Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya

Plot

Illyasviel von Einzbern is an ordinary elementary school student who becomes a magical girl when the magical Kaleidostick Ruby deems her a more suitable master than the sorceress, Rin Tohsaka. Rin, who had been tasked by the wizard Zelretch to collect the seven Class Cards containing the spirits of Heroic Spirits from legend, finds that she is unable to change Ruby's mind and must supervise Illya in completing the task of collecting the Class Cards. During Illya's adventures, she receives a friend and rival in a girl named Miyu, the contracted master of the Kaleidostick Sapphire, which similarly abandoned its original master and Rin's rival, Luvia Edelfelt.

After a series of battles, Illya and Miyu were able to collect all Cards and became good friends, while Rin and Luvia remained in Japan by the order of Zelretch. However, the appearance of Kuro, a dark-skinned girl with a striking resemblance to Illya, soon complicates their lives as she attempts to eliminate Illya. Their battle is interrupted by the arrival of Illya's mother, Irisviel, who reveals that Kuro was originally intended to be the Holy Grail in the Holy Grail War, but after the war was prevented Kuro was sealed away so Illya could live a normal life. Illya supplies Kuro with the mana needed to sustain her physical form, and accepts her into the Einzbern family.

Shortly afterwards, the group is attacked by Bazett Fraga McRemitz, who was previously responsible for obtaining the Class Cards. A truce is forced when Rin reveals the existence of an eighth Class Card. The group confronts the eighth Class Card, Gilgamesh, who reveals that Miyu hails from a parallel world where she was born as a Holy Grail, before absorbing her. Illya combines the Kaleidostick Ruby and Sapphire to become Kaleido Liner Zwei, giving her the power to defeat Gilgamesh and save Miyu.

This victory is short-lived, as Miyu is kidnapped by the Ainsworth family and whisked away into the parallel world. Illya and her friends enter the parallel world and teams up with Tanaka, an amnesiac girl whose goal is to defeat the Ainsworths; Gilgamesh, who wishes to take back his Class Card from the Ainsworths following his defeat by Illya; and a parallel Shirou Emiya, Miyu's older brother who is imprisoned by the Ainsworths. The Ainsworths reveal that they intend to use Miyu as the Holy Grail to save their dying world, but Illya swears that she will find a way to save the parallel world without sacrificing Miyu. Following a confrontation, the Ainsworths escape and Gilgamesh leaves the group after reclaiming his Class Card, while Angelica Ainsworth reluctantly joins the group after being left to die by her family and Miyu and Shirou are liberated.

Characters

Main characters

Illyasviel von Einzbern (イリヤスフィール・フォン・アインツベルン, Iriyasufīru fon Aintsuberun)

Voiced by: Mai Kadowaki (Japanese); Cynthia Martinez (English)

In contrast with her Fate/stay night counterpart, Illya has had a normal childhood, growing up with no knowledge of magic or the Holy Grail War. She lives with her adored brother Shirou and is looked after by her maids Leysritt and Sella when her parents Kiritsugu and Irisviel are away. She is a fan of magical girl anime, and daydreams about becoming one. When she encounters a magic wand named "Magical Ruby", Illya is tricked into signing a contract and becoming a magical girl. She is also quite naive and carefree in comparison to her original version, even being ready to call herself, Miyu and Chloe as enamoured lesbians to hide their real activity as magical girls.

Magical Ruby (マジカルルビー, Majikaru Rubī)

Voiced by: Naoko Takano (Japanese); Joanne Bonasso (English)

A Kaleidostick, a magical device that enables its user to become a magical girl. Though Ruby initially belongs to Rin, Rin's constant squabbling with Luvia causes Ruby to abandon Rin and contract herself to Illya instead. Sapphire calls her "nee-san". Ruby has a mischievous personality, and always teases Illya for her own amusement, as Illya's reactions always surpass her expectations.

