Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance 05
魔法少女リリカルなのは EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance 05
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
Shiina gets introduced to Hayate’s Wolkenritter. Later, she, Fate, and Nanoha get a briefing from Rein and Hayate about the need to find the kaiju genesis Progenitor Diaboli named Zero, which disappears 12 years earlier. Further, they’ve located two other kaiju progenitors named Three and Four at a remote facility. With that, the trio fly to the the area in an Osprey helicopter.
Meanwhile, the Diaboli Slayers also decided to exterminate these two progenitors. They are already on site when Fate, Nanoha, and Shiina arrive. Since the Slayers are split up, the trio split up to get these unknown humans to evacuate. Shiina finds Yuuna and Aoi, who attack to get away rather than listen. They do note that Shiina is a flame Diaboli hybrid as Yuza opens a gate to let them escape.
Elsewhere, Nanoha finds Towa. After Towa puts a dampening field up, she wants to know if EXCEEDS have a flame Diaboli in their group. She attacks, wanting to know if EXCEEDS uses Diaboli drugs. During a pause in the action, Nanoha identifies Towa as a Diaboli Slayer. She tells Towa EXCEEDS mandate does not allow them to go after drugs, only dangerous progenitor Diaboli. Towa warns Nanoha about the flame Diaboli’s danger and leaves to exterminate Three and Four on her own.
Fate has a chat with Shiori, who escapes after setting off bombs to destroy the abandoned facility. Later, Mana gets word about the attack on the abandoned facility. They’ve identified Towa as one of Mana’s experiments. Thus she wants Eiji to capture Towa.
Thoughts/Review:
It certainly is plot convenience to have Fate, Nanoha, and Shiina meet the Diaboli Slayers in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance 05. However, I can buy the coincidence factor a bit. It would have been better if the episode revealed that the abandoned facility with Three and Four was simply bait set out by Mana. But as it is, EXCEEDS now knows how powerful Towa is. And we’ve seen Shiina take battle damage to up the stakes later on.
Still, for an initial clash, it didn’t live up to the normal expectations based on previous Nanoha series. I don’t have a problem with that as the Diaboli Slayers want a total extermination of Diaboli. Their only reason to fight EXCEEDS was a need by Seven Arcs for an action sequence. The Diaboli Slayers have seen the news reports about EXCEEDS. They recognized them when EXCEEDS arrived at the facility. And to be fair, the Diaboli Slayers did attempt to hide. But we get a clash ’cause “action”, which is fine.
Towa’s chat with Nanoha contained some interesting elements. For a start, Nanoha acknowledges the Diaboli drug problem. I can appreciate EXCEED not wanting to deal with criminal matters. But it doesn’t explain why EXCEEDS haven’t attempted to recruit the Diaboli Slayers. Further, Towa explains why she finds the flame Diaboli (whom she doesn’t know is Shiina) so dangerous. It isn’t out of a desire for revenge, but Towa’s genuine concern that the flame Diaboli might explode against her will.
Finally, we have Mana now wanting Towa back. I’m not sure Towa actually recognized Towa as the girl who was supposed to be sold off for food or whatever. However, considering Towa’s powers, maybe she does. I think she just wants to see who this Diaboli Slayer is and whether she can be used or not.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Let me wrap up my review of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance 05 with some final thoughts.
- Since only Nanoha, Fate, and Shiina needed to go to the facility where Three and Four were, why did they need two Osprey helicopters for the mission? All three girls were in one Osprey, which can hold 24 troops with chairs. So the second Osprey seemed redundant.
- I’m predicting that Mana is Zero. Well, a piece of Zero. That way, Zero could more easily hide while still reproducing Diaboli. And the Mana piece could carry out the bigger objectives.
- I’m still predicting that Setsuna is the flame Diaboli that Towa “killed” previously. Now that we’ve had the “she could be a walking bomb” notion dropped, I suspect that will be a point of conflict for Towa, especially once she knows Shiina’s secret and Shiina is in a bad way.
- I hope the Wolkenritter get more than little cameos.
In the end, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance 05 was pretty interesting. It certainly kept me engaged throughout my initial viewing for sure.
