#studio ufotable

Out of the three separate story routes of the visual novel. Heaven’s Feel is the one that feels the most separate and unique of them. While both Fate and Unlimited Blade Works have their own themes and ideas and focus on two separate female heroines, they also cover similar story beats. In a sense, both feel like they are two sides of a single coin. Heaven’s Feel, however, is far different and remains the longest, darkest and most in-depth out of all the chapters of Fate Stay Night, and the plot wildly diverges from the simple Holy Grail conflict of both Fate and Blade Works.

Yet, a full review and reflection upon Heaven’s Feel is almost impossible now, because unless you have read either the visual novel or a summary of it, there just isn’t enough in the first installment to really dig into. As beautiful as Presage Flower is, as much as I enjoyed it, it is mostly a movie focused on setting up what is going to happen in the next two installments, so Presage Flower can feel almost like a glorified preview of what is to come. Aside from one of two moments in the middle, and the admittedly gut-wrenching and excellent ending, there just isn’t really much in Presage Flower.

Sakura Matou, the heroine of the Heaven’s Feel route is a character who, up until now, has been wildly underused in the Fate Franchise. A supporting character in the 2006 anime, and pretty much a glorified extra in the adaptation of Unlimited Blade Works with a few cameos in the other spin-offs. Sakura Matou has not yet had her chance to shine and while Presage Flower does excellent work in preparing us for what is to come, it is still preparation and I found myself wanting to just get into the amazing moments that I know are coming.

Furthermore, Presage Flower is not a film for someone new to the Fate Franchise as it skips almost the entire introduction events shared by the previous installments and instead drops you right into the action. Now while that’s respectful to the fandom to not tread over familiar ground, since both Presage Flower and Blade Works are done by Studio Ufotable, and therefore they have already shown you the intro chapter. This is something I would absolutely not show someone who wasn’t already very familiar with the Fate Franchise, as they would be confused right out of the gate.

And honestly? That’s all I can really say. I’d love to go more in depth, but Presage Flower just doesn’t give us that opportunity. Everything that is going to happen, the revelations of Sakura, the actions of Rin and Archer, the fate of Saber, the path of Illya and the choices of Shirou is all stuff we are still waiting for, stuff that I hope that the second installment: Lost Butterfly wastes no time getting right into.