(L) Strike Witches TV (Mecha Musume)

[kaosmos]

Originally Posted by Sylphic

This show was so amazingly dumb :P. If this is all Gonzo has, they are so going out of business by the end of this year...

The main character's motivations make zero sense. How can she oppose fighting the war with the Neuroi, when the choice is either get wiped out or fight it and try not to get wiped out. It's not like there's even anything to oppose on the issue, it's just survival.

And yar no pants... for all the lolis.... not just the flying ones... what gives.

Dumb?watch kanokon or (i'm gonna get killed for this...) sekirei,and from the beginning of your post,i assume this is just some gonzo-hate that is guiding your judgment on this anime.

As for the heroine thing:don't forget that the she's just a kid,if she want to live in peace,it's only normal,you forgot to make the line between those who protect and those who are protected,it's not "her" role to be on the battlefield,to fight or not is the choice given to everyone.


If this isn't your style,look somewhere else,simple as that.

[fict_ticious]

Originally Posted by suguru

Yeah, that seemed a little naive of her--I can understand being anti-war when war means killing other human beings, but less so when war means killing an alien force bent on exterminating humanity. In the latter case I'm thinking even the Dali Lama would say to let it rip and kill some Neuroi. I think Yoshika will make up her mind to fight by the end of the next ep though, hopefully.

Yeah, that had me a little buggered.
"War is bad."
"Even if it is against a faceless and unrelenting enemy of humanity?"
"... Yes."
Lol wut.
They could have worked in her apprehension a little differently - perhaps just fear of _______ because of/or some sort of childhood trauma™ would have made it more convincing.
Though to her credit, she was probably very ignorant about what was really going on judging from her reaction at the end of the episode.

[Seiryuu]

I can't help but think of stores that post those "No shirt, no shoes, no service" signs. If these girls showed up at one of those stores, would they be allowed in?
Either way, someone should teach Yoshika the difference between offensive and defensive warfare. If they'd started the fight and were fighting on the enemy's ground or some sort of no-man's land, then I would agree with her absolute rejection of combat. But here these things attacked the first time we encountered them, there's no clear "enemy" with whom they can negotiate, and the enemy units are indiscriminately destroying military and civilian alike on home territory. Without combat, these things will annihilate everything. I can empathize with a reluctance to fight or a feeling that combat is always wrong. However, one should look at the situation in terms of causality. If this girl refuses to fight and people die, their blood is on her hands as much as if she had killed them herself.

[Wesley84]

I actually think Yoshika's world-view is supposed to be a kind of parody of people who claim uber-pacifism. Don't worry folks, Mio, will show her the harsh reality of the world, but in doing so she'll also show that it's really not as bad as she thinks it is.

[Nvis]

Pants? Witches don't wear PANTS!!! (so what's odd about it?)

[kk2extreme]

Originally Posted by Seiryuu

I can't help but think of stores that post those "No shirt, no shoes, no service" signs. If these girls showed up at one of those stores, would they be allowed in?

This question really bugs me for a long time I guess there is always dresses and skirts, the a lot of them are lacking those too

There is no need for panties shots fan services, because it is already there, every single minutes of it, it makes me think... .

btw, it is not just the witches that are pantless, but majority of the girls who lives in the world.

[Jiyuu]

it could be that they simply had a pool session in school just before the episode began..
and that the island is all girls

then all thats left is mio wearing a mizugi.. but she's navy so its ok right? XD

[kurukuru]

I have to say it's one of the most shocking anime in 2008.
Characters don't wear pants and we televiewers can't wear pants...

[cicido]

The first episode had better quality than what I had expected. Some parts were weird like in the beginning during the action the camera would just randomly zoom in on their crotches for no reason, but I guess I'm just not used to fan service yet.

[SinsI]

Somehow character design in this series really scares me - all the girls look like they are amputees, with prosthesis weaponry.

