ufotable to Produce New Fate/stay night Project

[Raikoh]

Episode 0 has come out, a 40 minute long episode covering the game's prologue and, well...

Spoiler

It was everything I hoped for and more. What, were you expecting a ragestorm?

The prologue is something that helps all three routes but hasn't really been given much attention in animation until now. Most of the prologue consists of Rin's internal monologues, which works fine for a novel but needed to be cut down for an actual animated project - and ufotable delivered, by replacing those internal monologues with directorial choices, usually in terms of body or facial language. They managed to squeeze out all the exposition that they needed to, as well as the foreshadowing that the prologue had in it. My personal favorite little touches were the BGM playing when Archer first appears and having him mouth "a certain phrase" that the audience isn't privy to (but we all probably know what it was) against Lancer.

My only real complaint is a nitpick in that I think the action is too fast. I get the idea - that it should feel like Servants are a step above humans, but when the action is so fast it can get difficult to follow and enjoy. Slowing it down a touch wouldn't hurt. Oh, and this is completely minor but for some reason Issei sounded a bit off, a little too deep. I don't know if it's just because Madono is getting older or if he was sick or something but he didn't really sound like the Issei I remember. Again, minor nitpick.

As for the music. I wasn't familiar with Fukasawa's work so I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be very good. I shouldn't have been worried. So far, I like the BGM better than any of the other Fate anime OSTs for the simple reason that it remembers the visual novel's soundtrack, and to me that just feels right. Many scenes eschew music entirely, which isn't uncommon in any media but it was actually noticeable here. Cutting the music was common in the novel, so having moments like that help it feel more familiar. Though I didn't catch much inside the calmer tracks, I noticed that many of the tracks seem to do well in reminding me of the visual novel. The composition when Lancer and Archer fight is the most notable one to me - if you listen closely you can actually hear elements of the original novel's "Gekitotsu Suru Tamashii" in the strings. Also, the composer has noticeably lifted a few of the more memorable musical motifs from Zero.

All in all, I am very optimistic about UBW. I really loved Zero when it was airing, but in retrospect I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I did, but this is UBW. I know that if it stays faithful to the novel, it's going to be golden.

[Dark Duel]

I will preface this by saying that I have never played the original VN, so most of what I know about the various routes is from information I read online. My only other exposure has been through the two anime series (the old F/SN and F/Z) and the UBW movie.
So I'm basically going in here with nothing as far as what to expect beyond what I saw in the UBW movie. Which I thought was awesome, if too short to do the story justice.

Having said that, I will also add that Rin was one of my least favorite characters of the original anime, though that series was based on an entirely different route. I found her somewhat more likable in the UBW movie, but not by much.
So I was expecting to be annoyed given that the focus of the prologue is almost exclusively on her, with Shirou barely rating two cameos in forty-odd minutes. I was extremely pleasantly surprised to find that this was not the case.
I actually enjoyed getting a look at events that weren't really touched on previously, and it helped me get a much better feel for the character. I'm really looking forward to watching this.

One last point: As much as I loved Fate/Zero overall, I felt its first half was far, far better than the second, which suffered from horrendous pacing issues in my opinion. And I sincerely hope they don't make the same mistake here.

*Goes back to praying Heaven's Feel gets a decent-length adaptation*

[SonicSP]

I've yet to watch episode 0 but I watched the first episode on TV just now. It certainly has a more serious feel. I'm not sure I like the music that much however, especially compared to Fate Zero or the original Fate Stay Night anime.

Spoiler

Hmmm Saber got damaged by Gae Bolg. It's been awhile since I played UBW and watched the movie but that surprised me. It probably happened then too.

It's probably because Rin wasn't being centered in this episode but I thought Archer Lancer fight was a bit dissapointing. It is nicely animated but I thought it felt meh. I think the music may be partly to blame cos I really loved the music that was played then. This battle in particular was one of the battles that got me hooked on Fate series period some years back so I guess I'm judging it very harshly.

The animation is superb however, both during the battles and during the normal scenes. The episode does feel a bit draggy but I reckon this is due to familiarity with the series in addition to not being able to interpret complex dialogue without subs.

A UBW anime series. Eight years ago I couldn't imagine it but now.......it's finally frickin happening. I thought I had to make do with the game....then the manga then the extremely compressed movie but now a series. Really excited.

