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Skyfall 2007-09-23 15:39

Nanoha StrikerS - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating
 
This thread is to be used for discussing the entire 26 episodes of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, speculation on the possible DVD only bonus episodes, etc., etc…

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:
  • General impression of the series.
  • Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
  • Thoughts about the animation quality.
  • Will there be additional DVD only episodes and what will they contain.

  • Characters/Character Design
  • What the show meant to you.
  • What could the creators/animators/writers could have done better.
And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Editing: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

Dream_Traveller 2007-09-23 16:06

First post, woo. :heh:

Now, StrikerS had a mixture of the good and the bad. I'm going to start by delving into the good points of the series.

The first was that it had new characters I liked. Subaru, Teana and Quattro were some examples, and there are more, even if were not as solidly developed. There was an air to them that drew me to them, and I liked the development of Teana and Subaru especially.

The second were the battles. The major ones. 17 stood out for me in that aspect. I do admit that the majority of the fights were training skirmishes, but, to me at least, the actual face-offs were decent.

The third- Jail. Man, that guy was a character and a half. Sure, some of his monologues were a tad...lengthy(:heh:), but I'd say he's one of the best villains, next to Quattro, to come out of the Nanoha series in a while.

The fourth was generally good voice acting. I always like that in the shows I watch, and StrikerS didn't disappoint me in this department.

There are more...however, there are obvious flaws.

One- things/characters left entirely forgotten/unexplained. A prime example of this is the Relic- we never were told in detail what one was, or what it did, and it faded into obscurity. Another example was the whole limiter bit- it seemed like they would play some importance, but it didn't matter since the Forwards did most of the action and not the Aces. There are also, well, others...and on the subject of forgotten characters, the three examples of this are Hayate(So much room for improvement wasted...), Cinque(Just introducing her then casting her aside for the most part for nine episodes? What's up with that?), and Lucino(Frankly, I don't know why she was introduced- from what I recall, she barely said a word and was rarely ever shown), and Zafira(I don't even want to know what they did to his character). Just forgetting characters when they have room for expanding upon is, frankly, unacceptable.

Two- Animation quality problems. This has been addressed by many before, but...the DVD releases will solve this.

Three- Vivio. I know she isn't the source of all problems but if the developers used her for something else other than a NxF/NxVxF object, she would have had promise. I admit, when I first saw her, I thought she had promise, then my expectations were dashed to shards.

Four- The general anticlimactic feeling. I know it was what the writers chose to do, but having everyone going on full cylinders against the Cradle and the Numbers/drones just made it feel...off. The only one that really had an outstanding moment was Teana. Erio/Caro and Subaru had their time, yes, but Teana stood out there. With the Aces just barging on ahead, and the defeat of Scag, Vivio, the Numbers and the Cradle itself being made so pitifully easy, it just ruined the whole setup.

This is only brief, but it's a summarization of the main points I wanted to put forward. Despite its flaws, though, I enjoyed StrikerS. I still am a steadfast follower of the Nanoha series, and, whilst it doesn't compare to the standards of A's or the first series, it still gets a good mark in my books.

Overall: 8-8.5/10.

Keroko 2007-09-23 16:23

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS was… a strange experience. It left both a wanting taste and one of completion, though the wanting is greater. The series is enjoyable, in fact I found it far more enjoyable then the first season, but you have this clear feeling of ‘this could have been much better’ throughout a lot of the series episodes.

To start with its bad points (and they are numerous) the series is long. Almost double the episodes of its predecessors, and that has obviously taken a toll on the writers. It’s clear that they got slacky, figuring that since they had double the episodes, they could afford to waste some time with less important stuff. In truth, though, there is a lot missing. I’ll list them.

The Bad

Character Development: Character development is a flip of the coin. On one hand, we have the Subaru/Teana pair, which is greatly developed throughout StrikerS. On the other hand, we have the Erio/Caro pair, which is the exact opposite. A strange thing, as they later turn out to have a very dramatic (or at least that was the intend) meeting with one of the series early antagonists. The worst one in my opinion is Vivio, she is a flat character, one with endless growth potential, and yet nothing is done with it, being demoted to a mere moe-blob for NanoFate fanservice which undermined her purpose in the final battle.

Speaking of which, the antagonists are not that well developed either. Lutecia is introduced early, but turns out to be not so important later on. The same goes for Zest, who really could have benefited from more development to increase the drama of his eventual demise.

Plot: In the beginning, StrikerS is all about training and improving. These scenes were often dubbed as ‘boring’ and ‘time consuming’. To me, this is one of those hints that the producers were slacking and becoming too comfortable with the idea that they had 26 episodes to play with. Many scenes could have been re-written to still get the message across, but faster and leaving room for additional info.

And then there is the fanservice, many NanoFate fans will have my head for this, but NanoFate was one of the reasons for the lack of connection to the final fight of Nanoha. Before you throw those rotten tomatoes in your hands, let me explain. The endfight was all about Nanoha and Vivio, it was all about Nanoha's insecurity as a mother and desperately wanting Vivio to accept her. Now I ask, what part did Fate play in this? The answer is nothing, she was of fighting Jail somewhere else. Had they reduced the NanoFate fanservice, and instead of 'Nanoha and Fate hapilly taking care of Vivio' we should have seen more of Nanoha's struggles as a mother, with Fate trying to offer support, but not in such a direct matter. The endfight clearly shows that it was supposed to be about Nanoha and Vivio, not Nanoha, Fate and Vivio.

