Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

There's also Jail being thrust into Dirty Old Man territory and Caro going full-on Yandere.

I've actually read all the way up through chp 21 of Force, but since I've been catalogueing all my reactions up to this point, I'll just post 'em a chapter or two at a time.

_______

Chapter 02 - Lily Strosek

Either Touma and his waifu have moved on to another world, or Ruwella and Ruviera are inconstistent translations of the same pla- no, wait, both worlds had different ID numbers (12 vs 23), didn't they. Nevermind, they went somewhere. I keep forgetting that interstellar travel isn't that big of a deal in this series.

Kind of curious about why Lily can't speak verbally and must rely on telepathy, but it's not that huge of an issue. Touma is considerate for his passenger at all times, I approve. Also, she's getting a piggyback ride. Is she having issues walking, or something? ....depending on how long she spent crucified, perhaps her muscles could have atrophied...

Wonder scenechange powers, activate! Set of, yet another planet! Location of, a smoking crater! ...wait, what? ....oh my god, what the hell happened here? It looks like the aftermath of a terrorist attack or something... <suddenly recalls the title> or of a war zone...

...I really hope Lily doesn't have the book of the Silver Cross on her, or the TSAB is going to be chasing down her and Touma when they haven't done anything. The Huckebein family are mentioned.

The Wolfram looks badass, as expected of any battleship worth its salt.

Minor shopping sequence. It actually feels wonderful, how brief and not-in-depth it is. ...for those of you wondering what the hell I'm talking about, I still have some baggage from the pages and pages of nothing but shopping (interspersed with brief periods of power-wanking) that I had to read through in an early segment of Partially Kissed Hero.

....the panel where Touma bids farewell to the cloth-shop girl just screams to me, "But Now I Must Go". ....yeah, Touma's a good kid. I kinda like him.

........and he's suspected of a robbery. Which, I guess the incident of chapter 1 could be described as such, but I look down on any authoritative organization that would categorize Lily Strosek as "something that is stolen"! The term you'd use for her is kidnapped or abducted, dammit! <rant of justice>

...Isis is WAY too enthusiastic about joining up on an adventure.

Chapter 03 - Huckebein

The investigation team for the Ruwellan mine concludes that they were invaded by a slick and devious bastard, a real Solid Snake. ...bitch, you guys live in a world where teenagers (or however old Touma is) have access to unlocking spells without the aid of a Device. If you can't keep random journeyman schmucks out of your top-secret facility, you deserve to get burgled.

Signum: "Regardless of who they may be, we must bring them under control. Even if we have to use force."

Man, the good guys just love saying ominous things in this manga, huh?

...aaaaaand now our protagonists are back on Ruwella. Unless "Ruwella Valley" is a place on planet Ruviera, distinct from the world Ruwella. That, or it was a translation error last chapter. Grrrrraaaaaaahhhh!!!

Also, Steed says that the facility Lily was imprisoned in was illegal. I can't say I'm an expert on Mid-Childan civil and military statutes, but I'm inclined to agree with the badass AI. Meanwhile, Touma's immediate intent is on consulting Subaru for advice. That's a sound plan.

...well, crap. Touma does have the book. Here's hoping he can explain shit to Subaru before Fate, Tea, or Signum manage to find him.

Shenanigans!

Touma has a grudge against the duo that may or may not have wrecked his hometown seven years ago. That said, he's willing to give it up and move on with his life if he can't find anything out in another six months.

Meanwhile, the people in the facility claim that Touma appears to be in his late teens. ...okay, sure, that seems to fit with what I've seen and heard so far.

Wherever the Huckebein pass, they leave a trail of dead bodies. Got it.

Signum anticipates a fight. That's totally not foreboding or anything, nope, not at all.

Touma-tachi finally gets to the church.... aaaaand he can recognize the smells of blood and gunpowder. I find the latter to be a bit interesting.

