Posted by OP Sequence:
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OP: “STRIKE WITCHES ~Watashi ni Dekiru Koto~” 「STRIKE WITCHES ～わたしにできること～」 by Ishida Youko (石田 燿子)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2
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ED Sequence:
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ED: “Bookmark Ahead” 「ブックマック ア・ヘッド」 by Fukuen Misato (福圓 美里) & Chiba Saeko (千葉 紗子)
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2
「魔法少女」 (Mahou Shoujo)
“Magical Girl”
Introduction / Summary:
For those of you who have seen Sky Girls, STRIKE WITCHES should seem quite familiar to you as they’re both created by Shimada Humikane. (There’s even an “MV Sword” like Sky Girls.) Evidently, Shimada-san has some sort of fetish with young mecha-girls who fight strange or unknown forces that are attacking the Earth. In Sky Girls, it was the WORMs; here it’s the Neuroi, which also look somewhat biological in nature. To counter these forces, mankind invented a weapon that augments magical power, the Striker Unit, which acts as a “magical broom” for magic users known as “witches”. The elite task force assembled to fight the Neuroi is The 501st Joint Fight Wing, which gathered witches from all around the world. To the public though, they’re known as the “Strike Witches”.
Our heroine, Miyafuji Yoshika, played by Fukuen Misato (Eve from Black Cat, Konjiki no Yami from To LOVE-Ru), is a girl from a small town who gets scouted to join the Strike Witches because of her latent magical powers. While Yoshika opposes war and only wants to take over her family’s clinic, an old picture of Major Sakamoto Mio and Yoshika’s late father suddenly arrives in the mail. Seeing this, Yoshika goes to see Mio again, hoping she’ll take her to Britannia, the focal point of attack by the Neuroi and the place where her father supposedly passed away. (Funny how there’s a Geass-looking ability and Britannia is the country being subdued here.) Willing to take her there even though she doesn’t want to join the army, Mio eventually shows Yoshika the Striker Unit, a device that her father helped engineer to combat the Neuroi. Seeing how awesome it is to fly around like that, Yoshika is interested, but still decides not to join as she doesn’t like war; however, their fleet of battleships is suddenly attacked by a Neuroi.
Next Episode:
「私にできること」 (Watashi ni Dekiru Koto)
“To Do What I Can”
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Impressions:
The show’s concept doesn’t bother me at all as I quite enjoyed Sky Girls in its own, somewhat inexplicable way. Now before you all jump in screaming “lolicon“, I’ll say it was more because of the cast and the fact that it was pretty much an anime based loosely on the premise of one of Konami‘s classic games—Gradius. Also, not all the characters in Sky Girls or STRIKE WITCHES are flat-chested and have the underage-look like Micchan does, as we have the likes of one Charlotte E Yaeger (full-length shot courtesy of myself), who is played by the amazingly awesome Koshimizu Ami in what appears to be yet another tsundere role. “Yet another” is not to say that I’m complaining or anything though, as we could always use more characters like Kallen Stadtfelt, who the producers of CODE GEASS are absolutely milking the fan-service out of this season. (I can already picture all the new Kallen doujinshi now.) Sakamoto Mio, played by the “now married, but can still be a seiyuu after marriage because I have the best (seemingly) fake laugh ever” Chiba Saeko, is also quite well “endowed“. (To our female readers, I apologize in advance if this is starting to sound like an impression about bust sizes. >_>) Anyway, I digress, but the point is, you probably shouldn’t be labeling this series as “loli” or “not loli” and deciding whether or not to watch it for that reason. Now the real concern is, why do the girls in this world not wear pants?
For meaningless anime argument sake though, if they’re comfortable wearing a school swimsuit under a sailor shirt as their school uniform, who am I to tell them they can’t do that? If these so-called Strike Witches like flying around in the air, feeling the cool breeze running through their legs while fighting some aliens, hey, that’s their prerogative. I mean, there are girls that dress conservatively after all, so it’s not like anybody’s forcing these girls to not wear pants. (Note: This wasn’t me jumping on a sexual harassment opportunity, but simply stating that, yeah, no pants is okay here… *cough*) As for the cat/dog ears and tails, I can’t see them serving any other purpose other than appealing to fetishes, so I’m just going to attribute that to yet another one of Shimada-san’s “tastes”.
Regardless of all these obvious “appeals” to the series (which will undoubtedly turn some people away), I actually like the character designs, animation, and story based on what I’ve seen in the first episode. Furthermore, the cast is ridiculously stacked with female talent, with the likes of Tanaka Rie (Lacus Clyne in Gundam SEED, Suigintou in Rozen Maiden), Sawashiro Miyuki (Shinku in Rozen Maiden, Kanzato Jun/Yuki in PERSONA -trinity soul-), Saitou Chiwa (Aika S. Granzchesta in ARIA), Kadowaki Mai (Illya in Fate/stay night, Hakase Satomi in Negima!), Nazuka Kaori (Yuasa Hiromi in true tears, Nakatsukasa Tsubaki in SOUL EATER), Nogawa Sakura (Asakura Nemu in D.C. ~Da Capo~, Hinaichigo in Rozen Maiden) in addition to the aforementioned seiyuus. I’m a fan of all these seiyuus (with Chiba Saeko, Koshimizu Ami, and Tanaka Rie being some of my all-time favourites), but really enjoyed Miyuki’s role as Perrine here. Her prissy attitude is exactly like Houjou Reika’s in Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun, which I haven’t heard in a while now. I just love watching her character being the target of jokes/scrutiny and seeing how see reacts to them.
At a slated twelve episode run (much like GONZO’s recently finished work on The Tower of Druaga ~the Aegis of URUK~), STRIKE WITCHES is just about the right length I’d like for a series with such a premse. While Sky Girls ran a full two seasons (i.e. 26 episodes), it felt somewhat long in retrospect. I just hope that Tamai Tsuyoshi and his crew has planned this well enough to make the most out of each episode, otherwise it runs the risk of coming off as just another anime people are soon to forget. Given Tamai-san’s previous work on Chobits, Rozen Maiden, and this season’s Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu though, I hope to be pleasantly surprised. As I mentioned above, Sky Girls wasn’t great, but I enjoyed it in its own unique way, so I’m hoping to find a similar appeal in STRIKE WITCHES. If you felt the same way about Shimada Humikane’s other mecha-girl series, then this should be right up your alley as well. If you’re a bit of a seiyuu-otaku, it’s a bit hard to ignore a series such as this.
