Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha licensed by Geneon

[Bloodseeker]

Originally Posted by dkellis

I wonder if it's possible to show this on American TV. On the one hand, it's the sort that might appeal to the mythical mainstream audience, since it does have lots of action. On the other hand, there's all the Fate abuse by Precia, which may not be suitable. (I keep thinking back to when I found out ROD TV was being aired in the US, and trying to compare the "mature situations" level of that and this.)

CN has shown little kids getting beaten to a bloody pulp before. Its not like Fate gets raped or anything.

If nothing else, letting the General Public know that not every show with a magical girl in it follows the standard stereotypes would go a long way, and is a possible argument for keeping the "Magical Girl" in the title.

That's not going to help draw people in... and really, MGLN isn't exactly what you'd call your standard magical girl show. (romance is nothing more than a minor subplot, big emphasis on great fights) I never thought that the title fit it all that well in the first place.

[dkellis]

I'm not sure myself why I'm resisting the very idea of changing the title to something more "action-packed". It's certainly not something that I can explain logically, since about all I can come up with is "it sounds wrong to make it less Magical Girl".

It might be because of the whole ingrained appreciation of the absurd, or something. Here we have a rather sugary title, "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha", and the series itself turns out to be all, um, explosive. The incongruity between the title and the content just seems to oddly fit, or at least is quite agreeable. And yet, that doesn't really seem to be quite enough for me to feel this way.

As mentioned, I don't know myself why I'm against a renaming, except that it makes me incredibly uneasy and uncomfortable. Even more so when Utawarerumono got changed (temporarily) to Shadow Warrior Chronicles or something. It's just that much of a bad feeling in my gut.

[Bloodseeker]

Its just what you're used to... Breaking away from the "familiar = best" mentality is important if you're going to enjoy dubs. (no offense meant)

Shadow Warrior Chronicles is a terrible name though. (granted, I haven't seen Utawarerumono yet) Reminds me of those old mid-90s dubs.

[Village Idiot]

Personally, I ignored Nanoha all the way up till the end of A's due to the title name.

Thought it was just another magical girl series, and didn't bother watching it.

It wasn't until I was on Gamefaqs' forum in the anime section where everyone kept talking about the series over and over again for the past year, usually with posters saying how awesome someone called 'Fate' was, so I decided to give the series a try.

First three episodes wasn't too bad, but didn't really draw my interest.

And then Fate came along, and wow, I ended up d/ling watching all of Nanoha/A's over the course of two days, and when the figurines was for sale, picked them up on the spot.

So ya, the title 'Magical Girl' can be a huge miss.

I still can't believe that I ignored such a good series for a full two years.

But ya, Geneon really needs to put 4 episodes on the first DVD, the series starts out way too slowly until then.

[Bloodseeker]

Ugh... don't remind me of GFAQs OT in mid-2006. The posters there made me want to watch it even less. Between their comments, the character designs (I think that I'd only seen Nanoha and a few ecchi Fate fanarts/figurines at the time), and the show title, I thought that it was some typical magical girl show aimed purely at magical girl fans and lolicons. It wasn't until I saw people raving about the fights on these boards (I think that it was these boards...) that I checked it out.

Spoiler for shallow bastard-ness:

Wolf girl's character design helped too.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Village Idiot

But ya, Geneon really needs to put 4 episodes on the first DVD, the series starts out way too slowly until then.

I think it's pretty likely that they would. I imagine it'd probably be released something like 4-3-3-3 (eps./disc). The other thing they could do (if they plan to release both seasons one after the other) would be to release the first season as 5-4-4, to get the interest up, and then the second as 4-3-3-3 for 7 discs in all (that's sort of similar to what happened in Japan, except it was 11 discs in all). All in all, though, I can't see why the first disc wouldn't have 4 episodes on it.

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Despite my username I'm not really on Gamefaqs anymore (I use this name so old friends can find me, which has worked suprisingly often) but I do know there was a large pro-Nanoha campeign over there.

Actually, if they gave it some sort of collector's edition I'd buy more than one copy likely. I'm a sucker for any sort of pack-in.

[Bloodseeker]

If you could call group fapping over a couple of lolis a pro-Nanoha campaign...

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

*shrugs*
What I heard was more like the Nanoha image thread here.

...

