Due to the pace of the series slowing to a crawl I decided to delay covering episode 8 but even having done that I find that not a lot has happened in these two episodes. Illya managed to escape doll form and regain her body but in the process picked a fight with one of the most dangerous Ainsworths, Angelica. Coupled with Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon and her own displacement magic, she makes for a difficult fight. While there is a good bit of action in these two episodes, the main topic is a moral dilemma. The Ainworths have made their goal clear and as it turns out they are actually trying to save the world. Due to a mysterious cause the world is slowly dying and taking everything with it. While saving the world by helping it regain it’s mana looks to be an impossibility, the Ainsworths wish to transform humanity into a form that can survive the world’s decay. In order to do that they plan to sacrifice Miyu as a holy grail and wish for humanity’s salvation. This does make Illya’s job a lot harder as saving Miyu means damning an entire world to extinction which has naturally cause her to lose her nerve. Though to the viewer this choice may not be as grey as the series tries to make it.
My line of thinking matches that of Chloe who deems that Miyu is worth sacrificing the world for namely for a few reasons. One is that the decay of the world looks to be too far gone and the Ainsworths didn’t really take into account just how humanity is going to live in a dead world. Even if they save humanity, the world will still be a dead husk which is likely not going to be pleasant to live it. Two is that despite all their good intentions the Ainsworths are still being massive assholes in how they go about things. It’s hard to really empathise with their situation when they are being so blatantly antagonistic. You can argue that Illya and crew are the invaders here but it doesn’t justify the Ainsworths picking fights with them and attempting to kill them without even remotely trying reason. As an outsider you can’t really see anything this group of people accomplish as being a good thing. The third thing is that it’s likely the Ainsworths were the ones who damned the planet in the first place as their house does reside in a giant crater no one can quite explain. So this tale becomes less a matter of heroes making sacrifices for the greater good and more about the Ainsworths killing Miyu to fix a problem they themselves created. Which isn’t justified in the slightest and makes Angelica’s spiel immensely hypocritical.
Though the intent appears to be to mirror that of Kiritsugu’s ideals as well as a particular aspect of Heaven’s Feel. Chloe does mention something quite interesting in that in the prismaverse Kerry decided to put Illya over the world and saved her as opposed to following through with the events of Fate/Zero. I also have a theory that they reverted Illya to childhood in order to prolong her life as in the normal Fate timeline Illya unfortunately doesn’t have very long to live. As a result Illya has two personalities. One is Chloe, the original Illya and the other is the illya who grew up with Shirou and the rest to become this shows heroine. Though doing something so cold to the original Illya does seem out of character for Kerry and Irisviel. Angelica does give a small explanation regarding mana but I always did find it rather pointless to designate magic within humans and magic within the atmosphere by two different titles. For one magic is almost always referred to as Mana and od is very rarely ever brought up. Though Od is what mages mainly use to perform magic but once converted by magic circuits in the body it’s then referred to as magical energy. So yeah, what’s the point of designating magic within humans as od? Nasu writing 101, telling you everything but never in terms you can actually understand. Otherwise we got some well animated action and Illya ultimately told Angelica to screw off because she was going to Gurren Lagann through problems and save everything. Next week looks to be the start of the final battle and is getting close to the moment I have been waiting for since the season started.
“Though doing something so cold to the original Illya does seem out of character for Kerry and Irisviel”
I actually like your theory about the age discrepancies. We do have to remember two things however: firstly, Kiritsugu is a man where means justify the end, so the squick factor of moving your daughter’s soul from one body to another so that she could live at least a normal human life-span probably is a non-issue. Secondly, Irisviel was raised a Homounuculi and we know from the FKPL’s 2wei that she is quite eccentric as a mother to say the least. I think, from her perspective, moving her daughter soul from one body to another and sealing the previous personality so that her daughter could grow up not as Magus but as a normal girl was an obvious solution, with none of the normal ethical quandaries that a human mother might have held.
Here’s a wild thought. The Einzberns apparently preferred to bury their workshops and ateliers into the Earth, because of the nature of their magic. I wonder whether Irisiviel keeps an Atelier for Homunuculi maintenance in a hidden basement in Illya’s house; if only to upkeep Sella and Liz if there is a need for repairs.
That’s true. Kerry would likely do it considering his mentality. And if Kerry wants to do it then Irisvel would follow his lead.
I would say it’s unlikely as at one point Rin said she examined their house for traces of a mage linage and seems she found nothing. if Irisvel has an Atelier I am willing to bet it’s the original Emiya households shed.Plus I think her and Kerry would want to keep Illya away from magic as much as possible.
Unfortunately, Rin Tohsaka and Zelretch’s mystic code has rendered that wish to keep Illya away from magic, more or less dead in the water. If there is more to Fate Prisma than 3rei, I do think this probably is going to be addressed. Of course, this Illya has probably no desire to be a Magus, though if Kuro does happen to reintegrate with Illya at the end of 3rei… and given that we know Illya is trying to practice with Magical Ruby every evening…
That being said, I wonder how Rin failed to pick up that Sella and Liz were Homonoculi – unless of course, Rin’s investigation and detection skills were insufficient for her to actually figure that out, or Irsiviel went to some lengths to ensure that no passing Magus would figure out that Sella and Liz weren’t fully human.
An alternative location for Irisviel’s atelier, presuming she possess one (and given we see her using Alchemy, and given her work with Kiritsugu, and given that she retained the Homonoculi maids I’m sure she does have one somewhere) ; would be the Einzbern mansion in Fuyuki city. And that’s presuming she even has one in Fuyuki city, since technically, I think Magus do need permission of the administrator of the area they reside in to set up an Atlier (if memory serves), and that happens to be Rin Tohsaka’s still living father.
Speaking of which, I wonder whether this is the same Sella and Liz of Fate/Stay night, or it happens to be a different pair of Homonoculi based off Sella and Liz’s template, who happens to also be called Sella and Liz.