Strike Witches movie discussion thread (Spoilers)

[William K]

Minor spoilers within so do not proceed until you've watched it


Dear screenwriters,

We know that Yoshika is the main heroine who is selfless and probably indestructible, so there is no need to show her risking her life repeatedly saving little puppies, injured shipmen and innocent Gallian villagers. The part where she goes up against and defeats a Neuroi with nothing but a machine gun and a jeep pushes the credulity to the limit.

(Takes a deep breath)

Ok, now that that is done with, this was bloody fantastic. Just what a fan would want a Strike Witches movie to be. They could have gone with any plot as long as it brought our favourite Witches back together, but the idea that the Neuroi would launch a surprise counter-attack and use signal jamming is a reasonable one. Although the timing is a bit off, I think this was meant to be a re-creation of the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Counteroffensive). The one thing they did better than the TV series was that they kept it simple with Witches = good, and Neuroi = evil. There was no negotiating with the Neuroi or stupid human generals who think they can win the War without the help of Witches.

The sub-plot involved Yoshika going to Helvetia to study medicine and being escorted by new character Hattori Shizuka (voiced by Uchida Aya, Kiddy Girl-and's Ascouer), a young Witch who looks up to Yoshika as a great Fuso hero. Hattori is a straight-as-an-arrow type who is disappointed that Yoshika is not what she expected and keep lecturing her on how to be an officer. This leads to a funny scene where Yoshika wonders if this is what Erica feels like being lectured by Barkhorn. I didn't find Hattori's story that compelling, though it did lead to a great scene during their brief sojourn to Perrine's estate in Gallia. Besides Yoshika, Perrine is probably the one who got the most back-story in the series and the one who changed the most. It was wonderful to see her (with the help of Lynne) rebuild her home and take care of the orphans of the War. The rest of the 501st got their brief share of the screentime with Sanya and Eila possibly getting the least, but they had a flying while holding hands scene to remind everyone who the loveliest couple in the series are.

AIC did well with the bigger movie budget and the 3DCG were well done. The background art was lovely, depicting Venezia and the Gallian countryside. The sound effects were also good, with cannon fire loud enough that the first scene gave me an unexpected shock. The movie was more action-oriented than the TV series, and there were a couple of good solo fights against Neuroi before the grand finale. My favourite was how Erica one-shot a Neuroi with her Sturm. There were also comedic moments from Yoshika and the bear, and Shirley and Lucchini gondola racing with the 504th Red Pants. The part that made me laugh the loudest though was where Barkhorn went from nonchalance to gung-ho when she found out her "imouto" Yoshika was in danger which leads to Minna and Erica teasing her about it.

Lots of cameos from other Witches in the franchise, but the one who got the most screentime besides Hattori was Heidemarie Schnaufer (voiced by Ueda Kana). I like her as she's badass enough to take down a medium Neuroi by herself and also took part in the final battle. Hope she gets to join the 501st in the future since there are hints that she enjoys being under Minna She's got the same radar ability as Sanya but the 501st are a woman short with Mio definitely no longer having magic, and Heidemarie is a major too so she can be 2nd in command. With the campaign moving to liberating Karsland, having another Karsland witch in the unit is logical.

Speaking of sequels, Minna herself declares the 501st re-formed at the end of the movie and as she explained, there are 3 Neuroi Hives still in Europe, and the fight is not over. Not sure if the movie did well enough at the box-office to be considered a hit, but the BD/DVD sales look to be good enough. Where is the 3rd season announcement?

Since this started with a negative note, I'll end with one too. The other thing I have to quibble about is the pantyshots. That's what made the show famous, but really they just over-did it during the battle scenes and was distracting. The show is good enough to stand with minimal crotch shots.

[Fencedude]

Miyafuji Yoshika: Total Badass

Yes, it was ridiculous, but also completely and totally awesome.

