Anime Review: Maho Shojo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

Review Maho Shojo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Written by Warpshadow Rating good

Nanoha StrikerS is a very different show than what the Nanoha franchise has been up till now. While the change may be good in some ways the net result is that the show attempts too much to process it efficiently.

It has been ten years since Nanoha Takamichi became a magical girl and now she and her friends are officers in the TSAB. At the request of her friend Hayate she joins the newly formed section six. As well as working as a high powered mage for the unit Nanoha will also function as the instructor for the new soldiers there including Subaru, a girl who has held a long running admiration for Nanoha. However all of these mages were assembled for an important purpose but what is it?

Franchises become popular for a reason and their fans expect a bit more of what they like about it with each new installment. In the case of Nanoha it is a nine year old girl who could kick the butt of any other magical girl hands down. While the fact she is now an adult isn’t a big negative (finally there are transformation scenes that don’t creep me out) the slow setup of the show is. The introduction of four new main characters as well as literally dozens of side characters is a bit boggling. In all fairness to the show what it is trying to do is rather difficult and to it’s credit the show does manage to strike a careful balance between the old and new characters. In the end I found any disappointment in this series to be minor at best but the nature of being a fan means that under almost any circumstances another season of your favorite show can’t be a bad thing.