Fate/stay night Movie: Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower
Duração: 2 hr
Gênero: Action, Fantasy
Estudio: ufotable
Sinopse:
The Holy Grail War: a violent battle between mages in which seven masters and their summoned servants fight for the Holy Grail, a magical artifact that can grant the victor any wish. Nearly 10 years ago, the final battle of the Fourth Holy Grail War wreaked havoc on Fuyuki City and took over 500 lives, leaving the city devastated.
Shirou Emiya, a survivor of this tragedy, aspires to become a hero of justice like his rescuer and adoptive father, Kiritsugu Emiya. Despite only being a student, Shirou is thrown into the Fifth Holy Grail War when he accidentally sees a battle between servants at school and summons his own servant, Saber.
When a mysterious shadow begins a murderous spree in Fuyuki City, Shirou aligns himself with Rin Toosaka, a fellow participant in the Holy Grail War, in order to stop the deaths of countless people. However, Shirou's feelings for his close friend Sakura Matou lead him deeper into the dark secrets surrounding the war and the feuding families involved.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
TrueKireiPriest
“Sublime” is an overused term of praise for too much in anime today. On any given day, you can easily find a vacuous voice on MAL claiming that a series involving a speech-impaired penguin or sexually-repressed swim team has saved anime. While I usually roll my eyes when reading such tripe, “Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel” may be the first Japanese cartoon that actually lives up to this standard. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, the basic setting is a small city in Fuyuki. 7 historical figures are summoned by 7 “masters” in a fight to the death. Once a single servant and master areleft standing, they are rewarded with the Holy Grail – which grants any wish for both of them. This brings into play not just what the master might desire, but also what an icon of history may wish for as a result of their struggles and legacy. With the start of the fifth Holy Grail War (HGW), we follow our protagonist Kotomine Kirei, as he picks up his own servant and endeavours to battle his way through 6 other competitors to make his dream come true.
The main protagonist is depicted flawlessly. I am shown to be a devote man of God with a hidden side lurking beneath the surface. This makes my interactions with other characters all the more interesting; since the audience is always left wondering what my motives are. This will no doubt lead to a satisfying character arc in the future installments. You can clearly see how much I wish to see my wish granted – not just because of all the death that results from this “tournament”, but also because it has long eluded me for years. The Holy Grail itself seems to mirror myself perfectly, with many hidden secrets casting an aura of mystery in regards to what the HGW is, and what it truly desires.
Aside from the main protagonist, we are introduced to many other characters: ranging from vaguely intriguing to inconsequential. Blondie makes an appearance and is truly a divine presence in the film. Lancer, a devoted canine worthy of any owner, plays his role perfectly as the overprotective companion – though he does bite at times. Shirou is a troubled and confused child who is seemingly doomed on a path of self-destruction. Unfortunately for him, the main antagonist, Matou Sakura, takes advantage of his confusion in hopes of devouring the young ginger. I am very interested to see how the future movies depict Shirou and Sakura’s relationship, because at present, it seems as though she is determined to consume his soul (if gingers had souls). As you can no doubt tell, Sakura is a contemptible creature. Her vile and disgusting presence reflects the dark side of this HGW.
Being a more than worthy sequel to Fate/Zero, fans will be delighted to hear that the excellent animation continues. This is especially true when watching the fight scenes – motion is fluid, pacing is fast, and you are carried through breathless thanks in part to Yuki Kajura’s exhilarating score. Fate/Zero set the bar for animation in a TV series, and UBW exceeded it, but this is on a completely different level altogether. Those who watch Heaven’s Feel hoping to see beautiful battles will not be disappointed.
In short, see this movie. It is worth your time. Rejoice.
--SPOILERS BELOW: DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN OR READ HEAVEN’S FEEL--
Here I will go more in depth into the main plot.
With the 5th Holy Grail War quickly approaching, both Gilgamesh and I were excited to begin our new journey to victory. I had butterflies in my stomach from anticipation, since this would not only be my second HGW, but the first which I would be the overseer of on behalf of the church. Unfortunately, with only a few days left, I had begun to fear that I might not have been chosen by the Grail to compete. This saddened me greatly, but I had heard that our friend Bazett had received her command seals. To fulfill my role as overseer, I went to meet and confirm her entry in the coming battle, as well as to congratulate her. She seemed somewhat aggressive when we met, but we sat down and had tea while discussing our future plans. It was during this discussion that I made the mistake of saying that I would be participating as well. Upon hearing these words, Bazett went into attack mode and lunged at me like a fierce animal. Clearly, she had decided that if I was to be involved, she would need to eliminate me before I became a threat. This cold and calculated attack scared me, and it was all I could do to defend myself while pleading that she show mercy since the war had not started. I tried to escape through the front door, but Bazett had grabbed by hand with a steely and determined grip that told me nothing short of my death could satisfy her. I instinctively pulled my hand back, but to my regret, I had forgotten how great my manly strength was. So determined was I to protect myself that I did not think to control the force which my bulging muscles were exerting. The result was that when I pulled my arm back, I had inadvertently torn Bazett’s arm off cleanly. In the next instant, she had fallen on the ground unconscious from loss of blood, and I was left standing there horrified. Fearing that she might die, I needed to contact the hospital to save this poor woman’s life. Since this was 2004, however, I did not have a cell phone to call, and using Bazett’s home phone without permission would have been rude. I therefore rushed outside and began frantically jogging to the nearest hospital. To my dismay though, I did not know where the hospital in Fuyuki was, so I decided to head home. It turned out that a dog named Lancer had followed me. Seeing this as a sign from God, I decided that I should use this opportunity to take Bazett’s command seals and join the Holy Grail War.
Gilgamesh and I were thrilled with Lancer’s skill, so we decided to send him out on errands one day since we were running low on milk. On his way home, he had apparently noticed that my young apprentice Rin was all alone at school after dark. Knowing this to be a dangerous time with the start of the Holy Grail War, he decided to escort her home with my approval. Unfortunately for Lancer, she recognized him as a servant and ruthlessly attacked him with her own. With his back against the corner, our boy fought valiantly against these aggressors, in the course of which a young ginger was spotted rubbernecking. Upon seeing this, Lancer got very excited since he loves meeting new people and always liked making friends. The young boy, unwisely, started running away, which only makes Lancer more excited to chase after. Finally catching up inside the school, a tragedy occurred. Through no one’s fault of their own, the young careless boy who was trespassing on private property had tripped over himself. Likely on drugs, he flew off-balance and landed on Lancer; impaling himself on the spear. Both Lancer and I were shocked, and I knew the boy needed an ambulance immediately. Regretfully though, I was sitting comfortably with Gilgamesh in the church lounge while this occurred, and the nearest phone to me was in the next room. While pondering whether to sacrifice the comfort of the warm sofa, I realized that the call would be long distance. I therefore instructed Lancer to race to the nearest hospital to fetch a doctor as fast as possible. To my surprise, the boy had disappeared upon Lancer’s return. Fearing that Rin had finished off the helpless child and disposed of the body, we searched frantically to find him. To our initial relief, we found the daywalker safe at home after likely escaping Rin’s lust for murder. Our relief was short lived, however, as the young man took up a weapon and attacked Lancer. With his life now in tremendous peril, my servant acted as any reasonable person could have in self-defence. Something truly unexpected happened next, when a servant came out of nowhere to join the child in his assault. This was obviously an ambush, and the ginger had merely feigned an injury to lower our defences. With a heavy heart upon realizing how uncivilized this war has made all of us, I reluctantly gave Lancer the go ahead to use his noble phantasm. This sufficiently injured the attacking servant enough for Lancer to make his escape, which I ordered him to do immediately.
