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

If the ending of Presage Flower felt like getting kicked in the chest, then Lost Butterfly feels like getting curb-stomped, to death. Lost Butterfly takes all the tragic elements of the previous film, and layers atop it horror, and a story that leaves you sick to your stomach; and as much as it hurts to watch, it’s genuinely incredible. While the animation and soundtrack are the same as ever (godly as ever), Shirou’s character and path completely diverge from their course in the Unlimited Blade Works narrative. Similarly, we see different sides for characters like Illya, Rider, and Father Kotomine. Sakura finally starts getting more screen time, and that’s both a blessing and a curse; Sakura is a genuinely compelling character in this film, displayed with much more nuance and feeling than ever before. Her tragic upbringing, and the abuse she suffered, make for truly haunting moments within the film, and some deeply complex, difficult interactions. And that becomes problematic because the film fails to honor both her suffering and her position as the heroine. Lost Butterfly trips over its own feet, trying to both communicate her trauma in a candid way and yet simultaneously sexualize her! A victim of sexual abuse! It’s demeaning and gross. And despite her being the heroine, she’s constantly treated as a damsel in distress. Disappointing as that is, the film is so well written and executed in every other regard that is can overcome its bad moments and themes. Beyond Fate/Zero, this is the darkest and most interesting chapter of the Fate series. It’s undoubtedly a masterful work and something I recommend watching.

At first, I thought this route of fate could have been my favorite out of the three laid out, but oh boy how disappointed I have become with the development of it. I mainly think that my lack of liking to this route is because it strays a lot from what the previous paths before it had established, many characters jump to new goals and ideals that feel out of place. The story drives itself in a manner that I really disliked, having a slow pace at times without really getting anywhere and the twists present within the movie are predictable as well as bland. The art and music of the movie are, of course, it's saving grace with Ufotable's usual hard work and love put into the projects they do. In short, I think this sequel fails due to the story it has to work with, without a doubt I feel this is the most boring out of the three fate/stay night paths (That's saying something when we take into account the 2006 anime adaptation of the first path) and the only real aspects of the movie I liked were the fight scenes and the work put into the project by the studio. Everything else from story to characters was really underwhelming becoming easily overshadowed by the second and more superior path Fate/stay night UBW.

Coming from Presage Flower, Lost Butterfly most definitely did not disappoint. Ufotable is once again being the GOAT that they are, made one of the most impressive and breathtaking fight scenes I've ever seen in any anime. Truly Unlimited Budget Works. I think even if you know nothing about the Fate series and its world, you can still find yourself enjoying this movie just as it is. There is no lore you need to overanalyze, no deep fundamentally challenging topic you need to decipher. Just a movie of a boy who wants to be her hero of justice. 10/10, this is every /Stay Night fan's wet dream.

I am the bone of my sword Steel is my body I Have created over a thousand blades Rho Aias! The movie is like this segment, just amazing. Once again ufotable did an amazing job and it is because of masterpieces like this that it is my favourite studio. Let's start with the story: Heaven’s Feel: Lost Butterfly is definitely the most sinester/dark route, insted of the other routes heaven's Feel does not show that epic moment for every character and it as less fantasy. At least for me I could feel the despair in the characters, The pace of the first movie was a problem for me but this sequel was way bether although maybe some people will still not like it. ART: The art like other Fate's, Kara no Kyoukai and tsukihime well Type Moon works are incredible. Just name a bether duo than Type Moon and Ufotable, I'll wait. SOUND: The soundtracks were very good especially in the fight scenes the only thing I didn't like was the ending. Characters: For me until now this is the Shirou I like the most, he is more likeble and less anoying, and I can actually understand is points unlike ubw who he is just anoying in some parts and always saying and believing in ideals despite being proved wrong. The character development is as always very good not every usual Main characters gets a lot of screen time but well this is another rote they had their time. I Know i didn't say anything about Sakura but I really don't want to say spoilers. All I can say is she is not as inocent as you may think.

