As I was clearing my hard drive of anime to make room for new series, I came upon Nanoha Strikers, and I realized, I haven’t written an entry on it even though I gave the other two seasons their time. So, here it is.
As a Nanoha fan watching the series through heavy yuri goggles, I certainly felt rather satisfied, except at the end when freaking Yuuno shows up with Nanoha, but I just kind of block that out. Definitely though, there is a lot of subtext if you look for it. The subtext almost seems a little blatant in certain cases. Nanoha and Fate share a bed and raise a Vivio together. She even calls them Nanoha Mama and Fate Mama. Moreover, there’s probably some action going on between Subaru and Tea, but I don’t really care much about that.
Best friends… yea right I’m sure.
I would’ve liked a lot more Nanoha and the old gang though. Arisa and Suzuka completely disappeared and Arf is reduced to a small kid… Replacing them are a bunch of new characters. To be fair, I like the development on all the main new characters and I thought the series has a nice pacing in introducing them. However, as the series is Mahou Shoujo Lyrical NANOHA, I definitely wanted more Nanoha around. I also wanted to see Fate around a lot more too because she is the reason I started watching this. Because of this, and the fact that Yuuno’s still alive and around, Strikers ended up leaving a rather bitter taste.
Hayate barely got to do anything besides talking… I wanted to see her more. On a different note, Fate’s costume was much cuter before when she wore black.
Check out NanoFate.
That’s a really awesome site for some Nanoha x Fate actions.
Fate is so cute whit Nanoha.Ilove it.
I like Fate a lot too, and even more with Nanoha.
“except at the end when freaking Yuuno shows up with Nanoha”
Dammit, I felt the same way… I find that many NanoFate fans tend to ignore this little tidbit. Vivio was just way too adorable! “Fate-mama” just killed me XD I’m glad to see Nanoha and Fate as adults in StrikerS. The first two seasons were very hard for me to see anything as beyond a friendship between NanoFate.
@TheFatherCat: Well for me, that whole bit with Vivio having two mamas was enough to justify NanoFate. That tidbit at the end with Yuuno can be written off easily as either a friendship thing or simply a one-sided. Of course, all of this is through a heavy yuri lens.
Heh, this might be an older blog, but I only just recently discovered this anime/manga and was curious about a few things. XD
So… Despite how close the two are, it’s never actually stated that they’re together? Because it definitely seems that way from the AMVs I’ve watched on YouTube. =P
“except at the end when freaking Yuuno shows up with Nanoha” – Mind spoiling this part? What do you mean by that exactly?
And aren’t the mangas for this show quite different? Don’t they actually display the two as a couple?
Sorry for the barrage of questions. ^^; Take your time answering, as I know you can be quite busy. It’s just, I’m EXTREMELY picky about the yuri that I watch/read. I always do research before I get into one, and avoid them if there’s any level of unhappiness at the end or anything else that’s unsatisfactory. That’s just how I am. x3
@SparkyTheGryphon: I haven’t checked out this post in so long and I don’t think anyone has. This comment made my day. ^ ^
Anyways, in the actual series, their yuri relationship is not explicitly portrayed. They could really just be best friends, but I like my (and the general community’s) interpretation.
The ending with Yuuno seems to perhaps suggest a fatherly role that he plays in raising Vivio, but my memories are not so good…
I have not read the manga for this show, but I don’t think there are any official works that actually display them as a couple. It might be implied, it might be subtle, but nothing that definitively shows it. They really could just be very good friends.
I first got into Nanoha simply so I could understand the mass amount of yuri doujins out there featuring this pair, but I really enjoyed it. There are a few moments in the anime that really does suggest yuri, but no kisses and no romantic confessions to seal the deal.
Aw, well I’m glad. I was actually afraid you’d think it odd of me to be going through your old blogs. x3 I appreciate the reply. =)
Well, although it’s not technically yuri, I’ll definitely be checking this out. I always have my yuri goggles on anyways. (: And Nanoha/Fate are quite the adorable characters.
Ah, so what I’m reading must be fan manga. Tokoharu fan manga, to be precise. The art is so good, I had actually mistakened it to be the real thing. x)
@SparkyTheGryphon: There are a lot of fan doujins out there… This is one of the most popular pairs among yuri doujin circles. For me, that reason alone was enough to watch an already very yuri inclined series.
I wouldnt worry about yuuno. He’s just Nanoha’s beard.
Hahahaha, indeed, andy. ^ ^