Review of Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel - II. Lost Butterfly

***WARNING: THIS REVIEW ASSUMES YOU'VE EITHER SEEN THE MOVIE OR READ THE VISUAL NOVEL, AND CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS*** Lost Butterfly is probably the first adaptation of Fate Stay Night that actually gets better the more I think about it. It is also ironically the one that possibly makes the most changes from the source material. After letting it sit, I realize that while the visual novel may be the most well-rounded experience overall, what is IN the film is definitely a big improvement from the source material. Aside from the Shirou/Sakura rain scene, I was surprised at how much more subtle and nuancedthe film was in conveying its characters and themes compared to the novel. The juxtaposition of Sakura's wonderland dream to her realization of her being the shadow and Shirou's nightmare of the path of his ideal in contrast to how he ends up abandoning it in the scene with the knife was a genius move in visual storytelling. Both characters willfully deny the harsh reality of their situations and who they are, and the director Sudou cleverly illustrates the similarities between them through the use of dream sequences; Sakura with a deceptively bright looking dream in contrast to the dark path her character walks and Shirou's nightmarish vision of him killing his loved one in contrast to his pull towards a hero that cannot commit evil even for a greater good. These are excellent examples of visual storytelling that are far more effective than a barrage of internal monologues and repetitive flashbacks that is common in typical action shounen anime.

As much as I enjoyed ubw, it didn't make me think very much about its themes and characters given it's straightforward narrative... in fact the problems that arises from that series was when it started to repeat its ideas in a circular fashion that could have been delivered in a much more straightforward way. These films remedy this issue through strong directing and story-boarding which convey so much without any dialogue. The subtle implication that Shirou knew all along Sakura may have been the shadow and willfully denying the reality of the situation until Zouken forces him to see it was also great. In the novel it was more of a twist reveal, but here it carries far more weight and ties really well into the theme of ideals and reality.

Despite having far less time than the ubw tv series, the characters in the heavens feel movies that are fleshed out are more deeply explored. This is the first time Shirou actually feels like a human being rather than an idea and its the story that finally delves into his character. Ubw is an oddity in that just when the show finally establishes his character and what he stands for... it just ends. He doesn't really go through any real meaningful development. Here he is actually challenged to the core and forced to make decisions that have real weight and consequence. While RinxShirou was fun to watch, SakuraxShirou is more dynamic and interesting. Their relationship is very different by the end of this film compared to how it started in presage flower. Both characters struggle, change and are key drivers in each others development.

There are changes made to Archer and especially Rin from the source as well. In the novel Rin was cold to the point of being really out of character. She went as far as breaking the truce with Shirou to want to kill Sakura. In the movie she considers it, but can't bring herself to do it, which was far more fitting. The scene of Sakura and Shirou walking hand-in-hand accepting whatever fate befalls them with no resistance, as Rin struggles to make a move to kill her was a much better way to convey the situation in a way that doesn't betray her character. Again, the film is at its best when it's able to show things visually without a word being said to convey moments like these. Archer also goes out in a really badass and heroic way which as a fan had me internally cheering!

The production values are stellar across the board. Amazing cinematography and meaningful shot composition with top-notch animation. Sound effects are great as is Yuki Kajiura's excellent score. The murky and deep colours as well as the music provides it the sinister and nightmarish tone that the film needs. The only minor gripe is the salter vs berserker fight being hard to follow at times and an odd transition after the climax of the forest set piece.

My issues with the movie is what's NOT there. Ilya is cut out significantly. In a story where Rin and Sakura have their bonding moments, it would have been nice to have Shirou and Ilya to have their moments too. Now that Fate Zero exists I feel like these scenes could have been even more impactful given that it is a reparation of the decisions that were made by their fathers that ultimately broke their families. This all feels like a missed opportunity and were actually some of my favorite parts in the original source material. The other part that was cut was an interesting friend-enemy dynamic developing between Kirei and Shirou; however there is a third film that could remedy this, so we will have to wait and see.

The Fate stay night visual novel took many risks and had grand ideas; however it did stumble many times with the small steps to get to encapsulating it's huge ambitions. This was a flaw in the way it was written and this film took many risks of its own to mitigate the problems of its source. And for that, I applaud the film for taking these bold steps to make arguably the most flawed part of the heaven's feel route the best it could be. With that being said, it makes me all the more excited to see what ufotable and Sudou can do to bring out the best part of the source material for the upcoming third film. While I think Fate Zero will stay as the best fate anime overall, fate stay night has come a long way since the mediocre DEEN adaptation