Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya Movie: Sekka no Chikai

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: Oath Made Under the Snow was a great watch and obligatory for any fan of the Fate/Prisma series.

The content of the film itself is quite specific however which makes it quite difficult to recommend to anyone who hasn't seen all 4 seasons of the Prisma anime. With that said, If you are a fan of the Fate/Stay Night/Zero series you may very well find this film quite enjoyable even without prior knowledge of the Prisma series. While the content of the film is a flashback arc of the third main series of Prisma, it effectively acts as a sort ... of spinoff Shirou storyline, taking place in an alternate dimension which pulls from the Fate/Stay Night series, especially Heavens Feel. This may sound very complicated, but again, this is a very specific story and is definitely only able to be penetrated by those who have seen Prisma and those with a working knowledge of the Fate series.

The main reason I am specifying this is possibly enjoyed by those with a working knowledge of the Fate series but not necessarily Prisma is that many are turned off by the loli fan-service that plays a large role in the Prisma series. The animation, art and story line are all very strong in this film and there is just about zero fan service. Therefore, it can definitely be enjoyed by a larger audience.

If you are a follower of the Prisma series, you may be disappointed by the lack of fan-service but if you've read the manga, you'll know this is a very serious arc where Shirou takes up the role of protagonist. Along with that, Illya makes only the briefest of appearances and Kuro, not at all. For a series with such a heavy reliance on fan service and the girls , this could be seen a downside but the film really plays into its respectable and serious tone, I think to its benefit. I feel like They could have done a flash forward to the bathing scene that takes place immediately after this arc for a bit of fan-service but they instead take it full circle in a much more well done and respectable way. As a big fan of the fan-service this series offers, the restraint they show in this film is actually quite commendable.

The film itself very closely follows the source material with decent animation and art all around. The animation is likely the weakest part of the film. Coming off of the already more poorly animated 3rei TV series and with film expectations, it does let down in this department. I may have expected a bit too much since it is a film and they generally have much higher budgets, but Prisma fans are generally spoiled on the art and animation front.

One interesting addition is an extended montage of Shirou collecting the class cards after his fight with Shinji. My mouth was wide open this whole time due to the sheer unexpectedness of it, the great animation and many fun Easter eggs and references to other Fate series in the identities of the installers. It also came immediately after a great battle with Shinji and featured tons of great 2D animation, as opposed to the final battle with Angelica which relied on quite a bit of CG. It's very interesting that the best animated section of the film is anime original but this is definitely the highlight.

All in all, definitely check this film out if you follow the Prisma series (I'm sure you're already frothing at the mouth to view it) and even if you are just a Fate/Stay Night or Zero fan. I didn't focus on the earlier, slice of life moments much here. The first half could be seen as quite slow but they really beautifully build up Shirou and Miyu's relationship which causes the rest of the film to be that much more tragic. I went with my girlfriend who has no knowledge of the Fate series and even she really loved the nicer slice of life moments in the first half and was really endeared to the characters.

I felt disappointed in this film, and I fear that Prisma Illya may become tainted by Shirou. I feel this because Shirou is too serious.

I also should mention this is NOT a filler movie, it provides backstory from the original 3rei manga for Miyu and Shirou.

Story 5

Focusing on Pre-Illya Miyu and 'alternate' Shirou, this film aims to provide a decent backstory towards the two. The first half of the film focuses mainly on how Shirou meets Miyu, and the building of their relationship, despite any original intentions Shirou may of had.

The second half focuses on the 'you-know-what' events in the 3rei ... anime, showing how Shirou becomes powerful, during the 'Miyu' grail war and how Miyu manages to meet Illya, Luvia and Sapphire afterwards.

The plot of this film is much more serious than the rest of Prisma, and Shirou in this universe is very Fate/Stay Nightish, so if you enjoyed that stuff and the fighting scenes (not quite as well animated as the main series however) you'll surely appreciate this more than I did.

Art 7

I didn't really have any issues, what else can I say?

Sound 8

I really like the OST, definitely my favourite part of the film.

Character 5

Unfortunately, I do not appreciate the Shirou overtaking of Prisma Illya, but that's not the reason this gets just a 5, I honestly just find Sakura irritating, and most of the fight scenes, while referencing other characters in the Fate universe are too short to be really acknowledged. Though there are two 'major' fight scenes, of which the latter is definitely the best in this film, involving a familiar face from 3rei.

I don't appreciate Shirou as much as I would do in the Fate/Stay world, and I dislike some of the other side characters anyway like Sakura. If more screen time was given to the main '3rei' cast, including some of the side characters then I'd definitely give this a higher rating.

Enjoyment/Overall 5

I prefer the more laid back approach of magical girls the main series has, while many people seem to be loving this movie, the serious tone of it kind of bored me at times. It's like an hour and a half anyway, so you may as well watch it for Miyu's backstory, unless this review has somehow convinced you against watching a main-plot movie of an anime you're already 4 seasons into.

I wouldn't say its a bad movie, just not fitting for what I enjoyed the other seasons for, and I tend to have limiters on my enjoyment so a 5 rating is about average for someone like me.

This review is coming from the perspective of someone who is a Fate fan, who found this movie purely based on the franchise and relatively high rating. If that sounds like you, do not waste your time.

The reason that (at the time of writing) this is the sole negative review is presumably the only people that know this exists and seek to watch it know exactly what it is: a collection of nonsensical retcons with the sole purpose of setting up the lolicon anime Prisma Illya.

Impressively within the first few minutes, this movie manages to completely assassinate both Kiritsugu's and Shirou's character. I honestly can't ... remember much else. There is essentially nothing going on here except setup to the fanservice anime - and even that is basically unrelated until the last ~1 minute or so. (And it doesn't even need to happen since... all timelines already exist?) Additionally, the fact that this universe uses "cards" to modify the master's abilities instead of summoning heroic spirits really takes away the charm that got me into fate in the first place.

The best thing I can say about this is there was no egregious loli fanservice. That's where we're at! A pretty low bar.

Edit: Moments after posting that, I recieved a DM (longer than this review) explaining that my review is in fact wrong. However, I'd like to include a quote from the DM which I find quite revealing.

"You shouldn't expect it to be better, or even on par with the Main Story, as the rest of the franchise is merely Parodies and Spin-Offs tackling the lore to bring fans." There you have it folks! If you simply watch with the understanding that it's bad, you'll somehow find it's good. Or something.