“Hey Garyuu, sometimes I even scare myself.” – Lutecia Alpine 2015
Impression
Upon realizing that the title of this week’s episode was ‘Brand New Heart’, I immediately thought of Illya.
Please send help.
On a more related note, Lutecia has blossomed since we last saw her in StrikerS. It’s a testament to how peaceful things have become that Garyuu now spends his days gathering food. Take Lutecia far away from Scaglietti, replace him with her mother and give her the care and attention a child should have, and look what happens. A cold loli-Rider to a happy and cheerful ojou-sama. It’s amazing how much of a change she’s gone through – although to be fair, taking anyone away from Scaglietti must result in some positive improvement. I didn’t actually mind the old Lutecia, as sad as it was to see her being exploited, but the way she is now is so incredibly heart-warming. It’s another befriending success story – although it was Riot Force Six who took care of the beating up, while Vivio and her friends instead probably contributed to getting her out of her shell. I also want her to be my estate agent! She can advertise my property any day.
Erio looks manlier now. And Caro is as small as ever! She should have been at the pool with the kids. The lesson Einhart learned today was that training isn’t everything – it’s important, but there’s more to life than that. It’s understandably difficult since she hasn’t been focused on anything but for the majority of her life so far, but it’s also important to have fun, and sometimes you can combine the two together like they did at the pool. Einhart is slowly opening up. Vivio’s doing quite well with making friends!
Of course, for Nanoha standards this isn’t real training at all. I was hoping we’d get to see the very start of it at least, but their proper training regimen will begin next week, mock battles and all! As this is primarily a spin-off about Vivio and her friends, this will be one of the very few times we get to see the original characters remind us of what they’ve got! It’s practically a reunion for Riot Force Six, sadly minus Hayate and the Wolkenritter.
I’m always delighted by super-happy Lulu. It feels like a good sign that she’s truly recovering from what happened to her.
Next week… Proceeding chronologically next week we should spend some time getting a history lesson, then fixing a few misconceptions Einhart may have held about Vivio’s “kind and gentle” mothers, and then some fun times in the onsen. I’m not sure if they’ll get further than that: it really depends on how long they spend on each part.
I’m sure they’re still kind and gentle… most of the time! They’ve mellowed out a lot, at least. I’m most looking forward to the final mock battle at the end – that and Lutecia are my clearest memories of this arc, and everything else is rather fuzzy!