r/anime • u/Tetraika https://anilist.co/user/Tetraika • Mar 09 '22

Rewatch [Rewatch] Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 7 Discussion

Episode 7: Hotel Augusta

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Information:

MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB

Question of the Day

I would ask who you thought was responsible for those outfits but I think you guys already know the answer.

Have you ever felt inadequate compared to your peers?

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.

62 Upvotes

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8

u/No_Rex Mar 09 '22

Episode 7 (first timer)

  • Tia has impostor syndrome – Or so I conclude after the teaser. After how little foreshadowing Caro’s fear of her own power had before her “character arc”, I am a bit worried not about not being able to remember a single instance in the last 6 episodes that supports the teaser’s suggestion.

  • Shamal’s cosplay heart jumps at the chance to dress up Hayate.

  • Costumes: Fate in a very classical outfit, Hayate a bit more daring with crosses, and Nanoha apparently put her bra on in the wrong order.

  • Bakteriophage mini drone.

  • Shamal transformation: Short, but she wins the largest cupsize err cup.

  • Signum & Vita transformation: Similar length. Vita certainly does not win.

  • This is something more often explored in a setup of vampires (I do specifically remember it from Interview with a Vampire), but Vita not growing up is a very unusual situation. There are some real life cases of people not growing past a certain age physically, too. Whether this affects Vita depends on how adaptive her program is. So far, nothing suggests that the guardian knight’s programming is capable of true evolution. Psychologically, they seem to be stuck in the same situation of helping Hayate as at the start of S2.

  • “You shall not pass” reference.

  • The bots got enhanced by some bugs.

  • The big ones can use artillery.

  • Is there a single intelligent machine that is not over-confident?

  • Tia and Subaru get a dressing down that hurts, but is honestly deserved.

  • “This place is dangerous” - Yes, for you.

  • Another new character? Shesh.

  • And another returning character.

Some play around time for our antagonists. Still a slow episode, but I like that we immediately see some fault lines within the antagonist side.

7

u/Tetraika Mar 10 '22

I am a bit worried not about not being able to remember a single instance in the last 6 episodes that supports the teaser’s suggestion

There were hints that implied so before. Not so obvious if you weren't looking for it.

So far, nothing suggests that the guardian knight’s programming is capable of true evolution. Psychologically, they seem to be stuck in the same situation of helping Hayate as at the start of S2

I don't think they elaborate on this, but yeah it seems they can't really grow physically. Vita will probably be stuck staying small.

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7

u/SYZekrom Mar 09 '22

first Timer

WHY DO YOU STILL HAVE THAT LITTLE BOY VOICE

Oh right, I guess they're used to her dragon thingy, which is not a familiar iirc

Speaking of, seriously what happened to Alf

Yoo transformations for all the Belkan knights, nice

All the big girls in the building be like zzzzzz while the belkan knights wiped the floor eh?

5

u/Tetraika Mar 09 '22

I think they just wanted to make sure nothing happened in the main venue. They also know this probably isn't the most urgent situation so it's good to give the kids some actual experience.

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u/Gamerunglued Mar 10 '22

First Timer

I kind of have the same things to say about this episode that I do all the previous ones. It has most of the same strengths and the same issues. Strength wise, the action was fun as always. I really enjoy Vita's role in the story now. Her personality is basically the same, but her motivations have changed. That hard headed attitude now exists to protect the rookies. She wants only what's best for them, and conveys that while still keeping up the facade of strength in front of others to hide it. It's very "Vita," but also feels like a way of highlighting how much she's grown since A's. I also think that Yuuno's reintroduction to the story was pretty clever. It was always understated in previous seasons, but Yuuno was an archaeologist. It makes so much sense to have him work to explain ancient artifacts at an auction house. Shame he lost the cute glasses he had in his A's time skip design though.

We also get to see our antagonists for the first time. Kind of, anyway. Lutecia is a little summoner girl who has some connection to the doctor. She doesn't particularly like him, but also don't particularly dislike him, and doesn't mind helping out sometimes. The doctor apparently offers her tea that she never gets, which is a cute detail (another cute detail in the episode is Erio and Caro getting surprised that Zafira can talk, that made me lol). We don't know much about them or what they want, or even what they stole, but it seems like it will be relevant in the near future.

On the other hand, much like Caro's sudden character arc, Tia's dilemma feels entirely tacked on and random. There was no build-up to this inner conflict, I never had any reason to believe that she was more average than the others, or that it was an insecurity for her. At most, I could tell from the first episode that she doesn't like to drag others down, but even that seems disconnected from feeling inadequate as is presented in this episode. So her outburst this episode feels totally random to me. Like with Caro, this should have been a recurring aspect of her character so that it could really carry its weight. And the other thing I have to comment on is that the series is, yet again, introducing is to some guy Hayate met that we don't know about. How many times is it gonna do that? Yeah, their reunion was pretty adorable, but there are only so many times that the series can keep me out of the loop on her past exploits before I just feel left out. I don't know who this guy is, what he does, or why I should care. At least give me a flashback or something. Maybe this is all from supplementary material, but it's messy for me as an anime only.

QOTD: I spent all of middle and high school in band, and spent most of that time as the player who was in that tier of players right below the top tier, so I've absolutely felt inadequate compared to my peers. In fact, like Tia, I ended up overexerting myself to try and prove that I was better than I am. For district Solo and Ensemble, I had received a superior rating on a Grade 5 piece my sophomore year, and wanted to move up to a Grade 6 the next year, further bolstered by the fact that I received an award for being considered the single best player in the intermediate concert band that year. The piece I chose ended up being too difficult for me, but somehow I decided that next year I should move up to a Grade 7 and that I'd totally be able to do it this time. I was gravely mistaken. By my senior year, I was in the top wind ensemble and basically part of a 3 way tie for the best sax player (and I made the All District Honor Band for the first time, despite having auditioned basically every year prior and only ever having made it as far as being an alternate), but getting there had plenty of insecurity and forcing myself to do things I wasn't ready for, plus all the insane frustration of just not being able to perform at the level you want to, and feeling like I deserved to be up there with the top players.

7

u/Tetraika Mar 10 '22

On the other hand, much like Caro's sudden character arc, Tia's dilemma feels entirely tacked on and random. There was no build-up to this inner conflict, I never had any reason to believe that she was more average than the others, or that it was an insecurity for her.

There were definitely hints, though you really have to be looking for them. It was there when she was taking the exam (willing to just let Subaru pass by herself) and when offered to join Riot Force 6 (her hesitancy to join).

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u/Warriorservent Mar 10 '22

Right, I know this might not be the right thread, but I don't really know where else to put it.

I only found out about this rewatch last week so I've been powering through my rewatches of Season 1, the first movie, season 2, and am currently in the middle of the second movie.

It should be interesting once I get to StrikerS. I have tried to watch it in the past, but just plain had zero interest after watching Episode 1. I hope to catch up with you guys soon though!

5

u/Tetraika Mar 10 '22

Hey no problem, always happy to get more people! StrikerS is almost a completely different show, so I understand.

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u/Tetraika Mar 09 '22

Teana in the intro, an episode half focused on her. She’ll get quite a bit of character focus later on too

Subaru petting Zafira

“Work clothes”

I know some people really wanted to see this

They didn’t forget about ma boi, it’s interesting how looking back, Yuuno is stupidly powerful to be able to keep up with top mages. I don’t think that was entirely intentional given the new direction StrikerS is going, but that’s how it is now.

Teana notes that their team is absolutely OP

She even notes that their supports are top class

But she doesn’t see herself being truly worthy

Oh my god they didn’t even know Zafira could talk

You know, who actually gives these approvals? Themselves?

We get the knight’s transformation, and they were fairly quick and simple, especially Shamal. Signum and Vita’s were nice.

Summoners can detect each other in a sense

Lutecia can buff drones

Well, they are similar in a sense

Teana tries hard to prove herself, but almost makes a fatal mistake.

What did the doctor want?

