Before starting this Review I wanted to highlight two points here:
1 - The Heavens Feel Route is my favorite in the original Visual Novel and it is the best written, deep and epic thing I have ever read in the entire Nasuverse, it is a pity that Ufotable have executed it that way.
2 - Sorry for some english mistakes, it's not my primary language
> ART 10/10
To sum up, even with my disappointments and revolts, in the end it is still a Ufotable production, so nothing different from the ordinary. Art, animation, design, among other visual aspects, are perfect, totally
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well set according to the type of narrative and are breathtaking, especially in the action scenes.
> SOUND 9/10
The soundtrack os also as expected from Type-moon and Ufotable, its phenomenal and impeccable, if in the third film they add Mighty Wind and an epic remix of the Emiya theme, I will give 10 without a doubt
> STORY 5/10
I was very quick in the analysis of the sound and design, because they are really perfect and in the History and Characters aspect is where I wanted to emphasize, since this is where my problems with the film begin
Probably if you have never seen the Visual Novel, you should not have noticed anything bad, but as a reader of it and a big fan of Type-moon in general I must warn you, almost everything regarding Illya was cut and the monologues of Shirou which are essential for the development of the character and the story as a whole, have been removed as well
I understand that you cannot adapt all the grandeur and complexity of a Visual Novel even in 24-episode animes, such as Unlimited Blade Works, due to monologues, dialogues, development etc ... even so, Ubw's anime may not be complete, but it certainly doesn’t remove as much of the original content as the Heavens Feel films, you can’t adapt a complex route like that in just three 2-hour films that exclude a lot of story and character development just to have 50-minute action scenes
And the problem here is that they had time to develop as little as possible, but they didn't, probably because of the director who is a Sakurafag or to extend fight scenes that last 9 seconds in the original content
The problem is not being completely faithful to the original or not, since it is an adaptation, but cutting Illya's scenes here means not only destroying the best-developed character on the route but also damaging the story as a whole, since Illya it's basically the way for you to understand what's going on and the truth behind the Holy Grail War and the Heavens Feel, without it on the route, a lot of scenes won't make sense or have the same impact and you'll miss the chance to like her, like me for example before reading Heavens Feel she was irrelevant and then when I finished it she just became one of my favorite characters throughout the Nasuverse, Heavens Feel is the Sakura AND Illya route
Heaven's Feel is not like the other routes that are mostly focused on the holy grail war, here the truth about the whole Fate Stay Night Universe is revealed, the ritual, the third war, Angra Mainyuu etc ... and I know you can tell me that most of these things are said in the part that the third film will adapt, but that's exactly what I mean, without all the scenery previously set in the other films and without Illya, these scenes will be without the same impact and meaning
Basically the story is very shallow and cutting important points, in addition to removing all scenes from Illya that not only destroy the best girl (personal opinion) but also leave incomplete explanations about the scenario in general of Heavens Feel that is much bigger than the ones in other routes, to make scenes of epic battles, which of course I love, but that should not have to sacrifice important scenes for their sake
> CHARACTER 2/10
Here is my other biggest problem, how the lack of monologues and some scenes totally harm some characters, especially Shirou.
We know that Shiro is a very complex protagonist that can only be developed decently in a Visual Novel because of the monologues and animes cannot adapt properly, but here his whole dilemma with his own ideology, which is one of the main points of the work, were made too superficially even for a anime
Basically the main point of Heavens Feel is how Shirou has to betray the distorted ideals of justice that he inherited from Kiritsugu and finally overcome this wrong view of the world, trying to protect Sakura, that is, he stops becoming a hero as in Unlimited Blade Works, to become a hero only for Sakura and those he loves, finally winning the humanity he didn't have on other routes
And despite being far from perfect, that point was quite well adapted, the problem is his relationship with Kirei, since the route also deals a lot with how the two are alike, feeling no feeling of their own, having to live through of the feelings of others, being Shirou of the salvation and happiness of others and Kirei of their Disgrace and that, along with some other questions of Shirou's dilemma and Kirei relationships, were very superficial, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was totally removed, I know that they deal with this theme through some dreams and etc ... but I think that for such an important point there should be even more screen time this also joins with my point about Illya being essential in several points of the story, since after that scene from the church where Kirei heals Sakura and Shirou went out in the rain in a dilemma where protecting Sakura would mean hurting other people, it's Illya in the Vn who gives the speech that motivates Shirou to take his own way, but here she was removed
And to get another character that is not Illya or Shirou, we have for example Shinji, this route is supposed to show his story and explain why he is an asshole, it was to make the viewer feel the least empathizing with him, because of the deplorable life he has and how he was really a True Bro to Shirou before all this happened, but they preferred to cut the flashbacks with him, just to make a simple figure to hate and not a character , disregarding all the development he has and making him a generic "antagonist"
I could mention others, but I think I already made my point here very clear, what I'm saying basically is that liking e or not these characters that I mentioned above, the fact is that their development is essential for the scenario of Heavens Feel be formed correctly and having all of them reduced or totally cut, damages the whole story, especially Shirou who is the protagonist and has the most epic relationship of all with Kirei, which is one of the most important points of the route along with his dilemma of heroism
> ENJOYMENT 7/10
Of course, the defects I mentioned above bother me, but even so, it is a sensational production by Ufotable and the films are incredible and certainly worth seeing.
The production is spectacular and especially the fight scenes are epic, even if it is a version of the route that excludes a lot of things, the anime was very well set and managed to bring the dark atmosphere of the route perfectly, with agonizing and incredible scenes that show how different and more violent this route is from the others
Unfortunately the lack of these things I mentioned end up leaving the route very superficial and really bother those who know how much things are missing in the adaptation that are or will be important in the future
>OVERALL 6/10
Don't get me wrong, even with all the defects the anime is still worth seeing, luckily the third film can save or destroy the entire saga, it all depends on how they will adapt it, although I find it difficult to compensate all stuff I mentioned above and still put the giant load of content that the story has in the third part, anyway, I trust Ufotable for the battles at least, Emiya vs Berserker especially
Anyway Heavens Feel is still a divine route and even an adaptation like this cannot take away its grandeur away, and now with the third film that will soon be released, we will see the most epic scenes from the entire VN adapted by an incredible studio, and a recommendation from mine is to read the VN before or after watching the films, at least the Heavens Feel route, because it is very worthwhile and you can see what the complete and true route is, not only for that reason but I can guarantee you that everything released until now related to Fate, never managed and will not be able to overcome the original Visual Novel, read it to have the complete experience and to understand this series of movies because if you only see the anime, i have a bad news for you and for now that's it, we now wait for the release of the third film to see which path this saga will take and of course a Tsukihime remake as always
(READ THE VISUAL NOVEL SERIOUSLY)
Jun 4, 2020
Before starting this Review I wanted to highlight two points here:
1 - The Heavens Feel Route is my favorite in the original Visual Novel and it is the best written, deep and epic thing I have ever read in the entire Nasuverse, it is a pity that Ufotable have executed it that way. 2 - Sorry for some english mistakes, it's not my primary language > ART 10/10 To sum up, even with my disappointments and revolts, in the end it is still a Ufotable production, so nothing different from the ordinary. Art, animation, design, among other visual aspects, are perfect, totally ... |