Shafting: StrikerS suffers from the shafting of many sub-characters, but none have it as bad as Hayate and Zafira. Though Zafira can be excused as having become something of a rolling gag, Hayate gets the bad end of the stick, despite being one of the three. She never receives a transformation, we never get to see her fight, she even vanishes during critical moments or spends that time doing mundane tasks. Hayate fans really get the short stick in StrikerS.

The good

Now that we've had the bad, on to the good. What did StrikerS do that was good?

The characters:
Despite the fact that the large group of new characters led to some severe, somethings to severe, shafting of the older characters, StrikerS had a sollid grid of characters. On the good guys we had the Teana/Subaru combi, which were two very good characters with a decent amount of development. On the bad guys we have many of the numbers. While you need to watch the anime a time or two to fully apreciate them, you will come to realize that many of the numbers are in fact brilliant characters on their own. Reading the manga and listening to the Sound Stages will only increase your love for them.

The fights: There are those who thought the fights in the first half were lacking, and to a degree they're right. Robotic, faceless oponents don't have the same tension as an oponent who displays emotions of her own. However, with that human opponent you wouldn't be able to achieve so easilly what StrikerS managed to do: See our heroines kicking ass and blowing lines after lines of enemies up. Let's face it, one on one duels as legendary as they may be, will always be less massive then a whole collum of enemies being blown to little bit of scraps. And in the second half, even the other half that wants duels is served as the numbers move in and we see battles, victories, and even fatalities.

The lore:
StrikerS did something that A's failed to do. A's presented us with Belka, an at that time mysterious empire. StrikerS took Belka, and continued to build on it, digging deeper and revealing that Belka was a monarchy, that they freely used Lost Logia as weaponry in war and much more. At the same time they also dug deeper into Mid Childa, a world where untill StrikerS we had only heard stories about. We know it was the home world of our Bureau friends and Yuuno, but it wasn't untill StrikerS that we actually got to see it. And it wasn't just the world, the TSAB itself was also opened, and things like the raining regimes, uniforms, workings, departments and much more was revealed. StrikerS far suprasses its predecesors when it comes to the amount of new information that was given.

Deathkillz 2007-09-23 16:41

Am i allowed to be honest? :rolleyes: :heh:

Well ever since it was confirmed that strikerS would be 10 (9) years after A's as opposed to the speculated 6 (5) years i just had this gut feeling that something was going to happen. I didnt like the fact that a chapter in the life of nanoha, fate chan and hayate was completely missed out for the sake of completeness. And besides? who wouldnt want to see fate chan's high school days? :love: (i also though that the milf fate chan this was quite a jump and so still remain a forever faithful loli fate chan lover :3)

The main problem with strikerS is the fact that the cast just suddenly got so huge. If it wasnt bad enough to have to develop 4 new stars (lolz what development i ask?) we suddenly got introduced to all the numbers as well. I think this task was just too big for the series as a whole and thus it left a feeling of emptiness - or that the characters wernt being exploited enough for their potential >_<

Onto the development...lolz what development? Oki really this is another point where the series failed to deliver...we were treated to nothing but solid "fillers" for the frist 10 eps. Those pointless training episodes got so pointless that it became forgettable...in fact even now i cant remember where the heck the first 10 episodes went - a vague memory of tea being emo but thats about it :rolleyes:

This time would have been better spent developing the new characters the doing any more bull - i would have thought that everyone is smart enough to get the picture after about 2 or 3 training eps but the producers must have second guessed us >.>

The stars -

While i do think that subaru and tea was able to add to the story (with subaru also being connected to the whole case via her unusual birth bla bla) what i thought was a totale waste of space has to be caro and erio. Seriously! the did NOTHING at all that is worth credit...most of the time caro was too busy chasing after lutecia (another useless character with wasted potential) with erio being her lap dog (not that i care as that kid can burn in hell for touching fate chan :rolleyes:)

who can honestly say that they know caro and erio more now at the end of this series than at the start? none...nope and nada...we never got development from these two character and was just given some basic facts to chew on...

yes caro got kicked out of her village but what happened next? not explained at all whereas erio is a part of project F but so what? fate chan got more of an explination about his roots than erio did...no mention of why he was created, by who, how he got to fate chan in the first place. And who in the right mind would want to create a boy? (unless jail is really yaoi like those doujins suggests) :rolleyes:

wasted potential >.>

and speaking about character development lets talk about the others. The numbers i wont even bother to mention as they dont have any history to begin with but what about lutecia? she was the other promised loli together with caro yet she also failed to deliver as a character. I dont mind as much seeing caro neglected but goddam not rori rider! O.O

She still has so much left unexplained...i would really like to see at least a flashback on her and zest - how they came to met, how she got her powers or whatever...anything would have done but instead we got nothing...*claps*

side characters arent even worth mentioning...i would say that ferret boy got about 30 words to say in the whole series (YESSSS!!! I DONT WANT TO HEAR YOUR VOICE ANYWAY!!) and zafira for about 10 words...still better than arf who had nothing to do with the story (geez...).

Chrono was the biggest disappointement in terms of side characters...all he did was sit back and drink tea while the others where facing life and death situations...he then pops up late in the party to kill steal all the hard work...its like honor farming! (WoW noob!)

