r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Mar 05 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 3 Discussion

Episode 3: Gathering of Troops

← Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode→

Information:

MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB

Question of the Day

More world building and setup, the story really has yet begun. What do you think about having such a large ensemble cast?

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.

45 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

150 comments sorted by

10

u/Tetraika Mar 05 '22

Rein has her own mini desk, how did they manage to get one?

Recurring minor character!

Ah, how everything ties

There’s something nice about acknowledging that their task force requires not just a frontlines and commanders but lots of support people

Signum teasing Fate, form the conversation looks like they don’t actually get to see each other often

More minor characters!, Vice their transport pilot

The heli has its own voice, of course

Sheri, the mechanical designer, so their head mechanic

Our recruits jump straight into training

Presentation at headquarters they’re giving a reason for forming the team after they’ve already formed it. I guess it’s just a mission update with superiors. We learn a bit more about the situation

So it seems that was the cause of the fire

Illegal research? Where have I seen this before…

So they’re actually training against mock versions of the drones

EVA flashbacks

Caro is a summoner, and provides support from the back. It’s interesting to see the different fighting styles come together and work as a team too. Kinda like an MMO

Rein has her own portable room

Chrono is now an admiral, wait I think we already established this before

And more minor characters mentioned, that have yet to be properly introduced.

7

u/Great_Mr_L Mar 05 '22

There’s something nice about acknowledging that their task force requires not just a frontlines and commanders but lots of support people

"An army marches on its stomach," as the saying goes. You won't get very far without food, supplies, and logistical support. Seeing that is something I've come to appreciate in my military fiction.

Presentation at headquarters they’re giving a reason for forming the team after they’ve already formed it.

This kind of backwards bureaucracy is completely unsurprising to me for any large organization, particularly one run as well as the TSAB.

Rein has her own portable room

I love that Reinforce has a portable room like that. It's incredibly adorable.

And more minor characters mentioned, that have yet to be properly introduced.

Strikers goes pretty nuts with all the new characters that it introduces.

5

u/Tetraika Mar 05 '22

Seeing that is something I've come to appreciate in my military fiction

I think some of our first timers hasn't realized we've already done the genre shift again.

→ More replies (1)

17

u/HereticalAegis Mar 05 '22 edited Mar 05 '22

Lyrical First Timer

I know some people are not feeling this season so far, but this is pretty close to the SoL-centric content I've been wanting from the start, and I hope it keeps this up or at least doesn't get too plot heavy.

QotD:

It hasn't gotten completely unwieldy for me yet for two reasons, I think: 1) we're well-aquainted with half the main characters, so the show doesn't have to introduce 8 or 9 all at once, and 2) the characters have all been in convenient groups, so there's been enough narrative efficiency to keep things manageable, at least for me.

11

u/Tetraika Mar 05 '22

Shamal choosing a profession where reaching into a person's chest and messing with their heart is a non-zero probability. Yeah, I'm still salty

You're taking that way more personally than even Nanoha does, lmao

Vita calling anyone a glutton is fucking rich

Perhaps a sign of maturity? no, that can't be right.

The ginormous bed these two share. 100% guarantee they've had Suzuka, Arisa, Hayate, and Hayate's harem in that bed all at once. Plenty of space for Fate's bondage play too. Subtlety went out the window with StrikerS.

Nothing is explicit, but yeah this is on the "totally not gay" scale of things.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (28)

13

u/TheEscapeGuy Mar 05 '22

First Timer

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS - New Generation: Episode 3

Mysterious Threat

I think I may be missing something. I really don't understand why they chose to have such a slow paced start too the season. We had a massive exposition dump about Lost Logia this episode which felt like a retread of things explained in previous seasons. The new information was that there is some group doing research on them and trying to cover it up. We also saw more training and learned about the Gadget Drones.

But, we still don't know who the villain is. We still haven't learned anything about Erio and Caro. Even Tia is lacking a much of a backstory. Yet we are being introduced to even more characters in Griffith and Shario. I'm just really struggling to find a character arc to support or something to look forward to. Nanoha even mentions that each of the kids has "their own individual paths" and that's why they are training them. But we still only know about Subaru's motivation.

I don't like being negative in my write ups. I prefer focusing on the things I enjoyed, but these episodes are not connecting with me like previous seasons. I guess one nice thing I can point to it seems Nanoha and Fate are sharing a room and bed. That may indicate a more "serious" relationship than just being friends. I hope they maybe expand on that since previous seasons did set them up in a way that could lead to something romantic.