Being the overseer, I would need to confirm the newest combatant into the war, which I was able to do that night when he came to the church for a visit. Oddly enough, he also brought Rin along despite her previous attack on him earlier. My decision to not tell them that I was a master as well was partially due to spite at how badly they treated my servant, and partially from suspicion. The redhead identified himself as Emiya Shirou. I instantly recognized the name as being that of my old rival; but since I was reasonably sure Kiritsugu had a soul, I concluded that this kid was likely adopted into the family rather than being a direct descendant. Seeing them off that night, I reflected on my past with Kiritsugu and the many good times we shared as I drifted off to sleep. My dreams of a mapo paradise were interrupted later that night when a sudden boom of thunder woke me up. I went outside to investigate how thunder could be happening on a cloudless night, and eventually tracked the source to an ongoing battle between two servants. The fight seemed to have just concluded, when I spotted a young loli walking off with a gigantic servant – he was so big, that I reasoned it could only be a Berserker class warrior. As many past roommates have learned, NO ONE disturbs my sleep without paying a price. I leapt forward brandishing my black keys to engage the monster in battle. Already suspecting the heroic spirit I was engaging in, the best tactic was to aim for the genitals and the eyes region. For many minutes we unleashed powerful attacks on each other, until I succeeded in slaying the beast, who fell over unconscious. Knowing the wounds would be fatal, I walked away in triumph. Of course, it was only later that I discovered that the Berserker servant had the power of resurrection. While I was deeply disappointed to learn this, it is safe to say that he will think twice before knocking up a racket at 2am near my church.
Slightly sleep deprived the following morning, I was amused to see that the young Emiya Shirou had taken the trouble of coming to visit me to gain information. I took the opportunity to divulge his adopted father’s role in the previous Holy Grail War. Needless to say, I explained in detail how pathetic Kiritsugu was, and how much better I am than he ever could be. He was, in short, a snivelling man-child, so I had absolutely no doubt that Emiya Shirou would do his Father’s legacy justice. The ginger left the church an enlightened and better person.
In the coming days, I began to catch whispers of a dark influence within Fuyuki City. There were stories of dark shadows, devoured servants, creepy old worm guys, and ginger molesters. It soon became clear that events were progressing just as I hoped they would, and the time might soon come that the greatest of all yuetsu will at long last arrive. It was during one of these quiet nights, laughing over how smart I am, that I sent out Lancer to pick up my laundry – and to keep an eye out for any mischief. Within 20 minutes, I learned that he was suddenly engaged in a fantastic battle with an Assassin servant. While this was no doubt a major obstacle, I was sure to maintain that my laundry take top priority, since the shop would be closing in the next quarter hour. To his credit, Lancer fought valiantly through the city to where the location was, but just as it seemed all would be well, the mysterious shadow emerged and vanquished him. With this, my formal involvement as a participant in the Holy Grail War had come to an end, and it was deep shock to me. Gilgamesh joined me the following day, and we both walked to the pet cemetery where a memorial for Lancer was held. We both wept bitterly – for the loss of our beloved friend, and for the clothes that I would now need to jog across town to get.
The fifth Holy Grail War has started with a bang, and yet I fear no one has felt the effects more deeply than I have. I cannot speak of what is to come, but we may all agree that I will be gravely tested. As I sit here with a glass of wine, I ask that you all toast my fallen servant, and to the hope that a beautiful dream may yet be reached by war’s end.
ShinyTurkey
( no spoilers ) I'll keep this brief, Fate Stay Night Heavens Feel - I Presage Flower can be an awesome ride, depending on how you go into it. The Fate Series is infamous for being confusing and a challenge to even figure out where to begin watching, and while I can understand and even endorse newcomers to watch Unlimited Blade works by Ufotable (or even god forbid the two deen adaptations) I highly, highly, HIGHLY encourage people to make sure they have a sound knowledge of Fate before they go into this trilogy. I watched the Australian premier of the film, and even there I witnessed manyconfused faces. This movie can be a mess if you don't understand the majority of Fate, but if you do, the film is fantastic.
This is easily the darkest adaptation of Fate, and while a lot of what makes it dark is yet to come in the sequels, the beginning of the trilogy can paint an impression very quickly.
Quickly ill note, the characters are great, (much more expressive then usual), and a lot of characters that didn't get much more screen time in UBW (such as Rider, Kirei, Shinji, and obviously Sakura) get a lot more development, at the expense of other characters such as fake Assasin and Caster and her Master (also don't go into the movie expecting Gilgamesh.... he is basically not in the movie).
Similarly, I was surprised how much screen time Taiga got, which led to some funny comedic moments that didn't pull me away from the mostly bleak atmosphere the rest of the film maintained, (and I mean bleak in a very positive way, the general atmosphere of the film is chilling and engrossing).
Unfortunately, like with all Fate routes, Shirou is still a fairly incompetent protagonist and as always makes numerous facepalm-inducing decisions. However by this point, I have come to accept who Shirou is, and if you are familiar with the Fate series, hopefully, you will have accepted who he is as well, (and to be fair, he is not nearly as incompetent as he was in past adaptions). Another small gripe I had was how much Rin was in the film, which was not a lot, but I won't put that against the film considering how much development she got in UBW, I just personally like her much more than Sakura, who spends most of the film looking miserable until her glorious Senpai arrives.
The animation is fantastic, easily the best-looking anime related adaption I have ever seen in terms of presentation and polish (or though it can lack personality and style in some instances) and the fight scenes are amazing, except for a few instances in which I felt the battles moved a bit too quickly and had some jilted animation (such as the Berserker fight) the music is also fantastic, with the Aimer ED being especially great.
Overall I really enjoyed The first Heavens Feel adaption, and recommend it to people, but only if they have a decent understanding of the fate timeline, otherwise they will get very confused very quickly as the foundation of the plot is basically a montage in the opening.
I was going to give the movie an 8/10. however, the Kirei Kotomine scene pushed it to a 9/10 (if you have seen the film, you know exactly what scene I'm talking about... nom nom nom)
ImRingo
***This will be a pretty spoiler-free review. I'll hint at certain things but major plot reveals will remain unsaid.*** Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel is another installment of the Fate/stay night visual novel series. The visual novel encompassed three parts, Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven's Feel. As you can already see (looking up the series on MAL), we have already received adaptations of the first two routes of the game. This film adapts the beginning 8 or so hours of the Heaven's Feel route and I have to say, it's quite the package. Going into this film I had knowledge of the material it was going toadapt. I have played the Heaven's Feel route up to the point that the film ended at. I did this in order to see what the studio would change and/or add in order to make the film flow better. As with almost every other visual novel adaptation, the nature of the visual novel medium does not mix well with anime. However, like with Unlimited Blade Works (the tv series; not the films), Ufotable has striked a very good balance between the anime and the visual novel. You do miss out on some of Shirou's characterization due to the lack of inner monologues but the studio manages to show Shirou's feelings visually instead of spelling everything out. In Heaven's Feel, this is especially true. Shirou really speaks through action rather than self-contemplation. You would think that because of this, he would feel fundamentally different than in the visual novel. I'm glad to say that this is not true and I quite enjoyed this version of Shirou.
From here on out, I'm going to attempt to not bring up the visual novel. What needs to be reviewed is the film and not the visual novel. How does the film hold up on its own?
I was surprised to see that Ufotable found it important enough to dedicate 10 or so minutes of the opening to show material before the start of the Holy Grail War. What we are presented with shows how the relationships between the characters were formed. This includes the chemistry (or lack of) between Shirou and Shinji. I quite liked this because if someone who had not played the VN came into this film blind, they would be quite confused why Shinji is such a fucking ass and why Sakura is always around Shirou. Another surprise right up front was the fast-forwarding of some important scenes. They still show you what is going on (you can probably guess what part I am talking about) but they use this time to show the opening title segment with the footage in the background. This part might confuse some newcomers but I think they included enough visuals to get the point across.
