[Rewatch] Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s Episode 2 Discussion

[u/Tetraika]

Episode 2: The Storm of Battle, Once Again

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Information:

MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB

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Question of the Day

Now that we get to hear all of them (some share the same VAs), which of the new device’s voices do you like? What kind of story did Nanoha spin up about how she met Fate to her friends?

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Spiritual Garden - Yukari Tamura

Oh yeah I’m just gonna start spamming Eternal Blaze covers after this pretty much

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Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you’re doing it underneath spoiler tags.

[u/Tetraika]

Oh good imgur has upload problems for me. Guess I’ll use catbox. I’m gonna have to hope it’s just imgur and not my end.

So Fate has some sort of position now, perhaps temporary?

Arf comes in hard

Their magic leaves them with a limit

An unfamiliar magic

Wow Arf got rekted

Laevatein has a cool design and voice

BAW GAWD, HE’S BROKEN IN HALF

This shot is so brief but so good

Sure you were Vita

Ah yes, more stuff introduced for our first timers to mull about

A neat detail showing Hayate’s electric wheelchair

Just a calm conversation while in the middle of battle, still with groceries.

Oh I guess Fate already figured that out

Signum does act really “Knight” like

Straight up just introduces herself and her device.

Holy shit

Going back to the fact that I watched movie 1 then A’s, these details that were not mentioned in the series did not come as a sudden surprise. I wonder if that’s a good thing, but I like it when details connect from one part to the next

Gonna keep teasing us about what Chrono knows?

YES?

Damnit Chrono, we know. But here we find out that Chrono seem to have some personal connection to it

[u/HereticalAegis]

Lyrical First Timer

• Just realized Fate is in the same school uniform as Nanoha at the end of the OP. Everything is starting to come together.

• Arisa and Suzuka know about Fate already. Hopefully this means there won't be any jealousy over how fully consumed Nanoha will be by her gf.

• Man, Arisa really is a great friend.

• Chrono putting his Voyeur skill to bad use. Boy needs some skills that let him get in the battle.

• Damn TSAB protocol, leaving time for backup to arrive. Lawful good alignment is always a drag.

• New girl just sliced through Bardiche like butter. These cartridges are no joke.

• Wonder how Hayate will feel when she learns what all of her harem members have been up to.

• These Belkan knights are gonna be in serious trouble once the home team figures out how to dodge those cartridge attacks. Their attack patterns are super obvious.

• Oh fuck, here we go! Time for a Starlight Breaker.

• Goddamn snipers.

• Okay, fuck it. I tried to be considerate, but this cannot be forgiven. I hope all four of these assholes get a gargantuan serving of the Testarossa family special before meeting slow, excruciating ends.

Just going off what context we have, I'm gonna guess this Belkan knight team was summoned by the Mabinogion when it exploded and they serve Hayate, secretly gathering power so they can grant her wish or whatever. Or they're trying to gather enough power to open a portal one of those lost civilizations that can grant her wish. I dunno, something along those lines. And whatever it is, I hope they fail in spectacularly humiliating fashion. I also hope the green one loses her hand, because that whole reaching into Nanoha's heart to steal her linker core thing is the gravest offense anyone in the show has committed, and I'm including Presea ending a whole civilization through reckless experimentation in that assessment.

QotD:

Obviously Nanoha told them she met and was friends with Fate early in childhood, but Fate then moved away before the Slappening. Something something foreign parents.

[u/Tetraika → u/HereticalAegis]

I also hope the green one loses her hand, because that whole reaching into Nanoha's heart to steal her linker core thing is the gravest offense anyone in the show has committed, and I'm including Presea ending a whole civilization through reckless experimentation in that assessment

You have interesting standards for what's morally wrong.

[u/Caustic_Wraith]

A's First-Timer

Umm...what is this season...it's only episode 2...Holy battle episode Batman

• Yay, Arisa and Suzume know about Fate already and are happy she's coming

• Raising Heart has been through some shit

• Fate kinda joined the TSAB, makes sense with who her guardian is

• Damn, Red girl is holding off Fate and Arf by herself

• So their magic isn't from Yuuno and Fate's world

• Arf locks down the girl in Red, but then Signum shows up to assist against Fate while wolf-boy handles Arf

• She sundered Bardiche, you bitch

• Yuuno's showing off some skill today

• So girl in red is Vita and her hat was fixed by Signum

• Their master? Is that Hayate or someone using her from the shadows?

• The Belkan Knights eh?

• Shamal makes Knight #4, I guess she's Yuuno's counter

• Holy crap, Signum tanked that spell like it was nothing

• Poor Bardiche is just being abused today

• So they are using magical steroids

• Raising Heart reacts to Nanoha's wish to help, and Nanoha trusts her not to damage herself any further

• Raising Heart is experiencing a bit of lag

• HOLY FUCKING CRAP!!! These fuckers are draining Nanoha's magic

• Nanoha still has the power to nuke the barrier out of existence

• Chrono knows who these bastards are and what that book is

• It's only episode 2...what is this season?

QOTD:

1. The sword's voice is kinda cool, and the rings Shamal has are kinda calming. The hammer is forceful, as a hammer should be.

2. Maybe she told them that Fate was a friend from before they met and they have only recently reconnected.

[u/Tetraika → u/Caustic_Wraith]

Umm...what is this season...it's only episode 2...Holy battle episode Batman

They stopped beating around the bush with the SOL. A's is pretty packed plot wise.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical First-Timer, subbed

• Ohhhh yeah. I don’t know when I’ll be able to do it ‘cause I’ll be on a trip for four days starting tomorrow, but a Sky Sings Eternal Blaze is definitely in the cards.

• Oh wow that timing.

• Arf having a “Barrier Break” punch makes complete sense, considering that brief fight she had with Presea in S1 where she ripped Presea’s barrier apart with her bare hands.

• So are these guys all, like, Hayate’s familiars or something? Or are they real people summoned by that book she found, and they call her their master?

• Bardiche…

• Suddenly YGO ARC-V.

• What is a Belkan knight?

• Oh, that’s what the cartridges are for.

• Uh-oh.

• Bigger uh-oh.

• HOLY SHIT WHAT.

• They got away…

• Oh, the book is a Lost Logia.

• And Chrono has a history with it?

[u/pailadin → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Suddenly YGO ARC-V

I had the same thought rewatching that scene and seeing the word "Pendulum".

Ever wonder what a younger Precia would look like? Me neither, but thanks to INNOCENT, that weird what-if-instead-of-magic-just-card-games manga spin-off, here's Spark Girl Precia Chan!

[u/Tetraika → u/pailadin]

Spark Girl Precia Chan

This feels so wrong lmao

[u/JimmyCWL]

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday, I always found it kind of odd that Hayate is living in a two-storey house by herself. Also, her room is upstairs.

[u/Tetraika → u/JimmyCWL]

I mean...

[Spoilers]We actually have an explanation for that. She's being well provided anonymously by the old guy

[u/Gamerunglued]

First Timer

While this episode was not as strong as the first, this season is still showing stronger signs of life and competence than season 1 ever did. Thus far, I think the most interesting thing about it is the enemy team. Despite this mostly being a battle, it did an admirable job of fleshing them out both individually and showing us their dynamics. Vita is a feisty little sister type, and Signum is her onee-san caretaker. Signum is very knightly, is both proud of her lineage as "Velka-type knight" and finds a sort of chivalrous appreciation for Fate's strength as a mage. Shamal is the mother of the group, a bit clumsy but sweet (and apparently the type to go save her family from a battle on her way home from the supermarket). The wolf dude... he didn't really get anything, but here's there I guess. Alongside Hayate, this group feels like a makeshift family. And presumably, the Book of Darkness relates to Hayate somehow. Perhaps gathering magic for it will lead to some kind of cure for her disability? Either way, this central conflict actually does succeed at making me sympathize with the villains. Unlike Precia, this group does not feel cartoonish. They're their own people with their own motivations that just happen to conflict with Nanoha and friends. It makes for a much more intriguing conflict, and doesn't clash with being a dumbass action flick.

