Customer Reviews

Strike Witches: The Complete 1st Season

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While it has many of the trappings of a typical light fanservice title, strike witches has more spark than you would think. Varied and memorable characters, quality design elements (the series if derived from a collection of figurines produced by a popular designer where elements of classic WWII aircraft are blended with kawaii teen girls), a decent storyline and good pacing. If you enjoyed "Sky girls" this series is, IMHO, better. Strike witches is on my short list of series which deserve more recognition than they get.

While it is true that the Anime is mainly cater to groups that would appreciate fan-service, there is small details here and there that I found very surprising and amazed at the same time.

First of all, all 11 of the main heroines are based on a actual ACE during WWII and there striker units resembles the airplane of the respective countries. The sounds effect for all the guns are accurate, you can hear the loud and distinct sound of each bullet being fired from the BAR, and the rapid fire of the MG42.

Story-wise, nothing that will really drop your jaws, but it flows wells and does it well. The animations is also well done and very smooth. The dogfights are a treat and they use actually WWII formations and flight path are all coordinated.

If you happens to like WWII and Anime and don't mind some fan services then this is definitely for you.

At first it looks like little more than fan service on a stick. Get past it, this is one of the best stories I've seen in a long time. Character development is good and the story line is engaging and well written. It's not as generic of a storyline as it seemingly starts out either. Due to the "fan service" and some adult situations I'd probably not recommend it for children, at least not without adult supervision and having watched it first. On the plus side for parents, there's not a lot of blood and it's handled tastefully (It IS a war, injuries happen).
The setting is an alternate world where WWII was preempted due to an alien invasion and the only effective force to fight them is magic. Magic is not commonplace, so witches are recruited from all over the world to fly the "Striker Units". (If you look at the case, you'll see one on each leg of the main character). They even have magic propellers keeping the "WWII" feel intact. The countries are all renamed to give it a more "alternate world" feel, but it's not hard to figure out. I prefer not to give away the storyline in reviews. I will say there is an interesting contrast in the main character, who fights only because she wants to protect as many people as she can. (And at first seems to be an adamant pacifist, which never entirely fades). There is also some interesting character development around why people fight and the effects their reasons have on them. A little simplified, but it is only 12 episodes.
LASTLY! This is a DO NOT MISS IT anime for most fans, almost regardless of the type you like. Don't pass it up if you don't like one aspect of it, like setting, or combat, or fan service. It has a wide range of appeal!

When I first seen this show I though, WTH, girls with no pants??? I blame funi, being British pants means underwear, so I though the characters were stark naked but it turns out they do wear pants (underwear) so it wasn't so bad.

Bar this misconception I also had the worry that it was made just to please the lolicon fan base in japan but I was wrong, if you can look past the pretty harmless as it turns out, fan service, than the show is a quite enjoyable one.

If you watch the episodes, you may notice that there isn't much in they way of story, but SW makes up for it in what it brings in character development with a good 8 episodes focusing on the girls of the 501st + 2 episodes to set up the story and 2 episodes to end the season. I didn't enjoy the first 2 episodes because I am not a big fan of Yoshika (the main character ) but after this, strike witches become entirely enjoyable.

I must apologize this review has kind of gone round in circles but I would recommend any anime fan that they should add this to there collection. I know of several people who normally dislike moe shows but where pretty hooked by SW.


I also liked the packaging, it as very nice, all eleven girls get there place somewhere on the boxes and on the inside of the dvd boxes is a character sheet of who the eleven girls are, what striker unit they wear, panties, and what animal there accosiated with, finally I liked the sow on patch that comes with SW, its nicely made and look very good, I shall need to find a good use for it, I love it.

Now here's an interesting premise for an anime. It's got cute girls, aliens, panties, magic. What more can I say for my opening paragraph? Oh, the DVD's are generally uncensored, so it's an ecchi anime, don't like then you might not enjoy this one.

The story starts in the year 1939, A mysterious Black cloud appeared in the sky, Aircraft were sent to get rid of the black cloud, but soon after they attack a mysterious black aircraft emerged from the darkness and fired lasers to wipe the fleet out, this is where the battle with the Neuroi began. In order to combat the Neuroi threat, man worked to make a new weapon, this weapon was known as the Striker Unit, a special set of plane engines powered by magic one wears on their feet and legs. A call went out to all the nations of the world to recruit witches with the potential to weild these Strikers, thus the 501st Joint fighter wing was formed. Now we meet Yoshika Miyafuji, a middle school girl from the Fuso Empire, she soon finds herself being recruited by the Strike Witches, of which she refuses as she hates war. That is until she receives a letter from her supposedly dead father, Dr Miyafuji, the inventor of the Striker unit. She goes with them to find out if her father really died. I'll leave it at that for now.

The art style is pretty standard for the character models, they are pretty cute in this respect, where the anime seems to excel is the designs of the weapons and striker unit, modelled on actual World war aircraft and weapons. There are one or 2 instances of which small attempts at 3D are trying during flight, which works I felt.

The soundtrack is appropriate considering the themes, war time band fair and orchestral songs as well as more cutesy music. Some is memorable while some isn't as much. The Opening and Ending themes "To do what I can" and "Bookmark ahead" are cute but don't feel different or unfitting. But then I have heard the songs over and over through my headphones from a dual album. The dub now I'm sure some of you are curious to know about. Considering the reputation Funimation seems to have for dubbing from the fan sub group, the voice work is not bad at all, no voices grated on me but a need to adjust to the voices might be needed, but as per usual the original Japanese voice work is included.

Now for the DVD's, for a fan like me, the DVD cases are lovely, featuring art of 8 of the 11 Witches spread out over the 2 covers, the cover case that keeps the DVD's together has a synppsis on the back featuring Shirley and Lucchini (Characters not included on the DVD cases) and some screen caps, which are pretty sweet. Whilst Miyafuji completes the set on the front of the case. The DVD's themselves feature different art of Miyafuji.

The contents on each disk are:
Disk 1 - The first 6 episodes and the option of voice work
Disk 2 - The final 6 episodes, the voice work option and Trailers from Funimation

Not much on the disks, bare bones stuff but I can give it a pass

Overall, Strike Witches is a series of fan service to both the otaku crowd and the aviation fans, the story might seem unfocused till the final few episodes but most episodes have character development, Art isn't going to win any awards but it's very cute. A soundtrack that is fitting and a pretty good dub to accompany it.

It's a personal favourite of mine, so if it sounds like your kind of thing then I implore you give it a go .

When I first saw strike witches I thought it looked rather silly and absurd, but that's what makes it interesting, funny as that may sound. It has no real story line, but the mix of action, fan service and somewhat warming stories at times makes for great entertainment. Animation is quite decent and the voice acting good. You want fan service? Lots of it in this especially since they are in their underwear/panties/boomers whatever! all the time. Was I disappointed? Eh, somewhat, since I was expecting some kind of story line. For what this anime tries to sell (fan service, action and cuteness) it does well (unlike K-on, which in my opinion is just plain horrible), so I give it a slight 4 and it is definitely not for kids under 13.

This is one of the best series that I have seen. It is a little like a Harry Turtledove Novel. It is an alternate verion of WWII in which the world must band together to fight of an alien meance. The Strike Witches are the Worlds last best Hope for winning. The art work is fantastic. The story is very good. IMHO the only draw back is the fan service which isn't needed as the story is strong enough to stand on it's own. Over all is is one of my favorites and I can't wait to see the second series :)

I didn't expect the grandest of story lines but I was was very surprised by the over all quality of the story. In some of these "Cute girls fight evil geometric shapes" animes you can often have a laps of story but this show delivered a story that, in typical anime fashion, was heart warming, action backed, happy, sad and dared to blur the lines of good and evil and reality and fantasy.

I would definitely recommend this set to everyone, but be warned, as is typical in some fan service anime there is some animated nudity, and mild sexual situations but nothing too obscene (there's no sex or anything like that) but all together nothing that is horridly vulgar or overly violent.

And a heads up, season 2 has already been announced, hopeful it will get dubbed and released state side, cross your fingers!

Aliens invade in 1939, creating an alternate time-line and like always, wreak havoc.

Girls without pants fly through the sky with the help of their magical powers and fight back.

Aside from those two things, there's also a lot of comedy to be had in this series.

I first saw this when I friend of mine tossed some links my way while on a game we both play, and needless to say I was laughing my butt off half the time... I was hooked.

If you're a true Anime Fan, this is definately worth your time.

I bought this anime on a whim and found it highly enjoyable. I was surprised to find it rated TV MA but this did not detract from the enjoyability of the series. The series keeps anything questionable to a minimum and although it may have a few questionable parts, it never felt like it was perverted.

The first two episodes are a little slow but after the third episode the series really picks up. The ending had a different feel, the story looses its lightness and gains a more action feel, then the rest of the series but helped tie the whole series together. I would recommend this series to any mature anime fan.