The aggressive Fuuka Reventon often finds herself in fights as she struggles to make a living. One day, she gets into an altercation with gangsters that leaves her with injuries; luckily, martial arts champion Einhald Stratos finds Fuuka and brings her to a hospital.
Seeing potential in Fuuka's skills, Einhald encourages the girl to become a martial arts athlete and offers her a job at Nakajima Gym, where Einhald trains. Despite the kind gesture, Fuuka initially declines the proposal due to the bad memories it brings. She was once childhood friends with the now prominent martial arts athlete Rinne Berlinetta, but the personality of her fellow orphan shifted from kind and gentle to cold and cruel after being adopted by a prosperous family and starting martial arts.
Nonetheless, Fuuka soon accepts Einhald's offer and begins training under her—not only out of necessity but also out of the desire to defeat Rinne and make her realize how hurtful her behavior has become. Despite Fuuka's inexperience, Einhald and the other members of the gym have faith in her talent and efforts.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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LIQfilms
Vivid Srike was the latest addition to the Nanoha franchise and can come across as kind of jarring for those viewers coming straight off from Nanoha Vivid expecting a direct continuation of the story as Vivid Strike is a side-story of Vivid's narrative taking place a year after the events of said show. Upon watching this show, it could also be kind of confusing since there was just a general lack of information surrounding this show anyway so trying to piece it together can perhaps be a little distracting upon your first viewing. However, despite being a side-story, the newly introduced characters are decently integratedinto the narrative and fleshed out.
This season has a greater focus on two new characters in the franchise rather than Vivio or Einhald. If you were expecting Nanoha or Fate to make an appearance than you'll be disappointed. While Vivio and Einhald do have moments of development and some time to shine in their own fights and the such the narrative is, at its core, a tale of two orphan children called Fuuka and Rinne. After Fuuka is adopted by a couple she lives out a brief and happy period with her newly found Grandfather but runs into trouble with bullies at school who push her to her limits resulting in a situation in which she misses the passing of her Grandfather. She then beats the ever lasting SHIT out of the bullies and trains vigorously to become stronger and stronger. Her orphan friend, Fuuka, trains with the previously established characters from Vivid in order to defeat her friend and beat some sense into her. The story is a basic fighting tournament with the main focus of training hard to gain new abilities and using your fists in order to communicate with your opponent. While it is basic in plot structure, it's the characters that shine through an otherwise generic story.
There is a decent amount of time invested in both Fuuka and Rinne to make them feel more human and their backstories and motivations are both believable and have enough attachment to the narrative to make the narrative have more stakes and impact. Rinne's backstory was easily the most entertaining part of the anime and is given a decent amount of time to breath and spread its wings. You're able to easily understand why she behaves the way she does which makes her fights feel more real and emotionally heavier too. Fuuka, on the other hand, doesn't feel as fleshed out while still having a decent amount of personal engagement with the narrative. Fuuka doesn't go through the same amount of focus or development in the show aside from her power level increase. However, as a character it is easy to feel the emotional attachment she has with the narrative and thus easier to root for as an audience. It's the effective drama between these characters is the main thing that keeps the show entertaining and helps it to stand on its two feet.
While the plot does a decent job at fleshing out character back-stories and personalities it's still not something you've seen before to some better effect. This doesn't necessarily make Vivid Strike's story bad; just forgettable after you've finished watching it and the plot points are also rather easy to predict while you're watching it and you can pretty much guess which direction the show is going to go in. This can make your viewing experience of this show rather tedious as you already know what is going to happen as it follows a basic formula.
However, one thing the show did pretty well were the fight sequences. There is a lot of emotion poured into each of the fights which makes them feel as if there is more narrative stakes but it also makes them feel more exciting. The animation and fights themselves were pretty solid, my favorite being between Vivio and Rinne which does a decent job at developing both characters throughout the fight. The final fight between Fuuka and Rinne was also pretty good for both thematics and a good end product for a season of tension building between the two. However, there are some secondary fights which are glossed over entirely and the final fight between Rienhald and Fuuka may have left you kind of disappointed if you did want to see it. A first for the Nanoha franchise, I believe, is the inclusion of blood and teeth being knocked out during the fights. This not only makes the fights feel more realistic and gritty but it can perhaps come across as jarring for any veteran fans of the show although this was never a problem for me. It never gets to the point where it becomes stupid shock factor either, which I liked.
As for overall music it was fine. The opening is generic catchy pop that you'll forget after you've heard something similar and the battle OST does a fine job. Overall Vivid Strike is a decent addition to the Nanoha series with some good action, decently fleshed out cast but the series also remains fun. It doesn't take too much to feel the emotional weight of the narrative and the character's involvement in said narrative. This series works because of the boat loads of heart the characters have in the Nanoha franchise. If you're a Nanoha fan you'll get a kick out of it.
(Part of LIQfilms 12 Days of Christmas - Day 5)
ktulu007
The Nanoha franchise is one I've talked about a lot. I've reviewed the first series, As, StrikerS, Vivid and even the loosely connected Triangle Heart, which has been the only ungood one thus far. This week I'm going to look at Vivid Strike, which is a side story for Vivid. It was produced by Seven Arcs, the same studio behind everything else I've looked at except, oddly enough, Vivid itself. Let's see if it upholds the franchise's proud traditions of quality and les-yay. That excludes Triangle Heart, obviously. Story: Fuuka Reventon is an orphan with a propensity for trouble. We open with her getting intoa fight with a bunch of ne'er do wells. When law enforcement arrives on the scene, she's forced to flee. She runs right into Einhald Stratos and manages to throw one punch before collapsing from injuries she sustained in her earlier altercation. Einhald sees potential in her and brings her into the Nakajima Gym, offering to coach her in martial arts. Fuuka eventually accepts, hoping to reconnect with her childhood friend, Rinne Berlinetta.
The only real narrative issue I have with this series is that it may abridge things too much. A lot of the stuff they skip over is totally justifiable. We don't need to see all the tournament fights. Especially when one of our main characters is going against some Rando and they're obviously going to win because it's a main character against someone who we're just now meeting. However, the unfortunate side effect of skipping over all but a few of those is that we don't get a proper arc for Fuuka and her development as a martial artist. We see her train with the other girls a bit and win a single match before we cut to the climactic fight betwixt her and Rinne. Which really isn't enough to give her a plausible chance. Instead, we get to be told how far she's come by other characters. Because that's just as good as seeing it.
That aspect aside, I do have a lot of praise for the story. The conflict between Fuuka and Rinne is really well handled. It acknowledges the mistakes that are made while also showing us the reasons behind them. The scenes showing Rinne's back story are actually highly poignant. The narrative being about these old friends and their trying to reconnect also provides a compelling tension to the narrative that was absent from the regular Vivid anime and using martial arts as a vehicle that could potentially make that happen really works to tie it in with the framework we've already got. I also do appreciate that the tournament doesn't go the way you would normally expect from this kind of series. The pacing is fairly well done, in spite of the aforementioned abridging issue. It has rising action, an intense climax and then adequate time to wrap things up from there.
