RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE!!!!Yeah yeah, the last post was two years ago, but I'm pretty sure de facto policy on these kinds of threads is that necroposting is better than redundancy, so bite me.
Anyway, I got a bit of a bug up my ass recently and finally sat down to watch the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha movies. And the shortest way to describe the results is that I'm now 1/3 of the way through a rewatch of StrikerS. I forgot how much fun this franchise this.
The long version is a bit of a list:
* The animators have thoroughly embraced the super robot and mecha influences of the series. The action sequences wouldn't be out of place in a Gundam series if they were done with giant robots instead of people.
* The first movie is probably a bit longer than it needed to be. You could pretty easily shave off at least 15 minutes and the movie would be better for it.
* If the first movie is
probably a bit too long, the second movie is
definitely a bit too long. There are a few moments that are largely unneeded and other parts that drag on for longer than they should.
* The first movie is better than the season it's based on. While I dislike a few of the changes, those changes have entirely to do with somewhat spoiling the complete change of genre the show has halfway through. Otherwise, it trims the fat and cuts out the pretty gratuitous amount of filler the first season had, especially during the first half where it was too episodic. Otherwise, I like how much it brings the start of the series more in line with the rest in terms of tone.
* The second season is better than the movie based on it. A lot of things were rearranged for the worse and while I like some of the changes the improved animation brings to the action scenes, they work better in the show as a whole. Plus the pacing feels like they weren't sure what to cut out and what to focus on. This isn't all that surprising since the expanded cast and more serialized story just plain works better in a 12 episode TV series than in a 2 and a half hour movie (that, again, still managed to be too long. It's kinda impressive, really).
* The fatal flaw of the whole series is the fanservice. This isn't so bad in Strikers where the cast of the first two seasons have aged to adulthood (with the exception of one character who doesn't age, but she's not used for fanservice anyway), but do we really need to see the VERY underage Nanoha and Fate in such a sexualized way for the transformation sequences? And while I say Strikers isn't so bad because at least the returning cast is no longer underage, it does have unnecessary fanservice for some of the new cast and while even the youngest one isn't QUITE as young as Nanoha and Fate are in the first two seasons/movies, they're still underage.
* How the hell did I not notice the romantic "subtext" between Nanoha and Fate on my first watch? Seriously, there's a reason for the quotation around the word "subtext."
* That said, Nanoha and Fate are one of the best written same sex couples I've ever seen in anime. Hat's off to the writers here, especially since they couldn't flat out call them a couple.
* Despite the gratuitous fanservice, I can't help but enjoy this franchise. The strong characterization and fun and unique action easily make up for it. As awkward as it can get at its worst, the good makes it quickly bounce back. Watch the first movie instead of the first season, skip the second movie in favor of the second season and StrikerS is a pretty fun action show with more in depth characterization than I remember. I find myself looking forward to the third movie and I'm debating on whether or not I should try to sit through the gratuitous to the point where even the manga's creators have made a point to reduce it fanservice of ViVid to see if there's anything of value there.