[Raikoh]

Just finished episode 1, have a few more comments to make. Loved the episode, natch.

Spoiler

First things first: OP and ED. They're okay. Not great, not bad. UBW OPs seem to have had an issue with skewed priorities, though. First the Vita version gives Sakura more focus than she really needs and now this one has composition that makes it look like Saber's the heroine again. Also: is it me or does every Kalafina song sound the same?

I really like how ufotable took basically everything that's the same in all three routes and crammed them all into episodes 0 and 1, well there's still the church scene to go but I get the feeling that will be a [paradoxically] short Kotomine scene. Still, having it all taken care of so quickly means that if they want to do adaptations of the other two routes (and there's the HF adaptation on the horizon) they could cut out all the exposition and just point in that direction.

I think that they added a scene or two, as well. I don't remember the scene with Makidera being in the novel (though I haven't read Realta Nua so it could've been there), and if I'm remembering right, the subplot with Sakura's "bruise" was one of the HF exclusive scenes. I also liked a lot of the little touches - Fuji-nee having a yellow moped, Mitsuzuri and Shirou talking in the cafeteria (feels more "real" than in the field), etc.

I very much preferred the Saber fight to the Archer one in episode 0 as well, because it seems the director noticed that the action needs to slow down or we won't be able to follow it. It's still fast, yes, but not disorientingly so and the camera is a lot more cooperative. Oh, and I absolutely loved the Gae Bolg effect, that was awesome.

Again, a few REALLY minor nitpicks. First is that I don't think they made it clear enough that the poster was sheet metal. It was fairly clear, since they show it bend and it doesn't bend back like a normal piece of paper would, but I could see a viewer not getting why Shirou could block Gae Bolg with it - especially before he finishes reinforcing the poster. While we're on the subject of Fuji-nee scenes, they have one line of dialogue that only really makes sense if you know she's in a Yakuza family, so that's a thing. I also didn't like how Kiritsugu was the one who had the line of dialogue about being saved in the flashback instead of having Shirou narrate that he saw it in Kiritsugu's face, but I suppose they gotta appease the Zero fans more. Last one was just the removal of the narration that Shirou reinforced his eyes to see Rin on the rooftop. Not necessary, but it makes it more plausible than him just being able to see her from that far away - foreshadowing notwithstanding. So yes, my nitpicks consist solely of the lack of two lines and two lines that aren't really that bad but I felt could have been done better.

Now for a few little things: Still under the impression (or trying to convince myself) that the OST is using the visual novel as a guide, the track playing when Lancer is attacking Shirou right before Saber's summoning sounded sort of like a battle mix of "Footsteps of Destruction" (which was the BGM playing in that scene of the VN). There were the Zero music cues as well but I much prefer Stay Night's BGM. Next episode: "Burst Up"? Maybe?

[SonicSP]

So I finished the first cour of Unlimited Blade Works around a month ago or so and I gotta say that I'm disappointed by it so far. The battles and choreography were really great but the pacing just feels so slow and I don't think they've used their slow budget saving episodes nicely enough to elaborate on the magic background of the series. It's probably the fault of the source material more than anything since they're following it pretty closely. The OP was just okay at first but it really really grew on me.

I know the original Fate anime got a lot of criticism but I still love it and I remember watching repeatedly again and again and again nine years ago. It's the thing that got me into the Nasuverse and I'm grateful for that. I still think that anime is superior to Unlimited Blade Works based on where they're at twelve episodes or so. The battles are nowhere near as awesome but it had a certain charm to it. I suspect part of it is because they combined stuff to put more content so it doesn't feel as hollow. I just replayed the visual novel lately and I had no idea the Rin-Shirou-Rider incident and the Kuzuki-Caster street battle was an Unlimited Blade Works only thing. I guess I just attribute a lot of things of the original anime into what I believe to be the Fate route despite the fact that I've played the route twice. My opinion of the original dropped after playing the visual novel but I probably rated it higher than most people personally.

That being said, I'm really looking forward to the second cour of the new anime because I know the second half of Unlimited Blade Work is pure win (and probably my favorite part of the visual novel). I just hope they manage the pacing better because it could turn into the opposite problem of rushing if they're not careful.

I'm also hoping they bring back the song "Emiya" to the second cour, because that's the most kickass song in the Fate series as far as I'm concerned. I've not really been a big fan of the in series music so far though they're okay, I dare say I think the music in the original anime was better.

