Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am both eager and a little intimidated to return to the Nanoha franchise, as we at last check out the followup to the action-packed Nanoha Reflection. Reflection picked up right where A’s left off, introducing us to a fresh set of villains who still embody the franchise’s perennial thematic concerns. As with Fate and Hayate’s family, Kyrie is fundamentally driven by a desire to protect her family, and thus rallies against the arbitrary cruelty of fate. And just like in the first two seasons, Nanoha is forced to stand against that sympathetic instinct, and caution that joy brought about through the suffering of others is a hollow victory.
The films essentially serve as a condensed third season, lacking somewhat in the intimate character work that elevated its predecessors’ drama, but making up for it with bountiful action animation for all our favorite characters. As Symphogear’s direct predecessor, Nanoha well understands the value of dramatic excess, and I’m looking forward to some spectacular fireworks in this story’s second half. Let’s get to the action!
And We’re Off!
The narrator refers to Amita as “Amitie.” Presumably Amita is Kyrie’s nickname for her
With the battlefield largely cleared, the narrator tells us that the two defenders standing are Nanoha and Amita. This actually seems perfectly appropriate for the halfway point of a traditional Nanoha season. At this point, Nanoha’s forces and the enemy’s forces have generally clashed a couple times, with Nanoha seeking understanding of her opponents’ desires, but being rebuffed by their determination to fulfill their objective. At a certain point, two developments tend to upset this paradigm: Nanoha gets Really Mad, and her opponents start both doubting their own intentions and coming to respect Nanoha herself. This generally coincides with the true antagonist announcing themselves, and revealing that Nanoha’s earlier opponents were just seeking misguided solutions to sympathetic problems. At this point, Nanoha can at last reach her initial opponents, and they team up to beat the crap out of the true bad guy
It’s a tried and true formula, one that Symphogear has ended up adopting for most of its seasons as well. And it makes sense; that dramatic structure is one of the best ways to articulate how characters like Nanoha or Hibiki are most powerful in the way they can inspire trust in others. Plus, it implies a baked-in guarantee of mystery and surprise, along with the ever-satisfying moment when former enemies join forces against a greater foe. No surprise that it’s such a ubiquitous formula!
Oh right, I forgot how pretty these films are. We get some remarkably detailed panning cuts of the combatants in the wind, with their hair billowing in the breeze even as the camera pans around them. Really tricky shots!
This next sequence is incredible. Iris is forced into a mech suit in a sequence that dissolves her into a painted blur, morphing like a being on fire. It strongly reminds me of Kou Yoshinari’s work in Kizumonogatari and elsewhere, making me assume… yep, there it is on Sakugabooru, though only with an “assumed” tag. Look, I’m pretty sure he’s literally the only animator who can make effects like that, I think we can safely say it’s him
What a crazy effect, though! Even moreso than the visual “signatures” of some animators, Yoshinari’s work just looks like an actual painting in motion, unlike anything else in the medium. Truly an astonishing talent
Wonderful effects animation for the ocean surging upwards, as well. Given the splotchy, almost ink-splat nature of the ocean’s surge, I wonder if Yoshinari’s involvement extended through these cuts
God these cuts are great. The camera flies with the speed of their movements, storyboarding and animation working in perfect harmony
As with the first film, there’s a clear emphasis on spinning camera movement; rather than the usual shot-countershot used to convey an attack’s execution and landing, the camera spins 180 degrees around the battlefield, keeping the combatants in frame at all times. Ludicrously taxing in terms of shifting character animation, but terrific for keeping momentum high, by removing any arbitrary breaks in the battle, and also maintaining a clear sense of the battlefield’s space
That constant camera is essential to this sort of action, though. The characters are spinning through space so wildly that the only constant is the camera’s unflinching perspective, emphasizing the immediacy of the battle
Iris reveals that she’s from the same planet as the other two, and that their mother is also dying
Really nice contrast of Nanoha’s pink glow puncturing through the black splotches of the risen ocean
I love that Nanoha’s ultimate attack is just a railgun. Changing hearts and minds with high-powered ordinance
Yuri seems to awaken from her daze after some railgun therapy, and is about to ask Hayate a favor before Iris stabs her
As always, beautiful designs for their space bureau headquarters. Nanoha’s flourishes into outright space opera are always a treat, and actually intermingle pretty naturally with its magical girl tone – they share a flare for melodrama, and a focus on elegant beauty
Dearche and the others are already cooperating with the space bureau. We’re befriending old enemies in record time!
Much like Hayate’s guardians, Dearche and company all seem to be living representations of magical artifacts
Initially, Yuri was also a part of their unit
Amita’s integration into the group offers a natural opportunity for a collective power-up, as she uses her advanced technology to improve their weapons
God, Signum and Shamal are such unabashed team moms. Love their complimentary outfits as they bring in snacks for all the kids
With the battles over, Levi can at last assume her natural role as a feral child
Hayate reminds us that she is terrible at naming things, having named her book’s core identity “Reinforce”
Kyrie and Amita’s quest to save their planet is unsurprisingly framed in terms of “protecting the home their parents built.” All of Nanoha’s characters long for home, until Nanoha is forced to adopt them
“Mistakes are fine if you can fix them.” Another recurring Nanoha theme, which obviously resonates with its seasonal structure
Lindy and her team are setting up a defense around Tokyo, which is presumably destined to fail and draw our heroes back into battle. It’s a little strange seeing the bridge team off the bridge!
These idle conversation scenes are frankly kinda underwhelming in terms of their direction, mostly just capturing the characters in midframe, without much thought for the overall composition. These films absolutely soar for the action sequences, but the first season’s impressionist Shinbo-ism for the quieter scenes is long gone at this point
Yuri managed to sneak out the most valuable information of all: Iris’ motivation! We learn she was part of Eltoria’s Planet Revitalization Committee
While the other members of the team wear full biohazard suits, Iris just wears a facemask to maintain her signature side-tail
Ah, she’s actually a biological terraforming unit
The idea of having to make a publicity video to secure funding for Keeping Our Planet Alive seemed momentarily humorous, until I remembered what we’re doing on our own planet
In a place of deep contamination, Iris discovers Yuri. I like the creepy vegetation representing the encroaching contamination
Yuri states she was created to protect the Tome of the Night Sky. It’s interesting just how much of this show’s cast are essentially living mechanisms or programs – aside from Nanoha, Hayate, and the two sisters, basically all of their core friends are living weapons. I suppose you might consider that a natural consequence of magical girls’ “I’m gonna make new friends” negotiating with mecha’s “I’m gonna upgrade my awesome robot”
Yuri states that the two things the book’s master can’t do are revive the dead or mess with time. That still leaves a lot of power on the table!
Iris bonds with Yuri by blowing up a house with a rocket launcher
In return, Yuri reveals she could terraform and save the planet
Ah, I see. There aren’t enough resources to fully support both the revitalization and evacuation efforts, thus their battles for funding
Yuri’s log cuts off right before things presumably take a terrible turn
The death of Reinforce actually makes the Tome of the Night Sky more effective as a dramatic/mystery variable, since there’s no one they can consult about the tome’s history
The log cuts back in to reveal Yuri massacring the human scientists. Some nice angled layouts here, using the handheld camera conceit to strong effect
“You left without me, and didn’t let me rest along with everyone else.” As appropriate for Nanoha, Iris’ core complaint is that Yuri separated her from her family. She would have preferred to die alongside them
The next battle venue is some kind of anonymous concrete facility. It’s interesting; the first season of Nanoha would at times make up for its limited animation with fanciful background art, whereas now, the background art actually has to be simplified, in order to facilitate the dramatic camera movements of these films’ absurd animation highlights. Aesthetic is frequently a byproduct of technical feasibility!
Iris was designed to self-replicate, in order for a single unit to be able to terraform an entire planet. Now, of course, that power is simply providing us with all the fodder accomplices we need to populate the second half’s action scenes
“There’s no such thing as having too many allies.” A lesson this subgenre has learned well
The team is too confident and too prepared, and we’re only forty minutes in. This fight will end in disaster
Yep, now we’re introducing a bunch of specialized sub-Irises for the secondary crew members to fight. Very nice effects integration for Signum destroying this train
Aw jeez, the mini-Irises call her “Mama.” Are we going to make even more friends?
This amusement park’s taking a real beating in these films. It’s a useful piece of architecture – its various unique monuments offer a distinctive battlefield for aerial combat, and its colorful night lighting compliments these films’ strong focus on multicolored effects animation
Obviously all these mini-Irises don’t make for emotionally charged battles, but that seems like an inevitable consequence of these films’ structure and priorities. The primary objective here seems to be “capture the characters you love in glorious battle, animated more fluidly than ever before,” with pretty much just the bones of a Nanoha season narrative to support them
I love this cut where Levi is briefly excited to see Fate, then angrily shakes her head to not reveal her excitement
“Even if I don’t know them, they might be important to someone somewhere.” Damn, Fate has brushed off on Levi remarkably quickly
Nice panning cut over the city as Levi meets her companions. While the smaller venues have fully constructed CG sets, the city itself is presented as a complex series of traditionally drawn building layers that all shift to simulate movement. An effective compromise
Really nice mix of CG and traditional animation for Amita’s battle as well. They’ve built CG models for Iris’ duplicates, but only use them for distant or rapidly panning cuts, while Amita’s actual blows tear apart traditionally animated models. Combined with the visors hiding their faces, the CG models are largely disguised
Levi channeling lightning is conveyed as if she has to take the pain of the blow first, a nice dramatic touch
Yuri’s power seems to exhibit some kind of corrupting influence, which when combined with her initial location, makes me suspicious as to her involvement with the decay of the planet
Yuri and Iris apparently raised the other three as cats? Sure, I’ll buy it
That classic tale of the three cats who loved their master so much they became dimension-hopping supervillains to protect her
I figured Dearche and the others were so self-serious because they were actually the harbingers of some alien kingdom, but them just being cats in human form also explains it perfectly
Suddenly, a mystery man with a personal forehead shadow strikes from the bridge!
