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Old 11-09-2016, 05:16 PM   #501
Talon87
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Unlimited Blade Works Episodes 08 & 09:

Spoiler: show
Not too much to say, tbh. These are episodes to be watched, not rigorously discussed. More bridge stuff, more Act II of V. Rider dies, in what is certainly her most pathetic showing in the game. (HF > Fate > UBW.) Kirei sets Shinji up with a new Servant. (But who that Servant is exactly hasn't been revealed yet so I'll keep quiet.) Shirou learns how to swordfight at an alarming rate. And Nasu grapples with his inability to flesh out his amazing premises! :') All in a day's work for Fate/stay night.

FSN's writing is messy. One of the messiest things about it is the whole Archer class. All of them. (Spoilers through the 80% mark if I had to guess.)

Spoiler: show
The Archer from the fourth war. The Archer from the fifth war. And of course Shirou. Though to be fair, that's double dipping.

The problem with the Archer class is, all of its members in the main source material are more associated with swords than they are any real form of archery. Gilgamesh is all about his treasure trove (mostly swords, spears, halberds, and other non-bows or arrows!) and his ultimate weapon, Ea (a sword). Archer is an "archer" who uses swords for arrows (uh huh ...) and whose primary weapon of choice are the conjured-up black and white swords he's always using. And as for Shirou, we have this boy who was ostensibly a talented member of the school archery club (because archery, because he's Archer, because he has to be good at archery so we can make the connection) ... but who at the same time has for his Origin "Sword". Like, that is the thing. That is his whole identity. He is the sword guy. Which makes sense as a foundation for justifying why Shirou should have Unlimited Blade Works as a Noble Phantasm ... but makes absolutely no sense out of the path he takes to mastering swordsmanship. If this kid has had "Sword" as his Origin since, at the very least, the time he met Kiritsugu ten years ago, then it stands to reason that he should have picked up swordsmanship incredibly quickly as a boy. What is all this talk of, "I used to do kendo as a kid but Taiga was unreachable and I put it down"? Why are we supposed to accept/believe that this kid would've sucked at swords for ten years and then, only after meeting Saber, gotten good at swords in the span of two weeks!? It's absurd. I can buy the idea of Shirou as a sword savant who gets insanely good at swords insanely quickly (two weeks). What I can't buy is the idea that he already had prior exposure to swords far exceeding this same length of time (10 years >> 2 weeks!) and that he made almost no progress in that time despite exposure to multiple teachers. Either Saber is God's own gift to teaching swordsmanship or else this is -- you guessed it -- a logical inconsistency on Nasu's part. And again -- why should the "Sword" Origin boy wind up becoming an archery prodigy!? The only reason Shirou is any good at archery is to justify why he is the past version of Archer. That's it. It doesn't fit with any of the rest of the narrative. It doesn't work at all with his Origin, with his quick learning of how to fight with a sword, etc etc.

If you wanted him to be the past version of Archer, wouldn't it have made far more sense for Shirou's Origin to have been "Arrow"? Because his course is swift and true? Wouldn't it have made more sense for his Reality Marble, instead of being UBW, to have been something more closely related to a hail of arrows? Instead of "you're up against the infinite blade," wouldn't it make better sense for a boy destined to become a heroic Archer in the future to have cultivated a Reality Marble which symbolizes the special role that archery has in his life? "It's how I met my future wife, Sakura." "It's something I've always been really good at." Etc, etc.

The problem is, Nasu loves swords more than arrows. And I guess who doesn't? Famous bows are few and far between. But famous swords ...! Famous swords are everywhere. Everyone loves a good sword fight. There's no such thing as "a good archery fight." Archers take care of business from far away. They pick off their victims sniper-style. You don't really get duels in archery. Not unless it's archer vs. archer, sniper vs. sniper, and each one is trying to locate the other's position and take him out before being taken out.

The other problem is, there can only be one Saber. Nasu already had the (bright) idea of having King Arthur be his resident swordsman warrior. So what was he supposed to do with his other idea for a Servant who is the male protagonist's very own future self? Shelve it for the next game? Nah ... Let's just shoehorn him into an "Archer" class and be done with it! Same issue with Gil. Gil very clearly should've either been a contemporary Archer-class Servant with Saber or else a previous Saber-class incarnation that came before her. Nasu opted for the former, and that's fine, it's what we all know and love, but like ... if you're gonna have him be an Archer, make him an Archer. Don't say he's an archer and then say, "lolol, his 'archery' is him firing swords and lances out of a portal!" Yeah, okay. Also no: you just fucking copy-pasted 5th War Archer's schtick! Now we have two characters whose gimmick is that they fire swords and other weaponry as though they were arrows from a heavy-duty bow.

Finally, Shirou's Origin being "Sword" works better to explain why he has such a strong cosmic connection with Saber. It isn't just that Kiritsugu placed Avalon inside the boy. It isn't just that Saber was Kiritsugu's very own Servant ten years ago. It's that she's the knight-king who wielded the most famous sword in world history and he's the boy whose Origin dictates that he's the Sword Guy. It makes sense. Too much sense to have been abandoned. But then ... why insist on having Shirou be Past Archer? ^^; Why insist on having Archer be an Archer? ^^; Sigh-ugh. Ugh-sigh.

That massive wall of text aside, I really don't have much to say here. For first-time viewers, these episodes are really just advancing the plot bit by tiny bit. There's a lot to revisit (as I just did), but until you get to the future there's really not you can say here. They're kinda boring. ^^;
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Old 11-09-2016, 10:04 PM   #502
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 10:

Spoiler: show
Says he won't keep posting pictures. Then nothing but picture posts. What can I say. The animation is gorgeous and there are screenshots I'd like to share.

Episode 10 is a pretty good episode. A super-exciting one for first timers, I'm sure! We discover the identity of Caster's master, are in for a shocking surprise regarding the nature of his relationship with Caster, and get still more exciting developments from Shirou and Gil. Let's take these in turn, shall we?


Kuzuki Souichirou. The stern teacher at Shirou's school. It turns out that he is Caster's master. And given both his lifeless demeanor and Issei's deep admiration for the guy, Shirou is left to wonder: has Kuzuki-sensei fallen under a spell of Caster's? While a clear "yes" or "no" isn't on the table just yet, the episode does imply that Kuzuki is under no such spell: he helps Caster because he wants to. And while he didn't know about her soul-sucking activities, he isn't bothered by them either. After all ... he's a killer himself.

Kuzuki is one of the more interesting side character Masters in the franchise, imo. In some ways he bears a lot of similarities with Shirou. The Grail War fell into his lap. He doesn't fight for the sake of the Grail's wish-granting ability. And -- would this be a spoiler to say it at this point?

Spoiler: show
He's in love with his Servant, not unlike Fate-path Shirou.

Kuzuki is almost an amalgam of Shirou's and Kirei's personalities and histories. Insofar as he's an "evil Shirou", you could just as easily say he's a "noble Kirei." He's kind of weird like that.

I also like Nasu exploring the role reversal between Master and Servant in this one. One of Nasu's problems as a writer, I feel, is that he can sometimes be too ambitious for his own good. ^^; In laying down the groundwork for Fate/stay night, he then systematically proceeds to provide exceptions to each and every rule in the form of each and every Servant (and half the Masters!). "Servants are summoned from the Throne of Heroes ... except when they're not." "Servants are Heroic Spirits ... except when they're not." "Servants match their hero Classes ... except when they don't." And with Kuzuki-sensei and Caster, we have, "The Master is the master, the Servant the lapdog ... except for when the roles are reversed." In the Caster-Kuzuki pairing, Caster is the one wearing the Grail War pants while Kuzuki is her warrior on the frontlines, shielding her from harm. It actually works really, really well with this couple. We can believe that the Caster class would require protection (because every RPG has told us that Mages are squishy ). Kuzuki's frequent bodyguarding of Caster plays well into what I have to say in the spoiler box below. And Kuzuki is a killer, trained only in hand-to-hand combat. In the same sense that Star Wars distinguishes between "Force-sensitives", "Force users", and "Jedi", Nasu distinguishes between those who have latent magical abilities and practicing Magi. Kuzuki might be one such latent Magus, but what good does that do -- latent is latent, he's still no Magus. So if the only way he can be of any help in this fight is to be in the field, fighting, then that's what he'll do.

I especially love the relationship between Caster and Kuzuki-sensei. Unfortunately, I can't go into more detail about this just yet without spoiling newcomers. Come back to read this box when you've finished the story!

Spoiler: show
I love how the source material contains what the fandom has run away with and dialed up to 11 -- Caster's adorkable love for "Souichirou-sama" X3 and Kuzuki's stoically returned feelings. The part where Shirou is trying to get Kuzuki to snap out of it, and Caster goes, "Bouya ... "? You can just tell that she wants to wring his neck before he can spoil her wedding plans. Souichirou bids Caster to let the boy talk, however, which can be loosely construed as an order from Master to Servant. Caster has no choice but to obey. She stands there, cursing the gods, as Shirou explains to Souichirou that Caster is sucking the souls out of dozens of innocent people. ... To which Souichirou replies, "So?" You can just see Carnival Phantasm Caster going, "Huh? o.o", stunned speechless, followed by a "SOUICHIROU-SAMAAAAA! ^-^" as she glomps him.

So yes, the scene where Shirou explains to Kuzuki what Caster is doing ... also, the scene where Caster freaks that Saber is about to slice Kuzuki in two and flies to him (and what words she says X3) ... also, the scene where Kuzuki tells Caster to call off her attack and for them to return to Ryuudou Temple ... all of this, I love it so much. It's good stuff. It's like ... I know it shouldn't be surprising to me, but it's like discovering that all of the Carnival Phantasm and greater fandom goodness was in the source material all along, just draped in more serious clothing. Ah, it's so good.


Not to be outdone, Shirou's got some surprises for us this episode too! First-timers get to discover that Shirou isn't just capable of Reinforcement magic -- he can perform Projection magic too. The problem is, his Projection magic was relatively useless to his hobby-career of fix-it-upper. After all, what would you rather have if a motorbike part breaks down -- Shirou to replace the broken part with a Reinforced new part that lasts, or Shirou to replace the broken part with a Projected (conjured) part that vanishes within minutes to hours?

Shirou's decision to conjure the mysterious swords used by Archer continues the plot thread of Shirou and Archer having a lot in common. Saber's already remarked on Shirou's decision to emulate Archer's fighting style, but now the boy opts to mimic his weaponry too. Kinda funny considering how often they butt heads.

Mild spoiler below, honest to God. If it's not discussed in the next two to four episodes it'll probably never be discussed by the show:

Spoiler: show
I was kinda surprised that this is the first time in the game, or at least in the UBW path, that Shirou's ability to use Projection was discussed. Needless to say we've seen him do the whole "TRACE, ON!" thing a dozen times before now, but still. The way I remember this ability of Shirou's being first introduced in the game was when, during the early chapters, he's in the shed at home trying to train ... and it's revealed that every morning he Projects his Magic Circuit anew. (Rin will later comment on this, so I'll hold off on further discussion for now.) The fact that Rin is only just now discovering that Shirou can use Projection ... I guess it's the disconnect between what the semi-omniscient audience knows and what the in-universe characters know.