The fights -

er...what fight? *skips*

*skip*

*skip*

*skip*

I duno if the producers are being lazy or what but they really do know how to save budget...by not giving out any fight scenes at all!! geez even nanoha and A's had more drama than this plie of smoking crap!
Id admit that some of the fights between the numbers where pretty good (a la subaru freaking out and smashing cinque) but on the whole compared with the whole series i would say that the amount of proper fight sequence we got was only about 5-10% (of the whole 26 ep series this is a disgrace!...nanoha is a series based on fighting!).

What killed everything was the insane amount of time spent on talking about bull...crap that i dont even care and only wishes for nanoha to starlight breaker someone's ass all the way to hell (it happened but only once...WTF!!! ONCE!!! i am not satisfied at all...). While all the good moves where kept back we reall didnt see any good ones pop up either (besides subaru's devine buster which looks like the kamehameha to me XD)

But not only was the fights not long lasting, they were also too fragmented between each episodes. example being one minute we are at subaru vs gina then the next we have tea against some numbers then we have caro giving out her "why are you doing this?" crap. godamm is it so hard to just make one fight complete without any interruptions? As if it isnt as bad enough as it already is you have to go screw it up by fragmenting everything?

also the skipping of those REAL mock fights are unforgivable! >_<

The plot -

And finally the plot...i feel like getting a blow torch and burning something at this point.

To be honest the plot suxed ass...I wasnt even dramatic right down to the last episode i even thought it was anti climatic! now that is something special.

The whole series was pretty much flooded with explinations, long speeches and manic laugther (provided by Dr spaghetti - lawl). But it would have been better if those talks actually ment something. Even now im having trouble trying to remember what really happened in the first half of the series as to me ive seem to have forgotten all of the pointlessness already. The plot was just THAT bad...

Even when it got to the main meat of the series (where it was still hazy about how things where going to go before the numbers came out that all changed with the intro of Jail) It all seems too relaxed. For what is supposed to be happening we didnt get much drama and even the stuff we got was usually de-dramatised come the next "cool off" episode. I never sensed any immediate danger from this series as we know what to expect. well yea this is nanoha and to expect a happy ending where everyone lives is natural...

Thats what i get for putting my hopes to high...you would think that being grown up, our girls wont mind a little blood shed and to learn the true meaning of loss. the amount of holes in this series is crazy...just to avoid death. Im still pissed that vita didnt die for the dramatic impact...look she was stabbed through the chest! clean through! and she didnt die...so what was all that bull shamal said about the knight's program failing to connect with the book anymore? ie no more haxx heals! but the plot hole is big enough to accept that she was able to live >.>

Also i have to say that jail must be the worse villian in history...for a super genius mad scientist you would thing that he would a) have planned further ahead b) have some trump card hidden c) fcking commit suicide if he had to...

a) he planned ahead with the seeds but what the use is that if they would only activate upon his death...he should be in jail now trying to find ways to kill himself >.>

b) vivio...but she failed so much as the final boss it is unture

c) death still pending...

moving onto vivio *sigh*

ive ranted so much its beginning to affect me health...:rolleyes:

vivio is another wasted potential...Vivio had the potential to give our white devil a good old fashioned ass whooping but instead all we got was null...now this was the biggest disappointment of the series to see the best fight go up in flames. We i hoped for was for vivio to force nanoha to use her full power in a one to one face off...epix images that flashed through my mind wasnt realised when all we got was some cheesy crap...vivio should have layed a smackdown on nanoha for all her worth but this challange of providing a decent fight scene proved to be too challenging for the producers it seems...

Overall -

StrikerS failed to impress as where the first and second season did (which is what made nanoha this great in the first place). This series was filled with cheesy counter dramatic fluff and it failed to cast of its "childlike" shell of "nobody dies no matter how much of a beating they take" and the uber happy happy tree friend end...which should have been a thing of the past seen as the girls are now grown up.

Too many time wasted on pointless fillers which would have made this series better if it was condensed into 13 eps. I never like streched out plots anyway :rolleyes:

potential to be great was loss with undevelopment (kinda ironic when they had all this time to focus on fillers) and the action was completely almost lost...or at least unfulfilling ~

given all the evidence i will give this series 5/10 but + 1 because of fate chan (which was the motivator which kept me carrying on >.>)

6/10 overall

random notes:

Hayate!!!!!! She failed me also ;___; Dammit 7arcs you just cant have the meister of the legendary tome sitting on the sidelines all the fricking time grrrrrrr

Fate chan <3 I guess her final barrier jacket was the highlight for the whole series for me :love:

*may add more ranting later XD*

justsomeguy 2007-09-23 16:46

This show turned out to be utter trash. Is it sad that I actually prefer GSD or Otome over this?

The premise was already bad enough:
1) Nanoha and friends are no longer precocious lolis. It's very odd that the producers would abandon something that made the previous shows appealing to many people.
2) StrikerS is set on a boring backwater planet, instead of Earth. Nice way to make people care less. Nice way to write out characters like Nanoha's friends and family.

The execution was worse:
1) Training. Nuff said.
2) "Limiters." A completely retarded way of nerfing the main characters, instead of creating a plot that would actually challenge the main characters and last past the first few episodes.
3) Drones. Nobody gives a damn about trashing waves of unpiloted, poorly armed robots with Destiny grunt tactics. We want brutal human vs human(oid) action, dammit.
4) "Magic damage" vs "physical damage." Utter bullshit. So now we have absolutely devastating attacks that can be weaker than they appear, which in turn makes them into fanservice.
5) Shitty technology overall. RF6 flies around on a large but otherwise normal helicopter, and Fate drives around on a car with four wheels. Given what they are, why doesn't TSAB have better toys?!
6) Lack of intimacy. That feeling from 1st season and A's is absent.
7) Brains in jars.
8) Vivio.
9) Neglected characters. Besides the ones left behind on Earth, we could have used more Arf, as well as more character development for the cadets. Yuuno, on the other hand, we don't even need to see his face at all.

