The grand finale of Type-Moon’s 50+ hour epic is not quite what one would expect. Coming after the dramatic battle of ideals in Unlimited Blade Works and the story of the fallen warrior and the king of heroes in Fate, it’s hard to imagine what kind of climax could do justice to the buildup.
Thankfully, Heavens Feel fills those shoes with ease.
In retrospect, though, there was something more to my enjoyment of the story than the simple fact that it ’s a well-written conclusion. It touched me emotionally in a way that no Type-Moon work has. It’s hard to define it with a word, but there was something in particular that resonated with me in HF, something that has little to do with filling in the back story and tying in the themes. It’s the one thing that makes visual novels hit or miss, the often deciding factor that draws the line between melodramatic and heart-wrenching. It’s the difference between observing Shirou’s struggle as a fly on the wall and observing it as a participant.
Matou Sakura, the shy but kindhearted student who finds joy in making her senpai smile.
Matou Sakura, the broken heir to the Makiri family and the plaything of a twisted magus.
Matou Sakura is both of these things, and her story is a punch to the gut because of it. Had she begun as a victim, it would have been simple: after all, Type-Moon stories are known for their unorthodox choice of haremettes. We can only guess at how many humans Saber was forced to kill, but both Shirou and the viewer are forced to accept this from the beginning. Saber was always wounded on some level, but we know that she’s a heroic spirit with an admirable amount of honour, so we place her on a pedestal.
And along the same lines, if Sakura were made a victim only as the story progressed, her tragedy would not have been as cruel. Innocents are hurt throughout the game – the coma victims at school, Issei’s family, the shadow’s prey. Pain as a result of the Holy Grail War is acceptable, somehow. It feels, both to Shirou and to us, as something that we simply must fight against. It feels like something that can be stopped if we keep fighting.
But nothing can change the past. Nothing can change a victim who was broken 11 years ago.
This is where opinions may start to diverge. Those who found Sakura ordinary may view her “development” through merely sympathetic eyes; others who found her boring may simply not care. Luckily (or unluckily) for me, I felt in sync with Shirou for the first time, echoing his thoughts as he spoke them. Sakura had always been around, drifting from conversation to conversation, appearing in the occasional picture on the internet. She had always seemed mildly attractive and potentially interesting, but I never gave her much thought.
Or rather, I never gave her much thought until the game forced me to.
In a word, the pacing was perfect. The ordinary days of exposition and planning with Rin, with a light sprinkling of foreshadowing scattered on top, quickly led into the development of feelings between Shirou and his kouhai. Their ordinary conversations became slightly more than ordinary, finding beauty in the most mundane tasks. I was right there with him as he saw Sakura in her plain clothes for the first time, as she clung to his neck, half asleep. The developing love story was just like any visual novel, filled with the romanticized bliss of everyday life.
But as we now know, it wasn’t long before that bliss led to an unfortunate discovery….
In essence, the destruction of Sakura’s pure image is the main catalyst of the route. Like in a Shakespearean play, the climax is in Act 3 – the moment we realize that Sakura is broken and that her scars run deeper than even the protagonist can reach, the ending becomes inevitable. Along with Shirou, the viewer is forced to come to terms with the fact that the ending will not be pretty, and that we’ll be forced to compromise something if we want to heal her incurable wounds.
On the flip side, Sakura’s role in the story is to force Shirou to rethink everything. As the wiki attests to, the three routes represent Shirou’s growth, meaning that his ultimate fate is to compromise his ideal in the name of something more important. The two years of bliss he shared with Sakura were enough to change his heart, to make him realize that happiness exists in the world. When the time came to choose between the girl and the world, he realized that killing his loved one would be a worse crime than sacrifice the innocents… and by finding something tangible to protect, he overcame his guilt of 10 years and found his sense of self.
One of the many examples of how the route forces the viewer into Shirou’s shoes, moreso than the average visual novel
If Fate was the exposition that introduces us to the Holy Grail War and the meaning of the word “hero,” and if Unlimited Blade Works was the dramatic conclusion in which Shirou fights against the embodiment of reality in defense of his selfless ideal, then Heavens Feel is without a doubt the hopeless downward spiral that throws everything we thought we knew into the abyss. Fate/stay night is a story that begins with the beginning, develops with the climax, and concludes with the true climax.
In HF, much like Shirou, the viewer is forced to acknowledge the cruelty behind the Holy Grail War. We are forced to cast aside our admiration for Saber as a perfect warrior, we lose our ability to pin the blame on characters like Kirei and even Shinji… and in the end, we must recognize that beliefs and ideals pale in the face of true happiness. Shirou’s affection for Sakura was enough to make him throw everything away, to make him – the person who shouldn’t be alive – consciously choose to sacrifice the lives of others. However, instead of using his self-sacrificing nature in defense of the world, he uses it in defense of the most important person to him. It’s a 20 hour journey to reveal a simple truth: there are things in life that give us happiness, and in order to have some semblance of a human life, we must protect these things at the cost of all else.