Also hoping Heaven's Feel become a movie series instead of just a movie because there's a lot of content in it to be explored and they're not gonna pull it off in one movie. Ufotable did a good job with Kara no Kyoukai series so maybe they can do the same with Heaven's Feel but not as long of a series of course.

[SonicSP]

Well it's back, after three months is back. First cour was a bit disappointing to be honest so I'm hoping the second cour will be better - especially since his is where things get interesting even in the original material.

Not too big on the OP, but maybe it would grow on me. I know the ED won't however, I just never get the appeal of Kalafina's songs. The only one I really liked was the one that was used as an ED for Madoka Magica and that's mostly because of the guitar and solo.

Episode 13 feels a bit underwhelming for a starter episode. Maybe because I already knew what was going to happen. I thought Shirou's scene with Rin later was pretty touching than the VN; at least it felt that way anyways.

Spoiler

Episode 14 though, was really really interesting. I don't know much about Fate's side stories but I'm under the impression that we haven't seen Caster's original Master before. It took me a second to figure out who the guy was with that harem of his as I wasn't aware.

Truth be told, I wouldn't mind a little bit of original elaboration here and there because I don't think the VN went into that much detail about Medea's life or what happened prior to Kazuki. It certainly makes her more sympathetic. I think the VN just said that she tricked her first Master into using his Command Spells before killing without elaborating much more.

Also they elaborated on the mansion attack scene and showed what happened beforehand. That's kinda nice and unexpected.

Personally, what I really want to see is more elaboration on Archer's past and visualize it in some detail. I think what they did with Caster is the type of thing I want to see more. Maybe even have Archer use Kanshou and Bakuya Overedge at some point.

The pacing still feels a bit weird though. It feels like they're saving up material for some reason, which is weird because I'm pretty sure they have more than enough to cover the remaining episodes and maybe even elaborate them properly if that's not enough. At this rate I'm worried they'll rush to the end which kinda defeats the point of remaking it into a TV series in the first place.

I know the two seperate cours thing is to help wih the production schedule (and the animation is amazing as expected from ufotable) but I wonder whether it's backfiring. I can't help but feel like the show should perhaps focus more time on the later parts rather than splitting it evenly between twelve episodes. A lot of episodes in the first cour just felt like waiting for stuff to happen which I think, is also an actual weakness of the original source material route as well up until a certain point.

[Raikoh]

I really have to agree. Aimer's songs all sound like she's in desperate need for a glass of water and it just doesn't do anything for me. I'd have had no problem if they reused basically any of the other songs they could've had for the OP, be they Horizon, This Illusion, or even just stayed with Ideal White. And every Kalafina song has the exact same impression on me (that is to say: boring). Sad to say but I'm worried that I won't even like the UBW rendition of "Emiya" (if they even decide to include it...)

Yeah, this is the first time we've seen Caster's first Master. Honestly I think it was a bit ham-handed to make him out as such a slimeball that we want him dead right from the get-go. I'm worried that it might just end up as like a waste of a half episode or so, but then again we're on day 13 already so we have plenty of room to fill. Next episode all but confirmed "Berserker, you're strong" which is going to be great at just ripping my heart out. I'm almost certain that in ep. 15 they'll adapt "Rin-sama Embarrassed and Angry."

If we cover things that are likely to take a full episode, I think we have enough space.

Spoiler

-Berserker fight seems like it'll take up all of next episode.
-Caster battle will be at least one episode, maybe two if they go out of order a little and use it to extend Lancer v. Archer and show more of Archer's past.
-Shirou v. Archer is bound to get a whole episode for it. Maybe two.
-Probably get a whole episode of downtime before the final battle, as well as magic dolphin sex - unless Ufotable doesn't want to bother with that.
-One episode for the final battle. Depending on how detailed they want the Gil fight to be, it might get stretched to two.
-One episode for the epilogue - most likely True End.

That's around 6-9 episodes, which is about right for the pace they need to keep up.

