Lyrical Nanoha: The Complete Series (DVD)

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First, there are the scenes involving the hot springs. While most anime series somehow end up having a hot springs (aka "onsen") episode, in this case, all of the older female characters have very large chests which are barely covered. Much jiggling ensues. Excessive jiggling. Jiggles aplenty. While this is rather funny, it is not exactly something that is usually included in a series aimed at young kids.

Next is Fate Testarossa. She is much more dark and serious than the type of character that normally appears in a show for small children. Fate's relationship with her family, and the abuse she endures in order to achieve her goals are shockingly mature. This whole series really depends on Fate and her beliefs and actions. Nanoha may be the lead, but Fate is the key.

Finally, and most obviously, is the original source of the series. "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha" is a spin-off story from "Triangle Heart 3," one of a series of adult erotic video games. In this type of game, the story usually revolves around a male hero and the girls who all fall in love with him. In "Triangle Heart 3", Nanoha's older siblings Kyouya and Miyuki are lead characters, engaging in a conflict that involves dangerous bodyguards and assassins. Nanoha appears, but she is not the focus. However, in "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha," the siblings are pushed to the background so that Nanoha can have her own adventures.

This set contains all 13 episodes of the first Lyrical Nanoha TV series, spread across 3 discs. "Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha" is a series that was originally licensed by Geneon. The packaging and trailers are all marked as Geneon. However, after Geneon ceased all licensing, production, and distribution operations in North American back in December 2007, the series was rescued and distributed by FUNimation. The advertisement flyer inside the packaging is for FUNimation titles.

Lyrical Nanoha is a cute series with some mature twists and turns. It looks like it should be aimed at a very young audience, but I would say that the 13-and-up rating for this show is accurate. Some of the events and drama here are not suitable for small children. While Nanoha does adapt to the magical girl lifestyle and gains her skills more quickly than a typical magical girl show heroine, she and her friends all go through some very rough times and make some difficult, adult decisions.

Video:
"Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha" is presented in 4:3 full screen. It looks wonderful. This is a show with a lot of bright daytime colors and glowing magical spells and auras. They all come out looking just fantastic in this set. Rich, bright, and sharp.

Audio:
While the picture looks fantastic, the audio tracks lean more towards the average. Here we have a simple Japanese 2.0 Dolby stereo track and an English 2.0 Dolby stereo track. Both are decent, but not particularly dynamic or outstanding. They do the job, but have no "wow!" factor.

Extras:
The only extras included in this set are textless opening and ending credits. They are spread across the discs. One has the opening, one has the ending.

Miscellaneous
Unlike FUNimation's usual slim pack box set packaging, this set is packaged as 3 discs, each in a regular sized keep case box. The three keep cases slide into a very sturdy outer box. While I generally prefer slim cases for the discs, I do really like the stronger box that these slide in to. Each of the individual DVD cases is transparent, so that the colorful Nanoha artwork printed on the reverse side of the covers can show through.

Film Value:
"Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha" is a cute show, which, even though it can get predictable at times, does manage to entertain through interesting character relationships and some nice tweaks to the basic Magical Girl formula.

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