Nanoha StrikerS – Training Montage Of Doom
Posted by DKellis in blatant filler, mahou shoujo lyrical nanoha strikers
One reason I haven't been blogging much of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS lately is because I have yet to find a decent enough raw source which can provide good enough screen captures that can motivate me to actually post them up while watching and rewatching the episode in an effort to summarize it in a remotely interesting manner.
Quite apart from the quality of the raws, the quality of the artwork has also gone down. But that's to be expected. I imagine that come the DVD release, the off-design scenes will be redrawn, or so I hope anyway.
As for the plot, well, I'm not entirely sure if it's even worth a spoiler cut, since very little of significance is revealed. Essentially, we have what is a very short story arc in from episodes 7 to 9 which involves Teana not-really working out her inferiority complex via training and getting blasted. Along the way, we see what fans insist on labelling Dark Nanoha, and a recap of the previous two seasons using footage that the TSAB should have no means of obtaining or reason to retain. And then everything gets better after Teana has a heart-to-heart with Nanoha, while everyone else looks on approvingly.
This is either a case of Out Of Character portrayals, or simply Bad Storytelling. Perhaps both.
In any case, now that the rather embarrassing trio of episodes is behind us, maybe we can get back to some actual plot involving a coherent story and little girls blowing things up. It may still be Bad Storytelling, but at least it hides behind enough flashy explosions and moe~ scenes to be less noticeable. This is not Better or Worse, but simply What I Prefer.
Well, I'd also prefer better art, but I'm resigned to not getting it until the DVD release. So that's another matter.
Also, if anyone is wondering, I do have my own views on the events in the last part of episode 8, as well as its fallout in episode 9, but I'm not really up to having to explain myself over and over again as I did on the AS forums. I've said my piece, and had aforementioned piece repeatedly misunderstood by pretty much everyone, which means that I do need to work on my communication skills a fair bit more.
In other MSLN news, the fanfic I'm technically working on has grown into something that does not quite resemble the Nanohaverse than is strictly canon. This is not so much due to the presence of Original Characters, as much as the utter lack of information on certain aspects of the Nanohaverse; specifically, the Infinite Library, and its organization and structure. Now that Yuuno the Librarian has appeared in StrikerS, I'm not sure if I should just forge ahead with my own interpretations of what the Infinite Library is (influenced quite heavily by Borges's Library of Babel as well as L-space), or wait to get well and truly reamed by new information.
I believe fellow MSLN fanfic writers call it the Ion Canon blast. The imagery is particularly vivid.
Loading ...
Entries (RSS)
Its really sad when a series starts of with excellent animation and then gradually degrades over time.
I'll have to disagree with you. I found those three episodes better than what came before it. I mean sure its more training episodes but with an actual backbone and some character development. How they ended it might've seemed cheesy, atleast now we have a better understanding of some of the characters. Oh and I can see the animation and art quality improving. Episode 5 started this trend of better graphic quality overall.
*Note: The fight scene at the end of episode 8 was excellent and I loved Nanoha's disappointed look, it was such a perfect scene with the music and dialogue. Arguably one of the highlights of StrikerS.
@Danny Choo: We've had it in the first two seasons, so this was not unexpected. The animation seems to get handed to the B-team every other episode.
@Ivy: My objections to the character development was mostly in how they went about doing it. Teana got blasted, okay. She had a heart-to-heart with Nanoha, okay. Cheesy, but technically plausible.
Subaru, who saw her idol blast her best friend and partner while being bound and told to "watch this", was barely touched upon in episode 9, and by the end of it, apparently forgave Nanoha for the apparent "betrayal"… and the show did not give us her own reconciliation scene. It's a loose end which got handwaved away; if time constraints (after the slow pacing of the episodes, no less) were the problem, then don't linger so much on Subaru's anger in episode 8 in the first place.
Hence, Out Of Character, or Bad Storytelling.
Yea, StrikerS has been pretty disappointing, but I think it will pick up during the second half. I mean, there are a lot of cool scenes in the OP that we've yet to see…enough of this training crap >.>
wut i hate most is how slow its moving 9eps in and almost no plot development MSLN/MSLNA>strikers(blehh) & nanoha&fate r too serious, not cute anymore