Strike Witches Poster Art
© BOST TV

Mania Grade: C
Audio Rating: NA
Video Rating: NA
Packaging Rating: NA
Menus Rating: NA
Extras Rating: NA
Age Rating: 13 and Up
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
Disc Encoding: MPEG-2

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Strike Witches Episode 12 (of 12)

The series draws to a quick and rather decisive close while obviously leaving room open for more.

What They Say
Yoshika makes a sortie on her own, in an effort to protect Britannia. However, she is severely outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy, when her teammates from the 501st Joint Fighter Wing: Strike Witches come to the rescue!

The Review!
With the twelfth episode of the series, Strike Witches comes to a conclusion that admittedly surprises a little bit. I had expected that they’d continue on with more single episode character stories for longer than they did and then maybe provide a sort of glimpse as to where things would go. Instead they decided to cut the character stories a bit short and then delve into some potential things about the Neuroi. What was really surprising was that the Neuroi storyline itself got cut short and it turned into something focusing more on the newly introduced Warlock.

Much of this episode is centered on the action as Mio has managed to sneak on board one of the Striker units. She’s intent on getting out there herself, using the remaining abilities she has, to try and stave off the Warlock so the others can get away. But the situation starts to turn more precarious and she’s not up to the task, especially when Yoshika really lays it all out that she’s the best suited to handle this. Even Perrine is sort of cowed into agreeing with Yoshika on it and helps to keep Mio nearby so that she’s well taken care of.

As these kinds of series go, there’s always more to happen in the finale of a series/season and Strike Witches is no exception. The Warlock has the ability assimilate things it gets near, so having it take control of one of the ships in the area and that means that the Warlock is a big flying boat now. The stakes are raised considerably with this and it has an almost Gurren Lagann feeling at one point when it happens, though it does keep to what’s been established in the previous episode about how the Warlock interfaces with things. Yoshika’s attempts to defeat the Warlock are eventually helped by the rest of the team as you know they’re bound to come by and do their part, since we’ve spent so much time being introduced to them. It wouldn’t be right to not give each and every one of them a few seconds of screen time to shine at the very end.

In Summary:
With the way Strike Witches ends, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more. In fact, I expected to see an announcement at the end of it like we did with the Tower of Druaga in that we’ll see another season in 2009. Everything does get wrapped up in a rather simple and non detailed way here so there is certainly some closure to be found. But they do provide the nod necessary to keep that entire second season open in a couple of ways. Strike Witches in the end though felt like a series that squandered some of its appeal early on in favor of girls in bloomers flying around. Admittedly, when it was brazen about the fan service it was fun, but it never found the right balance. It’s not a bad series, but it’s not one that will stand the test of time by any stretch of the imagination. Strike Witches is simply empty calories even though it tasted good quite a lot of the time.