Hi! With another MCO extension (which is already the fourth time), it's time for me to work more on my blog and watch more anime. For now, I will continue watching anime, relax and write up more blog post since the future is not exactly certain for now, might as well relax a bit for now...

drooling...school swimsuits...Ahem! Sorry, pretend that you didn't see that

Anyway, after having my passion for rifles, firearms and indirectly, tanks because Rifle is Beautiful (or Chidori RSC) makes me wanna fire a rifle and reminds me of tanks (oh speaking of tanks, Girls und Panzer!), it's time for huge fanservice of girls without pants (or with pants, which is we basically called panties in real life), Strike Witches!!!!! LET US GO RIGHT AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WARNING:-

SPOILER ALERT!!! If you haven't watched it and plan to watch it without anyone being the spoiler, please DON'T CONTINUE READING!!!

P.S. If you want to be spoiled, well, go ahead and read it. You HAD been warned. Don't blame me for being spoiled if you INSIST on continuing to read this post.

Introduction

Season 1!

And also season 2!

I will talk about Operation Victory too!

The series, Strike Witches (in Japanese: ストライクウィッチーズ) is a media mix that is originally created by Fumikane Shimada via a series of magazine illustration columns. Interesting...it reminds me of the Love Live franchise and a few others. Anyway, as a franchise, it has several light novels, manga, and anime series and various video games. You should go and do the research yourself on those as they are too many of those to talk about here.

One of the manga...

There is an OVA preview episode (that I decided to drop it because of difficulty to find it and poor animation quality) was released on January 1, 2007. The anime TV series (season 1) was aired between July and September 2008 and its second season was aired between July and September 2010. As for the film adaptation, it was released on March 17, 2012, with the three-part OVA series (Operation Victory) being released between September 2014 and May 2015. I won't talk about the movie here but I will talk about Operation Victory here. Oh, I forgot there is a special spin-off series, called Strike Witches: 501st Joint Fighter Wing Take Off! I won't watch it any time soon though but I dun think I wouldn't talk about it specifically...maybe.

This is the movie...

The 501 OVA...

I'm trying to publish the two post on Strike Witches as soon as I can. You know why? Because...the third season is scheduled to premiere in October 2020. Oh yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I. AM. SO. EXCITED!!!! Ahem, need to calm me down. Anyway, there are two spin-off series of Strike Witches, which are Brave Witches (1st aired on October 2016) and Luminous Witches (scheduled to air in 2021). Nice! But...I haven't watch Brave Witches yet. Will watch it when I have time. Also, I'm planning to watch Luminous Witches next year. Anyway, let's go!!!

Brave Witches

Luminous Witches

Plot

They are flying!!!

The story revolves around teenage girls who use machines (which is known as Striker Units) attached to their legs to do aerial combat and "grow" animal ears and tail when wearing it or when using magic. ANIMAL EARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHEM! Sorry, I got a little too excited. And also, they dun wear pants and calls their panties "pants". WOW! Oh, ahem! Sorry, I got a little too overly excited. Back to topic, folks.

Neuroi. Bad guy.

Anyway, you might ask, "Why do these girls need to aerial combat?". Well, it's because they need to fight against an alien force known as the Neuroi. It appears in Europe and creates a lot of chaos and force humans into exile. These girls are part of the strike force that is the result of the alliance between armed forces of the world since regular weaponry have no effect against these alien invaders. These girls are called Witches (not those "witches" that the Europeans were hunting back in those days) and possess magical powers to fly those machines to fight against Neuroi. The interesting thing is that the girls are based on famous real-life pilots during World War Two and also, the Striker Units are based on real-life aircraft during World War Two.

Yoshika and Michiko normal lives...

OK, back to the story, Yoshika Miyafuji, a girl from the Fusō Empire living as a student and a really helpful student. She was scouted by an experienced Witch, Sakamoto Mio. When Yoshika's friend, Michiko got badly injured, Yoshika tried to help her with her healing magic and Mio came down to help and later carried the fainted Yoshika and the injured Michiko to Yoshika's family clinic. With Yoshika receiving a letter from her deceased father, she decided to follow Mio to investigate it and later joins the Strike Witches to fulfil her childhood promise to her father and to help fight off the Neuroi after seeing her father's grave.

