Brave Witches

Episode 5

On numerous occasions in the franchise, the Witches have had to get at least a little clever in order to contend with a difficult opponent. In this case, they have to get quite resourceful too. That makes for an entertaining if also still rather ordinary episode.

It's rather ordinary because it continues the standard pattern of the franchise's earlier entries: keep the protagonist integrally involved in events while shifting the focus to different girls in each episode. This time around, those girls are Sadako (the short-haired brunette who likes to cook) and Georgette (the shy girl), and the task is a reconnaissance patrol of possible Neuroi activity near a lake to the north of the base, which is assigned to the other girls as their main task and to Hikari as a training flight. Sadako's cooking proclivity has been brought up before, but it gets much more emphasis here, especially when it's revealed that she's apparently one of the few girls at the base (or perhaps the only one?) who can cook well. That's ironic since her main problem is undervaluing her worth to the unit, which she thinks can only be measured in terms of fighting Neuroi. Sadly, the episode doesn't play the angle of emphasizing that someone who can cook well is always invaluable to a unit, but instead feels compelled to show that she also has a lot of practical science-related knowledge, such as knowing what will burn even when wet, how to make explosive arrows using tank shells, or how to best tackle an opponent whose main weapon is cold. And of course, clairvoyance is always valuable in a military endeavor.

Georgette gets her turn too. Her main flaw is timidity and her talent is cleaning, which is useful but not as crucial as cooking. Being the team's healer secures her worth, but the way that a side effect of her healing – she gets hot in a literal sense – is put to good use in unfreezing equipment is a neat touch, as is the way that Hikari creates a situation where she can use that side effect at an opportune time. She ultimately gets less attention than Sadako, though. Meanwhile, Hikari is entirely relegated to being a supporting player, and Naoe's tsundere tendencies continue to show. Seeing Rossman uncharacteristically flustered by the food situation was neat, though.

The other key component is, of course, the new Neuroi type. I don't believe we've seen one that can generate cold before, so this could have long-term implications. Furthermore, its use of the cold to generate a blizzard – which would definitely hamper the Witches – is a more creative new tactic that could be tough to reckon with going forward. The way it generated the cold is pretty neat too, as it doesn't rely on the standard freeze ray. On the downside, why did anyone assume that a lake would have to be frozen for the Neuroi to advance? That would be true for ground tactics, but the Neuroi can fly, so it's irrelevant. And why didn't the Neuroi press its attack on the base, unless its role was just to provide cover? There seemed to be a conveniently big time lapse while the Witches out on patrol recovered and made their preparations. At least the animation of everything is still good, and the episode found its excuse to insert some mild fanservice with the old “strip down to share body warmth” trick.

Eventually this series will aim for something more dramatic, but for now it seems content to meander along and focus on character development. For a series like this though, that's not such a bad thing.

Rating: B

Brave Witches is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.