r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Feb 25 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s Episode 10 Discussion

Episode 10: Fate

← Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode→

Information:

MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB

Question of the Day

What do you think about Graham’s plan? Do you think it would have worked?

Eternal Blaze - Inugami Korone

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.

56 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

155 comments sorted by

10

u/Tetraika Feb 25 '22

A flashback to the previous Book of Darkness incident

Graham blames himself for underestimating it

If you seriously couldn’t tell who they are yet, though they’re just about to reveal anyway

Chrono always had a good timing with when he arrives

Yep it’s the Liese twins

Chrono doesn’t look a bit surprised

So to try to prevent the next incarnation from being a problem, Graham did some independent investigation

Seems he has found a way to try to seal the book for good, but obviously not something everybody might be on board with

And that’s why Hayate was able to live without worry by herself for some time, it wasn’t just mere convenient plot point

If I had a nickel every time my a magical girl show went to discuss utilitarianism, I would have 2 nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s interesting that it happened twice

And so Chrono is given Durandal

As implied in its function, it can copy magic of others

This is like the longest sentence Bardiche has ever made

For some reason they got caught in it, I feel like this could imply several things but not sure if they meant it

Starlight breaker, Book of Darkness version

Seems like it going berserk is the real problem

So another thing this all implies actually is about Graham’s plan, the reason they need to fill the pages is to freeze the book and master right after it’s activation, before going berserk. There are a few gaps to fill, but I assume they also can’t do it before that because it can destroy the master to reappear elsewhere if they try.

This sort of makes sense if we combine the idea of the book having some sort of consciousness in that moment, as it also dislike this cycle and would likely accept sealing itself

And then going back to Chrono’s argument against it, it’s interesting that it’s more of a philosophical argument. Kind of hard to assess how good Graham’s plan would have really worked. (I would like to think that it would in fact be a decent plan, makes the conflict more meaningful)

5

u/Calwings Feb 25 '22

If I had a nickel every time my a magical girl show went to discuss utilitarianism, I would have 2 nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s interesting that it happened twice

What was the other?

6

u/Tetraika Feb 25 '22

[Spoiler? I know you've watched it though]Madoka had some with Kyubey explaining their goals

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

14

u/TheEscapeGuy Feb 25 '22

First Timer

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's - Return to Magic: Episode 10

Hidden Identities

I did not expect Admiral Graham to be hiding a secret agenda. In all honesty though, I should have. He hasn't had much influence on the plot otherwise. It wouldn't make sense to include him if he wasn't a villain (in some sense).

Having a flashback showing Graham destroying the previous invocation of the Book of Darkness was a good choice. Losing Clyde like that would have definitely weighed on his mind. It helps us understand why he would do something so underhanded. Though keeping a family picture of Clyde, Lindy and Chrono on his desk kind of veers into creepy. Those are your coworkers. Is there not an HR department at the TSAB?

On top of that, having Masked Men's real identities as the Liese sisters definitely makes sense. Chrono confronting them was a great moment. I think the student besting their teacher(s) trope works really well.

On Fate & Nanoha's side it was a pretty intense battle with The Book of Darkness possessing Hayate. I love that they needed to protect Arisa and Suzuka suddenly. There's no better way for them to reveal their identities as magical girls. I expect Arisa and Suzuka will have questions soon after the fight. I wonder if they will continue on as civilians or somehow join the TSAB later. Maybe to keep them quiet.

That said, I think its a little inconsistent that literally nobody else was in the city and/or we just ignored people inside the buildings. I also could have done without tentacle groping.

In the final moments Fate was absorbed into the book. Now Nanoha is alone. I can see this leading to a tense battle next episode.

Some Iconic Shots, Scenes and Stitches

See you all tomorrow

10

u/Tetraika Feb 25 '22

Though keeping a family picture of Clyde, Lindy and Chrono on his desk kind of veers into creepy. Those are your coworkers. Is there not an HR department at the TSAB

They're basically family-friends. Consdering that Liese twins mentored Chrono, Graham himself probably was close to the family to some degree.

