Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ready for Battle.

Fansub Anime: 26 episodes.
Original Air Dates: 2007-04-01 through 2007-09-23
Page at Anime News Network
Rating: Recommended.

Fate, Nanoha's partner (both at work and at home)

At first, I was a bit leery of watching a "magical girl" anime. My prior exposure to the genre was Sailor Moon (which I liked) and Saint Tail (shoujo). Neither of these prepared me for the reality of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS. First off, it is aimed at a more mature audience than Saint Tail or the dubbed Sailor Moon, being targeted at teens/adults, and seemed to be aimed at either a mixed or masculine audience. There are elements of Yuri (not that it is a major theme, but it is present, & obvious), cyborgs, mages, clones of mages, & robotic drones all operating within a backdrop of a bickering trans-dimensional bureaucracy. I have found out that this is the third storyline involving the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha universe.

The main protagonist of the third series, Subaru, with her idol, Nanoha, in the background

The nutshell plot has the Strikers team created officially to locate "Lost Logia" (or powerful magical artifacts) but in reality they are to stave off a prophecy regarding the destruction of their world. The story centers around two teen recruits (Strikers) for the team (Subaru and Teana). Themes of growth, personal responsibility and loyalty abound. It is an enjoyable anime. The two prior series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha & Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Alpha have been licensed for the US, so I have not found them on the fansub torrents. I do intend on watching the when they are released, hopefully this will be soon.

The entire Strikers team: Caro Ru Lushe, Erio Mondial, Subaru Nakajima & Teana Lanster