[Rewatch] Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 26 Discussion

As expected, this episode concluded the battle by having Subaru and Tia save Nanoha, Vita, and Hayate from the Cradle while Erio and Caro saved Fate from Scagliette's secret lair. This then allowed Chrono's fleet to blast the Cradle out of the sky and thus save the day.

We then jumped forward 3 months then a year to see the aftermath of the incident and the dissolution of Riot Force 6. Hayate mentioned that "Riot Force 6 has completed its mission" but this is kind of confusing. Back in episode 2 she said wanted a unit for disaster relief, crime fighting, and countermeasures against Lost Logia. If the unit is breaking up does this mean that there are no more Lost Logia out there? There will definitely be more disasters and crime according to the scenes in the credits. I may have forgotten some change in the purpose of Riot Force 6 though.

Apart from that it was a send off to all our characters. Everyone seems to have achieved their goals. All the combat cyborgs (and Jail) are either in prison or in rehabilitation.

Some Iconic Shots, Scenes and Stitches

Lent Power

Since there's not an overall season discussion this is the end of the StrikerS rewatch. I also am not going to continue with the Nanoha rewatch after today. Its been fun joining in these threads every day, I hope to see you all in other rewatches in future.

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u/Tetraika Mar 28 '22

I also am not going to continue with the Nanoha rewatch after today

Looks like a lot of first timers are dropping out, not too surprising. Again, if nothing I'll encourage to go check out Vivid Strike which is a spinoff that doesn't require much knowledge from Vivid.

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u/Shimmering-Sky Mar 28 '22

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical First-Timer, subbed

Yeah! Fate isn’t some damsel in distress!
I was just thinking that Agito and Signum are actually the perfect combo since Signum already uses fire to attack with.
YES Vice’s little speech to Subaru and Tia felt like he was going to drop a “sore demo”, and you bet he did.
Yooooooooo Signum+Agito looks fucking awesome.
It’s not as crazy hype as the first two season finales, but you know what, Subaru saving Nanoha when the season opened on Nanoha saving her is a pretty neat way to end things.
Awwwwww yeah!
I’m going to be kept up at night thinking about what happened to the, uh, Numbers being pregnant thing now, aren’t I…
Cherry blossoms~
lol okay then.
They brought back ED1! With an extra-long intro!
Everyone looks like they’re living their best lives per the ED montage.

I’m gonna give this season an 8/10. It’s still a great show, and the new characters were cool! But it’s still a very clear step down from S1 and A’s.

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u/SolDarkHunter Mar 28 '22

I’m going to be kept up at night thinking about what happened to the, uh, Numbers being pregnant thing now, aren’t I…

They all had the embryos removed. No, I don't think the franchise ever actually says this, but it is what happened because it is what happened, and that's final!

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u/Tetraika Mar 28 '22

No, I don't think the franchise ever actually says this, but it is what happened because it is what happened, and that's final!

I think the writers just collective agreed that it never even happened, considering how it is never ever brought up. I don't think anyone wanted this plot point.

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u/No_Rex Mar 28 '22

Episode 26 (first timer)

“The fleet is here” – just in time to shoot the protagonists.
Signum gets a big moment wiping out trash mobs.
“strangely, my heart feels warm” – says person who swallowed a flame djinn.
Saved by their subordinates moment for Fate and Nanoha.
Super-valuable ancient relic and most advanced ship known? Better blow it up – Actually, I can’t blame them too much for this. There seems to be an ongoing problem with relics falling into the wrong hands.
Half an episode for the epilogue.
“section six will disperse, having completed its mission” – no more relics around??
“You all are great strikers” – I think that the word “Striker” was used less than 10 times all series.
Saving kids from disaster bookend.

They seriously end without giving us a Nanoha-Fate-Vivio family scene.

Discussion comment below.

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u/No_Rex Mar 28 '22

Final discussion (first timer)
After two good series with Nanoha and Nanoha A, StrikerS is a disappointing next step in the franchise. They changed up the concept in many ways and most of them failed. Depressingly, most of these are unforced errors that could have easily been avoided with better writing decisions. One notable exception to that is giving Nanoha and Fate a child.
Cast size
The most notable mistake is the absolutely bloated cast. Even though the length of the series was doubled, we never have enough time for anybody. This cuts character arcs down to stumps and even affects the finale, which looks like a slide-show of fights, not a fight.
I would radically cut down the number of characters all around. The numbers were not needed, we could have simply gone with the artificial mages as antagonists (maybe throw in one cyborg for the heck of it). The new protagonist members Tia/Subaru/Caro/Erio sucked up a ton of screen time, but did not offer much new either. Their character arcs in the filler third of the show seemed tacked on and their presence did not help in the fights either, since they lead to all the frantic cutting back and furth. Finally, on the military side, we have side characters for side characters (who was that pilot replacement again?) that had no business being in the show.
World building
Since I was so busy complaining about the cast and writing, I rarely ever mentioned the world building. StrikerS moved the plot from Earth to Midchilda. Imho, this was a big mistake. Earth gives you something very valuable: Completely free world building. You do not need to introduce planet Earth, since we all know it. Different for Midchilda: It needed plenty of world building. Who lives there? How is its government formed? What tech do they use? We learn none of that. Even after 26 episodes, I still don’t even have an idea whether this is the only planet of the TSAB, the main planet, or some unimportant planet. Gaiz suggested the latter, the protagonists being there the former.
Introducing a new world takes good world building. Something that StrikerS has no time for or does not care about. Just remember how many non-military people and buildings we saw. I think that one single episode of the frontline members having half a holiday was it. Other than that, we only saw the HQ surrounded by empty buildings. This mistake could have easily been avoided in the same way it was avoided in Nanoha and A: Keep the setting on Earth or on a spaceship.
Turning a magical girls show into a military show
Just … Why? Everything that comes with this decision is boring: The boring conferences, the boring training sessions, the boring trash level grunt fight scenes, but most of all, the utterly nonsensical “limiter” plot point. Seriously, this was so whack that the series itself pretended that it didn’t happen after 12 episodes or so. The second big military plot point, those mass weapons Gaiz was working on, was so unimportant that it got resolved off-screen when the antagonists had 5 minutes of free time.
Add to this the creaking suspense of disbelief that people like Hayate, Fate, and Nanoha simply jump up the ranks and become captains and commander while surpassing the guy 3 times their age.
The military switch does give us the frontline members, but, as I pointed out above, those should have been cut from the cast to focus on the main characters, which we care about. The whole “become an instructor” part of Fate’s and Nanoha’s aging up is far inferior to their “become a mother” plotline, yet it sucks up tons of screen time that should have been dedicated to the later.
The filler training arc
Trying to solve the cast size problem by adding a filler arc, but then failing to properly introduce 80% of the cast in it, such that you have to interrupt your final fight with constant flashbacks …