The church has become a slaughterhouse, and there's a Squall Leonhart cosplayer saying stuff that doesn't make any sense. Also, Touma identifies him as being part of - or associated with the duo that wrecked his hometown.

The few things people remember well in Force

=The protagonist sucks balls

=Squall Leonheart being a villain

=Signum being almost killed

=the antagonists being dicks

edited 16th May '15 10:47:08 PM by Hoki

Having read up to chapter 21 so far, I disagree with that first point.

The last point, when handled well, leads into Love to Hate.

No real comment on the middle points, though the third one was certainly effective at doing what it intended.

Chapter 04 - Eclipse

Touma is not pleased with Veyron's bullshit, and pulls out his Divider before attempting to interrogate him. Veyron tells him to bugger off, and attacks.

Touma is pissed. And he's pretty damned handy with that Divider of his. But then, apparently he was living with the Nakajimas for a while, so I'd be more surprised if he didn't know how to fight.

Observation: Veyron = Blood Knight. Also, I find myself reading his lines in the voice of Patrick Seitz, aka Ragna the Bloodedge and the Drill Sergeant Nasty from Attack on Titan.

Now that he's all nice and amused, Veyron decides to give this whole "talking shit out" thing a try. And he is just tickled to death that Touma doesn't know what's going on. Also, what a troll.

And boy, Touma is really, really, REALLY pissed off now. To the point of triggering his Super Mode. ...man, Veyron is such an ass, but I'm having a hell of a time watching him. Touma is much less amused, though, and responds with another Holy Shit Beam (Silver Hammer-flavored this time).

The battle pretty much ends with a stalemate, though Veyron doesn't have his brain turned off, and he admits to at least knowing something about the mine incident.

Veyron gives his report to other members of the Huckebein, one of whom scolds him for his "bad habits". Also, Vey says that Touma is already completely infected with Eclipse. Much like the Huckebein.

So, Eclipse comes with a Healing Factor, as well as a considerable stat buff to endurance and probably other attributes. Noted.

....dayumn, Erio is talllll. ...but Caro's still short.

Also, the TSAB have developed some kind of countermeasure called "Zero Effect." Sounds interesting.

It is now confirmed that Subaru basically adopted Touma, and it appears that she introduced him to at least Nanoha at some point. However, it should also be noted that Nanoha refers to him as "that kid you introduced", rather than by name. This implies to me that despite knowing of Touma, she doesn't really "know" Touma. Photographic evidence indicates that Tea's cool with him, though. Which, to be fair. If Touma's been hanging out with Subaru, it's remarkably unlikely that he won't have met Tea at some point.

edited 16th May '15 10:58:52 PM by EvaUnit01

The main thing I remember from Force was how they seemed to be hinting that Isis was some sort of on-the-run cyborg, which would of been awesome. IIRC that wasn't actually her deal, though.

I never really got that impression. But no, her actual deal is that she's the errant daughter of a family of defense contractors, and she specializes in custom explosives.

Chapter 05 - Blood and Flame

According to the scanlators, a Divider is also known as a Mage Killer. ...interesting. I can see a logical way for that to have come about.

Also, the authorities are definitively gunning for Touma. <sigh> Speaking of, he's sick. And Lily says that she was referred to as a "poison". Poor girl.

Isis does some logic, and concludes that Lily is the result of a biological weapons research facility, with Touma being the unfortunate bastard to have made first contact with her. Also, Isis has a secret identity.

Meanwhile, turns out the Huckebein live in a snazzy-ass facility, or maybe their own starship.

....bottom of page eleven. Arnage seems to be imply that Veyron would enjoy fucking a lobster. And holy shit can that girl eat...

More talk about Dividers and shit. Exceptional weapons on their own, but when paired with a Reactor, "It becomes a poison that can kill the world". ...interesting. So, just having a Divider in itself isn't the key to God-Mode Sue.

And now for a look at Touma's backstory! ...wow, Touma really wasn't expecting to find anything, was just using his trip as a ritual to move past his... erm... past. Like how people use funerals to accept and let go of their fallen loved ones.

