Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya / First Impressions

「独りじゃない」 (Hitori ja Nai)
“You Are Not Alone”

Everything is changing all at once.

I can’t get over how much happened this episode. This isn’t the first time Prisma Illya has done this—crammed what felt like a full episode in before the commercial break, and then at least another afterward. Seeing Shirou fight would have been enough, and honestly, I expected more of that—though once Kuro joined him, it got SUPER AWESOME. (Kuro and Shiro[u], hah!) I’m definitely sad he didn’t get to crack out Unlimited Blade Works, though maybe that would have made it too much of the Emiya Shirou show, when he’s not the main character this time. Still, woulda been cool. Would been awesome.

For any other episode, that would have been enough. I didn’t expect more! Then a familiar face—or at least a familiar voice—showed up. I always expected Sakura to show up, but not like this! (Or maybe she’s the quasi-Sakura from one of those games whose artwork I see occasionally. Manga readers, feel free to leave me guessing.) And just, like, whoa . . . get ready for Heaven’s Feel all. Not only is Miyu’s Shirou more like the Heaven’s Feel version, a certain purple-haired sempai-lover is totally broken. You got that in one, Miyu.

That could have been the cliffhanger. But no! Then came Gil-kun’s card taking over Miyu and turning her into a vessel for the King of Heroes, and it makes you wonder what kind of mettle Angelica was made of. (Related: Beako was cold to let Angelica die, or presumably die—I didn’t see no body, after all. Beatrice better hope she died. If Angelica survived, I have a feeling she’s going to punish the resident Julian fantatic.)

Anywho, another show would have stretched the Miyu-King-of-Heroes saga out into a full episode, but not here. BAM—Gil-kun has his card back, and has humiliated everyone only to slip off into invisibility to watch the proceedings for lulz. We always knew he wasn’t really Team Illya’s ally, he was just in it for himself. Him wanted to be amused more than fight is wholly in keeping with Gilgamesh’s well-defined character. As is ridiculing Julian for his Erica-based plan, which—yeah. That’s not going to end well for anyone.

If anything, this episode felt lacking in Illya, since Kuro and Miyu spent more time in the spotlight. Until the end, that is. Thats when Illya steps us to remind of us of two incontrovertible facts: Illya is the only thing keeping Prisma Illya from slipping into Fate-style grimdark horror, and that it always comes down to Saber. Even when she’s not a character, it still comes down to Saber. But it’s the first part that I most love. This Illya just isn’t the type to make hard choices. Or rather, she has a way of turning hard choices into false choices. Abandon Miyu’s onii-chan and run? No. She will save everyone, and the whole damn world to boot.

That’s what keeps this spin-off being unique from its predecessors, and what makes me love it so much. I’m not a grimdark guy; I much prefer my fantasy action with a dose of humor and a dollop of hope. That’s where Illya comes in to save the day again.

tl;dr: @StiltsOutLoud – Shirou & Kuro fight, Sakura rises, Gil-kun meddles, & Illya shows you where you can stuff your hard choices. Excalibur! #prisma_illya s4e11

Random thoughts:

  • One for all, or all for one—it takes on a whole new meaning this time.
  • I’d much prefer a faker to a counterfeiter. All artists start off copying and faking it. Counterfeiters, on the other hand—and their cousins, plagiarists—are slime. So it is in art, so it is in life (and magic).
  • She accelerated her noble phantasms somehow. I’m not sure if inertia works like that, but having too much fun to care. Plus, magic.
  • Justice rains from above.
  • Some great shots of Kuro this episode. Sometimes a look really is worth a thousand words. For others as well. I know which villain I’d rather have on my side.
  • No-spoiler preview. Good. This isn’t the time to spoil the surprise. Speaking of, what has Tanaka been up to? (Mark and tag spoilers, ya gits.)

My SECOND novel, Freelance Heroics, is available now! (Now in print!) (Also available: Firesign #1 Wage Slave Rebellion.) Sign up for my email list for a FREE prequel short story. At stephenwgee.com, the last four posts: I havefour jobs right now, Radical transparency. I’ll try, Freelance Heroics in print, and other matters, and Freelance Heroics is available NOW!.