I thought this scene was done very well. The animation was majestic, appropriately so. The music was wonderful, one of the newcomer's first original tracks that holds up to Kajiura Yuki's tracks from Fate/Zero. It was just a great scene overall.


Finally, it's revealed this episode that the Servant whom Kirei has hooked Shinji up with is none other than Gil. Well would you look at that ...

The episode wastes no time showing that Gil clearly doesn't care for Shinji (aside from occasional perverse amusement) and that Shinji fails to understand their relative positions. That hand on the shoulder ...!

Even as someone who's played all three VN paths and seen the Deen anime, the Deen UBW movie, and Fate/Zero, I had a hard time deciphering Gil's vague talk about what he wants to achieve. I think I get it, but ... I'm not entirely sure ... (Safe only for people at the very end of the story.)

Spoiler: show
Is he referencing the presence of more than one king in this Grail War? Is he alluding to the fact that he still wants Saber to be his slave-bride?

Alternatively, is he somehow already aware of Archer and/or Shirou's Unlimited Blade Works? He is referring to the fact that there's more than one person in this timeline trying Gate of Babylon-esque shenanigans and there's only room for one?

The attention to the Matou basement and the dickworms ... you can just tell that ufotable is eager to animate Heaven's Feel. Funny, though, that it's taken them this long to even give us the first of three planned movies ... I sure do hope we get them all within an 18-month span!
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Old 11-12-2016, 01:10 PM   #503
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Unlimited Blade Works Episodes 11 & 12:

Spoiler: show
The mid-series season finale! But first, a few quick words about 11:

Spoiler: show
This episode was pretty "meh, waste of time :\" feeling even to me who a) likes romance and b) gets to watch the episodes as quickly as he likes to. I imagine it was hugely frustrating back when it aired. ^^;

The highlight of the episode is without a doubt the scene in the shed towards the end of the episode. Unfortunately, first-timers are unlikely to understand the significance of the scene and so I have to go into yet another spoiler box to discuss it, even if only briefly. Don't click unless you've completed UBW:

Spoiler: show
The scene hugely foreshadows, if not downright gives away, that Archer is none other than a future version of Shirou. Knowing that he's Shirou, the scene is amusing and enjoyable. But for those who don't know Archer's identity, I can't imagine this scene was anything special. Just ... Archer somehow fixing a problem in Shirou's arm/back. ^^;

Episode 12 was another two-parter, the third in this series' unorthodox run. The first third of the episode features Rin, Shirou, and Saber sharing in a recreational outing Rin relishes in labeling a date. The second third features the group being ambushed by Caster and Shirou ultimately losing Saber to her. The final third starts us off in Rin's mansion, later takes us to the church on the hill, and concludes with a scene shared between Rin and Shirou atop Rin's favorite skyscraper at night.

The dating third? That first third, with Rin, Shirou, and Saber having a picnic and going into the batting cage and stuff? It felt like a stupid waste of time. And the only thing keeping me from hating it more was the faintest recollection, one so faint I'm not even sure I'm not just making memories up, of the batting cage scene and its aftermath from when I played/read the visual novel. I really don't have much else to say here -- I think it's a waste of time, but I suppose ufotable felt differently since it 1) humanizes Rin some, 2) lends some fuel to the Shirou x Rin fire, and 3) gives us our last, heartfelt look at the happy days of Shirou 'n' Saber before Saber falls victim to the Witch of Colchis.


The middle third took me quite by surprise. While I've been waiting for "THE SCENE WHERE CASTER USES RULE BREAKER ON SABER" all season long, when I finally got it I hardly recognized it. Made for TV much? I mean ...
  • In the visual novel, the fight takes place at Chez Emiya, I am almost positive. But here in the anime, it takes place in closed space [/haruhi] in the vicinity of none other than the bridge going over the Mion River.
  • I do not remember the fight taking place inside any closed space. I remember it being in normal space.
  • I do not remember the fight taking place near the bridge. As I said before, I remember it taking place at the Emiya household.
  • I don't remember Fuji-nee being involved. At all.
  • I don't remember Shirou blowing his last Command Spell on Saber and simultaneously Caster getting control over Saber via Rule Breaker. On the contrary, I remember Shirou "losing his Command Crest" to Caster ... which is shown, but only after he's already spent his last Command Spell.
Things like the last bullet point, I'm sure I could just be misremembering / having a hazy memory on. After all, the last time I played UBW I want to say it was 2009. Give a guy a break for not remembering the nitty gritty details of a story he only read once seven years ago. :p But things like Fuji-nee's involvement ... or like the fight taking place at the bridge ... those things I'm sure are the result of made-for-TV changes to the plot.

Which is really, really strange coming from this studio at this time. Because up until now, ufotable's Unlimited Blade Works' whole claim to fame has been, "Hey: at least we're faithful. At least we're a faithful adaptation of the source material." Few cuts. No changes. Warts and all, all of Nasu's writing is on display here. That's UBW 2014. And yet now, suddenly, the studio decides to go ahead and make shit up on their own. I've no doubt they had Nasu in the room there with them when they made the changes, that he signed off on them and perhaps even asked for them, feeling them necessary or something ... But that still doesn't change the fact that for me as a VN player they came out of nowhere and were incredibly distracting as a result. Not to mention I just plain didn't like them. The changes, I mean. I could have gone for good changes, but these changes just felt dumb. Why involve Fuji-nee when she doesn't need to be involved, and now you've placed her in a one-week coma? Why make Shirou forfeit Saber to Caster of his own volition rather than having Caster tactically steal Saber right from under Shirou's nose? Why have Saber defy Shirou and seek a way out, only for Shirou to "NO F YOU, BITCH!" her and use a Command Spell on her? It just ... I ... ... ... no! ^^; I don't like it. I like the VN's version better. (Or at least: how I remember the VN going.)


The final third of the episode contains three different scenes we'll tackle in turn: Shirou at Rin's mansion, Caster at the church, and Shirou atop the skyscraper.

The mansion scene is pretty good. Hard to discuss with newcomers without spoiling, and not much to say to veteran viewers other than to express my excitement. Lovingly animated, the scene is a joy to watch. I feel like this is the point where most astute first-timers will start to have the light bulb go off in their heads ... While it's not as though previous episodes haven't had any evidence leading up to this hypothesis, it's this scene in Episode 12 which I think anchors the hypothesis for many.

The church scene was interesting. It's the second made-for-TV change this episode. In the game (iirc), you don't witness Caster decide to move from Ryuudou Temple to the church. You don't see her have a conversation with Kirei. You don't see the two fight. In the game, I don't even remember how it's explained (or if it even is), it's just ... one second we've lost Saber to Caster, and the next second we're trying to get her back at the church. I suspect that Nasu felt this was a plot hole (or rather, a plot absence) in his original book and he wanted it plugged. The effort is appreciable given his probable intentions, but it falls a little flat in its execution. Seeing Kirei fight Caster is sort of like seeing Yoda use a lightsaber for the first time. You wanted to see it, but now that you get to see it it kinda doesn't hold up to what you had hoped for. ^^;

Finally, the skyscraper scene. I don't have too much to say here about the scene itself. Rather, I want to discuss where Season 1 ends. Because I was surprised that the story ended here! Ending here, this early, rather than the later scene where

Spoiler: show
Archer defects to Team Caster

... I have always thought of that moment as the turning point in the story. In fact, I feel like it's the perfect place to end the season. So I'm slightly confused that they didn't try to hold out for just one more episode, that they didn't try for just one more two-parter, just so they could squeeze that scene in and have the first season end there. The decision to end the season where they did was probably fine for first-time viewers watching the show as it aired, but for veteran viewers it just feels like a very strange place to pause for three months. You're so close. Just a few more steps ...
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Old 11-12-2016, 01:49 PM   #504
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 13:

Spoiler: show
Here it is! The episode that I thought would have rounded out last season! Why they decided to save it for the season opener of S2, I have no idea. As a season opener, it's top-heavy and too midpoint/turning-point feeling. It's the very reason it works so well, would have worked so well, as a season finale. To hell with broadcast dates and OPs and EDs: if someone asks me where UBW 2014's halfway point is, I'm going to say "after Episode 13," not "after Episode 12."

This episode has three massive highlights. Let's take them each in turn.


Rin discovers that Shirou has her ruby pendant. She asks how he came to have it. Without answering, Shirou returns it to her, explaining that he already has one just like it at home. The ruby pendant, from when Rin saved Shirou's life after he was fatally skewered by Lancer ...

This is one of the best scenes in the story, partly because it's the moment where Rin figures it all out and partly because it's the moment where most fans begin to ask, "Just what is going on here!?"


The infamous "sexy Saber" / "BDSM bridal gown Saber" scene. The anime handles it as tastefully as possible. Like the game (and not at all like the fandom ), the anime doesn't really investigate Caster's actions.

Caster continues to try to keep secrets from Kuzuki -- it's in her nature -- and Kuzuki continues to reveal that he's already well aware of these things. Given Caster's true identity (see below), it's interesting to watch how things play out between her and Kuzuki. If it were not clear already, I feel like Episode 13 pretty much reveals (and allows me to discuss without spoiler tagging) that Caster has genuine feelings of love towards Kuzuki. And given who she is, and her history with past loves, it's no wonder she would strive so meticulously to keep secrets from Kuzuki -- not because she wants to, not because she wants that sort of relationship with a husband, but because she has been burned before by husbands who found out the truth.

"The Princess of Colchis" ... This episode does the audience two favors, revealing both Caster's identity and the apparent reason for her bone-themed familiars. Medea, the tragic heroine(?) from the tale of Jason and the Argonauts, the princess who sold out her country (or rather, gave away her country's prized possession, the Golden Fleece) in exchange for love, only to be betrayed by Jason upon their return to his home. Archer apparently figures out who Caster is thanks to the dragon bones -- yes, I guess that's what we were supposed to tell they were -- as Medea, I guess, was known for using dragon bones to perform her magic.


Archer's betrayal of Rin. This for me is the turning point in the story, the demarcation between Before and After, between UBW Part I and UBW Part II. First-time viewers, you're in for a ride. Returning viewers, I'm sure you're as delighted to press on as I am.

Archer's betrayal is made all the more curious by the episode's earlier scene in which Archer, without any signs of deceit, lays heavy compliments on Rin. In fact, he all but confesses that he likes women like Rin. It is curious, then, why a Servant who did not seem to dislike his Master would, only hours later, cruelly betray her and very much risk costing her her life. (Because way to go, dude, brokering for terms of your alliance after Caster has already used Rule Breaker on you. ) I can't say more for now. We'll revisit this scene several times in the future, I'm sure.

And then we have the iconic "a boy and a girl, stripped naked of their powers, all they have in this world is each other" scene on the hill at night. Rin all but confesses to Shirou. Shirou does confess to Rin. Rin is determined not to give up on the Grail. Shirou is determined to protect Rin. But the question is ... how? How will they do it? Where do they go from here? And with those lingering questions, our episode ends.

See, this is why I think this episode would have made such a good season finale. 'Cause you'd have all that inter-season hype talk about things like Archer's betrayal, about how Shirou and Rin seem to be so utterly boned, about the various possible ways they could still make a comeback, etc, etc. New fans would be chewing on the ruby pendant, wondering what it was that Rin realized ... Returning fans would be eagerly awaiting the arrival of a certain ally. It's just a good place to put things down for a few months while you animate the rest of the episodes.
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Old 11-12-2016, 02:09 PM   #505
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Spoiler: show
Quote:
In the visual novel, the fight takes place at Chez Emiya, I am almost positive. But here in the anime, it takes place in closed space [/haruhi] in the vicinity of none other than the bridge going over the Mion River.
I do not remember the fight taking place inside any closed space. I remember it being in normal space.
I do not remember the fight taking place near the bridge. As I said before, I remember it taking place at the Emiya household.
I don't remember Fuji-nee being involved. At all.
I don't remember Shirou blowing his last Command Spell on Saber and simultaneously Caster getting control over Saber via Rule Breaker. On the contrary, I remember Shirou "losing his Command Crest" to Caster ... which is shown, but only after he's already spent his last Command Spell.
It did take place at the Emiya Household, but it wasn't really a battle so much as Caster holding Taiga hostage and demanding Shirou give over Saber iirc. But Fuji-nee was definitely involved, I do remember that much.

The batting cage / date thing was also in the visual novel, because I remember the baseball Rin CG from it.

The talk with Kirei may have happened, I don't remember. I'd have to replay it in order to remember.
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Old 11-13-2016, 10:45 PM   #506
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 14:

Spoiler: show
BEST. MADE-FOR-TV EPISODE. EVER!

Haha, okay, that may be a bit too high of praise. But man. Man. This episode showed so much of the stuff that happens behind the scenes around this part of the story, and it was so good!


The story of how Caster was summoned into the 5th Holy Grail War. This story is present in the game, but only sort of: it's alluded to in pure text, expositionally, and we don't get very many details. We know that Caster's original master was a man. We know he was a cruel man. We know he beat Caster. We know Caster killed him even if it meant self-annihilation. And we know that Kuzuki found her, took her home -- d'aww, little lost kitten :3 -- and that that's the beginning of both Caster's Servant-Master relationship with Kuzuki as well as her feelings towards him.

The anime does a fine job of adding some meat to this story's bones. First and foremost, it shows us the story. That's a nice plus. We get to see the guy's physical appearance. We get to see the sort of company he keeps. We get to see what sort of magus he is. So on and so forth. Keeping in spirit with the notion that "the Master matches the Servant," it's nice to see that this original master is sort of like an Asshole Jason (not that the undoctored story of Medea is particularly kind to Jason either ^^; ). While he looks Nasu Middle Eastern rather than Mediterranean or Nasu Mediterranean, the regions are close enough geographically to call one another to mind when we see the guy. He's got a harem chamber that positively looks like it was plucked straight out of an Elizabeth Taylor Cleopatra-style film. And as for his end, well, it's just plain fitting that this guy would summon a woman like Medea and wind up suffering a fate not unlike her victims in Greek mythology.

The anime has also been doing a very nice job of retconning(? Or perhaps I just don't remember the original evidence well enough) Caster as a nice lady who doesn't like to sacrifice human lives unless she has to. This was hinted at earlier in UBW 2014 when they pointed out that her Fuyuki City victims haven't been fully drained of their mana, they're just comatose, and that Caster could have fully drained them had she wanted to. It's been pointed out again throughout the show whenever she and Archer engage in conversation. Just a lot of subtle little signs that she's not evil.

... Which is interesting, because ... if I recall correctly, Caster's canon alignment in the games is Neutral Evil. So why would Nasu write her (if originally) / retcon her (if not originally) to be good if ... if she's supposed to be evil? It doesn't make any sense. In fact, it makes me think about Gilgamesh and his retarded "Chaotic Good" alignment! Allow me to approach it from several different angles. One of which has slight spoilers (including a Heroic Spirit identity) from Heaven's Feel, so ...
Spoiler: show
Comparison with Rider: One might argue that the tragic figure of Medea was originally good but transformed into an evil wretch following wrongs she suffered in life. This has parallels with Medusa, who was a good woman with lovely hair before her sisters were murdered and she became the snake-haired, petrifying Gorgon we all know today. Medusa had been good before she was turned to evil, but she is evil now and that's all that matters. Same thing with Medea, right? ... Wrong! Because Rider is said to be Chaotic Good! So how come Rider gets to be Chaotic Good despite being slain as the wicked Gorgon, despite being remembered by millennia of people as the wicked Gorgon, but poor Aphrodite-victim Medea gets summoned and is labeled as "Neutral Evil"? If Rider can be Good, then I fail to see why Medea can't be also.

On the basis of Caster's present-day actions: Let's say it's not even about others' actions and their rankings. Let's say we have to judge Caster purely off of her own deeds. Fine. What has Caster done to make her "evil"? She ...
  • stole the Golden Fleece because Aphrodite blinded her with a god-tier love spell
  • slew her brother because Aphrodite " " " " " " " "
  • set fire to Jason's wedding hall, killing his bride-to-be and all in attendance save Jason, because Jason had forsaken Medea for a new wife
  • dies
  • gets summoned into the Grail War
  • frees a bunch of innocent slave girls from her cruel Master's clutches
  • kills her cruel Master
  • drains people of their life force, but doesn't do so completely -- only siphons off just enough to survive, and leaves the victims in comatose states from which they can eventually recover
  • steals Saber because she likes cute things Also, she wants to win the Grail war
Like ... am I missing something? So far she's only killed one person, and the one person she's killed was an A-level asshole who was blending peasant girls into blood smoothies. So remind me again: why exactly is Caster "evil"?
One last thing before we move on ... While I am glad for what we got this episode, I do wish we got more of those delicious origin story-style flashbacks that Fate/Zero graced us with. Lancer's memories (as witnessed by Kayneth) are still one of my favorite, Top-10-list scenes from all of Fate/Zero. It's such a good scene ... So well done ... I just wish that we had had more like it even in Fate/Zero. So far UBW 2014's been pretty sparse on such details, but given what the past few episodes have been showing me -- namely, that ufotable isn't afraid to make some made-for-TV changes to the script -- I would love to see some flashback scenes before our major characters die this time around. I understand not doing one for Rider (this is the path in which she is punked hardest and shows up the least), but I would certainly hope that we might get to see one for Caster (showing how she met Jason, how she sailed back to his kingdom, how she set fire to his wedding hall), and I'll be happy to get ones for Berserker and Lancer as well. We'll see. Not holding my breath , but it'd be such a delight to receive.


The behind-the-scenes look at Shinji's and Gilgamesh's arrival at Castle Einzbern, leading up to the fight in the entrance hall where our heroes (and us VN players) first catch sight of them fighting. This was a pretty great scene to have fan-wise, but man oh man if it didn't make me pull sad faces constantly. D: Because here we get to see how Leysritt and Sella die. And little is spared for the viewer, just the exact moments of death for both women.

I really like what ufotable is doing here. First the scene with Caster's original Master, then the scene showing how Gil gets into the fight with Berserker ... These scenes are all in the original game yet happen "off screen" and thus are not in the game, so to speak. They're not made-for-TV content ... and yet they are. It's a safe territory to explore, sure, but a welcome one and a fun one. I like it when it's done right. And it's done right here very well. Unlike my complaints the previous episode where they changed things for TV, here they're not changing anything: they're giving us something. It reminds me a lot of the best scene in the entirety of the Deen FSN anime -- when Archer fights Berserker in the Fate path. That scene too, like these ones here, is both "in the game" (in that it happens) and yet is also "not in the game" (in that we don't get to see any of it; the last we see of Archer is as our trio of heroes runs out the castle's front door).


Very sad to watch Leysritt and Sella die though. Well voice-acted. Wonderfully animated.
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Old 11-14-2016, 12:48 AM   #507
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 15:

Spoiler: show
This episode. :')

Like Shirou, I always choose the Ilya path. And so like Shirou, UBW is always painful for me -- as it's without a doubt the worst path with respect to Ilya. Not only does she show up the least, but more importantly -- her death is beyond tragic. It takes a heart stonier and colder than Berserker's skin to watch this episode and not become a member of the Ilya Fan Club. But yeah ... yeah ... I've been both looking forward to and dreading this episode for over two years now. And now, I've finally seen it.


The animation was really great this episode. Also: so much Ilya. :3 Too bad now there's no more Ilya ... :\ You can tell, though, that the animators are also members of the Ilya Fan Club. Lots and lots and lots of wonderful animation cels this episode.

I always enjoy seeing and hearing Berserk-mode Ilya. She's normally this docile, soft-voiced girl, so seeing her face contort into such an expression of rage and hearing her shriek, it's like ... You know that shit's getting real!


This episode continues the trend of made-for-TV additions and changes to the original script. Some of these additions or changes I liked. Others, I was less enthusiastic about.

Let's start off with the "Irisviel" (read: corrupted Greater Grail) cameo. I wasn't the biggest fan of this one. ^^; I'm all for showing the pain and the hurt of Ilya's parentless childhood. And since Fate/Zero had previously established an almost telepathic link between mother and daughter, you could argue that it would've been remiss of Nasu to not incorporate some sort of communication between Ilya and her mother during the years between Wars 4 and 5. There's just one problem ... The corrupted grail isn't her mother. ^^; And while I get that that's what's supposed to be cool and creepy -- "Omg, the Grail hijacked Iri's likeness and telepathy powers and is polluting Ilya's mind with lies about Kiritsugu!" -- it just feels inappropriate to me. It's hard to pinpoint all of the subtle things I dislike about it in words ... One of the less subtle ones I can think of, and can easily put into words, is that we already had Acht in the original story for the Kiritsugu hating. What I mean by that is, Ilya seems to really hate Kiritsugu come the start of the 5th Grail War, right? Well, it's explained (or if not explained then heavily suggested) that Acht is the one who put those ideas in her head. Told her Kiritsugu was a piece of shit, told her he'd abandoned them, etc. After all, it's Acht who's placed a magical barrier around the castle, barring Kiritsugu from re-entry. So we don't really need "Corrupted Iri" to explain this part of the story. Acht's already got it covered.


There were some things I "liked" about ufotable's depiction of Ilya's later childhood. As sad as it is to see and consider, I did like how they showed her bedroom going from one that looks like the nursery of a human child whose parents know no lack of love nor fortune -- allllll the stuffed animals, alllllll the toys -- to a cold, bleak room that no longer even has a bed in it, much less toys and dollies. Not even a fire in the fireplace, that poor child ...


And I "liked" how they showed her transformation into a living Magic Circuit, the pain and suffering that she was subjected to ...


The next big made-for-TV change was having Ilya communicate with all the homonculi, past and present, in an artistic blend of lucidity and insanity. I liked the look of this scene. Very beautiful. I'm still not sure how I interpret this scene though, much less able to judge whether I liked it or not.


There's of course the famous "Berserker slays wolves and saves Ilya" scene, one which was only roughly depicted in the visual novel. Here, we get to see it in all its full glory. In fact, the famous picture of Berserker and Ilya standing together was perhaps the least pretty part of this scene. ufotable really made this scene look and feel special. I was shocked when they had the wolves actually biting her! I mean, I realize she has to get bloody somehow, but I always figured it was wolf's blood that was staining her body because she was within the "blast radius" as Berserker pulped them with his sword slab of stone. ^^; I never imagined the wolves actually began eating her. Holy shit, that was intense! Even though I knew she must survive the incident and in good health!


