Lyrical Nanoha

About

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (魔法少女リリカルなのは Mahō Shōjo Ririkaru Nanoha) is a Japanese multimedia franchise that encompasses five anime television series, three theatrical adaptations, multiple manga and Drama CD adaptations, as well as figures and video games. It began in 2004 with the original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha anime, itself originally being an alternate universe spin-off of the Triangle Heart series, and is on-going to date.^[1]

The franchise is praised for its more serious and combat-oriented take on the magical girl genre compared to other similar series. Along with Pretty Cure, another franchise that began around the same time, Lyrical Nanoha is considered a major stepping stone in the magical girl genre, bridging the gap between the cuter character-based storylines of Cardcaptor Sakura or Sailor Moon and the mature psychological drama of Madoka Magica.

Premise

The series is named after its protagonist Nanoha Takamachi, a 9-year old schoolgirl in modern-day Japan, who is swept into a conflict between extra-dimensional powers vying for control over magical artifacts they had discovered on Earth. Nanoha herself is revealed to have tremendous magical power in her own right, and in later installments of the series, leaves Earth altogether to pursue a magical career in the Time-Space Administration Bureau.^[2]

Beginning in the third season, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, Nanoha has a career as a 19-year-old magical fighter and combat instructor in the TSAB, becoming a rare example of an "adult magical girl" in anime. As of the most recent installment in the franchise, the Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force manga, Nanoha is 25 years old and overseeing the development of future magical girls. This includes her adoptive daughter Vivio, who has also become a primary main character of the franchise since her debut in StrikerS.

History

The series began with the original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha anime in 2004. Nanoha becomes a magical girl after meeting Yuuno, who came from another world to recover powerful artifacts called Jewel Seeds, and helps him recover the seeds. During her quest, she meets Fate Testarossa, a girl the same age as Nanoha who is also trying to recover the jewel seeds for her mother (the antagonist of the series). The two do battle, and eventually team up (with help from the Time-Space Administration Bureau) to defeat Fate's mother and safely secure the jewel seeds. Fate would remain a main character throughout the rest of the franchise, becoming Nanoha's long-time partner and (at least, as many fans speculate) love interest.

In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's (2005), Nanoha and Fate encounter the "Wolkenritter", four magic knights attempting to steal magical power to save Hayate Yagami, a young girl who had unwittingly become the "master" of a powerful and evil artifact called the Book of Darkness. The Book later awakens its full power and wreaks havoc until Nanoha, Fate, Hayate, and the Wolkenritter battle it together to destroy it once and for all.

In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS (2007), which takes place about a decade after the events of the original series and A's, the group has formed a military force known as "Riot Force 6" as part of the TSAB, responding to dimensional threats across many worlds and training the next generation of mages. When the supervillain Dr. Jail Scaglietti threatens a terrorist attack using an army of combat cyborgs that he helped develop, Riot Force 6 works to defeat Scaglietti and thwart his plans. This series introduces many new characters to the franchise, including Vivio, a young girl with incredible power that Scaglietti tries to use for his plans.

In Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid (2015), Vivio becomes the main character of the story, with Nanoha and Fate (as Vivio's adorable and loving mothers) taking care of her and many other characters from StrikerS returning in minor roles. Vivio meets a girl her age named Einhart Stratos, whom she battles with, eventually befriends, and begins training with for a magical martial arts tournament.

A spin-off to this series, ViVid Strike! (2016), continues this story, with the roles of many of the original series characters (including Nanoha herself, as suggested by the removal of her name from the title) diminished. Nanoha's story continues separately with the Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force manga, which is currently ongoing and has yet to be adapted into an anime. The franchise also has three feature-length animated films, with a fourth announced: The first two are alternate re-tellings of the original Nanoha series and A's, respectively, while Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Reflection (2017) is an all new story that takes place between the events of A's and StrikerS. This movie and its planned sequel, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Detonation (2018), also feature some characters and elements introduced in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable video games that were released for the PSP.

