「激突!クッキン・シスターズ」 (Gekitotsu Kukkin Shisutaazu)
“Clash! Cooking Sisters!”

I could watch an entire series of just Illya, her friends, her family, and the hinjiks they get into.

Funny Filler Fluff…But Not

I’m on record as liking filler, or at least a certain type of filler. Most of this episode was not absolutely necessary. They could have cut out most of this and, while it wouldn’t have had the same impact, it would have had 70-80% of the impact, so if the creators were going for a concise, pulpy action story, cutting most of this episode’s material would have been the right idea. That’s not what Prisma Illya is, and we’re lucky for that.

This was hilarious! From the cooking battle to the ane battle, I was cracking up more than I have for many a pure comedy, and that’s easily worth the time spent. That’s, in fact, one of the reasons I love Prisma Illya so much – it’s an artful blend of action, comedy, drama, and even a romance which gives us something different to enjoy each episode. I like stories that focus on one thing and do it well, but my favorites always mix many things. It’s harder, but when you make it work, it works.

Butt Monkey Shirou

I don’t know if Shirou is a polarizing character exactly, but there’s certainly some jealousy targeted at him from the fanbase for his ability to unknowingly attract powerful girls. I like Shirou though, and the Prisma Illya version more than ever before. In the original Fate/stay night anime he ticked me off by trying to protect Saber even though she’s, well, Saber, a move that always struck me as chauvinistic and colossally stupid. Fight beside her, sure. Protect her? Get your head out of your ass, boy.

Here though, Shirou inhabits a role shared by Rin & Luvia – the butt monkey (trope!). And it works! It actually has the effect of making me like him more, because it emphasizes his good points – especially his cooking skills…truly, Shirou is the best husbando – while continually knocking him down a peg in karmic retaliation for having captured so many girls’ love. I like to see a harem lead – even though he isn’t a harem lead here, though it’s inescapable that some of that would leak over from the main storyline, in our perceptions if nothing else – taken down a notch, and aside from the unnecessary slaps he got from Illya, it’s mostly in good fun. Poor Shirou. No, not really. It’ll be poor Shirou when only two girls are interested in you, ya lucky bastard. I do feel for him just wanting to be a good onii-chan though.

Bonus: for once we get a semi-accurate representation of what happens when you’re the lone guy outnumbered by girls. It’s not as envious as it seems. Sure, the scenery is nice, but on the totem pole of authority the lone male would indeed be dead last. This misfortune is more realistic than his usual harem antics, even if part of it is being brought on by the attempted harem.

Let Them Figure It Out For Themselves

Everything in this episode stems from Iri’s decision to let Illya and Kuro figure their whole relationship out. There’s a nice bit of consistency there, because Iri sealed the part of Illya that became Kuro in an effort to give Illya a chance to figure the whole grail thing out for herself. I have to admit though, as a completely un-status conscious American, I don’t quite understand the battle for who’s the onee-chan. I have an older brother myself, but it’s not like I give him any deference, save for what is owed by him being seven years older than me and having four kids. (Stilts-Aniki wanted a big family. Fortunately his wife agreed.) Can’t they just agree to be sisters of the same age. It’s not like it matters!

I do appreciate that Iri letting them figure this out is consistent with how she’s been handling them so far, and the antics they’ve shown us are wonderful. I may not get it, but I’m not complaining. Keep it coming!

Supplying Mana

What Silver Link, you aren’t going to show us the yuri selfcest kiss? This is bullshit! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Joking aside, Illya must have been really flustered, because if I were battling for the position of ane, I’d use this whole mana thing to my advantage. “Ohoho, you want mana? I guess that means I’m the onee-chan, eh?” Of course, no good relationship is built on extortion like that, but they’re little girls. Not like they know that. I guess it just shows that Illya is a good girl at heart, even if she keeps losing ane points to Kuro. Fight on!