FInally, the second Heaven's Feel movie came out. A little context here: I played through half of this route in the original Fate game (the source material). So I knew the entire story of HF1 when I watched the movie a year ago. This first movie really felt like a summary of what the game offered, so I really didn't enjoy it. Because of that, I was a bit afraid I wouldn't like the rest of the movies. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised! STORY This is obviously the sequel of the first movie. Shirou and Sakura's love relationship deepens, and the fight against Zouken goes on while the actual stakes of the Holy Grail War are put aside. The characters fight for their ambitions, and the mysteries of the story get more clouded. This "route" (as fans like to call it) is known for being the darkest part of Fate Stay Night. And indeed, it is so mature! There's nudity and there's violence, and overall it just feels so much less "anime-like" than the other stories. However it does have one major flaw: it definitely feels like a summary of a much bigger story. I said earlier that I played through half of the source material. This second movie goes past the point where I stopped, so I discovered new stuff in this movie. But even this part (that was new to me) felt like it was cut short! Dialogues are clearly cut, the movie tries to give detail that seem meaningful to the background but suddenly cut off the explanations, and many scenes seem out of their context or come out of the blue. I'll be blunt, overall it is a bad adaptation. Let's be frank: a movie trilogy is just too short to adapt the source material. Now, while it did bother me in the first movie, it wasn't that troubling in this one. The events don't unfold as smoothly as I was hoping, but it's no big deal, really. ART It is outstanding. People who don't like CGI will be disappointed though (especially in one certain scene where there's an overuse of it). Personally, the only thing that disappointed me was the laser effects. They just didn't feel like lasers, more like 5-year old drawings. But I forgive it: the rest is great! SOUND Kajiura Yuki at her best. Do I need to say more? CHARACTERS So, let me talk again about the fact that it is too short for an adaptation. While the main characters are faithfully developped, many secondary characters are left aside while they could (sometimes should) have more importance. In this movie, Matou Shinji is just plain ridiculous, whereas the original character actually has much more to offer! Gilgamesh and Kirei don't appear much. They're among my favourites since Fate/Zero, but in this route it seems like they're not as important (for now at least). But this movie focuses on Shirou, Sakura and Rin, and these three characters are great. Rin and Sakura finally face the fact that they are sisters, while Shirou and Sakura's love finally happen... in a really twisted scenario. While Sakura seems close to losing her mind, Shirou swears she'll protect her, even if he has to give up on his dream of becoming a hero. This was just soooo interesting to follow, and I can't wait to see how it all ends! ENJOYMENT I am really fond of this movie. Heaven's Feel is by far the best route of Fate Stay Night. Maybe, just maybe, it could surpass Fate/Zero in my opinion. It is as mature as it, that's for sure. The music and animation are undeniably good, and the only issue is the fact that it's too short for the story it's telling. Now I just want to play through the end of this route, but I don't want to know the story before the third movie comes out... I'll just have to be patient then.

A good wtf movie that you will somehow understand what's going on in. But seriously, this is one of the most darkest movies I have ever seen in my life and I wont spoil anything so please, bare with me. Story: A great follow up to the first movie. Although it feels rushed at times, it still has a nice pace, even though it can arguably make some minor plot questions that are just left unanswered, or at least until the next movie comes out. Other than that, there's not much to say about the story without spoilers, so let's continue. Art: It's Ufotable. Of course it's great. Sound: Oh boy, the sound. Especially the sound effects, which makes you feel every move a character does in the movie. The voice acting was top notch, and the original soundtrack really fitted to the theme of this movie. Also, Aimer's song was great. Character: Let's skip this for the sake of not giving spoilers. enjoyment: If you watch a movie and you're afraid that it will soon end, then that means you've really enjoyed it. All in all, like i've said before, it's a great follow up to the first movie, and if you're a fate fan then this is a must watch. Just be sure to stay away from spoilers as much as you can before you see it, because this is a serious stay-away from spoilers case. 10/10

