First Impression – Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid
Get Ready for Planet Busting Friendship!
Hey look, Highway’s doing another First Impression post for a sequel series that he never saw the original of! I get the feeling I’ve done this before for something, but maybe never solo (Rozen Maiden with Kara, definitely). But anyway, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid came up and I was interested in giving it a look.
Sequel or Spinoff?
Nanoha and Vivio, on her way to fourth grade
This is one of those series that, to an outsider, seems like it has a gazillion episodes in multiple series and movies, although if you count up the series, between the original, A’s, and StrikerS, there are only 4 cours of shows. But even with that number, that’s still a lot of shows that will scare you off from watching the whole thing, especially for me because those mid-2000s shows have some really janky looks to me. So this is a long way to go for me to say “I don’t know anything about this series”.
Rio, Vivio, and Corona, along with a couple senpais to give them a hard time
And the question is “Is this a sequel or a spinoff?” Unlike Prisma Ilya, which was certainly a spinoff, being set in a different ficton, Nanoha ViVid is much more of a sequel, taking place 4 years after the events of StrikerS, and 14 years after the original series. But what might push it to spinoff is that the main character focus shifts, for the first time, from Nanoha and Fate and their contemporaries to Vivio and her friends Corona and Rio. Nanoha (“Mama”) and Fate and Nove and I’d expect quite a few more that people will recognize are still around, but if this first episode is an indication, the main character focus will definitely stick to Vivio.
A Good Introduction
Nice power even during sparring
The show starts with Vivio heading to the first day of 4th grade. But what I found was really good about the show was that it didn’t assume that you knew too much about the universe that this story is set in. Exposition that was given felt topical and concise, but not sparse, and didn’t waste a lot of time loading down the viewer. It does feel like they’re foreshadowing bad things to happen by saying “Nothing bad ever happens here” on their planet with a city that looks like pretty much any human city, but we’ll see if the bad stuff threatens more than just Vivio and her friends and family. One aspect of the introductions that I really liked was that they waited until almost the end of the episode to drop the idea in that Vivio is actually the Princess or Queen of somewhere. They didn’t even mention what position she’s in, just had some people call her ‘Your Majesty’. I really liked that it was softpedaled and wasn’t a huge deal.
It only takes one minute and 15 seconds to transform into an 18-year old!
The other big event in this opening episode was a rite of passage for the now-4th-grade Vivio, and this is one thing that wasn’t obvious, but isn’t too hard to figure out for someone new to the series. Vivio gets her intelligent device, in the shape of a rabbit she names ‘Chris’, and even more surprisingly has an ‘adult’ transformation that she can do. I’ll say that I was a little uncomfortable by the ‘naked kid’ part of the transformation, but liked the way that they handled the split between someone who looks like an adult on the outside, but is still a 10-year old on the inside. I wonder if the promise she makes to Nanoha that she won’t use it to goof around will get a test, but Vivio seems to not be that kind of person.
Promising not to grow up to fast
Coming into this show, pretty much all I knew about Lyrical Nanoha was that it was about magical girls and how they become friends through utter planet-busting defeat. I don’t know if Nanoha ViVid will go all the way to that, or if it will stay more with the kind of friendliness that we saw from this first episode. We got a brief introduction to the early villain, although I get the feeling that, much like To-Love-Ru Darkness, the ‘villain’ is actually kind of going to be a friend most of the time. The characters don’t look bad, although for some reason Vivio’s hairstyle keeps making me think that she’s had a head injury that made her hairline move back (the differently colored eyes don’t help with this either). And the learning curve for the show isn’t amazingly steep, while the story seems to be interesting. It comes in at a good point, and lets us learn some things about Vivio as they happen to her, instead of trying to infodump them. Definitely a show I’ll keep watching.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
There are only 2 ‘cours’ of Nanoha. Plus the two movies.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Counting the original (1), A’s (1), and StrikerS (2), there are 4.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
The Romans had something called damnatio memoriae. We have something called Tsukihime anime does not exist.
