Strike Witches 2
ストライクウィッチーズ 2
Six months have passed since the victorious Battle of Britannia and the reclamation of Gallia from Neuroi invaders. Yoshika Miyafuji, member of the famed 501st Joint Fighter Wing, has come back home to Fuso and graduated from middle school. However, her fight is far from over. She receives a letter supposedly sent by her long-deceased father, containing blueprints of a state-of-the-art Striker Unit he had been working on before his death. The Unit, designed specifically for Yoshika, might be capable of harnessing her extraordinary magical powers. Meanwhile, a new threat in Europe is rising. A Neuroi nest of an unprecedented size and might has appeared over Venezia, wiping out local Witch forces and instantly swallowing the northern part of the country. To make matters worse, a newly spotted humanoid type of Neuroi is attempting to come into contact with humans. Yoshika, incapable of abandoning her friends on the front lines, must once again venture to the war-torn continent. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Synopsis
Six months have passed since the victorious Battle of Britannia and the reclamation of Gallia from Neuroi invaders. Yoshika Miyafuji, member of the famed 501st Joint Fighter Wing, has come back home to Fuso and graduated from middle school. However, her fight is far from over. She receives a letter supposedly sent by her long-deceased father, containing blueprints of a state-of-the-art Striker Unit he had been working on before his death. The Unit, designed specifically for Yoshika, might be capable of harnessing her extraordinary magical powers. Meanwhile, a new threat in Europe is rising. A Neuroi nest of an unprecedented size and might has appeared over Venezia, wiping out local Witch forces and instantly swallowing the northern part of the country. To make matters worse, a newly spotted humanoid type of Neuroi is attempting to come into contact with humans. Yoshika, incapable of abandoning her friends on the front lines, must once again venture to the war-torn continent. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
Characters
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Trailer
Recommendations
Reviews(15)
Skadi
September 22, 2010
Our favorite flying witches are back to liberate Europe from the Neuroi scourge! Without wearing any pants. For those of us who saw the original Strike Witches (or Pantsu Witches as I like to say) anime you had to know what you were going to be in store for. A lot of fan service, cute girls, and panty shots. But a funny thing happened with this over the top and gratuitous ecchi anime, it’s a hell of a lot of fun to watch! Much like the original, Strike Witches 2 features a plot you could have written out on a cocktail napkin.The fight against the Neuroi continues, this time moving on to Romagna, which is the real world analog of Italy. The girls of the 501st Fighter wing are reformed to battle the Neuroi presence. Happily, especially early in the series the action is really ramped up. But what is likely to disappoint is the lack of any development of the enemy. None of the important events of the first series were carried over and the Neuroi returned to being a faceless and unthinking enemy. I was also disappointed that nothing new was explained about the disappearance of Miyafugi's father. The series does climax with an epic battle, culminating with the use of a special magical attack that is pretty much the only reoccurring plot element over the course of the show. Despite the lack of any substantive plot however, the series does shine over each episode. Instead of a story, the episodes focus on building the characters of our various heroines. New witches are brought into the fold, the most interesting being Barkhorn's countryman and rival Mariselle. The episodes range from being the usual comedic silliness to light drama and quite a bit more yuri undertones than in the previous series. As expected the ecchi content is extremely high, so if that annoys you then this really isn’t your show. Much like the first season, the forthcoming DVDs will be featuring a bounty of boobs and booty, unblocked by the TV versions convenient sunbeams and steam clouds. Though as pervy as it is, for me it seemed much less exploitive and in your face as it did previously. So those who might be on the fence might be relieved to know that the series doesn’t revolve around seeing some underage girls panties, you just happened to see them a lot. As with the original, SW2 features its unique mix of World War 2 history with all of the magic and witchcraft. Fans of military history will be delighted to see the attention to detail paid to the designs of all the various nations’ naval ships and right down to the aviation correlations with the witches Striker Units and the weapons they carry into battle. I am by no means an authority but I can tell the amount of research and attention to detail the production staff went to in order to have each of the girls use nation specific weaponry and unit names. Because of the weakness of the main story, what really carries the series is its wonderful cast. While the cast is quite large and it’s really impossible to do justice to all of the girls, SW2 does a pretty good job at trying. Obviously you will get far more out of this series if you already have the familiarity with them that comes with seeing the first season. For the most part each girl or pairing gets their own episode to build on their characters. I found some characters that I didn’t particularly care for previously, such as Perrine, were much more fun and likable this time around. Though others like Lucchini remained annoying. As I mentioned earlier, more time was spent developing some yuri relationships between several of the characters. Though it’s nothing particularly significant, fans of that sort of thing are sure to be pleased. Visually the art and animation is quite stunning. For me other than the pure fun I had watching it this was the best element of series. The girls are extremely cute and appealing and since we see so much of them in their birthday suits they are also realistically proportioned. The series combat scenes are exciting and chalk full of a combination of conventional battle and magical effects. The detail of the various backgrounds which feature many famous Italian landmarks and the countryside. Everything from the naval and military forces down to the ammo clips on the weapons has a very authentic feel to them. The music really sets the tone for each episode. The upbeat OP performed by Youko Ishida pumped me up for the fun that proceeded after. The ED theme is similarly enthusiastic and changes up week by week as it is performed by different members of the cast. The background music also enhances the series many battle scenes. The seiyuu cast is strong and full of many of the industry’s top talents. I loved this series enormously and I am going to be very sad to see it go away. Despite all the things about this show that should make every ounce of my feminist being burst into flames, Strike Witches was just really fun. Everything it lacks in substance (and clothing) is more than made up in sheer entertainment value. Turn off your brain and smile a little and I think you will enjoy it as much as I did.
