I’m a huge fan of Nanoha (well, technically I’m a huge fan of Fate-chan) so I was one of the people who was going spare over the last week or so when the Nanoha site was updated with new promo art featuring the main three we were expecting along with four new characters. No one seemed to know who they were, but with some research (read: the 4th chapter of the manga) I can answer a bit of that.
First off, there’s a much higher res version on Danbooru for those who haven’t seen it. Let’s label our four new characters in a rough and shoddy fashion: we have our orange-haired gungirl, let’s call her Asuna-clone. Pinku-chan in the middle, Spear-kun on the right, and Wheels in the foreground (what the fuck is that anyway?).
Spear-kun is actually already mentioned in the StrikerS manga. He was in chapter 3, when they’re talking about the children that our wonderful Fatechan has been gathering together. They mention an Elio Mondial, who even at that point looked the part. He’s six at the point that they mention him, however Strikers itself (and chapter 4+ of the manga) is a further four years removed, making him about ten at this point. When I found out about that I instantly predicted that he was our spear-wielding kid, and I think I’m right. He reappears in chapter 4, and while he hasn’t actually pulled out the spear to confirm things, there is no doubt in my mind that it’s the same character - they look very similar, he has a connection to the existing cast via Fate, who is his guardian, and he appears alongside our other three.
Pinku-chan is also revealed in chapter 3, right at the end. Ginga Nakajima. Again, as of chapter 4 we haven’t seen her in her battle costume, but given she is sisters with one of the other new characters, plus the fact that her general design seems to fit pretty well leads me to believe this one is correct as well. This is still the most shaky of my conclusions, because the promo pic has her with her hands raised which prevents us from confirming that Pinku-chan has long hair + a bow.
Next, we have Wheels. Wheels is Subaru Nakajima, Ginga’s 12-year-old sister. I don’t know Ginga’s age, unfortunately, as it hasn’t been given. Again, Subaru is confirmed as she uses her strange rollerblades and a power glove dealie (what the hell? Seriously, what the hell? A power glove and roller blades… it’s like 90s culture gone horribly wrong).
Finally, Asuna-clone is introduced in chapter 4. This one is confirmed - assuming they don’t intend to introduce two twintailed girls with guns, of course. Her name is a horrible Kata mess, ティアナ・ランスター - if I had to have a go, I’d probably romanise it as it looks, Teiana Ransutaa, because I have no idea what that last is supposed to be. Unlike the first two, this one is 100% confirmed - she uses her guns and everything. Additionally her twintails are drawn a lot shorter in the manga, giving her a less Asuna-like look. She’s also 13, if anyone cares. I can’t tell what the deal is with the quick glance I’ve had at the manga so far (and I probably can’t tell you more as my command of written Japanese is poor), but it looks like she’s assigned Subaru’s pair, either as a roommate, sparring partner, or simply assigned to the same grade or division.
They all seem to be trainees at this point, so I’m expecting that they’ll be Nanoha and Fatechan’s students for at least part of the show. I’m a bit hesitant over this, though, as I’m worried that they might be getting a bit of a case of hero feature creep going on. There seems to be an absolute glut of ‘good’ characters now - counting Reinforce, Hayate and her knights make up 6, then there’s Fate and Nanoha, as well as Yuuno and Chrono, the two catgirls from A’s, and now these four. They’re going to have to thin things out a bit somehow, or we could be in for a really disappointing season. Or maybe Gundam Seed Destiny has made me jaded. 
(Sorry about the lack of pictures, my scanner is screwed )
With this many characters they damn well better make it 26 episodes !!!
Simply too good >D. I want to see how they pull off the moe this time around with the older cast and utter plethora of characters.
Tiana Lanstar maybe? It’s the coolest looking thing I can think of ..
Yeah, Tiana Lanstar looks good enough at this point. I’m sure someone will figure it out permanently. I’m also wondering whether Ginga might be Ginger, though it probably isn’t as Ginga is an actual Japanese word (galaxy).
Interesting. Very interesting.