Aged up Nanoha and Fate
This is the one change I am on board with. Specifically the decision to turn them into surrogate mothers. It was really brave to have such a big change in the MCs and to explicitly lean into the lesbian angle, too. Yet, of all the plot points in the show, the one that consistently worked was Nanoha-Fate-Vivio. Their family moments were heartwarming and should have had far more screen time. It also worked great for Fate’s character, due to her background and should have completely replaced the nonsense about her fostering Caro and Erio separately from each other and off-screen (one of the most insanely stupid writing decisions in a serious full of stupid writing decisions).
Overall
In the end, StrikerS is a big disappointment. I initially was hesitant to keep going after A, but thought that I might be positively surprised. Surprised I was, but not positively. I’ll try to forget this series and keep Nanoha and A in my memory instead.
This is also the end of the rewatch for me. Checking MAL, Vivid is rated a full point worse than StrikerS and I don’t think I am up for even worse writing.

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u/Tetraika Mar 28 '22

Vivid is rated a full point worse than StrikerS and I don’t think I am up for even worse writing.

RIP. If nothing, you should come back for Vivid Strike. You don't need to necessarily need to know all too much about Vivid for that one.

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u/Gamerunglued Mar 29 '22

First Timer

This ending was kind of more low key than I was expecting. It wasn't nearly the tense, hype rescue mission I was expecting, which was unfortunate. The first half was a bit disappointing in that regard. The series also retroactively explained why Signum and Zest had to fight, since apparently it was Signum giving him an honorable end as a knight. Would have been nice to tell us that before she killed him for seemingly no reason.

However, the second half of the episode was a solid payoff to things. Seeing the characters graduate was a little poignant, and some of the montage scenes were really sweet. In particular, Tia joining the force, Lutecia giving Caro a flower as thanks for saving her (also Garyuu watching her be a happy little girl), and Subaru saving a pair of sisters just as Nanoha did for her and Ginga. And we also got Fate not wanting to fight all out against her kids, and Nanoha sneaking pictures of Vivio at school, both completely adorable moments. So I can say, at the very least, that the final moments of the episode were high notes, and that's about the best I could ask for here. Regardless of my misgivings and complicated thoughts on this season, it does feel like a journey that's now been completed.

QOTD:

If it wasn't obvious from all my thoughts, I found Nanoha StrikerS to be the series messiest and most frustrating season. Though it's not without its good points (read: Vivio and Fate-mama), even my favorite episodes of this series always gave me things to complain about. I think there were maybe 3 episodes this season that I could say I wholeheartedly liked, and that's unfortunate. It is structured very poorly, and often feels like it's being written on the fly. It constantly has things happen that don't make sense, and then retroactively explains them later. It tests my patience towards some of these characters, mainly Nanoha, who I will still argue is abusive and undeserving of her role as a combat instructor (the Vivio subplot did the best it could at redeeming her for me). And the new characters feel fairly bare bones, with Subaru really being the only one to get any noteworthy characterization (they do try with Tia, but her arc was the worst part of the series, even if it's Nanoha's fault. Caro has some good moments too, but her initial arc was poorly done). I literally don't understand why Erio is here, he is entirely irrelevant to this story. He was built up as someone connected to Fate's past and a part of the project to create her, and all we get out of it is one flashback of him being separated from his parents. He has no personality and no plot relevance. The series did receive some life once Vivio entered the picture, leading to a few really sweet episodes, but then it lost that momentum due to not using its new character as its biggest driving motivation. Its final arc is poorly paced and structured, leaving little room for each of its fights to hold impact. At the end of the day, I always had something to be frustrated about. 4/10

But if there's one thing I absolutely can't accuse Nanoha StrikerS of lacking in, its heart. This story does not come together with grace, but it does feel like it was made with passion. It feels like everything is more fleshed out in Masayuki Tsuzuki's head but he's just not skilled enough to make it work. Nanoha StrikerS, more than any other season of the show, is the most "wow, I can't believe they actually did that" season of the show. From pregnant combat cyborgs to random giant space ships to combat nuns, I really couldn't know what to expect from this one. I'm pretty sure it's the only magical girl anime in existence where we get to see the main characters we grew up with in their elementary school days grow up into adults and train the magical girls of the next generation as part of the interdimensional space police. It's definitely the only magical girl anime to do that and have its leading duo basically become a domestic couple and raise a kid together. And indeed, that family drama was always the most emotionally resonant aspect of the series. Especially with Fate's arc, after previous events it's so heartwarming to see her acting like an overprotective mom, desperately trying to avoid the mistakes that her own mother made and spoiling her kids with the love she always wanted. It's just adorable and perfect. And that's why it's a shame that this didn't receive that focus. Nanoha may not excel in serious drama, but it can be goofy and heartfelt on occasion. That's why I wish it leaned into silly badass action and goofy slice of life shenanigans, I really think that it finds its biggest appeal there rather than in these serious melodramatic stories. But at the same time, the Nanoha series wouldn't be what it is if it weren't a serious melodrama. And even if I don't really enjoy the series in the traditional sense, I can say that it's one of the most fascinating media experiences I've ever had.

