Illya’s increasing doubts in herself and what she is capable of doing lead her to take a momentous step.
What They Say:
Episode 8: “I’m Going to Be a Normal Girl Again”
When Illya recovers her memory during the fight with Assassin, she suffers shock, and grows hesitant to talk to anyone, even Miyu. Now that Illya truly understands the cost and meaning of being a magical girl, she feels terrified and after deep consideration she goes to speak with Rin.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While Sella the maid thinks Illya should stay home longer, Illya goes to school, trying to act cheerful as usual. But she gets depressed when Miyu appears. Miyu is sullen and Illya quiet. Illya’s friend Tatsuko, an energetic airhead, wonders where Illya’s usual energy is and also questions Miyu, from whom she gets a dark response. The other girls notice something off about Illya and Miyu. Illya’s friend Suzuka then tries to force Illya and Miyu to work together on a class project to get them to make up, but it fails as Miyu has gone back to being a cold and aloof loner, deciding to do the project entirely on her own.
Ruby and Sapphire discuss the situation and seem to agree that it would be best if Illya didn’t continue the card retrieval mission. Not everything is right with Miyu either, as we see a flashback to her initial encounter with Sapphire and Luvia. It appears that Miyu was quite willing to take on the task, but she asked Luvia to all but adopt her on the spot, giving her a place to stay and food to eat. One wonders what Miyu’s situation was like before she came across Sapphire. It cannot have been good.
In class, Illya continues to be pressed into doing the story for the group project, as Tatsuko provides the (ever stranger) pictures to illustrate it. Suzuka is especially firm in pushing Illya, but Illya keeps on saying it’s impossible. Illya feels at this time that it’s impossible for her to do anything on her own.
Back at the Einzbern home, the two family maids have a little discussion and fight, talking about Illya and then breast size (Sella was not as blessed as her sister Leysritt). Shirou comes home unfortunately in time to get in the middle of it. All the while, Illya does nothing but sulk in her room. Speaking with Ruby, she realizes that she cannot put it off any longer. It is time to talk to Rin. Illya meets her in the park and offers her resignation, realizing that she’s completely over her head. Rin accepts the resignation without any anger or hesitation, noting that it’s unreasonable to expect an elementary school girl to fight in her place. Ruby is not willing to serve Rin though, but there’s only one card left, so Rin is not very concerned. Rin’s only concern was what Miyu would think, and the aloof girl appears and accepts the situation without complaint. So much for Illya’s time as a Card retriever and magical girl. The other three girls now go off to get the final card while Illya goes off alone, though Ruby has decided to stay with her.
I was happy to see something other than card retrieval fighting for a change, as too much of that would have become somewhat tiresome. But at this point, it seems like the show has suffered from compression. I have not read the original manga, so it may be that events unfolded in just this same way, but the shifts in tone and quick changes in characters and plot seemed rather rushed at times, as if they knew they only had one season of episodes to work with and needed to cram in as much as possible. Thus why the scenes at school and home in this episode, and the inclusion of characters such as Shirou, who makes his first appearance since the initial episode, give the impression that there were more of these humorous asides once, but they’ve all been removed because they would have taken time away from all of the action involved in the card retrieval fights.
It’s a shame, because the sometimes jarring transpositions from bawdy slapstick humor to serious dramatic action might well have been smoother if interspersed with the occasional humor bits involving the supporting cast of Illya’s friends (who also haven’t appeared since the first episode) and the Einzbern maids, which are somewhere in between the extremes of absurdity (Illya’s maid fetish, for example) and stark dread (the fight against Saber, or Illya’s annihilation of the Assassins) that this show has yo-yoed between. Instead, we’ve had these reasonably comedic asides concentrated in the first two episodes and these last two we’ve seen, providing bookends to the serious dramatic action between them. Of course, it’s obvious to anyone that Illya’s retirement from being a magical girl is not going to last, as the battle against the final Heroic Spirit, Berserker, is clearly not going to go well and it will require Illya’s powers to take him on (which is fitting in many respects, for those familiar with the Fate franchise). Now it’s just a matter of seeing how Illya will get her confidence back.
In Summary:
Illya is doubting in herself and that doubt leads her to abandon being a magical girl. Most of this episode was humorous asides and time spent at home or school, helping to lighten the heavy dramatic burden of Illya’s depression and withdrawal from the card retrieval business. Of course, it’s obvious that this retreat will not be permanent, and we’ll see Illya in her embarrassing outfit again, but only after she’s done some soul searching and found her courage and confidence again.
Episode Grade: B
Streamed by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard
in regards to your mention of the story being compressed your actually wrong. the original manga without the inclusion of 2wei and 3rei is only 13 and a half chapters (the half being a short epilogue that sets up the plot of 2wei) therefore there are no extra asides with the family and schoolmates. 2wei focuses on family and the origin of miyu and the cards. just thought you should know.