As I said, the story is fairly simplistic. Yoshika Miyafuji is going to a normal school, until she receives a letter from her dead father handed to her from Mio Sakamoto. Mio is attempting to recruit her into the Strike Witches since she has an amazing healing ability, but Yoshika refuses at first. She doesn't even agree to join the Strike Witches until after being taken on a carrier ship in order to see her father's grave, and equipping a striker unit for the first time, the device the witches use to fly, and helping to fight off a neuroi during her travels with Mio. Her journey of self growth and her meetings with all the wonderful members of the 501st joint fighter wing, the Strike Witches, start. Unlike other stories of self growth, the main character doesn't go from being one of the weakest to one of the strongest. Yoshika at best, moves up into a middle spot, but she still remains lower in power rankings among the unit. She may act rashly at times, but she's also the one who encourages everyone else when they have doubts and brings about conclusions that nobody expected until they saw it. You find out the internal struggles of most of the remaining cast, as well. Minna, Mio, Gertrude, and most others all have something that bothers them internally during the season and it's generally about something in the past that affects them in such a way that they don't act like themselves, until Yoshika ends up breaking them out of their shell, and sometimes other people help a little too. It's not that she's a plot device, but that's just the way she is. Yoshika is very good at giving and or inspiring hope to/in others. One of the bests parts of the story definitely has to be that it doesn't try to be tear jerking despite the tragic events that occurred in many of the girl's lives. There will be some boob jokes and playful grabbing now and again too, along with other comedy, but it just makes the experience so much better. it's world war 2 based as well, but with the unknown neuroi attacking earth and Witches rather than feuding countries. I believe the ships are suppose to be modeled after war war 2 ships as well.
The art is fantastic, at least on blue-ray. All the surroundings from the sky to the water to the ships, and everything seemed so realistic, even though you can tell it's a drawing. the neuroi may have weird designs, but it doesn't matter. All the Witches have such memorable character designs, despite that they're drawn not wearing pants. No female character in the Strike Witches universe ever wears actual pants, and tights are the closet it ever comes. It's certainly a weird choice to make, but it actually makes their designs so much more memorable, a long with allowing the show to have an easy way to go about providing some fan service, making the striker units more noticeable, and eliminating any hindrance the pants may have made to the visual appeal while the witches are flying through the sky. It's an art style that i'll never forget.
The sound is similar to the story, in the fact that it may not seem special at first. I'd say that the opening and ending theme convey one of the best messages of encouragement and working to discover your potential along side your friends out of all the theme songs that convey similar messages. The songs are extremely memorable , if you're a fan at least and don't try to forget them. The background music is fantastic too. It's not that it's the best calming music out there, the best pumping up music, or anything like that. The music just has a unique feel to it that can only be experienced in Strike Witches show or something, like Brave Witches, which is very similar but different; Brave Witches suffers in the art department a bit due to the sub par 3d cgi used though. the animation is also amazingly well done in Strike Witches. The fights are not the most action packed, but everything is so fluid and lively.
The characters are all unique in their own way too. I already said most of my thoughts on Yoshika so I'll just leave it at that. Unfortunately, Strike Witches is another show where I don't think describing the characters will actually convince people. Strike Witches, Brave Witches, Armed Girl's Machiavellism, and Seven Mortal Sins, are four shows that I have this opinion about their characters, for the most part. I wouldn't mind going into how great of a singer Minna is and describing her past, talking about Gertrude's past, the problems Mio faces, and many other characteristics and personalities. It would just make for too long of a character section when they are 11 Strike Witches and I don't think it would convince many people because the cast would sound generic paper, despite their liveliness and colorful personalities. It's kind of a shame, but I'd rather keep it shorter and not make my favorite cast sound generic unintentionally. It's a cast that needs to be experienced, as long as any prior knowledge you have about the show doesn't deter you from watching it already.
Now for the enjoyment. Strike Witches was one of those shows that I always loved and didn't watch for a particularly good reason. I read in a review or something that the main character grew dog ears and a tail when she fights and I wanted to try and discover the reasoning behind that. I already started to like cat girls at the time, so the humanoid aspect pulled me in, especially since it sounded so bizarre. My question was not answered until I read one of the manga series, Maidens in the Sky, though. I still loved it even though my question was not answered. I realized it was one of my top 5 favorites when i thought about it a few months later. After another 2 or 3 months, I was thinking about what my favorite anime is, and after Noir, which was the first anime i saw, being my favorite for a while, I realized after thinking about my opinions on it after i started to re-watch it, that it doesn't hold the title of my favorite anime anymore. as I watched more shows, Noir wasn't even in my top 10 anymore. I decided that Strike Witches is my favorite anime after Noir lost it's place, and I just re-watched this season over a period of four days. I enjoy watching Strike Witches so much and it definitely brings the most joy to me, overall, when I consider every aspect. It's well deserving of being my favorite anime and I don't regret giving it that title. I hope that many people who read this at least have a positive experience while watching the season.
