My brother and I decided to watch Strike Witches. For some reason.
And we’ve decided, also, to subject you all to our experience. Because we’re demonstrably bad at audio, we’ve transcribed and abbreviated our conversations, adding screencaps and links for context.
Thus, for your reading pleasure, here’s our adventure through Strike Witches episode one, with my comments in white, and Otouto-kun’s in lovely #5847ff (i.e. blue). We’re giving you this episode by itself, as the transcription ended up at almost a thousand words; toward the middle of the show, we’ll start doing two episodes per post. We may seem inclined toward complaint here, but, lest you think future posts will sound much like this one, we came to admit, perhaps a third of the way in, that we were buying what Strike Witches was selling.
Well. Most of it, anyway. But we’ll get to all that.
(0:28) It’s District 9…the anime!
(0:31) It’s Independence Day.
(0:43) Oh great, it’s the second half of Gurren Lagann.
(0:45) Hey, good, it’s the good part.
(1:09) So, it’s M.A.S.K., then. With magical girls.
(1:55) Well, they didn’t really fuck around, as far as getting into the plot goes.
(2:00) Yeah, no kidding.
(2:02) I cannot fathom how this is going to be good. Like, I can’t even imagine.
(2:09) The war on pants!
(2:23) Really? Is that a necessity?
(2:31) Of course.
(2:32) No, don’t say that.
(2:36) Why, because nobody said “take over the world?” I can’t say “of course” yet?
(2:43) No, I’m saying, don’t say that, because I don’t want that to be a necessity.
(2:50) The amazing thing to me is, it seems like they don’t wear pants on a daily basis. It doesn’t even matter whether they have their mecha-pants on.
(3:07) “Red Leader, this is Red Two. Going in.” “Alright, right behind you, Red Leader.” “…They came from…behind!”
(3:22) You almost have to have a lot of respect for the creators. Because this is a fanservice show, and they don’t give a shit. They don’t care at all. They’re not ashamed.
(4:39) I just don’t…what is this? What are we doing? What are we doing here?
(4:58) Watching softcore porn?
(5:01) Oh, no, nothing like that has happened yet.
(5:05) I’m sure it will.
(5:07) No, I doubt it. I really doubt it. It’s just some loli fanservice.
(5:36) Maybe it’ll have really good action sequences, or something.
(5:47) I mean, I knew what this was going into it. I didn’t really have any illusions.
(5:57) I just don’t understand why they insist on not wearing pants.
(6:01) It’s dress code. Which makes you wonder, who came up with the dress code?
(7:18) Tousaka! You have to carry on the family name!
(8:01) Where would one get a picture like that?
(8:14) She’s my favorite character, by the way.
(8:16) Eyepatch?
(8:17) The one with the eyepatch.
(8:21) Weird eyepatch fetish.
(8:34) She’s dead, show’s over.
(8:37) Oh shit.
(8:40) I didn’t mean it!
(8:47) “Thanks, Cleric.”
(8:55) So they’re secretly foxes? They’re fox spirits?
(9:09) You know, I just don’t feel like it would be such a bad thing if you couldn’t control a cure. “Oops, I accidentally cast curaga. You’re fucking dead.”
(9:44) That was not much of a bandage.
(9:50) I guess she just cut her nipple, or…something.
(10:05) You know how you know this show is going to be just classic? Because the old lady is moe.
(10:45) “Unfortunately I left the house this morning without my pants on.”
(10:55) Hey, they have to find some way to cheer up the crowd, with all this fighting going on.
(11:02) What fighting? We’ve seen about thirty seconds of fighting.
(11:11) I imagine there’s a lot of fighting. I don’t know.
(11:15) Well, the brief introduction to the setting in the beginning would suggest that.
(11:46) I would’ve liked to see the old lady in bloomers, too. It’s only fair.
(12:48) Oh, great. “Lord British needs you!”
(13:29) That just looks awkward. It doesn’t even look good.
(13:33) I know. It looks like a Navy coat, and then…and then bloomers. It’s just bizarre.
(14:01) I don’t like the gender segregation here. I feel like men should also wear no pants. You know? They should wear Speedos.
(14:28) “Through the moongate!”
(14:33) “Hey, can we get a gate over here?”
(14:43) You’re making me remember standing at the Moonglow bank, looking for a gate to the bone knight room. …You have no idea what I’m talking about. But someone will.
(15:13) I would’ve liked to have gotten to know the mom and the grandmother a little. It’s just that we have a plot that’s going at about mach three here.