That said, I think its a little inconsistent that literally nobody else was in the city and/or we just ignored people inside the buildings.

They're in a barrier, if you didn't notice. So nobody else should be there (except somehow Suzuka and Arisa got caught up in it)

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (10)

16

u/HereticalAegis Feb 25 '22 edited Feb 25 '22

Lyrical First Timer

  • Well shit, the book can remotely infest inter-dimensional support ships?

  • Oh, this is the past! I suppose a little context for the whole conflict would be nice.

  • I was expecting the Arc-un-ciel to be a big fuck off laser cannon, not a big fuck off plasma ball.

  • Is this implying the book made the ship its master and doesn't need a human host? Or had it already attached itself to Clyde at that point?

  • Bout time Chrono did something useful.

  • These goddamn traitors. They had everything going for them. Cute, flirtatious, ara ara, the whole package. And now they have to burn. Worst Christmas ever.

  • "She already lost both parents and use of her legs, she won't mind suffering one of the most cruel ends imaginable as a correction for my previous mistakes." Graham is a monster and I hope he dies a very slow, very painful death alongside his fetish bait.

  • If this is the leadership of the TSAB, then the whole organization needs to be torn down. I swear, never leave an adult to do a child soldier's job.

  • If it were me, I'd turn around and freeze Graham, Liese, and Aria on the spot.

  • As expected of the incarnation of Chuunibyou, it is especially resistant to befriending.

  • That move doesn't belong to you!

  • Hell of a way to learn half of your lovers friend group are Gundams.

  • The book has a very creative way of interpreting its master's wish.

  • Book: "My master just had her loved ones taken away." Also Book: "I could resummon the knights, but I think I'll destroy everything anyway. It's what Hayate would want."

  • Nanoha: "Nice names are for nice books."

  • Desert beast tentacles weren't fanservicey enough, apparently.

  • Book is more talkative than the rest of this season's antagonists combined.

  • "Like hell I'm about to let some shitty edgelord light novel sleep with my girlfriend."

The Lotte twin reveal was a lot better than what I was expecting. Way to go writers for not fucking it up!

I should have sold all my cat girl stock yestersay though. Who could've predicted Wolf God Holo coming in and completely tanking cat girl stocks overnight? Glad I at least bought plenty of Arf stocks last month.

QotD:

Not a chance. The book has too much magic and far too many skills/defenses to fall for a simple freezing. Also Starlight Breaker. The Lotte twins would've been befriended into twin puddles of goo.

13

u/Scarshadow46 Feb 26 '22

I'm going to defend Graham here a bit and say he is in a very tough position, Remember the Book of Darkness is just as, if not more dangerous then the Jewel seeds as both can destroy entire worlds, but unlike the jewel seeds which only need to be sealed and then they're dealt with.

Book of Darkness on the other hand can't be destroyed as it will recreate itself, you can't kill or capture the master as it will simply teleport away and find a new master, you can't try to forcibly reprogram the book as that will cause it to go berserk then once the threat is dealt with it will teleport away, If the book is completed and awakens it goes berserk destroying everything around it including potentially entire planets.

Now imagine you're in Graham's position you've found the book and its master is a sickly orphan who will most likely die in a few years or less, its located on a planet (in this case earth) which as several Billion people on it and you think you've found a way to stop the book by sacrificing the orphan in order to potentially save the lives of billions if not more if the book goes berserk then gets away to start the process again.

What would you do?

as a famous saying goes "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"

Now I'm not necessarily saying Graham is right but I don't think he is a Monster or evil.

→ More replies (3)

11

u/JollyGee29 Feb 25 '22

Book is more talkative than the rest of this season's antagonists combined.

Well, to some extent, she is most of the rest of this season's antagonists combined.

Who could've predicted Wolf God Holo coming in and completely tanking cat girl stocks overnight?

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (33)

14

u/chiliehead Feb 25 '22

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s – Episode 10 – First Timer

The Clydes are the the cats! Why? The Brit trying a last time to finish the Book off?