The movie was epic from start to finish, and I hope we get a third season soon. Also SUOMUS MISFITS SPINOFF WHEN!?

[Nikopol]

Great review, William.

Huge SW fan here and yes, the movie was a blast. I actually forgot about the "tbc" part (which i read a few month ago) and was wondering about 3/4 through, "hey it's almost finished and all they're doing is exposition and getting the crew back together, oh man, they will rush the ending of the movie!"

Towards the end i couldn't help but think of Matrix Revolutions with the Noiroi swarms and the digging machines. LOL

And yeah, i loved Yoshika being bad-ass. And that she could hardly lift the MG, when she didn't have her powers.

[something]

Strike Witches Movie

- Wait, were there land-based Neuroi before? Someone call SoraWoro and GirlPan! We need backup!
- FUCK YEAH 501ST! I missed you so much.

- Hahah, that zoom in on the crotch. Never change, Strike Witches.
- And I finally get to see animated some of these millions of SW girls I've seen fanart of but know nothing about. First up, Heidemarie W. Schnaufer!
- Pretty awesome, Heidemarie.

- Micchan! And Yoshika rides bears. Because she's Yoshika.
- Hahaha, Shizuka is such a fangirl. She's so flustered steam is even coming out of her strikers.
- And it's off to Europe again for Yoshika, just like that. Micchan is left behind once again. ;_;

- LUCCHINIIIIIIIIII! And did someone mention speed? Someone definitely mentioned speed. Shirley is all ears.
- I hear Mizuhashi Kaori (as Martina). And hahahha, Hirohashi Ryou rowing a gondola. Gee that feels familiar for some reason.
- Lucchini and Shirley. Still the best Strike Witches couple.
- And oh god Lucchini's butt is <3
- Neuroi! Lucchini immediately goes into serious mode. And this is a great dogfight. Man, if this is just what we're getting 20 minutes in the climax is going to be amazing.
- Hah, nice plan from Fernandia. So between these two fights, we have the Neuroi developing some serious stealth.

- Legs. Butts. So many legs and butts in this movie. I love them all.
- Damn Shizuka has it bad. Sorry, Yoshika belongs to Lynne. Or at least Micchan, since the show did kinda sorta ship Lynne x Perrine a little.
- Heh. Shizuka is much too upright for Yoshika though.
- "Now I know how Hartmann-san feels when Barkhorn-san lectures her." Hahahah, that sounds about right.

- Iceberg attacks. Yoshika to the rescue! But man... Yoshika, go have sex with Shizuka. she needs to chill.

- AHHHHHHH! Lynne! And oh my god she just tackles Yoshika and rolls around with her on the ground. <3
- "I just couldn't wait to see your boo-- you again!" (is totally what Yoshika was thinking)
- And Perinneeeeeeeeeee! Please please give us a Sawashiro growl at some point.
- While I ship Yoshika x Lynne, I still really like the idea of Lynne and Perrine working together in Gallia. They're cute together too, in a weird way.
- Perrine is just the most wonderfully nice and awesome person ever.
- Yay Amelie Planchard.

- Cooking. Shizuka would rather face Neuroi.
- Miso soup fail.
- Seriously. Perrine. Such a good person. <3

- Eila and Sanya! Finally!
- Why hello there Nipa. Man, if Yoshika ever meets her she's going to be a very happy oppai hunter.

- Lynne's gift didn't last long. =/
- Goddamn Shizuka, it's been an hour almost, mellow out.

- Minna~
- Bwhahahaha, Erica know how to get Trude motivated. "Your not-imouto is in danger!"
- And another cool fight. Erica is so badass for someone who just doesnt give a damn about anything. Chocolate is far more exciting to her than a fight to the death.
- Hahah, Erica is chocolate powered.
- Wtf she melee-d a neuroi.

