This video was pure bliss to watch and took all of my opinions about this trilogy (except the kirei stuff) and made it sound really fancy and well thought-out as apposed to the rambling that goes on in my head about how good it all is. A wonderful job Mr Anime in Retrospect
About Kirei, he's meant to be a dark reflection of Shirou, someone broken chasing after happiness and trying to validate his own existence. Yeah, it was better portrayed in the visual novel, the anime took out one of Shirou's best lines "I like Kotomine Kirei" (even though this was a bit of a mistranslation).
One tiny detail I really liked, and only picked up on after rewatching some scenes, is how Sakura's eyes change so much, even beyond the shading, which represents a state more than anything, but to the colour, showing who she has become. They start off blue, not unlike Rin's, later become purple, as the Matous separate her from her sister, then turning a blood red as the power of Angra gets to her, and then, when all is said and done, and she has finally accepted herself as Rin's sister (and maybe equal) once more, the true and proper blue of the Tohsakas.
I just got here after watching all 3 Heaven's Feel movies. I just have to say, that felt like a cinematic masterpiece, the music, animation, character development and so much more made it a near perfect watching experience. Not entirely perfect because Shinji exists in it (existed)
Just gonna say I liked the portrayal of Shinji more in the movies since the prologue gave quite a lot of subtle hints and expressions Shinji had overtime while he and Shirou were still friends.
And yet A-Hole Rin Tohsaka and UBW fans are still talking smack about it! And if that wasn't insulting enough they make Sakura and Heaven's Feel fans fight with Artoria and Fate fans!
@@AnimeInRetrospect And yet A-Hole Rin Tohsaka and UBW fans are still talking smack about it! And if that wasn't insulting enough they make Sakura and Heaven's Feel fans fight with Artoria and Fate fans!
I'm glad you praised the OST for Spring Song as much as you did. That OST is god tier and I don't think it gets the recognition it deserves. Without the music the movie is great, but with the music the movie is amazing. I love retrospectives and I was thrilled to find this one talking about this trilogy. Great video
I think the thing the made me cry in the heavens feel films was knowing Medusa actually lived in the end. She fought for Sakura and gets to live alongside them all. She became my favorite character in fate after the films
Before Heavens Feel I've always wandered why Sakura was shown looking out the window after Medusas death in the original Stay Night, it's as if there was some story just beyond a veil. Watching the previous routes just makes Heavens Feel experience all the more satisfying. Also I can't believe how some people think that Shirou isn't capable of at least threatening another persons life during the Grail War. He threatened Shinji to kill him if he didn't have Rider take down Blood Fort Andromeda, weather he was going to go through with it is unknown, but that shows that he can at least bluff.
There is a dead-end called the "Mind of Steel", where Shirou goes with the choice of killing Sakura, and then slaughter everybody else as well. So yeah, even the hero of justice strays from the path sometimes :DDD
Personally, I loved the first two movies but I heavily dislike the final movie, mostly because of how they ended it. [VN spoilers below] Warning: Very, very long. . . . . . The main reason why I disliked it was because of how horribly they treated some of the amazing scenes that [HF] had in the VN. The main two are A: Nine Lives Blade Works and B: Shirou bringing down his arm on Saber. Shirou's NLBW was amazing because of Shirou's monologue and the Anime just cut it out entirely so that's my main reason why I don't like it. To be honest, I much prefer when UFOTABLE animated NLBW back in 2007 for the Heaven's Feel OP. As for Shirou bringing his arm down, it was literally just that, but SO MUCH MORE IN THE VN!!! I wish they actually showed the flashbacks to his times with Saber but alas, they didn't so it lost pretty much everything. And lastly, my biggest criticism (Although it's mostly a me only thing). HF has two endings (Although assuming you, the reader, has played through the VN): Normal end and True end, which, the movies adapt. I VASTLY prefer the Normal end over the True not just because I as a person like bittersweet endings, but it's what Sakura as a person needs. A little while ago, I watched a video analyzing Chapter ii (link at bottom), lost butterfly. The main idea of it, is: "Sakura believes that she herself is a bad person." If you listen to the ed for the final film, Haru wa Yuku (which is sung from Sakura's perspective, amazing song btw), there is a line which is something like: "I wish to be broken and reborn.", adding more support onto the claim that she thinks she's a bad person. Adding on the fact that she thinks that she's "dirty" (Zouken & Shinji's assault towards her), she also hates herself because there is a dark side to her in which she's taken nearly countless lives, she really wishes for punishment and atonement. Going back to the video I brought up, he said that because of what she thinks of herself, the only way to end Heaven's Feel is for her to save herself, or at least, atone. And the True end decides to do the exact opposite. Shirou being the white night he is, obviously, saves her, and she receives zero punishment nor atonement for her to gain peace of mind. The Normal end actually does this, however, and that's why I think of it as the better ending overall. Also the true end is just weird. The way Nasu threw in the characters from Kara no Kyoukai was, well, weird to say the least but that's neither here nor there. TL;DR: Final movie's bad because of the way the adapt it and also because they adapt, in my opinion, the wrong ending. Referenced video by @Under the Scope: th-cam.com/video/BQ1sj1kUsRw/w-d-xo.html
@rienneda In a sense she didn't need atonement because speaking in IRL terms the psychological damage she had was so severe that it placed her on the possibility spectrum of having a personality disorder considering the Shadow acted on her behave automatically and independently Atonement implies she did things willingly and felt bad for it While the true ending correctly provides her the mental support she needs As a toddler she was dumped into a pit with worms being entered from every possible opening Saw grotesque worm monsters as she was infested and violated Kariya who was attempted to save her failed Her older sister did nothing And her biological parents died She then goes on to be repeatedly raped by her adoptive brother Also gets drugged by him And then the guy she loves holds a knife over her which meant he already contemplated killing her She runs back home and she is instantly met with her abusive surrogate brother ready to drug and rape her again Like it's absolutely ridiculous That would have made anyone crazy And she is trying to hold it together the best she can The girl can not be blamed When she breaks its not because she's bad it's because she's pissed off as fuck and has had enough And what brings her down is her sister refusing to kill her and her guy still trying to help and save her The fact that at that stage in the game Zouken is still a worm inside her is fucking ridiculous the girl can not catch a break
@@rienneda I understand why you said 2 endings, but not even an honorable mention for sparks liner high end? Sure it's not the flashiest fight, but I think that's the scene that shines brightest with the inner dialogs.
@@AnimeInRetrospect It always irks me that even when everyone survives either none of them are aware or they just don't acknowledge their blood relationship.
Thanks for aiding my carthsis from watching the trilogy, after Lost Butterfly I had about two days where I felt sad for Sakura, particularly realising it wasn't just this route but the 2 series as well. Spring Song helped but still processing feelings and thoughts about it. Anime can hit really hard sometimes and it's one of the reasons I love it.
Even with Zero being one of the most well-crafted anime of its time, I still never saw this coming. I still find new things that amaze me each time I watch it.
See this right here is the hypocritical crap I'm talking about! You people call the Original Fate Anime Adaptation of the Fate Route terrible but at the same time say that the Route's story was already adapted beautifully?!
How can I explain this. This video is really well constructed and you managed to put in words every thing that I wanted to say about it! Thank you for making this!
Loved this analysis, you captured all the reasons why this series was a masterpiece. I watched the Heaven's Feel playthrough of the visual novel on TH-cam when the films were announced. I'd urge you to watch them too, as they add further depth to the characterization.
I'll always remember watching this in theatres, my eyes were so dry at the end....I couldn't bring myself to blink so I could absorb everything that was going on
Kirei is definitely much better explored in the visual novel. He gets two interlude segments that flesh out his backstory and why he is the way he is. It's still just as spontaneous as "I was born this way", but there's a fascinating dilemma wherein he was born in a religious upbringing, and thus comes to question why he was born that way when humans should, in theory, be able to follow either the path of good or evil whilst one was blocked for him from the beginning. The reason he wants to see Angra Mainyu born is because he wants to see what a being like himself, created to represent and embody malice and evil, thinks about its existence. It's really his Catholic upbringing that fucked him, he can't see himself as anything other than evil because of it.
I feel like Ufotable assumed that the people watching the movies had already seen Fate/Zero, and sort of depicted Kirei with that context, since Zero explores many of those aspects of Kirei in great depth.. While I don’t think it’s as ideal as reading the Visual Novel, I do think that anime-onlys watching in order of Fate/Zero->UBW->Heaven’s Feel will come away with a mostly comprehensive understanding of his character. But I do still wish Kirei was given more focus in the HF films, even if every scene he’s in is pretty great, just because he’s one of my favorite villains and his role in the VN is so perfect.