Finally, note that this is yet another series GONZO is posting on online streaming sites such as YouTube and crunchyroll along with official English subtitles the day it airs in Japan, except this time, they’ve opted to make it a “time-limited” feature. By this, it means the video will only be available for about 10 hours before it is taken down (making it feel like a TV broadcast I suspect). Should you want to download a higher quality version copy of the episodes though, they’re available via a small $3-5 USD donation.
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)
– 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)
– Mother Miyafuji (宮藤母) / Amano Yuri (天野 由梨)
– Grandmother Miyafuji (宮藤祖母) / Midori Junko (翠 準子)
– Micchan (みっちゃん) / Satou Arise (佐藤 有世)
– Old man (おじいちゃん) / Shiroyama Ken (城山 堅)
– Hijikata (土方) / Hino Satoshi (日野 聡)
– Professor Miyafuji (宮藤博士) & Narration (ナレーション) / Gouda Hodzumi (郷田 ほづみ)
First episode captured me with its visuals. Seems quite epic.
Hope later episodes will be just as good, if not better.
A serie I’m looking forward to for the rest.
strike pantsu
Loli pantsu action… I’m avoiding it like the plague
They actualy used WWII uniforms as design source for the girls’ uniforms.
Besides that, I like Sky Girls OVA but that was all. The series sucked and this one already sucks too. But for all loli fans a must I guess.
~Free
Ugh. Kill it with fire.
So basically, this has loli fanservice and nothing else, huh. I’ll pass, then.
oh Gonzo…. how far do you plan to fall?…. I crave the good ol days of Last Exile and Gankusu Ou.
Hmm, I thought I made it clear in my impressions that I didn’t think it was about lolita fan-service at all. Are people just reading the first two lines or something? o_O
I recommend getting it via BOST TV over Crunchyroll, as their downloads are h264 (and BOST are the people subbing it in any case). Plus they don’t sit in the moral grey area that Crunchyroll does, given that CR got where they are now by profiting off illegally streamed anime and stuff. Not that it really matters.
I enjoyed the first episode quite a bit. It’s much more of a ‘pure’ implementation of Humikane’s Mecha Musume concept than Sky Girls was, and by being shorter and with a larger cast there’s more potential for some decent and varied aerial action, where Sky Girls got a bit repetitive.
They wore pants and skirts in the OVA, though, and that was just fine. Losing them in the TV series kinda makes for an imbalance of fanservice versus plot in my opinion. Sky Girls had a great balance.
I really like this show, is pretty different from sky girl, that suck imo.
Mecha musume, mahou shoujo, heavy weapons, epic air battles, nekomini, all in one, now i hope only for a good plot and this will be best serie of this season. Can’t wait for next episode, thanks a lot Gonzo. *_*
The 12 hours limited on youtube is pretty annoy and 3 bucks foe episode is eccessive. I watch it but this time sorry Gonzo, i don’t support it (like Druaga).
I facepalm at the egregious lack of pants, shorts, or skirts. Words fails me.
TheHoodedRonin> its not made for 10 year old, more rather people double that age. That’s the true scary part.
When I first watched this I was surprised to see the lack of pants. I’m not opposed to panty shots but come on… It’s not fun if every shot is a panty shot.
Right, loli intonations aside, when even the full figured girls are lacking the “carpeting”, yeah…. Well, it’s pure fanny servvy so if thats your thing…
I wouldn’t call this pure fanservicing as although the panty shots were somewhat excessive, it seemed that the story was getting somewhere. Also, if you didnt watch the first episode, dont make a quick judgment on it just based purely on images.
@Divine: For all your arguments against Strike Witches as “not just lolicon bait”, most everyone operates on the “we know it when we see it” rule. No number of well-endowed girls (2?) or conservatively dressed characters (3?) can shake that feeling that is the first impression.
My impressions are that Strike Witches does share many similarities with Sky Girls, in set-up, character designs, general vibes. The exception being that Strike Witches looks like it has a huge main “girl battalion” cast (the cynical will say that’s to appeal to more fetishes), and it’s way more liberal with its use of fanservice. The opening battle sequence showed an obvious effort to alternate showcasing each girl’s gun and posterior. The camera spent so much time looking up at girls from the ground and glued to their butts, there’s so much in-your-face fetish pandering its really hard to just turn the blinders on and enjoy the war-with-aliens and heroine-in-the-making parts of the show.
The one scene comes to mind where the girl w/ eyepatch is trying to recruit the main girl and visits her house. She (girl w/ eyepatch) is wearing a high-class military uniform; long sleeved shirt, impeccably white and clean, with military insignia on the shoulders, the picture of Serious Business. But then the camera pans down and you remember: She has no pants on. It was so hard to take her character seriously! I half-expected the mom or grandma to throw her out of the house (interestingly, they were wearing full length skirts that covered up their intimate parts, the only two women in the episode I could remember that did so).
The issue is, you can’t like Strike Witches without liking the fanservice or at least having a high tolerance for the stuff. That’s not bad in it of itself; I imagine Strike Witches was made with that audience exactly in mind. But where Sky Girls could pass on merits besides lolicon or girls-in-plugsuits, Strike Witches demonstrated that those aspects are an integral part of the viewing experience.
“What the fuck is this fucking shit?”
Get a life troll.
I’m surprised RC staff don’t clean the board and delete these useless and denigratory comments. A little moderation is needed, and if u guys dont like the show simply don’t waste u time on it and stop put shit here.
Ooohhh!! Looks the pedos are getting offended!
@Lithium17
Troll much?
I’m a big loli lover, but I can’t STAND this show. I hate the in-your-face panty action. It’s a turnoff if you ask me. Also….how am I suposed to take a team of fighters seriously if they don’t even wear pants? How intimidating would Viral be if he was walking arount in his underware?
most of the stereotypical anime girl characters r in this show. I won’t be suprised if this show is a well like anime series in japan. If this series gets a good ratings we might see more loli shows in the near future and less yaoi(they’re growing in numbers) anime series.
@Paraetta:
I monitor the comments for my posts, but I just happened to be asleep at that time. That comment has since been deleted.
@Kadian1364:
I agree that people are quick to label and judge, and I’m by no means being ignorant to the fan-service STRIKE WITCHES is showing (especially after how I made mention of it all above), but I was hoping that others would be more open-minded towards this stuff, check out the episode for themselves, and then decide if it has something that peeks their interest. I mean, we’re watching shounen anime after all and there’s a lot more derogatory stuff out there, so I don’t quite understand why people have to make a big deal out of this every time it comes up. Maybe it’s just an opportunity for them to scream a few one liner remarks…? Or maybe those people haven’t seen/aren’t aware of hentai or borderline hentai before…?
