ViVid Strike! Anime General Discussion Thread

[4th Dimension]

The schedule for posting, I guess of this additional, content was posted on nanofate. I wonder if and when this appears how long will it take for this to be translated. We have been a bit lucky with Strike since it came WITH amazon translation, but I guess these will not be as lucky.

On the other hand it's more Strike so it's eh.

[Nachtwandler]

As I heard, other 2 BD/DVD eeps will be just a recaps.

[4th Dimension]

Well going by the numbering two of them are OVAs set between episodes 5 and 6. I don't know what could they recap there!?!?

[4th Dimension]

The first issue of manga that comes with Strike has been translated.

Nothing much in it, Ein and Fuka go to lunch with Nakajima sisters.

[4th Dimension]

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

... it has done literally nothing different from ViVid. Even the realism and grievous injuries happened in ViVid before Strike! ever got its hands on it.

Except such injuries (shattered ribs, smashed legs, a 10 year old smashing and audibly chrucnhing
her classmates etc.) didn't happen in Vivid since there they are protected with Crash Override (which emulates injuries) while in Strike I don't think there is any protection going on during the Winter Cup. In fact during the Vivid the only actual injury was I think Harry breaking her own arm willingly to escape El's binds? The rest even when they are KOd, they aren't hurt more dazed and knocked nonphysically out. Even Chantez who was splattered by Victoria didn't really suffer any physical injuries but was more given a bed to rest and recover stamina and mentally. As far as I remember.

It's not as dark as Force, but it is a considerable departure compared to Vivid.

Hell a person I know once remarked that Strike looks like as if the story about two friends reconnecting through martial arts tournament IRL was fist written and then as an afterthought somebody decided to rework it into a Nanoha/Vivid extension. Which explains why it's the least magitech of all the settings and some elements of the lore are missing or were reworked. Like everyone getting Adult Mode transformation, Berlinettas driving GMC Jeeps, no protection for child competitors from injury etc. etc.

[Rising Dragon]

Well, here's the thing. Despite the Crash Emulate, ViVid proper had Sieglinde shattering Micaiah's wrist, had Vivio struck so hard that her transformation magic failed (an event that had a LOT of people in-universe very concerned), had Einhart nearly killed during the Inter-Middle at Sieglinde's hand--all of these made far more serious by the existence of Crash Emulate just flat out not preventing these things because the girls were too strong. Even Victoria and Chantez's match had Chantez knocked unconscious from the fight after her face was slammed into the floor hard enough to shatter the material. Let's also not forget such joyous events mentioned in the past, like how Olivie had both of her arms blown off in a magical accident when she was a small child, and god knows what else in the way of visual horrors Einhart has lurking in the recesses of her mind.

Honestly, if it weren't for the whole out-of-control flesh regeneration problem of the Eclipse virus, Nanoha Force would be the tamest out of the franchise. KIA-type death is common in practically any media--anime, games, movies, etc--while the other entries of the franchise give us such lovely examples of accidental death of one's child by the parent's hand, physical abuse of a child by a parent, children being forced to watch as their family is murdered in front of them, inhumane experimentation of adults and children both, and the psychological horrors of another person's memories and identities being forced onto another person's in such a way that it threatens to erase the other person's identity.

ViVid Strike! is hardly any different in that regard, and as far as its content goes, it's pretty standard for the Nanoha franchise. Rinne's issues are almost exactly the same as Einhart's in ViVid proper, only stemming from a different catalyst for her chosen path of self-destruction.

[4th Dimension]

TBH, I don't remember half of those from Vivid. I certainly don't remember any actual injuries requiring hospitalization that weren't self inflicted, and while Sieg can break the system if he looses control due to her erasers (still there is a best effort system in place), I don't remember Einhart being grievously hurt in those. Might be that I need to reread it at some point.
And Belkan wars are well Belkan wars, there is no need to expect sunshine and rainbows there.
Which is kind of the same how I feel about the rest of the darks stuff that happened in the series. There is a lot of darkness, but most of the time it's clearly a bad thing that happens and is considerably less graphic about it. But here this is a tournament for U15 olds and Rinne is regularly shattering her opponents, and we get pretty graphic displays of such violence with seemingly no protection in place (despite there being a system that could prevent this) while the crowds cheer (well not really, but the announcer always struck me as a bit of an ass). And all of this is supposed to be a safe tournament specifically focused on mostly melee attacks which should be easier to guard against in which only really young participate. There is no way injuries such as Miura's should be happening. This is not the battlefield.

