August 19th, 2013 
AstroNerdBoy Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya Episode 06 REVIEW
Fate/kaleid liner プリズマ☆イリヤ
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Rin and Luvia launch their combined, magic girl attack at Saber Alter, causing a deep crater that floods with water. Rin and Luvia launch into their normal bickering as Ilya and Miyu marvel at the attack they’ve just witnessed. Rin wonders if they overdid their attack and destroyed the card, something Luvia doesn’t think is possible. Ilya and Miyu approach as Saber Alter emerges from the waters and launches her massive Excalibur attack on all four girls. Ilya recovers first, shocked at the devastation all around them and the loss of Rin, Luvia, Ruby, and Sapphire. Miyu wakes up as Ilya cries out for their lost companions in despair.
Miyu drags the frightened and despaired Ilya to hiding as Saber Alter hunts them. She finds the, but a seal on Ilya breaks, unleashing massive power. As if in a trance, Ilya says she must defeat Saber, then to Miyu’s amazement, Ilya pulls out the Archer Class Card and installs it into herself. Archer’s costume forms around her and she has access to Archer’s Reality Marble as she in fact becomes Archer, including having his combat skills and experience. To Miyu’s amazement, Archer-Ilya easily goes toe-to-toe with Alter Saber, managing to get damage on the later and thwart Saber Alter’s attacks.
As the battle rages, Sapphire emerges from the ground at Miyu’s location, revealing that she and Ruby tunneled underground to save the injured Rin and Luvia. Saber Alter readies her Excalibur Noble Phantasm attack as Ilya uses Archer’s Trace ability to create a perfect replica of the Excalibur sword. The two use the Excalibur attacks simultaneously, Ilya’s attack overcoming Saber’s. With Saber defeated, Ilya collapses and the Archer card emerges from her, leaving her with no memories of what happened, and only Sapphire and Miyu as witnesses to what occurred. Returning to the real world, Rin and Luvia aren’t sure what happened as Miyu carries the unconscious Ilya home.
Thoughts/Review:
Didn’t we already go through the whole, “The mirror world isn’t breaking down, therefore we haven’t defeated the Class Card” thing two episodes ago? I think we did. Memories seem rather short in this series though. ^_^;
Ah, but that and the recap aside, this episode took a very surprising turn. While it is not surprising that Ilya would be the one to save the day (she is the star of the show after all), the method by which she did this took me completely by surprise and I loved it. ^_^
I had previously mentioned that Class Cards like Archer’s seemed mostly worthless since installing it into Ruby produced a bow but that was it. However, for whatever reason, Ilya is able to unconsciously install the card into herself, thus allowing her to become Archer from the Fate/stay night series. Since she had no memories of anything that happened, one would assume that Archer basically took over Ilya, which would explain Archer-Ilya’s ease at combat, Trace, and more.
Still, Archer vs. Saber seems like a win for Saber except that Archer-Ilya creates another Excalibur. Even then, one would think that Saber Alter would win, but maybe Ilya’s magic power is so great, it allowed Archer-Ilya’s attack to surpass Saber Alter’s.
I find it interesting that neither Miyu nor Sapphire said anything about how Saber Alter was defeated to Rin, Luvia, or Ruby. I guess Sapphire and Miyu may want to analyze things a bit before telling the others.
That leaves the question of Ilya and the apparent seal that was on her true powers. In Fate/stay night, Ilya was part human, but I’m not sure how much of that carries over since her mother Iri is still alive here (Iri was not alive in Fate/stay night). Since this series draws so heavily from the Fate canon, I’m curious to know how Ilya is here, especially since she used the Class Card without the aid of the magic girl garb.
In the end, I really enjoyed this episode and seeing Ilya as Archer rocked.
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My first reaction when I watched Ilya/Archer fight Saber Alter was “They combined all the action sequences from Unlimited Blade Works into five minutes of Episode 6.” I suppose the takeaway is that that Ilya is more than just a magical girl fan turned magical girl.
And the way I see it, Rin, Luvia and Ruby do know about what happened – it was just one of those off-screen moments which they just expect the viewer to connect the dots (The comments that Rin and Luvia had about Ilya at the tail end of the episode indicates they do know something.).
>The comments that Rin and Luvia had about Ilya at the tail end of the episode indicates they do know something.
Well, they know that Saber was defeated, but I don’t get the impression that they know the exact means. Plus, Ilya’s narration was that only Miyu and Sapphire witnessed the event. That doesn’t mean that those two didn’t tell the others, but I just didn’t get that impression for whatever reason.
