Strike Witches – Complete First Season (Blu-ray/DVD Combo) by Funimation Prod

Actors

• Jamie Marchi
• Trina Nishimura
• Cherami Leigh

Format

• Animated
• Widescreen
• Subtitled

Editorial Review

The fan service sci-fi adventure Strike Witches (2008) blends magical girl and mecha elements. In a fictionalized 1944, the people of Earth are fighting aliens called Neuroi, who appear as oddly shaped vehicles. The members of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, the Strike Witches, constitute the only effective weapon against the Neuroi. Teenage girls with supernatural powers fly in propeller boots to attack alien ships in midair. Yoshika Miyafuji, a young witch with special healing abilities, reluctantly joins the 501st but soon becomes the heart of the squadron. Predictably, she manifests uncanny abilities and bravely takes out the most threatening Neuroi, despite her klutziness and pacifist beliefs. The first eight episodes of Strike Witches consist of battle scenes, inane dialogue, jokes about breast size, and fan service panty shots. The uniform of the 501st consists of a jacket with no skirt or pants, so everyone's undies are on display–when the cast isn't frolicking in the sauna or bath. The fragmentary plot shifts bizarrely in episode nine: Are the Neuroi trying to befriend Miyafuji? Is the real enemy an unscrupulous general covertly using stolen alien technology? Despite its overwhelming silliness, Strike Witches spawned a second broadcast season, a theatrical feature, and an OAV–apparently audiences can't enough of kawaii girls in cats' ears and frilly panties. (Rated TV MA: violence, violence against women, risqué humor, nudity) –Charles Solomon

(1. Magical Girl, 2. That Which I Can Do, 3. You're Not Alone, 4. Thanks, 5. Fast, Big, Soft, 6. We're the Same, 7. Nice and Breezy, 8. I Won't Forget You, 9. What I Want to Protect, 10. I Want You to Believe, 11. Into the Sky, 12. Strike Witches)