Looking Ahead – Enemy At The Gates

She’s coming. If anyone doesn’t know what she can do, or what this means, just wait. We’re past my manga knowledge, but I recognize her from the other timeline. This is going to be good.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – A cooking battle turns into an ane battle as the comedic hijinks are turned up to 11. I’d watch an entire series of this! #prismaillya s2e7

Random thoughts:

  • Illya got to be the only daughter for ten years, and then she picked up a Saitou Chiwa imouto (provisional). Her luck truly is unrivaled. EX rank!
  • This episode is like Dogakobo ridiculously detailed food animation all over again! (You know the one I’m talking about.) Except this time it’s Silver Link.
  • Gloating Kuro sounds like a loli Kimi. MORE! I must have MORE!!
  • I wonder if that wedding cake is for Miyu and Illya? Ufufu~
  • “But this flavor is meant for someone else, not me.” A little bullshit, yes, but I like Shirou best when he’s being serious about cooking and housework. He’s the perfect house husbando. Plus, yes – even if Illya’s cake ended up sucking (thanks Tatsuko, you’re the best! XD), it was made with Shirou’s preferences in mind. That counts for something.
  • Sella was waiting for it! Another thing the Fate universe does well – having universally amazing characters. Not even the random meido are slackers. Though at this point, they’re more like old friends than random meido.
  • The reason Shirou, Rin, & Luvia (and Taiga!) drew the butt monkey card is because they’re outside of this show’s competence zone (trope!). Only Iri escapes this. She’s too amazing to be anything but a god!
  • Miyu’s birthday is on the same day as Illya and Kuro’s. Hmmm… Combined with her calling Shirou onii-chan that one time, is this another sign that she’s somehow connected to Illya (&/or her family) from wherever she comes from? (That was rhetorical. Don’t answer that. If any of you spoil that in the comments, so help me I will burn your dreams down!)

Check out my blog about storytelling and the novel I’m writing at stiltsoutloud.com. The last four posts: Work you love, Completely unbiased, You have to sell free, and Different answers.

Full-length images: 02, 20, 29, 30, 32, 43, 44.

 

Preview

End Card

41 Comments

  1. Hilarious episode, especially the cooking part; nearly died when a saran wrapped Tatsuko dumped the Frisk mints into the pound cake (after the nutmeg in the creamed butter), because you know mints are a good source of mint. Almost as good as Shirou getting whalloped with the vacuum by Sella and being slapped (on both cheeks) by an incredibly jealous Illya; don’t forget the Einzbern family hierarchy too, much giggle worthy.

    Should I also mention the Plastic Nee-San reference? 😛

    As an aside some manga readers have also indicated where this season is likely to end off, so it looks like there won’t be any annoying cliffhangers until the inevitable 2wei! part two either.

    Pancakes
  2. “In the original Fate/stay night anime he ticked me off by trying to protect Saber even though she’s, well, Saber, a move that always struck me as chauvinistic and colossally stupid. Fight beside her, sure. Protect her? Get your head out of your ass, boy.”

    It also doesn’t help when one watches Fate/Zero afterwards and seeing just how independent and powerful Saber is (at least it’s displayed more often). It only makes the whole “I’ll protect you” thinking even more ridiculous.

    It’s like if Videl were to try to tell Gohan that she’d protect him, or Chi Chi to Goku, lol.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    1. It does make sense to a degree. Shirou is so blasted selfless in that route that he would try to protect anyone, it just so happens that his servant and most of his enemies are female. That doesn’t stop it from seriously rubbing the wrong way because he persists in it for so. damn. long.

      You can treat someone like a woman without trying to protect them. Women aren’t all delicate flowers. If they’re like Saber, they’re delicate flowers who can kick ass >:D

      Stilts
      1. It wouldn’t be so bad if Shirou JUST had the feeling. That would understandable. I mean, if I were a Master and had Saber as a Servant, I certainly wouldn’t want her to get hurt, much less die and would wish I could protect her.