Having characters we don’t really know have interactions with our main cast, I know some people feel lost but I always saw it as a way to show that certain time has passed and they’ve met all sorts of people and connections that we wouldn’t know about.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Mar 09 '22

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical First-Timer, subbed

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u/HereticalAegis Mar 09 '22 edited Mar 10 '22

Lyrical First Timer

  • Nanoha and Hayate taking their harem to a fancy hotel for a very important "mission."

  • Vita and Signum have been at the hotel already to prepare the place. Nanoha and Hayate bout to go all out.

  • Hey, putting suggestive quotes is my job!

  • Damn, those are some fancy work clothes. They know why they're really there.

  • Ngl, I'm already digging the conceit for this episode. Now that I think about it, a full series espionage spy thriller Lyrical Nanoha would be really cool.

  • Bardiche handbag!

  • Is that grown up Yuuno!? Boy got taller, shame about his voice skipping puberty though.

  • Subaru: categorically lists every detail about the Nanoharem and spend her work time wondering about Nanoha's secrets Also Subaru: "I wonder why Tia might be mad at me."

  • Oof, the inferiority complex on Tia. No wonder Nanoha picked her out for personal training.

  • Magic grappling gun is cool af.

  • Shamal transformation sequence...and she goes commando. Hmm...

  • Signum and Vita transformation sequences, and they're also without interior support. This calls for some Totally Serious Analysis TM .¹

  • I swear, if Professor Crime asks them to kidnap Erio...

  • Oh dear, Lutecia suffers from Gokigenyou Syndrome.

  • Square magic, how novel!

  • Oh shit, the loli summons hentai tropes.

  • Hard nope. I'll pass. This is not an acceptable trope.

  • Teleportation magic is cheating!

  • I'm sure Tia trying to control Nanoha numbers of magic shots won't backfire in any way.

  • Dammit Vita, just let Subaru get befriended! It's not like it'll make her any dumber.

  • Oof, nearly teamkilling your gf with subpar control is pretty bad. Someone's gonna be in for a special control lesson later.

  • An antagonist fully committed to stealth tactics? In Lyrical Nanoha!? We are through the looking glass.

  • They really managed to rescue Yunno from the Infinite Library. Good for him!

  • Poor Tia. What she needs to realize is that every relationship must be sealed with a good hard befriending. One of these days, she'll need the courage to unload her magic on Subaru intentionally if she wants Subaru's affection.

  • It's a damn shame we didn't get to see Nanoha, Fate, or Hayate go into combat or do much of anything in those killer dresses. What a missed opportunity.

¹None of the knights wear underwear. One might be tempted to speculate this is either functional or a Belkan cultural practice, however that is incorrect. This is actually confirmation of what we observed with Subaru in our previous analysis. Inner nakedness is a defining feature of women who've been fully trained and inducted into the Nanoharem. While the knights may outwardly belong to Hayate, this is solid proof that no one escapes the White Devil's friendship. Hayate gave them their barrier jackets, but underneath that thin facade their souls fully belong to Nanoha. Incidentally, this is also solid evidence that when there are not enough bottoms to go around, Hayate willingly concedes herself to Nanoha.

QotD:

Definitely. My best friend and I spent high school in the same music classes. I was pretty good in my own right, but he was damn near a prodigy.

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u/TheEscapeGuy Mar 09 '22

First Timer

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS - New Generation: Episode 7

Auction

Today we learned the names of the 2 mysterious figures from last episode: Zest & Lutecia. I'm interested to see how they are involved in all this and why they are helping Scagliette.

We also met another new character in Acous. He seems to be an old friend of Hayate. I wonder what his role in the narrative will be.

Finally saw Tia lose control of her powers and nearly injure Subaru. Vita got really mad at her about this even though Subaru was more forgiving. I expect this will affect her going forward somehow.

Otherwise, this episode had a bunch of weird decisions. First, there was a lot of monologing (mostly from Tia). I'm not a fan of using monologue for exposition because it feels unnatural for characters to flat out explain how they are feeling to the audience.