Characters:
The character element has always been a strong suit for this franchise. This instalment is no exception. Fuuka has a strong student-master relationship with Einhald. There are a lot of nive little touches that give us insight into her character. The way she talks to the other girls, frequently using nicknames is one. The way she responds to Rinne when Rinne is talking about the lack of understanding other people have towards her is a big one. The dynamic of her and Rinne is the core of the series and it is actually superb. The flashbacks of them together show us very clearly why they mean a lot to each other and add weight to the reconnection plot. Their early interactions also illustrate both the difficulties of rekindling their connection and the yearning to rekindle it from both of them. Which makes things really interesting. I also do like the way it further develops the Vivid cast.
Art:
the only real art issue I have with this one is that the transformation sequences remain rather sleazy in their usage of fan-service. It does, however, improve on a lot of my issues with Vivid. There's a lot less general fan-service. There aren't any overly fan-servicey outfits on display. We don't see Sister Chantez's stripper nun outfit, for instance. They manage to fight in their matches and keep their clothing intact because, I guess, Seven Arcs is better about that than A-1. I do generally like the character designs. Although, Fuuka looks a lot like IF from Neptunia. Did IF and Compa have a science baby? Come to think of it, Rinne looks a bit like Lady Blackheart but with Neptune's eyes. Did Noire and Neptune also have a science baby? Did the infants get left alone with Neptune and accidentally sent to another dimension? She probably responded to the justifiable anger by breaking the fourth wall and joking too. Joking tangents aside, the designs are striking and I do like that Fuuka bases her transformation off of her mentor. It's another of those little touches that tells us about her. The action sequences are really good. You can really see the force of the impacts and the animation is just highly polished. And all without having anyone's clothes torn apart. Almost like that was completely unnecessary, A-1.
Sound:
The performances in this are all great. The strongest come from our main duo voiced by Ogura Yui & Minase Inori. Sakura Ayane, Noto Mamiko & Mizuhashi Kaori also do particularly well. This series probably has the best soundtrack I've heard from Yoshikawa Youichirou. You may remember him as the composer for Iria & Green Legend Ran. Iria had good music as well, this just has really good music.
Ho-yay:
As this is the Nanoha franchise, there's a lot of les-yay. The vast bulk of it in this series is between Fuuka and Rinne. We don't see much of Vivio and Einhald's sapphic tension in this one and a lot of our previous couples (Nanoha & Fate, Subaru & Teana, etc.) don't show up. It's also heavily implied that Victoria has a thing for Rinne. Harry and Els allude to it during a conversation and Victoria just responds like it's completely natural. As she should. There's no shame in her having a crush on Rinne. I don't think she's going to win out over Fuuka in that regard, but I'm sure she'll get over it and find a nice girlfriend of her own eventually. After all, the population in this franchise seems to be ninety percent lesbians. No lack of selection there.
Final Thoughts:
Vivid Strike isn't just a marked improvement over Vivid. It's a really great series in its own right. The narrative of old friends trying to connect again after falling out really resonates. The action sequences are awesome. The acting is skilful. The relationship dynamic between our leads is amazing. It is, however, not a perfect series by any means. The transformation sequences are overly focused on titillation and Fuuka's coming into her own as a martial artist could have been much better handled. Still, I do recommend it for any fans of the franchise. Even those of you who were a bit disappointed with Vivid. Especially since I was as well. My final rating is still going to stand at a very solid 9/10. Next week I'll take a look at Bishoujo Yuugekitai Battle Skipper.
Growler
We all have dreams. We decide what we want and we take it. But life will always get in the way and make it harder or even deny you your dream. Such is our tale. The story is about two orphan girls separated by the adoption of one of them. The time spent apart makes them treat each other with coldness and eventually they fight and separate. Our protagonist is determined not to let this be the end of their relationship and trains to get her friend back. Artwork is a nice splice show of color. A lot of the characters have differently colored eyes which Ipersonally don't see why the need.. but nevertheless they are pretty to watch. The environment is pretty much in the near future with buildings looking the same plus the holograph video calls and the miraculous medical technology.
I have never been much of a fan of music behind a story however this series plays some nice songs that enhance the suspense of the moments.
Overall if you like some nice kickboxing between chicks with a really touching story behind it all, then this is a series for you.
Agent_Redacted
Was there ever a time where you had to pause the video just to say "Holy shit this is good". Well I did. At least for ViVid Strike! ViVid Strike! was hands down one of the best action anime of all time. The concept of lolis fighting each other aggressively is so appealing. Not just that, there's also transformation ( loli converting to "normal" ) and martial arts in it along with bullying. This show pumps my adrenaline so hard I've forgotten how many times I screamed during this binge session. Though there are some factors that require some improvements such as some fights beingtoo fast-paced and the animation needing a little more work so it would become perfect. This anime was awesome and superb. And possibility one of the most underrated things I've ever seen.
If you like the following things listed below then you may be interested in the show :
1 ) Bullying
2 ) Loli
3 ) Transformation
4 ) Martial Arts ( Fighting )
Yuki
Vivid Strike has been one of the best shows of the Fall season. The story was extremely well done and kept me engaged. It never once lets up and in fact gets better and better. One of the problems I have about shows with massive hype battles/fights, is that the last fight isn't as great as one of the previous ones. It leads to a decline in expectations and a sour taste in a "not as great as it could have been" ending. Vivid Strike is the exception to this problem. Not once was I disappointing in the plot, in fact I loved the waythe writers kept the suspense and unpredictability. For a show that deals in pseudo MMA, I was constantly kept on my toes and wishing for more. The way they kept the plot from growing stale or weak was extraordinary, in which it was both stupid yet so brilliantly executed. No time was wasted, the entire story was fast paced, and as someone who wants as much story, it delivered hard.
The real gem of the show is that I've never seen a show tackle and challenge depression and self-worth as well as Vivid Strike has. A lot of shows that aim to include the theme of depression all end up in a shallow implementation, in which the story progresses just barely to make the character "deep" in being able to relate to the viewer. Vivid Strike goes way beyond surface level dialogue on depression and kept the viewer in the reality of things in regards to how the characters were actually feeling. "Humanization" is hard and rarely can a story understand the full requirements needed to utilize the plot to make both the character and theme better and more crisp. The characters were without a doubt the best part of the show, and the incorporation of the themes into them was brilliant.
The other large theme was the idea of "nature v nurture". With characters on both sides of that spectrum. While Vivid Strike doesn't necessarily answer the question of which one is better, the character development and subsequent payoff regarding this theme was something to note. It shows what it means to be successful, despite losing or deposit not actual being successful.
