Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's
This is the logo to the series.
魔法少女リリカルなのはA's [エース] (Mahō Shōjo Ririkaru Nanoha A's [Ēsu])
Genre	Adventure, Drama, Magical girl
Manga
Written by	Masaki Tsuzuki
Illustrated by	Kōji Hasegawa
Published by	Gakken
Demographic	Seinen
Magazine	Megami Magazine
Original run	August 2005 – January 2006
Volumes	1
TV anime
Directed by	Keizō Kusakawa
Written by	Masaki Tsuzuki
Studio	Seven Arcs
Licensed by	Geneon
Network	Chiba TV
Original run	1 October 2005 – 25 December 2005
Episodes	13 (List of episodes)
Game
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces
Developer	Namco Bandai
Publisher	Namco Bandai
Genre	Fighting game
Rating	CERO: B
Platform	Playstation Portable
Released	January 21, 2010
Game
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Gears of Destiny
Developer	Namco Bandai
Publisher	Namco Bandai
Genre	Fighting game
Platform	Playstation Portable
Released	December 22, 2011
Anime film
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd A's
Studio	Seven Arcs
Released	2012
Anime and Manga Portal

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's (魔法少女リリカルなのは エース, Mahō Shōjo Ririkaru Nanoha Ēsu^?) (A's pronounced as Ace) is a thirteen episode sequel to Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, a magical girl alternate universe spinoff of the Triangle Heart series of games and OVAs. A third series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, was released in 2007. A film adaptation, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd A's, is currently in production for a release in 2012.^[1]

Plot

See also: List of Nanoha characters

A nine-year-old wheelchair-using girl named Hayate Yagami forms a contract with the intelligent weapon named the Book of Darkness (whom Hayate later names Reinforce). As a result of this contract, four Belkan knights named Signum, Vita, Zafira, and Shamal appear in front of Hayate in order to fulfill the task of filling the pages of Book of Darkness by capturing magic from various sources. Once the pages of the Book are filled, its master, Hayate, will be able to make a single wish.

Since the end of the last anime series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, the two nine-year-old girls named Nanoha and Fate have been exchanging video mails to tell each other of their situations on earth and in the Time-Space Administration Bureau respectively. At the beginning of the series set half a year after the first, Nanoha is attacked by Vita, who desires her magic in order to fill the Book's pages. As Nanoha is about to be defeated, Fate saves her, and Vita retreats.

As the knights continue to fill pages of the Book of Darkness, Nanoha Takamachi and Fate Testarossa try to stop them and retrieve the Book with the help of the Time-Space Administration Bureau. However despite their efforts and due to the well-intentioned but negative interference of Graham Gil and his familiars, the Book of Darkness is completed, its pages filled. It begins to go berserk in spite of the wishes of Hayate. Through a combined effort, Hayate, Fate, Nanoha, and their helpers manage to defeat the Book and later destroy it completely.

Media

Manga

A manga adaptation of the story was serialized in Megami Magazine, with a few changes to the storyline, mostly elaborating on the characters. For example, Nanoha must also deal with Raising Heart draining her magical power with every move she makes, and explores how Hayate views the Wolkenritter as her children.

Gakken released the manga in a single volume on February 18, 2006.^[2]

Anime

Main article: List of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's episodes

Seven Arcs produced a thirteen-episode anime series, directed by Keizō Kusakawa and written by Masaki Tsuzuki. Broadcasted on Chiba TV, TV Saitama, and TV Kanagawa, it premiered on October 1, 2005 and aired weekly until its conclusion on December 24, 2005.^[3] The music for the series was produced by Hiroaki Sano. The series features two pieces of theme music. "Eternal Blaze", performed by Nana Mizuki, is the opening theme. "Spiritual Garden", performed by Yukari Tamura, is the ending theme. In Japan, the series was released across six Region 2 DVD compilation volumes between January 25, 2006 and June 21, 2006.^[4][5]

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's was later licensed by Geneon for English-language dubbed release in the United States and Canada. Funimation Entertainment distributed the dubbed series across a Region 1 DVD boxset.

Audio CDs

Main article: List of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha albums

A series of three drama CDs have been released by King Records between November 23, 2005 and March 8, 2006 entitled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Sound Stage 01~03.^[6][7] The CDs take place during and after the anime series. Each release charted on the Oricon album charts, and the highest ranking album was the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Sound Stage 03, which peak ranked at 52nd and remained on the chart for 2 weeks.^[8]

The original soundtrack was released across six CDs entitled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Original Soundtrack Plus Vol.1~6 that were released alongside the DVD volumes that compiled the series' episodes containing 57 tracks in total. A compilation album entitled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Vocal Best Collection was released exclusively at Comiket 70 in August 2006, compiling many of the pieces of music used during the drama CDs.^[9] King Records released three maxi singles for the series. "Eternal Blaze" was released on October 19, 2005.^[10] "Spiritual Garden" was released on October 26, 2005.^[11] "Super Generation" was released on January 18, 2006 that contained the track "Brave Phoenix", which was used as an insert to episode twelve of anime series.^[12]

Video games

Namco-Bandai Games released a game adaptation, entitled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces, on January 21, 2010 for PlayStation Portable.^[13] It is a 3D fighting game with nine playable characters with multiple stories based on the A's storyline. A second game, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Gears of Destiny, will be released on December 22, 2011 and will feature additional characters from the ViVid and Force manga series.^[14]

Film

A theatrical film adaptation, titled Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd A's, is currently in production for a 2012 release, following on from the 2010 adaptation of the first series, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 1st.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Next Pokémon, Nanoha Anime Movies Titled, Dated". Anime News Network. 2010-11-29. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-11-29/next-pokemon-nanoha-anime-movies-titled-dated. Retrieved 2010-11-30. 
2. ^ "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's (manga)" (in Japanese). Gakken. http://shop.gakken.co.jp/shop/order/k_ok/bookdisp.asp?isbn=4056043353. Retrieved 2009-08-06. 
3. ^ "Magical Girl Nanoha A's (2005)" (in Japanese). Stingray. http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=322999. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
4. ^ "DVD vol.1 Release" (in Japanese). Nanoha Project. http://www.nanoha.com/archive2/goods/goods_old02.html. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
5. ^ "DVD vol.5 and 6 Release" (in Japanese). なのはA's PROJECT. http://www.nanoha.com/archive2/goods.html. Retrieved 2009-03-20. 
6. ^ "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Sound Stage 01". Neowing. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=KICA-733. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
7. ^ "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Sound Stage 03". Newoing. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=KICA-768. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
8. ^ "Mahou Shōjo Lyrical Nanoha Sound Stage 03 Past Rankings" (in Japanese). Oricon. http://ranking.oricon.co.jp/free_contents/search/ranking_list.asp?itemcd=585936&samecd=1&chart_kbn=11A&linkcd=31301069. Retrieved 2009-06-08. 
9. ^ "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Sound Stage Vocal Best Collection". Nanoha A's Project. http://www.nanoha.com/archive2/goods/goods_cm70a.html. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
10. ^ "ETERNAL BLAZE". Neowing. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=KICM-1148. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
11. ^ "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's ED Theme: Spiritual Garden". Neowing. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=KICM-1148. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
12. ^ "SUPER GENERATION". Neowing. http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=KICM-1156. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
13. ^ "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Battle of Aces". GameSpy. http://psp.gamespy.com/playstation-portable/magical-girl-lyrical-nanoha-as-portable-the-battle-of-aces/index.html. Retrieved 2010-01-21. 
14. ^ http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20110711_459342.html

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• NanohaWiki (Japanese)
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia