Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: Reflection

The dying planet of Eltria is the only home of Kyrie Florian, her older sister Amitie, and her parents, who are scientists researching ways to save it. Unfortunately, the Florians must leave the planet behind to seek medical care for their father, who has contracted a lethal illness.

Even with treatment, the survival rate of Kyrie's father is minuscule. Refusing to give up on her father and Eltria, Kyrie goes against the wishes of her sister and runs away from home to the peaceful planet of Earth in search of a solution. There, Kyrie and her childhood friend, Iris, pursue Earth's magical protectors—Nanoha Takamachi, Fate Testarossa, and Hayate Yagami.

Nanoha and her companions possess the key to fulfilling Kyrie's objective, and the young girl must do whatever it takes to obtain it. However, it proves difficult for Kyrie, as the protectors do not easily yield to her provocation. Furthermore, Amitie soon arrives on Earth to stop her younger sister's reckless actions and bring her back home, further complicating the already delicate situation.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Testarossa, Fate Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Takamachi, Nanoha Main

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Yagami, Hayate Main

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Iris Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Florian, Kyrie Main

Satou, Satomi Japanese

Florian, Amitie Main

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Vita Supporting

Sanada, Asami Japanese

Signum Supporting

Shimizu, Kaori Japanese

Reinforce II Supporting

Yukana Japanese

Scrya, Yuuno Supporting

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Hamana, Takayuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Kameyama, Toshiki Sound Director

Tsuzuki, Masaki Script, Original Creator

Mizuki, Nana Theme Song Performance, Inserted Song Performance

Reviews

Mar 26, 2022

lamaraptor

Recommended

As good as the first two Nanoha films were I had high hopes going into this new original story... and of course I should have known better. This movie is plagued by all the things wrong with the later parts of the Nanoha franchise. Introducing too many new characters too quickly and not allowing old plot threads to resolve before introducing new ones. I was on board for the most part with the story at the beginning. It's an anime movie, outside of the existing cannon so obviously they have to introduce at least a few more characters. Then the movie just keeps going. That's ... another thing is the run time on these. Both this movie and the next combined would have been enough for an entire season of anime, and they expect you to watch it all in just two large chunks. I have trouble sitting through 15 minutes of Nanoha on a good day. It's just not that interesting and the plots are never really supposed to be that deep because it's for actual children. Sitting through 2 hours of it is a bit of a slog. Anyway when the movie's runtime is almost up suddenly they start introducing even more characters and the first movie ends really suddenly, like they really just want you to go watch the sequel right away.

Overall I didn't have a great time watching it, but the artwork was still pretty good I guess. 7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Oct 16, 2019

Skyblaze77

Recommended

Another strong entry into the Nanoha franchise. Art is reliably excellent, paired with a solid story , exciting action and a good soundtrack. Focus on the cast of the original and A's was much appreciated, and it does a good job tying back to the first and second movie, which made for a more satisfying watch if you'd seen those movies. Villains in this movie are solid and sympathetic, although not quite as strong as the ones from Nanoha and A's. Fans of Fate will likely enjoy this one, as she gets some sweet development here.

One big minus is that it's not very friendly ... to new viewers; it does a good job introducing the new characters and making them sympathetic, but for characters introduced in previous franchise entries the movie makes no attempt to intro them at all. Not a problem for old fans of the franchise, but it could make for a very confusing watch for first-timers.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 15, 2023

Animelover875

Not Recommended

Lyrical Nanoha: Reflection is something of an anomaly. Apparently combining elements from other versions of the series (a fact I only know from a little research) is pretty unique, but the true oddity is that this actually appears to take place during or after A's, which is even more puzzling given that it rose off the winds of the fantastically mixed ViVid Strike. This means the movie is in an odd place canonically, introducing more elements that mix up the standard formula, as well as structurally. This is of course good for a fresh take on the series, but whether or not it actually holds ... up is a different issue altogether. This review will address the latter of those two points.

For all intents and purposes, this movie obviously takes place likely riight after A's, by approximately a year. It should thus be evident that the Wolkenritter, Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, Lindy, Chrono, and many more familiar faces play a large part in the movie. Unfortunately, they do not: everyone's appearances in the movie barely makes a few small appearances, which is massively disappointing. Shamal and Zafira barely get to do anything, while Chrono, Amy, Arf, and even Yuuno all take on minor roles at best. Despite being a target for Kyrie, Hayate barely has much interaction with her at all. The movie is also horribly plagued with a case of telling and not showing; we're *told* how much Kyrie has desired to help her parents, but we barely see it aside from in small doses. Amita seems to exist more or less as a foil to her sister, and by this point it's clear there's not even a true protagonist in the movie; Kyrie, Amita, Hayate, and the king all fight for leading roles alongside Iris, and it does not mesh well at all.

Kyrie is decently exciting if viewed as an antagonist, although the storytelling puts her at odds with accomplishing her declared motive, which is doomed to fail on arrival into the story. As a protagonist, it once again forces her into a clashing lead role with the TSAB, and worse yet, forces Amita to play the role of a straight man, as though they were in some twisted comedy. It's a real shame all of this went downhill in the movie, given that they had two hours to shine and truly develop a story. Furthermore, Kyrie is simply unlikeable by design as a protagonist, so she doesn't fit into a story role in any traditional manner. The movie's "twists", furthermore, are incredibly obvious and don't reward any guessing games. All in all, I have to say it's unfortunately best to give this movie a pass, unless you're a diehard Nanoha fan. 4/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Protecting buildings? DarkBlue - Sep 8	0 replies	by DarkBlue »» Sep 8, 2:06 PM
	Poll: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: Reflection Episode 1 Discussion aznk93 - Jul 23, 2017	46 replies	by Noodle070 »» Sep 10, 2022 12:49 AM
	On the idea that the girls seem "weak" in this movie... Alpha-Methyl - Oct 9, 2019	0 replies	by Alpha-Methyl »» Oct 9, 2019 9:55 AM
	Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha: Reflection Should Be Rated At Least R or NC17 Hentai44 - Oct 15, 2017	9 replies	by Alpha-Methyl »» Oct 9, 2019 9:39 AM
	Movie 3rd Infomation ( 1 2 ) MahiaErebeaNegi - Nov 28, 2016	84 replies	by MahiaErebeaNegi »» May 22, 2018 12:50 AM