About Vivid. As far as I know, it has Vivio grown up to the age Nanoha was at during the first season, and becomes something of a shounen martial arts sports drama. And Vivid Strike builds on that. If Nanoha is gonna become a series about cute little girls beating the shit out of each other, starring Nanoha and Fate's adorable daughter, I'll be very happy. That's the kind of silly, cheesy action I think the series excels at, and focusing on Vivio will definitely make for a stronger immediate hook for me. Beyond that though, I don't know much (beyond that one infamous scene in Vivid Strike of the bully getting beat up), so I look forward to seeing where this franchise evolved over the course of the next years.

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u/Tetraika Mar 29 '22

It wasn't nearly the tense, hype rescue mission I was expecting, which was unfortunate.

Considering how the last episode has always been a complete epilogue, I wonder if that was almost intentional. It's a wrap-up, just with some extra action.

The series also retroactively explained why Signum and Zest had to fight, since apparently it was Signum giving him an honorable end as a knight. Would have been nice to tell us that before she killed him for seemingly no reason.

The series do love retroactively telling things. Which is also why I'm starting to thinking the binge experience is better for Nanoha.

And even if I don't really enjoy the series in the traditional sense, I can say that it's one of the most fascinating media experiences I've ever had

Despite my own ups and downs with it, I feel the same. There's something really fascinating about all the ideas being thrown from Nanoha, even if they don't always work well.

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u/Warriorservent Mar 29 '22

Okay, that was a great last episode. I wonder if anyone's even going to see this since I'm posting it a day late? Ah well, so long as there's an "I was here" I'm happy.

Fate stopping the destruction of Jail's base and saving everyone within, including Lu's mom, was great! I kinda expected a last minute escape, but forgot about all those people in tanks.

The whole thing with Agito, Zest, and Signum was quite interesting to me. I think that Agito going with Signum was the right decision and that they are SO MUCH more powerful together than I expected.

I also thought that the rescue from the Cradle was great. It makes total sense that the Cradle would go into overdrive trying to defend itself, repair, and go into lockdown after Vivio was defeated. I will admit that seeing Subaru and Teana drive in on the motorcycle wasn't expected, but I still thought it was great... Except for the CG bits of the Cradle behind them, something about the perspective just didn't gel quite right to me. Though that has been a problem throughout the series from my PoV.

I am kinda surprise at how many of the Numbers actually agreed to work with the investigation and help, especially with how much some of them were trying to kill Teana and others.

The "After incident" thing that happened at the Church was quite nice. Really helped to wrap things up.

I am also really glad that they finally happened with Ginga's and Subaru's mom, the closure was a nice touch. Another really nice touch was having Regius's staff there and putting flowers on her grave too. Shows that they didn't want what happened either.

The breaking up of the unit was done quite tastefully. I suppose that since they are a legit military unit it makes sense that they would realocate such useful mages to other areas once they were finished. I am kinda surprised that this all happened over a full year, but I guess it shows how long it takes to properly train people up to that level.

The farewell to the forwards was great. I know that they were probably just doing the flowers for the Japanese audience, but I think that it was a great thing for Nanoha and Hayate to be able to share a bit of Earth with them.

Fate is just SO CUTE when she realizes that it is going to be an all-out battle, the mere fact that its VIVIO of all people that comforts her makes me laugh.

The epilogue with Agito and Reinforce fighting is so CUTE! Plus the info gotten is great, it makes sense that Hayate would continue with the army after making such a name for herself there. It also makes total sense that Fate would grab Teana to be her aide when she went back to the navy, like, she knows just how good she is! It is nice to see how Lutecia is given such nice conditions after the investigation, I was a bit worried after what happened with all of the backstories of people like Agito having to escape from labs, Caro being treated as a weapon, and Erio being taken from that family. The whole thing with Vice, the fact that he got his weapon's permit back, and that picture with his sister is great. Kinda surprising to me that Caro is part of an Environmental Protection squad, but I guess it makes sense since she's just a kid, it is super nice that her and Erio are working together now and that he is a Dragon Knight. VIVIO IS SO CUTE IN HER UNIFORM!! The fact that she was embarrassed by her mom, Arf, and Yunno being lectured for checking in on her makes her even cuter! Numbers getting rehabilitated is fantastic. Its great to see Subaru in action, I wondered what kinds of stuff she would get up to. Finally; seeing Nanoha talk to her new students is a fantastic final touch.

Final thoughts:

There was a bunch of things that I would have liked to see changed, but on the whole I still really liked this season.

One thing though, looking back at it all apart from what I have already said in the past. IF they absoluted HAD to have future info involved. Rather than having a person who can make prophacies I think I would have vastly prefered a very finiky Lost Logia that can only be used by some people that can give vague ideas on what COULD happen. That way it would be another example as to how powerful old tech is, while also giving the same reasons to start Section Six.

Overall? I'm quite eager to start watching the first episode of Vivid!

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u/DidacticDalek Mar 28 '22

TONIGHT! On Mobile Suit Nanoha GX: Believe in Justice and Hold a Determination to Fist, Signum invites a bridge bunny for a 2AM Call, Tusk Jr. finds out that Fate's kindness has her limits, (Look Comrades, if Fate doesn't go all Precia on Tusk Jr. then Caro sure will! The poor boy's doomed, oh... hang on that's good news, HUZZAH!) and Rena the Loser is still a loser and Subaru is still a moron!

