Shirou Emiya made his choice: to keep fighting, and to protect Sakura Matou. Due to the participation of Zouken Matou in the Holy Grail War, and his summoning of the Servant True Assassin, things begin to distort, steadily worsening day by day. Resolved to protect Sakura and not betray her, Shirou refuses to leave the battle. While Sakura worries about Shirou, she also finds herself entangled in her own fate as a mage. However, their fervent wishes are about to be crushed by the mysterious black shadow that covers the city, killing Masters and Servants one by one…
Review
The Heaven’s Feel story line of the Fate/Stay world continues to move down a dark and twisted path. The second of 3 films shortly titled lost butterfly is in reference to the slow decent into madness of Sakura Matou. The world of mages has always been a dark one. Each out to do what is best for themselves. The black shadow continues to kill and take control of any servant it touches. Saber is no longer on their side. Even archer, both of them, lose their battles with the entity as well. This leads to Shirou getting his arm but why and how ill leave you to see by watching the film.
ufotable returns to animate the film. The visuals are stunning as we have come to expect of ufotable. My favorites are the battle scene with saber and berserker, and the battle between the entity and archer. Both of them required me to go back and watch several times. Things began to drift into an uncomfortable place when Sakura’s brother got involved. The scene in question, was almost enough for me to skip or stop watching further. The show has never shyed away from gore or gruesome fates. But this one just felt like it served no real purpose to the overall story.
So lets talk about the special features and extra you get with the limited edition. Firstly you get the film on blu-ray and the soundtrack on dvd. These are wrapped in three key visuals for the DVD case. You will also get a soft cover animation material book. Go behind the scenes with Q&A and visuals from the creators behind the film. Lastly you will receive an art book in hard cover. Inside are stunning stills of our key characters and locations from the film and more beyond the film. While supplies last, there is also a promo card for the Weiss card game.
Overall lost butterfly feels like the middle movie to a trilogy that it is. It neither has the great build up at the start or the roaring finale. We do get left with a pretty big cliffhanger, knowing it leads into the final film. If you are a fan of the Fate series, or just the stunning animation from ufotable, this is another solid entry into the Fate franchise. Not my favorite, the first film still out does this one.
You can pickup your copy of Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel II. lost butterfly over at RightStuf Anime.
