• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header left navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • Home
  • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Banners
    • Spam Liker Hall of Shame
    • Podcast
  • Reviews
  • Guides
    • List of Suggested Manga
  • Kireina Yuri
  • Subscribe
    • RSS Feed
    • Mastodon
    • Bluesky (Bridged, Blog Feed Only)
    • Misskey
    • Feedburner
    • Anime Blog Tracker
    • Comments Feed
    • Add to Feedly
    • WordPress Reader

Chikorita157's Anime Blog

Anime blog that focuses on Yuri and School Girl Slice of Life Anime and Editorials

  • Tab 1
  • Tab 3
  • Tab 3
  • Home
  • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Banners
    • Spam Liker Hall of Shame
    • Podcast
  • Reviews
  • Guides
    • List of Suggested Manga
  • Kireina Yuri
  • Subscribe
    • RSS Feed
    • Mastodon
    • Bluesky (Bridged, Blog Feed Only)
    • Misskey
    • Feedburner
    • Anime Blog Tracker
    • Comments Feed
    • Add to Feedly
    • WordPress Reader

comedy

moe

drama

music

opinion

final impressions

yuri

idol

action

kyoani

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s – Final and Movie Review

July 16, 2015 by Chikorita157 Leave a Comment
Artist:  ak@tsuki
Artist: ak@tsuki

For a long time, I have been a fan of magical girl shows since I enjoy seeing young girls beat up villains with magical powers. Lyrical Nanoha is somewhat different compared to other magical girl shows like Cardcaptor Sakura since it caters the older male demographic while introducing some elements from mecha anime. In fact, some people described Nanoha’s magical girl outfit as a schoolgirl outfit and a Gundam. In other words, there is a lot of action packed battles. Nanoha A’s pretty much improves on the prequel by adding another heroine to the mix and anti-villains.

While it took awhile since the DVDs were out of print due to Geneon going out of business, I finally got the chance to finish it. In addition, I’ll be covering some thoughts on the movie.

The story of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A’s happens six months later with Nanoha and Fate working with TSAB. Without knowing, the Book of Darkness is currently owned by a young orphaned girl in a wheelchair named Yagami Hayate. She desires a family. One day, she was granted that wish when the book mysteriously unlocks itself, thus summoning three girls and a non-human sidekick referred to as the Wolkenritter, Afterwards, she happily adopted them as part of her family. However, she is unaware that the Book of Darkness is slowly eating away at her. Knowing that they don’t want to lose their master, the Wolkenritter try to save her by collecting mana from others in order to fill the pages in the book. This meant that they would eventually have to deal with Nanoha and Fate.

I have to admit that Nanoha A’s story was more interesting compared to the prequel since Nanoha and Fate is not facing an actual villain nor they are collecting items. They have to face off against the Wolkenritter, which consists of Vita, Signum, Shamal and Zafira, who wanted to save their master from her eventual fate by satisfying the hunger of the book.

By showing how powerful the Wolkenritter are by defeating Nanoha and Fate in their two separate battles, it proves that they are facing an enemy that they never fought before. From this setback, Nanoha and Fate can gain the motivation to become stronger. Eventually, this becomes the case when their intelligent devices wanted a cartridge-loading device, which in turn leveled the playing field.

Aside from the fights, the ethical issues surrounding the actions of the Wolkenritter, Admiral Gil Gram and Reinforce (to a certain extent) is what made the story unique. Basically, nobody is outright evil, except for the corrupted defense program. Even so, the actions they take are not necessarily right. Sure, the Wolkenritter had done some bad things in order to save their Master, but at the same time, Admiral Gram pretty much done illegal things too in order to seal the book with Hayate and prevent the reincarnation. In addition, he had the cat girl familiars, Lisearia and Liselotte to disguise themselves as masked men in order to fill the book themselves and ultimately trick Hayate to make it seem that Nanoha and Fate is betraying them. Top that off with Gram’s attempts to sabotage the investigation in order to carry out his own plan, it just shows that even good guys can do unethical things, even if they are well intentioned.

