Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma✫Illya 3rei – 10ehntel
There’s one perfect fit, and this one is it…
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So which one of them is a Peach, and which is the Herb? This show saves itself a minute or so worth of animation time by repeating the last bit of last episode; which is another way for me to say, “Well, we start where we left off…” |
People don’t only cry when they’re feeling sad
Came back to life when I got your call…
We finally get down to the nitty gritty with this episode and I, for one, feel it a long long long time coming. Which isn’t to say that all that has come before has been a total waste – just partially! This one does a good job advancing the previous plot threads while get a glimpse into a few more. If I do have one huge complaint about this story, but I’ll bring that up more towards the end of this series – or it may be what I complain about most next series, all that remains to be seen – a clue is seen in the caption for this post’s final image. Regardless, this one really feels like a full episode, and not just a bunch of minutes surrounding a few good points.
So we have a classic standoff with Kuro and Illya on one side, Angelica (and I guess Rin and Luvia, who’ve been more “c’mon get out of my way, man!” style antagonists) on the other. It’s right around that time that Kuro decided she had enough of the Talking is a Free Action (buying her time to slip Illya the Caster card) trope that the Big Archer gave her. That’s fine, as it gives the rest of the Prisma!Gang time to bust in. Both Gil! and Bazzett are finally earning some stage presence as they free Rin and Luvia from their brainwashing – another point resolved there – and soon the whole gang is back if not wholly whole. Rin and Luvia need mage gems badly!
This is when the Lil’ Archers, Gil! and Kuro, put a plan to outsmart their opposition to work. Angelica is very powerful, but being creative and flexible doesn’t seem to be her strong suits. That’s more the kid’s territory and they’re able to bluff the “ground force” and bring the fight to Darius as soon as possible. Heck, Kuro even called that one in advance, boasting she would take out Angelica first, then come later for Darius…and they swallowed that, hook, line, and sinker. The Ainsworth’s are too addicted to following the script it seems.
So one shot from Kuro destroys the tower and is enough to get Illya in. That was really nice seeing all the Noble Phantasms working in short order (didn’t need to bore me with the history, so they didn’t), and it was especially nice seeing Illya slip Caster’s magic canceller in there and deal with Darius directly. So simple, clean, smooth and elegant. With that it really did seem like the day was won. We finally get these two back in each other’s arms, reunited, and it seem like an escape in in order. But Darius has a story within a story, and that just leads to crazy business.
…and we understood…
Now it gets good and muddy…
I’ve mentioned how much I dig this narrative detail, of using the idea of stories to guide the Grail, the Big Metafictional Cup. This is where it really makes a mark. Though they want to save the world, the Ainsworth method has a shady way of going about it, it’s way to self-centered. If you want to save it, then save it, go right ahead, skip right past the triple dog dare and be about your world-saving business. But, that isn’t really what they want. No villain wants to save the world, they want it to owe them something, they want to prove something as individuals and revel in being selfish. Ainsworth over world. This is a really nice counterpoint to the Prisma!Gang’s ideal of achieving something beyond the simplistic dichotomy together. Do the good things, as the means create the Grail ends. After all, the Grail is neutral when you get down to it, and actually it’s a mirror when you see beyond that. Seems the damn thing is always reflecting darkness.
Poor Erica, the very thing that Miyu dismisses her for is the one thing she craved more than anything else – love and attention is not above the board for a child, and a lack of it can break them. Her sweet-faced innocence is basically another face of Illya from yet another story – one sacrifice in a long line of sacrifices made to achieve power. Erica’s insistence that you do the opposite to her (don’t pat my head, don’t tread me normally) just screamed and screamed about Illya’s desolate circumstances and ultimate fate in Unlimited Blade Works. That was a nice thematic touch as it shows that one simple tragedy is enough launch you into the next part of the story. Narratively speaking, Erica kinda fulfilled that Lesser Grail function. Also, does that mean there is some darkness in Miyu?
Well, they had their chances, these fallen Heroic Spirits. They’ve given in to their own despair and are lashing out. Seems like a lesson is in there somewhere. But this battle got to be quite grim. But a good reflection. I love that suggestion that giving up on the Grail now, makes you mud. If Miyu joins Julian, she’s mud…But, despite all their planning, the Prisma!Gang is ill prepared to be this outclassed and this outnumbered so suddenly. The magical girls can be good to go in a fight, and Bazzett is more than willing, but both Rin and Luvia are vulnerable and it looks like Gil! is off galavanting. Oh yeah, he’s bringing the last piece on to the board isn’t he? But that’s not as important, as the Most Important Battle is happening above the field. At the very least, freeing Shirou means that leverage against Miyu is gone…
Don’t be like them, don’t give in….
