[Hello. I'm back to give my dues to one of the routes I feel that back when it was released, did not pay proper credit due to my lack of appreciation for it back in the day. The newly released movie series of HF, as well as a change of perspective and thinking, has made me want to write this down. Will try to keep it spoiler free, but there might be one or two, so ye be warned. The statements contained herein are, as with most forum musings, my personal opinion or interpretation.]
Back when I finally got around playing Fate/Stay Night about 9 years ago, it was a experience like none other, which has probably conditioned my tastes for media and characters for the longest time. If I had to mention my "top 5" media series that did define my me during my formative eyars, Fate is there. I remember sitting on my old lappy's desk, devouring the back then unofficial translation available like no tomorrow, the hours reading upon the revered "Moon-rune interpreters" musings and ramblings trying to make sense of the Nasuverse and enjoying every second of it.
It started you off with "Fate", which can be regarded as the baby steps route for both the player and Shirou. Here, Shirou and through him, you, begin your delve into the Nasuverse if you haven't consumed any of the prior works of Kinoko Nasu. After Rin's in medias res, you see how he slowly but surely makes progress as he wades head first into the Magus' hidden society, rules and Grail War with the assistance of his fated companion, the Servant Saber, one of his main pillars of support in combat, wisdom, and romance. It's a well told and well structured classic hero's journey which, although with its fair share of tragic moments and difficult situations, remains mostly upbeat and through adversity, both Shirou and Saber attain albeit not their desired outcome one that's better than how they began. It's the most balanced route in how it mixes happy slice-of-life moments with all out Heroic Spirit slugfests without lingering for too long in one or the other, and again, although there's adversity, there's little loss of hope and in the end almost nobody ends worse-off than they started out, so it's all good.
Except, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered, like, who's that guy in the red robes Rin summoned? What was the deal with that Kotomine guy besides having a cool-as-heck voice and being the obviously evil minister of the Church? What's the deal with Emiya and swords, and with his personality? Most importantly, do I get to date that awesome and cute as a button girl who wears red and has an A+ rank in Zettai Ryouiki?
Unlimited Blade Works is the answer to some of these questions, as well as a continuation of the hero's journey that begins in Fate, where Shirou was left at the threshold of change, but remaining mostly the same at the end. While still supported by the awesome as always Saber, he gains a new companion in the strong-willed, skilled yet feminine Rin Tohsaka, as well as a mysterious friend and enemy in her Servant, Archer. Here the focus is clearly on the conflict between Servants, as well as Shirou's own struggle with himself and his past and future tribulations. Here is where the hero's journey goes full cycle, where Emiya Shirou reaches his nadir yet with the help of his mentors and allies and goes through death and rebirth, a great battle where he finally attains the revelation of the truth that was hinted in Fate and emerges as a result at the peak of skill and prowess, ready for a climatic ending where he overcomes the adversary that back in Fate nearly destroyed him in what can be defined as Emiya Shirou's finest hour, overcoming his past self's failures and accomplishing what he couldn't in Fate.
After this, where could the story possibly go? Emiya Shirou has gone full circle, having obtained the eponymous gift from his arduous journey and standing at his peak, with at least 1 partner and potentially 2.
And, that's why Heaven's Feel is possibly the hardest pill to swallow. After seeing Shirou standing in triumph time and time again, this route feels grim, like the slave whose duty was to remind the triumphant generals of Rome "memento mori". You too, can die.
One of the few first things in order is to remove one of his strongest pillars of support, Saber. Back in UBW, even if due to events that transpire is no longer his Servant, she remains doggedly loyal to him and helpful as a mentor and teacher. In fact, when she's the witness of Shirou's duel, one might as well think of her like a teacher who's overseeing her favored pupil. And poof, she's gone. Not with a bang, nor a heroic sacrifice. Shirou doesn't even get to see what could be her last moments, just his Command Spells vanishing. Now, he must battle the threat that's the Grail War with almost no guidance.
And this is where Sakura also features. Sakura is an important character, for many reasons. While her quality overall as a character and some of her decisions can be called into question, what cannot is how she stands out from all the female characters introduced so far by Kinoko Nasu and Takeuchi. Saber, Rin, even Taiga amongst many others, even if sometimes faced with situations where they occasionally need help, can more than enough fare for themselves without help. Shirou, in both routes, is in a position where a partnership with these characters act as a springboard for him, where ironically, even though he wants to be a Hero of Justice, he ends up more often than not having his bacon saved by his countless mentors.
