1rste Eindrücke – Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma✫Illya 2wei Herz!

Oh, yeah, back for more!

Goodness, but I can practically fall all over myself heaping praise upon this franchise. Along with Monogatari and the RailDex stories, this ranks as a top favorite set. So let’s see what they have in store for us this time…

Getting the Gang Back

…many happy returns…

Well, despite the fact that Silver Link’s other show this season doesn’t look all that great, it’s good to see they’ve been saving the real quality for the best of the best. The character design is just as good as it ever was, and they’ve maintained a great degree of control in direction and pacing. The classic reactions shots are priceless. The dialog is crisp and an all star cast pulls it off to great delight. The OP by fhana is just beautifully animated and sung. Nothing has changed for the worse, and it looks like things are only going to get more interesting.

Illya is much better off in this universe….keeping her Herz!

This show is going to build up a great deal on previous series in the franchise, and indeed plays rather heavy with the rest of the Fate Universe mythos. So I’ll play just a bit of catch up. This is a Mahou Shoujo show at heart, with a great mix of those aforementioned myhtos. Much like Card Captor Sakura the main idea is to collect and hold a series of very powerful magic items called Class Cards, based off the Fate series summoned Servants.

…it even does slice of life/comedy really well!

These items, when left to their own devices, can warp and distort the world around them, leaving nothing but trouble for Fuyuki City, the major location for all the shows. Sounds like a job for a magical girl squad! But since this franchise is an offshoot of the Fate Universe expect a ton of complications from both your protagonists and antagonists in that back-stabby, my suffering and goals are worse/better than yours.

But unlike that parent series, this show plays it off with a much lighter tone, however that doesn’t mean things won’t get dark, sooner rather than later. Having said all that, you really should be caught up with this franchise before watching Herz the third in the series. Having said that, they do explain themselves very well in this show, and not even a small amount of Fate knowledge is really needed to enjoy this what you get here.

Please, top me off…

Yuri no Hana

The greater part of this episode explored the power dynamic between Kuro and Illya. This served as a re-introduction to what was discovered in 2wei, and as a how that plot point and it’s resulting characterizations are being developed. It was quite brilliant having Mimi as a silent witness to all that unfolded during this scene. One, it just gives more fuel to her blooming yuri fire, and two, it acts as a natural audience surrogate into the levels this relationship is working on. How much you choose to surrogate is up to you….

…one of many possible reactions…

In the last series we find that our new main character, the dark skinned Kuro is essentially one of those Class Cards given human form. Further, Kuro is the part of Illya that never got a chance to live. She’s a magical twin that should have been the one sacrificed in the Great Holy Grail War that the Fate Universe loves to go on and on about (blame the parents creating an alternate time line just for one person). So she became envious of the life that Illya got, and took for granted. However, magic comes at a heavy price, and Kuro needs mana from others to survive. There could be many ways to achieve that. But since Fate got its start as an eroge, this series plays along with those roots; intimate contact is the most potent and immediate way to transfer mana.

But if you take away all the Fate universe stuff, it’s still just a kiss (Oh, is it ever just, especially in anime). The bottom line is that Kuro needs mana, and there are a lot of sources out there for it, and Illya’s is the most potent by far. Given how important this is, a little kiss shouldn’t be a big deal. But these things are happening in layers.  Just how much that surface layer went into Mimi’s ear is pretty easy to deconstruct. But then she misses out on Illya’s internal dialog, which we are privy to.

“We could, you know…..”

To Mimi, and to anyone else besides us, they would miss how the balance of power shifts from one girl to the other and back again. Kuro is headstrong and hates depending on others, and she suffers the embarrassment of that shortcoming. Illya doesn’t want her twin to just vanish/die, but feels like dying of embarrassment at the very thought of “transferring mana” But then, we get the added bonus rounds. First, kissing is just the “tip of the iceberg” in the mana transfer department, and second, Kuro could go for Onii-chan; and if there ever was a game changer, then Shirou is that sport. All of this information was out before the kiss even happened.

I hear words like Epic apply….