Take that as you will. LOL

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

Originally Posted by Bloodseeker

So basically what you're saying is that keeping things the same is more important than not driving away people that have come to associate the phrase "magical girl" with cheesy romance shows with mediocre plots and fight scenes?

i guess i see your point in renaming the series to just "Nanoha"

i guess it makes sense
most people will think that the "magical girl" will not be interesting and thus will avoid the anime show....
i just hope it really is licensed
the first season of Nanoha was great!!

[dkellis]

Originally Posted by Bloodseeker

Its just what you're used to... Breaking away from the "familiar = best" mentality is important if you're going to enjoy dubs. (no offense meant)

Oddly enough, I have absolutely no problems with dubs, and as long as it doesn't sound like the voice actors are forcing it (which happens in so very, very many cases), I do watch some.

Nanoha is a special case, because I love listening to Yukari Tamura. But if Yukari Tamura wasn't voicing Nanoha, I may well listen to the dub, mostly for the probability of correcting the Devices' Engrish.

In another attempt at rationalizing this irrational feeling, maybe it's a sort of example of ugly elitism in myself. Changing the name may be "pandering" to those already biased against magical girl shows, or something like that, and it rubs me the wrong way. Let those who are more open-minded buy it! Let those who are close-minded ignore it! It is all as it should be!

Or something. As mentioned, I'm trying (believe me I'm trying) to convince myself that changing the name to just "Nanoha" won't be a bad thing, but it's a long, hard road.

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

I see it that the most important thing is sales. Because then it does well and more gets liscensed, and more people see Nanoha.

[dkellis]

I wonder what the average DVD-buyer's reaction would be, upon seeing a DVD cover with something all dark and broody and pretty much Dark Nanoha (maybe based on the later episodes of the first season), but still with the title "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha".

[sapphire]

re:the possibility of renaming.

For me it is the other way around to most people. I downloaded the first episodes thinking it would be a magical girl series (because I am a major mahou shoujo fan) and I was disappointed to find that it really wasn't a magical girl show at all. I lost interest in it pretty quickly. It may be fashionable to sneer at mahou shoujo but I love it and I really don't understand why so many people casually dismiss it as a kneejerk response. ( yes mahou shoujo is often formulaic but not always, it's not all bad.)

So it works both ways y'all. The title is misleading to Magical Girl haters and fans alike!

[Klashikari]

heh? in which traits you consider Nanoha not being "magical girl" type anime?
the fact the "magic parts" is instead some technolgy thing doesn't really change its genre, right?

the themes aren't really conventionnal, but the usual plot structure is really classic, along with the casting and traits.

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

so nothing has been confirmed yet if Nanoha is really licensed by Geneon??
i guess the title "Nanoha" would suit nicely for the DVD release since most people would tend to stay away from "MAGICAL GIRL" animes
i really do hope if Nanoha does get licensed or is already licensed
that it will do very well with its release in the US

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Here's a question. If you heard Nanoha wasn't being liscensed in your region but WAS in another english-speaking region, would you import that version?

I would. I think a British or Australian dub would be classy Tho importing costs would be evil. Of course I'd prefer a Canadian or American version but I'll take what I can get. Two of my players are region free.

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

Originally Posted by Dragnfly@Gamefaqs

Here's a question. If you heard Nanoha wasn't being liscensed in your region but WAS in another english-speaking region, would you import that version?

I would. I think a British or Australian dub would be classy Tho importing costs would be evil. Of course I'd prefer a Canadian or American version but I'll take what I can get. Two of my players are region free.

maybe i would try buying it....it would sound very classy hearing Fate and Nanoha's voices with a brittish accent...but it would even more better if Nanoha was considered licensed in the US!

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Not "Considered Liscensed", friend. Then nobody wins. If it's only "considered Liscensed" it gets pulled from common fansub lists so lazy people (or people with morals ^.^) can't see it, yet it doesn't really mean that it will be released.

We need it to be liscensed

[NoSanninWa]

Indeed. A show is either licensed, or we're just talkin' 'bout it. Either those DVDs are coming out or we're just wishin' for them. That's why we need Geneon to confirm. Gosh forbid we pull the fansubs and don't get any DVDs to replace them.

"Considered licensed" is like "a little bit pregnant." Lots of worried parents, but no babies.