Finally, finally, finally! The final installment of the Heaven’s Feel route, arguably the best route of Fate/stay night.

As a long-time Fate fan (minus the Visual Novel, bite me), I inevitably spoiled parts of the Heaven’s Feel trilogy for myself, long before Ufotable announced an adaptation. That being said, the last time I watched a Fate/stay night series was back in 2019, and I’ve forgotten most of the story that transpired in the first and second installment of the trilogy.

Hence, here are my two cents for those who want to watch Heaven’s Feel - III. Spring Song: re-watch the first and second movie in the trilogy. This trilogy is so much better binged, as one would be more emotionally connected to the characters and better understand the struggles they face in Heaven’s Feel - III. Spring Song.

From this point on, let me proclaim that this review would have some spoilers.

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Ufotable

While you’re not looking, Ufotable can probably deploy a pro-money EX rank Reality Marble to create unlimited budget productions complete with god-level art, convincing sound effects and attention-grabbing voice acting. For those uninitiated, Ufotable is the studio that animated Kimetsu no Yaiba and some notable Fate franchise series like Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works and Fate/Zero.

It is therefore not a stretch to say that this movie was artful. This time, there was not much in the way of flashy lights and epic battles like in II. Lost Butterfly; instead, the atmosphere and vital story elements were greatly emphasized.

(Spoilers) For example, when Tohsaka Rin was tossing the Zeltrech Jeweled Sword heirloom to Matou Sakura during their battle, the scene was in slow motion. It emphasized the fact that Rin was throwing away one of her only advantages, especially after a speech about how one sister had to suffer while the other lived a “blessed” life.

(Spoilers) Emiya Shirou’s night scenes, Kotomine Kirei’s church and the Greater Grail’s location were all great examples of amazing atmosphere.

The sound effects in III. Spring Song was top-notch and on-point. You’d find yourself in a super loud scene, only for it to become deafeningly quiet to emphasize something on-screen, like somebody dodging something, or the sound of a blade cutting through flesh, or a scene where someone detects the presence of a Servant.

The voice acting was great. I was already convinced about this after a certain Matou Sakura scene in II. Lost Butterfly ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°), but being able to convey emotions coherent with the struggles of the character is powerful when capturing attention from the viewers.

Type-Moon Story

Here are some gripes I had for the story illustrated by the movie (spoilers):

1. Artoria was able to easily mana burst her way out of Medusa’s Mystic Eyes of Petrification. These were Jewel-ranked Mystic Eyes that are so excessively powerful that required sealing so that she doesn’t just petrify random folk on the street, or, in the worst case scenario, her own master. While Artoria had A++ mana, she had already started the petrification process - there shouldn’t be a way to stop this effect. I almost uttered “what the heck” out loud when I saw this;
2. Medusa was no longer able to use Mystic Eyes of Petrification afterwards, despite having her eyes open;
3. The time allocated to explain the power of Nine Lives Blade Works was way too short. In other routes, the full-blown Archer was unable to take all nine lives of Hercules, but somehow, in III. Spring Song, a Shirou with an Archer arm manages to do so with a few swings. While I understand Shirou’s internal daydream with Archer as he utilizes Archer’s arms (he surpasses Archer temporarily), Hercules is a beast of a Servant and shouldn’t be so easily defeated;
4. Why did it take so long to get the key of the Holy Grail? Where’s Sakura during all that?;
5. Illyasviel von Einzbern succumbed way too quickly to Emiya Shirou’s Harem Protagonist EX skill;
6. What motivation did Kotomine Kirei have when he helped Emiya Shirou? Was it just curiosity?;
7. Seems way too convenient that Zabinya only works on very particular hearts, which includes the hearts of many people EXCEPT Kotomine Kirei due to some plot-filler involving Gilgamesh being incorruptible.

Having these gripes does not redirect my focus on the best parts of the story though: (i) consequences are real, (ii) inner struggles are real and should never be undermined.

(Spoilers) The trilogy depicts the True End for the Heaven’s Feel route. In this ending, Illyasviel uses the Third Magic (guess the name of this magic, it’s in the title) to save Shirou’s soul, which completely dissociates him from his body. With the help of Touko Aozaki, another character in the Nasuverse, his soul is placed into a doll and the crew live happily ever after with no revives. Shirou doesn’t get revived with his real body, the Matou family is dead, and sadly, Illyasviel doesn’t come back. Consequences are mostly actually consequences, which makes the ending more satisfying.

(Spoilers) The entire trilogy is about inner struggles, especially revolving about Shirou’s aspirations to become an Ally of Justice vs saving Sakura, an enemy of Justice.

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Conclusion

If the spoilers haven’t driven you away from watching the movie, you should most definitely give the entire trilogy a shot. Despite some problems with the story, I love the Fate franchise too much to pick on the technicalities based on my vastly useless knowledge from the TypeMoon Wikia.

While Ufotable has an unbeatable EX rank pro-money Reality Marble for a Noble Phantasm, you should still watch Fate/stay night Movie Heaven’s Feel III. Spring Song from your local cinema ; good anime should always be appreciated as an investment for even better anime in the future!

Happy Coding

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