Strike Witches

Highly Magical, Highly Dangerous, Highly Kawaii

Wow. What can I say about this anime? What made it so good that it was given the title of my favorite anime? What are the pros and cons of it? And most of all, would I recommend it?


The genres for Strike Witches are: Action & Adventure, and Science Fiction.
Now if you've seen this, you may think "Hey wait, that doesn't seem like all the genres." Well to help you out, that's what Funimation categorized it as. If it were up to me I'd also add Military, Awesome and a few others. But since that's what they made it as, that is what it's based around, and that's how it shall be analyzed.


Brief Overview of Strike Witches: During the World War II era, the Earth is invaded by extraterrestrial creatures called "Neuroi". The Neuroi have no match and would soon be likely to conquer the Earth if humans couldn't step it up. Fortunately there are Magical Girls they call "Witches" they have the ability to fire magic bullets able to defeat the Neuroi. The Witches are also given "Striker Units" Or basically two engines worn on their legs that they use to fly with. Pretty awesome huh? 


Originality


Strike Witches isn't you regular anime. In fact, this anime surprised me in the very first episode.


In the first episode the main character Miyafuji Yoshika uses one of her Witch abilities to heal to badly injured friend. Now when Miyafuji started to use her healing power and went into kemonomimi mode my first thought was "She's going to be revealed!" Because as we know in every god forsaken anime, you have someone with a special power and it has to remain a secret, and absolutely no one, can find out about. But in Strike Witches it's the exact opposite. They're flying around towns and cities pants-less. Wow, first cliche dead on the spot. 


After watching this, you'll never quite think of "Witch" the same again. It takes no effort to try and make your characters sound cool by giving them names like "zero sensei slayer no dragon" (Yea, people actually use names like that). But it takes a lot of effort to completely change the figure of something like a witch, into something awesome.

That's a witch!?

But I wasn't sold yet, I still thought, "Oh lame another stereotypical alien invasion story." Well in a sense yes, but stereotypical? Definitely not. Most of the time you'll see some movie where the aliens have invaded Earth. The far advanced Aliens use high tech arms to disintegrate people and raze cities in a single shot with their cheap ass over powered weapons. Whereas the military's gunfire bounces harmlessly off their force fields and body armor. But suddenly! (And quite unrealistically) Humanity is able to beat them back. Where once we were getting our asses handed to us to where the aliens all had some kind of mental break down decided maybe bullets bouncing harmlessly off them was terrifying. 

However in Strike Witches, these aliens are firin' their lazers, and the makers of the show didn't suddenly decide "Ok humans win". The Strike Witches beat alien ass as realistically as Witches fighting Aliens gets.

Screw wands

The event was also based off of one of the infamous wars in history, WW2. The Neuroi invasion pattern followed the Nazi's invasion quite well and all the main characters were based off of pilots that actually fought in the war. Yea, the female pants-less counterparts of people who fought in WW2 are this anime's main characters. 

The main characters all mostly have some kind of sad history, usually involving family members who died because of the war. This usually makes people feel more attached to the characters when they seem to have a hard life. Now a lot of the time, the main character will have this sob story tragic past. Bitch please. It's become the norm, and the feeling of attachment for them is slowly going away. However, in this anime, it's based off of WW2 as we know, when things like this, were in fact, very common. Thus the credibility and  authenticness are restored. Like a boss.

Themes


It starts to get beautiful here. Strike Witches is more relaxed than the genres may make you think. When they're not fighting Neuroi or practicing, they're running around base getting into trouble and having a good time. 


The biggest theme (which is also a motif) is to protect. This follows Miyafuji throughout the series and is her motivation to stay in the war.

Determination, or as it goes but isn't limited to in the series "There's nothing a Witch can't do!". The characters may have trouble in the series and almost give up, but ultimately pull through with the support of others.

Never give up!

Bringing us to our next theme, loyalty. Eleven main characters, working together to achieve one goal, but for eleven different reasons. Though at times they can seem to be a pain in a butt to each other, you end up seeing all their true colors. They're faith and kindness to each other is revealed portraying loyalty as a major theme and value in the anime.

Lastly, Strike Witches is a very positive anime. You'll see the characters smiling a lot and give off a positive aura. It's a sort of glad feeling, where at the end of each episode, you'll probably be smiling as well. Which you definitely can't say about all animes. Especially Tragedy/Romance... Give me a break.... 


The best way to get the positiveness across without discussing the music yet, would be this video. And trust me, the music really helped bring the upbeat feeling.

Motifs


Because there were so many motifs going on in this anime, it'd be difficult to recall and explain them all. 


Though "to protect" showed up a number of times in this series, it would be better categorized as a theme rather than a motif. Yet "There's nothing a Witch can't do" would be a good example of a motif. It appears many times, but shouldn't be confused with it's underlining theme "determination". 


The motifs used in Strike Witches aren't quite usual. Often you might see a repeated scenario but with slight alternations, usually keeping one of the same characters in it to show growth in the character. However this motif doesn't do quite it. It's used in a way where it's origin is from a sub character, and ultimately ends up being used by the main character, for a kind of resolution feeling, that the main character has learned or understood something and may have been able to put it into action. 