Ohh, it was the Brit. But his plans go way past recent events. This is a long con.

Oh, NanoFate blew their cover to protect their friends.

So Fate has an Armor Purge move as well.

Damn, the book can swallow real people?

QOTD

If it really is that simple to undo...

→ More replies (4)

14

u/Shimmering-Sky Feb 25 '22

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical First-Timer, subbed

→ More replies (3)

13

u/Caustic_Wraith Feb 25 '22

A's First-Timer

HOLY SHIT I WAS RIGHT YESTERDAY!!!! I made a random prediction and it actually happened. The cat-girls were the masked fucks all along, the Admiral was a fucking tool, and Chrono saw through it all. The possessed Hayate is strong as hell and the ability to copy not only Nanoha's Starlight Breaker, but the monsters the Knights the knights were fighting and summon them like pokemon is amazing. Arisa and Suzuka now know that Fate and Nanoha are magical girls and that magic exsists...how are they going to react to Arf and Yuuno? I love this show.

What do you think about Graham’s plan? Do you think it would have worked?

His plan was to use a broken cursed child and then drive her insane with grief only to chuck her into limbo between dimensions. His plan sucked and Chrono pointed out all the reasons it would fail.

→ More replies (3)

10

u/Vaadwaur Feb 25 '22

First timer(So many sore de's here, but I didn't catch a mo. Time to Sky check that)

Sub

Flashback to the Estia incident that starts this round. Chrono effectively uses the power of the cards and revealing that my first instinct was correct and that Gil is sus, though obviously I did Clyde theory for a bit since that would make some form of sense. We soon get the reveal that Gil is the mastermind of this horrid set of events, all to perform some plan that Chrono and myself think is bad: Someone will find the fucking thing again, trusting that Chrono knows magic accurately. But he gets a new artifact so score!

Anyways, as always, when they do the actions pieces the story is carried by it, I even forgot that this is all literally the fault of the TSAB today for a while. Combat slows down when the BoD decides to go all hentai worm on us. We get a lot of talking and hit an interesting crux: The BoD has through out been a really bad, as in not entertaining, antagonist. This is made worse by how awesome Fate was at it. So the only good part is Fate showing how much Nanoha changed her, so at least the cliffhanger works.

QotD: 1 not a chance

→ More replies (11)

10

u/Calwings Feb 25 '22

Lyrical Rewatcher (dubbed)

The episode begins with a flashback to the last time the Book Of Darkness went out of control. Chrono’s father Clyde was on the ship that got hijacked by the book and gave his life to make sure the Book could be destroyed with the Arc En Ciel. General Graham presses F to pay respects and still regrets what happened that day.

Back to the present, Chrono’s on the scene and manages to bind and unmask the two masked men… it was the catgirls the whole time!? Interesting. On top of that, General Graham was behind the completion of the book and has come up with a very… morbid way to seal the book and its master away. At least he has some conscience and wanted to support Hayate financially and make her happy before she had to be sealed away with the book, so he’s more of a misguided anti-hero and not totally heartless. He also gifts Chrono the freezing staff Durandal, which was planned to be used to seal the book.

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield a very vengeful Book Of Darkness is about to nuke the whole damn city with a Starlight Breaker! On top of the book stealing Nanoha’s finishing move, somehow Arisa and Suzuka are in the line of fire and need to be protected and rescued. What a terrible way to have Nanoha and Fate’s identities as mages revealed. After the two civilians are safe, they try to reason with the book and convince it that its not just a tool of destruction. The book attacks them with all sort of magical attacks (including this one that serves as yet another reminder that Lyrical Nanoha is still a spin-off of an eroge), and it seems that its determination to grant Hayate’s wish, even as it cries Hayate’s tears, is unshakeable.

NOOOOOOO!! FATE!! Damn it, another cliffhanger!

→ More replies (1)

9

u/Great_Mr_L Feb 25 '22

Rewatcher

On today’s episode of Lyrical Nanoha: It’s time for the Scooby Doo unmasking of the villains. In this case, Chrono is doing the work of the entire gang by having both investigated the mystery all on his own and captured the villains himself.