Given how these type of shows tend to attract short, flaming remarks, Omni tends not to blog them. They aren’t unanimously popular (especially amongst viewers outside of Japan), so I think he’d rather not waste his time blogging something, only to sift through comments bashing the show (even if he enjoys the series himself). I on the other hand don’t mind watching shows like this, regardless of what the mass crowd of “active online posters” think of the show (which by the way, is the reason I purposely avoid anime forums), so please take this as my way of looking at the show beyond the surface, and conveying that information to the rest of you. Sure I noticed that there are a lot of underage-looking, pant-less girls in this show. Heck, I enjoyed joked about it with a friend of mine for a bit, but that lasted like… two minutes? After which, it sounds like a broken record to bring it up over and over again.
At the other end of the spectrum, CODE GEASS R2 has upped the level of fan-service to almost every episode now, but I don’t really see people knocking the show for doing so. In fact, they seem to be praising it more, which I find somewhat hypocritical. Sure people will argue that, “but there’s plot in CG, so you can’t even put it on the same level”, but what if they started showing that stuff from the very onset? Would you have stuck around to find out if the series had anything more to offer after the first episode, or would you just have stopped watching then?
While these questions are all hypothetical, I tend to use this mentality with all the shows I consider, so if you’re not interested, you’re free to not read and to not watch. For those who don’t have time to watch, feel free to read some of my posts and decide later on if it’s something you might want to watch. For everyone else that’s already decided to watch the series, feel free to discuss your impressions along the way. I’ll be reading them.
@Lithium17
Ipm not idiot retard. I like mecha musume art style and moe chara. So? Now u can get back watch u shitty pr0n.
Look, why can’t people just ADMIT that this is loli-fanservice? There’s not “if” about it. Lolis fighting and walking around with NO PANTS. During battle, every third shot is a panty shot. It’s not my opinion, it’s fact. We have pictures. The picturea are ABOVE for crying out loud. How can you say it’s not? Unless yo LOVE it but you don’t want to admit that you love the fanservice.
@TheHoodedRonin:
I don’t recall actually claiming that this show wasn’t “loli fan-service”, as I said, “…you probably shouldn’t be labeling this series as ‘loli’ or ‘not loli’ and deciding whether or not to watch it for that reason.”
In any case, if that last remark was meant as a lash out at me personally, I’ll take it, but don’t think my opinions of shows always coincide with Omni’s (and incidentally, Random Curiosity as a whole).
Given how these type of shows tend to attract short, flaming remarks, Omni tends not to blog them. They aren’t unanimously popular (especially amongst viewers outside of Japan), so I think he’d rather not waste his time blogging something, only to sift through comments bashing the show (even if he enjoys the series himself).
Is not the righ choice turn off blogging a show only because there are idiots people like Lithium that ruin the comment section, just hire some moderators and delete these useless and defamatory posts. Infact as u mention, code geass r2 has more fanservice, but trolls never put shit on it coz they like it, trolls always put shit and lies in shows they don’t like.
This the truth, but u already know this.
>> At the other end of the spectrum, CODE GEASS R2 has upped the level of fan-service to almost every episode now, but I don’t really see people knocking the show for doing so. In fact, they seem to be praising it more, which I find somewhat hypocritical.
Oh, you have no idea! Maybe not here, on RandomC, where the Code Geass topics get buried in metric tons of typical one-liners from superFANS and reactionary fanboy drool, a cursory glance at the anime blogging world shows it is squarely split in two fairly even camps:
1) Code Geass is good
2) Code Geass is SO BAD it’s good!
Needless to say I associate in the second camp, but my point in bringing this up is that Code Geass has its vast popularity to insulate itself from major criticism, or at least FANS can congregate to rave and swoon about it and also be able to wholesale ignore negative comments. Strike Witches has no such luxury.
Personally, I like posting in smaller blog communities/less popular anime topics because of the very fact that my comments won’t get lost in pages of unintelligible oohs and aahs, and the other comments that are posted have a higher average level of thoughtfulness. Just my preferences I suppose.
Sorry for getting off topic!
Aight, I’ve giving this some more thought. Ironic how something I thought was junk is occupying so much time.
I probably was trying to entice some arguing. What I was looking for was someone to come back with a legitimate reason this isn’t what I say it is.
I say semi harsh things jokingly, not meant to actually make people defensive, though intentions are rarely upheld on the internet via chat boxes.
Here is my issue with this show. It is a serious action show. That being said it spends half it’s time showing me underage girl bits. I’m not entirely apposed to this. I enjoy To-Love Ru for example. Here’s the deal tho. It’s a comedy and it knows its massively ecchi. I feel that this show is trying to be something it is not. It’s a showcase for character designs…. very loli ones.. I can’t take that seriously. It’s very hard to relate to characters that don’t wear pants/skirts. Part of being a serious plot is I have to feel for the characters. It has to make me emotionally attached. This is aiming to attach part of me to it… but it isn’t my emotions.
Maybe I’m wrong and it’s the deepest story ever. I’ll probably watch it now since I bashed the crap outta it, maybe I’ll enjoy something, who knows.
this show is horrible. should be called “Panty Witches”
im gonna pass on this
not very appealing in terms of story, character w/e
and thats my 2 cents
this looks absolutely ridiculous
fanservice + pedophilia + cheesy action + cheesy weapons + code geass eyes = no thank you
k, there are lolis in there, so what the fuck is the problem?
Where were all those hypocritical people i read here, when horrible Kanokon was on air? You are easily shocked by a pantyshot but what were you thinking watching Chizuru harassing another loli boy? Uh? I didn’t hear anything like this Loli Witch Hunt back then…
Do ourself and yourself a favour: please, disappear from this comment board.
Now back on the topic: this anime shows a plot alike to that of Sky Girls. With all of the loli fanservice Sky Girl could show, they never crosse the border of bad taste and the plot was linear and consistent. That serie turned out nice. I see similar plot and premises here. Let’s watch how good or bad it develops.
PS: the graphics is very good too.
what’s up with that school uniform??
Lolicon y fancervise, como que me la voy a bajar.
@ Moor
One of the main rules of anime : It doesn’t have to and most of the time, won’t make sense. I myself having accepted that fact take it seriously and most of the time wont take any anime too seriously. Anime is a form of entertainment and if one is entertained then its doing its job properly. Besides if someone created an anime so bad no one watched, then you can safely bet that company is gonna go bankrupt soon.
