Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA (Fate/kaleid liner プリズマ☆イリヤ) (caps part of official title) is a Fate/stay night alternate universe spin-off manga by Hiroshi Hiroyama. An anime adaptation of the first manga series and the first half of the second manga series - 2wei - were produced by Silver Link. An adaptation of the second half of 2wei started airing on July 25, 2015 and finished airing on September 26, 2015 called Prisma Illya 2wei Herz!. An adaptation of the first part of 3rei aired from July 6, 2016 to September 21, 2016, and the final episode announced a movie adapting the next part of 3rei.

Setting
The series takes place in Fuyuki City in an alternate timeline of Fate/stay night. Kiritsugu and Irisviel helped end the Holy Grail War ritual before it could start, sealing Ilya's memories away and allowing her to grow up as a normal girl. Shirou and Ilya live a peaceful life as brother and sister, without knowledge of magic, under the care of Sella and Leysritt, while their parents are abroad.

The Class Cards, malicious fragments of Heroic Spirits, later appear in Fuyuki, and they are first believed to be remnants of the Holy Grail War. It is later revealed that they were actually brought forth from a parallel world along with Miyu, the completed Holy Grail of that world. Various aspects of the setting and events are a parody of a typical Magical Girl series, and Illya, being a fan of such series, is quick to notice them.

Kaleidosticks
Two sentient wands that can turn their owner into Magical Girls. They were given to Rin and Luvia by Zelretch to aid them in dealing with Class Cards.

First stick, Ruby, is identical in appearance to the one used in Fate/hollow ataraxia by Rin, with a five-pointed star inside a winged ring on its “head”, and small cross on the other end. Second stick, Sapphire, has a six-pointed star on its head, and what looks like a rope ending on its other end. In addition, Sapphire's “wings” resemble a ribbon or Butterfly wings, giving it's head an appearance of a brooch. Both sticks are reduced to only their heads when they are not used by Magical Girls. In this form, they can freely levitate and use their wings to gesticulate. Ruby refers to Sapphire as her “younger sister”, in spite of also saying that both were created at the same time, and is shown to exhibit a protective attitude towards her.

The ritual to sign a contract between a Kaleidostick and its user is fairly simple and includes a small amount of user's blood to be given to the Kaleidostick followed by willingly grasping the handle of the stick. As Kaleidosticks themselves choose their masters, the ritual won't work without their consent, just as the contract can only be terminated from their side. Once the contract has been established, sticks will transform their masters into Magical Girls and provide them with unlimited amount of magical energy (although at a limited rate) by using Second Magic to connect with alternate realities, similar to how Jeweled Sword works. Transformation and magical energy supply will be canceled if the Kaleidostick is separated from its user a distance bigger than 50 meters or for more than 30 seconds.

Magical Girls can use this magical energy to perform high-level Magecraft without formal knowledge of magical theory, such as flying, raising magical and physical shields and enhancing their own physical abilities. It was stated that a Magical Girl's imagination is the only limiting factor in utilizing the magical energy provided by the Kaleidostick – Illya was able to fly without much effort because she had an image “Magical Girls can fly” in her mind, while Miyu was unable to ignore physical laws, and was only able to fly by imagining a “foothold” and strengthening the air below her feet to form one.

Kaleidosticks have shown remarkable amounts of endurance, being able to withstand a direct sword slash from Saber and a crushing attack from Berserker (although any accompanying magical energy had to be blocked by a raised shield, otherwise it would hit their wielder).

Also, Kaleidosticks were shown to have some additional abilities (“24 secret abilities”, as Ruby states) that include a cellphone-mode for communicating with each other (complemented with an ability to establish a video-link and project the feed on a wall) and an ability to make predictions of future based on statistical extrapolation, as well as printing them out. However, these abilities were used solely for comical effect.

When Illya uses two Kaleidosticks in order to save Miyu, the two are combined as one and form into Zwei (two, in German).

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA
A two-volume manga series that introduced the story. Illyasviel von Einzbern is a seemingly ordinary middle school student with no knowledge of the magical world. When the Kaleidostick Magical Ruby selects Illya to become its new master, she becomes a Magical Girl who collects Class Cards together with another Magical Girl, Miyu.