Aside from that, Hayate did not get much spotlight despite being the central focus of the whole show. It is not until the last few episodes when she and the Wolkenritter joined forces with Nanoha and company to beat and seal the defense program once and for all. Still, it is very easy to feel sympathetic towards her, especially since she does not get nearly as much screen time compared to Nanoha and Fate in StrikerS. Still, I liked Vita and Signum because they are badass and they really know how to fight.

Overall, is Nanoha A’s better than the first season of Nanoha? Of course it is since it bought a unique story that is not another Cardcaptor Sakura-like show with a dark magical girl. The fights were great and the plot touched upon the issues regarding the actions the Wolkenritter and Admiral Gram took. While the animation is not that great, although being a slight improvement over the first season, Nanoha A’s is easily the best show out of the trilogy (excluding Vivid).

However, the same cannot be said about the movie. The movie brought some changes, good and bad. Aside from the improved visuals and fight scenes, the story is not as great compared to the television series. Aside from writing Admiral Gram and the cat girl familiars out of the story and making the defense program the main villain, the character development just felt just felt shallow. This is because Nanoha and Fate gets defeated at the same time by the Wolkenritter rather than on separately, thus giving them less time to try to improve themselves in a meaningful way. Otherwise, the 2nd movie mostly have the same story as the TV series and does not bring anything new to the table compared to the first movie, which touched upon Fate’s mother and her desire to revive Alicia.

Overall, the movie can be considered as a historical revisionist view of the Book of Darkness incident done by the TSAB to cover up Admiral Gram’s wrongdoings. While it is not a terrible movie, it does not quite live up to the awesomeness from the TV series or the first movie. In other words, you are not missing much in the 2nd movie if you already watched Nanoha A’s.

TV Series Overall Rating: 9.0/10, Very Good, A-

Movie Overall Rating: 8.0/10, Good, B-

If you see this text, this site has stolen my content. If you are affected by content thieves, look this domain up on a Whois Service, look up the IP and send a DMCA takedown with the host provider. STOP STEALING CONTENT AND MAKE YOUR OWN. Also,  MATRIXAT, go fuck yourself you fucking thief!

Share this:

  • Mastodon
  • Bluesky
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Print
  • Email

Related

What’s your response?
0 responses
Love
Love
0
Like
Like
0
Surprised
Surprised
0
Haha
Haha
0
Thinking
Thinking
0
Sad
Sad
0
Category: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Movies, ReviewsTag: final impressions, mahou shoujo, Seven Arcs

Looking to Leave Twitter or an Alternative?

We have a new Twitter-like social network based on Mastodon that caters to Anime and Japanese media fans in addition to content creators (bloggers, video creators, podcasters), who create Anime review content or anything released to Japan called Sakurajima.

Learn More
Join Now
.

This post was handcrafted by…
Chikorita157 – who has written 3,626 posts.

Author and Owner of Chikorita157’s Anime Blog and Kireina Yuri. If you want to learn more about me, see the “About chikorita157” page.

Previous Post:Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka? – Final Review
Next Post:The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls – Episode 14 – The Mysterious Girl

New Here? Review the Commenting Policy before adding a comment.

Additionally, linking to your blog should only be done in the Website field, not in the comment itself, unless it contibutes to the discussion. If you are using a Wordpress.com account to comment, you can change the website URL in the Account Settings

You can comment on this blog post using your Mastodon or Misskey account on the Fediverse or your account on Bluesky.

Simply copy this post’s URL and paste it on your Mastodon server’s search field. On Misskey, click More, then lookup and paste the post’s URL Once the post comes up, reply to that post to comment.

Note: Comments must be approved first and this functionality may not work on certain servers

On Bluesky, follow @ap.brid.gy first (if you haven’t already) and then follow @chikorita157.chikorita157.com.ap.brid.gy. Simply reply to the corresponding post to comment.

If you want to follow this blog with a Mastodon or Misskey account, click the follow button below.

Reader Interactions

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

Sidebar

Categories

Archives

Current Season

  • Mayonaka Punch
  • Na Nare Hana Nare
  • Shikanoko Nokonoko Koshitantan
  • VTuber nanda ga Haishin Kiri Wasuretara Densetsu ni Natteta

Episodic Blogging Schedule

To be decided.

Anything not covered here will be covered at Kireina Yuri with short impressions.

Non-Episodic Content

  • Editorials
  • Japanese Self-Study Progress
  • Let’s Plays
  • Podcast
  • Project iM@S
  • Reviews

Follow Us

You can subscribe to this blog via WordPress Reader

Follow Chikorita157’s Anime Blog on WordPress.com

Also follow us on Mastodon for the latest blog updates and Anime/Manga/Video Games related toots

Follow @chikorita157 on Mastodon

Get a Mastodon Account

Anime Lists

AniList
MyAnimeList

Recent Posts

Aru Majo ga Shinu Made – Episode 9 – Meg Defying Magic to Save a Special Tree Spirit

The Quest to Revive AniBlogTracker, Finding Japanese Media and Culture Blogs and More

Slime Taoshite 300-nen Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita 2 – Episode 8 – Escaping the Cold By Going to a Tropical Escape

mono – Episode 7 – Mangaka’s Donburi Walk Outing

Rock wa Lady no Tashinami deshite – Episode 8 – Setting Tina Up for Success

Recent Comments

  1. 四 on Aru Majo ga Shinu Made – Episode 9 – Meg Defying Magic to Save a Special Tree SpiritMay 27, 2025
  2. Hibi wa Sugiredo Meshi Umashi – Episode 7 – Club Trip in Paradise – Kireina Yuri (綺麗な百合) on Slime Taoshite 300-nen Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita 2 – Episode 8 – Escaping the Cold By Going to a Tropical EscapeMay 25, 2025
  3. Slime Taoshite 300-nen Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita 2 – Episode 8 – Escaping the Cold By Going to a Tropical Escape – Chikorita157's Anime Blog on Slime Taoshite 300-nen Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita 2 – Episode 7 – The Class S Wedding CeremonyMay 24, 2025
  4. mono – Episode 7 – Mangaka's Danbury Walk Outing – Chikorita157's Anime Blog on mono – Episode 6 – Finding the Roundest Stone Sculpture and Haruno’s Curry QuestMay 24, 2025
  5. Rock wa Lady no Tashinami deshite – Episode 8 – Setting Tina Up for Success – Chikorita157's Anime Blog on Rock wa Lady no Tashinami deshite – Episode 7 – Preparing for the Battle of the BandsMay 23, 2025

RSS Kireina Yuri

  • Maebashi Witches – Episode 8 – Tanabata Wishes and Kyouka’s Embarassing Secret May 26, 2025
  • Hibi wa Sugiredo Meshi Umashi – Episode 7 – Club Trip in Paradise May 25, 2025
  • Maebashi Witches – Episode 7 – The Tough Life of Choco May 19, 2025
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Subscribe and Follow Us For New Content

If you want to receive the latest posts in your email, you can subscribe to this blog via email or click the follow button to follow this blog dirrectly using a Mastodon or Misskey account.

To follow this blog via Wordpress Reader, click the button on the right.

Follow Chikorita157’s Anime Blog on WordPress.com
Follow Kireina Yuri on WordPress.com

Follow us on Mastodon or BlueSky for the latest blog updates and Anime/Manga/Video Games related toots

Note for Bluesky users: Follow @ap.brid.gy first before following

Follow us on Mastodon
Follow us on Bluesky
Get a Mastodon Account

© 2009–2025 James M. All rights reserved. Images are owned by their respective owners.

All text on this page is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. Powered by Mai Theme.

Privacy Policy

mastodonMisskey tumblrrss