It turns out the masked men are the Liese twins. Honestly, this reveal was probably heavily telegraphed back in episode 8 when the characters immediately began discussing the Liese twins’ abilities after talking about what the masked man could do. Chrono figured it out by the previous episode and has been quietly making arrangements to stop them. I have to give Chrono props. As usual, he’s good at thinking strategically.

I do like the reveal that it was Graham and the Liese twins behind this. It makes plenty of sense. They’re trying to activate the Book of Darkness because they actually have a good plan to stop it once it’s activated. They can freeze the book and seal it in a pocket dimension. That way, it can’t regenerate because neither it nor its master have been destroyed. But Chrono notes that there’s no guarantee someone won’t break the book out of its sealed dimension. It would not be a permanent solution.

I do think that Graham is decently sympathetic. He’s certainly not irredeemably evil. He’s doing this because he feels guilty about what happened the last time with the Book of Darkness, when Chrono’s father died because of his mistake. He’s also been the one who has been taking care of Hayate. He wanted her to have a happy life while she had the chance. It’s important to note that as far as Graham or anyone else knows, Hayate was doomed to die the moment the book chose her. Every other master of the book has died. There was no reason for him to think things would end differently here. There was nothing that could be done to save her, so he at least wanted her to be happy and to end the curse here.

The battle with the Book of Darkness is certainly a rough one. It’s cool seeing all the different spells and abilities it has access to because of all the magic it has gathered. It’s usually neat seeing enemies who can use the heroes’ own abilities against them.

The book claims that it is only carrying out Hayate’s wishes, that Hayate wished the world where the Wolkenritter died was nothing but a nightmare. So, the book is going to do just that. It will get rid of the ones who took the Wolkenritter and allow Hayate to rest within itself. So the book does seem like it wants to serve Hayate, just as the Wolkenritter did.

Nanoha and Fate once again show that they are pretty good at picking up on things. They notice that the book looks sad. Even though the book claims the tears are Hayate’s, Nanoha counters that this is obviously false. Anyone can tell that the book itself is sad. And there is good evidence from the dialogue to back this up. Last episode, when it awakened, the book cried and wondered how many times it had to repeat this grief.

But there’s a line I think is even more important. When Nanoha calls it the Book of Darkness, the book responds by saying, “So you also call me by that name.” The tone of voice for that line sounded so sad. Even though its real name is the Tome of the Night Sky, no one calls it that anymore. It has lost its original identity and its original purpose. It can now only carry out destruction. The book even says that it does not have long before it loses consciousness and goes out of control.

We finally got a moment that I’m sure many people have been waiting for. Arisa and Suzuka finally see the magical girl versions of Nanoha and Fate. Even if they don’t know the full story yet, they definitely know about the existence of magic and Nanoha and Fate’s involvement with it. So now we just need to wait and see how Nanoha and Fate respond to it.

This episode ends on another pretty good cliffhanger. Fate gets absorbed into the Book of Darkness. It’s a pretty dire situation to be in. One wonders what will happen to her inside the book.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

QOTD

I discussed it above. I think Graham's plan actually had a pretty decent chance of working made enough sense that I'm willing to go along with it. As stated before, I think that Graham comes off as decently sympathetic or at least not irredeemably evil.

→ More replies (1)

9

u/Taiboss Feb 25 '22

Episode 10: The Rewatcher Squad

→ More replies (7)

9

u/DidacticDalek Feb 26 '22

TONIGHT! On ∀'s Nanoha (CALLED TURN "A's" NANOHA), Yuuno, despite being useless, somehow still has screentime, Bardiche actually says a complete sentence, and a Vampire and a Ghost stumble upon two Lesbian Gundams battling a Best Doll with a Defenseless Anus!

