But that being said, I'm not an idiot, I realise that being a "Magical Girl" show, this probably had about as much chance as being /m/ as Dragon Ball Z, so I was willing to give it a shot to see if it was good for its own sake. And cudos to the first two seasons, they were pretty good. Nothing mind-blowing, but something that even I, despite it being well outside my realm of usual viewing, could watch (and heck, there were even mechs in the first series for a little bit).
But then I got up to this one, the one I actually wanted to watch, and man, it is poor.
Basically, there are no problems with the animation or sound or anything like that, the problem is with the writing. I'll break it down into three categories, 1- the premise of the show, 2- the new characters and 3- the old characters.
I'll start with #1, the premise of the show. First up, the title is abhorrently misleading, despite being called a "magical girl" show, it really isn't. There may be a bit lost in translation here, so I should elaborate, the "girl" in "magical girl" means "young/small/little" girl, so a more appropriate name would be "magical teenager" or "magical practically-an-adult" nanoha. The reason this is somewhat important is because of the themes that are connotated by the genre. Magical girl is all about being cute, gaining new powers and, most overridingly, must revolve around friendship. So much so that it is usually sickening to someone like me, who's not a fan of the genre.
But S1 did this pretty well, sure it was a tad cliche, but Fate and Nanoha's story was one that was watchable, and indeed, it was nothing bad. A's (the second season) was about Hayate, and even though I thought the "poor crippled orphan" plot was a little bit too over-the-top, it was understandable, as there was a good reason that she was a "poor crippled orphan" (explained in the show so I shan't elaborate). Nanoha making friends with them and helping them out was a perfectly good plotline.
But in this regard, what did StrikerS have to offer? None of the antagonists were in any kind of situation where they needed help/friends, bar Lu and Agatio, but both were already getting help/gotten help of their own free will in the series. This means the "friendship" was forced down their throat. I mean Fate having friendship forced down her throat was understandable, considering her circumstances in season 1, but as a gerneral rule, forcing friendship onto someone is just nonsense.
And that's pretty much the problem with this series' premise, it aborts from the themes established in the first two seasons and goes down a completely different track. This might not have been a bad thing, but, as per below, there were some deep writing flaws that turned it into one.
#2 is the most obvious, the new characters. As I already said, there was a good reason Hayate was a crippled orphan in season 2, and Fate in season 1 was the main subject matter, so again, there was a reason to have her in that situation. But what about this one? All the characters (basically) are orphans, with some deep emotional scarring. Why? Well, put simply, it is so that the writers have something to talk about in the numerous incessant personal reflections that go on. I'm all for a bit of backstory, when it is relevant. Entire episodes of nonstop backstory from characters like the helicopter pilot, who, as my description implies, is a completely and utterly minor character, is downright annoying. The only reason I can think that they have so many backstories is because the *actual* story is inadequate. I mean honestly, aside from training, the squad in this series partake in, like, all of three fights (with the last fight being a really long one, admittedly), and the plot is resolved in these three fights. This proves to me that the plot is very, very shallow. Now I wasn't expecting something deep, but good lord, was there really a need to fill the episodes with so much cliche overblown emo crap in the meantime?
This is the second serious complaint. The new characters were, essentially, only there because the plot wasn't interesting enough and the directors had 26 episodes to fill. I can easily see them simply removing half the cast and putting this into a 13 episode anime and it working just as well. The only thing having all these new characters did was to slow down the series to an absolute crawl. The pacing was terrible.
But now onto writing issue #3. The old characters. First up, Hayate didn't really do much in A's, so I can understand why they made her the "main" character and altered her, etc, that's all well and good, its the rest of the cast I have an issue with. Firstly are the "power limiters" they all suddenly got. These were only in there because the plot, which I already explained was stretched thin and needed boosting with new characters, was *so* weak that simply using the recurring characters would end it instantly, so they had to *construct* a reason to use the new cast. What better plot device than weakening the old cast, right? But in the end, what was the point of this? It would have been just as easy to have Nanoha and co. go one way and the others go another. Heck, that is *EXACTLY* what they do anyway. So why bother stripping away the power of the old cast? It was a pointless plot device that served no purpose other than to construct fake drama and pad the series out just a little longer.
Second up is the "overworking" sub-thread that applies to Nanoha. I shan't explain due to spoilers, but basically, there is this whole sub-thread about using too much magic power/effort, etc. Why is this even in there if you already have power limiters? The writers ALREADY padded the plot out with fake weakness to slow it down, but then they put in a fake danger *ontop* of that fake weakness. The writers should've taken this as a sign of way too much filler and not a strong enough plot. Alas, they did not, and I wasted my time with this rubbish story.
Third is the inexplicable removal of the minor characters. Fate's familiar is the most notable. Aside from a few brief shots in the background of the later episodes, and maybe one or two throwaway lines, its made like she never existed in the first place. Nanoha's family and friends are tossed out (understandable, but still evidence of how much this show detracts from the original genre) and Yunno is delegated to an utterly menial role. All this I could forgive if any of the new characters, antagonist or protagonist, (like Hayate or her Knights in A's) were likeable and/or relevant to the plot. Alas, they were not. Aside from Subaru's family, everyone else had nothing to do with the plot, and all the antagonists were, essentially, *troops*, not *characters*.
And finally is the Jewel Seeds. Remember them? Yeah, for being supposedly rare and powerful, for them to be suddenly found in stock grunts was just inexcusable. (Sorry if you think this is a spoiler, but if you watch the show, you'll realise that it isn't actually that relevant at all, which in of itself is part of the problems I'm writing about)
Basically, this show reads like a fanfic. The new characters are all Mary Sue's, despite having no relevance to the plot, and heck, some, like Caro, barley even have any lines (honestly, the whole lightning team, and Lu, could be removed and the story wouldn't even blink), some of the plot devices are retconns, which, depending on whether you think about it or not, usually don't even make sense and finally, the recurring characters were so utterly un-thought-out that they had to make up fake plot devices and introduce new problems just so the writers could fit the titular characters into StrikerS' new story.
And how on earth could they not see the problems with that?
If you're watching this as a stand-alone series, it's probably pretty good. As a franchise, this is a bad piece of writing that pretty much has nothing going for it. Worth a watch if you're a Nanoha fan, because fans can overlook poor writing and still be happy, but overall, Fate/Stay Night or something along those lines is a much better show, since the writers in those shows didn't insist on forcing their characters into a really weak plot and then stretching it out over 26 episodes, when 13 probably would've been too many.
