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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.