Being sadistic to the point of wishing it was you who killed your wife that you married out of a thought experiment to see if it would change you and then abandoning your daughter is not caused by a Catholic upbringing I'm pretty sure most societies operate in terms of wishing you killed your wife and being a dead beat father as somethings that are not morally good
allow me to emphasize something: this channel has 4.34k subs, and having watched till the end, i know the video was made since you only had 1k subs. there was no monetary incentive to make this video, there was no popularity incentive, there was nothing but a desire to express just how much this trilogy has affected you. and you know what? i adore that definitely gonna sub
Hassan of the Cursed Arm isn't all that formidable in Heaven's Feel. He only ever manages to dispatch servants with ease when he relies on the imaginary element shadow, knowing where it will appear because of its (and his) connection to Zouken.
"Fuck Shinji Im glad that Fuckers Dead" I can Get along with this person...Very well Though Im a Bit Upset that's how shinji died...I wanted him to suffer
I started fate with the studio Deen series. Say what you will about it but I had a lot of fun with it and binged it a ton. It started me down the rabbit hole of the series and I've loved every part of this series that I've gotten to, minus maybe the Netflix extra series and the Deen UBW movie
There's a funny paradox of this trilogy movie with it's visual novel version, the difference of priority. Ufotable heaven feels trilogy is first and foremost a Sakura centric story, you may be surprised since this is her route but compared to her route in visual novel Sakura actually done much better here in the movie. Part of it because Sudou (the director) is a massive Sakura fans so he Made a consious effort to told Sakura story' in much more beautiful visual and story telling but at expense on a lots of thing. You may Heard how most fans lament how much Kirei, Illya, Zouken and Rider got sidelined here because in the novel they had extra scene that told their story' much more but the movie either skip them, change them or being vague about them. Normally i would say this is a honest mistake and expecting everything to be in the trilogy is foolish, but as i stated before Sudou priorities Sakura and Shirou more because this is the first time Sakura Route was adapted and the first time Sakura was put in the main focus in anime. In summary the movie focus more on Sakura and Shirou while being scarse about the other thing while the novel focus on the other character and Shirou but Sakura weirdly not have much focus there. As such there's a huge discourse for Sakura which puts sakura fans on backfoot, thanks to the movie however the position are much equal now. Both media has different priority which paradox with each other and i can't help but feel funny about this.
This trilogy has to be one of my favorite trilogies of any media ever and that's saying a lot. I loved Presage Flower, but I'm caught in a struggle between Lost butterfly and Spring song, because while Lost butterfly showed the vulnerabilities of Sakura and torment she went through. You see Shirou come into his own and start to unravel the duality of his save all mentality and the save one in sacrifice of many Trolley problem, which then goes full blown in spring song, you then start to see the tragedy and stakes of the HGW in it's entirety, which is what is needed. I think the two characters that also raised the value, but were not the main characters by any stretch were, Archer, Rider, and Illya between LB and SS. Dammit it's a chef's kiss!!! I also can't tell if this was a hidden in plain sight symbolism foretelling, but the flower emblem on the set of house keys that Shirou keeps giving Sakura throughout the movies, is emblematic of his eventual Rho-Aias, which can be seen as his house was always used as a safe ground and defensive like fortress to protect Sakura, while having the double entendre of it representing the very delicate presage flower you could say, he seeks to protect in Sakura? Idk if this was obvious or if I just caught on.
This route was pure anxiety, if you have read the visual novel, you may know and understand what I'm stating. Btw there's the end called as 'normal end' which just rubs salt to your wound, breaks your anxiety meter and goes beyond your head. If you havent read the normal end, then I suggest you to read it. Your another sub.
@@AnimeInRetrospect Is there a playthrough or a essay you've made? Would love to hear your thoughts about the VN and the differences in the adaptation. P.S. if you are a Saber fan, make sure to 100% the game to get the "Last Episode"
@@AnimeInRetrospect bruh. You are leaving peak fiction on the lay side. Read it Also, read the mature but censored H content version. The love scenes are notoriously bad. The new ones that replace them are so much better and you lose little to now lore.
MEDEA IS UNDERRATED!!! Like seriously, her Class Skills alone are broken af. With A-Rank Item Construction, Medea was able to construct a high-rank Artificial Noble Phantasm which she used to win the Fifth Grail War in one of the Bad Ends; and with A-Rank Territory Creation, she was able to construct Artificial Reality Marbles, one of which contained a perfect replica of Fuyuki City, complete with fully alive replicas of the citizens. She was able to discern the true nature of the Grail, its corruption, and had figured out how to circumvent it so that she could get her wish without Angra screwing her over (again, in some of the Bad Ends). What's more, her Class Card self (who is canonically weaker than her regular self) was powerful enough to have completely destroyed Fuyuki City with a single attack, had she not been stopped. Her younger, less experienced self was able to summon one of Solomon's Demon Gods, and on top of all that, the King of Magecraft himself stated that she's one of the five greatest mages in all of human history. So yeah, highly underrated.
Agree, Medea is totally broken. Goes to show how ridiculous top tier mages were in the age of the gods, I guess. Probably the only other caster who compares to Medea is Solomon and he's strengthened to a ridiculous degree by the belief of every magus in his magecraft foundation. Realistically if the guy who summoned her was less of a douche they would have easily won the war outright, though I guess you could say the same about Illya and Heracles if she summoned him into the archer class.
Kierei thinks himself as a dark seed that was only recently sprouted. He views Angra as an extension of himself and his experiences. A dark egg that has yet to hatch. He naturally supports that. And it’s a way to see how someone he thinks is like himself can grow after birth. Ultimately, he’s batshit bonkers. And that why he’s here.
Ah, HF. That part that made me think, after everything, that Illya was the best character. Because in hindsight, she's the only character that never really made me wretch. I hated it just for that, honestly. The tonal shift between this and the other routes was maybe too stark as well.
The nuance in Heavens Feel's Shirou is that he makes the very human decision to not kill Sakura. Disregarding the "sacrifice the one to save the many" argument that was popularized by the worst people of the 1900s, Shirou chose not to kill the woman he loved, because he knew everything that happened to her, loved her deeply, and was convinced he could do something about it that didn't involve killing her. Shirou in HF, _does_ become a villain. He becomes the sort of villain that any other routes Shirou would fight against and stop in the name of their ideals. HF Shirou, much like Kiritsugu, is the version of Shirou who's Ideals met with reality. In UBW, shirou's ideals were tested not by reality, but by philosophy. He was able to overcome them, by knowing the ending this befell Archer could be averted with alterations to how he does things, the Shirou at the end of UBW, is one who's ideals are stronger than that of Stay Night Shirou. But HF Shirou didn't have the philosophical discussion about his ideals. His Ideals clashed with reality before he could, and he had a decision to make, betray his ideals, or kill the woman he loves. Part of the tragedies in Fate, revolve around Ideals. Literally the "perfect" ideas or incarnations of an idea. Perfection is something often chased, but never achieved The concept of perfection is a construct that has no equivalent in reality. There is no such thing, as perfection. And so, every ideal, has flaws. The influence Angra Mainu has on Sakura, combines with the Trauma she's suffered makes her, to a degree, not culpable for her actions. She doesn't deserve what's happened/ing to her. _however_ she also was too dangerous to be kept alive, and had to be stopped. The _ideal_ is to say "kill her so she cannot harm anyone else." And as the audience, we knew more than Shirou did about how dangerous Sakura was. But from the perspective of Shirou, she could be saved. The _best_ part about these Fate routes, is how human everyone acts. Which is why they play out like Greek Tragedies. Characters are often brought low, defeated, or killed not because of a story contrivance, but from the result of human flaws, emotions, and concepts.
I agree with this except for the interpretation for UBW, it's not that Shirou overcomes EMIYA by offering alterations, but by him finding intrinsic value in the pursuit of his dream of saving everyone itself even if it is a impossible dream. I think it is more a test of conviction, he finds beauty in his ideals in spite of it's hypocrisy.
In all honesty even though I really wanted to I just couldn't bring myself to like Heaven's Feel as much as UBW and even the Fate route. And it's not even cause it's dark or the gruesomeness of character death or anything related to that, Persona 3 is like my favourite game ever and it's pretty dark. The way characters we've seen do some busted stuff and are generally really strong just get killed off in the beginning too quickly imo feels more like shock value cause most of them could have easily not died that way when they were acting cautiously and smart before in the other two routes. You want to kill them ?? At least do it right. That's like Spiderman's spidersense not working all of a sudden just cause and dying from a bullet. Rider got too much wank here compared to the other two routes, at least between the two routes the characters were very consistent in their powers but Rider is suddenly really strong here despite not gaining any powerup and survived the most. Sakura imo isn't as good as Rin and Saber as far as romance goes and even though it makes sense the way their romance is executed in all honestly feels sudden and not as developed as Saber and Rin. We could have gotten more out of Kirei but Ufotable unfortunately cut some stuff. The VN is also better than the movies mainly cause of character development there actually making me like Heaven's Feel more than the movie version. But hey at least it has really good visuals and OSTs and I ended up liking the second movie the most.
