Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's

Several months have passed since the Jewel Seed incident, and Nanoha Takamachi is getting ready to welcome Fate Testarossa back from her trial with the Administrative Bureau. Having received conditional clemency for her role in preventing the crisis, Fate has been allowed to attend school with Nanoha. However, before the two girls can settle into their daily lives together, a group of dark mages suddenly descend upon them. Overpowered by their unknown assailants, Nanoha and Fate have their mana absorbed by an ominous grimoire, and both Raising Heart and Bardiche are damaged in the process.

The ones behind this ambush are known as the Wolkenritter, and its four members—Vita, Signum, Shamal, and the familiar Zafila—were summoned by the Book of Darkness to carry out its malignant bidding. The book's current owner is the young girl Hayate Yagami, oblivious to its true nature while the Wolkenritter, charging its power with the forcibly stolen mana, is duty-bound to seek the tome's completion.

Left drained and weaponless, Nanoha and Fate must race against time to recover their strength and confront the Wolkenritter, with the aim of preventing the quartet from finishing the Book of Darkness and unleashing its devastating magic upon the world.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Testarossa, Fate Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Takamachi, Nanoha Main

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Yagami, Hayate Main

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Vita Main

Sanada, Asami Japanese

Signum Main

Shimizu, Kaori Japanese

Shamal Main

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Zafila Main

Ichijo, Kazuya Japanese

Reinforce I Supporting

Kobayashi, Sanae Japanese

Reinforce II Supporting

Yukana Japanese

Scrya, Yuuno Supporting

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Shimizu, Hiroyuki Producer

Kusakawa, Keizou Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Kodaira, Maki Episode Director

Reviews

Apr 2, 2013

Ashen_Miko

Recommended

When I first watched Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's (the TV series), I loved it. It had a compelling story, great characters, and a beautiful OST. It eventually became the standard that I held perfection of an anime by and was the pinnacle of the Lyrical Nanoha franchise.

Needless to say, I was absolutely excited after I found out that A's was going to get a movie version like the first season. After all, the first movie was great. It trimmed the fat of the first season to make a stellar narrative. Of course that meant that with A's, something was going to be cut ... out. This was probably what I was most worried about that since I found it hard to cut scenes out of A's without losing something.

Now, without further ado: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: The Movie 2nd A's.

Story: 10
Since the movie itself is an alternate re-telling of A's, the story is overall very similar minus one set of characters whose actions did guide certain events along. For example, Nanoha's Starlight Breaker + to break the barrier and Reinforce's Starlight Breaker were all cut out from the movie. Despite the missing portions from the original story, the it still acts as a smoothly written and captivating narrative.

Art and Animation: 9
Movie budget. Need I say more?

Sound: 9
Unlike the TV seasons and the previous movie, the soundtrack was composed by Misa Chujo as instead of Sano Hiroaki. My first reaction when this was announced was definitely negative. Sano Hiroaki had always created such a beautiful, pumping OSTs that always fit the moods of the scenes they played in perfectly. As such, I was pleasantly surprised when I watched the movie and heard the OST. While it was not as good as Sano Hiroaki's, it was still well composed and fit the movie really well.

There were two insert songs.

"Snow Rain ~ver. Holy Night~" by Ueda Kana was played at the same scene that the original Snow Rain was played in the series. The difference between the two was, of course, the instrumental but the new version still meshed really well with the scene and as such created the same impact it did in the original series.

The second was "Sacred Force" by Nana Mizuki which played at the same time that "Brave Phoenix" played in the original. While Sacred Force went well with the scene, it just didn't have the same chilling feel that Brave Phoenix had in the original.

The last aspect of Sound is of course the voices. Starring the same stellar cast as the original series, the movie did not disappoint overall in this aspect. My only issue is with the defense program's cry. Originally, it was given an eerie and highly feminine cry. This was meant to drive home the connection it had with Reinforce (this and the feminine shape you see on the defense program's body being Reinforce's former hollow shell). However, the movie gave it a more monstrous male roar. In a sense this somewhat distanced it from Reinforce while still keeping the feminine shape stemming out of the body of the program.