It’s exactly as ANB assumed – Saphire and Miyu want to analyze things before telling Rin and Luvia.
Is that something coming up or something?
uggc://v.vzthe.pbz/0oroigB.cat
Lrf, vg vf. Gung’f jul V qvqa’g fnl nalguvat orpnhfr vg’f n fcbvyre. N zvabe bar, ohg fgvyy.
Ah. Coolio.
As if in a trance, Ilya says she must defeat Saber (…).
Interesting to note (and only in the manga), the last time she says, she “must defeat” Saber, she actually says she “must destroy” her. It sounds the same, but the meaning was a little bit different.
Archer’s costume forms around her and she has access to Archer’s Reality Marble as she in fact becomes Archer, including having his combat skills and experience.
I always wondered when I read the chapter… she clearly had access to Unlimited Blade Works, but could she really materialize the Reality Marble? To materialize it, you must share the mindset of the owner, the Ally of Justice who has concluded that his life has no meaning. On the other hand, “install” lets you transform into the Heroic Spirit itself, so…
To Miyu’s amazement, Archer-Ilya easily goes toe-to-toe with Alter Saber, managing to get damage on the later and thwart Saber Alter’s attacks.
That is probably as close to “Sparks Liner High” as we will ever see…
Ilya pulled off almost every technique Archer has shown in Fate. The only things that are missing are the Reality Marble itself and Crane Wing Three Realm.
The shield that she used is Archer’s greatest defensive Noble Phantasm, Rho Aias, the shield of Ajax. Her Kanshou and Bakuya Overedge are originally from the FSN anime, but Nasu liked their dangerous look and made them canon. The arrow she traced was Caladbolg II, Archer’s modified version of Caladbolg (in the manga it was Hrunting) and she fought with the dance-like style Archer actually uses in melee combat. Pretty accurate I must say. This is a wonderful work by Silver Link, I enjoyed every minute of the extended fight. That’s where anime shines and where manga has more difficulties.
As the battle rages, Sapphire emerges from the ground at Miyu’s location, revealing that she and Ruby tunneled underground to save the injured Rin and Luvia.
I really had to laugh when I heard Hisui… uh, Sapphire freak out and ask whether Miyu is fine. And sadly, Miyu’s shocked face from the manga when she saw Ilya trace Excalibur was missing. ^_^
Saber Alter readies her Excalibur Noble Phantasm attack as Ilya uses Archer’s Trace ability to create a perfect replica of the Excalibur sword.
Unfortunately, Excalibur cannot be perfectly replicated. Excalibur was made by the fairies of Avalon using unearthly materials and Archer cannot trace anything that is not from Earth. However, Archer can come very close to it. He cannot trace Gilgamesh’s sword Ea, either, for that reason.
Still, Archer vs. Saber seems like a win for Saber except that Archer-Ilya creates another Excalibur. Even then, one would think that Saber Alter would win, but maybe Ilya’s magic power is so great, it allowed Archer-Ilya’s attack to surpass Saber Alter’s.
Excalibur becomes stronger the more mana you actually use. Note that Saber Alter no longer wears her mana armor (either because Rin and Luvia blasted it away or because she sacrificed it to use Excalibur against them) and she already used Excalibur once, so she must be rather low on mana. The reason why Archer doesn’t try to trace Excalibur is that the sheer amount of mana that he needs to use it would kill him. Ilya simply overpowered Saber because of her mana advantage.
Va SFA Vyln unf, haqre pregnva pbaqvgvbaf, na hayvzvgrq fhccyl bs znan nf gur Tenvy Irffry naq ure Zntvp Pvephvgf ner, hayvxr Nepure’f penccl barf, rkgerzryl tbbq. Fur jnf noyr gb fhzzba Orefrexre gjb zbaguf orsber gur Tenvy Jne ortna jvgubhg gur Tenvy’f fhccbeg. Fur unf birenyy n irel ynetr znan cbby.
I must say, I’m veeery impressed with the composer of the OST. He actually bothered to make an Emiya remix for Archer-Ilya. “Emiya” is without a doubt FSN VN’s most popular track and usually plays when Shirou (or in later media an Emiya member in general) starts to kick ass.
Kenji Kawai btw decided to make one too for the FSN anime, when Archer pulled off Unlimited Blade Works against Berserker. Here are “some” of the Emiya tracks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxc7QLLxohE
As you can see, even Kiritsugu actually got an “Emiya ~ Time Alter” track in FZ’s Sound Drama, so you can probably imagine the disappointment some fans felt, when ufotable and Yuki Kajiura decided to not make one for Kiritsugu’s fight against Kirei.