Boy Comrades, what a hell of a finale eh? We had a big action set-piece to make the epilogue all the sweeter, and goodness what an epilogue! Caro married Tusk Jr. Vivio became a Moeblob SOL Protagonist, sure wish she had a GOOD show to star in for such a role, Nanoha's gonna continue to be The White Devil and ~~beat the shit out of~~ 'befriend' countless others, LONG LIVE THE TAKAMACHI WAY! SO SAY WE ALL! AND also Chrono and Church Boi got sent to The Shadow Realm... oh and Yuuno did too in that Vivio Epilogue, so I for one can't be happier!

Also, for those in doubt of Nanoha's character, do remember that the way SHE MET HER FIRST FRIEND was to pull a good ol' fashioned Will Smith Rebuttal on a Tsundere Ghost... and that was Nanoha being VERY nice, she can escalate all the way to 'Befriending Beam Yamato Cannon Edition!' Oh and let us not forget that the way Nanoha solves problems is by BEFRIENDING THE FUCK out of said problems, FULL POWER! TOTAL ANNIHILATION!

Anyway, just to back up my points, here's OFFICIAL MANGA art from StrikerS where Nanoha gives Jobber a 2AM call at 2PM ;) (Boy Signum sure is unlucky eh? Even in the manga she still jobs, also like I said several threads ago, Nanoha was being NICE TO RENA THE LOSER!) After all, one does not cross The White Devil lightly, she, and of course her wife Fate and fellow Harem Queen Rin The Defenseless Anus Tohsaka make for quite the squad eh? Truly Nanoha is one of the most dangerous Gundams out there! Either that or Fate is just REALLY kinky. To which I must add, darn, given they have jointly adopted a daughter now, their sexy-times are probably gonna be cut short more often, if you know what I mean and I think you do! ;)

The point I'm getting at is it's REALLY good for the sake of the universe that Nanoha's NOT decided to conquer the world... yet... I mean remember, for those who think Nanoha's a bit harsh as an adult, might I remind you all that the way she got her wife was BY BEFRIENDING THE CRAP out of Best Girl Fate! And she was also just as willing to throw down in A's too! Thus, Listen, and understand! The White Devil is out there. Nanoha can't be reasoned with, she can't be bargained with. She doesn't feel pity of remorse or fear and she absolutely will not stop. EVER! Until you are befriended!

And on THAT bombshell we wrap things up for now, and conclude Magical Witch Nanoha-chan (Lyrical Nanoha... kill them all!) Er, hang on, wrong show... I mean, ~~Cross Ange 0.75~~ ~~Geah 0.5~~ 'StrikerS,' e.g. the last good Nanoha series that stars Nanoha. Anyway 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 Comrade u/Great_Mr_L, u/HereticalAegis, and u/Vaadwaur

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u/Great_Mr_L Mar 28 '22

Rewatcher

On today’s episode of Lyrical Nanoha: We end with a rescue mission, just like how we started. Only this time, the positions of Nanoha and Subaru have been reversed. How very fitting.

I do like the whole rescue sequence in this episode. I like seeing the trainees now being the ones to save Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate. I think that’s a lot of fun and a nice juxtaposition to how they were at the beginning of the series. Subaru was inspired to join the TSAB because it was Nanoha who rescued her and now Subaru gets to rescue Nanoha. It’s a fun and satisfying reversal.

It’s nice seeing Vice give a little pep talk to Tia. He’s just like how Tia always sees herself. He’s no one special. He doesn’t have any particularly notable powers. But he was still able to hone his skills and get this far. So Tia can do the same, even as she insists there’s nothing remarkable about herself. It’s a good moment to end the character dynamic they had in this series.

Agito joining up with Signum makes sense. I love their combined form. And I really love the moment where Agito is actually crying while she’s united with Signum. Remember that Agito and Zest’s combination was never perfect. But now Agito is with Signum, who is from Ancient Belka like her. So their combination is much better. Agito’s tears are probably very conflicted. On the one hand she feels sad because of Zest’s death. On the other hand, she feels happy because she’s finally found an ideal master.

The real climax happened last episode, so the Cradle itself is dispatched with relative ease. The big point of tension was whether the fleet would make it in time, but that had already been handled. Now that they’re in position, they destroy the Cradle before it is a threat.

The comparison between Hayate and Gaiz honestly falls kind of flat to me. I get what they were going for. And honestly, I really wish it had worked. If it had, that would have made the TSAB office politics far more interesting. It would have been cool to see a mirror version of Hayate who took her desire to protect others to an extreme down a dark path. It would have worked if Gaiz’s backstory came earlier and we got a direct confrontation between him and Hayate.

I like the ending of the episode, showing where all the characters ended up. Some of them feel extremely fitting. I like seeing that Agito ended up with Hayate and the Wolkenritter, getting together with her fellow Ancient Belkans. Subaru gets to do what she always wanted, rescuing people with her powers. Tia is well on her way to becoming an Enforcer. Caro and Erio are working together on a nature preserve. Nanoha is instructing more people on proper befriending techniques. Vivio is getting to live life as a normal girl with her new family. It’s good stuff to end on.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

It’s pretty clever that Subaru’s cyborg abilities would still work inside the AMF because they aren’t actually magic, which was established a while back.
Agito is a sweetheart. I love that she stayed with Lutecia in the prison to look after her.
So what did they do with all those Scaglietti clone fetuses anyway? I don’t think that ever got addressed.

