Nanoha The Movie 2nd A's

Nanoha the Movie 2nd A's: A

So I wrote in my original Nanoha A's review that A's is an extremely well-told story with excellent pacing, characterization and a well-crafty story about good people.  The Movie version of the same is also excellent, though, frankly, weaker for the exclusion of certain elements in the interest of cutting down on the time.

Since the original series was so excellently paced, the exclusion of anything takes away from the story, but only slightly, the newly redesigned story is still completely functional, better animated, and expands on a few confusing issues from the original story, expanding on the role of a very minor character and giving a name to a character that previously had simply been a plot device of unclear nature and relationship to others.  A few moments, however, had their emotional impact dulled slightly by a few choices made differently in the movie. Not enough to make it bad, but enough for me to say 'no, you really want to see the series first, because it handles the surprise reveals better'.

For people who want to get into Nanoha as a series, I recommend watching the first movie, then series version of A's, then the A's movie to understand the full interwoven canon (since things make the most sense if you take both of them and kinda interweave them together).  Then watch StrikerS, if you absolutely have to, which you probably will after the A's movie.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's:  A

Goodness I've been away for a while.  Sorry about that, folks.

A while back I mentioned in my Nanoha StrikerS review about how the first season is okay and the second season is amazing.  Rewatching it has not changed my opinion.

Nanoha, as a franchise, is about magical girls that fight like giant robots.  It is also an eminently positive series, though often bittersweet.  A's in particular pulls at the heartstrings without feeling like it's trying too hard, and has no true villains, it is the situation which is wrong, and it is fixed through the application of love and superior firepower.

Like many series I love, I find it difficult to talk about A's.  It's extremely well-told and well-paced.  It expands on the characters we know and gives us plenty of time to get to know the new ones.  Perhaps the only negative thing I can say about Nanoha A's is that you need to watch the first season for it to make full sense.  I recommend the movie version ("Nanoha the Movie 1st"), which is considerably faster-paced and better animated than the original series, also shorter.

If the premise of 'magical girls fight like giant robots' appeals to you, you will love this show.  If that part doesn't appeal to you, but you want to see how to write a story with no evil characters in it, you should also watch this show.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS:  C+

So, I haven't reviewed the first two Seasons of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, so a lot of my comments about Strikers won't make a lot of sense from that perspective unless I provide a bit of exposition:

The first season of Nanoha is pretty good.  It spends an unnecessary amount of time setting up the premise, but around halfway through the series it kicks into high gear and becomes very enjoyable and creative, a very different sort of magical girl series.

Nanoha A's, the second season, is outstanding.  Without having to explain the premise like the first series did, it gets straight to the action.  It has engaging characters, well-justified villains and believable emotional conflicts, all run through with gorgeously animated fight scenes.  Most notably, it makes very good use of it's time, the story is tight, with nothing more than what it needs.

Nanoha Strikers dramatically changes the formula, taking place on a world that isn't Earth and timeskipping forward about nine years, putting the original human cast around age twenty and introducing a half-dozen new characters who are their juniors and subordinates.  This in itself is an interesting twist with lots of possibilities but alludes to the larger problem: with that many new characters, new villains are needed to keep the entire cast busy, and they are introduced too slowly and too late.

Overall, Strikers is not bad, but is a disappointment after A's masterful storytelling.  Strikers' cast gets a little too large, a large portion of the villainous cast is introduced too late and not well enough and the pacing is poorly handled.  It adds a lot to Nanoha's setting, and if you want to see more of Nanoha, it is definitely worth your time.  If you're spoiled looking for amazing shows, you probably want to consider instead just stopping after A's.