Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Review

story 7.7/10

When I first turned on Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, I was expecting a boring and generic magical girl type series that might just put me to sleep. Luckily for me, I was very wrong. Our tale begins with Nanoha, a young girl who attends school and lives with her family (who include characters from Triangle Heart: Miyuki and Kyoya). One day near the woods, she runs across a ferret that is injured, but much to her dismay, this is no ordinary ferret! His name is Yuuno and he hails from another world, and he needs Nanoha’s help. Powerful stones called Jewel Seeds are loose within the planet, and only Nanoha’s power can assist him in reclaiming the stones so their power can be subdued. These stones, when activated by a person (or animal, or plant), grant the being their wishes which, needless to say, usually causes chaos to ensue.

Admittedly, at first, this seems like the same old magical girl series. Each episode follows Nanoha and Yuuno as they try to seal another Jewel Seed, and of course, Nanoha transforms in each episode as well. Luckily, around episode 5 or 6 of the 13 episode series, the story takes a turn into sci fi land and becomes really interesting, and totally different than what you’ve been watching already. Instead of focusing on essentially a monster of the week type plot, we see Nanoha and her interactions with Fate, a rival magical girl who is after the Seeds for her own mysterious purposes. The last half is heavy on character development, and again, turns very sci fi in nature. Let’s just say quite a bit of the series takes place outside Earth itself! Truly a unique magical girl series if I ever saw one, but then again, magical girl series aren’t exactly my forte.

In general, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha is a magical girl series at heart, but you shouldn’t let that influence your decision to watch it (since it becomes quite serious and sci fi related in the second half). If anything, you might be wary of it because it very, very clearly is aimed at younger folks. Young girls, in particular, will eat this up with a spoon. Not only are there cute creatures and magic powers, but there are friendships that are formed and a feel good ending that will make any young person happy. For me, an adult, I didn’t find it to be as interesting, but I still can acknowledge that this is a good series for those that really enjoy younger age group shoujo. Then again, the sci fi aspect is interesting enough to win over some older fans too, though the "twist" isn’t too exciting (I’ve seen the same twist in a few series). A very good story all around, if you are comparing it to other magical girl series out there. Don’t get me wrong, it’s no Paranoia Agent or something else that has a kickass plot, but comparatively, I was impressed that a simple magical girl series could actually have a decent plot.

animation 8.5/10

Though there were a few things that bothered me about the animation, overall this is a very, very beautiful series. Since the plot is based on magic and spells and the like, there were plenty of visual effects to be found. Nanoha and Fate alike had powerful magic that was animated beautifully, and the fight scenes were also fluid and wonderful. Given that this is a magical girl series at heart, there were plenty of transformations to be found. Luckily, unlike some series where the transformation is literally the same piece of recycled animation all the way through, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha manages to only recycle itself some of the time, and at other times it’s unique and even short. Admittedly, some things did get a bit old after awhile, like her weapon transforming into its various shapes, but it was minor and not really an annoyance.

Easily the most interesting animation, for me, was once it turned sci fi. Though nothing super spectacular, I liked the way things were portrayed (I won’t say specifics because I don’t want to spoil). Other points of interest were the monsters in the first few episodes (including the mutant tree and giant cat, cute!), and also many of the character designs were beautiful.

Then again, that brings me to one of my only minor complaints: the character designs. Some were good, as I just mentioned, but others like Nanoha rubbed me the wrong way. I hate, hate, hate that hair style on any anime character. Normal hair, basically, but with two thin ponytail strands of sorts that stick out on the sides, and occasionally make boingy noises and move up and down. If you’ve seen Princess Tutu, it’s sort of like Ahiru’s hair style. Also, the eyes were a bit too oval for everyone and Nanoha in general looked a bit weird. Fate, on the other hand, was beautiful and so were some of the other characters.

In general, wonderful animation.

sound 7/10

I can’t really think of anything wrong with the audio, but at the same time it isn’t a soundtrack I’d want to buy or even listen to again, hence the good yet not higher score. In general, the music fit very well with the tone and consisted of lots of synths with the occasional orchestral instrument thrown in. The ending fit well, the intro fit well, and overall the music helped portray a good depiction of the action and adventure that was prevalent throughout the series. Especially for younger viewers, I can see the music being a big hit. For the voice actors, I thought everyone’s voices were fine except for Nanoha’s brother, as it seemed a bit out of place for how he looked. Then again, he wasn’t a big part of the series or anything.

characters 8/10

Again, it surprises me that I’d give this high of a score to a "mere magical girl series", but the character development surprised me probably more than anything. Though the first few episodes seem shallow, many of the characters have been developed incredibly well by the end of the 13 episodes. Specifically, Fate goes through a remarkable transformation, and realizes certain things about her life. Also, we learn a great deal about the main villain and what he/she is all about. Nanoha also grows into a more mature and serious girl, though Fate’s development was definitely more in the foreground. We are introduced to a variety of other characters as well, though they are definitely secondary (yet still interesting). The development of all the characters wraps itself up nicely in the end as well. Overall, a good set of characters who develop in a surprising way.

overall 7.1/10

You might be wondering why I rated every section fairly high, yet still gave this section around a 7? To put it simply, although I acknowledge this is better than most of the magical girl series I’ve seen, it still wasn’t inspiring enough to warrant a higher score. This could be because I’m clearly not the target audience for series like this, so perhaps if you really, really like magical girl series (and are younger than me), you would enjoy it more. As it stands, I enjoyed the 13 episodes but did find myself becoming a bit bored sometimes. Also, the feel good ending was a bit too cheesy and sappy for me. In general, I think a wide variety of fans could appreciate this series anyways, and even if you normally don’t like magical girl series, this one might be good to check out. Just make sure you get past the first 5 or so episodes, since the latter half is definitely a lot more interesting!