Nanoha StrikerS

[Berk]

Part of this problem is that you don't really find out what Nanoha really did until episode 9, and they deliberately concealed it from the viewer...
Spoilers In White: While the attack looked spectacularly flashy and painful, the attack did only stun damage to human targets. If you look close, you'll notice that Tea's Barrier Jacket didn't have a mark on it, and as she fell Nanoha's own magic arrested and controlled her fall. It only LOOKED painful.
Nanoha doesn't do words very well, she's a doer, not a talker. The only way she had to REALLY drive home what was going wrong was to SHOW Tea what would happen.
Tea, honestly, had no idea what she was doing would get her killed. She had reached a point where her logical disconnect with reality had convinced her that the Crossfire, and other spells her brother taught her, were perfect.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Valles]

That's...
Hum. Well, if they both come out and explicitly say as much, then I suppose there's nothing I can do about it. But it seems an unlikely conclusion to reach, especially with his death there to provide empirical evidence against it.
BTW, I've had a thought. When you come right down to it, MSLN wasn't about defeating Precia or gathering the Jewel Seeds - it was about How Nanoha Met Fate. MSLN A's was about how Nanoha and Fate met Hayate. It's hard to say, yet, what StrikerS is really aimed at, but I feel safe saying that it's got nothing really to do with Scaglietti or the Relics.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."

[Florin]

---

It's hard to say, yet, what StrikerS is really aimed at, but I feel safe saying that it's got nothing really to do with Scaglietti or the Relics.

---

I certainly hope so, since what made A's so great wasn't the epic clash between good and evil, but the humanization of it's 'villains' the Wolkenritter and Hayate. If StrikerS backsteps to something as lame and cliched as Mad Scientist doing evil research just cause I'll be seriously pissed.--
La Krueze: I just want everyone in the universe to suffer. Is that so wrong?
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[Rieverre]

_Finally_ managed to sit down and watch this. Impressions ... vary.
For one thing, wasn't the animation in A's of better quality? At least it seems like that right now.
Half-naked Nanoha in bed with Hayate and Fate ... well, yeah, what more can you say to a scene like that? Pure win.
Erio... well, from the comments of the Mad Scientist and some details, it seems clear he's a _lot_ like Fate in a certain way. Just _how_ much, and if the Not So Good Doc had anything to do with mama Testarossa, is a question that nags at me.
What sort of _imbecile_ in the TSAB came up with the idea of limiting the combat capability of their best people anyway? Methinks politics is on the horizont, and it _stinks_ like old cheese.
It's interesting to see how the writers are putting a bit of focus on particular aspects of their idea of magic in every series. First we got the more 'typical' spellslingers like Nanoha and Fate, then we had close combat applications in A's, and _now_ they're doing buffs and debuffs ... someone's been playing COH.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

[Berk]

So far this season's animation quality has, on average, actually been better than A's.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[HoagieOfDoom]

Episode 9 has been released at the usual place.

[DreadnaughtVV]

This episode answered a lot of questions. And if you think about it explains the use of the limiters as well. It was most likely a typical bureaucratic over-reaction to the nature of Nanoha's injury.

[ECSNorway]

Mmm.
And illustrates perfectly some of the serious flaws the Midchildan training system carries with it. Nanoha doesn't see anything wrong with half-trained kids hitting the front lines, because that's how she got started... perhaps I shouldn't have expected better of an organization that sent a 12-year-old Chrono onto active duty...--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Berk]

To borrow a concept from Alfred in Batman...
A child with great magical power and a burning desire to use it does not require someone holding them back, they require guidance. I think the TSAB's reasoning for giving children assignments revolves around the idea that if they DON'T give them something to do they'll just go off and get in bigger trouble on their own.
And, also, keep in mind that the only kids we've seen with ranks so far are actually pretty exceptional children. (Elio and Caro actually seem to be better grounded than Subaru and Teana in some ways, in fact.)
Spoilers In White: What would have happened, had Nanoha not been a member of the TSAB at that point in the plot, would be that she'd have collapsed somewhere between wherever she was and Earth. She would've probably been taken back to Earth, where no doctor would've had ANY clue what was wrong with her.. and she would've wound up stuck in a wheelchair, burned out. As she was a member of the TSAB, however, she got the specialist care she needed and is now back on her feet and beamspamming with impunity.
If you have a resource that is going to run off and do its own thing unless you give them something to do, you start using that resource yourself.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Valles]

