The official website for Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance, the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise‘s 20th anniversary anime, opened on Wednesday and revealed the anime’s key visual and its 2026 premiere in a teaser video.
Image via Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance anime’s website
©NANOHA EXCEEDS PROJECT
Franchise co-creator Masaki Tsuzuki is credited as the new anime’s original story creator and scriptwriter. Takayuki Hamana is returning from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Reflection and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Detonation to direct at Seven Arcs. Issei Aragaki (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Detonation, Extreme Hearts, Vladlove) is serving as both character designer and chief animation director, and Shūichi Kawakami is credited for the original character designs.
Image via Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha’s X/Twitter
© Nanoha 20th Project
In addition to the new anime, the manga Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS launched on Kodansha‘s Suiyōbi no Sirius (Wednesday Sirius) service on April 16. It adds new chapters on the first and third Wednesdays of every month. The key visual in right teases the story, “Nanoha Takamachi is 13 years old. She is working energetically even today as a mage to help anyone.”
Franchise creator and writer Masaki Tsuzuki is drafting the original story concept for the manga, and Shūichi Kawakami (Extreme Hearts original character designs, art for pop-up Lyrical Store, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha innocent game and manga) is drawing the art.
The franchise’s 20th anniversary projects also includes Lyrical Selection or Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha 20th Anniversary Selection, a television edit version of the franchise’s Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 2nd A’s anime films, which began airing in October 2024.
The 2010 film Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st is a alternate retelling of the original 2004 Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha television anime. Similarly, the 2012 film Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 2nd A’s is a retelling of the 2005 Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s sequel anime.
The Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise announced a new project in January 2020, but did not specify the format or medium of the new project. Since then, franchise creator and writer Masaki Tsuzuki penned the Extreme Hearts original anime, which premiered in July 2022. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan.
Writer Masaki Tsuzuki, director Akiyuki Simbo, and the studio Seven Arcs launched the franchise in 2004 with the 13-episode Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha television anime. Four more television anime series followed, culminating with Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid in 2015 and the spinoff ViVid Strike! in 2016. Two movies, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha the Movie 2nd A’s, adapted the first two television series in 2010 and 2012. Two more films, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Reflection and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Detonation, followed in 2017 and 2018. Discotek Media released both films on Blu-ray Disc in August and September 2023. The franchise also spawned several manga, novels, and drama CDs.
Sources: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha EXCEEDS Gun Blaze Vengeance anime’s website, Comic Natalie