THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 AND SEASON 2 OF UBW

"I am the bone of my sword...steel is my body, and fire is my blood...."

It's hard to describe in words how I feel about UBW Season 2. I've always been conflicted with Studio Ufotable for how they manage to always deliver such amazing eye candy and visuals, but the story becoming very hit or miss in most of their works.

To start, it's important to know how hard is to adapt an incredibly large piece such as a Visual Novel without cutting content. Even if other animes can adapt a 100 hour long Visual Novel into an almost perfect masterpiece, Fate focuses mostly on the internal monologues and struggles of the protagonist. Ufotable knew that they had to cut content in order to not make the anime 30 hours long. Unfortunately, the development of the protagonist suffers a painful blow as the viewer struggles to understand his motifs.

Shirou in this show feels weird to describe, in hindsight, he continues to be the stubborn one due to his actions and his inability to give up on his ideals. The chemistry with the characters deteriorating is definitely something well done. Because of the cut monologues, Shirou is left as a stubborn head who makes the viewer think he does what he does just out of stubbornness, not out of resolve. Quotes like "Just because you are correct doesn't mean you are right" is left as something out-of-character and stupid, when in reality it's a turning point for his development.

"...I have created over a thousand blades. Unknown to death.... nor known to life..."

The secondary characters in this show are very hit or miss, and this is intentional in the original route, as developing all characters wouldn't make other routes satisfactory. But even so, Ufotable started adapting the prequel of the Fate series, and some moments needed continuity, leaving some characters unsatisfactorily developed.

Saber is something that wasn't done right by the studio, she gets completely shafted in this route, only existing to help characters and filling the void when her presence is demanded. I understand that the previous route was all about her and her clashing conflict with Shirou, but she does not even reflect a speck of this emotion, rather she is more of a damsel in distress than anything else.

Souchirou and Caster were a solid addition, the implementation of a subplot of Caster being thrown around and not loved by her previous master and finding protection and care in her last moments. Unfortunately, this backstory events happen a few moments before Archer kills them both, definitely leaves more to be desired. Nevertheless, Caster was a prominent threat in the show and I commend the studio from making such good work with her.

Illya and Berserker were a very strong addition to the secondary characters in this anime. Continuing to develop the girl who grew up in solitude, feeling betrayed by her father and abandoned by her mother, used as a tool by the Einzberns to kill the Emiya household. However, similar to Caster's case, her backstory gets brought up minutes before her death, which doesn't help her character much. Nevertheless it's a good step in continuing the mysterious character from the previous anime.

Unfortunately, because this is the second route canonically which they adapt, Kirei was a huge letdown for anime fans of this show. Going from the carefully constructed and well written villain who slowly gives in to his sadistic pleasure for everyone's suffering, to a character which becomes a threat for 10 minutes and then dies. Even if the original route didn't develop him as a main threat, Ufotable could have definitely made more out of him than him telling Rin that he killed her dad.

Archer is definitely the highlight of the show, him reflecting the ideals of a broken individual who became what Kiritsugu feared that Shirou would become is well done. His backstory is well explained over how his ideals ended up betraying him, becoming the scapegoat of the same people he tried to save from their conflicts and his own desire of saving people manifesting into his reality bubble.
Ufotable really put its heart on Archer, his backstory has several new plot-points, unfortunately, some of them are left unexplained, such as him meeting the guardians and his motif to do what he does.
This, combined with the audience not understanding Shirou's mindset completely more than him throwing his life for others, these points are confusing for the viewers.

With that combined, the battle with Shirou and Archer doesn't hit as hard, due to both characters having unexplained points to the viewers, and as previously mentioned, such impactful quotes like the one Shirou mentions don't make the most of sense. Even so, it's still a good adaptation, as it shows Shirou getting psychologically tortured by his natural counterpart, with flaws and all, it's a decent adaptation.

"...have withstood pain to create many weapons..."

The animation continues to be the best thing this anime has to offer. Ufotable maintains the tradition of "Unlimited Budget Works" by delivering such high quality in the form of fight scenes and visuals ahead of its time. Continuing from my reviews, the animation helps a lot in moments to set the mood of the scenes, and this show does it many times without the need of words, very well done.

The score is amazing as well, original tracks from the VN like the popular Emiya's theme were very well remastered. Other tracks like "Sword of Promised Victory", "Into the Night" and "Sorrow" were well put in the anime and helped a lot with the animation and visuals to set a scene. Kudos to the animation and score team, they are the highlight of why I love Ufotable's quality works.

"...yet those hands shall never hold anything."

In conclusion, Ufotable's UBW Season 2 may not be the best in terms of story-telling, due to some additional content not being explained, and cut-content greatly affecting some scenes.
The characters are still a strong point in the show, some characters take the scenery (like Lancer) but some definitely leave more to be desired as it is.
The animation and score is probably the best reason you would want to watch this. Ufotable is known for delivering amazing quality to their shows and this one is no different.

I give this show an 8/10. A downgrade from Season 1, but good nonetheless.

"...so as I pray. UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS!"

Thanks to ok356 for proofreading this review, and also for introducing this show to me!