Alright folks, let’s settle in for another episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. The show has stuck relatively true to a conventional magical girl template so far, though it’s certainly offered its own interesting embellishments. Nanoha’s plentiful worldbuilding, for one; instead of offering a vaguely defined set of magical powers or binary conflict between eternal enemies (like in Precure, where it seems like the “sides” have existed for all of time), Nanoha seems determined to sketch out an entire magical/science fiction universe, with Fate’s antagonism coming from a place of individual grievance, not destined conflict. That meshes a little weirdly with the numbered items they’re gathering, which seem more like the kind of plot device you’d see in a world where everything actually does revolve around our protagonists. In Card Captor Sakura, Sakura gathers all the cards herself because this is a show about Sakura – in Nanoha, our heroine and her enemy seem less destined than accidental, and so there’s an interesting style tension there.

Beyond the unique interplay of Nanoha’s magical girl and scifi action roots, the show is also just, well, weird. The storytelling is an odd mix of material seemingly aimed at both older and younger audiences, the story labors over incidental conversations that don’t really explain themselves, and the visual execution ranges from genuinely inspired to either baffling or totally flat. That makes for a very imperfect show, but it’s great news for me – I love investigating messy stuff, and Nanoha is certainly messy. Let’s check out what’s in store for our heroes in episode six!

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Today we’re continuing our journey through Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha! I’ll admit, I still haven’t made much sense of the “lyrical” part of that title, but we’ve certainly had plenty of magical girl. In fact, last episode introduced our second magical girl, a mysterious stranger from Yuuna’s home planet who introduced herself by electrocuting a kitten half to death. She also knocked Nanoha the fuck out, and generally made an intimidating spectacle of herself in the course of nabbing a Jewel Seed. Rough day for the home team all around.

Beyond its actual narrative beats, last episode also did some work in solidifying Nanoha’s tone, themes, and visual storytelling. Not only did the introduction of this new girl give the show’s family focus more context, but the emphasis on her black and yellow aesthetic also returned us to the evocative art embellishments of the first episode. Episode four wasn’t terrific on the whole, and the show’s slice of life elements in particular could really use some tuning, but it was a solid step up for the series, and seemed to indicate we’re finally getting to this show’s core conflict. Let’s see what shenanigans these girls get up to in number five!

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Alright folks, we’re strapping in for another episode of Nanoha! Last we checked in on this series, Nanoha had just fired a giant magical girl railgun at an evil tree, thereby saving her town. Personally, the most exciting part of that whole climax for me was the epilogue, where we learned the damage dealt by that tree was permanent. Magical girl shows often depend on a return to the status quo between isolated adventures, so I’m intrigued by Nanoha’s choice to allow for lasting, dramatic consequences, and hope it signals the show’s coming transition out of its initial, relatively familiar formula.

Outside of that, I’ll be frank – these first three episodes have been pretty darn messy so far, with only the visual creativity of the first elevating it into something truly noteworthy. Fortunately, having consulted my Nanoha-enjoying friends on twitter, it appears the consensus is “yep, Nanoha’s early parts are kind of a mess.” That relieves my fear that I’m just missing whatever it is people love about this show, and makes me eager to see where this rambling story leads. Nanoha is a very significant property in recent magical girl history, and given this site’s already been taken over by a mix of Doremi, Tutu, and Precure, it’s only appropriate that Nanoha hangs around too. Let’s see how this show handles the aftermath of its first truly consequential battle!

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Alright, let’s get back to Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha! So far, my experience with the show has had its ups and downs, largely illustrated through the difference between the first and second episodes. In that first episode, Nanoha’s distinctive direction added lots of energy and visual appeal to a relatively familiar magical girl template. In the second, those directoral flourishes faded significantly, leaving me with a so-so genre piece notable mostly for its clear influence on future shows like Symphogear. That mix of positive and negative is a little troubling, frankly – “the production and visual energy plummet after a great first episode” is a problem shared by countless shows, whereas the show’s current narrative issues are the kind of problems that tend to persist throughout productions.

That said, there’s still a fair amount of novelty in the show’s “magical girl drama reimagined as heavy scifi shounen vehicle” premise, and some of my current complaints, like the show’s weirdly stilted pacing, are the kind of quirky issues that can often blossom into engaging elements of a show’s identity. Nanoha’s extended scenes with her family don’t carry that much emotional weight yet, but the show is clearly invested in building up her general home life, suggesting its emotional ambitions will soon move beyond “Nanoha zaps a monster and it’s awesome.” Either way, the show has established a narrative template and a wider world while also powering us through Nanoha’s first two assignments as a magical girl. Let’s see what episode three brings!

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