FIF#26-Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya 2wei Herz

Summer has arrived and Illya, Miyu, Kuro and their classmates are ready to hit the beach for some fun in the sun.  But this isn’t just a simple vacation, at least not for everyone.  An 8^th Class Card has been confirmed and it just so happens to be buried under the ocean where Illya is vacationing.  Rin, Luvia and even the psycho enforcer Bazzet, are putting aside their difference to track down this illusive and possibly most dangerous card of them all.  And what is the reason for Miyu’s own draw to the card and why isn’t she willing to tell her best friend, Illya, about it?  Illya and her friends should enjoy their time off while it lasts…cause their greatest battle is about to begin.

The little series that could returns.  Yep, I made it past Season 2 and am a couple of episodes into Season 3, well enough for a First Impression.  The real challenge of Prisma Illya has always been the balance of comedy and action drama, even though this series is, at it’s core, a parody of Fate/Stay Night.  Season 2 kicked things off with some wild action scenes between Illya, Miyu and newcomer Kuro.  And we were left with the workings of a big mystery at the end of Season 2 that was meant to no doubt be the driving force for Season 3.  My point is, why start off Season 3 with so much comedy not even pertaining to Magical Girl antics?

The humor has always worked best when it’s focused on Illya, Miyu and their core group.  When it extends to Illya’s classmates…I get a little overwhelmed to be honest.  For starters, I’m a lot like Miyu when it comes to them, I don’t even know who these girls are and frankly, I could care less.  Secondly, why are they so concerned with being friends with one particular student who runs around naked on the beach and is prone to pretty much getting them all arrested (in any other world)?  Some of the beach humor with Shiro (who’s roles been pretty boosted since Season 1 when he was barely around) and the first appearance of Issei from Fate/Stay Night.  I’m sure those who (for whatever reason) ship those two will get a kick out of Illya’s friends writing their own fan fiction about them.  It was also pretty entertaining to see Ruby’s love potion backfire and drive Shiro to confess he likes Luvia and Rin for their boobs and legs respectively.

Bazzet kind of got on my nerves when she first showed up at the end of Season 2.  I don’t know, I was sort of annoyed that absolutely nothing could take her down and her high and mighty status bugged me.  Now she’s out of a job (or at least cut off from funds cause of her blunder last season) and has to work part time at the beach selling ice pops…that was pretty funny.  With everyone trying their best to break Illya’s sanity (with friends like these right), Bazzet could only attempt to do her job even at the wackiest of times, “WOULD YOU LIKE A POPSCICLE!!!???”  I was laughing at that quite a bit.

Still, with the knowledge of an 8^th card in existence, it begs the question: what class is it?  All of the other Fate/Stay classes have been covered (Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, Berzerker and Saber).  So what the heck is #8?  More importantly, how is Miyu connected.  Only Kuro seems to catch a hint of something drawing Miyu away whenever it’s mentioned.  Is Miyu maybe an outward manifestation of the card, like Kuro was sealed within Illya?  Most of these questions are ones I asked myself at the end of Season 2 when the topic was first broached, but theyre barely addressed in the first couple of episodes here.

I’ve got a bad feeling about who or what the card might be.  And if that’s the case, it’s probably a good thing to get all the humor out of the way now.  Hopefully the action will be as good as the intro animation suggests (though I like the opening theme from Season 2 more than Season 3).  Lastly, I love the end theme.  It sounds like it was made from a Super Nintendo soundtrack and it mixes well to Illya rushing (and failing) to make a cake.

I’ve made it this far with Prisma Illya.  And I have no doubt sometime soon I’ll be doing another FIF on the recently aired Season 4.