Heaven's Feel Movies

[warellis]

What need is there for a new Realts Nua though? And didn't TM already sort of rerelease the original eroge version again for modern operating systems, due to fears about how the old one would possibly literally become unplayable potentially relatively soon?

[Altima of the Gates]

There wasn't a need for RN Vita, but they still did it. I'd say Fate could get the RE4 treatment and be remastered, remade or resold when they want. Further, it seems as if they are spoiling for a total Fate remake at some point, I can feel it in the tea leaves.

[kohaku]

I have just watched the movie. So sad, I can't stay longer to heard the ending song.The movie isn't good in my feeling. But I can understand Ufotable tried their best to put the long story in just 122 minutes. Sadly, but even I can't find any better solution.

Thank you for your hardworking. Ufotable, Aimer, Yuki Kajiura, Mai Kadowaki, Noriko Shitaya, Kana Ueda, Ayako Kawasumi, Noriaki Sugiyama, Sayaka Ohara, Joji Nakata,... and everyone. Thank you, Takeuchi for your poster. I can feel how hard you tried to draw it.

I can't stay longer to heard the ending song. And when I hearding it on youtube, at my house. I begin to cry.

Thank you everyone, to giving me this wonderful and beautiful dream.17 years, the long journey.

Now, it is end.

[Kratosirving]

Just got home from my own screening. I think it's more the environment that I was in, but yeah seeing this film with not as many people in the theater after the previous two had a strikingly different feel to it. Not really any cheers or laughs that I heard the past couple of times, definitely a more subdued audience.

As for my thoughts on Spring Song, I think it conveyed a lot of what needed to be shown, but like the other two films there's only so much you can cram into two hours. Many readers of the VN route will want for more, but I think movie onlys will be able to get the basic gist of things. Not everything though, that would still require delving into the rest of the source material, but I digress. Time for my review in the spoiler box.

long review

Opening scene was pretty great; Sakura rolling over Rin and Shirou, Saber doing the same to Rider before cutting to the opening crawl with Kirei speaking. I had just recently rewatched F/Z so it was a bit of a surprise and a delight to see Kirei open the garage and have a motorcycle and what might have been a car similar to the one Irisveil and Saber drove around in during Zero. Probably not, but that's where my mind went so I feel that was the intended effect.

One of the few theater laughs came soon after they headed to the Castle to retrieve Illya, when Shirou came flying in through a 3rd-floor window because Kirei couldn't handle him inching his way along the wall. Pretty damn great! Nice to see Sella and Liz again. Another slight chuckle at Shirou jumping back down to the ground; should have broken his legs, but tanked the shock like a boss.

Splitting up for their individual battles, I'll start with Kirei. The battle against Assassin was fairly short but it got the important parts down. I appreciated the addition of Kirei's inner monologue about his wife and child - or at least I think that was added, been a while since I actually read HF so I don't recall if that was there before or not - and him pining Assassin to the wall while he went to the roof to put down Zouken with that epic fucking prayer. Good shit.

Back to Shirou and Illya, seeing them bond a bit before Shirou resolves to go face Berserker was touching. The 'keep up with me' section felt a bit odd at the start but I quickly settled into it. This was the only time that an EMIYA theme played to my knowledge and it worked well, though the visual of Shirou diving off a cliff after passing Archer... I don't really know what that was meant to symbolize. Nine Lives was great for the most part, but the triple-spin before the final slash/stab was unnecessary imo; probably a director's choice to try and give it more impact, but w/e. Seeing Herc cry over his kids in a small flashback before he reverted to be uncorrupted with one line of dialogue was a good surprise as well.

The prep for getting the Jeweled Sword definitely did feel a bit rushed, quick glance over it before Illya takes Shirou into the flashback to get a visual on the Sword. Admittedly at the start of the flashback is when I went for my piss break so I can't really say much, got right back at the end as Zelretch pointed the Sword, and the scene cut.