Rin and Luvia were originally Magical Girls that were supposed to collect the Cards, but after trying to use Class Cards in a quarrel, Kaleidosticks abandoned them (in mid-air) and went on to independently search for new masters. Ruby made a contract with Illya, and Sapphire with Miyu.

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 orders of Zelretch.

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 2wei!
A second story focuses on a new character, Kuro, who is a girl identical to Illya, except she has a darker skin tone. She emerged from Illya after the seal on her magical energy was unlocked, coupled with her failed attempt to use Archer Class Card. Kuro has been shown to act in an extremely antagonistic manner towards Illya but warmed up to her after they had resolved their differences.

The name is a word play on “2” and the German word “Zwei”, meaning two.

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!!
Continues right after 2wei ended, where Miyu is captured by new antagonists and sent to another dimension.

The name (similarly to the previous volume) is a word play on “3” and “Drei”, which is German for “three”.

Main Characters

 * Illyasviel von Einzbern
 * Miyu Edelfelt
 * Chloe (Kuro) von Einzbern
 * Rin Tohsaka
 * Luviagelita Edelfelt
 * Magical Ruby
 * Magical Sapphire
 * Bazett Fraga McRemitz
 * Gilgamesh
 * Tanaka
 * Beatrice Flowerchild
 * Angelica
 * Julian Ainsworth

Minor characters

 * Shirou Emiya - Shirou is Illya's brother, and a normal high schooler with no knowledge of magic. He is much more carefree than his Fate/stay night counterpart, due to Kiritsugu never training him as a hero since the Grail War and Great Fire never happened in this timeline. He also has the general trait of accidentally running into perverted situations, which makes Rin compare him to an eroge protagonist in reference to Fate/stay night. Illya, Rin, Luvia, and Sakura are openly attracted to him, though he doesn't show any interest to Rin and Luvia's disappointment. 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. It is unknown what happened to his biological parents, as the Great Fire had never occurred, but he was still adopted by Kiritsugu about ten years ago, similar to his Fate/Stay Night origins. Miyu's brother in the alternate world is Shirou's counterpart, currently imprisoned for helping Miyu escape.


 * Sella and Leysritt - Sella and Leysritt are the maids of the Einzbern household and Illya and Shirou's general caretakers. Sella is very serious and prone to overreacting to minor problems, while Leysritt is more carefree. They wear normal clothing most of the time, but after seeing Miyu in a maid uniform, Sella states that “she has abandoned her duties” and starts wearing the uniform again for a short period of time. They are aware of magic and the power sealed within Illya but were able to keep it a secret until Illya found out herself. Likewise they initially did not know how Illya was involved with magic as she met Ruby.


 * Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel von Einzbern - Kiritsugu and Irisviel are Illya and Shirou's parents, who are alive unlike their Fate/stay night counterparts. They are constantly traveling abroad, and at one point Irisviel states that she is fighting to “preserve their daily lives.” Irisviel is very close with Illya and is aware of the power sealed inside of her. Oftentimes she comes off as overly carefree and ditzy, though she does have moments of being very wise and serious. It is revealed in 2wei that she is from a long line of magi who she left shortly after Illya was born and she has enough skill to knock out Kuro with a single blow. She has haphazard driving skills as displayed in Fate/Zero. Kiritsugu has yet to appear directly in the series, though he was briefly seen in the anime with his face obscured. Shirou expresses the wish for him to return, mostly because he feels downtrodden by the overwhelming female presence in his household.


 * Caren Ortensia - Caren takes on the role of the school nurse in Illya's school. She is currently observing the situation with Illya, Miyu, and Kuro, calling Illya, "necessary", Miyu, "accidental", and Kuro, a "miraculous existence." She displays absolutely no interest in the events, and she is rather carefree about her job as a nurse. She is later revealed to be the Church's representative in the affair related to the Class Cards, working as background support as well as supervisor. Later, it is also revealed that she chose to work as a school nurse as it always her to indulge in her interest, which is to observe the sufferings of children close up. It is unknown if, like her counterpart, if her mother had committed suicide and if Kirei remained to have a distant relationship with Caren.


 * Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg - Zelretch has more of a presence in this time line than in others. He is the creator of Ruby and Sapphire, and he gives them to Rin and Luvia and orders them to collect the Class Cards. He later orders them to use the magical energy supply from Kaleidosticks to stabilize the local ley line.