After all this, I agree with Triad for choosing not to waste their time subbing this. If they ever decide to make a 4th season, I hope they set it on Earth, just a little bit after A's, and retcon this entire season into non-canon.

krisslanza 2007-09-23 17:56

I'm too lazy to write a real review, as that's not my thing I always end up contradicting myself somehow.

Despite the somehow 'blaringly obviously' problems other people noticed, I found nothing horribly wrong with StrikerS apart from some parts where the animation could've been better (Like in ep.24 with the Fate thing... I noticed it after watching it about twenty times or so, it could've been smoother.)

A lot of new characters, but I wasn't really interested in any of them so any lack of development on their part was moot for me. Besides, that's what the manga and sound stages are for... I'd rather have all the important bits in the anime then have to muck through an episode or two on someone's past. Just my own opinion.

So it's not perfect, but StrikerS WAS the only anime I was watching/looking forward to... So without it I guess I'm kinda out of anime to watch aside from re-runs... I guess I could give it...

8/10

I'd say 9/10 but then I think I'd be even more hated...

Riddly 2007-09-23 18:32

Being a new Nanoha fan (I watched season 1 and 2 for the first time earlier this year) I was very much looking forward to season 3.

It was disappointing to see that their entire high school years was being skipped over, but I was excited nonetheless for season 3. While loli Nanoha and Fate is cute, I much rather watch them at an older age.

Maybe my expectation for this season was too high. The awesomeness of A's was pretty high up there.

I was well aware of the flaws StrikerS had, and while frustrating at first, I think I finally just gave in that the series would remain at this level, and stopped letting it bother me. Of course, I only watched the first 6 episodes until stopping for several weeks until I got around to watching it again. The show at that point was actually boring me, but as mentioned above, I gave it another chance.

While I found Erio and Caro to be cute, and Subaru and Tea to be somewhat interesting, I really just wanted to watch more on the old characters. They were the ones I cared about and actually wanted to watch an entire season on. Like Kriss said, I wasn't bothered by the lack of development for the majority of the new cast, due frankly to the fact that I didn't really find them all that interesting. I honestly didn't care about the numbers at all. The only feeling they got out of me was annoyance towards Quattro at the end. Jail fits nicely into this "blah" category too. Forgot the episode, but it's where Vivio is kidnapped and Jail is preparing to place that relic into her. That was about all the emotion he got out of me. I found him to be a very uninteresting villain. He didn't make me care enough to even hate him. This is in comparison to Precia and the Tome, where I actually cried during two scenes involving them and the other characters during their respected season.

As for Vivio, I know MANY find her to be a waste of space, and would easily send the little girl packing. Despite not having much development either, I actually liked her and cared about what happened to her. I know, you're all probably going what the hell?? I thought she was cute, and found the whole dynamic with her and Nanoha to be adorable. Just my opinion of course. You can all stop staring. :heh:

Don't get me wrong though, after my second go through on StrikerS I began to enjoy it. It wasn't exactly like the previous seasons, but it still that Nanoha flare during certain episodes.

Overall, I enjoyed StrikerS, and I'm sad to see it end. I do hope there's a 4th season. :)

I give it: 7/10

EnigmaticThief 2007-09-23 19:10

This is my formal review of the series, copied from another forum I frequent. As such, it contains as very few spoilers and some redundant info for you fans. If you'd like me to go into more specific detail, feel free to ask.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

Nanoha StrikerS is the latest installment in the recent Lyrical Nanoha franchise. While they were lost in the forum crash, I had reviewed the original and A's, giving them excellent marks. Let's see if this latest 26-episode installment lives up to its predecessors. (Note: the premise contains some spoilers for the previous Nanoha titles, so if you haven't seen them you may want to do so before reading further.)

10 years after the events of A's, Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate now all work full-time for the Time-Space Administration Bureau on its home planet, Midchilda. Hayate creates what she calls Mobile Section Six, a branch for the specific purpose of retrieving Lost Logia and handling incidents involving them. The Aces and Hayate's Wolkenritter now act as instructors to a new generation of mages, Subaru Nakajima, Teana Lanster, Erio Mondial, and Caro Ru Lushe, in the hopes of preparing them for such circumstances. Meanwhile, autonomous Gadget Drones have begun to search the capital for a certain set of Lost Logia, the Relics, causing destruction and confusion in their wake. What does the mastermind behind these incidents have in store for the Relics and Mobile Section 6 itself?

While Nanoha is still the title character of the series, Subaru becomes its second main character, and her fleshing-out occurs gradually over its course. She is a very likable protagonist, with rather awesome abilities and style to back it up, so getting to see her in action is one of this anime's main highlights. Her partner is the magic gun-slinging Teana, who also gets some good screen-time and development. The opening themes were once again performed by Nana Mizuki, and their contrasting tone does a very good job of portraying the shift in mood between the first and second half of the series. Seiyuu old and new do a competent job of performing their characters, with Subaru and Tea once again standing out.

