Monday, July 23, 2018

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works Part 1 Episodes 0-1

Ten years ago, an inferno of destruction tore through Fuyuki City, leaving only one survivor.  Ten years later, that young man is about to join a contest for both the bravest and most foolish of mages: The Holy Grail War.  Seven Masters will each summon a Heroic Spirt to act as their Servant to battle for the greatest of magical relics: The Holy Grail.  One of the contestants in this event is Rin Tohsaka, head of the Tohsaka family and Shiro’s beautiful classmate.  Drawn into battle for different reasons, the paths of these two youths will intersect, starting a new Grail War the likes of which has never been seen before.

I never thought id ever get to this one but here we are at last.  The second half of the “Summer of Fate” begins here with the start of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works.  Right away I’ll say, I’m interested and it looks just as good animation was as Fate/Zero.  But there’s still hampering it right away in two big ways: one you can guess if you’ve read my reviews of the original Fate/Stay Night series a couple years back; and the other is, well it’s a strange storytelling choice.

That strange choice is to basically make a feature length pilot and split it into two halves, hence why im reviewing these first two episodes on their own before returning to normal episode amounts next time.  Rin and Shiro both get an extended episode dedicated to their own beginnings before fully intersecting at the conclusion of both parts.  They do briefly cross each others paths once before their endings but overall, both episodes are their own and very different.  Rins was my favorite (not just for the obvious “I love Rin” reasonings).  Rin’s interactions with Archer are so much better than what they were in the Studio Deen series, which I noted suffered from a severe lack of Rin and Archer moments.  UBW looks to rectify that.  Rin is as awesome as she’s always been (and animated more beautifully than ever).  She’s confident but still a little out of her league.  She’s a little haughty but still has a kind heart.  She wont take crap from Archer but sometimes doesn’t know how to properly talk to him like a master or an equal.  I also like how she doesn’t have a wish for the Grail, she just wants to win.  That’s better than most I suppose.  In short, it was good to see Rin back in proper form and coolness again (also this girl was made to be drawn in the excellent night shots)  I loved it and was oddly ok with her story being a bit longer than your average Anime series intro.  It gives me hope that Rin will have more of a front row seat to most events unlike the Studio Deen series where she was almost a supporting character at times compared to Shiro and Saber.

And then there’s Shiro’s side of things.  Shiro got a lot of flack from me when I reviewed Fate/Stay Night originally and it looks like that trend is going to continue.  Having spent most of Fate/Zero with Kiritsugu and his flawed philosophy, I knew by Fate/Zero’s end why Shiro was so messed up in Fate/Stay Night with his “hero complex.”  However, that may have not been entirely the case.  From what little he appears via flashbacks, it looks like Kiritsugu was actually trying to NOT let Shiro follow in his “save everyone, leave no one behind,” footsteps.  Shiro, however, is Shiro, which means once his mind is made up, it’s impossible to change even if you tell him not to touch the damn stove when its turned on.  It wasn’t fun getting reacquainted with his special breed of stubborn and his episode lacked the good banter between Master and Servant that I got from Rin and Archer.  Shiro’s episode did give us more interactions with several introduced key players, specifically Shinji and Sakura.  Given how we left Sakura in Fate/Zero, im wondering why she’s so cheery and what kind of a role she’ll have to play.  If Shinji is anything like his Fate/Stay Night counterpart, his smarminess will no doubt be as “charming” as ever (note the sarcasm).  All in all, the dullness of Shiro’s side of opening events makes me hope that Rin gets way more screentime than he does.  It is not good to see him again at all.  Also, I did note how Saber reacted when Shiro revealed his last name, “Emiya”.  Here’s hoping we get a long talk between the two of them about how his “Dad” really wasn’t the best role model ever cause of what happened ten years prior.

Studio Ufotable continues to make even a television broadcast Anime look like a freaking OVA or movie.  The nighttime shots of Fuyuki City are gorgeous as all get out.  Seriously, you could set the entire series in this time of day, with that exact lighting and I’d be perfectly fine with that, at the very least they deserve to be everyones screensaver or desktop wallpaper.  And if you’ve come for the action (and can brave your way through Shiro’s crap) then you’ve come to the right show.  Archer vs Lancer was the perfect opening salvo and Lancer vs Saber was just as excellent.  It’s like you’re watching a BlazeBlue or Marvel vs. Capcom match unfold via spectacular animation that just makes your jaw drop and go “WHAAAAA?”  These are the battles that Anime legends are made of (I’m sure I said similar while reviewing Fate/Zero.)

In many ways, the beginning of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works feels a lot like a direct continuation of Fate/Zero.  Not only are they both done by the same animation studio but focusing on Rin, a bit but still important player in Fate/Zero, and featuring cameos by Kiritsugu and even Rin’s father, Tokiomi, plus Shiro’s frequent flashbacks to the Fuyuki fire, make me feel that these two shows are connected and can be watched one after the other.  While finishing Fate/Zero, I often wondered that if things went so horrifically wrong for Kiritsugu, Tokiomi and the other Masters, just how bad could things possibly go for the next generation: Shiro, Rin, Illya, Sakura etc?  Well things did seem pretty tame in the Studio Deen series by comparison.  UBW though looks to be setting the table for a more intense take on events.  Let’s just hope Shiro doesn’t get anymore gratting…who am I kidding, ugh better brace myself for a lot of Shiro tear apart sessions…and you should too.  The “Summer of Fate” rolls on.

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