Unlimited Blade Works

What They Say:
Now that Archer is no longer Rin’s Servant, he is determined to kill Shirou. However, Shirou is not afraid of him. Rin and Saber are willing to do anything to stop Archer!

The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having dealt with the biggest enemy for most of the series so far and freed both of their Servants in the process, it would seem that Shirou and Rin should be in a pretty good place, notwithstanding the threat of the mysterious new Servant Gilgamesh. Archer has no intention of letting things work out that easily, though, taking advantage of his severed bond with Rin to trap her and attempt to kill Shirou, which is what he claims his entire purpose is. Shirou has grown remarkably formidable, but he’s still not enough to take down Archer even with the help of Saber; Archer may be lacking a mana source just as Saber is, but he can sustain himself much more successfully with that handicap. It would take a Servant with a full-fledged Master pact to stop him, and while it may not be the configuration they intended to get back to, there happen to be a very capable mage and a Heroic Spirit in need of such a mage that are more than happy to forge a bond to protect Shirou. Archer is going to take this sitting down, so he says a phrase that you may have said any number of times without knowing what its meaning: Unlimited Blade Works.

We’re taken to another world, a Reality Marble by this familiar name, and the explanations start coming. While the heavy hints begin as soon as we see Unlimited Blade Works, it’s not until shortly after that Rin recounts the visions she’s seen and lets the audience in on what they mean about who Archer is and how she should’ve realized it earlier. This is probably the most important revelation of this route, and those concerned with causality and issues related to the possibility of time travel may find it hard to accept without sufficient explanation. For that I was very pleased with how much detail this adaptation went into in order to convey exactly why this phenomenon makes sense in this universe, and hopefully it allows the reveal to be the fascinating twist it’s meant to be without making people think it’s too farfetched a scenario even for the fantastical.

Even after all that and several scenes indicating that all four main characters know the truth, it’s never actually said explicitly. At this point there’s hardly a chance that anyone could’ve seen all the pieces laid out and not realize what it alluded to without the exact phrase being uttered by a character in the show, but hopefully the only reason to hold off on saying it is that a better opportunity exists in the upcoming showdown that Shirou and Archer have agreed to.

While I appreciate the time dedicated to explaining the intricacies of the startling revelation, the episode as a whole is not without its consistency issues. Various scenes seem to jump into each other without the sense of natural cohesion to form full, well-realized storytelling in this format. Perhaps some missing links exist in the home video versions of the episodes, but it really comes across as incongruity that could’ve been smoothed out with a little more care.

In Summary:
The title of the route finally comes into the story, and with it the big reveal to answer the big question that has been hinted at in some capacity or another throughout the entire series, or at least enough explanation that there should be no ambiguity left regarding it. It can be a hard twist to take, but the proper time is taken to express it in a way that makes sense and fits with everything we’ve seen. There are some jarringly abrupt scene changes, but it’s otherwise strong.

Grade: A-

Streamed By: Crunchyroll

Review Equipment:
Custom-Built PC, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.

Kestrel Swift has been an anime fan since 1999 and has been getting himself deeper into that fandom ever since. Today he is especially passionate about the titles he considers the absolute best. He has been active on the Fandom Post since it started in 2011 (you may know him as GingaDaiuchuu on the forums) and began writing for it the next year. He has been one of the only constant members of the site’s podcast, Fandom Post Radio (also available on iTunes, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Twitter, and Facebook), since it started in 2017.

Kestrel Swift – who has written 636 posts on The Fandom Post.

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