I hope you watch Vivid Strike, as this is one of the shows that doesn't buckle under pressure from itself, and often times surprised me with how good it was.
illusion123chan
When i finished anime i was blown away. When i was starting to watch it i was like meh, this is gonna be bad. Didn't even think that this underrated anime had this much emotions and journey combined with sport which i love. Story: Story is about 2 girls Fuuka Reventon and Rinne Berlinetta that were always together since they were children and they only had each other. ( they were orphans ) And so one of the girls got taken away intro rich family and gets changed by the power and other is being left alone intro the world.Under some circumstances girl from richfamily becomes boxing star just to prove to the world that she is strong, and she is trying to forget her past, even her friend from childhood. And other girl is trying to get her back as her friend. To me it's story kinda full of cliches and everything. 8/10
Art: Art was something that got this show quite interesting, didn't expect such a great art. 10/10
Sound: Sound was sometimes bad and sometimes good, they could get you hyped for fights only from songs.Thats why i give 9/10
Character: Now this is what is core of this anime, kinda cliche characters but still they are like some kinda of motivation and you just keep watching show to see how will they progress and everything cause of their past. 9/10
Enjoyment: As i said i was blown away by this show, didn't expect it to be this good, and yes i enjoyed almost whole show but last episodes they could explain it a little more and show characters relationship. 10/10
Overall: 9/10 Now this is something you should see, especialy if you are fan of these story's where MC's are fighting with their past and getting from weak to strong.
Shingster
The story for Vivid strike takes place in the near future where mixed martial arts that uses magic that is enhanced by a device is fought in national level sports tournaments. The story follows the main character of Fuuka as she joins a MMA gym in order to get stronger and bring her friend back from the edge that she has got to. Being a mix of both a sports anime and a fighting anime and at the same time featuring magic that allows the characters to change to a adult form i thought that this anime looked interesting and im glad to say thati was right.
Fuuka Reventon is one of the main characters of the show and is voiced by Inori Minase one of my favorite seiyuu singers of all time. Fuuka like Rinne is an orphan that lived together in the same orphanage. However unlike Rinne who was take in by a foster family Fuuka wasn't and after leaving it went out into the world of work to survive. Fuuka struggled with dealing with thugs and other hooligans as she did and as a result developing strong skills in martial arts. This got her into trouble many times but as luck would have it she was discovered by Eins who saw the potential in her after taking one of her punches.
The central point in this story is to become strong and in Fuuka's case is also to find Rinne who she has a deep friendship with. After discovering that the Rinne she knew was now a much more horrible and merciless person and not the sweet and innocent Rinne that she knew Fuuka decided to join Eins offer and become a martial artist. Training under Eins herself Fuuka's hard work and training paid off and she become a powerful Martial artist who was determined to beat Rinne and rid her of that false personality that she had now.
Fuuka is a hard working, diligent and a determined person whose goal is to beat Rinne and drag her true personality back into the light a goal that i actually respect and admire. To do that she has to beat a lot of strong opponents and then face Rinne herself. I felt that the character of Fuuka was a strong character whose goal was a really noble one and a worthy one. Her seiyuu Inori Minase really did a great job portraying her.
Rinne is one of the main characters of the show and is voiced by veteran seiyuu Yui Ogura. Rinne is Fuuka's oldest friend having grown up in the same Orphanage though they entered it at different times. Rinne and Fuuka were best of friends and both enjoyed their time their. However this changed after Rinne was take by the Berlinnetta family. Though the family treated her like a daughter to them Rinne was heavily bullied in school and this combined with her adapted grandfathers death provoked some changes into her that made her both cold and merciless and started her journey to become strong. As a result when inside the ring she is merciless towards her opponents even being harsh towards them in their defeat as well. Outside of battle Rinne appears to be conflicted not caring about friends and trying to appear strong to others while inside she cracks.
Rinne's only goal until her match with Fuuka was to get stronger so that she will will not feel the humiliation of being bullied again which in itself is admirable but the method of doing so is not so. After her defeat Rinne's personality actually reverts back to her original one to which im glad to see and she has found meaning to both her practice of martial arts and to her life as well.
I felt that Yui Ogura who portrayed Rinne did an excellent job in playing Rinne as there were different facets to Rinne's personality that meant that only veterans were able to portray them effectively.
Eins is one of the main characters of the anime and is played by veteran seiyuu Mamiko Noto. Eins is the current champion of the national level MMA tournament that Fuuka and Rinne fight in. Within the story Eins fills the role of Fukka's master and teaches her the basics of MMA fighting and ending up reaching Fuuka her style of fighting that she uses after being impressed by Fuuka's skills and determination. Being a champion Eins is a very capable fighter and watching her deck Fuuka countless times proves this. Despite being senior Eins can be mischievousness sometimes but she has a well rounded personality being a determined, hard working person that is also clear headed. Her seuyuu Mamiko Noto did a fantastic job as ever portraying Eins.
Vivio is one of the main characters of the show and is played by veteran seiyuu Kaori Mizuhashi. A fellow athlete of Fuuka and Eins that trains in the same gym Vivio is the only person that has managed to beat Eins before. Vivio is a positive, competitive and determined person and in a way is the opposite of Rinne. Despite having a weak body Vivio didn't let up and trained relentless to be stronger and as such was able to get to where she is today. It is with this skill and determination that she was able to get so far in the winter championships and manage a victory against her dream opponent despite suffering heavy injuries.
Nove voiced by veteran seiyuu Chiwa Saito is the owner of the Gym that Eins, Fuuka and Vivio and Miura train at. While appearing to be rather laid back Nove actually cares about each of her fighters and will always try and support them with whatever she has. Nove believes that all fighters should be given the chance to shine irrespective of their skills and lack of them. This is complete contrast to her friend Jill.
Gill voiced by veteran seiyuu of Charlotte and Unlimited Fafnir and Trinity seven fame is Rinne's couch. Partly because of her desire to win and seeing Rinne's ability in martial arts Gill trained Rinne relentlessly while ignoring what Rinne's heart really wanted and as such changed Rinne into the person that she later become. It wasn't until much later that she discovered what these had done to Rinne that she saw how wrong she was and how by putting what she felt as a athlete into her that she was dooming Rinne to the same path. This was however averted with Fuuka's match against Rinne and both Gill and Rinne were able to reconcile and find the true path together.
Miura voiced by veteran seuyuu Kanae Ito of Sword art online fame is a fellow athlete of Fuuka, Eins and Vivio that train at Nove's gym. A capable fighter that is equally powerful in both kicks and punches Miura is best described as the peoples person as she can both fight and take care of household chores like cleaning and cooking. Like the rest of the cast Miura aspires to become a professional athlete and aims to graduate from the under 15 cat that she belongs to and join the upper tiers where she hopes to fight Vivio. This is an attitude that i respect a lot as humans should always aspire to get better and improve ones skills and climb ever higher.
Arts and animation
I felt that the art style that was used in the anime was very well designed with character designs being especially good. Individual scenes were also well designed and colored. The fight scenes for which is extremely important as this is a fighting anime was beautifully designed and the audio behind them was done well.
