Is there a Nanoha fan out there who is able to suppress his joy after hearing about a certain piece of news? I just hope that this parallel story of the first Nanoha is as awesome as Nanoha A’s. If not, I would look forward to Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd!

But my other self tells me that there is a high chance of this one disappointing those who are seeking for AWESOMESAUCE. For once, I have to agree with him because of our experience in New York JFK.

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha was alright but it was not enough to convince me to compose accolades for it. But things are slightly different for its sequel, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s.

The reason why I watched Nanoha and Nanoha A’s is because I wanted to see what was the big deal about it. Having heard praises for them from my acquaintances, I have to say I was curious.

Alright, so since I was not exactly awestruck by Nanoha, I had my reserves about whether its sequel would be able to impress me. So people might say Nanoha A’s is great but it is simply my human nature to doubt things. Sometimes it is hard to truly evaluate the worth of an anime that has been viewed if one is sort of influenced by peers prior to watching a show. Resulting in a pre planned intention to join the bandwagon in jeering or screaming how great that show was. So it was with that mind set and my stubborn individualism, I was determined to watch Nanoha A’s without expecting it to be as good as others have claimed it to be.

After watching the credits and the epilogue of Nanoha A’s, I can only say ‘SHIT I HAVE BEEN CONVERTED’. A’s was a pail of sweat and blood and the misleading title of the show did not help in giving any hints of being so. ‘Lyrical’ feels too flowery to me.

I started my anime loving days as a stuck up dick who assumed that everything is supposed to be straight and serious. And that sure made me unable to appreciate a lot of shows. But at a certain point of time I snapped came to realise the truth and I am glad I did so because I would have just dismissed Nanoha A’s as being ridiculous.

Um so I am not going to write tl;dr stuff on Nanoha A’s because it IS Nanoha A’s. It is one of those shows, to me that is, that is all about being ‘hot blooded’. Apart from being a shocking trap of a Mahou Shoujo show, Nanoha A’s is also a story that is blatant and totally not poseur-ish for it does not try to attempt to present itself as being complex.

In fact, I could just publish this post with just one sentence- ‘NANOHA A’S IS AWESOMESAUCE’. Yes the caps are necessary.

Why do I think Nanoha A’s is AWESOMESAUCE? Well my heart would thump in excitement when friendship is forged and raised from the flames of battle. The foes of today will be the comrades of tomorrow, that is cool to me. And will we ever be tired of the classic notion of fighting for your beliefs and all that is precious? Well it worked well because of all the hot blooded cries and explosions. While watching Nanoha A’s, I would constantly check my pants to check whether I actually I am a male because damn those girls were more inspiring as manly role models than I am.

Having said that, I think the secret in Nanoha A’s ability to impress lies in its relatively short number of episodes. And because of that, Nanoha A’s was one heck of a blaze. Yet I cannot help but wonder how would the story have been if it was extended slightly to give Graham and his cat-girls more involvement near the end of the story. What Nanoha A’s lacked was a specific antagonist to direct our animosity towards, and that would have amplified the AWESOMESAUCE-ness of the show when the bad guy gets totally creamed by Nanoha’s magical beams of love and friendship. Also, the ending was rather anti climatic because the final boss was just a sitting duck, eating all that delicious damage from the final attacks of the heroes. I lol’ed when final boss gave an orgasmic cry of pleasure after Fate dealt a powerful blow. HAR I WAS BEING SUGGESTIVE.

Oh crap. This is supposed to be where I end but AWESOMESAUCE-ness is like a never ending echo that keeps rocking my soul. WHY ARE THE CARTRIDGE LOADING SCENES SO FRIGGIN AWESOME? WHY WAS I SHAKING WITH AWE WHEN NANOHA BROKE THE BOOK OF DARKNESS’ SHIELD AND PUMPED THREE CARTRIDGES INTO ONE ATTACK?

So much for trying to be reserved and calm while writing this post. I have been totally biased.

Side effects of watching Nanoha A’s includes a tendency to mimic Raising Heart’s voice in real life.

P.S I shall now move on to Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS.

[ID SOJOURNER]

ELLO. Sojourner is too reserved in expressing himself so I shall do him a favour. Suffice to say, the post should have been written like as follows!

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

NANOHA A’S = AWESOME

Yup.

