Review: Magical Girl Lyrical NANOHA The Movie 1st

It was only quite recently that I learned of the Nanoha series. It was when I noticed lots of Figma figurines coming out for the series, and when I saw the official movie commercial. I got interested and finished the first season a couple of months before the movie came out. It was only recently that I started watching Nanoha A's. Yesterday I went to watch the NANOHA The Movie 1st, expecting it would be a re-imagining of the first season. Apparently, it was not a re-imagining, but a retelling! I have mixed feelings for the movie, but overall, I enjoyed it. Here are my impressions:

Theater: I watched NANOHA The Movie 1st at Shinjuku Milano 1. The theater itself is big, and wasn't completely filled (which was good). The theater was clean, as expected. The lobby could use some decorations to improve the mood. It still was not Toho or Warner MyCal, but it did not disappoint as much as Musashino. I still don't understand why they did not just show the movie in those 2 theaters. Anyone know why?

Animation: The whole first season was redrawn, bringing the animation and artwork quality up to modern theatrical standards. Settings, character and costume designs, and magical attacks (particularly Nanoha's) were all modernized and improved.

Plot and Storyline: I'll say it again: it is a retelling! Even the setting and angle of shots look the same. Since I just recently watched season 1, it felt like deja vu despite the redrawn animation. Some minor things were expectedly altered to compress the whole season into a 90-120 minute movie, particularly the jewel seed collection at the beginning.

A notable addition in the movie is Raging Heart giving Nanoha what I would call a "Quick Tour" of its features during her first battle. Now that's what I call a real-time Help system.

A new flashback scene was also added that showed Precia creating a new character from her cat. She (the new character) trained Fate and created Bardiche for her. (From my Googling, it would seem the character was probably introduced during the second and/or third seasons... but I haven't watched those, so she is new to me.) Other than these and some insignificant changes, the storyline of the movie was practically the same as the series.

Best scene: The transformations! This wouldn't be a magical girl series if it did not have transformation sequences! Although the original Nanoha transformation was already great, the movie trumped that! I have always thought that Nanoha had a good blend of design ingredients that appeal to both male and female audiences. ^_^

And of course there was Starlight Breaker! The new Starlight Breaker was simply awesome!

Something I would like changed: A new plot twist wouldn't have hurt. I have to admit some talking parts bored me (I was already blinking, blinking, blinking... to keep my eyes open), because I already know what was being discussed from the TV series.

Others: The products on sale at the theater store did not catch my fancy. So I decided to buy the Nanoha Figma figurine at Yodobashi instead. Then again, that was probably just an excuse to buy one. v(^_^

Final Grade: A-