Oh, and another Sword of Promised Victory remix… *yawn*
Okay, I admit this time it was needed… after all it was a clash of two Excaliburs.
The track that played at the end when Miyu carried Ilya home reminded me of “Ever-present feeling”. Again from the FSN VN…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L1DEvzsftw
Btw, the ED pic
http://randomc.net/image/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya/Fate%20kaleid%20liner%20Prisma%20Illya%20-%2006%20-%20Large%20End%20Card.jpg
again made me laugh. Himura Kiseki is quite known for the popular Sword Dancers doujin series.
http://www.batoto.net/comic/_/comics/fatestay-night-sword-dancers-doujinshi-r8957
The protagonist of the story is Archerko, a female Archer jub vf urnivyl vzcyvrq gb or na nqhyg Vyln.
Bonus pic: http://i.imgur.com/kf1qTfP.jpg
P.S. Shoutouts to two people, who made me laugh with these comments. ^_^
1. “It’s so sad that Eirei-niichan wasn’t there to watch his sister shine, but in a way, he was inside of her the whole time.”
*Sella proceeds to beat the crap out of Shirou*
2. “What’s Gar + Moe? Of course the answer must be MOAR!”
>This is a wonderful work by Silver Link, I enjoyed every minute of the extended fight. That’s where anime shines and where manga has more difficulties.
And this is where an anime adaptation should shine and be superior to the manga. It was an awesome fight to be sure.
>Ilya simply overpowered Saber because of her mana advantage.
Ah. That makes sense, as I remember how Saber was weak in FSN due to lack of mana from Shirou. So Saber here burns a ton of mana, but Ilya has a ton of it…at least for now.
Thanks for all the information. I love those collage images. During my brief unemployment stint back in the day, I did some.
Funny thing, Ilya as Archer had the same hairstyle as Saber.
Effectively, Ilya with Archer included was fighting like Archer IF he had unlimited energy to burn. She burns as much energy in this one fight as Archer does in three battles.
Other factors:
While Excalibur normally cannot be created through Unlimited Blade Works(which can only recreate materials of this world, while Excalibur originates in the world of the faeries), Shirou having Avalon in his body made it possible. It doesn’t take any more energy to create than any other weapon, but is essentially impossible to use because even the minimum prana required to fire it is astronomical.
Ilya has another advantage over Archer. Her size. Archer makes use of a highly agile and evasive fighting style, but he masses more than Saber, and is quite a bit taller than her to boot. Reinforcement magic would favor a small body even, if you had prana to burn, you could boost it to just about any desired strength without needing to haul muscle mass around. It’s probably the first time Saber had to fight a smaller, lighter, and more agile opponent, given that she’s tiny for a Heroic Spirit.
Funny thing, Ilya as Archer had the same hairstyle as Saber.
Uh… not really. ^_^ They tied their hair quite differently.
While Excalibur normally cannot be created through Unlimited Blade Works (…), Shirou having Avalon in his body made it possible.
You are mixing up facts. Shirou cannot trace Excalibur. At best, he can make a degraded version of it. Shirou only uses his eyes to analyze the structure of the weapons he encounters and then stores them in Unlimited Blade Works. Taking a look at a Noble Phantasm and then perfectly copying it is absurd.
As an exception (and what you probably meant with Avalon making it possible), the only Noble Phantasm he was allowed to perfectly copy was Avalon and only because of the fact that the sheath was inside his body for ten years, so he knew everything to make a perfect copy. He lost his ability to trace Avalon again when Saber left at the end of Fate.
Why would you say Shirou had lost the ability to trace Avalon? I don’t recall anything that would support this notion in the text of the VN. He wouldn’t be able to use it without Seiba there, though, so the point is rather moot.
Also, making a degraded version is pretty much what tracing is about. So Shirou CAN trace Excalibur, he just cannot trace it perfectly.
Why would you say Shirou had lost the ability to trace Avalon? (…) He wouldn’t be able to use it without Seiba there, though, so the point is rather moot.
“Avalon’s power won’t work if Saber’s not connected to it. It’s a different story during the Grail War, but all it does when Saber isn’t around is make Shirou’s magic attribute into “sword”. Also, after the Grail War is taken apart, the line between him and her will be gone, so it’s best to think that his image of “Avalon” also disappeared.” – from Complete Material 3
What I meant is that with time he loses the ability to remember Avalon. Might take months, might take years, but without the image in his mind, it’s impossible to trace or recreate it, as it’s not recorded in UBW. Archer is well aware of Avalon, but besides the connection with Saber missing, he simply forgot its image, as it is not recorded in UBW.
