Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid – 04
魔法少女リリカルなのはViVid
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid episode 04

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Vivio attempts to get closer to Einhart as friends. School term finals are at hand, so Vivio, Rio, and Corona study hard so that they can take their spring break at Lutecia’s country estate on the planet Carnaaji. Fate checks in with Caro and Erio to make sure they can come on the trip as she and Nanoha are going. Nove is going to keep an eye on the girls and is tasked with inviting Einhart to the trip. Einhart is not certain about this, but gets talked into coming as Nove sells it as a training trip. Vivio, Rio, and Corona pass their tests, so Nove brings Einhart by Nanoha’s place so they can all travel together. Tia and Subaru are also going to attend, and the fact that so many people are coming by has Lutecia very excited and happy.

After taking a transport to Carnaaji, the group is met by Lutecia and her mother, Megane. Lutecia is introduced to Einhart, and after the small talk is done, Nove takes Lutecia, Vivio, Rio, Corona, and Einhart for some water training and fun while Nanoha takes Fate, Tia, Subaru, Caro, and Erio for some physical training. Einhart isn’t sure about this water stuff, but she see that in addition to having fun, Vivio and the others are excellent in the water. Further, Nove has Vivio, Rio, and Corona do water cutting exercises to test their power, then encourages Einhart to do so, which she does. Afterward, Megane has food for all, after which Einhart and Vivio are tasked with cleaning the dishes. Einhart decides “traveling” with Vivio is OK for now.

Thoughts/Review:

You know, one of the reasons I keep coming back to the Nanoha franchise is that it is a “relaxing” series for me. Yes, there have been times of action and the like, but a lot of the time, there are just moments like this episode, which make me want to kick back and laze around in the country by a shallow, clear river, much like the Alpine estate has.

I’d forgotten about Lutecia from StrikerS, as well as her mother, Megane. I seem to recall that Megane was in a coma and Lutecia was another opponent of Nanoha and company, only she was being used.

Regardless, I loved seeing yet another reformed villain excited to see her friends. I laughed at the cliched, female villain laugh Lutecia gave as she admired her preparations for the arrival of her friends.

In addition to Lutecia and Megane, Garyuu, the beast warrior that Lutecia had summoned in StrikerS, was the third “new” character introduced here. I’d forgotten about him as well. I don’t remember him wearing a scarf back then, but maybe he did and I’ve just forgotten. Regardless, I rather enjoy seeing these reformed characters.

Although it is no doubt cliched and old hat, I still enjoy seeing Einhart open up to not only Vivio, but to her comrades as well. I think that because Einhart isn’t the villain that gets reformed at the end of the series, but is instead a lonely, confused girl with a lot of strange memories in her head, it helps me to accept the otherwise cliched development aspects to her character.

Like I said, the series is just like enjoying a lazy, Sunday afternoon. 🙂

Finally, there’s something that bothered me in this episode. While Earth in the Nanoha franchise may be the Earth of today, the other worlds like Midchilda or Carnaaji have future, sci-fi tech in them that can also be infused with magic (the Intelligent Devices, for example). So with that in mind, why is it that at Lutecia’s house, they are not only having to wash the dishes by hand, they are having to wash them in an outdoor sink?  Carnaaji might be a “country” planet, but it still has access to all of the future tech. I cannot believe for one moment that they don’t have future tech dish washing/cleaning devices.

In the end, this was a delightful little episode, which did take a moment to service our loli girls by getting them into swimsuits of various types.