Underplayed Gems

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (2010)

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works poster
Original title
Fate/stay night UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS
Directed by
Yūji Yamaguchi
Genre
drama film, fantasy film, comedy film, action film, romance film
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 45m
Rated
MA 15+
Rating
6.8 of 10 from 87 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

Two young mages and their summoned servants fight in a secret war for a magical artifact. The hero Shirou Emiya must face a mysterious archer who wants him dead despite being on the same side.

fast-pacedintensedramaticaction-packeddarkfantasticalphilosophical

What happens

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy action film directed by Yūji Yamaguchi. Unlimited Blade Works covers the events of the second route of the visual novel Fate/stay night by Type-Moon. The film primarily focuses on two young mages, Shirou Emiya and Rin Tohsaka, and their servants, who participate in a conflict known as the Holy Grail War. During the fights, Shirou often crosses paths with Rin's servant, Archer, who seeks his death despite being an ally. The film was produced by Studio Deen following the 2006 release of their TV adaptation of Fate/stay night. The short length of the film brought difficulties to the staff members as they aimed to cover a story arc which required far more time to tell in the visual novel. The film was released in Japan on 23 January 2010 on 12 screens and grossed 37,699,500 Japanese yen. Critical reception to the film was mixed. Praise was directed towards the development of Shirou, his interactions with Rin and Archer, and the exploration of his ideas in greater depth, which allowed for a greater understanding of his motives. These aspects, along with the animation of some fight scenes, were considered to be superior to the 2006 TV series. However, the narrative was widely criticized for its fast pace that cut large amounts of content from the visual novel, leading to confusion among viewers who were not familiar with the original work. Type-Moon later collaborated with Ufotable to retell the Unlimited Blade Works route in the form of a television series, which first aired in 2014. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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