Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works]

FATE/STAY NIGHT: UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
13
RELEASE
December 28, 2014
LENGTH
24 min

DESCRIPTION

Fuyuki City - a city surrounded by the sea and mountains becomes the setting for an ancient ritual. Seven masters are given control of heroic spirits in order to realize the mythical Holy Grail, which is said to grant its owner any wish. These heroic spirits or servants represent legendary heroes of various classes: "Saber," "Lancer," "Archer," "Rider," "Caster," "Assassin," and "Berserker." Each master will enter into a contract with their chosen servant and battle the others to the death until only one pair remains... This is the "Holy Grail War."

The young and capable mage, Rin Tohsaka, prepares for her long-awaited Fifth Holy Grail War to begin... With her servant Archer, Rin enters the Holy Grail War as the sole heir to the prestigious Tohsaka family after her father's death. But when Shirou Emiya, a boy from Rin's school, unwittingly becomes a Master and is fatally wounded in battle, she has no choice but to save him. With Shirou and his servant Saber, Rin sets out to strike down the conspiracies surrounding the Holy Grail War. Will the Holy Grail bless Rin and Shirou's path toward victory or will they be cursed with defeat?

(Source: Aniplex of America)

Notes:

Includes Prologue.
The first, second and last episodes aired with a runtime of ~48 minutes as opposed to the standard 24 minute long episode.

CAST

Rin Tohsaka
Kana Ueda
Artoria Pendragon
Ayako Kawasumi
Shirou Emiya
Noriaki Sugiyama
Archer
Junichi Suwabe
Sakura Matou
Noriko Shitaya
Gilgamesh
Tomokazu Seki
Kiritsugu Emiya
Rikiya Koyama
Kirei Kotomine
Jouji Nakata
Illyasviel von Einzbern
Mai Kadowaki
Cú Chulainn
Nobutoshi Kanna
Medusa
Yuu Asakawa
Medea
Atsuko Tanaka
Taiga Fujimura
Miki Itou
Kojirou Sasaki
Shinichirou Miki
Heracles
Tadahisa Saizen
Leysritt
Miho Miyagawa
Shinji Matou
Hiroshi Kamiya
Ayako Mitsuzuri
Fumie Mizusawa
Sella
Haruhi Nanao
Issei Ryuudou
Mitsuaki Madono
Soichirou Kuzuki
Masaki Terasoma
Kane Himuro
Rie Nakagawa
Kaede Makidera
Michiru Yuimoto
Yukika Saegusa
Eri Nakao
Otoko Hotaruzuka

EPISODES

Dubbed

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RELATED TO FATE/STAY NIGHT: UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS

REVIEWS

Axisrocks
97/100
Fate Stay Night/UBW is a Must watch in anyone's book; Nothing even comes close to competing with the Immersed feeling.
If I'm being honest this has to be one of the best anime I have ever watched if not the best. The only thing that can compete against this anime for me is probably going to have to be Re:ZERO. Not watching the Prequel to this I don't believe was necessary due to the fact both anime spoil each other no matter which way you watch them. The way this show grabs on to you and hooks you into binge watching it is incredible, I've actually never felt so invested and hooked on to the characters before in any other anime, In fact I actually almost felt sad and depressed when it was over because I felt almost like I was actually in the show with the characters. This anime to me means so much because I had never felt the incredible feeling as I was watching it but there was a couple of minuscule things as I was watching I didn't like. Most of these are selfish but I believe adding these could have made this show a 100/100 for me personally. To start off I believe the romance between Emiya and Rin could have been advanced a little farther within the story, having Rin act all cute and embarrassed around Shirou was cute and all but could it have been better if she would have been a little more adventurous with Shirou? Secondly having some sort of way where the warriors would have been able to stay or live with Shirou and Rin forever would have been great and also took off a lot of taxing depressed feeling you get when they say their last goodbye. Lastly this is probably one of the most generic things ever and probably the most ridiculous improvements would have to be make the seasons longer, I just personally felt so apart of the show and loved it so much it would have been great to keep that feeling a bit longer but beggars can't be choosers as they say. To finish off this review I believe this should be a must watch in anyone's book because the emotions stirred up throughout the show can't be compared to a regular anime I just firmly believe this anime is leagues above any other out there. One more thing before I leave this as is, you must give this the 3 episode rule because at the very start and introduction things may seem confusing or way out there but everything comes together once you keep watching I promise.

From your favorite Alpha (Jeff Seid)
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Rorroe
88/100
Ufotable's UBW hits it out of the park with its stellar animation and well-written story. A must watch for Fate fans.
SLIGHT SPOILER WARNING

When I first read the Visual Novel of this route, I fell in love with the main characters and the servants; how could such an action-packed route be this good? For being a game made in 2004, this route became one of my favorites in terms of action, music and story.
After finishing the routes, I set foot into the anime adaptations. Just finishing Fate/Zero, I had high expectations on how studio Ufotable would adapt such an action-packed route, while not butchering the characters and the over-arching storyline. MAN, they did not disappoint.

PLOT

The story itself is fairly simple, which definitely gave space for the studio to develop on animation, world-building and give solid comedy at times.
The story mainly revolves around the Fifth Holy Grail War, an event which has occurred before the set time, after the events of the Fourth Grail War (Fate/Zero). Masters must face each-other in an intense battle royale, accompanied by their selected servants. (Saber, Archer, Assassin, Rider, Berserker, Caster) to kill each-other and win the Grail, which grants any wish. High-schoolers Emiya Shirou and Rin Tohsaka, are one of those selected few masters, along with their servants, Saber and Archer, both engage in this battle, one by force and the other for pride. Both high schoolers must learn to set their differences aside to fight together, while also struggling to stay alive in this gruesome war. One of the strong aspects of the story is the beginning chemistry between servants and masters, the clashing set of ideals and morals sparks conflict in battles and it neatly develops with clever comedic touches from here and there.

CHARACTERS

This show has a very good development on characters, both masters and servants. More than the two masters previously mentioned, the secondary characters like Kirei Kotomine, Sakura and Illya and the servants like Caster and Lancer are definitely additional strong points in this show. Nevertheless, the show mostly develops these characters, while others barely get any screen-time or become episodic adversaries. While this is faithful to the original route, one is left wishing more from the rest of the characters, even if it would drag the show an unnecessary mile.

ANIMATION

This is where the show excels. As many fans like calling this anime "Unlimited Budget Works", this anime shows how advanced the studio Ufotable was at the time in terms of smooth and beautiful animation, nowadays world-wide popular for animating Kimetsu No Yaiba. This show is definitely an eye candy for most viewers, with animation that never drops in quality, whether that is in more relaxed and lighthearted moments to very fast and action packed fights, which are abundant in this show. Another thing to commend is this show's ability to flawlessly express emotions of characters, without needing voice acting for the viewer to understand the tone of certain scenes, small details like these make the show amazing to watch.

CONCLUSION

Fate UBW is probably a very good introduction to the animated Fate series if you don't wish to read the Visual Novel. The show takes advantage of the simplicity of the route to make a beautifully looking and well written show which is very faithful to the original source of this series. I recommend this anime for the fight scenes and the chemistry of both protagonists, it's very fun to watch.
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yuureivt
94/100
A great introduction to the fate series, but not the ideal one.
I write my reviews based off 5 elements: Story, Characters, Music, Animation/Production Quality and Impression. All of my reviews are spoiler free. This review is based on the subbed version.

This is a review for both season one and season two and will be posted in both pages.

Story:

The mainline fate series is in and of itself, one of the most complicated, comical, yet wonderfully written series of all time. Are there plot holes? Absolutely. Does everything make sense? Hell no. The thing about the fate series however, is if you just suspend your disbelief, in these plot holes, the story becomes evermore endearing. That said there are not enough plot holes to make it nonsensical, but due to the nature of the story being based in magecraft, magic, historical reference, gender bending and other extremely difficult to explain phenomena, a suspension of disbelief is pretty much a requirement in order to enjoy this series.

Characters:

For Unlimited Blade Works specifically, this series probably has the most character development for it's characters. In order to not spoil the story, I will not say who specifically, but several characters in this story are well fleshed out and have clear strengths, weaknesses, ambitions and motivations. As such, the viewer will no doubt enjoy watching these characters as they develop through the story. There is something to be said that if you want to have a better understanding on the characters, you might want to watch Fate/Zero before Unlimited Blade Works, but I personally believe either way works out here if you are choosing to skip the 2006 iteration of Fate/Stay Night.

Music:

This anime has some of the best music in all of anime, that being said, it is still far from being the best. I will never forget the goosebumps I get when I hear the opening riff to Aimer's Brave Shine in season 2 or how other songs perfectly rise and fall with the momentum of the battles in the many epic fight scenes laid out in this series. In terms of it's OST, Unlimited Blade Works falls short of Heaven's Feel in terms of fate series music, but comes in a very clear second place.

Animation/Production Quality:

ufotable is one of the best; if not the best in ensuring their products have the best animation quality. Not only that, but in terms of the fate series, this is the clear second best in both animation quality and production quality behind Heaven's Feel. The animation is fluid and viewers are able to keep track of what's going on in fights while also depicting the epic-ness of each fight scene. There is hardly ever if at all a drop in quality and while the voice actors are the same from the original Fate/Stay Night production, they are handled in a vastly superior way and churn out top quality lines and emotions. There is a clear difference in production between Studio Deen and ufotable and it's not even close as to which one if better.

Impression:

For most, this will be their first entry into the Fate franchise as most people do recommend skipping the original Fate/Stay Night (I do not recommend skipping it). That said, this series definitely sets the bar high and if you want to watch it in a way that builds up in quality over time, I definitely recommend watching Fate/Zero first. That said, there are so many memorable scenes and moments within the anime, not to mention the characters of this series are some of the most beloved of all time. Type-Moon did a wonderful job in story and character design and ufotable did an exceptional job bringing it to TV production.

Final Words:
As with all my Fate series reviews, I will add my personal watch order list and flesh out why it is important to watch it in the order I suggest:
Fate/Stay Night (2006) -> Fate/Zero -> Unlimited Blade Works -> Heaven's Feel. If you watch it in this order the amount of surprises and moments where you have to simply press the "I believe button" becomes fewer. Not only that, if you decide to skip the 2006 production of Fate/Stay Night, you miss out on the character development of one of the key characters in the franchise as they do not receive as much; if at all, character development in the other shows of the series. That being said, if you are unwilling to soldier through a terribly produced version of the fate franchise, I highly, highly, highly recommend you at least seek out a synopsis or read about what the original production covered.

As for Unlimited Blade Works, it is my personal second favorite in the series behind Heaven's Feel. I still remember my heart racing and blood boiling while watching this series. It without a doubt holds a place in the top of all anime and first time viewers should definitely give it a chance. As I give Season 2 a 9.6 (96) rating and Season 1 a 9.2 (92), the average score for the entire series is 9.4 (94)
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