Of course, with a character like Kuro you get even more development. Sure, everyone else out there is a tiny appetizer of mana in her mouth, with Illya as the full course meal. But Miyu, well she’s special. Seems she fits somewhere in between (and closer to) Illya and everyone else. But this isn’t a line that Illya wants to see Kuro cross, much to Mimi’s surprise and delight no matter how much out of the loop she is. But, this leaves Kuro to think that…..

There’s Something About Miyu…(plus Shirou torture)

…there were lots of relationship balances here…

Well, Miyu sees how the relationship works on a variety of levels. But the complications aren’t something poor Mimi can fully comprehend as of yet. Perhaps if she writes her yuri novel things will become clear? But Miyu understand what Illya is going through, for the most part, and wants that status quo maintained to see Kuro contained. Speaking of things not being exactly clear, we have an emerging mystery. Miyu has always been a cypher since the first Prisma series, her deadpan silent nature giving little away. She’s endearing to be sure, that taciturn nature being part of her charm.

But she’s also incredibly powerful. If not a bit unimaginative. She’s more natural than Illya is at combat, and has an academic edge in her magic, not buying into the silly magical girl business that Illya trades in.  She’s also very exclusive to her friendship with Illya. But then there is Miyu’s connection to just about everyone else. Sure they are playing her absent-mindedness with her school-mates as a rug pull of a joke, with some deeper meaning to that coming much later. But, they certainly aren’t shy about her reactions to any and all things Shirou, especially when she is very much that shy. But is this the end all be all of that? Being taken aback by a cute boy? Being the quiet one? She does call him Onii-chan out of instinct, not just for friendly terms. Well, that would be giving things away now wouldn’t it?

You can admire the boy while you envy him

So, where is the Great Bla-De-Blah-Blah Hero of Justice now? Yeah, over in that that other universe he may talk the talk, and even walk the walk. But here, it’s a much much different story. Yeah, in the regular continuity he faces off against the Big Bads, but here, his biggest enemy is himself. So, the more things change, the more they stay the same, huh? Well, this universe’s Big Bads aren’t helping him all that much. Kuro’s incorrigible nature brings to mind his clash with Archer…only well…yeah.

Shirou is the perfect harem lead for any show. He’s lucky enough, earning our envy, to have all the best surrounding him, and gets just enough punishment from them to swing him back to reality, and back into our hearts. But as with all things Fate, just when we get used to one thing, they will pull the rug out from under us. There will be darkness, with Iris’s teasing being much more welcome in comparison.

…because how much can an OP lie?

To Everything there is an OVA (NSFW/LOLi Warning)

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Extra Slices and Long Shots

When it comes to shopping, Tastuko is a minimalist…

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Ah, Prisma Illya, you were late, but you were so worth it. But then a LOLi is neither later nor early, they arrive exactly when they mean to. This show is a perfect mix of magical combat action, light drama and comedy, slice of life shenanigans and just the right dose of Fate Universe epic weirdness and heaviness. When you add in the LOLi cuteness, it becomes just that much more appealing. It’s bloody perfect. Well….

Episode 1 Endcard

If there is room for improvement, I would like to see some of my complaints about the past series addressed. Some of the combat was a bit “battle of who could care less/more”; having little value other than “we need some action now”. Also, there was a touch to much SoL style filler, padding out the whole story to the short ten episodes we’ve come to expect. Given the lateness of the Herz! schedule, I would expect ten this time around, too. I’ve gone back over the manga on which the anime is based, and it looks like they can just get to ten with all the material they have sans filler. The impact of the combat, I guess we’ll just have to see…

Planning and plotting…

As for what is coming ahead, expect light drama and comedy for at least an episode or two more as focus, and here and there as a matter of dabbling. Some character’s will return and they will take the mickey out of them in short order. But you’re never down and out totally in this show. We will get a  more development in both Shirou’s and Miyu’s characters, and a heap more about the nature of the Holy Grail War and how it effects this universe (with both of those facets being a big lead in to 3rei!) It’s not down and out either. But, no matter what happens, I count on a good time, and a very entertaining and fun show. See you folks….

Next Time

“Tricolore Birthday” and Suzuka’s Yaoi to Mimi’s Yuri…cause they leave no relationship trope alone!

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