season and it is crazy epic.

Special mention here, I do think this anime shot Aimer, personally my favorite Japanese Singer, to fame. The second season's opening "Brave Shine" is a remarkable work! She also did the background music for the finale of Shirou's fight with Archer, it is titled "Last Stardust" and it definitely capture the moment from something epic, into something conclusive and meaningful. 

Emotions

Unlimited Blade Works has its fair share of epic feels. Once again I really do think it's because of Ufotable's light works, much like Zero. But most importantly, what this anime trumps over Zero is the fact that not only does it has thrills during action scenes, it also has a lot of amusing moments. It also possess that love feels between Shirou and Rin as well as some sad moments. Personally my favourite was the "Last Stardust" scene, the finale of Shirou's and Archer's fight. All of Rin's Tsundere moments are amusing and cute. Once again, Saber being a glutton is always welcomed! I also like the last scene when Shirou visit King Arthur's grave a sign of respect to Saber because they didn't exactly say goodbye to each other. It will feel very touching especially if you are a huge fan of the original Fate route. 

Oh yes, and Rin is bae!