Review of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS indisputably falls under the mahou shoujo (i.e. "magical girl") genre-- heck, the words are even in the title. So it should come as no surprise when I say it's got transformation sequences, mascot animals, and a whole slue of magical girls (one of which is even a pink healing type). But what should come as a surprise is when I tell you this is a series with awesome, mind-blowing action. The action sequences are great, and never choppy. StrikerS's got the type of action that rouses excitement and gets your adrenaline pumping, not what you'd expect to getin mahou shoujo.

And perhaps a little background history is in order. The Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha franchise was originally created and geared toward seinen audiences who like their flat-chested loli girls. You can see the franchise succeeded admirably, given the immense popularity Nanoha and Fate (our two original magical girls) enjoy. I've also noticed that really hardcore fans of this franchise tend to prefer the original Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's a lot more than StrikerS; I see this as evidence of StrikerS falling into the opposite end of the mahou shoujo spectrum, setting it apart from its two predecessors. (Besides which, since StrikerS is set ten years after A's, Nanoha and Fate are no longer, ah, flat-chested loli girls.)

StrikerS has a solid and grounded plot. It's well-paced, mixing everyday life with the very hectic nature of our magical girls' (and one "magical boy") job duties quite well. You get to see them on their down time, in actual combat, and what's surpising is, you even get to see them training. You get to see them get bruised, exhausted, have arguments with their team members, and even screw up majorly. With that said, I can't say the plot's extremely original or anything; it's good, but not superb. The characterisation is very good, especially since we can see various characters' vulnerabilities and misgivings. Their motivations are clear as well (maybe not at first, but definitely by the end of the series you know why people do what they do).

Now, for sound. Check the seiyuu list-- you've got a lot of big names there, so you know at the very least the quality meets a certain standard. There are some emotionally-charged scenes, and they're executed very, very well by the seiyuu. The OPs are terribly uplifting and catchy, especially the first one. The EDs are very good, particularly on the basis that they offer suitable music to listen to after an episode, whether it was happy or gut-wrenchingly sad. There's nothing as bad as watching a sad episode and then suddenly having sugary happy music assaulting your ears before you've even had enough time being sad.

I've mostly had good things to say about StrikerS, so needless to say, I enjoyed it very much. I think StrikerS transcends the mahou shoujo genre and is just plainly enough, a series done well. I would recommend this to anyone who just wants to watch a good series and isn't too particular about genres. For people who are allergic to girly mahou shoujo, I would still ask you to keep an open mind and just try out the first episode (which, incidentally, has awesome action and isn't the least bit girly). If you like the first episode, I can almost guarantee you'll like the rest of the series. Those who are looking for romance in StrikerS might be disappointed though, since the only romance I really saw (if any) was subtextual f/f (which is worth watching for, in my opinion, if you're into yuri). So I wouldn't suggest this title to hardcore shoujo romance or harem series viewers.

I think StrikerS is different enough from its predecessors to watch on its own (it is, after all, set ten years after A's), but to truly understand the relationship between Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, and the rest of the older generation, you really have to watch the original series and A's. The first two series are very traditionally mahou shoujo though (but with great animation and vague hints of fanservice, due to its seinen-geared history) so please proceed with caution if you are allergic.