Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha BEATS Gun Blaze Vengeance Review
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OVERCOME Gun Blaze Vengeance
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha BEATS Gun Blaze Vengeance Review
Since I saw the original Lyrical Magical Girl Nanoha series in 2005, I have been a fan of the franchise. Over the years, I’ve felt like a father watching young Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate grow from child soldiers to seasoned adult veterans adopting children of their own. As such, when I heard that there would be another Nanoha series, I was very excited. Then I saw the character designs and discovered that this would be a “midquel.” It’s not exactly what I wanted, but I was going to watch it anyway.
* * * SPOILERS! * * *
The story in brief
An orphaned high school student named KUZE Shiina lives in a fortified compound on the remote island of Amatorishima in the country of Mizuho, Japan. Also with her is her adoptive sister, Setsuna. Shiina hunts down several invading Diaboli monsters that have invaded her Earth. One day, their compound is attacked by a human-Dioboli hybrid, who is hunting Setsuna. During the fight, a dying Setsuna reveals that she is a Diaboli Progenitor and transfers her flame powers to Shiina, turning Shiina into a human-Diaboli hybrid.
Meanwhile, the Office of Time-Space Management creates a division called EXCEEDS and comes to this Earth. Led by 13-year-old Hayate, disguised as an adult, EXCEEDS is officially classified as a United Nations organization. EXCEED members Fate and Nanoha, also 13 years old, recruit Shiina into their organization to put an end to the invasive species, Diaboli, and the evil Progenitors.
Initially, they are opposed by the hybrid Diaboli team known as the Diaboli Slayers, led by an orphaned teenager named Towa. He seeks revenge against Mana, a Diaboli who fused with a human girl and has the power of a Progenitor. Mana took in orphaned children and experimented on them, aided by a young man named Eiji.
EXCEEDS and the Diaboli Slayers must put aside their differences to defeat the Progenitors, Mana, and cleanse the world of Diaboli and other invading monsters.
Nanoha is not the star
When I started seeing some of the promotional material for Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OVERCOME Gun Blaze VengeanceI had a suspicion that Nanoha would take a backseat to new characters. Indeed, that’s what happened here. That disappointed me a lot. I notice that some titles in the franchise don’t feature Nanoha. (This is based on movie continuity). But when I reach a nanoha property, I want Nanoha to be the star, supported by Fate and Hayate.
Did I have any problems with Shiina as a star? Not as such. Unfortunately, she’s kind of a cliché character. For starters, she’s an orphan. That gives it a tragic and cliché background. He then gains a superpower through another tragedy. However, their tragedies fail to affect her for the most part. Therefore, she never seemed like a real character to me for most of the series. I didn’t dislike it, but I can’t say I was excited about it on any level.
As for her co-star Towa, she also has that cliché element. She is an orphan with a melodramatic past of horrible experimentation. However, the way things are written doesn’t have much of an impact on me. Also, she acts in a cliché way where she has to learn that she needs Nakama’s power to back her up.
Chart by the numbers…with one or two exceptions
I think my biggest complaint is Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OVERCOME Gun Blaze Vengeance is that it has a plot based on numbers. The Diaboli Slayers are initially established as antagonists of sorts. I immediately knew that they would join the EXCEEDS people to fight the real enemy. I mean, that’s a basic element of nanoha titles at this point and it sucks.
To that end, he also knew that Towa and Shiina would be friends, then fight before reconciling for the final fight. I guess if this were your initial entry to the nanoha franchise, it may not be so obvious. However, I think the writers wrote things for a younger audience for whom this cliché character arc can still work.
The only exception to the numbers element is that the writers apparently realize how much they telegraphed things. As such, certain implications become red herrings. Then the writers pull some “this is the reality of the situation” elements out of their asses. I’m sorry, but making things up at the last minute to explain your story is not good writing.
I’m going to count the latter as an exception as well. Throughout the entire series, things point to a final showdown between Towa and Mana. Instead, Towa, with Shiina’s help, has to fight a tree. I’m not kidding. I couldn’t have predicted that in a million years. As such, this grand final battle is ridiculous.
Other things I didn’t like
Unfortunately, there were other things I didn’t like. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OVERCOME Gun Blaze Vengeance. To begin with, I wasn’t interested in the new character designs for Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate. Sure, you get used to it after a while. But I prefer a character design more in line with what we used to have.
Next is the era of Nanoha and Fate. I really hated that instead of being adult veterans taking on a 17 year old girl to train her to defend her world, we had 13 year old girls. Also, because the writers understand that putting a 13 year old girl (Hayate) in charge of a massive organization is STUPID, they visually disguise her to make her look like she’s 20 years old. 🙄
Then there is the loss of Donna Burke as Raised Heart and Kevin J. England as Bardiche. Are the people of Seven Arcs crazy? Instead, we get Japanese seiyuu for the roles. Some speculated that Donna may not have wanted to work since her husband had recently passed away. Even if that were true, there’s no reason to get rid of Kevin. Also, BOTH voice actors are back to do some kind of EXCEEDS BD extra.
Finally, there is no explanation for the invasive species, other than that “they came from outer space.” We will never know why Mana was “bad” and Setsuna was “good.” Setsuna’s entire purpose seemed to be to annihilate his own species. That’s why the revelation that she was a Progenitor was such a butt lift. If we had understood his reasoning, I think it would have made the story better.
Is there something I like?
I have been so negative with my review of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OVERCOME Gun Blaze Vengeance until now. Is there anything I like about the series? Well, as a fan of the franchise, I like to see Fate, Nanoha and Hayate in action. Well, correction. Hayate never does anything because if he did, the story would be over.
Aside from that, as a fan of the Fate character, it was always cool (both times) when the approach of lightning announced its imminent arrival. The other images were fine. I quite liked the Shiina complex.
Another thing I liked was the retention of Japanese honorifics in the subtitles. This is another little thing, but it helps me a lot. Overall, the adaptation didn’t seem too “localized.” That’s where some adapter thinks he’s a better writer than the Japanese writers and that’s why he needs to change things in the subtitles to “make it better.”
I can honestly say that I didn’t hate the series. Yes, it is a stretch to look for positives. However, the series is average at best in terms of story. But it entertains on that level, so there’s a positive there too.
Final thoughts and conclusion
For me, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha OVERCOME Gun Blaze Vengeance It’s not a title I think I’ll ever want to see again. That said, I’m seriously considering reviewing a chapter of the manga. I was told that the focus is more on Fate and Nanoha and from what I saw, that seemed to be true. And I wanted to see them both nanoha films that establish EXCEEDS as an organization.
