Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Wiki
Nanoha Takamachi
Nanoha Takamachi as a child (Nanoha, A's) and as a young adult (StrikerS et seq
Nanoha Takamachi as a child (Nanoha, A's) and as a young adult (StrikerS et seq.)
Character profile
Other namesAce of Aces / Ace of the Sky
StarS 01 / Aggressor 1
Age

9 (Nanoha)
9 (A's manga)
9 (A's)
15 (A's epilogue)
15–20 (StrikerS manga)
19 (StrikerS)
23 (ViVid)

25 (Force)
GenderFemale
SpeciesHuman
HomeworldEarth
Date of birthMarch 15,[1] 0056
FamilyTakamachi family
Background
AffiliationSAFA (A's epil. et seq.)
Riot Force 6 (StrikerS)
Special Duty Section 6 (Force)
Rank2nd Air Captain (A's epil.)
1st Air Captain (StrikerS)
OccupationContract Mage (A's ep.13)
SAFA Tactics Teacher (A's epil.)
QualificationTactics Teacher (A's epil.)
Tactics Examiner (pre-StrikerS)
Commander of Platoon
(pre-StrikerS)
PartnerYuuno Scrya (Nanoha)
Vita (SAFA, post-StrikerS)
Magic
ColorCherry blossom pink
SystemMidchilda
Formula-Midchilda (Reflection)
RankAAA (mana cap.) (Nanoha)
S+ (Air) (StrikerS)[2]
DeviceRaising Heart
Strike Cannon (Force/Ref'n)
Fortress (Force/Ref'n)
Pile Smasher (Reflection)
Production
Japanese name高町なのは
(Takamachi Nanoha)
First app.Nanoha (ep.1)
Voiced byMinami Hokuto (Triangle Heart)
Yukari Tamura (Japanese)
Cristina Vee (English)
browse data...

Nanoha Takamachi (高町なのは Takamachi Nanoha) is the central character of the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series and its sequels, originally appearing in Triangle Heart 3.

The youngest child of the Takamachi family, Nanoha grew up in Uminari City, Japan, unaware of being one of the exceptional Earthlings with a capacity for magic. At the age of 9, she becomes involved in the Jewel Seed Incident and meets fellow mages Yuuno Scrya, who becomes her first mentor, and Fate Testarossa, a rival who later becomes Nanoha's lifelong partner. After receiving an artificially intelligent staff named Raising Heart from Yuuno, Nanoha shows extraordinary skills at mastering the Midchildan system of combat magic, becomes a celebrated hero throughout the multiverse (with in-universe movies having been made about her exploits) and, in the following decade, leaves Earth altogether to become a magical combat teacher for the Administrative Bureau.

Name[]

Nanoha, as a female name, probably comes from nanohana, Japanese for rapeseed flower. In the Triangle Heart continuity, Nanoha is named by her mother intentionally in hiragana with reference to Nanoha (菜乃葉 Nanoha), one of the names prepared by her father before her birth.

As an outstanding Air Captain in the Bureau, Nanoha is commonly addressed as the Ace of Aces (エース・オブ・エース Ēsu obu Ēsu), or sometimes the Ace of the Sky (空のエース Sora no Ēsu).[3][4]

Her callsigns in the extra forces include StarS 01 (スターズ01 Sutāzu Wan) (in Riot Force 6, 0075-0076) and Aggressor 1 (アグレッサー1 Aguressā Wan) (in Special Duty Section 6, 0081).

Appearance[]

Nanoha is left-handed, as she always holds Raising Heart in her left hand. In The MOVIE 1st, when Yuuno tells Nanoha to extend her dominant hand, she does so with the left one.

Platinum the Trinity from the BlazBlue series has an Astral Finish similar to Nanoha's Starlight Breaker, and her wand Arma Reboare: Muchōrin resembles Raising Heart with its pink-and-gold color scheme and a dark red jewel sphere.

Personality[]

In Nanoha, she is more of a thoughtful and somewhat naive girl. She has a deep, kind personality but later becomes much more mature and ladylike in the sequels. Nanoha is also rather energetic and idealistic, showing a certain joy of living.

A major aspect of Nanoha's personality is that she always tries to help and understand other people. As such, she is shown to always take a diplomatic approach to problems and tries to reason with her enemies at first. In the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Reflection THE COMICS, Hayate Yagami even describes this need to help others as "borderline madness". However, she is also shown to be pragmatic and not afraid to use force if communication alone is not enough.