Lets see
+ neko/inimimi mode when using magic
+ some healthy girls as well as dfc
+ ww2 era ships/weapons
+ eyepatch with magic ( sensory? ) eye
+ italian loev american big tits
so far so good. Feels alot more in tune with Humikane’s artwork than sky girls, and dosnt appear to be starting off with training.
Also lol at the level of underage @an from some people, looking at you lithium.
^^^ whoops inumimi not inimimi
This show would be so much better with the young Ladies of Ikkitousen.
But seriously the reason they don’t wear pants is that the nerves in their legs control the striker units through a magical connection that would be upset by the even the thinnest of panty hose, that and at any moment they are expected to jump into their striker units and go into battle…
@som1
I don’t take anime like this seriously, but I really can’t see why little girls with a swimsuit and a sailor shirt as a school uniform is more entertaining than a normal school uniform. I agree it could be more entertaining for pedo’s, but in that case, I’ll pass.
i read all lines, and i still think its loli-fan-service……….omg, i can’t take this kind of series anymore, there was an time when animes that where good and had enoght potential had actualy some potential of its on, except for hayato no gotoku, i don’t know why they need those fan-service moments sometimes…………
Awesome! More controversy! I love this kind of stuff (the debates, not the show, which I lost all interest in after seeing the pics)!
Though I am curious about one thing, since one person brought it up in comments: does the fact that Omni often doesn’t blog series like this imply that he (he?) doesn’t watch them, or not?
@Solar
kanokon
was in fact on a different level
which wasnt my taste
and i didnt bother watching that either
@Justin Olbrantz (Quantum):
Given the time required to blog episodically, Omni only watches what he ends up covering. There have been a few occasions where he picked up a series/drama and didn’t blog it (Zettai Kareshi being the most recent), but that’s generally the case.
Last season, he checked out Kanokon now and then to see what the “shocker of the week” was and we usually talked about it, but he didn’t really watch the show (nor any of the other shows I blogged). I watch a lot more than a blog (way too much actually), and after the vacation I went on, am finding that I know need to put some on hold indefinitely.
I don’t think I’ll ever only watch shows that I blog (especially given how Omni covers shows I’m interested in), but I’m finding that I do need to cut back. I do have real life things to take care of after all, and can’t devote all my free time to watching anime, blogging, and juggling these “pedo/loli” comments. >_>
The only thing that bothered me was that: (1)They wear no pants. (2)When they are in the air, their crotches fly at every camera. Other than that I’m watching it… I never saw Sky Girls so this is new to me. I love, I mean love Charlotte E Yeager character. That’s the type of woman I like, damn!
My take on it? Sci-fi mecha-girl story, with an air of fan-service (some loli, some not) all around. It’s anime, so take that, along with your Gundams as serious as you want.
there are many people complaining about fanservice in Code Geass – but there are just as many that are happy about any ass-shot of Kallen they can get, because it makes them able to endure the Yaoi fanservice provided by Lulu – Suzaku – Rolo. (official art: http://lulu-rebellion.org/scans/anime_209.jpg )
I’m not even sure if this one is fanart O.O
http://derailedbydarry.com/images/features/five/0089_geass_HD.jpg
http://img.muri.se:8080/STRIKE%20WITCHES/STRIKE%20WITCHES%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
Now what’s what I’m like about this…
>> Clearly the answer to it runs off of leg nerves…. They all wear tear-away basketball pants.
Now here’s a man who’s thinking! Any solution that includes regular stripping is an A in my book! 😀
In all seriousness, making up excuses not to wear clothes is weaksauce because it’s all magic/pseudo-science gibberish made up on the spot. The purpose was to make an anime where girls only wear underwear, and reasons can be made later. Why don’t they go all day in the nude instead? (I fear someone is making a doujin of it as we speak)
Sky Girls + Nanoha = STRIKE WITCHES
Woo boy. Here comes the pedo brigade.
This I like:
http://img.muri.se:8080/STRIKE%20WITCHES/STRIKE%20WITCHES%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
I’m sorry, but Strike Witches should make anyone, loli moe fan or no, recoil in revulsion. I dug Trigger Heart Exelica and I can’t stand this show.
Strike Witches is basically the high-concept anime equivalent of an awful wish-fulfillment DeviantArt comic. It tries to titillate viewers, but succeeds only in insulting them. It is inept in practically every way–please don’t get me started on the horrid jumble of jump-cuts, forced fanservice and laughable CG that GONZO tries to pass off as a fight scene.
If you must watch this show, queue up some porn instead; at least it’s honest with itself. (And the framerate would probably be better too!)
@TheHoodedRonin
the strike units are not really supposed to be armor anyway :p, seems they use magic as a defense as well, seeing the magic circle taking a shot from the neuroi in the beginning of the episode. As far as yeagers pubes, you know how the laws in japan are about showing that…
either way, a show like this is fun not just for the show itself, but for all the trolls who try so hard, especially when people ^^^^^ make comments that make you wonder if they actually watched the show
i would rather see more loli shows popping up rather than yaoi ones.
I dont mind fanservice or outrageous fanservice. I mean..look at kanokon, we knew what it was gonna be, it didnt try to be serious, it was just an in your face ecchi comedy. This just sounds like a company thats desperate for ratings. Hey, lets not give them any pants!!. Can you imagine Gunslinger Girls or Mai-Otome if they had everyone running around in there underwear all the time?
“Anyway, I digress, but the point is, you probably shouldn’t be labeling this series as “loli” or “not loli” and deciding whether or not to watch it for that reason.”
No, its clearly heavly loli which is another thing I dont have any problem with, but come on..who are we kidding?
wah gay an anime intent for loli+pedo not good at all
fair enough, at least the show dosnt try to act like its not what it is heh, my comment about actually watching it was in regards to the cg animation comments, which were gonzo’s usual cell shaded stuff of late ( frame rate was low in some parts, particularly when sakamoto was flying by the escorts )
THAT “group shot” screen cap = INSTANT TERMINATION at my job.
WHERE THE HELL ARE THE PANTS!!!!!!!!!
p.s= i see a lot of 50cal’s and rocket legs, but not one magic wand?
Lots of discussion, some +ve some -ve I will leave it at that. Clearly anime isn’t made with everyone in mind, some people feel the need to watch every show aired without first asking am I the right audience. If you feel insulted by all means re-examine your reason for watching this show in the first place, there were trailers posted before it was airing clearly showing the level of fanservice shown. Hypocritical is the right word as clearly people object to this kind of fanservice yet Ikkitousen level of shirts exploding is clearly fine and what else should I include, fanservice isn’t a universal term, anything can be seen as fanservice as long as it pleases a certain crowd you may not like it but other people do.
On the side note of the characters no wearing pants, very narrow minded of people to proclaim they need pants. While intentional it isn’t questionable if it is how the their world works. Tt could also be viewed as a culture difference just because it isn’t the norm in our society doesn’t mean you should reject the idea, for example So if you enter an Asian houses where you’re expected to take off your shoes you simple accepted it as part of their custom. So the premise is abit rediculous just because we have pants in our society but clearly people are not being open minded about such concepts.
So, in the end what bothers so much is this:
http://img.muri.se:8080/STRIKE%20WITCHES/STRIKE%20WITCHES%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2031.jpg
But people accepted this similar image as normal:
https://randomc.net/image/Kanokon/Kanokon%20-%2011%20-%20Large%2008.jpg
If it’s not hypocriticism this…
Tell me the plot is crap, unoriginal, whatever you want, tell me graphics is no good, animation is shit and i can accept any criticism.
But “Oh MAI GAWD!! I SAW A LOLI!! DEVIL CAME!!” Is not actually an argument at all.
Nobody here speaks about the show, but blabbers shit about ebil lolis … Even those who didn’t watch to it!!
@Solaris
Well…that’s easy. In the Strike Witches pic, that is normal. In kanokon, when the scene happened, everyone was screaming bloody murder at it. So, while I can’t belive I’m saying this, in Kanokon, there was a normal reaction.
True, I don’t mind the lolis. I like lolis. I don’t mind fanservice, but I hate excessive fanservice like this, i.m: I’m your face. The battles are lame, the story is as recycled as they come…….this is crap with a side of shit
Interesting string of comments here, although I can do without the flames that have no real explanation as to why they feel that way. I’ve read everything here, as they were being posted, since this seems to be drawing in more controversy than even Kanokon did. (Seems like flat-chested girls make people speak out when they normally don’t.)
Anyway, I think the girls in this series look kind of cute. To me, they’re reminiscent of the somewhat stubby character designs seen in Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome. Now according to some “Internet people” (the ones who can say anything when they’re hidden behind a monitor), I’m a “lolicon” or a “pedo” just because I find a drawing cute and the anime happens to flash underwear somewhat frequently.
– Did I watch this show just for the flashes of underwear? No.
– Did I even know that they were going to be pantless all the time? No.
Last time I checked, I only watched this show:
1.) The seiyuus and
2.) because it’s similar to Sky Girls, which I enjoyed.
In all honesty, the pants thing was just fan-service to me. By this, I mean it’s something I didn’t necessarily expect, nor bank on as my reason for watching the series. Sure I find it a bit excessive at times, but how long are people going to constantly bring it up? Those brief shots will undoubtedly come up again in subsequent episodes, but are people going to add “pedo” remarks to the comments of everyone episode that gets blogged if underwear is shown even once?
If you have a tendency to do the above, ask yourself why you don’t scream “breasts” or “tits” every time some cleavage appears in anime. I don’t see how that stuff helps progress plot or character development, so why the discrepancy there?
[…]just because I find a drawing cute[…]
Please Divine continue to blog this show and ignore cuteness haters. <3
@Dmonhiro
it’s hard to read your comments as objective without a hint of biasness. You don’t mind fanservice but hate excess fanservice then that’s a contradiction in itself, if you don’t mind fanservice, no level of fanservice should affect you.
Since you proclaim to hate excess fanservice you must have not seen Sky girl OVA or moetan? But you have watched Kanonkon which in itself is excessive, hell even most fanservice anime are excess.
So what makes Strike witches any different where shows like Ikkitousen are praised for their battles with exploding shirts and half naked girls fighting each other.
Awell, It’s only the first episode so -ve comments on insignificant items are expected, curious if people still similar response later on because every discussion boards needs a few trolls (not intended at anyone specific)
@zaeris
Actually, I’ve seen both. The Sky Girls OVA had only one thing going for it, and that was the OP music. The rest, was kinda warthless. Moetan, I enjoyed since it is a parody, make fun of all it’s fanservice, and does not pretend to have a story. I still don’t know if I like Kanokon or not. The fanservice was WAAAAAAY to much, the characters waere horribly flat….but it was so bad it wasactually funny.
If there was a show where every female wore a bikini top no matter what the setting, I would also be put off by that. It’s just insulting to me as a consumer. While making this crap they’re all like, “Dudes are gonna eat this shit up!!!”.
In general fan-service is kinda lame. Theres plenty of doujin work out there if that’s what I’m looking for. It never furthers the plot, and it’s sometimes distracting. It’s like cheesy sex scenes in R rated movies.
I also have yet to call out the pedo-bear on anyone. I may have mentioned fearing for the children of your neighborhoods, but I meant it jokingly.
Zaeris –
I should accept no pants… because I’m being narrow minded? Yes other people have different accepted and unaccepted things. I went with what I thought the general intention of the character designs where. My thought, it was an attempt to capture my interest in the show via my libido. I don’t accept it, because I think it’s a pathetic attempt to draw my interest into something. Not because I’m deeply offended. I have a 12 year old niece. I took her swimming over the 4th of july. She wore a bathing suit *Gasp*.
I’ll reiterate:
I think this show is cheap. I’m not ragging on it for some sorta of moral reasons. That’s all. I thought it was supposed to be a semi-serious story. Upon further review, I think it’s main goal is to show off random dudes semi-nude loli character designs. Had I known that, I’d have avoided it all together. Pre this show tho, I didn’t know what Mecha Musume was. I wouldn’t have avoided it because it’s offensive tho. I would have avoided it cause it irritates me when cheep fan-service shows try and pretend to be real stories.
Basically in a setting like this, I try and follow the story… get attached to characters… then they show a line of 8 chicks with no pants and I’m like, “Thats ridiculous!! There on ships, it can get fucking cold on the ocean.”. At this point all immersion has been ruined.
It just occurred to me: the uniform design is ripped right from Azumanga Daioh (the pedophile teacher’s concept sketch): school uniform top, swimsuit underneath, even the animal ears (it was bunny ears in Azumanga Daioh). Anybody have an image of that strip?
lol at people having a cow over no pants. Over the internet no less. Can’t see why people can’t just relax and just enjoy anime. They gotta dig and reach for some deeper meaning or rich plotline. All fanservice is trying to do is have a bit of fun. But no people have to freak out over it. Let’s not kid ourselves here. Anime has come a long way, but if you’re looking for deeper meaning, rich stories, or academy award winning quality go get a book or something.