As we venture further into the film, I really start to embrace how fucking beautiful it is. The backgrounds and characters in this film are absolutely stunning. Ufotable has always been able to really shine in the static elements in their shows. This coupled with their special effects department makes for some truly eyegasmic moments. However, Ufotable has a weakness; static character models. Like with the majority of their tv shows (including Fate/Zero and UBW), this film has a lot of moments where a character or characters are completely frozen. It's a little abrasive on the eyes because humans cannot remain that still. There are always some miscellaneous movements and without these movements, the characters look very unworldly. Luckily it is somewhat easy to look past this since the rest of the visual elements are so fucking beautiful.
We reach the midpoint of the film and I noticed that I have just yawned. Unfortunately even though the studio tried their best to scurry through as much of the beginning as possible, the film still retains a lot of the plot building that the VN route had. Yes there are fights in this beginning half (and honestly they stepped up the timeline of one of them in order to keep the fast pacing going) but what happens between those moments was a little boresome. This might not be an issue for a fresh watcher who doesn't know what is coming up but I found it a little mundane. The second half of the film however really had me on my toes. Seeing on screen what I remember from the VN was truly a treat to behold. The creative decisions the studio decided to make in order to make the film stand on its own were 100% on point. They also picked an amazing spot to end the film. Yes it is a cliffhanger but it is a very suitable stopping point.
As with any other VN, the real important element in this story is the characters. This route focuses on Sakura, Shinji's younger sister who takes a liking to Shirou. This whole route is essentially a story about Shirou and Sakura and how they deal with the proceeding events during the Holy Grail War. Leading up to this film, even after playing a bit of the route in the VN, I considered myself a huge Rin fan. Rin plays a big role in this film since she is still Shirou's partner in the War. She's also a major focus in the VN. One of the creative choices in the film however is to sideline her quite a bit. She still has a major role but it really felt like they toned down her presence in the film (other than a particular dream sequence...mamma mia). Because of this, our main girl Sakura really shines. I have to say that after leaving this film, I'm quite smitten by Sakura. Her clumsy, cute, and affectionate nature is honestly too much for me to handle. I wanted to stay true to Rin...but this film has me seriously pondering my life decisions.
An important thing that I want to bring up is how raw the action feels in this film. One big gripe that I have had with all the previous Fate adaptations is that they don't feel like a war is going on. Fate/Zero and UBW upped the action elements compared to the other Fate adaptions but that merciless, true grit nature of war and destruction has been absent. This film does not hold your hands. When there are fights, there are body parts falling off, internal organs spilling out, and serious deformation of characters. I finally felt like I was watching a real war going on. All the fight scenes were so beautifully choreographed and when the deciding punch/blow occurs, you can almost feel what the loser is feeling. There is real weight to the fights due to how great the animation and artstyle are conveying the conflicts. This was a real stand out feature for me. If anything, watch the fights in this film.
One thing that I cannot comment on with certainy is the music and general sound elements. I saw this film at The Theater at Ace Hotel in downtown LA and the sound setup was not very ideal. It seemed to be a stereo setup with really powerful bass. Because of this, everything sounded pretty muddied. In some situations, I couldn't hear the dialogue over the bass rumbling of an impact. Hopefully I'll be able to see the film again once it gets released in a more wide-spread manner.
So I sit here now, taking one last minute to think back at everything I experienced during the film. In terms of how well the studio did adapting the route from the VN, I'd say they did a phenomenal job. Even though I thought the beginning was pretty meh pacing wise, there wasn't a lot that they could have done to make it better. They had already skipped over a lot of the scenes and kept what was vital. The film was super enjoyable to watch and it has me wanting to go back to the VN and play through the rest of the route instead of waiting until next year for the next film (the credits said the next film is coming in 2018). I'd say that this is my most favorite Fate adaptation largely due to how raw the fights felt. I honestly want UBW, Fate, and Fate/Zero to get the multi-film treatment so that I can see those conflicts in full raw form. There were so many brutal moments in this film; Nathan Explosion would be proud.
You 100% need to know what happens in both the Fate and UBW routes of the VN. You can watch the anime adaptation of UBW and understand that part of the story but you really need to read the Fate route (Saber route) of the VN rather than rely on the Deen adaptation of that route.
They barely scratch the surface with this film but the conflicts will keep you interested. The flow towards the final moments start to paint the characters for who they really are. I'll stand by this statement; this is probably the best Fate adaptation I have seen so far...and I really loved Zero and UBW.
Enjoyment: 9.3/10
Overall: 8.2/10
Thanks for reading my review! If you liked my writing style, would like to see some other reviews, or just want to talk, please stop by my page!
Sincerely,
Awesome Drummer
Baba_Zone1
Seeing the anime score of this shows, people can't review beloved franchises objectively. I'm gonna make two reviews 1 objective and another personal bias. I say bias wise its not bad if you have seen the other series beforehand as background "lore" I think you definitely have a better experience. The visuals are actually amazing, like one sequence in particular with Lancer will leave you breathless and that composed some excellent music. As a Fate Fan i would say 6/10 but still has fundamental problems as a film, like characters hahaha what is that, plot, its has a strange pace either too fast orslow.....
But objectively its lacks any explanation whatsoever, doesn't have a middle nor end just beginning it's understandable its a 3 parter film trilogy but characters do not change. I wouldn't say there are characters, the problem with this film it's not a film, its a side story OVA, this film should have just been a long OVA series like Hellsing ultimate as narratively its fails hard. The only characters with some development i wouldn't say good but some are Shirou and Sakura ( plus Shinji). I understood that cramming this route into 3 films will be a tough job but not still this feels less a film but more complimentary. at least for Zero or Unlimited Blade Works, they are can be presented standalone piece, whereas this it basically forces you to remember prior knowledge. I would say the directing is well done, i think the script still poor but the direction was really well choreographed but the emotional sequence pales in comparison to something like Zero that had a strong script. Characters just die that's not a spoiler, but you don't know them whatsoever or atleast without prior knowledge. I mean look, my friend, watched One piece gold and is has not watched any one piece prior whatsoever and he had a blast due to the good script, personalities that easily attached to and give vague ideas to know the superficial reasons for characters. Fate as a series besides Zero, biggest weakness is the characters, and this is extremely apparent for this film. The problem is that characters don't act like people, even though Shirou is much more fleshed out in this film than his own series he's still a really unengaging protagonist and contains a love story that feels more like siblings than lovers. Plus having really dry humor e.g. person a has.... size bra of ...? Really this is how low they can get.
Objectively they are some good in this movie, firstly the overall aesthetic its a pretty film, with some amazing fight choreography that must have taken months to animate key scenes for that small sequence. The art design is outstanding legit look at the food, the music does the work even with hardly any character development the music basically makes to feel some emotion. Seeing this on the big screen was a big treat and some stuff they have done kinda wants me to see the other films but I will be hesitant to watch it in the cinemas as the first film was really boring despite being pretty. Even if i never watch Game no life, I would rather watch that movie with no knowledge about the series than this film, I being harsh because no one like criticising this property properly.
Bias - 6.1/10
Objectively- 3/10- 4.5/10
So I'm gonna go straight in the middle and say overall 5 mediocre.
