Today I managed to remove ufotable's expertly animated cock from my mouth just long enough for me to sit down and write this post without being too distracted. I can assure you however, that while you're reading this I am without a doubt fellating the Fate series' throbbing manhood once again.
So here we go!
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (Which henceforth will be referred to as "UBW" in this post) is the 2nd attempt at an anime adaptation of the route of the same name contained within the visual novel "Fate/stay night". It started airing last year and finished airing this summer coming out at a total of 25 episodes and a 50 minute prologue. Production of UBW was handled entirely by the animation studio "ufotable" (Don't ask me how that is pronounced, I don't fucking know) who've also adapted a lot of other Type/Moon IP's such as "Kara no Kyoukai" and "Fate/Zero" not to mention basically every single "Tales of" anime adaptation ever.
Now while not every single show ufotable has ever worked on is animated all that well, it seems to be a recurring theme that their Type/Moon adaptations are stunningly animated... Probably because Type/Moon have a metric fuckton of money available to throw at their animation studio, but hey, whatever works. UBW is no different in this aspect. The animation is the first thing that will strike most people if they were to sit down and watch it. While the stylistic choices of the character designs might throw some people off, there is no way of getting around the fact, that UBW's animation bleeds budget.
Take this example video if you're curious. It contains no major spoilers to the actual anime.
That being said, it's not all roses and there are times where you can tell they've skimped out on the animation by using CGI, but the animation is there when it matters.
So what on earth is UBW about? A pretty broad question that would take me a long time to answer in complete detail, but the baseline is that UBW is one giant "Battle Royale".
I don't really want to go into excruciating detail about things, as I would rather let the anime speak for itself, but suffice it to say that 7 "Masters" are chosen to summon 7 "Servants" and must fight to the death for a chance to get their wishes granted by the Holy Grail. The 7 servants are assigned to 7 different classes, all with different strengths and weaknesses.
Archer, Assassin, Berserker, Caster, Lancer, Rider and Saber.
The servants are made up of "Heroic Spirits", which are basically heroes from a different time. Alexander the Great is the Rider-class Servant in Fate/Zero for example.
So now that you know the basics, I guess the big question here is: Is UBW worth watching?
My answer is: Yes, it is worth watching (If you don't mind a bit of Tsundere) - but your experience with it might be vastly different from my own.
I've very recently played through the route in the visual novel that UBW is adapting, I watched the anime with that experience fresh in mind and it was GREAT. Every episode I was clapping my hands and squealing in delight at seeing the book I'd just read spring to life in front of my eyes. ufotable really managed to get the adaptation right, as someone who read the VN, everything felt like it was on point. They did change a few minor things such as locations for certain scenes, but all the events of the visual novel remain intact with the anime adaptation. Truth be told it was fucking glorious. I can hardly contain my boner for this anime.
BUT
But there is always something and this is just my personal opinion.
I kinda wish they'd taken some more liberties with the adaptation.
As it stands, I think UBW is perfectly watchable, but they could easily have done a lot more to improve the understanding of the part of their audience which has NOT read the visual novel. There are parts of this anime where the characters just go on and on and fucking on about things that your average viewer either won't fully comprehend because they lack the background knowledge from the VN or because the absurd amount of exposition that sometimes takes place just doesn't belong in an anime. That sort of exposition is fine in the visual novel format, but it doesn't translate all that well into animation. It's such a shame too, because I think if ufotable had just gone with their guts a little bit more and made the adaptation a bit more viewer-friendly for the non-VN crowd, the anime would be a lot more celebrated than it currently is. It's not that you won't understand the anime if you haven't read the VN, but it just lacks a few things that makes the VN the great experience that it is.
I think this image of Keanu Reeves with a Ferrari actually sums up my opinion quite well.
UBW looks absolutely amazing and runs like a dream and while I can't be unhappy about it any way, I still can't help but be a little sad that they didn't go further with it.
/blog
EDIT: I can't believe I forgot the most important part, but the Fate series also has an ungodly amount of waifu for laifu candidates. I mean goddamn. GODDAMN.
Rammite lives in a harem anime
He's oblivious to any advances and we've already established both the childhood friend and the incest bait, it fits perfectly
Yeah, as the poor sods do deserve a lucky break for once, as best summed up by /sp/ on what happened since the last time the Cubs won the title:
>Radio was invented; Cub fans got to hear their team lose. >TV was invented; Cub fans got to see their team lose. >Baseball added 14 teams; Cub fans got to see AND hear their team lose to more teams. >George Burns celebrated his 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th, 80th, 90th and 100th birthdays. >Haley’s Comet passed Earth… twice. >Harry Caray was born… and died. Incredible, but true. >The NBA, NHL and NFL were formed, and Chicago teams won championships in each league. >Man landed on the moon, as have several home runs given up by Cubs pitchers. >Sixteen US presidents were elected. >There were 11 amendments added to the Constitution. >Prohibition was created, and repealed. >The Titanic was built, set sail, sank, was discovered, and became the subject of major motion pictures… the latter giving Cub fans hope that something that finishes on the bottom can come out on top. >Wrigley Field was built and becomes the oldest park in the National League. >Flag poles were erected on Wrigley Field roof to hold all of the team’s future World Series pennants. Those flag poles have since rusted and been taken down. >A combination of 40 summer & winter Olympics have been held. >Thirteen baseball players have won the Triple Crown; several thanked Cubs pitchers. >Bell bottoms came in style, went out of style, and came back in style. >The Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Florida Marlins have ALL won the World Series. >The Cubs played 14,153 regular-season games; they lost the majority of them. >Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Oklahoma, and New Mexico were added to the Union.
Simon reacted to Stackbabbin' Bumscags in TIAM IV: Guydiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Cockmongler
Simon got a reaction from FreshHalibut in TIAM IV: Guydiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Cockmongler
Simon got a reaction from Silent in TIAM IV: Guydiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Cockmongler
Simon got a reaction from Rammite in TIAM IV: Guydiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Cockmongler