Music
The music for the anime was really well done especially the opening and ending themes that were sung by Yui Ogura who was the seiyuu for Rinne and Inori Minase who was the seiyuu for Fuuka respectively.
Voice acting
Voice acting i felt was top notch with praise going to Inori Minase who played Fuuka, Yui Ogura for Rinne and Mamiko Noto for Eins. Additionally Kaori Mizuhashi who voiced Vivio and Kanae Ito who voiced Miura also did a excellent job portraying their characters.
In conclusion i have to say that i quite enjoyed Vivid strike as i felt that it had an interesting story, great cast of characters, great voice cast and a great setting and most importantly for a fighting anime some really good fight scenes. Fuuka's determination to save her friend from the edge of despair and bring back her old positive personality i felt was a worthy goal and i was glad that see that it worked out in the end. One aspect that i felt could have been done better was the final fight between Eins and Fuuka as they spent so much time in the lead up only to end the fight like that. But otherwise this was a great anime that i enjoyed.
Suratu
If you want to watch a girl punch another girl so hard her ribs break, then you need to watch this show. This show is a spin-off of the Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha franchise, but that’s not important. It's really a mixed martial arts anime that gets brutally violent, which is made immediately apparent from the first few minutes of the show, when our feisty main character gets slammed over the head with a lead pipe and then proceeds to get the shit kicked out of her by a bunch of thugs. Though not all the fighting is well animated, generally the fights are choreographed fine. Youwon’t get a whole lot of *teleports behind you* “heh nothing personnel kid” (unlike this show’s parent story, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid). There is magic in the show’s universe, but it’s not present in the actual fighting, since the story covers a non-magic tournament. Something you’ll notice right away are the sound effects of the punching and kicking. The sound effects really sell the idea that there’s actual weight behind the punches from these little girls. On top of that, when someone gets hit, you’ll watch their eyes widen in shock and pain. You’ll see them hacking up spit, blood, and teeth. You’ll hear bones breaking. It’s actually kind of funny how often you’ll see someone carried out in a stretcher in this show; it’s almost every other episode. I think you’ll also appreciate that not every fight has an obvious winner.
This show gets oddly detailed in some places, while missing the mark in some obvious areas that can ruin your immersion. For example, when one character carries out revenge on some punks, there are, shockingly, legal consequences for her actions. But how are there punks enrolled at a rich kid school in the first place? And the confrontation following the revenge is even less believable. I also think the character motivations are not totally fleshed out, which calls into question if there are any real stakes in any of these fights. And if you’re looking for a show that takes a deeper dive into fighting technique like Hajime no Ippo, you will probably not be satisfied, though that kind of thing doesn’t matter to me at all.
I do like that the show threw me some minor surprises every now and then. A cliché in shows about competition, such as Ping Pong the Animation, is the dichotomy between in-born talent versus hard work, and the prevailing of one over the other. A coach for one of the girls believes that only talent matters, while, supposedly, the rival coach believes the exact opposite and that only effort matters. In the bonus episodes, she explicitly denies ever holding such a viewpoint, saying that she agrees that there’s such a thing as futile effort, adding some nuance where I anticipated a one-dimensional take on the subject. There was also another instance where one of the girls starts talking to the other in the middle of a match. This isn’t actually that weird in the context of anime, so I was surprised when the round was over that her coach calls her an idiot and tells her that she’ll lose points because of it.
This show isn’t the greatest, but I never got bored watching it, and I think it’ll end up being one of the more memorable things I’ll ever watch. In retrospect, I may have inadvertently watched a show made to appeal ryona fetishists… but whatever.
Big-Boss_X
Story (7/10): Think of your typical Magical Girl anime. You got cute little girls, cool transformations, fancy movies, dark pasts, and the an ultimate goal of saving the world ........ actually scratch that last one and replace it with a fighting sport that for some reasons only girls participate in (obviously) and you will get the main premise of ViVid Strike!. A simple plot the doesn't need much effort to follow. The story started quickly with a little introduction and went straight the main stuff with no delays the ending was very predictable. Characters (6/10): I guess being a spin-off from another anime the creators didn't really feel the needto put much effort on giving much depth to the characters. Except for the two main characters (who seem to be new characters to the franchise) and maybe one or two of the supporting characters, the other charters seemed kind of flat and were their to move the story along. Even the main character were not that deep. They did try to throw a couple of flashbacks here and their but it was not enough. Someone with past knowledge of the franchise might find the characters more appealing since they are already known to them (was not the case for me)
Art and Animations (5/10):
Nothing special can be said about the art in this anime. I guess it was really suiting to this kind of show show. characters designs were colorful and cute (which is also very suitable to this kind of show)
As for the animations they were really disappointing. You would think an anime about fighting would have some sweet animation but sadly it did not. Most of the time it's slow motion that try to give emphasis on the impact or some blurred movements with lots of flashing lights smoke and explosions. You will get 5 maybe 10 minutes of actual decent fighting animations spread throughout the anime
Music (6/10):
Can't say that any of the soundtracks stood out while i was watching this. The OP and ED were really generic
Effectiveness (7/10):
It was an entertaining show which is something i can't deny. But the fact that it is a spin-off showed clearly in it's making. it was something you could watch when you are bored and want some mindless action with cute girls and oddly no ecchi and negligible fanservice (one or two scenes)
Overall (6.5):
a good and tried concept that suffered from lack of attention to details for the most part
OrbitalMechanic
Remember kids. The only way to re-connect with your beloved childhood friend is to deliver a scenery-shattering uppercut that knocks out some of her teeth. But only after she has crushed your ribs. Seriously. You will tear up on this one. I guess they get credit for recognizing that the appealing female form is athletic and graceful and does not rely on having ginormous breasts. But personality should be built in somewhere. I would say about 70% of Fuka's dialog outside of fights is "Right!" "Got it!" "Yes!" and "Yes ma'am!" In Japanese these are allvariants of "Hai!" Inside a fight she acquires a vocabulary.
People who like to watch other people playing fight games will be happy with this.
DesolatePsyche
First things first. My "reviews" system is explained on a blog entry. Which can be found through my profile. ------ An odd case where personal enjoyment strongly wanted me to score it 6. But other aspects were actually good and if even enjoyment weighs more, it isn't enough to counterweight the other scores. ✦Story Not gonna say much aside that it's simple sport/magic Anime that takes place in Nanoha universe. So Hajime No Vivio/Fuuka/Nanoha whatever rings the best. This time there actually was a bit of backstory, development and weight to the story. I found it enjoyable adventure. It wasn't anything amazing, but wasn't boring or bad either. Itwas simply good and enjoyable.
But still find it weird how newer Nanohas turned into sports Anime.
✦Art&Sound
Simple, vivid and quite good looking art. Plus fight sequences were quite flashy and cool. Not as magical but more of a martial arts side. Transformation sequences were okay. Transformations provided some sexy fanservice too to some extent. (more fanservicy sexual side transformations than older trademark transformation sequences)
Songs I don't remember much but I did like the OST, they did pack some punch and hype.