While in Force no actual character died, there was PLENTY of death and not to mention the antagonists gloating about how good they are at causing death in noncombatants. Hell we see the aftermath of Hucks doing in that church, and this is in the show while again having some really darks stuff mostly kept away from graphic things and from harming innocent civilians. In fact most of the time the most gruseome injuiries are mostly scrapes, cuts and bruises. That is quite a bit of elevation of graphical content IMHO. And so the contrast between StrikerS and Force is similar to contrast between Vivid and Strike.

[Rising Dragon]

Sieglinde mentions her injuring Micaiah in a flashback, because Micaiah was able to trigger the Black Arm of Jeremiah, forcing her to defend herself against her will. It's why she didn't participate in the tournament before the one in ViVid, and why she was unwilling to watch Micaiah's battle with Miura. For a swordswoman, a shattered wrist could be a career-ending injury, and she's lucky she managed to recover.

Einhart was luckily not injured when she herself triggered the Black Arm of Jeremiah, but had she failed to dodge the Eraser Sieglinde unleashed, then there's little doubt that she would've died in the ring that day. That's what the Black Arm does; it's an automatic defense system that eliminates whatever it is that threatens Sieglinde's life--much like how NachtWal operated within the Book of Darkness, and much like how the Bible of the Silver Cross functions when it activated in Force.

As for the Winter Cup, it's a different beast than the Inter-Middle. It's clearly a higher-stakes type of competition, where the injuries are real, and likely where there's other restrictions on what you can do as a result--we don't see anyone throwing about bombardment spells, so chances are it's limited to just magical martial arts. And be it as it may, they can get away with it because mages as a whole are sturdier creatures than regular humans. They can take a lot more abuse than normal, and have their own personal protections in play. Yes, injuries can happen--but those who enter the ring should do so fully aware of the fact. It's no different from real life martial arts tournaments.

And if there IS a system in place that they just don't announce, or assume previous viewers of ViVid already knew about, then it's once again the same case as ViVid, where stronger combatants overloaded the system. It still fits within ViVid as a result. That's all ViVid Strike! is, really, just an extension or side story to ViVid proper. Hell, things in ViVid Strike are already being set up in ViVid proper, such as Nove acquiring her gym and Miura transferring to her mentorship from that of Zafira.

As for ViVid, it already showed its own graphical atrocity. We saw victims of the war Klaus and Olivie fought in, and we saw Klaus blowing up men and horses both. We see fields of vanquished soldiers, impaled upon spears and swords and punctured by arrows. The last sequence of Klaus showed him standing over a broken body, his own covered in blood--and it's mentioned to have been his last, having been killed in battle. So in that regard, Strike! is kind of tame.

[4th Dimension]

Sure there is Belkan grimness in Vivid, but it's in a different context. It's Belkan wars. TBH if it was happy fun time I would among those to call bull on it. So it being grim is fine. Also the entire background on Olivie and Claus is SUPPOSED to be a tragedy.

And as to Sieg, that is Sieg being Sieg. The key thing there is that Sieg is trying real hard for her not to loose control and being able to break the best possible protection systems because of Belkan heritage fuckery. And now that I think about it, while she has lost control apart from Micah, whoose injury I'll take on your word (it fits the fact that I remember Sig quitting one of competitions) since I don't remember the mention, she hasn't injured others. But if she did start loosing control a lot more often, than frankly I would expect her to be barred since she is activelly endangering competitors since the safety can not cope with her.

The competition in Strike is a competition between civilian children. Not ones in military in a conflict situation, but during a normal sport competition among their peers that nobody remarks to be strange.

There is a key difference between Rinne breaking the safety system of Winter Cup (IMHO I don't think there was any protection involved) and Sieg breaking through Crash Override. In case of Sieg that is a rare occurrence of a competitor breaking through a best possible effort/best possible safety system there is while in Strike the safety system in place (which as I said I don't believe there was any) is woefully under performing while at the same time there is a system used in sister cups that is shown during the fight at the Alpine estate to be perfectly capable of stopping/preventing grievous injury even with Fuka and Rinne going all out.
This is what IMO makes the organizers of the Winter Cup frankly criminally negligent. They knew the strengths and tactics of their competitors (unlike Sieg, who tries to avoid relying on Jeremiah mode, Rinne is all about relying on her brute force (not her fault TBH)) and did not do their best to try to eliminate the threat of injury to them even though there was better safety equipment available.

