Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya / First Impressions / Series Introduction

OP Sequence

OP: 「Asterism」 by ChouCho

「銀色に沈む街」 (Gin’iro ni Shizumu Machi)
“City Fading to Silver”

Prisma Illya is back, and it’s wasting no time getting into the thick of things.

Fluffy Start Turns Serious

One of the things I love about this series is how it effortlessly mixes breathtaking action and serious drama with silly comedy. This episode begins with an extended joke where Illya insinuates that she and Miyu are having lesbian sex in order to keep Ruby and Sapphire a secret, something which does not displease Mimi in the least. That, and daring to have a character whip out a syringe for a punch line, is part of Prisma Illya’s signature style, and it has not been lost. I don’t want to overly explain the jokes, so I’ll move on, but one quick thing first: if a character is going to tempt fate (“These peaceful days are nice”), I prefer their karmic comeuppance to be swift. Cue Rin and Luvia with an emergency, and we’re off!

Sayonara, Miyuyu

This will probably be the last time I bring this up, but it need be said one more time. Matsuki Miyu, the voice actor who played Sapphire, passed away late last year, so it was understandably jarring to hear Sapphire speak this time. Kakazu Yumi did as good of a job as anybody, giving Sapphire the right tone even if Matsuki Miyu’s unique voice is impossible to replicate entirely. She’ll be fine, Sapphire and Prisma Illya will be fine, but Matsuki Miyu will be missed. So one last time: rest in peace, Miyuyu.

A New Danger

Maybe it’s the red-haired loli swinging a big damn hammer, but I got Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s vibes from this first episode—specifically, of that show’s first episode. Here we have two new baddies, one voiced by Shiraishi Ryoko and the other by Kugimiya Rie, and they’re strong. This is an instance of trotting a new character out on the stage and immediately proving they’re bigger, better, stronger, faster, and a helluva lot meaner than our heroes. They flatten the protagonists easily, with the red-haired loli wielding Berserker class powers doing almost all of the damage herself! That’s setting the bar at way over the protagonist’s heads, and challenging them to find a way over the top. Good, good! I like a challenge.

The Mystery of Miyu

It’s official: Miyu is not of this world. Was that official before? It was alluded to pretty heavily, that I remember, but it has been a year since I’ve seen this, so I can’t remember what was said. More interesting, perhaps, is how the villains recapture Miyu but treat her like shit—that “-sama” suffix doesn’t connote real respect. Combined with the insinuation that Miyu is a parallel world’s grail, and that the people who have captured her must be stopped, and we have us a good ‘ol time.

Winter In Gym Clothes

Adding to our rockstar seiyuu cast is Tanaka (Fukuen Misato), an energetic amnesiac with high body temperature and some seemingly implanted opinions, such as how this Ainsworth family needs to be stopped. Not much to say right now, she’s goofy and punctured the very real drama of the scene before her arrival, but I have a feeling she has a purpose, so I’ll wait and see how. And the wait will only be for one week this time, yay! Prisma Illya is back, and I’m glad.

Oh and yeah, I’m blogging this. Looks like it might be twelve episodes too! It’s a good day indeed.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Illya is back, with lesbian misunderstandings swiftly followed by punishing combat & a Miyu kidnapping. To another world! #prisma_illya s4e1

Random thoughts:

  • Illya and Kuro have gotten a lot more sister-like than even last season, it seems. Or twins-like. All that talking at the same time~

My first novel, Wage Slave Rebellion, is available now. (More info—now in paperback!) Sign up for my email list for a FREE sequel novella. Over at stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: I love sales jobs, Good realism is character realism, Dying idols, and Frictionless routines.

Full-length images: 22.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「WHIMSICAL WAYWARD WISH」 by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND feat. Kouda Yumeha

Preview

41 Comments

  1. lets begin this season HF warm up..
    fluffy shirou will be missed..

    it neat actually the first half to bridge form somewhat original end from 2wei..