Personally I think UBW does have some weird pacing, but I wouldn't for the life of me figure out how to fit it into a two-cour series. It certainly needs time to air out, but in the anime medium they need less talky bits and more actiony bits, and Fate in general has a lot of dialogue punctuated with brief action scenes. The best place to cut it off from the first cour would have been Archer's betrayal, but then it would be difficult to fit the rest of the plot into the second cour. Maybe this is why we've had things like extending the first Berserker encounter to a whole episode, or having the last episode be almost entirely brand new content. Speaking of all-new content, it'd be kind of cool to see a Lancer flashback, although almost entirely unnecessary since that would almost assuredly be comprised entirely of "Cu Chulainn does awesome stuff" (or have a scene with Bazett).

However, I think that they intended to not hit the same the problems that were in the UBW movie, in that it was just a bunch of action scenes with a little dialogue in between. People who weren't fans of Fate, or who got into the franchise from the anime, didn't know anything about anything from that movie. The idea that Ufotable is approaching here is that they're aiming at a broader audience for Fate fans, so the early scenes that establish characters and rules and so on are necessary. I like it, since this also is the first time in a Fate animated work that we've seen how well-written characters like Shirou and Rin actually are rather than just seeming like your run-of-the-mill "nice guy" self-insert protag (if you can self-insert to Shirou, you must be a BAMF) and tsundere.

Perhaps all the double length episodes has something to do with the pacing feeling different.

[teslashark]

I watched 13-15 at Sakuracon. 14 is supposedly rewritten by Nasu himself, which does some whitewashing/backstory of Caster. There's some very clever Prisma Ilya advertisement inserted in 14 and 15.
There's about 8 minutes of 'Chulain action taken out of 14, which would only be available on the Blu Ray. I think it's not subbed by Aniplex, because they didn't show it there. Bazett is not there.

[Amion]

I admit I've been conflicted about this series' run. I finally managed to track down the Heaven's Feel story arc, and now can't imagine how that future movie could ever even possibly be converted into a hour-two hour production without turning out a cramped disaster. Not that I mind, the HF route didn't appeal to me at all.

That said, I've since been trying to enjoy Unlimited Blade Works. And it's just not working for me. There's too much of Rin and Shirou staring at each other dumbly talking. I don't mind dialogues at all, love 'em in fact, but somehow the way it's being approached isn't working. Stay Night seemed to handle the dialogues better. Though I still recall a feeling of nothing happening.

You guys said it right when describing the first cour as having a feeling of calm before the storm kind of anticipation. To me it feels like they'd give us emotional/plot build up and then go nowhere fast. The storm blew over as it were. Perhaps the dialogues and the fact that nothing really feels like it's happening makes the pacing feel awkward. Maybe not.

When I take a step back, and this only just occurred to me, it may be because Stay Night actually had structured arcs for each master. UBW doesn't appear to. It does, but it's so much slower as to not appear to. Our protagonists spend their time trying to decide who to attack or Shirou fleeing from a suddenly hostile Rin. The plot is so similar to SN, but somehow feels less direct regardless. It's like Shirou and Rin blunder into the mini-arcs rather than plot out their decisions. This shouldn't be the impression though, since Caster clearly acts as the primary antagonist throughout. Yet again, nothing seems to happen. We get yet more dialogue about needing to deal with the enemy, yet things that should take less time are drawn out significantly. Perhaps this wouldn't be my impression if the characters were more... interesting.

I hate Shirou. He's still a blank slate to me, as simply, if perhaps no poorly written, as any other shounen I've seen. He had a few more interesting bits this time around, perhaps. Still hasn't done much to endear him to me. Sakura and Saber both haven't been major influences, and Saber's absence as a developed character leaves a void that Rin isn't filling well. She's just too violent and sporadic with her behavior toward Shirou.

At least we got Heracles, Ilya and Gilgamesh in one place. Good can only come of that.

[Raikoh]

Stay Night actually has less arcs for each Master. The only Servants who were noteworthy Servants outside of Saber were Rider, Berserker, and Gilgamesh. Archer was basically written out of the plot since as soon as he was back in fighting form he was killed off. UBW has moments for Lancer, Caster, Archer, Berserker, Gilgamesh. Assassin is never relevant outside of HF (and only True Assassin). Saber and Sakura don't do much because this is UBW, and it's a route all about Shirou and Rin. Sakura doesn't do anything outside of Heaven's Feel, after all.

A lot of Fate is backloaded heavily. Pretty much none of the routes get good before day ten or so, because they tend to cram a lot of exposition into the early parts.

