First Impressions / Series Introduction / STRIKE WITCHES

OP Sequence

OP: 「STRIKE WITCHES 2 ～笑顔の魔法～」 (STRIKE WITCHES 2 ~Egao no Mahou~) by 石田燿子 (Ishida Youko)
Watch the OP!: Download, Streaming ▼

「再び空へ」 (Futatabi Sora he)
“To The Skies Again”

Six months after the liberation of Gallia from the Neuroi, Miyafuji Yoshika (Fukuen Misato) is back in Fuso and receives a mysterious letter from her deceased father containing blueprints of some sort. The time lapse actually happened at the end of the first season, but the story is quickly rebooted when a new type of Neuroi threat appears after the 504th Joint Fighter Wing attempts to communicate with the humanoid-like Neuroi. It looks like someone from above doesn’t want their alien kind making peace with human beings, throwing our heroines of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing back into action. Action indeed, as the opening battle against the new threat was pure eye candy now that the series is produced in high definition with AIC Spirits at the helm. They really spared no expense in the pantsu fan-service for an opening episode either, with the way the camera started with a close up of the girls’ lower regions before zooming out to show more of their aerial assault. Some of the girls like Francesca Lucchini (Saitou Chiwa) and Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke (Tanaka Rie) looked like they switched to a low-rise variety too.

To be quite honest, I think they overdid the ass shots a bit even if it was intended to be pure fan-service, but the constantly changing camera angles and fast-paced action did make the whole scene quite the spectacle to watch. I’m quite impressed by how nice it all looked too, because even if these girls weren’t showing so much skin down below, they’re still a cute bunch to watch as they light up alien invaders in the skies. Opening with that action-packed sequence and the music to go along with it really helped me get right back into this series, but AIC continued to impress with their sakura tree backdrops in Fuso. I don’t ever recall STRIKE WITCHES’ artwork looking this good, regardless of whether the first season was high definition or not. This is by no means meant to say it rivals really high profile productions, but it looks pretty damn nice in my eyes. As such, I’m really excited to see more of this series now that Yoshika’s decided to head back to Gallia with Sakamoto Mio (Seto Saori) to rejoin the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, following the Romagna-based 504th squadron’s inability to stop the new Neuroi threat from taking over Venezia airspace.

There was a little bit of drama from Mio leading up to their departure together, who didn’t want to get Yoshika involved in any further battles after she had already helped with the previous one, though it wasn’t all that different from when Yoshika’s help was first enlisted. The only difference is she’s the one who wanted to go this time around, since she knows Lynette Bishop (Nazuka Kaori) and her other friends need all the help they can get. As for the characters themselves, it looks like her friend Yamakawa Michiko (Satou Arise) will forever be a first episode-only type a character in this series, and likely Suwa Amaki from the 47th Air Squadron as well (Hanazawa Kana in another typecast glasses girl role). However, the big surprise with this premiere episode is Seto Saori taking over Mio’s role from Chiba Saeko. While she clearly doesn’t have the trademark Saeko laugh, Mio still sounded somewhat similar to before in her more serious tone. I was impressed to say the least, and that’s coming from someone who has an ear for seiyuu voices. Saori is clearly no Saeko, but she does a really good job trying to imitate the voice Saeko played Mio with.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to seeing the other girls voiced by the all-star cast again, many of who were devoid of lines in this first episode. Story-wise, it looks like the girls are going to get upgraded Striker Units based on the blueprints left behind by Yoshika’s father, which should help them battle the new strain of Neuroi. The next episode looks like it’ll delve into Mio’s inability to put up a magical shield anymore (as seen at the end of the first season), making me wonder how she’s going to overcome that huge weakness in her defense. Her eye‘s ability to locate Neuroi cores is still invaluable to the group, so perhaps the experimental Striker Unit she has with her will help offset her diminished magical powers.

* This series is one of Crunchyroll‘s new simulcasts for the summer season.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「Over Sky」 by 福圓美里＆世戸さおり (Fukuen Misato & Seto Saori)
Watch the ED!: Download, Streaming ▼

Preview

55 Comments

  5. I’m really excited now, it seems the animation and color get a bit of upgrade, the detail of their “pantsu” too, and witches’ asses also look bigger… I don’t mind though =)

    MD
    Reply

    1. “bit of upgrade, the detail of their “pantsu” too, and witches’ asses also look bigger… I don’t mind though =)”….DUDE….hahahahaha!! u made my day with that comment!

      BROOKLYN otaku
      Reply

    1. i dont understand why you dont get the point =P, nekomimi/unimimi and the others have been always been good… its more like a fetish thing LOL, its like if you like people with long hair or short hair.

      Trejon
      Reply

    2. It part of their magic. One gets ears and tails of the animal they’re affiliated with when they perform magic. And apparently only women can perform magic there. What I don’t understand is how no wearing pants helps in the plot other than “That’s just how they do things” OR “No-Pants fetish” at-tractor beam for them perverts.

      The Ultimate Bystander
      Reply

  11. Wow, as you mentioned I was pretty impressed with the animation quality this time around. The upgrade to HD is definitely a nice touch as well, and I suppose we can expect even better results when it gets released to BluRay. 🙂

    Only thing to really gripe about is that even though the sakura blossoms look nice, I think they overdid it a bit in this episode. They’re… everywhere. Hopefully it doesn’t get too excessive.

