Fate / Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya

 For the F in the alphabet challenge, it is time for some good old Fate franchise viewing.

And the selection fell to the first season of Fate / Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya... which can count for a title.

Rin and Luvia are two students of the Mage's Association and tasked with finding the seven Class cards, artifacts containing the souls of legendary heroes from history.  The are granted a special sceptre each, called a Kaleidostick, that allows them to change into Magical Girls to aid them in their search.

But as the two girls don`t agree with each other, the Kaleidosticks abandon them and go looking for new masters, coming into possession of two school girls: Illya and Miyu.  Rin comes over to Illya to explain what is going on.  Together, they go look for the first card, and dimension shift to the place where it is being kept, the Mirror World.  The first card being Rider, she learns she must defeat it first in order to collect the card.  The attacks don`t go as planned, but Miyu steps in using a Lancer card and far more skilled in combat then Illya.

 

 

A transfer student, she received the Kaleidostick from Luvia, who trained her. At school, it turns out Miyu has far above average talents and skills, to the jealousy of the others.  Illya must beat her in a running contest, but even she is unable to do so.  During their next engagement though, they where defeated by the guardian on the card, making them realize they aren't invincible.  They go back in after deciding to work together, bringing their opponent down and collecting the card.  But then a second opponent shows up while they didn't have the chance to recover yet.

 

With their tutors knocked out, the two girls must now see to defeat this Sabre class by themselves.  Reluctanly, the Kaleidosticks return to Rin and Luvia to battle the Sabre.  But even their combined attack apparently doesn't manage to stop Sabre.  She takes out Rin and Luvia and goes after the girls, when Illya summons the power of Archer without her Kaleidostick, turning into a vessel for the servant herself, taking down Sabre by copying her Noble Phantasm Excalibur.

But during their next mission, Illya gets poisoned and her powers go wild, nearly taking out her companions.   This causes Miyu to denounce her as a fighting companion, causing Illya to run away and deciding she doesn`t want to fight anymore.  She meets with Rin to lay down her position, as well as for Miyu who is going after the final card alone as such.  But her Kaleidostick stays with her though, telling her their fates are intertwined.

Miyu, Luvia and Rin face the final cards guardian, the mighty Berserker.  But his physical strength and resistance put them at a huge disadvantage.  Miyu isolates herself from the others to prevent them from getting harmed, but Illya has a change of heart and comes to the rescue right at the moment Miyu was about to be defeated.  Banding together, they collect the last card...

Okay, this was a good anime in terms of animation and the epic fights (Sabre vs Archer!) that make the Fate franchise so enjoyable, but in all honesty I can`t get myself around the magical concept though...