As an adult, as stated by Signum in Vivid, Nanoha really has not changed much since she was a child. However, she has shown herself to be more strict and responsible, which is likely a result of her job as an aerial instructor. It also seems that the incident where her overexertion left her nearly crippled had a profound impact on her, causing her to become more careful and badly scold her students for being reckless.

Nanoha was initially hesitant to take in Vivio, believing she would not be able to properly care for her. However, as she continued to bond with the child, she eventually changed her mind and adopted her following the JS Incident. Afterwards, as stated by Vita in Vivid, Nanoha's life began to revolve around her new daughter.

MOVIE 1st THE COMICS adds more aspects to her character. Before she became a magical girl, she was shown to be somewhat depressed, seemingly lacking a purpose in life. When she was little, she often felt helpless and wished for the strength to change things.

In Nanoha[]

As the series opens, Nanoha Takamachi is presented as an ordinary girl, living with her family, taking the bus to school and playing the gold-hearted average girl to her multimillionaire best friends Alisa Bannings and Suzuka Tsukimura. However, she always felt like a third wheel; her parents had each other, so did her siblings, and so did her best friends, while Nanoha had no such close companion. Additionally, she says she feels her life has no direction, as she has no plans for what she wants to do with herself. When she finds the injured Yūno in ferret form in the park, she brings him to a nearby veterinarian for care. Yūno later calls Nanoha telepathically as an unstable Jewel Seed attacks him, and he then gives her the red gem around his neck, known as Raising Heart. With his instructions, Nanoha activates Raising Heart, and discovers her own magical ability. Her powers blow Yuuno away as she is able to create attacks quickly, and senses Jewel Seeds more easily than he can. Even with all these powers, she is still learning and must fight off her rival (later dearest friend and partner) Fate Testarossa, although Nanoha is more interested in befriending her. Needless to say, she succeeds in befriending Fate, however her methodology has lead to an interesting pun.

Nanoha lives at her home in Uminari City with her family. She balances cram school, regular school and hunting for Jewel Seeds with ease, although Yuuno fears that it may be too much for her in the long run. Although she tries to hide her identity from her friends and family, in contrast to many mahou shoujo series, she blatantly advertises it to Fate.

Later on, the series focuses not on the collection of Jewel Seeds but on the eventual team up of Nanoha and Fate, which does happen in the second-to-last episode as Fate comes to terms with her and her mother's identities. Nanoha and Fate must part as Fate is arrested for the work she did for Presea Testarossa, but they part as friends and promise to reunite, as Fate will likely be acquitted of all charges.

In A's[]

Minitokyofemalescansmahwe2

Nanoha and Fate's friendship is an important theme in the series

In A's, Nanoha may be living in peacetime, but she has not let her work slide. She goes out early in the morning each day and trains with Raising Heart. One night, she is attacked by one of the Wolkenritter, Vita, and is defeated due to the differences in their weapons. However, she teams up with Fate, who saves her and manages to hold Vita back until Signum enters while Yuuno brings Nanoha to a safe place. Alph, Yuuno and the Arthra crew help Nanoha and Fate escape from Vita's force field which is successful, but not without Shamal stealing Nanoha's Linker Core which makes her lose most of her mana. It is later revealed that their new mission is to prevent the Wolkenritter from stealing mages' Linker Cores for their Book of Darkness.

On another hand, Nanoha introduces Fate to her two friends Arisa and Suzuka as a transfer student (though they had initially met via Nanoha and Fate's video messages), and resumes her life as a magical and school girl, helping Fate to get used to her new life on Earth. After being introduced by Suzuka, Nanoha and Fate later meet a sickly girl named Hayate Yagami. When visiting Hayate at the hospital on Christmas Eve, they encounter the Wolkenritter, and find out that Hayate is the master of the Book of Darkness, as well as the reason why the Wolkenritter are collecting pages for the Book. They sooner face off against the Wolkenritter, who wish to silence them for knowing their master's identity. However the match is interrupted by two masked men (later revealed to be the Liese twins), who trap them in binds and Crystal Cage, and impersonate them to mislead Hayate that it is Nanoha and Fate who kill the Wolkenritter after using their Linker Cores to fill the last pages of the Book of Darkness. Nanoha and Fate are then forced to fight the Will of the Book of Darkness, who has entered a reverse unison with Hayate. During the fight, Suzuka and Alisa discover their true identities when they try to protect them from attacks. Eventually, they are able to save Hayate and the Will of the Book of Darkness, which then becomes Reinforce, Hayate's partner and weapon.

