{"id":1586,"date":"2019-07-02T22:00:49","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T13:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/?p=1586"},"modified":"2019-06-18T16:31:46","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T07:31:46","slug":"the-new-fate-film-shits-on-shinji-for-half-its-running-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/02\/the-new-fate-film-shits-on-shinji-for-half-its-running-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The New Fate<\/i> Film Shits on Shinji For Half It\u2019s Running Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

The <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> franchise is huge and varied in both scope and tone. Some works are serious and dark, while others range from parody to slapstick comedy. The new film <\/span>Fate\/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: Prisma Phantasm<\/span><\/i> is most certainly the latter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prisma Phantasm<\/span><\/i> is a spin-off of two different anime. The first is 2011\u2019s <\/span>Carnival Phantasm<\/span><\/i>–a series which takes characters from various Type-Moon works (mostly <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Tsukihime<\/span><\/i>) and puts them in comical situations that often parody either the source material or general Japanese pop-culture–or both at once.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

The second is the <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> sub-franchise, <\/span>Fate\/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya<\/span><\/i>, which re-imagines the <\/span>Fate\/stay night<\/span><\/i> characters and story in a magical girl setting. And as implied by the title itself, when you mix <\/span>Prisma Illya <\/span><\/i>and <\/span>Carnival Phantasm<\/span><\/i>, you get <\/span>Prisma Phantasm<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like <\/span>Carnival Phantasm<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Prisma Phantasm<\/span><\/i> is presented as a series of vignettes–some related or each other and some completely independent. Among those, three situations pop up again and again over the films hour-long runtime.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

The first is actually a continuation of the short comical OVA released as an extra in the Blu-ray release of<\/span> Fate\/kaleid liner Prisma Illya: Oath Under Snow<\/span><\/i>. In it, Sakura and Emiya discuss the film. However, as it goes on, it becomes more and more obvious that this is the yandere Berserker version of Sakura seen in <\/span>Fate\/kaleid liner<\/span><\/i>\u2019s third season and not the kind and pure Sakura seen in the film. Humor ensues. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Prisma Phantasm<\/span><\/i>, it is Shinji (in his assassin form), Sakura\u2019s brother, who joins Berserker Sakura on the talk show-like stage. She orders her brother to do a series of part-time jobs she has planned (as revenge for killing her in <\/span>Oath Under Snow<\/span><\/i>). When he tries to refuse her, she\u2026 convinces him in a rather brutal fashion.<\/span><\/p>\n

About half the film is spent following assassin-form Shinji as he learns (or fails to learn) the value of hard work as a house cleaner for Emiya\u2019s family, a butler for Luvia, a helper for Bazett, and a ramen shop employee for Kotomine. Basically, the film revels in Shinji\u2019s pain and humiliation as he is forced to do jobs for people he sees as beneath him. And frankly, it was cathartic as hell.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

Shinji, in his various forms across the <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> franchise, is almost always irredeemable. Envious of his family and friends, he is an outright rapist and murderer. While he dies in many versions of the story, it is usually a quick death. Thus, seeing him bullied by his most egregious victim and forced to wallow in his own shame is a revenge fantasy that pretty much every <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> fan is sure to get behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

The next loose storyline revolves around Kotomine and his ramen shop. Each minute-long vignette features one of the other <\/span>Prisma Illya<\/span><\/i> characters entering and, one way or another, trying some of Kotomine\u2019s infamous spicy mapo tofu ramen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

This section of the film is just an expansion of the already comedic bit about Kotomine\u2019s stupidly spicy mapo tofu ramen found in the main <\/span>Prisma Illya <\/span><\/i>series. Here it\u2019s just kicked up to 11. The joke is simple: will each given character be able eat it or will they end up unconscious in a bowl of spicy death. And believe it or not, it\u2019s incredibly funny–especially as it merges with Shinji\u2019s story by the end. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

The final overarching gag is a series of vignettes showing what would have happened if, in the first episode of <\/span>Prisma Illya<\/span><\/i>, the living wand Ruby went to one of Illya\u2019s friends instead of Illya and turn her into a magical girl. They’re somewhat enjoyable, but I must confess that since none of them appear in season three or <\/span>Oath Under the Snow<\/span><\/i>, I had almost completely forgotten about them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

Other than the repeating jokes, there are two excellent one-offs that stand out. The first shows a world where all the villains of <\/span>Prisma Illyai<\/span><\/i>\u2019s third season are all gender-swapped. This, of course, means that Angelica Ainsworth, who is basically a gender-swap of the normally male Gilgamesh, gets gender-swapped again. It\u2019s even more hilarious than you\u2019d expect.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

The other memorable one-off serves as the climax of the film as a cast of ever-expanding characters attempts to play a game of kick the can. It starts off normal, but by the end, it is the kind of chaos you\u2019ve come to expect from anything <\/span>Carnival Phantasm<\/span><\/i>-related.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n

In the end, it’s hard to think of an anime more directly aimed at the most hardcore of hardcore fans than <\/span>Fate\/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: Prisma Phantasm<\/span><\/i>–and it shows. If <\/span>Prisma Illyai<\/span><\/i> is your drug of choice, you\u2019re going to laugh a lot during this film. But with that hilarity comes a barrier for entry. Even if you’re a fan well acquainted with flagship title <\/span>Fate\/stay night<\/span><\/i>, it\u2019s doubtful that you\u2019ll understand half the jokes made in this film. But even then, I\u2019m sure we can all agree that spending a half-hour shitting on Shinji is a worthwhile use of our time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fate\/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya: Prisma Phantasm<\/span><\/i> was released in Japanese theaters on June 14, 2019. There is currently no word on a Western release.<\/span><\/p>\n

I just wanted to give out a big thanks to Joshua Ott for sponsoring this review with his <\/span>Patreon<\/span><\/a> donation. (At the $60 a month tier, you are allowed to pick anything up to an including a 13ish episode series to be reviewed\u2013which is released in addition to the one article a week I normally put out here on BiggestinJapan.com.) So thanks again!<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Top image source: \u30d7\u30ea\u30ba\u30de\u2606\u30a4\u30ea\u30e4\u516c\u5f0f\u30a2\u30ab\u30a6\u30f3\u30c8<\/a> on Twitter<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click to ReadThe New <i>Fate<\/i> Film Shits on Shinji For Half It\u2019s Running Time<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,144],"class_list":["post-1586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fate","tag-fate-kaleid-liner-prisma-illya-prisma-phantasm","excerpt","zoom","full-without-featured","even","excerpt-0"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/biggestinjapan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/D9JXS1DVAAUxpxL.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1586"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1591,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1586\/revisions\/1591"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}