Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel is a Japanese urban fantasy anime film trilogy produced by Ufotable, directed by Tomonori Sudō, written by Akira Hiyama, and featuring music by Yuki Kajiura. The trilogy adapts Heaven's Feel, the third and final route of the Fate/stay night visual novel. It focuses on high school students Shirou Emiya and Sakura Matou who are affected by a conflict between mages known as the Holy Grail War.
The first film in the trilogy, titled Presage Flower premiered in Japan on October 14, 2017, and premiered in the United States between November and December 2017. Its English dub premiered on June 5 and June 7, 2018 in the United States.
The second film, titled Lost Butterfly premiered in Japan on January 12, 2019. Aniplex of America released the film in the United States in March 2019.
The third and final film in the trilogy, titled Spring Song, premiered in Japan on August 15, 2020, and premiered in the United States on November 18 of the same year.
It is the fourth anime adaptation of Type-Moon's works by Ufotable, following The Garden of Sinners film series, the Fate/Zero television series, and the Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works television series and also the fourth anime adaptation of the Fate/stay night visual novel, after Studio Deen's adaptations Fate/stay night, a television series, and Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, a movie; and Ufotable's adaptation Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works. The trilogy also is the first anime adaptation of the Heaven's Feel route.
Plot
Part 1 - Presage Flower
Shirou Emiya, an amateur mage, has been dragged into the Fifth Holy Grail War, a fight to the death among seven mages and their Servants, familiars who are legendary figures from all eras.
Shirou is determined to win the Holy Grail War to save the world and be a hero of justice, as well keep his friend, Sakura Matou, safe from the war and her abusive brother, Shinji Matou, with the help of his Servant, Saber, and his classmate, Rin Tohsaka. Strange occurrences start happening in the war, and Sakura comes down with a mysterious sickness.
Part 2 - Lost Butterfly
Despite having lost the war and Saber, Shirou finds himself unable to stop participating in the Holy Grail War. As Sakura is revealed to be a Master in the Holy Grail War, Shirou is determined to keep her safe.
As Sakura starts succumbing to her mysterious illness, and the mysterious shadow keeps killing people, Shirou and Rin are determined to finish the Holy Grail War.
Part 3 - Spring Song
As Sakura becomes possessed by shadow, Shirou risks his own body and mind to save her by stopping the tainted Holy Grail, facing his now-corrupted Servant Saber in the process.
Allying with the wayward priest Kirei Kotomine, fellow competitor Illyasviel von Einzbern and Sakura's displaced Servant Rider, Shirou and Rin enter a race against time to rescue Sakura from madness and end the Holy Grail War once and for all - before the corrupted Grail can bring about the end of the world.
Cast
Main characters
The main character of the trilogy and Saber's master. Shirō is a survivor of the Fourth Holy Grail War and was adopted by the magus Kiritsugu Emiya, whom Shirō wants to follow in the footsteps of by becoming a hero of justice. As the story progresses, he falls in love with his friend Sakura and, after learning of her past, ultimately forsakes his ideals to protect her - despite the risk she poses to Fuyuki. He later bonds with Illya and loses his left arm while protecting her from the Shadow, resulting in the dying Archer transplanting his arm to save him. After Sakura falls to the Shadow's influence, Shirō risks self-destruction by using Archer's arm to defeat the corrupted Berserker and enlisting the help of Kirei Kotomine to protect Illya. He then helps Rin and Illya recreate a weapon that can defeat Sakura, the Jeweled Sword Zelretch. After reaffirming his desire to save Sakura, he forms a temporary pact with Rider to defeat his now-corrupted former Servant, Saber Alter, by combining Archer's Rho Aias shield with Rider's Bellerophon. Shirō remorsefully eliminates Saber Alter before freeing Sakura from the shadow with Caster's Rule Breaker and facing the near-dead Kirei as his final opponent in a brutal fistfight. While Shirō defeats Kirei, he hesitates to destroy the grail after realizing he now fears to die, wishing to reunite with Sakura. Ultimately, he is saved at the last moment by Illya - who reveals herself as Kiritsugu's daughter and, by extension, Shirou's adoptive older sister - and tearfully watches her sacrifice herself to stop the grail, saving him in the process by transferring his soul out of his dying body. After Rider recovered Shirō's soul, Rin and Sakura transplant it into an artificial body, effectively reviving Shirō.
