Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha

Nanoha Takamachi, an ordinary third-grader who enjoys spending time with her family and friends, rescues an injured ferret that she had dreamed about the night before. The next day, the ferret cries out to her telepathically, asking Nanoha to save him. The ferret reveals himself to be Yuuno Scrya, a mage from another world who is trying to collect the dangerous 21 Jewel Seeds that he accidentally scattered across the world. He enlists Nanoha's help, gifting her the magical wand Raising Heart, and teaches her how to become a powerful mage.

Days later, after reclaiming a few of the Jewel Seeds, another mage appears: Fate Testarossa. Stronger than Nanoha, Fate refuses to divulge her reasons in trying to collect the Jewel Seeds. Nanoha senses a melancholy in her eyes, but Fate refuses to communicate. Directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha is a story about the clash of emotions when goals collide.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Testarossa, Fate Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Takamachi, Nanoha Main

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Scrya, Yuuno Main

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Arf Main

Kuwatani, Natsuko Japanese

Testarossa, Alicia Supporting

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Harlaown, Chrono Supporting

Takahashi, Mikako Japanese

Bannings, Alisa Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Tsukimura, Suzuka Supporting

Shimizu, Ai Japanese

Testarossa, Precia Supporting

Igarashi, Rei Japanese

Harlaown, Lindy Supporting

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Mishima, Akio Producer

Shinbou, Akiyuki Director

Kameyama, Toshiki Sound Director

Kusakawa, Keizou Episode Director

Reviews

Mar 5, 2022

Ringrose

Recommended

I have heard about the Nanoha franchise for many years now, so I checked into it. While I’m not blown away, it is entertaining enough to keep my attention, which is rare for me.

The story essentially follows the adventures of Nanoha becoming a magical girl, collecting the jewel seeds with her animal sidekick, which is standard fare. The plot takes an odd turn when science fiction is thrown into the blender. Yes, Nanoha is not a pure magical girl show.

I happen to be a sucker for sci-fi, so this was a pleasant surprise for me. However, I have to admit this element has ... its drawbacks. It abandons the consistency of a magical girl monster of the week plot.

For another, it diminishes the importance of the Earthling characters, which is unfortunate. However, all the characters are interesting and easy to understand, which is a good point. Nobody is too annoying.. even the main villain is sympathetic to an extent.

While nothing is really egregious, Nanoha is a brief series. And so nothing stands out too much either. I’m aware of the many other seasons. I feel like Nanoha's stakes rise way too fast, and would have benefited from more episodes to develop the story.

Overall, Nanoha is a solid series and is about what I would expect from the beginning of a franchise. I recommend checking it out if you like magical girls or science fiction.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 6, 2025

toitoist

Mixed Feelings

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha was a strange anime to watch. There is a clear disconnect between the tone the series tries to convey and the way it actually develops. The anime attempts to blend elements that, in a way, are designed to appeal directly to the otaku audience, combining the mahou shoujo style with influences from RPGs and cybertechnology.

Right in the first episode, a particular scene stood out as odd to me: Nanoha is having a casual conversation with her family, but the way the sequence is animated — with exaggerated movements and a forced attempt to appear “moe” — gives off an artificial feeling. ... The direction seems overly focused on generating a stylized cuteness, which ends up having the opposite effect.

Throughout the narrative, I had the constant feeling of being guided by the hand, as if the story insisted on telling me exactly what I was supposed to feel. When the creator’s intent becomes too overt — as is often the case in Nanoha — the viewer’s experience becomes rigid. The interaction with the story loses its spontaneity and takes on a contrived tone. Honestly, even though I was interested in the character Fate, I couldn’t empathize with her suffering. This is largely due to the way the anime handles emotions — everything feels overly calculated, as if emotional responses are being imposed on the viewer rather than emerging naturally.

That said, there are still some interesting moments. In certain scenes, Nanoha shows a sense of responsibility regarding her powers, making an effort to avoid causing damage to the city during battles. However, this initial concern fades as the series progresses, giving way to increasingly spectacular confrontations with little awareness of their consequences.