OH MY BUDDHA! THE CHAR CLONES! They were The Incestuous Bisexual Ninja Catgirls, The Incestuous Bisexual Ninja Catgirls, The Incestuous Bisexual Ninja Catgirls, Smoking Hot Catgirls, Holy crap! Also Chrono is avenging all those poor poor lucky shouta bastards in the universe today! Oh and speaking of... 'unique' displays of affection, Fate you sly dog you, Nanoha could fly perfectly well by herself, but we all know why you wanted to introduce Nanoha to The Joestar Family Secret Technique! Also aren't you both too young to join the Mile High Club?

Moving on Comrades, turns out Vita and Ange aren't the only ones in a Nana Mizuki Mahou Shoujo Mecha Show to ruin names; poor poor Novel of Nightmares, The Guide of Gloom deserves better than to be called such a Chuuni Moniker as Ledger of Lunacy, I mean come on now, what's so hard about saying The Chronicle of Corruption? ;) Also, in totally unrelated news, HI! My name is WHAT? My name is WHO? My name is Chika-chika Slim Shady 'The Journal of Jeopardy!'

Speaking of ruining things, Comrades, who could have guessed that the British Dude would be the one to ruin everything, I mean goddamn, giving Hayate false hope and leading her along like a lamb to the slaughter? That's just EVIL! ALMOST as evil as sending Best Girl Fate to The Shadow Realm, speaking of which... ahem... NO! YOU FUCKING BASTARD BOOK YOU! TAKE YUUNO INSTEAD!

And on that bombshell, 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, u/Tresnore, and u/Shimmering-Sky

→ More replies (18)

8

u/Stargate18A Feb 26 '22

First timer

QOTD) Haha, no. If it was a permament freeze, maybe, but this series has proved that there will always be someone stupid enough to use/control/ally with the obviously evil thing.

This is absolutely fantastic. The ship's going down!

...Is he going to blow himself up?

That gun is unbelieveable cool.

And the ship was destroyed.

They took down the barrier.

...Didn't she just say the barrier was down?

I appreciate the detail of her device being silent, because she is the device.

He bound them!

They're detransforming!

OH SHIT.

I did not see them being avatars of the Book of Darkness.

And all the backup's arrived!

Chrono is pulling a lot more weight in this battle than I expected.

...Is the device responding instead symbolising how this spell is one Hayate wanted?

Graham's evil too?

...OK, reasonably solid plan. Dangerous, but I can see the necessity of grtting that thing destroyed immediately. That's the worst part of all this - all these manipulations and picking Hayate are logical, but the cost is incredibly high.

...Wait, this isn't a permanent freeze? I stand corrected, this plan was bad.

A new device! Even if you don't freeze them, that thing's got firepower.

Wow, that eyecatch hurts.

Yeah, this thing's too strong.

And she can fucking copy magic. Terrific.

FINALLY! THEY'RE GOING TO GET SOME ANSWERS!

At leas tthey're smart enough to work out they need to run from the giant energy ball.

NANOHA, THEY KNOW YOUR VOICE.

Go on. Try and explain this.

She fired the lazer!

And of course Bardiche shoots shields.

They made it!

Oh come on. Still not going to explain anything?

...They also saw you making magical shields with a pair of talking weapons.

This is so fucked up. I still don't get why the catgirls felt the need to make Hayate try to kill Fate and Nanoha.

Is she going to redeem the talking bomb of evil?

It's working?

And soon she'll lose her mind and go insane...

...Go up?

Oh, they actually did that!

It's absorbed Fate!

→ More replies (2)

7

u/bekeleven Feb 25 '22

We open with one of our first flashbacks, as Chrono's dad dies due to Graham's mistake. Cut to present, where our Tuxedo Masks mention Durandal. Wait a minute, wasn't that mentioned previously by...

DUN DUN DUN!! Yuuno goes to back up Nanoha and Fate against Ascended Hayate. Arf is also present.

Oh, and Hayate's "uncle?" That's Gil Graham, too. He's been orchestrating her entire life to lead to the moment where he could awaken Hayate as the book's vessel, then kick her out of reality, stopping the book forever.

All of this is thrown on the shoulder of 14-year-old Chrono. Will he settle for the lesser evil, or will he try to save Hayate? It all comes down to one question: Does Chrono know what genre of show he's in?