Miyu Edelfelt (美遊・エーデルフェルト, Miyu Ēderuferuto)

Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka (Japanese); Caitlynn French (English)

A mysterious girl who is chosen by Sapphire to become her new master and then adopted by Luvia. She takes her duties as a Magical Girl very seriously and is initially dismissive of Illya's abilities, but gradually warms up to Illya, becoming admirative and highly protective of her.

Magical Sapphire (マジカルサファイア, Majikaru Safaia)

Einzbern family

Shirou Emiya (衛宮 士郎, Emiya Shirō)

Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama (Japanese); Patrick Poole (English)

Illya's adoptive older brother, an ordinary young man who seems to often wind up in unfortunate situations. Illya and Chloe have a crush on him and he is rather popular with girls, including Rin, Luvia, Sakura Matō, Caren and Moriyama Nanami (Nanaki's older sister), though he fails to notice that they are openly attracted to him. Shirou tends to be treated poorly by the people around him, though he admits that he's gotten used to being at the bottom rung of the ladder. In essence, he is an open parody version of the original Shirou from Fate/stay night, whose features have been purposely raised to a comic level.

An alternate version of him, raised by Miyu's family, appears to have learned magecraft and is more similar in personality to the hotblooded Shirou in Fate/stay night and is currently shackled and imprisoned by the Ainsworth family, but later escaped after hearing that Miyu was in trouble and is assisting the girls in rescuing her.

Sella (セラ, Sera) and Leysritt (リーゼリット, Rīzeritto)

Voiced by: Haruhi Nanao (Japanese); Beth Lazarou (season 1), Tiffany Grant (season 2) (English) (Sella)

Voiced by: Miho Miyagawa (Japanese); Meaghan Avocato (English) (Leysritt)

Sella and Leysritt are maids in the Einzbern household and Illya and Shirou's primary caretakers. Sella is a woman who is easily irritated by the disturbances in the household, but is dedicated to Illya and takes her duties seriously. In contrast, Leysritt is easy-going and doesn't hesitate to shirk her duties and have Shirou do them instead. Nevertheless, she is very enthusiastic and sympathetic towards both Illya and Shirou. Sella has a tendency of thinking that Shirou is a lolicon and siscon, and beats him everytime he has his lucky pervert moments.

Irisviel von Einzbern (アイリスフィール・フォン・アインツベルン, Airisufīru fon Aintsuberun) and Kiritsugu Emiya (衛宮 切嗣, Emiya Kiritsugu)

Homurahara Academy

Taiga Fujimura (藤村 大河, Fujimura Taiga)

Voiced by: Miki Ito (Japanese); Allison Sumrall (English)

Illya and Miyu's homeroom teacher at school.

Mimi Katsura (桂 美々, Katsura Mimi)

Voiced by: Satomi Satō (Japanese); Brittney Karbowski (English)

A girl in Illya's circle of friends, who happens to be an honor student. She takes a liking to Boy's Love after watching the relationship of Illya-Miyu-Chloe and Shirou-Issei, and becomes a fujoshi after Suzuka and her sister introduce her to the realm of doujinshi. She has a little brother.

Issei Ryuudou (柳洞 一成, Ryūdō Issei)

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (Japanese); Bryson Baugus (English)

The heir to the only-men Ryuudou Temple, and best friends with Shirou Emiya. Like his Fate/stay Night counterpart, he is also a member of the student council.

Tatsuko Gakumazawa (嶽間沢 龍子, Gakumazawa Tatsuko)

Voiced by: Emiri Katō (Japanese); Emily Neves (English)

A short girl with blonde hair in Illya's circle of friends. She is the most troublesome to the group, and an airhead. She constantly brings trouble to anything they do, like adding nutmeg and mints into pound cake in cooking class (she thought they were making hamburg steaks), even though her father says that she already helps so much by not helping at all. Even though she is the heiress to Gakumazawa-style dojo, she has no talent for martial arts at all.

