Reception
In Japan, the first DVD compilation-volume peak-ranked 38th on the Oricon DVD chart and remained on the chart for three weeks. The second through fifth DVD volumes each peak-ranked 39th, 29th, 72nd, and 49th respectively and remained on the chart for two weeks. Before Geneon Entertainment's announcement of its acquisition of the license for the series at Anime Expo 2007, ICv2 reported that the series had gained a reputation among United States "hardcore" fans for its use of technology as a replacement for magic and being a magical girl series that uncharacteristically deals with more "real" and "intense" social problems. Geneon's lack of a distributor between September 2007 and July 2008 left many English-language fans wondering as to what would occur to the distribution status of the series that Geneon had licensed - including Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. A fan pointed out that the English-languaged dubbed DVD boxset did not contain the credits for the director, automated dialogue replacement script adapter, and some voice actors. Many English-language viewers, even the more knowledgeable, reported being largely unfamiliar with many of the names of the English-language voice actors who contributed to the work.
Anime News Network's Carl Kimlinger described the anime series as one filled with typical magical-girl tropes and as one that takes otaku-targeted entertainment to "its logical extreme" - filled with what he described as a "neutron-star" of otaku obsessions. Although Tim Jones of THEM Anime Reviews noted that the series did contain aspects typical of the magical girl genre, he stated that the anime had several unique aspects such as featuring characters fighting "physically" instead at long-range with magic and targeting "an older male demographic". Davey C. Jones of Active Anime praised the series for building up to "intense double climax" with the revelation of Fate's backstory and the final battle on Precia's ship. However, Mania Entertainment's Chris Beveridge criticized the anime series as too rushed, stating that it would have been "more engaging and fun" as a twenty-six-episode-long series as opposed to its current length of thirteen episodes. Tim Jones lauded the last five episodes of the series as its highlight due to the dramatic change in style the series underwent introducing "intrigue and excitement" to the show, criticizing the first few episodes as "most forgettable, boring, and just plain uninteresting episodes of any show ever seen". Both Beveridge and Kimlinger criticized the series for conveying a sense of maturity that is "out of place" in a storyline that follows third-grade characters at the age of nine.
Beveridge described the anime series as having well-designed visuals with character designs produced with "strong, vibrant colors" that "all come across very well". Davey C. Jones praised the visual effects applied to the spells as making them "look extra spiffy and, well, magical". Kimlinger noted the use of multiple animation directors who gave "each episode a distinct look" and allowed the series to "retain a level of stylistic continuity" that he described as resulting in an "uneven, but ... undeniably appealing" look. Although Tim Jones praised the character designs as "distinct enough to distinguish the fairly large cast", he criticized the animation quality as ranging from "okay to downright lazy". He stated that "aside from the great opening song, the music, though good, is forgettable", but described the ending theme as "lame". Beveridge stated that the "solid" musical score helps convey the "action cleanly".
Mania Entertainment's G. B. Smith criticized the English-language dubbed release by Geneon for having several inconsistencies in the performances, pronunciation of names and localization, but accredited these faults to the direction. Smith praised the voice actors in the English dub for the many of the main characters, stating that "here are several A rank performances that shine quite well"; however, Smith stated that "there is a noticeable drop off in the quality of the voices and the performances in the lesser and incidental characters." Smith noted that the subtitles and English dub diverged "sharply" in the way they name characters. Additionally, Smith criticized the English script for being excessively lip-synched producing "Weird Sounding English".
The film adaptation earned 380million yen (approx. $4.4million USD) during its release. The Blu-ray Disc version of the movie sold 58,000 copies in its first week and has been in the top position of the Blu-ray charts for its first two weeks of sale.
Read more about this topic: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
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