HomeAnimeFate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (Film) | Anime Review

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (Film) | Anime Review

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When Fate/stay night was first released as a visual novel by Type-Moon in 2004, it was split into three separate arcs known as ‘Fate’, ‘Unlimited Blade Works’ and ‘Heaven’s Feel’; with each of which focusing on Shirou Emiya and a different heroine. These arcs were unlocked depending on choices made during the storyline, and greatly changed the fundamentals of key events that took place.

Anime adaptations of visual novels lend themselves to different storytelling approaches. If you have individual character arcs like CLANNAD or Little Busters! then it is sometimes possible to amalgamate them into one coherent storyline. But for Fate/stay night with three distinct arcs, the only realistic options were to either merge the three arcs into one and cut out a lot of content or stick with just one. Fortunately they chose the latter option, opting for the “Fate” route which ended up contributing to a decent anime that was much more newcomer friendly than the other two could have been in my opinion.

Although Ufotable is currently in the middle of doing a full-scale TV anime of the Unlimited Blade Works route, Studio Deen also reprised their roles as Fate/stay night animators in 2010 by doing a theatrical adaptation of this arc. It was an ambitious goal given the amount of source material on offer, and ultimately this ended up being the film’s downfall. In 107 minutes, viewers are treated to a truncated and somewhat rushed “highlight” version of the arc that will likely leave newcomers scratching their heads and those whose knowledge is solely based on the anime adaptation feeling like they still missed a lot of detail and refinement.

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The overarching concept behind Fate/stay night doesn’t differ between arcs. For several centuries, seven magi “Masters” and their partners of legend “Servants” have periodically come together to take part in a life-or-death battle known as the ‘Holy Grail War’. Those who possess the artifact known as the ‘Holy Grail’ will have their desired wish granted – but to claim it must eliminate the other six pairs. The war, that only took place ten years ago, has descended upon Fuyuki City once more. Young High School student and all-around do-gooder Shirou Emiya finds himself drawn into the war when he manages to unintentionally summon the hero classed as “Saber”. After being initially rescued by another Master by the name of Rin Tosaka who wields the Archer-class servant, the two decide to ally with each other against the other participants. This is all explained to the viewer at rapid pace in this movie, with approximately half of the Fate/stay Night TV anime being summarized in the first half hour.

There is a particular alteration to the events that take place which shifts the focus from Saber as per the TV anime and puts much more attention onto Rin and Archer. This causes a shift in the order of Masters/Servants faced, a change in the fate of each character and a completely different series of events that lead to a unique conclusion. The Unlimited Blade Works route goes with the theme “struggling with oneself as an ideal”, and particularly focuses on the different perceptions and ideals held by Shiro and Archer – for reasons you will see as you begin to watch. With little time to focus on romance; the more serious, darker and action-oriented tone leaves Unlimited Blade Works reminiscent of Fate/Zero. However it is still very rushed and needed a lot more time to deliver a storyline that can be fully enjoyed without the potential of leaving a viewer unnecessarily confused. Hopefully, the Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works TV anime can provide that extra depth.

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While there are downfalls with theatrical anime releases based off established franchises, most notably the time factor, production values tend to be considerably higher in comparison to its TV anime. This is fortunately the case with what Studio Deen have provided. While not straying too far from the design choices they made with the original TV anime, there was a greater emphasis on action scenes that were well animated, in addition to general animation and character/environment detail also receiving a noticeable improvement since 2006. Unlike North America which received a DVD and Blu-ray release, Australian anime publisher Madman Entertainment only opted for a DVD release. A shame had the potential to look great on the format.

Despite being dubbed several years after Geneon Entertainment published the TV anime, North American publisher Sentai Filmworks managed to reprise most of the original English voice cast. Being able to do this brought some familiarity rather than having to become acquainted to a whole new voice cast, and was a wise decision on their part. Even after more than half a decade, the cast manage to match their previous performances well. One of the only noticeable voice changes was Michelle Ruff taking over Kate Higgins as Saber, and managing to do the character justice. It was a shame that Aniplex of America’s English dub of Fate/Zero didn’t keep the consistency with Saber (Voiced by Kari Wahlgren), despite Ruff voicing other characters in the season.

Given that Sentai Filmworks can be pretty hit-or-miss in delivering extra content (From my usual experience either barely anything or a whole disc of extra content), it was surprising they managed to hit the middle-ground with this OVA release. On-disc extra content includes promotional videos, theatrical trailers/teasers/tv spots and TV commercials. Nothing particularly ground-braking, but better than nothing. Madman Entertainment’s release also comes with the usual assortment of (This time around for Fate/Stay Night Collection, Persona 4 the Animation, Shangri-La and Children Who Chase Lost Voices).

Since Ufotable’s TV anime adaptation of Fate/stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works is so readily available online, I strongly recommend following along with an official stream over the condensed film that isn’t entirely friendly to anyone who hasn’t read the original visual novel. That being said, if you don’t mind behing rushed through a story or just want a gist of what the “Unlimited Blade Works” route delivers… this isn’t a terrible alternative.

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.
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