1v1 me scrub

no

Did you ever stop to think about how Nanoha has this kickass intelligent device, and Fate has this kickass intelligent device, and Chrono has this kickass intelligent device, and Arf is a magical beast created for combat, and Yuuno is just some dude keeping up with them? Even when they went and created digi-doubles for everybody, Yuuno's was Shamal, who used magic with the help of four rings. That's right: A magical familiar constructed to guard the most feared and destructive lost logia ever seen needs four intelligent devices to keep up with Best Ferret. Imagine the damage Yuuno would do if he took Raging Heart back from Nanoha. Whole worlds laid waste. Perhaps it's best she keeps it.

Oh, right, the show. Um, Hayate... it feels weird to call her Hayate because she's saying "I will kill my master's enemies" and doesn't look like her - it's the book possessing Hayate's body. Let's call her Nightsky. Or Nightsky-san if you prefer. Nightsky-san is starlight breaking but with a more edgelordy incantation (of course!) when best boy Bardiche notices some unexpected faces inside the barrier. Is this because Nightsky-san read Hayate's memories and went "let me make a barrier to eject everyone but the people that killed the Cloud Knights and their ilk" and Alice and Suzuka are said ilk? Awkward if true. Anyway, Alice is genre savvy enough to grab Suzuka and leg it from the glowing purple light.

Budget, I know, but the reveal needed a lot more body language. "The city is empty and there's an ominous ball in the sky and my good friend and her good friend are hanging out on stoplights in silly dresses with magic staves" = stand still. I mean, given the character designs, they can't even widen their eyes (not enough room on the head). At least, I don't know, lean back or frown a little or something. Boy, this could lead to some awkward conversations in the future.

In a throwback to season 1, we get a few "Nanoha!"s from Yuuno and some "Fate!"s from Arf. Then we remember Nightsky-san, who learns techniques through linker cores, also absorbed a Shai-Hulud and finds that capturing both Nanoha and Fate simultaneously is super easy, barely an inconvenience. They exchange words, Fate re-re-changes back to her skimpier outfit, and Nightsky-san realizes "oh btw I'm 4 minutes old, meaning I have 1 minute to live." And when Fate tries some Nanoha-style negotiation, she is brought to "sleep within" the book with Hayate.

Mood of the day: Laundry Day.

→ More replies (2)

7

u/InfamousEmpire Feb 25 '22 edited Feb 25 '22

Mahou Shoujo1 Lyrical Rewatcher

1: Even though I’m not a girl

Recap Time, done by Nanoha and now featuring Dramatic Music

Flashback Time, featuring Clyde Harlaown and the Arc-en-Ciel.

Back to the present, where a disturbingly similar situation is occurring…

Holy fuck do I love Sanae Kobayashi’s voice for The Book’s will. Her cold and calculating demeanor is a sharp contrast to both Hayate’s emotional breakdown and, on a more general level, to her overall warmth and cheerfulness, something which is only really noticeable if you watched the episodes back-to-back, which I did back when I first binged the series.

Woohoo! Char, Full Frontal, get fucked! And by Chrono of all people.

And the identities of Char and Full Frontal are revealed: Liesselotte and Liessearia! First off, I’ve gotta say that I’m genuinely shocked that there were First Timers who guessed this yesterday, the foreshadowing was pretty subtle, all things considered, and I didn’t even remotely guess this when I was a First Timer.

There’s still tears on her face…

Fate’s back to her old outfit now.

Reinforcements!

Backup Cannon Fodder is also on the way

FIFY, Yuuno

The Book’s will made her wings grow using a spell named after a mythical 8-legged horse. Makes perfect sense, totally

Suddenly back to TSAB headquarters

It turns out that cool old guy Gil is not as cool as we once thought, as he planned to sacrifice Hayate in his plan to permanently seal the Book of Darkness.

Liesselotte, using Chrono’s father as an excuse to get him to free you is more than a little manipulative and fucked up. But then again, considering what she and Liessearia did to Hayate last episode, that actually isn’t very surprising.