(15:30) Well, think of it like King Gainer.
(15:36) I think it makes a little more sense than the beginning of King Gainer.
(16:11) “Allow me to be your healer!”
(16:24) “No problem…/invite”
(16:49) So…how much of the yuri do you think we’re going to see in this?
(17:01) I was going to say earlier that there should be more.
(17:04) There should be more? It just started! What do you want?
(17:19) How much do I think we’ll see? Hopefully a lot.
(17:24) “Hopefully a lot.” That’s…the whole internet’s going to know.
(17:45) Would you call this magic…or SCIENCE? Both?
(17:52) I would say it’s a mix. Magical science.
(18:51) And we have our name, ladies and gentlemen!
(18:53) Yeah, there’s the title drop.
(19:02) “Wait a second, so you’re telling me my father is the one who decided that we should send preteen girls out to quite possibly die for their country?”
(19:27) More importantly — so her dad is the one who decided that they all have to wear bloomers, and no pants? “Goddammit, Dad. Goddammit.”
(20:43) At least she wears a dress.
(20:45) Yeah, she’s got lower body clothes. That’s good.
(21:09) They should’ve known. The enemy always interrupts the conversation about when the writer couldn’t really sustain it any longer. Right when it would become awkward. That’s when the attack happens.
(21:28) I really think it’s cheap when a character has an eyepatch, but actually has an eye underneath.
(21:40) Boom. Ah, story’s over.
(21:47) They need an AT field. Some Minovsky particles.
(21:55) Strike Witches, ASSEMBLE!
(22:35) So. I think that my initial impression is, “What the hell am I watching? And why?”
(22:46) Couldn’t tell you.
(23:18) So…am I gay if I kind of want there to be a trap? Does that make me gay?
(23:27) No.
(23:28) It doesn’t? Why?
(23:33) If there’s one trap, there are plenty of other characters who aren’t traps.
(23:38) Hey, flawless logic is flawless!
(23:40) There you go.
Curagas are srs business, overhealing means DEATH
This is awesome, makes me wish I had someone to watch these stuff and laugh about.
Strike Witches is like a guilty pleasure, its enjoyable but you’ll never tell anyone you are watching it XD.
If your mecha wasn’t designed by your father, you’re doing it wrong.
“(3:22): You almost have to have a lot of respect for the creators. Because this is a fanservice show, and they don’t give a shit. They don’t care at all. They’re not ashamed.”
This is the only correct attitude towards Strike Witches. But it’s like inverse respect, or something.
The way I phrased it is that you can’t exactly tell the difference between laughing at and laughing with the series, because they’re both laughing at the exact same things.
@Nazarielle
I suppose it could lead to the death of your party, if you run out of MP prematurely…that should’ve been the plot of a later episode.
@dood
I wonder what it says about us that we are admitting to watching it, and at great length o.O
@IKnight
Maybe season two will have a Kamille Bidan scenario: dissatisfied with her dad’s design, Miyafuji will design her own mecha leggings — not because she’s had any training that enables her to do so, but out of newtype magic and uncontrollable RAEG.
@OGT
Yes. Like respect, but…not.
I think we came to the conclusion that, as long as we were laughing, then, well…laughter is laughter. I’ve wondered at certain points whether it might’ve been better to watch the show alone, without the distraction of poking fun at every little thing, but now that we’ve finished, I really don’t think so, except where one or two episodes are concerned.
I fuckin lol’d, good stuff – I can maybe tolerate Strike Witches posts from people who don’t like the show if they are written like this~
Haha…the thing is, we don’t even dislike it. We hadn’t really made a judgment one way or the other at this point. But one thing that inevitably comes through in these informal conversations is that I hold nothing sacred; I’m even willing to make fun of those shows I enshrine, worship, and sacrifice goats to.
I think the thing is, everyone knows that Strike Witches is just about seeing cute lolis fly around in their panties, wielding guns and having animal ears/tails. If you can accept that and don’t mind that premise, then you’ll have fun with it. If you’re deeply offended by fanservice, well, you’re gonna have trouble with it.
@Pontifus
Yeah, that was one of the weirdest bits about Strike Witches: there were parts that I thought were honestly well-done (not spectacular, but definitely more than my meager expectations had prepped me for) that just got sabotaged by the fanservice element. Which puts the whole thing in a weird Catch-22: ditch the fanservice and have a decent if unmemorable series (unless Gonzo felt like hiring someone who could write), or have the fanservice and risk breaking dramatic tension for ogling, thereby trivializing your own work.