The reason Rider is so much stronger in Heaven’s Feel is because she gets to actually be Sakura’s servant this time around. In the other routes, Sakura is still the true master who summoned her, but Shinji is the one supplying her with mana and controlling her. For all intents and purposes, he is her master in Fate and UBW. In Presage Flower, Saber rocks Rider during their first encounter; Shinji is Medusa’s de-facto master at the time. That’s why her power increases so much once Sakura takes the reigns. All the “shock” deaths definitely threw me for a loop. Thanks for the comment!
@@AnimeInRetrospect How have I missed that myself ?? Literally finished UBW and watched both the Deen one and the Ufotable yet somehow forgot that Masters affect the Servant's power cause of their mana 🤦 Thanks for reminding me, I looked like an idiot right there that's for sure (and I'll accept that). In that case I guess I'll give HF an extra point for attention to detail to like this since they never state it.
@@thegamerfe8751 To be fair, Fate’s magic system is quite undefined. It’s almost impossible to keep track of every little thing in it. Strangely, that’s why I like it so much.
Ah, the Mapo Tofu scene is peak. In the VN it happens THRICE, getting more ridiculous each time. Here you are, having a dinner with Kotomine Kirei. The literal worst person who ever existed. Just chatting while Kirei enjoys spicy food. Yet as the world starts to turn upside down you almost feel relieved to be in this situation as the third scene comes around. Anyways, Kirei is a curious character. I think Fate/Zero did a very admirable job as far as anime goes to portray him. I also thik that information together with Heaven's Feel movies give you decent enough insight what's going on. I think the only portion they didn't make very clear is the fact that him and Zouken wanted the same thing with just one difference thus they kept up a tense rivalry throughout the whole story. I also feel Ufotable continually misses to replicate the true intensity and catharsis of the final battles involving Kirei. For context, in Fate/Zero novels the Kiritsugu vs Kirei fight happens in a burning theater with the entire building at the brink of collapse. The fight is a lot more visceral with both sides nearly grindng their bodies to shreds. And this is supposed to replicate the intensity of the final battle in Heaven's Feel. Ufotable does a good job animating a good fight again but it misses to get so up close and impactful as it was portrayed in the VN. It's the best fight in the whole VN and it's just two dying men exchanging punches until one of them stops moving. There's no sense or reason left. No higher purposes. Just two selfish men wanting their way. It's catharctic yet at the same time ends in a very unsatisfying way which just seems fitting for these two. Kirei is kind of the "anti-Shirou". Nasu explained that once he settled on Shirou's character he immediately began working on his ultimate foil which is Kirei. Two twisted people with psychological issues worth multiple studies.Both deny the self, both foster high moral values. One derives joy from people's salvation, other from people's suffering. The similarities and contrasts are too numerous. In the final showdown Shirou realizes this and admits he and Kirei are almost the same. Yet exactly for this reason he can't just allow Kirei's wish.
The way you describe Kiritsugu vs. Kirei in the LN makes me wanna check it out. I think you’re the second person to explain to me that Kirei is meant to be the inverse of Shirou, so I understand his character much better than when I wrote the video. I guess I’m still hung up on what the point of Nasu even making an “anti Shirou” is.
@@AnimeInRetrospect As he described the deeds of a heroes are only as shining when contrasted with the villain they fight. So he believed that Kirei is neccesary to cast a shade around Shirou's light. Forgive my rather forced metaphor. In the VN, Shirou is a deeply introspective person. He's snarky even if sometimes oblivious. In a way Shirou is his own worst enemy. The VN makes sure to reinforce this through the fact that Shirou always considers overcoming his own self the true battle. If you want to check the VN out, keep in mind the story was written in the early 2000s. A few things which seemed obvious then may not be taken the same now. Also, pages upon pages of internal thoughts as expositon. Sometimes a split second scene has Shirou thinking a TED talk's worth of stuff.The VN is quite verbose in general. It establishes rules, explain their intricacies whenever it oould.
To be honest I really hated watching this trilogy, probably because I loved ubw and the style of these movies was totally different from it, this video gave me motivation to rewatch them, maybe it will change my opinion
Good Video, though I would call this route more of a greek or shakespearen tradegy vibe than a drama, espicially in the grander themes of fate, as Shirou goes from being a Hero to a Villian (despite me cheering all the way) in this route. Hundreds die in Fuyuki cause of his choice to let Sakura live and betraying his ideals is more of a death to him than actually dying would be. PHENOMINAL
I really need to watch this again. I want to watch it with the family I'm living with atm too, but they're JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES. They wouldn't survive half way through the first movie, on the floor, dead, or convulsing by the end of Spring Song. My problem is I see how realistically beautiful it is. Witnesses rely on escapism more than anime fans do somehow. 😂
I can't watch Unlimited Blade Works anymore without feeling terrible for Sakura lol. In UBW, Rin fully becomes everything Sakura hates and is jealous of. Rin becomes a real hero, takes Shirou's heart, and moves away with Shirou while never rescuing her. I also felt horrible for Sakura when Rin was completely owning Sakura with the parallel universe sword. It's almost like no matter what Sakura does, she will never be as strong and revered as Rin.
I actually haven't read any of KnK. For now I've just stuck with the anime since I still get something new out of it every time I watch it, but I will have to sit down and actually read it someday.
I was on a Twitter thread for great anime OPs a few weeks ago, and someone posted Brave Shine from UBW. I had stayed away from the Fate series because of all the titles and not knowing where to start and the fact that I don't care for visual novels, but god damn if that song didn't make me enticed. So I started Fate Zero on a whim, and a few weeks on now I've just wrapped up Heaven's Feel. Good LORD what a ride it was. Those three movies are some of the best things I've ever watched. I am still so emotional and I only finished a few hours ago. I thought for sure after Zero that there was no way I'd like Rin more than Saber, but 14 episodes into UBW I liked Rin so much that I figured it would be a hard sell to get me to like Sakura more. Well I was sold, and FAST. What an incredible series. What a great trilogy. The only thing more emotional than the ending is that now I don't really know where to go next with the series.
i was surprised that shitty priest was playing hero and helping so much, but he got what he got. i was really hoping illiya get another happy ending after blade works. Also due to shiro being more selfish the whole paradox of past and future self was kinda irrelevent and archer doesnt actually want to kill him. even the hidden boss gilgamesh was taken of the the board. what a table flip reset!
What is kinda sad is that Illyas's route was scrapped and just forced into Heaven's Feel, makes parts of the story feel disjointed and out of place, which they are lol. Sakura was not meant to have the biggest storyline, it was meant for Illya. Unfortunately time constraints can be a bitch
I wasn’t a fan of Heavens Feel at all, I’m pretty new to Fate & just find this movie bizarre. I much preferred the other routes. I’ll have to rewatch the movies as I got distracted a few times while watching and missed bits, and I must have missed something because I didn’t understand the ending at all, it just shows them going into a store & there’s a big doll in a box, and then she has a light in a cage, and then the next frame we’re to believe this has turned into Shiro haha, what’s up with that? Were those dolls shown somewhere else in the movie? It’s not as bad as Fate/Extra - Lost Encore, but yea, not a fan.
Here’s the explanation: Shirou’s body was destroyed because of the use of the arm, however Ilya used Heaven’s Feel (the third magic) to purify the Grail and save Shirou’s soul from passing on, along with the help of Archer (from his spirit form). Shriou’s soul was recovered and Rin spent a long while searching for someone who specialized in created body dummies (although I believe are made flesh through magic) and found that person. A new body was made and Shirou’s soul was placed in it, forming to that of what Shirou would have looked like. So he began a new life with Sakura. It should have been done better, with an extra 5 to 10 minutes to show it.
Bellow, the best order to watch the Fate series, at least the bigger ones Fate/stay night (2006) aka “Fate Route” Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014) (Season 1 & 2) Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel I. presage flower (2017) Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel II. lost butterfly (2019) Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel III. spring song (2020) Fate/Zero (2011) (Season 1 & 2)
@@budthecyborg4575 watching Zero first spoils you on basically every mystery and revelation in F/SN. I know its the most popular and its the reason many people even got into fate, but we have a duty as fans going forward not to allow others to be spoiled as we were.
@@videotroll72 Unlimited Bladeworks also spoils Fate Zero, whereas the best twist in the series is Unlimited Bladeworks, and Fate Zero doesn't spoil that so I have no problem recommending Zero first and Unlimited Bladeworks second.
UBW and HF do a good job of giving a bigger picture of the whole story. I really disliked the Fate route/2006 anime but after watching the other two I can appreciate the bigger picture and admit that I like some of the aspects of the story. I still have massive issues with the world-building and magic systems of the show but HF demonstrated well that those aspects are really secondary to the characters themselves. HF handled Sakura and Shirou in a way where I could say I liked them both. As for the fights, they felt almost too flashy. Especially Saber Alter v.s. Rider was a fight where I was occasionally mentally tuning out because nothing was happening in the scene except colours. I think I have a preference towards more physical fights compared to a laser show. Apocrypha does the fights much better and I consider it the superior product to Stay Night. But HF was the main reason why I could start considering it now on par with Apocrypha in many aspects.
