The Stars and Lightning Squads deploy with Nanoha and Fate doing the air superiority and combat air patrol stuff while the rookies assault the Gadgets in the runaway train. As much as I prefer MOAR old team, this episode was quite effective in raising my sympathy level towards Caro as a character. Would have been even more pleased if she, like her non-blood-related brother, had been spared the nekkid transformation scene but I suppose the lolicon outcry could have forced Seven Arcs to join GAINAX and KyoAni in replacing another director mid-stream.
I really like the superfluous armour elements in the barrier jackets - something that I had previously noted about the Belka Knights. Fate’s gauntlet and under-plating got my thumbs up.
Of course, thigh-highs and mini-skirt are the necessary borders of the absolute territory.
I really like Fate’s new barrier jacket a lot. It’s stylish and fits her current status as an experienced military enforcer. Nanoha’s is still very much like the old one but feels a tad childish for a 19 year old maiden… The Fate-flying POV was pretty cool too.
HAKEN SABER! Looked like a baseball pitch. Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised if there would be scary Feito fanboys camped on the right to snap some photos of Feito pantsu.
Damn, that was fast, furious and in their face. That fighter plane-type gadget got sliced by Bardiche at least three times as Fate passed by in a flash. Reminds me of all those old wuxia movies when the hero compares his opponents’ attacks as ‘only fit to chop wood, let me show you how fast a killing blow should be!’
That’s some serious ass there. :D~~ And I think the breast jiggle was needed to remind us that Subaru is not a trap. She still does have the boy moé element though.
The giant robot comparison is a long-running joke in the Nanoha franchise - after all, it may be called a shoujo show but there’s no doubt that this has really strong shounen elements. Subaru shows herself as a worthy successor to the satirical tradition. LOL I don’t think this series takes itself that seriously at all and plays to those points so unabashedly that it becomes quite a bit of ironic fun.
[BTW I didn't make the Gundam SEED Destiny Justice and Freedom comparison with that scene from the Nanoha first season OP. The screencaps for Subaru comparison are from the first episode of Kannazuki no Miko. Souma still irritates me after all this time - besides throwing a rock, I also wanted to shout 'Shaddup you twat!' ;) ]
If upping Subaru’s charm is what this henshin scene was intended for, I’ve been totally manipulated like putty in the studio’s hands. Everything about her, the roller blades, the boy shorts and sports top, white ribbon head-band, poses were all so over the top but they fit so well with Subaru’s hyper-genki nature which manages to carry off the whole thing.
Tiia’s barrier jacket scored high on my list. Her transformation sequence reminded me a bit of Fate’s in A’s when the Belka cartridge system was just installed - with Fate being reflected against Bardiche at the start. Really like her little white jacket top with the badge and blue trimming, the brown cross-belt and X-buckle was a nice touch to her gunslinger style, zettai ryouiki is always good especially with tsundere. Slight question about her Two Hand mode - she hasn’t trained with two guns before. Shooting two weapons is exponentially more difficult than one because it’s not a question of being ambidextrous with your hands but, much more importantly, being able to sight with both eyes separately (I think!). I remember guys in my platoon who were left-handed but had right-master eye and vice versa. Is there even such a thing as having both eyes with master eye capability like the way ambidextrous people can use both left and right hands equally well???
LOL at how Subaru was admiring her barrier jacket. She must be feeling another step closer to her heroine Nanoha.
S.I.S.C.O.N. anyone?
Caro’s back history made me think that she must be really glad to be part of the team. She can be with her beloved mom figure (Fate) and her kind NBR niichan (Erio) as well as friends and team-mates who value her powers rather than fear or look down on them. Fate exuded almost Belldandy class kindness - the scarf scene was so sweet. It’s a simple act that be so moé - think Mikuru putting her scarf on Kyon in Someday in the Rain. And Nanoha was like a mind-reader, assuaging the exact things that Caro was worried about, I definitely won’t foresee any objections from Caro to having Nanoha as her other mom. ;) Ah, I can just imagine it already - both brides with Caro and Erio carrying the trains of their respective gowns. LOL
Hayate needs some white gloves and reflective glasses and to communicate with TSAB High Command in darkened rooms with SOUND ONLY monoliths. Is this whole thing just a setup to release their powers so that the trio can wreck merry devastation far, wide and freely? :P
The bad guy is apparently an animeblogger who has three side-by-side monitors to do his screencapping. I am so envious!
