By far the biggest change is the season's shift in focus to more base primordial emotions. What I mean is, where the previous seasons focused more on emotions such as reflection, redemption, sacrifice, guilt, regret and sense of belonging, StrikerS instead focuses on anger, revengeance and impulse. While previous seasons featured more sympathetic villains (well it only really worked in A's), Dr Jail here is irredeemably evil and hammy. Not that that's a bad thing, (again see Symphogear), but it does mean this season lacks the nuance of say, when the Tome of the Night Sky chooses to have herself executed by firing squad so the people she loves will no longer get hurt. The tonal shift is jarring to say the least. This extends also to the action sequences, now more bombastic and higher in density than before. Where beam spam is ever present and the slow methodical battles of the past are no more. One crucial thing from the previous seasons (A's especially), was that the meaning behind each battle was given just as much prominence as the actual fighting going on. Wolkenritter fighting the gang in A's was more meaningful than whatever given conflict in this.
Not to mention the pacing. Dear God the pacing. The first half is a slog. No meaningful character or plot development, just training sequences and bad SoL sequences. When S1 had the first half be traditional magical girl shenanigans, it did so to prove a point. Namely to accentuate the bait and switch genre shift midway through. It also helps that the filler content in S1 was at least somewhat entertaining.
But when it gets going it really does get going. The second half of StrikerS is very much enjoyable. It's fun, frantic and Subaru's determination to fist makes you wanna yell and scream along with her. The new mains are pretty good. Despite hating them initially, Subara and Teana do complement the original duo (trio) well and their interactions with the cast and the world are nice to see. What isn't nice to see are Caro and Erio which can be easily removed from the plot with minimal impact and who do nothing but to frustrate you as they steal precious screentime from Nanoha and Fate. While Fate doesn't get any development or even much screentime in this, I do appreciate how they developed Nanoha as a character. The timegap meant that Nanoha can have her character branch out in a way that avoids standard sequel trappings where characterization is recycled. Instead Nanoha is going through parenthood and her struggles and journey of being a mother is genuinely nice to see. It's one of the few moments where it's closest to the first two seasons in tone and focus. Vivio is indeed a welcome addition although I wished it didn't take them half the season just to even bring her into the main plot.
I enjoyed StrikerS (half of it anyways) for very much the same reasons as I enjoyed Symphogear. Where the latter refined and tuned everything StrikerS had to a mirror sheen, StrikerS I find feels like a prototype Symphogear, or a spiritual predecessor. With very much a lot of concepts that Symphogear would later outright nick from, from fisting to screaming to impulsive decisions to a hammy mad scientist with funny faces.
And sadly ever since Nanoha's time in the spotlight has shifted to Symphogear. This town ain't big enough for two mecha mahou shoujo franchises. Not ever since Nanoha became a housewife supporting character. Reflection and Detonation attempted to salvage it, but by then the creative staff had forgot what truly made Nanoha, well, Nanoha, and instead both films fell flat on delivery and execution. But that's another story for another day.
StrikerS is still a fantastic show (half of it at least) that's balls to the wall fun. Just don't expect to feel any emotions beyond hype and excitement for most of it.
6/10
