I just rewatched the scene where Shirou frees Sakura, and it still gets to me so much. Like, it’s such a good scene.
There being absolutely no music at the start until Shirou tells her Rin is okay and starts advancing towards her, just letting Sakura’s cries ring out in silence.
Sakura is shown as being tied up by the Shadow, like she’s tied down by her actions as the shadow and her past as a Matou.
Shirou advancing step by step shrugging off all of Angra’s attacks, with his voice sounding so certain and confident as he walks towards Sakura.
Sakura letting the shadow attack him and using that as a reason she can’t be saved, saying she’s killed so many people and doesn’t deserve to be saved, only for Shirou to counter with, “Yeah, you took lives, so take responsibility for them.”, I love how this scene says her dying wouldn’t bring them back so she just needs to take responsibility and give meaning to what she did.
The parallel I didn’t notice before with UBW. Shirou says it’s hypocritical, but his ideal has always been to save the one he loves. It’s so different, but also so similar to the ideal he defends in UBW. It’s still hypocritical, but it’s an ideal that he can have as a complete human being.
I didn’t realize how much I loved this scene until I replayed it in the VN. I understand that they only had a limited amount of time, but I just really wish they could have perfectly adapted HF into an anime series. Like the films are great, but I love this route so much.