        It’s when Shirou constantly tries to hold back Saber from fighting (at all) and/or getting in the middle of a fight that I get seriously annoyed with him.

        Like when they first encounter Ilya and Berserker and Shirou takes the big blow meant for Saber that almost cleaves him in half. If his origins were any different, Shirou would’ve been dead and Saber would’ve disappeared. I doubt she’d be very happy about that two-fold; first because of her pride and honor, and second because of, at the time, her wanting to win the Grail War would be snatched away, all because Shirou only seemed to see her as a helpless damsel rather than a strong warrior who is more than capable of handling herself.

        And yeah, I do like women with brains and strength and not just looks. It’s why many of the women in Fate, or even TYPE-MOON in general, appeal to me; many of them aren’t just lookers, but also are strong and pretty intelligent.

        HalfDemonInuyasha
      2. Just saying, if watching Shirou gives a headache, don’t ever try playing as him. His point of view killed the visual novel for me, too many bad ends encountered by trying to be smart. And then the one time you decide to go along with Shirou’s personality, acting smart is the right thing to do…

        Erimaki
      3. Just saying, if watching Shirou gives a headache, don’t ever try playing as him. His point of view killed the visual novel for me, too many bad ends encountered by trying to be smart. And then the one time you decide to go along with Shirou’s personality, acting smart is the right thing to do…
        Too bad really, I liked it aside from that.

        Erimaki
  3. This episode was awesome, and it’s Prisma Illya in comedic optima forma. The cooking battle was fun as hell (and gave me Yakitate!! Japan flashbacks), the whole battle for supremacy in the household was gold and there were good little gags all over the place. I like Shirou’s new role as the butt monkey too, as like you, his actions in FS/N rather irked me. No better way to make me like a character again than to pull them from their pedestal and make them suffer (Kotoura-san did the same thing, I recall).

    Still, would I really classify this as fluff or filler? There’s certainly parts of Prisma Illya that are, but I’d say this episode was actually kind of crucial. After all, it showcases Kuro’s new life in Illya’s household. It’s kind of an epilogue (complete with answering some lingering questions, like how she deals with her mana) to her story, alongside allowing us to see the new dynamics between her and the cast. Stuff like this is important if you want to get viewers attached to the characters and make them care. Protecting this pleasant normality also serves as the stake for the battle coming up. One that is likely to make all hell break loose, given the preview. The story thus wouldn’t function right without it, or at least not well enough, so cutting this would’ve been a mistake in any scenario. In my opinion, anyway. So to use your own article as a guideline, Stilts, I’d firmly place it as more than that, as the type that morphs into character development.

    Regarding Miyu, the idea I got was that she may not actually remember her birthday or something (as her parents are presumed dead and may have never told her). As such, telling others that her birthday is the same as Illya’s may be her attempt at finally getting a shot at celebrating her birthday, which she may have never done before. She may have been hoping that the others would suggest celebrating them all together (and they did). Or maybe I’m just making up drama and it just meant to be comedic or something. But I like the first idea better.

    Dvalinn
    1. On your filler/fluff part, yeah, I agree that it’s more of the character development sort, in addition to being plain funny. Should have clarified more, but whiskey after a long day of work, you know how it is. Wooo~!

      Stilts
    2. Regarding Miyu and the birthday thing:

      That’s…not quite right.

      Not sure if this counts as a spoiler, so I’ll just tag it.

      Show Spoiler ▼

      Hanabira.Kage
  4. What Silver Link, you aren’t going to show us the yuri selfcest kiss? This is bullshit!

    There wasn’t one at this point, so don’t worry you aren’t missing anything yet.

    Wanderer
  5. I could watch an entire series of just Illya, her friends, her family, and the hinjiks they get into.

    Now let us all hope and pray that the omakes get animated, at least as OVA. If that doesn’t happen, you should read those omake, Stilts. They are amazing.

    If Iri is the god of Einzbern/Emiya household, Tatsuko should be the comedic god of these slice of life episodes. Easily the best of the four friends!

