There’s no time to waste, folks – we’re barreling ahead with more Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, as our heroes face off with the Velka knights! Given this season’s previous episode was basically all tied up in exposition or board-setting, I’m hoping for some fierce battles this time, and I’m guessing I’ll get my wish.

Though there’s still plenty of the uniquely paced slice of life material that helped inform the first season’s identity, Nanoha seems to have on the whole oriented itself in a more overtly action-focused direction this season, essentially following through on the genre transformations it underwent throughout that first season. There’s no going back to “Nanoha and her familiar seek magical shards” – that wasn’t ever the natural state of the world, that was just the only context we had for it until Chrono and his associates showed up. The show’s various reveals and structural changes since then have seen it fully embracing a scifi action template, while still holding onto some of the aesthetic touchstones and (most importantly) thematic priorities of a magical girl narrative. This isn’t a story about freedom, war, technology, or any of the other things that tend to define scifi narratives – this is a story about family, and about finding a place where you can grow into your best possible self.

That said, in terms of visual style, the shift from Shinbo to Kusakawa has definitely pushed this show in an action-oriented direction, as well. Kusakawa lacks the unique sensibilities that Shinbo used to give the first season’s mundane conversations some visual allure, but he’s proven to have an excellent grasp of action cinematography, and the sequences of warriors clashing over Nanoha’s city have been some of the franchise’s most dazzling to date. Let’s see what wonders await in A’s fourth episode!

Episode 4

Nanoha and Fate are now sharing the opening monologue. I respect how completely this season has embraced the structural shifts to this narrative implied by the course of the first season. It’d probably be safer to just essentially retell that season’s story, but instead we now have dedicated co-heroines whose relationship with the world around them has changed significantly over the past few months

Oh man, the cold open concludes on Fate and Nanoha side-by-side, each brandishing their wands. Considering Fate only briefly joined the attack on Precia’s fortress, “Nanoha and Fate fighting together at last” is basically still a card this show hasn’t cashed in. Staggering Fate’s entrance into this season’s first fight was a really smart choice – it worked for that sequence’s dramatic purposes, but also meant the show could hold onto this separate hook

The awkwardness of early digipaint animation is emphasized even more when this show adds in some post-production filters. It doesn’t feel like natural light entering a room; it feels like a flashlight being aimed at a picture of a room

More idyllic moments in Hayate’s house. The warmth and potential fragility of this place is heavily emphasized by the score, which essentially sounds like a tinkling music box

I suppose this season still is retelling the first season’s story, at least in part. Hayate is essentially the “new Fate,” with her story complicated by the fact that she actually has a supportive family who love her. Thus we get shots contrasting Hayate and Nanoha’s mornings, just like we once contrasted Nanoha and Fate

This slow morning ritual also feels like a very classically Nanoha sequence. Seeing the characters going through their morning routines doesn’t progress the narrative, but it does enhance the feeling that this is a living world

The music cuts entirely as Signum wakes up, and so we hear the domestic rustle of sheets and glasses as Hayate makes her a drink. A wonderfully realized mundane moment. This season might be using Nanoha’s odd slice of life beats even more effectively than the first – it’s deliberately using them to humanize Hayate’s family as efficiently as possible. And this franchise is smart enough to know that “I have a tragic, sympathetic backstory” isn’t necessarily more effective characterization than just watching a few people enjoy each other’s company

Time for Fate’s introduction at school

“New Powers, Activate!” This episode sure is making a lot of promises!

Kinda weird seeing Amy and Chrono hanging out in civilian clothes

Apparently the Velka knights have been busy. They’ve been off draining the magical power of mages on other worlds, while using earth as a staging ground for their missions. Presumably they’re on earth because Hayate is actually from earth, but I’m sure we’ll learn all that soon enough

I like this goofy floating CG Book of Darkness. Did they have a temp over at the space bureau rig that up?

