The main character of the series is Nanoha Takamachi, who originally appears in Triangle Heart as the younger sister of two of the characters; her siblings, mother, and father all appear in this series. One night, Nanoha has a dream about a shapeshifting mage named Yuno Scrya, who is injured while fighting a demon and turns into a ferret.
The next day, Nanoha and her friends take a shortcut in the woods to go to cram school. Nanoha recognizes the forest from her dream, and she finds the injured ferret. Nanoha and her friends take the ferret to a vet, who says the animal will be OK, and points out the unusual red jewel around its neck. The ferret opens its eyes and keeps staring at Nanoha; the ferret also licks her finger. That night, Nanoha asks her parents if she can keep the ferret, and they say yes.
When Nanoha is about to go to bed, she hears the ferret calling out to her. When she gets to the vet's, she sees the monster from her dream, and the ferret jumps out of the window. The ferret communicates to Nanoha, and she ends up agreeing to share her power with the ferret. The ferret teaches Nanoha how to change into her magical girl alter ego. Nanoha and Yuno team up to find Jewel Seeds, a set of 21 dangerous artifacts.
Overall, the animation quality of this series is decent. However, during the climax of the first episode, the animators tried to incorporate some CG into the production, but the CG just stood out too much from the 2D environment. Also, I didn't think the CG animation truly added anything to the scene.
Even though Nanoha may be a cute little girl, this series really isn't being aimed at young children. During Nanoha's dream, some blood can be seen during the battle. Also, when Nanoha goes through her transformation sequence, there is nudity seen on the screen. Personally, I would recommend Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha to anime viewers who are 16 or 17 years of age and older.
| Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha | 13 | 2004 | Akiyuki Shinbo | Seven Arcs | Geneon Entertainment |
| Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's | 13 | 2005 | Keizo Kusakawa | Seven Arcs | Geneon Entertainment |
| Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS | 26 | 2007 | Keizo Kusakawa | Seven Arcs | N/A |
| Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 1st | N/A | 2010 | Keizou Kusakawa | Seven Arcs | N/A |
| Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The Movie 2nd A's | N/A | 2012 | Keizou Kusakawa | Seven Arcs | N/A |