 

Preview

38 Comments

    1. SL has never done as much action as this season required. Previous seasons of Prisma had a more limited number of action scenes, which meant they could easily focus their efforts there. Not so easy with 3rei. That, and BD sales aren’t that high for Prisma, so it’s a miracle it has gotten so many seasons. Of course, the budget isn’t going to be high.

      bassgs435
      Reply

    2. I’m thankful I wasn’t the only one thinking that the animation has dropped quite a bit. Let’s just hope they do some cleaning up in the bluray release.

      Also, Julian’s Shirou “disguise” looks more like Kotomine Kirei than Shirou, albeit the orange hair.

      Finally, Luvia’s “Shero” gets me everytime.

      Goodwill Wright
      Reply

  2. Everything certainly is changing…particularly the coherence of how everything proceeded. I found myself getting into the early Emiya action myself. But after that, I don’t really get Sakura’s presence there, she comes in then…just gets told to leave. Maybe it’s because I’m not really the person to get starstruck, or she seemed like she had a purpose for being there before the people behind the story changed their mind, but I’ll admit….it’s a thing that happened.

    And boy, those antagonists, Angelica (admittedly and impressively) gets outsmarted by Emiya’s plan and…just kind of succumbs to it, getting left behind by Beatrice. Well, what an abrupt way for her character to go out by this point. Then Beatrice is withheld by chains. I’m not going to lie, that axe apparition they fight at the end, I think is a bigger threat these guys have gone against so far. It’s partly because I see it DO something that’s not prattling words. It’s honestly going by instincts and not being withheld by “I have a play” pretension, making Kuro put her guard up and making Rin protect Emiya by healing his wounds. It says something when this nameless entity makes me more concerned than the named antagonists. Heck, it’s even the thing that pushed Illya to not run away anymore and know what her goals are. Seriously, this thing is impressive to have to done all that lol.

    Also, I guess I missed something where Gil knows about this plan not going to work, and referring to Erica as a mud doll of calamity. …I don’t really have much to say about that, just that apparently something happened that he knows about but I don’t. I don’t know if that’s a manga thing, but I’m lost.

    All I can say is this episode….certainly happened. Emiya is cool beans. Also, Bazett’s launching Rin via punch was also rad.

    Fuwa Fuwa
    Reply

    1. On the chains:

      Gil’s chains work better on people with divinity, i.e. gods. Since Beako is using Thor’s power atm, they might be more effective on her than usual. Or not, we don’t really know if that applies to someone using one of the cards, and all this wasn’t noted Prisma Illya anyway, so we shouldn’t be expected to know it.

      Gil-kun owning her off-screen is pretty in character, though.

      Stilts
      Reply

    2. Gil’s reaction I think is less “the audience can get it, too”, and more “he’s the ancient King of Heroes, so he knows things”, which makes me think that Julian has incorporated another ancient myth into his “play”. Remember, Gil was king back when the world had crazy-nuts rituals and calamities happening on a weekly basis, plus he’s intelligent, so he can put pieces together. What Julian’s trying is probably taken from something he’s seen before, and based on his reaction, it didn’t end well for anyone.

      Sakura is… well, totally broken people are easier to manipulate if you throw away morals. You need to lie to them, fit their delusions. Sakura still wants to be going to and from school with Shirou, she’s just gone over the edge and ready to take extreme measures to make sure no one gets in the way anymore. If it involves her and Shirou, it’s right, if it involves anyone else, it’s wrong so she’ll get rid of it. He was already her focal point, but then after she was “killed”(I’m assuming), Julian scooped her up, fed her mud, and now she’s so crazy that only he knows her “formula”. She doesn’t even seem to know who “Julian” is, after all. It’s shoddy because it was rushed (I’m assuming) but the pieces are there.

      Angelica falling… manga readers, help please? Was her injury supposed to be more serious and debilitating? She lost the Card so it was bad, but it didn’t seem that bad.

      Also, I see from her taller silhouette in the “waterfall” that the blonde next to Julian at the end of the OP is grown-up Erica…? Mud-baths… wonders for the complexion.

      Aex
      Reply

      1. If i remember correctly from the manga, Show Spoiler ▼

        Haven’t read the manga in a while so i might be mistaken, but if i remember correctly, that is how it went in there.

        Damrod
        Reply

  3. Eh… I had really high hopes for this episode, but they really messed up on the combat scenes. Admittedly, an episode full of fast paced action would take a lot of effort to animate well, but I’m still disappointed that they didn’t forsee it ahead of time and gave this episode the attention it deserves.

    Gilgamesh’s attacks being thin rays of light instead of actual swords (like they showed that they can do in episode 9), the lazy nine lives blade works at the beginning, not to mention how they really rushed all of it to one episode.

    These chapters were the best parts of the manga imo, but here it all feels rushed and incomplete. It’s such a missed opportunity…

    Itaywex
    Reply

  4. I feel bad for the ones who were hyping this part to happen ever since the anime started, I happen to be one of them. Plus the wait for this episode to even come out with subs was pretty bad.

    The animation was just all over the place and they left out some scenes or changed them drastically. Shirou asking Kuro why is Miyu wearing such a lewd costume for example. Sakura scenes got it much worse though as in there was no silly weapon spinning involved. At least the EMIYA remix was good so it wasn’t all that bad I guess?

    Also did anyone notice that the shot of Illya unleashing Excalibur was straight from the opening?

    I’m not saying this episode was super bad but it just didn’t live up the hype it was given by the readers of the manga and watchers of the show.

    xxvan
    Reply

  6. Well, I wasn’t that much disappointed, because the battle with Gil in Zwei Herz have already shown me this possibility. Honestly, I think this episode needs as much much budget as one of those top episodes of UBW.
    I’m fine with the rest haha, but I suspect that we might not get next season though, or maybe not for a long time. Sigh.

    Seorori
    Reply

  9. A few things I noticed:

    1.)Sakura seems to be using Fate/Zero Berserker(Lancelot), that’s three Berserker cards.
    2.)Julian mentions something about the Gilgamesh card not being fully corrupted after passing through the BOX.
    3.) Number two probably explains why the servants were corrupt upon arriving in Illya’s dimension. Which probably means, the only reason gil became corrupt, and uncontrollable in that world was because of additional corruption from AVENGER.
    4.)Shirou Emiya, is being overwritten by EMIYA even without using the card, and is not able to use Unlimited Blade Works.
    5.)Gil seems to know something about Erica, the corrupted heroes, and the big whatever that thing is.

    Theories, but I’ll enclose them anyway.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Kazakiri
    Reply

    1. Gilgamesh is incapable of being corrupted by the corrupted Grail. That’s been confirmed for a long time. He even makes a snide remark about how it would take way more than that to corrupt himself. So whatever it is that’s corrupting them is way worse than All The World’s Evil.

      TheVoid
      Reply

      1. Seems you misunderstood, so let me clarify.

        1.) Julian said that even passing through the box did not fully corrupt Gilgamesh
        2.) He was throughly corrupted upon activating the Einzbern ritual.
        3.) Avenger is in the Einzbern greater grail

        We can conclude from the above that neither the BOX, nor Avenger can cause Gilgamesh to be corrupted, and lose his sense of self.

        But what if he gets hit with both?

        He was already partially corrupted, upon entering Illya’s world, and Avenger just provided the what was necessary to push him past the line.

        Kazakiri
        Reply

  14. https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
    Man I was reading Archer’s line and at that very end, I was ready to shout out UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS but alas, genderbent Gilgamesh had to block it…

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2010.jpg
    Speaking of genderbending… I can’t wait to see Archer realise that she’s standing next to her original self. Anyway, any fan art depicting all 3 red garbed snarky Archers all in one picture?

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2043.jpg
    You know, I was actually hoping that Rin had that heart shaped healing pendent somewhere on her…

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
    We now know how Souichirou Kuzuki looked like when he was younger

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
    Matou Sakura really got a wardrobe overhaul… Not sure if I want to be with her or not. Took me a while to realise it was her in a ramped up Rider suit. The valkyrian mask gave it away. Anyway, did a little more digging on FSN Caster and she being Medusa they incorporated her snakes into the design. So I doubt that she’s wearing a Lancer-Rider suit.