Between A's and StrikerS[]

A's manga (ch.6-7), A's Sound Stage 03, A's epilogue, StrikerS manga (ch.1-7) and StrikerS Sound Stage M expand on what happens to the characters between A's and its sequel, StrikerS.

After few months of qualification acquisition, examinations and trainings, Nanoha officially joins the Administrative Bureau in May 0066 as an Armed Forces officer cadet (士官候補生 shikan kōhosei),[5] with stated intention of entering the Tactical Instructor divisions.[6] In the second half of the same year, she is promoted as a formal Armed Forces officer.[5] However, during an armed force drill along Vita and other mages in the second winter after they join the Bureau (late 0067), Nanoha is severely injured by a then-unidentified Type-IV Gadget Drone, mainly due to exploitation of mana since the past battles.[7] As a result, Nanoha needs to stay in the hospital for two months.[8] She returns to her work position in the summer of 0068, and further acquires the mage rank of S when autumn comes.[5] Eventually, Nanoha enters the Aerial Tactical Instructor Corps in the spring of 0069,[5] at the age of 13.[9]

The first part of StrikerS manga (ch.1-3) occurs in April 0071, nominally six years after A's and four years before StrikerS anime series. In it, Nanoha is in her third year of junior high school. She has now achieved her dream position in the Aerial Tactical Instructor Corps and is part of a tactical combat training group. As she explains to Reinforce Zwei, this group's duties include testing new equipment and spells, researching tactics and strategy, and training TSAB combat personnel through combat simulations. Chrono Harlaown, in a separate conversation, refers to her as one of the best instructors in the Bureau.

In StrikerS[]

Nanoha, at the age of 19 years old, has grown more mature over the 4-year time gap since 0071. Like Fate, she now possesses mage rank of S+, although it is usually limited at AA, 2.5 ranks down from what she should be, due to the structuring constraints of Riot Force 6, Hayate's extra force where she is seconded to. She is the commander of Forward Stars, as well as the primary tactical teacher for the whole Riot Force 6.[10] As a result of her previous injury, she has intentionally designed the Riot Force 6's training regiment to ensure the same thing will not happen to the Forward members.[11]

Nanoha is first seen in the season with Raising Heart Exelion, checking the field for Subaru Nakajima and Teana Lanster's examination. When the pair reach their goal, Nanoha comes in to stop them from crashing. After gathering the members of the newly formed Riot Force 6, Nanoha begins to train the new recruits, Subaru, Teana, Caro Ru Lushe and Erio Mondial (who were both taken in by Fate).

A major training incident happens during the season's first half, where Teana, who'd lost control of her inferiority complex and driven by a need to prove herself, makes a reckless stratagy that doesn't play to her strengths in a mock battle against Nanoha. This ends up triggering Nanoha's trauma of when her overexertion left her nearly crippled, as she blocked Teana's attack, injuring herself in the process, and asked her if she trained her the wrong way. However, accidentally injuring Nanoha ends up sending Teana over the edge, causing Nanoha to knock her out by imitating her Cross Fire spell. Ultimately, after Teana learns of Nanoha's accident, the two reconcile after Nanoha puts her inferiority complex to rest by assuring her that she was chosen for Riot 6 for her abilities.

Later in the season, Nanoha becomes Vivio's guardian or, as Vivio calls her, Mama, and looks after Vivio along with Fate who is her godmother (though Nanoha later officially adopts Vivio).

Near the end of the season, Riot Force 6 deals with the Saint's Cradle going into orbit. Nanoha enters the cradle, along with Vita, and they split up, with Nanoha going to the "Throne Room" and Vita going to the engine room. Nanoha quickly deals with Dieci, one of the Numbers specialised in bombardment, using her Blaster System, before entering the Throne Room, where Vivio is being held. Quattro manipulates Vivio, forcing Nanoha and Vivio to fight each other. During the fight, Nanoha uses Wide Area Search to find the place where Quattro is hiding and knocks her out by blasting a hole through the Cradle with Divine Buster under level 3 of the Blaster System. However, Vivio still does not revert back to her normal self and continues to fight Nanoha until Vivio manages to begin to regain control, but still cannot gain complete control, and Nanoha is forced to use her Blaster System at full power, firing five beams of Starlight Breaker at the same time, which then reverts Vivio back to her normal self. Later, Subaru and Teana come in to save Nanoha, Vivio and Hayate (who comes to save Nanoha).

