So close, and yet so far.
Illya was a normal elementary school girl until a talking wand falls from the sky and into her bathroom. The wand, called Ruby, tricks Illya into becoming a magical girl. Under the guidance of Rin, the last person to wield Ruby, Illya is tasked with collecting magic cards that are loose throughout the city. She fights each card in an alternate dimension alongside her new classmate, Miyu. But Illya soon discovers than being a magical girl isn't as easy as it looks on TV.
Truth be told, my thoughts on this anime haven't changed much from the first episode, I was worried that it wouldn't be enough for this show to piggy-back off the larger Fate universe, yet that ended up as one of the more enjoyable aspects of the show. It also has some success with its parody elements and the animation is gorgeous at points--there are visual cues borrowed from Fate/Zero despite this show being animated by Silver Link and not ufotable. The fight against Saber Alter that takes up more than a few episodes in the middle of its run had some of the best build up and resolution that I saw all season, which is impressive. If you're not really interested in the show but would like to see the highlights, that's definitely the best point.
However, everything else that didn't have to do with magical girl tropes or fighting corrupted servants felt cliched and really showed its doujinshi roots. I am convinced that the creator(s?) of this series have never spoken to an elementary school girl in their entire lives, since this is not how they act. Illya sounded more than twice her age at points, and a shoehorned in maid fetish along with heavily implied yuri (although when it came to the maid scene, "implied" goes out the window) made it clear what kind of audience this series was originally meant for. That's fine for a doujinshi, but in a show that appeared to want to be taken seriously as a magical girl spinoff at best it felt out of place and at worst just straight-up creepy.
Since the show was never able to break away from the culture of its source material, I find it a bit hard to recommend. Personally, I don't think that it would work well as someone's introduction to the Fate universe, since the show does assume that you're there for the crossover battles, and it does get more interesting if you're aware of what it's referencing. That said, despite its hiccups in character portrayal and adherence to a specific otaku checklist, it does deliver on some truly interesting magical girl battles and does pull off the alternate universe feeling in the end. With the second season already announced, it's possible that the show might grow into something that's more confident in itself, but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I'd recommend this show mainly to Fate universe fans for an alternate take on an interesting character.
Images from Crunchyroll.com.
I agree with that, the show wouldn't be as interesting to watch if you didn't know all the references (xD i got really really excited when i saw corrupted saber, which had Alter Saber's style from the Heaven's feel route, and and XD the awesome berserker), i was there mostly for the fights, the servants, and the fighting styles that i knew from the Fate universe, and yeah, Miyu and Illya didn't feel like elementary school kids at some points, and xD the maid scene, something i definitely wouldn't watch if my parents were around(the yuri gets even more implied during the last episode, with Miyu being possessive and all), i hope the 2nd season improves in the aspects that aren't the battles against corrupted cards, actually the battle animations were better than i expected *-*, i also liked the time when Illya got scared after the fight against assassin, both of dying and hurting the people around her
ReplyDeleteThe more dramatic parts involving the battles were the best parts of the show, in my opinion. I know that shows can't be that dramatic all the time, but when they weren't fighting cards it felt like a completely different kind of series. I also hope that those aspects aren't as otaku-pandering in the next season.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, during the slice of life events it felt like any other slice of life out there, or like your average mahou shoujo, and i heard it's a bit like that in the manga though (but i think the anime adds more fanservice than the one in the manga, but i'm holding back from reading it til second season comes XD but i might read the first manga to see how much fanservice they added, or if it's kinda like that in the manga as well), oh oh, and are you watching Kamisama na inai nichiyoubi? O:
ReplyDeleteYep, I'm watching that! Hopefully I'll have a review out soon.
ReplyDeleteOhhh alright x3 i'll read the review when it's out, i like it so far, but i haven't finished it yet, but i'm planning to watch the 5 episodes i haven't this weekend xD i hate college when it doesn't let me watch anime TwT
ReplyDelete"Personally, I don't think that it would work well as someone's introduction to the Fate universe" And yet, this is the first Type-Moon work I've ever finished. I think this explains everything you need to know about me.
ReplyDeleteI will say though that the fight between Saber Alter and Illya (Archer) literally blew me away. I'm serious. It definitely was some excellent choreography, and one that definitely makes me think, "Man, I wonder how Fate/Zero must have been!!!"...Even with all the talking (or so I hear). Moving that up to my opening queue of my backlog, after I get a few others completed.
(And also, yeah, I couldn't help but ship Illya x Miyu, and I rarely do any of that in anime. I'm sorry!!!)
it would of been cuter if illya fell for a boy at her school who is her age. whoever made this show has never actually talked to a real breathing elementary school kid before because this is not how they act at all. miyzaki was right anime is being made by otakus for otakus.
ReplyDeleteHer liking a boy or a girl was not my problem with the show. My problem was, as you mentioned, her not acting her age at all. Kids go through developmental patterns, and having a character who is supposed to be a female elementary school student talking like a horny teenager was incredibly off-putting, to say the least. And the second season was far worse... Oh well. I still greatly admire the fight scenes in this season, especially the one with Saber Alter. I wish this series had more of that and less (if not none) of the creepy database pandering.
ReplyDeleteLook at cardcaptor sakura do you see clamp doing this? Do you see them going "well to get an audience we'll have a naked chiharu on top of a naked Naoko yeah that'll really get us money" no why? Because clamp has a brain and based their characters on how real kids acted at the time not a fantasy on how the manga ka wants the kid characters to act.
ReplyDelete