It appears the true true villain is actually Iris’ original creator
The bureau offers Iris the possibility that she’s also being manipulated, and she Does Not Like That
“Yuri stole everything from me!” It is a little disappointing that this conflict seems to be fundamentally based on a misunderstanding/mind control shenanigans, with no actual legitimate contrast of ideals, but again, these films are more about their fights than their moral philosophy
The villain’s name is Phill Maxwell. I guess space Phillips hold onto the extra L when abbreviated
“The government seems to have lost the will to work towards the planet’s rehabilitation.” The Eltorian government here falling for one of Nanoha’s persistent thematic conflicts: losing hope the moment a situation seems hopeless
Not only is their project shut down, but the government also announces an inquiry will be held, and Iris will be taken as government property
He repeatedly says “it’s fine as long as I get the last laugh,” thus essentially embodying the end of hope itself. He’s given up on any actual victory, and only wants to be the last victim standing
Phill actually killed the staff himself with his Iris drones, and claims that he loves Iris because love made her even more effective than her specifications would indicate. A clear parallel with Fate’s equally shitty mom, who only saw her constructed daughter as a tool
Superb effects animation for Amita’s energy dashes. This film’s gonna make me start taking this stuff for granted!
Phill sends commands to both Yuri and Iris, setting Iris and Kyrie up for one of those classic “get ahold of yourself, I don’t want to hurt you!” battles
This fight is serving as an elegant “redemption arc” for both of them, as they each discard their anger and embrace the parts of their relationship that were truly honest
When I said “this fight will end in disaster,” I frankly wasn’t expecting this single fight to occupy the last hour and ten minutes of the film. They basically just incorporated the narrative “lowest point” into the fight’s first half, and then kept barreling onward from there
You know what this fight needs? More Arf
Yesss, now Nanoha gets to activate her Amita upgrades. EMBRACE THE POWER, NANOHA
I love that the power Phill spent half a century seeking was achieved by Nanoha in the span of two days, purely through Love and Friendship
Dear lord, this fight. Obviously plenty of the great swooping camerawork and effects animation, and I love the illustration of her first major laser blast, as it sends a multicolored energy shockwave billowing around the city’s buildings
You can really feel the weight of these clashes in the contrast between character and camera movement. This slight zoom-in as Nanoha roars does a lot of work in conveying how she’s struggling, and transitions naturally into the next shot, where the sliding energy beam essentially follows her arc of motion from the last cut, emphasizing the actual scale of her dragging this attack to the side
Fate rushes in to save Nanoha! Love these impact frames for her deflection, with her yellow slice of energy shattering his purple stab
Their combined attack literally rips his body to shreds. That’s the power of magical girls for you!
But of course, he has a backup plan to just kill them all with a giant space laser. These masterminds’ schemes always get a little looser as you get down to plan C or D
“It’s not good to give in to the will to fight… but there are some things that cannot be protected without fighting!” She is an extremely good hero
Nanoha is left floating in space, Raising Heart disabled and one arm missing. “But if I protected everyone, I’m satisfied”
Reflecting on her feelings, we return to a Nanoha we haven’t seen for a long time: the Nanoha who doesn’t like herself, and sees no value in her own personhood. Initially, she defined her value through how she could help others
“It’s okay if you don’t like yourself. But please remember all the people who love and care about you. You don’t want to make them unhappy, right? And I’m sure a day will come when you can like yourself, too.” A very measured takeaway here! Nanoha rarely gets this pointed in its psychological work, but this refrain still echoes one of its core themes: even if your situation seems hopeless, you must still hold out that hope might one day exist. If you keep walking forward, you aren’t guaranteed happiness, but you can be sure that things will be different than they are now
Oh my god, the cats are tiny people now
And Done
Well Nanoha, it’s been quite a ride. These films served as an excellent capstone to this Nanoha era, celebrating the themes and characters that the franchise has always held dear, while executing its sprawling fight scenes with the lush animation they’ve always deserved. It was nice to spend just a bit more time with Nanoha, Fate, and the rest of this charming family, and the story of Iris and Kyrie embodied Nanoha’s laudable philosophy of forgiveness and hope. Holding onto faith in a better day through even the darkest times is a theme that will always resonate with me, and Nanoha is a fine exemplar of the spirit of kindness and hard-fought optimism that makes magical girl stories so generally inspiring. Keep on fighting for that better day, Nanoha!
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