Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

ANIME REVIEW:Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha(season 1-3)

Story:

Season 1:

The storyline follows Nanoha Takamachi, a Japanese nine-year-old girl attending elementary school, who lives with her parents and her older sister and brother. Nanoha's regular everyday life changes one day when rescues an injured ferret, which turns out to actually be a boy named Yūno Scrya who possesses magical powers including shapeshifting. An archaeologist from a parallel universe, Yūno came to earth to retrieve a set of twenty-one ancient dangerous artifacts named the "Jewel Seeds" (ジュ エルシード Jueru Shīdo) he discovered in his own world, which turn living beings who come into contact with them into monsters. Yūno was injured while collecting them and must now rely on Nanoha to gather the Jewel Seeds while he convalesces in the ferret form. He gives Nanoha an "intelligent device" (magical wand) called "Raising Heart" (レイジングハート Reijingu Hāto) and she unexpectedly shows strong aptitude for magic. As the two begin to gather Jewel Seeds, Nanoha learns magic from Yūno while continuing with her ordinary everyday life.

Season 2:

A nine-year-old wheelchair-bound girl named Hayate Yagami forms a contract with the intelligent weapon named the Book of Darkness (whom Hayate later names Reinforce). As a result of this contract, five Belkan knights named Signum, Vita, Zafira, and Shamal appear in front of Hayate in order to fulfill the task of filling the pages of Book of Darkness by capturing magic from various sources. Once the pages of the Book are filled, its master, Hayate, will be able to make a single wish.

Since the end of the last anime series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, the two nine-year-old girls named Nanoha and Fate have been exchanging video mails to tell each other of their situations on earth and in the Time-Space Administration Bureau respectively.

Season 3:

While the epilogue connected A's to a world six years later, StrikerS advances the timeline another four years, where the main characters have gone on to work for the Time-Space Administration Bureau (TSAB) and come upon a new case. The series focuses more on team-based battles and bureaucracy rather than individual rivalry and school life, due to the change in character dynamics. The name StrikerS refers to an SS rank given to top mages, much like how A's refers to A rank mages.

Characters:

Nanoha Takamachi (高町 なのは Takamachi Nanoha^?)

• Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese), Cristina Valenzuela^[1] (English)

This sweet grade three student feels that, though she plays a good supporting role in others' lives, unlike the rest of her family and friends, she has no closest friend to turn to and no direction in her own life, which changes greatly after her meeting with Yūno. She's slightly dense and much too trusting, but has a tremendous insight.

Fate Testarossa (フェイト・テスタロッサ Feito Tesutarossa^?)

• Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (Japanese), Jennifer Alyx (English)

A blonde haired, naive girl who was abused by her ruthless mother. Fate remained blindly and unquestioningly loyal to Precia and carries out her search for the Jewel Seeds. Those searches made her cross ways with Nanoha, causing her eventually to reveal her true self and be a kid. In the end of Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha, her "mother", Precia, died. Her weapon is Bardiche and her familiar is Aruf, who is always loyal to her and was her only friend before she met Nanoha. She is said to be quiet and reflective, and that she has extremely beautiful, lonely eyes. She is named after the Ferrari Testarossa.

Hayate Yagami (八神 はやて Yagami Hayate^?)

• Voiced by: Kana Ueda

Hayate, a sweet wheelchair-bound orphan, is under the care of the Wolkenritter, though they keep their battles from her; she knows that the completion of the Book of Darkness will grant her vast power, but does not want it at the expense of the lives of others. However, the Book of Darkness is feeding off her own life force, causing her paralysis, and will eventually kill her if it is not completed. Hayate becomes fast friends with Suzuka after she helps her around the library, which may cause trouble if their respective friends learn that they have been fighting each other.

Yūno Scrya (ユーノ・スクライア Yūno Sukuraia^?)

• Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi (Japanese), Marianne Miller (English)

Yūno is a magic-user from the Midchilda, and is the same age as Nanoha. Despite his young age, he worked as an archaeologist and discovered a set of ancient and powerful artifacts (the magical term for this is Lost Logia) known as the Jewel Seeds. He is responsible and reliable, despite his young age. He is named after the Mazda Eunos.