Reception

The Lyrical Nanoha series has received widespread acclaim from fans and critics, being cited as a major breakthrough in the magical girl genre. The incredibly-animated battle scenes, unique (for the magical girl genre) story and weaponry, and more mature themes (compared to earlier magical girls shows) are considered strong points of the series. All seasons of the show except ViVid have a user rating above 7.25 on MyAnimeList, with A's having the highest score (8.07) out of all of them.^[3]

The show is also popular with fans of the yuri genre, as the franchise features many female characters and various friendly relationships between them. In particular, Nanoha and Fate's relationship is nearly considered canon, with even their voice actors (Yukari Tamura and Nana Mizuki, respectively) alluding to the two potentially being married despite the official anime and manga never confirming anything close to a serious romantic relationship.

Online Presence

Discussions regarding the series can be found on several sites such as MyAnimeList, Anime News Network, 4chan, Tumblr, and various subreddits dedicated to the franchise. Due to the franchise not being dubbed in English beyond the first two seasons, and the third season not even being licensed for streaming outside of Japan until 2016, it does not have as much popularity outside of Japan as other magical girl franchises such as Sailor Moon and Madoka Magica. However, it remains extremely popular in Japan, and the theatrical release of Nanoha Reflection in the United States and Canada may help bolster its reputation in the west. Currently (as of March 2018) the only legal method to watch the franchise online outside of Japan is on Amazon Video, which has the first three anime series as well as ViVid Strike, but lacks ViVid or any of the movies.^[4]

On Deviantart, searching the keyword "nanoha" yields more than 8,600 results as of the beginning of 2018,^[5] while searching the keyword "リリカルなのは" (Lyrical Nanoha in Japanese) on Pixiv yields more than 37,700 results.^[6] The series is also a very popular target of NSFW artwork and hentai doujins, having the 6th-most doujins of any anime/game franchise on one of the most popular hentai manga websites, which shall remain unnamed.

Associated Memes

Befriending

"Befriending" is a popular term in the Lyrical Nanoha fanbase, referring to the use of (often very excessive) force as a means of showing your beliefs and turning enemies to your side. Fans noticed how the titular character, Nanoha Takamachi, seems to make almost all of her friends after engaging in some sort of fight or battle with them, and theorized that the magical beatings Nanoha delivers are how she "befriends" her opponents. Some fans joke that how much the girls come to like Nanoha is directly proportional to how much Nanoha beats the crap out of them.

The popularity of this idea has led to TV Tropes using Lyrical Nanoha as the cover image for their "Defeat Means Friendship" trope page,^[7] the series being mentioned in the Urban Dictionary definition for the term "befriend",^[8] and lots of fan-made artworks and memes.

White Devil

"White Devil" is a fan-given nickname for Nanoha Takamachi, the titular main character of the franchise, inspired by a scene in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's where Nanoha takes part in a brutal battle against Vita of the Wolkenritter knights. In the scene, Vita asks Nanoha if she's a devil, and Nanoha responds, in heavy contrast to her normally calm and peaceful demeanor, by saying "Fine, I'll be the devil… I'll just use my hellish tools to make you listen!"

Nanoha shows similar moments of using excessive force to "befriend" her opponents in StrikerS as well, leading some fans exaggerate this personality trait as a hidden bloodlust and penchant for violence rather than a necessary act to get the opponent to listen to reason. The fan-given title of "The TSAB's White Devil" affectionately borrows from Amuro Ray and his RX-78-2 Gundam in the Gundam franchise, both of which are also referred to in-universe as "The Federation's White Devil". Nanoha's magical girl outfit also bears a visual resemblance to the RX-78-2, and the general use of beam weaponry in the Lyrical Nanoha franchise also brings many comparisons to Gundam.

Many fan-made artworks and memes have been made depicting Nanoha this way, often with her standing in a wave of flames, having a crazed look in her eyes, or her (and/or her weapon, Raising Heart) being stained with blood.

Search Interest

External References

^[1] wikipedia Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (series) – Wikipedia

^[2] Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Wiki Nanoha Takamachi | Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia

^[3] MyAnimeList.net Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's) – MyAnimeList.net

^[4] amazon Amazon.com: Magical Girl Lyrical NANOHA

^[5] DeviantArt Browse Newest | DeviantArt

^[6] pixiv リリカルなのはの画像投稿作品の検索 [pixiv]

^[7] TV Tropes Defeat Means Friendship – TV Tropes

^[8] Urban Dictionary Urban Dictionary: Befriend