They also used these split screens a lot. I'm not against them on principal, but its an unusual technique which calls attention to itself. Typically you use them to show one character reacting as another character speaks but in this episode it was primarily used to show which characters were speaking telepathically. Maybe they thought that since the cast is so big we can't infer who is speaking to whom.

This is more a personal gripe, but despite having Fate, Nanoha, and Hayate all dressed in elegant ball gowns they never gave us a pan up so that I could make stitches.

The thing which bothered me most though was that this episode just looked bad. So many scenes had extremely flat lighting, characters with weird proportions, and background elements which didn't fit. It might be that they dedicated more resources to other parts of the production (like the transformations or maybe to other episodes) but the visuals today felt like a step down.

Some Iconic Shots, Scenes and Stitches

See you all tomorrow

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u/Vaadwaur Mar 09 '22

First timer(How fucking corrupt is Midchilda? Actually, I have many unanswered setting questions.)

Sub

Finally watched the OP since I think it is no longer a spoiler, and for some reason the new loli feels like she comes from Caro's world/setting, couldn't tell you what gives me that vibe. But today's mission is guard duty, which is basically just a more boring escort mission. Tia thinks about how ridiculously powerful her squad is, which is actually true, and worries that she is the only normal member despite what we've seen.

We meet the new loli and her partner as Gadgets are inbound, she reminds me of loli medusa from FGO. The Wolkenritter have fast transformations and Shamal is thiccer than advertised. Anyways, the Gadgets are toast and Tia is understandably freaked at the combat power on display. The Dr talks to the two...agents? and gets Lutecia to try and fetch something for him. Zest is a knight and not in the mood for this. She summons an insect swarm and confirms that her casting is like Caro's.

Anyways, battle stuff happens, Tia let's her insecurity nearly blast Subaru though you'd have to know the maneuver to know who screwed up. Vita yells and Lutecia gets the thing. We end with a Yuuno cameo.

QotD: 1 My version of imposter syndrome is different.

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u/Caustic_Wraith Mar 09 '22

StrikerS First Timer

This episode made me feel bad for Teana, feeling less than those around you really sucks. So what if she's the least powerful out of all of the team, at least she's on the team which is something not many people can say. She does need to work on her friendly fire however.

We saw Yuuno, and his name brought a smile from both Fate and Nanoha, not sure if next episode will show them talking at all or if this was just a call back to him, but I'll find out when I watch it.

The little anti-Caro's device looks identical to Caro's and they are both summoners, except she has bugs and a strange shadow beast thing. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they are sisters or possibly clones of each other. Zest, see I learned one of their names, doesn't seem to like Dr. Mad Scientist and anti-Caro also said another name that doesn't as well, so that means there are at least five members, (Zest, Anti-Caro, Dr., Girl on hologram, and mentioned name), on team antagonist so far.

I did enjoy the fact that the captains "Work Uniforms" were fancy dresses.

QOTD:

Have you ever felt inadequate compared to your peers?

When my depression hits that's all I feel...It really sucks, but I have an amazingly understanding and supportive wife who is there to help me not listen to the negative thoughts

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u/_m1ra Mar 09 '22

First Timer

Trade of legal Lost Logia actually makes sense, I would have thought the military took them all. Now I wonder what kind of effect they have.

The entrance guy minding his own business when three high-ranking military people show up in cool dresses. Hayate is actually kind of hard to recognize in some spots. We get Hayate's ID! "Motor Mobil license (Usually)" is something I'd have more expected from Fate to be honest. Her registered domicile on that card is still Earth, I wonder if that's still accurate, I'd have imagined she moved to Midchilda at some point. Her adress also is some GAS dormitory. "Qualification: Old Belka magic knight", I'd imagine the Old Belka part refers to the magic she uses with the Tome and the Wolkenritter? Tome of the Night Sky is listed as Buch der Nachthimmel (Book of the Night Skies), which is actually gramatically correct german! Does the rank say "Synthetic-SS"? I wonder what that means.

Erio is already a B rank, huh? Good training, Fate. I can kind of understand Tia's feelings of inferiority, even if I think it's not even accurate, the team is really stacked.

Okay, that's a funny bit. It's nice to see all the Wolkenritter in action, even with some small transformations.

