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「500 overs」
Itou Shizuka‘s a witch! So it turns out that “500 overs” isn’t in reference to a huge increase in Erica’s kill count, but her one-to-one win-loss ratio against a fellow Karlsland witch back in her Air Force days, Hanna-Justina Marseille. She’s not just any witch though, as Hanna is just as much of a celebrity as she is one of Karlsland’s aces. She also happens to be nicknamed the Star of Africa for her active service in that region as a “Storm Witch.” The only real knock on her character is her overwhelming sense of pride and need to show off by winning in absolutely everything, which Gertrud isn’t the least bit fond of. Surprisingly, this didn’t play out as a rivalry of sorts between her and Hanna like it was made out to be. Instead, Erica ended up taking on that role by reluctantly wedging herself in between and becoming Hanna’s partner in an infiltrate operation against a dome-shaped Neuroi they plan to approach via the water. All of this for the sake of some posterity to help promote the war effort against the Neuroi.
At that point, I figured it was a sure-fire deal that there would be some sort of a conflict between Gertrud and Hanna with Erica caught in the middle. All the makings of a jealous plot device were here, so I was pretty amazed when Gertrud acted all captain-like and didn’t get bent out of shape over Hanna waltzing and taking over her role. It could be that I’m too used to seeing this pattern in anime, but it sure felt like the writers were intentionally leading me into thinking that’s where things were headed. It kind of makes me wonder if they were planning to do so and simply changed their minds. Whatever the case, Gertrud took the high road and was even willing to ask Hanna for her autograph to give to her sister Chris, so this episode quickly became a showcase of Hanna’s character and her self-made rivalry against Erica — something the latter didn’t have the least bit interest in until Gertrud was snubbed further with the whole autograph thing. Quite frankly, I didn’t mind having an episode centered around a witch who almost rivals Shirley in terms of curvaceousness and has Shizuka’s voice behind her though. In fact, even with all the focus Hanna got this week, I’m a bit disappointed that this may be all we’ll see of her. At least her relatively brief inclusion did warrant a Shizuka sung version of “Over Sky.”
On the plus side, it was pretty cool seeing Hanna and Erica make a competition out of taking out the Neuroi from the inside while everyone else just waited patiently outside. It was all about kill tallies at that point, making the actual Neuroi and its floating orbs that they were laying waste to incredibly unimportant. Their duel with live ammunition right after proved to be a pretty nice spectacle of its own; however, I’m just as disappointed as Hanna that it ended as a draw as well. What’s with this draw business where the two contenders quietly seeing eye to eye after exchanging fire? I wanted to see a winner! Talk about a misleading episode title. Nobody was “over 500” here. 😛 In the grander scheme of things, the preview makes it clear that we’re in the final stretch of the series by hinting at the upcoming final battle. Mio looks like she’ll be one of the focuses hereon in, seeing as her magical powers are continuing to fade even with Reppumaru.
ED9 Sequence
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ED9: 「Over Sky」 by 野川さくら＆伊藤静 (Nogawa Sakura & Itou Shizuka)
Watch the 9th ED!: Download, Streaming ▼
Preview
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Awesome witch, too bad only 1 episode?
I have yet to catch up.
i want to go home and see this then read this. (i will read the blog later so as to avoid spoils)
flying propeller legs + 50 cal + Loli + in panties + witch + animal ears & tail + fighting aliens in a WW type setting =…..well i don’t know wtf it equals, but i challenge you to come up with a more outrageous setting!
A witch with a skirt ?? Give my SW back!!!! She should be pantyless!!
OMG! Hanna-Justina Marseille, the “Star of Africa” from the “Witch in Africa”, “Tiger in Desert” side stories and novels is animated and voiced by……..Shizuka Itou!
I love Hanna coz she’s like’s the Red Baron of Strike Witches plus she wears a skirt too! 😉
There is absolutely nothing they could possibly have done that would make me happier than I am at seeing Hanna-Justina Marseille actually get into the anime.
Can I get a hell yes!?
HELL YES!
OMG FLAMING SHIZUKA ITOU!! HELL YES, DO WANT EPISODE.
I’m surprised they animate Marseille, very well done. 🙂
It was a decent episode except for the duel. Shooting at each other with live amunition was incredibly stupid even if they can raise a shield. They cant raise a shield faster then a bullet could tear them to pieces. Other then that it was a decent episode. Lets get back to our main character next week. I miss seeing her. Also are they setting us up for the eye patch officer (Yakamoto?) to die?
Sakamoto* S and Y are placed pretty far apart, y’know?
Favourite phrase of the week: “the heck?”
As a Erica fan, I’m pretty satisfied with this episode.
Over 500 might refer to the combination of Mars’ and Erica’s score? Though 250+200+40 (the number of Neurois inside this episode’s nest)=490…doesn’t quite match the number..maybe Erica had killed some more Neurois in between the timeskip between Season 1 and 2?
The more I see this the more I like it. Its time to make my witch room a reality.
i guess i have nothing to say since the anime did what i wanted. i wonder what will happen to Reppuzen tecqinue in the future. will it fade, become strong or to be passed on.
Sometimes I find it hard to tell between Itou Shizuka and Kawasumi Ayako’s voice, but I knew Hanna was by one of these two.
Hanna’s real life counterpart, just as prolific and flamboyant as she is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Joachim_Marseille
This girl really hates losing, even in the boobs department. XD
ttp://randomc.net/image/STRIKE%20WITCHES/STRIKE%20WITCHES%202%20-%2010%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
Just as much this episode is about Hanna, more importantly, it’s an Erica episode at last. This means every 501st girl has now got their own episode.
But all these character development at what cost? Is SW2 only 12-13 episodes? Surely there will not be enough time to wrap things up? Meaning a 3rd series is in order. (Not that I’m complaining, as SW is as much about its characters as it is its story)
Mio literally parts the (Adriatic) sea and even that’s not enough for her as she is near retirement age. Now we’ll see if Yoshika can part the Red Sea in its entirety.
something tells me that things are going to end badly for Mio… or maybe i’m just looking too much into it..
Also TANK WITCHES ARE NOW CANNON!!!! Hanna was in the Tank Witches Doujinshi and was not actually considered Cannon, until now!
why do you think they were not cannon before, official doujinshi is official etc
Man, now that there’s a confirmation of other squadrons, it would be complete sweetness to see a few of them do some major operation. New cuties with big guns? YES PLEASE
need more Strike witches… I was hoping there was more to the plot then a 2-3 episode finale. 24 episodes please!!
Meh, Andria Doria from Italy, Bismarck from Germany, Yamato from Japan, and King George V from Brtain, but no Iowa from US?
Lame.
Perhaps the US (Liberia here) is also being isolationist as in our timeline and Shirley is only here as a volunteer. What the Liberians need is the Neuroi to do a Pearl Harbor on them to in order for them to unleash nukes on these aliens. 🙂
Not really. Liberion is also involved in the war against the Neuroi since the Neuroi have also destroy the south west of the American continent including half of California and Texas (which is completely no more).
Aye, you’re right. There’s no way people can be isolationist when their entire survival as a species is at stake.
And I was wondering “wait a minute, what I said didn’t make too much sense” for some time. Goes to show how one shouldn’t comment with a sleepy head. lol
Near the beginning, did Minna’s butt just contracted? I was like @_@
now if we’ll just get katherine o’hare then i can die a happy girl, and the rest of the characters from the light novels as well, but that’s a fools dream i think maybe in a third strike witches series maybe?