Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid Episode 9

“I’ll put everything I have into this strike.” 

Impression

In a way, I’m actually glad to have forgotten so much of ViVid. I’m watching these matches as if it’s the first time I’m seeing them – I remember some of the more momentous ones up ahead, but I honestly had no recollection of Micaiah vs Miura. And wow, what a match it was. Micaiah had just landed a clean hit. And I suddenly remembered Miura’s match against a certain someone else, and thought: if she goes up against that person later on, then she must have won here… but how?

It’s a tournament arc that gives off a sports manga-style feeling, which I think a lot of tournament arcs do – where each move has a cool name, everyone is fighting passionately with something on the line, and you’re conflicted over who to root for. Often, it’s the underdog, and I think this was very much the case here – even though I would have been perfectly okay with Mica winning, as that’s what I expected to begin with. It was just really cool to see a plucky Miura stand her ground and turn the tables to defeat an opponent who has a lot more experience and a lot more base power, all whilst having hardly any life points remaining. In fact, most fighters would have given up after that first strike – not only because of the life point difference, but also because of Micaiah’s pedigree. I mean, she splits buses at scrapyards to test her skill! I definitely identify as a Miura fan now, that entire fight was awesome. It was funny that it was Breaker-type magic that helped her secure the win though. It’s like the guaranteed ‘comeback victory’ move in the Nanohaverse!

As for the other match – I heard Els, and I immediately thought Arai Satomi. I was right! And when you add in the armband and fixation on justice, the similarities to Shirai Kuroko are frightening. Her match with Harry was flashy, but its conclusion matches up with what my prediction would have been on paper – a win for Harry. I feel like a support mage focusing on binds lacks the offensive power needed to progress far in the elite bracket – Els in fact did really well in damaging Harry as much as she did. I was also glad they took the time to explain crash emulate, by the way – I was worried when it randomly appeared without warning at first. It’s basically a pain simulator that’s designed to make things more realistic, given that people do end up impaired in some form when they take damage in real life. I’ve always found it kind of brutal, but these girls really have the willpower to tough it out – a burning desire to defeat my rival would not be at the forefront of my mind when all the damage I’ve sustained is being emulated as a concussion.

Finally, can I just say that Black Rock Shooter-chan hiding behind her popcorn bucket was too cute. It was actually so hard to believe that Sieg was the inter-dimensional champion up until her first fight, because at all other times this girl is just a bundle of adorable. But she is the real deal, and everyone around her is aware of that – all of them have Sieg as their ultimate goal, from Einhart to Victor to Harry. If there’s anyone that’ll deliver in one of these matches, it’ll be her.