View Single Post
Old 2009-09-07, 16:06   Link #263
fukarming
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2009
4/10

To me Nanoha SS is a disappointment and a failed anime. I really like Nanoha and Nanoha A's and I think they are revolutionary animes (anime that change how people view a genre). The original nanoha change the way we see magical girl genre and and A's combine cute magical girls with exciting actions nicely. However, Nanoha SS attempts to expand the world view and setting but I believe it failed spectacularly.

I won't repeat many criticism other already discussed (slow start...etc) so I would only state a couple points that not many others have stated.

1. Poor animation
The Nanoha series sell moe girls. I don't expect them to have excellent fighting scene (though A's fighting scene are done very nicely) but it is unforgivable if the animations are poor when they are selling the girls. In ep 7 it is supposed to be a treat to the audience to see the ACE wear dress gowns, but instead it looks like a freak show.

2. Enemy and excitement
My major criticism, though is the lack of excitement throughout the whole series. Nanoha SS introduces AMF, which supposed to limit the power of the ACE and make the fight more exciting but I just failed to see how the enemy utilized this technology. The ACE still blast through the Numbers like there are no tomorrow even under AMF.
However, that is not the worst. The worst part of the series is that the Heroes (mobile 6) are so much stronger than the enemies (Numbers + Lutecia + Zest + Agito). It is probably the only anime that shows such a huge difference of power between the good and the evil. There are three major skirmish between the sides:

ep 11,12
Mobile 6 - 4 rookie. 3 aces, Vita, Reinforce II, Ginga
Enemy - couple of numbers, Lutecia, Agito
Result: Complete victories of the mobile 6.
It is not just mobile 6 win a complete victories, it is how overwhelming they win it. Nanoha easily block a fire beam barely prepared, Hayate used a map weapon trying to decimate the enemies. In short, I think Vita sum it up nicely - It is like bullying children.

ep 16,17
Mobile 6 - 4 rookie, Vita, Ginga, Zafira, Shamal, Reinforce II, Fate (at the very end)
Enemy - Everyone
Result: Victory for Enemy
It seems the bad guys win in this match, however it should be noted that The Top 3 Ace and Signum didn't participate in the battle (Fate only comes in when the battle already settled) so the mobile 6 is at less than half force. Jail Scaglietti used very nice tactics rather than brute force to win this battle.

Final battles
Mobile 6, Everyone + sister Schach + Verossa minus Hayate
Enemy, Everyone + Ginga + Vivio
Result: Complete victory for mobile 6

If Jail Scaglietti is such a genius, he should try to forge a peace treaty after winning the ep 16,17 battle when he had the upper hand. Unfortunately for him fictions require a final battle that involve everyone and marks his doom.
The only battle that shows mobile 6 in trouble is the one involve Tia and Subaru, and it is rather poor command by Hayate that causes this. Nanoha proof unmatched throughout. She struggles against Vivio only because she is searching Quattro thus not utilizing full force. When she found Quattro, she simply blast her away from afar, marking the overwhelming firepower between the two side (It is like a tank versus an arrow user); when fate becomes serious, she cut through the top numbers and Jail like there laser cutting through butter, all in the while Hayate, the highest ranking mage in mobile 6, not involved in any battles. I feel sorry for Scaglietti as he played his cards perfectly, only to be overcame by superior firepower.

Even at the very beginning of the series I have no doubt mobile 6 will squash anything that thrown at them. The firepower of Scaglietti's organization might even be less than the book of darkness in A's. I honestly couldn't feel mobile 6 can fail.

The nanoha series sell two things, cute girls and exciting battles. When SS failed to deliver either, I believed that means it failed.
fukarming is offline