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2026.jpg
    We love you Studio SHAFT…

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2045.jpg
    Seriously and honestly admit it, how many of us actually screamed EXCALIBUR with her?

    Velvet Scarlantina
    Reply

    1. too bad because it’s a Berserker garb (F/Z) as already mentioned a few times in the comments. hence she’s weaponless, corruption red lines when she blocks GilgaArcher!Miyu’s weapons, Miyu not recognizing her, crazy, and Berserker(F/Z) vs Archer(F/Z) parallels

      GoXDS
      Reply

  16. Just going to point out something about Erika’s true nature for those who didn’t notice. Might be a spoiler for later arcs so I’ll add the spoiler brackets.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Mixed Milkshake
    Reply

  17. Actually Stilts, he did try to use UBW but for some reasons (I will not spoil) he failed to do that. It was when he started to chant and then crumbled in pain (mostly because his magic circuits than Angelica attacks).

    Higure
    Reply

  18. I loved it. Great show and tension. Lots of stuff to explain. I like the moral choices being offered.

    I have seen this manga readers hate the animation before when I liked the animation not being that type of manga reader.
    Basically the action line effects done in pictures in black in white do not translate to color motion anime or when in color the same exact effect cannot look as cool to them. On another site they were putting up manga pictures to compare that were supposedly massively superior or that things were left out and I saw a good effort to copy closely the manga from the same examples. In one picture because Kuru and Emya’s swords were at a somewhat different angle what I though was a great moment they hated. I wonder as well if there is a go in a group on this once one brings it up. If this is a manga viewer mostly and most non manga viewers liked it the problem is a perception problem on the manga viewers that they will have to adjust to on the future. On the other hand if there are animation flaws of the type normally mentioned by critics of animation compared to prior seasons fight maybe that the cause I just did not see them.

    Now this series has had great fighting animation maybe this is too much scattered action at the same time to give the same impression. As the examples from manga offered were in the anime it was not missing scenes that those offering examples were upset with.

    My first time with this was a Fairy Tail episode where a massive wheel like drill attack enraged because it was not as in the manga. With that the animation showed well a rotating drill but that was with brown normal for anime spin in the manga the spin motion was shown in bold black lines that do not translate to anime. Basically the whole problem then and maybe now is the manga is bold black stark lines in freeze frames that just do not translate to animation because making things lighter colors lowers their impacts even if true to the color nature of the scene.

    I have noticed fewer comments this season, if this season doing worse than the fluff added last season then it the fluff viewers the show has lost mostly. Blue Rays are not the only thing determining things, they actually have rating agencies in Japan it just that the ratings these shows get are not leaked or released like in US where the on set of ratings on shows is released by the rating agency. They do sell ads for these shows although it is a late time slot, but for a late night time slot ratings are still important in the US.

    RedRocket
    Reply

    1. They are most likely complaining that there seems to be less budget for the fight scenes in comparison to the previous seasons.
      What they forget however is that this season doesn’t have the same budget as an UBW season and that the previous seasons didn’t had this much action in them.

      As for the studio deen comparison someone made, studio deen tried to incorporate bits and pieces of the other 2 routes in the first one making it a bit more messy in comparison to if they just stuck to a single route like Ufotable did.

      Damrod
      Reply

  21. I love this

    https://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%203rei%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2042.jpg

    That’s usually the point where there’s a pep talk during the climax. They skipped all that crap and replaced it with something much more powerful and in character.

    I thought the battle that Kuro brought on earlier in this season didn’t fit well, but it led to this. Much, much better than the usual.

    flap
    Reply

  22. I don’t get what seems wrong about Angelica’s method of accelerating the swords?

    Seems perfectly logical, as long as point-to-point teleportation exists. They’re basically falling an infinite distance so will keep speeding up due to gravity until the air resistance reaches a point that the swords can’t speed up any more.

    Blue
    Reply

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