I'd say it's a perfect trilogy. Expect for one small question. How did Shiro come to life? The movie doesn't explain it. You have to look it up to know Rider went back to get his soul and they put that soul into a doll
That’s a question that really requires general Type-Moon knowledge to answer well. Basically, though, Rin and Sakura get the help of Touko Aozaki to do the thing with Shirou. She’s a character from outside the Fate series. It has to do with the Third Magic and Shirou’s soul existing in a different plane, independent of his body, after his fight with Kirei. Touko then essentially puts his soul into a compatible “doll”, and he kind of gets to be alive again. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist.
These films are the epitome of "atleast you tried". A compliment UBW doesn't even deserve. I'll give this trilogy actual credit where credit is due with its brilliant direction somehow making the worst part of the route the best movie of the 3. Though the fact that a character with 2 minutes of screen time fighting another character with 2 minutes of screen time is the best part of heavens feel does more to show how dreadful movie 3 is then anything else I could say. Also it's funny how shirou vs berserker is so awful it only gets a half second mention lmao.
Heaven's Feel might actually be the worst path in terms of action setup, of course it's the best in terms of execution, but I just can't help but wonder how much better Unlimited Bladeworks would have been were it produced with the same care we find here. The first half of Heaven's Feel is Fate at its absolute best, but then at the second half all of the best servants in terms of combat have been killed or are about to unceremoniously die for no reason (BOTH Archer AND Gilgamesh die off screen, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!). I love the animation, I love that this path finally continues the story of Sakura and Illya from Fate Zero, but when that comes at the cost of almost all the other characters it places Heaven's Feel as secondary to Unlimited Bladeworks, which is really disappointing when with some tweaks it easily could have been the singular "Best Path" through Fate.
I’m brand new to the fate series and I binge watched these in a matter of 2 weeks Fate Zero Fate stay unlimited blade works Fate presage flower Fate lost butterfly Fate heavens feel Can anyone tell me what’s going on? Are the 3 movies just a different reality from UBW? I love this anime. I can’t stop watching. Thanks everyone.
You pretty much get it. Fate is adapted from an original visual novel named Fate/stay night. This VN has 3 different routes (or as you put it, realities) that are 3 different versions/possibilities of the same setting. That setting is the 5th Fuyuki Holy Grail War. The first route is the Fate route, which isn't on your list of watched Fate anime. The 2nd route is UBW, and the third is Heaven's Feel. So yes, Heaven's Feel is a different possibility from UBW like you guessed, but it is the third possibility in the sequence. You might want to watch the original Fate/stay night anime from 2006! And Fate/Zero is a prequel to all 3, FYI.
@@ryanestabrooke111 Definitely Fate/stay night (2006). This way you can round out the main series' anime and delving into further Fate anime will be more accessible. It's always nice to understand references going forward!
So... can you just watch these movies independently, or do you have to have watched all the animes and played all the gal-games fitst to understand what is going on..? Btw which serie/movie was the Sabre-route...?😌
You will get more out of it by watching Fate/stay night (2006), Fate/Zero, and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works. However, it works just fine as a standalone film trilogy. Saber route is Fate/stay night (2006).
The movies looked good but that was it I honestly didn't like it's story or anything really at the end, they ruined it for me by shirt surviving essentially, which I really hated.
So, I had these movies playing in the background when I was playing games. Can anyone explain to me... In Heavens Feel, did Assassin from the previous war, actually survive?
There isn't really a previous war since UBW and Fate routes are different variations of the same scenario as Heaven's Feel. Unless you're talking about the war in Fate/Zero, in which case, dead. But even if you mean UBW or Fate, also definitely dead haha.
@@AnimeInRetrospect I did mean Zero lol. I was so confused when Hasan appeared in this trilogy because I was like "wait.... didn't Iskandar kill him!?"
@@alexanderrahl7034 I see where your confusion is now. There are many different Hassan servants. The one in Zero is Hassan of the Hundred Faces. The one in Heaven’s Feel is Hassan of the Cursed Arm. Two different Heroic Spirits. Hope that clears it up!
@@AnimeInRetrospect ohhh okay. Considering the Old Man of the Mountain's history, I suppose that makes sense. I just figured Kirei did some Kirei things again lmao
It (used to be anyways, but you know how the fate series is with setting you rules and then breaking them) that a Hassan is the only heroic spirits that qualifies as a candidate for Assassin. Because a truly great Assassin is never caught, or their identity ever known, thus its normally impossible for any assassin the gain the fame needed to become etched in the throne of heroes. The only exception was instead of an unknown individual assassin, but a group of unknown assassins, the Hassassin, from which the word assassin is derived.
This video was pure bliss to watch and took all of my opinions about this trilogy (except the kirei stuff) and made it sound really fancy and well thought-out as apposed to the rambling that goes on in my head about how good it all is. A wonderful job Mr Anime in Retrospect
About Kirei, he's meant to be a dark reflection of Shirou, someone broken chasing after happiness and trying to validate his own existence. Yeah, it was better portrayed in the visual novel, the anime took out one of Shirou's best lines "I like Kotomine Kirei" (even though this was a bit of a mistranslation).
I couldn't imagine Shirou saying anything like that! Someday I have to sit down with the VN and not get back up until it's over.
@@AnimeInRetrospect the movies really did the novel dirty. Especially with anything involving Kirei or Illya, because the director is a Sakura fanboy.
@@vicount3944 Illya I can tell got gipped pretty bad, although her goodbye is still super memorable.
I really wanted Illya to sing Die Loreilei while she walks with Shirou and Shirou thinking how happy would it be if there's a Kiritsugu between them
@@kennichigatchalian6710 Can't be mad about the Iri moment though! Too wholesome.
One tiny detail I really liked, and only picked up on after rewatching some scenes, is how Sakura's eyes change so much, even beyond the shading, which represents a state more than anything, but to the colour, showing who she has become.
They start off blue, not unlike Rin's, later become purple, as the Matous separate her from her sister, then turning a blood red as the power of Angra gets to her, and then, when all is said and done, and she has finally accepted herself as Rin's sister (and maybe equal) once more, the true and proper blue of the Tohsakas.
This is such a cool observation!
I just got here after watching all 3 Heaven's Feel movies. I just have to say, that felt like a cinematic masterpiece, the music, animation, character development and so much more made it a near perfect watching experience. Not entirely perfect because Shinji exists in it (existed)
It's a masterpiece as a movie trilogy. But as a plot, compared to the source material, is hollow. Empty.
Where do I watch it?
Just gonna say I liked the portrayal of Shinji more in the movies since the prologue gave quite a lot of subtle hints and expressions Shinji had overtime while he and Shirou were still friends.
Ufotable did justice in portraying the despair-inducing yet greatly rewarding journey that was HF. As a fellow Sakura enjoyer, great video!
Thanks! And nice Mashu avatar.
And yet A-Hole Rin Tohsaka and UBW fans are still talking smack about it! And if that wasn't insulting enough they make Sakura and Heaven's Feel fans fight with Artoria and Fate fans!
@@AnimeInRetrospect And yet A-Hole Rin Tohsaka and UBW fans are still talking smack about it! And if that wasn't insulting enough they make Sakura and Heaven's Feel fans fight with Artoria and Fate fans!
Amazingly well put together and relaxing to watch, I’m so glad someone’s still talking about GOAT Kara no Kyoukai
Thanks! KnK is eternal.
I lost count how many times I have seen this trilogy. Great video fellow Sakura enjoyer.
Same FAM same, saved it all to my phone
I'm glad you praised the OST for Spring Song as much as you did. That OST is god tier and I don't think it gets the recognition it deserves. Without the music the movie is great, but with the music the movie is amazing. I love retrospectives and I was thrilled to find this one talking about this trilogy.
Great video
Thank you! The music really does set the tone for Spring Song.
Best Route Ever.
Sakura deserves ALL the happines in the world
I think the thing the made me cry in the heavens feel films was knowing Medusa actually lived in the end. She fought for Sakura and gets to live alongside them all. She became my favorite character in fate after the films
I have a pretty good idea for how she can have an arc of her own. Would you be up for that?
Before Heavens Feel I've always wandered why Sakura was shown looking out the window after Medusas death in the original Stay Night, it's as if there was some story just beyond a veil.
Watching the previous routes just makes Heavens Feel experience all the more satisfying.
Also I can't believe how some people think that Shirou isn't capable of at least threatening another persons life during the Grail War. He threatened Shinji to kill him if he didn't have Rider take down Blood Fort Andromeda, weather he was going to go through with it is unknown, but that shows that he can at least bluff.
There is a dead-end called the "Mind of Steel", where Shirou goes with the choice of killing Sakura, and then slaughter everybody else as well. So yeah, even the hero of justice strays from the path sometimes :DDD
I waited 7 long years to see this route adapted....
....and it did NOT disappoint!
