Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya

「選択肢は2つ・・・？」 (Sentakushi wa 2tsu?)
“There Are Two Options…?”

The battle against Saber heats up as the mahou shoujo are completely overwhelmed, and the other mahou shoujo step up and take the stage.

Illya Is Not A Warrior

Though I hate to say it, Illya was acting a bit stupid this week. First she tried to help Rin and Luvia despite the fact that the enemy that owned them was still standing right there, and then she called attention to herself by yelling out to Miyu when she was supposed to be sneaking around. Here’s the thing, though – Illya is not a warrior. She’s a little girl! She’s been doing well so far, but compared to an overpowered enemy that just completely bitch-slapped her mentor, I don’t blame her for getting scared. It’s more impressive than anything that Miyu managed to keep her head together during the whole thing. This Saber is scary!

Kaleid Liner Prisma Rin & Luvia!

When in doubt, take a third option! (trope) It was definitely smart to hand things over to the experts, and Rin and Luvia proved just how powerful they are. The action really speaks for itself, though I will say how much I enjoyed seeing Rin go sword-for-sword with the King of Knights(‘ card) and come out taking only a little damage. She even got in a point-blank blast of her own! (And gave Illya déjà vu, heh) Now we’ll get to see what happens when experienced mahou shoujo really let loos–wait, a cliffhanger!? Gah!

Pacing – Combat & Dialogue

The funny thing about this episode was that it may have had the worst pacing of the series so far. It wasn’t bad, it just dragged a bit at times, especially early on. This covered almost two chapters of the manga, which was perfect for last week, so what happened? Well, other than the fact that they left out part of one of the chapters (don’t worry, it’s still coming), I think it has to do with the inherent differences in pacing between dialogue and action in manga and anime.

This all comes down to the restraints the two media labor under; for manga, it’s space, while for anime, it’s time. Take dialogue – it can take an anime adaptation up to a minute or more to go through the dialogue that a manga chapter can fit into a frame or two. It’s easy to go through a lot of dialogue in manga, so when a dialogue-heavy chapter is adapted into an anime – like episode 01 – it works well. On the other hand, anime can go through action a lot more quickly than manga can. Action that takes a manga multiple frames to show can be chewed through in seconds in an anime. That’s where the pacing got a little off this episode, and also why they kept talking during the fight so much – they needed to use up the extra time that their medium afforded them. Not that the talking during battle wasn’t badass sometimes.

Personally, I would have preferred it if Silver Link tried to throw in a couple of anime original jokes or moves to keep things snappy, but I realize I’m probably in the minority in that opinion. Like I said, the pacing wasn’t bad! It just wasn’t quite as good as it has been before.

Looking Ahead – Illya Rises

I will say nothing about what is coming ahead, for the preview is tantalizing enough. Let’s just say that next week is going to be fun.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – The new mahou shoujo are out & the old are in (temporarily). Now, will Rin & Luvia be able to seal the deal? #prismaillya

Random thoughts:

  • Minor gripe: If Miyu was trying to draw Saber away, why did she attack from the sky? Saber is a melee fighter, she can’t fly! (Or even if she could, there’s no reason for them to expect as much.) Better to attack from the ground and give Saber a reason to try to charge Miyu – and move away from Rin and Luvia.
  • Special Attack: Ruby Dual Chop! Truly, Ruby and Sapphire are the only ones who always keep their cool.
  • Mahou shoujo should be lolis, but nekomimi mahou shoujo Rin & Luvia are fine too.
  • They did it! They got Kawasumi Ayako to yell like a murderous beast too, haha! Nothing better than seeing all her talent perverted like this. Erh…that didn’t come out right.

For more from yours truly, check out my blog on writing, art, and the book I’m working on at stiltsoutloud.com.

Full-length images: 06, 08, 18, 19.

 

Preview

End Card

53 Comments

  1. The reason the pacing was kind of off this time was for consideration of the next episode.

    For the next episode, the battle will reach its climax, and it only spanned for one chapter of the manga. It would be very difficult for them to extend that one chapter for the duration of the whole episode, so they are saving a bit of this to make up for it. But in exchange, this episode felt a bit weaker, instead of ending on the proper cliffhanger.

    There is really not much they can do if they want to stick only to the source material, and I believe they are already doing the best they can. So for that, I will applaud their effort.

    MasterDragonKnight
    Reply

    1. True, and the cliffhanger they ended on was good. Honestly, if I hadn’t checked the source because I couldn’t remember how many chapters of material they went through, I wouldn’t even have remembered.

