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View Poll Results: Nanoha StrikerS - Overall series rating
Perfect 10 47 15.99%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 52 17.69%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 57 19.39%
7 out of 10 : Good 62 21.09%
6 out of 10 : Average 44 14.97%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 8 2.72%
4 out of 10 : Poor 11 3.74%
3 out of 10 : Bad 3 1.02%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 1 0.34%
1 out of 10 : Painful 9 3.06%
Voters: 294. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2009-06-25, 22:45   Link #261
xiaoamy
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I wonder why would anyone vote for "painful"? Must have been people that don't like magical stuff...

Nanoha is one of the best anime I have ever seen the only down part is Zafira didn't transform into his human form in StrikerS
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Old 2009-07-02, 10:44   Link #262
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7/10.

I really liked Nanoha and A's (would have given them both 9/10). Both were very compelling stories where the "bad guys" weren't really your run-of-the-bill villain. Instead, the stories provided us with a lot of sympathy for Fate and the Wolkenritter and made a true sympathetic hero out of Nanoha trying to solve the problems instead of just mindlessly attacking the other side.

Strikers was a neat action/adventure series that had our favorite characters return to lead the way for the new generation, but it didn't have that same emotional impact until the last few episodes with Nanoha vs. Vivio. The beginning, especially, dragged on for far too long before the plot wheels started turning, and we got introduced to WAY too many characters right off the bat, many of whom weren't even important enough to give a name.

The middle of the series really started to pick up, and perhaps they should have just started there, in media res, rather than fill up 6-8 episodes with essentially opening narrative.

Music was good, but the OP and ED just couldn't keep up with Nanoha or even A's, IMHO (Innocent Starter and the Nanoha OP is one of my all-time favorites, and Eternal Blaze is not too far behind).

Once the story got going around Ep. 8 or 9, we saw the character development begin and it got nicely involved, and the series had some great moments (Nanoha blasting through half the Cradle to get to Quattro was too awesome for words. The look on Quattro's face when she realized the inevitable...), but the slow start took away some points.

And... what the hell happened to poor Yuuno and Arf (especially Arf)? Relegated to a cameo and backstory after giving Raising Heart to Nanoha and after being Fate's loyal friend since childood? Too cruel.

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Old 2009-09-07, 16:06   Link #263
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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.
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Old 2009-09-13, 14:25   Link #264
Takamura Mamoru
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I'd give StrikerS 7/10

The same score I'd give the first Season.

For the most time, it just wasn't that interesting. Tons of characters we don't want to see, uninteresting villains (Who seriously remembers the numbers, apart from Quattro?) and failed action. Scaglietti never seemed threatening or special.

He wasn't as purely evil as Precia was, he had no backstory, hardly any real motivation and he definitely didn't have a fascinating development like the Wolkenritter.

It was unimpressive. That is, most of the time. Episode 17 is the first real awesome episode of StrikerS. The finale, starting around Episode 21 finally goes back to the original awesomeness of Nanoha, something that should have happened much earlier already.

In all honesty, the finale was really epic. But it can't make up for boring periods of training and uninteresting babble. Why focus on new characters we don't want to see when we have the old cast as adults now?

The only new main character that had a real development was Teana. Unfortunately, I didn't really care for her, but that's just a personal taste. Subaru was quite cool, however.

I can't rate the season as standalone, I have to rate it while keeping the series as a whole in mind. And it was unable to reach the relative high expectations I had after the godlike win that was Nanoha A's.
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Old 2009-09-13, 19:39   Link #265
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I liked Jail a lot as a charismatic evil scientist villain in the Professor Tomoe and Dantalion (Shakugan no Shana) mode.

However, I totally agree with the two posts above me when it comes to how non-threatening the antagonists were. If there's an anime sequel (as opposed to prequel) to Nanoha Striker S, then I really hope we see more powerful and threatening antagonists/villains next time.
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Old 2009-09-13, 22:46   Link #266
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I agree.

What Nanoha needs, is a villan at the level of Dr. Doom or the Joker.
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Old 2009-09-13, 22:52   Link #267
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Really? Personally I've loved the more humanistic approach the Nanoha series have taken towards its villians. In LotGH Yang Wenli's words: "Most battles in this universe aren't between good and evil, but between one good and another good".
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Old 2009-09-13, 22:53   Link #268
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I agree. I liked how human the antagonists of Nanoha have been. It paints some very interesting shades of gray for the viewer to consider.
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Old 2009-09-13, 23:16   Link #269
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They key word here is that I used the word "Level" not "like"