Also given that the Vivid actually made it a point to bring attention to the fact that CO is being used to prvide maximum possible protection to young competitors (which in their case was U19 (right?)), I can not really connect that attitude in case of older competitors to the attitude displayed in Winter Cup (ostensibly also the part of the same umbrella sports organization) where the competitors are actually younger in general. There really shouldn't be a "a higher-stakes type of competition, where the injuries are real" given what Vivid had established.

[Lukes YGO & WS on YT]

Spoiler for Episode 1:

Wow quite the start to this, Fuka is a beast, kicks some kid in the nuts then a few years later smashes a guy through a car, beats up a few more and then not long after that throws a punch at Einhard before passing out from the night before.

Nove has changed a bit from ViVid, she introduced Fuka to the them all, she even gave her a job, it was funny when the bed and food poked her like that.

What we learn is that Rinne, the girl from the beginning has become a top martial artist and had a falling out with Fuka the year before.

Fuka had no idea what she was in for when she sparred against those 4, martial arts fighting is a lot more advanced than a street fighter, quite the initiation for her.

That advice Einhard gave Fuka was something else, she even pulled off the sky severing strike, most importantly during that fight she realised what she needed to do to move forward and face Rinne.

A very interesting scene at the end, Rinne was alone in her room and actually said Fuka's names in a that sounded like she missed her.

I really like the opening and ending themes sung by Fuka & Rinne's VA's.

Spoiler for Episode 2:

4:30 am wake up, Fuka cleans the gym in the morning before it opens an does morning training with Einhard, I like how Fuka mentioned she is grateful to Nove for the hospitality, we get a good glimpse of her new daily life.

Very funny scene with the transformation magic, Fuka grew but her clothes disappeared, she ran off all embarassed due to her naked state.

Rinne gave the Nakajima gym VIP tickets to watch her fight, it probably won't be long before Fuka & Rinne see each toher again.

We also got to see highlights and some background of Rinne's fighting, she took someone to suplex city, that german suplex would have hurt a lot.

Spoiler for Episode 3:

Starting off by seeing Rinne train at her home, it's a mansion, brief scene with her family floows before she heads off to the stadium for her fight.

Gotta love that vip treatment.

Rinne's opponent is an undefeated fighter ranked 8th in the world, Rinne beat her in like 20 seconds, quite the let down, though vivio did mention that Rinne is a lot stronger then last time they met and they others were impressed by that feat.

Rinne got a few words in with the Nakajima gym coimpetitor, she has set them the challenge to fight her in an upcoming tournament.

there it is, the Fuka & Rinne, Fuka stood up to her again and a fight nearly broke out, thank goodness there was a bit of space left there, Rinne was close to a window from the recoil of the sky severing strike.

Spoiler for Episode 4:

Orphanage days when Fuka & Rinne were little, together and enjoying each others company.

Rinne has a lovely family that took her in.

One of the greatest acts of revenge ever.

I absolutely loved watching Rinne destroy those 3 bitches.

What they did to her all those times and especially on the day her grandfather died just absolutely disgusting behavior.

Spoiler for Episode 5:

Those 3 bitches lied about everythin, just when you thought they couldn't get any worse, and because of that Rinne got kidnapped beat up and nearly murdered.

We know know how she met Jill her coach, she came to the rescue and beat them all up but saw Rinne has potential and decided to train her into what she is today.

Watching Fuuka set up and fight like that for the 1st time was really cool, she had a brief spar with Micaiah.

Spoiler for Episode 6:

Fuka's debut fight, a bit of a funny interaction with her opponent there but Fuka beat her easily, a very good start for her.

Next was Rinne Vs Miura, I didn't enjoy this fight, they made Rinne look like a complete idiot by saying all that nonsense before the fight started, only to have her go back on her words in order to win.

It made no sense whatsoever that Rinne would give her opponent and advantage that she hasn't given to any others which is seen in episode 2 & 3, she wants to be the world champion so there was no way she should hold back against anyone.

