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Unlimited Blade Works = Unlimited Action

There are many things that visual novels, light novels, manga, and other non-animated works can do better than anime. Action is not one of them. Action is meant to be watched, not interpreted. Nobody wants to read a fight or piece together still shots of a sporting event. Not only is it oxymoronic for “action” not to move, most of the time you struggle to figure out exactly what’s going on, especially in fantasy settings.

Shirou fights in Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel, which focus on how much pain he endures and how much willpower he has, are particularly unsuited for written format. A typical Shirou fight reads something like this:

“My body can’t move!”

Takes 10 steps.

“My body is past its limit!”

Creates two more swords.

“The pain is unbearable!”

Creates two more swords, again.

“My joints are about to break!”

Kills one of the strongest characters in the story.

The Unlimited Blade Works movie is the perfect supplement to the visual novel. Read the VN for all the plot, theory, dialogue, and character development. If you don’t, the movie will probably make no sense. Then watch the movie for the nonstop action. Instead of standing around and talking, the characters stand around killing each other, and by stand around I mean kill each other. That’s making the most out of the two-hour movie format.

Finally, quit bitching about the sex scene being replaced by CG. This is hilarious from a trolling standpoint and legitimately better from a critical standpoint. The sex scenes in the novel were confusing and repetitive, just like sex in real life. During Heaven’s Feel, I put the sex scene on auto-play and started washing my dishes (not a metaphor). I finished 25 minutes later and it still wasn’t over.

Final Grade: ++

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