Дани Даркблейд, вредный полугоблин (ака Ал103)
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читать дальшеUldihaa Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:07 am
A second point of divergence for me was the combat. While the first season is fairly standard magic-girl combat (with the extreme exception of the final Nanoha/Fate battle), the other seasons' battles are much more shonen-like than I would expect in a magic-girl show. It's not just who has the more powerful attack (though there is quite a bit of that), but who uses their spells (and they are spells, not just magical attacks) to the best effect that determines who wins. There are actually some tactics used is these battles! The best example I can think of is actually the previously mentioned Nanoha/Fate battle. You can actually watch that fight and see where each made both good and bad tactical decisions.
Another point is the characters, particularly Nanoha. She actually trains herself, without any prodding from the outside. She actually wants to improve! The very first episode of the second season has a scene showing her practicing her magic, without resorting to the potential 'crutch' that her Device could become.
Heaven's Deamon Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:18 am
One of the things I like about Nanoha that hasn't been mentioned is that it doesn't stuff background events down your throat. It establishes that things like the schooling, or even the jewel seed battles from the first season, happen and happen regurally, and then moves on only going back to them if there is some importance, such as Arisa's outburst when Nanoha won't talk about her problems, or when Fate first appears. Similarly, The training is a background matter, it doesn't show the training, but it happens, and they improve from it.
Uldihaa Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:33 pm
What impressed me about the battles in Nanoha wasn't so much the power displayed, but the tactics that maximized that power. Which is something I've found to be sadly lacking in magical girl shows (or shonen shows, for that matter) where it seems raw willpower gives one the ability to win no matter how out-classed.
Watch, and study, the final fight between Nanoha and Fate. That fight was as much about good tactics as it was about power, perhaps even more about the tactics than anything else. If you asked any fighter pilot, they'd tell you that the one that has the altitude has the advantage in a dogfight. Nanoha, however, deliberately chooses to position herself below Fate; she goes on to prove that those fighter pilots can be wrong. She then does something I've only ever seen the 'bad guys' do; that is, she fires off her attack, and then moves to immediately reposition herself and readies another attack rather than standing there expecting her first attack to have won her the fight (and also then didn't stand there looking shocked when it didn't work). From what I can tell, she expected Fate to either evade or block her attack, so was ready for a follow up attack when it happened. When Fate then responded by deflecting and dodging that attack and following up with a melee strike, Nanoha not only wasn't surprised, but she used that opportunity to use her ability to control her magic bolts after firing them to attack Fate from behind. While Fate was blocking this newest attack, Nanoha flew up, then executed a diving melee attack.
This battle also had times when the advantage switched between the two. Sometimes Nanoha was winning, sometimes Fate was winning. When you get right down to it, it wasn't even a difference in power (or 'guts' or will to win or whatever you want to call it) that determined the winner, but who made the biggest mistake first is the one that would lose. And that is exactly what happened; Fate underestimated Nanoha's ingenuity and skill, so she put most of her remaining power into her Photon Lacer Phalanx Shift, leaving her with very little strength left to fight if it didn't work. When it didn't (due to Nanoha dumping power into her Barrier Jacket I believe) it gave Nanoha all the time she needed to finish the fight. First by throughly wearing Fate out with a Divine Buster, then finishing the fight with her Starlight Breaker (note that once again Nanoha moved immediately to preparing another attack after the Divine Buster).
Again, for me, it was the skillful use of power that impressed me, not the raw power itself. If I had to pick which side would win an unbiased fight between the Sailor Senshi and Nanoha/Fate/Hayate/the Knights, I would put my money on Nanoha and company; not because of raw power, but because they've been shown to actually use their power much more effectively than the Sailor Senshi. Sure, the Senshi have Moon and Saturn, but both never actually use that power until they have absolutely no other choice; in a 'normal' fight, both are barely effective; at least until the end of the fight (except Saturn in a defensive role). And before anyone gets all upset, I'm not saying that the Senshi are terrible fighters, only that I believe Nanoha and company are better fighters. Just recall that the Sailors are usually very guilty of that stand-there-and-look-surprised-when-the-first-attack-to-land-fails-to-defeat-the-enemy sin. They also tend to miss a great deal, and then also end up standing there looking surprised when that happens.
Tactics is what made Nanoha stand out for me.
Uldihaa Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:40 pm
Oh, there is power behind the attacks, but that's often true of a lot of shows. It's just the fact that there is skill shown that I enjoyed. There was also a lot less 'I'll win because my heart is pure' and/or 'I'll win because I just can't let myself lose' kinda thing going on (though there is some of that). Really, how many shows are there where the 'good guys' have another attack ready to fire and/or have moved to a new position after the fireworks from their last attack have faded? I enjoyed the power seen, but I enjoyed the combination of power and skill a whole lot more.
