domenick.hessel - 2016-07-22 23:52:56

Seascape, fresh air, the calm panorama, and so lovely female characters that gives me butterfly-in-my-belly moments
    So called Neuroi, unidentified flying objects, brings terror and haunts humanity. In a blink of an eye, human forces are immobilized by Neuroi and being under attack unstoppable until the area is completely lost control. Only the chosen fighters are suitable to stand in the battle upon Neuroi, those are girls called "Strike Witches", The 501st Joint Fighter Wing. This squadron created only purpose to eliminate an conquering-the-earth enemy --Neuroi—with the help of magic that comes naturally as their ability. The ability which only appears from the chosen girls in their adolescence, the magic is used to operate a technology called Striker Unit onto their legs (to do aerial combat).
[somewhat SPOILER] There are also other squadrons, consist of adorable and adamant witches to save the world, mostly Europe—where Neuroi invades its area. In the movie, you can find the 501st Joint Fighter Wing gets help and collaborate with few witches from other squadrons! That was so awe ❤ Find new waifus and other kind of futuristic Striker Units!

    The idea of fight between humanity with alien (unidentified objects / species) or fighting with modern units to save the world aren't sort of new things as story, but the development of ideas that already exist before here is on its pinnacle. The environment and atmosphere Strike Witches brought are so fresh and that is what's noteworthy. Its plot goes pyon-pyon as the threats from Neuroi, slowly but sure, push 'em down. Still, the series weren't focusing on the deadly fights only, it spiced up with a few events where Witches were had their leisure time. We can enjoy appropriately their slacking-off moments, well-suited ecchi-ness hour, not too ecchi and has significance meanings. Just to be blunt, the amount of ecchi-ness is high, but it's covered by sooo military feelings and fights, so it's sufficient.

    I would say the anime is quite old viewed from the year it is aired. 心配する必要はありません, it has incredible visuals on its year especially when it comes to the battle with Neuroi, the graphics and details of its surroundings still there and seems so natural. In addition, the shape of Striker Units are elegant, the simple character designs are making it memorable, flawlessly dressed its personalities and represent the countries. The tomfoolery of characters in their free-time makes the series fairly likable too, There are also exact fanservices such as パンツ, おっぱい, and for fetishes like ロリ, ツンデレ, and so on to lighten the amount of heavy tense in battles.

    Subjectively I would like to give plus points for the characters here. Every characters really got its unique traits, so differ from other anime series characters. Eventhough Strike Witches has so many characters in it (even bunch of major characters as a squad), it could make me feel empty whenever one of them is off-duty or missing. They are complete and perfect to be together, supporting each other (both for their roles in war or daily lives). Their designs aren't overdone much but memorable.

    The OP theme for S1 is sung by Yoko Ishida "STRIKE WITCHES ~Watashi ni Dekiru Koto~ (ストライクウィッチーズ ～わたしにできること～)" and the ED theme, "Bookmark a Head", for every eps is the same but the version is changed, so every seiyuu got their parts to sing it. For the OP theme of S2 "STRIKE WITCHES 2 ~Egao no Mahou~ (STRIKE WITCHES 2 ～笑顔の魔法～)", is also sung by Yoko Ishida, while the concept of ED theme on S2 is the same with S1, the changed version for every eps so every seiyuu got parts to sing it, the title is "Over Sky". Good enough even this latter-day I still listen to it~ All hail the seiyuus effort!

    You can say it through the whole series that it has enthusiastic about the survival, the rights to live, to carry on duties, and lend a hand to others. In short, friendship, caring to each other, trust, strong will, and hard work by their tough training. I enthrone 9+ as score for Strike Witches series.
Pros:

• Intriguing story and it's nicely developed, along with its characters
• Nice jokes and balanced by fair fanservices
• The graphics and enjoyment!

hamill.murl - 2015-05-20 19:08:48

Yay more flyings lolis without pants on, what could be better...

This season is more based about character development than plot progression, so if you wanted to know a few things about some of the characters there a good chance it be in here.

I say they tied this season up pretty well, some of the episodes were damn right brilliant im looking at you EP 7, overall i would say this is better than season 1 by just a little bit, it rather nice seeing us find out about the cute lolis now than lots of fighting even though you get that basicly nearly every EP just like season 1 so it abit like it the best of both worlds here.

Anyway started nicely, ended nicely, looking eagerly forward to the movie and OVA nows

gabrielle43 - 2013-03-17 01:01:35

Strike Witches 2, like its predecessor, is my guilty pleasure. I feel a bit like a pre-pubescent girl when watching it (this from a 40-ish year old man). It has some deep flaws in the core, but it also has some redeeming qualities, which generally makes it watchable - if only for a specific interest group.Starting with the Good: If you're into War Anime, or a fan of WWII-era aircraft and lore, you may have a strong attraction to this series. The aerial combat, aircraft, and weapons designs are very tasty to the eyes. The story, in general (as of episode 4, and in general all of the 1st season) is enjoyable and at times actually enrolling. The characters are well-developed, although it very much relies on the viewer knowing them from the 1st season. The Mediocre: The music and voice-acting for this series is good, but not outstanding - "appropriate" is about the best I can say, although I can't say anything decidedly negative. Call it "On Par" with most good anime.The Bad: The main characters - essentially all the female characters - are walking contradictions of themselves. They vary in age from 13 to 20, but you'd have a hard time convincing anyone of that from the art alone. The characters are drawn to appear generally younger than actual age, although some have - inappropriately mature parts, compared to the perceived body maturity otherwise. As far as the male character goes - sorry, "characters" - good luck telling them apart. They're not the focus, so they're pretty indistinct. When they appear at all.The Ugly: This franchise is infamous for it's panty-shots. The plot and its technology/magic combo gives the girls a reason to bare their legs continuously - and this season they seem to have dropped any pretense of using that to justify the underpants, none of which seem to come past half-crack-height. This season seems to have a lot more censor-glare than was required of the first. This season also seems, again just after the first four episodes, to have migrated from "innocent young girl friendship grope" to something with a bit more squick behind it. I hope that this is a passing thing.The Summary: The plot, the tech art and combat scenes, and some aspects of the characters are entertaining for a military buff who doesn't mind girls - fans of Sora No Woto, for example (a much better anime) might enjoy this. If you can get past the squick. And believe me, there's a fair bit of squick.