When I said at the level of Dr. Doom and The Joker, I was meaning of a villan that really causes you that level of impression and somehow respect, even admiration for the reason behind his actions, not a villan exactly like those 2 buddies.
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Old 2009-09-13, 23:26   Link #270
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Proto View Post
Really? Personally I've loved the more humanistic approach the Nanoha series have taken towards its villians. In LotGH Yang Wenli's words: "Most battles in this universe aren't between good and evil, but between one good and another good".
I'd have to say that's one of the biggest draw of the series to me. They're not just shooting practice for Nanoha. The villains had a more tragic tone to them.
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Old 2009-09-13, 23:28   Link #271
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Yes, I do like how the villans have decent motivation, I don't like how they never seem to put up a decent fight once the heroes get around to figuring things out.
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Old 2009-09-14, 00:00   Link #272
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That is a problem with a lot of anime. Typically once the hero finds the solution, the villain's like "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE" and dies no matter how big his advantage was. The presence of the power limiting plot devices also annoyed me because then it just seemed like negligence on the part of the good guys rather than the antagonists being effective. So they wouldn't have stood a chance if Nanoha/Fate/Hayate were at full power? I understand there was probaly safety in mind, but having our heroes being defeated by bureaucracy a good plot does not make.

And of course I don't really think well of the TSAB, I mean how can the fleet be late by like 10 minutes when they had so long to prepare? Maybe they really shouldn't have stopped for donuts.
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Last edited by Archon_Wing; 2009-09-14 at 00:16.
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Old 2009-09-14, 00:23   Link #273
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Archon_Wing View Post
That is a problem with a lot of anime. Typically once the hero finds the solution, the villain's like "THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE" and dies no matter how big his advantage was. The presence of the power limiting plot devices also annoyed me because then it just seemed like negligence on the part of the good guys rather than the antagonists being effective. So they wouldn't have stood a chance if Nanoha/Fate/Hayate were at full power? I understand there was probaly safety in mind, but having our heroes being defeated by bureaucracy a good plot does not make.

And of course I don't really think well of the TSAB, I mean how can the fleet be late by like 10 minutes when they had so long to prepare? Maybe they really shouldn't have stopped for donuts.
To be fair to Chrono and his friends, until the Cradle rose, they had no idea what they were supposed to be preparing for--and if Jail had the proper information from within the TSAB (either actually passed on to him by his backers or obtained by Due through more traditional espionage means), he probably knew where the fleet was and what its response time would be when the Cradle was launched.

As for the limiters, yeah, that was a fairly ridiculous plot device, and the stated reasons for them being placed on was even more ridiculous. I can just see the U.S. Navy functioning that way: "Yes, the Sixth Fleet has too many missile cruisers, and the other admirals are jealous, so we'll only give them one Hellfire each unless they get special authorization to carry more, which special authorization can only be given once each by three people unless the entire Joint Chiefs signs off on it." I can only hope that the real reason for the limiters was that the Brains and Regius Gaiz deliberately threw roadblocks in the path of the Harlaown-St. Church group to reduce their combat effectiveness since, after all, it was their black op that Riot Force 6 was formed to investigate. Then it's "defeated by conspiracy" instead of "defeated by bureaucracy."
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Old 2009-09-14, 00:33   Link #274
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DezoPenguin View Post
To be fair to Chrono and his friends, until the Cradle rose, they had no idea what they were supposed to be preparing for--and if Jail had the proper information from within the TSAB (either actually passed on to him by his backers or obtained by Due through more traditional espionage means), he probably knew where the fleet was and what its response time would be when the Cradle was launched.
Good point. Since Jail did have contacts high up there, they might have been forced to prepare for every possibility. I just found it odd how there's nothing defending a planet that's just been attacked like that. But then, if they stationed their whole fleet at Midchilda (is that the place?) I guess it could it could lead to weaknesses elsewhere that could be exploited.

Quote:
I can only hope that the real reason for the limiters was that the Brains and Regius Gaiz deliberately threw roadblocks in the path of the Harlaown-St. Church group to reduce their combat effectiveness since, after all, it was their black op that Riot Force 6 was formed to investigate. Then it's "defeated by conspiracy" instead of "defeated by bureaucracy."
I hope so too. Nanoha's not really the kind of story for political commentary.
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Old 2009-09-14, 07:42   Link #275
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DezoPenguin View Post
As for the limiters, yeah, that was a fairly ridiculous plot device, and the stated reasons for them being placed on was even more ridiculous. I can just see the U.S. Navy functioning that way: "Yes, the Sixth Fleet has too many missile cruisers, and the other admirals are jealous, so we'll only give them one Hellfire each unless they get special authorization to carry more, which special authorization can only be given once each by three people unless the entire Joint Chiefs signs off on it."
*Headbangs repeatedly* WHAT IN "IT'S CHEATING THAT HAYATE USED" you do not understand? With they powerful mages shortage they f*ing shouldn't have allowed 3 aces in same unit of that importance LIKE AT ALL. Limiters are for cases when somebody wants to be in the same unit for personal reasons. It's like renaming cruiser training ship to give it to some not-so-important coast guard unit. Also if you remove limiters and high-level mages limit "headhunting" will be on so big rise that all TSAB will have units that gather all high level mages - and it's NOT good because they can be only in one place at the same time.
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Old 2009-09-14, 08:11   Link #276
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The fact that it was explained doesn't change that it was a fairly silly plot device.
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Old 2009-09-14, 08:24   Link #277
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Quote:
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The fact that it was explained doesn't change that it was a fairly silly plot device.
Limiters is very plausible when "maximum mage power in unit" law is in effect. That law is also highly plausible. And where they are silly? Actually what was silly plot device is "they all are in the same unit"... and limiters/that law they are cheat for would have a good place in setting even without that.
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Old 2009-09-14, 14:14   Link #278
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'maximum mage power in unit' in itself is a silly plot device. Especially in light of the A's manga, where Leti promoted the major combat power of a bunch of powerful mages in one unit.