Finally, we have the famous blinding scene. Or rather ...
  1. Berserker gets ensnared by Enkidu.
  2. Ilya is blinded by Gilgamesh.
  3. Ilya {spoilers that are waiting for us at the top of Episode 16} by Gilgamesh.
1, 2, 3: I place these three events together, the horrifying conclusion to Ilya's worst path-run in the game. ufotable surprised me by having Ilya's eyes appear to be closed the entire time. Audiences will figure out that she's been blinded given her subsequent behavior and the fact that this style of depicting blindness is so common in animation, but I really don't see why they didn't go for the full shock factor and show the gashes in her eyes. Whatever. Glad they didn't. Muh poor Ilya ...

Maybe it's the game text and maybe it's just how I've always envisioned it, but I thought in the game Ilya is on her hands and knees as she's feeling around for Berserker. The anime made it seem like she's standing on her two legs at first and that then, after she gets fatally stabbed by Gil, she death-crawls towards him. No panicked fumbling around on the ground as I always imagined it. "I like mine better ", I guess, but I thought ufotable's was fine too.
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Old 11-14-2016, 11:54 AM   #508
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 16:

Spoiler: show
Here it is! :> The episode where Lancer becomes the kids' new Servant!

This was one of my and Yuki's favorite parts of the game. You don't really get to know Lancer very well in Fate, and he's always presented as a lower-tier enemy. Now here in UBW, not only is he now our ally but he's also going to have to be a lot stronger, we hope, or else our heroes are done for. So just wait and see. It's gonna be good.

I was surprised by how quickly we advanced from "Lancer joins the team" to "Lancer squares off against Archer." It's not that I remember there being a lot more material in between. It's just that ... I don't remember the time delay being so little. I felt like we got to hang around with Lancer quite a bit more before we went to the church. Oh well. Hazy memories from seven years prior, I guess.

I was also surprised by what scene jumped out at us from seemingly out of nowhere at the end of the episode: Rin tells Shirou about the pendant. Specifically, she informs him that there's only one like it and that the one she's showing him right now is the one that Archer scooped up off the school floor and returned to her. But wait a second ... If Archer scooped the ruby pendant off of the school floor, then how come it was still there when Shirou awoke? And obviously Shirou picked that pendant up and took it home with him. Remember:
  • Shirou finds a ruby pendant in a treasure box in the bedroom at Tohsaka's.
  • He pockets it for whatever reason.
  • He then later returns it to Rin, and states that he already has one "just like it" at home, from the night when he was stabbed by Lancer.
  • So now Rin has this ruby pendant that Shirou found in the bedroom ...
  • But she tells Shirou, "Shirou, this is the pendant from the school floor. Archer picked it up and returned it to me."
  • But how can that be? Rin says the pendant is a one-of-a-kind ...
  • And we saw Shirou pick the pendant up off the floor and take it home with him ...
There are yet multiple different ways to explain this situation, so I'll stop here and leave it to you, First Timer, to try and figure it out. Have fun.

I don't have too much else to say about this episode. On to 17!
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Old 11-14-2016, 04:21 PM   #509
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 17:

Spoiler: show
And so our tale comes to an end. :') Well ... sort of. We're not quite done yet. In fact, I'm rather surprised by just how many episodes we have left. O_o But this is pretty much the end of the Caster subplot -- a "subplot" I rather consider to be one of two main plots in the path.

First things first, let's discuss Lancer vs. Archer. This went by a lot faster in the anime than I remember it feeling like in the game. But I guess that's action for you. Action's always fast-paced in visual media. Still, it was beautifully animated. I feel like Rho Aias could have been a little better depicted, as it felt a little too hazy/hard to make out due to all of the intense energy. Still, it is what it is -- a Noble Phantasm shield. Pretty neat, huh?

I dislike that Lancer quits fighting once he's "beaten" Archer and can tell that it was Archer's plan all along to trick Caster such that Rin could reach an advantageous position. Like, I get that Lancer is a noble warrior and all, but c'mon: it reeks of plot contrivance on Nasu's part when these Servants keep sparing one another's lives.

I love all of the talking they do with regard to Ců Chulainn's past life. Most of it comes in the tiniest of snippets, but it's still nice. I appreciate the references to how he got his name, to his master Scáthach, etc.


On to the second half of the episode. Caster's death is sad for me. I know she's billed as this "Neutral Evil" witch, but like ... she was just a woman in love who wanted to go home. She's a tragic character. I feel bad for Caster. Her goodbye moment to Kuzuki is one of the most touching scenes in the game, I feel. And while elf ears aren't a personal fetish of mine, I think it's kinda cute to see that she looks like what she does once the hood comes off. The blue eyes, the elf ears, the soft complexion ... She looks pretty adorable.

I don't remember the specifics of Kuzuki's death that well from the game. I assume the anime was game-faithful. But in that case ... Man is Kuzuki's death stupid/pointless. "I have to see it through to the end ... I have to finish what I started ..." Dude ... YOU ALREADY LOST. If you're gonna kill yourself then go ahead and literally kill yourself. Don't charge into Archer like that. It was super pathetic to watch. It also makes little sense when you think about Shirou's performance in the remainder of this story going forward vs. his performance versus Kuzuki up 'til now. 'Cause like ... if Shirou can hold his own against {people}, and if Shirou gets punked by Kuzuki, then why the hell is Kuzuki so utterly punked by Archer? Nasu writing. Gotta hate it love it. :')

Archer's betrayal-within-a-betrayal is kinda amusing and kinda silly. ^^; I mean, it makes sense going forward. But I feel bad for first-timers who are probably sitting here wondering what the fuck Archer's agenda is.

"Trace ... on" ... Archer says these words this episode. I wouldn't even bring attention to them but for the fact that Shirou does so himself. Kinda hard not to notice! ^^; So what is going on here? Have you figured it out yet?

Disappointed we didn't get a Caster backstory scene (with Colchis and its people, with Jason and the other Argonauts, etc.), but like I said I'm not surprised that we didn't get it. It's not in the original source material. It just would've been a nice addition, is all.

Convenient plot hole that Caster doesn't bother to freeze Rin or any of the others in space the way she does Archer at Ryuudou Temple.

Rin beating Caster with her fists is a cute concept, but Rin should have never stood a chance of getting within striking distance as written.
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Old 11-14-2016, 07:44 PM   #510
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 18:

Spoiler: show
As a returning viewer, this was a good little bridge episode. But I can recognize how for first-time viewers, this episode would've been huge. It provides confirmation of one big surprise, long suspected by this point, and introduces out of nowhere a second big surprise. (Fair warning: I discuss the identity of Archer several paragraphs below without use of a spoiler tag. If you still haven't figured it out, back out of this post now and you can come back to read it later once you've figured it out.)

Let's discuss the second one first. Rin forges a contract with Saber, and now Saber becomes Rin's Servant going forward. Pretty cool, huh? I remember being really surprised by this when I first saw it happen in the game. Couldn't believe that something like this would ever happen. Saber becoming a villain's puppet is one thing, Saber becoming a good guy's is another ... but Saber specifically becoming Tohsaka Rin's is quite a third! Rin always wanted a Saber-class Servant. Well now she's got one.

Once again sticking with the "the Servant suits the Master" idea, we have two women who are bound by one common desire -- to prevent Emiya Shirou from coming to harm.

I thought this part was animated really nicely. Most of the show has been, honestly. It's a very pretty production.


Now for the older surprise: Archer is none other than Emiya Shirou. While they still haven't stated that yet, it has all but been stated given what all they say this episode. Specifically there is Rin's comment about how a Servant can be summoned from the future (not just the past or present) and how it's even possible that a Servant summoned from the future could be summoned to a time and place from his or her own past. And they show us familiar scenery from Fuyuki City while she's saying this. It's pretty obvious at this point. So much so I'm done with spoiler tagging it and ready to ask the first-timers reading: did you figure it out in time?

In addition to learning Archer's identity, we also get to see the titular namesake of this series: Unlimited Blade Works, Archer's Reality Marble. Visually striking, this episode doesn't do much to show off what it can do. We just get to see the desolate landscape and the enormous Clock Tower-like gears.

I love the plot twist moment when Rin is like, "A Reality Marble? But then wouldn't that mean ...!?" And Archer's all, "Why, yes ... the truth is, I'm neither ideally suited to be an archer or a swordsman ... you see, in my former life ... I was a magus." Not only does this pour further fuel onto the first-timers' fire of "HOLY SHIT, ARCHER IS SHIROU! " but more importantly it shows just how well-rounded of a warrior Archer really is. Good enough in archery to fulfill the Archer class's requirements, he can also hold his own in a swordfight with some of the war's best as well as perform magical feats which many Servants could not. Think about it for a second. Does Berserker ever cast magic spells? Does Saber? Not all Servants' Heroic Spirits were capable of magecraft in life. King Arthur, for instance, isn't exactly known for being magically gifted, even if he is known for keeping company the greatest wizard who ever lived. Arthur may have high magic resistance, but that's not the same thing as "he can cast a spell to shield his master from harm" or "he can cast a spell to heal himself." Contrast this with Archer. The dude can summon any weapon he fancies. He can see kilometers away thanks to his enhanced vision. He has this Reality Marble ... Archer really is a great Heroic Spirit, even if he doesn't seem so.


The writing for this part of the story is filled with more contrivances and Nasu plot holes. It's unfortunate. But let's not turn a blind eye to them either ...

Why should Archer pause when he hears Rin beginning to forge a pact with Saber? He's about to kill Shirou but he stops what he's doing and allows them to re-energize Saber. Why. If his goal really is to kill Emiya Shirou, then he should quit putzing about and do it already.

Why does UBW end so early? Archer keeps saying 1) he has enough magical energy to persist for two days and 2) his one and only goal at this point is the annihilation of Emiya Shirou. So don't give me this bullshit defense for Nasu of, "Well maybe he cut the UBW short because he's running low on mana ..." OH PLEASE! He has them right where he wants them. They haven't figured out how his UBW works yet. He should pour all he has into the attack and just kill them already. He mentions how he could conjure up an Excalibur and kill all four of them with it ... so why doesn't he do that, then, if his only care in the world is killing Shirou? This one I'm most willing to forgive Nasu for, because you could say it's not a plot hole at all -- it's evidence that Archer is being dishonest (even with his own self) and that he has other aims here besides settling the score with his naive past self.

When the group comes out of UBW, Archer is absconding with Rin. Saber and Shirou stop him with words. He stops for a bit. He explains he's out of mana. He tells Saber that this means he wouldn't be able to put up a very good fight. They just stand there like idiots while he says all this. And then he leaves with Rin in tow. ... What the hell, guys. What are you doing? Why are you letting this madman just run away with your waifu / new Master when all it'd take is an attack from the newly-energized Saber to take him down? He threatens, "If you come after me, I'll kill Rin!" Oh pish posh. If he was gonna kill Rin he would've already done it by now. Speaking of, and deserving its own paragraph ...