✦Character
Same as usual, moegirls doing stuff. But extra point for having some actual development and backstory. With extra bit of edginess.
✦Enjoyment&Overall
Probably it being to sporty and vivid was a bit of a turnoff for me. Transformations weren't as cool and were more of a sexy. Enjoyment was solid 6 for me.
But in the end considering I gave every other aspect higher rating then enjoyment isn't enough to lower it.
So yeah, want to watch vivid sports martial arts arena with a tad bit of a magic , with a bit fanservice and cute girls doing cute stuff, then it's good anime to watch. also has a bit more depth to it in comparison to Nanoha Vivid series.
BakaSnappai
Ahh, Vivid Strike, the anime with the most infamous bullying scene that probably attracted most of it viewers. Atleast, that was the case for me. I remember watching the clip one late night and becoming interested in the anime due to the explicit scene, wondering how the series would be. So I looked it up and not long after I started watching it. The first few minutes begin with a scene setting up Rinne's and Fuuka's childhood together, which gives more insight to the characters. Soon after we get to see a grown-up Fuuka crying alone on the stairs, Rinne no longer by her side. Wefind out she is alone and gets by working one job, also starting many fights on the street. After one of these fights she accidentally stumbles upon Einhard, whom is a Keiser arts champion, and attacks her. Fuuka is stopped and passes out due to her injuries. This meeting is what starts her job and life in the Nakajima gym.
There she befriends many fighters like her and becomes an apprentice of Einhard, having to follow training as well. What I like about the training and the fights throughout the series is that most of them are rather realistic, not portraying Fuuka as some overpowered character being able to defeat anyone in her way and actually receiving damage. Although in other fights she wins way too quickly for my liking and gets away with barely any scratch, predictable. I suppose it could be explained with her enormous strength and magic. Other characters get to shine too in terms of fighting and development, instead of just being there which makes them more of use. There are however a few smaller characters randomly introduced and never seen much, but seem to have somewhat of an importance to the story. Not all of them, there are enough characters who have no purpose and could have been left out without missing anything.
The build-up of the story doesn't seem to be too rushed and you get to see an actual development regarding certain characters. Especially Rinne, who fights to become the strongest, begins to wonder if her philosophy is really correct. She is brought down and challenged many times but she always gets up and fights back. The same applies to Fuuka who wasn't planning on doing much until she fixated her goal on defeating Rinne, wanting to bring back her old self. Their relationship together undergoes many changes, they go from childhood friends to enemies and back to friends again.
Eventually, around the end of the series, they get to fight again for the first time in years and are both set on defeating each other. It is no short fight and despite the many injuries they obtain, they still continue fighting until it is Fuuka who wins. The battle was intense and both opponents were equally as strong. Although the continuous talking sometimes stretched it out and seemed rather pointless as they were supposed to be punching eachother instead, not mushy talking.
After the fight the two quickly recover from their injuries and suddenly they're friends, just like that. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for it, but they have had a long love-hate relationship for eachother and the fight looked more gloomy then as making up. I would figure they would struggle more befriending eachother again but apparently that doesn't seem to be the case. After this the end of the series is left open, ending with a scene of Fuuka and Einhard about to fight each other in the tournament.
Overal the story wasn't that spectaculair but I enjoyed watching it and it had many good moments as well. The cast was rather varied in terms of looks, their personalities however were less enjoyable for me. It seemed to be either mostly the same or completely obsessive like Rinne's trainer. She only made sense towards the end and before that she annoyed me a lot with her controlling behaviour. Rinne seemed to have a split personality, switching between intense anger and childlike shyness. Another thing that annoyed the shit out of me were those floating animals, if they were left out it would've saved me a massive headache.
The soundtrack was quite nice and 10/10 would listen again. The art also had a nice touch to it and most of the scenes were drawn well. No problems there. As for the recommendation, it is a nice series to watch for a change and if you were wondering if you should watch it, definitely.
TheCompletionist
In the world of anime, you can often be misled into thinking that something you may think is cute and innocent by first glance can be actually a deep action packed experience. Time and time again we can often allow yourselves to prematurely judge an anime by how it looks with out any context on what a specific anime is all about to only be pleasantly surprised by what we get to experience. This is definitely the case in a series called Vivid Strike which is the 5th anime entry in the Magical Girl Lyrical series which started all the way back in 2003.In a shallow superficial way, the story of Vivid strike is literally a bunch of 14 year old girls that love martial arts using their magical powers in order to punch and kick the crap out of each other. To be honest, that is what I initially expected out of this anime but as I personally got through more of the story I actually discovered a more compelling story between two longtime friends who have unfortunately drifted apart and the personal journey they take in order to become accomplished martial artists and to ultimately repair the friendship they've once had.
The story of Vivid strike focuses on an orphan girl by the name of Fuuka Reverton who is a bit of a rebellious sort, but after an altercation with some degenerates a girl by the name of Einhart comes to her rescue who see's her potential as a formidable fighter and invites her to a gym that she is a part of. Fuuka is not a fan of martial arts due to some bad blood and a deteriorating friendship she had with another orphan girl by the name of Rinne Berlinetta. These two girls grew up at the same orphanage together and during their time at the orphanage they would never leave each other and consider themselves the best of friends despite their personalities being complete opposites of each other. Fuuka is brash and good willed, while Rinne is very timid and shy. Unfortunately, Rinne gets adopted by a rich family and the next time Fuuka see's her friend again she has become this world renowned martial artist and during this transition into a martial artist is when Fuuka witnesses Rinne insulting her opponent's ability is what eventually starts her feud with her. However, as much as we might be led to believe that Rinne is an antagonist I don't think this is the case because while Fuuka may be considered the main character (protagonist) of the story, there is a significant amount of time spent with Rinne especially watching her transition from a shy and timid girl into an incredibly unrelenting fighter due to unforeseen yet brutal events that took place in her life after she was adopted. It's easy to see Fuuka/Rinne feud as an protagonist vs antagonist, but I see it more as a mirror image where there are really no good guys or bad guys throughout this 12 episode anime. What we have is two teenage girls who use martial arts as a way to find direction in this world and what they're willing to do in order to not only achieve success in life but to be ultimately happy with the people they have become even if they do realize that the direction they eventually ended up came at a cost. For as much as Fuuka is the main character of this story, we actually see Rinne in more fighting action in the entire anime compared to everybody else.
As much as this story is really focused on Fuuka and Rinne, there is actually some really good story development put into the coaches of both Rinne and Fuuka. There is also some really amazing story development put into some of Fuuka's teammates at the Nakajima Gym specifically Vivio, Einhart, and Miura. The anime does have a pretty big cast, but the anime takes pride on who it needs to focus on and when in order to tell the best story it can within these 12 episodes. There isn't really much action in the anime until the halfway mark when a few members of the Nakajima Gym are involved in this martial arts tournament that is called the Winter Cup. However, as much as we would like to think how the finale of this martial arts tournament is going to go, I do applaud this anime for going against the typical formula of where you might think the story is going to go and end up someplace else. Your going to end up pleasantly surprised because it does really help the story evolve specifically for it's two main characters.