      Stilts
      Reply

  6. I lol’ed at the End Card.
    I think I read it somewhere as:

    Saber: Even if you defeat me, there will be a 2nd & 3rd Saber to take my place.
    Miyu: Just go back…
    Ilya:..to CAMELOT!!!

    Techim
    Reply

    4. That reminds me as I would like to see Red Saber (Nero Claudius) or Saber(Gawain) in anime. Red Saber appeared little in Carnival Phantasm, but I want to see her in a serious story. It would be fun to see the servants of Fate / Extra at some spinoff that could use them.

      Shadow74
      Reply

      1. Ironic for me how moments after Stilts mentioned Sabers being made up & you wanting to see Red Saber, I come across a new one in my facebook news feed. (I’m subscribed to an anime page)

        New servant appears in Koha Ace… Sakura Saber! (Cherry Blossom Saber)!”
        – The girl on the left says “In the end, it’s Saber again!? I’m gonna beat you up Takeuchi!” (Takeuchi is the Artist of Fate / Series).
        – Comptiq – September 2013
        http://bit.ly/163Z6HY

        Techim
        Reply

      3. Meant this as a comment reply to Techim. Oh well.

        Anyways, decided to check up on Sakura Saber and it looks like she’s not a costume for Blue Saber or Red Saber, but is in fact an entirely different character. If Blue is Arturia, Red is who she is… Sakura would probably be Bishamonten – Uesugi Kenshin.

        I do find it amusing that Akiha (the girl on the left) complaining and Kohaku’s laughing about it (girl on the right of the picture).

        Dorian
        Reply

  7. This all comes down to the restraints the two media labor under; for manga, it’s space, while for anime, it’s time. Take dialogue – it can take an anime adaptation up to a minute or more to go through the dialogue that a manga chapter can fit into a frame or two. It’s easy to go through a lot of dialogue in manga, so when a dialogue-heavy chapter is adapted into an anime – like episode 01 – it works well. On the other hand, anime can go through action a lot more quickly than manga can. Action that takes a manga multiple frames to show can be chewed through in seconds in an anime.

    I am reminded of the “lesson” in the very first episode of the first season of Seitokai no Ichizon: “Understand the differences between forms of media.”

    If they’re actually trying to make the events that follow this and the conclusion of the battle take up the entire next episode… I’m still not sure it’s going to work without feeling like it’s dragging. Without mentioning any story details, it has the same issue with different media that you mentioned for this episode, Stilts: a fair amount of action that takes up space in a manga, but which would likely play out fairly quickly when animated. Unless they screw it up badly, some of it will be some pretty freaking awesome action indeed, but I don’t see how they can make it last a whole episode.

    Putting ALL that aside, this was still pretty nice to watch. The battles, the magic, the girls, Illya freezing the way a ten-year-old girl WOULD when confronted by a murderous invincible warrior spirit, etc. On a whole I approve of the episode.

    Wanderer
    Reply

  10. Must be the easiest job Kawasumi Ayako has ever done for the Saber role, as all she needed to do was grunt like a mindless beast and she’s still entitled to her episodic commission. LOL (Voice actors in Japan are paid per episode, regardless of screentime. )

    echykr
    Reply

  13. Have played some of the fate fighting games and my god D.Saber moveset is really damn slow and even in this anime, she walks like she’s freaking terminator. And don’t tell me thats Ilya on that badass archer costume, what? will she do an Unlimited Moe Works or something, Welp can’t wait to see that one.

    Jhacks
    Reply

    1. Apologies for hitting the Enter button by mistake before I even completed my post. That was me.

      Anyway, as seen in the shot I’ve linked:

      Overaged mahou shoujo – No wonder Ruby and Sapphire couldn’t stand them and opted for “younger” masters. XD

      echykr
      Reply

  20. what annoys me Mr. Stilts about this dark and edgy mahou shojo trend nowadays isn’t the dark tone of the story but the fact everyone keeps trying to say the main rivals who just happen to be girls are a couple when they are obviously not. I mean when did having a boy x girl couple in a magical girl show become wrong? Mind you I have nothing against yaoi or yuri

    Deloras
    Reply

    1. I wouldn’t quite pigeonhole this is “dark and edgy mahou shoujo”, because while it is mahou shoujo and it does have some dark edges, it’s not…well, you’ll see.

      Regardless, I have no control over the fandom, so I suggest you ignore them. Or spend time here? There hasn’t been much Illya x Miyu shipping here. Probably because they really do just seem like fledgling friends in this one.

      Stilts
      Reply

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