Why did he trap Rin within a ring of swords instead of killing her outright? He had no problem skewering Caster with his hail of sword-arrows. So why not kill Rin the same way? Why only imprison her? Again, this one we could chalk up as not being a "plot hole" so much as it being proof that Archer isn't being entirely honest. We'll revisit such points later in the story. But still, for right now, it just feels dumb, even to me who has played the game before and knows what's up ahead.
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Old 11-14-2016, 09:28 PM   #511
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 19:

Spoiler: show
Exposition!

Yeah, I can see why this episode might've been a huge disappointment to weekly viewers. You're champing at the bit, eager to see the Archer vs. Shirou duel ... and instead the episode ends with the lead-in to that fight rather than beginning with it.

But I enjoyed it just fine! A, because I'm not beholden to the same limitations as you weekly broadcast viewers were. And B, because I enjoy the story -- and what is the drama of UBW without its story? It's not all about the battles, after all. It's also about the ideas and philosophies Nasu explores.

This is one time where playing the visual novel is a huge advantage over watching the anime. It's a pain in the ass to constantly have to pause and rewind a few seconds so you can re-read something that glazed your eyes over. Eventually, you quit doing it. And then you miss out on a ton of information. Versus reading a book, where the text is still there for you, on screen, and you can just as easily go back and re-read a line you glazed over as you could press on to the next one. You can read at your own pace, you're not held hostage by the speed with which the voice actor delivers his lines.

That stated, ufotable tried to keep it entertaining, I could tell. They deliberately cut between the Shirou-Saber-Archer scene and the Rin-Shinji-Lancer-Kirei scene constantly, in an effort to keep your mind from drifting off. They did a lot of panning shots of the floor and ceiling. They didn't hesitate to make up some made-for-TV visuals for when Archer is discussing his life as a Guardian.


Archer's situation is both sad and interesting. I can't really discuss the things I want to without end-of-path spoilers so I'll have to sit tight. For now, though, I can at least say that his desperate attempt to release himself from his never-ending Hell really makes you feel sorry for the guy. Saber straight up tells him, "It's not going to work the way you want it to, Archer. Even if you kill Shirou, you already exist outside of time. The normal rules of cause and effect don't apply here. You're stuck as a Guardian forever." And he's like, "If there's even a 0.0001% chance that killing my past self will prevent me from coming into existence in even one timeline, then that's a chance I'm willing to take." He hates his current state of existence that much.

The idea of Guardians as people who meddle in the worldly affairs of warring men seems kinda prone to plot hole analysis, though. :\ I mean ... if Archer really does exist outside of time, and the Throne of Heroes can keep summoning him as a Guardian to different places in space and time over the ages ... then doesn't it make little sense that normal humans would never have encountered a Guardian before and lived to tell the tale? Doesn't it make almost no sense whatsoever that Guardians aren't involved in 99.9999% of world conflicts? Even if Archer were the only Guardian in existence, it's not like we have a lack of time on our hands -- we have all the time, all the opportunity in the world to summon him all over, again and again and again, allowing him to be everywhere at once if need be. So like ... I get the cute idea Nasu is trying to go for here, having Archer be a like a government secret operative who goes into political hotbeds and hitmans it up ... but like, when you're toying around with infinities as Nasu so often wants to do, things begin to fall apart really quickly.

I've probably mentioned it in an earlier UBW 2014 post, but I'll go ahead and bring up again here, now that we've heard Archer explain himself to Shirou. Doppel once told me, and I'll do my best to explain it below in my own words:

The three paths of Fate/stay night look at selflessness vs. selfishness, look at the concept of being a superhero, and provide three different answers. In Fate, you have the white answer -- "I'm going to become a superhero." Shirou decides that it's not folly to want to try and save everyone. He commits himself fully to the ideal of a self-sacrificial hero. That's what it means to be a hero -- to bear the burdens of all the world on your shoulders, to be the pariah that society needs you to be. For the heroine of the Fate path, we have none other than the martyr-king herself, Saber. Fate Shirou is prepared to give up his very life if it means saving even one person. In Unlimited Blade Works, you have the gray answer -- "I was somewhat foolish when I swore as a child to become a superhero." Shirou comes to accept -- rather, Archer forces him to accept -- that we can't save everyone, that in order to save some people you must forsake some others. But we can still at least try our best to save good people. This path is about balancing self-sacrifice with selfishness. The heroine for the path, Tohsaka Rin, is Shirou's own Jiminy Cricket, constantly berating him for not putting himself first more often. I suppose you could even say that she's there to ensure that he does place himself first from time to time. In Heaven's Feel, which television viewers have yet to see, we have the black answer -- "I was wrong. I was a fool. 'Becoming a superhero' ... that was a childish ideal, one I am now old enough and wise enough to have realized I need to abandon." Whereas Fate Shirou upholds Kiritsugu's wish, Heaven's Feel Shirou (not gleefully, mind) rejects it. In Heaven's Feel, we have the entire world vs. one girl. The survival of this one girl could spell disaster for the planet. The death of this one girl could buy happiness for the world's citizens. But Shirou rejects the world and chooses to instead fight for this girl's life. Everyone, everything is telling him she needs to die. Mother Nature is saying it ... the Grail War is saying it ... Shirou rejects all of this, deciding Cao Cao-like, "I'd rather the world go up in flames and Sakura live than the world enter a golden age and Sakura not be a part of it." If Fate is about selflessly committing to martyrdom in the name of saving humanity, Heaven's Feel is about selfishly fighting for your own happiness and to hell with everyone else.

In that light, I'd like you to re-watch the episode if you're a first-time viewer. Or at the very least, re-watch the parts where Archer is explaining his philosophy to Shirou. Why it is that he wants to die / be removed from the never-ending cycle he's stuck in, why he considers Shirou a fool ... Listen to Shirou's answers, but listen too to Archer's criticisms ... Like I said, UBW is "the gray answer" to the question the three paths explore, so it sets the stage rather nicely for our exploration of the black path in 2017.
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Old 11-14-2016, 09:46 PM   #512
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Lil' Bluey

Christ, you are blazing through this series. By the time I can reply you've already forged way ahead. x.X

I'll just say I wasn't a big fan of episode 14, since it felt kinda cliché and filler-y.

Spoiler: show
The meido tho. ;( Also I remember people being shocked by Shinji's strength for being able to block one of their attacks...?


I'm also a bit confused by your list of "evil" things Caster has done.

Spoiler: show
At the end you say she's only killed "one person", but before that you tallied off her brother and all the people at Jason's wedding (which, uh, still strikes me as pretty "evil" deeds, even if she wasn't completely in control of her actions). Did you mean "willingly killed"?

Actually, given the conclusion of your last post, Caster and Sakura seem very similar now that I think about it. Perhaps she could've just as well been Sakura's Servant. (And no, I still don't forgive Sakura for going on her rampage either, and think she should be held accountable for her actions.)
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Old 11-14-2016, 10:47 PM   #513
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola View Post
Christ, you are blazing through this series. By the time I can reply you've already forged way ahead. x.X
Gotta make up for lost time! ;p It's been over a year since you guys saw these episodes!

Quote:
Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola View Post
I'll just say I wasn't a big fan of episode 14, since it felt kinda cliché and filler-y.

Spoiler: show
The meido tho. ;( Also I remember people being shocked by Shinji's strength for being able to block one of their attacks...?
Aww, I liked it! I mean, it wasn't the greatest thing ever. I still kinda feel like the canon they've written for the master's backstory is weaker than what we get with better-written masters like Waver or Kirei. Like ... you can definitely tell the difference between characters like this guy (who only exist to fill the void of one specific scene) and characters like Waver, Kirei, or other "major but still not the main main character" Masters. But I thought the scene overall was good. Did its job of keeping the canon of the games intact while also presenting it to us in a new, colorful, and more fleshed-out way.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola View Post
I'm also a bit confused by your list of "evil" things Caster has done.

Spoiler: show
At the end you say she's only killed "one person", but before that you tallied off her brother and all the people at Jason's wedding (which, uh, still strikes me as pretty "evil" deeds, even if she wasn't completely in control of her actions). Did you mean "willingly killed"?

Actually, given the conclusion of your last post, Caster and Sakura seem very similar now that I think about it. Perhaps she could've just as well been Sakura's Servant. (And no, I still don't forgive Sakura for going on her rampage either, and think she should be held accountable for her actions.)
I wouldn't include anyone she killed while under outside influences. I would include people she killed of her own volition. Spoilers for Caster's identity:

Spoiler: show
And so was remiss to not include the wedding hall. The thing is, there, I hold Jason accountable for those deaths more than I do Medea. Yes, Medea is the one who actually did the deed and killed them all ... But why did she do it? Jason's an asshole. He basically date rape drugged her to get the Golden Fleece, date rape drugged her to escape Colchis (and make her brother meet a terrible end!), abducted her, sailed halfway across the Mediterranean back to his homeland, and then told her, "Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... elf ears don't really do it for me. :\" I mean, what a fucking asshole. It'd be one thing if the people of Colchis were at war with Jason's people, but iirc there's nothing at all like that in the tale of the Argonauts. Rather, Colchis was a peaceful nation largely cut off from the outside world. Jason crashed their party like a Mediterranean Cortez. Abducts the princess, (indirectly) slays the prince, and steals the kingdom's magic treasure. So like ... while what Medea did was extreme and I wouldn't object to someone judging her harshly for it, I feel like "murdering your husband's mistress" is the sort of thing that even most contemporary American courts would judge you lightly for. Of course, her crime extends to all of the bridesmaids and children ... ^^;

I dunno! Leave me alone. Ż3Ż My point is simply that Caster in no way, shape, or form feels more evil than 4th War Gil. (And I only say "4th War Gil" to avoid arguing with people over how much effect the Corrupted Grail really had on Gil's 5th War actions.)
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Old 11-14-2016, 10:55 PM   #514
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Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
I wouldn't include anyone she killed while under outside influences. I would include people she killed of her own volition. Spoilers for Caster's identity:

Spoiler: show
And so was remiss to not include the wedding hall. The thing is, there, I hold Jason accountable for those deaths more than I do Medea. Yes, Medea is the one who actually did the deed and killed them all ... But why did she do it? Jason's an asshole. He basically date rape drugged her to get the Golden Fleece, date rape drugged her to escape Colchis (and make her brother meet a terrible end!), abducted her, sailed halfway across the Mediterranean back to his homeland, and then told her, "Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... elf ears don't really do it for me. :\" I mean, what a fucking asshole. It'd be one thing if the people of Colchis were at war with Jason's people, but iirc there's nothing at all like that in the tale of the Argonauts. Rather, Colchis was a peaceful nation largely cut off from the outside world. Jason crashed their party like a Mediterranean Cortez. Abducts the princess, (indirectly) slays the prince, and steals the kingdom's magic treasure. So like ... while what Medea did was extreme and I wouldn't object to someone judging her harshly for it, I feel like "murdering your husband's mistress" is the sort of thing that even most contemporary American courts would judge you lightly for. Of course, her crime extends to all of the bridesmaids and children ... ^^;

I dunno! Leave me alone. Ż3Ż My point is simply that Caster in no way, shape, or form feels more evil than 4th War Gil. (And I only say "4th War Gil" to avoid arguing with people over how much effect the Corrupted Grail really had on Gil's 5th War actions.)
Are we also gonna ignore the fact that she (allegedly)...