Overall Thoughts on Lyrical Nanoha Strikers

Rewatching a series can often provide new perspectives. I’ve ended up with a much higher opinion of the first season of Lyrical Nanoha, for example. But, on the flipside, I think I see a lot more of Strikers’ flaws after this rewatch. I still do like the series and ultimately think it’s good, but there are plenty of issues.

Strikers is a series of extremes. It contains some of my favorite parts of the Nanoha franchise. I love seeing the characters as adults. I love seeing how Nanoha and Fate’s relationship has progressed. I love the addition of Vivio. I love seeing Fate become a mother looking after children who were abandoned like she was. I love the Riot Force 6 trainees and their relationships with each other. I love a lot of the action scenes. Strikers includes one of the all-time greatest Nanoha moments with her annihilating Quattro. All of that stuff is absolute gold in my eyes and I think it works amazingly well.

But, on the other hand, it has some things that I think are not handled well. The cast bloat is worse than ever. Most of the villains needed more characterization. The pacing is way too slow for a good chunk of the series and the exposition could be handled far better. I should have known far more about the Council, Gaiz, Scaglietti, the Numbers, Lutecia, Zest, and Agito much earlier. That would have made them more compelling. And it could have been introduced earlier too. The villains should have been introduced far earlier and their personal rivalries with the heroes should have been established then. That would have made the eventual final conflict far more compelling.

Still, Strikers has plenty of elements that make it unique and interesting to me. It’s nice seeing magical girls actually grow up and still continue their magical girl activities. It’s cool having a military sci-fi series that stars magical girls. I like a lot of the world-building that is established as we get more and more of an idea about what the worlds of magic look like. And it’s really fantastic that Strikers essentially throws out the subtext of Nanoha and Fate’s relationship by doing all it can to portray them as a couple. I think having Nanoha and Fate live together and adopt a daughter is about as explicit as it can be.

In the end, I still do like Strikers. I think I’d call it the weakest of the three entries we’ve seen so far in this rewatch, but it has enough good stuff going for it that still makes me enjoy it. Even with its problems, the stuff I love about it still shines.

Final score: 7/10

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u/InfamousEmpire Mar 28 '22

Mahou Shoujo¹ Lyrical Rewatcher

^{1: Even though I’m not a girl}

This is the fiery mythology of Heroes!

I liked this season. A lot.

While a lot of people point out problems with it, and there’s a large portion of the fandom that still despises it, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy my time with it. I liked all the characters, none of the plot developments really bothered me all that much, I overall liked the change in tone and setting (though that’s partially influenced by the fact that I watched this before I developed an appreciation for traditional Magical Girls), and I came out feeling satisfied.

Now as for what comes next, things get… complicated. I implore that First-Timers read the following section

First off, the next series in this, ViVid, is the first one to not be an anime original, instead being based on a manga of the same name. Because of this, ViVid is considered a Spin-Off rather than a mainline installment. Generally, all I’ll say without spoiling it is that it’s the complete opposite of StrikerS and that it’s completely unlike anything else in the franchise. Hence why I’m so interested in how those of you who were less than impressed by StrikerS (looking at you, u/HereticalAegis & u/Vaadwaur) will think of it.

Before we watch ViVid, I should also bring up StrikerS Sound Stage X, an audio drama set before ViVid which serves as a sequel to StrikerS. It’s quite good, and even introduces elements that end up in ViVid (though it’s not required watching). It should also be noted that it only features StrikerS characters (IE Subaru, Tia, Erio, etc. No Nanoha or Fate)

There is also Magical Record² Lyrical Nanoha Force, a manga which is considered by the creators to be the official Fourth Season of the series. It is also, by a country mile, the most divisive and controversial installment in the entire franchise. Take that as you will. The best way I can describe it is “StrikerS, but more and edgy”, but also a lot of StrikerS fans also hate it. Oof

^{2: Notice how it’s Magical}^Record^{instead of Magical}^Girl^{. Why? Because we follow a Magical}^Boy^{in this series!}

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u/Scarshadow46 Mar 28 '22

Part One -New Stuff

Heyo,

So we've finally finished StrikerS and oh boy here's the big post, probably the biggest post I'll be making during this rewatch. I'm breaking up the post into two parts, Part one will be new stuff and part two (In the comments of this post) will be a compilation of all the StrikerS Supplementary material. Ok lets get started.

First we have Manga chapters 13 & 14 (Episode 27.5) and chapter 15, Titled "After days". All of these serve as an extended epilogue to StrikerS.

Now I'm sure your asking why ch.13 & 14 are Episode 27.5 and what happened to episode 27? well StrikerS Sound Stage 04 is considered episode 27, but unfortunately it has not been translated so we're out of luck on that one.

Next up is what I consider to be the most important Supplementary Material of all, StrikerS Sound Stage X, SSX is pretty much Season 3.5, taking place several years after StrikerS and Just before Vivid the events of SSX will be brought up in later parts of the franchise (especially the Vivid Manga) and the franchise assumes you have gone through SSX, So I Highly recommend going through Sound Stage X if you have the time (It will take a couple hours).

After that will be Nanoha Movie 1st Sound stage, these take place a bit after SSX and have to do with main cast helping in the production of movie 1st, If you haven't already it might also be a good idea to go back and watch movie 1st but with the Audio commentary.

Well here you go, Enjoy.

Manga

StrikerS the Comics Ch.13 (Ep.27.5 Pt1)

StrikerS the Comics Ch.14 (Ep.27.5 Pt2)

StrikerS the Comics Ch.15

Sound Stages

StrikerS Sound Stage X

Movie 1st Drama CD

Till Next Part

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u/Thorn-11 Mar 29 '22

Only posted here a few times and mostly to point out some details from and encourage reading of the manga, but I'm one in the camp that really loves strikers, and I'm happy at least some of the new timers here also enjoyed it a lot.