To quote a fellow Nanoha(more like Nana Mizuki) fan:
[2:56am] *snip* innocent starter > eternal blaze > secret ambition > massive wonders > angel blossom
[2:56am] **snip* thinks there’s some correlation
*DGK* could it be… that a lolifate is better?
[3:03am] *snip* not really, nanoha the movie 1st & 2nd are no good either
This is the Nanoha continuity that people deserve.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
If Highway wants to understand what’s going on StrikerS is essential, since most of the backstory and the characters (including the main character this season) come out of it.
POWUH: iLurker with 18 comments
I don’t want to spoiler or infodump you, so I’ll just mention that Vivio isn’t a princess of anywhere in a political sense. But I’ll let the show do the talking.
The incredible thing about this franchise/setting is that less than half the named characters you met this episode (a third of them, maybe) are actually human in a strict sense. Yet it doesn’t matter to the people involved.
Anyway, I’m glad to see somebody new to the franchise enjoying this. I got the feeling this episode did a good job of skipping unnecessary or confusing infodumps, and isn’t quite as loaded as some veterans believe. It helps that if Vivio doesn’t know something, the viewer doesn’t know (or have to know) either. And after all is said and done, she’s still just a kid.
BTW, the “growing up via magic” thing is mostly a unique Vivio thing – not all kids can do that with magic. Just in case you wondered whether all parents have a talk like that with their children. Transformation magic of any kind is a rather rare gift in this universe.
The first two Nanoha movies are fine retellings of the first two seasons, and they have stellar animation. So if you want to catch up on the events so far, only StrikerS is kind of dated. That said, I would be interested in reading the perspective of somebody with no prior knowledge of this setting, so I’m looking forward to your coverage either way.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I did get the impression from Fate’s reaction that “Adult Mode” was something that was a bit out of the ordinary. But then they also did a good job giving the impression that Vivio was a bit out of the ordinary, plus knowing that she’s Nanoha’s adopted (I presume) daughter helps give that impression as well. The knowledge that the whole series is named after Nanoha kinda gives away that she’s a big deal.
Another thing they did fairly well was expose a lot of characters without making the whole episode a meet-and-greet party. I took a lot of the name-dropping and visiting as a chance to placate some existing fans, and set the expectation that there are a lot of people, but we’ll get to them when they’re important. Giving much more introduction to Nove and Fate seemed to indicate their importance to this series.
We’ll see how much coverage I do for it. I’ll admit signing up for the FI was kind of a lark, this show I’d never seen before. But it was a good show, and I’ll keep watching it, so maybe I’ll do some more posts on it.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Can’t really add anything new to the discussion, but I do want to reiterate that ViVid has very impressively pulled off a premiere from which the uninitiated can comfortably enter the franchise without feeling left behind or left in the dark.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Before I forget, is this the version where they play pokemon with their mirror equivalents or I am thinking of a different spinoff off Nanoha.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Yeah, there was no point where I felt like “What are they talking about?” But it also never got to “enough with the yakking about other stuff.” It was a very good introduction, and if you didn’t know that they had made shows before, you wouldn’t even think about it.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 51 comments
Well I could rant about how much you are missing by not watching one of the most badass Magical Girls ever,. But I suppose I can understand not wanting to invest time on 4 cours (and two movies). Instead I’ll just provide one clip that sums up why Nanoha is awesome.
There was that one time when Nanoha blasted the crap out of her daughter back in StrikerS. But it was all in the name of love!
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Love is always their excuse, right? That’s actually the one thing I think I know about this series: They blast the crap out of each other, and then are friends.
If the series proves interesting, I might go back and watch it.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Parenting at its best.
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Er… not… exactly? This is more like one of those things that “everybody” already knows, along with the fact that it is an archaic title that confers no actual rank in their modern society. It’s mostly something that the people in the Saint Church would say, Show ▼
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
In Highway’s defense, he would have no idea what you’re talking about since he’s never seen any of the previous seasons…