Spoiler: show
...murdered her own children?


*shot* Okay I'll stop now. XP
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Old 11-14-2016, 11:11 PM   #515
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Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola View Post


Are we also gonna ignore the fact that she (allegedly)...

Spoiler: show
...murdered her own children?


*shot* Okay I'll stop now. XP
I mean, as someone who's never had children nor been divorced, that's a hard one for me to answer ... (Can't really write more without saying things I am not comfortable saying here.)
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Old 11-16-2016, 12:04 PM   #516
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 20:

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Okay ... so this is a first ... I'm going to divide this post into two completely separate halves. First-time viewers are to read the first half (visible at this level) and only the first half. I repeat, do not press on if you're a first-time viewer to the second spoiler box. Returning viewers and players of the VN can read both halves.

Okay, wow! The epic fight between Archer and Shirou! Pretty neat, huh? With the cards on the table that Archer is in fact Shirou from the future, here we finally get to have our war of ideals manifested in a physical clash between the boy and the man he might become.


The anime glosses over it really quickly, but in case you didn't catch it: Ců Chulainn is so good at runecraft that he is actually a legitimate summoning candidate for the Caster class in the Holy Grail War system! It isn't seen nor explained before this very moment in UBW, but it was one of my and Yuki's favorites. Really made Lancer so much more awesome for me. :>


Nasu attempts to explain away the plot hole of "Why is Shirou not dead yet? " with the answer, "Because every time his swords touch Archer's, he gains a little bit of Archer's experience and expertise. His Magic Circuits are literally being overwritten to be like Archer's." Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis is kinda silly. ^^; 'Cause I mean, it creates a temporal paradox, no? If Shirou encounters Archer in the timeline where he later becomes Archer (which seems probable given some of Archer's as-yet unexplored history aspects), then doesn't that mean that either a) he doesn't grow at all over the course of his lifetime, because he's already "maxed out" by his FSN fights with his future self? or else b) he does grow as time goes on but this then means we have a paradox? Oh well. Let's just roll with it. We're having fun with this story so let's give it a free pass on yet another questionable bit of writing.

Alright ... that about does it for the first half. Hope you enjoyed the episode, first-timers. It's a really great moment in the story. I hope it was everything you hoped for.

Spoiler: show

... 'Cause it sure wasn't for me! -_-; Alright, old timers! Get your butts in here! It's time to dissect why Episode 20 was such an epic fail.

The Banquet of Kings scene was one of the most highly anticipated back when Fate/Zero was airing, and ufotable cocked it up badly with horrible animation, some of the worst the series would ever see. I feel like history is repeating itself here with UBW 2014. The Ilya episode was exquisitely animated, even though she's one of the least important Masters in this path with some of the least screen time; and then the duel between Shirou and Archer, one of the greatest climaxes if not the greatest climax in the path, they shit the bed and decide, "Roll in the B Team! " Tons of horrible animation in this fight. Oh my god, any time Archer and Shirou are moving about, they look like Idolmaster-grade animated characters! It's bad. It's really pretty fucking bad.


Lancer-bro! Man, what did they do to you!? In the VN, Lancer is so amazing. In the anime, he still does mostly all the same things as before ... Only they're hardly explained! That bit about the Caster class that I just explained to the first-timers ... Why did I have to even explain it!? Why wasn't it already explained for me by the studio!? "Let's show him releasing a shogi-shaped bit of rock with a rune on it. Then let's later show him writing some other rune and then the building catches on fire. That should be good enough. :>" NO! No! That isn't good enough, god dammit! How are the first-timers supposed to appreciate Lancer as much as we do if you don't explain things for them!? How am I supposed to recommend, in good conscience, that someone replace playing the visual novel with watching your 2014/2015 animation if it's not adequate? Good, yes, but inadequate! You've made a really good adaptation so far but fuck me, man, if you've not let me down with the "Ah, an adequate replacement for the VN" hopes and dreams we had for your show!


And what the fuck was with that music!? You had ONE JOB, ufotable. One job! And that was to animate a scene beautifully that was set to the score of "EMIYA" by Kawai Kenji! It's not hard! It's not rocket science! Hell, if you needed more time, just loop it! The song is already written to loop for you like that! Neat, huh? Fuck, man! This wasn't hard. This wasn't supposed to be difficult. You were supposed to give us a scene that match or exceeded Studio Deen's, not fell short of it!



Pretty much.

Don't get me wrong. It's not like Episode 20 was F-tier dog shit, surrounded by A-tier episodes on all sides. Episode 20 was fine. It just ... it was only fine. It was supposed to be great. Epic, even. Instead, it scrapes by with a score of "Good" at best, "Okay" at worst. It's an okay way for a first-timer to get to see the necessary material, but for returning viewers ... it's just going to disappoint. It did me, anyway. Bad animation. Bad music. Not enough Lancer-bro backstory 'n' explanation. And hell:

They didn't even finish the fight!

Why did I spoiler tag this section separately and insist it only be read by returning viewers? Because:
  • I don't want to poison first-timers' experience with negativity. This is supposed to be a really great episode, and I think that for first-timers who don't know any better it still can be.
  • I wanted returning viewers who've never played the VN to be made aware of these grievances and to perhaps be motivated by them to go and play the game now.
  • I wanted to share my grievances with fellow VN players.
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Old 11-16-2016, 02:38 PM   #517
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 21:

Spoiler: show
This episode was an improvement on the previous one. We had a bit of "EMIYA", however brief and relegated to the background it may have been. The animation was slightly improved. And even the explanations I so sorely crave were delivered here in pretty great fashion, a nice blend of material taken straight from the game and new material written for the TV show based on the expanded canon established by Fate/Zero. Maybe it's because I've played all three paths and seen Fate/Zero now, whereas before when I played UBW I had only seen Deen's anime and played Fate. Maybe it's because ufotable did some great re-writing. Whatever the case, Gilgamesh's agenda comes across so much clearer here in Episode 21 than I remember it feeling like in the visual novel.

I don't have too much to say. This episode is more of a tourist attraction for first-timers than anything else. The outcome of Archer's duel with Shirou ... Archer's death ... Shinji getting transmogrified into a flesh monster ... All pretty exciting developments for the first-timer, I'm sure, but I don't really have anything to add to them aside from saying, "Yeah, I too saw that. "

Gilgamesh's reason for calling off the attack -- the crumbling building / "soot" -- was one of the worst yet in a long list of "NASUUUUUUU! " plot holes justifying why the villains would allow the heroes to live to fight another day. It's like, c'mon ... seriously? Gil doesn't give two shits whether Rin or Shirou die. Maybe if it had been better established -- perhaps it was, perhaps this is what they were trying to do here -- that Gil now has a physical form and cannot revert to spirit form, and thus he is seriously endangered by falling debris in a way that Saber is not ... Hmm ... Alright, Nasu! You win this round! But I still don't like it how it seems like the heroes are constantly spared defeat at every turn.
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Old 11-16-2016, 03:48 PM   #518
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 22:

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The infamous sex scene. Or at least, it would have been had ufotable stuck to the script.

In the visual novel, the idea first introduced in the Fate path is that magi can share energy between them by having sexual intercourse. Because Shirou is not a trained magus, he is unable to draw energy from the environment, thus at certain crucial times in the respective paths' plots he is in dire need of energy. In Fate, this happens before Saber has to take on Heracles. In UBW, it happens here. In Heaven's Feel ... well ...

Different studios have taken different approaches to cutting out the sex scenes from the original game. In Studio Deen's anime, for instance, Shirou gives up his magic circuits -- and thus his potential to be a magus -- in order to super-charge Saber. Not only did this infuriate me as a viewer, because I don't like the idea of Shirou castrating himself like that, but it also makes little sense in light of the fact that, iirc, he continues to use Projection and Reinforcement magic afterward. In the same studio's later UBW movie, they just gloss over the matter entirely iirc. And as for ufotable ...

ufotable decided to approach it by making it be about Magic Crests. I'll admit, this is one of those Nasuverse things I've never fully wrapped my head around. They're passed down from generation to generation, and only one person can inherit them at a time. (This is a major point of relevance in Heaven's Feel.) But at the same time, they're said to be something like the sum knowledge of all the magic the lineage knows? Or like, the "secret weapon" the lineage knows? So like ... if it's true that only person can have it at a time, then wouldn't that mean that (for instance) Tokiomi gifted his daughter his Magic Crest at quite possibly the worst time (i.e. when he would need it most badly to win the 4th Grail War)? Or that Rin, in gifting hers to Shirou just now, has lost half her powers? I don't really understand it. If they can be cloned, i.e. if Rin still has 100% of her powers but now Shirou has them too, then like ... why can't they be passed on to more than one heir again? ^^; Blegh. It's confusing to me. @_@

I was kinda hoping ufotable would actually keep the sex scene canon. I didn't want to (nor expect to) see any sex on screen. But I was kinda hoping that they would approach it tastefully, the way that many a PG-13 movie does when communicating to the audience, "They're gonna have sex " / "They just had sex. "

But I definitely, definitely like their answer of Magic Crest transferral better than Deen's answer of Magic Circuit transferral. I can live with Rin giving Shirou her family heirloom. I'd be pretty upset if instead she had given him her ability to ever perform magic again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Boy, we sure are padding things out here, huh!? I didn't expect the (not) sex scene to take up an entire episode. I also didn't expect the showdown at Ryuudou Temple to take up three whole episodes. Hopefully it's two and an epilogue rather than two and a half with only half an epilogue. 'Cause man ... we don't need two and a half or three episodes' worth of Ryuudou Temple. ^^; To be honest even having more than one is pushing it.
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Old 11-16-2016, 05:12 PM   #519
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 23:

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Dat padding!

Called it. Episode was fine but man if they aren't padding for time, it feels like. Not a thing shown here feels like it doesn't exist in the source material, and yet ... Somehow, it feels like they're unnecessarily drawing things out. Perhaps it's just a pacing difference between how a visual novel feels and how an anime feels.

I don't really have too much to say here. 50% of what Gilgamesh says makes more sense than it did in the visual novel, while the other 50% still makes absolutely no sense and sounds to me like (in universe) the babblings of a madman / (out of universe) Nasu trying to wax philosophical but failing pretty hard at it. ^^; (One in particular that stood out to me was, "Nothing holds more power to change the world than the malevolent desires of humanity." I was like, "Umm ... wouldn't the benevolent desires of humanity at least match it? ^^; If wish fulfillment is what you're on about right now, then isn't simply 'desire' the crux of the matter rather than specifically 'malevolent desire'?")