[kaosmos]

Originally Posted by kurukuru

I have to say it's one of the most shocking anime in 2008.
Characters don't wear pants and we televiewers can't wear pants...

I don't really get the last part but i wouldn't say the same about this anime..
I mean,there's worse out there...alot worse.

@cicido:it was weird even for those used to fanservice i think..

[Random Wanderer]

To those who object to Miyafuji's anti-war attitude... At the moment, our heroine is still a child. Children (and sometimes adults) can cling to powerful emotions and opinions that are not really rational when examined closely. War took her father away from her. She sees war as a terrible thing, where people go and die and don't come back. She may recognize that the fighting has to be done (after all, she's still perfectly polite to Mio) but that doesn't change that she believes unquestioningly that war is bad.

I don't think she really understands yet that by joining the strike witches she can help far more people than by staying out of things. In her eyes, helping people=healing them like her mother and grandmother do. Whereas war is fighting. The two do not connect in her mind. Completely different concepts. War has nothing to do with helping people... or so she would think, assuming she even thinks of war and helping people at the same time.

Give her a little while. I think the current attack might help her put some pieces together.

[kk2extreme]

Originally Posted by kaosmos

I don't really get the last part but i wouldn't say the same about this anime..
I mean,there's worse out there...alot worse.

@cicido:it was weird even for those used to fanservice i think..

its shocking rather than "bad", I think this type of fanservice is first to me. Almost the whole island is pantless,

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

its shocking rather than "bad", I think this type of fanservice is first to me. Almost the whole island is pantless,

Except the men. And women over a certain age. It's only the YOUNG girls who follow that "clothing on the lower body is bad" fashion, it seems. Which, if it IS supposed to be a fashion, kind of makes sense. Sort of.

[SukyAnime2]

The first episode of this series left me a rather disappointment of whats to expect next. It's probably the art style, and a generic background story, which i didn't like too much. I wouldn't be suprised if a tentacle monster suddenly attacked in next episode (mai-hime anyone?).

It seems like they purposely want to catch the audience with excessive booty shots of little girls, which in my opinion, is always a poor excuse to make up for bad storylines.

The only thing i found amusing in this show, is the lack of pants, and the unexplained fox-ears/tails that appear when they do a spell (which the artist probably added cause he/she thought it was cute, and backed it up with a random plot)

Anyhow, i didn't like it.
I'll give this series another episodes watch and then decide whether to drop it or not (most likely i will).
That is all for my first impressions of this anime.

[kaosmos]

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

its shocking rather than "bad", I think this type of fanservice is first to me. Almost the whole island is pantless,

Always better than exploding clothes/disappearing clothes and other "accidental" nudity imho,at least they wear something in this.

[4Tran]

I'm a bit of a World War II buff, so theming the characters after real-life pilots and aircraft is right up my alley. It's not too surprising that there are so many German pilots, but it is a little weird that even though the front line is supposedly in "Britannia", none of the Strike Witches are based on UK pilots - the closest thing is Bishop, and William Avery Bishop was Canadian.

- There's no need to look at whether this show is a rip-off of Sky Girls or vice versa. Both shows have Shimada in their creative staff, so the only "ripping-off" going on would be him ripping himself off.

- The "mecha" sound great, but they look absolutely silly - a better effect would have been to put in more aircraft components.

- The most common weapon the Strike Witches use is the MG 42, and the heaviest weapons seems to be the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle, so firepower doesn't seem to be all that important against the Neuroi.

- Pilot notes: of all of the real-life pilots used, Bishop was a World War I pilot, not a World War II one. All of them are men with the exception of Lityvak as the only woman fighter pilot.

A question for those who are more familiar with Mecha Musume - is the MiG-60 some sort of mascot for this kind of work or is there some other reason for using that designation? It's the only aircraft listed on the website that's completely made up (Mikoyan uses odd-numbered designations for their fighters).

