I've actually had this movie for a while, but since I recently decided to re-watch it, I figured I'd say a few things about my opinion of it. Surprisingly for a Nanoha movie (since I really like that franchise in general), a lot of what I have to say isn't positive.
The general outline of the movie is largely similar to a lot of other magical girl anime and to previous Nanoha animes: supernatural threat targets main characters and/or everyone around them, requiring the main characters to fight to save everyone. While that's not bad in and of itself, the movie is too similar to the plot of some of the older Nanoha movies to really impress existing fans of the series; if I wanted to watch Nanoha A's again, I'd do so, not get a whole new movie.
If it were something that could appeal to people who weren't already fans of the series, that problem might be disappointing but acceptable. However, I think anyone who didn't already know who all these people are would rapidly end up quite confused by the relationships between all the characters, and the references to previous funny or dramatic moments in the series would go completely past them. In the end, I don't think it'd work for new fans any more than for old ones; they could also get more out of just watching previous entries in the series as well.
It doesn't help that the plot is a bit confusing and unfinished in general. That's somewhat to be expected when you're watching part one of a two-part series, and it's still possible to draw some interesting conclusions about what's probably going on or why these people are doing these things. And watching the main characters struggle to figure it out along with us is part of the fun, certainly... but it'd be nice to actually have the details revealed in a proper conclusion. I suppose the next movie could pick up where this one left off and manage to confirm all of those details and tie everything off in a way that makes everything awesome. But I have a little trouble seeing the next movie as anything other than one long fight scene with lots of awkward flashbacks, and that doesn't seem like a good sign to me.
Mind you, it is still a Nanoha movie. There's lots of cute anime girls throwing absurdly powerful spells back and forth, each major character gets time to show off their most powerful magic, and we get to ask ourselves whether the villains' good intentions justify their actions (well, for some of them, not all). It's not bad when all is said and done. But it's still kind of unsatisfying.
No comments:
Post a Comment