They say all is fair in love and war. But it’s not fair to use some forms of magic in magical battles, so Kaleidostick Ruby would tell us.
What They Say:
Episode 4: “We Lost”
The two teams: Illya and Rin, and Miyu and Luvia head to the riverbed to collect the next Card and face off against Caster. Because Caster is high up in the air, Illya and Miyu have to learn how to fly in order to defeat her.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Luvia and Rin are bickering as always, fortunately Illya and Miyu ignore them. The girls unfortunately have bigger problems in store, as the newest card they are all trying to capture appears to be Caster, and this Caster is in no mood to be captured. They got a massive beat down in their first attempt after a five minute battle. It appears that they will need to be able to fly to defeat Caster. Oddly, it’s not a problem for Illya, since she can already fly (“Don’t all magical girls fly?”). Miyu, on the other hand, is too far grounded in reality to believe that people can fly, and that is precisely what prevents her from being able to do it.
It must be training time, and so Illya does some training with Ruby, including learning how to use Rin’s Class Card, Archer. With Archer included into Ruby, the stick becomes a bow…without arrows. Not very useful, eh? Cue Illya’s disappointment. Miyu is engaged in other training, which consists of Luvia shoving her out of a helicopter in order to learn how to fly. It doesn’t work (but Miyu survives the fall). Desperate, Miyu begs Illya to teach her how to fly, though since it’s more a feeling than a scientific process, Miyu fails to understand what Illya is trying to teach.
So, it must be time for Ruby to provide a subtly nasty critique of magical girls again, and yes we get it. After showing Miyu Illya’s favorite magical girl anime (the source of all of her knowledge of what being a magical girl is, including flight), Miyu is no closer to discovering the secret of magical girl flight. Ruby now steps in to note that it’s all owing to Illya’s ignoring logic and science and instead possessing a “kind of mindless optimism” that “is ideal for a magical girl.”
In other words, Magical Girls are brainless airheads who can achieve great power and do the impossible because they’re too stupid to know any better.
Illya, being the savvy protagonist she is, knows she is being insulted and comments on that fact. Of course, we have little time to dwell on this as it’s on to the next fight. Miyu has learned to fly…after a fashion (she seems to have developed a way to form temporary steps from mana, upon which she jumps like hopping from platform to platform) and the attack commences. It’s difficult though, since Caster is very tough and according to Ruby, she cheats (teleportation magic is cheating, after all). The are successfully against Caster in the end, thanks to some teamwork between Illya and Miyu. But then there is a problem. The mirror world field is not dispersing. There is another opponent, and it’s the most powerful one of them all: Saber.
So, nothing new to report here in many respects. We continue to have a magical girl parody in a Fate setting with plenty of shout outs to the rest of the franchise. Ruby continues to provide hilarious commentary about magical girls and Illya, sweet and simple-seeming as she is, continues to be smart enough to realize that she’s often on the receiving end of Ruby’s barbs. It’s not quite as laugh out loud funny as the first couple of episodes were, but there are plenty of amusing moments to be had. The fight sequences are also getting to be much more serious on balance, though there are still moments of humor thrown in, but they are perhaps a little fewer and farther between. It’s good stuff so far, but after next episode’s likely harrowing battle (unless they suddenly win by offering Saber a bowl of rice and while she’s distracted, zap her), I hope they have a breather from the action and focus on something more fun.
In Summary:
Flight is easy if you have nothing but air between your ears, or so Ruby would seem to be telling us. When the battle to gain the Caster Class Card does not go well, the girls have some training to do. This time around, it’s Miyu who is less capable, as she is far too logical and scientifically grounded to be able to imagine flying, and flight is what the two girls need in order to defeat Caster. She does eventually find a workaround and the two do manage to defeat Caster, but then things turn worse when an unexpected opponent appears. This is fun stuff for Fate fans and those who like seeing the standard conventions of magical girl shows held up for some ridicule.
Episode Grade: B+
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
It’s not that teleportation is cheating, it’s that since Caster comes from the ‘Age of Gods’, she’s capable of using magic that’s impossible today. Modern mages can’t teleport, and that’s why Kaleidostick Ruby said it was cheating, because that gives her a really large advantage over everyone else.