As for Shirou being a blank slate... Well, from a certain point of view it isn't inaccurate. Though that's meant to be a character trait, his status as a "Faker" with borrowed ideals. There's way too much to list about what makes Shirou who he is, and I think it's worth stating that it's difficult to say if it's "cliche" since the cliche started to run rampant in the late 2000s, which means that Shirou may very well have (ironically) been one of the originals who characters afterwards ended up ripping off without fully understanding why he's a good character. Honestly, the Fate series is one where the most popular characters tend to be more shallow since they have more blatant appeal, but the best written characters are ones where you need to take a step back and analyze their words, thoughts, and actions. It's why Saber is my least favorite of the three heroines and while Rin is my favorite, Sakura is VERY close to her.

I teared up, but unfortunately I didn't bawl my eyes out at the episode like I was hoping. They didn't use Die Lorelei even once while they used some fairly bland track multiple times, convincing me that the sound director is out of his mind. I'm honestly just glad to finally get "Berserker, you're strong" in animation, but, man, I guess this is what they mean when they say you can't really mess with perfection.

LANCER NEXT EPISODE

[Amion]

An excellent episode, I admit. Nice we got to see Ilya fleshed out more.

And I suppose one could like Shirou and say he's deep. But to me it's just that he really doesn't show me any quirks, and I'm a fan of quirks.

At least I have Rin, now that she's left "I'mma gonna kill you, now, Shirou!" phase.

[SonicSP]

All this "expanding on the original stuff" is cool and all but it really should have been focussed more in the second half of the first cour, where the show was really short on the action part and was generally boring on the "talking" aspects. I'm not necessarily saying that the Caster/Ilya contents we saw recently necessarily should have been shown there, I mean more on the "general expansion on original content" theme. The current arc of the route has a lot of cool stuff that would require this less than the lull leading to the end of the first cour.

This was a really cool episode, they made a much more bigger deal of it than the VN did and for the better I might add. The second cour has started well it seems.

I've not been big on the background music of the show so far. Of the VN, original series and this one, I have to say that this one has the worst music out of the three and it's not often that I complain about a show's background music. But the scene where Gilgamesh slashed Ilya, the music was really nice and spot on.

I'm just hoping the interesting battles to come later won't be rushed or too compressed. I'm hoping they would have interesting exposition to accompany them as well. They have around 9-11 1/2 hour episodes to go length wise so I'm hoping they'll use the time well. I really want to see Archer expanded beyond the VN if possible, since they've done the same for Ilya and Caster.

A lot of Fate is backloaded heavily. Pretty much none of the routes get good before day ten or so, because they tend to cram a lot of exposition into the early parts.

I thought Heaven's Feel was well balanced and interesting even early on and kept a nice energy throughout most of it. I think it's because it was different enough that you can tell the difference from other routes, like Saber and True Assassin among many other things.

It probably would have been my favorite route of it weren't for some ways Sakura and Shirou were portrayed (the latter I felt like punching a few times on this route, I never found him anywhere near as annoying in the other routes compared to this one). Still it had the two best endings of the VN and a really cool fight scene involving Saber though.

That said, I've since been trying to enjoy Unlimited Blade Works. And it's just not working for me. There's too much of Rin and Shirou staring at each other dumbly talking. I don't mind dialogues at all, love 'em in fact, but somehow the way it's being approached isn't working. Stay Night seemed to handle the dialogues better. Though I still recall a feeling of nothing happening.

The original series had a certain charm to it that I like and I'm not necessarily sure what it is. The strange thing is that I feel like even the talking or not progression scenes in that show felt nice to watch even if the elaboration on the magic still terrible by the VN'a standards (the current show is even better in that regard).

It's possible I felt this due to the fact that the original anime series is my first taste of the Fate Stay Night and Nasuverse in general so it was all new territory for me. By contrast, I'm watching UBW series from the viewpoint of someone who's finished the great VN, finished the original anime, the UBW movie, Fate Zero and read up about Nasuverse in general.

That being said, I also think it's because UBW doesn't adopt much from other routes. The original anime actually expanded quite a bit from the other routes including the Rin/Shirou school battle from UBW, the newly made up attack on Caster's temple arc, Caster/Kizuki street fight from UBW showing Archer vs Berserker. The current anime expands things a little bit (mostly the last two episodes) but nowhere near as much.