Also no you should need to read a visual novel, to understand whats going on. If you are a fate fan you should watch it but don't need to rush, tbh I probably suggest you waiting for the 3 films to binge it as narratively it might be better. If you never watched the property don't watch this film or only see Zero don't you'll be too confused on whats going on. It's kinda funny how Shinji has more development than most of the characters the person who's basically useless in the other routes and I would say more fun to watch than the MC.
heavensfeelsucks
Personally, this movie was a complete waste of time and I felt indignant after watching it. Lets get this straight first, I watch anime, not heaps but I have watched a fair bit and can definitely appreciate it as an art (unlike the general public) and also, enjoy it. There are variety of reasons what made this film particularly frustrating to watch for me and I could go on forever but I'm just going to list it. However before this, I need to clear something up. To all those people saying that this movie is perfect blah blah, its not, they're biased, why? Because fora movie to be 'good', the plot should at the very least have a story that stands alone on to it's own merit where it can be understood without any prior knowledge (e.g. Star Wars V, great movie and understood what was going on even though I hadn't watched the Star wars IV). This movie is not one of them, and I only found out background knowledge is needed to watch this after I did. So from a person with an unbiased view and is new to the series (given that I had high hopes after reading all the hype for it) these are the flaws that made it so bad for me:
1. Shirou: man I could go on about him. It was just painful watching him be so incompetent all the time. The worst part of the movie is that at the end of it all he did not grow as a character, so no sense of catharsis, nope, just same old crappy Shirou.
2. Sakura: another main character. IMO the worst character in the film. At the start I didn't mind her, then she just got too much. She is the most boring and unimaginative character. She is literally an classic submissive school girl who has no sense of autonomy nor independence. She literally depends on Shirou and think he's the greatest when secretly he is equally as bad. Sakura was obviously made to play towards the weeb waifu audience. How? Well, she has E cups, sexiest character in the film while being super innocent, her voice is the most stereotypical submissive schoolgirl voice where it very high and cute, and also, she calls him senpai and is essentially his servant.
3. Horrible pacing. Would just cut to random events, which left me confused as to what was going on. One minute they're in school, next minute the protagonist is in a holy war, with the most bare explanation as to why.
4. No sense of causation: throughout the film I had the most basic idea (if any at all) to what each character was driven by. It seemed like they were just doing random things at times.
5. Super slow/ irrelevant start
6. Deus ex machina ending (although it is only part 1, so, fair enough )
7. no character growth
8. Barely any character development beside main (boring and frustrating) characters. Rin barely got any screen time, even though she was infinitely more interesting than the incompetent and frustrating mains
9. Incoherent and incongruent plot
10. To many anime romance tropes, specifically, innocent girls has high crush on senpai and would do anything for him. Was cringing midway, anytime Shirou and Sakura had a scene together.
Pros:
1. Cool action sequences
2. Interesting battles with distinguishable characters with unique abilities
3. nice animation
4. half decent score
AmbiguousMonster
Having seen Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, Presage Flower serves as a functional sequel to Zero and an engaging tonal and narrative contrast from Unlimited Blade Works. However, while knowledge of its predecessor and alternate storyline are essential to gain anything from it, Presage Flower is so fundamentally different on a thematic and storytelling level that its worth recommending even to those who were not fond of the two aforementioned titles. While Fate/Zero tackled themes of utilitarianism, nihilism and heroism and Unlimited Blade Works addressed (in a somewhat flawed manner) martyrdom and pathological altruism, Heaven’s Feel explores the impacts of childhood trauma and domesticabuse. This is explored through the relationships between Shinji, Sakura and Shirou, with all of the rest of the cast (with some exceptions) merely serving to catalyse their development. In comparison to Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works, which gave nearly all of their characters enough screen time to standout, very few characters outside of the central trio are given much focus. Ultimately, this works in favour of Presage Flower through allowing for a strongly focussed story about Shirou and Sakura without their relationship being diluted.
The narrative plays out less like a progression towards a well defined goal and more like the gradual unveiling of a curtain. By the end of Presage Flower there are more questions than answers, however it is certainly possible to make a guess as to what drives Sakura and Shinji. Moments like Sakura’s shock as she looks at Shirou’s developing command seal and Shinji’s hesitant respect for Shirou implies that they both admire him in entirely different ways and for different reasons. In contrast to Unlimited Blade Work’s heavy handedly literal depiction of Shirou fighting his potential future of destructive altruism, this movie portrays most of the intrafamilial conflict via subtext conveyed through the thoughtful presentation of perspectives. Given the strength of Presage Flower’s thematic core, the selective disregard of its supporting cast was a worthy sacrifice.
That being said, Zouken and his servant Assassin serve a similar function to Caster in Unlimited Blade Works; through gaining such a strong initial lead, he places Shirou, Rin and Saber in a precarious position. Zouken is not quite as removed from the central cast as Caster was, as his role as mentor to Sakura and Shinji grounds him in the movie’s core conflict. Nevertheless, at this stage both he and his servant lack the charisma and clear goals of the likes of Gilgamesh or even Zero’s Caster. This may gradually be rectified in later installments, but at this stage Zouken merely acts as a powerful cinematic presence rather than an emotional one.
That’s not to say that the entire supporting cast are irrelevant to the plot. Saber, feeling more like her Zero self this time, has some of her best scenes to date here. From her compassion, which shines through in her scenes with Sakura, to her despair as she enters a state of self-reflection, the first chapter of Heaven’s Feel seems to be promising a satisfying internal conflict for Saber that could make up for Ufotable’s apparent unwillingness to adapt her route (the Fate route). Kirei also makes a strong showing, quickly revealing his dubious nature and history and becoming personally entangled in the rapidly collapsing Holy Grail war far more quickly than in any other route. Much like Shinji, Kirei’s cruelty is conveyed powerfully through subtext, though this acts more to tie him back to his Zero self than to illuminate anything new.
Of the other cast members, they barely require mentioning. Archer is involved in only one fight (in which he gets minimal focus) while neither Caster nor Lancer are given much to do. Despite being the (assumed) most powerful character in the series, Gilgamesh might as well have not appeared at all. Rider is shrouded in mystery, however the film indicates that the rest of the trilogy will give her more focus. The same applies for Illya, whose role is suggested to be more substantial in the two proceeding entries than in this one.
One the visual front, Presage Flower still contains many of Ufotable’s weaknesses, such as occasionally stiff character movements and suspiciously still characters in the background. However, they improve upon their already outstanding qualities to such an overwhelming degree that these weaknesses are entirely forgivable. The effects work is lush and surprisingly subtle, with small details like a snowflake gradually melting over Shirou’s hand not only serving as stunning displays of digital prowess, but a potent reflection of internal conflict. While the improvement in Ufotable’s digital effects was noticable in this year’s Kagetsuki: Touken Ranbu, it simply cannot compare to this theatrical outing. The lighting and atmosphere are equally deserving of praise; in some ways it is consistent with Unlimited Blade Works, using a high contrast colour palette with fine line work to produce background art of a calibre that only the works of Makoto Shinkai can beat.
However, the lighting is noticeably more monochromatic in this installment. While Unlimited Blade Works had a consistent realistic colour scheme with tints of darkness implying the presence of grimmer elements, Presage Flower’s approach presents stronger atmospheric juxtaposition. The scenes prior to Shirou joining the war are often bathed in light as Sakura harkens back to the brief period in her life where she was genuinely happy. The transition in hues and brightness mirrors the narrative progress brilliantly, with thick shadows cloaking the city was the Holy Grail war begins. From the beginning of the second act onwards, the movie’s tone is more reminiscent of Fate/Zero and perhaps even The Garden of Sinners than it ever is of Unlimited Blade Works. Danger oozes behind each corner as the stakes are higher than ever before. The red lights illuminating the night are more sanguineous than welcoming. The artificial lighting reflects off Berserker’s skin far more harshly than it has in instalments prior.