Angry Japanese people, quite scary actually

I can't really say Strike Witches did a good job with it's motifs in terms of kairos. As in, the punch line may have been too late or early, or maybe just wasn't well executed which we'll get into later. Since though, there were many motifs, you'd figure, "Hey aren't at least one of them done properly?" Well, we can't say a strong point in Strike Witches was it's dramatic use of motifs, however they did play part in the series.


A motif can build up and add spice to a dynamic plot, creating a wider range of feelings you experience when watching it. So instead of just a plain bean burrito, motifs can add cheese, sour cream and salsa. No wait, screw the burrito, motifs will personally send that crap back, and prepare something you actually want to eat, a 5 star meal Emeril style, Bam! Thanks to that, the plot becomes more complex and less predictable. As opposed to a motif-less plot which is straightforward, like a game of bingo at an old persons home.


In Strike Witches, its highlight on motifs was actually its lack of dynamic motifs. Sounds strange huh? But the series would introduce something seemingly out of place and (in a dynamic motif it would expand on it or show up again later) its purpose was actually to understand these random ideas and get more of a feel on the characters.
These incomplete motifs can give off a sense of recognition, and a link towards the characters becomes stronger as you recognize them as humans as well. This attachment aids in the feelings in the series as your desires will follow that of the characters as well.

You heard the woman, MORE!

Plot Development/Execution


Because Strike Witches isn't a Comedy it is classified as a Drama. As in Dramatic, Epic or Dynamic. In this case it is supposed to a developing story line. Now with Strike Witches, everything seemed to be set up perfectly! The originally, the characters, the plot, etc. But it had a major flaw. The Execution.


If you're looking for an anime with a dynamic and intense plot, this wouldn't be the anime for you. In Strike Witches things almost seem to fall in place effortlessly and the war doesn't seem very serious. When there's a battle going on, you might get a bit pumped up because, hey people flying on bad ass strikers shooting down alien aircraft with a mix of appropriate music, but you really know how it's going to end every time. There's probably only one or two times where I didn't actually know if someone was going die or something unexpected happened. But since I'm used to predicting so many different outcomes, even in the beginning, this would receive a curve for people not on the same level as me.

Crap just got real

The genres Strike Witches is labeled as can quite a bit misleading. The anime isn't really focused on action, but there is a dogfight almost just about every episode. The actual focus is more on relationships between the characters and their differences; their own issues and advantages and what they may due to overcome them. The ending though is also a bit loose as for what the characters ultimately do. Don't get ahead of yourself though and figure "Oh this is it, that's so lame" as there is more than the anime that is able to answer your question, however we are focusing on the anime here.

Recommendation


If you're looking for something like Naruto or Dragon Ball Z, it's not the anime for you. However if you're interested in actual weapons, vehicles, jets and other devices from the WW2 era, you'll enjoy this anime.


Though, if you're interested in a unique video idea and focusing on the characters lives and their experience throughout the series, this is really for you. 


This is more something you would watch if you wanted a smile on your face and the feeling that you're connected to more people. The values in this show may expand the way you think and may actually change your life a bit. Wow.


Before you read the ratings, you may want to know, I don't just hand out ratings. When I give them, I mean them. You won't see a lot of perfects in the future. Average is the most common rate you may see, however I tend to try and only watch good animes, so my scores may be on the better side (I usually don't finish watching bad animes, so an anime I analysis was good enough to get me to at least watch all of it).


Action: 8/10 (Good!)  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ 
There is a hefty amount of action in this anime, although it isn't necessarily intense due to the predictability of its outcome. However the first and last times there is a Neuroi fight in both seasons, it tends to become more serious. Also there is no filler in any of it.



Fanservice: 10/10 (Perfect)  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
I've never seen so much fanservice in my life.


Originality: 10/10 (Perfect)  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
I've never seen anything like this.


Soundtracks: 10/10 (Perfect)  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The music in the anime all played a major role and were executed impressively well. The music also fits into the anime correctly and well, doesn't sound like lame crap. They really added to the mood and made the series much more enjoyable. The music isn't only positive but it is also dramatic. 


Values: 10/10 (Perfect)  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The anime worked on many different values and expressed all of them through the series.


Predictability/Kairos: 5/10 (Average)  ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Usually I'd pretty decent at guessing what's going to happen, and this was average.


Resolution: N/A 
There are many variations, prequels and after stories you can find on the internet.


Stress: 2/10 (Low)  ☆ ☆
The anime isn't very serious and is relaxed for the most part. A good way to ease your mind from reality.


Humor: N/A
Not a comedy, didn't really combine DramaComedy.


All in all, if you're looking for intense action with a serious plot focused on development, you won't be interested. 
If you want to watch an anime for just about any other reason, this is your anime. (Not in terms of genre) 


There is so much more I would like to add, but I feel like adding anymore to this would make it become a novel. Look forward to more posts on Strike Witches.


You can contact me at TreuCritique@yahoo.com


EXTRAS:
Art Style: Moe
OP/ED: Very positive, very upbeat!
Personal Opinion: 
It's my favorite anime.
I loved the music, art style, characters and themes.
I disliked the stereotypical Japanese emotions, fanservice and predictability. 

SEASON 1

SEASON 2