Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

Skadi★ 9

As a fan of anime, the magical girl genre has not always been a favorite. Perhaps I have watched the wrong shows up until now and got a bad impression of it. Up till now, magical girls are usually extremely silly shows with way to many loli's, overly long and indecent transformation scenes, and perverted magic animals from other worlds or dimensions. Did I miss something? Happily, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha is not one of those. Starting out there is nothing particularly original or extremely interesting about this show. Nanoha, an ordinary young girl gets magical powers from a magic usingferret from another world. (Pause while that soaks in a bit, boy does it sound silly when I read that) Overlooking the silliness of that, this ferret, named Yuuno has a mission to retrieve some magical artifacts that have slipped into the world so Nanoha agrees to help him. The story starts out pretty predicable and not all that exciting, with the first few episodes being a monster of the week kind of format. Eventually a rival emerges after the same thing as Nanoha but for more sinister reasons. This rival is Fate, and this is when the story really starts to pick up and become more exciting. By episode 7 or 8 I was on the edge of my seat as the action built up to the exciting climax. The story has enough twists and turns to keep you guessing and while some of the plot lines were predictable others came as a surprise. In the end I was left with many emotions as the story puts you through the full range from sadness to joy. It was very well done indeed! Character wise, this show is truly outstanding. Fate and Nanoha are two of the most interesting characters I have seen. The story does a great job in developing them and growing them into what they become by the end. The two familiars, Yuuno and Arf are also fleshed out pretty well and are also very interesting and fun characters. The chief villain is also very well written, and while she is a mean and vile character I felt a wide range of emotions about her too. The supporting characters are pretty good, in a short series like this they don’t get a lot of development, which is ok because doing so would have taken away from the ones who deserved the screen time. The cast is really good, especially for the main characters. Rie Kugimiya is one of my favorite actresses but shines in a small role as one of Nanoha's friends. The music is also great, the OP, EN songs are catchy, especially the opening. I found myself singing along frequently! Animation is good too, I loved the character models for the most part. Though I’m not a huge fan of how the men and boys were drawn but that’s a personal preference. I’m not a big fan of boys who don’t look like boys. Particularly Yuuno, if they hadn’t told me he was a boy I wouldn’t have known. Also as staple of magical girl anime is the transformation scene. Weeee! We get to see a naked 3rd grader changing into her magical outfit! Hooray! The problem is not so much that I had to endure this scene, it’s that for the first 7 episode or so I had to endure it EVERY TIME!!!!! The FULL SCENE! Come on we’ve seen it 8 times already I know Nanoha's body better than my own now how about the short version now and then? Despite my frustration with all the transformation scenes for the first half of the show, in the end it didn’t damper my enthusiasm and enjoyment of it once the last episode was over. If you’re a magical girl fan, this is a cant miss show. And if you’re not, this is still a cant miss show.

Killuan★ 8

Nanoha is not spectacular in part, but as a whole it shines. I can explain this by saying that the animation, sound, story, and character development as seperate entities are nothing remarkable (with some deference to the opening sound track) - As a complete intertwining smorgasbord of sensual imagery, these elements form an exceptional, and enjoyable investment of time. The animation got me hooked in the first episode with two short lived but highly innovative sequences that are never again revisited in style or similarity. Lukily for me, that was not near as important in further episodes as I became further engrosed in the series.Overall, the animation is tight and beautiful, but that first episode has burned an image, of what anime COULD be like, in my mind for ever. The sound is well placed, the voice acting is quite pleasant but the Opening song is well beyond my expectations. Innocent Starter" has found a permanant place in my 5 star playlist. The story is your typical magical girl with a more mature touch (strange considering the youth of the characters). It does not fall in the trap of overly cute to the point of mindless "kawaiiness" that 99% of "Magical Girl" shows contain. That makes it new in my book! The characters really shine, besides the robot like, ultra caring of Nanoha herself, she is defined like a "passive aggressive" (all things can be worked out with words before violence) but more than willing to kick some !$! if she has to, kind of character. The character "Fate" is the truly dynamic character entity of this story and her pain and suffering is eclipsed only by Nanoha's compassion. Such character development is undoubtedly rare in "Magical Girl" anime prototypes. Fate-chan is, and will forever be my favorite character. This is an extremely valuable series, and a bargain at even the most outrageous prices of English Anime DvD's. If it is liscensed, I suggest picking it up with all due haste! I found myself looking forward to each new episode, all the way through the series' completion. I was ready with my popcorn and soda, and even brought out my most comfy chair, providing myself with the ultimate enjoyable experience. Overall - 8.5, could not use decimals so I bumped it down to a 8, only because It's sequel is even more innovative and exceptional.