Manga: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid

[TheBladeChild]

Courtesy Wikipedia:

Set four years after StrikerS, the Sixth Mobile Division has disbanded and Nanoha Takamachi has taken a leave of absence to raise her adoptive daughter, Vivio Takamachi. After reaching the fourth grade of her primary school, she is finally given her own device, which gives her the form of the Sankt Kaiser mode. Meanwhile, a new danger comes in the form of a girl calling herself 'Ingvalt', the same name as the ruler of the Sankt Kaiser era.

First chapter from Onemanga:

http://www.onemanga.com/Magical_Girl...ha_ViVid/1/01/

[Kraco]

I have to say I was as surprised as Fate when Vivio's henshin happened. I'm far from sure if it's a good thing.

[TheBladeChild]

chapter 4 is out:

http://www.onemanga.com/Magical_Girl...ha_ViVid/4/01/

[Kraco]

I have hard time recognizing the characters. I'm so used to the anime with colours and voices that half of the cast looks the same to me here in the manga. It's kind of annoying, especially with those combat cyborgs now having bigger roles. It's not like I'd have absolutely learned their faces and names in the first place during Strikers. The high number of named characters the Nanoha universe has always had certainly makes it no easier either.

[Ryllharu]

It's kind of annoying, especially with those combat cyborgs now having bigger roles. It's not like I'd have absolutely learned their faces and names in the first place during Strikers. The high number of named characters the Nanoha universe has always had certainly makes it no easier either.

The colors were the only thing that would help you in the anime with the cyborgs. More than half of them shared voice actresses. Cinque (eyepatch-chan) Wendi (pinned up ponytail surfboard?) were both Marina Inoue, and both of them appear here.

The Nanoha universe only really got cluttered in StrikerS. A's only had 7 really important characters.

But I sympathize. The scene in the first chapter where Vivio mailed the photo to all the characters in StrikerS took me a long time to remember who everyone was.

[TheBladeChild]

5 is out:

http://www.onemanga.com/Magical_Girl...ha_ViVid/5/00/

[Kraco]

Friendship beam!

Well, there was no beam but they surely became friends fast. If chatting, eating breakfast, and going to the police station together equals to being friends, that is.

I'm actually looking forward to Vivio and Einhart's fight. I wonder if those two can become friends as well...

[RyougaZell]

Interesting to see Nove seeing Subaru as a sister now.
Wasn't Nove defeated by Subaru on StrikerS? I still have a hard time identifying everyone of the 'numbers' (aside from the pyscho b... that wore glasses)

[Ryllharu]

Teana was the one who took out Nove in StrikerS along with Wendi and the one with the twin swords. Subaru was busy taking down the brainwashed Ginga with her friendship punch.

They are all cyborgs from the same string of research, and the "good" ones were probably going to be taken in by Ginga and Subaru's father during the final scenes, so it isn't all that surprising that she views her as a "sister" now, particularly because they are so similar.

I'm surprised how quickly they revealed Einhart, much less that she will probably become quite friendly with Vivio.

[Kraco]

I'm surprised how quickly they revealed Einhart...

Yeah. I thought that was going to be the main story of this series. But now the big bad mysterious enemy has been entirely revealed in the chapter 5, and there's not really much indication what will make up the rest of the bigger plot.

But those numbers surely did become decent folk based on this.

[Ryllharu]

Checking Wikipedia, apparently that was all cleared up in one of the Sound Stages, along with being focused on the third ancient Belkan girl, Ixpellia. In short:

- The three evil ones, super loyal to Scagletti, Uno (secretary one), Tre (musclebound mannish one), and Quattro (evil glasses one) are still in prison. Duo was killed in StrikerS.

- The "good" ones, who showed some form of remorse about what they were doing in StrikerS, Cinque (eyeptach), Dieci (sniper cannon), Nove (red head Subaru), and Wendi (surfboard), were adopted into the Nakajima family.

- The remaining ones, Sein (deep diver), Otto (boyish looking support one) and Deed (twin swords) joined the Church as nuns. The one with the horn mask, Sette, finally was allowed to leave prison and is in rehabilitation.

So now the Nakajima family is (oldest to youngest), Ginga, Cinque, Deici, Subaru, Nove, and Wendi.

[Kraco]

So now the Nakajima family is (oldest to youngest), Ginga, Cinque, Deici, Subaru, Nove, and Wendi.

Haha. The old man Nakajima must be really happy to suddenly have such a host of pretty girls calling him otousan...

[Ryllharu]

Chapter 7 is out:

http://www.onemanga.com/Magical_Girl...ha_ViVid/7/00/


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EDIT:

I get the feeling that these matches haven't been entirely fair to Vivio. Both matches against Einhart have been without the use of any magic. From what I remember in StrikerS, Sankt Kaiser Mode Vivio used a number of punches, but most of the damage that Nanoha took in that fight was Vivio breaking out of holds with energy bursts, and throwing iridescent charges of explosive magical energy.

Sure she was charged by the Cradle and the Relic that Quattro and Scagletti forcibly implanted into her, but she didn't use straight-up Strike Arts, it was definitely a mix. Einhart steadfastly refuses to use anything but her fists, even in serious fights like the one against Nove, and has trained to primarily use techniques by the sound of things, so not letting Vivio use more of her magic seems like Einhart is using her full strength while Vivio isn't allowed to use all of hers.