The Rider/Shirou scene was a good resolve builder, Sakura getting rid of Assassin was fucking brutal and amazing at the same time. I didn't talk about this one at the start, but the chibi Shadow familiars that Sakura uses in this film were a completely new addition as far as I know, and they kind of stole the show each time they appeared. One literally touched Assassin on the ankle, and his entire body up to the waist (I think) just exploded. Fantastic way to end him. Back to Shirou prepping to go, and him seeing Sakura throughout the house as memories really drove home how much she means to him. Illya being a cute older sister too, seeing the three of them off.


Now we get to the spectacle portion of the show. I'd be interested to know just how much of the film's budget went into Saber vs Rider, because holy fuck it was ridiculous in a great way. Some will find how much of that fight was in slow-motion to be irritating, but I took it as a representation of how fast Rider and at points Saber were moving that it had to be slowed down to convey the action. There's not really much else I can say other than it was beautiful to watch. One personal point of vindication for me though was seeing just how well animated the environment was here; THIS is how you animate rocks exploding up from the ground and disintegrating into smaller chunks; FUCK you Apocrypha and its shit-ass attempt to convey that in the Karna/Sieg fight!! /rant over. Excalibur vs Rho Aius and Bellerophon was just about how I imagined it would be, and the swift follow-up of Shirou thrusting Azoth into Saber's chest was good to see. Was half-expecting to see some hesistation on Shirou's part before bringing the blade down, but not showing any was a much stronger and satisfying visual to me.

Rin vs Sakura matched up very well too. Again, the chibi shadow familiars appear and steal the show, before we get down to the Jeweled Sword looking just as good if not better even than an Excaliblast in many instances to me. I want to rewatch that part alone again second of all after Saber vs Rider again. Final part leading to Rin closing in on Sakura was done well, as was the end result.

Shirou arriving and moving in to free Sakura with Rule Breaker was... something. Maybe someone felt that it was needed, but I wasn't really on board with Shirou running across the cavern, dodging Shadow Ribbons and than leaping into the air OVER a pit of lava to land on the now-floating rock that Sakura was suspended on to free her. Chibi Shadow familiar's best spot appeared here soon after by transforming into a cloth/shroud/pick your covering word here, and than having its seven eyes appear OF COURSE on her boob.

Shirou vs Kotomine was what I was looking forward to most for the show, and I think I overhyped it in my own head too much. It was still a good visual showing, but something was off. I think it was the music choice for the most part; I was spoiled for years with Kotomine's theme from a church organ playing in the bit before the fight, and I didn't really like whatever instrument was playing it this time, maybe an oboe or something. No Light and Darkness theme that I could tell for their actual slugfest was a major strike for me too, but damn the slugfest itself was meaty and brutal, just as it should have been.

Illya scene to close the section here was very sweet and hit me hard in the feels when it showed her running into Irisviel's arms at the end. Ugh, I'm not crying, you're crying!

Epilogue was changed a bit to start with a monologue from Rin, but than transition over to Sakura a bit sooner than I would have liked. Maybe it's because Zelretch was already shown in the flashback for the Jeweled Sword, but not seeing Rin being grilled by the masters of the Clock Tower and him coming into defend her/take her under his wing was a small letdown. Rider in glasses is beautiful as always. Smallest cameo you could ever think for Touko, that's definitely not something that those who didn't know it was coming or at least hadn't see the KnK movies would have noticed as you only get about 3 seconds of her back as Rin and Sakura move past her in an alley. Small shame that. Seeing everyone go Sakura watching was fun, and I loved the small touch of Ayako recoiling away from Rider as she leaned down next to her.


Overall, Spring Song was a delight to watch, but... honestly I think it's probably the one I'll remember the least about beyond the major points and spectaclar fights. Presage Flower and Lost Butterfly just stand out more for me. Maybe it was the atmosphere like I alluded to at the start, but I wasn't as impacted throughout this film as I had been for the previous two while watching them. Would still watch again in the future, but it could have used more in some areas and less in others. Personal score at about 7/10

[You]

Just came back from HF3. Kratos' review is a very good overview and I pretty much had the same sentiments so not going to retread that.
Interesting details or digressions from the VN in chronological order. Very spoiler.

