Strike Witches is a crazy anime about teenage girls with magical powers who are the last best hope for humanity against an alien threat. How do they fight them? By strapping crazy airplane parts to their legs so they can fly around and shoot shit with huge guns. Oh, and none of the female characters ever wear pants for some reason. Yeah, it is that kind of show. But it is pretty awesome.
The story is set in a sort of alternate reality World War II. Instead of fighting the Nazis, however, all of mankind are fighting the mysterious Neuroi. The Neuroi are sort of magical machine weird things that can capture human technology and turn it into weapons. They attack humanity for unknown reasons, and by the time the show starts they have already taken over all of Europe except for the British Isles, which is where the Strike Witches base is located.
The Strike Witches are a group of 11 girls aged between 13-20 who have magical powers. By using special machines attached to their legs called striker units, they can fly and fight and utilize their unique magical abilities in battle against the Neuroi. The striker units are interesting because they are basically WWII-era airplane parts fueled by magic that are small enough to be worn on the girls' legs, but are powerful enough they are much faster than conventional aircraft.
They are also interesting because they sound like loud propeller driven airplanes, and it is pretty hilarious to see cute girls flying around making sounds like huge airplanes.
It is also hilarious that none of the female characters ever wear pants, so the whole show is a pretty numbing series of endless panty shots. Except for one episode where the girls steal each others' panties and a couple of them are left wearing nothing. The best quote in the series is in this episode where one of the girls (sans panties) says "Commander. It's breezy".
On top of all of the ridiculous panty shots, there are also the requisite huge anime boobs a-plenty. And lesbian overtones. Like, really thick lesbian overtones. There aren't any men around the base, see, so the girls get lonely. Or something.
Oh, and when the girls use their magic, they sprout animal ears and tails. Some of them are cats. Some are dogs. It is kind of awesome. And super cute.
So, basically, this show has it all. Nifty "only in anime" technology. Catgirls. WWII style aerial dogfights. Lesbians. Fan service. Comedy. It is a bit over the top (seriously, why don't they wear pants) but it is very entertaining. I actually watched the whole 12 episode series on Hulu over the course of one evening. I'll fully admit a lot of it is pretty weird and kind of embarrassing to watch if taken out of context, but it all makes sense in the show and is fun to watch if you don't think about it too much. I recommend it. I give it an 8/10 or one "Haters Gonna Hate" cat.
You can watch the full series, either subbed or dubbed (but with most of the gratuitous fan service edited out ...) on Hulu, or you can buy it from Amazon here -
Strike Witches: The Complete Series at Amazon
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