New Fate/Stay Night Anime Announced!

[Kat]

Sakura had involvement in every route, no matter how small it was. Not convinced unless we get Dark Sakura.

And we got also appearance of Fake Assassin, so that's another clue in that it will be a mix of Fate/UBW, or a Taiga route (because Taiga gets new clothes)

[Cherry Lover]

Sakura had no significant direct involvement in the other routes. Certainly not enough to make her as prominent as she is in the promotional materials.

And, I can't see them doing a route based around a different heroine. It's hard enough to fit in the existing content without needing to write a story for another character.

The impression I got is that they're going to try to merge all three routes, which would mean Fake Assassin appearing makes sense. Pure HF seems unlikely, but so does them ignoring Sakura almost entirely as a Fate/UBW mix would imply.

[Kat]

Do you realize that shoehorning HF, Fate and UBW into one mix will never end well? Fate/UBW are more or less a Holy Grail War. HF is a failed one, with drastically different elements being in the foreground, and different themes. Otherwise, we can get another DEEN anime. Without bondage Sakura, but not much less awkward.

If Sakura is mentioned in more than passing way like in Fate and UBW, it will be likely about Rin and others saving her from Zouken, but that won't be a major plot. Likewise, Sakura's plight was one of many subplots in Fate/Zero.

Either:

1) Fate/UBW accomodated to fit storylines mentioned in Fate/Zero. Sakura gets more than cooking scenes and harassing Shirou with Taiga about the newcomers, but nothing to an extent of HF.

2) A new route. Ilya route, Taiga route, Archer route, name it. Likely an official 4th route since Nasu is supervising the script, unless he nods at everything too busy playing Dark Souls.

[Cherry Lover]

Do you realize that shoehorning HF, Fate and UBW into one mix will never end well? Fate/UBW are more or less a Holy Grail War. HF is a failed one, with drastically different elements being in the foreground, and different themes. Otherwise, we can get another DEEN anime. Without bondage Sakura, but not much less awkward.

Yes, I'm well aware of that, but it doesn't mean they aren't going to try it anyway....

I can't see them not covering HF in some way. Ignoring Sakura would leave a bad taste in the mouth of people coming from Zero, and Rider is a popular character so I suspect she'll be given some importance in the story beyond "generic mid-boss".

If Sakura is mentioned in more than passing way like in Fate and UBW, it will be likely about Rin and others saving her from Zouken, but that won't be a major plot. Likewise, Sakura's plight was one of many subplots in Fate/Zero.

Sakura's plight was a pretty significant part of Zero, I can't imagine it just getting ignored. And, if Zouken is dealt with it makes involving Sakura more generally a lot easier.

I agree that a direct HF adaptation is unlikely, but I don't think that any Sakura-related segment will be minor and I suspect that HF will at least be alluded to.

1) Fate/UBW accomodated to fit storylines mentioned in Fate/Zero. Sakura gets more than cooking scenes and harassing Shirou with Taiga about the newcomers, but nothing to an extent of HF.

How would that work, though, without making it a major part of the story? Zouken ain't easy to kill....

2) A new route. Ilya route, Taiga route, Archer route, name it. Likely an official 4th route since Nasu is supervising the script, unless he nods at everything too busy playing Dark Souls.

If they do an alternate route, which is possible, I don't think it'll be focussed on any one character in that manner, especially not a new one. It'll be a more general thing focussing on everyone. There's no reason why the route has to focus on one particular character, or why Shirou even needs a romantic interest (or why the romantic interest can't be one of the original heroines but in a new route).

[Kat]

How would that work, though, without making it a major part of the story? Zouken ain't easy to kill....

Either Kotomine doing some unfinished business with Zouken or a Servant obliterating him completely...

That said, Shirou route is the best option. Just how Fate/Zero focused on Kiritsugu's ideal, likewise the sequel will focus on Shirou's ideal.

If they could afford removing Archer and give Tohsaka an alternate Servant, we could get Archer's route.

[Cherry Lover]

I don't think they'll do a route where Shirou turns into Archer, that probably implies ignoring or screwing-over Sakura and Ilya. Not to mention taking Archer himself out....

