Fan service ahoy, Captain! Guns and girls, explosions and panty shots, this series may be done by the Japanese, but it screams the American dream.
Just like when I showed off Season 1 to friends I got the same reaction showing it to those unfamiliar with the series, eye wide and mouth open for The Strike Witches. These witches have animal ears and tails, carry guns and most strikingly have airplane propellers for legs, thanks Japan, you're insane.
You'll be following the battles and many fan service opportunities of The Strike Witches 6 months story wise after the first season, but in reality in took two years for Funimation to get the second season dubbed and to the US. There is a feature length film, but no word if Funimation got the rights or plans to release it, I hope they do. Strike Witches did change animation houses, though still looks like a professional level of anime. Have to say the first season probably dolled out better panty shots per episode. Don't worry, the camera still just happens to be in all the naughty places it needs to be. Let's say bathing happens quite often as well as dirty dutch angles for optimal panty provided play.
The overall arc and stories are simple, the alien enemy the "Neroids" or Neuroi, I heard Neuroids when listening to the show, but whatever, anyway they are back and a more powerful than before. Neroids take the form of many hypothetical flying crafts dreamed up over the years which leads to some strange designs. They also all have cores that when are destroyed completely stop them. They can regenerate too. This time they're trying to take over the Strike Witches world's version of Italy and Rome. Have to explain that the series takes place in sort of a alternate World War II with famous pilots now being cute girls with animal ears.
Our girls are called back in action with main character Yoshika coming back after graduating middle school and the Neroids resurfacing. She's heading back to meet all her friends at the Strike Witches base that of course is getting a new bath (fan service). Now it's Yoshika and her friends battling incredibly deadly enemies that easily take out all other armed forces with magic.Stories are either filler or blend into the overall arc of defeating the new Neroids. Stories delve into epic fights, getting lost in Strike Witches Italy, dirty bugs, treasure hunts and special missions on that requires certain skills possessed by certain witches.You have some broom straddling for training, they are witches mind you. The training episode might be my favorite for this season as their instructor tries to hit them with a metal pan on their heads ( a Japanese visual joke) when they first meet, then it's back to broom straddling.
The first season is copied again with each episode possibly being more about one of the witches and maybe learning their back story or their connection to another witch. The show has a fairly simple idea of plot which is "Girl has problem, girl overcomes problems, add fan service. The amount of times they name each other is also funny, every few seconds they're yelling each other's name. I can't think of how many times I've heard Sakamoto screamed out.
Every fan has a girl of their own, with a diverse cast of girls anyone can choose their favorite.This time each girls has an emblem, which is a nice touch to set them apart. Even though you'll hear their names yelled out a million times.
Action and fan service are and sprinkles of moe fill every episode. No episode really gets that dark. Even the two-part finale seems very positive. The action for the last two episode was magnificent to watch seeing a bunch of girls take on a massive amount of enemies, however only a few episodes stood out for attacks. AIC Spirits did a good job, but I would have liked some more complicated action sequences. The ending was silly, but filled with action up until the end.This is one of those animes you need to own and show others. The first time you see it your eyes will grow large and your mouth will open wide in how this is technically not hentai. If you were a fan of the first season it's the same voices with all new stories.
Extras give you two episode commentary tracks from the dub voices. The rest of the extras are kind of meh. Quality and sound seemed perfect. It's 12 new episodes and the Blu-ray cover is double-sided so you can change it. It's four discs, two of which are DVD's. I guess the format now is to just put everything in one case.
The DVD/Blu-ray combo pack was provided by the publisher for review
