STRIKE WITCHES MOVIE

DESCRIPTION

CAST

OVA ActionStrike Witches Operation Victory Arrow
MANGA ComedyStrike Witches Gekijouban: 501 Butai Hasshin shimasu!
NOVEL ActionStrike Witches Gekijouban: Kaeritai Basho
ANIME ActionStrike Witches: Dai-501 Tougou Sentou Koukuudan ROAD to BERLIN

REVIEWS

• 

  TheRealKyuubey

  80/100
  If you've been avoiding Strike Witches due to the excessive fanservice, give this movie a shot.

  If I were to pick out my favorite thing about the anime medium, and the main reason why I prefer it over western animation, it’s the sheer amount of possibilities. You can find basically anything in anime, and while I know some of you are thinking “Wait, doesn’t that describe animation in general?” I don’t think it does. Western animation in particular is hampered by ever-present restrictions, which is mainly due to the fact that western animation on average is far more expensive to produce than anime. Due to vastly higher frame rates, the budget of your average Spongebob or Family guy episode usually eclipses that of an entire 26 episode anime series. Because of this, the people running these cartoons have to be hyper-vigilant about making a profit so their production doesn’t turn into a financial flop. Thus, they need to appeal to kids, because kids make for far more loyal viewers, and they’re more likely to buy merchandise and watch commercials to support the budget. Even so-called Adult cartoons are mostly aimed at 14 year olds.

  I know this isn’t 100% the case, there have been exceptions, and it is true that cartoons across the board have evolved in sophistication and content over the last decade and change, but restrictions are still there, and even the weirdest ideas we see are still presented in the framing of a small number of established genres... Action, sitcoms, fantasy adventures, science fiction, slice of life school comedies, franchise tie-ins, there’s not much else. Anime, on the other hand, is a lot cheaper to make, and since Japan never adopted that weird stereotype of cartoons only being meant for children, they can do so much more. You can see an anime about a teenage vampire girl who has explosive nosebleeds. You can see an action anime about a man who transforms into a chainsaw demon. You can see a suspenseful crime-drama anime about a serial killer. Hell, when's the last time you saw a western cartoon sports drama? Perhaps the weirdest of all, though? You can see anime about fighter plane waifus with magical powers and animal ears battling it out against CG alien beehives.

  If the premise of Strike Witches doesn’t sound too out there by today’s standards, it’s because of the sheer amount of imitators that it has spawned, from Vividred Operation to Azur Lane, and while none of them have managed to reach the success of the Strike Witches franchise... At least in anime form, Kantai Collection did pretty well for itself as a gacha game... They have maybe normalized the concept to some degree. But where did that concept come from, exactly? Well, I went over this in my review of the first season, so won’t give you the full history lesson here, but this is the short version. The original concept was created by a career artist and character designer named Fumikane Shimada, who basically threw a ton of fetishes at the wall and used the ones that stuck. He created the witches as character designs and physical models before any sort of narrative or cast of characters existed. Just pervy anime statues dressed in school/military tops, bottomless other than their panties, with jet engines on their legs, animal ears and tails, and wielding giant fucking guns. You can’t say he wasn’t inspired.

  This concept was eventually adapted into an anime, and they found some strange excuses for all those design quirks. The animal parts? A side effect of their magic, which is completely pointless and requires no further explanations, don’t worry about it. The panties? Oh, wearing pants would get in the way of their jet engines(although tights and leggings are somehow fine) and not only does nobody think to wear shorts, but society has evolved around this to the point that women and girls world-wide just don’t wear anything below the waist other than panties at all anymore. Why all of this, at all? They fight aliens, shut up. Why can’t actual fighter jets do it instead? I SAID SHUT UP! If you’re being nice, you could call this lazy, sloppy world-building. If you’re being a little more blunt, you’d call it fucking stupid. The panties thing is especially strange, because the few older women we see are allowed to wear kimonos, and apparently each witch only has one pair of panties, because war? War never changes. Season three would eventually retcon this rule, which, you know, good.

  Having said all that, things change dramatically from here. The origin of the franchise, and what little brainstorming went into the transition from design to story, sounds like a recipe for disaster, but somehow, it’s at this point where a switch gets flipped, because all of that other bullshit aside, the actual writing and execution of the series is fucking peak. The writers and director took a pound of lemons and made some damn lemonade out of it. First off, the characters are fantastic. Yoshika herself is adorable and intensely likeable without ever creeping into Mary-Sue territory. The other ten main characters are all diverse in terms of physical appearance and personality, as well as in their interactions and relationships with each other, especially with Yoshika. The writers did this really clever trick where the cast outside of Yoshika was split off into pairs, so that when one character received their own featured episode, another character would act as their counterpart, so you could learn about both at the same time.