Oh, yeah. Tea's not in a happy headspace right now.
She really does look a lot better with her hair down, though.
Um, Signum WTF?!
Y'know, the thing I really like about Nanoha's version of the Standard Magical Girl Jesus schtick is that a lot of the time, when heart-to-heart time comes, she misses the point completely. Which I don't think I've ever heard of, say, Usagi doing. Nanoha's just really good at recovering and adapting her approach on the fly.
I consider my speculations about Teana's thought processes in the last episode to be pretty much confirmed by this one, BTW.
And it looks like we're gonna be getting some rather lighter fare next time; this arc rocked, but it'll make a nice change of pace nonetheless.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."

[HoagieOfDoom]

You just have to ask yourself now: just what kind of trouble are they going to get into on vacation? Because you just know it's going to happen.*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org

[crimsonsun]

*edits ahoy!*
Ok, so if you've picked up anything from me in my CoH/V talk, you know I've got to be one of the biggest Nanoha fans ever (*coughcough*), but I wont comment on the stuff from the first couple episodes, Id feel like I was necroposting.
About the recent episodes though, especially the bit with the mock battle. I look at it this way. Nanoha knows there are times when its required to do crazy ass stuff that will put your life on the line, but training to do something like that all the time? Thats why she's upset at Tea/Subaru. You'll know when its time to try one of those all or nothing attacks, but you can't do something like that in a mock battle....

[LilFluff]

Interesting... This is a quote from the Nanoha A's intro manga. "In other words, Raising Heart will consume magic whenever Nanoha performs everyday actions, such as raising a hand, or taking a step. Normally, if this continued, and even if it was a part of a magic development program designed to benefit her... A normal mage would have collapsed from the strain from all the magic consumption. But Nanoha is fine."
And a few pages later Chrono comments on Yuuno's description of the training. "That won't do... Won't it become to much for her if she continues like this?"
"I think so too... But Nanoha seems to be enjoying the way she trains and practices magic."
This from a section explaining how Nanoha wasn't just doing the regular visible practice like in the first episode of A's, but that she was using a sort of magic virtual reality to simultaneously undergo combat training and do everyday things like going to school.
So the "She's putting to huge a strain on herself and it came back to haunt her" background element to StrikerS was foreshadowed back when A's was just starting.
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

[Valles]

Y'know what I said about Subaru and Tea not pinging my gaydar? I was wrong, wrong, wrong.
Squishsquish. ^_^
Seeing Tea on that motorcycle makes my brain go to strange and interesting Evangelion/Bubblegum Crisis fusion places.
Fate's way of seeing Elio off for his day out? Priceless. I'm caught between laughing my ass off and just cooing helplessly at the cute. Hover hover worry hover... *snicker*
Reinservice... with special guest star, Mad Doctor Shari! It's kind of a pity that we never get to see anybody meet Rein-chan for the first time. The 'Ack! Talking barbie doll!' moment must be priceless.
"Ice cream... [heart symbols would go here if the board software didn't fuck up every attempt I have the energy to make]... *CHOMP*" ...I love Subaru. She's a hoot.
The introduction of puberty to the Lightning forwards is going to be the stuff of sheer comedic gold. ...or pr0n, one of the two.
So, Mysterious Blonde Girl was carrying - dragging, whatever - two Relics to start with... or possibly more, if she was fried enough to not notice losing one she might've had more than that to start with. Bets this turns into a plot point?
Ja, -n

===============================================
"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."

[The Hunterminator]

---

"Ice cream... [heart symbols would go here if the board software didn't fuck up every attempt I have the energy to make]... *CHOMP*" ...I love Subaru. She's a hoot.

---

Indeed she is. Though that scene gave me a headache just looking at her eating that way.

[Foxboy]

Post removed due to hitting the same brick wall Valles did.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Florin]

Is it just me or does Noube look and sound kinda like Vita?
And yeah, I could feel the brain freeze just watching her eat that ice cream.--
La Krueze: I just want everyone in the universe to suffer. Is that so wrong?
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[HoagieOfDoom]

---

Y'know what I said about Subaru and Tea not pinging my gaydar? I was wrong, wrong, wrong.
Squishsquish. ^_^

---

There was a rather amusing motivator I found somewhere that's related. Have a LOL.

