Nanoha - StrikerS - Episode 24 Discussion / Poll

[Nightengale]

Originally Posted by Hypernova

IMO Caro and the likes are redundant in StrikerS, Teana/Subaru/Ginga plot line would have worked just as well without them. Think about the roles so far those kids are simply there so fillers can be written to fill up the 13 extra eps. The old gang+older recruit would have been enough and would have left room to develop the Numbers better.

And does anyone know what's the deal between Arf's voice actress and the production company? I can feel a contractual/schedule issue that caused her character to be written out of the story (happens a lot with sequels) and replaced with a child form so different actress can be used (but due to differences too large can only be used sparingly).

Arf in StrikerS is still voiced by Natsuko Kuwatani. Yes, it's still the same VA, even for the loli-form.

Not to mention I think she's voicing 2 or 3 more other characters like Lutecia...and Sette, I think. So, there's clearly no problem.

They just want to get rid of the old-supporting cast even though they're stronger and better than these 'Forwards'. Probably for fresh new dimensions in the story, on a ground-stuck basis. I think it's obvious they want to get rid of Zafira too, but felt that it was too unreasonable to remove anyone from the Wolkenritter line-up, so they went a different way, shaft him as badly as they can in wolf-form.

[Hypernova]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Arf in StrikerS is still voiced by Natsuko Kuwatani. Yes, it's still the same VA, even for the loli-form.

Not to mention I think she's voicing 2 or 3 more other characters like Lutecia...and Sette, I think. So, there's clearly no problem.

They just want to get rid of the old-supporting cast even though they're stronger and better than these 'Forwards'. Probably for fresh new dimensions in the story, on a ground-stuck basis. I think it's obvious they want to get rid of Zafira too, but felt that it was too unreasonable to remove anyone from the Wolkenritter line-up, so they went a different way, shaft him as badly as they can in wolf-form.

Problem with such approach is that they alienate fan's of existing characters especially Arf who was part of the main cast for 2 seasons. (Hell I can't remember her name been mentioned at all untill the library scene, it's as if she didn't exist before that.) If they wanted to do a separate side of the story a spin off would have been a better choice i.e Stargate Atlantis.

The show is also suffering from cast overload, right now we have five groups:
Good:
a) Original gang
b) Subaru/Teana/Ginga
c) Caro/Erio
d) Riot 6 support staff+Saint Church

Villin:
e) Numbers/Jail <<Similar to 2nd season but with head of group evil.
f) Lutecia/Zest <<Try to revive her Mom, reverse of season 1.
g) TSAB higher ups/brains <<Dark history leading to the rise of TSAB.

For a third season it should be:
A+E
A+G <<gang finds some dark secret of TSAB and now is on the run and has to redeem self. Does not have to be (E) related.
AB+E
AC+F
CD+F <<Spin-off: Hayate/knights take (C) under their wing with with Nanoha/Fate only occasional appearances.


Else there's too many people to work with, usually this is a good thing as you get more plot lines to expand upon but if your writers are incompetent (which the writers of Strikers clearly are) in that case it will have the reverse effect where they get overwhelmed/confused and instead do very little. Add short plot to a 26 ep format and you end up with the disaster that is Strikers.

[Flar]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

They just want to get rid of the old-supporting cast even though they're stronger and better than these 'Forwards'. Probably for fresh new dimensions in the story, on a ground-stuck basis. I think it's obvious they want to get rid of Zafira too, but felt that it was too unreasonable to remove anyone from the Wolkenritter line-up, so they went a different way, shaft him as badly as they can in wolf-form.

That's always a problem when a serie drags on, people get attached to the old cast. There is clearly a will to start from scratch, and do something new in StrikerS, but they spoiled it by wanting to satisfy all the fans, even when they wanted contradictory things, and in the end they satisfied noone.

I think the first of their mistake beyond the vague inconsistent fanservice is that they just recycled season 1 and 2. Who wanted to get another dig at al hazard, clones and lolis fighting for her mother?

[arkhangelsk]

Just to take our attention from MGLN StrikerS bashing for a bit (I'm joining the side that wants a dedicated MGLN Post-Mortem/Criticism thread)...