Personally, I loved the first two movies but I heavily dislike the final movie, mostly because of how they ended it.
[VN spoilers below] Warning: Very, very long.
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The main reason why I disliked it was because of how horribly they treated some of the amazing scenes that [HF] had in the VN. The main two are A: Nine Lives Blade Works and B: Shirou bringing down his arm on Saber. Shirou's NLBW was amazing because of Shirou's monologue and the Anime just cut it out entirely so that's my main reason why I don't like it. To be honest, I much prefer when UFOTABLE animated NLBW back in 2007 for the Heaven's Feel OP. As for Shirou bringing his arm down, it was literally just that, but SO MUCH MORE IN THE VN!!! I wish they actually showed the flashbacks to his times with Saber but alas, they didn't so it lost pretty much everything.
And lastly, my biggest criticism (Although it's mostly a me only thing).
HF has two endings (Although assuming you, the reader, has played through the VN): Normal end and True end, which, the movies adapt. I VASTLY prefer the Normal end over the True not just because I as a person like bittersweet endings, but it's what Sakura as a person needs. A little while ago, I watched a video analyzing Chapter ii (link at bottom), lost butterfly. The main idea of it, is: "Sakura believes that she herself is a bad person." If you listen to the ed for the final film, Haru wa Yuku (which is sung from Sakura's perspective, amazing song btw), there is a line which is something like: "I wish to be broken and reborn.", adding more support onto the claim that she thinks she's a bad person. Adding on the fact that she thinks that she's "dirty" (Zouken & Shinji's assault towards her), she also hates herself because there is a dark side to her in which she's taken nearly countless lives, she really wishes for punishment and atonement. Going back to the video I brought up, he said that because of what she thinks of herself, the only way to end Heaven's Feel is for her to save herself, or at least, atone.
And the True end decides to do the exact opposite.
Shirou being the white night he is, obviously, saves her, and she receives zero punishment nor atonement for her to gain peace of mind. The Normal end actually does this, however, and that's why I think of it as the better ending overall. Also the true end is just weird. The way Nasu threw in the characters from Kara no Kyoukai was, well, weird to say the least but that's neither here nor there.
TL;DR: Final movie's bad because of the way the adapt it and also because they adapt, in my opinion, the wrong ending.
Referenced video by @Under the Scope: th-cam.com/video/BQ1sj1kUsRw/w-d-xo.html
@rienneda In a sense she didn't need atonement because speaking in IRL terms the psychological damage she had was so severe that it placed her on the possibility spectrum of having a personality disorder considering the Shadow acted on her behave automatically and independently
Atonement implies she did things willingly and felt bad for it
While the true ending correctly provides her the mental support she needs
As a toddler she was dumped into a pit with worms being entered from every possible opening
Saw grotesque worm monsters as she was infested and violated
Kariya who was attempted to save her failed
Her older sister did nothing
And her biological parents died
She then goes on to be repeatedly raped by her adoptive brother
Also gets drugged by him
And then the guy she loves holds a knife over her which meant he already contemplated killing her
She runs back home and she is instantly met with her abusive surrogate brother ready to drug and rape her again
Like it's absolutely ridiculous
That would have made anyone crazy
And she is trying to hold it together the best she can
The girl can not be blamed
When she breaks its not because she's bad it's because she's pissed off as fuck and has had enough
And what brings her down is her sister refusing to kill her and her guy still trying to help and save her
The fact that at that stage in the game Zouken is still a worm inside her is fucking ridiculous the girl can not catch a break
@@rienneda I understand why you said 2 endings, but not even an honorable mention for sparks liner high end? Sure it's not the flashiest fight, but I think that's the scene that shines brightest with the inner dialogs.
illya gets done dirty everytime. had me crying. Great video
I always joke that the Fate route is easily the best because it's the only one where Illya survives.
Read fate kalied man~ happiest Illya you can get
@@AnimeInRetrospect It always irks me that even when everyone survives either none of them are aware or they just don't acknowledge their blood relationship.
@Lord Inquisitor Shadowlord Doesn't matter, he has no idea who his sister is.
Thanks for aiding my carthsis from watching the trilogy, after Lost Butterfly I had about two days where I felt sad for Sakura, particularly realising it wasn't just this route but the 2 series as well. Spring Song helped but still processing feelings and thoughts about it.
Anime can hit really hard sometimes and it's one of the reasons I love it.
What a beautifully crafted video
Thank you so much.
@@AnimeInRetrospect the infamous Mapo Tafu scene for you. th-cam.com/video/PxSgw3XbFS0/w-d-xo.html
This trilogy still blows my mind with just how well crafted it was. Could you have ever guessed this was in our future after seeing that CGI dragon?
Even with Zero being one of the most well-crafted anime of its time, I still never saw this coming. I still find new things that amaze me each time I watch it.
See this right here is the hypocritical crap I'm talking about! You people call the Original Fate Anime Adaptation of the Fate Route terrible but at the same time say that the Route's story was already adapted beautifully?!
The whole Heavens Feel Route was the BEST Anime/Anime Movie Trilogy I have EVER watched
How can I explain this. This video is really well constructed and you managed to put in words every thing that I wanted to say about it! Thank you for making this!
Loved this analysis, you captured all the reasons why this series was a masterpiece.
I watched the Heaven's Feel playthrough of the visual novel on TH-cam when the films were announced. I'd urge you to watch them too, as they add further depth to the characterization.
Thanks! Someday I’ll sit down with the entire VN.
I'll always remember watching this in theatres, my eyes were so dry at the end....I couldn't bring myself to blink so I could absorb everything that was going on
All my homies hate Shinji. This movie just solidified that.
One thing this anime did well was fuel my hatred for Shinji. Death was too merciful for that little rat.
I don't hate him especially after reading the VN more like pity
Should have thrown him in the bug pit.
Just watched all 3 movies and they were amazing! Your retrospect was also amazing! Good work!
this is one of the most amazing videos i ever have watched, please keep up the good work you will go places.
Thank you!
Kirei is definitely much better explored in the visual novel. He gets two interlude segments that flesh out his backstory and why he is the way he is.
It's still just as spontaneous as "I was born this way", but there's a fascinating dilemma wherein he was born in a religious upbringing, and thus comes to question why he was born that way when humans should, in theory, be able to follow either the path of good or evil whilst one was blocked for him from the beginning.
The reason he wants to see Angra Mainyu born is because he wants to see what a being like himself, created to represent and embody malice and evil, thinks about its existence.
It's really his Catholic upbringing that fucked him, he can't see himself as anything other than evil because of it.
I feel like Ufotable assumed that the people watching the movies had already seen Fate/Zero, and sort of depicted Kirei with that context, since Zero explores many of those aspects of Kirei in great depth.. While I don’t think it’s as ideal as reading the Visual Novel, I do think that anime-onlys watching in order of Fate/Zero->UBW->Heaven’s Feel will come away with a mostly comprehensive understanding of his character. But I do still wish Kirei was given more focus in the HF films, even if every scene he’s in is pretty great, just because he’s one of my favorite villains and his role in the VN is so perfect.
Being sadistic to the point of wishing it was you who killed your wife that you married out of a thought experiment to see if it would change you and then abandoning your daughter is not caused by a Catholic upbringing
I'm pretty sure most societies operate in terms of wishing you killed your wife and being a dead beat father as somethings that are not morally good
I just fell down the fate rabbit hole…. 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️… I’m like what did I do to myself… I love it!!!
I saw the saber alter vs medusa fight mapped to HDR on youtube and holy heck is it a mesmerizing explosion of colors.
I've always loved Sakura, you just made me love her more.
God, this video is so good. I love this so much, definitely saving it
allow me to emphasize something: this channel has 4.34k subs, and having watched till the end, i know the video was made since you only had 1k subs. there was no monetary incentive to make this video, there was no popularity incentive, there was nothing but a desire to express just how much this trilogy has affected you.
and you know what? i adore that
definitely gonna sub
Hassan of the Cursed Arm isn't all that formidable in Heaven's Feel. He only ever manages to dispatch servants with ease when he relies on the imaginary element shadow, knowing where it will appear because of its (and his) connection to Zouken.
You are Good...... Very GOOD!!!.
You did a very good job with this review.
Thanks.
Damn this was super good. I'm looking forward to seeing your sub count explode in the future if you keep putting out bangers like this.
"Fuck Shinji Im glad that Fuckers Dead"
I can Get along with this person...Very well
Though Im a Bit Upset that's how shinji died...I wanted him to suffer
Fun fact: At 22:32 you can see Shirou's face become Heracles's for a few frames
I started fate with the studio Deen series. Say what you will about it but I had a lot of fun with it and binged it a ton. It started me down the rabbit hole of the series and I've loved every part of this series that I've gotten to, minus maybe the Netflix extra series and the Deen UBW movie
@@neverhuman3975 Same experience here. It’s a little crummy, sure, but it’s the whole reason I started to love the series
The Mapo Tafu scene in the VN is fucking hilarious
There's a funny paradox of this trilogy movie with it's visual novel version, the difference of priority.