In the first 6 episodes of the anime, we do get a small taste of the action that is yet to come. The anime almost treats the action in the first 6 episodes of the anime as a little appetizer. We get to see small snippets of the action that is yet to come and I think it's a brilliant way of building up what your trying to present to the audience because by the time episode 6 rolls around we are at the very start of the Winter cup which is when we get to see some of the best action this anime has to offer. Before the martial arts tournament starts Fuuka trains with all the members of the Nakajima gym. Each member of the Nakajima gym has some type of fighting knowledge to impart to Fuuka so that she can be the best fighter she can be. One of the most important parts of their training is when Fuuka gets to learn about Power mode which allows them to transform into adults so they can better utilize their fighting and energy attack capabilities. Each of the female fighters in this anime have beautiful and vividly animated transformation sequences. I do appreciate that no matter how major or minor a female character is - we do get the luxury of seeing their transformation sequence at least once. When the action does start, it's amazing how much attention they put into the action scenes when two girls decide to throw down and literally punch and kick the crap out of each other. There is so much detail put into each punch and kick that each of fighters throw at you that the sound engineers go out of their way to make sure that when a punch or kick connects your going to feel how hard they actually throw their attacks at each other. The animators put so much emphasis on putting an aura around the fists that these female fighters throw you can almost feel like that with every attack the fighter throws at you - it almost feels like it's one of their strongest attacks each and every time. One thing I did find surprising albeit it does not happen very often is this anime will show a little bit of blood and some really legitimate damage to the characters bodies such as broken ribs or spitting out broken teeth throughout some of these really intense battles. The preliminary battles with the unknown characters are pretty quick and uneventful but when you have a battle between two relatively skilled characters, you'll be quite amazed with how back and forth these fights are and the anime does an excellent job of building suspense because your really not going to know who the winner is of each fight until the very last blow because the anime wants to make sure that in each battle especially when it involves the main cast there is extra effort into making sure that the two characters have had an opportunity to trade blows back and forth.
The animation throughout the anime is incredibly smooth and every main female character of the Nakajima gym has a really great fighting outfit to compliment their colourful personality. The music is surprisingly solid with a really good and enjoyable opening theme. I do appreciate the attention to detail the vibrant amount of colour they use for each of the female fighters.
For as enjoyable as this anime is and I truly did enjoy it, there are a few problems with it. It does end on a very unnecessary cliffhanger that was borderline annoying since it was a plot point we were all anticipating as a result of Fuuka's progress throughout the entire story. The anime does have such strong character development that I truly think the anime could of easily been an over 20 episode adventure especially with how consistent and brutal the battle scenes have been and it would be nice to see the other fighters of the Nakajima Gym showcase their fighting ability that never had a chance to do so during the Winter Cup martial arts tournament. From my opinion, the final climatic match doesn't really equal to some of the other fights that we seen around the mid point of the actual anime because unfortunately in the final match there is just as much talking as there is action and that can be a bit of a downer since we've been waiting for this match right from the very first episode. The anime does have a little bit of uncomfortable fan-service but thankfully nothing too detailed or overly degenerate.
Vivid strike is an amazing entry in the Magical Girl Lyrical series and it proves without a shadow of a doubt that you should never judge a book by its cover. Cuteness and martial arts can truly be a deadly entertaining combination and you can count on a bunch of fierce fighting 14 year old girls to tell a really compelling story with some really good one on one action to boot.
knightmare84
Very great series. The fan service is low and the story and fight scenes are very good. I thought it would be a normal hero story with linear A to B story lines I was pleased this was not the case. The plot changes was very unexpected which kept you wondering how things would play out and for whom. Early on you find yourself empathizing with the secondary main character then kinda disliking her then liking her again. You find the inverse with the main character. The background characters are easy to connect with and to be honest Vivio is my favorite a even better storyand development than the 2 mains.
It leaves you on a cliff hanger but apparently Vivid Strike Specials has the 13th episode. I'm on my way to that.
LegendAqua
Haven't seen an anime about cute girls going fisticuffs beating the living shit out of each other can be this exhilarating! For LA, ViViD Strike was hardly on LA's radar during the Fall 2016 Seasonal Roundup and LA really didn't care about it, why?, because of it's predecessor within it's own spinoff...Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViViD. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViViD's truncated ending during a TOURNAMENT ARC as well as changing of genres from magical girl fantasy to shounen fighting put LA off the Nanoha franchise, but ViViD Strike! quite honestly is the saving grace and rejuvenation to the ViViD franchise. But this isn't a reviewof Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViViD, it's about ViViD Strike!, let's get on with this.
The plot revolves around Fuuka Reventon voiced by Inori Minase, a girl living in poverty until she chance encounters Einhart Stratos voiced by Mamiko Noto discovering that she has talent for fighting and with Fuuka agreeing, as she gets a job at Nakajima Gym and is coached by Einhart, why?, so that she can face her childhood friend Rinne Berlinetta voiced by Yui Ogura for a chance to see why she changed like she did which caused the rift between the two. The anime's timeline is 2 years after Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViViD and sure the main protagonist isn't Vivio, but this integrates Fuuka's main goal to the rest of Vivio's cast.
Let's look at the characters, as one of the best strengths to ViViD Strike!, characters and their character development. The two best characters developed throughout the anime goes to Rinne and Fuuka. Rinne's character development about how she became the stoic, merciless yet revered fighter is what got LA hooked into this anime. LA will go into slight spoilers but let's just say that Rinne was cruelly bullied in school and ViViD Strike! managed to NOT do a typical bullying backstory by managing to USE violence as a means to justify Rinne's bullying BUT with BOTH parties suffering the consequences and quite honestly, LA was utterly shocked by Rinne's actions that broke her into "resolving" the situation, it's a brilliant and visceral yet simple take on the bullying backstory and damn did it have impact. Rinne's backstory given also shows that ViViD Strike cherishes it's morality as "no one is outright evil or no one is always justly good", always a moral gray area which is greatly manifested in Rinne. Yes, Rinne is LA's favourite character, not only due to her badassery, but her character development and backstory helped immensely. Adding to it, Rinne's character development during the tournament also gave her alot more development in the form of her own character resolution. Fuuka herself steadily gains character development during the course of anime but it's mainly together with Rinne due to their clash of ideals that transition into their fists later on. Fuuka not only grows as a fighter but she too steels her resolve in wanting to not only fight Rinne, but get her childhood friend back.