How many people think that Regius is actually rather ignorant of the real situation of the Navy. He thinks that all the good mages are grabbed by HQ and the Navy and they are disproportionately endowed with elite mages. Superficially this is true, until you think of it a different way:

He has Zest, a rank S. If we assume he has no other S- or at least AAA-ranks, he already has 1 elite mage for a planet. That's not bad. The Navy looks like it has 1 elite mage per company/ship, so it looks like a much higher concentration, but given the area they cover and the enormous (not) number of high-ranking mages we saw in totality, they might well be averaging out at much less than 1 elite mage per planet, so Regius is hardly being shafted at all here!

[Nightengale]

Hmm...

Ground Forces probably has the highest density of forces in the entire TSAB, countered by the fact that most of them suck ass, that B-rank itself is rare among grunts.

On the other hand, the more elite Air/Navy would probably have less members overall, but are more elite in concentration. Weren't all those Athra mages fly-swatted by Precia in S1 all A-ranks?

[arkhangelsk]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

On the other hand, the more elite Air/Navy would probably have less members overall, but are more elite in concentration. Weren't all those Athra mages fly-swatted by Precia in S1 all A-ranks?

According to NanohaWiki, they were supposed be a mix of As and Bs (the squad leaders being A).

In any case, A is as good as B (that is to say, almost useless), when it comes to something really important - one S+ is plenty of compensation!

[Nvis]

Something's still bugging me.

How Jail can stop Fate's Riot Zamber with his bare hands?
And not cut his hands off completely.

After watching this ep, it seems to me that combat cyborgs aren't all that great and have little to no advantage over a similarly-level mage.

[arkhangelsk]

Originally Posted by Nvis

Something's still bugging me.

How Jail can stop Fate's Riot Zamber with his bare hands?
And not cut his hands off completely.

Because he has a pretty good IS himself. Unlike Hayate, he realizes that even with all the guards in the world, he might still actually have to fight. In a sense he deserved to win, and the real injustice was the Creator forcing him to lose.

After watching this ep, it seems to me that combat cyborgs aren't all that great and have little to no advantage over a similarly-level mage.

By definition, anything cannot have a major advantage over another thing of similar level...

Spoiler for Tre:

If anything, I was impressed that she managed to hold out a bit against Fate even in her Limit Break

[Nightengale]

Wasn't the idea by Combat Cyborgs was that once the tech is safe enough, it'd be mass-producible? And it's not like they're hindered by requirements of being a mage and all that.

If 1 in 10 Combat Cyborg specimens has Tre's level of performance, that's already a very good bargain, considering that AAA-S rank mages are like 1 in thousands.

Not to mention with whatever possible h4xx-inducing ISes... one-trick-ponies, they are, but they can be very effective so long as they're not looking to be replacement for versatile mages.

[Icarus]

Wow, lots of complaining in this thread. -_-;;

Mmm... Sonic Form... needs more skirt though. Also, someone said something about an anti-ship sword. Layet Mode, anyone? Despite animation problems, and maybe too much talking, I quite enjoyed this episode.

Also, why can I see a flood of Scaglietti Baseball/Golf flashgames popping up on the net soon?

Finally, while I share some of the misgivings about the season with some of the other posters (bad pacing, etc), in the end I still enjoyed this season for what it is: entertainment.

Originally Posted by Julius Firefocht

Well, being a fan of melee combat, I actually prefer how Fate defeats the opposition this time round. No tricks or ambushes, just upfront brutality. After all, she is angry, and would probably prefer to take on the enemy in melee combat rather than wasting her energy on unsatisfying ranged kills.

QFT. Unlike Nanoha who likes to stand at distance and blast stuff, Fate gets up close and personal, and that's why I like her. I prefer melee combat to long-range sniping, anyway. Riot Zamber could have done with more dual-wielding action, but meh, there's always another time.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by Nvis

Something's still bugging me.

How Jail can stop Fate's Riot Zamber with his bare hands?
And not cut his hands off completely.

One bare hand, one claw glove.


On Tenka Seiha, someone pointed out something I missed. What shame...

Quattro doesn't have those straps on her face.
Then again, when I checked, I realized neither does Uno or Cinque.

Though I assume there is no meaning behind this...

*yawn*...

Maybe because those three are important?
Uno=#1
Cinque=A missing/hidden factor
Quattro=Final boss?

Or it's the good doctor's tastes...