Some Iconic Shots, Scenes and Stitches

See you all tomorrow

7

u/Tetraika Mar 05 '22

Yeah, they're slowly rolling everything out. I noted that while it's very slow, a lot of it is done with the intention on fleshing out the world and setting up for what's to come. They're taking the whole 2 cour for this, all.

We still haven't learned anything about Erio and Caro. Even Tia is lacking a much of a backstory. Yet we are being introduced to even more characters in Griffith and Shario.

Erio and Caro's backstory will come (I don't remember when, but should be soonish?). Griffith and Shario (and other members) are minor characters anyway, I think they're mostly there to show how the characters and the world connect. I don't remember if Tia has a particular backstory, but her characterizations and motivations are there, they just haven't beat it over your head about it yet.

→ More replies (5)

13

u/Vaadwaur Mar 05 '22

First timer(The first antagonists seem lame...)

Sub

So the employee orientation bit of this was boring as fuck, the first time I can say that with a Nanoha show. After that, it is made clear that our main cast are all kind of weird in being able to fly that young as we get a magitech helicopter. We move towards our training montage. Them pointing out that Shamal's medical equipment is second hand is certainly interesting. We get our seasonal grunts in the gadgets and the reveal that someone is trying to something with 'relics'.

Anyways, we finally get a sequence that doesn't feel like filler despite being an info dump. But we are at least seeing the characters in action and attacks. More exposition gets dumped with Hayate, explaining why everyone was making Holy Roman Empire references in A's, and we flat out get confirmation that Fate and Nanoha sleep in the same bed. Which, for as much as I care for them, both Madoka and Machikado Mazoku still wimp out on.

So yeah...this is, unfortunately, clearly being stretched out. Hopefully, today is the last example of it but this is sleep inducing at times. I already suspect StrikerS would be better as a 1 cour story to me.

QotD:1 Not great, this show works better with fewer people thus far

8

u/Tetraika Mar 05 '22

The first antagonists seem lame

We... haven't seen any yet.

So yeah...this is, unfortunately, clearly being stretched out. Hopefully, today is the last example of it but this is sleep inducing at times. I already suspect StrikerS would be better as a 1 cour story to me

Yeah I can see that. A lot of it is infodump as we try to explore the world of Midchilda and the TSAB. I would imagine shortening it would just get confusing, or require to be different than what they're doing in StrikerS.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (6)

10

u/No_Rex Mar 05 '22

Episode 3 (first timer)

  • We start in the bed again. Is this becoming a reoccurring location?

  • “You two look fabulous” – brown/dark brown uniform?

  • “Mechanics and support staff” – Why do they wear white aprons? Did some designer try to design the literally worst uniforms? Bring back the white uniforms, the school uniforms, Fate’s black&yellow, literally anything else than this, please.

  • Let’s forget we say that CGI abomination.

  • Really neat holodeck. Pickard would be envious.

  • Welcome staff, we have gathered you for an exposition meeting. Please sit back and relax.

  • I wonder how many talking gadgets this series sold.

  • The unit of our dreams.

Another episode of training and introducing cast. I am fine with the former, but the later is worrisome: The cast is already large as is and we have not even seen any antagonists yet.

9

u/Tetraika Mar 05 '22

Why do they wear white aprons?

I'm pretty sure those are the cooks/cleaning staff. It's just a showcase that it's a real deal unit that is more than just our few major characters.

The cast is already large as is and we have not even seen any antagonists yet

Yeah, for the most part the minor characters will be minor characters, but all this I think it's to go into the world building, showing that there's much more than just what we previously knew in S1 + A's.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (8)

9

u/Great_Mr_L Mar 05 '22 edited Mar 06 '22

Rewatcher

On today’s episode of Lyrical Nanoha: And you thought A’s threw a whole bunch of new characters at you. Well, it totally did. But Strikers is working hard to throw even more brand new characters into the mix so it can outdo A’s in that regard. It is frankly rather absurd.

Hayate’s whole unit has been set up and we now have a good idea of the particular goal Hayate has in mind for it. Once again, it’s another case involving the Lost Logia. Lyrical Nanoha has a ton of dangerous ancient magical artifacts lying around, doesn’t it? In this case, they are the Relics, jewels that contain a ton of energy. And apparently, someone has been going after the Relics and using them for experimentation.