Oh: it's in this very episode that Assassin spells out that he isn't even the real Sasaki Kojirou. I had thought it had happened earlier (and the anime was doing a poor job of conveying it, because of lack of time), but it looks like it's fully and no-confusing-matters revealed here, in UBW, at the very tail end.
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Old 11-16-2016, 07:36 PM   #520
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Re: Music & Eps 20-21

I would like to ask you now:

Spoiler: show
How do you feel about the insert song - and by that extension, the new OP? Both have grown on me quite a bit, and I enjoy both as stand-alone tracks just fine. While I too missed EMIYA, the one redeeming factor for me during the insert song sequence is this frame:


Tell me you don't feel a pang as tears roll down Kiritsugu's cheek to the beat while he smiles in joy at finding a single soul still alive after the destruction his "wish" wrought? T.T This is the sole reason I would recommend watching F/Z before UBW. Because it does give this scene that added emotional impact through familiarity with the character.


I won't comment on the animation in those eps, since I didn't notice anything particularly off (and I still hold that the "Banquet of Kings" episode in F/Z looked fine =3=). I will comment on the animation in 22:

Spoiler: show
WTF WERE THOSE UGLY CGI FISH THINGS?!


At least the dolphins in DEEN's movie were pretty to look at, even if they made no sense. I have no idea what they were going for with these monstrosities. It's like they figured the fans were expecting to either faithfully keep the sex scene or witness another hideous CG abomination - and ufotable decided to troll the fanbase by going all the way with the latter. I just... ugh.

Last edited by lilboocorsola; 11-16-2016 at 08:22 PM.
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Old 11-16-2016, 09:16 PM   #521
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilbluecorsola View Post
Re: Music & Eps 20-21

I would like to ask you now:

Spoiler: show
How do you feel about the insert song - and by that extension, the new OP? Both have grown on me quite a bit, and I enjoy both as stand-alone tracks just fine. While I too missed EMIYA, the one redeeming factor for me during the insert song sequence is this frame:


Tell me you don't feel a pang as tears roll down Kiritsugu's cheek to the beat while he smiles in joy at finding a single soul still alive after the destruction his "wish" wrought? T.T This is the sole reason I would recommend watching F/Z before UBW. Because it does give this scene that added emotional impact through familiarity with the character.


I won't comment on the animation in those eps, since I didn't notice anything particularly off (and I still hold that the "Banquet of Kings" episode in F/Z looked fine =3=). I will comment on the animation in 22:

Spoiler: show
WTF WERE THOSE UGLY CGI FISH THINGS?!


At least the dolphins in DEEN's movie were pretty to look at, even if they made no sense. I have no idea what they were going for with these monstrosities. It's like they figured the fans were expecting to either faithfully keep the sex scene or witness another hideous CG abomination - and ufotable decided to troll the fanbase by going all the way with the latter. I just... ugh.
Re: the insert song in Episode 21:

Spoiler: show
I wasn't a fan. ^^; Struck me as generic, forgettable J-pop-rock. I mean, it might have had the potential to grow on me if I had had to wait a week between episodes and had re-watched the episode again and again, but like ... I wasn't impressed on the first pass and not having to listen to it again I don't particularly care to. ^^; Would not seek out the MP3. Would not seek out a YouTube upload. It was an okay song ... But it just ... It wasn't "EMIYA", man, nor Kajiura Yuki.

I didn't really take anything special away from that particular shot of Kiritsugu saving Shirou. We've seen it many times before, and that particular one seemed to me "just like any other." Cool that it resonated more strongly with you. But it's not enough to save the song choice for me ... And it sure as hell isn't enough to warrant watching things out of order! (lol soapboxes *sigh* :'))

Re: the CGI in Episode 22:

Spoiler: show
I'm not 100% sure what they were trying to go for, but ...
  • the CGI at the very start of the ED2 credits has long struck me as looking like an ever-so-slightly desexualized set of sperm (along with various other things, including koi, "blocks" of magic, and lifeless masses)
  • when I saw the Ep22 CGI things, I made no connection
  • but when I saw ED2 again, it suddenly dawned on me just how much the ED2 "sperm" looked like the Ep22 CGI creatures
So I think that:
  1. the two are one and the same, and
  2. ufotable was trying to show "magic sperm" on screen without it being too obvious
It's even possible that as a studio they hadn't yet settled on whether they wanted to go the sex route or the Magic Crest transferal route. So they made ED2 first ('cause they had to), and in ED2 the creatures look a little more "spermy" ... and then when they decided to scrap the sex route, they also decided to make the "magic sperm" look a lot less like sperm, but still close enough to the ED2 design so that people could make the connection that "Omigod, they were in ED2 all along! :o"

Last edited by Talon87; 11-16-2016 at 10:00 PM. Reason: originally wrote Circuit instead of Crest
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Old 11-16-2016, 09:27 PM   #522
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 24:

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The grand finale. I hope you enjoyed the ride, first-timer. The next episode will be a true epilogue. As far as our main story goes, this was indeed the final episode of Unrimited Brade Woks.

ufotable did a pretty good job here in this second half. If 23 felt like an awful lot of padding, 24 felt very well done. Beautifully animated, nicely orchestrated (EMIYAAAAAAAAA! ), and well-edited from the source material. They did a good job of showing everything that needed to be shown without it feeling too long or too short. You got a good package, first-timer. Don't feel cheated because you weren't.


Saber and her sad endings. Her UBW outcome's not too bad though. After all, she learns the true nature of the Fuyuki Grail, accepts that reality, agrees that it needs to be destroyed, destroys it, and saves her two precious Masters, Rin and Shirou. Victory is pretty much hers, even if she has to now return to the battlefield at Camlann and die. And while she doesn't find romantic love with Shirou or anyone else in this path, she does at least know the platonic love of two wonderful people.


The fight with Gil was really well done. I could tell from all of the "Zasshu / Mongrel"s in the 2014 script that both he and the screenplay writers were really fond of that particular delivery of Gil's. And as has become FSN tradition, Gil lays on the "ONORE! ONORE!ONORE!ONORE! ONOREEEEEE!"s pretty thick and fast. It wouldn't be Gil without them.

If I was disappointed with Archer vs. Shirou's animation, Gil vs. Shirou was much better animated. I've rewatched it several times but one of my favorite parts is when Shirou launches up into the sky and, for the second time this fight, summons forth Rho Aias. The close-up on his face as he chants the name, the way he slices through the sky, all of it, it's just such a delight to watch.

One thing did confuse me about Gil's death though. When Gil is standing there dying, he tells Shirou (paraphrased) "Die knowing that you won, boy." The implication is an admission of mortal defeat from Gil -- he's been mortally wounded and is going to die, but not before he gets a final chance to take Shirou with him. Yet when the Grail activates out of Gil's stump and tries to suck him in, Gil tells Shirou (again, paraphrased), "Baka! I'm not trying to pull you in with me! I want you to dig in your heels and pull me out! I have no death wish! I don't intend to die today!" They're contradictory. Are you or are you not dying right now? If you're dying, what you're saying right now (black hole part) doesn't make sense. If you're not dying, then what you said ten seconds ago ("Die knowing you won") doesn't make sense.


Surprise, first-timers! :D Archer's still alive! ... Or he was still alive. ^^; Now he's dead! :'D But he was alive for all of two minutes, long enough to save the day twice, both saving Rin and Shinji from Saber's Excalibur as well as saving Shirou from Gil's chain. It turns out, he was faking it when he "died" to Gil's hail of arrows at the castle! ^-^ This was all part of his master plan to ensure that Rin & Co. won.

Rin's sorrow over Archer's fate, namely that he's going to go back to the Throne of Heroes and have his memories wiped and still be the Emiya Shirou-hating grump that he was when we first met him, is a sentiment I definitely echo. But Archer tries to assure her all will be well, so ... we'll see. I think he was just putting on a tough face for her so that she wouldn't cry / be so sad over his fate.

Shinji is one lucky bastard. Pretty fucking lucky to have friends as forgiving as Shirou and Rin are. To think that Rin would save him after the stunt he pulled on her in the castle ...! Or that Shirou would save him after knowing full well that the student liquefication plan was Shinji's. Man ... Well don't worry, first-timers! UBW is the nicest path to Shinji. So if you hate his guts as much as most players do, never fear: there's plenty of justice waiting right around the corner.


One last thing: I gotta mention the studio's obligatory nod to one of the most well-known CGs from the original game. While 2004 Takeuchi struggled to convey it without it looking anatomically ... off ^^; , I think ufotable did a fantastic job of conveying to the audience that 1) yes indeed, Archer is Shirou from the future and 2) per the nature of the Grail War summons, Rin & Co. were incapable of recognizing Archer as Shirou until after the spell had worn off, i.e. after he started to return to the Throne of Heroes.
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Old 11-16-2016, 10:13 PM   #523
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Unlimited Blade Works Episode 25:

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The epilogue.

This episode was honestly really pretty enjoyable for what it was. Episode-long epilogues are usually not my cup of tea. This is especially true when I'm watching weekly and it feels like I'm "forced" to hang around for another week just to watch some "garbage" episode that doesn't really matter to the main plot. But partly because I like Nasu's universe so much and partly because this epilogue does genuinely matter to the main characters' fates, I found this enjoyable from start to finish.


We start things off with a bang: Luvia-waifu! Itou Shizuka is such a treat, and I just adore Luvia from top to bottom. Her character design. Her personality. All of it. She's just such fun to have around. Easily one of the best additions that Fate/Hollow Ataraxia gave us. I mean, she's kinda sorta in the original game itself iirc, but only in narrative text, never actually shown on screen ...


And we get El Melloi II later on too! Oh man, the delights just keep coming! This one is going to go over most people's heads WHO ARE DOING THINGS IN THE RIGHT ORDER AND ARE WATCHING UBW BEFORE WATCHING FATE/ZERO ... so there's not much I can really say here other than "This guy is related to Fate/Zero somehow" and to leave it at that.


When Shirou is on the train and he has the flashback to Fuyuki City about two years ago (1 month after the Grail War ended), that scene you see is what constitutes the bulk of the epilogue in the original visual novel. The game sort of ends with Rin asking Shirou whether he'll accompany her to London or not and he answers much as he does here in the anime. So getting to see all of the stuff both before and after the Fuyuki material was a real treat, as it's almost entirely made-for-TV content. (Some of it is pulled from other sources, e.g. Luvia and the circumstances of Rin's living arrangements in London. But the part about visiting King Arthur's supposed burial site, or the part about Shirou canonically rejecting the Mages' Association invitation, that's all made for TV.)

The part with Shinji and Sakura in the hospital is kinda funny and kinda ... odd, if you know anything about Sakura and Shinji from Heaven's Feel. It's almost like they're suggesting she has a crush on her Onii-chan and is enjoying teasing him. Well, she's certainly enjoying teasing him, that much is for sure ... But yeah, a crush would just be bizarre, given ... ... Anyway!


It was pretty fun to have a more thorough exploration of Rin's and Shirou's future after the war. While I would've expected her to have more formally locked him down after two years of cohabitation, in private at least they are pretty much already a live-in couple. Kinda cute to consider that Rin would shrug off membership with the Association if it meant traveling the world with Shirou. Just goes to show how important he has become to her.