    P.S
    dat berseker card is kinda cheat on magic department (if you know what heroes she use it)..

    babibola
    Reply

      1. Go back and watch the last episode of 2wei Herz, at the very end, or you can rewatch this episode at about the 8:30 mark. In both cases, the two new antagonistas show up, and the tall blonde one steps on the discarded Archer (Gil) card. Then after a flash of light and blast of air, we see her dressed as Gil. And sure enough, later in the episode, she’s wielding Gil’s weapons (lobbing swords, chains). I won’t explicitly spell it out for fear that someone calls spoiler, but it’s pretty straightforward, so I don’t know why people would be confused.

        quigonkenny
        Reply

  2. That entire sequence of Illya waking up alone until just before she meets Tanaka lasted for a whopping 4 minutes. 4 minutes of unbridled loneliness and despair. Holy shit. I might be still a tad bit bitter over the anime original route Herz and subsequently the start of 3rei had but damn that scene alone made me almost forget about those grievances.

    The best part here is how in Illya’s world they were still using Tatsuya Kato’s fantastic soundtrack but as soon as the setting shifted into Miyu’s world they had the new composer they chose to replace him with hop in with his own new beats to signify the change in tone of the series.

    Welcome back Prisma Illya. Wouldn’t be a summer season without you.

    Nailclipper
    Reply

  6. It’s official: Miyu is not of this world. Was that official before? It was alluded to pretty heavily, that I remember, but it has been a year since I’ve seen this, so I can’t remember what was said.

    Are you okay Stilts? Because that was major plot reveal of Zwei and was hammered to both the characters and audience. I can understand if you forgot some minor details but it seems unusual you would forget its “ZOMG!!! CHARACTER REVEAL” plot point. Heck don’t take my word for it, just hit the back button on this post to see the previous blog posts about it. The ones that….you wrote.

    FYI, the red-haired loli was using a Berserker Card. Said Servant card has a giant hammer and lightning powers. At this point, I’m positive many people have figured out which Servant this is so I’ll leave it at that.

    As for the episode itself, I’m glad they only spent half an episode of anime original padding. I still didn’t like how the previous season ended when the plot should be moving already. Pacing seems to be off a bit as well, since we’ve only covered half of the first chapter but the preview indicates they might be blazing through 2 chapter at once. We’ll see how it goes.

    RIP Matsuki Miyu. Damn shame she’s gone. She was set to reprise her decade-old role on Fafner:Exodus on a moment that would have perfect for the series. Instead her character became a voiceless role.

    fragb85
    Reply

    1. Not gonna lie, I was super fuckin’ tired when I wrote this post, and I’ve got a 14-hr work day t’day, so I couldn’t postpone it. I literally don’t remember writing the post :X So yeah, sorry if it was subpar or I missed things. I was kinda going on muscle memory.

      Ditto on Berserker. (Went ahead and edited that.) I thought that was the Assassin of the Cursed Arm, and maybe the hammer came from somewhere else, but yeah, that doesn’t really makes sense. I was tired 😛

      Though I’ve also been spoiled for some things before, so I forget whether things were officially revealed or I was spoiled for ’em sometimes.

      Stilts
      Reply

  7. https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
    That should be used on Rin. We know she is a big tsundere so using that potion should remedy her Tsundere traits. Sort of curious if Rin and Luvia has some secret feelings of love for each other, it would explain why they argue so much.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2004.jpg
    ……………………..Rin do the fusion dance with Luvia.

    Anyway, I am glad the female “Gilgamesh” did not take Ilya’s heart. I am trying to recover from that. T_T

    L002
    Reply

  8. When many went nuts with the decision to delay the new plot till the new series I somehow, have no clue how, forgot the same level of rage when Attack on Titan did the same thing and cut out the cliffhanger at the end of the anime. I guess, and sort of see the point, in manga versions both series did not have a huge time gap to make people wait for the next manga. But with the anime they decided for both series to not have a major cliffhanger end the season for a expected long wait.

    I really like the mystery and despair that Ilya got being transferred without her wand even. I think Ilya’s side would have done better if not so much surprised. Ilya could have gone super power again with both wands if thought of and the whole group could have spread out avoiding a total group area effect take out.

    Yep Illya and Kuro are closer than identical twins so as they relax with one another and Kuro being less concerned with being independent they are starting to identical twin themselves. It interesting that Illya and Kuro must actually look more like twins than they do to the audience as all of Illya’s friends thought Kuro was Illya when Kuro was going kissing bandit.

