Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS continues to pace itself for the long haul. In other words, we appear to be getting these morsels of plot progression a bit at a time, as well as something like one extended action scene per episode.

Hayate’s new unit, which has been variously translated as “Riot Force 6″ among others, is formally established, and about half of the episode deals with the administrative side of things, like speeches and reports. New named characters mentioned are Griffiths, who appears to know Nanoha and Fate from before and I suspect may be Hayate’s new adjutant or something, and Vice, who appears to be the unit helicopter pilot (and is typically laid-back). Also, said helicopter is apparently somewhat Intelligent, and named Storm Raider. This may be a foreshadowing of Cool Explosions to come. Also, we have Shario “please call me Shari”, who’s probably a glorified lab tech, but in a nice way.

Yeah, cast expansion overload. And that’s not even counting the unnamed (in this episode) extras and bridge bunnies.