Unlimited Budget Works Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel is undeniably the most sinister and desecrated masterpiece amongst all three routes. The female lead, Sakura being an oppressed and defiled character subjected to torture since young. It’s no surprise that she begins to reject the one cause of her pain and torture. The world as she knows it. Under the harsh treatment of the Matous, subjected to misfeasance by an incapable and jealous ‘brother’. Defilement by a nonbiological Grandfather even to the extent of losing her virginity to his horrendous insects. Not to mention the disownment by her own biological Father and also being allegedly forsaken by her only biological Sister. She developed another ‘personality’ one that brings a different perspective of how she will perceive things. A personality driven by corruption, greed and revenge. A dark side we call, Dark Sakura. Lost Butterfly did an exceptional job clearing up majority of the questions viewers potentially had in Presage Flower. For the most part, the adaptation was flawless in its own way. The reason why this is my favourite route despite best girl being Rin is because Heaven’s Feel is the most well-developed and original route. The other two routes can be depicted as being mainstream featuring ideal heroines and petty squabbles whereas Heaven’s Feel took the explicit and vulgar dark route which not many other anime had. lost butterfly was seemingly flawless being well-paced and well-explained if not this then what can I call a masterpiece. So far, in my opinion 「presage flower」was to remove any outliers, remove the extras from the scene as well as lay out the bedding for Heaven’s Feel. What「lost butterfly」did was clear out the creases on the bed made by 「presage flower」and introducing new loose folds on the bed. By answering majority of the questions, 「lost butterfly」also removed more characters again indirectly introducing new ones thereby creating bigger problems for our main characters. The amount of creativity used in depicting as well as explaining in words and animation was crème de la crème. For example the red and black thing known as ‘Imaginary Space’ in presage flower revealed to be Sakura’s dark side and to show that Sakura is beginning to turn into it, we see her shadow flickering red. Also, there was a particular scene where she was dreaming and appeared in a ‘fantasy world’ where there were cute animals playing around and she smacked the animals which were being naughty causing them to go poof and drop candy. She then unwraps the candy and immediately the next scene depicts her holding a human organ and her dress covered in blood. That brought us the understanding that Sakura is unconsciously murdering everyone, bringing her a step closer to Dark Sakura. The fight scenes were vividly displayed and did not disappoint. With the vast array of visual effects and flashing colours you’d think it to be no surprise considering the ‘Unlimited Budget’. Much like presage flower there was only one major fight throughout the whole anime with the rest of the fights being short and not as epic. Saber Alter VS Heracles was extremely awesome to watch and hell was it epic! I can’t deny how good everyone looked and the colours used in the explosive battle, exquisite. The gore was as well, very well done and the eroge scene was also portrayed unlike the other two routes. Sakura’s malicious side showed her masturbating and wanting to have sex with Shirou desperately as well as showing a Yandere side and getting overprotective when seeing Rin with Shirou. She’s not your typical nice shy girl alright. Sakura rejects her malicious side as much as possible until one day for a certain reason, she breaks. Ufotable animated Heaven’s Feel to utmost perfection and far exceeded my expectations. Unlike the other two routes, Heaven’s Feel goes deep into the supposed ‘sideline characters’ that play much bigger roles here, such is like Illya, Zouken, even the fucker Shinji. Still, with more characters to focus on, the story didn’t dilly-dally and everything happened |fast| but was still depicted at a great pace. Not so unexpectedly, certain characters also had lesser screen time compared to the other two routes such as Gilgamesh whom got destroyed but, he’ll definitely come in handy next movie or I’ll rage and cry in a corner. Another thing I’m happy about is Illya, as much as it seems like it’s not, Illya is actually my most favourite legal loli in the whole of anime and she was so kawaii here. With her murderous intent towards Shirou gone she finally acted like a real sister. Big Sister or not, that’s a different matter but seeing her pat Shirou on her head really warmed me up. Illya lost Berserker as well, this time not to Gilgamesh ofc. But Illya didn’t get killed this time and she doesn’t have to rely completely on Heracles as a Friend and for support since here, she has Shirou which made it extremely pleasing to watch. Another particular scene I loved, no matter small would be when Illya overheard Taiga talking to Sakura and mentioning Kiritsugu saying that he kept flying overseas to look for/protect someone he treasured other than Shirou. That is of course Illya. Illya’s first objective was to participate in the Holy Grail War to kill Kiritsugu because she thought he had ditched her, that small scene made it extremely heart warming to watch as Illya now knows Kiritsugu does in fact love her. The awesome sound effects and the perfect voice acting of our favourite voice actors also played a big part in perfection. Personally, I’d like to give a big kudos to Noriko Shitaya, Sakura’s voice actor for her amazing ASMR voice acting, the other voice actors also did a great job so a big thumbs up for them too! Sakura rarely appeared in the other two routes, the other two routes featured a lot of Rin and a lot of Saber since Saber didn’t die in UBW and Rin was in an alliance in Fate route, there was never a need to show the shy girl so we rarely get to hear her talk or even understand how horrible her lifestyle is. Aimer’s ending, 【I Beg You】was very nice too but I liked 【Hana no Uta】more but that’s just personal preferences in music. Finally, apparently everyone was laughing at Shinji being pathetic, nothing new but what particularly got to majority of us audience was the sex. Yes, we never expected sex I mean I did tell a bunch of my friends that there might be a proper eroge adaptation but I always got shot down and I began to believe there wouldn’t be one after watching presage flower. Guess I believed to soon. But either way, the sex made the development of Sakura’s dark side grow and get more interesting alongside developing Shirou and her relationship together. I really felt this was true love since Shirou really kept accepting her. He even gave up on his ideals as a Hero for her, that really got to me. The scene where he couldn’t bare to kill Sakura, that was when he abandoned his ideals for her. Sakura herself also relied on Shirou to prevent corruption, to fight against it, using Shirou as a reason to be good and to not take revenge. That’s how couples should be, relying on one another, I know the other routes had similar context of relying on each other but this was taken to a new level compared to the other two routes. I still don’t get why everyone was laughing when they saw sex I mean, the first ecchi scene where Sakura was licking Shirou’s finger, I laughed because that was kinda erotic and I didn’t expect eroticism but afterwards when Sakura couldn’t control her desire and masturbates, I don’t get what’s so funny anymore. In fact it just shows how her malicious intents were hidden behind a soft spoken and cute personality. Either ways, well done ufotable and Type Moon Now we wait for Dark Sakura’s proper appearance in 『Fate/Stay Night Heaven’s Feel III. spring song』 This review was written on 04-09-19 and may be outdated. I may have changed my…