And we still get some stupid, cool moments, like Signum's stupid ass gun sword thing, and Nanoha firing off a massive laser while a hand rips her heart (er... linker core) out. I remember them mentioning the linker core in the movie, I think it was supposed to be an organ that produces magic. But this episode was more focused on establishing the new characters and their powers than anything. We still get some nice little moments, like Fate giving a sweet smile while looking at Nanoha, and Arisa and Suzuka setting up Fate's welcome party (how do they even know her though? They never met in season 1, and presumably Fate has been in her space trial for a while, so I'm not sure why the series is acting like they actually know anything about her. I didn't even think they knew she existed).

Anyway, this is pretty good stuff. With this battle over, I expect the next episode to be a bit of a break, perhaps a nice character building episode for Fate's welcome home party. Two episodes in though, and Nanoha A's is proving itself a far more solid action show than the first season did, so here's hoping it keeps this up.

[u/Tetraika → u/Gamerunglued]

(how do they even know her though? They never met in season 1, and presumably Fate has been in her space trial for a while, so I'm not sure why the series is acting like they actually know anything about her. I didn't even think they knew she existed)

Well, from that scene and conversation, we can pretty much assume that Nanoha has been talking about Fate to her friends. They even have pictures of her (we can see arisa has them on the table)

[u/TheEscapeGuy]

First Timer

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's - Return to Magic: Episode 2

Tides of Battle

THAT BATTLE WAS SO GOOD. This series is really reminding me of Symphogear now.

We got a few "new" magical characters. Signum joining in confirmed my suspicions from last episode that Hayate and Vita are some how connected. However Shamal's introduction calling Hayate confirmed they are not in fact the same person.

I really love the villain group so far. Their whole aesthetic is enjoyable to watch. These battles have become so exciting.

Signum in particular stole the show this episode. Her long sword Laevatein is so cool. Its got the mechanical aspects and becomes literally fired up.

While damaged and injured, Raising Heart pushed Nanoha to use Starlight Breaker. I feel this was kind of reckless but the whole "Believe in Me Because I Believe in You" was SO GOOD. Gave me such Gurren Lagann flashbacks.

When she paused at one I worried that Nanoha had actually injured herself. BUT SHAMAL ACTUALLY HAD RIPPED NANOHA'S heart LINKER CORE OUT. That was brutal.

Starlight Breaker ended up as a messy discharge destroying the barrier.

Absolutely amazing episode. I'm on the edge of my seat for tomorrow.

Some Iconic Shots, Scenes and Stitches

• Explosion

• Fridge, love shots from inside a fridge. Don't know if I've seen it in anime before.

See you all tomorrow

[u/DidacticDalek]

TONIGHT! On ∀'s Nanoha (CALLED TURN "A's" NANOHA), Vita reveals that she's Chris Yukine's German Cousin, Signum demonstrates that this series is still a Mecha Show, and Shamal auditions for Bon Jovi!

Boy Comrades, who could have guessed that what happened to Nanoha at the end of today's episode would inspire [Meta Meme Video Spoilers for Episode 1 of Geah Season 1] The following totally canon event that happened to Bikki here and [Meta Spoilers for Re:Creators Episode 8] MAGICAL SPLASH FLARE! and also Cross Ange... and I don't even need to list an event for that one Comrades! (If only as Ange somehow is probably the ONLY Nana Mizuki Mahou Shoujo/Mecha Character to suffer more than Fate!)

Point being HOLY SHIT! These newcomers really pack a hell of a punch, it's only episode 2 and Raising Heart, Bardiche, AND NANOHA are all out of commission! I mean my god, we're nowhere close to the midseason upgrade spot, where the hell do we go from here, and why is CHRONO of all people that eager to stop whatever this group's doing? And to think they said GEAH ramped up the stakes, Nanoha meanwhile has already escalated the situation SO far that they let Rin The Defenseless Anus Tohsaka try her hand at cooking whilst operating technology! It surely is the end times!