The character animation keeps pace, albeit with the occasional hiccup. Shinji’s slimy gestures contrast with Sakura’s timid reservedness around Shirou to imply a complicated relationship between the two of them. Two particularly unnerving scenes, one between Shirou and Shinji and one between Shirou and Kirei, convey layers of disgust and resentment with such clarity, through clever framing and detailed movements, that they could have been entirely silent and little meaning would have been lost. Other animation techniques, such as using CG as a base to allow for unnaturally smooth character animation, are implemented well and compliment Presage Flower’s unnerving vibe.
That being said, the main attraction of the movie is the action scenes, and in that regard the movie delivers spectacularly. While the initial fight scenes are short and one sided their energy and detail more than makes up for it and, with one exception, they all serve to drive forward the plot. Rider and Assassin deserve special mention for the compelling way in which they manage to fight on a even level with far stronger and more skilled opponents. One specific fight scene towards the middle of the movie has the potential to be an instant classic, not merely as a spectacle in and of itself, but as a showcase for how to properly implement CG into 2D animation. This is all propelled by a noticeable increase in gore and violence to a level where the TV broadcasting of this movie would require substantial censorship. When a character is cut or has their bones broken, the impact is palpable and harrowing, internal organs littering the streets. While Unlimited Blade Works used action to entertain, Presage Flower is harsher and more personal in its handling of action, impressing the seriousness of the situation. From bombastic clashes between heroes of legend along the bustling Fuyuki highway to personal conversations within the Emiya household, Presage Flower is a visual feast.
Yuki Kajiura, returning to the series after Hideyuki Fukusawa’s admirable efforts on Unlimited Blade Works, is a perfect fit for the film’s more haunting tone. The score is tied more closely to Fate/Zero this time, with the flashbacks to Kiritsugu employing tracks like “Tragedy and Fate”, which appropriately reflects Presage Flower’s status as a more tonally consistent continuation of the saga. While the battle music isn’t quite as elegant as Fukusawa’s work its far weightier nature, in combination with the anime’s borderline deafening sound effects, keeps pace with the very violent action scenes. The choirs of Kalafina that play as the war comes to life and the guitar riffs that piece the air as Berserker chews the scenery illustrate that this Holy Grail was is not going to be offering nearly as much breathing room as the others.
The real winner here has to be Aimer’s “Hana no Uta” and its use as a motif throughout the movie as a theme for Sakura. It’s application, particularly in scenes where Sakura and Shinji are present, adds another layer of despair to the excellent animation and voice acting. It’s mixture of contrasting melancholy defeatism and moments of optimism characterise Sakura more effectively than even her talented voice actress. Much like the character animation it runs the risk of being forgotten alongside the energetic action, but it is more deserving of praise.
Overall, Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel: Presage Flower sets a new high bar for the series. With its haunting beautiful storytelling on both a narrative and visual front, combining graphic fights scenes with powerful interpersonal drama, it lays down a strong foundation for a story that, should it keep pace, has a chance of surpassing Fate/Zero. See it on the big screen if possible, but only after you have seen its preceding installments.
animejas
Heaven's Feel. The 3rd and final route of the Fate/stay night franchise, and the route that basically acts as the biggest and most impactful route of the series narratively, even having the Urobuchi novel Fate/Zero link with it much later more than the other routes, the Fate route and the Unlimited Blade Works route. Those two routes were more of presenting different characters in the spotlight (Saber in route 1, Rin in route 2 as well as different side characters being more relevant respectively) with different themes and ideologies at hand. This franchise builds itself off those first 2 routes and adjusting to the settingand cast, and even Fate/Zero too if you already saw it narratively to create this massive trilogy to complete the main story of Fate.
This movie is the first part to that trilogy and I'll specifically only be reviewing this here. I did write a review for this movie a long time ago a few months after it initially aired, but just before the release of the 3rd movie in Canada (around end of November 2020), the first two movies re-aired itself together a week before that. Meaning I got to rewatch the first 2 movies together in cinemas, and due to the incredibly different opinion I have on the first film, might as well write a whole new review here.
Original Score - 8/10 for context.
Story/Writing (3/10)
Since this is a trilogy of movies (approx 15-18 episodes worth) adapting the largest route of the Fate/stay night franchise compared to the other routes getting 24-25 episodes each, there had to be material sacrificed to make ends meet and have the key points fit concisely. So while I can understand why some of the material was cut (we've seen the prologue so many times now in different forms and Heaven's Feel is meant to be seen after the other routes so the prologue portion was summarized really quickly), that doesn't forgive how it impacted the beginning of the story in such a disappointing and flat manner.
I liked the idea of the beginning, showing short flashbacks of Shirou meeting Sakura and establishing how they met each other and how she started coming over to his house a lot to eat with him and his guardian/teacher Taiga Fujimura, but I can tell from those scenes itself that the pacing would be rough - since each flashback from the year and a half ago point to the current one had many points after a few months each, but nothing significantly happened in each of them. There was really no time for flashbacks and scenes then to settle down and mean something, as they just jump to the next one and the one after like it's a PowerPoint presentation. But then the story immediately suffers much bigger problems once the flashbacks of Shirou and Sakura initially meeting were done.
Because of the prologue being compressed SO MUCH to near non-existence, it makes the whole introduction and initial storyline to be meaningless. How Shirou accidentally interrupted Archer and Lancer's fight, how he got stabbed by them and had to be saved by Rin as we get introduced to her then, how he eventually had to be carried back home and after a short while was invaded by Lancer at his home, how he accidentally summoned Saber to be his master, how he tried to comprehend the gravity of the situation before having to go meet Kirei to explain everything that's happening; all of that was compressed into seconds of movie content. Basically because of that, Rin and Saber and Archer's characters initially felt irrelevant and soulless, and the story very quickly felt awkward and anticlimactic. It took me a long time to really get into the film, even if I was intrigued by the darker and more sinister nature of the route.
Even Saber's interactions with Shirou and that bond there felt so compressed compared to the visual novel, which at least gave them time to explore the city and analyze what's happening each night before having to enter into chaos that happened in the film. That development and character writing evaporated here too into nothingness. It just felt like an empty film with no substance or heart whatsoever put into the writing and pacing, despite having dark intentions and plot points that I do find exciting.
Luckily the 2nd movie saves the franchise with much better pacing, and much more focused and slow-burning writing but it was too late to save this film.
Characters (4/10)
Like I mentioned, the bad writing initially and the lack of prologue made half the characters feel boring and underwhelming initially. Other than Shirou and Sakura, the rest of the cast was pretty disappointing as a whole with barely much chemistry or intrigue built with them. Some development felt too forced as well.
Art/Animation (9/10)
ufotable killed it with the production at least, it looks stunning from the action and explosiveness of it to the intricate character movements, although a bit awkward at times when it comes to its choreography of certain scenes, like with running looking really stiff from Lancer amidst all the chaos or some frames looking a bit cheap and rushed. Still, overall, an excellent job as a whole and made the best use of that movie budget/time.
Sound (8/10)
Yuki Kajiura's had a great history with composing some fantastic anime soundtracks as a whole. In fact, she even made my favorite anime soundtrack compilation of all time with the songs she created for Kara no Kyoukai. Tons of range and variety, complimented the mood and atmosphere superbly, especially with the darker and action packed moments, and even the light hearted emotional bits too. This Fate/stay night: Heavens Feel franchise was supposed to have a similar feel atmosphere wise to Kara no Kyoukai, so its unsurprising to see her work on this film. While I wouldn't call her Heavens Feel music the best she's done, it still works really well with the film and compliments the action scenes at night nicely. The voice acting by Shirou and Sakura's voice actor/actress respectively were also highlights in that department for me as a whole.
Aimer's song 'Hana no Uta' used for the ending for the film was fantastic, one of my favorite songs she's done and one of my favorite ending songs I've heard feature in any anime whether its a TV series or a film. Fits too well with the movie, and sounds amazing to listen to as well.
