Retrospective on Lyrical Toy Box
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| The one that started it all. |
For an incredibly popular series, Lyrical Toy Box received scant coverage and documentation in the English community. Being a fan of Nanoha and craving more Nanoha content in anticipation for the 15th anniversary, I took it upon myself to go through Lyrical Toy Box. Unlike my other articles, this retrospective will serve three purposes: A review, A summary and A comparison to the spin-off series, Lyrical Nanoha. Indeed, reading through several fan wikis only provided the bare minimum information, occasionally wrong information (such as the nature of Chrono and Lindy’s relationship), so this article will hopefully make a mark in the English-speaking community.
I had only very recently got into the Nanoha series as a consequence of being a fan of Symphogear. Prior to this I only know Nanoha as “that one yuri series where two girls have a daughter”. Nanoha being a mahou shoujo anime spinoff of an eroge isn’t too surprising (it’s perhaps the most famous example alongside Prisma Illya), so curiosity got the better of me and I decided to take the plunge and play the game for real.
First things first, I must admit that my command of Japanese is incredibly poor and I may miss or misinterpret certain moments in the VN. However, I can confidently say the critical moments of the VN have been accurately depicted in this retrospective. In addition to this, I should stress that I did not play and have little to no interest in the original Triangle Heart 3 VN, so during my playtime I half-heartedly sped through anything that wasn’t Nanoha, Lindy or Chrono - related. I wouldn’t be familiar with most of the character dynamics that wasn’t present in the anime series either, as several characters (even popular ones like Fiasse) didn’t even make the cut to the first season.
Also before I start properly I want to address the common misconception that Chrono and Lindy aren't related in the VN. They are and it's a late-game spoiler. I've seen this misconception across countless English wikis and I hope to be the first English blog to address this one issue. Without further ado,
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| Nanoha used to have a nice hat. |
Summary
This summary will be incredibly brief and only cover moments important to the main plot. Lyrical Toy Box has a lot of filler, most of them being related to character development in Triangle Heart 3 and have little to no bearing on the actual plot.
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| It's a shame "Yes, Sir" isn't an option. |
For the first half of the VN the story is very similar in structure and in tone to the first season. Like the original series, Nanoha awakens to a disturbance in the woods and meets Lindy (as a fairy). Lindy entrusts Nanoha with Raising Heart and they battle beings known as “Ghosts” to retrieve “Idea Seeds”. “Idea Seeds” are an old lost technology from Midchilda, and should it infect a living thing for too long, a “Ghost” is produced. “Idea Seeds” convert memories into energy at the cost of a person’s memories if the process is forced. I should note that Nanoha is accompanied always by her fox companion Kuon almost at all times.
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| Chrono's motivation, in part. |
Eventually Nanoha meets Chrono as a rival at about 1/3rd of the way (similar to the anime series with Fate). Chrono is also collecting the Idea Seeds but for his own purpose. Sometime later you get your slice of life filler of which there is a lot. The perspective jumps all over the place too. As the story goes on, Nanoha befriends Chrono (in the normal way, not the “shoot you in your face with a railgun” way). Nanoha also has the ability to view other people’s memories in order to restore them to “Idea Seed” infectees. Lindy and Chrono’s backstories and motivations are also revealed over the course of the latter half. In order to prevent “Hidden”, a time-destroying calamity. Lindy wanted to sacrifice herself to stop it but Chrono refused to let that happen and so sealed off her memories. Chrono had been developing the “Idea Seeds” as a countermeasure and deployed it in Uminari City to gather energy to stop “Hidden”. It is also revealed here that Lindy and Chrono are mother and son with Chrono changing his surname to avoid associating with her. After bonding with Nanoha, Chrono eventually decides to perform a self-sacrifice in order to stop “Hidden”, but Nanoha insists on going with Chrono to stop it together. They survive and his and Lindy’s memories are restored as they embrace.
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| I didn't mention this in the summary, but during the flashback with Momoko, after Shirou's death, Momoko looks through a list of names Shirou selected for their daughter before coming to "Nanoha". And now you know how she got her name. |
Lindy and Chrono leave for Midchilda with Chrono promising to meet Nanoha once more. The epilogue has Chrono move to Earth with Lindy occasionally being around. Chrono and Nanoha hook up and become a couple. It’s basically the ending of S1 and A’s. The end.
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| Lindy embraces Chrono in the finale of the VN. |
Note that this summary skips over a lot of the smaller character development moments for Nanoha and the Triangle Heart cast. These include Miyuki bonding with her real mother, Misato, a flashback with Momoko meeting Shirou and forming a family, and other character moments. These don’t affect the overall plot and are sometimes missable due to how the game works. Also since I never played Triangle Heart 3, it’s not easy to make a connection to the characters not already present in the anime series.
Review
Lyrical Toy Box is a worthy excursion for only the most dedicated of fans and should not be attempted if your Japanese isn’t good. It’s more of a curiosity than anything. The VN is a fandisc and as such expects you to have a good deal of familiarity with its parent series (which I unfortunately do not have) as a lot of the character interactions (especially with the second half) depend upon your personal connection with the Triangle Heart cast. This is especially prevalent as the perspective will shift away from Nanoha, Chrono and Lindy to the peripheral cast to develop their own stories and subplots.
