Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya

Mage's Association members Rin Toosaka and Luviagelita "Luvia" Edelfelt are tasked with finding and retrieving seven Class Cards, medieval artifacts containing the life essence of legendary Heroic Spirits. To aid them in their mission, they are granted the power of Ruby and Sapphire, two sentient Kaleidosticks that would enable them to transform themselves into magical girls and drastically increase their abilities. However, the two mages are on anything but good terms, prompting the Kaleidosticks to abandon them in search for new masters. They stumble upon two young schoolgirls—Illyasviel von Einzbern and Miyu—and quickly convince them to form a contract. With their new powers and responsibilities, Illya and Miyu set forth to collect all the Class Cards.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Toosaka, Rin Main

Ueda, Kana Japanese

von Einzbern, Illyasviel Main

Kadowaki, Mai Japanese

Edelfelt, Miyu Main

Nazuka, Kaori Japanese

Edelfelt, Luviagelita Main

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Saber Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Emiya, Shirou Supporting

Sugiyama, Noriaki Japanese

Rider Supporting

Asakawa, Yuu Japanese

Velvet, Waver Supporting

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

von Einzbern, Irisviel Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Caster Supporting

Tanaka, Atsuko Japanese

Kaneko, Hayato Producer

Matsuki, Ai Producer

Tamura, Junichirou Producer

Oonuma, Shin Director

Reviews

Sep 7, 2013

Stark700

Recommended

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya is one of those anime series where people may tends to look away just because for what it is. You know that saying that goes “don't judge a book by its cover?” Well, I guess some anime fans seems to do just the opposite of that and take the cover for granted. This is one of those anime series that might bring some disappointment at first especially to those loyal fans of the Type-Moon franchise. Series like Fate/Stay Night, Garden of Sinners, and a more recent example of Fate/Zero has a stance of that serious atmosphere going on. What does Fate/kaleid liner ... Prisma☆Illya have? More than what you hoped for.

At any rate, this series is adapted from the manga of the same name written by Hiroshi Hinoyama. An important note is that the series takes place in an alternate set universe that serves as a spinoff of Fate/Stay Night. Therefore, do not be surprised if there are some familiar characters making their spotlights in this series.

As far as this series goes, the premise is pretty straight forward. Illyasviel von Einzbern is indeed the main protagonist of the story. (for the sake of my laziness and ease, she will be referred to as 'Illya') For those who are unfamiliar with her from the Type-Moon franchise, she is foster sister of Shiro. However, there is a difference between her character and Fate/Stay Night. In this series, she is shown as a cheerful young girl who grows up in a seemingly normal childhood with friends and joy. Oh but that all changes one day when she makes a contract and becomes a magical girl. Welcome to your new life, Illya.

Even before becoming a magical girl, we can see that Illya is already fascinated with the idea because of a popular anime she watches. In that anime, there are magical girls. But never did she ever thought the day she would actually become one herself. For fans of Illya from the original series, this would be a delight because we get to see her in a much different way. But for fans of the Type-Moon franchise itself, you might also get a surprise with the addition of some new characters. Oh and Rin makes her return too of course in this series with her tomboyish self.

As some fans might guess, this series does have a lot of fan service and some tasteless moments. These usually involves awkward moments mostly from Illya because of her naive personality. Furthermore, her character is designed with extra doses of moe. Illya's battle design stands out that also gives her a touch of magical girl atmosphere. In fact, she herself admits the outfit to be embarrassing. On the other hand, we have Miyu Edelfelt, a new character that also serves the serious role of a magical girl. Unlike Illya though, she seems to be much more serious and quite mature for someone her age. With both magical and academic talent, Miyu serves as a character that seemingly exists the opposite of Illya. She is like the perfect candidate for a magical girl while Illya lags behind as the second rate. Or does she....?

With the help of a talking magical kaleidostick (Magical Ruby), maybe Illya can overcome her lack of self-confidence. After the contract is being made though, the magical stick plays the role of more of a mentor. Of course, themes such as becoming a magical girl, training to gain experience, and fighting/capturing cards isn't new to the anime industry. About a decade ago, a popular classic known as Cardcaptor Sakura also adapts the theme of a normal girl whose one day's life changes forever after becoming a magical girl. Other series with similar themes such as Shugo Chara, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, PMMM, and the more recent Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyō also shares similarities. The noticeable phase here is that Fate kaleid liner Prisma Illya plays around the idea constantly in both a cute and dangerous fashion.

If I had to use the word 'cute', this series would earn a 10/10 on that scale. But more than that though, the concept of collecting cards as a magical girl is indeed a serious role. There's no joking around because the enemies Illya and her friends face are dangerous. In fact, even around half way into the series, the girls' lives are put into danger when they face adversaries like they've never encountered before. Classic enemies from the Type-Moon franchise makes their appearances in alternate versions to present a challenge that really does put their lives in danger. In a series such as this, you might not take it serious at first. However, it is clear that the idea of collecting cards is a grim task at hand. On the comedy side, there's the love/hate rivalry between Rin and Luvia. Illya's behavior also might spawn a few face palm worthy moments because of her age and inexperience.

10 episodes. That's less than the average amount of a typical one core series. What that means is that the series may have to cut down some material or it won't have time to fit everything in. Luckily, the series is faithful with its adaptation. The only slight problem might be that the series doesn't have enough time to cover all the captures' every detail. This serves a double edge sword in a way. On one stance, 10 episodes could be rushed and leave out material fans want to see. But then again, the more detailed quality can bring out a more pleasurable experience. Oh and let's not forget there's still an OVA as well as specials.

The action is surprisingly fluid and presented quite well. I was surprised after seeing how this was adapted because of the amount of detail put into the actual fighting. The enemies are designed with a typical Type-Moon fashion but given a more dangerous look than fans might originally anticipate. In fact, a particular enemy that shows itself might bring out some shock to see how the character is presented differently in this series. The more important part though is that the action isn't parodied but rather as being serious. Illya's struggle at first shows her inexperience but there's development with her skills that is clearly evidenced later on. As for Miya, she shows her experience already as a magical girl but more importantly becomes both a friend and rival for Illya. As a foil to her character, the duo makes a formidable team along with those magical sticks.

As far as jokes goes though, I have to admit that some of it is a bit stale. Oh and the series doesn't try to avoid its fan service. There's the suggestive camera angles and skin being shown along with the loli expressions here and there. Some of the conversations between the girls and their peers also seems to be a bit forced in the comedy department. Even the first episode shows a bit of this along with cheesy dialogues. Among other factors, Shiro also doesn't seem to be an impressive character as his role is more of in the backgrounds. His denseness regarding his female friends and her own foster sister is also a bit frustrating to watch. By the way, he isn't even a main character. There's also some lewd jokes and misunderstandings here and there as well which should be expected.

The artwork isn't as impressive as I had hoped. Most of the coloring has a light tone but is covered with generic design. As mentioned before, Illya and Miyu are designed as magical girls and they really look like them. Their enemies are designed to give off a dangerous vibe although sometimes, I wonder what their real purpose is. The backgrounds are typical with a less-so realistic feeling to it. In fact, there's hardly any realism in this show. On the other hand, I do find that everything does fits within the concept of the series quite well, at least that much.

Color me surprised here but the OST is brilliant. Sound production met beyond my expectations especially in the action scenes. A particular battle in the later episodes gives off its intensity with the way it is presented. It has a balance of rock and techno that is pleasurable to hear. The OP song "starlog" by ChouCho also shows its strength with its choreography and some foreshadowing. Among the cast though, Mai Kadowaki gets a standing ovation for her performance. Returning as her role from Fate/Stay Night, the way her character stands out requires a more high pitch tone. I am quite grateful that she was able to pull the task off with brilliance.

Overall, don't entirely judge this series by its cover. Sure, it looks like just a typical magical girls series with cute girls doing cute things. But then when you look deeper into it, you might get a surprise. That surprise comes from the way it is both adapted and presented. I feel sorry for those who dropped this series from the first episode without giving it another shot. If you're a fan of Type-Moon's franchise, this should definitely be something to invest time into. Even if you're not fan of Illya, Rin, Shiro, or the others, it should be at least given a try for the first 3 episodes. Oh and there's nothing wrong with watching cute girly cartoons with magical girls.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 3, 2014

BanjoTheBear

Mixed Feelings

(This has been adapted from my reddit thread)

When people think of magic in relation to the fantastical, people think of wizards, spells, and all-powerful incantations. It's something that doesn't exist in the real world, as much as we would like it to be. "Magical girls" take it one step forward. On top of the magic, they also include transformations, cute girls, and life lessons. In Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya (what a name!), these common tropes are found once more.

STORY

F/k (I need to shorten the name at this point!) starts by having our main character, Illya, one day encountering Ruby, a magical stick that gives Illya the ... power to transform into a mighty magical girl.

Right off the bat, it's important to understand that the world behind F/k is not original. That is, F/k is a spin-off of the ever popular Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero setting. F/k can essentially be viewed as this alternate timeline in which F/SN and F/Z's characters never participated in the Holy Grail War. Already this alienates people from the series. If you don't know the characters, the original world, or the lore behind everything, it makes the show harder to watch. This isn't to say that someone should refrain from watching F/k if they have yet to see the other two, but you are not getting the full experience otherwise.

