It’s over.
Impression
Apologies for the delay. The past few days was my first time preparing the Winter Preview and, as I told Eva, I don’t think I quite appreciated how much time it takes until I had to put one together myself. Anyway. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t expect that match to conclude like it did, but damn. Why did they have to get my hopes up again for a Rinne victory? I suppose this was their way of attempting to placate Rinne fans – by giving her one decisive, fulfilling strike and a moment of (apparent) triumph. All of the hellish training she survived was supposed to come to fruition in that one punch that could apparently even defeat God, and it served to make people like me think that there was still scope for her to turn the tables. And be saved, don’t get me wrong, but also turn the tables. I even thought it was referring to the title of the episode, and as a Rinne fan it really got me super pumped. I think this is far more demonstrative of her true power level – and Harry and the others have confirmed my suspicions from last week that Rinne has not been at her peak condition during this fight.
But at the same time, as a Rinne fan, I want to see her smile protected. And so, and also because the Nanoha franchise is in the business of protecting smiles (no matter how much impromptu dental surgery Fuuka has to suffer as part of the befriending process) the only rational conclusion was a win for Fuuka. We’re firmly back to orthodoxy. I just kind of wish it didn’t happen after that fantastic Rinne punch, because the end result is that it looks like Fuuka can somehow just keep getting up no matter how many times she’s knocked out and no matter how long she’s knocked out for, whereas the instant Rinne gets knocked out by Fuuka, the match is called. And Rinne is known for her physical resilience as well. What relevance does that leave the punch with? Well, it was still important, in that it was supposed to indicate a transition in the way Rinne perceives martial arts as well as some progress in her abilities and techniques, thus leading to her being saved. And maybe it also acknowledged Jill’s efforts to an extent – she may not have been right, but she did something right.
I’ve also started thinking about the tagline to Strike again. I was waiting for it to be like a title drop during one of Fuuka’s lines, actually – she’s supposed to be God and all that, and it feels very biblical for her to solemnly tell Rinne, ‘thou shalt not be afraid, I am with you’. It also now makes a lot more sense than it did during the first few episodes. All that needs to be resolved now is Fuuka and her title match with Einhart. Is Fuuka too tired now? Or will she just keep getting up no matter how many times she’s knocked down by Einhart? Or maybe, was this Einhart’s master plan all along? This entire extra-tournament fight happened at her behest after all, and it just so happens to involve the opponent she’s going up against in the Winter Cup finals, who now just so happens to be very worn out and injured, which she wouldn’t have been otherwise since Vivio dropped out. Now the stage is set for an Einhart victory. What a terrifying little girl.
Finally, Jill was super cute when she was young!
Hmm, I guess there is something biblical going on with all that talk about God’s Strike.
One thing I happened to notice is that the opening is sung by Rinne’s VA and the ending is sung by Fuuka’s VA.
The opening song pretty much explains the gist of the show. This song was really hard to translate, and I’m not sure if I’m happy with it. In Japanese subjects are often omitted so you have to sort of read it from context. Hmm, I actually thought it was from Rinne’s PoV, but it actually makes a ton more sense from Fuuka’s PoV, because the lyrics specifically say “your smile(s)” as Rinne walks down the stairs, which only makes sense from Fuuka’s PoV, and then there’s the whole God Strike thing. It’s kind of weird because Fuuka’s supposed to be the main character, but we switched to Rinne quite a while back.
http://pastebin.com/Fn5wd3yQ
Well, Einhart said the whole point was so Fuuka could focus on their match without any worries or anything. I feel like Einhart should win based on her experience, but that remains to be seen.
Thanks for the translation!
Mm. Interesting. If I hadn’t known that the OP was by Ogura Yui, I would have definitely thought it was a song sung by Fuuka to Rinne. Only Rinne ever lost her smile. I guess it fits in with past Nanoha stuff, in the sense that it’s always been Fate singing the OP and Nanoha the ED (come to think of it, Mizuki Nana hardly seems to ever do EDs). In hindsight it also turned out to be super misleading that the visuals depicted Fuuka and Rinne fighting on the Winter Cup stage, when in reality the real match happened off-planet and completely separate from any tournament context.
With everything taken into account, Einhart should win. I don’t think anyone even cares about the Winter Cup now, though. I’d much rather see Fuuka and Rinne bumping noses and staring deeply into each other’s eyes while holding hands in bed.