---

Is it just me or does Noube look and sound kinda like Vita?

---

Not entirely sure about look yet, but I definitely thought as well that her voice sounded suspiciously like Vita's.*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org

[Berk]

11 is subbed. 12 is on the way.
Tick tock. Tick tock.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Valles]

What, you really expect us to believe that Caro and Elio were only checking out that alley because they thought they heard something? ^_^
And I was right about the missing box being a plot point - though it's not like that was a hard call.

Ah, the transformation sequences make a reappearance. I still think that Caro's sounds the bests, but Subaru's definitely demands a giant robot and Tea's reflecting card gimmick is just neat. ...they all sound like they belong in a console RPG, though.
...*snrk* I like their map.
I wonder how much and to what degree intelligent devices are capable of tracking in their environment. 'Cause, so long's the illusory drones are saturating the girls' firepower rather than their tracking ability, a general hosement of extra-lightweight 'tracer' style attacks would allow the real units to be picked out by their reactions without neccessitating a limiter release to vape the whole lot like they were all real.
Huh. Looks like the subtle and understated entrances aren't just part of Subaru's personal style, they're a Nakajima family trademark. ^_^
While I'm never one to cheer the 'bad guys' getting away, even for the sake of the plot, I'm glad to see Teana's priorities remain unchanged, though - three quarters blinded and almost entirely helpless, time for only one shot... and she aims at the target that's carrying the mission objective rather than the one looking like it's ready to punch her clock. GO TEA!
Ja, -n

===============================================
"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."

[Berk]

And 12 is out, time to give the Numbers a real sample of what they've signed up for. Raging Heart.. Exceed Mode.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[Valles]

I'd've been more inclined to build a wing-road to the surface as a series of switchbacks than a full spiral, though that might just be due to my having grown up in hill country. It seems like it'd be easier to concentrate on and plan your momvents around a series of reversals than a single continuous motion.
It's obvious that using magic requires the commitment of real energy as expended by the mage's body - both with Tea and Nanoha's experiences with fatigue and even just the fact that floating there and slinging spells without any physical motion has Hayate out of breath here. I'm very curious as to exactly how that interaction works, though - where in the mage's body the power gets drawn from, and how. Is it pulled directly from the mitochondria of each cell? A certain section of the brain? ...there are so many possibilities.
Admiral Fatso's remarks are a quite interesting insight into the structure of the TSAB, though. I'm reading it as something like a UN or EU style political alliance of previously independent nations (or worlds, in this case)... a central administration branch presiding over 'naval' and 'ground' forces at the least... wonder how many their are? And Carim's church is a player in its own right, too...
'Beating up on a little kid'? And it's Vita saying this? ROFL.
We're supposed to want to break IV's nose, right?
WAVE MOTION GUN, FIRE~!
...Hm. Storm Raider's not meant to be a fighter-type, I think. More like, at best, a combat dropship. Not a role that calls for much in the way of sensors... which'd explain Vice's missing the cannon charging... but which would call for heavy-duty shielding, which'd block out Shamal's senses.
'Even if that's not our full power, you've got to be kidding me.' Sorry, X-chan, but obviously you don't know Riot 6 that well.
Yet. ^_^
...hm. Y'know, I have to wonder whether the production team is reading those fan 4koma... Raging Heart's line here makes me kind of suspect the answer is 'yes'. ^_^
Skintight bodysuits don't work for everyone. You have to feel kind of sorry for III because of that, even if for no other reason.
...Tea and Subs scammed the Relic. Damn, that rocks. GO, STARS! ...and the little flower illusion made me giggle madly, too.
Ja, -n

===============================================
"I'm terribly sorry, but I have to kill you quite horribly now."

[crimsonsun]

Mental note to the Numbers : Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, Piss off the Aces.
I like Nanoha's limiter release costume too

[Berk]

The Linker Core doesn't seem to be so much a storage organ as it is a gateway. The tiring effect would basically be from putting your foot on the third rail and shaping the juice that grounds through your body into a spell.- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

[HoagieOfDoom]

Episode 13 is out at the usual places. We learn some interesting things about the reasoning behind the formation of Section Six, Vivio gives us a Cuteness Overload, and Hayate worries me.*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org