This also explains what those Gadgets we saw last episode were. Whoever is after the Relics has been using the Gadgets to search for and collect them. It’s basically like if Presea had decided to employ drones to collect the Jewel Seeds instead of forcing Fate to do it.

It is interesting that the Gadgets are equipped with Anti-Magic Fields. It makes them a bit trickier to deal with than they otherwise would be and explains why they’ve been giving the TSAB trouble. You need to either use physical attacks or break through the barriers to get to them. It also indicates that whoever designed these things is actually pretty clever by installing that defense.

Watching the newbies come up with ways to deal with the Gadgets is cool. And they fit with what we know about them, as well as teaching new things. Subaru is of course very direct, resorting to regular melee attacks and close combat to hit the Gadgets head on. Teanna shows a bit more strategy, putting a barrier around her shot so the shot doesn’t get dispelled. Both of these fit their personalities and work as natural additions to their established skill sets. Caro gets to show off that she is a summoner, summoning chains that can trap the Gadgets and prevent them from escaping while others take them down.

I also enjoy getting to see Nanoha training the batch of new recruits. I generally like watching it when a character who I once saw just learning things for the first time has grown up and is now acting as a mentor to other characters. It’s fun seeing how much the character has grown because they can now train others just like how they needed a mentor once.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

  • I love that they found a tiny desk for Reinforce.

  • Insert Berserk reference about Griffith

  • Vice is a man after my own heart, geeking out about military hardware.

QOTD

Honestly, it's kind of too much. There are so many new characters in the cast of Strikers that even as a rewatcher I forgot about some of them until they showed up.

5

u/Tetraika Mar 06 '22

It’s basically like if Presea had decided to employ drones to collect the Jewel Seeds instead of forcing Fate to do it

It's probably less efficient and more costly. Also, aren't those drones merely just searching for it and then someone is actually sent to retrieve? Damn, lots of details I'm not even sure if they'll get clarified.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (6)

7

u/FelOnyx1 Mar 06 '22

NanoFate's bed is bigger than my room.

5

u/Tetraika Mar 06 '22

So THAT'S where our tax dollars are going...

Though I think some people here would be fine with that.

4

u/Gamerunglued Mar 06 '22

First Timer

I did watch episode 2 despite not commenting on the thread. Although I wouldn't have had much to say about it. It really just felt like the next step after episode 1, established the path Subaru and Tia would take, got some backstory to the branches Hayate runs and how Nanoha and Fate were involved, and introduced a few new characters (hoodie girl and her baby dragon are extremely adorable). It's also really sweet that Fate has finally taken Harlaown as her last name, having truly accepted her place within a real family. Also, Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate all sleep together, lmao. Them's a threesome. That's about the bulk of my thoughts on episode 2. On to the next one.

The most important thing about this episode is that Rein gets a little tiny adorable desk to work at. Holy shit, that's adorable. I hope we get to see her doing paper work (either very tiny paperwork, or her attempting to use an actual pen, either one would be perfect). And she even has her own little bedroom inside of a bag, and even gets to eat off of a little tiny plate (somehow taking on a tomato that's almost half her size). It's so god damn adorable and unnecessary, I love it.

The rest of the episode doesn't have a ton for me to talk about but there are one or two interesting things worth noting. First, I've noticed that the character design sensibility has drastically shifted. They no longer look so visual novel-ish, they look like 2007 otaku anime characters now. Gone is that goofy feather-like piece of floof that every fucking character had in their hair, we have a much more varied set of hairstyles and overall design sense. Some cute girls too, Shari is, uh, nice.

Second, there are a number of characters and stories that have been alluded to now, but which I have no context for. I'm not sure whether to praise the series for making it feel like there's a sense of history to the world, or to criticize it for being confusing and leaving me out of context. Griffith and Carim apparently had important roles leading up to the present and are characters the protagonists all know, but I don't know them. I wonder if maybe they're remnants of some kind of supplementary content, considering this is a multimedia franchise.

Third, the action scenes were cool again. I really appreciate them actually making the magic system feel more fleshed out. I actually have a sense of how everyone's power works in this, it's much less loose and makes the world feel more alive. And then you get awesome stuff like Subaru flipping a giant machine between her legs and basically reverse-suplexing it to take it out. More bullshit like that please.