In the epilogue of StrikerS, Nanoha is offered many promotions, all of which are turned down in favour of her current position as a tactical teacher. She now also lives with Vivio, and checks up on her every so often, even when she is in school.

In ViVid[]

In ViVid, which takes place four years after StrikerS, Nanoha, now 23, is living on Midchilda and raising Vivio. Shortly after Vivio enters fourth grade, she gives her a new Hybrid-Intelligent Device, which Vivio names Sacred Heart.

In ViVid (ch.8), she and Fate organize a trip to Carnaaji for Vivio and her friends. She also uses this opportunity to get to know Einhard Stratos, whom she thanks for looking after Vivio, much to Einhard's embarrassment. In ViVid (ch.10), she, Subaru, Teana, Fate, Caro, and Erio participate in a spectacular mock battle. In the team battle on the second training day, Nanoha takes the Center Guard position of the Blue Team, opposing Teana.

In ViVid (ch.92-99), Nanoha and Fate visit the battlefield for her upcoming guest spar with Vivio. Nanoha does a warmup spar there with Fate, and later with Harry Tribeca, Els Tasmin, Sieglinde Eremiah and Viktoria Dahlgrun. After the break time, her battle against Vivio finally starts. It turns white-hot when Nanoha fires Starlight Breaker and Vivio guards it with a defensive combo (comprised of multi-barriers, Sacred Defender and Jacket Purge). Vivio then approaches Nanoha with Jet Step and, with the ability of her Divine Eyes, manages to read Nanoha's cross-range attack and interrupts her with a heavy stomach blow followed by an upper. The fight eventually ends with Nanoha being knocked down for ten counts.

In ViVid Strike![]

Nanoha only makes brief cameo appearances along with Fate, e.g. in ViVid Strike! (ep.3.5, bonus manga) when Vivio mentions Einhard's lunch with the Nakajimas, and in ViVid Strike! (ep.8) in a flashback of Vivio.

In Force[]

Fortress

Nanoha's new equipment in Force: Strike Cannon and Fortress

Nanoha first appears in chapter 4 when she meets up with Subaru at a dimension port on Midchilda (though before that, she is also seen in the prologue chapter, when Vivio sees her off on a "business trip"). As they walk together, Nanoha comments that she has not worked with Subaru since Riot Force 6. Subaru asks her opinion on "the new equipment", to which Nanoha expresses moderate approval, saying that she and Vita will have to test them more later. She then asks Subaru about Thoma Avenir, whom Subaru has introduced to her earlier.

In chapter 7, Nanoha is at the Caledfwlch Techniques testing facility, finalizing the adjustments to her AEC Armament named Strike Cannon. Raising Heart also asks to fine-tune Fortress, Nanoha's second AEC Armament, when they are ordered to scramble to assist Signum, who has been engaging Cypha of Hückebein in battle on Ruwella.

Alternate continuities[]

Triangle Heart[]

Nanoha is a side character in Triangle Heart 3 at the age of 8. She is childlike and makes cute sounds as reactions, and is more than willing to help around the house when asked. She is nicknamed the "Digital Girl" by her family as she, despite being the youngest, is the only family member who is proficient at using modern electronics. She has an affection toward cute animals, and as a result she spends most of her time going to the shrine to play with a small fox named Kuon owned by Nami Kanzaki, a part-time shrine maiden. As she is not one of the main heroines Kyouya can choose in the game, she does not do much but will take the role of the protagonist in some of the extra scenarios in the game.

At age 12 in the Triangle Heart OVA, Nanoha now works at the Midori-ya cafe. She spends much of her work time breaking up fights between combat waitresses Akira and Ren, who, afraid of her reaction, pretend to be the best of friends around her. Nanoha is still rather childlike, though, squealing whenever she sees her older siblings or Fiasse on TV. Nanoha is taken to the Tokyo concert of Crystela Music Academy, but is spared the violent scenes that go on before the show.