Spoiler:

-Sakura seals Rin in a cage of shadow first rather than expanding the cursed boundary layer. The boundary layer doesn't appear until later.
-Rider has a much more active role, first rescuing Shirou from Zouken and the Matou house and then getting owned by Saber Alter.
-Instead of the "Save Sakura, Bring Back Ilya" we have Kotomine recapping movies 1 and 2 as the scenes play out as shadows on the church's walls.
-Kotomine drives to the Einzbern forest instead of arranging a driver and car.
-Kotomine does not give Shirou a Black Key to defend himself.
-No Sakura being overwhelmed by the shadow in the castle scene.
-Shirou uses structural analysis on the castle to find where Ilya is rather than Kotomine knowing by the figures in the windows.
-Herc Alter needs a haircut
-Ilya helps Kotomine against True Assassin as he's carrying her with her UBW anime birds and wires. (It was nice to see Ilya do something)
-Kotomine fights True Assassin in the forest ruins which happens to look a lot like the Undead Parish. Personally, I didn't think this fight had the pizzaz of the VN, Kotomine only really uses 1 Black Key and he does not aim for a mutual kill with Zabaniya. Instead he waits for Zabaniya to fail, shoulder charges True Assassin and then throws his spellbound Black Keys without the incantation. Since they're in a Church, Kotomine does not do his cannon jump into the trees, instead you see rush up the stairs to exorcize Zouken. The baptismal sacrament effects were a bit overkill, it's very flashy with a holy aura of Excalibur lights.
-Nine Bullet Revolver begins with Shirou and Ilya hiding in the crevice, so Shirou does not project the first axe-sword that breaks while trying to escape from Berserker. He steps foward and the facing the wind scene begins. It seems like Shirou's made of glass (ha ha) and that glass breaks into a person as he surpasses Archer. But then he falls from the sky and begins projecting. It doesn't seem to damage him as much as the VN, just some blood coming out of his eye. Other than the triple spin kratos mentioned NLBW is instantaneous and you see chunks dug out of Berserker. However, at the end, it seems like Berserker only lost his left arm. Berserker stops his attack with the axe-sword touching Shirou's hair. As he's dying Berserker turns back to normal and actually tells Shirou to protect Ilya instead of just looking at her.
-The Jewel Sword projection takes place at the Tohsaka leyline foci (not to be confused with Rin's workshop) rather than Shirou's shed. As Ilya, Rin, and Shirou walk there they have the Antihero Angra Mainyu conversation.
-In Ilya's memories you see Zouken and Justeaze arriving in Fuyuki by boat. Them walking through Ryuudou Temple which was already established then. And then Zelretch acknowledging the pact and activating the Grail. When Shirou see's Zouken he says "Shinji?" I thought that was funny. Zouken makes a lot of weird facial expression during the ritual so that the viewers know he has a thing for Justeaze. When Justeaze gets flattened, funnily enough her circuits spread out in a pattern similar to Ilya's full body Command Spell.
-Rider says that she was a compatibility summon. No catalyst was used. This would be a retcon of CM3.
-Sakura literally sends her shadow to talk to Rin instead of a hologram of herself to talk to everyone. So you see a 2D Sakura silhouette that's shifting trying to convince Rin to leave the town. I liked this change a lot.
-Instead of asking Rider to use her mystic eyes to find the illusory wall hiding the path to the Greater Grail, Rin seems to know exactly where it is and pushes Shirou though it.
-Saber Alter does partially turn into stone but seemingly uses Mana Burst to disperse it. Rider's legs glow like ps4 controllers during the fight probably to signify that she's using a lot of magical energy there.
-When Shirou uses Rho Aias, the first of the four petals is broken defending against Excalibur. Bellerophon shoots out with the three remaining petals. A very nice detail was as Rider retreats to use Bellerophon, she slits her throat with her fingernails and you see the specks of blood turning into the magic circle.
-The Grail area looks like Mt. Doom. There's lava for some reason.
-Sakura does a bit more with her giant shadows than in VN. They transform into different cutsey shapes like candies or animals and explode. There is not Gelman spellcasting except when Rin detonates the Jewel Sword. She detonates it in a minefield of urchin shadows. My favorite scene was when Rin was about the stab Sakura.
-Zouken is just the crushed main body, rather than a pile of meat he cobbles together with his remaining insects. He literally dies like Gollum falling into lava.
-No thinking of projecting Excalibur.
-Instead of having Shirou and Kotomine talk and then fight. They have their talk and fight at the same time. The fight is definitely off. Kotomine doesn't even use his chinese martial arts.
-Angra seems to be forming around the Greater Grail core, which is a pillar.
-When Ilya has the dress of heaven on there seems to be water under her footsteps. Rhine maiden reference?
-When Ilya enters the Grail to close the gate she grasps this small light with her hands. I think that was working the 3rd Magic fragment on Shirou.
-Instead of Shirou grasping for the sky, the pendant slips from his hand, breaks and Archer's hand pulls him up.
-Epilogue was different but worked fine. The Sakura and Rin travelling around the world continous shot were nice. They find the puppet body in Russia right after Touko leaves it there. Shirou's soul is a light flittering about in a covered birdcage rather than a part of Ilya. The last scene is the Homurahara crew enjoying the cherry blossoms (track team, archery). The final shot of Shirou and Sakura stepping across a threshold was a bit cliche imo.