In this manner, Heavens Feel leaves the last word on what it means to be a Hero. In the beginning, a Hero was a selfless warrior like Saber who fought in the name of others. In the middle, a Hero was a person who stood by their ideals until the very end, fighting against the cruelty of reality.
But in the end, a Hero is merely a person who resolutely defends the most important person to them. This is the truth that Shirou found when he killed Saber’s shadow and attempted to sacrifice himself, the truth that he found by taming Archer’s projection and mastering it despite the pain. As much as his future self tortured him, with his body of swords threatening to punish him for his betrayal, his burning desire to save his loved one triumphed.
The interesting thing about the concluding route is that the events are lined up perfectly to force our protagonist to regain his sense of self. Indeed, Shirou was a magus with the ability to “project” his mind into the real world; and when he found a person who he wanted to protect above all else, his determination set him free from the shackles of his past and allowed him to attain the happiness that his master threw away. His ideal was broken by his love for a broken girl in a broken world, but when his priorities forced him into action, he was rewarded with a happier future than he ever had the self-esteem to desire.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Personally I prefered Unlimited Bladeworks over Heavens Feel but it was in every way superior over Sabers arc wich is pretty standart storytelling.
The part where I am straying from your opinion is that I cant agree with Shirou on throwing away his beliefs and deciding to save sakura instead of looking for the greater good.
Betraying your own beliefs you had your whole life long is for me the greater crime than sacrificing something thats precious to you.Beeing a hero isnt easy and often results in a downward spiral of death and destruction yet its the path he has chosen to walk and he should walk it till the end and not decide halfway through that his own happiness and that of the people around him is of more importance.
I know that this is a rather radical view but in my opinion its important to walk the path youve chosen for your life without looking back neither if happiness or disaster awaits you.
This is probably the reason why I am prefering Unlimited Bladeworks over Heavens Feel since its focusing on this part.
My view on Love and the fact that I am not the most social person is probably a big reason why I am writing these words.Its not like I cant understand where your opinion comes from.
Please Note that some stuff might be incorrect since its more than a year that Ive played through F/S N.
It’s interesting that you should say that, because I felt the same way while playing UBW. I had already overheard some spoilers about the game, and I knew about how Shirou matures throughout the three routes, making the “adult” decision in the final route. To be honest, if it weren’t for the realistic portrayal of his change of heart, I probably would have preferred UBW too. And even so, some part of me tells me he made the wrong decision. It’s not because I don’t believe in love, but because it feels like he gave up too easily.
Long story short, I definitely see where you’re coming from. I’m not sure if I’ll ever write a post on it, but I think there will always be part of me that sees Shirou’s battle against Archer in UBW as his defining moment.
That was my problem too. To me it seemed like he had given up. Of course, the irony is that the only time he became a true hero was the time where he had given up on being a hero. Yet somehow, he lost my respect in Heaven’s Feel. I expected him to forge his own path (symbolized by his ability) instead of succumbing to the the choice of Sakura or the world.
Then again, I never did like Sakura. Do I feel bad about her past? Yes. However, I just cannot empathise with her, which was strange, as she is the only Natsuverse heroine where that is true. Of course, now that I think about it, I know what my problem with Sakura is. She never did anything to improve her own situation. She was going down into hell and she simply dragged everyone along with her. She didn’t do anything. She was, to put it simply, a convenient damsel in distress.
To me, the true heroines of HF is Rider, Rin, and Illya. Rider for caring for her master and doing everything she could to save her master. Rin for that kick ass moment where she was able to rival the power of the Holy Grail (which oh so cool. I couldn’t help grinning like an idiot during that part). Illya. Poor, poor Illya. After UBW, everytime I think about her I feel sad. HF didn’t make me feel much better, especially the Happy Ending. I wished there was a route in which we could make her happy.
Really interesting analysis of Heaven’s Feel; I especially agree with you about the development (evolution?) of the story throughout the three routes.
However, I’m a little disappointed that you didn’t really touch on the theme of justice. I believe that the portrayal of “justice” is the key difference between UBW and HF.
When Kiritsugu and Archer each became an “ally of justice,” a “superhero,” what did that entail? Death and despair. The harsh reality is that “justice” is defined by the majority. Killing the few to save the many: that’s justice. Now, is that fair? Killing the weak to save the strong?
UBW Shirou, even though he fully realizes its faults, continues to follow justice. He knows it will result in his own damnation, but he still chases after his ideals, striving towards a world where “everybody can be happy.”