On speaking of clash of beliefs, as ViViD Strike! revels in it's moral gray area, this also manifests in Fuuka's and Rinne's coaches (Nove voiced by Chiwa Saito and Jill voiced by Ayane Sakura respectively). Nove's coaching of putting in the effort and pure determination clashing with Jill's strict and intensive training with Jill's beliefs of thinking that fighters needs to be BORN with talent in order to get anywhere not only adds to their own character development, but due to both their teachings to Fuuka and Rinne, also rubs onto Fuuka and Rinne's own beliefs. Mind you due to the moral gray area, there really isn't "REAL VILLAINS" (Yes, not even Jill is and LA thought that Jill was "evil", but even her beliefs and her actions speak louder not making her evil at all, just putting her best of intentions to Rinne...ohh Rinne's bullies definitely were, but Rinne is equally at fault) in this anime which makes it very good thing due to the anime genre it is.
Back to characters, you'd think that due to the focus largely on Fuuka and Rinne that the rest of the cast are supporting and yes they are.....however because of the basic tournament style, we do get to see WHY the supporting cast wants to fight building their character development, the major one going to Miura Rinaldi voiced by Kanae Ito, Vivo voiced by Kaori Mizuhashi and of course Einhart Stratos. But for the rest, expect them to be the "peanut gallery" watching from the sidelines and telling how certain fighting styles or attacks "hurt" or "have the upper hand" etc.
Finally, LA will say that as "generic" as a fighting tournament anime is, they don't make immediately obvious who's gonna fight who even with the format of a tournament arc making some of the fights like Rinne vs. Vivio all the more impactful, adrenaline pumping and unpredictable as to who's gonna win or not, also during the tournament arc, due to a promise by Einhart, Rinne WAS gonna fight Fuuka no matter what, making who's gonna fight who even more unpredictable, heck even who's gonna WIN is even more unpredictable due to how powerful and balanced each of the main cast them are (obviously this excludes the minor contestants as they get KO'd quite quickly so that the tournament can move on to the more interesting fights).
In the voice acting department however, LA will say that there are some notable "playing against the type" roles LA took notice of from Rinne Berlinetta who is voiced by Yui Ogura (mainly because of her voicing a stoic and apathetic badass) to LA's main surprise of Ayane Sakura voicing Jill (the calm ojou yet almost sadistic belief to her coaching a la tranquil, scheming villainous character something LA has NEVER seen Ayane Sakura do a role in), for the rest of the vocal cast who reprised their roles from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid were expected with some squeakers from Kaori Mizuhashi as Vivio, Eri Kitamura as Rio Wezley (her hyper genki tonal vocals get high pitched at times) and Kanae Ito who voiced Miura Rinaldi. Inori Minase who voiced Fuuka Reventon, the main protagonist in ViVid Strike!, she did a decent job overall but she shone when getting into her serious *cough* angry Rem vocals *cough* but LA was more interested in the playing against roles like Ayane Sakura and Yui Ogura...on speaking of which, LA's favourite voice actor from ViVid Strike! would go to Yui Ogura, though she had some competition in the form of Ayane Sakura, Inori Minase and Mamiko Noto but nonetheless, considering how complex Rinne was, it only benefited into LA liking Yui Ogura's performance even more.
In terms of animation by Seven Arcs Pictures, the animation is slightly inconsistent at times especially in the later last quarter of the anime with some facial derps or some lower quality at times. The character designs are expected moe and all the characters are distinct but that's too be expected when many of the characters have their own distinct style (hairstyle, accessories, transformations etc.) but when they really brought their all, is during the fighting and ohh boy did they go all out for that!, the fighting animation is greatly animated and isn't deterred by the lower quality as well (yes, it happens but LA doesn't care, the fight scenes are AMAZING), if there is one praise LA will have to say is the great fighting animation and offside, the facial animation in showing expression in some of the characters were done splendidly.
As much as LA is praising ViViD Strike, LA needs to be a bummer and say some of the flaws, if there are any and yes, LA already talked about the derpy animation at times, but LA will re-emphasis again that the majority of the supporting characters are nothing but that and are more spectators and expositional fighting style manuals than "characters" (exceptions being Jill, Nove, Einhart, Vivio and Miura), next would be the the fact that if your expecting a Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViViD sequel, if you read this far, it's quite obvious that the focus isn't to Vivio or it's "her conituation" from Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViViD, but with that Fuuka and Rinne's plot focus is more than enough and this is hardly considered a "flaw" more like expectations, LA's anyways, but anyways these flaws hardly deter LA from hating this installment of the ViViD franchise.
ViViD Strike!'s ending like Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViViD left on the finals, HOWEVER unlike Nanoha ViViD where it left on the tournament with no compromise, ViViD Strike! on the other hand gave us a compromise in the form of a resolution between Rinne and Fuuka and LA will easily take that, even if ViViD Strike! and Nanoha ViViD Strike! essentially did the same thing of NOT finishing a tournament, hell in ViViD Strike!'s case, the tournament wasn't the primary focus, it was about Rinne and Fuuka and giving it a resolution was the best compromise to that.
ViViD Strike!, really was a surprise for LA, not only as a fan of the Nanoha franchise but for Fall 2016 Seasonal Roundup as well. As a fan of the Nanoha franchise, ViViD Strike! may not appeal to it's fans due to the change of genre from magical fantasy fights to magical tournament fighting like LA did with Nanoha ViViD but ViViD Strike!'s brilliant character development of Rinne and Fuuka that pretty much carried the entire anime to the amazing fisticuffs battles, clash of ideals and the moral gray area really rang through throughout the entire installment for LA and gave new light to the ViViD franchise and what it can do with it's magical tournament fighting genre. Sure ViViD Strike! has some flaws of inconsistent animation, supporting characters being expositional mouthpieces and nothing more and also the same flaw that got LA pissed off with the Nanoha ViViD of not finishing a tournament did, ViViD Strike!'s strengths definitely outweigh it's weakness. As a Fall 2016 Anime and as an anime LA dismissed while it aired, LA cannot have been more wrong in dismissing this anime and quite honest belongs in LA's Top 5 Best Anime of Fall 2016 to be perfectly honest. ViViD Strike! is most definitely a hidden gem of Fall 2016, be it if your a fan of the Nanoha franchise, the Nanoha ViViD sub-franchise, wanting to see a tournament style anime done with a twist or a complete newbie. ViViD Strike! will get your adrenaline pumpin'!....with heart of course.
thewiru
When we talk about the Nanoha franchise, the only constant is change. The first two seasons were urban fantasy stories with loosely defined (For the best) magic systems, then StrikerS (Which many people disliked, but I liked) decided for a more grounded approach to magic and a bigger focus in it's Sci-fi elements in favor of the urban fantasy ones. Finally ViVid mixed things up once more, and as a long running manga suffered from issues such as a lack of a long term plot or motivations for it's characters, which made most of them feel "underutilized" or even "wasted". ViVid Strike chooses to be it's ownthing, so I'll review it under it's own merits.
It solves the biggest issue the ViVid anime had (Well, apart from not covering the entire manga), by not dilly-dallying and knowing what it wanted to do and where it wanted to go from the start (I guess Nanoha just shines in the short-form, after all): It's a story about Fuuka, Rinne, and their relationship.
