Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

Distinguished mages Nanoha Takamachi, Fate Testarossa, and Hayate Yagami now work as military personnel for the Time-Space Administration Bureau on the planet Midchilda, having completed their studies on Earth in the last ten years since the "Book of Darkness" incident.

One day, the three end up helping the Bureau respond to a severe airport fire, but their efforts are left unrecognized. A series of unfortunate events motivate Hayate to create the elite unit Riot Force 6, which handles cases involving public safety as well as dangerous magical objects known as Lost Logia. There the trio works alongside promising recruits Subaru Nakajima, Teana Lanster, Caro Ru Lushe, and Erio Mondial, who endure difficult training to fulfill expectations while overcoming hurdles and achieving personal goals.

However, carrying out their mission proves to be a constant struggle. Battling foes who exploit the Lost Logia and facing criticisms from within the Bureau, Riot Force 6 quickly finds itself stretched thin.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Testarossa, Fate Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Takamachi, Nanoha Main

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Yagami, Hayate Main

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Vivio Main

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Nakajima, Subaru Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Lanster, Teana Main

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Ru Lushe, Caro Main

Takahashi, Mikako Japanese

Mondial, Erio Main

Inoue, Marina Japanese

Vita Supporting

Sanada, Asami Japanese

Signum Supporting

Shimizu, Kaori Japanese

Mishima, Akio Producer

Kusakawa, Keizou Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Kameyama, Toshiki Sound Director

Nakayama, Atsushi Episode Director, Director of Photography

Reviews

Jan 22, 2025

thewiru

Recommended

Imagine that you have to make the last arc of a long-running series, but from zero, without previous arcs, and in only 26 episodes.
This was the challenge and building block of Nanoha StrikerS, finding a way to show the tip of the iceberg of it's universe that exists inside it's creator's mind, investing heavily in having cool character designs and interesting concepts, and winning in terms of quantity what it can't in terms of quality, with it's end result being similar to reading a Wikipedia article about a huge war in terms it's huge amount of participants, their different origins, motivations and conflicts.

StrikerS first couple ... episodes might seem difficult to watch due to slow pacing and the plot barely moving, mostly consisting of training episodes with barely any glimpses of our villains. Despite our incredibly large cast, such episodes are not about introducing them, half of the cast being introduced (Sometimes with only a name drop and two lines of dialogue, which surprisingly works) in "action episodes" (Starting around the end of episode 11), which are the strongest point of the season.

Regarding it's themes, StrikerS is built around three: Growing up, legacy and bureaucracy, which — just like the myriad of character plots — are linked to one another like Borromean rings.

Our characters grew up, and are now adults that have taken the mantles and positions of their seniors. No longer Nanoha lives on earth or sees her family and school friends, and rarely does she sees Yuuno or Chrono now. No longer is Fate in need of the reassurance from Lindy or Arf, no longer is Hayate a crybaby who can't do anything, no longer is Nanoha simply about being a mahou shoujo story, the events of the first two seasons are closed. This season is about Subaru, Teana, Erio and Caro growing up to eventually follow the steps of our previous protagonists and of Vivio learning to (Literally) stand up on her own.
Which is not to say that everything that happened before has no meaning, for here is where the theme of "legacy" comes in: Fate saves lonely children for she once was one and needed saving, she feels connected to the artificial mages for she is not only one, but also the origin of them all. Nanoha trains her pupils so they don't commit the mistakes she did in her past, and is sympathetic to the cyborgs because it was never relevant for that Fate or Hayate's knights weren't human, likewise Fate being sympathetic to them because she too once was only an artificial being unemotionally acting in search of acceptance from her creator.

Finally, bureaucracy: Our characters work for a literal bureau, and while since season one we had some concepts of protocols and due processes, in this season this reaches another degree of magnitude, with now each character responding to a different one of the at least half a dozen named agencies, groups and branches. EVERYTHING is bureaucratic, for Midchilda is born from the trauma of "mass weapons" and the misuse of magic and relics that destroyed entire worlds, so the research and development of magic is limited, each one of our characters has their powers limited and has to request permission to use them, with even Nanoha herself internalizing that logic and admonishing Teana for trying to find "dangerous shortcuts".
That isn't to say that such bureaucracy is perfect, for in a way each of our "big-players" tries to find their way around it: Hayate creates Riot Force 6 because she feels that the current system would be unable to quickly respond to major incidents, no different from Regius' rationale (And therefore the rationale of the council who ordered him) regarding cyborgs and artificial mages (Which are reminiscent of Ishinomori Shoutarou's recurrent concept of "jinzō ningen"). But while they might be similar in ideas, they aren't in methods: At the end of the day, Riot Force 6's still stood by the rules of the system, while Regius looked for shortcuts which would eventually bite him back. Finally, Scaglietti represents wanting the complete breakdown of the entire bureaucracy and the search for absolute power.

