NOTICE: This will be a two part impression with two different perspectives. The first being mine, a long time vet of Fate and the Nasuverse in general and the second post being Yutaka who is a bit newer to the Unlimited Blade Works side of things.Ah yes, the long awaited Unlimited Blade Works adaptation by Ufotable. After the disastrous DEEN adaptation that was plagued both with bad animation and "anime original" bullshit there was little to no hope for a proper adaptation to be done for this franchise. However in 2011 a studio by the name of Ufotable put it's recently gained rights to the Fate/Zero adaptation to use after proving their competence to Type-Moon with the Kara no Kyoukai films and it's been all uphill from there. So much so that Type-Moon now doesn't acknowledge the DEEN adaptation as existing in their Fate franchise timeline.
It's been eight years since western audiences were first able to enjoy Fate/Stay Night so how does this new adaptation hold up?
We'll start off with the animation and art quality. I don't think you'll find many people who have seen both that will be able to tell you with a straight face that DEEN is better than Ufotable as when Ufotable is given a big budget they make sure every cent of it is put to good use. This is seen both in the slower daily life scenes and in the fast paced action ones.
While the budget given to Ufotable may be much higher than what was given to DEEN, that does not excuse that terrible work they did back in 2006 though as there were other anime that came out around the same time (like Last Exile) that had much lower budgets yet look much much better than what DEEN put out.
Here's a comparison image for Ufotable and DEEN for the uninitiated. Keep in mind this was using the Ufotable PVs and DEENs last chance with the Fate franchise adaptions that came out in 2010 using a movie budget and had all of UBW condensed into about an hour and was riddled with errors and other problems.
Slight spoilers contained within.
*Side note this is where I really wish we had Webm support so I could show you the comparisons in motion.
As good as the Ufotable adaptation is there is one issue I have with the art direction in it. That being the art direction of the Unlimited Blade Works itself. This is the one place where I feel DEEN is actually better than Ufotable as their rendition of it is much closer to the source material. However as that scene was taken from a PV it's entirely possible that this could end up being changed when they actually arrive at that point in the story.
Also Archer looks a bit goofy when he first starts running in his fight with Lancer, but that's really the only animation frack up I was able to spot on my first watch. I'm sure I'd find more if I went through it multiple times.
Soundtrack: It's way to early to give an opinion on this. We've only been given a thin slice of what this two cour show is going to have and so I'll reserve my judgement on this until the entire thing has been completed.
In terms of faithfulness to the source material this one is a bit tricky. By and large, yes this adaptation is very faithful to the source material. However there are a few things that stood out to me. For example, the snake skin was not present in the original material when Rin was doing her summoning. Now I know they explained it away with "it's a smashed catalyst" for those who would start wondering why she didn't try to summon Gilgamesh instead, but it's still going to invite a bunch of stupid questions from people who aren't exactly familiar with the source material. Some of which can't be explained without spoiling it for first time watchers.
Another thing is the amount of time spent on Rins three friends. These people really have nothing to do with the story and will never show up again in either UBW or Heavens Feel. In fact if I recall correctly they're only ever mentioned in passing really and didn't even have CG in the original visual novel. These three don't even get a proper role until Fate/Hollow Ataraxia. So this currently has me a bit perplexed. I'm not sure if these three are just cameos for people who have read Fate/Hollow Ataraxia or if it's a hint that Ufotable has gained the rights to do a Fate/Hollow Ataraxia adaptation as well. If they're just cameos though they didn't really need that much time devoted to them and just seeing them in passing would have been fine for those of us who have read it. The time and money could have been spent elsewhere in this episode.
The last bit I have to nitpick at would be the choice of following the standard modern anime route and pimping a pop artist by using Ideal White as the first seasons theme. Both the visual novel and the DEEN adaptation used Disillusion and the song has kind of been a classic staple for F/SN with other instrumental renditions of it being played in the OST. Doing something like a Kalafina rendition of Disillusion would have been in the spirit of the source material and sent vets into nostalgia mode. While I guess the choice is ok, I'll have to see it synced up to its opening credits animation to give final judgement on it.
OVA rendition of Disillusion. Contains spoilers.
Overall I very much enjoyed this first episode of Unlimited Blade Works, I have faith that Ufotable will be able to keep up the quality for the rest of the show's run, and it definitely gets my recommendation.
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