And it begins!
Impression
Asteion is super cute. I reacted just like Einhart did. I mean, look at him!
He even meows! I knew Hayate would deliver.
It was an episode that went by quickly, but also one in which nothing too significant happened – it’ll serve as a nice transition between the girls’ special training and the ‘proper’, more momentous match-ups of the tournament. All the exciting ones have yet to come! Team Nakajima really do have a lot of rivals, and their work is practically cut out for them – we were introduced to another one when Vivio sparred with Chantez, a cute girl at the Saint Church whom I can’t remember a whole lot about from the manga. It was never really focused on before, but it’s interesting how both Vivio and Einhart have support-type intelligent devices instead of what we’ve been used to so far throughout past entries in the Nanoha franchise, which have been armament-type – devices that produce or turn into a weapon of some sort. Sacred Heart instead provides boosts such as defensive support, allowing Vivio to take on bladed weapons with her bare fists – and presumably, it helps her with magic output and sustaining her Adult Mode as well. It’s a device very much suited to Strike Arts and hand-to-hand combat, which is perfect as it’s exactly what she intends to use it for.
Miura continues to come off as being completely different to how I’d imagined her – it’s cute that she’s bashful and soft-spoken, but I can’t get my tomboyish image of her manga counterpart out of my mind. It’s cool that she’s managed to befriend Vivio so quickly, and the other implication of the term ‘befriend’ in this series will probably happen soon too – they’ve made it very clear that Vivio and Miura will be major rivals, and both Zafira and Nove seem to think that it’s a destined match-up of sorts. Miura must certainly be just as strong, if not stronger than Vivio, purely by virtue of having been trained under the Yagami school – it’ll be an amazing fight when it happens. For now though, they’re still all giddy at winning their first official matches! It’s at times like this that I’m reminded of how, in the end, they’re just kids trying their best in a sports tournament. And that’s not a bad thing – Vivio and Einhart in particular deserve every minute of their childhoods, in light of their troubled pasts. Although sometimes I do miss how philosophical eight-year old Nanoha was. She can understand bunnies now, it’s all good.
Eh, Nanoha was a weird child. What sort of nine-year-old sits around with a deep-seated underlying angst about “I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life!”? Girl was unnatural (and we love her for it).
Most of these girls deserve the chance to make the most of what they can grasp of their childhoods. Vivio, Einhart, Lutecia, Chantez, and definitely Sieglinde have all gone through enough rough times already. They’ve earned the right to just try to enjoy themselves here and to still be children as long as they can.
By the way, speaking of Sieg (and before I watch Episode 9):
[spoiler] Sieg is in the same block as Einhart is, right? So when Nove was letting the girls know of the notable fighters they’ll be up against (like letting Rio know Harry was in her block) she specifically left out mentioning Sieg? I can definitely understand why she’d do that, but it’s interesting nonetheless. [/spoiler]
Yes, she’s there, and Nove made certain to mention that in the manga. I don’t know why the anime cut it out… along with the many many many many other things they cut out of this episode.