Suzuka Kurihara (栗原 雀花, Kurihara Suzuka)

Class Cards

Rider (ライダー, Raidā)

Voiced by: Yū Asakawa (Japanese); Renita Salinas (English)

Caster (キャスター, Kyasutā)

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese); Allison Sumrall (English)

Saber (セイバー, Seibā)

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese); Elise Moore (English)

Assassin (アサシン, Asashin)

Voiced by: Akina Abe, Kazunori Nomata, Naoya Nosaka

Berserker (バーサーカー, Bāsākā)

Voiced by: Tadahisa Saizen (Japanese); John Swasey (English)

Gilgamesh (ギルガメッシュ, Girugamesshu)

Voiced by: Aya Endo (Child), Tomokazu Seki (Shadow Form) (Japanese); Chelsea Ryan McCurdy (Child) (English)

Gilgamesh is the eighth Class Card that was discovered by Rin after she investigated Fuyuki's Earth Pulses. Though he initially appears mindless and covered in a malignant black fog, he is fully capable of using his entire arsenal of weapons against his opponents. After defeating Bazett and Chloe, he escapes from the mirrored world of the Class Cards and completes a ritual allowing him to separate into two forms: a child version of himself and a gigantic black being that has access to most of Gilgamesh's noble phantasms and desires to win the Holy Grail War. Despite having no intention of winning, he allows himself to merge partly with the black being as he recognizes Illya is a worthy adversary after she combines both Kaleidosticks to become Kaleido Liner Zwei. He is ultimately defeated after a clash of strength between Illya's Kaleido Liner Zwei and his Enuma Elish.

Ainsworth family

Darius Ainsworth (ダリウス・エインズワース, Dariusu Einzuwāsu)

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

The first head of the Ainsworth family 1000 years ago, Darius escaped death by possessing his descendants. During his first life after a bout of adventuring, he met Pandora, whereupon she told him a horrible truth of their world: it was slowly dying, with mana across the planet slowly but surely depleting and being replaced with something toxic to life. Shook by this revelation, Darius set out with Pandora to overcome this crisis using Pandora's Box, hoping to transform mankind into an existence that could survive the mana depletion.

Julian Ainsworth (ジュリアン・エインズワース, Jurian Einzuwāsu)

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae

Current head of the Ainsworth family and descendant of Darius. He first appears after Darius's spell on him is broken, and is a former classmate of Shirou.

Erica Ainsworth (エリカ・エインズワース, Erika Einzuwāsu)

Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi

Her real identity is Pandora, the first woman created by the Olympians. In this alternate universe, she never opened Pandora's box and thus became unable to die since her death was also contained inside the box, and eventually became unable to open it. Pandora was eventually found by Darius and has lived with the Ainsworth since then, taking various names over the generations, the most recent being Erika.

Beatrice Flowerchild (ベアトリス・フラワーチャイルド, Beatorisu Furawāchairudo)

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya

She is Julian's childhood friend, knowing him since elementary school. After being rescued by Julian when she was being bullied by boys of their school because of her red hair, she fell in love with him and gained more self-confidence. At a certain point in time she died in front of him, by being trapped beneath scrap and debris. Her soul was then put into a Doll body.

Others

Bazett Fraga McRemitz (バゼット・フラガ・マクレミッツ, Bazetto Furaga Makuremittsu)

Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese); Kaytha Coker (English)

A First-Rank Combat Specialist: Sealing Designation Enforcer from the Magic's Association, sent to retrieve the Class Cards from Illya and Miyu, with force if necessary. She is skilled enough to overpower Rin, Luvia, and Chloe, and nearly defeats Illya and Miyu when they utilize the Class Cards against her. She is relentless with her mission, eventually forcing Rin to announce the existence of a previously unknown eighth Servant card to stop Bazett's assault and bring about a truce. Upon her retreat, Bazett returns the three cards she took from Illya.

Following the incident, she went bankrupt (due to Luvia making her pay the whole cost), and works many part-time jobs, notably as the employee of Gakumazawa and mascot "Lion Go-kun" at Gakugaku Animal Land.

