Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Episode 07
魔法少女リリカルなのはStrikerS（ストライカーズ）Ep. 07

SPOILER Summary: The 6th Mobile Division is assigned to work security for an auction at the Hotel Augusta of legal antique artifacts (Lost Logia). Hayate briefs the team on the way, Vita and Signum (and clerks) already on site. Because Doctor Scaglietti is looking for the Relic and other Lost Logia, his Gadgets might hit the hotel. Further, these kinds of auctions tend to bring out back room deals for smugglers to bring in forbidden items. Hayate, Fate, and Nanoha will provide internal security while the other fighters will provide external security and the support teams will provide information and whatever else the teams may need.

To provide internal security but not to draw attention to themselves, Fate, Hayate, and Nanoha dress in elegant, rich dresses to fit in with the types of people who would participate in such an auction. Outside, the others are dressed in their dress uniforms. Tia is standing at her post and contemplating her team. She finds that the sheer amount of power gathered in to a single unit is unheard of with the officers being such high-ranking mages, and even someone young like Elio is a B-rank and Caro is a summoner and can control powerful dragons. Tia sees herself as the only weak member of the division and as such, is determined to prove her merit.

Nearby, the mysterious pair Lutecia (a young girl) and Zest (an adult male) are looking for something when a bug-like bot comes to Lutecia, leading her to report that the Doctor’s toys are approaching. At the hotel, Shamal has detected this with her Device, Klarer Wind. This is confirmed by Shari and other support members Shamal begins arranging for the defense of the hotel. Hayate, Nanoha, and Fate will remain in the hotel (the auction still on) while the others do their thing. Vita and Signum race to meet the ground Gadgets, not wanting them to get to the where the rookies’ defensive line is.

Vita takes on all of the smaller Gadgets, firing a multi-blast ranged attack while Signum gets up close and personal with a large Gadget, taking it out. Other Gadgets coming from a different direction run into Zafire, who takes care of them. This is observed via holo-screen by Subaru and Tia, the later being stunned at the amount of power the Guardian Knights have, even with the limiters in place. The fight is also noted by Lutecia and Zest, who are contacted by Dr. Scaglietti. While there is no Relic at the hotel, he has noticed something else he wants. While Zest has no intention of helping the doctor, Lutecia agrees to, not finding him as bad as Zest and her someone named Agito do.

Lutecia begins to perform summoning magic, which is immediately felt by Caro, who is also a summoner. The support staff confirm that summoning magic is being done as Lutecia summons a number of the mechanical bugs. They soon take control of the remaining Gadgets, which results in their suddenly being able to elude and defend against the Guardian Knight attacks. Signum sends Vita back to the rookies, who find themselves under attack as Lutecia has teleported Gadgets to their location. Tia makes herself ready for the fight while Rein finds herself under attack by the bug bots.

Under the hotel, another of Lutecia’s summoned things has successfully raided the cargo the doctor wanted. Meanwhile, Subaru and Tia team up, with Subaru keeping the Gadgets occupied while Tia uses her massive Cross Fire attack. The attack takes out a huge number of Gadgets, but one of her “bullets” has locked onto Subaru, who will be unable to avoid it. Fortunately for her, Vita has made it to the rear lines and dispatches the bullet, but she’s very angry with Tia for being so reckless. Subaru tries to defend her and take responsibility, but Vita will not hear it and sends them away.

Lutecia’s work done, she and Zest return to looking for the object Lutecia wants. The auction begins with the guest unaware of the battle outside. Shari reports to Hayate that the Gadgets have been taken care of but that the summoner got away. Hayate considers the mission a success, more so since no one got hurt. Inspector Acous, an old acquaintance of Hayate’s, comes up and the two talk for a bit while inside, Nanoha’s old friend who got her into this business, Yuuno, comes on stage to talk about some of the artifacts much to Nanoha’s and Fate’s delight.

Outside, Vita, Signum, and Zafire make sure that all the Gadgets are destroyed. Vita asks where Tia is, which Caro and Elio reply that she’s gone and Subaru went with her. On the other side of the hotel, Subaru tries to console Tia, who’s depressed and angry with herself over the incident from earlier. As such, Tia snaps at Subaru, who decides to let her be.

Thoughts: The one thing I didn’t expect was to have was Tia suddenly be the “loser” of the group. Subaru had sort of been set up for that role, trying to get in because of Nanoha rescuing her years before. Indeed, Tia seemed the stronger of the two, so I’m not sure why the writers decided to make her so full of angst and feel insecure with so many powerful mages in the team with her. We’ll see where the writers take that though.

I loved seeing Nanoha, Fate, and Hayate in the formal dresses. Their being young adults was one of the things I was most looking forward too with this series and while the writers haven’t taken that much advantage of that (bringing in all these newbies), I do appreciate it where it is shown.