Dark, sinister and unpredictable. The darkest route of Fate has delivered us with a stunning sequel to the first movie. As someone who has never read the visual novels, this was a dark, eerie show with it's share of disturbing and just straight out "WTF" moments. Ufotable once again deliver with godlike animation especially in action scenes. Every frame is animated perfectly and they made the fight scenes so much more memorable with the unique colour palette. The choreography and action direction was of top quality. Great soundtrack as well, especially the use of an instrumental version of "Hana no Uta" from the first movie. A great movie, especially as a fan of the franchise - though it must be said that it will be hard to enjoy this movie on its own without any background understanding of the Fate universe

***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 nuanced the 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

I want to start off by saying that I've seen all the other type-moon series before watching this. I'm going to have to say that by far, in my opinion, this is ufotable's best work to date. I saw this in theatres and it was absolutely amazing, it destroyed F/Z and was way better than Part I of Heaven's feel. Sound Design was amazing, battle animations were amazing, I'm not going to touch up too much on the story because they merely adapted it out of the visual novel but overall I really enjoyed watching this. Really good start to 2019. Can't wait to see this on Blu-ray, I'd love to support it. OVERALL: 9

Note: The following will be very spoilery in the scope of this movie only. Let me get the good parts out of the way; overall as a package, I give this movie a 9/10. It definitely does the visual novel justice with bombastic action, great line deliveries and intense pacing. I welcomed the new changes to the plot, like the part where we get to see Sakura's POV where she gobbled up humans in Wonderland. However, I strongly feel you're doing yourself a disservice by not reading the visual novel: -The pacing of the movie was too fast. Understandably, there's a lot of material to cover in the span of 2hrs, but this resulted in strong plot points being overlooked. For example, the first time Shirou and Sakura had sex, it was incredibly passionate and steamy, but subsequent intercourses got increasingly eerie as he'd have more visions of the Grail's shadow sucking his energy that juxtapose with the hot sex. -And on that note, the movie quickly revealed Sakura as the shadow responsible for devouring people in Fuyuki, while the visual novel had the readers guessing because Sakura would vividly dream about eating humans, but would always wake up in bed as if nothing truly happened; It wasn't until Gilgamesh showed up and shred her in the alley that we realize Sakura was actually sleep walking in the city. -As mentioned by other reviewers, we don't get to hear Shirou's inner monologues. It resulted in him appearing shallow or confusing at times, such as when he asked himself "Are you going to betray?", which alluded to whether he was going to betray his ideals as a hero of justice. The audience will never truly understand his heart ache when he pointed that knife at Sakura after he had previously resolved to protect her from Rin after Kirei revealed the worm crest embedded in her body will eventually drive her mad. -I really disliked how they made a joke of Shirou losing his arm by jump cutting to a scene where he stands at the entrance and nonchalantly explains to Sakura he got into a scrap with the enemy. In the visual novel, this was an incredibly low point in the story, because not only does he have no servant, but now one of his arm is useless. He no longer has the means to fight, yet I did not feel a sense of helplessness like I did with the first movie when he lost Saber. This contributes to the last problem: -The movie lacked a sense of urgency. I felt this was due to the amount of crazy stuff happening; Sakura is a master, Rider stone gazes everyone, Sakura impales herself and Shiro in an outburst, Saber Alter kills Heracles, Archer dies, Sakura is revealed to be the culprit behind the black shadow, Gilgamesh gets eaten, Shirou attempts to murder Sakura, Shinji reveals he had repeatedly raped Sakura and gets rekt, and Sakura merges with the shadow. There are so many shocking events to digest in 2hrs! But again, it's the fault of the medium and that's why I recommend people read the VN!

