~Fate Testarossa, Episode 1
SQUEEEEEEEEEE
~Fandom's Collective Reaction, Episode 1
This is where that investment I was talking about earlier starts to pay off.
Let us break this down.
Story: 7/10
Roughly six months after the events of Lyrical Nanoha's initial season, life is looking good. Nanoha eagerly awaits the return of Chrono, Arf, and Fate, the later two finishing up sentences for 'crimes' from the first season. Fate and Arf are beginning to settle into a more steady family environment. Chrono is doing...things for the Time-Space Administration Bureau (TSA Bureau for short, as I can't ignore making that joke).
But on the night that the group is destined to meet up, Nanoha finds herself under attack by a powerful character who refuses to talk before taking action, and promptly beats Nanoha into the ground in one of the most brutal Magical Girl beat-downs witnessed by man. Just as all seems bleak and loss for out titular heroine, none other then Fate arrives, and in just the nick of time!
And all of that is the first episode.
By the sound of it, the series is going to be much more expansive with it's story then the initial season. And you are right, it is. But despite being larger, it is not necessarily better.
As the story in Lyrical Nanoha A's goes along, it makes itself a bit...difficult to swallow. It's not unbelievable, and it's easy to express and communicate to others. (I merely refuse to do so here, as I want to avoid spoilers if at all possible). But the execution is clunky. To put it simply, the Wolkenritter, our group of 'misguided villains' for this installation, work very heavily on Idiot Ball and Single View mindsets. Even when blatantly better alternatives exist, they insist on sticking to their guns, regardless of reasoning. This makes them cross from being 'loyal' to downright 'ignorant'. In addition, a third party that makes itself known throughout the story serves as little more then to beef up a story that otherwise would have simply been a rehash/re-imagining of the first season's story. It's nice to have, but plainly feels tacked on.
And herein lies what keeps Lyrical Naonha A's story from being downright amazing. It's merely a bulkier rehash of the first season's story at heart. And while I'll give A's the credit and higher story rating for doing a bit more with itself, I still find that the original season's story is much, much easier to swallow, but only due to it's simplicity.
Art: 6/10
There are some improvements from the prior season going into this season. Is the improvement jaw-dropping? No. But it is there, and is subtle and nice.
The biggest benefit to the art style, though, would be the larger variety of things to animate. Throughout the first season, the art and animation stayed relatively conservative, not really doing anything eye-catching in design save for the Testarossa space-mansion, and not really doing anything eye-catching in animation save for the battle and transformation sequences. But in A's, that changes radically.
Because A's takes place on various worlds, considerably more freedom of expression can be given to the artists. Sure, the designs of the aliens look generic. The foreign worlds are also pretty generic in design. But despite this generic feeling, or perhaps through it, the bombastic style of the character designs shine through. Fate, Nanoha, Chrono, and Arf, our main heroes, don't benefit from this as much as the Wolkenritter do. Each one has a radically different design, and while the design itself says just about everything needed about the character, the effort put into it, in and out of universe, is wonderful.
Brief mention to the show's "Final Boss", which looks downright Painful and Nightmarish without being Narmy.
The animation itself is also slightly improved. Again, it's not in a way that is instantly detectable, and it's not going to blow your mind away. But it is there, and worth taking note of.
Sound: 6/10
The only area where Nanoha's second season didn't improve on the first would be the sound design. While Nana Mizuki continues to put a stunning effort into the opening, and while I do prefer Innocent Starter from the first season, Eternal Blaze is undeniably a more exciting track. The closing theme, Spiritual Garden by Yukari Tamura, does a decent job of calming the viewer down after an exciting episode, but feels a bit out of place with the rest of the series.
The rest of the show's OST is not bad, by any means, but I can't particularly think of anywhere that it stands out at. The music compliments the show well, but doesn't really do enough to stand on it's own. In addition, the amount of enhancement in brings to the table is reduced from the enhancement from the first season.
Characters: 8/10
Remember that investment I was talking about earlier? This is where that investment pays itself off at.