While Rinne is an well explored character, Fuuka has an issue that most things about her seem to orbit around Rinne, not having much of a backstory to herself. The biggest issue for me being how it wasn't entirely clear how their personal conflict was solved via their fight (In that regard being very similar to Vivio vs Einhart fight that solved their conflicts in the volume 12 of the manga, which wasn't 100% clear either).
We always knew that, when it came to Nanoha, Seven Arcs had bit more than it could chew, so it really visible the comparison between ViVid, made by A-1 Pictures and that even though sometimes the art would be crooked, it did have animation to it, to ViVid Strike, with it's noticeable limited animation. Often there are uses of creative methods to compensate for that, such as only animating the effects of an action (e.g. light effects from a punch, water splashes, etc) to make us be able to imagine elaborate movements while still giving us a nice sense of impact.
If Force was supposed to be the edgier manga while ViVid was supposed to be the more light-hearted one, ViVid Strike grabs elements from both, a ViVid with sprinkles of Force: It has scenes that would never be in ViVid, it's violence feels more vicious in how it's strikes are portrayed, bones break. There isn't much fanservice to it, if something it's levels are pretty similar to ViVid's, but the main difference being that while ViVid's fanservice was rarely noticeable or even interpreted as fanservice, ViVid Strike's call some attention to them due to feeling "different" from all other scenes.
There's not much more to be said here: It sells itself as an anime of little girls putting their feelings on their fists, and in that regard I don't have any complaints, it does that well, despite it's limitations in the animation department, having impactful fights full of twists and a nice sense of energy. On average, it feels better than ViVid, but in a way, it is also JUST an anime about little girls fighting, not having the ambition to aim for more than that nor having resources to be the best at what it tries to do, so "Mixed Feelings" it is.
lamaraptor
I did not have a good time with Nanoha ViVid. It was confusing, had too many characters, had no real stakes compared to previous series in the franchise, and didn't have an ending. I was determined to not like this series going into it because of how boring the show it's a spin-off of was. Luckily it manages to skirt around all that by doing something completely unexpected: they remembered to give the audience a reason to care about the characters. Specifically the two main leads. Vivio and the other heterochromia girl were boring, so they are rightfully pushed into the background to make way foryet another duo of young... magicians? Athletes now? Okay I guess they're strictly martial artists now and even magic has been pushed to the background. I was so checked out from how stupidly frequent the soft reboots in this franchise are by this point I just decided to go along with it. I didn't expect much, but by the fifth episode I was somehow more invested in these characters than I ever had been in Vivio.
Let's face it, Vivio is a mary sue. She never really faced any hardship and is instantly loved by pretty much everyone. There wasn't really any conflict in her own outing as the protagonist and the stakes became lower than ever when they turned a magical girl anime into a sports anime. But here they make you care about the main two girls using the oldest emotional manipulation trick in the book, tragic anime backstory. I was bullied in middle school, so I love a good bullying story in anime. The raw, visceral emotions forced upon the victim are always compelling, and the moment of karmic justice is always oh so satisfying. Let me be clear, I enjoy bullying subplots only if they end with the aggressor getting their comeuppance, and oh boy that moment where she breaks the girls arm and bashes the other against the locker is so cathartic I could watch it on repeat for hours. She was absolutely in the right, and frankly those girls got off easy.
The crux of the rest of the story is that she feels deep regret for the way she responded to that incident and hates herself, feeling that her grandfather would have been ashamed. I disagree, if your being pushed around and you have the power to stand up for yourself I say do it. I know all too well the feeling of powerlessness that can come from that situation, and I totally understand why Rinne became the way she did in order to make sure it never happened again. I think Rinne did nothing wrong.
I know I know I probably sound like some sort of psychopath who loves child violence, and you're probably right, I enjoyed that way too much. The thing you have to understand is, I don't care 8/10
Animelover875
ViVid Strike! is really in a truly unique place when it comes to calling it good or bad. Not just because it's separated itself from the long departed concept of Lyrical Nanoha (in themes and name, including abandoning the magical girl aspect itself), but because it throws so many concepts of even ViVid out the window, which is surprising given it directly follows ViVid. What I mean by this is: if you're looking for a Lyrical Nanoha series, you'll be sorely disappointed. However, if you're just watching it to stand on its own, it's actually an extremely impressive tale. Therefore, this review is by faultup to interpretation and intent of the viewer whilst watching. Since ViVid Strike made such a direct attempt to step forward, this review will largely treat it as an extension of ViVid, but not as though it was a part of the Nanoha franchise.
The first thing to note is the somewhat odd dynamic of the main characters. Without getting into many spoilers, the dynamic initially resembles the standard "tough girl" and "sweet girl" pair, a la Nagisa and Honoka of Futari Wa Pretty Cure; however, this dynamic quickly falls apart and becomes subverted once it becomes clear things are far more complex than this. Expanding on this, the girls have a genuine rivalry with each other due to their differing viewpoints. Both of them bring their own philosophies influenced by their ways of life thus far, and both begin to question their own paths once it becomes clear the other is in an immovable viewpoint. This creates a refreshing yet horrifying contrast on the typical friendship dynamic: yes, they're friends on the surface, although they're two of the most different people alive and certain to butt heads repeatedly, which they do with vigor in a martial arts series.
One of the other strong points of ViVid Strike is its insistence on focusing on bullying, abuse, and mental health. Without spoiling, I can confidently say I was heavily impressed with the way character development was handled. It wasn't shrunk into a childish or immature view, pushed off, or even excused; it was seen for the horror it is and its mental impact on those affected is not to be underestimated. Not only this, the series was able to use it to propel character development for the affected and make use of it in unexpected ways. On the other hand, this ties back into the martial arts aspect: needing to find physical strength to justify mental weakness is (as expected) almost assured to be a very touchy subject for some, and especially for those who have or are suffering from it. Making a character a stand-in to represent exactly how or not to deal with it is an even more bold challenge, though ViVid Strike manages to keep its preachiness delicate, to the point, and not in the viewer's face. It's even ultimately left to interpretation and moreso "guides" the viewer than it does force them how to feel. Overall, there is an amazing level of representation for bullying and mental health awareness.
Admittedly, the fights aren't as great. I understand it was based on a martial arts series and that of course the aforementioned elements take priority, but the fights were significantly watered-down compared to ViVid. Tournament battles lasted all of ten seconds with not much impressive occurring, as the action was drowned out by an ever-present announcer, forcing the series to stop and explain what happened every ten seconds followed by a few more minutes of explanation. As a martial arts series, it thus fails to leave a lasting impression.
Overall, ViVid Strike is a heavily recommended series that, even standalone, is sure to leave a lasting impact and will help anyone suffering from mental illness, with a gripping story nonetheless. Ironically, Nanoha fans will probably enjoy this least, given how much it stems off the traditional format, but it is wonderful nonetheless. 8/10.