So after yesterday's Premiere of Fate/Stay Night Heaven's Feel Lost Butterfly, I can say that this film lives up to the expectation of what is to come after Presage Flower. The film takes the audience straight after the event that unfolds after ending of the first film. With the story continuing following a alternate route (following different route in Fate/Stay Night drastically changes the outcome of events and possibly their previous known order of sequence through the story's progression). Much like the first movie, many of the well known events that were 'suppose' to unfold like the first two routes are either cut out of the film, or because the fact that the characters that trigger these events are no longer there to do so because of the dire situation this route has placed the main/side characters in. The disappearance of some the characters that had previously played major roles in the first two can be seen as manifestation of the dark theme spawning as the story further progresses. The representation of the term 'star-crossed lovers' is also there to make the audience imagine the possibilities that will result in the outcome of the main character and his love interest. Besides the dark theme that comes into play for story, much of the deals with loss. As seen with the first movie, the character loses his servant, but which was the first person he lost during this holy grail war, he however didn't realise even after losing his servant what else he could lose. So never noticed those close around him that can be taken away from him. I guess in some form of way you can see the side antagonist, Shinji, dealing with loss as he mentions Sakura being taken away from him after losing the battle.(Jokes, not really. But he's more leaned towards belonging as he technically has taken control of Rider in all 3 routes, because he wants to feel like he is master in the Holy Grail War). There were also scenes of character's thoughts such as Sakura's where she was on board a train by herself as a child, with the other train next to her was child Tohsaka and her family which depicts the event of F/Z in Sakura's imagination, separation and her effort of of trying to chase the train by running to the other carriage only to be swarmed by bugs, this was the presence of the Matou family, also showing how its been established she belongs in it. There were slight comedy here and there throughout the story, but they were minor compared to what the story was trying to show to the audience. The relationship between the characters were being developed at a standard pace throughout the film. They were mainly Emiya's relationship with Illya and Sakura, with the talk between Illya and Emiya about if they knew about Emiya's Father and Sakura about how dear Emiya was to her and she was to him. The general complaint about the adaptation was mainly people in the movies weren't taking the sexual content of the movie seriously, while players of the VN will give it a more serious look into it as they have knowledge of the context. The sequence of events that happened into the VN has also been compressed to fit into the movie's time length. It seems though this was the main argument for why people would've accepted this adaption to be in a television series rather than a movie in order to showcase more of the content in the route, but is debatable as people's belief of what is to be significant in the film varies. Personal Opinion- In my opinion, I feel like this movie was fantastic. Besides improving from previous movies' artworks as always is what Ufotable well known for. Yuki Kajiura giving us amazing theme musics as always in both action and opening sequence of the film. As I'm not a light novel reader of F/SN, I'm a slightly disappointed of how quick they killed off Gilgamesh, it makes it feel like there were no use for some characters that were previously used in the F/SN routes. If you had high expectations sequel of Presage Flower, then you certainly won't be disappointed after sitting through this at your local movie theatres. Fate/Stay Night Lost Butterfly is currently showing in North America and will release in Australian theatres on March 28th. Be sure to grab popcorn and drinks Fate Fans, as you are in for the next sequel of VN adaptation roller coaster ride!

If you've seen previous Fate titles they usually have some form of glory or grand theatricality. This movie continues from the last in how this Route of the original Fate/Stay Night visual novel is completely grounded in its reality with harsh truths and painful choices that is utterly unlike most seasonal anime. It is much more comparable to the movie Your Name in how believable it is. The little bit of fantasy in the story is a type of magic that adds a horror movie or mystery feeling to the world. It's full of characters that know the hidden truth of magic and the families who pursue more knowledge for their personal benefit or for the better of all humanity. However, just like the previous movie, the story continues its drastic change from a glorious and honorable free for all fight to the death in pursuit of a wish from the Holy Grail into a macabre massacre of the participants by an unknown being or force. To the Masters, this being is kind of understood as a corruption of the grail but its intentions and abilities are beyond all imagining. It would be apt to call this being a sort of Freddy Kruger or Eldritch horror that can't be communicated with or stopped. A true monster. That isn't to say there are no light hearted and hopeful moments. There are some cathartic moments for some characters that had it coming, but obviously that type of happiness in this film is bitter sweet since it reminds you how no one is likely to escape from these events unharmed. There are also a couple moments that were set up by Fate/Zero that were finally discussed and characters reconnected in some very touching scenes. That said, most of the characters have lost most of their family in one tragedy or another so there isn't much happiness that can be felt other than in the present state of their lives. Which is during a life and death battle... It is for this reason that this part in the movie trilogy feels mostly like a mental breakdown of most of the main characters goals and past tragedies. Sakura is of course the centerpiece of this Route so it focuses on her personal connections to Shirou, Shinji, Rider, and Rin. She is forced to confront everyone who has been affected by her choice to avoid the Holy Grail War and the family situation that was thrust upon her. As touching and tragic as the story is, I can't say that there is much finality to anything since as I said this is a build up to the Route's conclusive final movie. There is a climax, but it's used as a cliffhanger. This will be excellent narrative pacing in preparation for what comes next but by itself this movie doesn't have a chance to live up to the action of the previous movie or the twists that have happened and are yet to come and be explained in the next movie. While there are no CGI issues like in the first movie, there were some questionable frames of some shots that looked oddly bad compared to the rest of the movie, but it was only at about 3 spots. That said, nothing looks particularly spectacular, and the fights are mostly one sided and/or anti-climactic so the bit of choreography that was used felt kind of wasted. My enjoyment is only matched by my anticipation for what's to come...in one year when the next movie comes out. I'm certain that once every movie in this trilogy is readily available to be bought and watched at one's leisure it will be a 10/10 masterpiece. Memorable for years to come. But until that time comes, years down the line, I can't give this anymore than an 8/10. It is after all, the second act in a three act story.

