OH MY GOOOOOD....... This was amazing, absolutely fantastic, a whole ton of FUUUUN.
Ecchi, a good plot, an amazing twist, a brilliant cast of characters, beautiful girls (seriously pretty), ecchi!! Strike Witches is an absolute fantastic anime.
Strike Witches follows Miyafuji Yoshika, a girl who has incredible magical power capabilities and is thrown into a world she didn't expect to get involved in, because her wanting to protect people overcomes all her fears. The story in Strike Witches is really very good; for 80% of the anime, it's sort of slice of life based, revolving around magical girls who use Striker Units as a modern replacement for "brooms", hence the witches in Striker Witches. Yoshika is at the center of just about everything and in every episode, helps a girl discover something about herself or simply helps out a girl and friendships are built.
In Strike Witches, we have a large cast of what are essentially young girls (♥ Lolis). Yoshika, the lead, Sakamoto, a strong and brave girl who helps Yoshika train and become a Strike Witch, Lynette, a really pretty girl who ends up being Yoshika's best friend, and in my books, a one true pair. Perrine, a stubborn and massively jealous girl; jealous because Sakamoto is focused on training Yoshika. There are other girls too, Minna the leader of Strike Witches, Sanya, a total cutie with white hair and an extra cute voice with an awesome magic power. There is also Hartmann, Shirley, a girl with large breasts and a killer body; she's also a speed freak, Lucchini, the smallest of all the girls and loves to fondle breasts whenever she gets the chance and Eila, a really smart girl who is always seen with Sanya, because of an adorable crush.
All the girls are pretty amazing, they're all cute, and the ecchi is most definitely something to be warned about. Panty shots or hot pants or whatever.... it's most definitely in every episode and tends to be a focus too. Heck, sometimes the artists draw out a lot of detail in the pantsu shots that... well let's just say that it can be very exposing as to what is being shown. Most of the pantsu's on the girls aren't on properly either, falling half way down their waists and things of that nature, or being very small. Breasts are shown all the time when there are bathing scenes and things. It should be noted, none of the girls wear skirts or anything of the sort, it's all very much pantsu and hot pants. The point is, Strike Witches can be very ecchi at times, but don't let it put you off from the story. (Though if you like ecchi, just go ahead and watch Strike Witches, you won't be disappointed)
Speaking of which, once 8 episodes have passed and Yoshika has made a good impression on all the girls, the story really opens up. The Neuroi, the main enemy of the show sees a huge twist that honestly, I should have seen coming a mile away, but was caught up in other things. It's because of this that I feel like the build up, the more slice of life direction for most of the show works so well. There are so many girls and all of them have a story, not all are told, but the important girls get an episode and then some, it helps build a believable world and it's easy to follow the logic involved when these girls make decisions, you really feel like you understand them. I think the Neuroi are fantastic, because of what happens. I wish this was a 2-cour series instead of 1, but thankfully there is more content available.
Art style in Strike Witches is freaking fantastic. Beautiful colors that symbolizes that even though this world is in a war, it's no where near as bad as one would think. The colors are bright, they're vivid, they would make you happy just watching! The detail of the girls is well done, *cough* especially the ecchi shots *cough*. The animation is fantastic, having a very smooth and well maintained animation throughout all 12 episodes. The last episode is a huge job well done to the animators, the fight scene was incredible and it just flowed so well.
Music and Sound is.... I actually think I have no idea what makes something bad in this regard. I enjoyed the OP and ED a lot. I felt like the sounds were really good, the background music meld well with the corresponding emotions and scenes. Maybe I should review this section on how memorable it is, because I don't believe it's possible for most anime studios to get this part wrong. OP and ED are most definitely good though, I liked listening to them a lot.