  The English dub also helped quite a bit, with each individual casting choice being lightning in a bottle. Cherami Leigh plays Yoshika with nothing short of full sincerity, which is good, since she’s playing one of the most sincere protagonists I’ve ever seen. Stephanie Sheh doesn’t usually work for Funimation, but they brought her on to play Trudy Barkhorn, a hardass with a heart of gold, and while the character is a direct contradiction to the roles Sheh usually gets typecast as, she fucking nails it. So many of Funimation’s regulars from the 2000s are featured here, giving some of their best work ever, including Jamie Marchi, Caitlin Glass, Jad Saxton, and even Luci Christian, who manages to show off how much range she has while playing the laziest character in the cast. Jamie Marchi was in charge of the dub, and I don’t usually like her overly slangy “lame aunt trying to sound cool” style of rewrites, but this might be her best work, as she really does manage to add some charm to an otherwise slightly bland sub script.

  The animation is good for the most part, but it is top tier during the action scenes. The absolute highlight of this franchise is the ongoing battle between the witches and their mortal enemy, The Neuroi, a scourge of mysterious alien invader(s?) who take an unpredictably vast array of forms and strategies in order to try and eradicate humanity and destroy our civilization. Not much is ever revealed about the Neuroi, we never find out where it came from or what it wants, but I kind of prefer that, because none of that information actually matters in the grand scheme of things. The Neuroi are just fucking cool. They’re a constant, ever evolving threat that genuinely feels threatening, and the battle sequences between them and the witches are electrifying. Fast paced shot after fast paced shot of the girls flying through the air, dodging laser beams and firing their weapons, figuring out how to defeat each enemy while struggling to survive... Don’t get me wrong, there’s definitely plot armor at play, but you never fully believe that the Neuroi CAN’T kill anyone. The battles are fun, creative and adrenaline-pumping, and up until about season three, they feature a seamless integration of 3D and 2D animation.

  Now you may be asking, why am I describing the franchise in general, when this is a review of the movie? Well, everything I just said also applies to the movie. Despite a change in animation studios, going from Gonzo in season 1 to AIC in season 2 and beyond, the quality is more or less consistent throughout, even in the movie. The dub is still one of the best I’ve ever heard. The animation is still amazing. The pacing is still basically perfect. The origin and how it affects several details of the world is still highly questionable. If I were to describe only what is specific to this movie, it wouldn’t be a very long review. There are only really a few things that set this movie apart from the rest of the franchise. The first is that it takes place between seasons two and three, and it’s about the 501’st joint fighter wing reuniting after completing their mission and dissolving at the end of season 2.

  The second significant detail is how it does this, because just hearing that synopsis, you would think that this movie wouldn’t work at all as a standalone feature, and anyone who’s unfamiliar with the previous material would just be lost. Honestly, though, other than the details that were already really weird and unexplained, it holds up pretty well. Yoshika is introduced in a way that lets you know that she is still just as likeable and sincere as she’s always been, and you’re very quickly either informed or reminded of what she’s all about... Helping people, with or without magic! We also meet a new character named Shizuka, a newer soldier who respects and admires Yoshika from the stories, but becomes disillusioned with how unconventional a soldier Yoshika actually is. This is ironic because a lot of the heroic exploits that Shizuka heard about were the direct result of Yoshika following her heart and disobeying orders, and this was not unintentional. This sets up not only their dynamic throughout the film, but Shizuka’s role in the third season as well.

  At different points during the story, we’re also reintroduced to the rest of the cast, who are still paired up with their counterparts, and hey all get their time to shine, interacting with other, lesser known characters from the wider Strike Witches world, while dealing with a sudden influx of Neroi acting strangely and showing previously unobserved attack patterns and behaviors. They eventually do reunite at the film’s climax, and it’s every bit as triumphant a moment as it’s built up to be. I won’t spoil the specifics, but the whole story is executed well for what it’s trying to accomplish. Now, you may be asking, okay, so this movie may be accessible to newcomers, but why WOULD anyone watch the movie on its own? Well, that leads me to the third significant detail I alluded to earlier; There is no nudity in this movie, whatsoever.

  Look, I painted this franchise as really weird earlier, but I don’t think that’s the most common reason that people avoid it. Strike Witches is well known as an anime that features a ton of fanservice, and it doesn’t just stop at the characters constantly being bottomless... There is detailed, uncensored nudity in the show, and that’s a deal breaker for some people. I’ll personally never understand the idea that fanservice somehow cheapens a story, but it is a matter of taste, and if that’s what’s been keeping you away from Strike Witches, well, the movie might be for you. There are no bath scenes, no hot spring scenes, and everyone remains fully clothed... Except for all the panty shots, which feel more incidental than sexual.

  The most unfortunate thing about Strike Witches is that right from the moment of its conception, it was burdened with a poorly thought out identity, several details of which have weighed it down ever since. A type of original sin, you could call it. These details have formed a glass ceiling that prevents it from ever reaching its true potential. Even The Road to Berlin, which I would call the absolute peak of the franchise, could not fully escape from this. Even its biggest fans can’t justifiably recommend the show without including some huge asterisks. In spite of this, and in spite of its placement chronologically, I would actually recommend the movie as a good starting point for anyone who feels hesitant about venturing into the Strike Witches franchise. It features all the best aspects of the series, condensed into a smaller time slot and not nearly as explicit in content, and it honestly doesn’t spoil anything too badly. Check it out, and see if the franchise is for you.

  I give Strike Witches the Movie an 8/10

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