And I suppose one could like Shirou and say he's deep. But to me it's just that he really doesn't show me any quirks, and I'm a fan of quirks.

Personally, I find Shirou is much more interesting in the VN than in the anime. He isn't different technically but you get to see his monologue in just about most things and that apparently makes a huge difference to me. I find him a bit boring in the anime but I really liked him in the VN because you get to see his thoughts combined with his actions and his analysis of the situation. I especially like his thoughts during battles and when he images things.

[Amion]

You know what? Some of the issues I've been having with the series so far got fixed this episode. How convenient for me.

The scene with Lancer was just funny as can be. I was tickled pink.

I LOVED the scene at the end. I thought it was a bold but acceptable move to have Rin figure out the truth off-screen and hint at it in such an oblique way.

[Raikoh]

I quite liked the episode, although it seemed to be a bit slower than the actual Visual Novel for this part. I was thinking that we'd have gotten to the Church in 5-10 minutes or so. Lancer was great, as expected. I love how they draw attention to the "do you have something in mind for Caster?" to make so that when the viewer sees what it turns out to be... Well, it'll be more entertaining. I'd have liked to see the scene where they're going back through the forest and Lancer's teasing Rin the whole time, but that'd be just gravy so it's fine to cut.

Something that's starting to get to me, though, is that Shinji's performance is going a bit too far for a guy who by Nasu's own words is actually pretty decent when not interacting with Sakura. Novel had him speaking to Shirou in a much less condescending manner all the time, which actually makes them being friends make more sense. Not a huge deal, just kind of a weird thing I notice. Might be a result of making the series for an anime audience, since it's harder to capture a lot of these subtle characterization cues.

Strangely, I noticed that there was a bit of QUALITY this episode. Not a ton, and mostly in shots that either are short or at a distance. Guess we don't have enough budget, King of Adaptations.

[SonicSP]

Yeah, this was a good episode.

- The part where Rin and Shirou were arguing while Lancer was standing there was just funny. They really would have been screwed if Lancer wanted to fight.

- On one hand, I can't remember that part where Shirou told Lancer not to "go after" Rin as the condition. Of course, transitioning from serious to funny scenes is one of Fate's traits but this one just feels out of place. Like putting in a tsun moment for the sake of a tsun moment.

- It's nice to see a short glance of younger moe Caster, even if for a second from the back but would have nice to see her make an appearance image wise.

- Calling it now, Lancer and Archer will be fighting with cards in the next episode leading to the biggest plot twist ever. One can dream right?

- While it's an important scene in a few ways, I really really had to laugh at Shirou when Rin explains the "pendant". I'm under the impression that he hasn't understood it yet but how he casually said "got it" (or something) with a straight face after the explanation is hilarious. I know Rin wasn't explaining the thing with a lot of clarity on purpose but still.

- I have extremely high expectations for the next episode (that last one was a joke, in case anybody thinks it's a spoiler) as its one of my favorite events on the UBW route. Hopefully it would live up.

Something that's starting to get to me, though, is that Shinji's performance is going a bit too far for a guy who by Nasu's own words is actually pretty decent when not interacting with Sakura. Novel had him speaking to Shirou in a much less condescending manner all the time, which actually makes them being friends make more sense.

I've finished playing all three routes again a few months ago and I have to say I disagree with you here. I thought Shinji was just as condescending there to Shirou.

But I should note that I played the Realty Nua version, which has voices in it. It's possible that we're interpreting things differently if we played different versions of it. Even though a lot of his lines may look nice on paper, his voice saying them in a sarcastic and haughty tone which can change things a bit. Then again, maybe we really are interpreting it differently since I don't recall much change in the way I interpreted him from the time I played the route without voices the first time.

Unlimited Blade Works End Novel/Movie/Series Spoiler

Spoiler

After Shinji recovers at the end of the route due to not having the worms, I think Shirou mentions that he returns to normal like the his old self again. I always took that to mean that Shinji we see in the entirety of Fate Stay Night isn't the natural Shinji (at least to non-Sakura characters anyways). It would explain why he was ever "friends" with that guy to begin with. Shirou may be a bit soft sometimes but I cannot ever see him becoming friends with the current Shinji and I guess even whatever "friendship" they have now seems to be more to history than anything else. Perhaps this old Shinji is what Nasu meant.