“Once its 666 pages are filled up, it will release all that magical power and unleash its true power. Power great enough to create a dimensional disturbance.” They keep hyping up this book, but the consequences here feel too vague for this threat to feel particularly pressing. And this isn’t really the type of show that hangs on threats like “the fate of the world,” anyway – the first season also saw the world in peril, but its actual weight-bearing drama was all the personal Fate stuff

I do like that they’re characterizing the book as if it’s a living thing with its own will, which helps make it feel pretty ominous

Lightly fisheye shots emphasize the sense of menace, another trick from the first season

“We’ll first have to capture its guardians and drag out its master.” Chrono’s blunt language contrasts harshly with our experience of those guardians and master

Apparently Hayate is paralyzed in one leg. They’re trying a variety of treatment programs

Fate tells Nanoha that she didn’t really sense any evil intent from the Velka swordfighter. It seems Fate has basically adopted Nanoha’s philosophy at this point, which makes sense. She’s still trying to figure out her own identity, the “real Fate,” but Nanoha’s charitable spirit was what saved her in the first place, and now she’s passing that charity of perspective along

“I wish we could have asked them why they wanted to complete the Book of Darkness.” “When you wrap yourself in strong intentions, you don’t really hear people trying to talk to you.” Fate drops one of the best lines of the series to date, and it’s a line that perfectly reflects her hard-earned character growth. There is nothing so blinding as a heartfelt personal conviction, particularly if your sense of self is dependent on that conviction being true

“I believed that my mother couldn’t be wrong. When I believed that, nobody’s words could affect me.”

“But trying to talk to someone isn’t useless. After all, your words eventually reached me.” Fate, you can’t just articulate your own show’s full thematic argument

Beautiful shot as Fate commits to fighting until she can get her feelings across. The blocking of the scene, with Fate kneeling and Nanoha sitting above her, makes it look like she’s pledging an oath as Nanoha’s knight

I can see why people are so attached to this particular couple. We rarely see characters like Fate, who have changed so fundamentally and so convincingly through the clear support of someone like Nanoha. Fate hasn’t just been “fixed” by her character arc, she’s pledged to be a different person, and has been taking consistent steps to make good on that pledge, all while trying to pay back Nanoha’s support with her own

I’m naturally a bit of a sucker for characters like Fate, who are trying to perform selfhoods that they see as more laudable than their natural selves. I am perpetually falling short of my own standards for how considerate or patient or strong I expect myself to be, and I appreciate characters that acknowledge this is a fairly universal sentiment. It’s basically the character writing version of “we don’t have much, but we have hope”

Hayate and Suzuka cross paths at the library

We check in on the Velka knights at work, as Vita just finishes up defeating a dragon. I’m a little sad we don’t get more of a “the team demonstrates their competency through a routine mission” payoff, but that’d clearly be an indulgence that the show apparently doesn’t have the time for

I like how these shots over Vita’s shoulder emphasize multiple planets in the sky, underlining the alien nature of this world

The whole gang is seriously examining the floating CG book now. Maybe Amy did the rigging herself, and wants to make sure everyone sees it

The wands are repaired, but before Amy can explain their new functions, an alarm goes off. Another beat cribbed from mecha narratives – “we just finished with the new upgrades, but you’ll have to test them defending the base!” is basically the default assumption

Chrono opens with an attack that’s basically the Gate of Babylon strike. Good shit

And it accomplishes nothing. Chrono continues to be a valued and integral member of the team

“Raising Heart and Bardiche have each had a new system installed. Each of them wished for it with their own hearts and feelings.” No one said the intersection of mecha writing and magical girl writing would be totally graceful

Oh my god these new transformation sequences are friggin’ gorgeous. As before, the focus is on the mechanical animation over the character movement, with even the assembly of their outfits proceeding more like a ship transformation than a dance

“How do we make Fate’s axe-scythe even more badass? I dunno, I guess add a revolver’s spinning cartridges somewhere in the middle?”

And Done

SCREW YOU, MAGICAL GIRL LYRICAL NANOHA! I know I shouldn’t have fallen for that trick again, but after the cold open ended on the girls demonstrating their new powers, I really didn’t think the episode proper would also end on that exact moment. And so instead of the furious battles I was expecting, we rather got… well, actually a pretty solid episode. Both Hayate and Nanoha’s personal lives were illustrated with Nanoha’s consistent patience, and standout sequences like Hayate’s morning routine or Fate’s pledge solidified the sympathetic nature of both our parties. Two episodes of setup in a row feels like it might have been a bit much, but taken in its own right, this was a very fine episode. But seriously though, someone needs to fire a magic beam or swing a giant axe or SOMETHING.

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