- Ah, Shizuka is unblooded. But she's doing pretty well for her first figh-- oh. Well, not when a real neuroi shows up.
- I saw Yoshika looking at that gun and thought "Can she even pick that up without magic?" And the answer is, barely. I'm sure she'll get her powers back before the end of this, though there's only 20 minutes left (man this feel short after so many 2+ hour movies lately).
- That nosebleed. Yoshika, you're in the middle of a battle, stop thinking about Lynne's breasts.
- Owwwwww. That first bounce after Yoshika hits the ground (after destroying the neuroi) was right on her head. That had to hurt.
- This movie has some painful looking blood spatter.

- Getting near the end. Can't wait for everyone to converge and kick ass together again.
- ...I'd forgotten all about Mio. Ahaha she's going to go out in a fighter and it's going to be awesome.
- And there's Yoshika's powers returned.
- AHAHAHA Mio is crazy.
- And everyone is reunited! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
- Shirley x Lucchini GATTAI!
- Hahaha she brought Lynne along too.
- Nice shot, Perrine. You allowed flying lesbian witches to have an emotional reunion in the sky.

That was AWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEESOOOOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE E~

And holy shit this ED song is incredible, I am importing the hell out of that.

TSU-ZU-KU!

[something]

Originally Posted by William K

We know that Yoshika is the main heroine who is selfless and probably indestructible, so there is no need to show her risking her life repeatedly saving little puppies, injured shipmen and innocent Gallian villagers. The part where she goes up against and defeats a Neuroi with nothing but a machine gun and a jeep pushes the credulity to the limit.

They did overdo that a bit, but since the movie spreads the ass kicking out very very generously (virtually everyone gets to be awesome), and doesn't make it all Yoshika all the time, and had others save Yoshika's butt more than once, I was okay with it. I sure with certain other shows could learn from this example...

Not sure if the movie did well enough at the box-office to be considered a hit, but the BD/DVD sales look to be good enough.

The box office (¥163,924,003 last time it ranked, week 4) is likely good enough for a franchise with absolutely positively no appeal outside the hardcore otaku base that only ever showed on 18 screens nationwide (very limited distribution). And the DVD/BD sales (39,433 after 3 weeks) are hardly challenging Nanoha or Haruhi or K-ON!, but are nonetheless 3x the TV series' average, which is respectable. Of course, merchandise sales probably dwarf both of those and are the real ¥-maker.

[HitokiriShadow]

I'm pretty sure the subtitle for this movie is "Erica Hartmann and Miyafuji are Total Badasses".

Holy shit, Erica took one out with her bare hands and Yoshika defeats one without a Striker unit or any magic at all. Oh, and then she blows up a few hundred of them simply by releasing her magic power.

Also really enjoyed Yoshika and Shizuka visiting Perrine's place, because you could really see that Perrine has grown and matured a LOT since the TV series.

I was pretty meh on the franchise before (liked a few of the characters like Hartmann, Francesca, Sanya and Eila, didn't care much for most of the rest, episodes were very hit and miss, plot was mediocre at best) but I'm looking forward to a third season (or another movie) a lot more now. Seeing "tsuzugi" at the end actually made me happy.

[HitokiriShadow]

Originally Posted by something

(man this feel short after so many 2+ hour movies lately).

I think this is the only movie I've seen all year, anime and live action (and I've seen an unusually [relatively] large number of the latter this year), that was under two hours. Most were closer to 3 than 2. I still took over 2 hours to watch it though!

[Damius]

Originally Posted by something

That was AWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEESOOOOOOOOOOMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE E~

This is exactly what I think about the movie.

(man this feel short after so many 2+ hour movies lately).

It sure does... Well, I will go right away to rewatch this, on Blu-ray this time, like that it will feel less short.

Season 3 where?

[kijakusai]

Originally Posted by Fencedude

Also SUOMUS MISFITS SPINOFF WHEN!?

You mean Iranko Chūtai? Since the author Yamaguchi Noboru is in poor health, there is fear for the continuation of the light novel series. There are three volumes as a 'stock', though.