Character: 10
What the story lacked was definitely made up for with character development of the knights especially Reinforce. In the original, Reinforce's appearance was sudden and did not make too much sense until the end. However, the movie does a good job of building her up from the very beginning of the narrative. However, the movie does a good job of building her up from the very beginning of the narrative. At the same time, the development of the knights is also extremely well done.

Enjoyment: 10
This category is kinda subjective isn't it?

Final Verdict:
This movie is definitely something I'd definitely recommend that you watch the movie. However, I would also recommend that you watch the TV series first if you didn't as it will fill in a lot of gaps. If possible, buy the DVDs or Blu-rays because they are worth every penny spent.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Mar 27, 2013

Overlord_A

Recommended

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha MOVIE 2nd A's
Genre: Action, Magical Girl, Drama, Sci-Fi.
Length: 1 movie, 2 hours 40 minutes.

A side note guys - I ADORE the "Mahou Shojou Lyrical Nanoha" series. It's my favourite series. Therefore I may ramble on a bit thoughout this review.

This movie is a retelling of the 2nd series, "A's" ... Most retell movies only have improved animation going for them, truncicating the plot to cram it into a shorter time limit. Nanoha had previously proved an exception to this, as the first movie not only perfectly retold the season, but ADDED details and backstory. It's a bit interesting to note now ... that 2nd movie DOES cut out a rather significant plot point, but I always hated that particular plot point, and never thought it made much sense. It's replaced by some more character development for Adrmial Lindsy and Chrono's father, which is a GOOD thing.

Animation is amazing. It's easily a 10/10. The movie budget does not disapoint, as even the most complext of action sequences do not present a dull in animation.

Action is incredible, it looks amazing and feels amazing. Much of the high impact action is intertwined with some fairly emotional moments (Such as Nanoha fighting down Reinforce while Fate struggles with her identity)

Characters are as likable and fun as ever, with Nanoha and Fate taking center stage in all their glory. Interestingly, the yuri overtones between the two appear more obvious than the series (theres seriously a moment where they hold onto each others hips and stare into each others eyes....) but that's pretty cute. Nano-Fate is a thing. In the actual series, it was a bit more subtle. A non intuitive viewer might've had more trouble picking up their relationship. It's more obvious in this movie. Take it or leave it whether thats good or not. I'm personaly indifferent.

My only disapointment was the end scene: In the series, it shows Nanoha and the rest grown up, in their "adult" forms. This was such an incredible highlight for me, marking the end of an era and the start of something amazing (Nanoha StrikerS). In the movie, only Fate appears SLIGHTLY older (and even then, by about a YEAR at maximum) and the rest are looking the same age. I can only hope that the StrikerS movie appears!

SORRY! I tried to keep this as short as I could, but this IS a movie from my favorite anime series. Anyway, 100% recomended!

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 15, 2023

Animelover875

Mixed Feelings

Lyrical Nanoha Movie The 2nd A's is the second movie and appropriately reboots the second season of the anime, Lyrical Nanoha A's in much the same way as its prequel did. While I had high hopes which were certainly held up to for the first movie, the second movie, while still very enjoyable, can be a bit of a mixed bag. Unfortunately, the second movie suffers from pacing just a bit more than the first; due to the sheer amount of content that was necessary to be crammed into the movie, it's not able to achieve the same level of success.

Certain elements that were present ... in the series and were able to be expanded on here. As examples, General Grahm and Chrono's teachers are nowhere to be seen, while events are given much less focus. There really is no easy way around this; there was more than enough content to fill a two and a half hour movie, although even this wasn't enough, as some elements appear to be just too time-consuming and had to be left out. However, this does not make the movie bad by any means, as it is still a worthwhile watch with as many good moments as the first movie. It simply falls just a little bit short of being perfect. 8/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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