Soma Taozi wrote:I have never read/played the visual novel and perhaps that is why I am enjoying UBW more than those who have. I often see people who have gone through the source material disliking the adaption, despite how I fail to see how any of this material will ever get a better one. Seriously, this is ufotable we are talking about...I feel a lot of people need to remember how lucky the Fate franchise is! If half the manga I was into got this kind of treatment, I would have a heart-attack. Seriously...why are Fate fans so spoiled? ;P
Maybe you are right Sonic, maybe this material isn't suited for anime...but I don't agree with that, considering how I am enjoying the show to the fullest (and am by far not the only one). Not saying popularity equates to quality, but there is a lot to like about UBW.
I think it's "okay" as an anime but not much more than that. It's just that it's nowhere near as great as the VN
(or in this case, the UBW route of the VN) in my opinion and Fate Stay Night VN is one of my personal most favorite media that I've consumed, so I would expect quite a bit from the show. The relative problems of the previous Stay Night adaptations are also why I'm mentioning this, as this is the third adaptation attempt at it. Of course, I'm also of the opinion that the original anime is better but it had its fair of issues as well.
I'm also comparing it to similar shows like Fate Zero and Kara no Kyoukai, both of which are ufotable-made Nasuverse anime adaptations that I thought was great. I guess I was expecting something better from ufotable. Perhaps they did as best as they could with the source material, which was why I'm beginning to think the source material is the weak point
(from a conversion perspective) as they have stuck really close to it. I think a lot of nuance and characterization on Shirou is lost without his monologues, and I think it makes him a lot less interesting to watch as a lead. They are also other things like what Raikoh mentioned earlier in the thread about the diffetent possible interpretations of Shinji being lost.
But at the end of the day, it is Fate. I'll watch it regardless of good or bad as it is one of my favorite IPs. If it was something else, I probably would have dropped it show by now. This is also not to say that I'm not glad the anime was made, as grading a show's content and being glad it was made are two seperate issues.
Soma Taozi wrote:Oh and on a different note, they used the Emiya theme this episode. I have no idea what that OST is, but a lot of people were excited about it and were freaking out, so I guess that somehow makes the show better? Seriously, the number of people I have seen complaining about the lack of the VN ost makes me wonder if it is the greatest music ever compiled. But then this is the Fate franchise...so every little thing is hyped to the utmost.
Personally, I don't think they need to use any music from the VN
(save for Emiya, which I think is ubiquitous with a few scenes). The VN's music was good for the most part but it can be replaced by something if it's better.
The issue I have with UBW-TV's music is that I think it's terrible. I don't consider myself to be a big critic of music, most of the music I hear in anime is good to my ears and I don't think much more than that but UBW-TV is probably one of the few exceptions that I have experienced. I'll even go as far as saying that the background music pulls down the experience considerably for me and may be the biggest possible weakpoint of the adaptation of what is otherwise a show with high quality production values in other areas like animation.
The original Fate anime mostly used new background music and I thought it was pretty much made the right decisions on those areas. Even years later, I can still remember some of those original tunes. Both the VN and the original anime used great music in my opinion
(can't remember how I felt about UBW-Movie's), and I just don't think UBW-TV's quality comes even close to that. Fate Zero's music was quite good as well.
UBW-TV's OPs are decent but unfortunately they're also not part of the main music experience as they exist out of the show for the most part. The EDs are not good in my opinion save for the one they use at the end of Ilya's death episode. These can be important to the enjoyment to some extent but not as important as the music that plays during the show.
Destiny_Gundam wrote:A big factor is probably the scenes particular pieces accompanied. If it's a song that played during a super awesome or emotional scene, it's going to stand out more.
Yeah, I would agree with this. Emiya is a good song but it is when it's combined with specific scenes does it become legendary. I also thought the actual music fits the themes scenes quite well, especially Shirou's projection efforts and his will for his ideal.
It has also sort of became my favorite comeback song over time. The song is nicely named as it symbolizes him, his persistence and preserverence quite well.
It reminds me a little of Metal Gear Rising Revengence's Boss themes. They are decent songs by themselves but they become great when inserted into their specific individual battles.