    Gloating Kuro sounds like a loli Kimi. MORE! I must have MORE!!

    So I wasn’t the only one who thought this? Good. Also, MORE!
    It’s also a funny coincidence that both of them have a near perfect, pink defense ability.

    Erimaki
  6. As far as comedy goes, I find this more entertaining despite all the comedy anime airing this season. At this rate they are going, they will definitely adapt all the chapters in the manga. That makes me ecstatic.

    Soliloquy
  7. Awww, though I know you have Mimi’s little bro eating the cake, you should have include the moment when he had a bat. I find it cute for a little brother to worry about his older sister.

    L002
  8. salisbury steak /droooooool!!!! Tatsuko is a gem in this show.
    That episode was hillarious. I have no clue who is coming next, but if you say it’s going to be epic I can’t wait!

    Miaminights
  9. Hahaha! Tatsuko at the receiving end of a double shoryuken never gets old! Definitely the butt monkey of the series (she even surpasses Shiro in pure butt monkeyness!)

    Next episode is gonna be awesome! Action packed to the max! Why cant next week come any faster?!

    Ginobi47
  10. omg ..loli(er) Illya… someone call an ambulance ..imma gonna need it…

    poor Shiro.. hes at the total bottom of the hierarchy

    that yuri moment!

    PS: Miyu was born that same day? wow uber coincidence… right? i been having a bad theory since the last episode.. i just hope this shared birthday is a mere coincidence, rigth?

    inanis
  11. https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%20Zwei!%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2044.jpg
    “Yes Illya, though her birth was an accident, Kuro is nevertheless a sapient being with the right to life. And it is your responsibility to preserve it. Thus you must regularly make-out with her because this is the Nasuverse and you aren’t allowed to do these simple things without making it kinky.”

    The chapters were rearranged for this episode. The “Sisters” chapter was supposed to happen before the cooking though its works better as an end of an episode since it establishes what kind of relationship Illya and Kuro will have. The cooking chapter itself was great largely because of Tatsuko constantly messing things up. And more Tatsuko adds alot of funny. Silver Link was able to adapt this well, especially with Tatsuko appearing out of nowhere to mess the ingredients.

    What Silver Link, you aren’t going to show us the yuri selfcest kiss? This is bullshit! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ ,

    Down Stilts! Down! She doesn’t need a mana transfer yet. Much like a Servant she only needs it when she runs low. For example, if she she expends her mana using her Archer powers on a long, intense battle. And I can’t foresee it happening anytime soon. Nope. Not at all.

    fragb85
  12. cruiser2710
    1. I remember the first time I heard Kato’s arrangement was in the first season, episode 6 (when Miyu carries Illya home). Definitely one of my favorite tracks from the VN OST.

      Lorhand
  13. I loved the Kuro and Ilya becoming like real sisters – bickering all the time, yet full of deep love. Kuro looking suddenly vulnerable after an episode of being brash and straightforward was nice touch. And ilya was good enough to not gloat in this situation, which actually means she is fit to be older sister…
    Now the serious stuff is done with, I want the mana supply shot!!!! (tableflip)
    Alas, next time we’re in for some REAL serious business. Miyu noticed that Kuro was first “thinking” opponent they faced, and it seems they are about to face enemy that is not only that, but cold, calculating strategist that could give a hard time any of the “adult” mages…

    ewok40k
  14. “I could watch an entire series of just Illya, her friends, her family, and the hinjiks they get into.”…..true dat!!! this was a fun ep..and the mom had the funniest line ever when he gave her dat smooch.. i lol’ed

    BROOKLYN otaku
  15. I don’t know. That whole cliche of the guy getting beat up for situations out of his control got old years ago for me (part of the reason Gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun reversing that trope is very satisfying!).

    I thought the rest was pretty good though. Just a fluff episode. Nothing wrong with that as long as they don’t end up rushing things later (cough Freezing).

    leatherhead333

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