[Sunder the Gold]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

That pretty much summarizes the plot to season 1. There's so little rhyme or reason that not even Nanoha understands what the fuck is happening. It starts off with some boring magical girl fare, then she meets another mage like her, they fight, and some spaceship guy comes out of nowhere. And shit happens. And they want more jewel seeds. Then Fate's mother's a bitch. Then Fate's a clone. And yea...

So, the original season should have started with Precia's attack on that ship carrying the Jewel Seeds, and then ordering Fate to go after them?

That would have informed us of stuff like magical spaceships and the season's Big Bad and Rival from the start.

At least it was clear from the beginning that Yuuno was a boy instead of a ferret.

I just get the feeling that they have had no idea what they were trying to accomplish, the random inter-dimensional ship thing just made me laugh so hard. Season 1 is just full of them ass pulls, including such nonsense as the TSAB whisking Nanoha away and not have the parents have a least bit of concern... without explanation, just mere exposition. That's generally very poor storytelling when you must state events instead of showing them.

And when mildly important events like, "Where did Raising Heart come from?" are completely neglected.

And HOW exactly did the Jewel Seeds --and ONLY the Jewel Seeds-- end up falling on Earth, generally all within the same city on the same hemiphere of the same planet?

For that matter, how the hell did Precia KNOW about the Jewel Seeds being dug up, or what transport they were on and where it would be? You'd think that the TSAB would not simply announce such dangerous knowledge, but try to keep it a secret.

And who in the TSAB would have any reason to let HER know about them? If the wanted a dangerously psychotic interstellar scientist to activate them, the TSAB already has one of those as a pet.

Did Jail perhaps spill the beans as a way to repay her advancements on his Project F technology?

However, the plot does stumble heavily near the end with the infamous anticlimatic battle (which can be explained away by Hayate being freed and everyone firing at it)

Yeah, it would have been much more exciting if that monster had actually MOVED, especially to attack.

If the next movie delivers anything, it ought to be that. (And hopefully without reducing the role of any of of the characters originally involved.)

the same matchups occurring too often

Or not often enough. Where's my Yuuno/Vita rematch, and why wasn't she demanding one?!

"Dammit, you turtle-brat, start taking me seriously!"

A Yuuno/Shamal teleporter/bind/shield battle might have been cool, too. A chance to show off something other than Yuuno's strongest defenses.

and also the entire Gil Grahmn fiasco. Not only could his guilt be better explored, him getting off scot free despite having attempted murder of at least 2 mages engaging in an entirely reckless act that could get everyone killed anyways just can't sit well with me.

It's highly unlikely that he accurately predicted that Fate and Nanoha were going to be on the scene when the shit went down. I'm pretty sure that was just the Liese twins adapting to the situation.

I have far less sympathy for the Twins, since Graham at least regretted what he was doing. THEY actually seemed to enjoy every moment of it.

I also seemed to get the impression that Graham was being quietly exiled to Earth because of political reasons.

I mean, we are even given a scene where Lindy explicitly remarks on how "odd" the resolution of the matter is, and we are also given a shot where Letti doesn't really answer her, but stares at her with an unreadable expression.

In other words, the both of them know it's bullshit, and we don't know if Letti is on Lindy's side in this manner.

It probably could have used more episodes to really explore some of the world they created, but the storytelling is well done here.

Yeah. It's a shame they couldn't have shaved a few episodes off the bloated, inefficient mess than was StrikerS.

Having fewer episodes might have forced that season to tighten its belt properly.

Chrono and Yuuno are likable dorks, but incredibly dull, and everyone else is mostly forgettable.

But enough is established that further seasons could develop them into more interesting characters.

This is pretty much what A's does with Chrono, by showing us more of his relationship with Amy and introducing us to major parts of his past.

I especially liked how his "You can't bring back the dead!" conviction is strongly explained in the second season. It's the conviction he came to in regards to the death of his own father.

The involvement of Lost Logia in that death would make Precia's attempt to use another Lost Logia to challenge that conviction even more personal for Chrono, in hindsight.

Unfortunately, Yuuno remains pretty much the same guy. We don't learn anything new about him in the second season of the anime. But a third season OTHER than Strikers (and set before that time period) could have done the trick.

What better plothook to give us another Lost Logia AND learn more about Yuuno than to have the Scrya Clan dig up another one and suddenly need a rescue?