Post — Aaron Ngo

Welcome to another anime review! I have officially finished Fate/stay UBW a few days ago while also learning there is an original Fate/stay night I have to watch as well... I am slowly learning how complicated the Fate universe truly is.

But if you hadn't read my reviews on Fate/stay night season one, the link is here and you can also find my reviews on Fate/Zero within that link as well.

Short recap: Shirou Emiya, a high school student and amateur mage, is dragged into the Fifth Holy Grail War, a secret tournament where seven Masters participate in order to win the Holy Grail. An omnipotent chalice that can grant the winner's deepest desire. In this series, Shirou and his Servant Saber are forced to team up with another Master and fellow classmate Rin Tohsaka and her Servant Archer.

Season two picks up directly after the events of the first season. Rin has dissolved her alliance with Shirou after he loses Saber and his status as a Master to Caster. But Shirou is determined not to give up and continues the war even without a Servant.

Rin is also put into an unexpected situation where Archer willingly lets Caster sever the pact he made with Rin. After losing Archer to Caster, she is saved by Shirou who came recklessly to save her. The two of them manage to survive thanks to Archer's one-time mercy, and this is where the season quickly takes off.

When Rin asks why Shirou saved her, he confesses to being in love with her! The dynamic of their relationship shifts drastically as these feelings are completely addressed to her and the audience. Their partnership is forced into one of somewhat equality with Rin being constantly embarrassed about these romantic feelings.

When Rin and Shirou decide what to do next, they decide to enlist Illya's help in the fight against Caster, her Master Kuzuki, Archer, Saber, and Assassin. They go to her castle on the outskirts of town but are beat to the punch when Gilgamesh returns to the scene.

Seeing him back in action was wonderful... especially if you watched Fate/Zero first. Gilgamesh is an amazing antagonist and his brutality is so unreal. He attacked Illya because she is like her mother and can become the vessel for the Holy Grail to manifest into the world.

This allows us to explore Illya's background and the aftermath of the previous Holy Grail War for the Einzbern Family. We learn that she believed Kiritsugu abandoned her and brought disgrace to the Einzbern Family. She is brought comfort by her lifeless mother (in a black ooze form) and is haunted by Kiritsugu's abandonment, which is enhanced by Shirou Emiya.

Close to giving up, she is declared a Master and formed a pact with Berserker, who has vowed to stay by her side. But this powerful bond is not enough to defeat Gilgamesh, who manages to fatally wound Illya and knock her out of the war.

Shirou and Rin get there too late to save her. Gilgamesh rips out her dark heart as he plans to find someone to act as the vessel. They mourn her and end up burying her themselves.

I was disappointed by this because Illya is Shirou's older sister, but he never learned of the relationship between them through Kiritsugu. Then I learned there are different routes to this story based on different characters, alternative timelines, to the Fate universe and there are more movies/TV series based on this story.

So I will definitely be watching those as well, starting with the original Fate/stay night.

Without Illya to help them and the incoming threat of Gilgamesh, Shirou and Rin are unsure on what to do next. Then Lancer arrives and forms an alliance with them based on his Master's request... we still do not know who his Master is, which is pretty easy to forget about.

Lancer acts like a free agent, even when his Master is inevitably revealed.

Archer and Shirou's issues are also addressed after Caster is dealt with, and Rin becomes Saber's new Master...

Archer's real identity is the Heroic Spirit EMIYA. He is Shirou Emiya from a different timeline who died following the "hero of justice" idealism he inherited from Kiritsugu. He finds this ideal as a mistake and works to correct this mistake by eliminating Shirou or to have him lose hope in it, hoping he'd fade out of existence as a result.

This creates a strong friction and high tension between the two of them and also sets up the best fight scene in the season. Although, the Gilgamesh vs Shirou is also a strong contender for "best fight scene" in Unlimited Blade Works. It also puts Rin's feelings for Emiya into perspective as she had a version of him as her Servant.

The ending is wonderfully well-done titled "Epilogue". All the storylines come to a close and unlike Fate/Zero, a happy ending is established rather than a bleak/dark one where all dreams go to die... literal dreams went up into blaze.

Yes, I prefer Zero over stay/night.

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