[herbert]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Wasn't the idea by Combat Cyborgs was that once the tech is safe enough, it'd be mass-producible? And it's not like they're hindered by requirements of being a mage and all that.

If 1 in 10 Combat Cyborg specimens has Tre's level of performance, that's already a very good bargain, considering that AAA-S rank mages are like 1 in thousands.

Not to mention with whatever possible h4xx-inducing ISes... one-trick-ponies, they are, but they can be very effective so long as they're not looking to be replacement for versatile mages.

I guess there is still something called human right, though I am not very sure if this sort of thing exists in Nanoha in the first place given the fact that govn't can hire kids at 9.

Originally Posted by Nvis

Something's still bugging me.

How Jail can stop Fate's Riot Zamber with his bare hands?
And not cut his hands off completely.

I felt the same at first glance, but then I thought it might be part of his IS so I am fine with it now

There is another thing bug me. Nove, at first few scenes, looks like very special among numbers so I expected she should be at top-tiers or have rare skill among numbers. And it turn out she lost to Sabura in the assualt of Ground Headquater, then lost to Teana in a battle almost 3 to 1 (if take Vice out). I really do not understand why she behave an be treated so special at beginning.

[hound297]

Originally Posted by princesa_Ameria

Spoiler for Fate vs Jail Scaglietti 2:

Morale of story : The wrath of a mother losing her child is NOT to be trifled with!

[Nightengale]

Originally Posted by herbert

I guess there is still something called human right, though I am not very sure if this sort of thing exists in Nanoha in the first place given the fact that govn't can hire kids at 9.

To begin with, what TSAB know of that technology is that its success rate is quite low, but apparently Jail already solved that problem, but even then, it's a bit of the low side of human ethics since apparently a degree of biological modification is necessary for mechanization.

Originally Posted by herbert

There is another thing bug me. Nove, at first few scenes, looks like very special among numbers so I expected she should be at top-tiers or have rare skill among numbers. And it turn out she lost to Sabura in the assualt of Ground Headquater, then lost to Teana in a battle almost 3 to 1 (if take Vice out). I really do not understand why she behave an be treated so special at beginning.

Nove's armaments and stuff are ALL based of Subaru's, since they're all reverse-engineered from Subaru and Mach Calibur's tech. So, it's not really that she's special, it's just that she wasn't even properly completed then.

Speaking of which, have we even seen her IS, Break Liner yet?

[arkxkra]

wow, just finish watch this episode, i feel awesome...
but that two summon "Dragon" abit ....
Fate with the new form, 2 sword damn cool + the song-pray, i love it
Fate last hit for the Jail is so damn cool, Fate you are so sweet and kind hearted

btw, seldom to see someone can break Nanoha ultimate def, Nanoha still not full power to fight Vivio? Looking forward the next episode, Nanoha should be fully limit break

[FlameSparkZ]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Nove's armaments and stuff are ALL based of Subaru's, since they're all reverse-engineered from Subaru and Mach Calibur's tech. So, it's not really that she's special, it's just that she wasn't even properly completed then.

Speaking of which, have we even seen her IS, Break Liner yet?

I'll take care of that with a short crack comic strip

[Ottocycle]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Speaking of which, have we even seen her IS, Break Liner yet?

It should be the Wing Road copy in eps 16-17.

EDIT: Confirmed with the official bios. The general ability to materialise paths in the air is called 'Air Liner' (LOL), while Nove's possession of that ability would be her IS, 'Break Liner', probably renamed to combine with her ability to smash stuff up a la Subaru.

[Tokkan]

Originally Posted by humbug23

It should be the Wing Road copy in eps 16-17.

No, that's just an extension of it called "Air Liner".

[Nightengale]

Well, I know that her Wing-Road rip-off is Air Liner, but I'm not exactly sure what her IS, Break Liner ACTUALLY does.

So, Nove's overall ability (( Air Liner + Gun Knuckle + Jet Edge mastery aka Shooting Arts rip-off )) = Break Liner?

[Ottocycle]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Well, I know that her Wing-Road rip-off is Air Liner, but I'm not exactly sure what her IS, Break Liner ACTUALLY does.

So, Nove's overall ability (( Air Liner + Gun Knuckle + Jet Edge mastery aka Shooting Arts rip-off )) = Break Liner?

Well, yes.