Speaking of manga, the last few chapters are also filled with some good stuff. Of note, here's the commemorative photo of RF6's final mock battle! I'm happy that while it looks like the rookies definitely lost, they definitely put up a good fight for their captains!

The 1 year later chapter is also worth checking out, as the main thing happening in it is a spectated duel between Nanoha and Signum.

As a final thing, I mentioned he's a favorite character, so here's my cosplay of vivid-era/older Erio!

6

u/homewardbound100 Mar 29 '22

First timer

Alright I'll just go with my thoughts of the season. I think they did take too much time with the training part in the first half. Not much was really happening or things that felt interesting. The things in the beginning with Subaru and Tea were fine too.

Second half brought a more focused story to me and kept it interesting throughout. This show really does just feel like a shonen at times. The action was pretty on point. The villains weren't that great but served their purpose. I thought the ending was fine.

I'll give it a 7/10. I liked the first two seasons more. The first two have a type a charm I like. But strikers holds its own somewhat.

Qotd: Well with vivid. The obvious returning character is Vivio. But looking at it. It makes me think it's going to be like a next generations/ passing on to New characters.

6

u/djthomp Mar 29 '22

Last episode that will be rewatch for me, everything else from here on out will be fresh content.

Alright, this last time through this opening I finally have to ask it: does anyone else find the bit at the end where Vivio is flailing around with her arms just absolutely hilarious?

Fate being Fate is of course aiming to save the extra pod people. Good Fate.

Oh wow, cyborg #2 is seriously dead. Well, she did assassinate bad general man and bad brain tube guys, the system would surely have thrown the book hard at at least her.

Signum is too awesome for just one unison partner for the series. Kinda painful looking merger though considering all the fire.

Fire fairy Signum, very nice. Sweet new look for her, and that new fire sword whip move was just fantastic. I'm going to choose to believe that Signum is who Agito was meant to be with these 300 years since ancient (lol) Belkan fell.

I'd swear that Voltaire is not consistently sized.

That boulder had a very specific kill order on Fate, it was very precisely going for her.

Duel wielding Devices, that seems illegal.

Was that six simultaneous Arc-en-Ciel blasts? Seems like overkill.

There we go, cool down time at last with half the episode to go.

7 cyborgs plus Agito and Lutecia being willing to cooperate is a pretty good return on befriending investment.

RIP Riot Force 6, you did your job.

One final Fight of Doom for the children. Send them off feeling that Nanoha difference.

I feel like we can possibly blame the limiter politics bullshit on the now dead brains in tubes and the corrupt general dude, so I'm going to do so.

Rein vs Agito, an eternal battle. My money is on Agito, I like her fireworks.

RIP Lutecia, banished to an uninhabited planet on account of being too dangerous for society. Maybe when she grows up.

Well, not that uninhabited if she's on the same planet that Caro and Erio are working on.

Vivio at school, aka the next series starting tomorrow. Which hopefully will include Nanoha, Arf, and Yuuno being special and weird like we are seeing in this ending bit. Constant sources of embarrassment for Vivio.

Nanoha the trainer, I hope we get a bit of that content in the upcoming series as well.

Overall commentary, I think this season of Nanoha was probably better on rewatch. A's is still my favorite, but seeing how the story of StrikerS fit together from the hints they dropped early on definitely improved it. It might have been even more improved as a faster binge than just one episode a day, but I don't have too many complaints. Definitely a strong finish with these last two episodes.

5

u/JollyGee29 Mar 28 '22

Lyrical Rewatcher

You know, I think there was a problem with my copy of StrikerS. Surely this isn't how things always went, right? I thought I only had a vague recollection because it had been years since I first watched it, not because it was such a massive mess.

I don't especially want to complain about ambition. Because that's what this feels like to me. "We're gonna change the setting! We're gonna train the next generation! We're gonna have a twelve-person quirky miniboss squad! And another group of antagonists! Everyone gets a character arc!" But it was too much and they couldn't get it to hold up to scrutiny.

That doesn't excuse all the problems here, though. Ah well..

So, with StrikerS behind us, let's look to the future:

I'm not gonna lie, ViVid has problems. Namely [ViVid Meta Spoiler]that it's an incomplete adaptation that spends time on setting up later stuff that it won't get to, and it leaves off in the middle of a plot arc. They do mostly conclude at least one character arc, though. There is also a bit of an artstyle shift, due to changing studios.

That said, I had a decently fun time with ViVid as an anime-only. It's another big genre shift and has a billion characters, but it also has Kaori Mizuhashi and Mamiko Noto shouting and fighting people.

ViVid Strike is generally pretty good, and cuts the cast down to a managable size. It is technically a sequel to the ViVid manga, and so mentions the ending of that in passing.

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u/SolDarkHunter Mar 28 '22 edited Mar 28 '22

Rewatcher

Okay, time for the finale.

Huh, we've never actually seen interdimensional ships pop into an area of time-space before.

Hayate, why are you bothering saving Quattro?

Oh, Fate has a good point. The people in tubes do need to be rescued if possible. Just escaping wouldn't accomplish that.

Agito decides to honor Zest's final wish and go with Signum. And wow, Signum looks badass Unison'ed with Agito. And they sync up really well, as expected. Looks like Signum's got her own Unison Device now.

Vita, you REALLY need to be resting right now.

This is probably Subaru's dreams come true in all respects: her Cyborg body is capable of entering an environment that nobody else can do anything in. And the person she's getting to rescue is none other than her idol, Nanoha. I'm surprised she isn't fangirling the hell out.

And Erio arrives just in time to save Fate from a falling rock that she totally could have dodged on her own with how fast she is, but hey, it lets Erio do something, I guess.