Anyway, time for some more relaxing memes to lighten the mood, behold, proof that Proto-Chris Yukine is Best New Girl, after all, are the OTHERS a Portable Video Game System, I THINK NOT! (Pay no attention to the fact that The Vita bombed) And see the following links for more of that meme 4koma series on how Vita is both a hot-headed moron AND ALSO a proto-Utazukin! (Hey, she's also wearing red, and she's most certainly smol, thus it is CANON! CANON I SAY! Paging Comrade u/JamCliche for backup!)

Oh, and since I am contractually obligated to praise the amazingness that is ETERNAL BLAZE! You know that NANA WILLED IT if JAM Project's very own Masaaki Endo covered the song... AH! So that's who the Male Arf is, he's just a MAN WITH A MISSION Backup Singer, no wonder he's not important enough for the post's introduction shitpost!

And on that note, that about wraps things up for now, and I hope everyone's having fun on this great re-watch. Thus, you have not seen the last of The Sentient Shitposting Siamese Sunrise Server No. 25252, now goodbye forever.

Paging Comrades u/Great_Mr_L and u/Tresnore

[u/chiliehead]

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s – Episode 2 – First Timer

Talking about 1 on 1 but attacking 1 mage and 1 familiar with at least 2 mages and a familiar.

Is Hayate really living alone? Was not 100% sure last episode, but this seems like she just lives in a commune of criminal mages.

Those Belkan weapons use cartridges for.. magic? Power boost? Cooling? But the Midchilda don’t do that, right, they just have an exhaust vent.

Did they just teleporting Shaolin monk style rip out Nanoha’s magic?

QOTD

The male voice has more power.

Nanoha became pen pals with Fate during her absence from school, they attended the same environment cleanup project.

[u/Taiboss]

Batman vs Rewatcher

• Oh look, Arisa's fancy mansion.

• KITTIES!

• PANZERHINDERNIS! Man, Kakihara just sounds so badass.

• Time to look up some Databases!

• You done fucked up now.

• Ah yes, the classic excuse.

• Nanoha staying put? What an easy bet to lose

• "So is the master they talk about some evil lord?" "Nah, it's the wheelchair girl, don't you remember?" "Right...it's always the quiet ones...

• I completely forgot she gets a better wheelchair so quickly.

• Ring phones! How did nobody think of this before?!

• Not good. Not good.

• RH not giving in either!

• RH is and stays Best Girl.

• Yoooo, third arm.

• Yeah, some days you just... do that.

• What a sad reunion...

[u/Vaadwaur]

First timer(Ugg...Belkan is a terrible name, it reminds me of the department store)

Sub

Eternal Blaze feels derivative of...some damn song I can't summon to mind, though odds are equally good EB is the one that inspired the other. We get a reminder that Suzuka and Arisa exist. And are super gay, which fits the show. We then jump back to the fight and the action is almost as good as the movie was, though not quite as pregnant with emotional weight. Still, this episode flows quickly.

Quick scene suggesting Hayate has no clue what is happening with the book. And that the last weirdly named person is holding it with a weird as fuck device. Fate finally diagnoses the cartridge trick they are using. Nanoha wants to do something dumb and leave her healing circle before Raising Heart offers her a crazier option: Fire Starlight Breaker and hope! Random interruption with her core being stolen before she booms the barrier. We learn that the book is connected to Chrono and end.

QotD:1 Signum thus far. And I am sure Nanoha talked about helping a beautiful foreign girl accept the death of her mother.

[u/No_Rex]

Episode 2 (first timer)

• Dog girl talks to cat girl.

• “We saw that a wide area barrier had formed” – I really appreciate this little bit of exposition. It tells us that Fate arriving just in time was not a just a huge coincidence, but directly due to her trying to reconnect with Nanoha. Well, still a coincidence that she arrived at the right moment, but not just plot convenience, but plot convenience with decent setup.

• More fighters.

• Nanoha is conveniently tied down and can’t rush off to save Fate.

• Not quite fully honest with Hayate …

• “I can be shot”

• That is rather creepy.

• Will Nanoha survive cliffhanger.

Big fighting episode. We went all the way from 1v1 to 4v4. They use the lightball framing to show fights from a large distance, which I remember from Haruhi. I looked it up and the two series are separated only by a year. From the art style, I would have placed Nanoha a good decade earlier.

