Note: This review has MAJOR spoilers for both seasons of Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works.

Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works is indeed one of the most popular anime along with the others. It is a crucial series since people like to recommend it over DEEN’s poorly animated F/S N to be the introduction to the Fate franchise. As Ufotable continued to kill it with remarkable sequence and animation, the fans were incredibly hyped and craved for more paths. However, things are without its flaw and to me, I could say that this route seriously disappoints me.

There are two main flaws that I have a problem with. One thing that many negative reviews criticize about UBW, and I wholeheartedly agreed with, is how UBW lacks proper characterization. For the whole two seasons, we barely get to understand what is in the character’s mind. Yes, there is quite a bunch of flashbacks, but that's mostly just explaining “what” happened, we barely get any “why” this happened.

Let's take Emiya Shirou as an example. I think he is the one who, "gets characterized", the most, showing the ten-year-ago flashback episodes after episodes. He certainly has a complex personality, but UBW painted him as the guy who believes in himself and kept arguing. This is why everyone viewed Shirou as a bothersome protagonist, at least in my viewpoint. He wants to save everyone, but anybody who watched this season will go like this:

“What? That’s bullshit, what was he thinking??”
“This protagonist is so bad”
“Archer is fuckin based”.

Is there any reason behind Shirou’s willingness to save everyone? Well, maybe, but it never capitalizes it! (Or never actually explain why) This is only Shirou; Archer is not any different even though he is spitting facts, but it’s clear that he is just depressed and pessimistic.

What I understand from this second season is that the focus is the contrast of ideology between Archer and Shirou. While this is very interesting, the result you get from this is somehow… underwhelming? Think of this, have you ever argued with people on Twitter? Because that is what happened for the quarter of the season. The argument circled only a few main points, and it never intersects with each other. It is also very frustrating to listen to the same thing over and over, like, I know Shirou want to save everyone, can you please stop repeating it.

This is worse when you think that this section is somehow longer than Illya and berserker's flashback. Illya is quite an interesting character. She mysteriously introduced herself out of nowhere, battled with Saber, refused to elaborate and left the scene. But after that, she is gone, like, completely gone for a whole season and when she’s back, she’s already fucking dead. It is sad, the flashback isn’t even satisfied me, and her death is way too brutal to look at. I hope that we could get a better characterization of her in Heaven’s Feel.

This leads to another main problem with Unlimited Blade Works, which is how death in UBW is very frail. This problem exists since the first season, but it is not as blatant as now. Maybe Type-Moon intended to make it like this, but there’s barely any time to look back and reflect on each death.

Rider? Barely appears on the screen, and died! That is unfortunate.
Lancer? Just when things get interesting, he gets ordered to kill himself... Just why?
Not to mention Illya and Berserker. My girl appears for like half an hour in season one and die right after.

Even Higurashi When they cry, a series that is notable for being a massacre, has a lot more tension and meaning behind each death. I know that this is not a perfect way to describe this, but you get my main point.

[DEEN F S/N + UBW ss2 spoilers]

With those two problems eliminated, it would have been a great series. It seems like it cannot be a big deal, but trust me, they may have to rewrite the entire thing if they want to fix this series. It isn't like I am not invested in the story either. I like the Fate series. Everything at first is so mysterious. But as you watch, you get to know each character's wish of getting the holy grail and what to sacrifice to get it. The soundtrack is not that bad. Even though I prefer DEEN's soundtrack, which is more hollowing, UBW has its charm. The animation is PHENOMENAL, especially the sequence in the "Last Stardust" scene, which has to be one of my favourite action sequences of all time. My reaction would be the same as Saber in the fight.

To conclude, Fate Stay/Night: UBW give out an interesting contrasting view of Archer and Shirou, but unfortunately fails on characterization and too many pointless deaths. This damaged the whole series a lot for me, my interest in the story has diminished, and Shirou is now so annoying. However, I am not giving up on this series and Shirou. He may be lightheaded, but he is the bone of his sword. Steel is his body, and fire is his blood. He may have created over a thousand blades, unknown to death nor known to life, and have withstood pain to create many weapons, yet those hands shall never hold anything.

With that being said, he pray: UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS.

See you in Heaven's Feels.