Also, making a degraded version is pretty much what tracing is about. So Shirou CAN trace Excalibur, he just cannot trace it perfectly.
Don’t blame me, blame Nasu and his contradicting BS.
“Divine constructs like Ea and Excalibur are nonreplicable. There might be some degraded NPs with similar performance in stock though.”
Again, CM3.
The logical explanation is that UBW cannot record the materials, nor does he know the concepts of its creation, so the sword is not stored in UBW, except for its image. What he makes is a sword that can do beams and looks like Excalibur if he tries to keep the image of it in his mind.
In that case, it’s a matter of what we interpret as Excalibur (or at least a traced Excalibur) or not. I don’t really see a different NP that has similar properties and is given the shape of Excalibur as Excalibur and not even a traced version of it, but others may see it differently.
Btw, I really don’t want to discuss this again (well aware that VN and CMs can partially or completely contradict each other). If you still think he can trace Excalibur, then we have to agree to disagree.
Tracing Excalibur isn’t the first discussion that is endless, it’s like the “Shiki can kill Servants” one. We either don’t have a definite answer or we actually do have one, but it contradicts with other things.
Miyu offering to carry Illya home was not in the manga.
Interesting. It is a nice touch though.
Regarding Excalibur there is one little thing about it that gives Illya the advantage.
Saber Alter uses a different “version” of Excalibur. Rather than launch a beam of space-distorting light, Saber Alter’s Excalibur launches “merely” a kind of super heated beam of mana. It’s pretty much Solid Projectile vs. Beam Weaponry kind of fight. The Excalibur Illya used simply distorts space and can cut through anything while Saber Alter’s Excalibur destroys things through brute force.
At least that’s how I understand it.
Excalibur is Excalibur. It doesn’t matter if it’s black or white, the properties are the same. And Ilya’s one is a sword that is similar to Excalibur and traceable, as divine constructs cannot be traced.
Only because the materials and craft processes are impossible to decipher. Excalibur has an out because Shirou had Avalon(which was also a divine construct) inside him for most of his life, thus, an affinity with Avalon and Excalibur formed, allowing him to trace them.
There might be some possible argument of Holy versus Unholy attribute though.
Indeed, Excalibur retains its conceptual properties regardless of its alignment. The reason Illya’s Excaliblast won is that 1) she has inhuman prana reserves, 2) [REDACTED] (because spoilers), and 3) Seiba was using Excaliblast a second time in that battle.
However, divine constructs ARE traceable. Shirou has copied both Avalon (in Fate) and Excalibur (Heaven’s Feel). Furthermore, Illya, unlike Shirou/Aacha has the advantage of the Second Magic. In fact, the entire Heaven’s Feel ritual seems to involve Zelretch and the Kaleidoscope of possibilities a lot more than in canon F/SN. As such, it’s entirely possible that her tracing ability (when she Includes the Archer card) exceeds Aacha’s in some respects.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I retract my previous post, I checked through the fight against Saber Alter and… seems like I misremembered something… Sorry.
Both Random_Passerby_612 and Unknown, all of you are posting stuff from Heaven’s Feel and these parts are meant to be written in ROT13 code, since all of them are spoilers… *ahem* Delete and ROT13 repost request. ^_^
Shirou has copied both Avalon (in Fate)
Well, I don’t call it tracing, but recreation. 🙂 And it’s an exception that proves the rule.
naq Rkpnyvohe (Urnira’f Srry).
See my comment above this discussion.
Furthermore, Illya, unlike Shirou/Aacha has the advantage of the Second Magic.
Refresh my memory. What do you mean with that?
As such, it’s entirely possible that her tracing ability (when she Includes the Archer card) exceeds Aacha’s in some respects.
She can obviously do stuff Archer is incapable of because he has no talent as a magus. Can she create better traced versions? I don’t know, but personally I don’t think so if she is limited to the abilities Archer had. But this is just speculation, right? 😛 So maybe it’s true, maybe not…
The Second Magic is the Great Holy Grail. Materialization of the Soul. It allows them to move souls around, create life and give souls form. It’s the basis of the Servant Summoning and possibly also their skill with homunculi.
The Einzberns can’t do it anymore though, hence the Holy Grail War. They do retain a related ability, wish granting, which allows them to directly convert prana and desire into effect, given enough prana for the desire.
