I’ll say, tentatively, that “Heaven’s Feel” (or “Heavens Feel,” whichever you prefer) might’ve been my favorite of Fate’s three routes. It’s almost certainly the darkest; I read somewhere, I think in the comments to IKnight’s post, that horror is Nasu’s strength, and I can believe it. Where “Unlimited Blade Works” throws the characters into a worst-case scenario, “Heaven’s Feel” strips them down until they’re worst-case scenarios themselves, defective and startlingly human iterations of the characters we’ve come to know. And while Rin is undoubtedly mai waifu, as it were, I found Sakura to be the most engaging of the love interests.

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Hoo man. “Unlimited Blade Works” was intense, and that’s considering my prior knowledge of the massive twist toward the end. I got the impression that ol’ Nasu was toying around with the absolute worst-case scenario he could think of — so much so that the protagonists’ methods of victory started to feel like deus ex machinae in light of their horrible circumstances. But I didn’t really mind. I was too busy gaping in awe as Rin pulled out some kung fu moves.

Yes, really.

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Have withstood pain to create many posts.

Here, have some more Fate/stay night. I still haven’t scoured the blogs for helpful thoughts on the “Fate” route, but I can at least make some notes on my progress through “Unlimited Blade Works” — can and should, before I forget everything. Windows Update and my own carelessness conspired to do away with a few of my screencaps, but I think I can wing it well enough through those points.

Also: spoilers well beyond the scope of the anime.

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That’s the Fate route, mind you, not Fate/stay night proper. I only just started Unlimited Blade Works, so I have quite a ways to go before I can say I’m done. Still, this is probably the last set of annotated screenshots I’ll post before I start digging through the reactions of my esteemed colleagues in earnest.

(It may be worth mentioning that grad school and eventually work will probably prompt me to write more here and less over yonder. These posts are so much easier.)

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Evidently I have a penchant for ignoring this dusty corner of my internet empire (more of an inconsequential fiefdom, really, but hey, we have Samuel Delaney and Paul Kinkaid’s occasional attention) for month-long stretches. You can stop your despairing, however, as I’ve finally gotten far enough into Fate/stay night that it’s hooked me (and hooked me good), and because my memory grows more and more sieve-like as tens of hours of gameplay come and go, it’s in my best interest to keep notes all along.

Incidentally, these are about the prologue (past this point), which happens to be sort of long.

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