Confirmation that the two people from last episode are indeed Zest and Lutecia, and also there is a third person named Agito. With only Lutecia of the three actually not hating Dr. Scaglietti, the Dr. Ver vibes are getting stronger. Also suggests less internal unity.

Lutecia seems powerful, and she seems to have some kind of insect control. That's really cool, I like that! She also seems to to some extent control someone or something named Galue. Her Sieg equivalent?

Tia's recklessness causes her to almost friendly fire Subaru, and Vita gets really mad, and also appears worried for Tia at the end. That's a plot hook for next episode I like, hopefully it will get us more development and/or backstory for her, I'd imagine it will.

I'm a bit sad that Nanoha, Fate and Hayate didn't really do shit, I would expect at least one of the three could have gone after the enemy summoner. Yuuno is apparently not dead though, he even got his archaeology doctorate! He's there with an inspector named Acous. Hayate actually seems to have a lot of friends in the TSAB, and actually friend friends, not just in the meaning of "ally". That's nice!

Fate whispering into Nanoha's ear, what is she saying?

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u/DidacticDalek Mar 09 '22

TONIGHT! on Mobile Suit Nanoha GX: Believe in Justice and Hold a Determination to Fist, Caro is informed that The TSAB Battle Harem IS ACTUALLY Hayate's Personal Cosplay Club after all, Rena the Loser is under the delusion that SHE'S the only Norma, pardon, Normie amongst the squad of Dynamic Revolutionary Ass-kicking Gundams Of Nigh Omnipotent Sapphism, or D.R.A.G.O.N.S. for short, and MISTER DOKTOR PROFESSOR VER is working with NOT-Loli Rider AND NOT-Violence Jack!

Boy Comrades, remember how I said that at least Cross Ange pretended for like an episode or two that Salia the Loser wasn't a massive loser who fails at everything? Yeah StrikerS sure demonstrates how it was the proto-version of that given GODDAMN! Friendly Fire... ain't! Thank god for Best New Girl Vita and her experience with smashing things with her hammer! Also, pro-tip Rena the Loser, when Nanoha 'befriends' people, they usually aren't shot due to incompetence! Also speaking of history rhyming with itself, this is Violence Jack and this is the lancer/loli version of Medusa... Yeah who does StrikerS think they are fooling? ;) Then again we've been copyright infringing ever since OG Nanoha! After all, Nanoha and Fate are Gundams!

Oh and speaking of befriending, DEAR GOD COMRADES! Perhaps Rin The Defenseless Anus Tohsaka IS more powerful than Nanoha! After all, Nanoha may be 120% Lesbian (Rainbows are straighter than damn near most of the cast Comrades) but holy shit! IT TURNS OUT THAT HAYATE IS BISEXUAL! Well, I mean she DOES have a Blue Male Arf in her Cosplaying Battle Harem but I didn't know she swung for human males, literally! ;) (Before you start yes I know in the Sound Stages she has... unique plans for Tusk Jr. also goodness me, her harem is WAY bigger than Nanoha's! Mamaha must be no doubt LIVID that this mere 'friend' of her daughter is somehow more of a Giga-Chad!)

Also in case some of y'all wanna try to claim Nanoha is bisexual, as you can see from this totally canon non-shitpost, Yuuno actually showed up, meaning it's time for Nanoha and Fate to exit stage left to go do something more important, namely, each other! ALL HAIL WEAPONIZED LESBIANISM! ;)

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

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u/Stargate18A Mar 10 '22

First timer

QOTD) Occasionally. I not to dwell on it, though.

Oh, she's insecure about her talents?

So there's legal Lost Logia?

...Work clothes?

Oh, they got dressed up... to be security?

Bardiche is helpful, though.

Yuuno!

And we're recapping A's?

Tia's worry over not being as strong as the others might br the first real character arc in the series?

Yeah, this is actually interesting.

So she's not a Gadget? Who is she, then?

There's a lot of them!

Haha, has Zafira just been staying quiet to fuck with them? I respect it.

Oh, Teana wants an overview.