But…still please continue…makes the internet fun =).
DAMN WIFI-LESS HOTEL ROOMS AND LIMITED TIME SHOWS ><
@atomicwasabi
Anime is simply a medium of expression. Like cartoons, television shows, movies, plays, and books, anime may be good or bad. I take exception to both your statements that anime cannot have “deeper meaning, rich stories, or academy award winning quality” as well as that it cannot be just plain garbage. It should be treated exactly the same as other media: the good revered, the bad ignored or disposed of; in either case, critique and discussion are only reasonable.
After GONZO had made Druaga, I thought they could make something good again. Looks like I was wrong. Instead of something good, they gave us this “Some sort of Loli battle machine Animu”. I guess GONZO needed money……
@Ojsinnerz
Clearly you can’t comprehend that A studio doesn’t always have to make the same anime that cater to a certain crowd, you are simply not within the targeted demographic of this one. Let’s take a look at J.C staff and their anime range, so did anyone thought J.C staff could pull a sky girls or ikkitousen first season or zero no tsukaima, compared to their Ghost hunt or honey, clover work or R.O.D its quite an abysmal comparison since it’s not the same but clearly it’s by no fault on the studio, different crowd different taste. I may not like their fanservice line up but it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have created the anime that wasn’t suited for my taste.
Man Charlotte E Yaeger just seems to want to attract some attention
Show Spoiler ▼
http://img.muri.se:8080/STRIKE%20WITCHES/STRIKE%20WITCHES%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
Yeah what’s with the Geass symbol? And in Britannia again? What next? Will C.C. show up too?
At first, I was thinking to watch an episode or two of this show if I have any spare time, like I did with Sky Girls, since I quite like the art (I’m not lolicon but not anti of lolis either) if not anything else. Then I notice all the pantlessness and nekomimi and four pages of screaming about it. Weird.
Well, I do not hate the fan services but not particularly excited about it either. Weird as it is, I can tolerate watching this more than Kanokon (although I follow Kanokon manga) Not being hypocrite or like that. It’s just my taste in enjoying this kind of entertainment.
oh my :O http://img.muri.se:8080/STRIKE WITCHES/STRIKE WITCHES – 01 – Large 12.jpg ….I am really gonna check this one out to see hows the fanservice…*gasp*
http://img.muri.se:8080/STRIKE%20WITCHES/STRIKE%20WITCHES%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2012.jpg * 🙂
Divine, you really gain my respect with your opinions throughout the thread. I’m not huge into the anime forum community either. In fact, in a particular east-jap anime forum I go to occasionally, the folks there were more concerned as to whether to call what the girls were wearing, panties or spandex? None could give a rat’s ass on the loli-ness or pantless-ness of the whole thing.
I’m a different/weird sort of individual by which fan-service, be it of the male or female variety never bothers me. Boobs, butts, pantsu or stuff you see in yaoi? My reaction is usually, huh? So what? It isn’t as if I’ve never seen any of this stuff in my life before.
Not to mention, almost every anime out there is a fanservice unto itself. Whether it designer combat scenes for the Action, Mecha and Ninja freaks – boobs, butts, pantsu, bishonen for such fans or exaggarated soap opera-ish theaterics for those who enjoy it..etc..
For me, what’s important is to be able to enter an anime and be able to resonate with the characters, flow and surroundings of what I’m watching and enjoy it in a special way, unique to myself. As it is to everyone else, I’m sure.
I think the biggest hypocrisy lies in the mob mentality. Where people adopt blindly wholesale a particular opinion or mental thought, just because “everyone” says so or they felt it was the most “popular”. To the extent where they will practice ignorance to wverything to the contrary even when proven wrong. Personally, I see it as just another means to bash another.
And who dictates the ranks within? Aren’t taste and beauty in the eye of the beholder? Curious..
I do enjoy this episode of strike witches and hope for the same for the rest of the show. 🙂
@Lucy:
I’m with you 100% there. Like you’ve already mentioned, it seems like people like to make a big deal out of meager stuff such as lolicons simply because they’re going with the mass crowd’s opinion. While I’m not trying to point fingers at anyone in particular, the whole “phenomena” makes it seem like everyone’s been brainwashed to think a certain way, and referring to the shows with this terminology is their way of showing off their supposed knowledge/fandom on anime.
For example, a conversation between an anime FAN and fan (kudos to Natrone for his terminology) may go:
– “Wow, that’s so lolicon.”
– “What’s ‘lolicon’ mean?”
– “Oh, it’s short for “Lolita Complex”. You know, those shows that have really young looking girls, like STRIKE WITCHES. Hell, I’d never watch those kind of shows though. They’re just for pedos.”
– “‘Pedos’?”
– “Yeah, short for ‘pedophiles’. They just watch those shows because they’re perverts.”
– “Hmm, but what about people who watch porn then? Aren’t they perverts too?”
– “Oh, porns okay though. I mean, everyone watches porn. What kind of stupid question is that?”
– “Um…. okay.”
– “Yeah, short for ‘pedophiles’. They just watch those shows because they’re perverts.”
– “Hmm, but what about people who watch porn then? Aren’t they perverts too?”
– “Oh, porns okay though. I mean, everyone watches porn. What kind of stupid question is that?”
Actually, child porn is illegal in most first-world countries, and “everyone” who watches it is a criminal. Epic fail in logic.
Divine my main argument is when shows like these have this kind of fanservice,it sometimes means thats all the show will have for it. The producers realize the story or whatever is not good and they put in alot of fanservice in hopes to keep an audience. Hell, look and ikki tousen and sky girls. I just have a feeling instead of coming up with a good plot/story all this anime is gonna be remembered for is a bunch of girls running around without pants. But hey, if it turns out good Ill stand corrected.
@Justin Olbrantz (Quantam):
Hmm, where did you read child porn? I don’t see it in any of the dialogue I wrote. I simply referred to how watching porn is perverted and how the stuff in STRIKE WITCHES is no where near that level.
Also, there’s no indication the girls are underage in shows and even if there is, showing you their underwear or spandex shorts (e.g. not underwear) doesn’t mean you’re engaging in sex with them. I mean, you may make that automatic connotation in your mind when you see a young girl’s underwear, but I certainly don’t.
If I had to work in a daycare and take care of kids or was an elementary school teacher, and happened to catch sight of a girl’s underwear in some mishap, I wouldn’t get aroused by it one bit. Would you?
@LurkerX:
I can see where you’re coming from, but that’s exactly the point I’m trying to get across. As Lucy mentioned above, there are all forms of fan-service in everything you watch. I mean, just the fact that everyone is attractive looking in a series alone could be considered fan-service. It’s just that the whole notion of “lolicon” is being blown out of proportion simply because it implies pedophilia, which is illegal. If we had STRIKE WITCHES with girls from SEKIREI, I don’t think we’d be have four pages of discussion on this.
Now with that said, I’m not promoting or defending pedophilia in any way; I’m just trying to convey that 1.) that’s just the art style of the characters and 2.) they’re not necessarily underage. If you keep that in mind to get past the initial, meaningless “loli/not loli” labeling and decide for yourself if the premise, production, cast, etc. (i.e. everything else about the show) interests you, then you shouldn’t feel bad about watching it just because of some flashes of underwear.
On the subject of underage though, it seems that bust size and height are big contributors to that image, so lets not forget that most Japanese (and asians in general) are the least blessed in the bust size and height department. You can have a 25 year old asian mistaken as a 16 year old, or an 18 year old mistaken for a 13 year old, especially by foreigners. (Something I happen to know from experience.)
“Hmm, where did you read child porn? I don’t see it in any of the dialogue I wrote. I simply referred to how watching porn is perverted and how the stuff in STRIKE WITCHES is no where near that level.”
And that’s why you failed at logic. “Pedophile” BY DEFINITION means sexually interested in children. The fact that you yourself used it in your dialogue indicates that you knew this debate is not about fanservice in general, but about fanservice of children. The fact that you then tried to say that porn is okay means one of two things:
1. You are saying that child porn (the kind “pedophiles” are interested in) is no worse than regular porn
2. Your dialogue is nonsensical, does not make the point you were trying to make (that fan service is no worse than watching porn), and is an excellent example of the term ‘non sequitur’
Hmm, I have to say I don’t agree with failing to convey the point I intended as:
1.) The dialogue was talking about lolicon anime (e.g. fan-service) and
2.) only the FAN is thinking of it as pedophilia.
If it’s not apparent to you already, I don’t see the anime term “lolicon” as “child porn”, which is the connection that this FAN is making. There is no nudity in this type of fan-service, nor are there explicit depictions of sex. Your conclusion is drawn because you’re thinking how I’m saying you shouldn’t. i.e. that the coined anime term “lolicon” refers to “child porn”.
In a way, my discussion with you might be a better depiction of my point. :X
Also, let’s not forget that anime characters are always designed to be cute and young looking, so people are quick to jump on bust sizes to determine their age. Let’s not forget our young looking Nozomu from Kanokon either, who happens to be a youkai, is in high school, but gets involved in much more explicit sexual connotations than STRIKE WITCHES ever will. For some reason, that was a bit more acceptable to people, because according to them, that’s the kind of show Kanokon is. Now is it just me, or is that just dodging this issue (which I don’t find is an issue by the way) all together?
“1.) The dialogue was talking about lolicon anime (e.g. fan-service) and
…
If it’s not apparent to you already, I don’t see the anime term “lolicon” as “child porn”, which is the connection that this FAN is making. There is no nudity in this type of fan-service, nor are there explicit depictions of sex. Your conclusion is drawn because you’re thinking how I’m saying you shouldn’t. i.e. that the coined anime term “lolicon” refers to “child porn”.”
While I’ll admit to going purely by the fundamental definitions of words and their etymology, ‘lolicon‘ (‘lolita complex’) is defined as interest in children in a sexual way – in other words, pedophilia. If you are using the words in a manner that goes contrary to their basic definition, hopefully you’ll forgive me for not understanding you.
“For some reason, that was a bit more acceptable to people, because according to them, that’s the kind of show Kanokon is. Now is it just me, or is that just dodging this issue (which I don’t find is an issue by the way) all together?”
Hmm. Maybe it’s just because I find angry posts more amusing to read (and thus more memorable), but I recall a bunch of people saying how Kanokon had excessive, gross amounts of fanservice and pedophilia, in the Kanokon comments on this very blog. They did seem to decrease in number as the series went on; I’m presuming this is because the people writing those posts realized they weren’t having much effect, and concluded it was not worth the effort to keep writing the posts.
And here it is:
>Actually, child porn is illegal in most first-world countries, and “everyone” who watches it is a criminal. Epic fail in logic.
Pity Strike Witches is everything else, but sure [i]not[/i] child porn.
This poor people are throwing stones to the shameful sinners to ensure they’re not sinners themselves. Of course Divine, a few others and I who dare question with arguments are easily sided with the sinners, right?
But we see no harm in this anime. The only poor people who are rising their shields against the loli shame see sin everywhere, even where there isn’t. I ask myself who is the real pervert here…
And Quantam, please, don’t quote or imply stuff Divine never said.
“1.) The dialogue was talking about lolicon anime (e.g. fan-service) and
…
If it’s not apparent to you already, I don’t see the anime term “lolicon” as “child porn”, which is the connection that this FAN is making. There is no nudity in this type of fan-service, nor are there explicit depictions of sex. Your conclusion is drawn because you’re thinking how I’m saying you shouldn’t. i.e. that the coined anime term “lolicon” refers to “child porn”.”
While I’ll admit to going purely by the fundamental definitions of words and their etymology, ‘lolicon’ (‘lolita complex’; see Wikipedia for definitions and etymology of both ‘lolicon’ and ‘lolita’) is defined as interest in children in a sexual way – in other words, pedophilia. If you are using the words in a manner that contradicts their basic definition, hopefully you’ll forgive me for not understanding you.
“For some reason, that was a bit more acceptable to people, because according to them, that’s the kind of show Kanokon is. Now is it just me, or is that just dodging this issue (which I don’t find is an issue by the way) all together?”
Hmm. Maybe it’s just because I find angry posts more amusing to read (and thus more memorable), but I recall a bunch of people saying how Kanokon had excessive, gross amounts of fanservice and pedophilia, in the Kanokon comments on this very blog. They did seem to decrease in number as the series went on; I’m presuming this is because the people writing those posts realized they weren’t having much effect, and concluded it was not worth the effort to keep writing the posts.
Btw, episode 2 is up. 🙂
“>Actually, child porn is illegal in most first-world countries, and “everyone” who watches it is a criminal. Epic fail in logic.
Pity Strike Witches is everything else, but sure [i]not[/i] child porn.”
Not sure if that was directed at me or not, though looking back, I should probably address it anyway, as it’s possible some people might draw the wrong conclusions by faulty assumptions. My participation in this thread has been entirely logical and linguistic, referring to vocabulary, logic, and general principles (specifically that anime in general may be good or bad). I have said one and only one thing that refers to Strike Witches itself: “I lost all interest in [it] after seeing the pics”. The fact that I took exception to Divine’s logic and vocabulary should not be misinterpreted as taking a moral position opposite his; I have no intention of entering a moral debate.
If this is going to be a debate about technicalities and definitions, then the attention should probably be diverted to the anime community’s liberal use of the words “loli” and “lolicon”, both of which mean very different things to different people.
For all intensive purposes, the term obviously means “lolita complex”, a person who sees young girls in sexual contexts, but in the context of anime, i.e. the Japanese truncated form “lolicon”, people will use this term just to refer to any show that has young looking, flat-chested girls, that are shown in even the slightest desirable way (something which varies greatly from each individual). If you show a screenshot like this on an anime forum, you’re probably more likely to get “loli” and “lolicon” remarks, rather than, “a young girl who’s bandaged and receiving treatment”.
Why is that though? My theory is that people have been unknowingly “trained” to label things as such based on the mass crowd’s opinion on that matter, which people who like to think for themselves (myself included), don’t quite agree with. To be quite frank, I hate the term “loli” all together and I hate how anime FANS love using it. As such, I think I’ll stop using the term from now on, so that a debate such as this doesn’t stem from differences in a definition.
>I lost all interest in [it] after seeing the pics
So u’re one of those that speak (off topic) about nothing, without even taking care of making one’s own opinion directly.
I suggest you to stop blabbering, take your time and watch to this ‘shameful’ show. You’ll discover yourself this is a very normal anime and there is nothing evil to fear in there.
The second episode is on air and it also has less fanservice than the first one.
I’d be glad if we could speak (in topic) of Strike Witches instead of OT stupidities (logical, linguistic or whatever they could be)
@Justin
A bit late but, I didn’t mean that anime can’t have substance at all. Take a recent example…Kurenai. Excellent and artfully done. The point I was making was I find people often put anime under way too much scrutiny. They see a bit of fanservice and rather than smiling about it they freak out. Basically, saying people should just try relaxing a bit and take shows for what they are and have fun with it. Garbage isn’t fun so not saying anime is garbage either. I mean really I doubt anyone came into this series expecting this to be an epic of a tale.
But ehh, don’t listen to me. The internet wouldn’t be nearly as fun without people pooping bricks everywhere.
@divine
My take on that is it goes a bit into philosophy and how language works. Words are just…words…they aren’t what they describe. They’re simply tools we use to help communicate with each other. I mean technically I can assign any word I want to an object if I want to. I can label the object we know as a table as the word chair. But when someone asks me for a chair it’d be a problem. Obviously this is all theory and probably not even all that goes into why people label things based on mass opinion. I think on some subconscious level it’s a simply a communication thing.
Lastly, someone brought it up already I think. I wonder why cows are being had over Strike Witches when Kanokon was far more fanservice-y or whatever people are having cows about.
omg y did they make the uniform like that??! *sigh* you would think all that money gone into earth’s protection you would at least get some pants or skirts on those girls…
well i think there’s too much loli in this series to be able to squeeze in a story, so i won’t watch it. plus i’m trying to resist the loli temptation T_T
@Park:
It’s because Shimada Humikane’s Mecha Musume (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecha_Musume)
There’s always some reason things are made the way they are. Just read.
Divine, i posted this also in the second episode’s 3D. Sorry for the crosslink
Really, can’t people look over the fact that there is fanservice? What’s the big deal anyway, I’ve seen beer and deodorant commercial that’s a LOT worse.
But then I must admit that I am probably one of the main audience the anime is cater to. Besides the Cat Ear, Fan Service, Swimsuit (you know THAT kind), Cute character design not too old or too young (I wouldn’t consider these loli at all, trust me I’ve seen what real loli is…and it’s no where near). But then the final punch is the WWII theme, it completely blew me away XD, they put in an impressive amount of details in the getting the WWII theme right. The navy uniform for the sailors as well as all the main cast as well as their weapons are all designed from actual WWII weapons. Further the details for the Japanese Carrier is amazing and very accurate to what it would look like, and when the fleet engages the aliens with flaks, from the first shot to the following barrage is just awesome. I can’t wait for what else I am going to get surprised.
Seriously, when does Anime needs to have some deep meaning or a complex story? I watch anime for the entertainment and I don’t think the setup is one of the best, but it’s certainly not the worst, and with only two episode you can’t really make the judgment. And to the people yelling pedo, you remind me of seeing 6th grade screaming “sex!!” every 10 seconds…it’s really not that big of the deal, and I doubt any of us are going to attack little girl in any likely event.
Well…child pron is illegal, but not lolicon, but that argument is best stay away.
Further more if you look at the profile for character all the character are at least 15 (maybe not the Italian girl) and the oldest is 19. Definitely not consider lolicon, by it’s strict definition.
Oyi..page 5, god this is keeping entertain so much
Really, from my point it’s really no use arguing weather Loli and pedophile is the same, cuz real hardcare Otakus(The type where the flames are directed at) are too anti-social and self-conscious to do anything anyway..and they probably are at ALL attracted to real life children.
and I don’t see Divine making the conclusion that Child Porn is no big deal, he just saying that people are blowing it out of proportion.
And again to make it clear …child porn IS illegal, but Lolicon isn’t…don’t exactly know where I am going with this, but these character aren’t at all loli-if you want to apply to Wikipedia definition to it.
In all honesty, while I’d normally be all for watching an all-female cast fight aliens and save the world… this just warrents a: “LOL WUT” reaction from me.
It could also be that I don’t like little girls.
When I first saw the extremely accurate rendition of the IJN Akagi and the destroyers escorts, it almost “brought tears” to my eyes, lol, anyway this is possible only with the advent of computer aided graphics in anime, in the past where everything is totally hand drawn, its extremely hard to draw real life planes ships and so on,
Somehow I dunnoe whats the fuss abt loli pantsu and so on, perhaps my brain auto skip those so called fanservice (/shrug)
over years of reading (and still reading) American Comic Books.
seeing teenage characters flying around in their undies with gadgets on their legs, carrying big weapons… is Nothing New (^_^) but it doesnt mean i wont enjoy it. the only thing that is different is the addition of Animal Ears / Tails.
i too see no reason for them (animal ears/tails). BUT you take the title “Witch” and get the idea that the Familiars (which are dogs, cats, and bunnies) are apart of their empowerment, and yes i agree it is about looking cute for the demographic.
btw i am female.
“土方” pronounces, “Hijikata” for the name of a person, and doesn’t mean
Laborer(dokata).