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.
) 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.
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...
)
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.
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.
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.
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!
- Sonic form Fate is hotter!!
- 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.
- 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.