Gouto Gakumazawa (嶽間沢 豪兎, Gakumazawa Gōto)

Voiced by: Tomoyuki Shimura

Tatsuko's father. He is the only member in Gakumazawa family who has no blonde hair. He is the head of Gakumazawa Dojo, a fighting school that teaches the arts of countering (and nothing else). He loses easily, as seen when Luvia and Nanaki defeats him in two different occasions. He hires Bazett after the later went bankrupt following her assault on Edelfelt's mansion. After Nanaki defeated him and took the dojo plaque, he changes the dojo name from "嶽間沢" dojo to "GKMZW".

Stella Gakumazawa (嶽間沢 ステラ, Gakumazawa Stella)

Voiced by: Yumeha Kouda

Tatsuko's mother, from whom her children inherited their blonde hair.

Reiichi Gakumazawa (嶽間沢 黎一, Gakumazawa Reiichi)

Media

Manga

The series, written by Hiroshi Hiroyama, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace magazine from September 2007 to November 2008. A sequel series titled Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei! (Fate/kaleid liner プリズマ☆イリヤ ツヴァイ！) was serialized from 2009 to 2012. A third manga series titled Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 3rei!! (Fate/kaleid liner プリズマ☆イリヤ ドライ！！) began serialization in 2012. In 2010, a special chapter was serialized in Comp Ace to celebrate the magazine's fifth anniversary, featuring a crossover between Prisma Illya and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.

In September 2024, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they had licensed the first series in a single omnibus volume for English publication in February 2025.

Anime

The first season, a 10-episode anime television series adaptation by Silver Link, aired in Japan between July 13 and September 14, 2013. The series was simulcast by Crunchyroll. Episodes were streamed a week prior on Niconico. The opening theme is "Starlog" by ChouCho whilst the ending theme is "Prism Sympathy" by StylipS. The ending theme for episode 9 is "Tsunagu Kizuna - Tsutsumu Kodoku" (ツナグキズナ・ツツムコドク, Connected Bonds Seals Loneliness) by StylipS. The anime is licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks, who released the series on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on September 2, 2014.

The second season, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei!, aired between July 10 and September 11, 2014. The opening theme is "Moving Soul" by Minami Kuribayashi whilst the ending theme is "Two By Two" by Yumeha Kouda.

The third season, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 2wei Herz!, aired in 2015 between July 25 and September 26. The opening theme is "Wonder Stella (ワンダーステラ)" by fhána whilst the ending theme is "Happening☆diary (ハプニング☆ダイアリー)" by Yumeha Kouda (Episode 1–5) then "Wishing Diary" (Episode 6–10), also performed by Yumeha Kouda.

The fourth season, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 3rei!!, aired between July 6, 2016, and September 21, 2016. The role of Sapphire was recast following the death of voice actress Miyu Matsuki on October 27, 2015. Yumi Kakazu was announced as the new voice of Sapphire. The opening theme is "Asterism" by ChouCho, whilst the ending theme is "WHIMSICAL WAYWARD WISH" by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND feat. Yumeha Kouda. The ending theme for episode nine was "Cuddle" by ChouCho.

After the Licht - The Nameless Girl film's premiere, it was announced that the series would be receiving a sequel. It was later confirmed to be a fifth and final season titled Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya Finale, with the main staff and cast reprising their roles. The season is set to premiere in 2027.

Films

An animated film based on the series, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya: Vow in the Snow, was released on August 26, 2017. Ōnuma and Silver Link returned from the anime series to direct and produce the film, respectively. A second film adaptation of the series was announced on May 21, 2020. The film, titled Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya: Licht - The Nameless Girl, premiered on August 27, 2021.

OVA

An original video animation (OVA) episode was announced on December 22, 2018. Titled Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya: Prisma Phantasm, the OVA was screened in Japanese theaters on June 14, 2019. The main staff and cast reprised their roles.

Video game

A video game adaptation developed and published by Kadokawa Games for the Nintendo 3DS titled Prisma Illya (プリズマ☆イリヤ) has been released in Japan on July 31, 2014, with both regular and limited editions. The game covers the story from the manga and the anime series.

Ban

The series is banned in Russia.