Oh, and Quatro was actually 'gifted' with a Divine Buster boosted by the Blaster system; a Blaster Level 3 to be precise. Still, that bit also showed a nice blend of brains and brawn, since Nanoha had launched a searching spell before she ever found Vivio and used it to target Quatro. Come to think of it, I believe that was why the fight lasted so long was because Nanoha was buying time for her spell to find the seriously disturbed cyborg; or at least the central control center.
It just seems to me that tactics play a big and very welcomely refreshing role in Nanoha. Something a lot of shows would have benefited from.
Comartemis Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:24 pm
Now that, my friends, is what I call tactical genius. Nanoha's not buying time, she's pretending to be fighting desperately to keep Quattro from thinking she's in any trouble right up until her Xanatos Gambit pays off. Then she almost casually restricts Vivio's movements and takes down Quattro before befriending Vivio back into being her little girl.
That's Epic with a capital E.
Uldihaa Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:39 pm
We call Nanoha a magical girl show, but I think all of us agree that isn't a very accurate description. Maybe Nanoha would be better described as a new type of sub-genre, or spin-off genre; similar to the way the Real Robot genre spun-off from the Super Robot genre. A more descriptive name might be, as Claymade pointed out, the Professional Magical Girl sub-genre.
Now my question is: What qualities would a show have to have in order fit into this sub-genre?
For example: The heroine would have to accept and actively pursue their life as a magical girl; up to and including sacrificing their 'normal' life without whining about it.
claymade Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:08 pm
Another quality I would look for (personally) along those lines is what proportion of the MG's abilities are automatically bestowed by the nature of their destiny and/or transformation(s) and/or pure-heartedness, versus how much they have to build up themselves via practice and training.
What percentage of their power comes "for free"? And how much "buck" do they have to put in to get their "bang"?
The one extreme would be the kind of thing usually found in martial arts anime. Endless cycles of backbreaking training--sometimes getting to the point of being life-threatening itself--and often under masters who seem to have sadism as a pet hobby. The opposite extreme would be the Sailor Moon approach. "Okay, here's your henshin pen! And don't forget to think pure thoughts!"
With those as the two extremes of the scale, for a more "professional magical girl" anime, I'd expect things to tend more to the former side of things. Not that it'd have to go to all the way to those kind of lengths, but just a more realistic treatment of the fact that excellence doesn't often come without some serious effort.
читать дальшеUldihaa Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:07 am
A second point of divergence for me was the combat. While the first season is fairly standard magic-girl combat (with the extreme exception of the final Nanoha/Fate battle), the other seasons' battles are much more shonen-like than I would expect in a magic-girl show. It's not just who has the more powerful attack (though there is quite a bit of that), but who uses their spells (and they are spells, not just magical attacks) to the best effect that determines who wins. There are actually some tactics used is these battles! The best example I can think of is actually the previously mentioned Nanoha/Fate battle. You can actually watch that fight and see where each made both good and bad tactical decisions.
Another point is the characters, particularly Nanoha. She actually trains herself, without any prodding from the outside. She actually wants to improve! The very first episode of the second season has a scene showing her practicing her magic, without resorting to the potential 'crutch' that her Device could become.
Heaven's Deamon Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:18 am
One of the things I like about Nanoha that hasn't been mentioned is that it doesn't stuff background events down your throat. It establishes that things like the schooling, or even the jewel seed battles from the first season, happen and happen regurally, and then moves on only going back to them if there is some importance, such as Arisa's outburst when Nanoha won't talk about her problems, or when Fate first appears. Similarly, The training is a background matter, it doesn't show the training, but it happens, and they improve from it.
Uldihaa Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:33 pm
What impressed me about the battles in Nanoha wasn't so much the power displayed, but the tactics that maximized that power. Which is something I've found to be sadly lacking in magical girl shows (or shonen shows, for that matter) where it seems raw willpower gives one the ability to win no matter how out-classed.
Watch, and study, the final fight between Nanoha and Fate. That fight was as much about good tactics as it was about power, perhaps even more about the tactics than anything else. If you asked any fighter pilot, they'd tell you that the one that has the altitude has the advantage in a dogfight. Nanoha, however, deliberately chooses to position herself below Fate; she goes on to prove that those fighter pilots can be wrong. She then does something I've only ever seen the 'bad guys' do; that is, she fires off her attack, and then moves to immediately reposition herself and readies another attack rather than standing there expecting her first attack to have won her the fight (and also then didn't stand there looking shocked when it didn't work). From what I can tell, she expected Fate to either evade or block her attack, so was ready for a follow up attack when it happened. When Fate then responded by deflecting and dodging that attack and following up with a melee strike, Nanoha not only wasn't surprised, but she used that opportunity to use her ability to control her magic bolts after firing them to attack Fate from behind. While Fate was blocking this newest attack, Nanoha flew up, then executed a diving melee attack.
