Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha

The bottom line is that Eclipse infection affects mana generating ability, with caveat that it basically cranks your body to produce mana at accelerated rate, to the point that most infected basically end up as tumor-like Body Horror. My theory is that their Anti-Magic skills actually works by cancelling enemies mana with their own mana, with similar peinciples used on active noise reduction.

Gears of Destiny posits that Eclipse uses seithr as its equivalent of mana. From this, one could infer that seithr has some kind of mana-dispersing property.

When that was posted in the translation notes on that one thread, there were a few BlazBlue jokes in the commentary.

I totally dig cute girls, badass girls, and cute badass girls. And I don't have a problem with Schoolgirl Lesbians in and of itself/themselves.

My issue is that I think a lot of the fandom fixates on that aspect of the series too intensely, to the point of ignoring most of/everything else about the series. And then we have the freakin' ViVid and INNOCENT spinoff manga, which pander to that part of the audience like crazy.

edited 24th Jun '16 9:57:32 AM by EvaUnit01

.... I think INNOCENT had maybe two scenes that really screamed 'yuri shipping' to me.

And I have notoriously 24/7 yuri-goggles.

You might just possibly be over reacting a bit. In my opinion anyway.

Well, I've been known to do that now and then...

That strikes me as a chicken-egg thing, really. In my experience, fandoms become self-sustaining once they reach a certain critical mass — unless there's absolutely nothing new for literally years, people will still hang out and talk about it. Nanoha's got a bunch of ongoing manga and the last anime release was just last year, so it's not like there's nothing going on in the franchise. Of course, scanlation efforts of the manga has faltered somewhat, and as far as I know there's no news on when the next anime is coming out, which is hard — but it's probably just that the Nanoha fandom hasn't reached that critical mass, which is a pity.

The main thing I was looking for is someplace to ramble aimlessly about Nanoha without having to double or triple post in this thread to stir up conversation. (Seriously, this thread went about three weeks with zero activity). The Anime Suki boards seem to be in generally the same boat (lots of threads in the Nanoha subforum, but the only two that are active are the general discussion thread and the fanfiction thread), and I'm not really looking to talk about Nanoha x Fate or fanfiction exclusively, so it's probably not worth joining a new forum just for that. Oh well. Guess that means y'all are stuck with my ramblings here.

The only problem with that is that we know that not every mage is an aerial mage — in fact, most aren't. Given that I agree with you that flying is a generally useful skill, there has to be some reason why that's the case. It's not power level (since we see powerful mages that still can't fly), and it's not that it's a special power like summoning etc (because, as you point out, there are generic flight spells). Pretty much all that leaves is the idea that despite its benefits, it's not worth most mages' time to learn for some reason — and "it's really hard unless you're naturally inclined toward it" seems to be the most logical explanation.

I'm with you on that, really. I approach Nanoha from the POV of a mecha fan, and the fanservice is something I put up with rather than one of the reasons I watch the series. I don't really mind Vivid (since it's a fun series despite the lack any real world-shattering stakes in the plot), but I'll definitely be disappointed if the franchise keeps moving away from "military sci-fi with magical girls" and toward "magical girls, hold the military and the sci-fi" indefinitely. Running Force and Vivid simultaneously seemed to be their attempt at making both crowds happy, but given that Force is effectively cancelled while Vivid is still going strong as far as I know...

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

By the way, can someone tell me if Vivid is regarded as a fourth season of Nanoha, or a spinoff?

Join my forum game!

I'd definitely consider it season four. It's a direct continuation of the ongoing story about the main characters, rather than an AU story (like Innocent) or a retelling of an existing work (of which Nanoha has many). Yes, it's true that Nanoha isn't really the main focus of the show, but that was true in Strikers as well — the focus there is on the Forwards, just like the focus in Vivid is on Vivio and Einhart.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

It's because of Nanoha and Fate's interaction that was a hit that the franchise decided to cash in on that. Which is sad because aside from "befriend someone with superior firepower", NanoFate is basically the other thing that defines the franchise.

We'll all stuck with each other here, so we'd better get used to each other. Honestly, I avoid the NanoFate site like the plague, They are crazy there. I bet they'd explode like the NaruSaku site if Nanoha ended up marrying Yuuno, And that would be funny as hell.

edited 24th Jun '16 5:51:55 PM by Hoki

Yuuno x Harem 4 lyfe, yo.

THIS GUY

THIS GUY GETS IT

Yes! Only Yuuno is worthy!

I also support Vivio x Female Harem, because kings should have harems.

Vivio pretty much already has a harem. Other than Einhart, who's obsessed with her because her ancestor was in love with the woman Vivio was cloned from, half the combat cyborgs adore her and most of the Saint Church are Vivio fans as well. If you want to put on your yuri goggles, you could also put Corona in that camp, given that she ended up getting into the whole magic karate thing because Vivio was into it rather than because it was something she was interested in on her own, and she gives off some "loving the School Idol from afar" Schoolgirl Lesbian vibes (ie, she thinks that Vivio is superfantasticamazingwonderful, and is happy just to be able to hang out with her).

Personally, I think it'd be hilarious if Vivio is 100% straight and has absolutely no (romantic) interest in any of the various girls pining for her. This is somewhat hampered by the fact that there are literally zero male characters introduced in Vivid, so we don't even have any Ship Tease in that direction. Not that it will ever actually happen, given that yuri fanservice is one of the pillars the Nanoha franchise is built on, but still.

edited 25th Jun '16 7:21:09 AM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

We have Victoria's butler, Edgar. So there are (new and currently alive) males introduced in ViVid.

But, yes, that is the only new named male character of the current era we have... I think there also was Rio's grandfather, but I can't remember if he was even introduced properly.

edited 25th Jun '16 8:25:52 AM by NHunter

Oh yeah, I forgot about the butler guy. Who was actually pretty awesome. [Chantez] *trolololol* [Victoria] *tanks like a boss* [Butler] Oh dear, mistress is becoming upset. [Victoria] *GIANT FUCK YOU AOE THUNDER ATTACK* [Chantez] Ow! [Victoria] *GIANT FUCK YOU HEAD-SMASHED-INTO-THE-FLOOR ATTACK* [Chantez] x_x [Butler] Way to keep your cool, mistress. [Victoria] I regret nothing.

I think Rio's grandfather has been mentioned but not actually seen. And that may have only been in the manga.

edited 25th Jun '16 9:59:12 AM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

I think he was actually shown in 70-something chapters... But I can be mistaken, and I really don't want to go back to that Chinese site to confirm. Way too many ads - they overwhelm my blocker...

Also, Victor/Sieg, who's wearing pants (the proverbial ones) in that couple pair?

So I read the newest translated chapter of Vivid, which was really nothing new, aside from Ixpelia "waking up"

Also, I reread Force, because I had nothing better to do, and really they should just continue with the damn thing, if only to showcase the Magnificent Bastard that is Hades Vandein.

He's now one of my favorite villains in anime and manga, because of the sheer brilliance of his actions.

edited 26th Jun '16 8:03:09 PM by Hoki

Ix waking up is kind of a big deal in terms of plot developments.

Presumably, anyway, given that she's been in a coma (or whatever her actual deal is) since... one of the Sound Stages, I think? Honestly I'm not entirely sure what Ix's deal is. I file her under "ancient Belkan freakshow" along with Vivio and basically the rest of the new Vivid cast except Corona and Rio.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

Personally, I'm more taken with the Brass Balls displayed in his dialogue.

Not really, Ix's only ability is the creation of the Mariages, which are technically speaking, artificial drones that she can command to do whatever, and the plot of Sound Stage X is about that. Her coma is also somewhat related to her ability, and IIRC this can cause her to wake up after a day, a year, or even a millennium. Since the case was resolved, she's back napping. In Vivid, she's just another "ancient Belkan freakshow" like Vivio, only she's "literally" an ancient Belkan.

What I find strange about her semi-awakened form is that she can't speak, yet somehow, everyone can understand her. She's just like Chris, only she's not a device.

That's one display of his brilliance there. He knows that everybody would never buy his story, but he denies any knowledge anyway, just because he can. Also, the sheer awesomeness of how he even ripped Veyron's heart earns him bonus points. Heck, he's even outright not taking the fight seriously, preferring to just "defend" himself.

<irritated huff> "It seems that plausible self-defense isn't getting me anywhere. Perhaps it's time I stepped up to excessive self-defense."

I haven't read Force so I have no idea who you're talking about or the context around their behavior, but that sounds like someone who would annoy the shit out of me and I would very much like to see their face befriended in, minus the "being friends" part afterward.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.

@Hades: Let's just say Albert Wesker can only hope he's half this cool.

There's a very fine line between Magnificent Bastard and Villain Sue.

There is, but both tropes are also YMMV, sooooo.....

While I do acknowledge that Vandeim is so powerful that he may come across as an Invincible Villain, I also find the guy's attitude (and everyone else's reaction to it) so freaking hilarious that I end up liking him (as a villain) anyway.

edited 27th Jun '16 12:01:20 PM by EvaUnit01

>Vandein being cooler than Albert "Seven Minutes" Wesker

It is interesting that people bring up Resident Evil, though, because I actually do think that Vandeim and his corporation have a few things in common with Umbrella....