Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's

Whilst watching the first season of Nanoha, I found myself enjoying the series but not by some considerable margin. Its slow burn from slice of life mahou shoujo to its grand reveal as a (mini)Space Opera with Magic is wonderfully done, but plot elements, characterizations, and its anti-climax of an ending are all flawed, leading me to believe that the series has only stayed in the hearts of many for nostalgia alone, being nothing more than a better Mai-Hime. After watching A's, I know fully understand why this series is so beloved. Every possible flaw and gripe I have with the first season has been improved upon and polished to a sheen without being overindulgent or coming across as over-pandering. Pacing is definitely improved now that there's no need to bait and switch the audience along. Right off the bat we have major plot developments, an interesting hook and a cliffhanger at episode 1, and the subsequent episodes don't falter either. Several cruel cut-to-credits moments are present here as well, making the wait for the next episode extra painful and yet so satisfying at the same time. And just like Symphogear G, that triple whammy of plot twists at episode 10 had me agape at the end. Characterizations and characters are improved immensely as well. While I still struggle to say which character I liked most in the series, the newly introduced characters in this do latch on to you fairly quickly and are a great deal more enjoyable than those from S1. Maybe I like Vita the most, so there you go. Vita is best girl and Vita means life. What A's does well, especially compared to most other anime of the same genre from the same time period, is its emotional core. It's cheesy yes, but I genuinely felt something in my heart near the endgame as the story wraps up (fairly satisfyingly I might add too, unlike S1). It's what makes it especially memorable and special for me, that A's has a heart and its antagonists are human too, not just maniacal monsters who want to see the world burn (though that itself is fine too, see Symphogear). While it's not the ball-busting high octane action packed series I wanted it to be, Nanoha A's provided serviceable action sequences while reminding ourselves what it truly means to be human and the bonds of family go beyond the physical connection. That sounded incredibly cheesy so I apologize. But so is Nanoha A's, which is incredibly charming nonetheless. 7/10

a marked improvement over the first season. Nanoha A's offers a lot more to chew on that the first season. we have a full cast and a full arsenal for the cast. A's generally still relies on characters not talking out their issues to progress the story, but by making it more about time than quantity, it's much more believable. there's some holes here and there, some things i wish they would have talked more about, some jarring cuts where it feels as if they've skipped content. overall though, i think it's a great watch, and the production quality is actually higher than the first season, especially given how much more you get to see of mages doing magic. a thing to place special emphasis on is how the show feels complete now, i won't say season 1 was a dud, but it ended abruptly without climax and the overall emotional weight was far less. A's really is a must watch if you saw the first season and felt it lacking. overall i think a 9/10 is a high but fair rating, i won't hear less than an 8 or so though. moving onto the ending a bit, i think its by far the place where the most material feels skipped or left deliberately unexplained, some stuff i was really looking forward to hearing simply didnt happen, and the whole thing was a lot more conclusive than i was expecting. i'm aware theres more to see, though i'm curious how its all going to fit together now.

After the first season I wondered where they would go with the plot, if they'd do another monster of the week formula or try for something more serialized. The latter it turns out. This season tells a complete and cohesive story arc, which is something I always appreciate from a show with multiple seasons, especially one adapting an already existing work. A lot of shows will end prematurely, break up story arcs between seasons or go on forever with no conclusion, so it's refreshing when you get an ending at all. I liked the introduction of new characters to fill the role that the blonde one played in the first season. Helped to keep things fresh, if a still very predictable. The story isn't going to blow you away with any new or bold ideas, just another story of bad guys doing bad things for misguided reasons getting turned to good by a bright-eyed protagonist. The dog girl said my favorite line near the end about how to beat the big bad. Something along the lines of, "why can't you just all work together to blow it up already." Like it wasn't obvious to the other characters that that would work. But then they realized, "why don't we just take this giant explosion, and push it somewhere else." Pretty much what they do. So yeah it's a simple story, but it's a complete one, and it ends with a nice flash-forward that looks like it's going to set up a sequel series with a new younger generation. 7/10