Sakura is not in a position to be Shirou's mentor. She's not fighting fit. She lacks the mental clarity, emotional stability, financial resources or any sort of skill besides mundane ones that could make her useful in the frontlines of the Grail War that any of her predecessors had. She is even introduced as Shirou's underclassman, and makes a point of calling him "senpai", instead of Emiya-kun or Shirou like the prior 2 partners did. Furthermore, she is not only not an asset, but she is desperately in need of help. This change makes her an anomaly, as far as female characters in this story go, and it's without a doubt something that makes this character's inclusion into the series a highly controversial one. It's, seemingly, a classic "damsel in distress" situation.
And it makes everything very different from the other routes.
The fact that Emiya Shirou, tutorless, finds this person who is not only far from combat capable but in dire need of assistance, forces him to make serious moral choices, and most importantly, finds himself with a problem he cannot swing his swords at. In prior routes, despite mentions of his Ideal of heroism as broken, it actually almost never became an issue for him. At end's day, without doubt, he'd be able to use his powers one way or another and as long as he stuck to his guns and didn't give up, he'd eventually reach a conclusion satisfactory for everyone (even his mortal enemies themselves would come to accept his strength). Sakura and her issues are a problem Shirou's powers are not a help to solve. Directly applied force against a suitable enemy that is diametrically opposed to Shirou's values is no longer the way to go, doubly so with Saber gone.
I think it's a rather interesting use of the damsel in distress. Rather than being a force for positive change as portrayed usually in media, here we're shown a crude, unusually realistic side of it; namely, how hard it is to help someone going through in their life. Unlike Rin, who was stoic and acted based on reason, Sakura often acts counter to her own interests, in unpredictable ways that often make the situation worse for her and everyone involved in the route. She refuses to ask for help when it would be reasonable to do so, cannot communicate her needs or wants in a proper way and unlike Saber or Rin, again, has zero combat ability when it counts. Back in the day, this was why a lot of posters, myself included, did not like her character and enjoyed bashing on her and her fans unapologetically. Now, with time, I do realize that Fate/Heaven's Feel is a very different sort of story from the others.
Fate and UBW have already given you the "climax". Stories of heroism and success through adversity. Heaven's Feel is a far more human story; one where Shirou's mettle is tested, not as a hero, but as a human who has to deal with other people who respond in profoundly human ways. The route makes a point of letting us know this isn't a hero's journey anymore, as all the classic elements are removed one by one: the Gandalf-like mentor Saber is gone, and Rin has issues of her own that prevent her from fully siding with Shirou until the very end. Furthermore, Shirou's growth, unlike in prior routes, is no longer due to any effort of his own but circumstances outside of his control, and rather than benefit him in tangible ways it runs the risk of destroying him. This trend runs more or less the same for all the main players in the Route, even ones shown before to have little weaknesses like Rin, who are shown in a very different light than before, with their pasts actively haunting them and determining their actions in decisive ways. Even the worst bastard of all, the guy played to be the biggest asshole in the entire series, Matou Zouken, is shown to be so with a past reason.
Heaven's Feel feels like a very different route, with a different aim: call everything you have seen before into question. It questions Shirou's ideals and role as a protagonist, questions Sakura's second line role, Rin's past, who or what is Illyasviel, Saber's unquestioning loyalty to her ideals and their inherent goodness by turning her into a fear-inspiring tyrant, the Holy Grail ritual, even goes as far as to call into question if "evil" is truly "evil". From an outsider to the Nasuverse's perspective, Fate and UBW feel "right" because they follow the usual heroic archetype, yet when you have read some of Nasu's prior works you realize this route is the most Nasu thing: a route where everything is called into question by its own main players, full of slice of life and of terrible metaphors for sex.
And the answer, as always with Nasu, brings up even more questions, but in the process we see a side of the characters we learnt to love in the prior routes that we otherwise wouldn't have. After the fireworks parade of UBW in Shirou's glory, rather than try to ascend further it goes deeper, into the uncomfortable heart of the matter and showcases in its own climax some of the best scenes the game has to offer, ones where the focus are no longer the characters showcased in the prior routes, but the ones we'd seen as ancillary members of the cast, conditioned to stereotype them in our prior playthroughs of the game shine with light of their own and get people like me to think about storytelling and stuff.
So, the reason why I made this thread was A) to share my thoughts and shine some light into the route and B) to hear you guys opinions on the subject. Also, C), to reminisce about the bad sex scene memes. God, they were awful.
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Originally Posted by LJ3