    Mc-Taz
    Reply

  14. Hmm. They had the Akagi last season, yeah. New Strikers? Maybe they’ll represent late-war/early-Jet era planes. It’d be ncie if the girls got weapons upgrades, although their current weapons are fine as well. Now the Neuroi last season seemed to be weird-ass shaped like fishes. But did anyone else catch the design of the Neuroi being fought in the OP? The design is very reminiscent of the Boeing X-45 UCAV demonstrator. Maybe it shows a leap towards that direction.

    Also, the Fuso battleship as the Allied Battleship? Makes sense I guess. Largest battleship in the world. With majority of Europe under Neuroi coverage, the German H-class, French Alsace, and similar next-gen battleships were unavailable. I doubt the US will devote much to building Montana-class battleships, with the Iowas being pretty damn good and if not better than most of the other ships. Bleh, an Aircraft Carrier would’ve made more sense. The Good old Enterprise, with Striker launch bays and support. *shrug* it be an anime from Japan.

    Jusuchin
    Reply

    1. Jet strikers are mentioned in one of the strike witch manga’s. There should be some charts floating around from the first season that show the ww2 references and another on how the neuori designs were based on experimental aircraft.

      Longhaul
      Reply

    1. Looks like it. I hope we see more of it. And not fighting the witches. The Akagi had like…3 episodes, and a good majority of its screen time was it turning into a Neuroi? Yamato might be important, cos the OP depicted it being a heavy fire support unit for the main cast.

      We can only wait and see.

      Jusuchin
      Reply

  16. Jeez, this seriously SO.SUCKS. Panties and loli everywhere.

    Not even sure what’s worse – Highschool Of the Dead or this, or whatever series started this season that have loli and panties.

    So much cheap anime this summer, it makes me really disappointed in Japanese anime industry.

    Series for retards, for real.

    Amd saying that it’s got a great seiyuu cast you’re looking forward to is just an excuse to cover up your desire to watch a panties anime ;D

    Lee
    Reply

  17. Customer satisfaction at 100% Yay Yoshika need some food to get some meat on those thighs 😛
    they look too thin at times. Sakamoto Mio did escape dead last season, if you recall the older the witch the weaker her power… I have a bad feeling about this. Let’s hope the new unit compensates and she makes it with her pantsu on. Can’t wait for the team antics once they all reunited. All the eye candy is going to give me diabetes !!!!

    Island Esper
    Reply

    1. NOPE!! just as MD eloquently mentioned it in a earlier post, i do believe their asses got bigger HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!! i really gotta check this out now. will it hurt if i never saw the first season???

      BROOKLYN otaku
      Reply

  21. Now let the ultimate anime guilty pleasure of the decade restart. 🙂

    https://randomc.net/image/STRIKE%20WITCHES/STRIKE%20WITCHES%202%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2023.jpg
    True to the setting of this world, even Yoshika’s mom doesn’t bother with any skirts.

    If I remember correctly, I think Suwa Amaki was voiced by Nakahara Mai in the epilogue scene of the first series, yet Hanazawa Kana fitted into Nakahara’s role quite well, even if it’s only a cameo.

    I have no problem with Seto taking over from Chiba Saeki, who’s now married and more devoted to her family life now. Though I’ll miss Saeki doing Mio’s nonchalant merry laughter.

    I see the Battleship Yamato will finally get a chance to kick some ass in this series, unlike its real-life counterpart, which had a more subdue role before getting sunk near the end of the War.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yamato

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    2. This is after the great war, 80% of male in duty age is gone, means there’s only 20% of young and health males left in this world, that’s just a super harem and girls have to adapt with this new environment, they throw away their pants, ready to “produce” new witches at any time for the new and long war, it’s convenience and attract more males, who wouldn’t want to hear their daughter’s name on the “Ace of the day/week/month Radio” ?

      If you don’t like it, deal with it.

      I checked again, their asses really got bigger, means easier to give birth, YEEHAAA!!

      MD
      Reply

      2. Wait… you posted the reply onto the wrong comment lol. Kinny Riddle and I didn’t have any problems with the show MD… and yeah, you did mistaken it with the Sky Girl setting.

        Sora no Kaze
        Reply

      5. Lmfao, I was like that too. I breeze through it and though, “Huh… wait a second… *re-reads post twice, looks @ MD post* what in gods name, *looks around*. Oh… thats why lol.

        You must have been mind boggled at his last line lol.

        Sora no Kaze
        Reply

  26. OMG! It’s here! All the prudent assh*les GET OUT!

    When RC blogged the first season I was ranting my hearts out there how good the anime is…. It’s not just girls without pants (Perrine wears super-mini skirt) it’s a show about Alternate Earth getting attacked by aliens… So all who will be criticizing this show get out! NOW!

    The Ultimate Bystander
    Reply

    2. People have a reason to crit it, though. I wouldn’t mind the show if it was more tasteful in the way they portray it, and I don’t mean the underwear. The underwear isn’t even tastefully done, and that’s what bothers me.

      I don’t like watching a series with a panty shot in every frame. Its not my thing. I’m sure the story is fantastic, but the over the top fan-service ruins it.

      Skins Thunderbomb
      Reply

  29. Just marathoned Season 1 and I still wish they wore proper “pants” or at the very least long, long shirts. At least their producers were sensible enough to put a long dress on Miyafuji’s grandmother

    Flash
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *