(L) Strike Witches 2

[Ezilled]

Am I the only one who thought that when Yoshika healed the bird and made it fly away again, there would be another witch who will fall down from the sky and deliver a letter or something to welcome an upcoming third season?

But seriously, disbandment of 501st and Yoshika as a commoner with no magic powers? I raged hard. Second season could have been better if there's a few plot devices or points to earlier episodes in a preparation for the final boss, just like the copycat Neuroi and the surprise drama from the first season. Secondly, it should have been explained more on Yoshika's father shenanigans. I really didn't like his ghost-esque, voiced appearance and his asspull research on newtype Strike Unit named Shinden. Thirdly, there's is none as of yet.

Despite everything was like a rehash from the S1, the sixth episode was beyond god tier. "I will go to the ends of the world with you!" said Eila as she conveyed her thoughts to Sanya. Sanya and Eila shipper here with his cool pair of glasses.

(Perhaps this is my first time I've written a review to SW, and it's severely late. My sincere apologies.)

[Jof12788]

Originally Posted by Ezilled

Am I the only one who thought that when Yoshika healed the bird and made it fly away again, there would be another witch who will fall down from the sky and deliver a letter or something to welcome an upcoming third season?

But seriously, disbandment of 501st and Yoshika as a commoner with no magic powers? I raged hard. Second season could have been better if there's a few plot devices or points to earlier episodes in a preparation for the final boss, just like the copycat Neuroi and the surprise drama from the first season. Secondly, it should have been explained more on Yoshika's father shenanigans. I really didn't like his ghost-esque, voiced appearance and his asspull research on newtype Strike Unit named Shinden. Thirdly, there's is none as of yet.

Despite everything was like a rehash from the S1, the sixth episode was beyond god tier. "I will go to the ends of the world with you!" said Eila as she conveyed her thoughts to Sanya. Sanya and Eila shipper here with his cool pair of glasses.

(Perhaps this is my first time I've written a review to SW, and it's severely late. My sincere apologizes.)

You're not alone. I also expected another witch to fall from the sky as well. Instead, we get one last sad depressing image of the badly damaged Shinden laying on the beach alongside Reppumaru.

Personally, I wished this series was 24 episodes instead of 12. If not, long enough to give us some plot devices, more screentime for the newer characters that ended up being just cameos (except for Marseille,) and fanservice. In other words all the things that made season 1 great.

[SuperKnuckles]

Heh. If you think about it, only maybe 2 or 3 episodes were truly fanservice oriented or purely for fun. Everything was just serious business, one after another.

And poor Sakamoto Mio... all she could do was angst like crazy the whole series..

[rocket]

Waaaaahhhhh! (;_;) It's over already?!

For a season which started with so much promise, more action, higher quality animation (and creative symmetrical docking of all forms), season 2 failed to really deliver what I was looking for.

I'd given up on Strike Witches being anything more than cute moe show after the interviews with the producers/director, but I at least held out hope for quality moe, with decent yuri angst or at least something suitable for my goggles with occasional bits of action (Railgun would have been a good template here).

In the end I was surprised by a couple of episodes full of awesome (1/2, Jet Striker, Starship Witches, and Hartman's duel) which hardly made up for the utterly predictable, and sadly sloppy comedy episodes. Not to mention does of plotting, cinematography and animation that would be right at home on Scooby Doo. The training episode, and Perrine's treasure hunt stand out as prime examples. Where's the real hot springs? The real beach episode? You know you have to work to make these tropes sexy!

Ah well...

Some good news at least, I'm proud to announce the release of my free Print n Play board game Magical Strike! Just because season 2 is over doesn't mean the adventure's of the 501st are over! How will you do at defending the Earth?

Get the Magical Strike rules here!

[drobertbaker]

Originally Posted by Dahak86

omg, what is this? OVA? new series?
god, I still cannot understand if they're just rumors or not..

now, translators get to work!

This is a very cool thing you've found, but it's not what you were hoping for.

This is a poster for the the 1937 propaganda film Flash in the Fuso Sea starring Tomoko Anabuki (pictured).

Lt. Anabuki showed an especially impressive display of skill during the Fuso Sea Incident, so she was cast as the star of this film. It was a big hit and consequently she became very famous.

She was particularly popular with women and girls, and the Fuso doll modeled on Lt. Anabuki became a much-adored present for adolescent girls.

In fact, Yoshika received one as a gift from the sailors in episode 8 of season 1, remember?

[Dahak86]

@drobertbaker: thanks for explanation and all the infos! very much appreciated.

about the pic, I just found it while random-surfing yunakiti-blog..
problem is, I cannot read nihongo, as you already know...
and then I saw words like "OVA" and "3-..." in the comments to that post, so I thought they were referring to that pic as being some kind of new project.
my bad, guess I was wrong.. again.
it's just that I'm dying to know what is gonna be of that previous announcement of 'more strike witches'..

[Kaijo]

Overall, disappointed.

I kinda endured the beginning episodes of the first season, because I tend to watch something through before judging. And the plot kinda picked up there with Yoshika almost communicating with the neuroi, and I thought, "Hmm, nice, about time we begin to understand the motivations and origins of the antagonist force." I tolerated the ending because it seemed to be setting up for more, and was done fairly well; there are always those in a military unit with ambitions.

And thus, SW2, which was a huge letdown. All the buildup from the first season about the Neuroi, and it's obliterated in the first few minutes, never to be addressed again. We get about 10 filler episodes, and 2 episodes of actual plot, which again tell us nothing about the Neuroi nor Yoshika's dad. And again, we see the military repeating the blunder from the first season about not focusing on enhancing the witches, who have proved time and again they can do the job. Stupidity at its finest.

Yoshika getting stronger so she can't use her unit anymore? Not very believable. All indications were that she was losing power, so the new unit doesn't really do anything for her or the series overall, except allow the creator to flex more of his WW2 hard-on with a different unit.

At this point, I'm really debating on watching anything else in the franchise, whether a third season or OVA. There would have to be some real good plot that actually addressed the Neuroi, and not just use them as something to get pre-teen girls up into the air for lots of panty shots. I don't mind fanservice when there is a decent plot, but this series is really embracing the maxism that sex sells, and you don't need plot when you're selling loli fanservice. This series really feels like a race to the bottom of the gutter.

Just my opinion, feel free to disagree, but I'm just disappointed at the plot potential that could have been, but ended up as 80% filler.

[einhorn303]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Overall, disappointed...Just my opinion, feel free to disagree, but I'm just disappointed at the plot potential that could have been, but ended up as 80% filler.

The way I see it is: "The plot of Strike Witches isn't about the Neuroi, but the Witches themselves and their bonds/growth."

[rocket]

Originally Posted by einhorn303

The way I see it is: "The plot of Strike Witches isn't about the Neuroi, but the Witches themselves and their bonds/growth."

That is true. And while not my first choice for how this franchise could have been handled, a perfectly respectable (expect-able even) one.

Too bad they did a only the most predictable, hackneyed and ham-fisted vague gestures in this direction. Sasameki Koto, or Railgun are lovely little animes with plenty of character development and decent plots that focus primarily on the relationships between teenage girls. I enjoyed them both and appreciated the quality of work, despite the lack of yuri-geddon or continual psychic duels. Strike Witches...

I came for the Mechamusume. I stayed for the promise of heartful loli-planes. I got generic pantsu. :-P

[pauldy]

Originally Posted by Kaijo

Overall, disappointed.
I don't mind fanservice when there is a decent plot, but this series is really embracing the maxism that sex sells, and you don't need plot when you're selling loli fanservice. This series really feels like a race to the bottom of the gutter.

Just my opinion, feel free to disagree, but I'm just disappointed at the plot potential that could have been, but ended up as 80% filler.

I soooo agree with you ^^

@rocket: Your game looks really interesting, although I haven't read all the rules yet ^^

Disappointments aside, anyone else here who also collects Strike Witches figures?
I just got Erica recently. Another addition to my "Mecha Musume Only" collection ^^

[rocket]

Originally Posted by pauldy

Disappointments aside, anyone else here who also collects Strike Witches figures?
I just got Erica recently. Another addition to my "Mecha Musume Only" collection ^^

Sweet! How big is she? I've been looking at the new SEGA figures but it looks like they're a couple cm bigger than the original Konami gashapon.... :-/

I'd pay quite a bit if I could only find the second series of those original Konami figures (;_...

P.S. I have the original Konami Mecha Musume series (all 3 editions) and the 1st series Strike Witches. Oh well I suppose I should break down and buy the Sky Girls before they sell out!

[deathcurse]

Honestly, I enjoyed Season 2 more than Season 1.

I had given up on watching Strike Witches for any kind of reasonable plot midway through the first season, and decided that I was going to watch for the Eila/Sanya moments, hot Minna moments, super-cool explosions and any smidgen of character development that happens to accidentally pop up throughout the series.

And with those expectations in mind, I actually really enjoyed Strike Witches 2 .

It finally gave some of the overlooked characters a chance for some development (I actually care about Francesca now, and Hartmann's episode was utterly delightful--it was awesome to see her actually get serious about something!). Not to mention that my personal favourite Eila got an episode that explored the weakness of her otherwise very unique ability. And while the finale was a bit of a disappointment in terms of the gaping holes of logic, they actually managed to make a connection that made sense: Remember the stupid Warlock fused with Akagi in first finale? Well, it actually gave the Yamato some in-story logic! My WTF-levels were still within reasonable bounds after seeing the Yamato become a Neuroi only because we had seen something similar before (even if it's a stupid concept). And having the Neuroi seem to learn, by taking advantage of a Witch's shield-making ability, was pretty interesting, but I didn't really expect the series to utilize fascinating concepts or anything.

Sure, I would have liked some more insight into the odd Neuroi, but watching a cast of interesting characters interact with each other and blow things up often suited me fine .

[pauldy]

Originally Posted by rocket

Sweet! How big is she? I've been looking at the new SEGA figures but it looks like they're a couple cm bigger than the original Konami gashapon.... :-/

I'd pay quite a bit if I could only find the second series of those original Konami figures (;_...

P.S. I have the original Konami Mecha Musume series (all 3 editions) and the 1st series Strike Witches. Oh well I suppose I should break down and buy the Sky Girls before they sell out!

Lucky you~ I really wanted all the original Mecha Musume^^ After all, they helped ushered the popularity of this genre ^^

As for Erica's size... I dunno how to describe it specifically..

If you have a 1/72 scale jet fighter like a F-15 their sizes are kinda comparable.
I have a F-15 one and she's almost the same length as that aircraft model..

Simply put, she's modestly large ^^

I have seen the SEGA Yoshika and Mio.. they seem to be smaller the Kotobukiya Strike Witches ^^ Probably the same size as Toranoana Mecha Musume figures

[supei_02]

Originally Posted by Dahak86

http://blog-imgs-43.fc2.com/y/u/n/yunakti/sei.jpg

omg, what is this? OVA? new series?
god, I still cannot understand if they're just rumors or not..

now, translators get to work!

It seems like there's a manga being written by Ningen about the Fusou witches and their past. I just went to the yunakiti blog to pick some information too, and here's a image that I found there:



It looks good, especially this part:



MIO IN HER 10s lol
Can't wait to see more of it!

[Jof12788]

found this on the following blog:



http://yunakiti.blog79.fc2.com/blog-entry-6665.html

Here's my attempt at translation. (Apologies for some inaccuracy for I am not the best...)

"What's in the future for Strike Witches?"

"For the anime, I was thinking about putting together a story for Miyafuji and
Sakamoto. I'm glad that I'd been able to envisioned that part in Season 2. As far as the future (of Strike Witches) is concerned, if I get support calling
for more of the girls' story I look into my schedule and consider looking forward
to it."

[Key Board]

AIC has been bought out

It seems Strike Witch will have to once again find a new studio

[Midonin]

...it's owned by a new company, it's not dead. AIC still exists and can still produce anime. Strike Witches is fine.

[Mizuno]

Yeah, it just got itself a new parent company. This doesn't hinder normal operations. Just found it weird it's a pachinko company...

[supei_02]

Pachinko strike witches anyone?

[Kaijo]

Originally Posted by einhorn303

The way I see it is: "The plot of Strike Witches isn't about the Neuroi, but the Witches themselves and their bonds/growth."

This line pretty much sums up the viewpoint of those who like it, and I do understand it. Sometimes a war anime is just about the character interactions and not about the war enemy at all. In fact, the most recent one I watched along this line, was the very excellent "Voices Across a Distant Star." It's one episode made primarily by one guy, and it's incredibly touching. It's focused on the communications one girl sends to a guy back on Earth, as she gets farther and farther from Earth on a ship going to fight alien enemies.

But the main differences here, is that Strike Witches has 24 episodes, and thus plenty of time to do both the character interactions and explore the Neuori. I thought the last few episodes of season 1 handled it fairly brilliantly, with Yoshika defying orders to go communicate with the enemy, and her friends reactions to that, both before and after.

A good story can do character interactions and plot development with the main antagonist. So I suppose that's where my major beef is, and why I felt a distinct sense of... lacking.

It also doesn't help that one episode of SW2 revolved around the destruction of an Neuroi... by someone pulling their panties up tight against their butt. That was a real "jumping the shark" moment for me.

So let me end by saying, if they do a season 3, or some OAV's, I would desperately hope they do explore the Neuroi (if they are still around). Because I have to really wonder about an advanced alien race that simply sits there and sends out 1 thing at a time to get destroyed, over and over. It doesn't speak much to intelligence. Nor to the intelligence of our side when they deliberately attempt to sideline their greatest weapon in the war. If our military guys acted like that during WW1 and WW2, we would have lost. And indeed, part of the reason Germany lost, was that they made many stupid choices.