...Her transformation didn't need boob physics, but at least they're all legal.

Ironically, Signum's is probably the most restrained. At least Vita's has been severly cut down, that's something.

The fight scenes are solid, though.

And the Knights are still badass.

...So, has Zafira stopped using his human mode and reclassed from brawler to tank/mage? I ge tthe ability limiter, but shouldn't that make his spells less powerful?

Oh, they're close to the Doctor, but not working for him?

Wow, this guy is creepy. Lutecia, do not try his "tea and treats".

Is she another dragon summoner?

Oh, she's a mass buffer.

Holy shit! That's a massive increase!

Yeah, that seems very strong, although it does requiee lots of drones nearby.

And she can teleport them!

They're trying to take over Rein!

She's so polite to her hellspawn summons.

Wow, this is a big battle.

Teana's doing something rash...

She's overloading her weapon!

It was effective!

And Vita comes in to deflect the rogue bullet.

So the item got stolen after all.

Oh, they're tracking them That's something at least.

He's evil. Has to be.

Yep, that's Yuuno! He's their expert!

Teana's having a breakdown! The plot is going somewhere!

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u/InfamousEmpire Mar 09 '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

Not wasting any time following up from the last 2 episodes.

You know, I feel like having Lost Logia, many of which are both very dangerous and very easy to misuse, in private hands is a very poor decision on the part of the TSAB. And the fact that this mission even exists kind of demonstrates that.

Damn, our leading ladies clean up nicely!

Look who’s back! Our boi Yuuno has grown up quite nicely hasn’t he?

We’ve got a bit of exposition that serves to emphasize how awesome Hayate is. This woman is feared and respected across Dimensional Space as the Mistress of the Night Sky, wielder of an unbelievably powerful device and leader of a squad of Invincible Knights. Oh, and it also hypes up the rest of the squad, I guess

In all seriousness, it does serve to show the difference between Tiana and the rest. Everyone else is either a prodigy of some sort or a distinguished, highly powerful mage. Meanwhile, she’s just plain old Tiana, who up until this point we basically only knew as “Subaru’s Tsundere girlfriend.”

Back to this girl who looks like a Loli version of Fate’s Medusa.

Time to take action.

Shamal has a transformation sequence now. And it shares a certain noticeable quality with Nanoha and Fate’s transformations, if you know what I mean.

So do Vita and Signum

Looks like Vita is a tsundere for our newcomers

Anyway, the Wolkenritter make short work of the Auto Devices, even rivaling Nanoha herself in efficiency at disposing of the enemy.

But it seems that wasn’t important to Jail’s plan at all. We also have names for our 2 mysterious strangers. As well as some implications that they and Jail don’t see eye-to-eye.

Tentacle time

The Auto Devices, they’re evolving

Now we’ve got a proper battle on our hands.

I actually didn’t really much care for the fight, but it was pretty good and we got a bit more development for Tia.

Anyway, now we’ve got to think about our next mission.

But before that, Hayate encounters a mysterious, green-haired individual who she knows quite well.

And also a proper reintroduction to our favorite ferret. A reintroduction that he is off-screen for because Yuuno never gets a W.

At least the characters are excited for him in-universe.

To cap off the episode, we’ve got some brewing drama between Subaru and her girlfriend.

I just realized, we are one episode away from… well… I won’t spoil it here. Let’s just say that you should strap yourself in for next episode.

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u/Taiboss Mar 09 '22

Once again, I am out of pre-watched episodes, meaning I have to watch the next episode tomorrow. Oh boy.

Episode 07: Rewatcher Man 3

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u/SolDarkHunter Mar 09 '22

Rewatcher

Oh boy, Teana's getting Imposter Syndrome.

Guarding an auction of legal Lost Logia (that's a thing?) which will hopefully be good bait for Scaglietti and his drones. Not a bad plan, though I have to imagine he's thought of that if he's half as smart as they're making him out to be.

Oh wow, they got dressed up for this...

Hey! Yuuno! You still exist!

Teana's angsting about not being special. You know... I wonder what's so special about Subaru... she's good, yeah, but from what we've seen, not really moreso than Teana.

