The Summer 2026 Anime Preview Guide

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance

30 years ago, an unknown "invasive alien species" appeared, bringing the world to the brink of ruin. Humans and the invasive species are fighting for dominion, and although humanity has now barely secured its own safety, its world could collapse at any time. While people are terrified of death, they also turn a blind eye to the peril around them and live their everyday lives. Amidst this, the "United Nations Investigation Agency EXCEEDS" works to combat invasive species and disasters. In the island country of Mizuho in the far east, on an isolated island, lives Shiina Kuze. She is a hunter tasked with eradicating the invasive species on the island, and she wishes to live a quiet life with her sister, Setsuna.

Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance is based on the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha media franchise created by Masaki Tsuzuki. The anime series is streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.

I'm not very familiar with the long-running Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha series, but I was still interested in checking out Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS: Gun Blaze Vengeance. I hoped that, even if the show ended up being overly tied to lore and callbacks to the original shows, it could offer an entertaining look at what makes the franchise special. Alternatively, given that this is apparently a distantly removed enough spinoff of an already condensed movie adaptation that isn't necessarily going to rub elbows with any other plotlines or continuities, Gun Blaze Vengeance could be just the exact sort of jumping-on point that could make newcomers into fans without requiring several hours of homework.

Gun Blaze Vengeance (which is the title I will stick to for the sake of brevity) has kicked off its story with one of those double-length premieres that I am so often wary of, but one clear benefit of the extra run-time is that it gives the show plenty of time to establish its story and characters in a way that even someone who has never seen a second of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha can follow. My biggest surprise was honestly the tone of the series, which feels like it has more in common with Starship Troopers and Muv-Luv than anything involving sparking costume changes and magic wands. From the very opening scene, our heroine Shiina is blowing up xenomorph-looking space aliens with giant, high-caliber rifles. Maybe that's how things went down in the original shows, but it makes a pretty good hook for onboarding newbies. Badass girls with big guns are a universal language that anyone can appreciate.

If this premiere has anything going against it, it's that while the story is paced well enough to follow along with, it moves through all of its beats in such a way that you comprehend and even appreciate them without ever getting fully invested. Shiina and her sister Setsuna have their idyllic life interrupted when a mysterious gang of superpowered “Diaboli” attacks. There's a long fight where Setsuna discovers her own fiery Diaboli powers, but then Shiina is injured and has to be rescued at the cost of Setsuna's life. This gives Shiina the cool fire powers she needs to beat up the bad guys, and we end with the tease of how Shiina will join the EXCEEDS group that the show is named after.

It's all perfectly average, but never once does it inspire or move. The animation is mostly mediocre, as is the direction of the action overall. The episode spends a lot of time trying to tug on our heartstrings when Setsuna sacrifices her life, but it's all so by-the-numbers that I couldn't help but check my watch. Even the tone of the show seems like it's struggling to figure out what emotions it wants us to feel. When the final scene has Shiina casually narrating about how her life has been completely upended and her family destroyed by encountering these Diaboli, she may as well be smirking at the camera and telling us “So, that happened!” It's very odd.

I didn't hate the first episode of Gun Blaze Vengeance, but it will have to present a much more compelling hook in its follow-up episode to wow me enough into sticking around for more. Maybe it will work better for longtime fans of the franchise, but newcomers just might be better off checking out the original series first to see if this spinoff is also worth their time.

Right up front, let me state that I have never seen any of the previous Nanoha anime. I know nothing about the plot, characters, or how this series connects to the rest (though for some unknown reason I do know the name “Fate Testarossa” and could pick that character from a lineup). Luckily, as far as this first episode goes, my lack of knowledge isn't really an issue, as this seems to be a new setting with a new protagonist.

While I am down with crazy, over-the-top sci-fi, I enjoy the more grounded stuff as well. In this case, EXCEEDS is an interesting mixture of both. Now, I can hear you asking, “How is this show about a girl fighting interdimensional aliens and transforming into a half-human, half-fire alien in any way grounded?” The answer is in her job.

The framework for the story is centered around hunting. While Shiina may be hunting aliens instead of animals, it feels like a logical extension of how hunting works in Japan in the modern day—especially when it comes to the overpopulation of invasive species. She's got her gun owner and hunting license, and she's paid by the government for each alien she kills.

This is likewise important because hunting has come into the spotlight here in Japan in recent years, where the lack of hunters has contributed to the overpopulation of predators and a lack of prey—with bears specifically coming into human towns and attacking people. The whole bit in the episode about the government organizing hunters and then taking a cut of the money and all the public credit is a piece of direct social commentary on recent events.

As for the rest of the episode, I have mixed feelings. The key to the episode is the relationship between Shiina and Setsuna—and it felt a bit overdone, a bit too melodramatic. Rather than being shown their relationship in action, we are told about it—often in long, drawn-out monologues about their love for each other. Worse still, it was predictable. From the moment the Diaboli targeted Setsuna, I was sure she not only had super powers but would be dead before the credits rolled. In the end, even 47 minutes didn't end up feeling like enough time for this story to properly hit its emotional beats.

That said, the action was better than I expected—especially when it came to the fire effects and the gun-kata. However, the bit that has me the most worried is the appearance of the titular Nanoha at the end. Perhaps Shiina, as an outsider, will be able to ask all the “dumb questions” needed to keep ignorant newbie viewers like me able to understand the greater story. But I have a feeling that, once the wider Nanoha cast enters the picture, we are going to be left in the dust. We'll just have to wait until next week to know for sure.