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Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works -- question.




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moonie92



Joined: 15 Nov 2011
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:57 pm Reply with quote
I see the ad for Fate/stay nigh Unlimited Blade Works on ANNs site, and I was just wondering if I start at Blade works will I be hopelessly confused? It seems like a low risk (finically speaking) starting point. Is it okay to start from Blade Works?
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Boomerang Flash



Joined: 08 Sep 2007
Posts: 1021
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:01 pm Reply with quote
The narrative is disjointed and largely highlights the "cool" scenes from the visual novel route. Thus, I strongly suggests against starting with UBW. Actually, I think it takes a lot of characterization for the F/SN characters for granted as well, so even getting the background by watching Fate/Zero might not be sufficient to get what's going on in UBW.

You might be able to enjoy it as a random cool action flick though.
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:26 pm Reply with quote
I'm pretty good at picking up on works and where they come from even if I'm not affiliated with the originals, but this film is just really hard to understand unless you've played the game. It's basically just an incoherent narrative of game highlights strung together to form a film. It's pretty and fun, but there's no substance or flow. In that sense, it's a compilation film, but not a good one that replaces the previous works like the Gundam Trilogy. If you want to use this to start into Fate/stay Night, don't. It'll make even less sense and you'll more or less just end up frustrated. Start with Fate/zero or the F/SN anime first to at least get familiar with the setting and characters.
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jl07045



Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 1527
Location: Riga, Latvia
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:57 pm Reply with quote
You'll need Fate/Stay Night anime or game not to scratch your head during that movie. I don't think Fate/Zero would help much except for explaining the setting.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:55 pm Reply with quote
The UBW movie is not at all a good starting point for the Fate series. However, if you just want to see cool action battles then it works fine. Just don't expect to understand why stuff is happening beyond the initial premise of the holy grail war.
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:39 pm Reply with quote
This question came up in the Retail forum, too, and this is what I posted (the question was along the lines of "I want to get into the Fate franchise, where do I start")

Quote:
Fate/Zero is indeed a prequel to the original Fate/stay night visual novel (based on the prequel novels of the same name). There are discussions in the Fate/Zero discussion thread on if F/Z or F/sn should be watched first. Either way, there will be spoilers for the other title. You are probably better off watching F/sn first.

Fate/stay night is primarily an adaptation of the first route of the Fate/stay night visual novel, the "Fate" route, although it does include elements and aspects of the second two routes, "Unlimited Blade Works" and "Heaven's Feel." There are also some minor references to the F/sn VN's sequel, Fate/hollow ataraxia, but they're very small. While most fans of the VN feel it is a drastically inferior adaptation, it is a good introduction to the Fate franchise.

Unlimited Blade Works is a movie adaptation of the second route of the Fate/stay night VN, the "Unlimited Blade Works" route. However, as the VN requires you to complete the "Fate" route before accessing the UBW route*, the route does not include the world establishing aspects that "Fate" does, and the movie follows in suit. Additionally, as it is a movie, and the UBW route is just as long as the "Fate" route, things are drastically condensed. It is recommended that you do not watch the movie until you are familiar with at least the "Fate" route of the F/sn VN or the original anime series.

It should also be noted that there is also a Fate/stay night manga, although, as it was published by Tokyopop, it is unfinished in English. However, the series starts out fairly closely following the "Unlimited Blade Works" route, although later volumes stray closer to the "Fate" route, and volumes past the English version (volume 11) clearly follow the "Fate" route. If you cannot get access to the original anime or the VN, you could try to track down the earlier volumes of the manga to get a "feel" for the world, before tackling the Unlimited Blade Works movie, though it's not recommended.

*There is one spot in the "Fate" route where you can make a decision that bumps you onto the "Unlimited Blade Works" route without previously having completed "Fate". However, there is no way of avoiding the Bad End here, so it is not a legitimate way to unlock UBW.


If you don't want to track down the original series or the VN, and want to understand UBW, I'd go for the manga (if you can find that). The movie is done in a way that it's expected that you're familiar with at least the Fate route, if not UBW as well, and while it's pretty, it's not going to make much sense without further knowledge.
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Xanas



Joined: 27 Aug 2007
Posts: 2058
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:18 pm Reply with quote
I can see not getting the whole series so I'm going to give the slightly contrarian opinion I'm here for.

The FSN series does provide a better explanation of the setting since it's longer, but it does tend to move a bit slow. I still loved it, but I can see it getting a bit long for others as it's not always action oriented.

One of the reasons I'm providing this opinion is Kara no Kyoukai. Honestly, that series doesn't make much sense in the first movie. It takes awhile for them to go back and forward through time to really "get" the story. This isn't that bad of a thing. You can always get the additional knowledge from reading wiki's or what-not after you've seen the movie if you want to do it in a rush. I really don't think this will vastly diminish your enjoyment, UBW is really much more of an action flick than Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Zero.

I'm not familiar with the games and can't speak for them at all.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7994
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:43 pm Reply with quote
Unlimited Blade Works is not really a good place to start, no, but definitely worth watching once you've seen Fate/Stay Night the series. The movie just kind of dumps you into things and assumes you know the basics from watching F/SN.
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3672
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:55 pm Reply with quote
I'll provide an even more contrarian position: None of it makes sense. At least, not in any worthwhile way. You can follow the plot of F/SN better than UBW, but is it really that much of a boon to the show? That show trades on atmosphere. (So does Fate Zero) UBW trades on action. I don't think failing to understand what's going on is going to diminish your appreciation of any of these shows.
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moonie92



Joined: 15 Nov 2011
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:26 pm Reply with quote
Thanks so much for your help guys (and gals). I'll hold out on buying Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works and watch Fate/stay night first. If only I can track it down...
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7584
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:20 pm Reply with quote
It looks like the set are out of print pretty much everywhere and are commanding high prices 2nd hand, and a same for a full set of the singles.
If you can play R2 or R4 PAL discs then it is still in print in the UK and Australia:
http://www.anime-on-line.com/xcart/product.php?productid=21375
http://www.madman.com.au/series/home/4917/fate-stay-night

There is a good chance that Sentai will re-licence it for the US at some point in the near future though.
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Gon*Gon



Joined: 29 Sep 2011
Posts: 679
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:16 am Reply with quote
Sometimes you can't just help feel sorry for the Fate/ series.

Fate/Zero is F A N T A S T I see. But before we had Zero, we only had UBW and /Stay Night


/Stay Night suffered for animating the most boring route, crappy animations, and not doing many of the servants justice, while UBW, while it had great animations and fights, was practically devoid of story. It's a treat for anyone whose seen /Stay Night or played the VN, but it just fails as a standalone story. Which isn't a problem perse, because who the hell would want to watch a random movie called "Unlimited Blades Work"? Still, they coulda done a bit more with the narrative.


Wanna play a fun game? Get a friend who has no idea what the Fate/ series even is, ang get them to watch UBW, and tell them to describe what they think is happening as they watch. Wink
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Kirkdawg
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Joined: 07 May 2006
Posts: 742
Location: California, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jun 08, 2012 2:47 am Reply with quote
There's this clever visual novel invention called Fate/Stay Night that you might wanna read before doing anything else.

Just an idea.
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