Ufotable heaven feels trilogy is first and foremost a Sakura centric story, you may be surprised since this is her route but compared to her route in visual novel Sakura actually done much better here in the movie. Part of it because Sudou (the director) is a massive Sakura fans so he Made a consious effort to told Sakura story' in much more beautiful visual and story telling but at expense on a lots of thing. You may Heard how most fans lament how much Kirei, Illya, Zouken and Rider got sidelined here because in the novel they had extra scene that told their story' much more but the movie either skip them, change them or being vague about them. Normally i would say this is a honest mistake and expecting everything to be in the trilogy is foolish, but as i stated before Sudou priorities Sakura and Shirou more because this is the first time Sakura Route was adapted and the first time Sakura was put in the main focus in anime.
In summary the movie focus more on Sakura and Shirou while being scarse about the other thing while the novel focus on the other character and Shirou but Sakura weirdly not have much focus there. As such there's a huge discourse for Sakura which puts sakura fans on backfoot, thanks to the movie however the position are much equal now. Both media has different priority which paradox with each other and i can't help but feel funny about this.
This trilogy has to be one of my favorite trilogies of any media ever and that's saying a lot. I loved Presage Flower, but I'm caught in a struggle between Lost butterfly and Spring song, because while Lost butterfly showed the vulnerabilities of Sakura and torment she went through. You see Shirou come into his own and start to unravel the duality of his save all mentality and the save one in sacrifice of many Trolley problem, which then goes full blown in spring song, you then start to see the tragedy and stakes of the HGW in it's entirety, which is what is needed. I think the two characters that also raised the value, but were not the main characters by any stretch were, Archer, Rider, and Illya between LB and SS. Dammit it's a chef's kiss!!!
I also can't tell if this was a hidden in plain sight symbolism foretelling, but the flower emblem on the set of house keys that Shirou keeps giving Sakura throughout the movies, is emblematic of his eventual Rho-Aias, which can be seen as his house was always used as a safe ground and defensive like fortress to protect Sakura, while having the double entendre of it representing the very delicate presage flower you could say, he seeks to protect in Sakura? Idk if this was obvious or if I just caught on.
One Masterpiece video, you did HF Justice
Instant subscribe
KnK is pretty fire. Fate as well of course... I gotta hop on the VN sometime.
Heaven's Feel didnt turn me into a Sakura enjoyer but into a Medusa enjoyer instead.
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Also, 10/10 video my dude. Hope to see more of you soon
Thanks! Next video is already in the works.
Hollow Ataraxia turned that up to 100 for me
9:23 Mappo Tofu scene was where the whole Fate franchise peaked
This video makes me want to rewatch the series. turned to a huge sakura enjoyer after HF, best anime ever
Thanks for the kind words! HF has had many effects on me, but I think becoming more of a Sakura fan is the main thing it did for me as well.
My favourite movie all time fate stay night heaven's feel 3
Just watched this absolute beautiful review this series will always be my favorite piece of media and best anime ever Sakura also best heroine
This route was pure anxiety, if you have read the visual novel, you may know and understand what I'm stating. Btw there's the end called as 'normal end' which just rubs salt to your wound, breaks your anxiety meter and goes beyond your head. If you havent read the normal end, then I suggest you to read it. Your another sub.
Thank you! Heaven's Feel is about the only part of the VN I've read (only some), but I never touched the normal end. It'll be fun to read it one day!
@@AnimeInRetrospect Is there a playthrough or a essay you've made? Would love to hear your thoughts about the VN and the differences in the adaptation.
P.S. if you are a Saber fan, make sure to 100% the game to get the "Last Episode"
@@paulwin9036 Sadly no. Maybe it’s about time to bite the bullet and just play it, though.
@@AnimeInRetrospect bruh.
You are leaving peak fiction on the lay side.
Read it
Also, read the mature but censored H content version.
The love scenes are notoriously bad. The new ones that replace them are so much better and you lose little to now lore.
I just finished this masterpiece now ❤️
Very well done video
Rika jumping out of nowhere to give us a Ni-Pah! is a surprise, for sure, but a welcome one.
MEDEA IS UNDERRATED!!!
Like seriously, her Class Skills alone are broken af.
With A-Rank Item Construction, Medea was able to construct a high-rank Artificial Noble Phantasm which she used to win the Fifth Grail War in one of the Bad Ends; and with A-Rank Territory Creation, she was able to construct Artificial Reality Marbles, one of which contained a perfect replica of Fuyuki City, complete with fully alive replicas of the citizens.
She was able to discern the true nature of the Grail, its corruption, and had figured out how to circumvent it so that she could get her wish without Angra screwing her over (again, in some of the Bad Ends).
What's more, her Class Card self (who is canonically weaker than her regular self) was powerful enough to have completely destroyed Fuyuki City with a single attack, had she not been stopped.
Her younger, less experienced self was able to summon one of Solomon's Demon Gods, and on top of all that, the King of Magecraft himself stated that she's one of the five greatest mages in all of human history.
So yeah, highly underrated.
Agree, Medea is totally broken. Goes to show how ridiculous top tier mages were in the age of the gods, I guess. Probably the only other caster who compares to Medea is Solomon and he's strengthened to a ridiculous degree by the belief of every magus in his magecraft foundation. Realistically if the guy who summoned her was less of a douche they would have easily won the war outright, though I guess you could say the same about Illya and Heracles if she summoned him into the archer class.
What's the first NP? The Artificial one?
Pd: And She did all that whitout a Proper Master 😆 Kuzuki was just there for...? Emocional Support? I guess
@@adraxer1365 The ANP she made allowed her to weaponize Shirou's unique potential as she made it with him as the core.
@@grimm_satisfaction1292 Damn that's Dark, Like Roche in Apocrypha?
@@adraxer1365 Sort of, yeah
I'll ask you just one thing. Why the hell are you this underrated?
@@KaeruRecaps Thanks! The answer is simple, though; I don’t upload nearly enough. But I am working on it!
Kierei thinks himself as a dark seed that was only recently sprouted. He views Angra as an extension of himself and his experiences. A dark egg that has yet to hatch. He naturally supports that. And it’s a way to see how someone he thinks is like himself can grow after birth.
Ultimately, he’s batshit bonkers. And that why he’s here.
Ah, HF. That part that made me think, after everything, that Illya was the best character. Because in hindsight, she's the only character that never really made me wretch.
I hated it just for that, honestly.
The tonal shift between this and the other routes was maybe too stark as well.
The nuance in Heavens Feel's Shirou is that he makes the very human decision to not kill Sakura. Disregarding the "sacrifice the one to save the many" argument that was popularized by the worst people of the 1900s, Shirou chose not to kill the woman he loved, because he knew everything that happened to her, loved her deeply, and was convinced he could do something about it that didn't involve killing her.
Shirou in HF, _does_ become a villain. He becomes the sort of villain that any other routes Shirou would fight against and stop in the name of their ideals. HF Shirou, much like Kiritsugu, is the version of Shirou who's Ideals met with reality.
In UBW, shirou's ideals were tested not by reality, but by philosophy. He was able to overcome them, by knowing the ending this befell Archer could be averted with alterations to how he does things, the Shirou at the end of UBW, is one who's ideals are stronger than that of Stay Night Shirou.
But HF Shirou didn't have the philosophical discussion about his ideals. His Ideals clashed with reality before he could, and he had a decision to make, betray his ideals, or kill the woman he loves.
Part of the tragedies in Fate, revolve around Ideals. Literally the "perfect" ideas or incarnations of an idea. Perfection is something often chased, but never achieved
The concept of perfection is a construct that has no equivalent in reality. There is no such thing, as perfection. And so, every ideal, has flaws. The influence Angra Mainu has on Sakura, combines with the Trauma she's suffered makes her, to a degree, not culpable for her actions. She doesn't deserve what's happened/ing to her. _however_ she also was too dangerous to be kept alive, and had to be stopped.
The _ideal_ is to say "kill her so she cannot harm anyone else." And as the audience, we knew more than Shirou did about how dangerous Sakura was. But from the perspective of Shirou, she could be saved.
The _best_ part about these Fate routes, is how human everyone acts. Which is why they play out like Greek Tragedies. Characters are often brought low, defeated, or killed not because of a story contrivance, but from the result of human flaws, emotions, and concepts.
I agree with this except for the interpretation for UBW, it's not that Shirou overcomes EMIYA by offering alterations, but by him finding intrinsic value in the pursuit of his dream of saving everyone itself even if it is a impossible dream. I think it is more a test of conviction, he finds beauty in his ideals in spite of it's hypocrisy.
In all honesty even though I really wanted to I just couldn't bring myself to like Heaven's Feel as much as UBW and even the Fate route. And it's not even cause it's dark or the gruesomeness of character death or anything related to that, Persona 3 is like my favourite game ever and it's pretty dark.