Her closest friend is Kuon, and in an extra scenario she befriends Alisa Lowell, the foundation of MGLN's Alisa Bannings. However, in this world, Alisa is actually a ghost who is trapped on Earth due to a tragic incident when she was living and could not leave due to an unfufilled desire. Kuon helped Alisa realize what she needed and with the thought of Nanoha being her friend, she happily passed on to the afterlife. Nanoha cried over not being able to see Alisa again, but knew that it was the right thing.

A major event in the life of this version of Nanoha is the death of her father. When Shirō died, Momoko was pregnant with Nanoha, and thus the child grew up without a father.

The CD drama Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha from a Triangle Heart CD led to the spinoff.

Lyrical Toy Box[]

After the CD drama came the Triangle Heart fan box ~Lyrical Toy Box~, which included a three-minute music video-style movie that appeared to be the prototype for the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series. Lindy, a pixie in this version, accompanies Nanoha, as well as Kuon, a foxgirl that is able to transform into a real fox, apparently used here as a precursor to Yūno. Nanoha, in her older Toraha design, actually transformed into the outfit that in the actual Nanoha anime is her civilian school uniform. Raising Heart's jewel form and original password did not change, but it had only one weapon form, a typical pink wand with a big plastic heart on it, similar to the weapons of many traditional magical girls such as Sailor Chibi Moon. As Fate did not exist, Nanoha's rival was Chrono Harlaown, who goes by "Chrono Harvey" in the Toraha continuity.

This led to a mini-game in the Box, outlining the plot. Lindy, as a pixie from the Dream World, gives Nanoha powers so she can save the people of Earth. Chrono is stealing their memories, which he needs to save his world. In the end, Nanoha ends up with Chrono in an epilogue similar in purpose to that of A's.

Movie[]

Character nanoha

Nanoha's Barrier Jacket "Exelion Mode Modified" in Reflection

Nanoha appears in The MOVIE 1st, The MOVIE 2nd A's, Reflection and Detonation, as well as in the standalone MOVIE 1st manga.

In Detonation, after Phil Maxwell was revived on a android body, Nanoha goes to fight against him. After Phil was defeated, Nanoha stated she will take him to the TSAB headquarter, but Phil warns her and the others that if they dare to sent him into the jail, he will uses a satellite cannon from the space to destroy the Earth. After hearing this, Nanoha and Amitie goes to the space to stop Iris Unit "Satellite Cannon Type". When Nanoha destroyed the satellite cannon, the android catch her and self-destruction, which caused Nanoha was heavily injured and lost her right hand and right eye.

NanohaIncidentMovie

Nanoha's incident in the movie continuity

After the explosion, Nanoha fall down and think she can die in peace because she saved the Earth. Thought, Nanoha seen a illusion of her younger self and she wonder if Nanoha really think so, she replies that Nanoha must hate herself for her entire life if she did. Then, Nanoha reminded everything she has been faced before and realized that if she died, her family, her friends, and every people she saved will be sad at her death. Nanoha also realized that she's actually lives in happiness in her entire life because she have a family who love and cares about her, and have a friends who wants to talks with her and giving a help. Nanoha's younger self told her that she must be live and not go to "that place" yet. Soon, Nanoha saw Fate and Hayate comes to save her. Nanoha was soon sent into the hospital and heals her wounds, her right arm and eye was replaced by an cyborg arm and eye with using Nano-Mchines.

In the end of Detonation, Nanoha and her friends is successful completion of primary school graduation.

Portable[]

Nanoha appears in both Battle of Aces and Gears of Destiny.

Brave Duel[]

Nanoha Takamachi, similar to her initial appearance in the primary continuity, is an elementary school student of Uminari City. However, she is studying Year 4 in Private Kaisei Elementary School instead of Year 3 in Seishou Elementary School.

Infinity Souls[]

Nanoha appears in Masaki Tsuzuki's mobile game series Infinity Souls as a playable character, alongside with Fate, Hayate and Alicia.

Similar to her initial appearance in the primary and Brave Duel continuities, Nanoha is an elementary school student from parallel universe. One day, Nanoha was teleported into the alternate universe of Earth for unknown reason. She received her own device named Raising Heart through accidentally and become a mage. In hope to return to her own universe, Nanoha joined part into cybercrime prevention organization "Communication Information Guardian", also known as "C.I.G", while helping them to fight against the crisis that's currently took place on this world.