As for things that could have been done better, there are many. On a visual level, StrikerS is frankly unimpressive compared to the work put into the previous Nanoha titles, perhaps partly due to it being twice the length of its predecessors. Characters often seem static rather than dynamic, and details in character and Device design are often lost. Most backgrounds and some details such as a large Lost Logia that appears near the end of the series are CG'ed. Without a higher standard of animation, the battles that occur through the series end up being quite underwhelming, a good example of which would be Zest's rather short final duel with Signum. I would say that the best animation in the series was in the overall events of Episode 1, the mock battle in Episode 8, and Subaru's berserker rage in Episode 17, with only the last example holding a candle to the best animation in the original and A's. However, all this serves as simply the bad wrapping of a bad package, as the series has some very big problems in its pacing and character development. For the former, the series starts out slowly, with the first half being devoted almost entirely to episodes of the new mages training and little development of the overall plot. With the enemies being the faceless Gadget Drones, battles have a less intense feel than the mage vs. mage fights of the earlier series. I mean, even a "monster-of-the-week" formula with heavily customized individual GDs with various powers would have been nice. The action picks up with the introduction of the twelve combat cyborgs, the Numbers, but immediately afterwards the series falls back into its old habits of still dialog shots and overly-long exposition, until the final plot arc.

With the timeskip from A's, a lot of new secondary characters are introduced at the series's onset, and only a handful of them receive any development. The addition of new characters inherently means that there is less time to feature the returning characters, specifically Hayate, Shamal, Zafira, and Chrono. Of the new main characters, Erio and Caro seemed woefully underdeveloped, even compared to their rarely-vocal 'rival,' Lutecia. Their personalities seemed flat, especially in regards to Vivio essentially becoming another daughter to their adoptive mother, Fate. You would think that perhaps some jealousy might spring up at some point, but no. For the villains, Dr. Jail Scaglietti was entertaining, as were the Numbers in some instances, but even so the Numbers were introduced almost all-at-once, so there was little-to-no time to really get a good grasp of them individually, except for perhaps Quattro. Also, a late plot twist involving Jail and the Numbers didn't end up really going anywhere, but might end up having influence in a potential sequel, maybe. Also, seeing almost all the subplots wrapped up in a happy end seemed forced, almost immature. But, then again, I'm probably not among the show's "target audience."

So, as you can see, Nanoha StrikerS does a lot of things wrong, but has a few diamonds-in-the-rough. It's disappointing to see the franchise hit this low after the epic original and A's.

Andy00 2007-09-23 19:27

One thing that definitely toned down the enjoyment was....you guys. Or at least, the ones who's were biting the heads off of rival shippers and insulting them. The ones who were constantly seething that the show wasn't killing any of the protagonists off were a downer too.

That being said, I think StrikerS is a fine 26 episode....epilogue. The genre transformation was incredibly ambitious; although it would have down better with less characters. Seeing Magical Girls grow up to be authority figures as opposed to just some guy's wife (and having to lose their magical powers because Japanese wives shouldn't have them) is extremely refreshing.

Demon Eyes 2007-09-23 20:12

* General impression of the series.

The first two were better than StrikerS

* Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.

I don't watch anime for plot since my brain ain't that good so I can't comment much but this was the only series I've seen that introduces so many character and hits it perfectly! It wasn't all over the place, the story was set from the get go so I guess it was a good pacing! And no damn fillers! Thank God!

* Thoughts about the animation quality.

I don't know what exactly 'Quality' refers to but I love the character designs and the 'movement'(Is it called this?) of the characters was great! - I refer here at for example, Flying and fighting and flashes and stuff! Were I to compare it to Hollywood, I would say Nanoha action is like Spielberg....


* Will there be additional DVD only episodes and what will they contain.

Don't know about DVD eps...I demand another TV series! And if it does get made, I hope for

a) less than 100 cast,
b) An enemy from within <-You know what I mean...
c) I thought this studio was different from the rest...Make it clear that Nanoha and Fate are together already damn it! You show other characters dropping kids like rabbits yet these two are only adopting...WAIT! They are together!!!...But your(animators) word would be nice!

* Characters/Character Design

I already talked about this and to say it again, I loved this art style since 'Sweet Songs Forever'. Nanoha's face could do with some improvements though!...

* What the show meant to you.

1. It proved that this is the best Magical girl show ever!!! And that it wouldn't matter how many sequels are made, they would be a hit! Just avoid getting into relationships concerning Fate and Nanoha and you will have your audience until you solve it!

2. It also showed me that you can't make friends from introductions or chocolates only! That there is another way...The best way of be-friending!!!!

3. It left me craving for moreee!!!!


* What could the creators/animators/writers could have done better.

1. Got it to air on some more common stations like Tokyo and BS-X. It is well received and I am sure the rating would've been super awesome. Why didn't they do it?!!!

2. The main characters are grown up. Make the villains grown up to. I mean here of course, for villains to be more...I don't know...More menacing...Precia was the best villain ever...Even though she just remained in her sanctuary...But she looked the part and had the power to back herself up! I was expecting much eveeell but alas, we recieve a pansy Doctor whose only thing is having the best evil laugh, A number four who tries to run from tsunami(4x Devine Buster) and an over-rated Let's talk things over Mr/Ms bad and make up!<- This was excellent with Fate and Hayate but it failed so much here....

3. A coffin of Quatro would've been excellent as the ending...

4. Remember the dea...I mean other characters too...Suzuka and the rest of the earthlings( Ahem) And Yuuno and Alf...Poor familiars!

Sigh!

Enough of the complaints....

I loved this series and I will watch it again and again until the Z series...