The whole cinema applauded on one scene in the last minutes. This does happen so rarely in a cinema that this should tell you enought. If you like fate you will love this. It has some parts that may be not something for light hearted people. The organizer of this event said that in an other screening someone left the cinema at one of those scenes but for me it was fine. The art and animation were even better then the first movie and is really a treat for your eyes. The whole movie felt more mature when you compare it to some other entrys from fate/stay night ( expect zero ). If they top that all on the third and last movie the whole trilogy could be something to remember.

Before starting this Review I wanted to highlight two points here: 1 - The Heavens Feel Route is my favorite in the original Visual Novel and it is the best written, deep and epic thing I have ever read in the entire Nasuverse, it is a pity that Ufotable have executed it that way. 2 - Sorry for some english mistakes, it's not my primary language > ART 10/10 To sum up, even with my disappointments and revolts, in the end it is still a Ufotable production, so nothing different from the ordinary. Art, animation, design, among other visual aspects, are perfect, totally well set according to the type of narrative and are breathtaking, especially in the action scenes. > SOUND 9/10 The soundtrack os also as expected from Type-moon and Ufotable, its phenomenal and impeccable, if in the third film they add Mighty Wind and an epic remix of the Emiya theme, I will give 10 without a doubt > STORY 5/10 I was very quick in the analysis of the sound and design, because they are really perfect and in the History and Characters aspect is where I wanted to emphasize, since this is where my problems with the film begin Probably if you have never seen the Visual Novel, you should not have noticed anything bad, but as a reader of it and a big fan of Type-moon in general I must warn you, almost everything regarding Illya was cut and the monologues of Shirou which are essential for the development of the character and the story as a whole, have been removed as well I understand that you cannot adapt all the grandeur and complexity of a Visual Novel even in 24-episode animes, such as Unlimited Blade Works, due to monologues, dialogues, development etc ... even so, Ubw's anime may not be complete, but it certainly doesn’t remove as much of the original content as the Heavens Feel films, you can’t adapt a complex route like that in just three 2-hour films that exclude a lot of story and character development just to have 50-minute action scenes And the problem here is that they had time to develop as little as possible, but they didn't, probably because of the director who is a Sakurafag or to extend fight scenes that last 9 seconds in the original content The problem is not being completely faithful to the original or not, since it is an adaptation, but cutting Illya's scenes here means not only destroying the best-developed character on the route but also damaging the story as a whole, since Illya it's basically the way for you to understand what's going on and the truth behind the Holy Grail War and the Heavens Feel, without it on the route, a lot of scenes won't make sense or have the same impact and you'll miss the chance to like her, like me for example before reading Heavens Feel she was irrelevant and then when I finished it she just became one of my favorite characters throughout the Nasuverse, Heavens Feel is the Sakura AND Illya route Heaven's Feel is not like the other routes that are mostly focused on the holy grail war, here the truth about the whole Fate Stay Night Universe is revealed, the ritual, the third war, Angra Mainyuu etc ... and I know you can tell me that most of these things are said in the part that the third film will adapt, but that's exactly what I mean, without all the scenery previously set in the other films and without Illya, these scenes will be without the same impact and meaning Basically the story is very shallow and cutting important points, in addition to removing all scenes from Illya that not only destroy the best girl (personal opinion) but also leave incomplete explanations about the scenario in general of Heavens Feel that is much bigger than the ones in other routes, to make scenes of epic battles, which of course I love, but that should not have to sacrifice important scenes for their sake > CHARACTER 2/10 Here is my other biggest problem, how the lack of monologues and some scenes totally harm some characters, especially Shirou. We know that Shiro is a very complex protagonist that can only be developed decently in a Visual Novel because of the monologues and animes cannot adapt properly, but here his whole dilemma with his own ideology, which is one of the main points of the work, were made too superficially even for a anime Basically the main point of Heavens Feel is how Shirou has to betray the distorted ideals of justice that he inherited from Kiritsugu and finally overcome this wrong view of the world, trying to protect Sakura, that is, he stops becoming a hero as in Unlimited Blade Works, to become a hero only for Sakura and those he loves, finally winning the humanity he didn't have on other routes And despite being far from perfect, that point was quite well adapted, the problem is his relationship with Kirei, since the route also deals a lot with how the two are alike, feeling no feeling of their own, having to live through of the feelings of others, being Shirou of the salvation and happiness of others and Kirei of their Disgrace and that, along with some other questions of Shirou's dilemma and Kirei relationships, were very superficial, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was totally removed, I know that they deal with this theme through some dreams and etc ... but I think that for such an important point there should be even more screen time this also joins with my point about Illya being essential in several points of the story, since after that scene from the church where Kirei heals Sakura and Shirou went out in the rain in a dilemma where protecting Sakura would mean hurting other people, it's Illya in the Vn who gives the speech that motivates Shirou to take his own way, but here she was removed And to get another character that is not Illya or Shirou, we have for example Shinji, this route is supposed to show his story and explain why he is an asshole, it was to make the viewer feel the least empathizing with him, because of the deplorable life he has and how he was really a True Bro to Shirou before all this happened, but they preferred to cut the flashbacks with him, just to make a simple figure to hate and not a character , disregarding all the development he has and making him a generic "antagonist" I could mention others, but I think I already made my point here very clear, what I'm saying basically is that liking e or not these characters that I mentioned above, the fact is that their development is essential for the scenario of Heavens Feel be formed correctly and having all of them reduced or totally cut, damages the whole story, especially Shirou who is the protagonist and has the most epic relationship of all with Kirei, which is one of the most important points of the route along with his dilemma of heroism > ENJOYMENT 7/10 Of course, the defects I mentioned above bother me, but even so, it is a sensational production by Ufotable and the films are incredible and certainly worth seeing. The production is spectacular and especially the fight scenes are epic, even if it is a version of the route that excludes a lot of things, the anime was very well set and managed to bring the dark atmosphere of the route perfectly, with agonizing and incredible scenes that show how different and more violent this route is from the others Unfortunately the lack of these things I mentioned end up leaving the route very superficial and really bother those who know how much things are missing in the adaptation that are or will be important in the future >OVERALL 6/10 Don't get me wrong, even with all the defects the anime is still worth seeing, luckily the third film can save or destroy the entire saga, it all depends on how they will adapt it, although I find it difficult to compensate all stuff I mentioned above and still put the giant load of content that the story has in the third part, anyway, I trust Ufotable for the battles at least, Emiya vs Berserker especially Anyway Heavens Feel is still a divine route and even an adaptation like this cannot take away its grandeur away, and now with the third film…

