Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 1st

The moment I have waited for a long time finally arrived today! I've so been itching to get my hands on the new Nanoha movie for a while now that towards the end of the long wait I was gonna cross the border to insanity and when I did finally get the movie, I looked like this:

[Nice Funny Face].

He he, or maybe not... Oubaa reakushon desu nee?

Anyway, to the actual movie!

Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 1st

Don't stand in my way, fool!

First off I will start with a warning - whatever you do, do NOT piss off 9-year-old girls! They are surprisingly powerful and will kick your ass to the next galaxy with their magical canes and probably fry you in the process. You have been warned.

Ehum...

This movie was surprisingly good. Not that I ever thought it would be bad, I just kinda assumed it would be similar to what recap movies usually are and was mainly just eagerly awaiting to hear Fate (=Nana) speak. It wasn't though, it was a proper movie and a good one at that. Sure, it follows the storyline of the first season of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, but the focus points were a bit different in the movie than what they were in the series.

While the series showed us how Nanoha's new powers affected her personal life and the relationship she had with her family and friends, plus how her new responsibilities made her grow as a person, the movie focused more on Fate's side of the story - It showed us with more detail what had happened in Fate's and her mother's past and the events leading to the current situation. This was a nice idea I thought, because now the series and the movie clearly have a purpose - they both need to exist in order to give us a more complete understanding of what was happening and why. For example, the new focus gave Fate's mother, Precia Testarossa, more depth and even though I would never have believed it possible, it actually even managed to make me feel sympathy towards her albeit her being an evil bitch.

Now for one of my favorite aspects of the movie - the (Nana) music. The "main theme song" of the movie was the ending song, Phantom Minds, by Nana of course. It is a really great and beautiful song, fitting the important theme of strong friendship in the story. I also knew that there would be an insert song by Nana (seriously, can't have Nanoha without an insert song by Nana!), but had completely forgotten what song it was... So it came as a nice surprise that it was actually one of my top favorites: Don't be long. Man that song has a lovely and catchy piano tune and it just had me in a totally blissful state while it played during the movie. Nothing beats listening to such a lovely song AND watching Fate kick ass at the same time! Also, there was another really nice surprise - the opening song of the first Nanoha series, Nana's Innocent Starter, played as an instrumental version in the background during one scene. Epic I say! I think that nicely tied the movie with the first series and I do hope that the Nanoha The Movie 2nd will feature such a cameo by Eternal Blaze, which was the opening song for the second series, Nanoha A's.

Also, I am sure I don't really need to mention this, but the seiyuu did a really good job with the movie. Sadly though, since the movie was quite action-oriented, they didn't get to show off their skills too much (= I didn't get to listen to the lovely Nana speak as much as I would have liked), but it can't be helped. Even so, I think the movie actually brought a bit more emotion into Fate than the series, since from the very beginning she was clearly regretting what she had to do and even whispered a heart-wrenching apology to Nanoha during their first fight. Definitely more fitting in my opinion than how it was in the series, where she was just outright mean in the beginning. Really great job from Nana bringing the emotion across, but that's to be expected! Oh and it still makes me melt when she says her name "Fate Testarossa" due to the similarity to my name at the end there. :') And Yukarin does an amazing job as Nanoha yet again, bringing out the kindness and love Nanoha wants to give Fate and everyone else, yet being fierce when the need arises. Yukarin and Nana, these two really do go so well together.

OH and the panty flashing was nearly non-existent, gasp! :O Thumbs up for that.

And time for one final observation - why is it that whenever someone hugs Fate, they seem to bury their face in her chest? I'm not lying, see for yourself!

[Example 1: Fate x Arf]

[Example 2: Fate x Nanoha]

See? What's up with that? It can't even be because Fate is really tall, because she's not and Arf's way taller than her anyway. There must be a catch! I do admit that I can understand that people would want to bury their heads into the chest of a person who has Nana as their voice... but still slightly... odd? I guess that's one more thing to add to my Nana pick-up line: "Excuse me Nana-san, can I bury my head between your boo... I mean can I hug you please?" If she says yes I shall look like this: 

*drool*