The original Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha TV series was a surprise hit for many. It was one of the first magical girl series to specifically appeal to a shonen audience, especially those who liked yuri bait, since magical girl shows were usually aimed at female viewers.

While the show had a solid plot with a strong emotional core and some fun action scenes, it kind of suffered from being the first in its series. It was still figuring out what it wanted to be before the franchise went all-in with A’s. A lot of the early episodes felt a little too slow and slice-of-lifey, while some of the later drama seemed kind of random, like it was just there to get a cheap emotional reaction.

Thankfully, this movie—a full-on remake of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Season 1—took the best parts of the TV series, tightened up the continuity, and fixed the pacing so things got right to the point. It still gave everything enough breathing room while, of course, modernizing the animation and making the battle scenes look better than ever.

Just these changes alone make this the best way to experience the first season of Nanoha, and honestly, I’m surprised this movie isn’t recommended more often.

It still covers Nanoha’s introduction, where she gets the typical call to action after a chance meeting with Yuuno and realizes she has the potential to shoot big-ass laser beams like a Gundam. The only minor downside is that, by cutting the original monster-of-the-week arc from the TV series, Nanoha doesn’t get as much time to bond with Yuuno. But I always thought he was just an okay character anyway, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

What really sold it for me, though, was the enemies-to-best-friends dynamic between Nanoha and Fate. The movie went much harder on making Fate a more tragic, unwilling villain from the start, instead of the original TV series, where the writers clearly weren’t sure what to do at first.

This also extends to Fate’s mom, Precia. In the original, she was just a completely unredeemable monster of a villain. The movie rewrote her to show more of a human side to her downfall while still making it clear that she’s an abusive villain who needs to be stopped.

And as I mentioned before, the animation in the Nanoha movie remake is just outstanding. Nanoha’s Gundam-like beams and Fate’s super cool yellow scythe powers have never looked better. Watching them fight—whether against each other or their other enemies—is just awesome.

Honestly, I don’t know what else to critique. I think this is one of the best anime remakes I’ve ever seen, and it’s a shame it doesn’t get talked about more.

If you want a magical girl show with a strong emotional plot, little to no monster-of-the-week filler, and some solid yuri bait, the Nanoha series is for you. And I think this first movie is easily the best place to start.