Friday, September 9, 2016

FIF#20-Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei


With the Class Cards all rounded up, you’d think that was it for Illya and Miyu.  The two had fought terrible battles and overcome hardships to form a strong and everlasting bond of friendship.  But it looks like fate isn’t done with them yet.  Rin and Luvia are still stuck in Japan, left to deal with restoring order after their mission went haywire, and they want Illya and Miyu to help.  But when an attempt to restore magical balance goes awry, Illya finds herself split in two.  Who is this new Illya and is there anyway to put her back?  Life as a Magical Girl wasn’t easy before.  But between clones, blossoming friendships and an unseen new threat coming out from the shadows, the job just got a lot less glamourous, or has it?  The Magical Girl vision of Fate/Stay Night continues.

I’ve got to admit…I actually kind of liked the first season of Fate Kalied.  Despite the silly premise and the way too cutesy character designs, I was on board and enjoying the bulk of it.  I do think it got more serious than need be in the second half, trying to pull off a more light hearted Madoka Magica.  Overall though, I was pleased and was wondering how exactly this story could be continued, since this all seemed like a simple, one off, “what if?”

Well low and behold, there are three additional seasons of Fate Kaleid (the most recent is airing now in Japan).  So I figured I’d take a look at Season Two and see if I wanted to go any farther.  On the one hand, it’s good to see that the bond between Illya and Miyu is as strong as it was when we last left them.  On the other, I didn’t really miss Illya’s classmates.  Which is why I was happy when Rin and Luvia got back into the picture quickly.  You all know my thoughts on Rin Tohsaka; as haughty and arrogant as she may be, she can do no wrong in my book and having her in anything Fate related will have my attention.  Luvia still sounds like she’s trying to do her best Naga the Serpent laugh…and that’s hit and miss.

The biggest development in these first two episodes is the appearance of Kuro Illya, or Dark Illya I guess.  She’s wearing that same inappropriate Archer costume Illya wore in Season One.  But, as the name might state, she’s pretty much Illya’s darker, more aggressive half.  This lead to some of the best laughs in Episode Two when she tired to kill Illya in a whole manner of hilarious ways before Illya can get to school.  Kuro’s all the fun of Illya without anything holding her back…including kissing Miyu…for a bit…yeah that happened.  I always picked up on the possibility that Miyu might feel something for Illya, while Illya is supposedly focused on Shiro (who is still barely in this series).  Too bad this never came back up after it happened, I do want to see where that possible development goes.  Kuro Illya also kicks a ton of ass as well, giving us some good starter fights that don’t quite measure up to Archer Illya vs. Saber from Season One, but the potential is there for more greatness.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect going into Season Two of this show.  How could it be drawn out anymore?  And while the first episode didn’t grab me right away, the second episode and the appearance of Kuro Illya is enough for me to say I’d like to keep going with this title.  Being only ten episodes long doesn’t hurt a lot of time on my hands anyway.  Chances are I could just end up getting to Season Three and then Four afterward and start watching the show same day as Japan…but shouldn’t be thinking that far ahead yet.  With the core cast back together and a fun new addition to the mix, Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei surprised me.  It’s a show I didn’t think I wanted more of but now do.  Cudos to the Fate Universe for managing to draw me in no matter what the premise.

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