![]() ![]() Maybe some people just want a cliche magical girl show, but I know I don’t. It’s the most cliche magical girl show ever but with a Fate coat of paint, which just means the plot coupons are the Servant class cards and they get power from the Kaleidosticks from Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, instead of whatever either of those were in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. It plays like a bad fanfiction, which is fitting because that’s exactly what this is. Remember the moral quandaries, clever action, and nods to myth and legend in Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero? There’s pretty much none of that here, just anime cliches (“LET’S GO HOME TOGETHER ONII-CHAN”) and skeevy lolicon fanservice. This pretty much takes out everything I liked about Fate/Stay Night and throws it to the wind. Premise: An alternate universe to Fate/Stay Night where Illyasviel von Einzbern is a magical girl hunting down artifacts called Class Cards. In conclusion, I still love Fate/Stay Night, but it’s stupid as hell and I’m glad that this show is finally over.Alternate titles: Prisma Illya, Prisma Ilya, Fate/Stay Night but with Magical Girls We’re definitely privileged to receive such a high-budget adaptation of one of my favorite anime franchises. Even though I’m frustrated with how a lot of it was handled, I feel like I can’t complain too much about UBW given the circumstances. The promised anime-original scenes, albeit sparse, were all at least interesting, and there were plenty of minor details added to keep the existing fans happy. Before the production seemed to collapse in on itself, the show was visually stunning, with both talking and action scenes alike practically bursting at the seams with money. Not that UFOtable didn’t put in any effort, of course. The story feels incomplete because without the other routes, it is. ![]() We don’t see Saber accept the regrets of her rule, we don’t see Sakura escape her torturous existence as the Matou family’s slave, and we never see Illya come to terms with Kiritsugu and Shirou. Fate/Zero sets up all three routes, but if we’re only watching Unlimited Blade Works, then we lose out on cathartic conclusions to plot and character arcs. ![]() We’ve been over this before, but Fate was always built to have multiple routes, meaning the plot and exposition assumes you’ve read what’s come before and will read what’s coming up, and I can’t think of any real ways to get around this when adapting to anime. What many fans were clamoring for was a direct adaptation of UBW, and that’s what we got all of the long-winded speeches and questionable exposition of the original were retained regardless of the context, all with a monstrous budget behind it (despite the alleged production issues in the back half of the show). It’s no secret that I’m the biggest Type-Moon and Fate nerd of the Glorio Crew, and with that authority I declare this version of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works to be a perfectly adequate adaptation of the route. Lastly, their trip to Glastonbury Tor worked quite well as a quiet, emotional moment, even though anything involving Saber is somewhat out of place in the UBW route. As life-changing and dramatic as the events of Fate/Stay Night were, they’re still just a few weeks in the grand scheme of these character’s lives, and the world is a big place there’s still plenty of time to have more adventures. The rest of the London segment was handled surprisingly well, showing that Rin and Shirou have matured both from their experience in the Holy Grail War and just from growing up. Given F/Z‘s popularity, it was almost a given this would happen, but it was still pretty gratifying to see that he’s doing alright for himself. The other major cameo is – of course – Lord El-Melloi II, aka Waver Velvet, now ten years older and ten times surlier than he was in Fate/Zero. She’s also a major character in Prisma Illya, but my low opinion of that spinoff is well-documented. Luvia’s been a fan favorite since her appearances in Fate/Hollow Ataraxia and Fate/Unlimited Codes, and her impromptu brawl with Rin in this episode probably makes it abundantly clear why. There was nothing terribly surprising to see, but it was a heaping helping of fanservice for people like me.Ĭharacter cameos were the biggest nods, and I don’t think anyone really expected Luvia to show up. Everything actually in London was new, though it was essentially extrapolated from side material and lore. To wit: the parts back at high school are the only parts that are in the original visual novel, and it ends when Rin asks Shirou to go to London with her. Episode ThoughtsĪround two-thirds of this last episode was anime-original material, which meant it was a thousand times more interesting than the segment containing Unlimited Blade Works‘ actual epilogue. Our heroes move on with their lives after the Holy Grail War, and we move on with our lives after watching 25 episodes of this show.
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