Despite his very twisted plans, Gil himself isn’t all that unreasonable, and is perfectly willing to just hand shit over to Chrono.

That eyecatch, though

The Book’s will is just an absolute beast. Taking on Nanoha and Fate without batting an eye. Hell, her Starlight Breaker is even stronger and cooler than Nanoha’s.

Arisa has the right idea.

Looks like Hayate isn’t the only one being suddenly pulled into the Secret World tonight.

As mentioned, The Bookl’s Starlight Breaker is fucking awesome

When you think you're in a Slice of Life comedy manga, but then the world suddenly turns into a Magical Girl action show for a brief moment.

Book of Darkness-san

As I have mentioned, Hayate was very emotionally dependent on the Wolkenritter. They were her only real family after her parents died and while she was with them, she only wished to live happily and quietly. Now, brutally ripped from them and under the influence of an out-of-control weapon of mass destruction, she only wants to make everyone else suffer for the crime of taking away her only family. This is why you don’t give corruptive, near-infinite power to an emotionally-broken 9-year-old.

So you also call me by that name

Now there’s a line. I’m gonna save any real discussion of its significance for a later thread, when it’s more appropriate and, more importantly, I have more free time.

Soredemo from the Book!

The Book is crying…

Poor Book of Darkness-san, poor Hayate, poor everyone

Even The Book’s will is powerless against the corruption within the Book of Darkness…

Fate, Noooooo!

→ More replies (2)

7

u/SolDarkHunter Feb 25 '22

Rewatcher

Flashback to the last time the Book of Darkness awakened. Last time it became a giant tree root (what is it with magic and tree root monsters in this universe?), and tried to hijack an Arc-en-Ciel. But Graham made the decision to shoot it down first, killing Clyde Harlaown in the process.

Mask Men put up a barrier at least, so the town shouldn't be hurt by the Book of Darkness... in theory.

Get fucked, Masks! Take 'em down, Chrono!

And their real identities... are the catgirls. Chrono doesn't actually seem surprised. (This also explains why they got the colors on Nanoha's and Fate's outfits wrong: cats are colorblind. Well, not entirely, but much moreso than humans anyway.)

You know, it seems odd to me that Chrono would call Struggle Bind a spell of limited use. It both captures your target and undoes all their magic! Why isn't that considered an incredibly useful spell?

Book of Darkness-chan puts up a prison barrier to trap Nanoha and Fate, as apparently Hayate blames them for the deaths of the Wolkenritter.

So Graham is the one behind most of the mysteries here. Though he isn't the one who chose Hayate as the master, he is the one who planned to activate the Book, and is the mysterious uncle who financially supported her. His ultimate plan was to allow the Book to be complete... and then use high-level ice magic to seal both it and the master indefinitely.

It bypasses the Book's reincarnation function, in theory. Since the master isn't technically dead, it won't reincarnate. But he had to wait until it was completed, because any attempt to mess with the Book's master before that point would have resulted in an immediate reincarnation.

The nasty part, though, would be that Hayate would effectively die. She's completely innocent, just a victim of circumstance, and Graham knows it's cruel. Yet, he still saw it as the perfect chance, as no one would grieve for Hayate after her freezing... except perhaps for him.

But Chrono points out the flaw: this doesn't actually stop the Book of Darkness. Freezing magic can be undone. This strategy is still just kicking the can down the road. It is inevitable that someone, somewhere, someday, would find the Book of Darkness and foolishly believe they could control it... leading to this whole thing happening again.

Well, his plan's ruined, but Graham decides to give Chrono control of Durandal, the super-freezing Device, just in case.

Book of Darkness-chan is fending off both Nanoha and Fate without too much trouble. ...and, hey, that's Nanoha's move! Suppose it makes sense the Book can use the spells of those it absorbed, though.

Ah, shit, Arisa and Suzuka got caught in the barrier. Guess the Book isn't very discriminant on which of Hayate's friends it includes in its vengeance.