And then Veyron happened, so Touma basically designated that bastard as his Arch-Enemy. And now Cypha's found Touma and Lily, and says that his sickness is only as expected.

Yay! Agito and Signum are here to save the day!

__________

Chapter 06 - Eclipse Driver

Cypha has complete and obvious contempt for public servants. Got it. Also, she has to be reminded of village-wide massacres she carried out. Crazy-ass bitch.

Also, Signum and Agito are doing all kinds of badass shit in this fight.

Cypha pulls out her own Super Mode, and now Subaru has to come track down Touma as well.

I suspect that things will start going downhill in the next chapter.

_________

Chapter 07 - Reactor

Subaru takes a moment in flashback, to remind us of how cool she is. Y'know, just in case we forgot, or something.

...you can do it, Touma! Overcome your burning hatred with fighting spirit!

....okay, let me be clear on this. I'm cool with Dividers. And I'm cool with what I've seen of the Eclipse up to this point. But Reacting? That, I confess, is kinda bullshit. However, I'm going to withold further judgement until we get a better look what steps the TSAB is taking to counter these developments.

edited 16th May '15 11:08:36 PM by EvaUnit01

It amazes me how far my random observation about her hair and eyecolor has gone...

Definitely make her more interesting if it were true.

The last point, when handled well, leads into Love to Hate.

Well, yeah, there's the detail Force doesn't handle it well.

Veyron in his first appearance qualified IMO, when he was a troll and a Large Ham on top of his Blood Knight-ness. Then he hugely mellowed out, and watching him wasn't as fun anymore. Curren toes the line right now IMO, mostly because of some of the shit she does, like directly taunting Hayate in a video about exchanging favors.

Chapter 08 - Hückebein II

And now we meet the Hucks.

Arnage doesn't seem to be too bad. Fortis also seems like an okay dude. ....ignoring the fact that he can talk about totally exterminating settlements with a pleasant expression on his face and cheerfully admits to being an evil criminal.

Observation: Touma reacts to this information with disgust and contempt. Okay, good, there's still hope for him at this point.

Exposition time! The Virus pumps your brain full of evil, and can kill you by turning your entire body into one huge tumor.

The Huckebein have some as-yet-undisclosed method of suppressing Eclipse.

Fortis has a particular line that stands out to me: "You may resist with the mindset that murder is a crime. However, you'll get used to it. We did too."

So then... certainly, Veyron and Cypha are goddamned bat-shit crazy-ass fucks. Honestly, I'm inclined to believe that those two were always like that. But it may be possible that some of the other Hucks have only become monsters because of the situation that they've been put into. ...although honestly, anyone who can talk cheerfully about wiping out entire populations (Fortis) probably needs to be put down like a rabid dog regardless of backstory.

TL,DR: it sounds like what we have here, is pretty much a case of rampant vampirism (and/or zombie-ism). In order to keep your body from destroying itself, you must kill. In order to protect yourself from those who would destroy you, you must kill. And even if you can't stand the idea, it pours a shitload of Always Chaotic Evil onto your brain in order to MAKE you kill. It really, really, really sounds like it sucks, even considering the Superpower Lottery. You basically either live long enough to turn into a monster, or you kill yourself ASAP.

And the screwiest part is, I can even logically see why the Eclipse might have been created in the first place (because hey, it involves a lot of ancient Belkan artifacts, so it sounds to me like a man-made disease). I mean, just look at how military technology advances and is created. One side makes airplanes. The other side looks for a counter, and comes up with anti-aircraft weapons to shoot them down, and radar to help target them. So the first side works out counter-technology and strategies against the AA, and develops new designs and coatings and shit that defend against radar. And the cycle continues.

So with a society that works primarily with magic and heavily militarizes it, like the ancient Belkans did, it seems logical to me that eventually, somebody would have decided to try and develop Anti-Magic, and/or other methods for making a Mage Killer soldier. And with the Reacted Eclipse Drivers, you have something perfect for just such a task: they can No-Sell magic. They're strong and tough enough that other weapons are also of minimal use, fast enough that the enemy cannot escape. Because it starts with infection from a biological disease and involves minimal time to accumulate combat expertise, even untrained civilians can be effortlessly turned into nation-wrecking badasses. Given that Isis has had prolonged contact with both Touma and Lily, it doesn't seem to be very contagious, either - which makes sense, because then you'd have some degree of control over who you infected with it (notwithstanding accidents like Touma). And, just to make sure that the Eclipsed won't suddenly become pacifists on you and refuse to fight, drives them to continue killing. And if they still manage to go without killing anyone for long enough, their body will self-destruct on them.

If I were a Mad Scientist in an era of absolute and seemingly endless mage war, something like the Eclipse basically covers everything I could possibly want out of my new countermeasure for putting those damn enemy magic-users in their place.

Of course, there is one great and in hindsight obvious flaw with the plan to create such a thing: what're you going to do with all these Psycho for Hire Mage Killer Super Soldiers after the war is over? The very traits that make them such terrifying human weapons pretty much guarantee that they have no or minimal chance of being able to successfully reintegrate into normal society in times of peace. ...and because it's a virus, even if it's contagiosity is very low, it could still always infect someone without your knowledge, and survive without your realizing it.

...put all of that together, and then Force happens. Truly, the Eclipse victim may well be a Tragic Monster. .... .... .... but tragic or not, a monster is still a monster.

...

...

...

I am very curious to know where the hell the Hückebein got their high-tech airship, thou - oh, apparently it's also an ancient Belkan artifact, like the Cradle. Okay. Also, I love how Nanoha and Vita are initially referred to as the Wolfram's main cannons.

________

That said, speaking from 12 chapters ahead of this point, I'm starting to doubt the "you absolutely must keep killing, or die" thing a bit. Basically because I haven't seen it happen yet, and I don't know that I ever will in the remaining amount of Force that I haven't read yet.

edited 17th May '15 11:27:07 AM by EvaUnit01

I'd assume most Eclipse infectees would become mercenaries or bounty hunters rather than live a mundane life in a normal society.

As for Cypha and Veyron, I wouldn't say they're Complete Monster's, since they're at least shown to care about their siblings in some capacity. They're certainly Ax-Crazy Blood Knight's, but when has that ever been a bad thing?

You probably already know this, but for those who don't The Esquad Huckebein is hinted or implied to be Stella Irvine's (the little mute girl) Divider. However, unlike the other Hucks, she reacts by synchronizing with the ship, like those from Appregio of Blue Steel, thus giving the ship her regenerative powers and Anti-Magic capabilities. She also gains the ability to talk while reacted.

From what I can tell, Thoma doesn't need to because Lily keeps the virus from making him go berserk.

The problem with having to infect people with something in order to make them into SuperSoldiers is that you have to gamble on whether or not your soldier will even survive the initial stages of the infection. The Eclipse kills every one whose bodies cannot handle the virus, and it's only through luck that you get one that survives. Basically. you risk losing your entire fighting force to make a group of Anti-Magic wielding individuals, who can and will be overwhelmed by superior numbers and possible other forms of warfare, and the Belkan wars were more than just magic wars. Vivid revealed that various leaders employed chemical and biological warfare too. Also, while tough, an Eclipse infectee is not invulnerable to physical damage, and strong enough magic can kill or, at the very least, incapacitate them. Lastly, aside from the basic perks, any secondary ability an Eclipse infectee can get is totally up to chance. Cypha doesn't seem to have any aside from having bigger swords, De Ville is kinda lucky for having the ability to Teleport Spam, Thoma has the Divide Zero, a pretty broken ability that scares the crap out of even the Hucks themselves. The exception to this us Hades Vandein, who probably gave himself the ability to nullify other Eclipse infectees' abilities.

edited 17th May '15 3:09:21 PM by Hoki

Boy what happened to the budget in this episode?... I think every other scene had someone Off-Model.

Hm? I didn't notice anything too glaring.

The translation errors are annoying me more.

edited 17th May '15 6:36:44 PM by HanabiraKage

The Hayate Household looked off. Miura and Zafira were fine though.

Maybe it's just the artstyle?

NEVER

Also, at the time when I wrote that Wall of Text, I had not yet gotten to Lily's flashback sequence where one poor sap after another is shoved at her to be infected, all of whom immediately explode into tumors. Srsly, that's some messed-up shit.

Chapter 09 - Hückebein III

...hah! Nanoha and Vita are even being called Aggressors!

Welp, the AEC equipment seems like a hit! ...by which I mean, it can land definite hits, and inflict meaningful damage to an airship. Part of me wonders that Caro hasn't called out Voltaire, though it may just be because dragons are magic and thus would get No-Sell'd.

...granted, the ship itself also has a Healing Factor and Super Mode.

9.5

Isis has something called an "armor jacket", which I assume is something separate and distinct from a "barrier jacket".

Meanwhile, time for the TSAB to do something badass! Subaru does a Barehanded Blade Grab on Veyron and smashes it.

....aaaaaaand then Touma partly succumbs to the Eclipse Mind Rape, unleashing what basically amounts to Life Drain Angst Nuke. And he can barely even seem to recognize his Cool Big Sis anymore.

__________

Chapter 10 - Solitude

....thiiiiiiis might be the chapter where things definitively turn to shit. I dunno yet. Reserving my judgment until after I see how it all plays out.

____________

Chapter 11 - Guns and Blaze

....I kind of like Arnage. Not really much else to say, though, other than that Nanoha seems as confident as usual.

edited 17th May '15 10:30:13 PM by EvaUnit01

On this week's Vivid: oh God, Miura's Device is a Transformer?!

Episode 7. In which the others are introduced.

Useful, Fate. Useful. Incidentally, this is what I referred to back then. Didn't want to mention it at the time, because spoilers.

Direct hit? Must be some wide area effect. Wasn't even close. But really, can't have that thing without a Rocket Punch. And I like their expressions just prior.

And that's how you finish it. Well, not entirely, but that's the real finale.

"I'd prefer if you didn't." Wow, she's got some amazingly aggressive combat dialogue.

"I can't lift my arm," she says while lifting her arm.

"I can't get up," she says while rising up.

And then as soon as something sweet is coming, they're happily up on their feet.

Those loose twintails really look good on her, especially along with the warm red. She's also unusually happy.

Cosplay freak. It's actually canon.

And now we're introduced to everyone else. Quite a few people.

Obviously, the snacks are the highlight of everything.

Such a model sister.

It's sort of like they're cosplaying as delinquents.

I'm sure she made that Dramatic Thunder on her own. By the way, I like the way the weights kind of clash with the high class everything else.

edited 18th May '15 2:56:43 AM by AnotherDuck

Vivid 07

• It's always a must to go through the motions when executing a Rocket Punch. Points go to Corona.
• Teana should have a more sassy retort.
• Accel Smash is a two-hit move, at least in the games anyway.
• They removed the part where Megane reminisced about being an Inter-Middle contender and rival with Quint. We never did know who won in the end.
• Lu-chan's explanation about the Inter-Middle tournament being for close range combatants is a funny mistake from the translator, especially since she isn't a close range combatant.
• They should've added a scene where Einhart thinks of Hayate as an imposing person after hearing a bit about her accomplishments, so that the Tanuki mask-wearing lady in front of her being that same person will be really shocking and funny.
• Chantez sounds like Sayaka., Harry sounds like Homura, and Victoria is surprisingly, Sheryl Nome. She also should've ended her Badass Boast with "Ohohohoho!!!"
• I knew Edgar had blue hair, I'm just not used to seeing him in color.

IIRC, they were directly hit by the rocket punch in the manga. Dunno why they changed it though.

They're the only ones that matter anyway.

edited 18th May '15 8:31:32 AM by Hoki

She IS the descendant of the thunder emperor after all.

edited 18th May '15 8:31:58 AM by arahman56

I can't blame her, though. If I could summon lightning to highlight my profound words, I'd do it all the time.

You make a compelling point. After all, if we accept that Love Redeems, and that Even Evil Has Loved Ones...

Doesn't matter, they still are crappy regardless. A villain doesn't have to be a Complete Monster to be unlikable and despicable, while some actual Complete Monsters at least can be entertaining if handled well.

Love Redeems has the awkward counterpoint that Love Makes You Crazy, and in the Huckebein's case it's pretty obvious they've got a nice case of shared psychosis going.

Basically, their affection for each other reinforces their monstrosity, rather than acting as mitigating factor. They see each other as monsters, and they like what they see.

Both of you make very compelling points. And on that note,

Chapter 12 - Guns and Blaze II

Man, being Touma really sucks. All he wanted to do was help a girl in need and to move past his ominous backstory, and now his infection has pretty much mind-whammied him to the point that watching him, it looks almost like he's a slave to the ZERO System - he cannot recognize anything but enemies, and his body moves to attack them without his consent.

That said? I am absolutely LOVING Nanoha's AEC equipment. She gets a new Holy Shit Beam of her own to play with, detachable Fin Funnels...!

_____

12.5

Not really much to say, other than that Fate is as badass as usual.

________

Chapter 13 - Heimdall''

Oh my God, Hayate gets to cut loose?! ....HOLY SHIT!!

...WTF?! WTF?! What the shit, Curren?

__________

Chapter 14 - Silbern Kreuz

...huh. The Book of the Silver Cross actually is a lot like what I understand of the ZERO System.

__________

Chapter 15 - Re:Engage

Oh, hey. Lily's actually doing stuff. And seeming to have a positive effect, too. Also, she has an outfit reminiscent of Eins. I approve.

Family time with the Hücks.

Aaand the TSAB are working on automatons now. ...is it normal to be having Strikers flashbacks right about now?

Chapter 16 - Re:act

The wheel of fate is turning, huh?

...I did not realize that Hayate had a nickname. Much less "the Walking Lost Logia".

Anyway, the heroes are mostly just planning out what the the next step is going to b-

...!! I WAS WONDERING WHERE THE HELL STEED WAS!!

Okay. So. Basically, I'm at the halfway point now. I recognize that there are some problems here. But so far? I love the series anyway. Are the Hücks OP as shit? Yeah, they are. But they’re not invincible until after they’ve Reacted, as shown with Unisoned Signum kicking Cypha’s ass all over the place and even blasting an arm off before the latter’s Reaction. And even after they do React, the AEC equipment - as imperfect as it is - and Fate's Gen-5 Device (and also Subaru as a Combat Cyborg) can still wear them down and do some damage, as shown with Nanoha's epic showing against the Silver Cross, Superpower Lottery be damned. If the AEC gear can do even that much now, at this imperfect stage of development, then can you even imagine what kind of shit they could pull off once the technology is perfected and improved upon?! On top of that, we've seen that Hayate at full power can wreck the shit out of the Hückebeins' Anti-Magic airship (and presumably everyone on it) using magic for an iceberg-flavored Colony Drop, and it literally took what amounts to an out-of-universe ACT OF GOD to stop her from pulling it off. And even Curren - the leader of the Hücks, and the vehicle used for the aforementioned plot reaping - is worried about the prospect of the Wolkenritter and everyone else on a proper Roaring Rampage of Revenge.

The enemies of justice are mighty ones, to be sure. But THEY! ARE! NOT! GODS! Our heroes have made those fuckers bleed, and will do so again! ...unless the series gets canceled before that can happen.