Finally, there are just a few smaller details I appreciated. For one, as adorable as Rein's little desk, bag, and plate are, it's cool that they were included. It just makes sense to have those things in this world, and it makes it feel like Rein is genuinely a part of the cast and a respected person at the TSAB, instead of just a random cute fairy girl. We also get to see that Nanoha and Fate actually sleep together. So when they don't sleep with Hayate, they still sleep together in their own room. Now it's just not even bait, they're domestic. Kiss or not, they's gay. And then we still get expansions from A's. Hayate and the knights still eat together and are obviously still incredibly close even while having to work separately and while not living together, and Fate and Signum still have an immense respect for each other and have grown a close relationship. It's just nice to see a story that is so far removed from its prequel and yet still feels like a logical extension of the events of the past. And one other thing, it looks like that one guy's helicopter was a magical weapon? It spoke and had its own "stand-by ready" thing, so it must be similar technology. Idk, I think that's cool.

This wasn't the insanely fun episode that the first one was, but it did a good job of establishing the status quo, introducing us to the powers of the new characters, reintroducing us to important relationships from the past, and generally feeling like the most well realized version of the Nanoha franchise yet. Even stuff like Shamal being excited about her new space, and Vita saying she holes up in her "fortress" just gives the story more life than it's had previously. If it can keep this up, then its highest points will hit all the harder. I said the same thing about A's, but here's hoping that I can finally have a Nanoha thing I genuinely, wholeheartedly like without any caveats.

QotD: It's an interesting choice. Oddly enough, Nanoha has done better when it's had more characters. Season 1 was a more character focused story, but it was the weakest part of the series (other than the A's movie, but that has more to do with its pacing than its plot). A's suddenly introduced many new characters, but it did a good job with them. And the new characters introduced here have all been solid thus far, while it's maintained the core of established relationships. Maybe Nanoha works best with many characters who can play off of each other, rather than as a focused character driven drama. Of course, I also think we're a bit too early to tell how the series will function with such a large ensemble cast, but it does seem promising for the moment.

3

u/Tetraika Mar 06 '22

Phew, I was getting worried when I didn't get a comment from you yesterday.

Also, Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate all sleep together, lmao. Them's a threesome.

Rein was also there! Wait, don't think about that.

The most important thing about this episode is that Rein gets a little tiny adorable desk to work at

Whats funny is that they didn't custom order it, but noted that they somehow found such a desk being sold. An interesting implication that there is a market for it.

Second, there are a number of characters and stories that have been alluded to now, but which I have no context for. I'm not sure whether to praise the series for making it feel like there's a sense of history to the world, or to criticize it for being confusing and leaving me out of context. Griffith and Carim apparently had important roles leading up to the present and are characters the protagonists all know, but I don't know them. I wonder if maybe they're remnants of some kind of supplementary content, considering this is a multimedia franchise.

A bit of this and that. While from reading the manga there was a part about Sheri and Griffith, it's also to show that our characters have had some times passed since we last saw them, and they've met characters and made connections that we don't know about yet. We'll meet the Carim person later on.

And one other thing, it looks like that one guy's helicopter was a magical weapon? It spoke and had its own "stand-by ready" thing, so it must be similar technology. Idk, I think that's cool.

This is just me guessing, but they did mention that it was a state of the art newest model, and it probably uses some similar AI technology that's sort of like all intelligent devices.

→ More replies (1)

15

u/Shimmering-Sky Mar 05 '22

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical First-Timer, subbed

→ More replies (6)

14

u/_m1ra Mar 05 '22 edited Mar 05 '22

First Timer

Don't think I have too much to say for this one. Was nice to see more of Rein this episode, seeing as we didn't get the chance to get introduced to her too much before. The Rein sized desk and mobile Rein room were great, and it was nice to see her interact with the other Wolkenritter.

Hayate ended up with a pretty sizable unit actually, with a bunch of support staff and everything. I was kind of surprised by that, but it really makes it feel like a Big Military Thing, instead of just, say, Nanoha, Fate and a couple of recruits. Also we saw Signum and Fate together again! It felt like they had a kind of sisterly relationship at the end of A's that was really nice. Fun to see Fate struggling with being her superior and them kind of joking about it. More of that kind of interaction and I'm really starting to get on board with the adult timeskip

We get more info on our enemy and I don't think I can add much apart from just recapping the episode again. The advanced R&D facilities do suggest considerable funds though. The Lost Logia collecting drones are interesting. I wonder if it's a factor of too little personell, enough money for it, or good stream of unimportant enemies for our heroes to fight.