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

This question really bugs me for a long time I guess there is always dresses and skirts, the a lot of them are lacking those too

There is no need for panties shots fan services, because it is already there, every single minutes of it, it makes me think... .

btw, it is not just the witches that are pantless, but majority of the girls who lives in the world.

The answer should be obvious: the major Axis countries have made it illegal for young girls to wear anything on their legs. Aesthetically speaking, this makes the uniforms look really ugly.

Originally Posted by Seiryuu

I can't help but think of stores that post those "No shirt, no shoes, no service" signs. If these girls showed up at one of those stores, would they be allowed in?

Of course they would be. They wear shirts, and they usually wear shoes, so why would they be denied service?

[Seiryuu]

Originally Posted by Jiyuu

it could be that they simply had a pool session in school just before the episode began..
and that the island is all girls

then all thats left is mio wearing a mizugi.. but she's navy so its ok right? XD

The problem here is that it wasn't only at that time. Sure, this might have been immediately after or before a swim class, and the girls hadn't gotten wet yet, and they'd all snuck away to save the kitty, with their bookbags, and all the other girls in the school courtyard were also fixing to go to the pool, and...
Anyway, one may accept the possibility of that one situation, but even if it's their last class, the girls would likely change at the end of PE, so they wouldn't be going home in swimsuits, and Yoshika wouldn't be sweeping in front of her home in the same outfit. And she CERTAINLY wouldn't be spending day after day doing various jobs on a ship with a crew consisting largely of young men while wearing that, unless that had somehow become the standard. On the plus side, the girls are all fit and trim, and none of them has thought of trying a thong.
BTW, plot-wise, I'll say what I've said in many series discussions: wait at least 3 or 4 episodes. It's most likely that this will remain simply cute girls fighting strange monsters with big guns and no pants, but fanservice is a convenient way to keep an audience watching while they set up for deeper plot twists. I've seen plenty of shows that seem even more innocent(plot-wise) than this suddenly become very, very interesting once the cast has been introduced and even one that stays silly almost to the end can suddenly turn everything on its head.
At the same time, as I said, I won't be surprised if this sticks to being little more than crotch-shots of girls with silly shoes and magically-enhanced artillery. Even then it can still be good for a few laughs. Just keep your pants on when watching this, OK? Especially you, kurukuru.

[Wesley84]

Originally Posted by 4Tran

I'm a bit of a World War II buff, so theming the characters after real-life pilots and aircraft is right up my alley. It's not too surprising that there are so many German pilots, but it is a little weird that even though the front line is supposedly in "Britannia", none of the Strike Witches are based on UK pilots - the closest thing is Bishop, and William Avery Bishop was Canadian.

No kidding? Do you have any recommendations for a British Ace? And wouldn't the Indian girl technically be closer than the Canadian?

- The "mecha" sound great, but they look absolutely silly - a better effect would have been to put in more aircraft components.

I would have prefered that over the ears and tails.

- The most common weapon the Strike Witches use is the MG 42, and the heaviest weapons seems to be the Boys Anti-Tank Rifle, so firepower doesn't seem to be all that important against the Neuroi.

There's probably some magical buff to the weapons ontop of everything else. Otherwise conventional forces wouldn't be getting their asses handed to them so badly.

The answer should be obvious: the major Axis countries have made it illegal for young girls to wear anything on their legs. Aesthetically speaking, this makes the uniforms look really ugly.

I think they need to be either extremely guady and silly or very professional (and hot).

[Fweakin]

Originally Posted by Wesley84

The lack of pants is distracting. It's like I'm torn between watching the action and averting my gaze from the crotch-closeups.

Thats how I felt through the first episode. I was very distracting/annoying for me. Although sometimes series just need to get this sort of blantant fanservice out of its system before it settles into the plot a little more.

Pretty much the only reason I'm watching this is the promise of good VA's considering the godly line up. So far I'm not disappointed. And the plot isn't tragic yet, and I do find myself interested in where the plot is gonna go from here.

::smack:: "Ha, ha, ha"