As for skill wise, we have to remember that Ilya here has zero magic skill. Good circuits, and maybe good instincts but no skill, certainly not enough to top a Heroic Spirit at it’s own game.
Reality Marbles are very different from other forms of magic. Skill at magecraft wouldn’t help with one much.
The Second Magic is Kaleidoscope, operation between parallel worlds. The Third Magic is the Magic of the Einzberns, Heaven’s Feel. As for the wish-granting ability… well, I did explain that a week or two ago and am aware of it.
But that wasn’t what Random_Passerby_612 was talking about. He was talking about Ilya having an advantage because of Kaleidoscope. The only thing I can think of right now is Ruby, that’s why I asked what he meant.
…not Ruby. Ruby isn’t even necessary for Illya to Include cards. What I was referring to is that Zelretch seems to have been much more involved in crafting the Grail Wars in Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya. Heck, as seen in Drei, this version of it allows to summon full Divine Spirits. That’s pretty much where the guesswork comes from. As for why I had stated that Illya has an advantage due to this is because [SPOILER] fur, be, engure, Xheb, vf n yvivat Tenvy.
Also, seeing as this Grail’s limitations are different, limits of other artifacts and abilities, such as the Kaleidosticks or tracing, aren’t set in stone, either. Heck, even Archer’s identity is uncertain. For all we know, this may as well be a different version of Shirou who had forged a contract with Gaia (SOMEHOW) instead of Alaya and gained understanding of the materials necessary to craft Excalibur. Or a Kaleidostick-using Shirou, which is a horrible, horrible thought written here because it happened in a hilarious fanfic and not because I’m seriously contemplating the idea.
Ruby isn’t even necessary for Illya to Include cards.
Yup, that’s true. That’s why I needed a reminder because I simply couldn’t remember to what you refer. Gubhtu gur fgvpxf fgvyy frrz gb genafsbez vagb gur jrncbaf jura “vafgnyy” jnf hfrq, nf vg frrzf.
Ng yrnfg gurl qvq jura gur Fnore pneq jnf hfrq ol Zvlh naq yngre Vyln.
Heck, as seen in Drei, this version of it allows to summon full Divine Spirits.
Well, nature spirits already appeared in different Grail Wars before and so did Heroic Spirits with the Divinity skill.
FSN had Gilgamesh (2/3 a god), Rider, Lancer and Berserker. Fate/Extra and Apocrypha had gods too, so I was not surprised to see Divine Spirits appear. However, I think the divine ones always seem so unnecessary overpowered that I must wonder how you can actually beat them. Znlor jvgu Raxvqh…?
What I was referring to is that Zelretch seems to have been much more involved in crafting the Grail Wars in Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya.
Huh, I noticed subtle hints, but I will wait until the next chapters come out, before I assume anything. I actually always considered Heracles to be a fullfledged god (yeah, he was born a demi-god, but he got his own seat after his death), too, so I never found it strange that Gube nccneragyl vf n fcvevg gur Nvafjbeguf gnzrq. Nf Tvy naq Onmrgg fnvq, vg fbhaqf svful naq haoryvrinoyr. Gung’f jul V qvqa’g guvax bs Mryergpu.
Gilgamesh, even without the power discussions, is considered one of the strongest beings in the whole Nasuverse (I’ll conveniently leave out the TYPEs and a full-powered Arcueid…). So a divine spirit that is at the least on his level didn’t raise any suspicions on my side.
fur, be, engure, Xheb, vf n yvivat Tenvy.
Well, this is true. Qerv unf fubja gung Vyln unf ybgf bs cbgragvny, juvpu vf fgvyy yrsg harkcybvgrq.
Ogj, vf Xheb npghnyyl noyr gb qb vafgnyy, gbb be vf fur fghpx jvgu Nepure? V nyjnlf gubhtug fur pna qb vg gbb, gubhtu fur unf na boivbhf znan ceboyrz, fb gur cbvag vf zbbg. Ure rkvfgrapr nybar vf n zvenpyr.
Heck, even Archer’s identity is uncertain. For all we know, this may as well be a different version of Shirou who had forged a contract with Gaia (SOMEHOW)
Saved yourself with the “somehow”… :p
Well, if he has a connection to Gaia, then it’s different, but it still seems a bit farfetched in my opinion. About the other idea…
Or a Kaleidostick-using Shirou (…)
This?
http://danbooru.donmai.us/data/523c3ff435c2c5bd76ddbf26293c3480.jpg
Ahahaha… ha… no… Please, just… no.
OH! MY EYES! *lol* Man, that image was so wrong and a half. ^_^;;;