“I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.” -quoted from Robert Frost, the Road Not Taken
I think this little quote fits Shiro very well in my opinion.
Before I start my review, I want to say that Anime Expo had a few guests of honor at the con. A few people from Ufotable and Aniplex but the most important ones are Ayako Kawasumi(Saber’s seiyuu), Aimer(singer of Brave Shine), and Ayano Mashiro(singer of Ideal White).
All the guests will participate in Q&A panels, autograph sessions, performances by Aimer and Ayano Mashiro, a Fate/Stay night Special Event where the Fate/Stay night Unlimited Blade Works dub will be shown for the first time.
I unfortanately can’t go so darn you all that can! I wish I could see Ayako, Aimer, and Ayano…a lot of As there.
Now let’s get to the review.
We start off with Shiro remembering his battle with Archer. He says at the same time he lost his answer but gained it once more but at the end nothing is different. He’s still him and Archer’s still Archer.
He acknowledges that he won’t be able to get an answer to his ideals for some time.
It’s been two years since then…Fate don’t go all Naruto shonen timeskip on me please. So where in the world is Emiya Shiro? That’s a Carmen Santiago reference…anyone?
Ah Britain. Hey Ydna! Shiro’s in your home country.
So we see Rin and it looks like Shiro’s cooking breakfast just like the old days. We also see Rin’s more adult look. Looks like she dropped the twintails.
Definitely best girl. Sorry I can’t hear you Sakura and Saber fans. Too much best girl here.
We can clearly see that they’re living together…ooh maybe they make H-scenes at night…ooh
So they leave out and it’s confirmed that they’re both officially students at the Mages’ Association’s Clocktower.
Once they get to the school, Rin tells Shiro what classes she’s got today and he does the same. Then Rin says they’ll meet up at their usual spot for lunch but Shiro seems a bit off. Maybe it’s about this letter?
But after seeing Rin’s face, he loses his nerve. There’s nothing to be afraid of, Shiro. If a girl’s been with you for two years then she’ll be able to take nearly any news you can give her.
So they start walking through the school and Shiro’s a bit distracted. He feels like he’s out of place here at the Clocktower. After all most of the kids here are from powerful mage families from big European countries. He’s a young kid from Japan where the Clocktower has no shame in saying that it’s a backwater country magically speaking.
Rin then explains the rules about how powerful family heirs are allowed to bring a apprentice or a follower with them to the Clock Tower since when you’ve got power people want to kill you. More power more problems I guess.
Anyway Shiro gets in under this and he even doesn’t need to pay tuition which is freaking awesome. I could not tell you how happy I would be if I could go to college for free.
She reminds him to be careful since people here are vicious and just as she finishes someone comes up.
A letter from Best Girl Heaven comes down and lands in Deven’s hands
What is this?
“Deven Luca you are allow to temporarily change your allegiance since a character that you love has been introduced. After her last scene return to your regularly scheduled Best Girl”
Deven looks up to Anime Heaven
Thanks Anime gods.
It’s Luvia!!! Best Girl from Fate/Kaleid!!! Ah to love Luvia is to be happy!
So Luvia starts cuddling up to Shiro and Rin gets all jealous. Soon things will be back to regular with them fighting over him back in Fate/Kaleid but right now Rin’s got him. Patience my Best Kaleid girl your time is coming.
So being that it’s Luvia and Rin it has to devolve into a fight. It’s natural like why does the rain fall down. It’s the way things were built.
So then we go to the next class Self Defense.
Rin looks cute but Luvia… those Ufotable colors do her sexiness justice. She’s got Rank A no Rank EX level sexy!
And let these gifs be the way to show the awesomeness. I didn’t make either of them though. Although starting this season I’ll be making my own.
And after the fight we get this.
I don’t see Luvia crying with bandages. Luvia kicked that butt…
Now that Luvia’s gone I’m going back to Rin best girl mode. Bye Bye Luvia Best Girl mode. We’ll see you on July 25th with Fate/Kaleid.
Shiro’s there stroking Rin’s hair and Rin says that she’ll settle things with Luvia eventually. Luvia’s ready to kick your butt when even you’re ready to take it Rin.
Rin gets up and asks what Shiro’s going to do next. Will he offically join the Mages’ Association or not?
Yep that’s what the letter was about. Just so you know Shiro isn’t going to be legendary in the Mages’ Association. He’d be useful. For those of you that have seen Fate/Zero he’d be like Kiritsugu…minus all of the killing. He’d be useful to the Association as a specialist rather than all around pure mage type.
But Shiro isn’t sure if he wants to accept.
It’s the right decision and it’s a good future. Trust me it is. Mages can make stupid amounts of money. Touko Aozaki of Kara no Kyoukai uses her sister’s name to get massive amounts of cash out of the Association and nothing comes out of it. Granted they are looking for Touko but hey well hey.
It may be a good future but it’s not the future that Shiro wants for himself.
So the next day Shiro wakes up on the floor and Rin’s there with him. She’s looking over the stuff that he projected last night.
I bet she’s thinking, “How long as it been since I’ve seen this sword? What’s going through Shiro’s head right now?”
But she doesn’t say that. What she says is this.
And we start the travel. I have to say that Ufotable must have sent their art team to Britain to scout the place just for this episode because the scenery is simply beautiful and highly realistic. Granted I’m not British so show these pics to a random Brit and ask if they look similar to the English countryside.
So when the train stops, it’s at Glastonbury. Hmm I wonder what’s there?