#FREESAKURA I think this route is just wayyy better than the other routes. Bit of spoiler: I really like how Shirou doesn't go out and try to do everything anymore and that Sakura has to face her own problem. Cannot wait for Spring Song to see what happens. The development of the story wastes no time, there's always something happening, you can clearly see how Sakura progresses throughout the movie and how the relationship between her and Shirou is keeping her strong while it is also the reason she's getting worse. The art is just amazing, ufotable did not disappoint, I love the saber berserker fight, I love the wonderland Sakura was in and did not see what was coming after and it definitely shocked me. Overall I think it's a great movie to watch, certainly the best fate and my favorite one so far. It's been tragic for Sakura so far so I hope she finds her answer in spring song pls man pls

Alright, listen. I think that, maybe, this route isn't for me. I said two things in my review of the first film: that the Sakura and Shirou pairing wasn't my least favorite and that they seemed like the most natural couple from all the routes. I... don't necessarily think that anymore. Okay, let me actually review this and try to explain. First of all, the art smashes. We all know this studio is absolutely stellar when it comes to animation and graphics. The action scenes in this movie, especially the lighting effects, were otherworldly, and I'll never get bored of watching it. The sound, as well, fits the tone of the film extremely well. I think the characters are a lot of the reason why I ended up loving this franchise to begin with. Each and everyone is written with such intense depth, so it feels like I'm watching an accurate depiction of the unpredictability of humans. That being said, this particular film didn't really meet my expectations. I sort of felt like I didn't understand why a character was acting a certain way at a certain time. Most of that probably has to do with the jumpiness of the story. I understand it's a film and not a series, so it can't be as detailed, but it just felt skewed and disconnected. For example, the beginning and end of this film were about one thing, but somewhere in the middle it took a detour to something completely different without any notice. At least, that's what it felt like. So, it wasn't very smooth, I guess you could say. Another, for lack of a better word, negative aspect of the story was the absence of clarity. Towards the end, I found myself asking what exactly was going on and when whatever it was started happening in the first place. Obviously, based on my score, the movie wasn't all bad. I'm only criticizing it so much because I love the franchise itself. I've said this before, but seeing the differences between the routes is always entertaining to watch, and despite it's inconsistencies, I'm still very excited and curious to know what's going to happen to Sakura. The tone of this route is very different than previous routes. It's a lot darker, and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, but it'll be interesting to see how it all ends. Here's to the next one.

*Sorry for my bad English* *This review wrote after watch in theater first time, may changes when I watch this movie again* Ufotable do great again! sequal from part 1, this part route had changed from original route completely, now you can't guess what is happen after this. Okay, Let's Start. *Spoiler Free* This part of movie will be "truth revelation" Thing we don't know from first part had reveal in this part and thing we don't know about matou's familly that said since fate/zero continue in this part. Direction of story is almost all about sakura that we will never know what happen to her in other route and what she was done. Make we understand more about sakura's character and that we can see progression of characters clearly is shirou. This route he grow up and understand way that he walk to, "Warrior of Justice" never can save everyone, He decided choose way of himself. Someone said shirou in this route is give up ideal that him always trust easily, but I think It's not wrong. Shirou is only found this way that he want to walk to with himself. This ideal is completely different from Unlimited blade works route that never give up himeself ideal although he will sad and disappointed in finally. But this route shirou found true his way and he will end up like same? I will continue wait for part 3 and my a little bit disappoint is shinji, I think this route will expand more about this character not like be one-side character like other route but I think that not be problem to watching so much, you can enjoy it with little bit annoying with shinji character. Overall, Great part waiting for part 3!