I suspect it will be a more Shirou-centric route, though, although not necessarily focussing on his ideal, as such. I would expect Sakura to have at least some involvement, and Rider too. Dealing with Zouken as an afterthought isn't an overly-satisfactory way of doing it from the viewpoint of someone coming into it from Zero (or HF, for that matter), the guy is shown to be more difficult to deal with than that.

[Kat]

I don't think they'll do a route where Shirou turns into Archer, that probably implies ignoring or screwing-over Sakura and Ilya. Not to mention taking Archer himself out....

What does Sakura have to do with Archer?

To be honest, neglecting Zouken won't be something too bad, since he wasn't a good villain to begin with. Blame the brain rot.

[Cherry Lover]

I don't think they'll do a route where Shirou turns into Archer, that probably implies ignoring or screwing-over Sakura and Ilya. Not to mention taking Archer himself out....

What does Sakura have to do with Archer?

Well, exactly. Archer shows no indication of really caring all that much for her or knowing anything about her situation, which implies she was probably not saved in his timeline. And we're pretty certain Ilya dies, too.

To be honest, neglecting Zouken won't be something too bad, since he wasn't a good villain to begin with. Blame the brain rot.

He's someone who I think most people watching Zero will really want to see get his comeuppance. I mean, he threw a four-year-old child into a pit of penis worms, and then gloats about doing it to the guy trying to save her. That pretty much hits every trigger out there for "most hated villains".

[Elf]

I doubt they'll take Archer out- he's too popular a character.

Theoretically they could come up with a new route though.  One that deals with Sakura's situation, the Archer and Shirou PARADOX, and whatever with Saber.

Hey, if I get some decently drawn Rin and Archer doujinshi from this, I'll be happy.

[Cherry Lover]

Yeah, that is definitely a possibility, and it has more chance of working than just trying to tack on bits of HF to Fate like Deen did....

[Alice]

I doubt it'd be the how Aacha became Aacha route unless Archer himself was still involved as a character, he's featured too prominently on the poster.

Honestly, I doubt that it's wise to just make assumptions just from looking at a poster, but based on how prominently people are placed on said poster, I'm thinking something along the lines of UBW with something that causes Rider to be more actively involved in the story than she was in UBW itself. How much Sakura would be involved, I'm not sure. She's featured in the Newtype article, and they naturally say it's for the Next Generation Children, so she has to have at least some sort of role, but how much importance she'll actually have is difficult to say at this point.

...In other words, let's just wait until we have more information. ^^" We don't have much in the way of concrete details yet, so I'd say that we need more info before we can really decide what direction this will take.

[Cherry Lover]

I don't think it's going to be "UBW with more Rider". For one thing, giving Rider a decent role that shows her character means involving Sakura substantially, because Shinji is a dick. And, UBW relies quite heavily on Shinji not having a servant, and on Rin not wanting to castrate the guy (for the ending). She might be able to forgive him attempting to rape her, but I suspect she would be rather less forgiving if she found out what he's been doing to her baby sister....

I suspect it will either be a straight adaptation of one route with maybe some scenes added (which makes Sakura and Rider hard to involve unless it's HF) or an essentially-new route which mixes some elements of the original three.

I also don't think the poster points to UBW at all. The focus on the servants and the lack of TA and Dark Saber does imply that it's not going to be a straight HF adaptation, yes, but I think the level of focus on Rider and Sakura makes it seem likely that it's not going to be a UBW adaptation either. I don't see how you could do UBW as a story with Rider having a significant role, especially not if you want her to be something other than Shinji's lackey. Sakura is easier to involve, but it would still change the story substantially.

[Kat]

If Rider doesn't get shafted, then will the history teacher have a role? Other Servants are not exactly as easy to assassinate as Shinji!Rider, and Saber won't bite the dust, obviously.

[Cherry Lover]

Possibly not, but Rider is overall a far more important character to the story than Kuzuki is, and Kuzuki can still be involved as Caster's master even if he doesn't get to kill Rider. If they really need to make a choice between Rider and Kuzuki in terms of who to leave out, I'm pretty sure they'd rather it be Kuzuki....

[Kat]

Taiga and Archer routes confirmed.