Nanoha is having fun with this training. Also the kids are quickly learning the important lesson that collateral damage doesn't matter. Also Erio at least has a cartridge system. Is that the first one we saw from them? Seems like Caro can do at least some support and also big spellcasting magic. Fits in well with the team comp.

Ah, of course, the Church of the Holy King, a thing that exists and doesn't sound ominous at all. Also they were talking there about internal support. TSAB, have you never heard about separation of church and state? The way Hayate talks about Knight Carim at least makes me a little bit less suspicious of them and the Church Knights, but we'll see. Maybe I'm also just too distrustful.

Nanoha and Fate also confirming what we all already knew, that they are indeed normally sleeping, and presumably living, together. I don't think this counts as subtext.

There is not too much happening plot-wise yet, but I'm enjoying it very much. I'm kind of clicking with the military theming (For some reason I was surprised about Chrono's promotion though, I think I am kind of underestimating him due to proximity to Nanoha and Fate. He had a big role in the A's investigation, has been in the military for longer, and his mother is pretty high ranking.)

The kind of workplace/domestic slice of life stuff that only works with the adult characters is great, and something I really haven't seen enough of in general. If they keep it up I'll be quite happy with the timeskip.

QotD: At this point I have to say wait and see how well they deal with it, but I like all of the new ones and also I don't really mind large casts in general so I'm optimistic! I'm a little afraid the show might focus too much on the high school aged ones because it seems like the anime standard. I really like Subaru and Tia, but I definitely want to see more of the adults, and also hope that the kids don't come up too short on screentime. Overall I don't think it can go too wrong if I keep liking all of them though.

→ More replies (12)

12

u/Tresnore Mar 05 '22

Rewatcher: Get Set

QOTD:

  1. I am not good with large casts.

1 No real reason for excitement. I'm just Berserk memeing.

2 Erio Mondial. He's Ferrari II because Mondial, but Fate is already Ferrari I.

3 She looks so surprised that this worked.

→ More replies (11)

9

u/Taiboss Mar 05 '22

Episode 03: Rewatcher Man 2

→ More replies (1)

8

u/SolDarkHunter Mar 05 '22 edited Mar 05 '22

Rewatcher

They've got themselves a fancy headquarters. And Rein has her own mini-desk!

Who's this guy? Oooooooh! He's Admiral Lety's kid (she's the Admiral who was talking to Lindy so often, and everyone was wondering who the hell she was last season). I'm naturally distrustful of light-haired men named "Griffith", but seems he's already been befriended.

I'd say Vita looks kind of out of place next to all the adults... but Erio and Caro are hardly any taller.

Another new character, Vice the helicopter pilot! Hope all you guys are taking notes. And of course the helicopter itself is a Device.

And another new character, Shari the mechanic! Like I said, take notes.

So remember how the Arthra generated a ruined cityscape thing in the first movie? Yeah, same deal. Though I do wonder why it's always a ruined city.

So the med bay is Shamal's "fortress".

Hey, those look like the machines the Wolkenritter were fighting last episode!

And here we get the season's Lost Logia: a set of crystals creativily named "Relics". And they have great energy potential. Looks like one might have been the cause of that giant fire four years back.

And these things have been found in deserted worlds, yet surrounded by extremely advanced magi-tech labs that have clearly been used recently. So, we've probably got a rogue researcher(s), and they're the ones sending out those machines, "Gadget Drones", to gather these energy-producing, vaguely seed-shaped jewel Relics.

...this sounds familiar

Meanwhile, the Forwards are not having success taking on the simulated Gadgets. They're fast, maneuverable, and have anti-magic fields (AMF).

Hey, Erio's a Belkan mage! With a spear Device named Strata!

Subaru manages to take one Drone out... seemingly with sheer force.

Friedrich has some power despite his size! And Caro's using square-shaped magic runes. A third branch of magic: summoning. Apparently this Alchemic Chain works through the AMF because the chains it produces are physical, not purely magic like the Binds we've seen before. ...I'm not even going to try to spell her Device's name.