]]> http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/07/03/nanoha-as-taught-me-the-value-of-friendship-and-courage/feed/ 8 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/05/21/hey-i-finished-nanoha/ http://bluefoxalley.com/2008/05/21/hey-i-finished-nanoha/#comments Wed, 21 May 2008 06:10:12 +0000 The Sojourner http://bluefoxalley.wordpress.com/?p=290 Continue reading →]]>

I grew up with anime but it was nothing more than just a distant acquaintance. If memory does not fail me, my very first anime was a show called Neon Genesis Evangelion and I followed it with quite some passion despite the fact that the episodes were broadcasted after midnight. Then there were others like Rurouni Kenshin, Fushigi Yuugi, Gatekeepers and Vandread (more but they are very vague to me). However, my interest in anime in general back then is really pale in contrast as compared to my present state.

All thanks to the conscription of the Singapore Army, I met this fellow sergeant who offered me a shit load of anime. Ennui got the best of me and I decided to check out what he had to offer. I guess that was when I realised there was no turning back. Man you be amazed at the number of anime fans I had encountered in the Singapore Army. Even my Company Sergeant Major, a big and intimidating fellow, was caught giggling to a scene of Gundam SEED while exclaiming ‘Wow! Kira’s crystal broke!’.

So here I am, 8 months after being freed from slavery released from service. The Army did not make me a man, it turned me into an idiotic anime fan *sigh*.

Anyway, apart from following ongoing shows, I am also trying to finish some of the older works. Oh I have disgressed so much. So let us move on to the purpose of this post- Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha.

I cannot dare claim that I am well acquainted with the Mahou Shoujo genre because neither have I seen enough shows of its genre nor do I have a strong impression of those that I had seen in the past. So I wikied on the genre itself to see how Mahou Shoujoish Nanoha an anime is and it turns out that Nanoha is quite a standard depiction of the genre. That is, if the article in Wikipedia holds credibility.

 What really caught my attention was a conversation that Takamachi Nanoha had with her friends in the first episode. Maybe I am a bum so it surprised me that a trio of third-graders in elementary school were actually talking about their future careers. Do not get me wrong because it is fine for them to do so but what I am concerned is that this conversation took place in a Mahou Shoujo show. It gives the message that kind of says ‘Hey it is alright if you do not think so hard about the future’. So now I am under the impression that shows like Nanoha are born out of a collective desire to avert from the harsh expectations that society imposes on us all. I mean, the convenience of our sweet protagonist in becoming a Magical Girl after confessing about her uncertainty towards the future, that sort of speaks for my opinion.

Disagree if you wish, because it is your right to do so, but I humbly feel that Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha has no climax at all. It appears to be that way since the assault on the Final Dungeon was all too smooth from my point of view. Not to forget that Fate’s decision to join the ‘Good Side’ was rather obvious. It did not really irk me because the show did a reasonable job in depicting the progress of the story: the birth of the magical girl, realisation of her mission, the appearance of an enemy and future ally, the true antagonist takes action and the final showdown. The only thing is that there was not much of a final showdown.

I think Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha was a cocktease and Fate-chan agrees too.

 I did had a few laughs thanks to some awkward scenes in the story. Those parts attacked the plausibility of Nanoha and I was sceptical about whether should I carry on with the show. For instance, I would not have allowed Nanoha to run off to ‘do what she needs to do’ if I had been her mother. Apparently the story had to go on, hence such scenes occured. But with the acceptable performance of the story, I was willing to overlook such minor oddities. A slight trip does not warrant absolute condemnation.

Overall, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha was decent but it is nowhere close to being a masterpiece. Oh and the ending of the show was a blatant cry that goes along the line like ’MADA MADA!’ or ‘There is gonna be more to it!’. I shall now proceed to Nanoha A’s and I see what is the big deal over it.

By the way , it was rather traumatic for my mother to see her grown-up son giggling over some cartoon with cute little girls in it. When she asked me to lower the volume of my laptop, because Tamura Yukari’s voice was too much for her to take, I went ‘ALRIGHT MY MASTER’.

Tamura Yukari: Ufufufufu….

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An Extra Note

[To Marmot: I am very sorry but I cannot be your girlfriend because I have a bulge down at my crotch. It saddens me greatly... Such is the destiny of having a dick. SOBZ]