(L+CR) Strike Witches: Road to Berlin

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep2:

Ahh-ah, I had some hopes from Ep1, but it looks like this season's action scenes will be filled with CG again.

[EroKing]

\o/

[Random Wanderer]

They've pulled this "the whole 501st regroups and beats up the Neuroi that's giving Yoshika trouble" thing at least once a season and again in the movie, yet it still makes me smile. It's just great to see all these girls together again.

I wonder if we'll get cameos of witches from other units.

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Spoiler for ep2:

Ahh-ah, I had some hopes from Ep1, but it looks like this season's action scenes will be filled with CG again.

Probably unavoidable these days. At least the quality of the CG is significantly better than what we got in Brave Witches.

Originally Posted by EroKing

\o/

My response exactly.

[Master_Yoma]

Miyafuji really over doing it with that striker unit but got to hand it that crew fixing it really fast but that Captain pushing that ship really hard

Well the team back together hoping that the 502 joins the fight

[Marina2]

Ep.2

Wow....this is a movie quality ep. They are many 3D scenes but they look quite good and the transition between 2D and 3D is almost seamless. At least for me.

Yoshika being Yoshika at her best. Everyone have come together again but too bad, they can't save the port. However, the big operation is about to start....after some SOL and monster of the week eps, of course.

[FlareKnight]

That was good fun. Even if it was looking like Yoshika was going to honestly solo this thing. If she had a half decent unit she wouldn't have needed a team . But hey, at least it was nice seeing the regular people helping out more. Be it the Captain showing his courage and responsibility or just the mechanics straight up refusing to let Yoshika fight until they completed the bare minimum amount of work.

Nice to have the team together. Of course I actually enjoyed changing things up with the Brave Witches. But nothing wrong with getting back to the main squad. Heck even starting it out with a bit of a mixed bag result since they defeated their enemy but couldn't stop damage to the port.

[MeoTwister5]

You know considering that this is the nth time the 501st has had to reform in order to bail someone's or everyone's asses out of the fire, I'm surprised that this isn't a more permanent assignment. You have 10 OP living legends and 1 newbie in the group, you'd think they can relatively steamroll most of their opposition considering most Neuroi activity is in Central Europe.

That said, with 501st on the Western Front and the 502nd on the Eastern Front, Brave Witch cameos are still doable.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

You know considering that this is the nth time the 501st has had to reform in order to bail someone's or everyone's asses out of the fire, I'm surprised that this isn't a more permanent assignment. You have 10 OP living legends and 1 newbie in the group, you'd think they can relatively steamroll most of their opposition considering most Neuroi activity is in Central Europe.

Normally a group like this would be broken up for the purpose of assigning them to other units: without an immediate need for a strike group like this, there are undoubtedly tons of other units that could use a couple of ace witches. However, based on everything we've seen, it seems like most of the girls just go... wherever... once the 501 shuts down. Minna, Trude, and Erika all keep working, but the others just wander off, take vacations, maybe help out here and there in their free time, go to school, whatever.

So... yeah. Since they're not making use of the girls in the intervening periods, it really doesn't make much sense to shut down the 501 each time.

That said, with 501st on the Western Front and the 502nd on the Eastern Front, Brave Witch cameos are still doable.

If the 502 is still in Saint Petersburg, they're 800+ miles from Berlin in a straight line. From Antwerp to Saint Petersburg is nearly 1200 miles. A bit far for the 502 to casually drop in and help out. Unless they get specifically assigned to help this operation, I doubt we'll see them. Which is a shame, because I like them.

[MeoTwister5]

I actually get the impression that aside from Mina, Gertrude and Erika, everyone else except Yoshika (and I guess Mio since she's technically retired) get sent to distant posts that don't really get any Neuroi action... which in a way is really a waste of their talents.

[arkhangelsk]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

That said, with 501st on the Western Front and the 502nd on the Eastern Front, Brave Witch cameos are still doable.

Well, I honestly hope not, or that the cameo is very brief, though I do like the Brave Witches quite a lot.

You see, if you look at the flow of events for both teams, the cold truth most likely is that the 501 is a much stronger outfit than the 502 - the world really crammed all their best of the best in the 501. The easiest comparison is that the 501 got from Japan what might be the most powerful witch of the generation, and the 502 got the witch whose magic output is an inch above the bare minima for flying

And in such a case, it is not easy to put the two in the same piece of airspace and show.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

I actually get the impression that aside from Mina, Gertrude and Erika, everyone else except Yoshika (and I guess Mio since she's technically retired) get sent to distant posts that don't really get any Neuroi action... which in a way is really a waste of their talents.

I mean, we've seen them. It's not like they're all out doing nothing, but at best they seemed to be on detached duty. Perrine and Lynnette spent their time helping rebuild Gallia, Francesca and Shirley just sort of wandered around wherever sometimes stopping in at Francesca's home, and Sanya and Eila hung out around the edges of Soumus and Orussia, ostensibly searching for Sanya's family as I recall. None of them were really part of a unit, although they all remained on call to go help whenever needed.

And yeah, from a military perspective it's hard to argue that that wasn't a waste of their talents. There have got to be places along the front where a couple of high-level aces could make a huge difference.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by MeoTwister5

You know considering that this is the nth time the 501st has had to reform in order to bail someone's or everyone's asses out of the fire, I'm surprised that this isn't a more permanent assignment. You have 10 OP living legends and 1 newbie in the group, you'd think they can relatively steamroll most of their opposition considering most Neuroi activity is in Central Europe.

That said, with 501st on the Western Front and the 502nd on the Eastern Front, Brave Witch cameos are still doable.

Creativity at its finest. We can expect them spending an entire season to do a little something but not actually defeat the final boss and then disband to "finish" the season, and then five years from now, get a sequel to do the exact above again.

[Nachtwandler]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

I mean, we've seen them. It's not like they're all out doing nothing, but at best they seemed to be on detached duty. Perrine and Lynnette spent their time helping rebuild Gallia, Francesca and Shirley just sort of wandered around wherever sometimes stopping in at Francesca's home, and Sanya and Eila hung out around the edges of Soumus and Orussia, ostensibly searching for Sanya's family as I recall. None of them were really part of a unit, although they all remained on call to go help whenever needed.

And yeah, from a military perspective it's hard to argue that that wasn't a waste of their talents. There have got to be places along the front where a couple of high-level aces could make a huge difference.

The fact that we did not see much of them in action outside of 501st does not mean they did not do it. OVAs purpose was not sto show tham in action in other squads. Also, at the beginning of this eps we see most of them on other military bases so presumbly they were re-assigned while waiting for the new mission for 501st.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Creativity at its finest. We can expect them spending an entire season to do a little something but not actually defeat the final boss and then disband to "finish" the season, and then five years from now, get a sequel to do the exact above again.

Yeah, but they're already going to Berlin. What are they going to do for another season, bomb Hiroshima?

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Yeah, but they're already going to Berlin. What are they going to do for another season, bomb Hiroshima?

Maybe. I'm sure they will come up with something. As long as the final boss isn't defeated, they can come up with an infinite number of ways to fill a season.
Well, they can just revive the final boss or do a "but the true final boss" thing too.

[X207]

Europe is a big continent, they can find undiscovered nests and bosses for the next season's. A second wave of invasions can also occur. War is very unpredictable so anything us possible.

I like the series but it's not because they don't know what pants or skirts are. That's one big thing I don't like much about the series. The fact many of them are comfy in boyfriend shirts only is a bit weird but not everything in anime makes sense.

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep3:

...Or we can make the protagonist temporarily lose her powers so we can focus on some character I have absolutely no memories of.

...And whatever next episode.

And probably the next.

And next.

To around Ep 8, maybe?

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Spoiler for ep3:

...Or we can make the protagonist temporarily lose her powers so we can focus on some character I have absolutely no memories of.

...And whatever next episode.

And probably the next.

And next.

To around Ep 8, maybe?

You don't remember Shizuka? She was all throughout the movie.

[Nachtwandler]

Or he have not seen the movie at all.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Nachtwandler

Or he have not seen the movie at all.

If one hasn't watched the movie, one is going to have issues because it is obviously canon and serves to bridge season 1 and season 2. It explains why Yoshika was in Europe at medical school, shows her getting her powers back (which she had lost at the end of season 2), introduces Shizuka and goes through a character arc for her, and several other things.