HF Shirou, on the other hand, cannot ignore the damage that justice will cause. Following justice means killing Sakura, and Shirou cannot bear with that. He defies justice so that Sakura can be happy. Fighting against the will of the majority, he is no superhero. In fact, he could even be considered an anti-hero from an outside perspective.
Heaven’s Feel says that it isn’t wrong to go against justice in order to protect those you love; rather, it is the right thing to do. You shouldn’t go blindly following justice or you will end up as nothing more than a soulless tool.
i very much agree, these two arc gives a different veiw on whats right. but depending on your taste and what you grow up on , your veiws will differ. since i grow up in very different way from others i like finding all the good points in each part of life. presonally if i had to chose the happyness of the world or mybeloved , i’ll be torn because should i give up on my heart and soul that will die with my beloved or will i save my beloved and destory everything around me for my heart and soul. its them or me , should i be selfless or be selfish??? in this case be honest if you had to watch the preson who you love more than anyone and any thing esle die in front of you or killed , can you watch? who will you save ?your beloved?, but if you do, you will end up killing innocent people, can you live with it? presonally i would save my beloved and be strong and live with the fact that there were people who die because of my decidsion, because hosestly i don’t know them, i don’t know their dreams or life so i wouldn’t feel much out of their deaths. its like 9/11 how many people still really care about it? they may remember it but how many of them feel or was truly affacted by this??? not that many and because of this not many people care and thats how its always been. something big happens and than it is forgotten over time and thats the course of history. so live for one self and teasure life.do good deeds and take care of yourself. make a diffrence in someones life, and you will know if you save someone or not. this is my justice.
Well done. Well fucking done. I have nothing to say. Brilliant piece that captures the pain and passion behind Heaven’s Feel, and when all’s said and done, I’m glad you truly got it. Welcome to the club, boy: you are now a man.
What I admired about HF most of all, if you asked me, was how Nasu’s a fucking genius in that he subverted the virginity clause; not only did he do that, he also turned that expectation on its head and made it into something else together–never have I ever felt so guilty reading an ero scene such as hers.
Thanks for giving me hope. Hope that, y’know, the rest of the ’sphere won’t be such lazy fucks and actually get around to reading it in its entirety and not in a half-assed manner either. As long as there’s bloggers like you who have the passion and time to craft beautiful posts like these, I’ll be happy.
I’m in awe by how well you managed to capture all the emotions of Heaven’s Feel. True End is indeed true end, and I just hope the rest of the Fate/stay night fandom comes to truly appreciate Nasu’s best and finest.
It’s a shame Japanese’s views on Heaven’s Feel is marred by their obsession with purity (or Sakura’s lack thereof).
I guess everyone prefers the route of his favourite heroine. Mine is Saber, therefore I like Fate’s route the best. I always disliked Sakura and HF didn’t change this feeling.
I pity Sakura for her broken childhood but directing your anger towards innocent people is NOT forgivable. She should have fought against Zoken for her freedom. She could have sought her sister’s or her senpai’s help, instead she chose to keep everything bottled up inside her and then she exploded, giving up to the Shadow.
I also dislike this route because Servants are somehow downgraded here, with Sakura’s Shadow easily swallowing up even the mighty Gilgamesh.
There were of course some good scenes, like everything involving Rider, which is at her best here. I also liked Dark Saber’s death scene, very emotional. Not to mention the hilarious “mapo tofu” scene with Kirei!
Oh man, the tofu scene was hilarious. I could never look at Kirei the same way afterward XD
To address your point, though, it’s true that people naturally prefer the route of their favourite character. I think one of the main reasons that Sakura kept things bottled up and never fought back is because she was tortured from such a young age. I’m no expert on psychology, but it’s like those stories of child abuse you hear about on the news or in textbooks. It damages the person’s self-confidence, or something like that. Her decision to hurt innocent people was definitely wrong, but considering that she was treated as an toy by her family during her most impressionable years, I can’t say that I blame her.
@ robotization: Well said! I have nothing to add to that. The concept of “justice” is fairly similar to the themes I talked about, but still, I think you hit the nail on the head there. It’s a nice way of describing his change of heart.
@ Owen: I-It’s not like I wrote this for you or anything! But… um, well… I’m glad you like it. :3
@ Aorii: Is that really the case in Japan? It’s a shame, because I think her lack of purity was a huge part of what made the route good. I can see why a person wouldn’t want rape and abuse in a typical fluffy nukige, but it does nothing but add to the story here. Well, I guess it’s their loss.
well to say the truth i think each story or arc has its important. each arc interconnect to one another and gives me a greater understanding of it as a whole. fate was sweet because Shirou save saber from becoming a heoric spirit. in ubw he learns about how his own ideals will form to make archer and how much it makes his furture self suffer and hate those ideals. and finally in heaven feels he is free and learns of himself. the thing all of you have to realize is that though out the whole game , the one thing that every one around him has try to do is free his soul from the guilt and make him happy. rin herself realized this and try to save him, but she fail but sakura didn’t , a girl who is broken and save a detored soul. and thats where i stand, i believe each arc has it beatuy and i think that they are all very well done.
