Strike Witches Poster Art
© BOST TV

Mania Grade: C+
Audio Rating: N/A
Video Rating: N/A
Packaging Rating: N/A
Menus Rating: N/A
Extras Rating: N/A
Age Rating: 13+
Region: 0 - Digital Distribution
Released By: BOST TV
MSRP: 1.99
Running time: 24
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Disc Resolution: 480i/p (Mixed/Unknown)
Disc Encoding: MPEG-2

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Strike Witches Episode 07 (of 12)

Sometimes it is all about the panties. Or the lack of them…

What They Say:
One morning, Erica Hartmann finds part of her uniform missing. Nonchalantly strolling into the locker room, she puts on someone else’s uniform and goes on duty which causes much commotion within the team. To further complicate things, the team is summoned to a scramble!

The Review:
Strike Witches hasn’t exactly been awash in subtlety for awhile now but for some reason this episode comes across as all the more blatant about it. That will surely titillate many and it fits in with how the show has been overall, but it doesn’t really give you all that much. The idea of telling the individual character stories takes a back seat for this episode as it’s a case of “where’s my clothes!” among the girls. That means we get a lighthearted episode where everyone is involved in some fashion and the girls are in various states of undress or are spending time in the bath where rank doesn’t apply according to Mio.

Everything in these kinds of stories is done in an innocent way, and this time it starts with Erica who is up for a commendation for her 250 kills in combat so far. Not wanting to get up to the last minute to deal with it, she ends up finally getting going and just grabs someone else’s panties from the shelf when she can’t find her own. It’s from there everything tumbles downhill as everyone tries to figure out what happened to their outfit and as others wear someone else’s clothes. Or as some of them go, wearing nothing. That of course is a lot of fun eye candy for a show that’s pretty much devoted to cute girls as there hasn’t been a man sighting in an age now.

What all of this allows for is for the character personality quirks to come through and a bit of humor. Erica’s laid back attitude is amusing here as she strolls through life while racking up immense kills. Mio is all gung ho about everything and her regular training with Yoshika continually sets of Perrine. Perrine for her part has an over the top moment where her panties are stolen so she puts on her skintight pants. When she has to chase after Lucchini in them, she falls to her knees after a bit because “everything is rubbing together” and she looks like she might climax right then and there. This is the kind of humor that’s spread out throughout the episode, though sadly there aren’t any really amusing moments between Yoshika and Lynnette that was hinted at earlier when Yoshika felt her up.

In Summary:
There’s no Neuroi action in this episode and with the break from the character “detail study” leading into action, it’s actually a welcome break. Strike Witches doesn’t have anything really redeeming in it but this episode was a good bit of sexual fun with the girls running around in their panties as usual or not. In the midst of the series, it’s not a bad episode to have and it’s one where Gonzo really does show off some of their talents. The characters are all cute – though there are too many of them and some of them are a bit too similar – and the fanservice is pushed strong enough that you know exactly what you’re getting. While the show hasn’t really impressed me with its style since beginning the regular character introductions, this episode was simple fun even if it was incredibly predictable. In some ways, this show is one step away from being an adult series.

Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English Subtitles

Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70" LCoS 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.