I have mixed feelings on the "canonicity" of Rin's and Shirou's decisions two years in the future. On the one hand, and for the most part, I consider what we saw a canon of sorts. I have little doubt that Nasu was involved with its writing, and that it might even show up in a future edition of FSN if there ever is one again. On the other hand, and more minorly, I don't consider it canon for two reasons. First, let's face it -- it was made for TV. And the canon of FSN has had over ten years to set at this point. We're not dealing with wet cement anymore, we're dealing with rock-hard concrete here. I like having more fleshing out, I just wish it had been a part of the original package so that there could be no doubts and we'd all be on the same page. Second, the Magic Crest. Rin transferring her Magic Crest to Shirou is definitely something which is unique to UBW 2014. It's matter of factly not in the source material. While it's true that Rin does take Shirou as her apprentice, she doesn't do so because of his possessing her Magic Crest, nor does she have to worry about him being the new heir to the Tohsaka family's secrets or whatnot. But in the anime, we have Rin specifying on several occasions throughout this epilogue that Shirou is there with her at the Clock Tower a) because he's her apprentice and b) that he's her apprentice because he has the Magic Crest. So like ... Where does that even leave Rin as an "heir" in the family? You can tell the writing is somewhat confused here, because there's even the part where they explain (paraphrased), "The Clock Tower recognizes that heirs of powerful magical families are always at risk of being assassinated. So it allows such heirs to bring along protection in the form of a disciple or apprentice or bodyguard. You're my all-of-these-things, Shirou. That's why I got to bring you here." But like ... you're not the heir of the family anymore, Rin! Per the sudden departure from canon of the UBW 2014 series, you gave your Magic Crest to Shirou and so now Shirou is the heir to all your family's secrets. You're just the short-lived heiress who was heir from circa 1994 to 2004. Ten short years, that's all you were heir for. Now Shirou's the heir. ... So shouldn't Shirou be the one in need of protection? Wouldn't you be his bodyguard, or something?

Y'see, kids? This is why you don't mess with canon. Not unless you have to. Not unless you have a damn superior alternative that you are sure messes nothing up with the rest of the plot.

... Why didn't she simply ask Shirou to gift her the Crest back after the War? Even if he lacked the technical knowledge or expertise, surely some magus could have performed the ritual for them ...
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Old 11-16-2016, 10:47 PM   #524
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Re: the insert song in Episode 21:

Spoiler: show
I wasn't a fan. ^^; Struck me as generic, forgettable J-pop-rock. I mean, it might have had the potential to grow on me if I had had to wait a week between episodes and had re-watched the episode again and again, but like ... I wasn't impressed on the first pass and not having to listen to it again I don't particularly care to. ^^; Would not seek out the MP3. Would not seek out a YouTube upload. It was an okay song ... But it just ... It wasn't "EMIYA", man, nor Kajiura Yuki.

I didn't really take anything special away from that particular shot of Kiritsugu saving Shirou. We've seen it many times before, and that particular one seemed to me "just like any other." Cool that it resonated more strongly with you. But it's not enough to save the song choice for me ... And it sure as hell isn't enough to warrant watching things out of order! (lol soapboxes *sigh* :'))
Spoiler: show
I mean, I did roll my eyes at first at the "generic J-pop-rocky" sound at first, but I dunno. Something about that scene still makes my heart hurt. (Perhaps it is because UBW's path and the clash of ideals presented in it resonate rather personally with me. *shrug*)

Aside: Civilian Saber. <3


You've not mentioned the OP. I'm still gonna leave a link to a pretty piano vocal cover I found.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Talon87 View Post
Re: the CGI in Episode 22:

Spoiler: show
I'm not 100% sure what they were trying to go for, but ...
  • the CGI at the very start of the ED2 credits has long struck me as looking like an ever-so-slightly desexualized set of sperm (along with various other things, including koi, "blocks" of magic, and lifeless masses)
  • when I saw the Ep22 CGI things, I made no connection
  • but when I saw ED2 again, it suddenly dawned on me just how much the ED2 "sperm" looked like the Ep22 CGI creatures
So I think that:
  1. the two are one and the same, and
  2. ufotable was trying to show "magic sperm" on screen without it being too obvious
It's even possible that as a studio they hadn't yet settled on whether they wanted to go the sex route or the Magic Crest transferal route. So they made ED2 first ('cause they had to), and in ED2 the creatures look a little more "spermy" ... and then when they decided to scrap the sex route, they also decided to make the "magic sperm" look a lot less like sperm, but still close enough to the ED2 design so that people could make the connection that "Omigod, they were in ED2 all along! :o"
I mean, I definitely noticed the

Spoiler: show
"sperm" resemblance. XP It's just... so oddly animated, especially for ufotable's standards. Like they literally threw their hands up and went "fuck it we're not even going to try pleasing people".


Re: Ending

Spoiler: show
The Gil vs. Shirou fight was pretty good as I recall. Epilogue was pure obvious fluff I didn't really care for aside from Waver's cameo.
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Old 11-16-2016, 11:39 PM   #525
Talon87
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Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014) achieves what it set out to do:
  • be a pretty decent adaptation of the source material
  • not incur the fandom's wrath the same way that Studio Deen did for their 2006 anime adaptation of Fate/stay night
  • stay fairly close to the source material's script
  • make prudent edits as necessary (e.g. for time or coherence)
  • be entertaining to returning fans of the franchise
  • be accessible to first-timers who have never played FSN before and decided, for whatever reason, to start here
It's not the greatest anime I've ever seen. It's not even the greatest anime I've ever seen by ufotable based on a Type-Moon work! But it's a pretty solid anime that doesn't let its fandom down.

Having seen all of it now, would I recommend it to the fan who hasn't played the VN and wants this show to be a surrogate replacement? Yes, absolutely. 99% of the important plot and character details from the game can be found here. The occasional 1% that I may have griped about in one post or another, that's (I must bitterly concede) inconsequential next to the alternative of telling someone, "Either you sit through this awkward sex-book that'll take you 24 hours to read or else you don't ever read it at all." Forget that. UBW 2014 is more than good enough to stand in for the source material if it means getting people to get their toes wet in the Nasuverse's pool. It's not a bad adaptation. In fact, it's a good one. You know what I might compare it with? The Lord of the Rings movies. I couldn't stand the books. I adored the movies. If I had told someone this back before Return of the King came out, would they seriously ask me to read the book or else to abandon the series and never get closure? Hell no. Even if they personally thought the books great and the films not quite as good as the source material, any LotR fan with an ounce of sense would agree that the movies are a fine stand-in replacement for people who downright refuse to go with the source material. That's kind of my view here with UBW 2014. And to be honest, I think I'm even more lenient on it than the LotR junkie would be on my watching the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies in place of the books. Honestly, if you watched UBW 2014 and nothing else, you're pretty fine. You might miss out on a few things from the game, things I'd rather you not miss out on, but it's small potatoes all things considered.

... That stated, some of my very favorite things from the game are among the 1% that got cut or reduced here. And some of the most important or grand scenes in the game, they didn't feel quite as grand or epic in the 2014 anime adaptation. So if you did watch UBW 2014 and you did like what you saw, I would still encourage you to play through the visual novel if you'd like. Maybe give it a year or two in between when you watched the show and when you approach the VN. (Your mileage may vary.) But do approach the VN. And do play through both Fate and UBW before pressing on to Heaven's Feel. You won't regret it.

(For further technical review, press on.)

Spoiler: show

ufotable gets pretty high marks for animation. The series may not be 2014's best looking, but it's far from average.

The music was fine, but it's no Kajiura Yuki's Fate/Zero soundtrack. It's no accident that they've brought her back to handle the soundtrack for the Heaven's Feel movies. I feel bad for whoever orchestrated UBW 2014, especially if this gets him blacklisted from future projects, but man ... yeah ... the songs were just not very magical. The three best tracks in the show were (in no particular order) his remix of "EMIYA" from the game, his remix of "Tragedy and Fate" from Fate/Zero, and his remix of the opening theme song from Mahoutsukai no Yoru. Remixes, all three of them. You know we have problems when, as a composer of a television soundtrack, your three best songs are all remixes of other artists' compositions. And even that would not be so bad if the entire soundtrack were remixes of FSN and other source material music ... But when you consider that 80% or more of the songs are in fact his own creations, and they are all losing out to the remixes of other artists' songs ... Yeah ^^; ... I feel sorry for the guy, but not sorry enough to be sad that he isn't likely to be returning for Heaven's Feel.

The voice acting is as you would expect: some of the very best talents in the business reprise their decade-old roles to give us a cornucopia of voice-acted delights. English dubs are normally awful as is, but watching this series in anything but the original Japanese would be a special crime. The voice acting talent here is literally some of the best you'll ever find all gathered under one roof.

The direction is not too bad. It's not the best I've ever seen, I feel, but it's not bad either. To the director's discredit, he has Takeuchi's original game art and Nasu's original game text doing the hard work for him. To his credit, he still does a really nice job of "bringing the game to life," as it were. Some things I felt could've been animated a lot better than they were (*cough* ), others surprised me with how well they were done.

A lot of TV viewers, I am told, complained that the anime was too long and was way too much talking. The problem is, that's the source material for you. ^^; It takes 24 hours of game time to complete. That's comparable with reading a book for 4 hours a day and it taking you 6 days to complete. And just like a book, there's a lot of dialogue. In fact, there's more here, because Nasu gets to get away with explaining things via narration in the game that ufotable can't get away with here in the show. I don't blame ufotable at all for the high amount of talking in this series. I will say that, perhaps in hindsight, it meant that FSN wasn't the best work to adapt from book to television program. But that's okay: fans like me demanded it. And for my part, I'm still happy with what we got, so ...


Watching the series at my own leisure was fine. Looking back over the thread, it looks like I watched twenty-one episodes (05 thru 25) over the course of roughly two weeks (Nov 02 thru Nov 16). So that's a crude average of around one episode a day ... although the past two or three days have seen me watching a lot more than that, something closer to five or six episodes per day. See, I enjoy being able to watch however much or however little I like to, and when I like to. I don't like being beholden to broadcast schedules. And I don't like being fed narrative by an eyedropper. I think that for me, the way UBW is written and the way that UBW 2014 was produced, I would have been pretty naggy about the morsel-sized episodes that were served up some weeks. I honestly think the problem is less bad for a newcomer, because a newcomer finds excitement in everything. For visual novel players, the problem becomes that you're antsy to see how the studio adopts very particular scenes, some of them very near the end of the story. That can set you up for disappointment from the beginning.

While I would like to watch Heaven's Feel all at my own pace, too, I'll admit that I am eager to discuss the films with fans both new and old, and so I'll probably watch the first film shortly after it comes out. And then be very, very irritated that it ends one-third of the way into the story. *sigh*

Overall, I think I would give UBW 2014 a score of "8/10 - Very Good". While it isn't the masterpiece that Fate/Zero was, that mostly has to do with the story -- and that's to be chalked up to the respective source material, to both F/Z's (Urobuchi Gen's novels) and UBW's (Nasu's FSN visual novel). Sure, the studio made some mistakes too with this adaptation (e.g. the soundtrack), but by and large this is about as good an adaptation of the source material as Nasu could have asked for. The studio let him down a little but his source material lets him down far worse. It's okay though. It's a fun premise set in an interesting universe. And this has been why we've seen countless spin-offs, prequels, sequels, and parodies of Fate/stay night over the past ten years. Nasu Kinoko and Takeuchi Takashi have got to be two of the richest otaku in all of Japan -- and they owe it to the fun and visual spectacle of this universe.
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