The way characters we've seen do some busted stuff and are generally really strong just get killed off in the beginning too quickly imo feels more like shock value cause most of them could have easily not died that way when they were acting cautiously and smart before in the other two routes. You want to kill them ?? At least do it right. That's like Spiderman's spidersense not working all of a sudden just cause and dying from a bullet.
Rider got too much wank here compared to the other two routes, at least between the two routes the characters were very consistent in their powers but Rider is suddenly really strong here despite not gaining any powerup and survived the most.
Sakura imo isn't as good as Rin and Saber as far as romance goes and even though it makes sense the way their romance is executed in all honestly feels sudden and not as developed as Saber and Rin.
We could have gotten more out of Kirei but Ufotable unfortunately cut some stuff.
The VN is also better than the movies mainly cause of character development there actually making me like Heaven's Feel more than the movie version.
But hey at least it has really good visuals and OSTs and I ended up liking the second movie the most.
The reason Rider is so much stronger in Heaven’s Feel is because she gets to actually be Sakura’s servant this time around. In the other routes, Sakura is still the true master who summoned her, but Shinji is the one supplying her with mana and controlling her. For all intents and purposes, he is her master in Fate and UBW. In Presage Flower, Saber rocks Rider during their first encounter; Shinji is Medusa’s de-facto master at the time. That’s why her power increases so much once Sakura takes the reigns.
All the “shock” deaths definitely threw me for a loop. Thanks for the comment!
@@AnimeInRetrospect How have I missed that myself ?? Literally finished UBW and watched both the Deen one and the Ufotable yet somehow forgot that Masters affect the Servant's power cause of their mana 🤦
Thanks for reminding me, I looked like an idiot right there that's for sure (and I'll accept that).
In that case I guess I'll give HF an extra point for attention to detail to like this since they never state it.
@@thegamerfe8751 To be fair, Fate’s magic system is quite undefined. It’s almost impossible to keep track of every little thing in it. Strangely, that’s why I like it so much.
@@AnimeInRetrospect Haha true dat.
Though one thing you can keep track of is as Taiga said, Sakura's E-Cups lmao.
Ah, the Mapo Tofu scene is peak. In the VN it happens THRICE, getting more ridiculous each time.
Here you are, having a dinner with Kotomine Kirei. The literal worst person who ever existed. Just chatting while Kirei enjoys spicy food. Yet as the world starts to turn upside down you almost feel relieved to be in this situation as the third scene comes around.
Anyways, Kirei is a curious character. I think Fate/Zero did a very admirable job as far as anime goes to portray him. I also thik that information together with Heaven's Feel movies give you decent enough insight what's going on. I think the only portion they didn't make very clear is the fact that him and Zouken wanted the same thing with just one difference thus they kept up a tense rivalry throughout the whole story. I also feel Ufotable continually misses to replicate the true intensity and catharsis of the final battles involving Kirei.
For context, in Fate/Zero novels the Kiritsugu vs Kirei fight happens in a burning theater with the entire building at the brink of collapse. The fight is a lot more visceral with both sides nearly grindng their bodies to shreds. And this is supposed to replicate the intensity of the final battle in Heaven's Feel. Ufotable does a good job animating a good fight again but it misses to get so up close and impactful as it was portrayed in the VN. It's the best fight in the whole VN and it's just two dying men exchanging punches until one of them stops moving. There's no sense or reason left. No higher purposes. Just two selfish men wanting their way. It's catharctic yet at the same time ends in a very unsatisfying way which just seems fitting for these two.
Kirei is kind of the "anti-Shirou". Nasu explained that once he settled on Shirou's character he immediately began working on his ultimate foil which is Kirei. Two twisted people with psychological issues worth multiple studies.Both deny the self, both foster high moral values. One derives joy from people's salvation, other from people's suffering. The similarities and contrasts are too numerous. In the final showdown Shirou realizes this and admits he and Kirei are almost the same. Yet exactly for this reason he can't just allow Kirei's wish.
The way you describe Kiritsugu vs. Kirei in the LN makes me wanna check it out.
I think you’re the second person to explain to me that Kirei is meant to be the inverse of Shirou, so I understand his character much better than when I wrote the video. I guess I’m still hung up on what the point of Nasu even making an “anti Shirou” is.
@@AnimeInRetrospect As he described the deeds of a heroes are only as shining when contrasted with the villain they fight. So he believed that Kirei is neccesary to cast a shade around Shirou's light. Forgive my rather forced metaphor.
In the VN, Shirou is a deeply introspective person. He's snarky even if sometimes oblivious. In a way Shirou is his own worst enemy. The VN makes sure to reinforce this through the fact that Shirou always considers overcoming his own self the true battle.
If you want to check the VN out, keep in mind the story was written in the early 2000s. A few things which seemed obvious then may not be taken the same now. Also, pages upon pages of internal thoughts as expositon. Sometimes a split second scene has Shirou thinking a TED talk's worth of stuff.The VN is quite verbose in general. It establishes rules, explain their intricacies whenever it oould.
Sad to think we don't have an Illya route otherwise we wouldn't gotten more of this
Would love to see a vid about Liner Prism Illya (Anime) from you with the Licht movie finishing the current arc.
Maybe... Prillya's story isn't over but it also doesn't have a clear end in sight. So... maybe. :)
To be honest I really hated watching this trilogy, probably because I loved ubw and the style of these movies was totally different from it, this video gave me motivation to rewatch them, maybe it will change my opinion
At the end. Sakura was able to destroy the worms in herself?
Yeah. She's the one who finish Zouken off and put an inevitable count down on Kirei
This is a beautiful movie trilogy!
Good Video, though I would call this route more of a greek or shakespearen tradegy vibe than a drama, espicially in the grander themes of fate, as Shirou goes from being a Hero to a Villian (despite me cheering all the way) in this route. Hundreds die in Fuyuki cause of his choice to let Sakura live and betraying his ideals is more of a death to him than actually dying would be. PHENOMINAL
when i tell you i scream cheered when shinji died
12:59
HOW DID I NOT NOTICE THE GOD DAMN PAINTINGS WHEN I SAW THE MOVIE
16:18 YAAY 🥳🥳
Yeah, Rin has that weird but familiar 100% maximum no chill aura that makes her really interesting.
She very much reminds me of asuka Langley from nge, but a more level headed version.
my goat.
I Died Laughing at
20:46
I really need to watch this again.
I want to watch it with the family I'm living with atm too, but they're JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES.
They wouldn't survive half way through the first movie, on the floor, dead, or convulsing by the end of Spring Song.
My problem is I see how realistically beautiful it is. Witnesses rely on escapism more than anime fans do somehow. 😂
This take is highly specific and quite unique, but I can’t say I disagree lol.
I can't watch Unlimited Blade Works anymore without feeling terrible for Sakura lol. In UBW, Rin fully becomes everything Sakura hates and is jealous of. Rin becomes a real hero, takes Shirou's heart, and moves away with Shirou while never rescuing her. I also felt horrible for Sakura when Rin was completely owning Sakura with the parallel universe sword. It's almost like no matter what Sakura does, she will never be as strong and revered as Rin.
Great video
Also since you're a Kara no kyokai Enjoyer
Have you read the final volume?
I actually haven't read any of KnK. For now I've just stuck with the anime since I still get something new out of it every time I watch it, but I will have to sit down and actually read it someday.
20:06 you absolutely should watch Kara No Kyoukai
Yeah fate havean feel is my favorite
I was on a Twitter thread for great anime OPs a few weeks ago, and someone posted Brave Shine from UBW.
I had stayed away from the Fate series because of all the titles and not knowing where to start and the fact that I don't care for visual novels, but god damn if that song didn't make me enticed.
So I started Fate Zero on a whim, and a few weeks on now I've just wrapped up Heaven's Feel. Good LORD what a ride it was. Those three movies are some of the best things I've ever watched. I am still so emotional and I only finished a few hours ago. I thought for sure after Zero that there was no way I'd like Rin more than Saber, but 14 episodes into UBW I liked Rin so much that I figured it would be a hard sell to get me to like Sakura more.
Well I was sold, and FAST.
What an incredible series. What a great trilogy. The only thing more emotional than the ending is that now I don't really know where to go next with the series.
HF is my favorite route
i was surprised that shitty priest was playing hero and helping so much, but he got what he got. i was really hoping illiya get another happy ending after blade works. Also due to shiro being more selfish the whole paradox of past and future self was kinda irrelevent and archer doesnt actually want to kill him. even the hidden boss gilgamesh was taken of the the board. what a table flip reset!
