The 502nd "Brave Witches" anime is on Crunchyroll. That is all.

>The 502nd "Brave Witches" anime is on Crunchyroll. That is all.

Huh. That must be what the mysterious third TV season announced a while back developed into? I wondered what became of that, I remember seeing the almost-no-information-included announcement and then it sort of dropped off my radar.

I'm still waiting for someone to come across with an English version of Operation Victory Arrow—although, in the course of looking to see if it was available yet (it isn't), I just discovered that the US version of Strike Witches the Movie dropped on Blu-Ray last Tuesday, which is pretty boss.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Watched the first episode and it's not too bad so far.

I can't remember anyone's name but that's par for a first episode

Our star witch for this season has a reasonable motivation, I think we have a reasonable grasp on her skill-set and she seems to have a reasonable skill design.

Also points for creative use of a witches' shield.

It had a subheading of "World Witches Series", which is either encouraging (more shows) or depressing (signalling a descent into mediocrity) depending on your faith in the production team and the whether more shows will water down the product.

>It had a subheading of "World Witches Series", which is either
>encouraging (more shows) or depressing (signalling a descent into
>mediocrity) depending on your faith in the production team and the
>whether more shows will water down the product.

Shimada has been using the World Witches tag on, e.g., his art books depicting non-501st witches and whatnot, for some time now. After all, "Strike Witches" within the story itself refers specifically to the 501st, so using it as the overall title for the franchise was never very expansion-minded. When most of the non-501st-oriented products were un- or semi-official (for instance, the semi-official dōjinshi series about the witches of North Africa), it wasn't as much of an issue, but now that they're doing an actual TV series about another JFW, it's evidently something someone felt a need to address.

Shorter version: I remember remarking, to myself and I think somewhere on these boards, that Strike Witches TVA was a slightly wonky title to give a series that was going to feature some other group. I guess someone at the home office came to the same realization. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>It had a subheading of "World Witches Series", which is either
>encouraging (more shows) or depressing (signalling a descent into
>mediocrity) depending on your faith in the production team and the
>whether more shows will water down the product.

Or, if you're like me, it produces an image of witches playing baseball.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

>>It had a subheading of "World Witches Series", which is either
>>encouraging (more shows) or depressing (signalling a descent into
>>mediocrity) depending on your faith in the production team and the
>>whether more shows will water down the product.
>
>Or, if you're like me, it produces an image of witches playing
>baseball.

I think they call that "Princess 9." :)

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."

Witches playing baseball, I'll bet there's an anim-

>I think they call that "Princess 9." :)

Of course there is.

If you want a non-anime baseball fix with a chunk of weird on it, I recommend https://www.amazon.com/Carnival-Baseball-Colby-Cox-ebook/dp/B0042JT11O

Colby Cox's "Carnival Baseball", which is basically Harkness High's baseball team meets League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

>Witches playing baseball, I'll bet there's an anim-
>
>>I think they call that "Princess 9." :)
>
>Of course there is.

They aren't witches in Princess Nine, though. It's a regular school sports anime—kind of thing Girls und Panzer is a surrealist wink at.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>Witches playing baseball, I'll bet there's an anim-
>>
>>>I think they call that "Princess 9." :)
>>
>>Of course there is.
>
>They aren't witches in Princess Nine, though.

But, but, but... this is UF! Why can't we have witches in Princess Nine?

-- Bob
(And tanks. And swords. Oooh, Duelists with magic tanks!)
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.

"(And tanks. And swords. Oooh, Duelists with magic tanks!)"

That would be young Jeb Stuart the 23rd. Not enough to have his ancestor still hangin' around, oh, no, he's gone and got his hovertank *ensorcelled* too.

"Penalty: Team Stuart! Additional crewmember, and illegal performance enhancement! 200-kilometer loss, first down!"

>"(And tanks. And swords. Oooh, Duelists with magic tanks!)"
>
>That would be young Jeb Stuart the 23rd. Not enough to have his
>ancestor still hangin' around, oh, no, he's gone and got his hovertank
>*ensorcelled* too.

"Drive me closer! I want to hit them with my sword!"

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Witch Baseball is a...complicated affair.

>Witch Baseball is a...complicated affair.

That sounds like the type of affair that one would be best not to meddle in. ;)

Just saw the 11th episode. Won't spoil much, but the WWII geeks among us will be pleased to note that Gustav and Dora (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav) make an appearance.

The Orussian Marshal seems to NOT be part of the "MORONIC PLAN TO GET EVERY AIR WITCH IN EUROPE KILLED" school of thought, which is a nice change. The Neuroi are cheating, though.

Tank Witches have even gotten a brief appearance in ep 8!

Oh. One minor spoiler for OWAW fans... (white text below)

"Ooh. Chocolate!"
"So many...."
"It's not chocolate, it's salmiakki. Good, huh?"

Is that a Suomi tank witch who isn't Aurora Juutilainen? Tempted to throw a flag on that play. :)

--G.
she's cute, though
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

You can tell from the subtitle that "Countess" Krupinski agrees with you

>Is that a Suomi tank witch who isn't Aurora Juutilainen? Tempted to
>throw a flag on that play. :)
>
>--G.
>she's cute, though
>-><-
>Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
>Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
>zgryphon at that email service Google has
>Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Just watched the end of the series, and I think Aurora may have made a non-speaking cameo. There was a long-haired Suomos witch shown briefly, but it was a little too quick to say anything with certainty.

It was a pretty good ending for the series. There certainly was a lot of "If we try hard enough, we'll suceed," but this is anime. The plan was a good one, the Neuroi just seem to adapt and change.

My personal working theory is that they are some kind of "immune response" to magic, either natural or created by aliens. Unfortunately, it seems to have created an arms race on Earth, where the Witches and the Neuroi just keep getting more powerful in response to each other. Perhaps Neuroi-chan represents part of the Neuroi Hive that recognizes this will only lead to mutual annihilation and has evolved enough self-awareness to try and step outside its "nature" to stop it

>You can tell from the subtitle that "Countess" Krupinski agrees with
>you
>
>>Is that a Suomi tank witch who isn't Aurora Juutilainen? Tempted to
>>throw a flag on that play. :)
>>
>>--G.
>>she's cute, though
>>-><-
>>Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
>>Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
>>zgryphon at that email service Google has
>>Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.