Category: Reviews by AidanAK47

I truly wonder if Fate anime will come out ad infinitive just to force me out of retirement. Look I know full well that the reading audience of this blog likely hold little to zero interest in this movie and I truly don’t blame them for doing so. Even I, Fate fanatic that I am, held off on watching this for over a month and can express a degree of ambivalence towards it. As such I might as well admit that this isn’t so much a review but rather a diatribe I was inspired to write after sitting down to push myself though this movie through obligation. But I put my plea to the blogging court, is there truly anyone looking for a review of this movie? It’s a conclusion to a story which 5/7s of which is unadapted to anime and holds appeal mainly for those who spent two years playing a mobile gacha game or those that powered through 160 hours of writing. I can only really assume you are reading this out of some odd fascination with my drivel or an equal interest in this franchise of glorious highs and head to wall bashing lows. But with all things considered I at least need to make an effort to give some sort of opinion on this odd movie.
Continue reading “Fate/Grand Order: Final Singularity – The Grand Temple of Time: Solomon Anime Review – 50/100” →

It’s taken years to reach this finale and it’s something I have been looking forward to for quite some time. The Heaven’s Feel movies so far have proved to be the best adaption of the Fate/Stay Night visual novel yet and it was up to the third one to make it a slam dunk. What are my feelings on it? Well, one particular thing I have with Ufotable adaptations is that their work often veers close to perfection yet misses the mark ever so slightly. Heaven’s Feel was close to being an exception to the rule but sadly this movie has a scene that fell short and thus stopped it from being flawless. That statement makes it seem as though I didn’t like this movie but believe me when I say that is most definitely not the case. It’s more the frustrating feeling of a fan who sees something reach for the stars only to fall right before it grasps them. This is the griping of a fan who saw something great and is complaining that it wasn’t a little greater. At the end of the day this is the best adaptation of the Fate franchise due to how it not only represents the source but elevates it. Of course whether it is the best anime the Fate Franchise has to offer will be down to who’s watching it but I have a fair feeling that most will be debating between this and Zero. I will take this moment to state that this review will not be taking the more usual approach of talking vaguely about the anime in order to not spoil things for those looking for an opinion on it before starting. Honestly if you are looking at a review of the third part of a trilogy of movies and haven’t watched the first two then I would say you are quite odd. I will be talking about scenes and spoilers from the movie so if you haven’t watched it I would advice you to not read this review. But if you want my opinion on whether you should watch this or not, well I am a Fate fanatic so of course I am going to tell you to watch it.
Continue reading “Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel – III Spring Song Anime Review – 95/100” →

I am certainly a bit late with this review but forgive me as the Fate/Grand Order mobile game decided that now was a fine time to drop the first chapter in the second big story arc of the game and laziness due current circumstances of which you are no doubt aware. Considering the number of Fate adaptations we have been getting in recent times, I wouldn’t be surprised if that new Fate Grand Order Chapter got an anime adaption in the future but well that is something for another day. This anime is yet another spinoff to the Fate series and if you know anything about spinoffs you would know that Fate is a bit rocky when it comes to their quality. From the boring Fate Extra Last encore to the mixed bag of Fate/Apocrypha to the weirdly excellent Today’s menu for the Emiya family to the sadly disappointing Lord El-Melloi case files. Many a Fate adaptation we have gotten and even as a Fate fan I wouldn’t say they were particularly good. Still what we have here is an adaption of a story from the Fate/ Grand Order mobile game, otherwise known as the emptier of Nasufan wallets. Not the first adaption as we did get an anime adaption of the prologue of the game in Fate/Grand Order First Order which yeah, wasn’t really much good. In a strange twist of fate this adaption is not really the continuation of that OVA but the seventh story chapter of the game, basically skipping the previous six(Well there are a series of three movies which will cover the sixth chapter Camelot)

