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REVIEW: Strike Witches

I'm in the camp of people who thought it was a fun watch but probably would never watch it again (maybe when the new season airs) and am surprised and cannot agree with the A- rating. I have little interest in talking pantsu, it's silly and excessive but hey, the first iteration of this concept were simply illustrations, right? SOme guy who said, "wouldn't it be neat to have a cute girl waering skimpy clothing in jet boots holding a big gun?" Why are they in panties? because it's neat.

I figure the reason Richard rates it as high as he did is because he has the obvious appreciation for the fighter pilot references and he can probably even identify which planes each of the girls anthropomorphize. I have no interest in that. The closest thing I had to appreciating that factor was Yeager's episode. The only girl whose name I recognized.

I believe I rated it "decent", almost considered rating good but no, it deserves it's spot.

I simply think the story is lacking, stuff just doesn't make sense... even aside from "the panty issue" (new indie rock band name there- pick it up while it's available). Maybe it would be all right to leave some of it a mystery for the purpose of universe/franchise building, but too much was left unexplained. As a self contained story this fails.

First of all I have never been able to understand why people just accept the "unexplainable aliens/bugs/angels that attack out of nowhere with ever adapting variation and are never explained" story. Any show that features this all too frequently used device deserves an immediate grade lowering in my opinion. From Evangelion, to Blue Gender to Dai-Guard , Godannar and etc.. In this show when spoiler[the one(s) tried to communicate] I thought for a moment this one might try to redeem itself, but no, they retreated from that. This part of the show also used the annoying device of the alien tech being used by the allied forces with predictable results, but we don't know how they got it, what any of that techno-mumble was or why what happened happened.

And then there is the time-line, age and maturation problem. It started in '39 right? The "present" is '44? But the oldest girl is the Major at 20 years old, right? So, the flashbacks of a couple of the girls then become an issue. The girls in the flashbacks seem to be as mature as they are in the present, but they apparently happened long enough ago that they are old issues for them. You have a girl that was having some sort of deep romantic relation at some point in the past but she's not older than 19 at the present, another girl's sister spoiler[ has been in a coma for so long that she seems to have lost hope for recovery] , yet seems she's the same age in flashbacks as her already young age. And our main character's age makes no sense, her father left when she was about to enter elementary school, died when she 10 and turns 15 during the run of the show- fit that one in there, I guess he was working on it before the '39 war started, because they had been around before that. I guess that makes some sense with the Major's age, in the picture she's in with the girl's father she looks to be 12 or 13 years old.

spoiler[And does the defeat of a single hive in "Galia" really mean the war is over? Or just for the show's purposes?]

So we have a collection of unanswered questions. It sounds like I'm trashing it, but hey, "decent" is still a positive rating. The outfit is neat-o, the girls are cute, the personalities are likable, the fight scenes aren't bad, the humor is pleasant and while occasionally naughty- not outrageous. Maybe the second season will answer some questions, maybe it will get better- or maybe it will be another pleasantly "decent" season.

But I hold that it currently doesn't deserve an A-. And imagine if the second season IS better... There's no wiggle room, it'll have to be a straight "A"? that's just not right.