Those comparison caps are great!!! I’m a fan of the three screencap above text style as well =D.
her kind NBR niichan (Erio)
You mean her kind jiichan, amirite?
Since Elio is adopted by LINDY, and Caro’s technically by Fate.
Is there really anybasis to call Nanoha “shoujo”? The manga runs in Megami, and the elements of service place it firmly, clearly in the shounen worldview. This is not an anime or manga created by a woman for an audience of girls.
It might be CCS informed, but I can’t see anyway to think of it as a shoujo anything.
Cheers,
Erica
Hungry for Yuri? Have some Okazu!
http://okazu.blogspot.com
OOH…
There is gonna be a Fate fan party. the venue and time will soon be posted…Watch out for it…
Anyway…The Gundam comparisons for Nanoha and Fate was one of my favs…I like Nanoha’s eyes in that. Fate was ’smitten’ in that instant…
Those camp fanboys you were talking about, they do exist and I am a member….I saw a vision that day that I will never forget…
We all spent days in the hospital on transfusions…
Sigh….
Life is good.
Nanoha and Fate were so co-ordinated I was shaking….
Subarashiii…They put Puricura’s to shame….
So, who’s going to tell Teanna that two-gun mojo never works?
Kabitzin, you shouldn’t give away your identity as the series big boss villain so easily! :P
Nighty, oh - I’m under the impression that Erio is adopted by Fate rather than Lindy. Haven’t seen anything on the Nanoha website or Starting Stars manga that says either way. Would really appreciate it if you could point me to your source.
Erica, nope - no basis at all. Just having the word ’shoujo’ in the title and an all-girl starring cast makes the comparison inevitable though. LOL
Demon Eyes, great to see the Feito fanboys loving her current look. The ones who really scare me are those who say that she should have kept her old barrier jacket and, ohbytheway, shouldn’t grow up at all. 0_o
Nathan, personally, I’d never tell a well-armed lady that her mojo doesn’t work. Revy from Black Lagoon too. ;)
Lindy being Erio’s true foster parent (on paper) was stated in the “A’s to StrikerS” prequel manga. This was because Fate was too young to qualify (which is ironic in a society that actively recruits child soldiers… from the age of 9, and maybe even younger) as she was only 15 or so at that time.
For all intents and purposes though, Fate is the “true” foster parent. Legally though, this means that Erio is Caro’s uncle. ^^;
Cheers.
Actually, I’m more curious as to why you guys think Fate adopted Carol?
Lindy adopted Erio, that much is comfirmed for “A’s to StrikerS”, so WHERE did it say that Fate adopted Carol?
Skane, thanks. [A's to Strikers Phase 03, 14/p.138]
Chaos2Frozen, you’re right, not much basis at all but it’s so irresistable - there is so much comedy gold that can be mined from fan speculation… MILFate, Caro x Elio siscon do-ra-ma etc etc.
I recall seeing it mentioned somewhere - could be Triad’s now-defunct translation of the official site.
Ya gotta wonder about the cases Midchildan civil law has to deal with though. The Lindy-Fate-Erio mess (I presume Erio’s legal guardianship was transferred to Fate once she became eligible age-wise) would just have been from the *simple* end; the potential complications involving familiars, sentient magical entities, and weird stuff like the four immortal Velka knights bonded to the Book of Darkness just boggle the mind…
The faster you are revealed as a “villain” the faster you have a heart-to-heart battle of true feelings before joining the good guys and getting your own
haremsquad.@Zyl
“There can only be one (siscon)…!” :p
@Watchman
As far as I know, the manga only describes Fate as her guardian, there’s nothing about adoption.
I couldn’t find the word ‘adopted’ on the character page of the official site… And I cross check it with Fate and Chrono, so I know what ‘adopt’ looks like in japanese.
Well, yeah, the manga scanlation I have has Fate mention that she’s Erio’s “guardian” while Lindy is his “legal guardian” - given the timeframe involved, this would logically be due to Fate not yet being old enough to be eligible for someone’s legal guardianship.
As for Caro, while her exact circumstances are a bit obscure Fate simply having adopted her would be about the most *logical* situation.
You gotta wonder if some parts of the Midchildan military brass weren’t a little worried over just *how* many members of a single family there now are associated with this new special unit, though. The fact that one of the authority-holders for temporarily annulling the top mages’ limiters, Adm. Chrono, just so happens to be the older adoptive brother of one of the aforementioned mages alone ought to have some folks’ alarm bells ringing…
I came after watching Fate and Caro’s transformation.