The main heroine and the driving force of the story. She is Shirō's longtime friend and the true master of Rider. She has been visiting his home very frequently since they met and helps him with housework, especially when it comes to cooking. Sakura endures an abusive relationship with her brother, even though she tries to hide it. She is later revealed to be Rin's younger sister, given to the Matō family by Rin's father as magi families are only allowed one heir each. Zōken then converted her into an artificial Grail Vessel, meant to subvert Heaven's Feel system - and unwittingly connecting her to the corruption in the Grail, which manifests through her as an entity called "the Shadow." She eventually becomes Shirō's lover, but as her sanity erodes, she tries to protect him by leaving. After snapping and killing Shinji, the Shadow corrupts and fuses with her, driving her to kidnap Illya for use as a grail vessel until Kirei and Shirō intervene. Nearly killing Kirei after he mocks her sufferings, Sakura is driven away by the debilitating pain of absorbing Berserker after Shirō defeats him. She later crushes Zōken's true crest-worm after ripping it out of her body when he tries to possess her and devours True Assassin with the Shadow, influenced by the Grail - possessed by the evil spirit Angra Mainyu - towards wiping out humanity. Eventually confronted by her sister Rin, Sakura states her intent to take revenge on Rin for never rescuing her from the Matō family, revealing a long-repressed resentment for Rin being beloved by others while Sakura was always abused. However, to Sakura's panic, Rin manages to best her with the Jeweled Sword Zelretch - only for Rin to spare her at the last moment while sustaining severe injury. Shocked and distraught by Rin's apology for never knowing about or saving Sakura from her torment, Sakura breaks free of the Shadow's influence long enough for Shirō to arrive; despite pleading for him to escape so she can take Angra Mainyu down with her death, Shirō states she has to live on to make up for what she's done and reaffirms his love for her, severing her connection to the Shadow and finally freeing her from Angra Mainyu. Carried to safety along with Rin by Rider, Sakura later helps transfer Shirō's soul to a new body after Illya splits it from his old one to save him, finally finding happiness for herself as she and Shirō resume their relationship.
Rider is the Servant protagonist in Heaven's Feel, much as Archer was for Unlimited Blade Works and Saber was in Fate. She is Shinji's Servant, summoned to fight for him in the Fifth Holy Grail War. Rider bonds with Sakura and seeks to protect her from her abusive family. Rider's identity is Medusa - the Gorgon monster of Greek myth, who unwittingly killed her sisters after being driven mad by a curse from the Olympian Gods - and that she empathizes with Sakura for also being made a monster against her will. After Sakura is revealed as her true master, Shinji permanently loses his contract with her, and Rider exclusively defends Sakura. She later moves into the Emiya household with Sakura, acting as its guardian in place of Saber, and gradually starts trusting Shirō. Eventually becoming the only surviving Servant outside Zōken's control, Rider is ordered by Sakura's final Command Spell to protect Shirō before Sakura succumbs to the Shadow, saving Shirō from Zōken's insects but refusing to fight Sakura directly out of loyalty to her. After Shirō reaffirms his pledge to save Sakura, Rider agrees to follow him for the duration of the war and entrusts him with bringing Sakura's salvation. Confronting the corrupted Saber Alter, Rider pushes herself to the limit by using her Mystic Eyes of Petrification and Noble Phantasm Bellerophon combined with Shirō's Rho Aias barrier-shield counter Saber Alter's Excalibur Morgan. After recovering from the fight, Rider evacuates a wounded Rin and the now-freed Sakura to safety. Shirō stays to stop the grail, later returning to find Shirō's soul had been salvaged by Illya at the last moment. Following the war, Rider - now able to pass for a normal human with special glasses to seal her eye's powers - remains incarnated and maintained by Sakura's mana, living alongside her with Shirō at his home.
The secondary heroine. She is one of the seven participants of the Fifth Holy Grail War and the master of Berserker. She plays a vital role in the war as Einzbern's representative. She is ultimately revealed to be the biological daughter of Kiritsugu Emiya - Shirō's adoptive father - whom she resentfully believes had abandoned her to raise a new family in Shirō. At first, Illya appears to be an enemy to Shirō and Rin but later becomes very close to the former, forming a sibling-like bond with him. Following the destruction of her castle and the loss of Berserker, Illya takes shelter with Shirō and Sakura. Eventually, Illya overhears Taiga talking about Kiritsugu and realizes he tried to rescue her before he died, allowing her to finally forgive him. After Sakura becomes corrupted, Illya is again kidnapped on Zōken's orders but is saved by Kirei and Shirō, though is dismayed to find her Servant Berserker has also been corrupted to the point he doesn't recognize her anymore. After Shirō severely reduces his lifespan using Archer's arm to stop Berserker, Illya combines her powers with Rin's to access the recorded memories of Illya's genetic template and original Grail Vessel, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, so that Shirō can see an image of the Jeweled Sword Zelretch for him to copy. After Shirō frees Sakura from the Shadow and defeats Kirei, Illya intervenes before he destroys the Grail himself. Revealing herself as Kiritsugu's actual child, Illya states her intent to protect Shirō as his older sister and sacrifices her life to complete the Heaven's Feel Ritual, destroying the Grail and separating Shirō's soul from his dying body to save him. Illya briefly meets her mother's soul, Irisviel, in her last moments before peacefully fading away.