Powers[]

Nanoha, despite her lack of experience, has demonstrated considerable magical talent at such young age. Many of her techniques are taught by Yuuno or improvised from already-learned abilities. She specializes in shooting and bombardment spells, but has a balanced set of abilities, with variations in both defensive and offensive powers. Although she is not as agile as Fate, she has higher defense and more precise control over ranged spells. Apart from her natural magical power, Nanoha is shown to be remarkably skilled and tactically smart. As such, she is able to defeat Fate in Nanoha and Heiliger Kaiser Vivio in StrikerS, despite presumably having lower magical power at those points.

Nanoha's magic color is officially cherry blossom pink (桜色 sakurairo).[12] Her incantation for using Raising Heart, her Intelligent Device, is "Lyrical! Magical!", although it is only notably used in the early series. Her command phrase for shooting spells is "Shoot!", or sometimes "Fire!" (post-A's).

Before joining the Administrative Bureau, Nanoha has a mana capacity class of AAA. She acquires mage rank of S in 0068, and later S+ as possessed in StrikerS. However in StrikerS, it is also notable that, due to constraints on an army force under the Bureau, her usual power is reduced from S+ to AA rank under the effect of a limiter. By the time of StrikerS, she and Raising Heart Exelion also additionally implement an experimental power booster called Blaster System, which further increases her raw energy output.

Barrier Jacket[]

Forms Primary continuity Movie continuity
Original Nanoha's original Barrier Jacket is a blue and white dress with a metal waist guard, styled after the Seishou Elementary School uniforms for girls, as Yuuno tells her to imagine on her own due to the urgency in Nanoha (ep.1). Despite similar designs, it becomes an optimal selection by Raising Heart instead in The MOVIE 1st.
Sacred Mode
(セイクリッドモード
Seikuriddo Mōdo)
The basic Barrier Jacket after Raising Heart is upgraded in A's / The MOVIE 2nd A's (0065), with field generators on the shoulders, gloves, and other defensive enhancements.
Exelion Mode
(エクセリオンモード
Ekuserion Mōdo)
N/A An alternate Barrier Jacket arranged for limit operation, acquired after Raising Heart is upgraded in The MOVIE 2nd A's (0065). This enhanced variation (on top of Sacred Mode) shares the same name of and is used in set with Raising Heart Exelion's Full Drive. They together strengthen defensive power and instant acceleration.[13]
Exelion Mode Modified
(エクセリオンモード改
Ekuserion Mōdo Kai)
N/A Nanoha's Barrier Jacket for aerial combat in Reflection (0067), which has presumably replaced Sacred Mode as well. It is tuned for the balance between high armor strength and sharp aerial maneuver.
Fortress Mode
(フォートレスモード
Fōtoresu Mōdo)
N/A In addition to slight changes c/w Exelion Mode Modified, it adds on a synthetic bombardment support system aka. "Fortress System", which is part of the Fortress Unit co-developed by Caledfwlch Company and the Bureau. Control systems for corresponding equipment are placed at different parts of the Jacket. It is driven simultaneously by the caster's mana and battery. During this mode, Raising Heart is stored inside the Jacket for armament control assistance, as well as urgent protection when necessary.
Formula Mode
(フォーミュラモード
Fōmyura Mōdo)
N/A The modification of Fortress Mode near the end of Reflection, after Nanoha herself and Fortress System are modified by a nano machine and a Variant Core provided by Amitie Florian. The left and right hemmings become longer, and nearly half of the Jacket becomes black and glowable pink in color. Four additional pairs of energy fins are generated at Nanoha's back and waist.
Formula II
(フォーミュラⅡ
Fōmyura Tsū)
N/A The further modification of Formula Mode in Detonation.
Aggressor Mode
(アグレッサーモード
Aguressā Mōdo)
[14]
The further-improved basic Barrier Jacket (replacing Sacred Mode) first seen in StrikerS manga (0071). Design changes include the replacement of the long skirt with a mini-skirt, a waist-attached cape and the inclusion of long white socks and gems (presumably field generators) on the shoes. N/A
Exceed Mode
(エクシードモード
Ekushīdo Mōdo)
First seen in StrikerS (ep.12), this enhanced variation (on top of Aggressor Mode) shares the same name of and is used in set with Raising Heart Exelion's upgraded Full Drive. Its design is similar to that of Sacred Mode, although it is bulkier. N/A

Nanoha usually sets up her Barrier Jacket when activating Raising Heart. The "transformation" was intended to be performed with a long passphrase,[15] but Nanoha only uses this incantation in its entirety once before discarding it,[16] and later simply replaced by "Raising Heart, onegai!" ("Raising Heart, please!") or "Raising Heart, set up!"

