Fate/Stay Night [Heaven’s Feel] I. presage flower (Limited Edition Blu-ray Disc Box) Unboxing

Fate/Stay Night [Heaven’s Feel] I. presage flower is a 2017 theatrical anime film based on Type-Moon and Kinoko Nasu’s visual novel Fate/Stay Night and its third story route ‘Heaven’s Feel’ with illustrator Takashi Takeuchi. The film was adapted by studio Ufotable, and the staff credits include director Tomonori Sudō, writer Akira Hiyama, character designer Atsushi Ikariya, Hisayuki Tabata & Tomonori Sudō, and music composer Yuki Kajiura. The film was first theatrically released in Japan on October 2017, distributed by Aniplex.

Note: This post has been updated on July 2021 & then May 2024 to reflect the current blog layout and some minor tweaks to the original write-up.

Background:

“10 years after the Holy Grail War – a battle waged by Masters and Servants over the wish-granting container, the Holy Grail – another war breaks out in Fuyuki City. Shirou Emiya – the adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya, a participant of the previous Holy Grail War – is leading a peaceful life with people dear to him. Especially close to him is his underclassman Sakura Matou, who brings kindness into his otherwise lonely life. But once the Holy Grail War starts, Shirou’s peaceful life is sundered.”

Plot Synopsis via Aniplex of America, November 2018.

Fate/Stay Night is one of the most popular visual novels ever made, and also one of the biggest anime franchises out there with dozens of anime adaptations, spin-offs, games, books and more. It’s gotten to a point where Fate/Grand Order, the mobile gacha game is very huge worldwide and makes tons of money for Aniplex and Type-Moon.

That being said, the visual novel that started it all had yet to receive a complete anime adaptation and it’s still not yet resolved. Fate/Stay Night has three story routes; Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel. The first route was semi-adapted by studio Deen in 2006 but it was flawed. The second route was adapted twice, once as a film in 2010 by studio Deen which was also flawed, and then a television series by studio Ufotable in 2014 which was well-received but ties directly after the events of Fate/Zero which left fans wondering which one they should start first (similar to how SEGA handled Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami).

Heaven’s Feel was confirmed to be adapted by studio Ufotable, but unlike Unlimited Blade Works, was going to be released as a theatrical film trilogy. This is likely due to the story’s more mature or darker tone that probably would have been censored if it were done in television format. Either way, the story was being adapted faithfully in the same way that the previous story route was.

Despite the three story routes, the ideal watching order is of course Fate, then Unlimited Blade Works, followed by Heaven’s Feel. However, because the anime hasn’t fully adapted the Fate route, you can still get a rough idea on what’s going on by simply watching Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works] (you can also watch Fate/Zero but that series has references to key moments in Heaven’s Feel that could be argued as actual spoilers).

The first film ‘presage flower‘ was released theatrically in Japan back in October 2017, followed by a Blu-ray release in May 2018. There are two more films planned, with the second film ‘lost butterfly‘ currently dated for January 2019 in Japanese theaters. If you think that’s it for the Fate franchise, there are even more adaptations currently planned, most notably from the Fate/Grand Order franchise with a new anime series and films from different studios.

Aniplex of America handled the English rights for the Fate/Stay Night [Heaven’s Feel] film trilogy, with an English dub produced along the way. The UK release will be distributed by MVM and the Australian release will be distributed by Madman. The US release for ‘presage flower‘ is dated for November 2018 and is modelled similarly to this Japanese release, which Aniplex has done the same with Sword Art Online the Movie -Ordinal Scale- prior.

Limited Edition Contents:

The reason why I decided to import the Japanese version for Fate/Stay Night [Heaven’s Feel] I. presage flower is because of pricing and how I mainly just watch the franchise subtitled these days. I don’t mind dubs but I heard pretty mixed opinions over Unlimited Blade Works‘ treatment (while Fate/Zero was pretty solid).

The version I acquired is the Limited Edition with Amazon Exclusive items since I was curious. The limited edition is packaged as a clamshell box with a digipack that houses the film on Blu-ray as well as a DVD bonus features disc and the film’s original soundtrack on CD composed by Yuki Kajiura, who returns to make the music after her work on Fate/Zero (she didn’t compose Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works]). Also included is an animation booklet and hardcover illustration artbook.

Exclusive to the Amazon Japan listing were an A3 clear poster and a B2 fabric poster. Many Japanese retailers tend to come with these sorts of items for different anime releases.

The bonus DVD disc contained the following extras (not subtitled in English, so knowledge & understanding of the Japanese language is highly recommended); Pre-show Special Program: From the Story to the Stage, Premiere Event – Stage Address (Revised Version), Special Show: Matou Family Stage Address (Revised Version), and Noriko Shitaya Interview (Fate Project New Year’s Eve TV Special 2017 – Long Version).

The limited edition Blu-ray retailed for 9,500 Yen (Tax not included for Japanese owners) while the standard Blu-ray which is also available retailed for 5,800 Yen (Tax not included). The Amazon exclusive variation was slightly more but priced the same as time went by for retail. For instance I ordered it for 7,770 Yen (£54.40) with the overall cost being 10,584 Yen (£74.10, with £19.70 going towards pre-paid VAT and shipping) as of October 2018.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Clamshell Box with digipack packaging and clean artwork
• Card sheet for specification and logos
• Original Soundtrack CD from Yuki Kajiura
• Bonus DVD disc with additional featurettes and interviews
• 50-page Animation Material Booklet
• 52-page Hardcover Illustration Artbook
• A3 Clear Poster (Amazon Japan Exclusive Item)
• B2 Fabric Poster (Amazon Japan Exclusive Item)

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Aniplex Japan
Released: 9th May 2018

The limited edition release of Fate/Stay Night [Heaven’s Feel] I. presage flower contains the entire film on one Blu-ray disc plus an additional DVD disc with added on-disc bonus features. The discs were authored and encoded in Japan. Audio options for the Blu-ray disc include Japanese with English & Japanese subtitles only, as there was no English dub prepared for the release at the time.

The white subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the Blu-ray disc are playable on Region A, B & C for Blu-ray players. Anime released on Blu-ray in Japan don’t have any form of region locking, despite the country using Region A for their live-action titles.

The DVD bonus features disc will require viewers to understand the Japanese language beforehand. In addition it is also region restricted to Region 2 for DVD players.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Japanese
Audio	Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 Aspect Ratio
Region	A B C
Subtitles	English, Japanese
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	1 BD-50

DVD Specs (Bonus Disc):

Languages	Japanese
Audio	Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0
Video	Standard Definition in NTSC format 16:9 Aspect Ratio
Region	2
Subtitles	No
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	1

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

• PV
• Trailers
• CM Collection

DVD On-Disc Extra Features:

• Pre-show Special Program: From the Story to the Stage
• Premiere Event – Stage Address (Revised Version)
• Special Show: Matou Family Stage Address (Revised Version)
• Noriko Shitaya Interview (Fate Project New Year’s Eve TV Special 2017 – Long Version)

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Fate/Stay Night [Heaven’s Feel] I. presage flower was licensed and released on home video by Aniplex Japan and Aniplex of America. The limited and standard edition Blu-ray Disc Box is still available to import from retailers like Amazon Japan, but for a cheaper option there is the MVM Entertainment standard edition Blu-ray release on Amazon UK and Aniplex of America limited edition Blu-ray release on Rightstuf.

(Disclaimer: Amazon UK links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)