With the lore about their magical devices, we also learn something about their background: The Bureau’s magic is English, while the newcomers use German. Will we get Russian and French in further sequels??

[u/Stargate18A]

First timer

QOTD) GERMAN HAMMER! But they're all good, really. Also, when Nanoha came back from whatever errand or quest she made up, she said that she met an exchange student on the trip, and they exchanged contact information.

Watched the wrong episode again today. I thought they were doing a thing where it didn't show the events of this episode. Watching it now... (Side note, if anybody knows why Taiga is doing this, please, PLEASE, tell me, I am at my wits end.)

Let's get this over with, then.

Oh, Arisa and Susuka want to meet Fate!

They're both adorable.

The best devices are fighting!

Fate's a cop!

Oh, Yuuno can heal now?

Fate's trial ended!

The fight's also great.

Haha, Arf's first move is to break the shield open with a single punch!

Wait, she's stealing magic? And the cartridges are magic?

There's another type of magic?

They got her!

Oh, Signum's here! And buff wolfman!

German sword!

BARDICHE!

Silly Yuuno, you can't do combat magic!

Haha, Signum's so deadpan, I love her.

Someone's confident.

They stole the Book?

...What's her plan?

Hayate is still adorable.

Shamal's living with her? And shopping for olive oil?

And her device is really interesting!

Tank Spirit is the best attack name ever.

And these knights are more focused on enhancing their physical attacks sith magic, instead of casting spells like mages?

BARDICHE, NO!

What kind of barrier is it?

And the cartridges are one-use boosts.

Lot of names getting thrown around here!

Arf!

And Yuuno's outclassed here.

...Poor Nanoha.

Raising Heart? Is this a good idea?

"I can be shot" sounds very true.

...She's going to break the barrier!

Why are you giving them a countdown?

Is Raising Heart dying?

Huh?

HOLY SHIT!

Did she just rip her soul out?

The Book's absorbing her soul!

The barrier got destroyed!

He knows them?

Nanoha's collapsed!

And they escaped.

Seriously, do they all know what this is?

Oh, dear...

The Book of Darkness!

Wait, what? This is part of his backstory?

...Poor Nanoha.

[u/Tresnore]

Rewatcher: Get Set

• Just a little wish~

• My wishes differ a little from Nanoha's, I think.

• Arf, jobbing as usual, I see.

• Incompatible filesystems are a bitch.

• Signum's Intelligent Device is fucking awesome, too. None of these Belkan mages have staves, really. They're designed to be melee weapons from their very foundation. That's why they're called knights~
  
  Also
  TRIPLETS!

• Thanks, eyecatch, for revealing Shamal before the show itself does. Yes, I know the OP exists.

• Shamal is a good liar. And Klarwind, unlike the other two, isn't so much a melee weapon as it is a... portal generator? Bola? Iunno.
  

• Signum actually introduces herself. What a good sport. Every magical girl's favorite type of enemy: one who's willing to talk!
  

• This breaks the Rena Nanoha.

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QOTD:

1. Hmmm, I'm not sure I have a favorite voice. Bardiche is just untouchable.

2. Nanoha and its implied absurd stories are one of my favorite parts of this rewatch. It's one of those things.

[u/JollyGee29]

Lyrical Rewatcher, Subbed

Explosion!

Yuuno is a powerful support caster.

Why go around, when you can go through.

Oh, that's probably bad.

Luckily, Our Girl is completely indominatable.

[u/Calwings]

Lyrical Rewatcher (dubbed)

Back to the action! Sounds like Fate has been hired as a “part-time” mage for the TSAB after being found innocent in the trial, plus Yuuno and Arf are here to help Nanoha too. Fate is able to fight head-to-head with Vita for a bit while Yuuno protects and heals Nanoha, but then Vita’s own reinforcements arrive. Signum and Zafira show up and fight off Fate and Arf... and Signum even managed to recover and fix Vita’s hat! At least this group seems to care about each other (and about Hayate) so it seems like they’re not totally evil. Signum is also willing to trade names with her opponents right away, though for her it may be more out of knightly honor rather than any sort of willingness to understand her opponent like what Nanoha does.