Much of the direction of the series was apparently influenced by the resemblance between Nanoha's Barrier Jacket concept art and a Gundam. The final design bears a resemblance to the Weissritter of Super Robot Wars.

Spells[]

Nanoha's signature most powerful spell is Starlight Breaker, which has so far only been replicated by Teana Lanster (her only student to learn it) and Reinforce (who used a stolen copy stored in the Book of Darkness). Although in The MOVIE 1st, the casting process of Starlight Breaker is altered slightly, the general principle of collecting dispersed leftover mana from the battlefield remains the same; in the movie, it is also much more destructive.

SpellSystemCategoryTypeRank
A.C.S DriverMidchildaAttack
Support
Energy blade
Transport
AcceleratorFormula Eltria
Formula
Midchilda
SupportTransport
Active GuardMidchildaDefenseOther defense
Area SearchMidchildaSupportOther support
Axel FinMidchildaSupportTransport
Axel ShooterMidchildaAttackShootingAA
Barrel ShotMidchildaAttackBombardment
Barrier BurstMid-ChildaDefenseBarrier
Bind BreakMidchilda
Ancient Belka
SupportDecline
Binding ShieldMidchildaDefenseShield
Blast CalamityMidchildaAttackArea-of-effectS
Chain BindMidchildaCaptureBind
Cross Fire ShootMidchildaAttackShooting
Cross SmasherMidchildaAttackBombardment
Crystal CageMid-ChildaCaptureCageAA
Divide EnergyMidchildaSupportIncrease
Divine BusterMidchilda
Modern Belka
AttackBombardmentAAA+
Divine ShooterMid-ChildaAttackShooting
Excellence Cannon Variable RaidSpecial (AEC)AttackBombardment
Exelion BusterMidchildaAttackBombardment
Exelion ShieldMid-ChildaDefenseShield
Flash ImpactMidchildaAttackMelee
Flash MoveMid-ChildaSupportTransport
Flier FinMidchildaSupportTransportD
FloaterMidchildaSupportOther support
Hammer BulletMidchildaAttackShooting
Holding NetMidchildaSupportOther support
Holding ShieldMid-ChildaDefenseShield
Hoop BindMidchildaCaptureBind
Hyperion SmasherMidchildaAttackBombardment
Impact CannonMidchildaAttackBombardment
Jacket PurgeMidchilda
Modern Belka
DefenseField
Lightning ProtectionMidchilda
Modern Belka
DefenseBarrier
Maneuver A.C.SMidchilda
Ancient Belka
AttackMelee
Magic-enhanced attack
Maneuver S.S.AMidchildaAttackMelee
Multi-DefenserMidchildaDefenseShield
Oval ProtectionMid-ChildaDefenseBarrier
Photon SmasherMidchildaAttackBombardment
Physical HealMidchilda
Ancient Belka
SupportIncrease
ProtectionMidchilda
Modern Belka
DefenseBarrierE
Reactor PurgeMidchilda
Modern Belka
DefenseField
Restrict LockMidchildaCaptureBind
Round ShieldMidchildaDefenseShield
Sacred ClusterMidchildaAttackShooting
SealingMid-ChildaSupport
Shoot BarretMidchildaAttackShooting
Stardust FallMid-ChildaAttackShooting
Starlight BreakerMidchildaAttackBombardmentS
Starlight Breaker PlusMidchildaAttackBombardmentS
Strike FlameMidchildaAttackEnergy blade
Strike SmasherMidchildaAttackBombardment
Strike StarsMid-ChildaAttackBombardment
Wide Area ProtectionMid-ChildaDefenseBarrier

In the games[]

Spells in The Battle of Aces


Cross Range Long Range Long Range (Charged)
Attack/Basic[unnamed]Axel Shooter
Block/HighSmash ImpactDivine Buster
Catch/BindCross BusterRestrict Lock
LFDBStarlight Breaker---
RGuardRound Shield---
Spells in The Gears of Destiny


Cross Range Long Range Long Range (Charged)
Attack/Basic[unnamed]Axel Shooter
Block/HighSmash Impact (?)Divine BusterDivine Buster
(FD:) Hyperion Smasher
Catch/BindLock-on Buster (?)
(FD:) Maneuver A.C.S
Restrict Lock
△△EX AttackSmash Impact (?)---
LFDBStarlight Breaker---
RGuardRound Shield---