Once again, you won't find very complex character dynamics:
Erio and Garyuu's entire gimmick is being knights of someone they want to protect, Caro and Lutecia's is being summoners in search of family, Zest (+Agito) and Signum (+Reinforce) their pride as knights and Unison Devices, Teana and Vice about seeing themselves as failures, Subaru about how the circumstances of your creation should not define who you are, but rather what you choose to do with your life, etc
But it's this myriad of "small wishes" and the constant cycling between the sub-plot of each character what makes StrikerS succeed, against all odds, at being "the last arc of a long-running shounen series, but from zero, without previous arcs, and in only 26 episodes".

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Nov 26, 2019

SanaeK10

Mixed Feelings

Oh boy where do I begin with this. StrikerS marks the point of no return for the Nanoha franchise. What began as a more thoughtful take on the dark mahou shoujo genre has morphed into a mindless action mecha romp with minor mahou shoujo elements in it. It marked the turning point for when Nanoha would finally begin its downfall and fall from grace. StrikerS was still entertaining for different reasons though, and I'll go through them with you in the following review.

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

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jul 11, 2023

Animelover875

Not Recommended

Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS is one of few series (or at least, seasons) that can put me at a complete loss for words. Before I start, I'd like to clarify to anyone unclear that while the previous two seasons were magical girl seasons, the third (and potentially onward) deviate from this so severely that it's almost a complete tonal change, which may detract from the experience, depending on your enjoyment or reason to be invested in this. However, there are severe changes to the formula and many other factors as well.

The first major change is that Nanoha (as well as Fate and Hayate) are no longer ... the main characters of the series, as they were in previous versions. Despite the series still being named after them, the focus is shifted onto four new characters: best friends/lovers Subaru and Teana, and child summoner Caro Ru and Erio. All of these characters are very much hit-or-miss: in my opinion, you will either hate or love these new characters depending on whether you view these as good or bad. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Subaru and Tea are two of the most unappealing main characters in the series. This isn't even to say they're bad characters, I just don't feel that they're worthy of main character status. Subaru seems to be a rather generic main character, as she embraces the "clumsy yet heroic" archetype many other protagonists use, while not retaining any of the charm. While she does have an appealing backstory, she falls short from being ideal. Tea is a similar story, though Tea's character devolves from a sniper into more of a simple straight man to keep Subaru in check.

The first major issue with the series is its change of pace and setting. The series subtly changes setting to Mid-Childa from Earth with not a very clear explanation and adopts a military theme with a new plot. This wouldn't be too bad, although the plot with the enemies is heavily confusing and frankly crowded. There are approximately a minimum of 10 new characters all wanting screentime, and none of them get enough focus to be made worthwhile. As an example, the main villain, Jail Scaglietti, has twelve underlings, in addition to the aforementioned four new main characters, Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, and a whole slew of new characters. Surprisingly enough, old characters more often than not don't return; even main characters formerly (such as Lindy, Chrono, and even Yuuno) all have their screentime slashed significantly, barely appearing beyond an episode or two. Even then, all of them take very minor roles in the grand scheme.

The plot is also heavily confusing. One of the main issues is that for the majority of the series, episodes are separated into a "filler" episode (where everyone trains) and an "action" episode, where the actual fighting occurs. This breaks up the plot and makes following important events even more difficult. The series is also frankly caught up in a heavy political context and tries to make ongoing commentary and usage of its political and military setting. Politics, however, can be somewhat controversial to feature in a show, and this one doesn't really use it all that well, even.

This is a very mixed review, as the series does have some positive themes and elements despite all this. However, several factors let it down: the plot is overly cryptic and doesn't explain what it should explain in a timely manner, and several characters are missing significant development (or any at all in some cases, beyond a one-note trait; examples include Carim, whose only role in the plot is to have clairvoyance to foreshadow a later event). Regrettably, even if you enjoyed the previous seasons, I can't recommend this one; the flaws are too overwhelming for it to be an enjoyable casual watch. 3/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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