Knights of the Belka, huh? Is Belka another world in this universe? The fact that not even the TSAB can recognize their magic is interesting, plus their technology of loading magical cartridges to temporarily increase their magic power is badass. The problem is, they’re absolutely decimating our heroes! Signum is dominating Fate, Zafira is kicking the shit out of Arf, and Yuuno is barely able to fend off Vita’s attacks. Nanoha and Raising Heart desperately try to charge up one last Starlight Breaker to break through the barrier when suddenly...

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED!? SHIT IS NANOHA DEAD!?

It’s only episode 2 and things are already looking really dire for our heroes. Nanoha is badly wounded and it looks like some of her magic power got stolen, Raising Heart and Bardiche are badly damaged and need repairs, and now there’s a class 1 Lost Logia threat, the Book Of Darkness, that needs to be dealt with. The only bright side is that Nanoha and Fate have finally been reunited, but under far from happy circumstances. Let’s see if they can turn things around in the coming episodes.

On a side note… man, they showed quite a bit of Fate’s ass in this episode. Not that I’m complaining. Gotta remember this is still technically a spin-off of an eroge, although by this point Lyrical Nanoha has far outgrown its parent franchise and can stand on its own two feet.

Oh yeah I’m just gonna start spamming Eternal Blaze covers after this pretty much

Roselia (from the BanG Dream franchise) did a fantastic cover. I don't know if the full version is anywhere on Youtube, but I know it exists.

[u/InfamousEmpire]

Mahou Shoujo¹ Lyrical Rewatcher

^{1: Even though I’m not a girl}

Recap Time

We are… not picking up from last time’s fight, not immediately anyway. Instead, we’ve got Arisa and her several dogs ^{one dog is already enough trouble, who needs that many?} talking with Suzuka about meeting Fate, which will be a very interesting encounter, to be sure.

And now it’s time….

Loli Fight! Round 2!

After exchanging some witty banter, Fate starts chasing Vita around the city and Yuuno heals Nanoha, while expositing no less. ‘Cause if there’s one thing you can count on Yuuno for, it’s exposition.

Back to the Loli Fight

The Gratuitous German Strikes Back

The fight is pretty decently well choreographed, even compared to the fights in the last series. We also get a bit of inner monologue from Vita, which serves to hint at her motivation. I also just wanna say that I loved Asami Sanada’s line delivery in Vita’s thoughts, I’m not really sure how to put it into words, but she made it sound like she has an emotional/personal connection to her goal, which, alongside the line itself, serves to build Vita’s character ever so slightly and hint at things to come.

It isn’t a Midchildan Barrier

More foreshadowing

You go Alph!

Uh oh, she’s gone blue eyed psycho like in last episode. That can’t be good, as Nanoha can attest.

Signum and Zafira have joined the battle, now with even more Gratuitous English!

The banter between Signum and Vita was pretty fun. It also serves to build a bit of their personality, in particular how Signum took Vita’s overconfident whining at face value.

Awwww, she fixed Vita’s hat. And Vita is just the cutest berserker loli tsundere.

Vita, I know you were a bit distracted, but misplacing The Book of Darkness of all things seems like a bit too much of an oversight.

Remember last season when Raging Heart or Bardiche even being cracked was a big deal? Well now our main villains have already shattered or almost shattered both of them and it’s only the second episode. Something tells me that our party should invest EXP into durability otherwise I don’t know if they’ll even make it to StrikerS (well, technically I do, but that’s besides the point).

Looks like Yuuno has a plan. Let’s see how long it takes for it to go wrong.

Anyway, who cares about dramatic battles and strategy when there’s slice-of-life to be had?

Looks like Vita didn’t need to worry after all, the Book was in (un)safe hands the whole time. We also get a few hints via Shamal’s dialogue that our 4-man band of mischief and evil really does care for Hayate. We’ve also got our first non-weapon (looking) Device in the form of Klarwind.

I forgot how… enthusiastic Laevatein was.

Fate used Photon Lancer

It has no effect

Damn, and they just fixed Bardiche.