This battle also had times when the advantage switched between the two. Sometimes Nanoha was winning, sometimes Fate was winning. When you get right down to it, it wasn't even a difference in power (or 'guts' or will to win or whatever you want to call it) that determined the winner, but who made the biggest mistake first is the one that would lose. And that is exactly what happened; Fate underestimated Nanoha's ingenuity and skill, so she put most of her remaining power into her Photon Lacer Phalanx Shift, leaving her with very little strength left to fight if it didn't work. When it didn't (due to Nanoha dumping power into her Barrier Jacket I believe) it gave Nanoha all the time she needed to finish the fight. First by throughly wearing Fate out with a Divine Buster, then finishing the fight with her Starlight Breaker (note that once again Nanoha moved immediately to preparing another attack after the Divine Buster).
Again, for me, it was the skillful use of power that impressed me, not the raw power itself. If I had to pick which side would win an unbiased fight between the Sailor Senshi and Nanoha/Fate/Hayate/the Knights, I would put my money on Nanoha and company; not because of raw power, but because they've been shown to actually use their power much more effectively than the Sailor Senshi. Sure, the Senshi have Moon and Saturn, but both never actually use that power until they have absolutely no other choice; in a 'normal' fight, both are barely effective; at least until the end of the fight (except Saturn in a defensive role). And before anyone gets all upset, I'm not saying that the Senshi are terrible fighters, only that I believe Nanoha and company are better fighters. Just recall that the Sailors are usually very guilty of that stand-there-and-look-surprised-when-the-first-attack-to-land-fails-to-defeat-the-enemy sin. They also tend to miss a great deal, and then also end up standing there looking surprised when that happens.
Tactics is what made Nanoha stand out for me.
Uldihaa Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:40 pm
Oh, there is power behind the attacks, but that's often true of a lot of shows. It's just the fact that there is skill shown that I enjoyed. There was also a lot less 'I'll win because my heart is pure' and/or 'I'll win because I just can't let myself lose' kinda thing going on (though there is some of that). Really, how many shows are there where the 'good guys' have another attack ready to fire and/or have moved to a new position after the fireworks from their last attack have faded? I enjoyed the power seen, but I enjoyed the combination of power and skill a whole lot more.
Oh, and Quatro was actually 'gifted' with a Divine Buster boosted by the Blaster system; a Blaster Level 3 to be precise. Still, that bit also showed a nice blend of brains and brawn, since Nanoha had launched a searching spell before she ever found Vivio and used it to target Quatro. Come to think of it, I believe that was why the fight lasted so long was because Nanoha was buying time for her spell to find the seriously disturbed cyborg; or at least the central control center.
It just seems to me that tactics play a big and very welcomely refreshing role in Nanoha. Something a lot of shows would have benefited from.
Comartemis Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:24 pm
Now that, my friends, is what I call tactical genius. Nanoha's not buying time, she's pretending to be fighting desperately to keep Quattro from thinking she's in any trouble right up until her Xanatos Gambit pays off. Then she almost casually restricts Vivio's movements and takes down Quattro before befriending Vivio back into being her little girl.
That's Epic with a capital E.
Uldihaa Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:39 pm
We call Nanoha a magical girl show, but I think all of us agree that isn't a very accurate description. Maybe Nanoha would be better described as a new type of sub-genre, or spin-off genre; similar to the way the Real Robot genre spun-off from the Super Robot genre. A more descriptive name might be, as Claymade pointed out, the Professional Magical Girl sub-genre.
Now my question is: What qualities would a show have to have in order fit into this sub-genre?
For example: The heroine would have to accept and actively pursue their life as a magical girl; up to and including sacrificing their 'normal' life without whining about it.
claymade Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:08 pm
Another quality I would look for (personally) along those lines is what proportion of the MG's abilities are automatically bestowed by the nature of their destiny and/or transformation(s) and/or pure-heartedness, versus how much they have to build up themselves via practice and training.
What percentage of their power comes "for free"? And how much "buck" do they have to put in to get their "bang"?
The one extreme would be the kind of thing usually found in martial arts anime. Endless cycles of backbreaking training--sometimes getting to the point of being life-threatening itself--and often under masters who seem to have sadism as a pet hobby. The opposite extreme would be the Sailor Moon approach. "Okay, here's your henshin pen! And don't forget to think pure thoughts!"
With those as the two extremes of the scale, for a more "professional magical girl" anime, I'd expect things to tend more to the former side of things. Not that it'd have to go to all the way to those kind of lengths, but just a more realistic treatment of the fact that excellence doesn't often come without some serious effort.
@темы: Наноха, Anime and Manga