Nothing but ruins...

RIP Yoshika's father...

Training time!!!

Well, from there, Yoshika starts her training as a Witch with another freshman, Lynette Bishop. At first, she has a hard time to get acceptance from members of the Unit 501 Strike Witches. Through different and difficult circumstances, she got the acceptance of all the members eventually. There are a few cute and funny living together but they get the job done always. Well, season 1 ended with Yoshika and her team successfully at liberating Gallia (basically France. TBH, it's France's old name) after a series of event that surrounds Yoshika's attempt at having contact with the Neuroi. After liberating Gallia, Yoshika returns home as a stronger magic-user and the Unit 501 being disbanded.

Yoshika...

Yoshika wants to fly again...

Yoshika and Mio on the way to Europe...

At season 2, a new Neuroi threat in Romagna (it's Italy...Wait, what?!) after the mission to make contact with the Neuroi failed because the appearance of an even larger Neuroi destroyed it. Wow...Anyway, as the threat looms (and also the mysterious letter from her deceased father), Yoshika heard of it and decided to go to Europe no matter what. Well, she has her wish granted by boarding Mio's plane ride. From there, it's another daily life of fighting against Neuroi with some daily cute and funny scenes. The final battle to liberate Romagna leaves Mio and Yoshika with no magic left in them. I won't go through the details. Go and watch it yourselves. Anyway, Yoshika returns to her hometown as a normal person.

Testing...

Nice place...

New life after the war...

As for Operation Victory, it talks about the former Unit 501 members' life after Unit 501's disband at the end of season 2. I won't elaborate much on it because they are pretty short and have different stories on each episode. Moving on to talking about the movie...shall we? Wait...Oops, sorry, I have actually planned to publish a special post on the movie. Sorry! Will talk about it in the next post. Let's move on, shall we?

smirk...good fanservice.

Anime Rating

Season 1

Story (Rating: 9/10)

The typical hero's journey classic plotline but classical plotlines are not necessarily bad if they're being performed and presented well. For me, it has presented Yoshika's background and some side characters' backstory really well although it is still a mystery surrounding Yoshika's father's letter to Yoshika. Anyway, the plot of the story is overall pretty well-made. It has good flow and good pacing. The story is pretty straightforward and doesn't go into weird plot twists to complicate the story. But, there's no answer as to why the letter reached Yoshika at that moment after Yoshika's father death.

That moment...

Yoshika interacting with a Neuroi...

Art and Animation (Rating: 9/10)

The animation team has done very well to animate the actions of the girls, good consistency. The moving screens are done well too (although a lot of "interesting" camera shots and angles). The characters are really cute too!

Time to fight, girls!!!

Sound and Music (Rating: 8/10)

The opening and closing theme songs are good and bring out the anime's light-hearted nature. As for the BGM, I like a certain BGM a lot. Salute the pantless girls! Ahem, leaving that aside. If you ask me on which theme songs I like more, it will be the opening theme song. Well, that's generally the case for me...somehow.

All of our cute girls. Choose one! Or take all of them if u want. xD

Characters (Rating: 10/10)

Cute girls!!!!!! Of course, it's not just all about cute girls. There is also the development of the characters. Well, of course, the girls' cute interactions with each other are funny, light-hearted and fun to watch. But, the development of Yoshika from a mere commoner to a person who earned great respect for taking part in liberating Gailia from the Neuroi's hands. As for the side characters, they also have some development with the arrival of Yoshika. Good stuff! There is a lot of things to learn here, like Yoshika's determination to use her powers to help others and keep her promise with her father. I believe that you might have felt certain elements of the story that is relatable to you.

Cute Sanya!!!

Enjoyment (Rating: 10/10)

Cute girls!!!!! Animal ears!!!!!! How can I miss it?! NO, of course!!! Me as a gentleman who likes cute girls (and lolis ~~and also school swimsuit~~), I will not miss this anime from my radar. Heck yeah, I've enjoyed it VERY MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!! What more can I say?

smirks...more fanservice.

Overall Rating: 9.2 (9)/10