Nanoha herself continues to be the same Shounen-archetype in a Magical Girl world. Unsurprisingly, she really doesn't get developed much farther despite being the main character. What little bit we do see is more of her loyalty and 'never-say-die' attitude, which is enough to at least enjoy her as a character in the story if you aren't able to directly enjoy her character. Fate, on the other hand, completes her development arc that started in the prior season. And she completes it wonderfully. Hands down, Fate steals the show when it comes to character development and manifestation. Not only does she end up overcoming her 'family' issues from the prior season, she begins to take a strong interest in other things. Friends, school, her 'adopted' family (Yes, Fate is adopted into the Harlaown family in this series. Hardly a spoiler, as this information is dropped on us halfway through the first episode), etc. Even her fights contribute to her character, as she shapes her style into a flawed-yet-effective Speedy Glass Cannon style.
That's not to say the other characters involved in this work aren't great, they truly are. The Harlaown clan, mother and son alike, both get a chance to showcase impressive character depth. Both are marked by a tragedy, but they have overcome it and press on rather effectively with their lives. Even when said tragedy comes bubbling back to the surface, they keep a nice level head and continue pressing on. And yet, they also are more then just Space Navy Seamen, as their relationship with Fate, Yuuno, and Nanoha is extremely human. Even when they interact with other members in the TSA Bureau, the interactions are professional yet smooth.
The 'villains' are actually well developed also. As mentioned above, they are given a case of 'Idiot Ball' and blind loyal stupidity a bit too hard, but it's not to the extent that it breaks their character. The defacto 'leader' of the group, Signum, hits the 'valiant, honorable knight' trope to a T, but it doesn't seemed forced. The same goes for their hot-headed action girl Vita, their calm and thoughtful medic Shamal, and even the team's familiar/pet have character types that we've seen before, but don't come off nearly as forced. To attempt to elaborate more on their personalities, however, would significantly spoil the story's middle parts, something I wish to avoid.
Nanoha's friends get special mention, because they seem to be the inverse. Suzuka and Alisa have about the same amount of screentime that they did in the prior season, but the utilization is decidedly less effective. For supporting characters in the first season, they actually were the best the show had to offer, as they both dealt with the frustration of Nanoha's double-life in a realistic way (Well, realistic for 9 year olds). In A's, there simply isn't much that they do except serve as tools to deepen Fate's and Hayate's characters.
Speaking of Hayate, she's the newest young female in the series, and while her personality is pretty typical of a disabled girl in anime, she does end up tying heavily into the overall plot of the series. Her character investment starts in this season and pays off in the third season.
Enjoyment: 9/10
More then likely the biggest selling point of Nanoha A's is it's sheer enjoyment. By improving on nearly every already solid point from the prior season, it's weaknesses are left in the dust. Nearly every episode consists of warm character moments, or hyper intense battles.
Speaking of the Battles, this was easily the single greatest improvement from the prior season. In the initial season, Nanoha and Fate were the same in battles. Sure, Fate had more 'skill' and Nanoha had more 'willpower', but despite that, they basically both had the same tactics. Fly about, shoot the crap out of eachother, and in the case of Fate, occasionally get in close for some dicier attacks.
Here, every character ends up taking on a battle style, and that makes for wonderful battles. Fate and Nanoha take their battle experience and better their craft throughout the season, which has a decidedly large effect on their battle abilities, nearly as much as the mid-season upgrade they get. And this specialization goes to all the characters involved in battles. Nanoha is a hyper-accurate powerhouse. Fate's a speedy glass-canon. Vita is a close-range melee fighter. Arf and Zafira are fist-fighters. Chrono and Shamal play defense, etc, etc. These styles make the conflicts much more intense, as we see certain fighting types go against each other and the various strengths and weaknesses of that type come into play.
Overall: 8/10
Between amazing characters, an abundance of great moments, and an overall solid, albeit clunky, story, Nanoha A's earns the solid reputation it has. The Spectacle-driven show from the prior season both deepens and expands, allowing the story to be sold in a marvelous fashion.
Whenever I recommend the Nanoha franchise to someone, it's typically because of this season. It is enjoyable. Fun. And deep down, that is what anime is supposed to be. A means of telling a story that is fun, and able to do what live action can't.