Hmm, looking at the high-res picture, it looks to me as if Nanoha is twintailed again (maybe the fan’s reaction to her MASSIVE ponytail at the end of A’s has somehing to do with this?) and she’s wearing something that looks very much like her regular costume, yay. I’m still excited/worried to see what they did to Fate-chan’s black latex, though…
Nanoha has her old twintails when she’s in her battle costume, as does Fate. Normally they have the sidetail and ponytail thing going on instead.
As for the actual costumes, they’re similar but not quite the same. Nanoha’s got a short skirt with a long extension at the end, and Fate essentially has a long black coat with a white cloak over the top. The overall look is a bit more refined and elegant, and very cool.
As for the potential to have too many protagonists, I don’t think it’ll be quite that bad. At the end of A’s, the Lieze twins seemed pretty much permanently out of the picture, and the Velka Knights seem to have integrated themselves into daily life as opposed to keeping up the whole…knightly business. And Yuuno and Chrono were starting to become non-issues towards the second half of A’s, so I don’t really see them storming the stage and reclaiming any spotlight. Chrono will likely just have Lindy’s old job, and some plot contrivance will force Yuuno into his ferret form just to have another cute animal around.
Speaking of which, that little white dragon above Asuna-Done-Stole-Natsuki’s-Guns. Anyone else get the feeling it transforms into some righteous Kagutsuchi knockoff?
So anyway, with those eight either out of the picture or shoved way back into the background, we’re pretty much left with Nanoha, Fate (possibly plus Arf), Hayate (plus Reinforce), and our newcomers, the Fate Scouts. The Velkas may step in at the climax in one of those dramatic rallying moments, but for the most part I get the feeling the seven we see here are the only seven we’ll really see much “main-charactering” from.
Regarding the hero glut, if they hold to typical shounen plot logic, something will happen in the first few episodes to thin out the numbers quite a bit, like maybe the Velkas all getting whacked, or depowered, or otherwise removed from the picture. Also, there has to be some point near the middle of the series (and continuing on toward the climax) where the n00bs are left on their own to overcome the situation wthout the help of Nanoha-tachi, either due to a “removal” similar to that of the Velkas, or the “big bad” turning them to their side. Of course, those are all fairly generic shounen plot devices, but in typical Nanoha fashion, I expect there to be some kind of twist that makes them fairly enjoyable just the same.
And regarding the token menfolk being “non-issues,” I seem to remember there being some talk of Yuuno and Nanoha working on a relationship, and no way they better relegate Kyono-kun to the background with Tomokazu Sugita voicing him. I fully expect one or both to drop into the “mentor” role once Nanoha and Fate are removed. At least until they come back and we have a good-old “everybody use their supermove on the big bad guy” to end it.
If they remove Nanoha and/or Fatechan from the plotline, I will stop watching.
HI
Hi are you every any japanese??
Pinku-chan is not Ginga Nakajima. Apparently she’s called Mint and she plays support type.
I suspect Ginga-chan is already dead or missing, based on the 3rd chapter of StrikerS.
Subaru is a total Nanoha worshipper, and somewhat resembles her as well. Well, birds of a feather flock together they say…
Elio-kun, meanwhile, is already in the bounty lists of many a Fate worshipper. Well, technically she’s not Elio-kun’s mom… but she’s the one who’s been taking care of him…. ahhh… is Fate now MILFate or Fate-neechan…. orz orz orz….
Ginga is not dead or missing, as she’s in about half the pages of chapter 4.
I hope there will be character deaths in the 3rd season… else the cast list is going to be bloated. Except Vita. No killing off of Vita please!
Narf.
fate-chan is what nanoha calls fate
I had a question. Can anyone tell me where ahd Arf gone ? I can’t find her in the “characters” section at the offical site.
erm… can someone tell em which come first ? The manga or the anime ?( I am from a country that had a very slow translation rate of jap to english/chinese manga and anime and I dont really know to get the latest updates on them)
ermm.. does Chrono show in Nanoha Strikers? Which episode? xD please reply. badly wanna know. send me a msg about this at syifa_96@hotmail.com plz !!