STRIKE WITCHES – 10

「信じてほしい」 (Shinjite Hoshii)
“Trust and Friendship” (lit. I Want You to Believe Me)

Episode at a Glance:
With Mio wounded, Yoshika tries desperately to heal her, only to end up passing out from overusing her powers. The medical staff takes over, but are uncertain if she’ll make it, so Yoshika tries to heal Mio again after waking up. Minna on the other hand has to contemplate what to do with Yoshika for defying orders. Upon hearing Erica say she would’ve died several times over if she were court-martialled, Minna tells her and Gertrud that she’ll make a decision when Mio wakes up. According to Eila’s tarot card reading, things don’t look so bright for Yoshika though. Back in the infirmary, Perrine begs Yoshika to save Mio despite slapping her earlier, so Yoshika focuses her powers and manages to do so.

Having fallen asleep on Mio’s bedside, Yoshika wakes up to find Mio awake and recovered for the most part. Mio asks why she didn’t shoot then, stating that it was an obvious trap by the enemy, but Yoshika claims she felt something and couldn’t. As for Yoshika’s punishment, Minna decides herself that Yoshika doesn’t want to be court-martialled, so she confines her to her room for ten days instead. Yoshika however is more concerned about discussing what happened out there, but no one is willing to hear her out. In the bath, all the girls tease Yoshika, but tell her how a couple of them were punished the same way several times. Yoshika again tries to get her experience across, thinking that they may not have to fight the Neuroi, but Gertrud is adamant that the Neuroi are their enemy. Erica brings up something about a human-shaped Neuroi appearing before at Kauhava Base, but Eila quickly casts that aside as a mere rumour.

After a round of frisking courtesy of Francesca, Yoshika returns to her room and wonders why no one will believe her. Feeling that she has to confirm it for herself, she decides to defy confinement orders and leaves the base. Meanwhile, Perrine is blaming Yoshika for all the things that happened Mio, but the Major simply thanks her for staying by her side all this time. In the hanger, Yoshika runs into Lynne who insists on coming along, but Yoshika heads out alone, not wanting to drag Lynne into anything. Word of Yoshika’s escape quickly reaches Minna and headquarters, who orders the witches to shoot her down. Sensing Lynne’s uneasiness, Minna orders her to sit in for Yoshika’s punishment and feels that Fuso witches are nothing but trouble. Perrine on the other hand is sent to look after Mio, who ends up asking her for a favour in light of what’s happening.

In the skies, Yoshika runs into the Neuroi again and is led into their nest. Minna and the others arrive soon after and decide to see what happens. Inside, Yoshika is shown a lot of footage from the Neuroi’s encounters with humans, including how a core fragment was retrieved, Yoshika then extends her hand and looks like she’s about to befriend the Neuroi, when a jet approaches the nest outside. Sensing this, the Neuroi teleports outside, where a fight ensues with the jet and the other witches. Confused as to what’s going on, Minna and the others find themselves barely able to keep up with the Neuroi’s attack. The jet on the other hand transforms and deflects the beams with ease, before firing its own beam to destroy the Neuroi and the nest. Yoshika is able to escape somehow and the jet leaves right after, so Minna and the others decide to return to the base with her. When they arrive, they’re greeted by General Maloney and the jet from earlier, but are suddenly surrounded by a group of armed soldiers.

 

Next Episode:
「空へ…」 (Sora he…)
“To the Sky…”

Impressions:
Ah, how silly the Japanese can be at times. SPEM spread? I mean come on. That’s only one letter away from being something a lot more disgusting. Also, given how English tends to be read (i.e. the letters in the middle of words mostly skimmed over), it could easily misread as the other thing right away. I eat SPAM on occasions and while I can’t really tell you exactly what I’m eating other than “ground up pig parts”, at least I can say it doesn’t have anything like SPEM in it!

Unlike SEKIREI episode nine, thick steamy clouds were in abundance here, but it was still amusing watching Sanya check how she’s growing, Francesca resting on what is questionably the best pillow ever, and Gertrud getting felt up nicely by a frisky Erica. While Getrud claims her breasts aren’t needed in battle, I’m sure male audiences will beg to differ.

Joking aside, it seems like General Maloney’s scheme is the discovery of an intact Neuroi core, which looked like the discovery of the One Ring to me sitting in that molten crater. I would say it’s relatively clear now that he’s using the core to power this new transforming jet to fight the Neuroi, seeing how it has a shield like them, plus red lasers that can toast Witches if they’re not careful. Since the Strike Witches are supposedly being decommissioned, I can’t help but see the similarities between this jet and the Vic Viper in Sky Girls. As such, I’m already considering it the Vic Viper of Strike Witches, which is also known as “a jet that steals jobs from flying mecha girls”.

So as expected, Mio survived, but for a moment I thought she lost her “Glam Sight” (…for those familar with Rental Magica) or “Geass” (…for the rest of you). Seeing as she has her eyepatch on again later (plus in the preview), I gather that she hasn’t lost her ability though. Speaking of that scene, it was pretty funny to hear Perrine ask if it’s in well, and Mio tell her to put it in a bit deeper, before they were both caught “in the act” with Perinne crouched over Mio’s lap. Judging from an earlier scene, it seems like Perrine wants to be Mio’s “pet” and is simply content with being praised by her. Even then, there should be a fine line between what you do and don’t do with your pets…

Animation-wise, this episode looked good as always, but I particularly liked the detail in all the Witches’ hair during and after the battle. As for overall plot, since they (sort of) revealed that Maloney is secretly developing these new weapons powered by Neuroi cores, I guess it rules out the possibility that there’s some deeper conspiracy between humans and the Neuroi, unless the war started because the Neuroi were simply trying to retrieve one of their cores. I’m still on the fence about whether or not the Neuroi is simply trying to trick Yoshika though, because if it were, I don’t see why it would reveal the origins of this new weapon to her and not actively try to capture her after she entered their nest.

Ending theme this week was sung by Yoshika and Minna. Quite appropriate given how they were at ends with one another all episode. Also, I apologize in advance if my jokes come off kind of lewd, but I couldn’t help myself.

 

Cast:
– Miyafuji Yoshika (宮藤 芳佳) / Fukuen Misato (福圓 美里)
– Sakamoto Mio (坂本 美緒) / Chiba Saeko (千葉 紗子)
– Minna-Dietlinde Wilke (ミーナ・ディートリンデ・ヴィルケ) / Tanaka Rie (田中 理恵)
– Perrine-H. Clostermann (ぺリーヌ・クロステルマン) / Sawashiro Miyuki (沢城 みゆき)
– Lynette Bishop (リネット・ビショップ) / Nadzuka Kaori (名塚 佳織)
– Erica Hartmann (エーリカ・ハルトマン) / Nogawa Sakura (野川 さくら)
– Gertrud Barkhorn (ゲルトルート・バルクホルン) / Sonozaki Mie (園崎 未恵)
– Francesca Lucchini (フランチェスカ・ルッキーニ) / Saitou Chiwa (斎藤 千和)
– Charlotte E Yeager (シャーロット・E・イェーガー) / Koshimizu Ami (小清水 亜美)
– Sanya V. Litvyak (サーニャ・V・リトヴャク) / Kadowaki Mai (門脇 舞以)
– Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen (エイラ・イルマタル・ユーティライネン) / Nakai Erika (仲井 絵里香)
– General Maloney (マロニー大将) / Akimoto Yousuke (秋元 羊介)
– Doctor (医者) / Matsuo Daisuke (松尾 大亮)