Let me begin off by saying I recently started watching Fate a few months ago with Fate Stay Night. I'm far from the most hardcore Fate fan, however I have enjoyed my experience lately...and plan to get into Fate Grand Order soon. With that said, here is my review.
- Sound: I did not come in expecting the most impactful portion of the movie being the sound. The sound effects were amazing throughout (a bit loud, but amazing nonetheless). The MUSIC was phenomenal!!! I'm talking about music throughout almost the ENTIRE film that perfectly captures the mood. When I say the ENTIRE film...I'm only slightly exaggerating...at least 80% of the scenes were accompanied by an OST.
- Animation: There isn't much to say here. We all knew what Ufotable would do with a movie budget and full production cycle. It's amazing. The fights were beautiful. There are a lot of flashes of rainbow colored light, but it doesn't take anything away from the choreography. If anything it only adds to the drama. Even when everyone was standing around talking it was beautiful.
- Story: This might be the weakest part of the movie to me...and this is why I emphasized before the review that I have limited experience in the Fate universe. I'm not fully engaged with the visual novel, so there were quite a few moments when I did not understand what was happening, and they didn't really explain it. The pacing here was breakneck. The movie is two hours long, but it doesn't feel like two hours at all. It felt more like an hour. I'm assuming they made this with visual novel readers in mind, and didn't want to over explain what that audience already knows...however that is a weak point if I judge this film strictly on its own merit.
- Waifus: All my waifus looked amazing out there. Rider, Sakura, Rin...the art style allowed them all to shine in their own ways. I feel like the movie did a good job touching of the relationship between the three. I wish I could have seen more of Saber, but I understand why I didn't. She wasn't the focus of the film.
- Overall I enjoyed the movie, and would definitely purchase the Blu Ray for it.
-intheweebcloset