I’d agree with you ‘Jing’
I like Fate route the best no matter what, it just for UBW route i don’t think relationship between shirou and rin is love, for shirounSakura i don’t think they suit as Ilya said in HF. Actually the only pair that Ilya likes is Saber/Shirou, and Fate route is the only route that Saber can be save, i bet everyone wants her to become happy at least once in her live(truly happy means not by someone else safetyness, her only true happiness)
And the true route of FSN actually Fate route not just by the name but the true origin of FSN is Fate route story and also the true end is FSN RN^^
well, good entry. I like to see another Fate Stay Night around.
Heaven Feel is really a good route, I think it ’s the best in character development, stories and themes in the three route. The way the character wrote the dramatic development of Shirou is impressive, and about Kirei, he has really become my favourite character in Naruverses. However, I can’t help but feel very ANGRY at the end of the route, the so called Good End. (Or true end, whatever).
I just cannot forgive Sakura. Oh Yeah, You killed a lot of people and then you are still loved. I don’t like the way they (Shirou, Sakura) could live so happy after the mess they had. Those people are to die because they’re just some “number”, some details in a game, but they are people with their hope and dream, and the murderer could not be forgiven so easily. I got all the bad end involving trying to kill Sakura (is this really a bad end or the author always makes it become bad ends. Screw him!) She really got on my nerves, sometime I became so angry that I call her a psychobitch, (yes I know about her miserable childhood) the same to Shirou, and I must say I hate her very much and hate seeing her happy very much. What kind of justice is that? What kind of justice is for those people who died for some stupid war they don’t even know about ? Like in Boogiepop, “they are not even victims, they’re just at the wrong place at the wrong time” The Good End makes those death seams nothing more than a convenient plot details. And I like the Normal Ends more, because she really had some punishment and ..yes, she’s not happy.
in Kara no Kyoukai, they once said that “Killing a person means killing yourself” , that’s why the Good End makes me so angry. IF she could show some serious remorse (not just some “mentioned” the author throws in at the end of the story), she could gain some of my respect. The same to Shirou, he’s really annoying.
If I was a person in this town, if my friends and families died for this stupid reason, and if I know the murderer, I would definitely go to Emiya house and kill her with the most miserable way. Or at least dying while trying to do so. She got a servant and a magi by her side, after all.
Well, I think I sound so crazy here, but to sum up, Heaven Feel is really a wonderful route, because it could make me think about it so much. The only reason I hate it is Sakura. Not only hate her, I think I could not stand her very existence – or the kind of person like her. I hate the way the story make Death Sounds So Cheap. Fate stay night is great, Heaven feel is great, but Sakura, she does really make me sick
The thing is, Sakura never killed anyone (well, excluding Shinji and Zouken). Zouken did. It’s just that he used her body and her powers to do it. She bears little, if any, responsibility for the actions of the shadow, because she was neither aware of or in control of them. Plus, she does feel guilty about it, very guilty. She just doesn’t let that guilt crush her, because that would serve no purpose. Besides, she served any punishment she might be due in advance, and much, much more besides that.
Oh, and the ends where you kill Sakura are bad ends for two reasons. With one exception, you fail (and, for good reason, since Zouken isn’t an idiot, and nor is Kotomine), leaving Shirou dead and Sakura totally broken (and, therefore, likely to turn irredeemably into Dark Sakura with no Shirou around to give Rin a chance ot fight her). The only time you do succeed (the Mind of Steel ending), Shirou had no idea that the shadow was Sakura (and, thus, IMO it was unquestionably the wrong decision), and the result, whilst perhaps a good ending for the town, is undoubtedly a bad ending for Shirou (which is the point, since he’s the protagonist).
@Jinx: I don’t get that argument at all. What exactly should Sakura have done to improve her situation? She had no way to fight Zouken with the worms in her, and when she was given to him, she was four. Try asking the next child abuse victim you meet “why didn’t you do anything?”, and see what sort of response you get….
Plus, she didn’t drag everyone else down with her. In fact, she did the exact opposite. She tried very hard to keep Shirou from finding out about her, because she knew he’d end up getting himself hurt trying to save her, and she also avoided pursuing a relationship with him for that reason. And, it’s not true that she didn’t do anything either. It’s just that when she did do things, they were counter-productive, like going to Zouken in order to force him to kill her once she discovered that she was the shadow. There is nothing that Sakura could really have done in HF to produce a better outcome, except for killing herself when Gil told her to, and, really, I think expecting a 15-year-old girl to do that is being just a little unfair….