Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya Episode 01 REVIEW
Fate/kaleid liner プリズマ☆イリヤ

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

TOHSAKA Rin and Luviagelita Edelfelt are teenage sorceresses, magic girls and rivals who’ve come to Japan on a mission. Their constant squabbling causes their respective wands, Magical Ruby and Magical Sapphire to abandon them and seek out new Masters. Meanwhile, middle school girl Illyasviel von Einzbern races her adoptive older brother Shiro home, where she discovers that one of the household maids, Leysritt, has already opened and started watching the mahou shoujo anime series Ilya had been wanting to watch. Sella, the other housekeeeper, laments seeing Ilya having sunk so low and wonders how she’ll face Ilya’s parents. She puts the blame for Ilya’s rabble-like behavior on Shiro, who’s not setting a good example as her older brother.

After marathoning the anime, Ilya takes a shower and gets into the bath, wondering what it would be like to be a mahou shoujo. Magical Ruby senses this and approaches from a great distance. Ilya notices something in the sky and turns out the bathroom lights to get a better view when Shiro walks in. Magical Ruby knocks him out, them tempts Ilya with the idea of being a magic girl. Ruby tricks Ilya into grabbing it, thus the wand officially contracts with Ilya and Ilya becomes Ruby’s new Master. Further, Ruby teleports the naked Ilya outside, then performs a transformation sequence on her to give Ilya what Ruby thinks is a very cute mahou shoujo outfit, much to Ilya’s great surprise.

Rin shows up, displeased with Ruby.  Ruby cops an attitude toward the “hag” Rin, causing Ilya to protest her innocence in this whole matter. Rin understands and asks for the wand back, which Ilya tries to do. However, Ruby will not allow the transfer, citing Ilya as its new Master. Rin causes Ilya to smash Ruby into the wall, so Ruby has Ilya say a command phrase that causes Ruby to blast Rin, much to Ilya’s shock. Ruby fires insults at Rin, so Rin uses her sorceress powers to fight back, but Ruby has a barrier up, protecting it and Ilya. So, Rin uses a gem to create a dazzler effect where she can put Ilya to sleep. After having words with the stick, she wakes Ilya and tells her she’s now a magic girl charged with finding the Class Cards.

Thoughts/Review:

I wasn’t going to watch this, then I said, “What the heck.”  I kinda sorta like mahou shoujo genre and I’ve liked the Fate/stay night franchise, so why not watch?

I’m glad the original seiyuu are all back for their original roles. That always makes these spinoff titles more enjoyable.

As to the series itself, it feels like an amalgam of various other mahou shoujo titles. Magical Ruby looks similar to Sakura’s staff in Cardcaptor Sakura.  The fact that Ilya has to collect cards is also similar to Cardcaptor Sakura.  The fact that the staffs/wands speak is similar to Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.  I guess the pocket-pouch strapped to Ilya’s leg will be for cards, but for a moment, I wondered if she’d keep a smart phone in there, which would harken back to Ultra Maniac.

Add to all this, the Fate/stay night elements, both magical and non-magical, and it does have the making of a series that could be fun and interesting. I found the Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-ohki magic girl spinoff series Mahou Shoujo Pretty Sammy to be OK back in the day, so hopefully Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya is as well.

This episode was pretty much by the books when it comes to introducing a magic girl. The unexpected, and therefore funny, elements came from the wands. Their deciding to abandon their current Masters because of their bickering rivalry made me laugh out loud. Having Ruby be a smart-arse, intelligent wand struck me as rather droll as well.

Not sure if this series intends to stick to comedy stuff, keep it as a mix, or try to go serious.  At one episode, I can say my boat hasn’t been rocked, but I was entertained.