The only reason the limiters where there was to explain why Nanoha & Co didn't just blast through all the enemies while the rookies were having trouble. Now that the rookies are at the level the main characters (albeit the lower level) I fully expect Limiters never to be mentioned anywhere in Force.
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Old 2009-09-14, 17:03   Link #279
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'maximum mage power in unit' in itself is a silly plot device. Especially in light of the A's manga, where Leti promoted the major combat power of a bunch of powerful mages in one unit.
And militarily stupid. Seriously, now the TSAB's plan is, "sorry, we can't assign two powerful mages to this unit, because you're only allowed to have one. What, there's an enemy that requires more power? Tough luck, we don't allow you to have a unit with that kind of power." It's like saying that a commando unit can't be made up of SEALs or Green Berets or other expert personnel, but must include a certain minimum of untrained grunts.

RF6 is supposed to be a special, cross-branch unit designed to deal with extreme Lost Logia cases.

Quote:
Originally Posted by al103 View Post
*Headbangs repeatedly* WHAT IN "IT'S CHEATING THAT HAYATE USED" you do not understand? With they powerful mages shortage they f*ing shouldn't have allowed 3 aces in same unit of that importance LIKE AT ALL. Limiters are for cases when somebody wants to be in the same unit for personal reasons. It's like renaming cruiser training ship to give it to some not-so-important coast guard unit. Also if you remove limiters and high-level mages limit "headhunting" will be on so big rise that all TSAB will have units that gather all high level mages - and it's NOT good because they can be only in one place at the same time.
That doesn't make any sense at all, to put it bluntly.

Okay, so you're not allowed to have three aces in one unit? Why?

The only reason that makes any sense for such a law is that there are a limited number of high-ranked mages in the TSAB military, and they want to distribute them through the armed forces.

Strapping a limiter on Nanoha doesn't make her an A-ranked mage. It just means she's an S+ mage who can't use her power.

Your reasoning that "Hayate used the limiters to trick the TSAB" does not hold together. Is the rest of the TSAB so stupid as to not KNOW Nanoha and Fate are aces? If they want to distribute Aces through the military enough that they pass a law enforcing it, then it's doubly stupid to not only gather the Aces together but also limit their effectiveness when they're there.

To sum up: A MILITARY FORCE DOES NOT DELIBERATELY PREVENT ITS CAPITAL FIGHTING UNITS FROM BEING ABLE TO FIGHT. How dumb do you think the TSAB is???

Keroko is right. The power limiters are a stupid plot device designed to give the rookies more screen time and create artificial tension by preventing the unit captains from just blowing through low-level opposition, letting Nanoha, etc. "level up" for their final battles in classic shonen anime tradition. It's entirely based on meta elements and forcibly shoehorned into the story plot.
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Old 2009-09-14, 19:30   Link #280
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Proto View Post
Really? Personally I've loved the more humanistic approach the Nanoha series have taken towards its villians. In LotGH Yang Wenli's words: "Most battles in this universe aren't between good and evil, but between one good and another good".
Quote:
Originally Posted by RadiantBeam View Post
I agree. I liked how human the antagonists of Nanoha have been. It paints some very interesting shades of gray for the viewer to consider.
I disagree with you both, actually. The main reason being that one of the key facets to Nanoha's character is how she tries (usually successfully) to reform antagonists. It would be nice to see her try to reform somebody with out many sympathetic qualities for a change: a Joker (or at least a Two-Face) to challenge her Batman.

However, that's not my main point: my main point is simply that the antagonists in Striker S never really posed much of a basic physical challenge to Nanoha. Put simply, they rarely came off as a genuine threat.

Simply more powerful villains, be they Joker-esque evil or more sympathetic, would be my main desire.
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