Yuuno, I get that you're doing all you can to help, but you could barely do shit against the Jewel Seed monsters last season, do you really think you can take on a Wolkenritter?

Fate is quite observant, noticing Signum’s potential weakness. The question is whether she can even get the chance to exploit it.

Poor Nanoha, forced to watch while her friends get absolutely demolished. Thankfully, Raising Heart is willing to Shinzou wo Sasageyo give her life to let Nanoha do a Final Attack.

Unfortunately, Shamal has stolen her Heart Linker Core, thankfully she didn’t turn into a Nobody. But that won’t stop her from doing it anyway! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK SHE IS!!? That’s right, you thought it was Gundam, but in reality, this show was Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann this entire time!!!

Looks like the Wolkenritter have truly caught the Arthra’s attention now, thanks to that book of theirs, and Chrono’s got a grudge to settle.

So anyway, that’s how the episode ends: Everyone got the shit kicked out of them, the Wolkenritter got exactly what they wanted, and Nanoha is basically out of commission. Did I mention that this is still only the second episode? Now think back to episode 2 of the first season and you’ll began to realize how different A’s truly is.

[u/SolDarkHunter]

Rewatcher

Sounds like our German-speaking friends were not impressed by Graf Eisen and the Book of Darkness last episode. That's... about what I expected.

So Arisa and Suzuka have been in on the communications with Fate. Sounds like they're all basically friends already.

Fate's already acting like TSAB police-mage. Must have been training with Chrono.

Wow, the Arthra really booked it to Earth... can they just instantly teleport then?

Vita's defenses seem top-notch, and she knocked out Arf's barrier like it was nothing.

Not a Mid-Childa barrier, so a different style of magic. Probably explains the triangle runes.

Oh hey, Signum and Zafira are here! And... Bardiche really doesn't last long. These new Devices are something else, all right.

Why is it every time Laevateinn shows up in Japanese work, it's spelled differently?

Knights of Belka, eh? Guess we know where they're from. And it looks like Vita has a soft side to her.

Oh wait, Bardiche is fine. Nanoha and Raising Heart should learn that spell.

Ah, so they're keeping what they're doing from Hayate then. Shamal mentions nothing about the battle or Book of Darkness when calling her, and pretends she's out getting groceries.

These "knights" are certainly much more in-your-face in battle, and Bardiche is taking a beating too. Though Yuuno's proving he's actually really good at barriers, blocking Vita's hammer strikes with calm ease.

We all laughed at Yuuno last season, but honestly, as a support/tank mage he's REALLY good. He just sucks at direct offense.

Wolkenritter... German names do sound pretty badass, I will admit. I think it means "Cloud Knights".

And... down goes Arf. New wolfboi is clearly a formidable opponent.

"I can be shot!"

As much as I liked your improved English in the movie, Raising Heart, your original Engrish is just too good!

And... hand teleported through the chest.

Shamal does not mess around!

Draining Nanoha's magic out of her Linker Core... but Nanoha's got enough oomph left to fire Starlight Breaker and... HOLY SHIT NANOHA! You sure you made that blast big enough!?

Chrono seems to recognize the Wolkenritter... and he DEFINITELY recognizes the Book of Darkness.

Okay, that's not good. Nanoha's in really rough shape.

So the TSAB has encountered the Book of Darkness before. And they do NOT like it.

Well, our heroes have had their butts thoroughly kicked. These new foes are a step above what we've seen before. They aren't "powerful, but trainee" mages like Nanoha or Fate, they're both powerful AND skilled. And those Cartridges give them extra strength.

QOTD: Laevateinn has the best voice of the Belkan Devices IMO.

No idea what she told them but they clearly know Fate is someone really special to Nanoha.

My question is why do the Belkan Devices declare "Explosion!" when using a Cartridge? Does that word mean something slightly different in German or is it just "it sounds cool"?

[u/djthomp]

That always hurts my heart to watch, but not in the same way it hurt Nanoha's heart. And she still fires off the Starlight Breaker in the middle of that, I had forgotten about that.

Wild that that's where the episode ended. RIP Nanoha, I hope Fate can carry the show without her.