Review of Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya

IncendiaryLemon · 10 November 2015

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Review of Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya by IncendiaryLemon

Illyasviel von Einzbern, Illya for short, is a normal elementary school girl living in Japan when her life takes a turn for the unexpected. A magic wand called Kaleidoscope Ruby has rejected her old master Rin Tohsaka and has chosen Illya to be the next great magical girl. Tasked with collecting the seven legendary Class Cards, Illya must defeat the Legendary Heroes, powerful physical forms that the cards manifest, under the guidance of Rin and with the help of Miyu, a new transfer student whom Ruby’s sister, Kaleidoscope Sapphire also picked to be a magical girl. 

Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya is an alternate take on the Fate/Stay Night universe, mashing the characters and lore of Fate with the more light-hearted tone of a Magical Girl show. This may sound like an odd combination but not only do the creative team pull it off, they manage to make it a great series that both fans and non- fans of Fate can enjoy. 

The first thing I will say is that the story in Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya is not its strongest suit. Not to say it’s bad, but it is very generic and despite my personal experience with Magical Girl anime being quite limited, even I could easily spot the huge number of tropes present in the story. Whilst this could be seen as disappointing to fans of the Fate franchise, a series known for its strong story, the plot serves the show well enough, even if it’s not doing anything new. Whilst the plot is fairly by the numbers, its use of Magical Girl trappings does make for some terrific comedy opportunites. There is is a good mix of self-referential comedy that pokes fun at Magical Girl shows in general, and slapstick with a little bit of Ecchi humour sprinkled in here and there, and it all works very well for the most part. Whilst seeing other Magical Girl shows isn’t a necessity before jumping into Prisma Illya, I would highly recommend it as I think some of the jokes lose something without a reference point. This show also features a number of references to Fate/Stay Night, which enhance the show and adds more depth for fans of the franchise without alienating or confusing newcomers. Another aspect that it excels in is its action sequences. In terms of both animation, choreography and intensity, this spin-off manages to match the high quality action seen in Ufotable’s Fate adaptations and these sections deliver a fantastic spectacle, easily becoming the highlight of the show. 

In terms of its characters, Fate Illya is in the same boat as its story. The characters are all generic archetypes that have been seen countless times before. Whether it’s the pure and good hearted Illya, the tsundere Rin or the quiet and stoic Miyu, none of the characters really develop beyond their archetypes or are given any depth, apart from Miyu, who is the only one to really go through any changes. Still, the girls are all likable enough and you find yourself rooting for them. The exception is Ruby, whose personality tends to get quite grating and annoying after a while. 

When it comes to its art and animation the show is generally pretty good. Throughout the majority of the show the animation looks good, but nothing spectacular and manages to keep its look fairly consistent with other entries in the Fate franchise. Where the animation really comes into its own is during the action scenes. The show is animated by Silver Link, whose other shows include Watamote, Non Non Biyori and Kokoro Connect, so I was very surprised at the high quality of animation during the action scenes coming from a company whose other works are mostly Slice of Life and Romance shows. As previously mentioned, the action in this show is the highlight and this is largely due to the superb animation on offer. The show is directed by Shin Oonuma, who has worked with Silver Link before on the aforementioned Watamote and Kokoro Connect and does a fantastic job here. 

Prisma Illya comes with both English and Japanese audio with English subtitles and whilst the English dub isn’t terrible, the Japanese does fit the show better. My biggest issue with the English dub is the casting of Cynthia Matrinez, probably best known as Mayu in Elfen Lied, in the lead role as Illya. Whilst her performance isn’t bad, I really don’t think that the voice matches the character and as she is the protagonist, this can be quite distracting. That said, there are still some good performances in the dub, the highlights being Carli Mosier as Rin and Shelley Calene-Black as Luvia who both really nail their supporting roles. On the Japanese side, the standouts are Mai Kadowaki as Illya, who has voiced the character in every Fate adaption to date, and Kaori Nazuka as Miyu. 

The soundtrack to Prisma Illya is by Tatsuya Katou, who has also done the music on shows such as Mirai Nikki and Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Whilst it isn’t bad, none of the tracks really stood out to me as memorable but the music always felt appropriate to the scene and helped set the tone. The OP by ChouCho and the ED by StylipS are very catchy and will be stuck in your head after listening to both a handful of times and really fit well with the tone of the show. 

This release by Anime Limited includes the OVA episode, a clean opening and closing, trailers, 48 page collector’s booklet and 4 tarot cards. 

In Summary 

Whilst Prisma Illya doesn’t have an enthralling story or complex characters, it more than makes up for its losses with sheer fun. As a comedy, it works well with consistently funny gags and as an action show it has some gorgeous animation and exhilarating fight sequences. I don’t think that Fate Kaleid Liner - Prisma Illya is a show for everyone, but it knows its audience and plays to it well. Fans of the Magical Girl genre are sure to love it. 

Note: Screenshots featured in this review are sourced from Crunchyroll and aren’t representative of Anime Ltd’s release 

Final score: 8 out of 10

Additional screencaps

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Review of Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya

IncendiaryLemon

Captain Karen