The war on pants continues! After its theatrical release in Japan earlier this year, was quite the wait until the BluRay/DVD but was finally able to watch “Strike Witches The Movie” , the next anime installment of the “ストライクウィッチーズ” franchise.
Originally created by Shimada Humikane, “Strike Witches” has already spawned several light novel series, manga, video games, an OVA and two full anime seasons.
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Really enjoyed both seasons of the anime that featured a terrific mix of military aerial combat action, science fiction, humor and fanservice. The fanservice of course being the emphasis on all the cute girls and their shenanigans as they go about their mission to save the world from the Neurio invasion.
Having long accepted the main premise of “Strike Witches”, including the fact women do not wear pants or skirts in their world, the various plot holes and other oddities about their common enemy, the Neurio, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the movie!
Those of you who enjoyed the anime will surely enjoy the movie too as it contains everything the anime series had, it even manages to squeeze in a few slice-of-life and heart warming moments in between all the action.
The movie really feels like watching the series itself, the atmosphere, animation, character design are wholly consistent with the previous anime installments, no doubt thanks to the fact studio AIC and animation character designer Takamura Kazuhiro also worked on the anime.
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To follow the plot of the movie you do need to have watched the anime as it picks up where the last episode of the second season left off, after the liberation of Venezia, the witches of the 501st scatter into separate squadrons to continue the war.
Having lost her witch powers, Yoshika returned to her homeland, intent on becoming a doctor. Invited to study at a prestigious academy abroad, Yoshika is escorted by Shizuka, a serious, dutiful young girl from a family with a long military history.
Always having idolized Yoshika, Shizuka is distraught to discover Yoshika is nothing like she had imagined, their characters are near polar opposites which leads to many interesting and funny scenes. While not a novel ploy, such a scenario fits the overall mood of “Strike Witches” just fine and leads to plenty of cute scenes with a flustered or bewildered Shizuka.
Of course, the movie ends well, with Yoshika regaining her powers and the latest Neurio threat defeated. With the main Neurio hives still out there, I reckon the manga, light novels will continue the story or perhaps we will even get a new anime.
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No doubt those who are more well versed into Strike Witches lore, who read the manga or light novels, may appreciate the movie even more thanks to the many cameos of witches from other media installments, like Heidemarie.
The voice cast from the second anime season all reprise their roles. New witch Shizuka is voiced by Uchida Aya, who also voiced Kaede in “Yuru Yuri”, Hina in “Recorder to Randoseru” and Ascoeur in “Kiddy Girl-and”.
Bespectacled Heidemarie is voiced by Ueda Kana, she previously voiced Saki in “Saki”, Yumi in “Maria-sama ga Miteru”, Sakuya in “Hayate no Gotoku!” and Rin in “Fate/stay night”.
Adored “Strike Witches The Movie” and I hope to see more such anime of this franchise in the future!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