    A OVA left switched on Illya advancing on a scantily clad cat costume Miyu alone on the bed basically inferring they went all the way. So I think Illya was not totally lying about their state of relationship.

    Oh with Illya gone how is Kuro going to get recharged? 😉

    Like how this is starting out.

    RedRocket
    Reply

    1. Having the advantage of being anime-only, the ending to last season didn’t bother me. It’s a decision, maybe the other would have been better, the one we got wasn’t bad, and we’re back in the thick of things now. It works for me.

      Stilts
      Reply

  11. and thus begins suffering..this is where it goes from comedy and some great action..to suffering, i dont even remember the last chapter that had comedy in it.

    Acesoldia
    Reply

  12. Had to pause watching the episode a bit after hearing Sapphire talk. Couldn’t agree more Matsuki-san’s voice is unique and very much missed. The new seiyuu is doing a good job nonetheless.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  15. Fun fact: Sapphire’s new seiyuu, Kakazu Yumi, voiced Hisui in the nonexistent Tsukihime anime. Matsuki Miyu voiced Hisui in subsequent works like Melty Blood and Carnival Phantasm. You could say that the old Hisui replaced the new Hisui for Sapphire. Still, RIP Matsuki Miyu. I teared up when I learned what she put on her blog when she was still fighting her disease.

    I was wondering how they would rerail the story from that ending in Herz. Glad that it’s only half an episode spent on anime original to do so. Though the reasoning why the place was getting distorted feels a bit contrived compared to how it actually went. In the manga, it’s because of the clash between Gil’s Ea and Zwei form Illya that opened the path to the other world. Then the two appeared and took Miyu immediately like how it went in the episode. Here it’s just acting up just because and they need to investigate it.

    At least it’s on track now and may be covering a lot more chapters per episode given the preview. Good thing it’s 12 episodes now or else it’ll be too rushed given what they showed in the opening, which I’m totally hyped to see.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2023.jpg
    Dem underboobs. I want her to be playable in FGO. Prisma collab please.

    belatkuro
    Reply

  16. Having read most of the manga already (because I have an unbreakable curse of impatience), I won’t read anymore of it because the anime is back and it is always better for me. But I will say that I’m not entirely mad at myself for doing that after watching this episode, because the latter half of it, especially when Illya woke up and scrambled around in despair in the alternate world..SILVER LINK successfully amplified what I felt in the manga. As Illya looks around for her friends while wondering why it’s snowing in the middle of summer, there is no music. I gaze in awe and bewilderment as I see an unfamiliar world that is snowy in the summer and oddly has a crater in the middle of its city. I hear the tension in Illya’s breathing and also the sound of the cold weather. Then just as she reaches where her house should be, it is not there, and then the dark reality sets in. That’s when the music starts, because now it’s all overwhelming and unbearable, and nothing Illya can think of would answer what the hell is going. And then the comedy happens with Tanaka, and I just laugh, as I should.

    Stilts, I think I now know how you felt after watching Archer Illya vs. Saber Alter in anime even though you knew it was gonna happen.
    Even though I knew what was coming, I still got chills. What a feat that is. I just had to point that out.

    yoloalchemist
    Reply

    1. Aye. If a story is really good, and it’s a certain kind of story where this is even possible, great scenes can still work even if you know what’s going to happen. Investment in and love for the characters is a large part of it.

      Stilts
      Reply

    2. Well, to be honest, if you’re up to date on the manga, you shouldn’t have any fear of spoiling yourself for the anime yet. If they manage to get that far or farther in only 12 episodes, it’s going to be a trainwreck from a pacing standpoint. You’ll have been better off just reading the manga.

      quigonkenny
      Reply

  19. Who else had flashbacks when Illya was walking through a snowy forest? At first I remembered her and Kiritsugu looking for walnuts in Fate/Zero and when I remembered that scene of Illya and Berserker in UBW. And when Illya was running towards the town, I kind of expected her to find Einzbern castle.

    PerlaNemesis
    Reply

    1. I am not surprised if the direction of that scene was deliberately meant to invoke Fate/Zero and Illya and Berseker in UBW. In some ways, it could be argued that the experience of being stranded in a parallel world, would be as much as a character defining experience for the Illya of Fate Prisma, as the Snowy Forest was for the Illya of the UBW Timeline.

      Andmeuths
      Reply

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