Ah the grave of King Arthur…Saber’s Grave…Shiro nor Rin never got to say goodbye to Saber. I guess this is their chance to.
Just so you know there are two versions of this picture. The above one and this one.
They may not have felt love for each other but there’s no doubt that they felt for each other. I wrote something similar on Twitter once I found this picture. Granted Shiro and Saber didn’t fall in love during UBW and we didn’t get the Good End of UBW but there isn’t any denying that Shiro cared about Saber and Saber cared about Shiro. You don’t need an ending to tell you that. And something like this is going to make the events of Heaven’s Feel all the more painful to watch.
Now to add some comedy to this moment…
Yes this grave is a real place and someone really went there and put this Saber doll there. You’ve got love the commitment.
So after Shiro says thanks to Saber for all that she did for him, we go to Shiro and Rin under a tree. They talk about all the stuff that has happened before this and it makes Shiro say that he’s learned how insignificant he is. I suppose that’s right. You win…or rather survive(because Rin won) something like the Holy Grail War, it’s natural to get somewhat of a big head. Coming to the Clock Tower was a good reality check for both of them.
So after that little conversation Shiro and Rin head home.
Very cute.
And the next thing we see is what was the original epilogue for Unlimited Blade Works. I like how Ufotable decided to make their own epilogue but still put the original epilogue in as well.
It’s nothing really big. Shiro and Rin’s second year of school is ending, Shinji’s still alive and on the mend(Damn it! Wait until Heaven’s Feel!!! Oh sweet death for Shinji!), and at the end Rin asks if Shiro wants to join her at the Clock Tower.
Dear Rin when you make this face and this pose who can say no?
No one that’s who!
So after that Shiro’s flashback ends and he says this to the sleeping Rin.
And we move to the next day as Shiro leaves for the Clock Tower and while he thinks over his decision he meets someone that you Zero fans will love. It is Lord El-Melloi II or better known as Waver Velvet. Let’s just say that the last 10 years have turned Waver into a badass but then again it is to be expected. Brosansker doesn’t let non badasses into his army.
So once they met Lord El-Melloi II asks Shiro this.
And here is Shiro’s answer.
The first step to learning is to realize how much you haven’t learned. You’ll go far if you know that. And what is El-Melloi’s answer?
He’s definitely referencing Kiritsugu there.
So after Shiro gets home he gets this.
If this is what waited for me everyday when I got home, I’d never leave.
So Rin asks him about what he’s going to do about the Association and Shiro says that he refused it. EH? Then again it’s Shiro. You can’t expect him to just go with the flow.
So turns out because of Shiro’s decision, Rin can’t stay either. They each only have three more years of training they can do at Clock Tower. However Rin isn’t mad. She would like to travel the world a bit and with Shiro is the person wants to do it with.
Shiro goes on to say that he can’t change his path and he knows that Archer was right. Emiya Shiro has to be a Hero of Justice. It’s the only thing he’s had a passion about.
Now people say that Rin failed. She couldn’t save Shiro from turning out like Archer. She didn’t fail. If anything she succeed. Why? Archer had no one to stop him and no one that was willing to tell him to stop and think of yourself. Rin’s the person for Shiro. And with that love from Rin and the fact that Shiro knows that Archer suffered by going down that path the wrong way, he’ll be able to avoid the pitfalls that Archer fell into.
Let me explain.
Archer kept trying to save people and tried and tried. Once he realized that his goals couldn’t be realized, he said “Oh this is pointless. I wasted my life.”
Shiro knows that it’s impossible to save everyone but he keeps going because he likes to save people.
The difference is that Archer was focused on the destination while Shiro’s focused on the journey. If the journey is something worth doing then Shiro’s content with that even if he fails.
And no matter what, Rin’s going to stick by him through all the twists and turns Shiro’s path is going to take it.
And then we get the credits but after the credits we get this.
We see Archer sitting. And he says even though he’s suffered to stick to his ideals, he was not wrong in taking that path or having tried to save people. He is able, after countless centuries, to stand behind his ideals proudly once more.
And just as the season ends we see Shiro walking through some unknown desert and he smiles and that’s the end.
Now Nasu gave this scene to Ufotable and it’s supposed to be and I quote.
“*Desert scene- After the end credits. A desert scene, same as the opening. Shirou walks alone. His strength falters and he stops walking. Shirou looks down to shield his eyes from the sandstorm, and sees traces of someone else having been there (the place where Archer stopped). Shirou breathes out and looks up. There’s fake endurance in his expression, but it’s full of hope. Shirou walks away with a steady gait. The camera lingers on the traces of Archer’s presence, and watches Shirou leave as the shot ends.”
I think that would have been the perfect end to UBW. It shows that Shiro has reached the point where Archer gave up but still manages to keep going.
So that’s it. Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works is now over. Time for the ratings.
Deven’s Last Thoughts
So Fate/Stay Night…it was epic from beginning to end! The pacing was well done and things were mostly interesting from the beginning to the end. It was especially good since I had the torturous misfortune of watching the Unlimited Blade Works movie. This blew it out of the water by a mile and then some.
All we have to do is wait for the Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel now.
And now we wait.
I give Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works a 11 out of 10. It was simply beautiful and now we wait for Heavens’ Feel.
So until the next season and Heaven’s Feel,
Later Days
Extra Pic
Chibi Rin walking around London. Too cute I get my pics from the Zero-chan board not Pixiv.
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