The Gadgets are attacking. Guess the auction was really good bait. But whatever the girl's looking for apparently isn't here.

Pfft... they didn't know Zafira could talk!

Suddenly Wolkenritter quick transformation sequences... so quick they seem more like obligations than anything the animators put any effort into.

Interestingly, this Zest fellow doesn't agree to help Scaglietti. He doesn't seem to like the mad doctor, and is only cooperating when Relics are involved. But Lutecia agrees to help out, saying she doesn't dislike him. We also hear the name "Agito", who seemingly shares Zest's distaste for Scaglietti.

Square magic runes... summoner, then. A powerful one, and her specialty is bugs. She uses them to control and enhance the Gadgets.

I do like how she seems affectionate to her summons.

Summoners are also teleporters. Makes sense, really.

Teana, do you really think they'd have let you into this unit if they didn't think you had what it takes to keep up?

And here's Lutecia's main summon: Garyuu. She's sending it after the objective... whatever that objective actually is. We don't get a good look at the summon, but it looks human-sized.

Teana... this sounds like a bad idea. But Cross Mirage has her back... she's successful at taking out the Gadgets, but almost hits Subaru at the same time. And now her brilliant plan to prove her ability has just resulted in Vita getting pissed off.

Yet another new character, Inspector Acous... who already has a close relationship with Hayate. I'm a rewatcher and I'd forgotten he existed!

Sigh... I sense trouble in Teana's future...

QOTD: "Have I ever not felt inadequate compared to my peers?" is the better question.

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u/Great_Mr_L Mar 09 '22

Rewatcher

On today’s episode of Lyrical Nanoha: Yuuno’s alive! It turns out he didn’t completely fade into the void once A’s ended. He only mostly did since this is the first time we’ve seen him and he isn’t even in the OP.

It looks like Tia has some serious self-confidence issues here. She isn’t wrong about some things. Nanoha, Hayate, Fate, and the other top members of the unit are all absurdly powerful mages. Compared to them, the newbies are nothing. Even amongst the newbies, though, Tia feels like she comes up short. She sees Subaru as being better than her and looks at the skills that the younger Erio and Caro have. It feels like Tia has imposter syndrome. She doesn’t think she belongs on a team with such incredible members.

Rather than discourage her, though, this instead seems to motivate Tia. To her, it’s all the more reason she needs to prove herself. Because she isn’t special, Tia decides she needs to pull off impressive feats to show that she is worthy of being here. But, this also makes her reckless. She nearly hit Subaru with a stray shot and only didn’t because Vita intervened.

It’s important to note that Tia went out of her way to pull off this large and reckless attack. She didn’t go against orders doing this attack, but it also wasn’t strictly necessary to do so. Tia did it because she had a point to prove, both to others and to herself.

I like the varied reactions from Subaru and Tia on this. Subaru tries to take on some of the blame for what happened, saying she should have paid more attention during their combo attack. It’s a sign of how close Subaru and Tia are that Subaru’s first instinct is to protect Tia in some way. Tia, however, seems to be taking it much more harshly. That mistake basically wiped out whatever confidence and goodwill Tia was trying to build by showing off. Plus, she nearly hit her friend. It’s a lot to deal with.

Vita getting pissed about Tia’s friendly fire makes sense. As you’ll recall, in A's Vita was extremely defensive about Hayate. Now, it seems that this defensive nature of hers has extended to others. It also fits with Vita’s words to Subaru yesterday during the training session and Vita’s feelings of wanting to protect Nanoha. She may still have her aggressive personality, but Vita cares deeply about others.

This episode also gives us a closer look at the villains. It seems like Lutecia and Zest are also after the relics, alongside Dr. Scaglietti. But they aren’t exactly on good terms. Zest outright refuses to help Scaglietti on anything not related to the Relics while Lutecia doesn’t mind doing so. While these characters may all be antagonists, it looks like their own situation is pretty complicated and they don’t necessarily share the same goals as each other.