2009, Come here already damn you! I am waiting for my sequel...NOTE: Didn't say Finale...It's still way early for that!

FlareKnight 2007-09-23 20:16

Ah a review, admittingly first one I've done for a series so hope there will be forgiveness over how this reads.

So when I first read fall previews a series called Nanoha StrikerS appeared. Seemed like an interesting enough one and found out there were a couple previous seasons. So in a rush I 'found' the other episodes and watched it in a 26 episode blitz that was pretty fun and I'm glad at least this series did that for me. With that StrikerS was on the horizon and I was ready for what should've been a good time if the previous seasons had given me anything to work with. Now perhaps it was the expectations made from those previous seasons but StrikerS just didn't deliver to the level that it could have or should have. Will break it down into positives and negatives.

The Positives
There were some interesting characters that were brought forward that at least had me looking forward to how they would be involved. The Stars duo Teana and Subaru were pretty well developed throughout this. Subaru started as a girl that looked up to her idol (Nanoha) was a bit of a crier, but not a bad person by any stretch. Teana was your hot head with tsundere qualities and the two of them had good chemistry. Like a memorable wake up with Subaru groping Teana. These two had plenty of development like Teana dealing with feeling too average in a squad filled with Aces, Hayate's knights, etc. So wasn't bad that she eventually dealt with that becoming a very skilled character finishing in her battle against the numbers.

There were characters that had some good potential and I was excited about. Erio and Caro seemed like a duo that could do well in the series. Erio had the lightning element, loli sensor, and a connection to Fate that seemed to push him as being a good character and fighter. Caro had the background of being kicked out of her village for having dangerous powers and her being picked up by Fate. There was some chemistry there that peaked with a 'date' during a day off. Lutecia seemed to be a good loli enemy with her mysteriousness and level headed battle plans. Was a bit of possibilities of throwing her into a triangle with Erio/Caro and maybe things could get interesting there.

Sonic Form adult Fate-chan :D. Seriously that's a positive point all on its own. Vita as well had a moment to shine. Bleeding and injured, she still gave everything she had and it was a beautiful moment for her.

I'm sure there was more to praise from this series but right now my head is a bit blanked.

The Negatives
Ok now here is something that can be talked about for a while. Shafting of characters was a big theme here. Zafira who? This has to be one guy who really got hit hard. Not once in the series did he leave the wolf form or pretend he had a human one to rely on. Helping Vivo fold laundry of course was a major thing. Then getting beaten into a hospital bed by numbers finished off the sadness there. Certainly he did come back to fight a bit but wasn't much to fix the situation with him.

Chrono....wow I don't know how to say what they did here. He did almost nothing this entire series. The biggest event he acted in was releasing limiters on Hayate once. A small interaction with him and Fate which was a bit entertaining but that was it. He didn't fight, barely showed up, and of course the biggest thing was marrying him off almost as an afterthought to Amy. I didn't even see that thing coming and maybe it was just so he couldn't interfere with the NxF things. Really the best interactions were with him and Carim and that would be dimmed with the fact that he was already married. Amy never really showed up except maybe in a picture so I didn't see the point. Let us weep for the wasted Chrono.

Now speaking of wasted characters. I spoke of Caro, Lutecia, and Erio as being characters with some potential. Except after the Vivio interaction they all dropped off the map. Lutecia who was apparently going to be interesting really was left behind. Had some reasoning that she was trying to help her mother by getting relics. But didn't find out much about her background with Zest and Agito. Her personality and thoughts were just left there. Pulling the mind control bit at the end to make sure she fights. Just felt she was really poorly developed if not undeveloped entirely. There was nothing going on with her and Erio/Caro yet they expected the befriending to make sense. It's not like they even talked once before this and really they dropped the ball.

Erio and Caro were barely developed themselves. We find out about Erio's Project F background yet it didn't seem to matter at all. Even the connection between the two of them really wasn't important after that day off episode. The lightning squad suffered badly here. All the talk they had about Strada's forms were pretty weak. One was multiple boosters (wow exciting, forget about things like Zambar form or Snake form this is huge), and the other seemed to be a form for electrical moves. These two just weren't prominent and all the expectations for more was abandoned.

Another character to suffer was Hayate. Not that transformation scenes are the most important but she really got nothing. Felt bad for her in not getting involved much except for a couple spells around that day off. Near the final battles she wasn't important and any action they insinuated some but she didn't do much. Catching Vita after her big moment which was a nice thing in the series was her big moment in the final part. I feel bad for her since she was a character that they could've done a lot with but in the end she fell down with some of the others.

Vivio...she is going to be a point of contention. I didn't hate the girl, but her appearance signaled a point of doom. As some have said everything changed with her appearance. Relics, bah, Project F? Who cares. She was now the center of the universe. A lot was spent with her connection to Nanoha and giving some NxF moments making them a nice and cheerful family. Really in the end she became a battery and a very weak A's Hayate. This Nanoha battle at the end was no where near the same intensity. It was Nanoha trying to pin her down and hold her while Vivio gave some fighting. She just seemed too flat and took away a lot of development.

I'm sure there is more I wasn't quite happy with but that's a bit of an overview in that case.

Final Thoughts
Now I'll give the series some credit in that its existence let me know about the original and A's that were very well done and enjoyable. I'd put in some of my expectations as being to blame, but also it's the fault of those making this season. Plot, character development, and dividing their time right was an issue. Maybe they tried to do too much and went beyond their capabilities.