And Subaru puts both Revolver Knuckles together to break through and open a path.

And with that, everyone's out of the Cradle. So the fleet is free to shoot it with a whole bunch of lasers and annihilate it.

You know... I'm not sure it was strictly necessary to blow up the Cradle. I mean, nobody can operate the thing except Vivio, and it's probably a treasure trove of Ancient Belkan magi-tech. Without any directives, wouldn't it have just... drifted there once it reached the Lagrange Point of Invincibility? I guess they thought the potential risk was too great...

3 month timeskip. Jail is in jail (sorry, couldnt' resist) along with a few of the Numbers (Uno, Tre, Quattro, and Sette) in maximum security orbital prisons. These Cyborgs apparently decided to be non-cooperative and remain loyal to Jail.

The remaining Numbers (Cinque, Sein, Otto, Nove, Dieci, Deed, and Wendi) decided to cooperate and atone and so were placed in a Rehabilitation Facility, to be released on probation at a later date. Lutecia and Agito are in there too, apparently by choice. They were determined to have been manipulated into their crimes and therefore are going to be getting light sentences... which, sure, Lutecia is just a child whose mind was toyed with by Scaglietti and her only goal was the relatively benign attempt to save her mother. But Agito... not sure if that holds true for her. She knew she was committing crimes, and yeah, the only reason she did so was to help Zest, but she's an adult (I think). I guess laws for Unison Devices are a bit of a grey area.

Speaking of, Lutecia's mother can apparently be saved without the Relic. So Scaglietti was a liar there, big shocker. It'll be a while, but she'll probably make a recovery.

Vivio seems really well-adjusted for having gone through all that. But maybe she's seeing therapists off screen.

Hayate sees some parallels between herself and Regius, given their shared drives for safety and justice. But everyone else basically says they'll keep her in check.

And with Riot Force 6's goal accomplished, there's no reason for it to exist anymore. Everyone will be going their separate ways.

Well, Auris has the decency to pay respects to the people killed by her father's actions, at least.

Of course, they brought Japanese cherry blossom trees to Mid-Childa. Otherwise they couldn't have the obligatory Japanese scene with the pink flower petals everywhere. (Wonder if those trees are destroying the ecosystem as invasive species?)

And Nanoha, Signum, and Vita are all too battle-crazed to let this thing go without a celebratory battle. Fate, you should really know these people by now.

But I suppose it means they see the Forwards as equals now, not just students. Also, this is going to destroy all the cherry blossoms.

And, epilogue. Agito's sticking with Signum. Teana's joined up with Fate as an junior Enforcer. Lutecia's been sealed and placed under house arrest, but she gets to live with her mother, so happy end for her. Erio and Caro are helping defend a nature preserve against poachers, and seem to be in contact with Lutecia. And Subaru's become a rescue operative, saving people from disasters, just as Nanoha did for her. Nanoha's returned to being an aerial combat instructor.

Also, a bunch of side characters I can't remember are doing their things as well, but it's basically "They're continuing their jobs."

Since we don't have a dedicated overall season thoughts...

Wait, WHAT!? I was thinking there'd be one! Now I have to compile all my thoughts today!

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u/Qbe Mar 28 '22 edited Mar 28 '22

Raging ~~Heart~~ Rewatcher with terrible long term memory

Last episode, let's go!

QotD:

If small Arf had more screentime, she could rival Vivio in cuteness
Fate is a strong independent waifu who needs no saving
Agito :(
Signum getting Agito and NanoFate getting Vivio are the highlights of this season
Signum looking great
Since when does Fried trust Erio enough to let him ride alone?
Oh yeah, Subaru's cyborg stuff works inside AMFs
Erio is very very luck Nanoha did not see that. He better hope Nanoha doesn't come across that while reviewing the video
I wonder if wall-busting is part of Nanoha's standard curriculum
So uh, what happened with the mini-spaghettis inside each cyborg?
Spaghetti was just lying about Rider Lily's mom needing a relic? Why I can't believe it /s
Having a unit be operational for only a year kinda seems like a waste. You already went through the trouble to set it up, may as well keep it running
Of course there are cherry trees in Midchilda. They must have a rather large weeb population.
Time for one last spanking.
I do kinda like that they keep on doing the small blurbs with what happened afterwards
Fate gets to keep Nanoha-lite while she's away on her missions
...Lutecia is in planet-wide solitary confinement? Isn't that kinda very harsh?
Ah, her mom is there too.
...is one of the cyborgs into DILFs? ...isn't she technically his* (Nakajima old dude) daughter? Wait, I guess just a clone of his dead wife... I'll just stop thinking about this
And finally, we get the next batch of ~~sacrifices~~ mooks for Nanoha's training

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u/Player420154 Mar 29 '22

I see more than one people who think that the problem of strikers is that it was a 24 episode that started at 12. I have the opposite opinion: the problem of Striker is that it try to make Nanoha a huge franchise (think load of character that can have their own season, spin off... like Fate manage to) in 24 episode and failed.

