Strike Witches: Winning the War on Pants!

They fly, too They fly, too

They say that you should write about what you love. By that reasoning, it's clear that Humikane Shimada loves cute girls, nekomimi, panty shots, big guns and WWII-era fighter planes. He threw them all together by creating a series of anthropomorphized fighters from World War II. Basically, he drew girls with airplanes on their legs. Somehow, that little exercise in fanboy indulgence turned into two light novels, two anime series, two manga series, a video game, and a nice stream of income for Shimada. Fortunately, Funimation recognized a cash cow when the saw it and licensed it for release in North America. It's out now and I've seen it. I figured I'd like it before even seeing it, since I happen to like cute girls, nekomimi, panty shots, big guns and WWII-era fighter aircraft, too. I just didn't figure I'd like it this much.

The story is an alternative history of World War II. The year is 1944 and the world is at war. But not with each other. Humanity is united to fight an alien invasion. The Neuroi arrived in 1939 and have taken over a great part of the world, driving people out of the cities and laying them waste. One such hive of the Neuroi is centered over Europe. There is only one thing that can beat the Neuroi, and that's witches: girls with great magical abilities. Wearing striker units on their legs, they can fly through the air and fight the Neuroi. Oh, there's one other change from our world: Women don't wear pants, or skirts or anything else except their underwear. That's just the way it is. And I couldn't be happier.

The main character is Yoshika Miyafuji, a teenaged girl from the Fuso Empire (Japan). Mio Sakamoto, a stern but beautiful military officer at the ripe age of 19 recruits her to join the 501st Jointer Fighter Group, based in Britannia (England). Yoshika meets and befriends the other members of the 501st. There's Lynette Bishop. the buxom but insecure girl from Britannia. There are the three girls from Karlsland (Germany): the strong-willed commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke, the easy-going and unflappable Erica Hartmann, and the powerfully strong Gertrud Barkhorn. There's also the elegant and imperious Perrine-H. Clostermann from Gallia (France), the playful and feline Francesca Lucchini from the Duchy of Romana (Italy), the impressively endowed speed demon Charlotte E. Yeager from the United States of Liberion (USA), the fortune-telling Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen from Suomus (Finland), and the silent but cute Sanya V. Litvyak of the Orussian Empire (Russia).

I was expecting plenty of panty-shots, and the show didn't disappoint, but I was surprised by the amount of nudity as well. That's not a complaint. Personally, I think there needs to be more cute naked girls in anime. The other things I wasn't expecting was the amount of character development. I was expecting fanservice and not much else. But the show delivered a compelling story and some characters with depth who grew and changed over the course of the 12 episodes.

Of course with this many girls, there's got to be some yuri, and this show has plenty of it. There are two couples already when the show begins. Charlotte and Francesca are always together, as well as Eila and Sanya. Perrine has a big crush on Mio which is obvious to everyone except Mio. In fact, Mio seems to be the big prize in this show, since there's also the close friendship between her and Yoshika, as well as the close relationship between Minna and Mio. But to complicate things, Yoshika's closest friend among the Strike Witches is Lynette. Lynette has a prickly relationship with Perinne, the tsundere of the show. Finally, there is Erica and Gertrud, the Karlsland countrywomen who spend quite a bit of time together.

The "no pants" thing is complete gratuitous, but I don't care. It means there are lots of great legs all the time, so I don't mind at all. You can argue that they shouldn't be able to fly at all, since the striker units only provide thrust, not lift. They're witches. They use magic. Don't let it bother you. None of that is important in the face of so much gorgeousness. The English dub from Funimation is above par. In fact, the surprising casting of Kira Vincent-Davis from Houston and Stephanie Sheh from Los Angeles as Mio and Gertrud respectively was brilliant and perfect. Everyone else in the show was well cast, well directed and well acted. And if you prefer it in it's original Japanese, there's nothing to worry about there, either. It's loaded with A-list seiyuu like Rie Tanaka and Chiwa Saito.

Down below, I've provided a several hi-res images of official art that's appeared in Megami and Nyantype magazines. Enjoy.