Why couldn't they just have Rinne fight like she would normally do and then win?

The world #1 ranker shouldn't be made to look weak like that, she should be made to look strong.

The ending of the fight with the broken ribs and all was definitely spectacular.

Imagine how badass Rinne would have been made to look if they allowed her to fight normally and had the same ending.

Maybe the writers are still spooked from the negativity that Force got and didn't want one of their beloved from ViVid to lose fair and square.

I actually liked Force, I thought it was great.

Spoiler for Episode 7:

Einhard was up against a rather large sized competitor but made short work of her.

Time for Rinne Vs Vivio.

Rinne has horrible support from her follow Frontier Gym members, Harry going for Vivio & Victoria couldn’t give an answer.

I thought those 2 were like sisters but Victoria has decided to turned her back on Rinne which is really disappointing.

Spoiler for Episode 8:

I hated this episode, and the entire winter cup in general.

All it did was destroy Rinne’s character and credibility.

They had Rinne not fight at full power against Muira and had her go back on her words to win that fight and then this happens.

I expected a lot more from a character that is ranked #1 and chasing after Einhard and the championship belt.

Rinne’s overall fighting record that was shown during the 1st or 2nd episode was out of this world

Vivio is an established character that’s been around forever and would have lost nothing if she lost this fight as she got a win against Rinne another time so 50-50 booking would have been fine here.

Rinne isn't someone who stalked and committed assault against others like Einhard and is not a terrorist like Nove, I think she deserved better after the way she was treated.

Spoiler for Episode 9:

What I would have changed is have Rinne defeat Vivio in the previous episode and have Rinne pull out due to injury, the same thing Vivio did.

Or maybe after the 2nd round she has a go at Jill because she is losing and starts yelling at her and goes on to win the fight but pulls out of the rest because she is embarrassed by the scene she made or just doesn't feel like turning up to the next match because of that.

I did not like how Rinne was booked throughout this series and was made to look weaker than she should have been, I expected more from the undisputed #1 world ranker chasing Einhart and the world title, she should have been made to look strong.

The winner of that match was set to face Fuka in the next round so it would have given Einhart the same incentive to request that match with a title shot involved if Rinne was the winner.

Spoiler for Episode 10:

Great fight with great feels.

Fuka's words and fists made quite a bit of progress and affected Rinne a lot, hopefully she can bring Rinne back to her senses regardless of who wins, I want them two to be back together like the good old days, I loved those flashbacks.

I'm pretty sure that deep down Rinne wants the same, I still remember in episode one where she was looking sad in her room and calling Fuka's name. Plus she has the photo of them together.

Something may even happen in the fight the causes one to lose by sacrificing themselves, they are in that ruined city so part of a building could collapse and put one of them in danger.

Even though I like Fuka the most, I want Rinne to win this and then defeat Einhard to become champion.

Spoiler for Episode 11:

As much as I love Fuka, I really wanted Rinne to win because she woke up and saw the light again during that fight and those flashbacks, so I thought it would have been fine.

Fuka's only goal was to become friends with Rinne again, she was always going to beat those random characters but she didn't need to beat Rinne or any other ViVid character at this point in time, if there is another season then things will be different as her goals will be on progressing as a martial artist.

She wanted to be friends again with Fuka regardless of the result.

She was a changed person and I wanted to see the new Rinne fight Einhard for the title and actually win it.

Overall I did not really like the way she was used during this series, she was hyped up as a near unstoppable monster at the start of the series and had that incredible record of 56 wins and 1 loss I think.

I felt that all she ever did was beat scrubs, the only credible opponent she defeated was Miura but that was because she went back on her words earlier of not using and holds or throws.

I am starting to think that pretty much anyone from the previous Vivid series could beat her. Rinne doesn’t even have a special move.

The moment Fuka looked at Rinne at the end there and saw those beautiful eyes again after that flashback of Grandfather Roy smiling at her again, a special move could have been born for Rinne right there and then.

Rinne could have turned into her true self and got a victory right at that moment.

Spoiler for Episode 12:

I liked up until episode 5, then the wheels fell off for me. After watching the OVA's I give this a 1/10.

Main mission was accomplished, I loved Fuka throughout this series, she has become the best girl for me in the entire Nanoha Universe.