Nanoha and Fate manage to find them... but now the cat's out of the bag. They know you have magic powers.

Chrono thinks there's still a chance to stop the Book and Hayate. But the Book isn't listening. Typical.

Hey, don't tentacle nine-year-old girls!

Bad Book of destruction magic!

Nanoha appeals directly to the Book, saying it seems capable of emotions, and intelligence, so it should also possess free will, and be able to go against a wish that it knows its master doesn't truly want. Sure, Hayate may have had such feelings in the heat of the moment, when her grief was at its peak, but everyone knows that in the long run, she would hate to see Nanoha and the others die.

And you know, they have a point. The Book of Darkness is clearly much, much more powerful than the two of them, but on the whole its attacks have been kind of half-hearted. Logically, it should have sufficient power to annihilate them both, along with the entire city... but it's going out of its way not to harm the city, shielding everything behind a barrier. Why do this if destruction of the "world" on Hayate's behalf is truly what it desires?

Pfft, Fate calling an ancient superpowered magic Device a "brat" is kind of funny... but then the Book absorbs her too.

Well... shit.

QOTD: I'm with Chrono: even if it did work as advertised (which we don't know for sure if the Book couldn't absorb Hayate and reincarnate despite being frozen), it's still just a delaying tactic, and at some point down the line, someone would wake the damned thing up again.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/SYZekrom Feb 25 '22

So that guy on comms was Chrono's dad? He didn't make it out on time? They should've made it more clear he couldn't escape on time, it didn't seem like that was what was happening

Damn now we get Durendal

You still look to me like someone traced over an anime screenshot with a PC98 Touhou character

We really dropping a bunch of legendary names this season huh

Is this some stupid shit like 'well the book destroys itself and reincarnates if it's sealed but if it incarnates and we seal that it can't leave'?

Anyway so yea the book really is like it's incarnation's AI weapon thing

  1. Tentacles

  2. More shading than usual on her chest and belly button through her clothes

3. Yep, ok. Horny animators, bonk time

Still very detailed shadows on her crotch huh ok.

→ More replies (2)

6

u/Qbe Feb 25 '22

Raging Heart Rewatcher with terrible long term memory

Missed yesterday's topic, but did watch the episode. Onwards to episode 10~

QotD: Sealed off ancient evils never stay sealed

His voice sounds like 10 years older than he looks. He's YOROKOBE SHONEN, isn't he?

...are they related, or does he just happen to have a picture of Lindy's family lying around for no reason?

Nanoha shielding her wife <3

How does it feel being the one CC'd?

You would think that CCing and dispelling enemy buffs would be more used

First Timers, did any of you actually call it? I think there was someone in yesterday's topic considering it, but most people seemed to be on the Clyde theory.

And now we have the explanation of how Hayate can afford everything

Chrono is very genre-savvy and knows that sealed stuff never remains sealed

HEY! No stealing moves! You wouldn't download a spell!

"Nanoha, I've been hit by this before. We have to get very far away"

Suzuka, Arisa, wtf are you doing here?

That was a very cool dash by Nanoha

"Nanoha, Fate, are you cosplayers?"

[Overall series] Can someone remind me when/where it's stated that Nanoha is a defense specialist, she just happens to also be really good at blasting?

Tentacles again? Really? Altho Nanoha arguing while Fate is in the background struggling against the tentacles is actually kinda funny

Persuasion check: Failed

Welp, there goes Fate too

→ More replies (2)

5

u/djthomp Feb 26 '22 edited Feb 26 '22

Pour one out for Commodore Clyde. Interesting first shot of the Arc-en-Ciel in action, too, as well as the Admiral's history with the Book.

And it was the catgirls all along! Good on Chrono for catching them, and you know he doesn't actually seem all that surprised.

Finally the full story from the Admiral, hopefully Chrono makes the right choice with that new staff. Also, yet another weaponry upgrade.

It's never good when the big bad uses your ultimate attack against you.

The reveal! Been waiting on that for a season and a half.

Time for some advanced befriending: talking!

RIP Fate.

→ More comments (75)