Because of this Lyrical Toy Box can feel very unfocused. The first half is structurally very similar to the first season of the anime series, right down to the chapter names and plot beats. However, where the halfway point of the anime pivots dramatically into a military science fiction setting, the VN instead starts to lose focus and proceed to spend time with the cast of Triangle Heart 3 and their relationship with Nanoha and the world itself. Lyrical Toy Box is after all a spin-off of the original game with elements of the universe changed. I’ll be perfectly honest and say that I was bored for most of these, I desperately wanted the story to return to the “Idea Seeds” hunting and to Nanoha but that doesn’t happen until near the end where Momoko falls victim to the “Idea Seed”.
Overall it’s fine I suppose. It didn’t infuriate me like Reflection or Detonation did and it didn’t turn Nanoha into a useless housewife. Worse things have happened in the franchise. Lyrical Toy Box is itself rather average and it does make you wonder if the series would have turned into the juggernaut it is today if the anime adaptation was more faithful to its source material rather than being the lesbian mecha mahou shoujo military science fiction show it is today.
5/10
Allusions to Lyrical Nanoha
The similarities between this and the anime series run deeper than what I initially thought. Several mainstay staples make their debut here, even elements that would only later appear or be referenced in the later seasons. Obviously Nanoha and Raising Heart make their debut here, with Raising Heart obviously sporting a Heart design. Raising Heart’s activation chant is also present here and Nanoha almost always uses the full length of her chant, with “Raising Heart! Onegai!” only appearing near the end with no explanation as to how she managed to reprogram Raising Heart to do so. The military sci-fi themes are scarce but they do exist. Particularly in Lindy and Chrono’s designs. Lindy’s rank is even reminiscent of her rank in the anime, although it’s “Chief Administrative Officer” here as opposed to “Admiral”. Chrono and S2U’s designs are virtually unchanged and S2U is even able to transform into its card form when not in use. Song To You derives its name because Lindy can’t sing and made S2U for Chrono.
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| Midchilda and its Capital are mentioned first in the VN |
Midchilda is also mentioned here, being the place of origin for Lindy and Chrono, with Cranagan being its capital (not mentioned until StrikerS manga). Also on his time on Earth, Chrono lived in Toomi City for a while, the same place Fate stayed in the first season. Not much else is known about Midchilda, apart from how it measures time and how it’s a magical technological country, assessed through Gates (no spaceships whatsoever). That’s pretty much all there is in terms of setting. No Gundam or Ace Combat references (none I recognize anyway) this early on, although there is a brief mention of Shinobu and Chrono playing an air combat game.
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| Pre-Belkan era Air Combat Video Game |
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| The full activation chant (sans the first line) |
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| Shortened activation chant. |
Structurally the first half is quite similar to the anime series. Although, while the anime series generally focuses more on the plot and treats sequences more seriously than the VN. Chapter names are very similar across the two, such as “魔法の呪文は、リリカルなの！？” used in Chapter 1 of the VN and Episode 2 of the first season and “なのはに、ライバル出現なの！？” and “ライバル!?もうひとりの魔法少女なの!” used for the 4th chapter/episode for the VN and anime respectively. The “Nano” suffix and title narration are also dropped near the end for both series. The VN generally has more filler as Nanoha engages in more slice of life conversations with friends and family. The crucial pivot at the halfway point is absent in the VN, as the VN pretty much remains the same in tone and atmosphere up to the very end. Chrono occupies a position very similar to Fate’s and their personalities do align with each others’ and both undergo the same character development and hook up with Nanoha in the end, returning to Earth after a period of absence. (it should be noted Nanoha doesn’t fight Chrono and Chrono doesn’t suffer from abuse). Unlike Fate, Chrono is a loner throughout and isn’t accompanied by an Arf-like character. Nanoha ironically, is. Kuon basically serves as the game’s Arf in some ways. Lindy on the other hand occupies Ferret Boy’s role, up to and including transforming into a different form at certain plot points. They both inspire Nanoha to become a Mahou Shoujo and is the source of Raising Heart for her in both continuities. The ribbon exchange also happened in a way, with Nanoha giving Chrono her ribbon and Chrono giving her S2U.
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| Nanoha's adult design which won't be seen in the anime series until A's. |
Afterword
That just about wraps up what I could gather from both series. In short it does make you wonder what if the anime was a straight adaptation of Lyrical Toy Box instead of doing its own thing with the military sci-fi bait and switch. Perhaps in that alternate universe we may end up with a bland Mahou Shoujo series that no one would remember. For that I’m grateful for the miracle that is the first season of Lyrical Nanoha, who would have known a VN adaptation 3 years late would end up having such an impact on the genre as a whole, despite its rough origins.
I leave with this video from an old Triangle Heart Sound Stage. It neatly paints a picture of what Lyrical Toy Box ultimately is and is likely the source of a lot of misconceptions (i.e. a lot of people think this is the extent of Nanoha's pre-anime days, a joke spin-off PV).
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