The House of AnimeJB

Episode Summary

Subaru narrates about how, four years ago, she was a crybaby who always relied on others to help her. When she was caught in a fire, all she could do was cry. Right when a statue was about to crumble and fall on top of her, she is saved by Nanoha. Subaru has always remembered how kind and cool Nanoha was, and she vowed to become stronger.

In the present day, a now-teenaged Subaru and her friend Tia are C-Rank Mages about to take a test to become B-Rank Mages, and maybe even serve under Nanoha herself. Reinforce is administering the test, while Fate and Hayate are watching over them from a nearby helicopter and Nanoha is watching from a screen in a presumably nearby room.

The two girls are easily knocking out all their targets, but eventually Subaru drops her guard and Tia sprains her ankle saving her. Instead of leaving Tia behind and finishing the test on her own, Subaru convinces Tia to use “that technique”, because she’s always been with Tia and doesn’t want to move up a rank without her.

Tia distracts the final “boss” target with dopplegangers and Subaru takes out the target by breaking through the wall from the outside and finishing it off. As they race to the finish line with Tia on Subaru’s back, Subaru is moving so fast that she can’t stop. Luckily Nanoha catches them with a net as they sail right over the edge of the building. Nanoha tells Subaru that’s after four years, Subaru has grown a lot, and that she’s happy to see her again, and Subaru is so happy she starts to cry.

Characters

Of course, since this is Nanoha, the casts from the original series and A’s are all in it. However, this first episode focuses on the two new characters the most, so there’s a lot more to comment on. We’ll do them first, and then give comments about what little we saw of the others.

Nakajima Subaru - Second Private, C-Rank Mage

Calophi: Subaru, like many others in the series, found her inspiration and strength from Nanoha and aspires to become someone like her. She is a very dynamic and spunky character. Her weapon is in the form of gloves, and it’s really fun to watch her fight - I don’t think there are any other close-ranged characters in this show yet, so watching her fly around on the rollerblades and punching the mess out of things is great.

Eurkos: In this type of anime where bad things are likely to happen to the cast, it’s good to have a positive character. One who will help lift the spirits of the other people around. Subaru fits the bill here. I like that she’s got the glove weapon thing going on, because she’s not a likely character for it. She’s fairly upbeat, and kind. Most punchy girls are more tomboyish than she is, and say harsh things to people. I also liked that she used Divine Buster, even though everything else she’s got is close range.

Tiana Lanstar - Second Private, C-Rank Mage

Calophi: Tia seems to be a little colder than Subaru, though it’s clear she cares for Subaru very much. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was originally cold towards Subaru first, but was eventually won over by her exuberance and kind heart and became her friend. Her weapon is a gun, which is also a type we haven’t seen yet in the series, which seems to lean towards staff or sword type weapons. She also has some techniques that don’t seem to rely on the gun, like her dopplegangers - and I think she may have been the one to turn the two of them invisible during their test based on that.

Eurkos: Upbeat needs a counter balance, and so we have Tia. The gun weapon is nice, and I’m interested to see different forms of it. She seems to know more about what she’s doing than Subaru does. Perhaps she studies more, or whatever. She and Subaru made a good team in he exam, and I’m sure they will in the rest of the series as well.

Takamachi Nanoha - Lieutenant

Calophi: I was very relieved to see just how mature Nanoha had gotten. She’s still an optimistic person, but instead of being a cute and heartwarming child, she’s like the calm and collected older sister. Her magic has really expanded in the last ten years, and she holds a lot of weight now since she has the final say as to whether Tia and Subaru pass their exam.

Eurkos: I agree with pretty much everything Calophi said. I am very much interested in seeing exactly what she can do now.

Yagami Hayate - Second Ground Defense

Calophi: We didn’t get to see a lot of Hayate except for on the helicopter. She seems very happy, though maybe the one of the 3 girls from A’s who would worry the most about things.

Eurkos: Again, agreed. Again, interested in seeing what she can do. We didn’t really see much of her in A’s, either. I’m sure there’s a lot of her to show off later.

Fate T. Harlaown - Enforcer

Calophi: We don’t see much of Fate, either, though she is very calm and almost regal in manner. I only split her and Hayate up for this review because I think Eurkos would want to comment on Fate seperately, hehe!

Eurkos: I was a little disappointed that Fate didn’t do more than she did, but that’s ok. Like the others, I’m sure she’ll do stuff soon. I’m a fan of Fate. You have no idea how glad I am that she’s not jailbait anymore. Really. She’s hot.

Magic

Calophi: I just love how flexible magic is in this show. For many other magical girl series, they use the same attacks over and over again. And even though characters in Nanoha do actually have signature finishing moves and other things they cast regularly, there’s always something unique and non-fighting related. We should be seeing a lot of that from Nanoha now that she’s older - as evidenced by the net she uses near the end of the episode. Tia can make dopplegangers of herself, and also her gun has a magic grappling hook sort of thing that’s pretty neat. Subaru created a “Link Road” that formed between herself and her target that she could rollerblade down, and also her magic enhances her rollerblades so she can do crazy things on them. Watching magical battles in Nanoha is just…just awesome.

Eurkos: The magic in this series is the only thing that saved it from getting canned early on in the first season. It’s so much more dynamic and not-boring than any other magical girl show I’ve tried to watch (Nanoha is the only one I’ve been able to get through). I enjoy that the mages all have such a wide variety of skills at their disposal. While I’m not a drooling obsessed fan like Calophi is, I am pleased that this has been maintained.

Storyline Thoughts

Calophi: Right now we don’t even know what the storyline is! Most likely, Tia and Subaru have passed the test and are now under Nanoha’s command, which means we’ll likely see the three of them together a lot. If it follows the plots of the other two series’, we’ll end up with a dangerous object in the hands of a dark magical girl who ends up on the side of good. But, the formula works, so that’s fine by me. It’s the characters (and magic, heehee) that make this show anyway.

Eurkos: We don’t know anything about the storyline yet. All we know is that there’s two new pedo-traps characters, and that it’s now morally acceptable to think that Fate is hot. I’m sure big things will happen, and it’ll be enjoyable.

Final Verdict