Popularity[]

Nanoha is one of the most popular Japanese anime characters in recent years. She has entered 2channel's Anime Saimoe Tournament for four times, becoming champion in 2005, entering the top 16 in 2006 (lost to Fate Testarossa), and top 8 in 2007 (lost to Rena Ryugu) to become one of the few characters to enter the top 16 thrice (Shinku, Suiseiseki), and to enter top 8 twice (Sora Naegino, Shinku, Tsukasa Hiiragi). In 2008 her performance degraded significantly, as the anime has been concluded for too long at the time of the tournament, and she lost a close match to Shana in the third round, ending up in the top 32 group. Still, her career statistic of 16 wins against 3 losses remains a "lifetime achievement" record in the history of saimoe.

Ironically, Nanoha was also included in the SaiGAR2007 voting tournament, which was intended to elect the manliest anime character, although she only won one match before being defeated.

Nanoha is often nicknamed "The White Devil" (白い悪魔 shiroi akuma) (or "TSAB's White Devil" (管理局の白い悪魔 kanrikyoku no shiroi akuma), reminiscent of "The Federation's White Devil" (連邦の白い悪魔 renpou no shiroi akuma)) by her fans with awe, referring to Amuro Ray and the in-universe nickname for his RX-78-2 Gundam in the Gundam series. This comparison was reinforced with Amuro's later Mobile Suit, the RX-93 Nu Gundam. The Fin Funnels are six wireless remotely-controlled beam cannon pods that can generate a beam barrier, a lot like Nanoha's Blaster Bits can mimic Nanoha's spells. It is also believed that this title was attached to her since Vita called her "Akuma..." (devil) in A's episode 9, and she answered "Fine, I'm a devil, so I'll have to use my hellish weapons to make you listen!", as well as the running joke amongst fans about her "befriending" the opposition with superior firepower.

Another nickname that Nanoha is called by fans is actually a pun on the title "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha" (魔法少女リリカルなのは Mahō Shōjo Ririkaru Nanoha). While "Mahō Shōjo" (少女) means "Magical Girl", "Ma Hō Shōjo" (少女) can be interpreted as "Demonic Cannon Girl."

Nanoha is also well-known for her befriending abilities, implying that anyone hit by her attacks is going to "suffer" character development toward the good side sooner or later. This was first observed when she slapped Arisa prior to the first series and then spread through to Fate, Vita, Dieci and Vivio through the rest of the series as a whole.

A popular motto for the character is "Listen or be shot," a popular meme which originates from her line in the first episode of Nanoha A's while fighting Vita and preparing to fire her Divine Buster:

Nanoha: "Listen..."
Raising Heart: "Divine..."
Nanoha: "...to me!"
Raising Heart: "...Buster."

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. ^ Triangle Heart 3 artbook, page 18.
  2. ^ Mage ranks in StrikerS on the Japanese Nanoha wiki.
  3. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, chapter 1.
  4. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid, chapter 94.
  5. ^ a b c d Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Starter Book.
  6. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's THE COMICS, chapter 7 equivalent ("The Epilogue of ACES").
  7. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, episode 9.
  8. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd A's, commentary audio track (representing primary continuity in 0079 and 0081).
  9. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Sound Stage M The StrikerS, track 3.
  10. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, episode 2.
  11. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, episode 9.
  12. ^ Nanoha's character profile in The MOVIE 1st website.
  13. ^ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 2nd A's, DVD/BD Booklet, Magic Dictionary #56.
  14. ^ Aggressor Mode was shown on the gem of and cast by Raising Heart as "Aggressive Mode" in the episode, however the other canon references (e.g. DVD booklet) reveal that the proper name should be Aggressor Mode, which is likely derived from the official name of Aerial Tactical Instructor Corps.
  15. ^ "I am the one who gives you this charge: release your power to your contracted master. As the winds fill the sky, and the stars fill the heavens, so shall my heart fill with courage, and my hands with magic! Raising Heart, set up!"
  16. ^ In Nanoha (ep.9), she uses a revision of the last sentence: "As the winds fill the sky, and the stars fill the heavens, so let light fill my arms, and strength fill my heart! Raising Heart, set up!"
Advertisement