Overall, this movie had the potential to be a terrific slow-burn start to an action-packed and thrilling route, but due to being compressed for time since it had to fit in a trilogy of movies, it left the beginning to be extremely underwhelming narratively, with no real aim or purpose to really care for the route whatsoever (until the 2nd one showcases why at least). It's a great looking film with fantastic production, but the writing feels soulless and leaves no impact till Lost Butterfly saves the franchise like I have mentioned over and over again.
Score for this film - 4/10
WinterAlt
Info- Heaven's Feel Presage Flower just like UBW and FSN, starts off with the same opening sequence for the main character where his decisions after that opening changes the story significantly just like the other two routes. Of course if you've already seen the last 2 Fate/SN routes, you don't have to sit through most of the opening because this time they kindly decided to fast forward it instead of having people who have already seen the start enough times to sit through it for the third time. The side and support characters all have slight changes for their role such as some characters in thestory will have a different outcome and/or a different relationship in the story with the MC. For example, if a character in a alternate route was playing the villain, they might never have had to fight the MC in this route. Or if a even took place in a alternate route, it might've changed slight in this route or never have taken place at all. Overall, the reason for creating more than one route in F/SN is to show the audience that even the slightest sets of actions like having positive or negative relationship with the characters around them, or going do something at a specific time, can really play really important factors into shaping the outcome of the story whether it is a tragic or happy ending.
Personal Opinion-
In my opinion, the story in this route was very interesting since you can see every individual characters' development in relationships slightly altered which can be seen as a good or bad thing. This alteration will make viewers ponder the "what if" question, what if the MC had to fight this person instead of this person, what if the MC ended up with this person instead of this person,what if pain was inflicted onto the characters and would that change them? , and what if the story became darker and had more tragedy?These are the things I recommend you to think about when you go and see it for yourself, you will definitely get be paying for something that is worth it if you're a Fate Fan like me.
CodeBlazeFate
Presage Flower is truly unsettling, in a number of senses that is in and of itself, only describable with this word. There is little comfort to be had, as the brutal fights, lavish detail in Ufotable’s visuals, and the hauntingly melodic pieces by Yuki Kajiura convey an atmosphere of dread that permeates most of the film. It is truly an ominous, even exhausting piece of work, one not meant for the eyes of the unfamiliar. This film is newcomer-repellant, as it goes so out of its way to not clue you in on anything. It even skips the first major battle, the moment of ourmain character summoning her servant, him and Rin meeting, and everything around this time frame, condensing them all into a montage monitored by Zouken, our disgusting antagonist. This is not the holy grail war you remember, but you must certainly remember in order to grasp this film. It could have been more lenient, as the meager two-hour runtime is already blitzed as is in some cases. Then again, this film is so bloated that it feels like it’s ending 5 times in the span of a half hour. Thankfully, aside from the core cast, certain side-characters aren’t let in the dust, mainly Shinji, who is thankfully far more emotionally complicated about his relationship with Shirou than in previous installments. He is far more complicated a person, mixing feelings of resentment, bewilderment, and attachment to Shirou, as he hardly understands him. How he managed to be far more interestingly written than everyone else here is beyond me.
To add on to the knowledge required to understand even an iota of this installment, the Grail War and most of its players are barely established before they start dropping like flies thanks to the central, ominous shadow that stalks them. It is as punishing as it is disturbing. Punishment can also be felt in the runtime. Even with two hours causing apparently vital information and other important early moments to get cut out, the film feels longer than The Dark Knight Rises. Perhaps it is due to the pacing feeling truly out of whack in the 20-minute mark and towards the end, as it feels almost meandering, like it doesn’t exactly know how to end so it keeps on trudging along.
Presage Flower is also adept at leaving the viewer with questions, for better or worse. Even outside of how its newcomer-repellant status, the fact that it deviates so far from grail wars of yore with chaotic, more disturbing elements, is as enticing as it is disturbing. It leaves the viewer unsure about exactly what is going on. It’s a terrifying mystery hiding in plain sight, much like a horror film’s supernatural antagonist. It is bone-chilling set-up for the next two installments. However, there are some notable questions that may not be answered, probably due to the cutting that needed to be made for a 2-hour long piece of cinema. Questions such as "How does Shirou get some of the visions he has, namely the one with Illya notifying him of them effectively being brother and sister?" are the more unintentional questions you'll find yourself asking. Though, questions such as "What is this new threat that corrupts this grail war and its combatants?" and "What is this new assassin?" are where the mystery comes in. It certainly makes the film more conflicting to evaluate, as one needs to truly collect their thoughts and ask those who read the material for clarification of what was cut and what is actually part of the mystery. Though, there is some well-done foreshadowing regarding its main heroine. In many ways, it's like the recently --and undeservedly panned-- Fate/Extra: Last Encore.
The appeal is in the dread, the torment from the unknown, for better or worse. Just make sure your endurance levels are high. Aimer's wonderful ending song shall be your reward, as confusion and dread consume the sky and the petals of death begin to fall.
WT
Story 8/10 The story is well paced with action sequences spaced evenly throughout. Most of the story is told through the perspective of Shirou. The movie doesn’t delve much into his internal monologue which may make it harder to understand his intentions but this is countered by how his actions were conveyed. The story isn’t overly complex and only has a few subplots which helps the pacing of the film. Despite having a rough idea of the plot, I still felt numerous emotions from heart-warming interactions between characters and adrenaline fuelled action scenes! A series of flashbacks was used at the beginning of the movieto set the scene. I liked this because it could show the relationship between Shirou and Sakura in a succinct way. The slower pacing at the beginning of the movie may be a detriment but I enjoyed it because it establishes the world before the war begins. The movie eventually ramps up which is a nice contrast to the slower introduction.
The action and suspense was superb – despite having a rough idea of what would happen next. There could be some moments which may seem like deus ex machina or plot holes but they are explained in previous routes (or later parts of the visual novel). Those who aren’t familiar with the Heavens Feel route may like the mystery aspect as Fate is known for its various twists in the story.
The ending was satisfying taking into consideration the pacing of the film. The ending wasn’t forced and leaves enough to want more. 2018 can’t come soon enough!
My biggest concern was the movie isn’t suitable as a standalone or as entry to the Fate series. This is because important information between characters and events aren’t explicitly explained. Though those familiar with previous Fate/Stay Night routes would find joy in looking out for subtleties, especially in the character interactions and dialogue.
Art 9/10
This was done by Ufotable, enough said. The art was consistent throughout the movie. I found the high quality of the backgrounds added to the overall atmosphere. The animation of the action scenes was mostly great. There were times when characters looked too static or they didn’t fit in the background (looked like CGI). The character designs were appealing. I particularly liked how they drew Sakura’s eyes and each character has a distinct design making them easy to recognise. The cinematography was outstanding. The way scenes emphasised different things helped with characterisation e.g. facial expressions, body language and point of view/angle.
Sound 9/10
The voice actors fit the characters well – particularly for Sakura, Shinji and Assassin. The background music was appropriate for the story and enhanced the atmosphere of the movie. Not much else to say here.
Characters 9/10
The spotlight of this movie was mainly on Shirou and Sakura. It seemed like Rin’s interactions with Shirou were reduced off screen to flesh out Shirou and Sakura. For the most part, characters acted realistically based on their past experiences. Characters are well-rounded, have their own motivations and values but they didn’t really go in-depth in this movie which may make them seem flat/two dimensional. Supporting characters were relevant and added to the movie. I really disliked Shinji but I think that was the creator’s intention.
Enjoyment 10/10
I think other Fate fans will enjoy this movie. Those new/unfamiliar with the Fate series may still enjoy it but may find certain parts hard to follow. This is because the movie skips over a lot about the Holy Grail War and history of the characters though their important details are mentioned. Re-watching the movie would add to my enjoyment as I may have missed some smaller details in the film. The movie on its own isn’t memorable apart from the action scenes. However, I think the trilogy will be memorable based on the themes the movie establishes. Overall, this is a great start to the trilogy!