F/k mainly explores two separate themes: facing your fears and "the power of friendship." Talking about the first one, both Illya and Miyu face these issues but for different reasons. Illya is a girl who is thrust into these scenarios despite not fully investing herself into what is happening. She's more outgoing and emotion-driven. Contrarily, Miyu joins the fights not because she wants to but because she has to. She's reserved and quiet. F/k did a nice job of creating this dichotomy between the two to represent where they were coming from and what makes them face these incredibly dangerous situations.

The second part, "the power of friendship," is quite common in anime. It's prevalent here as well. While the story itself contains many battles, its real focus is on the development of the relationship that Illya and Miyu have. Again, this goes back to their backgrounds and motivations, and through these they learn to accept one another for the different people that they are. This idea isn't the most perfectly executed version of this trope, but for the most part, the show does an okay job of having the girls go through the ups and downs of a budding relationship.

ANIMATION

Fate/Zero is highly lauded due in part to its animation and art quality. F/k, surprisingly, is of no exception. While watching the show, I could have sworn that ufotable (the team behind F/Z) had also worked on F/k.

Beginning with the art style, the show does a great job of varying up the locations. They stick to the more famous ones, and as someone who knows about the world, it was nice seeing the same landmarks again. The lighting in the show is also very well done. The nighttime scenes and general lighting on the characters always seemed rather high in quality.

F/k's greatest feature is definitely its animation. It is rather spectacular at times. One of the things that surprised me while watching was the heavy amount of detail that went into the fight scenes. They were very, very good right up until the end. The sparkling shots, the dense mana shields, and the amount of movement and choreography included in the show was quite pleasing to watch. I did not expect such detail when watching a "Fate-universe spin-off," so what I got to see was rather amazing.

The character designs are "original" yet true to those of the characters from the Fate universe. Everyone's most striking characteristic were their eyes. They have these nice mix of colors and "punch" to them that makes them stand out. This is especially true for Illya and Miyu. When they are looking at you on-screen, you can't help but fixate your eyes on their's.

CHARACTERS

F/k has roughly four main characters that are looked at: Illya, Miyu, Rin, and Luvia.

I'll start with the weakest. Rin and Luvia are introduced quite early and display their personality and rather violent relationship with one another from the get-go. Afterwards, they become more like guides than actual characters. You don't learn much about them other than what purpose their mission serves. I would have liked to have seen more background on them, and more specifically Luvia, but since they weren't the main focus, I was left with what I got.

Illya is the star of the show. She's optimistic, cute, funny, and caring. She dreams of being a magical girl and this wish gets granted. However, she learns that there is more to it than just having fun and using magic. It's something that helps to test her ability to move forward despite the hardships that she encounters. She takes for granted the abilities she earns but eventually understands and accepts that her position is special, that it is not something that should be taken lightly.

This revelation is thanks to Miyu. Miyu is stalwart, smart, and athletic. She's very determined and focused on her objectives. So much so that her behavior often causes others to misjudge her as being standoffish when she is actually quite lonely. It's this loneliness that has compelled her to always try and do things her own way. But much like she did for Illya, Illya allows Miyu to see that being together is going to be much more powerful than being alone any day of the week.

The characterization here for both of the magical girls is somewhat plain. It's nothing out of the ordinary. Instead, it is probably quite cliche. But as I mentioned previously, the show does a good job of creating this dynamic between the two that allows them to go from simple partners to extremely close friends.

Beyond Illya and Miyu, the rest of the cast is rather weak. We get to see some cameos from big names, but they don't do much other than provide comedic relief or proper advice.

SOUND

The OP, like the girls, is quite magical in the way it sounds. Unfortunately, it isn't that good. It's too generic in its rhythm to be anything worth really listening to. The ED is rather upbeat and mirrors the happy nature that is Illya's and Miyu's relationship. However, again thanks to a rather generic beat, it's not that good. In fact, after listening to the two, it sounds as if both use the same percussion piece.

The soundtrack is harder to talk about. It contains pieces that are both quite fitting for the situations at hand and somewhat absurd/silly in the way they sound. Meaning, it's a mixed bag of both good and bad.

Voice acting is average in the show. However, they do use the same actors/actresses from the Fate anime universes in here as well. This was a nice touch, and I thank the creators behind F/k for doing this.

As a final note, one of my favorite sounds in the show was Miyu's "flying." I found her technique not only cool but with the added sound effect it made it pretty awesome.

ENJOYMENT

Magical girl shows almost always end up the same way. The girls become magical, they have fun, they experience hardship, then they unite to conquer evil. F/k pretty much follows this same pattern. It's never really funny or dramatic, so I never found myself laughing or being invested in the characters.

Above all, what F/k does best is its battles. They are quite a feast for the eyes with their multitude of colors, the actual movements involved, and the interesting abilities used throughout. But when the show is not having the girls battle, it's rather boring. The story itself isn't captivating and the characters are not good enough to make me care for them. Plus, I found Ruby and Sapphire to be kind of annoying during the show.

Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya is a common magical girl show that has great battles hidden beneath its surface. I think that without the Fate universe backing F/k, it would not be as well-known as it is today. This may be an obvious statement, but if that is its main draw, that is an unfortunate and sad fact.

SUMMARY

Story: Fine, magical girls with the "Fate" world as its setting

Animation: Great, great art with stunning animation

Characters: Fine, Illya and Miyu fit their magical girl roles

Sound: Bad, nothing notable except for returning VAs and sound effects

Enjoyment: Fine, good battles but not much else

Final Score: 5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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May 22, 2015

ratchet573

Not Recommended

Do you like loli?

Do you like spin-off anime of excellent series that have nothing to do with said excellent series?

Do you like a show that can’t decide what the hell it wants to be?

Then sit down and watch Fate/Kaleid, a ten episode anime that is full of everything you love about Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night, such as hilarious comedy, underaged lesbians, and magical girls. You know, the kind of things fans asked for after watching the main series.

If you are a fan of the series, I’m sure you’re going to pass Kaleid up based upon the fact it is a cutesy magical girl anime. I ... went into it thinking such, which is why I was so scared after the first episode. I was already debating how a show based on a series that’s pretty adult in tone could appeal to little girls. I went into the series assuming I was going to see a little girl anime. Twenty-seven minutes later, I walked away wondering just who the hell Kaleid was made for. And after ten episodes and the five DVD specials, I’m still scratching my head.

Kaleid is about Illyasviel, a young girl who lives in Japan with some adopted family while her mother and father are out doing…whatever. She watches magical girl anime and dreams of becoming one. Luckily, a magical wand/stick/what-have-you hears her and takes her as its master, making her dream come true. But the wand used to belong to Rin Tohsaka, a tsundere who, along with her partner, lost their wands because all they did was fight with each other. The teenaged girls were tasked with collecting seven cards by the Mage’s Guild if they wanted to be taken under the wing of a master magus. So, through the series, the duo of teenagers use a duo of ten year olds to attain their goals.

Sounds like it could a kids show, right? Nope! One episode and there’s a gag about penis’s! A few episodes in and the violence is a little more intense than a kids show usually is.

And then the realization:

Oh God…this show is supposed to appeal to people my age.

Okay, loli porn aside, I can’t fault the series for having Rin Tohsaka. Because seriously, I watched this for Rin. She’s one of the best damn tsundere’s in anime. Her companion, Luvia, whom she always fights with, is less exciting. Exceptionally less exciting. She’s the rich bitch stereotype. She has that “OH HO HO HO HO” laugh and makes fun of Rin for being poor.

Illya is a decent character but her development can be filed under “Basic Hero”. Wishful thinking to “No, I don’t want this” to acceptance to throwing aside her weapons after something bad happens to taking them back when she realizes she’s the hero the city deserves.

Miyu is another stereotype. Quiet and badass entrance to nothing-to-do-with-hero attitude to learning friendship and working together is a good thing to hurting the hero to finally realizing friendship is magic.

Another gripe, the biggest gripe. What the hell is it? Magical girl, fan service, comedy? It does all three pretty decently, but the problem with the series becomes tonal shifts so fast you’ll get whiplash. One episode will spend half the time making tit jokes and focusing on side characters that have absolutely nothing to do with anything, while the other half will be an intense fight. It has Sword Art Online syndrome. It’s juggling way too many genres and tropes at once and because of that, it’s failing to carve itself a distinctive identity. What we get is a muddled mess.

One overarching theme seems to be exploiting the female characters. This is an anime for lolicons a la Kodomo no Jikan. It’s pretty shameless in how over-sexualized the characters are. The worst offenses come with the DVD extras that includes a whole portion where Illya is dressed up like a cat and being forced into poses that are…not appropriate for a girl her age. And the magic wand (these things talk by the way) tells us that she’s responding to the desires of the audience.

Oh come on! The writer, director, and animators want to blame the viewers for this? We all know it’s a joint venture! The studio’s getting off just as much.

And the DVD extras are bad. Except for Rin in a maid outfit. But otherwise, they’re all useless and more excuses for nudity and sexuality. There’s one where they play strip-Life. The board game. Turned into a stripping game. Eh?

And also, there’s a pervasive sense of lesbianism between Illya and Miyu, just to help that image of underaged fap-bait.

I’m bitching a lot about this show, but I did find some decent aspects to it. It’s watchable and less painful than a lot of shows I’ve seen, but that doesn’t change the fact it’s got so many faults. There are a couple awesome fights within, good animation, and great music. It’s begging for fans of the Fate series to watch it but it’s begging for a lot more besides. It’s…to put it bluntly, fap-bait. If you’re into loli, here you go. If you’re not, well, I wouldn’t even touch this series with a stick. Even if you’re a hardcore fan of the franchise, just don’t. You’ll be a lot happier that way.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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