[EgoFra]

Wait, regarding

The medusa evocation one

Wasn't said in Ataraxia, during the Gorgon scene, that compatibility in her case was more important due to the catalyst being weak and so it compensated for it? Or they flatly said there was no catalyst in the movie?
https://imgur.com/a/OCaUDFF

[fumei]

Spoiler:

-Rider says that she was a compatibility summon. No catalyst was used. This would be a retcon of CM3.

Spoiler:

This would also retcon the HF1 Q&A where they literally said that "a catalyst is always needed, it's just that the land is sometimes the catalyst" and "it's only when the catalyst is related to multiple servants that compatibility matters". And somehow I doubt the land of Fuyuki was a catalyst for Medusa.

[Kratosirving]

meep

I feel like the TL of the HF route said the same thing though, that Rider said she was summoned without a catalyst. At least that's what I remember. Still, it's ultimately unimportant as shit gets retconned all the time to suit a new or revised narrative of the current day.

[warellis]

Spoiler:

Wasn't Rider summoned using an old mirror as a catalyst? Why change that at all I wonder. I mean does the anime timeline need to differentiate itself that much from the VN timeline?

[Kratosirving]

Spoiler:

Remember that it's been 16 years since the VN released. It's probably just a director's choice that they felt was sensible, and it's true that it does. I at least remember a line in the TL that explained if you summon without a catalyst, the resulting Servant tends to be one that matches most similarly to the one that summons them - or something to that effect, might have some wording off. Not sure where it's from in the VN, but maybe the Prologue from Rin's POV?

[Comun]

Spoiler:

This would also retcon the HF1 Q&A where they literally said that "a catalyst is always needed, it's just that the land is sometimes the catalyst" and "it's only when the catalyst is related to multiple servants that compatibility matters". And somehow I doubt the land of Fuyuki was a catalyst for Medusa.

Compatibility summon existing doesn't contradict "there's always a catalyst". Compatibility summon just means the summoner is also being the catalyst.

[Stevethepi]

Spoiler:

They way the Rule Breaker stuff was adapted was genuinely comically ngl. It takes an emotional poignant, satisfying, and sweet scenes and turns it into this giant utterly absurd action spectacle for absolutely no clear reason.