It was great to see her words and fists was able to save Rinne and they have become inseparable again.

Rinne & Fuka together in this episode was beautiful, the reaction of Rinne's mother when seeing Fuka was awesome.

Overall I don't really like the way Rinne was used. You see all those medals and trophies with her name on them, who did she really beat to win all them?

Those videos of her past victories in the early episodes were all against random characters.

At the start of this series she was hyped up as a near unstoppable monster with a ridiculous win loss record.

But she had to go against her word to beat Miura, then lost to Vivio and Fuuka, in other words she didn't do very well against anyone that was relevant.

I really wanted her to be a winner throughout the series and defeat Einhard and become champion as she she saw the light during that fight with Fuka and was completely changed from it so it was safe for her to win.

They did a really good job making Fuka a star, but I felt that Rinne could have made into a really big star, she just feels like another character to me now.

If there is a 2nd season hopefully they don't turn Rinne into a complete loser like they did here.

If she loses to Vivio again they might as well kill her off for good, they couldn't bury her any worse, maybe Fuka can use her death as motivation to make it to the top if that happen.

What I would like to see is Rinne successfully defend her title in a match against Vivio and finally beat her.

This is where Fuka steps up, climbs the ranks and defeats Rinne in order to become champion, this is what I would like to see happen.

1/10

Spoiler for OVA 1:

I enjoyed this a lot, there was a lot of fun moments in it, mostly at Fuka's expense.

Fuka had absolutely no idea what she was in for against Rio & Corona, we know because of ViVid beat she hasn't seen magic battles yet.

Good comedy relief watching her get destroyed by those 2.

This all started because she got carried away by her first spar victory and got knocked out by the punching bag, Einhard decided the best course of action was to give Fuka a bit of a lesson.

Spoiler for OVA 2:

Fuka is more motivated than ever and has more respect for the other fighters after the previous OVA.

Victoria seems to get along with everyone and is hoping she can face Sieg for the title at some point in the near future.

It was nice to see her having lunch and a good time with Nove & Micaiah.

I love how Jill calls herself an evil coach, we have seen this in her personality throughout the series.

Rinne is working as hard as hard, at least the part about her not being
able to contact Fuuka throughout the years was explained.

Damn she knocked out 4 sparring opponents, took a few hits herself by the looks of it.

Rinne said her ambitions are to become world champion for under 15's and also under 19's, the way she spoke to Victoria looks like it struck a bit of a nerve.

If I was Victoria I would have done what Einhard did with Fuka in the previouse OVA and brought Rinne down a peg, I think if Victoria gave her a decent beating she might have been able to knock some sense into her.

Victoria showed a lack of leadership throughout this series and could have done a lot more to help Rinne out.

Spoiler for OVA 3:

Corona & Rio joint 1st in a tournament and then Victor defeats Sieg to become champion in the magic division.

Einhart vacates her world title undefeated and moves to U19

I really liked the fact Rinne became champion but unfortunately she beat yet another random scrub to get it.

I would have had her beat Vivio to earn it, you have a situation where it's the final match and whoever wins becomes champion and here you have Rinne up against the 1 opponent that she just couldn't beat, and she finally gets that big victory over her nemesis and wins that world title.

I am convinced more than ever that the only purpose of this show was to make the previous ViVid characters even more relevant.

They did a great job protecting them.

Rinne did defeat Muira but by dubious methods, they had her hold back for no reason the made her eat her own words in order to win that fight instead of just having her fight properly and Vivio beats her twice in a row.

If they had Rinne defeat Vivio & Einhart it would have been fine, those 2 would not have looked bad even if they lost, especially since they built Rinne up as this near unstoppable monster at the start of the series, kinda like a female Brock Lesnar but they buried her big time.

It's was nice to see them all get along at the beach.

I thought it was funny that Fuka & Rinne couldn't swim but luckily Chantez & Victor helped them out.

I had a lot of fun watching them all play beach volleyball.

The big match was Rinne & Fuuka VS Einhart & Sieg but unfortunately Rinne hit the ball so hard she burst it. So everyone had to find different methods to compete.

I laughed a lot when Fabia summoned a kraken that got Els.

It was nice to hear both Fuka & Rinne say they love martial arts.

Everyone photo bombed Fuka & Rinne's picture that was about to be taken, a perfect way to end the show.