Dont like anime movies. This however is good, Quite enjoy how more dark and twisted and overall just fucked it gets the more you longer it goes on, its like confusing as shit but not in the bad "what the hell am I watching" way, but instead in the "holy shit what the hell am I watching way". Really good. No matter what I expected, somehow every second Im getting thrown around and my expectations thrown to the void, It's incredible how they managed to pull it off and executed in such a wall played out manner. The sheer amount of time I had to pause, and rewind just so I could re-live the absolute insanity I've just witness is absolutely wild, never a dull moment.

I am awestruck at how beautiful this movie is. Taking inspiration from the detailed background art of Makoto Shinkai, the character shading of anime OVA’s from the 80’s and 90’s as well as putting a hefty budget behind studio Ufotable's signature style, has created one of the most ethereal and modern aesthetic anime. The highlight of the entire film is how it designs the plant life in the backgrounds. Keep in mind that plants and nature are in no way themes or plot important to the movies story or even setting, it does after all take place in an urban Japanese city, albeit a small one. Whenever trees or bushes appear on the screen I squee at the mastery of color and shading. The greens and spots of oranges complement the dark, dingy, and man made surfaces that fill the rest of the frame. The film's best scene is when Zouken and Emiya are having a serious discussion, not because of the content of the conversation, but because it takes place in a beautiful exotic greenhouse. Perhaps I’m jumping the gun, but the TL;DR version of this review is watch Lost Butterfly for the plant art if nothing else. I have not played the original visual novel, and in fact I have the pleasure of being unspoiled as to how this particular fate route ending goes. Because of this, this review will mostly be based on this movie as a movie and not as an adaptation. The sad thing about anime today, as well as most mainstream media like the marvel franchise, is that cinematography is nearly nonexistent. Rarely are big budget productions incompetent in this regard, but it’s rarer for them to excel. Lost Butterfly, like the previous film, Presage Flower, uses the power of camera angles, closeups, wide angle shots, panning cameras, and every tool in the trade to communicate the films tone. Fear, anxiety, even dread; this is what the film communicates through its cinematography, and I applaud Sudou Tomonari for putting in the effort to make the film stand out in a way that is sadly uncommon I already mentioned the plants, but the rest of the art is good as well. Ufotable is well known for their use of incorporating cgi and digital art into their work, and they spare no expense here, giving everything from the slick streets in the rain, the rusty metal gates on doors, and the individual bricks in walls a look that is so detailed that it’s better than realism. As I also already mentioned, the shading on the characters is excellent. Not only are multiple levels of shading and reflection shown in some areas, but the shading even has hues of blue to it that give the characters a vaguely impressionistic feel to them. Its not strong but it is there. It’s nice to see that this style of anime character design isn’t completely lost to us in a world where the OVA has essentially gone extinct. This is all important because this film, like the rest of the series, has made the very specific, and in my opinion smart, decision to focus on adapting the mood of the story rather than the plot. From what I understand, there's about 40 hours of plot and exposition that these movies are meant to cover. That means that there should be scenes flying by at the speed of light, with paragraphs of lore and backstory being heaped onto you. Lost Butterfly cuts all of that out, reducing the story line to its barest minimum, and it even adds in a few anime original scenes. What it's staying true to is the tone, and in my opinion this is the best form of loyal adaptation. Plot is irrelevant, what makes you FEEL is still here. This and the original deen adaptation is what I feel is the closest to the original tone of quiet and fearful that Fate/stay night is meant to be. Unlimited blade works, while excellent, never achieved that mood, and you can forget all of the Fate spin offs, they don't even try. This is compounded by the fact that this is also probably the most willing adaptation to delve into Fate’s darker themes, except perhaps Fate/Zero. Rape, domestic abuse, victim complexes, and PTSD are all major themes at work here. Not to mention, they FINALLY actually added a sex scene! This must be the fiftieth Fate anime and only now is Emiya actually banging the girl like he does in the original novel. I don’t get why all of the others didn’t do this. I get they don’t want to be pornographic like in the game, but you can at least imply that it happens! You have to respect the film for this addition if nothing else. I truly hope the anime industry takes note of how Lost Butterfly excels compared to most mainstream anime, and incorporates it into other projects. We need more big budget beauties like this and less dividing the budget into a dozen half baked productions. Please see this movie to send that message.