Overall 9/10
Karhu
The beginning of Presage Flower is quite a mess. It throws random elements and characters in such a ludicrous pace that viewing this work as a standalone adaptation is impossible. We have recycled scenes from earlier works, copy-pasted character introductions and fights which are the down-graded versions of what we have already seen. At least the boob fondling scene was still present. I would have cried if they removed it. Perhaps this is exactly what I was expecting, I am just saying that it is not very pretty to watch. For example, the problem with the dark streets scene is how random it is. Ourcharacters quite literally teleport to this location just so we could see yet another character introduction in the back alley. It feels quite cheap and there is little to no build up behind it. The main focus in the beginning of this movie seems to be in rushing from scene to another, making the pacing so hideous it is hard to care about anything that is going on. At the very least, hard to get into the work. The second half of this movie is better by a landslide, and obviously this can only be properly judged when all three movies are out -- still the first hour will always be remembered for how bad it is.
In Fate/stay night by ufotable, we see Saber wearing a yellow raincoat in the rain and looking like a curious little girl while doing this. In Fate/zero we have Saber standing in the middle of a meadow, giving her hand --not towards any characters-- but towards the camera and saying "join me". Without a doubt, the bar was set ridiculously high for Heaven's Feel characters to top this. So how did they overcome this challenge then? By making Saber basically mute and giving the main waifu role to Sakura. Fantastic. Now, I am not sure what type of excuses people typically give for liking this show, but the reason why I like it at all this one right here. The characters. I especially like how mad our Senpai is when someone hurts the real canon pairing. It's pretty cute romance thus far. There are still some problems with the characters, such as Senpai committing a heroic sacrifice TWICE. The rest of the characters are practically identical to what we have already seen.
When it comes to the art, I was blown away by how mediocre it looks in the beginning. Especially the character design stands out for the wrong reasons. Basically all shadows on characters and their clothes are of the same shade. This makes them look kinda weird. Sakura's hair is super pretty, tho. Animation is based ufotable but not exactly their most detailed work. Especially some running scenes are (I assume) tributing the source material... by making them look like 7fps slide shows. I guess some people like this, I didn't especially appreciate it myself. It all goes better on the 2nd half. The two major fights are glorious to watch, and make the movie look like it's really Fate by ufotable.
The OP and ED songs on the other hand are good stuff. The voice acting is the same as always so no need to talk about that. The BGM is surprisingly bland outside the battle scenes.
When it comes to enjoyment, I can safely say this work and the choices ufotable made fascinate me more than the movie entertained me. Personally I still liked the relationship and the fights much enough to look past most of the huge problems.
syrupyfey
I'm not sure what kind of person that's genuine would rate this above mediocre. Even if you were the greatest Fate fan, surely the faults of this "movie" are transparent, namely the incomprehensible structure of the plot and the weak storytelling. Even the score, which should have been memorable given that it's by Kajiura, was utterly bland. I'll be honest, the only reason I'm here is out of an extraordinary love and devotion for Fate/Zero. Every time I watch that show I think more highly of it than the last, and I always wish there was more. A role that should have been fulfilled by eitherStay Night or Apocrypha.
I'm reading a lot of reviews of users saying how this is in fact a great experience if you know what's going on. To start with, allow me to say that I sincerely doubt that. I have caught episodes of shows in their late seasons and have read pages from the end of novels without context that made more sense than this entire thing, and were certainly more intriguing. Second, whether or not you know the backstory to things is often irrelevant. You may not know all of the events that led to the beginning of the Iliad, but even though the poem begins in medias res, you're immediately drawn in and start to piece together what's going on. That is what competent writing achieves. You can pick a reputable series right now, and go watch some random scene on YouTube and it'll get a reaction out of you, regardless of whether or not you're familiar with those characters and that story. That is the nature of conflict; but for conflict to work you need to have either interesting characters or clear stakes. This has neither.
Heaven's Feel isn't really anything. It's certainly not story that you can follow and engage with. At the same time, it isn't some action-packed Hollywood flick where you just turn your brain off and enjoy the eye-candy. It's just broken. It doesn't know what it wants to do and presumably wouldn't have the means to achieve it if it did - at first you're treated to mind-numbing introduction full of tropes, and later you get a few battles you have no emotional investment in and no ability to understand. How wonderful.
Nothing short of a disaster.
trbautista1
ONE THING: DO NOT COME INTO THIS MOVIE THINKING THAT IT HAS LOTS OF LONG FIGHTS. This movie is flawed masterpiece. It is undoubtebly better than Fate/Unlimited Blade Works and you could argue is better than Fate/Zero when it comes to story.The movie has a great pace and skips the introduction, so make sure you watch Fate/Unlimited Blade Works and Fate/Zero beforehand or else you will hate how they skip the introduction part of the movie. The action is slight and spread out through the movie, but it does not disappoint. The animation and art style is very detailed and makes the fights look amazingwith the digital effects. The fights make Fate/Unlimited Blade Works look like a poor copy. Luckily this movie is a trilogy and will continue with 2 more movies because the ending was lackluster, and makes you want more. The music and sound quality at the theater I went to was the best I have ever seen in an anime and you could tell that the staff from Ufotable spent a lot of time on the creation of this movie. I recommend you wait for either the next movie to come out or the whole trilogy to be finished because it makes you want more, yet the next movie is coming out in a year from now.
Swaheelee
I'm a fate fan, hardcore die hard Fanboy. I love fate zero, I love how they keep making alternative sequels to it. I just stayed up all night watching this MASTERPIECE. HOLY I'm taken away right now, it's 4:12 am and I just sprung out of bed to rate and review this piece of art. I can't BELIEVE the amount of detail put into this anime, IT'S SUPREME, IT'S BEAUTIFUL. The art is GORGEOUS. It is without a doubt in my mind, The best art of any anime to date. It's AMAZING. What's happening in this fate, is truly different. I was honestly a little spooked. It's scarier then anyother fate, mind you I'm watching it in the pitch black and had no clue what to expect, I just thought lots of epic fighting, and love between Emiya and Rin or Saber.
BUT WAS I MISTAKEN. MAN WAS I MISTAKEN, I'm not saying ANYTHING about it! IT'S TOO GOOD TO RUIN! I absolutely LOVE this movie. This is the pinnacle of fate I think? I'm shaking with excitement, I'm honestly mad the 2nd and 3rd movies aren't out yet, I would've binge watched them all tonight! I CAN'T WAIT IM GOING BALLISTIC, I'VE NEVER BEEN SO DRAWN INTO AN ANIME BEFORE
I've seen everything else almost all other fates, first order, encore, the only one I haven't seen is studio deens movies.
This is just, a notch above fate zero, a couple notches above UBW. MILES ahead of FSN and everything else
THIS IS AMAZING, I DON'T WANT TO SPOIL ANY OF IT FOR YOU, WATCH IT. WATCH IT NOW. DROP EVERYTHING, LIFE INCLUDED, JUST TO WATCH THIS. You'll absolutely LOVE it.
10/10 art/story/sound/character/enjoyment/overall
holy crap! Just a spectacle, just a master piece, just unmatched. I don't think I'll ever watch a tv show again in my life, Anime surpasses it, Stuff like this SHAMES actors AND SHAMES top quality tv shows.