 * Kirei Kotomine - Kotomine appears in the parallel world where he, unlike his counterpart, found more of a meaning to his life by owning a ramen shop that only makes mapo tofu. He brings Ilya and the starving Tanaka to his shop to eat his exceptionally spicy mapo tofu. However, like his counterpart, he is aware of the existence of magic, as well as the Ainsworth family, despite how he initially played dumb when he first met Ilya. He apparently shrugs off magically related issues, such as how he saw that the Ainsworth were driven to a corner, remarking that such things shouldn't concern a ramen chef like him; his actions thus far has shown he may not, or no longer has, any affiliations with the Church, like his counterpart, considering how he is not supposed to ignore such occurrences.
 * Shinji Matou - In Miyu’s universe, unlike his counterpart, Shinji had no relation with Shirou Emiya, but was still Sakura’s step brother like his counterpart. Over five years ago, before the current storyline, Shinji was killed but is later revived by Julian Ainsworth who imputed Shinji’s personality into a doll where Shinji became a loyal soldier to for the Ainsworth family; he was given the Assassin Class card, which had the Hassan of the Cursed Arm. The resurrected Shinji notably had amnesiac moments, where he can’t even remember his given name though he can still remember his surname. Like his counterpart, Shinji is arrogant and can be very abusive towards Sakura, who he talks to in an ostentatious manner, and had no qualms in killing her where he claimed in feeling gratification in ending Sakura’s life for betraying the Ainsworth family. After being defeated by, Shirou Emiya, Shinji later remembered everything and began to regret his actions. Being tired from everything, Shinji implored Shirou to end his life. As Shirou killed Shinji, Shinji told his killer to never forget the feeling, of killing someone, because of how Shirou will need to continue to kill people in order to save Miyu. Shinji’s last words were that he will pass on and wait in hell for Shirou, though Shirou replied, to the soulless doll, that he may not be able to go there.


 * Erika- Erika is a character introduced in Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! Chapter 10. She was seen by Illya dangling in the school wall while placing rune wards. She calls Illya onee-chan even though it's their first meeting. She has a habit of saying words opposite to what she meant. She, along with her brother Julian, are children of the deceased Darius Ainsworth.
 * Lord El-Melloi II - aka Waver Velvet, is Zelretch's assistant and is also the man that relays the message of Zelretch to Rin and Luvia. Because the fourth Holy Grail had never occurred, it is unknown if Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi had died through some other means and if Waver had became known as the "man who revived the Archibalds" or "new El-Melloi." However, Waver's works had still eventually cause him to be recognized as a great professor, and he still attains the fourth rank. Like his counterpart, he apparently shows some interest with Japan.


 * Mimi Katsura
 * Tatsuko Gakumazawa
 * Suzuka Kurihara
 * Nanaki Moriyama


 * Others - Sakura Matou appears briefly to help Shirou after he is injured. Issei Ryuudou appears briefly during the first chapter. Taiga Fujimura teaches Illya's middle school class, it is unknown if Taiga has any relation to Shirou or Kiritsugu like her counterpart.

Development
The setting of Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA has been hinted since Character Material book. It has details about Illyasviel, Leysritt and Sella normal lives.

In response to episode 15 of Ufotable's Unlimited Blade Works adaptation where Illya is killed by Gilgamesh, Hiroyama tweeted, "Now, I wonder if there are more people who understand why I wanted to draw Prisma Illya." Kinoko Nasu considers Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA to be the Illya route.

The series was written and drawn by Hiroshi Hiroyama and began serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace magazine from September 2007. 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 and is currently ongoing.

Lyrical Nanoha×Prisma☆Illya
In 2010, a special chapter was serialized in Comp Ace to celebrate the magazine's fifth anniversary featuring a short crossover manga with the  series.


 * See also the article at Nanoha Wikia.

Anime
A 10-episode anime television series adaptation by aired in Japan between July 12 and September 13, 2013. A second anime season, adapting the first half of sequel manga Fate/kaleid Prisma Illya 2wei was aired in Japan between July 10 and September 11, 2014. A third anime season called Fate/kaleid Prisma Illya 2wei Herz started airing on July 24, 2015, to adapt rest of 2wei manga.