#dang is the saber ost good....

[sakurai-keiwa]

I've had "Rewrite the Story" on loop for days, so I knew I had to do something about that. I miss these three every day...

#had that and ''book of power'' on loop from that album #dang is the saber ost good.... #kamen rider #kr saber #kamen rider saber #rintaro shindo #touma kamiyama #kento fukamiya #rewrite the story #my art #I miss them so much I can barely even get into r/evice tbh. but I will eventually prob..

[bladeoftruths]

Fate/stay night [Heaven’s Feel] 1. presage flower - Ren’s review

Alright, it’s been a long time since I reviewed an anime, let alone an anime movie, but dang, this movie is the sole reason I got into fate series. I even get to invest myself into Unlimited Blade Works (the ufotable one, I aint gonna touch the DEEN version ever], Fate/Zero and even tried the visual novel just for the sake of gaining the full main Fate experience.

Without further ado, everything is under the cut for viewing pleasure. 

For starters, Heaven’s Feel (HF for short) route is preferably enjoyed if you played the visual novel firsthand, especially after you completed Fate (Saber’s route) and Unlimited Blade Works (Rin’s route, I’m gonna call this route UBW for short). Because this route carries a bunch of stuff from the previous two routes. If you start from this route, it’ll leave you confused. Like, really. 

Also, the visual novel has stuff that the anime adaptation left out but if you’re not the person to spend hours and hours playing visual novel, then you’re only left with the OG Fate/stay night anime (the 2006 DEEN version, adapted Fate route btw) and the UBW anime by ufotable (came out in 2014). I personally haven’t seen the 2006 F/sn anime bcos I heard bad stuff coming from the original adaptation (cough cough). On the other hand, the UBW is quite good (bless ufotable for their splendid direction, but I’ll save my praises for this studio below) and I personally like it because of Shirou and Rin >:3c

Anyways, onto the main point. 

Story [10/10] - Not trying to be biased just because this route is my favourite story-wise, but I love where the story is heading. I like how the director, Tomonori Sudou, change some parts of the story to make the beginning of the route less boring contrary to the VN. 

The temple attack, where originally in the VN, Shirou and Saber heads there to investigate only to find Team Caster wiped out was removed to give a more unsettling feeling.

The ‘wet dreams’ scene, I must say, it’s very ‘interesting’ in its own way. Without adding the explicit scenes, they are able to execute the scene in an ‘interesting’ way. I honestly prefer this version compared to the censored version and the explicit version in the VN (I just replayed this route for the good ending with the H-mod on and I honestly cannot stop laughing bcos of how unconfortable this scene is, even though it was a scene involving Rin XD).

I also love how the movie begins with how Shirou and Shinji’s friendship got ruined, and how Sakura met Shirou. It’s a nice touch to see how things begin. And the scenes involving Shinji and Shirou fighting makes it feel so heartbreaking. Also, I love how the movie adaptation really makes the story feel like it revolves around Shirou and Sakura.

I also love how the story concluded with a bittersweet cliffhanger; Shirou returned injured and Saber disappeared, brief scene of Rin looking terrified as she discovers the underground room at the Matou residence, Shinji prepping up for that certain scene in the next part, and Illya bracing up for her next move.

Art [10/10] - Ahh yes, more praise for Director Sudou, who’s also in charge of the character designs. I like how smooth the artwork is, and bonus points for ripped Shirou bcos, heck yeah, he is ripped (the VNs, though inconsistent when it comes to him, but there are scenes where they reveal a peek on his ripped body >:3c), contrary to the UBW adaptation where they make him look slightly lean but fit.

Also, Sakura is so lovely here (fun fact: she’s the director’s best girl), and Rin, contrary to UBW, she looks more cool and less-dorky to set her aside from being the main girl (but she’s still the core cast of the series). 

I like how some of the gritty scenes were made even more gritty here to reflect how dark this route is. Like, they show all the thrown out organs and stuff and reveal them like no tomorrow. I’m not a fan of gore but hey, can I say it’s ‘cool’?

Animation [10/10] - Hoo boy, where do I begin? I have too many praises for ufotable, send help.

Smooth animation, epic VFX and compositing, improved photorealistic lighting and utilizing 3D into 2D animation. Dang, can I apply an internship here?

I’m really a sucker for all this cool cheese. The battle scenes’ animation are especially stellar, as always from ufotable. I cannot say anything much beyond this. Also, some of the daily life scenes, like the part where Sakura was cutting vegetables, it was smoothly animated. I can see that they’re really working hard on.

I can praise a thousand times to Ufotable Digital Team for improving their VFX and compositing. This is my absolute favourite thing about this studio. I can see how much they improved ever since they worked on UBW anime. I’ve seen a few clips of Tales of Zestiria the X and Katsugeki Touken Ranbu and dang, they’re really showing it here at long last.

Anyways, I want to praise them for the Lancer VS True Assassin scene. I like how they integrate 3D for the backgrounds and camera with the 2D animation for the fight scenes. It was really cool.

Music [10/10] - I don’t usually concentrate much on the music while I’m watching it, but when I listen to the OST first hand, I can really feel it.

Yuki Kajiura did a great job setting the mood for each scenes. Some of the melancholic scenes makes it feel so heartbreaking, and the last scene almost made me cry because of the music. I hope she returns for composing Part 2 because recently, she left her agent. The ending theme, which was sung by Aimer is quite nice. I like how some of the tracks for the movie were a remix from the theme itself. I’ve loved her songs since I listened to ‘Rokutousei no Yoru’ (no. 6′s ED theme) and this one is among her best of recently, after Brave Shine (UBW anime’s 2nd OP theme).

PS: Somehow I want Kalafina to sing the next movie’s ending theme but we’ll see. (given the recent news that one of their members left the group...)

Overall, my verdict is:

10/10

As a fan of this route, it was a great adaptation so far. I really like where this route is going, and I really can’t wait for Part 2, which will be even more interesting as that part will focus even more secrets of Sakura. I ain’t spoiling what they are but you’ll just see it for yourself.

Alright, I guess that’s it for my review. See you in Part 2 - Lost Butterfly (next year, bcos I doubt it’ll be screened here)

#fate series #fate/stay night #ren reviews stuff