The production has its ups and downs. Visually, I find the anime rather unappealing, even though I enjoy the early 2000s aesthetic to which the character design clearly belongs. Unfortunately, the visual style isn’t enough to make up for the technical limitations that negatively affect immersion.

Lastly, I’d like to address an aspect that bothered me quite a bit: the repeated exposure of panties. I don’t mind scenes with a slightly provocative tone, however, in Lyrical Nanoha, these scenes feel gratuitous and out of place. One particularly striking example involves Fate, whose panties are shown during a moment of emotional distress — which led me to the conclusion that the series adopts an almost pornographic approach.

I use the term “pornographic” here not in the literal sense of explicit sexual content, but in the sense of being overly expository — a visual strategy that manipulates the viewer’s experience through gratuitous imagery, even in emotionally sensitive contexts. In my view, this stylistic choice undermines the sincerity of the narrative and weakens the audience’s emotional engagement with the work.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Sep 17, 2025

rinbeeby

Not Recommended

i wish i could understand what people liked about this show. i was really looking forward to it because of the good reviews and how much praise it received, and i stuck it out til the end in case it would somehow improve, but it didn't. it was especially disappointing because i love the magical girl genre, and the director was also responsible for madoka magica, which i love so much. the fact that it is the same genre and so clearly trying to emulate what madoka magica had just makes it even more glaringly bad. the best thing i can say about this show ... is it has a goated voice cast. my review will contain light spoilers, but nothing that will actually spoil the plot.

if i had to sum it up in a few words, this anime is trying to be way too much, and it doesn't know what it wants to actually be.

at first, i thought it was similar to cardcaptor sakura; a wholesome magical girl series following a nine-year-old girl trying to figure out her powers while still maintaining her social and school life. she even says in the beginning that she refuses to do any magical girl stuff during school hours. i also thought it was interesting that they actually addressed the destruction that her first magical girl battle had, and how nanoha felt bad.

then the panty shots began and did not stop. the transformation scene (which again, involves a literal child) has her clothes disappear, revealing her underwear, which then also disappear; it's just needlessly lewd. then the characters with those huge, pointy boobs came in, and they were bouncing a-plenty. normally this would not bother me, i love huge boobs, but the maturity seemed so out of place in a story about a nine-year-old. the characters constantly have that hentai-style blush. the most egregious part, in my opinion, was during a scene depicting terrible abuse against another nine-year-old character, which is followed immediately by a shot of that same girl in a revealing pose. it's really strange and confusing, especially since these are supposed to be pre-pubescent children.

the character designs are all over the place and make no sense with each other. nanoha's design is cute, but makes no sense alongside the comparatively high-tech weapon and magic she uses. fate's design is completely different and looks jarring next to nanoha, and not in a yin/yang, cool opposites way, but in a "this could be someone from a different show" kind of way. the rest of the characters are either outrageous looking (if they are magical) or completely boring (if they are humans).

every time something interesting happened, it was immediately forgotten. as i mentioned before, in episode one, nanoha cares about her school and does not want to destroy public property, and her siblings expressed concern for her coming home late. then like 6 episodes later, she essentially sets off a nuke and the damage is not addressed at all and she also just like leaves school and her parents & teachers are like "okay cool!" the stakes are constantly low. her friends, which are normally a very important part of magical girl anime, are so unimportant and boring (one is a blatant Tomoyo clone and the other is a watered-down Taiga Aisaka, same voice actor and all) and they only appear in like 3 episodes, and nanoha clearly does not care about them at all. i don't even know why they bothered adding them in.

there is so much more i could say, like how the storyboarding is just insane and strange, or the weird writing that feels out of place and makes no sense, or how the magic system is nonsensical and strange. this show feels lazy and disjointed, and i genuinely could not find any redeeming points. it had so much potential in the first episode but it squandered it all immediately. i'm assuming this was an attempt to make the magical girl genre palatable to boys/men, with all the lasers and minimal romance/relationship-based scenes, but it falls so flat.

tldr: this show is bad. go watch Madoka Magica if you want a unique and dark magical girl series. or watch Cardcaptor Sakura if you want a wholesome magical girl series. Magical Girl Lyrica Nanoha clearly wants to be both, and fails to come close to them in any way.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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