♩♫♫ We get battles/We get battles♪♩♬
Everything as it should be…
As I said in my intro paragraph, I really enjoyed this one, and it was a long time coming. Everything pretty much lined up exactly as it needed to and it felt like the magical girl show it was always meant to be. Illya is a tough one to put into the hero character class as she doesn’t really seem, at first blush, to be cut from the hero mold. But that’s the point…she’s the hero of her own story, same as the rest of us. Just give her a Kaleid stick and she’s ready to go off on her adventures, come what may, tears and all. That is a much better thing than “asskicking asskicker of asskickery that kicks ass in an asskickingly asskicker way”….
…or maybe I’m speaking to soon…
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 110 comments
Give all these eps so of this illya season yet overall still feel like this illya went the flash s2 route season.
So many compare on this illya season with s2 flash (with s3 flashpoint coming) wonder will be same thing by finale ep?
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
You’d wonder why Darius, or rather Julian, would want Miyu to return on her own instead of just him grabbing him back. Was there any meaning in him just talking to her like that in a portal and just extending his hand rather than taking her away immediately. Maybe he doesn’t want to handle Miyu too roughly, at least physically since she’ll put up a fight if he does take her back forcefully. Though that’s not right since he ordered the enemy duo to retrieve her and they did it pretty roughly. Or maybe it has something to do with his myth that he’s building. He’d want the Grail to be willingly be used to save the world. Forcefully taking her would taint it or something like that. Though that doesn’t make sense as well for the same reason.
Last week, the issue of the mana drain of the world and having unknown particles that are deadly borrows from Nasu’s earlier work caled Notes. Now, this big dark cube is reminiscent of something from another work as well. The Moon Cell from Fate/Extra. Though there’s the issue if it’s the actual one or it just looks like it. There would also be an issue of how Julian got something like this and what’s its overall purpose given the endless mud flowing from it that spawned those mud Heroic Spirits. Last would be what’s Tanaka’s connection to it given her wall scribbles. So many questions raised indeed.
But the current issue is the plethora of fallen Heroic Spirits and how they’re even a match against Bazett. But here comes the cavalry that I’ve been waiting for all this time. Given how Angelica was wary of Kuro’s projections, it stands to reason that this Shirou is quite formidable. More so that he was the one who rescued Miyu from the Ainsworths to begin with, meaning he gave them a hard time. Time to show them the power of the older brother and the original faker.
Somewhat related but the Prillya event is already starting in Fate Grand/Order. I got really lucky and got Illya so I’m totally happy. I have Kiritsugu, Irisviel and Emiya so I’ve reunited the whole family already. Here’s a video of Illya’s NP and here is Kuro’s. Now if I can just get that Miyu CE.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I think, that as the writer of the grand plan of the Grail, Darian…Julis? Jul-Dar? Jul-Daaar….Dar-Jul wants both the sour and the sweet, the light and the dark, as that makes the most apropos and poetic sense when going about the business of sacrificing a child for present gains…one of the adult fears that comes with a progressive society…that the kids aren’t only not going to do better than the generation that raises them, but will do worse. Or I could be reading into things?
Hiroyama has basically been doing his spin-off Magical Girl version of Carnival Phantasm since the get go. It’s pretty clear he’s a “Moon-tard” and I think that’s pretty cool. As a long time US comic book fan, I love the idea of connecting the dotes, and as a long time fan of genre-blending I groove on seeing it work…
As for what’s up with the details coming from different Nasu works? I think they’re just that, details in service to the larger story, which really isn’t that hard a story to do. Julian is basically there to underscore, “you think this is bad, I can and will make it worse for the person/people you care about”, and then like a villain making that pretty much her choice. It’s always about making and living with choices, stories.
As for Shirou…well I do have quite a bit so say about him, but I’m just gonna be over here, being quiet and such.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Thank you for doing the links. I was going to do that as I have been a bad Digi and spending my time unleashing salvos in my world of warships.
Some people’s excitement.
Sapphire version is delicious. :3~
Also, apparently assistant-kun made a doujinshi of Prillya. NSFW. The alternate Chapter 29. or was it 30. Will not post links.