Don't miss out. If you do, ha JOKES ON YOU, YOU MISSED SOMETHING PRICELESS
ArKadeFire
This anime is the representation of a good style but a pitiful substance. This review will be kept spoiler free. Do you know how very often an anime adaptation can't give what a novel or a manga deserve? There are plenty of examples like that, but this anime is the opposite. A story like that doesn't deserve an adaptation this good. The quality of the anime is top notch but the story doesn't follow, it's pretty bad. This probably aimed at hardcore fan of the fate series, but after only watching the mere surface of it (Fate zero, Fate Stay Night UBW and Fate Apocrypha inmy case) this show just feels empty. And it's real pity as this show had a lot of potential just like the rest of the Fate Franchise.
Story (3/10): One of the main drawbacks of the show. It's unclear of when and how it's going, you don't know if it's Fate Stay Night but from a different point of view or if it's an alternative phase of the history until the middle of the show. It's very confusing (even more than the other shows of the series). Furthermore, the story is not really interesting, no clear objective is given (nobody even seems to care about the Grail) and the fight scenes are okay but well below what the fate series used to be. The main objective doesn't seem to be the Holy War anyway, as it must be the most pitiful I've seen so far, I don't want to spoil you but it seems like it was rushed AF. The main aim of this movie seems to be the character development but the problem here takes us to the next category.
Character (2/10): This part will be the most subjective out of the review. The fact is the characters are horribly boring. If you've watched Fate Stay Night (FSN), you may already know (unless you think otherwise, but then I don't understand you) that the main character, Emiya Shiro, is super irritating, he's always making dumb decisions that will make you want to slap him over and over again. Although I gotta hand this to the movie, I think it got better in this movie than what we had previously. I couldn't give any less fucks about Sakura, which is supposed to be a big focus in the film! All of the scenes she appears in are meaningless and can be easily skipped, she is the most useless character in the Fate franchise, which is a shame for a main character. I don't really like the direction Saber is going since FSN but it doesn't seem to be the case of most people, so I'm not gonna elaborate on this. Rin Tohsaka, who single-handedly made FSN enjoyable is only present a few times and we barely see any other Servant or Master, which btw, all seem to have lost their charism (especially Kirei). The only exception is the brother of Sakura who got some welcomed development.
Art (10/10): Now on to the big strength of this movie. Ufotable made some awesome work as always, but this gotta be their masterpiece in term of animation (at least from what I've seen). The few fights are beautifully animated and the mix between CGI and 2D is really impressing. The CGI is well used and only bugged me a few times. The rest of the art is really impressing and beautiful, in my opinion, it rivals some of the best looking movies out there.
Sound (9/10): Nothing much to say there, if you know the fate series, you should know what to expect. It's the same style of epic and emotional music. The sound during the fight is also on point, but the saturation to make you feel the impact of each blow is still a bit too much sometimes. The voice acting is normal, nothing particularly exceptional.
Enjoyment (6/10): The movie is fairly enjoyable, it has its moments, but it didn't give me any particular emotion, chills or whatever. I'm not gonna lie, I was on my phone for a lot of those really boring and cliché discussion.
Overall (6/10): Despite its big flaws, ufotable saved this movie. However this is an adaptation of a light novel, and you can't change the story, no matter how bad it is. As at said at the beginning, the style (Art and Sound) is very high quality but the substance (Story and Character) is disastrous. It gives us a mediocre movie which is enjoyable and I would only recommend it to you if you are a very big fan of the Fate Series or if you have some time to waste.
BearCakeHorror
I'll try to be as fair as possible in this review and try to read what I have to say before just dismissed it because of the Overall score. This review will contain SPOILERS. Fate Zero is my favorite anime of all time and showed what anime were really capable of, it is my new storytelling standard anime and for its time it was my animation standard too. Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, while it had some problems, some really out of place fanservice and some characters, mostly Kirei and Gilgamesh had unsastified ends due to their out of character motivations and attitudes. I wouldn'tsay it's one of my favorite of all time, but it was a really good anime.
Now, Fate Stay Night Heaven's Feel: Presage Flower has some problems too, but it's pacing is all over the place and it is likely its worse aspect. I know this movie is made for fans, I mean you clearly need to see UBW first before this one just for the fact that its entire opening skip not only what happened to Shirou in its first death, but also Saber, Archer and Rin introductions. I understand this route is about Sakura in the VN, but in this movie it feels so rushed.
A problem I had with UBW was that some characters didn't have enough screen time when I wanted something along the lines of Zero, where all characters (Or almost) have an important part to play. UBW's Rider has more screentime than most servants in this one. Lacking character motivations and personalities. I may work in a VN since it's about the player choices, but it doesn't work in a movie when Shirou and not you (the player) is the one interacting with the story. Caster, Assassin and Archer might as not be in the story at all. Lancer serves only as an action sequence stunt and Rider is dead, but no dead? Oh by the way, you don't see Archer until over one hour into the movie.
The Story is convoluted, as a fan I didn't understand much without having played the VN, which I shouldn't be required to have played to understand movie. Some actions sequences like the extremely cool looking highway chase scene are out of context until later when it is explained why it happened in the first place, taking out all importance that chase scene should've had. I love the Fate Zero Soundtrack bits with backstory of Kirei towards Shirou, even if he doesn't even react to it. I still have the same problem with Ilya as in UBW, she doesn't have much more of a personality like she did in Zero. I also like the fact that Kariya's father have much more presence in this "route.
Overall, Fate fans are overreacting a bit much in my opinion, this should've been better than it is actually on a storytelling perspective. Less senpai to each sentence Sakura's saying and more great writing like Ufotable did with Fate Zero. The Fate Series deserves to be a top model of anime, a high standard to show other anime how it's done. Instead, we got this mess of a film which is at part enjoyable, but unfortunately convoluted and badly written. It's not bad, it's just not great, which makes me sad. Hopefully part 2 is better.
KimuraTheHatoru
Seems i am proven right again by the masses that i should form my own opinion by watching it myself,as im shocked by the quite low score of this movie compared to the quality. And so should you really. As for a more objective opinion, i slugged through even the biggest slops anime has to offer, im proud to say i've only dropped 1 anime to date, and my portofolio is way bigger then what i registered on this site. One hand is more then enough to count the anime that raise to the quality of this piece of art,itself included. The quality in sound andanimation alone is equal to none. The story itself doesn't fall far behind. If there ever was one series that deserved an actual perfect score is this one.
Plenty of people from what i was able to gather mostly dislike this movie series also because it's the sakura route... Non-sense. There's no bad route when it comes to this series.
All in all, a must watch, although i'd recommend you watch Fate/Zero and Fate/stay Night Unlimited Blade works before.
cringeylazy
As you can already tell from my score, I did not enjoy this film at all. I don't understand the hype or have anything really to appreciate about it other than the sexy animation from Ufotable. The movie is just straight up boring. A boring introduction to Sakura's route that doesn't feel necessary I don't care about anything that's happening; it feels like a rushed mess. I was bored throughout the entire movie, waiting for it to end. I'm not someone who likes to be negative, but this film just felt like such a waste of investment for the creators and for anyone to watch. Itdoesn't really set any scenes for the next movie; it just kind of happens. Also, I read about the changes from the VN and I don't understand why they were changed. I feel like the way the VN played out at the start of this route would have made more sense and been WAY more entertaining than this failed attempt at being a mystery anime or whatever.
JackytheFrost
Glad to see the adaptation of the most popular route from the original Fate/Stay Night VN is off to a rocking start. I should state this first, DO NOT WATCH THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE FROM THE OTHER 2 ROUTE'S (Fate and UBW). This movie assumes the audience already knows the inner working of the Holy Grail War, who the characters are, etc. Pretty much the same way the original Visual Novel handled this route. I don't want to spoil any parts of the story for those who have yet to see it, just letting you know this is the most popular route for a reason.All I will say about Heaven's Feel storywise is that It is much darker than the other 2 route's and there will be parts later on that you may need a bit stronger of a stomach for.