[Kraco]

It wasn't actually fair to Einhart. It seems like this fight was what Einhart had been living for, and it turned out to be nothing like she had expected. However, for Vivio is was just another match against someone she hardly knows, like in some unofficial martial arts contest. Going all out with everything they had would have been what Einhart desired, not this match that would have seemed to favour Einhart from an outside observer's pov, but was flawed from her own.

[Ryllharu]

Going all out isn't good enough for Einhart. She wants to be challenged by the Sankt Kaiser. I think she is unreasonably disappointed because Vivio has only been training for a short time, while Einhart, full of the Emperor's memories, has been training much longer even if she is younger than Vivio.

I bet Subaru or Ginga could go all out and beat her, but then she wouldn't be satisfied because it wasn't Sankt Kaiser. Einhart heard that Vivio is the Sankt Kaiser the same way that she is the Emperor, and she is obviously disappointed when it isn't the glorious rematch (that she needs to win to prove his strength) that she expected.

Right now, I have zero sympathy for Einhart's circumstances. She comes off as a spoiled brat with a jaded vision of life and unreasonable expectations. I don't doubt that she will continue to win any rematches where Vivio isn't allowed to use magic. Neither of the two are going "All Out" in the traditional Nanoha sense. That phrase usually results in Nanoha blowing the holy hell out of her opponent with Starlight Breaker. Vivio isn't even allowed to use her full capabilities, which are obviously less focused on the physical aspect of Strike Arts than Einhart.

[Kraco]

I very much doubt Einhart herself is anywhere as powerful as her original, just like Vivio. Surely the originals of those two were at least as powerful as Nanoha. So, if Einhart's dream is to face something as powerful as the Sankt Kaiser, she wouldn't last for 10 seconds. I'd say her dream won't be fulfilled (following her current way of thinking) until she has been in a real deadly match with Vivio with no restrictions and really needs to struggle to win, or lose, but in either way it would be evenly matched and the winner decided by a hair thin margin.

[Ryllharu]

Einhart keeps saying that she wants to prove the Emperor's strength (who from her dreams apparently repeatedly lost to the Sankt Kaiser), but is never satisfied with the fact that she keeps winning.

After thinking about it at work, what really bothers me is her attitude. Not about what she's seeking, or the cold way she acts, or anything else, but her general vision of life. She's obsessed with and stuck in the past. She only dreams of defending her ancestor's honor and fighting style. It doesn't really seem like she lives her own life.

Vivio is completely the opposite [now]. She doesn't really care at all that she is the clone of the Sankt Kaiser, she has her own life and lives it. Rather than go into Strike Arts because of who she is, she pursues it because she enjoys it, and because her role models use it. When she was transformed at the end of StrikerS, she had a similar outlook to what Einhart has, but others, particularly her mothers, allowed her to get past that and go back to living as Vivio, not as a reincarnation of someone else.

Fate wasn't even as bad as Einhart is though. Nor where the three Belkan Knights. Those three even went their separate ways, despite how much they are tied together. Vita and Signum are in separate battalions and Shamal is wherever.

I guess I'll probably like her more later as her attitude eventually shifts, since Fate had Nanoha, the Knights had Hayate, and Vivio had both Nanoha and Fate. I can only assume that Einhart will in turn have Vivio to help her break from the past she has decided to chain herself to.

[Kraco]

If Einhart didn't have a mama or papa raising her normally I think her way of life is perfectly normal. Kids of her age aren't really rationally planning their future. They want to be firemen, police officers, doctors, princesses, artist, actors, whatever. So, this little girl has implanted into her brain a full-bodied image of some past hero plus this hero's wishes and regrets. It's, in my opinion, 100% natural those desires override some other flimsy dream she might have had otherwise, and that would have as soon changed after watching some cool tv show.

However, I'd expect those things change once she hits puberty... After all, at that age you don't want anybody else to tell you what to do. Though after all those years she might have integrated Emperor's personality too much to anymore make a distinction in order to rebel against it.

[Ryllharu]

Chapters 8 and 9 have been released.
Onemanga

Lutecia's personality seems a bit...different. She became quite a bit more perky since getting her mother back.

Just the girls having fun training aside from that. Vivio once again reminding Einhart that she isn't alone anymore. I'm hoping that in fighting Subaru during practice matches, Einhart gets a real challenger to her Kaiser Arts from the Strike Arts practitioners. Subaru and Ginga are supposed to be the best after their mother was killed if I am not mistaken.

Whoever accomplishes it, Einhart needs to lose just to experience loss. Judging from the water splitting training, Einhart's training isn't as well rounded as the other girls is, and the benefits of being a couple years older and disallowing magic during the bouts are really helping Einhart against Vivio. Nove lost to Subaru pretty easily during StrikerS, as well as Teana, so if Einhart went up against either of those two, she should be considerably more pressed.

[Kraco]

I don't think a whole lot of people (on the good side) aside from Subaru and Ginga displayed unarmed martial arts in Strikers, or did they? Quite a few can fight nicely with some sort of a weapon, though (still melee), so if Einhart doesn't have problems with that, she would have lots of people to train with. In fact it would be better that way since it would give quite a bit of variation. Actually I'd like Erio to fight her - though I wouldn't like him to lose. I have no idea how well he fights without magic (did he ever train with Signum, or am I remembering some doujin?). But as it is, the all-girls party is getting kind of boring.