Solomon is my favorite Singularity but sadly, its anime adaptation was not done justice by Cloverworks.
The Ars Nova scene was an insane let down: the weird slow punching as Solomon just says his chant from an unchanging angle, the environment being a plan rocky area, Fujimaru just sitting off to the side, and the actual "Ars Nova" just being the rings floating. I'm shocked to say that the game mini-cutscene did it better.
Solomon's farewell wasn't very well-done, either. I mean, look at how well UFOTABLE delivered Iskandar's final moments in Fate/Zero with the epic "You Are My King" soundtrack playing throughout the scene, his farewell to Waver, and they didn't forget to focus on Gilgamesh's rare emotional response to the whole thing. This same level of impact was my expectation for Solomon's final moments. But Cloverworks' choice of music was meh - the game's music for this scene was epic, why not use it?!
Solomon's Ars Nova was done through one single unchanging camera angle. Every time Solomon spoke, it's always the same angle zooming in on his face as if the animators had traced the same drawing over and over.
The farewell scene with Ritsuka sadly had zero impact. I can't believe that at the very end, they made Solomon and Ritsuka talk about the superficial Master-Servant stuff. C'mon, at least talk about how he had been a great mentor to him and Mash! Cloverworks' choice of words for Solomon's final line was: "You really grew into a great Master, didn't you?" These words had no impact. If you look at Nasu's script, it was: Ritsuka held onto the hem of Solomon's garments, and Solomon's final words was that his "greatest pride was to watch Ritsuka grow into a competent Master".
For this part...
A good studio would stick to the script by having Gudao grab his clothes.
An epic studio would go for a hug.
The ending flashback where Da Vinci recalled the conversation with Roman was also lackluster: In the game, this is one of the most meaningful dialogues. But the anime cut out all the impactful lines.
Overall, Cloverworks' animation felt very lazy to me. No artistic imagination. No explanation whatsoever about what "erasing myself from the Throne of Heroes" means. I think anime-onlys who watch this will think this is just another Heroic Spirit's "pseudo-death"/disappearance. Solomon turning himself into true nothingness is a lot more impactful than Iskandar's pseudo-death, and the fact that Solomon was absolutely terrified of death but had to make the hard choice - unlike Iskandar's stoicism - is heartbreaking! Sadly, the slideshows and the music choice in the Game are WAY better than the movie.
Score: 4/10
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