While we're on that note, Sakura's many.......ummm "sensual" voice lines in HF does get annoying early in though I guess it fits one of the main themes of the route quite well.

[Raikoh]

It's mostly just that I think while most of the other performances have gotten more subtle and complex, Kamiya's role as Shinji has become more caricatured when there was nothing really wrong with it. Makes it a bit hamfisted when I actually quite liked the more subtle aspects of Shinji's character that make him someone to be pitied. A lot of his voice acting in the novel isn't so smug towards Shirou as much as it is just casual. Point is that in the novel's acting the acting was subdued enough to allow for different interpretations whereas now he's playing the role like a Disney villain, and I don't like that.

Also, if you're curious about the Shirou/Lancer/Rin scene, well, at that point in the novel, three options appear: "All right", "I'll agree on one condition" and "Refuse", it's the second option that gets the scene while not changing anything else - it MIGHT have some effect on the ending points, I don't remember. They could've just gone with "All right" allowing them to free up more screentime and make the tone more serious... But that would mean no "Rin-sama Embarrassed and Angry", and why would we not want that? We're not even halfway through the season and we're already about 85% through the route. Besides, people often look down on UBW for having less of a focus on the romance aspect, so tossing in romantically driven scenes where they can definitely helps alleviate that complaint. I don't think there's anyone who got to that point who doesn't prefer that scene over the "just agree" option.

[SonicSP]

Probably the best episode I've seen of the show so far. The Archer/Lancer battle was nicely done. It didn't feel very long but it didn't feel like it was rushed either. I thought they managed to capture the essence and more importantly, the technical details of the battle well.

If there was one complaint I had, it has to be during the moment where Rin started using martial arts againts Caster during her battle. I didn't feel like it was.......I don't know emphasized as much or as properly as it should. They certainly attempted to do that but I didn't get the same amount of feeling that it did whenever I read it on the visual novel. I don't think the scene emphasized just how much work she placed into having both her magical prowess and her physical ability to that level. I thought it was an important scene because it emphasizes her character pretty well but it was just such an awesome turnover moment. Here it felt a little meh, like it wasn't that great of a moment as it should have been. I can't help feel that they were trying to end the episode at specific point, so they didn't emphasize it as much as they should.

Also, the animation where Shirou was sent crashing into the wall twice was funny. There's just something about the angle that made it so, like it was a funny cartoon kind of angle.

[Amion]

I always find Shirou getting injured chuckle-inducing.

That might be just my hatred for him showing, though.

[Raikoh]

I'd have to agree on Rin's martial arts. I think it would've been a good idea to have it come completely out of nowhere, the full combo with no slow-motion and no magic to pump up the HOLY CRAP factor. That's always how I pictured it happening based on what happens in the novel. If they wanted to go into more detail, they could do it after the fact. Still got the point across fairly well, though.

I really liked the destruction displayed by Gae Bolg, though Archer seemed a little TOO injured by it. I get that it took out Rho Aias, but it seems kind of weird that he'd be so messed up considering what his actions immediately afterwards were (and are going to be). Though injuring him may be a good call, since otherwise I get the feeling people who don't know Shirou are going to call the fight implausible...

Something else I've noticed about Rin is that I've actually been counting her gem useage, or at least I was doing it mentally in the first cour since she tossed like five in the Berserker fight. She has WAY more than 20 (10 if you don't count the ones used in Archer summoning). Every time in the novel where she'd throw one, she's ended up tossing at least three. I know a few of the novel CGs of her (Fate route Berserker and I believe one in the Caster fight) has her tossing three but that was for when she actually was using three (if memory serves). I don't know if it would bother me more or less if they didn't outright mention the 20 gems earlier on in the series (you could hand wave it saying "they never said how many gems she has in this version!")

[SonicSP]

I'm curious, why didn't Archer just attack Shirou instead of Caster with his blades? He made it pretty clear that killing him is goal. Seems like if that what he wants, he should just straight go for the kill from the get go. Everybody was pretty much distracted so it was a great chance. Killing Caster before going for Shirou afterwards would just be inefficient.

VN Spoiler

Spoiler

And it bites him back quite soon too.

Better for him to go for the kill straightaway since that's really his ultimate goal in participating in the war anyways. He remembers enough about it now it seems like a strange decision. I don't think he is bound any spell like that was the case when he was with Rin.