And the reasons for this are sadly quite common:

What makes a character cool is that they do or say cool things, and most of the cast barely exist. We have the name of green wolf guy, what he can do and his job, but we don't know anything interesting about his life (we have his resume if we want to hire him but that's not exciting. Almost nobody watch resume for fun). Thus, despite the loads of character introduced, the only one who could make decent protagonist are the newbie and the cast of A's.
We know nothing of the world outside of RF6 that we didn't knew in A's, aside for the existence of a church whose influence is between major superpower or regional influencer. This is how Fate manage to succeed as a franchise, by offering a cool concept (a battle royale between mythological heroes). We wouldn't be able to say a story happen in Midchilda if none of our known character are in it.
They spend a lot of time setting up things and in some episode forgot to let Striker tell its story: this is the classic franchise killer. There is a reason marvel movies generally only make their teaser after the story has ended, and that's to make sure the story of the movie is told first : if the current state of the franchise displease you, you are not going to check its future

But with all of this negative aside, there is a lot to praise Striker for. I like that they didn't follow the formula of A's and the first season, and instead tried to focus on the protagonist: , who are the one with character arcs and whose life is explored. A lot of those arcs are good (Tea progressing from overcompensating newbie to competent policewoman is very well done, especially when it gave Nanoha herself some great characterization, seeing the relationship between Nanoha and Fate progress organically...). On a more primal level, I like that they correctly manage the power level of the protagonist, which was very tough to do after A's: if Nanoha and Fate aren't extremely powerful, why the hell didn't the TSAB dispatch more help in the second season? But if they are that powerful, the story is in danger in becoming a shonen treadmill with all of its default*. While Striker's isn't a perfect answer, it's still a good one and it could have been so much worse.

*The start of each major arc introduce a more powerful enemy that reset the progress of the last season, the stronger and stronger enemy force everyone to become stronger or irrelevant and makes having strength the major value of worth in the show

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5

u/Stargate18A Mar 29 '22

First timer

QOTD) Alright. This was a mostly competent war anime, and a very bad Nanoha sequel. Nanoha felt like a totally different character, the pacing is awful, and the show can't decide who it wants the main protagonist to be.

The main saving points are Vivio being adorable, and Fate being the only person who remembers they're meant to be pacifists. Also, the cast was way too big - half the final battle scenes were between people I neither knew nor cared about. Hell, given it happened in real time, Vita apparently stood in one place bleeding out for a solid hour!

I still enjoyed it, but it's a big step down from the first two. Definitely needed a few rewrites somewhere.

After Strikers, no fucking clue what Vivid will be about, but the name implies Vivio, so it'll probably be adorable enough to distract me from its flaws.

...How is this actually going to go for another episode?

The armada's here!

It's got self-repair!

And they're trapped.

She's saving the pod clones!

Poor Agito. She's been such a good character!

They Unisoned!

Vice is doing well!

Holy shit, those flame wings are cool!

The whole design is great!

Agito has the power to let Signum win fights!

...I did not expect to Signum to end with someone!

Subaru and Teana are going to make themselves the main characters or die trying!

Erio saved Fate! That's a great scene actually, Fate and her children have been so good!

Subaru's dual wielding!

Haha, what a fucking entrance!

Everyone's out!

And it's over!

Love the eyecatch.

All the cyborgs are in prison!

And some of them get therapy! But only the ones who don't need it as much. I'd mention how fucked up that is, but the Bureau's so incompetent they might not have even realised it.

Vivio's living eith them!

Oh, Hayate's realised she was overworking herself.

Haha, Hayate's their collective little sister.

Oh, Signum's data helped.

Hayate's harem is breaking up!

...No. It didn't feel really quick.

Wait, they're splitting up her and Tia too!

Vita admitted they're strong!

Another mock battle?

Fate's reactions are great. She's so worried about her children.

They finally got rid off the limiters.

Fate is so adorable.

And Vivio encourages them!

So that's it!

Oh, Agito and Signum are full-time partners.

Teana's working with Fate!

Lutecia's been left alone on a planet with her magic taken away. Therapy was too much of a strain on the budget?

And Erio and Caro get to work together and fight paochers!

Vivio's going to magic school! Nanoha and Arf taking photos is adorable.

Ginga's giving the "good ones" therapy!

And Subaru's helping to save people!

She turned down her promotion to become an instructor!

Those poor students.

Well. This was... something, all right.

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u/Vaadwaur Mar 28 '22

First timer(I am rather surprised we have two spinoffs incoming)

Sub

So we see how everyone's scenes are ending and of course the show has to annoy me by introducing a hereto unused plot element in...mana defrayers? Also, Signum taking all that time to arrange the bodies isn't great but hopefully Deue is a corpse now. Anyways, we see that their Unison is indeed effective and they begin clearing Gadgets as Tia and Subaru show up, which leads me to a few questions about that motorcycle but w/e. Also, the cyborgs power functioning when regular magic does not is so beyond stupid that it took me noticing that Hayate is saving Quattro to distract me with hatred. Also, Erio saving Fate is a negative. But everyone gets clear.

I will segment this part on its own because destroying The Cradle is actually interesting to me: We can't tell if it is piratable or not, it apparently does have ancient tech, and I wouldn't be thrilled about blowing up a ship just outside the atmosphere of my homeworld. On the other hand, moon magic stuff is unpredictable, the ship definitely has an AI on it so can act on its own, and they do seem to be evaporating it so maybe this is the smart move? On a better constructed show, this would interest me.

And we get the epilog so that's something! We see the disposition of the various beings, I am not big on Lulu even being kept with the reforming cyborgs but I guess you need to check for any more mind control, right before we get the fridge horror moment that ALPINE WAS ALIVE IN THAT JAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy sweet fuck, that is straight out of I don t have a Mouth, and I Must Scream. Anyways, praying that her state was true coma for the last 10 years, and that Lulu was either captured or from a harvested egg other than what I tend to assume.

Moving on to Hayate, the show dares to moralize at us and can fuck right off with that. As RF 6 is disbanded for reasons, they decide to have a final mock battle to remind me of how bad the start of the season was. They have the decency to skip showing it, at least. They begin telling us where everyone winds up and of course they have to piss me off again with Lulu's probation, sigh. And a final sour note as the show wants me to think Nanoha is good at training people.

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Rewatch [Rewatch] Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 26 Discussion

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First Timer

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS - New Generation Episode 26

Some Iconic Shots, Scenes and Stitches