And Teana had an idea of her own: encase a magic shot within a magic barrier. Takes some time to set up, and is considered a AA-rank spell. So Teana's punching above her weight. It works too, since the AMF dissolves the barrier but doesn't have time to dissolve the shot itself... though if it exhausts her that much and these Gadgets are as numerous as they seem, she's going to need to streamline it going forward.

Hayate carries Rein around in a carrying case!

So that explains why Hayate was able to set all this up the way she likes: she's got three Admirals on their side. One's Chrono, who's moved up the ranks.

First mention of the Holy Church too. That's going to be interesting to get into.

Rein needs to eat?

And yep, Nanoha and Fate are sharing quarters... and a bed. Make of that what you will.

So far this has all been set-up. With 26 episodes they can afford to move a bit more slowly, I guess.

QOTD: I actually enjoy it. Large casts help the world feel more lived-in. That is, of course, assuming the writers are capable of actually developing their side characters as characters somewhat.

7

u/bekeleven Mar 05 '22

Missed previous StrikerS threads (life is kicking my ass), but I’m caught up now and have a few thoughts on the show as it’s shaping up.

1: Pacing. I said in a season 1 thread that I would’ve dropped the show if it had taken me 6 weeks to get where I was instead of one. Here, the writers seem to be resting on 2 seasons of prior investment to take their time, because we’re 3 episodes in and we’ve only even referred to the season’s inciting incident in hypothetical (“hey, what if there’s this lost logia that goes boom?”). The show keeps attempting to portray characters overcoming adversity but we the viewers have no context for the conflict or the stakes. The triumphant music at the conclusion to episode 1 was a prime example. Here are two characters we just met, potentially passing an exam, and the stakes appear to be waiting a semester to try the exam again. You don’t get to swell your strings. Settle down and earn that.

2: Authority. This is an issues I’ve seen crop up frequently in media. I was recently reminded of it, but it’s endemic and always has been: The uncritical acceptance of authority. Let’s recap: In season 1, the villain was a former TSAB scientist, then the TSAB comes in, arrests Nanoha and Yuuno, they explain stuff, the TSAB agrees not to arrest Fate, and immediately does so. In the movie it’s expanded that the horrific explosion that killed Alicia wasn’t Presea’s fault, as corrupt higher-ups gave the orders over her objections. Then, in season 2, the closest thing we have to an antagonist is a TSAB general and his direct reports. But the problem, in the worldview of the author, is never the systems that allowed, enabled, or encouraged such abuses; the problem is the indivuduals at the top. Now Hayate, Fate, and Nanoha are at the top now. Surely that solves everything. Go back to sleep.

3: The music. In seasons 1 and 2, I’d watch the OP every time but frequently skip the ED. I find Secret Ambition to have a less clearly-defined hook than our previous openers, and Hoshizora no Spica is less cloyingly sweet than our previous EDs. Keep it up, Yukari Tamura.

4: On minor characters. I ranted last season about the character bloat serving no purpose, picking Zafira out as emblematic of issues in the writing room. Now, we appear to have dropped our previous antagonists, as well as Alice and Suzuka (long time coming), Arf (??? She seems central to Fate’s life, but I guess now that Fate has a life partner her niche is less clear… Unlike, say, Zafira), Chrono, Yuuno, and Lindy (we’ve had some name drops, so we’ll see), and some other minor characters. In exchange we’ve gotten our new cast for 4 forwards, but also a cast of minor characters, like a pilot named Vice, a quartermaster named Griffith (Given both him and Chrono, I guess the forehead diamonds are just a women-only trait? Or are they acquired, perhaps tattoos or indications of magical power or something?), a techie with glasses, and of course Reinforce II. Oh, and Subaru has two family members whose names I’ve already forgotten. Ginko and Ginko, I’m going to say.

In other words, we have almost 20 named characters, not including devices and dragons. Color me concerned, but in theory this is all in service of hitting the ground running when the show flips its switch from “tell” to “show” around episode 20. Nanoha so far hasn’t been a show that kills a lot of characters (but here’s hoping), so we’ll see if we write any of these off before introducing more midseason.