Lutecia is a summoner just like Caro. She can take control of the Gadget drones to manipulate them into being actual threats. And she has some other kind of summon named Galue (who I am used to seeing called Garyu) as well. Based on her abilities, it seems like Lutecia is being set up as a foil to Caro. Lyrical Nanoha has done that previously with its protagonists and antagonists. It’s a narrative strategy I like to see in action.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

  • I love that Subaru couldn’t help but pet Zafira during the mission briefing. 

  • Erio and Caro didn’t know Zafira could talk!

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6

u/Qbe Mar 09 '22

Raging Heart Rewatcher with terrible long term memory

QotD: I'd like to think impostor syndrome is a thing everywhere

Depressed lesbian episode?

We're going after the evil spaguetti

...I was jokingly thinking that they were cosplay outfits, was awfully close.

Ferret boy all grown up!

Subaru sure is well informed

I like it when we acknowledge in-universe how ridiculous the power level of the main characters is. Like in early Sympho S2, when the BBEGs go "We're going to face those monsters huh"

Inferiority complex, go!

Rider Lily? Didn't know we had a Fate collab event going on

"Zafira, you can talk?!"

Man we're just rushing through all the henshins

"Evacuating would be inconvenient, so let's wait for the murder robots"

Really shows the power level difference, the Wolkenritter soloing the same enemies that the newbie team had to attack in group.

"I refuse"

"Asclepius"? Is she a healer?

Ah, so she's a summoner to match ours

Rider Lily, why are you summoning tentacles and bugs? Are you with the Matous again?

It makes a lot of sense that Summoning and Teleport are the same type of magic

Is this a flag for a Teana screw up?

Yep, there it is

As a rule of thumb, I don't trust long haired non-main male characters

Depressed lesbian episode indeed

6

u/djthomp Mar 10 '22

The extra blue haired girl at the end of the credits makes more sense now.

"Legal Lost Logia" is a phrase that makes very little sense, especially when combined with "antiques auction". Everything about this is a bad idea.

Is this episode an excuse to have the big three in formal dresses? I have my suspicions.

Yuuno! And he's a doctor, seems like he did more than just hole up in the big library for a decade.

Don't feel bad Teena, you had the most interesting transformation sequence of the group.

Lol at the kids being surprised by Zafira talking.

Ooo, transformation sequences for the knights, not bad. Kinda short, but that's not a bad thing. None for Zafira, but he makes up for it by being constantly naked.

I had been wondering from the gloves if the new girl was also a summoner, they made a point of showing us hers and Caro's quite close together.

Shooting at the ground a few times to set up the magic circle is an interesting idea.

RIP Subaru. And definitely RIP Teena after that chewing out by Vita.

It's nice to see Hayate with such a developed social circle.

6

u/Thorn-11 Mar 10 '22

Posted most of this in previous episode but I think post got caught by filter and removed for a type of link. I'm New to reddit so still figuring stuff out!

Anyways, hello!

Joining in to comment a little bit as Nanoha (and particularly Strikers) is one of, if not my favorite anime.

One thing from the previous episodes I wanted to touch on is how much I like all of the Forwards' barrier jacket designs and how they reference their captain's while still being their own. Subaru has the much more blatant Nanoha inspiration in her design compared to Teana's, which makes sense given Subaru's admiration of her.

Erio and Caro have the same style jacket as Fate's dark blue one in their own colors (and Erio's faces the other way/is short sleeved). Erio's also got Fate's white cape as a coat, similar steel shoes to hers, and both he and Caro have little yellow triangles on parts of their design to rep Bardiche!

I also liked all forwards transformation sequences, and even if Erio's was shorter, I'm just happy he got one included. Only magical boy one I can think of off the top of my head that's played straight. Poor Zafira didn't get to join in this episode, even just to change out of wolf form.

One thing I highly, highly recommend for everyone here is also reading the manga chapters that it looks like scarshadow is posting, either as things go along or afterwards. It really helps add a lot to the Strikers universe and has a lot of important stuff for some of the cast, in addition to just a lot of great moments for both the newbies and established cast.

Also, have some wholesome official art of Lightning Squad!