COVID19 has made Japanese events in America complicated, to say the least. A lot of conventions and concerts have been delayed or canceled outright. Such is the situation with spring song, the final movie of the Heaven's Feel trilogy. The formal name is Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel III. spring song (quite the mouthful). Originally set to premiere at the end of March in Japan, it was eventually released in mid-August.  Its American debut was set for April until things began getting worse across the globe. This November, Aniplex decided to hold a limited number of screenings across America. There are still two more screenings for Saturday, 11/21, and Sunday 11/22, if you're so inclined.  This article won't be quite a review of the movie but more an expression of feelings.

Warning: Spoilers, naturally.

Thankfully, the San Francisco Bay Area is doing relatively well on the COVID front. While cases are rising they are low compared to many other parts of the state and the country. The screenings are well-timed; it's entirely possible that in another week or two movie theaters throughout the region could be shut down.  They already are in other parts of the country, and in the next few days the City and County of San Francisco may also shut things down.  I feel for the theater industry; even with every other row skipped and putting at least two seats between patrons the theater still had more empty rows than not.

It was very unlike the packed screening I had seen for the second movie, lost butterfly, in Los Angeles back in 2019. Nothing but dead silence today. Everyone in the theater was wearing a mask and some went further with eye and face protection. I had a P100 respirator and goggles myself. Of course, there was a lot of soap involved both before and after (I even go as far as to wash my phone with soap). Nary a single cough was heard throughout the entire movie and anyone asymptomatic should have the virus intercepted by their masks. In this particular instance, and in this particular region, I felt comfortable, or at least as comfortable as one can be short of a Tyvek bunny suit and an active fan-powered respirator.

Being that it had been more than 18 months since I saw lost butterfly and God knows how many years since I played the VN, I forgot where we left off. For those of you who might have been in the same situation, there had been a double-header on the previous weekend with the first two movies, presage flower and lost butterfly. We enter spring song with Sakura having just disappeared after killing her brother, Shinji. Shirou has come across the body. I realized where we were in the route and thought, "Oh yeah, this is where shit begins to get real."

I mean, the Heaven's Feel route is basically the "everyone dies" route. In the past two movies, we've seen a lot of servants and even normal people get killed. We're fast approaching the route's climax and resolution. Dark Sakura has fully manifested and the kind kouhai you once knew is gone.

I won't be going step-by-step over the story but will just mention a few specific parts. A lot of you have been down this road before either in the original VN or from Realta Nua so there's no need to rehash everything.  If you don't fall into either of those groups you should just enjoy the ride and read up later.

Fairly early on we are finally treated to Shirou using Archer's arm. He's been dragging it around since he got it during lost butterfly and I've been waiting to see animation of him using that thing for years. Once you heard the opening synth to the Emiya/Unlimited Blade Works theme you knew it was time to get hyped. The scene is short, but it's a teaser to come, and also helps set up the idea that every time he uses the arm it damages him.  This is important later in the film.

Many of Type-Moon's best animation has been handled by a studio called ufotable. They combine 3D models with traditional animation to both lessen their workload and create beautiful art that could be too complex to do via the hand-drawn method alone. One of ufotable's biggest strengths is their action sequences and for each of the ones in spring song, they were magnificent. As a fan, the Saber Alter versus Rider and Shirou fight is one long awaited.  It really hit the spot and was much more satisfying than the stills from the VN. The speedy Rider fights toe-to-toe with Saber, hitting her with all manner of strikes and dodges Saber's black and red death beams by a hair's breadth. She's literally running circles around Saber and bounces off the walls as she fights. She charges up her Noble Phantasm and Shirou comes in to tank with Rho Aios.

And after all that, Shirou finally has to kill Saber. It's bittersweet. Right before he plunges that dagger into her chest she comes back to her senses and asks, "Shirou?"  In the VN it's just one silhouette CG.  Hearing that one word makes the emotions count.  You might think that Shirou would spare her but he follows through, even if it pains him so (spoiler: if you do that in the VN it leads to a bad end).