Still think the fate route is the best
4:35 nothing but the truth
What is kinda sad is that Illyas's route was scrapped and just forced into Heaven's Feel, makes parts of the story feel disjointed and out of place, which they are lol. Sakura was not meant to have the biggest storyline, it was meant for Illya. Unfortunately time constraints can be a bitch
I wasn’t a fan of Heavens Feel at all, I’m pretty new to Fate & just find this movie bizarre. I much preferred the other routes. I’ll have to rewatch the movies as I got distracted a few times while watching and missed bits, and I must have missed something because I didn’t understand the ending at all, it just shows them going into a store & there’s a big doll in a box, and then she has a light in a cage, and then the next frame we’re to believe this has turned into Shiro haha, what’s up with that? Were those dolls shown somewhere else in the movie?
It’s not as bad as Fate/Extra - Lost Encore, but yea, not a fan.
The VN version of HF and the video fate extra handle it way better
Here’s the explanation: Shirou’s body was destroyed because of the use of the arm, however Ilya used Heaven’s Feel (the third magic) to purify the Grail and save Shirou’s soul from passing on, along with the help of Archer (from his spirit form). Shriou’s soul was recovered and Rin spent a long while searching for someone who specialized in created body dummies (although I believe are made flesh through magic) and found that person. A new body was made and Shirou’s soul was placed in it, forming to that of what Shirou would have looked like. So he began a new life with Sakura.
It should have been done better, with an extra 5 to 10 minutes to show it.
@@tjjordan4207 Oh really? But none of that is explained is it? I’ll have to rewatch the movies and pay attention.
The dolls arn't explained in the HF movies
Watch the Kara no Kyoukai film series and you will understand everything about Aozaki Touko and her dolls.
Best ending
14:25 HIGURASHI MENTIONED?!
Bellow, the best order to watch the Fate series, at least the bigger ones
Fate/stay night (2006) aka “Fate Route”
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014) (Season 1 & 2)
Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel I. presage flower (2017)
Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel II. lost butterfly (2019)
Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel III. spring song (2020)
Fate/Zero (2011) (Season 1 & 2)
I put Zero first, and while the 2006 anime has plenty to like about it, most people can skip it.
@@budthecyborg4575 watching Zero first spoils you on basically every mystery and revelation in F/SN.
I know its the most popular and its the reason many people even got into fate, but we have a duty as fans going forward not to allow others to be spoiled as we were.
@@videotroll72
Unlimited Bladeworks also spoils Fate Zero, whereas the best twist in the series is Unlimited Bladeworks, and Fate Zero doesn't spoil that so I have no problem recommending Zero first and Unlimited Bladeworks second.
@@budthecyborg4575 What does UBW "spoil" about Zero?
@@videotroll72 Tells you who lives.
UBW and HF do a good job of giving a bigger picture of the whole story. I really disliked the Fate route/2006 anime but after watching the other two I can appreciate the bigger picture and admit that I like some of the aspects of the story. I still have massive issues with the world-building and magic systems of the show but HF demonstrated well that those aspects are really secondary to the characters themselves. HF handled Sakura and Shirou in a way where I could say I liked them both. As for the fights, they felt almost too flashy. Especially Saber Alter v.s. Rider was a fight where I was occasionally mentally tuning out because nothing was happening in the scene except colours. I think I have a preference towards more physical fights compared to a laser show. Apocrypha does the fights much better and I consider it the superior product to Stay Night. But HF was the main reason why I could start considering it now on par with Apocrypha in many aspects.
I'd say it's a perfect trilogy. Expect for one small question. How did Shiro come to life? The movie doesn't explain it. You have to look it up to know Rider went back to get his soul and they put that soul into a doll
That’s a question that really requires general Type-Moon knowledge to answer well. Basically, though, Rin and Sakura get the help of Touko Aozaki to do the thing with Shirou. She’s a character from outside the Fate series. It has to do with the Third Magic and Shirou’s soul existing in a different plane, independent of his body, after his fight with Kirei. Touko then essentially puts his soul into a compatible “doll”, and he kind of gets to be alive again. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the gist.
These films are the epitome of "atleast you tried". A compliment UBW doesn't even deserve. I'll give this trilogy actual credit where credit is due with its brilliant direction somehow making the worst part of the route the best movie of the 3. Though the fact that a character with 2 minutes of screen time fighting another character with 2 minutes of screen time is the best part of heavens feel does more to show how dreadful movie 3 is then anything else I could say.
Also it's funny how shirou vs berserker is so awful it only gets a half second mention lmao.
This video was trash and the Heaven's Feel Movies are horrible adaptations
@@henicklow1086 how's this video trash cause he choose to give his opinion? The only sucky one is heavens feel 3. Heavens feel 1 and 2 did good
@@whateverwhatever4476 Yeah HF 1 and 2 were good HF3 is bad. Video is okay
@@henicklow1086 Yeah video is good man.
@Alien 👽 Huh? No that part was fine. I mean the bad part of the middle of the route (movie 2).
honestly I think the heaven's feel hats as hard as the dark knight trilogy or the captain America trilogy
I have lost more seed to sakura than any other fictional character ever.
😂😂😂😭😭😭
Heaven's Feel might actually be the worst path in terms of action setup, of course it's the best in terms of execution, but I just can't help but wonder how much better Unlimited Bladeworks would have been were it produced with the same care we find here.
The first half of Heaven's Feel is Fate at its absolute best, but then at the second half all of the best servants in terms of combat have been killed or are about to unceremoniously die for no reason (BOTH Archer AND Gilgamesh die off screen, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!).
I love the animation, I love that this path finally continues the story of Sakura and Illya from Fate Zero, but when that comes at the cost of almost all the other characters it places Heaven's Feel as secondary to Unlimited Bladeworks, which is really disappointing when with some tweaks it easily could have been the singular "Best Path" through Fate.
I like that the routes are competitive in terms of quality! That way they're all good, rather than there being a more "definitive" route.
I’m brand new to the fate series and I binge watched these in a matter of 2 weeks
Fate Zero
Fate stay unlimited blade works
Fate presage flower
Fate lost butterfly
Fate heavens feel
Can anyone tell me what’s going on? Are the 3 movies just a different reality from UBW?
I love this anime. I can’t stop watching. Thanks everyone.
You pretty much get it. Fate is adapted from an original visual novel named Fate/stay night. This VN has 3 different routes (or as you put it, realities) that are 3 different versions/possibilities of the same setting. That setting is the 5th Fuyuki Holy Grail War. The first route is the Fate route, which isn't on your list of watched Fate anime. The 2nd route is UBW, and the third is Heaven's Feel. So yes, Heaven's Feel is a different possibility from UBW like you guessed, but it is the third possibility in the sequence. You might want to watch the original Fate/stay night anime from 2006! And Fate/Zero is a prequel to all 3, FYI.
@@AnimeInRetrospect this is so helpful, thank you so much! That’s fucking awesome. Any recommendations what to watch next?
@@ryanestabrooke111 Definitely Fate/stay night (2006). This way you can round out the main series' anime and delving into further Fate anime will be more accessible. It's always nice to understand references going forward!
Sakurachad
The only thing a wanna know is can shirou reproduce or not??
“Mexican opera” BRUH 😂
So... can you just watch these movies independently, or do you have to have watched all the animes and played all the gal-games fitst to understand what is going on..?
Btw which serie/movie was the Sabre-route...?😌
You will get more out of it by watching Fate/stay night (2006), Fate/Zero, and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works. However, it works just fine as a standalone film trilogy.
Saber route is Fate/stay night (2006).
Where do I watch this trilogy for free
Nyaa
Qbittorrent
Basically any Anime can be accessed within minutes.
#Kireididnothingwrong
The movies looked good but that was it I honestly didn't like it's story or anything really at the end, they ruined it for me by shirt surviving essentially, which I really hated.
I did not enjoyed fate stay night nor enjoyed unlimited blades work. Do you think these movies deserve watching. Are they better than the series
So, I had these movies playing in the background when I was playing games. Can anyone explain to me...
In Heavens Feel, did Assassin from the previous war, actually survive?
There isn't really a previous war since UBW and Fate routes are different variations of the same scenario as Heaven's Feel. Unless you're talking about the war in Fate/Zero, in which case, dead. But even if you mean UBW or Fate, also definitely dead haha.
@@AnimeInRetrospect I did mean Zero lol. I was so confused when Hasan appeared in this trilogy because I was like "wait.... didn't Iskandar kill him!?"
@@alexanderrahl7034 I see where your confusion is now. There are many different Hassan servants. The one in Zero is Hassan of the Hundred Faces. The one in Heaven’s Feel is Hassan of the Cursed Arm. Two different Heroic Spirits. Hope that clears it up!
@@AnimeInRetrospect ohhh okay. Considering the Old Man of the Mountain's history, I suppose that makes sense.
I just figured Kirei did some Kirei things again lmao
It (used to be anyways, but you know how the fate series is with setting you rules and then breaking them) that a Hassan is the only heroic spirits that qualifies as a candidate for Assassin.
Because a truly great Assassin is never caught, or their identity ever known, thus its normally impossible for any assassin the gain the fame needed to become etched in the throne of heroes.
The only exception was instead of an unknown individual assassin, but a group of unknown assassins, the Hassassin, from which the word assassin is derived.