Friday, March 25, 2016

FIF#5- Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya


Illyasviel von Einsbern has always dreamed of a world of magic.  Little does she know, it’s closer to her than she thinks.  When two bickering magical guardians, Rin and Luviagelita, lose their magical wands, and their mission in the process, Illya and a mysterious girl named Miyu, get the chance to take their place as Magical Girls.  With their sentient wands, Ruby and Sapphire, along with Rin and Luvia (them begrudgingly) guiding them, Illya and Miyu must collect seven magical cards holding seven heroic spirits for the wizard Zeltech.  It could be a fun adventure…if tempers, rivalries and actual magical threats don’t kill Illya and her new friends first.  You think you know Fate/Stay Night?  Wait til you see it with a dash of Magical Girl wonder.

Cutesy character designs, talking magical wands with a sales pitch about becoming Magical Girls, Sailor Moon transformations, a mission that smells of Dragon Ball…uhhhh yeah…this is about as far from Fate/Stay Night as you could possible get.

In my mission to take in as much Fate/Stay material as I can, I stumbled across this little title.  I know what it looked like when I saw it.  But there’s a difference between expectation and actually witnessing it with your own eyes.  I almost figured this was sort of like the 5 min comedy skits that were featured in the Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OVA Collection.  Nope, this is a full fledged Fate/Stay Night parody.  It’s taken the characters we know and love from the main storyline and throwing them into the most outrageous scenario possible.  Anyone who’s ever wanted to see the femme mages of the Fate/Stay universe powering up as Magical Girls will be very pleased.  As for a more recent newcomer to the franchise…this was just weird. 

Even the first episode was a little bizzare.  It was easy to recognize everyone: Illya, Shiro, Rin, Illya’s two bodyguards.  I could even remember Luvia from her brief cameo at the end of Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works.  But seeing them all…not chibi-fied but rather cutesy-fied was strange.  Actually no, it was the talking wands that took it for me.  Illya’s wand, Ruby, is at the forefront of things and she’s just a bit too much camp, playing up the fairy godmother angle like nobodys business.  It makes me miss Kiro from Cardcaptor Sakura.  At least I can take a tiny talking stuffed teddy over a spagetti moving like wand who sounds more like Captain Ginyu trying to focus more on style points than actual training.  Poor Illya, her mind was as confused as mine. 

Now there was a little to like.  Being a big Rin fan, anytime she was on screen, I was invested.  She’s played a mentor role in each version of Fate/Stay thus far for Shiro (who here is more Illya’s would be love interest).  And here, save for a little more attitude than usual (mostly cause she lost her want to Illya), she’s still at it, guiding the poor newbie along the path thrust upon her without much choice.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t chuckle a little bit at all of the nonsense happening on screen.  This is, more or less, a parody after all.  This is just an outlet for the Fate/Stay cast to have some fun outside of life or death Holy Grail War.  If you want a more normal/serious take, stick with the core Fate/Stay series (FSN and Unlimited Blade Works).

For all it’s strangeness, Fate/Kaleid is pretty short, only ten episodes.  So after clearing two episodes, and only barely making it to this Miyu character yet, I guess I’m willing to stick with it, maybe pop it in every once in a while and see where it goes.  Whoever thought Fate/Stay Night and Magical Girls would make a good combination probably had one of the most bizzare fantasy dreams of all time.  Still, with all the costumes we see for Illya, Rin and Luvia, I’m shocked I havent seen these looks at more conventions. 

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