More than anything I feel bad for how some characters were just hurt by all of this. There were positive things in this series. Characters I liked and some plot ideas even if they didn't pan out. I just feel left bothered by all of this since there was a lot of hope for the series and a lot of fans who were hoping for the best. Don't want to give the impression that everything sucked, but disappointed is a word that can describe this. If this was stand alone it might've been better since it has to be judged in comparison to the other seasons.

6.5/10

serenade_beta 2007-09-23 20:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy00 (Post 1162270)
One thing that definitely toned down the enjoyment was....you guys. Or at least, the ones who's were biting the heads off of rival shippers and insulting them. The ones who were constantly seething that the show wasn't killing any of the protagonists off were a downer too.

Glad to "help"!


Pity I can't make a review right now or vote, I need to watch the last episode.

.............................

......

When a better RAW comes out than the LQ.

Ultima_Rasengan05 2007-09-24 06:51

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS or in translated terms: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS.

I just got into the Nanoha series earlier this year when I was exposed to something called "Dark Nanoha" on GamefaqsDragonfly's sig. (I think that was the screen name.:heh:) It caught my eye and I was tempted to check out the forum called "Nanoha". After reading through some threads and such, thats when I started watching the series and became an instant fan and caught up with all 2 seasons just in time for StrikerS.

StrikerS is set 10 years after A's. With that in mind, thats a big time skip compared to what Naruto has been through.:heh: But with all seriousness, we had speculated that we were going to get a dark and serious season of Nanoha with the three aces all grown up to be adults and taking full time jobs in TSAB, which protects the time space continuum and such. We are introduced to four new characters that would become pupils under the three aces. Subaru, Teana, Erio, and Caro. Four new characters with pasts that will intertwine with the new plot thats about to come. (or so we all thought it would...:heh:)

Story - During the first half of the series, it looked promising. It was about relics and how this one scientist wanted to collect them so he could take over the world and such. We get introduced to a new purple haired loli and her guardian. It was going steady until we get derailed from the main story and onto someone's problem dealing with almost seriously hurting her partner in battle. That emo person lasted for 2 episodes until we got our first serious 2 episode battle. We got to see some new attacks, and a new barrier jacket from Nanoha herself. Plus new enemies like the Numbers and Scaglietti involved with Project F and other stuff. After the battle, we get a man named Regius who despises past criminals to take part in TSAB's affairs. And we also get the "would come true" Prophecy as told by Carim. Plus we can't forget Vivio that was rescued during the 2 episode battle. That was the first half...the second half went downhill into nothing about the plot or relics. Vivio was a character to generate NanohaXFate fanservice to yuri fans of this show. After a few episodes we get more fighting and we're back to the relic plot...well somewhat.:heh: We get summoning greatness, Cyborg berserking action, and a captured kid named Vivio. But that just generated more NXF scenes and such that the plot was seriously changed to getting back Vivio and Ginga and blow the crap out of Scaglietti's plans. Towards the end of the final fight, we get a lot of somewhat, flashy moves. We get nothing out of the Caro and Erio pair during their fight with Lutecia...it was pure blank and mindless. We get Fate's sonic form though and it was a nice sight to see. Nanoha and blaster mode, which was 5 RH funnels, and a five shot Starlight Breaker attack for the time skipped Vivio. The ending wasn't as climatic and even though RF6 was lead by Hayate, she got seriously shafted after the second half of StrikerS had started. Chrono was useless and the Forwards were decent, but not as great as how the aces were in their younger years. To put it simply, the story was on/off, then it completely just changed towards the end like how my explanation of the story just veered off to talking about what happened in the last battle.:heh:

Characters - I enjoyed watching the Forwards though...they were pretty entertaining. Although Stars members, Teana and Subaru got more development than Caro and Erio. Heck, they didn't even get any screen time with Fate being together and Fate acting like a guardian to them. Sadly enough, you can only experience this during the Sound Stages, which is pretty useless since you're just listening instead of actually watching and becoming attached to whats going on.:heh: Hayate got shafted and so did Zafira, who both characters were on the "main list" and not in the "supporting roles". Hayate got fights, but that was during the first half. The second big fight and the ending, she didn't do much...just unison...and save Vita from doom...thats it! Scaglietti was a decent villain, although he talked too much though and created too much Numbers. The Numbers were interesting, although too much characters already so they weren't as developed also. Plus Cinque went missing after the owning she received by Subaru in episode 17. Chrono was also useless in the final fight...he just sat down most of the time and talked. Vivio was a NxF generator and a moe factor for StrikerS...she didn't even have any development other than she's just a little kid with someone's memories that could be important.

THE GOOD
- We get the "white devil" to come out of Nanoha when Teana was in emo mode.
- Erio and Caro make a good couple.
- Lutecia reminds you of Fate back in the first season.
- Zest is obsessed with his muscles...J/K, he's a knight and S+ ranked!
- Scaglietti likes to experiment with life.
- Ginga is hot!:love:
- Sonic form Fate is hotter!!:love::love:
- Berserk Subaru was the best fight scene throughout the whole season.
- Teana's tactics during episode 24!
- Nanoha's Exceed mode!
- Signum with her hair down.:love:
- Signum's unison with Agito.
- Vita giving her all in the final battle.