I consider myself spoiler-vincible. Even if you know what's going to happen you don't know how it happens. With Heaven's Feel I know everything: who, what, why, when, where, and how. That doesn't make it any easier, and in a way, it makes it worse.  There are points that you just dread coming up, and damned if seeing Illya appearing out of nowhere to sacrifice herself didn't get me. The tears started flowing.  COVID best practices dictate that you're not supposed to touch your face at all, even to wipe tears away.  It's a weird predicament.

Aimer's Haru wa Yuku plays throughout the ending sequence and into the credits. Aimer's a heck of a singer and her trademark voice has served the trilogy well. Haru wa Yuku represents Sakura: "Can't even fade away / On my own / I'm just that weak and selfish / Bearing shadows I'll never be able to atone for." Throughout Heaven's Feel, we learned just what kind of life and what horrors Sakura was subjected to. She felt she had no choice when she was controlled by Zouken and for every kill she made it was just one more tally mark sending her farther into the abyss.  All that time she was waiting for someone to guide her or better yet, save her. She expounds as much while expressing her frustrations to Rin, and later, with Shirou. No hero came for her when she needed it.

By the end of the song the tune has changed a little: "I'll smile / Sending sweet dreams, at the very least / Of being happy / To the people at my side, who mean the world to me." All Sakura really needs is Shirou and Rin.  Someone to love and who loves her, and a sisterly love with the one she looked up to.  Over the course of Heaven's Feel the weather has progressed through winter and the spring has melted away the snow. We end with Sakura, Rin, Shirou, Rider, and many others going to view the sakura flowers in the spring. It's a bittersweet feeling. We've lost so much to get to this point and pray that this happiness can continue.  Seeing the route's True End never felt more satisfying.

One drawback I will mention is that if you haven't read the VN there will be a couple of points that come out of nowhere for you like Illya's sudden appearance wearing the Dress of Heaven. If you've seen Fate/Zero and Illya's mother Irisviel you might know what's going on, or if you've seen Fate/Apocrypha and Justeaze things equally might click. In spring song there's a scene showing the creation of the Holy Grail with Justeaze but it still isn't quite explained.  The ending of the movie itself also does more showing than explaining and that too will confuse people.  If you haven't played the VN you won't have the required knowledge base to understand what is going on during that sequence.  During post-movie handwashing I overheard people in the bathroom wondering just why Rider is still there and that's one of the things that would be explained.  You'll also miss the significance of a certain red-haired person bumping by Rin and Sakura, what's in the box Rin and Sakura open, and what the heck that birdcage they're carrying around is.  If you are confused, read the VN.  Or at the least, the wiki.  I'll be honest; I'm not sure I'm able to click my way through a VN nowadays even if I plow through untold tens of thousands of pages of manga and normal books every year.

With this, spring song closes out the varied animation projects for the original Fate VN routes. Seeing the VN translated from text and CG stills to full-motion and voices is a treat for any fan.  This entire ride is something that has been sixteen years in the making. I've been a Type-Moon fan through thick and thin going all the way back to Shingetsutan Tsukihime. I started off by reading my way through Tsukihime if that's any indicator of how long I've been around. I'm looking forward to whatever the next journey happens to be.  

Heaven's Feel has been a rollercoaster of emotions.  Highs, lows, loop-de-loops, sheer terror, relief, hype, and finally a sense of closure.  I like to joke with my friends, "Sakura did nothing wrong" (besides kill a bunch of people).  She's gone through a lot and really deserved a break.  Now she's got it, and I'm genuinely happy for her.

For those of you waiting for the home release, it'll be another four months. The Blu-Ray is set to release on 3/28/20.  At that time it might be nice to watch the entire trilogy back to back in one solid six-hour block.  They're not quite three different tales but one big story and I think it'll impact even more that way.

Speaking of Aimer, she'll be having an online concert on 11/27/20. She'll be broadcasting from the Christ Shinagawa Church. Tickets are 3600 yen and the show begins at 1930 hours on 11/27/20. Delayed viewing is available until 2359 hours on 11/29/20. Aimer was supposed to go on tour in Japan but, again thanks to COVID, it was canceled. This is the next best thing, and for us outside Japan, it's a little better. One of my friends was set to go in person so he's a little bummed.  You can count on him to view this one online.

Please go here for details about the concert.