Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya Episode 4: We Lost

“…My, that was a splendid defeat.”

Summary

Having lost to Caster almost immediately during their initial match, Ilya and Miyu decide to train for an extra day before trying again, with Rin and Luvia thinking up strategies for them. Even so, their second match proves to be problematic in itself, with Caster’s impressive skills as a magus wrecking havoc with each beam. After Caster is sealed with some quick thinking on Ilya’s part, Luvia notices that the Mirror World hasn’t vanished for some odd reason…

Impression

The references to the Fate franchise never stop, do they. I even recognise that bridge – the one near the Mion River, where the Fourth Caster summoned his gigantic tentacle thing. Oh, and it’s where Broskander fought Gilgamesh in the manliest battle of the war 😀 Speaking of Caster, the Fifth Caster (Medea) was not so surprisingly difficult to beat. The first time round, it was barely five minutes before everyone was kicked out of the Mirror World. Magical girls are definitely not invincible – especially not against someone like Caster, who’s magic isn’t even of human origin. I think this version is identical to the Caster in Fate/stay, who originally came from a divine, godly era and is thus automatically stronger than any human magus. Neither Ilya nor Miyu can stand the brunt of any one of those purple beams (Ilya was probably aware of that though, she looked terrified).

I felt slightly cheated by the fact that the Archer Class Card only summons a bow, with no actual weapon sobs in corner I remember seeing that bow used against Berserker in Fate/stay, but I guess it’s because Archer usually projects all his weapons, with no physical “item” (other than that bow, apparently). I was hoping for Kanshou and Bakuya to show up at least, if not the UBW reality marble. At least Ilya can fly! And seemingly without any effort, too. It’s probably because she’s had many dreams about becoming an actual magical girl, conditioned from her love of anime. I’ve also always thought it natural for magical girls to fly 😀

Miyu’s pride took quite a beating this episode. From having to watch Ilya fly easily to enduring Luvia’s…harsh training, I’m sure there were many things that didn’t sit right with her. Least of all the idea that “mindless optimism” is the right mindset for a magical girl, without worrying about how logic factors into magic. While she looks like a strong magus, I think she’s being too conservative about everything, which is limiting her ability. Ilya’s starting to shine in that respect, with her innovation getting her all sorts of brownie points (mana blast boosters, anyone?) I love how Miyu ended up learning how to “double jump” using footholds to keep her in the air, though 😀 It’s a good thing Gae Bolg is really useful. No matter how it’s thrown, it’ll break the rules of spacetime to hit whatever it’s thrown at, no matter how it’s thrown or at what angle.

Finally, let’s talk about Saber! She gets her own paragraph because she’s just that awesome. Seriously, I got chills just seeing Saber Alter turn up out of nowhere. Unfortunately, this time her presence isn’t that great any more…Rin and Luvia were OHKO’d immediately. I’m very certain that Ilya and Miyu aren’t capable of winning at this point in time – heck, even if they were fully healed I doubt they’d be able to beat her. The Saber class isn’t the strongest Servant class for nothing you know.

…They’re going to die now aren’t they