THE BAD
- Plot was drastically changed towards the end.
- A lot of side plots abandoned and never solved, or were solved quickly.(Einherjars, relics, prophecy)
- Vivio was a NanohaXFate fanservice generator. And her cries were really irritating.
- Too much development on Subaru and Teana and not much on Erio, Caro and even Lutecia.
- Scaglietti proved to be more of a weaker villain compared to Quattro.
- Characters got really shafted. (Hayate, Chrono, Zafira...Cinque)
- Too many new characters!!
- Everyone seemed like secondary characters except for Nanoha and Vivio at the end.
- Too much training episodes.
- Too much talking about...any kind of crap!
- Too many flashbacks during crucial moments.
- Plot holes everywhere!
- Blaster mode with Starlight Breaker was impressive, but it was too overpowered of an attack.
- Vita still smashing things after being close to death and such.

Final
7/10
, I was really looking forward to this season, but it left me with a bad taste.
The ending seems really open...heres hoping to a 4th season and I think it would be wise to set it on Earth...or atleast get Earth involved...that way, it would really up the dramatic effect to the plot. Too many characters and everyone tried to get equal time on screen but that just added to more disasters. Better luck next time 7arcs...or go with the original 13 episode formula.
Even with its flaws, we get to anticipate a coming of a new season with answers to these plot holes...unless the Sound Stages and Manga will pick it up where it was left. I would say StrikerS was just a big fat intro to new characters and a broken storyline. The next season, we should be all on our way to an epic season...hopefully.:heh:

Ichy 2007-09-24 08:55

Well... 2 out of 10 :(

Was this thre real thig or some kind of Trainings Anime? Such an INSANE amount of Filler Episodes.. :frustrated: Is Nanoha StrikeS some kind of Shounen Anime and wa are in filler arc right now?
Then we got moments of IMMENSE QUALITY! It's almost Feena Fam Earthlight level.
Story wasn't that great eighter...
There was A LOT of unneeded trash... Power Limiter anyone? I Know Fight Scenes are expensive to animate... but Nanoha is about fighting!
Unneeded Characters like Caro and that boy I don`t even remember -.-
Numbers are failing hard as Villian :uhoh: Where is mah human shaped Lost Logia of mass destruction? :heh:
Important Characters got shafted. Hayate is my favourite Charaters... this 26 Episodes where really painfull -.-

It would be a solid 0/10... Subaru was able to make it a little bit watchable...

Icarus 2007-09-24 09:57

Funny how people can compare A's and StrikerS as a marker for quality, when for all the awesomeness of the pacing and story development, A's itself suffered from one of the worst possible ending sequences I've ever seen in anime; while StrikerS, for all the misgivings and problems, at least ended somewhat conclusively and - get this - had antagonists that actually fought back.

StrikerS is finished, and now I have nothing to watch. ;_;

Rating: about 7/8 out of 10.

Nemesis 2007-09-24 09:59

Now if A's pacing and StrikerS's ending were combined together.........that would bring back some faith.

Chaos2Frozen 2007-09-24 10:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icarus (Post 1163366)
Funny how people can compare A's and StrikerS as a marker for quality, when for all the awesomeness of the pacing and story development, A's itself suffered from one of the worst possible ending sequences I've ever seen in anime; while StrikerS, for all the misgivings and problems, at least ended somewhat conclusively and - get this - had antagonists that actually fought back.

StrikerS is finished, and now I have nothing to watch. ;_;

Rating: about 7/8 out of 10.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adr 00 (Post 1163368)
Now if A's pacing and StrikerS's ending were combined together.........that would bring back some faith.

I don't see what's so grand with StrikerS' ending :confused: It ended the same way as A's, only with much more cheese and rasied eye brows.

And I specially didn't get the "antagonists fought back" part, I hope you're only refering to the Defense Program. But even then it's a trade off - in StrikerS the protagonists didn't actually go all out.

Jimmy C 2007-09-24 10:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icarus
A's itself suffered from one of the worst possible ending sequences I've ever seen in anime;

Could you please explain that? If you meant "ending conclusively" It seemed pretty clear cut that both the Book and its defense program were dealt with. If you meant the epilogue, what's wrong with a "life goes on" ending?

Icarus 2007-09-24 10:27

So you're telling me you'd take the ending where The Most Powerful Thing In Existence stands there and takes every single ultimate attack that is thrown at it (without even doing anything remotely interesting besides wiggling its tentacles), and then is finally thrown up into space to be Arc-en-ciel'ed into oblivion; over the ending where the antagonists fought back, and could have won if 1) they had more brains between their metallic skulls, and 2) they weren't up against anime conventions where the bad guys have to lose to the good guys?

Interesting.

I agree with Adr00 that if StS had A's pacing and story development, it'd be a killer series.
Nevertheless I enjoyed StS.

Ichy 2007-09-24 10:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Icarus (Post 1163406)
So you're telling me you'd take the ending where The Most Powerful Thing In Existence stands there and takes every single ultimate attack that is thrown at it (without even doing anything remotely interesting besides wiggling its tentacles), and then is finally thrown up into space to be Arc-en-ciel'ed into oblivion; over the ending where the antagonists fought back, and could have won if 1) they had more brains between their metallic skulls, and 2) they weren't up against anime conventions where the bad guys have to lose to the good guys?

Interesting.

I agree with Adr00 that if StS had A's pacing and story development, it'd be a killer series.
Nevertheless I enjoyed StS.

You missed how Hayate cut of the defense programs link to the Book?
There was not much Attack power left, wiggling its tentacles was one of the only things left to do.

Also there was this EPIC fight against Suigintome. That's why A's Ending > StrikerS


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