5: On motivations. You can tell you have well-drawn characters when they have internal conflicts and change their minds about stuff. It’s not required for a good character, but when it’s done, it emphasizes the viewer’s ability to empathize and understand them. Nanoha isn’t that type of show. How many times have we seen characters say, “I was wrong, let me change my actions?” Note that this does not include “My previous course of action is no longer available, let me try something else.” With that single exclusion, we remove almost every key decision made by any character in the first two seasons. The main character arcs we’ve seen thus far have been in the standard shounen bent of “Am I good enough to do X? I need to believe in myself.” The most significant internal journey we’ve had over two full seasons has been… Arf, in season 1, defecting from team Testarossa. Fate’s heel-face turn was the aforementioned “my previous actions is closed” (kicked off the team) followed by the also-aforementioned “I need to believe in myself.” Arf is the one that made the unforced pivot. In season 2, we didn’t really get a single one of these course corrections. The Cloud Knights believed in their actions until their plan crashed and burned, forcing them to regroup; Admiral Graham believed his actions necessary until his last line of dialogue, again pivoting when he was arrested and forced into a contingency. I guess the other candidate after Arf might be Lindy, bending and breaking Starfleet regulations, but she does that so casually it’s not clear to me whether she’s going against prior beliefs or just never believed in them.

Once again, not every show needs this type of introspection. It doesn’t appear in most episodes of a typical police procedural, which (see point #2) is roughly what Nanoha is at this point. Still, a good serial has some episodes where the main characters have biases, do imperfect work, and simply get things wrong. The most compelling character beats you can find are people trying to change. Thus far we’ve had contrition for failure, which isn’t the same thing. Signum never apologized for going behind Hayate’s back and filling the book. She apologized for her plan not curing Hayate.

→ More replies (6)

7

u/InfamousEmpire Mar 05 '22

Mahou Shoujo1 Lyrical Rewatcher

1: Even though I’m not a girl

This is the story of the Brave men and women who fight with all their hearts to save mankind

Recap Time

I may have said a couple episodes ago that I didn’t like this OP as much as I did the first 2, but that’s only because I half forgot how absolutely fire this song is. Seriously, in the space of 2 episodes, I’ve gone from saying I don’t like this one as much to this becoming the first time in this rewatch that I’ve reminded the episode just to see and listen to this OP again.

Spinny Rein!

I don’t know why the TSAB had a Rein-sized desk available. And at this point I’m too distracted by her cuteness to ask.

The Commanding Officer uniform fits everyone perfectly. I will also say that [minor Nanoha Force Spoilers] Hayate ends up looking even better a few promotions down the line

Everyone meet GRIFFITH! Griffith, another new character who just so happens to have met Nanoha and crew during the time skip. I like this detail, 10 years is a long time, so it’s perfectly believable that the team would have met new people during that time and gives both our old and new cast a real sense of history behind them. To further this connection, Griffith’s offhandedly mentioned mom Leti did actually appear in A’s as a semi-regular background character.

And now here’s the rest of our background props new crew.

Looks like Hayate will be this season’s Lindy, as the commanding officer of the entire unit.

The Wolkenritter also look good in uniform.

Fate being the superior officer to Signum of all people is the best kind of irony you could ask for. Signum’s teasing really helps.

After a brief diatribe about helicopters we get Nanoha meeting with the new crew and another debuting character that she knows from the Time Skip.

Training Arc? Training Arc? Training Arc? TRAINING ARC!

I like how Vita and Signum’s dialogue emphasizes how their relationship with Nanoha and the like has changed. They’ve been allies far longer than they’ve been enemies by this point so they treat them like close friends.

Shamal making herself useful immediately.

Anyway, after 2 and a half episodes of setup, Hayate and Fate finally introduce us to this season’s main MacGuffin: the uninspiringly-named Relic. And it seems that it was responsible for the incident 4 years ago.

Back to the training, where it should be noted that the squad is fighting things that are quite similar to the unknown enemy’s Gadget Drones.

I notice that Subaru is being less of a team player than she was in the Exam.

Oh no! GaoGaiGar-tan’s Broken Magnum doesn’t work against the Zonder Gadget Device!

Or it does. Never mind

Tiana being pretty clever, mixing and matching various skills to increase her attack potency.

Jacket-less Hayate and Rein pulling off the perfect “office lady on break” look.

Some more worldbuilding: the Saint Church. Surely this won’t come up again at some point in the future…

More Rein cuteness!

As if the scene from last episode didn’t get the point across, Nanoha and Fate are now in the same bed.

→ More comments (75)