Featured image: “Nanoha” by DamianDarkbane
And you have no idea what I went through to find wholesome Nanoha fan art. Seriously. I think this is a great image, but it’s also the one I’ve chosen to post because it’s just about the only one that’s safe for work.
I’m still making my way through StrikerS. I’m watching it slowly because, well, I’m kind of busy. I hope to have a review up this weekend.
I have a lot of things planned for tomorrow, including some aggressive advancement on the sequel to Jake and the Dynamo as well as some time spent on promotion, something I’m not good at and am woefully behind on.
I am also hoping—against hope, perhaps—to finish up Magical GIrl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
Anyway, if you happen to have read my book, I’m asking that you take the time to post an honest review. I’ll try not to harp on that too much, but it’s very helpful to us newbie authors.
A surprisingly solid sequel to an uneven first effort.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s directed by Keizô Kusakawa. Written by Masaki Tsuzuki. Starring Yukari Tamura, Nana Mizuki, and Kana Ueda. Seven Arcs, Japan (2005). 13 episodes of 25 minutes (approx. ). Not rated.
Available on Amazon Prime.
I am continuing to work my way through Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha now that it once again enjoys a U.S. license. Although this is a well-known and much-venerated series, I have to admit this is my first time through it. It had not had a legal release in North America for some time, as I understand it, and I also admit I had avoided it in large part because of the somewhat exaggeratedly negative review by Carl Kimlinger, as I mentioned in my review of the first series.
Continue reading “Anime Review: ‘Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s’”
The first rule of Magical Girl Club: Do not ask why “Lyrical” is in the title. The second rule of Magical Girl Club: Do not ask why “Lyrical” is in the title.
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. Screenplay by Masaki Tsuzuki. Produced by Seven Arcs (2004). 13 episodes of 24 minutes (approx. 312 minutes). Not rated.
Available on Amazon Prime.
Probably one of the most famous and influential of magical girl titles, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha briefly enjoyed a place of prominence on Amazon’s short-lived and ill-fated anime streaming service, Amazon Strike. Strike is dead, but the show and its several sequel series are still available for streaming with an Amazon Prime membership (and if you want to binge it without paying, Amazon allows a month free).
Update, : Amazon has marked the series unavailable, at least in my region. Check the affiliate links above for availability.
As I’ve mentioned previously, 2004 saw the appearance of two influential series, both of which became long-running franchises, that arguably completed the process that Sailor Moon got started—namely, the process of transforming the magical girl into an action heroine. Pretty Cure, a show for young girls, did this by incorporating martial arts sequences inspired by Dragon Ball Z, whereas Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, aimed at older audiences, took its influence mostly from mecha anime, especially Mobile Suit Gundam. In fact, legend has it that someone working on the production saw Nanoha’s magical-girl outfit and commented that it made her look like a Gundam, so they decided to roll with that.
The original Lyrical Nanoha is a thirteen-episode series from studio Seven Arcs, made on a modest budget. Except for one incongruous scene (to be discussed later), it is stiffly animated; the franchise’s popularity as a staple amongst otaku is likely due largely to its higher-quality sequels, which offer more bone-crunching action (and implied yuri) than the original does.
It is probably safe to say that Nanoha laid the groundwork for all of the “adult” magical-girl titles that came after it. It was not the first magical-girl show aimed at otaku, but may have been the first (at least it’s the first that I know of) that took itself seriously. As I’ll explain shortly, it’s not a very good show, but without it, we would not have some of the better-made and better-written magical-girl series that came after—including its inarguably superior sequel.
Also worth noting is that Nanoha is the franchise that cemented the trope that magical girl warriors make friends in Gilgamesh/Enkidu style by kicking the snot out of each other. Thus the word “befriend” is facetiously used by Nanoha fans to mean “blow the hell up.”
Also, for some random reason, there’s Pizza Hut.
Continue reading “Anime Review: ‘Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha’”
Featured image swiped from the Suushuu image board.
I’m now in the final home stretch on finishing my degree, so one of my goals is to be posting more regularly from now on.
Anyway, it is the Feast of Walpurgisnacht again already, historically believed to be the night of a witches’ sabbath and still celebrated tongue-in-cheek in parts of Europe. Here at deus ex magical girl, it is a time of year to celebrate cute witches. This year, it also marks the date when there is one month left until the official release date of Jake and the Dynamo.
This year, we’re going to display some crossover fan art, which I ripped off from the image board linked above. I’m a bit embarrassed that I can’t instantly identify all of the characters in these.