The focus on action huge action set pieces is a big thing in this film (frankly in all the heavens feel adaptions) and it results a movie that is insanely cool, but not really because of anything I liked about the VN.

[eddyak]

I was going to disagree, but then I thought about it, and you're right, the spectacle (what the fuck were they thinking with that triple spin what the fuck) definitely brought it down.

[bassgs435]

Blame audiences. Ufo knows people want action spectacles from them and they deliver on that. Can't blame Ufo when even the preivous 2 movies are seen as too slow and nothing happens for lots of people, despite them already being rushed and actionized. There's also complaints towards Nasu's writing ever since UBW, saying Apo is better for being more spectacle focused
Too many modern fans want more action and despise Nasu's philosophy and less actiony moments and I guess gotta deliver what the new fanbase wants. Thanks to GO and Zero.

[EgoFra]

Compatibility summon existing doesn't contradict "there's always a catalyst". Compatibility summon just means the summoner is also being the catalyst.

Yes, if i remember correctly they said in Fate/Zero there was always, or very frequently, a compatibility intromission together with the catalyst, like in Gilles case.
So it may be that in rider case compatibility was more important than the catalyst due to it being weak, as the say in Ataraxia, and so she tells that thing in the film.

[John D. Pliskin]

Anyone planning on trying to see the movie again, if they've already seen it?

Saw spring song on Friday night with a friend (same friend that accompanied me to screenings of the first two films!), and I'm having too tough of a time on deciding whether to go again or not, to a different theater that's roughly the same distance away.

Part of why I'm considering going of course is because of my enjoyment of it, but also to see how the screen quality compares to my first showing... it felt like the particular Marcus theater I went to cut off the top 1/25th of the screen in the projection, and I don't know if I'd like to try my odds on another $16 ticket at the OTHER Marcus theater I usually go to OR an older AMC theater for a $9 ticket at a fading county mall I don't go to.

But dare I... save money and just wait for an April(?) Japanese BD release/torrent to see it again at home? And might it just be one too much a viewing of Heaven's Feel if I'll be re-watching a few times over at home anyway?

A first-world problem among first-world problems.

[warellis]

The movie theater I was going to see it at got closed 5 days ago. I was going to see it tomorrow.

[Miko]

Honestly can't believe it's over. Seems like an eternity since the movies were announced way back when (2014?). These movies always get me so nostalgic and sentimental; takes me right back to the time when I played the visual novel. I really need to reread it but its such a huge time commitment.

As for the movies, overall I personally loved them. But honestly, I'm not sure how any secondaries could be expected to understand this last one especially. All the shit with the Third Magic and everything; sure, all the pieces were there for them to understand but I would imagine the vast majority would be scratching their heads at the ending. I know the friend I went with was until I explained it to them.

In the end though, I don't know if much more can be expected of an anime adaptation. Sure, they could have had an extra movie and spaced everything out more and added explanations, but the normies that go in wanting it jam packed with action wouldn't like that. In the end, nothing can change the fact that if someone wants to experience the story in its best form, the visual novel is the way to go. These movies were lovely and I am very grateful to ufotable, Aimer, Yuki Kajiura, etc., in that I personally can get a lot of enjoyment out of them because I can fill in any of the blanks with knowledge from the original. But if I went in having only seen the anime adaptations I don't think I would have a good opinion of the story of Heaven's Feel as a route, and I think that's a huge shame because we all know most people will be experiencing it through these movies. I guess it's nothing to get down over, though.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Honestly, Aniplex should have seen this shit coming with greater coronavirus restrictions and closing down movie theaters. All I can say is, consider putting it up on a streaming site behind a paywall. It will just be safer and potentially more profitable in the current situation. Most sane people don't want to risk it.

[Kratosirving]

The problem with that approach though is that it only takes one person to just record it from however the streaming would go, and boom it's out there in decent/good quality and jacking them of their $$$ for the eventual Blu-ray release. I'd agree with you otherwise, but that approach was a long shot.