To make things clear from the onset, if your question is “Can I start the Fate Series from here?” the answer is a solid no. For anime only fans you will likely have to watch the holy four(Fate/Zero, Fate(No anime adaption at time of writing), Unlimited Bladeworks, Heaven’s feel) and the First Order OVA but even then this likely wouldn’t give you everything you need to enjoy this anime to the fullest. Quite frankly, this anime is a fanservice anime and in that I do not mean the kind with panty shots and breasts that jiggle at the slightest drop in room temperature. (Though there is some fanservice of that degree as well.) I mean that this is an anime made by fans for fans, that namely being fans of the mobile game. Fate GO Babylonia does not hold your hand and instead barrels forward with it’s plot regardless if you are on board or not. There is only the bare minimum to try and allow the viewer to catch up on six chapters of missing content but it more or least assumes that you not only know what has happened but even know the gist of what is going to happen. There are plot points which will fly over your head if you don’t know your lore and even the main villain’s motivation needs some knowledge of mesopotamian creation myth.
Continue reading “Fate/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia Anime Review – 65/100” →

Long time no see and strap in cause this is going to be a long one. I will preface this review with the assumption that you have seen the first movie of this trilogy and this movie as well as the assumption that whomever is reading this knows what a command spell is. So basically expect spoilers after this first paragraph while I place my general thoughts at the beginning. To throw my final estimate on this right now I will say that Heaven’s Feel II is just as good, if not better than the movie preceding it. Ufotable truly have done great work in bringing this route to life and with two movies out of three adapted as well as this then as long as Ufotable doesn’t make any major missteps in the last movie this will be considered a perfect adaption with only nitpickers trying to amplify its flaws(Take note that nitpicking is to follow this paragraph.) The animation is steller, the music is…well I think Kajura held herself back enough to make my usual complaints of her less evident, the adaption of the source ultimately makes it better by cutting out the bloat and extending fight scenes which were originally nonexistent and the atmosphere and pacing is engaging from start to finish. For those curious I will confirm that yes there is a sex scene in this movie though temper your expectations as it is a sex scene on the level of which you would see in a PG rated romantic comedy. So I am afraid you will once again have to rely on doujins if you require some porn. Funny as it is though I would say that the strongest element of this movie isn’t the fight scenes, character interactions or the further developments of the holy grail war. But the show stealers here is when the story veers into horror as it’s there where Kajura’s soundtrack truly excels and highlights the utterly unnerving nature that the villain of this piece is. The “shadow” captures a near Lovecraftian level of unknown malevolence and any time it’s on screen is a showcase of just how powerless anyone is to oppose it. The combination of CGI and 2D animation makes it truly otherworldly and unsettling, almost making the uncanny effect its advantage. The story is dark to the point of giving Fate/Zero competition as developments long awaited and wished are finally happening to the cast. If there is a detriment it would be that some great scenes with Illya and Kirei were cut to make the runtime reasonable which is understandable but somewhat disappointing. So if you have already watched the first movie and was interested enough to move on to the second then I doubt you need my encouragement to continue.

Continue reading “Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel – II Lost Butterfly Anime Review – 91/100” →

In the wake of many a school based light novel show this may be the small bits of fresh air was can savor out of this overdone setting. Rascal does not dream of Bunny Girl(Or by its japanese title above) is a series not about rascals or bunny girls but instead about contextualising common high school student problems with a supernatural twist. The story mainly follows a guy called Sakuto who encounters various girls afflicted by some supernatural disorder ranging from invisibility to body switching. Generally caused by some mental problem or trauma the girl is dealing with which the supernatural disorder is forcing her to face. There is some rather weak attempts to explain said phenomena with quantum physics but believe me when I say you really shouldn’t take that into account as this show basically gives up on that idea as it continues.

The series works in an arc format with each ranging from three to four episodes dealing with a certain girls story arc. However while each arc does deal with Sakuto helping girls, this does not lead to the typical situation of Sakuto building up a harem of girls infatuated with him as he helps them. Instead there is more of a focus on Sakuto building a relationship with one girl as he helps others which really does progress well as the two have fantastic chemistry. Indeed the strongest aspect of the show itself is the interactions between the characters which do have fine comedic banter but also feel more grounded and real than most shows.

The opening theme song is a massive earworm set to have you repeating it throughout the day and the ending works well as it changes based on who is the focus of that particular arc. There are some negatives in that some arcs are weaker than others and with each arc(Aka Light novel Volume) being covered in three/four episodes instead of a standard six which results in the pacing speeding up at times and lots of time jumps. As it is by the author of Sakuraso it also has a tendency to delve a little too deeply into overdramatic territory which can ruin some moments. Other than that it is a highly solid show bound to keep anyone watching with it’s episodic cliffhangers and engaging narrative. For those whom have watched the likes of Haruhi, Snafu or likewise then this would make for a good show to put next on your list.