Brave Witches: Petersburg Daisenryaku

Brave Witches: Petersburg Daisenryaku (2017)

Firstly, try to watch this between episode 7 and 8 like it says you should since it is literally between that time period.

This one focuses on the events after episode 7 with Sanya V. Litvyak and Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen.

As you would expect an episode with Sanya the best girl of the franchise it was always going to be great.

It is nice to see the relationship between Eila and Sanya expanded and to see the girls interacting with them.

You get the same art as expected with less of the weird CGI. You do get some nudity in this ... one but it is enough and not overdone.

Sound is the same as you would expect to be fitting. I think Sanya has a great voice.

Characters in terms of Sanya and Eila develop well. A few others especially the unexpected actions of Sadako Shimohara with the quirk she has.

Overall, it is very entertaining and a great episode. If you watch it in the order it is even better as it breaks up the show nicely.

It's not often that a special manages to be more enjoyable and outright better than the show itself, but in my eyes, this special episode of Brave Witches is an exception. After loving both seasons of Strike Witches, I found Brave Witches to be pretty disappointing. It wasn't terrible or anything, but the zany shenanigans that used to take place in Strike Witches were conspicuously absent, replaced instead with straightforward Neuroi fights that weren't that interesting most of the time.

The special gives us a very cute and funny story centering around Eila and Sanya, two fan favorite characters from the original series. It was a ... joy to see them get some screen time and interact with the Brave Witches. Seeing Eila get jealous of all the attention Sanya was getting from the other witches was adorable and amusing (seriously, I really love those two). The special episode also gives us the fanservice that was practically nonexistent in the main Brave Witches series. Whether or not that's a good thing is up to the viewer's tastes, but this show doesn't feel the same when it doesn't have lewdness and other forms of weirdness in it.

Beyond that, there isn't much else to say. The art and sound are fine, nothing special, but still good. There isn't too much 3D or CGI or whatever in this episode (only briefly at one point) compared to the main show. Even if it was just for one special episode, it was nice to see Brave Witches put in the heart and soul of what made its parent series so good (even if it had to borrow characters from said parent series to do so).

Enjoyment - 7.5/10 (great)
Overall - 7/10 (very good)

This OVA special is particularly disappointing if you expected it to focus on Hikari and the rest of the Brave Witches 502nd Squadron.

Nope, instead, this OVA is actually a bonus episode of Strike Witches disguising itself with the Brave Witches title, featuring Eila and Sanya, the popular pairing from the original Strike Witches anime. The rest of the "main cast" take a backseat this episode.

Technically this episode takes place between roughly around episodes 7 and 8, but I don't think it would work watching it in chronological order, because this standalone episode disrupts the flow of Brave Witches' primary story.

While I am a ... fan of the various spinoff media of the World Witches franchise, I am admittedly not a Sanya x Eila fan, or a Strike Witches fan for that matter, given my own criticisms of the original anime.
As such, I had my expectations crushed when I found out this more for older Strike Witches fans. Regardless, I did enjoy seeing Hikari fantasizing about Takami in a romantic way, as has been hinted on her borderline idolization of her sister in the main story, though seeing Eila get jealous of Sanya's many admirers does get old.

However, someone who hasn't viewed Strike Witches before can still successfully watch this bonus episode and see it as characterization for Sanya and Eila, who in Brave Witches, are supporting characters that only cameo a couple of times, and from there go to watch the original series that they're main characters in. So it's a win-win situation for new Witches fans and business wise.