That's one of the more amusing bits, since Trude (so far in my viewing) isn't that subtle about her feelings for Erica, but she also doesn't seem to be particularly aware of them. But she did spend quite a bit of time in 'war is my purpose' mode.

>She is, indeed, one of those people who befriend the shit out
>of folks.
>

It's funny to me, when I read something to this effect elsewhere around here I pictured her being more aggressive about it somehow, but in the source it just comes across as a basically unavoidable outcome. Miyafuji is inevitable.

>I don't think I've ever actually watched it with the English dub on,
>but that doesn't surprise me much. The voice director was presumably
>not au courant with the historical background. I mean, why
>would any normal person even assume that Strike Witches
>has historical background? :)
>

Would a normal person be all that involved in the production of Strike Witches to begin with?

Anime dubs have come a looooong way from the dark old days but I swear sometimes that more effort is put into video game voice work even now.

>Sidebar: Gryphon's top five (six?) anime English dubs, in no
>particular order:
>

Speaking of the dark old days of dubbing, it says something that half-ish of your list are 'so bad it becomes good' entries, rather than intentionally solid performances.

>I bet FUNimation doesn't have the uncensored version of episode 107.
>
>Yes. There is an uncensored version of episode 107.
>

Funimation has an 'uncut' setting for the series, which seems mostly to allow nipples to exist, but I'm a bit concerned that if I search around trying to see if that is, in fact, the uncensored version you speak of I'll end up on a government list or two.

That episode did leave the unanswered questions of whether Erica was ever able to locate her missing underwear, and also why all the witches seem to only have one such item per person. I'm not sure what it says about the workings of my brain that these thoughts occurred to me while watching the 'we put fanservice in your fanservice' episode of the season.

>And also to get past the bizarre whipsaw tone, which I suspect is an
>artifact of the writers not quite having the feel yet for how they
>wanted it to be. I mean, if you just go by the first two episodes,
>Mio Sakamoto is the worst person, I mean literally the
>worst. And there's not really a storyline flow to her
>subsequent heel-face turn, there isn't a payoff that explains or
>justifies why she's so mean in the first two, it's like everyone
>involved just realized, "Whoa, the Major is a cast-iron bitch, no one
>is going to stick around for the whole series if she's like that" and
>rewrote her.
>

Huh, might be a small point for the dub, in that she didn't come across quite that terrible in the first few episodes. I took her to be deeply single minded, to the point where she could barely conceive of the fact that people not fighting the war even existed, let alone able to fathom why they'd want to, and somewhat cheerfully pushy. Might be my interpretation is colored by having met the character here first though, causing me to give her some more slack.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "This Space For Rent."

I don't think the original Giant Robo dub was "they didn't give a shit" bad; I think they were deliberately trying to match the tone of the first episode, which is utterly wacktastic all around, and in that they succeeded... perhaps too well. :)

>Funimation has an 'uncut' setting for the series, which seems mostly
>to allow nipples to exist, but I'm a bit concerned that if I search
>around trying to see if that is, in fact, the uncensored version you
>speak of I'll end up on a government list or two.

In the case of episode 107, it will be immediately apparent at a couple of points that you are watching the uncensored edition. You won't have to wonder. It's not in any way ambiguous.

>That episode did leave the unanswered questions of whether Erica was
>ever able to locate her missing underwear, and also why all the
>witches seem to only have one such item per person. I'm not sure what
>it says about the workings of my brain that these thoughts occurred to
>me while watching the 'we put fanservice in your fanservice' episode
>of the season.

I think it's an extension of the "you never see the heroes doing laundry" problem.

--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 probably doesn't help that One-Winged Witches is, as far as I've seen, the most extreme example of what we might call the World Witches aesthetic, well beyond anything Shimada himself has drawn for the franchise, and it bizarrely couples that with having one of the most serious storylines. All of which leads to the distinct impression that the message the writer is trying to get across is something along the lines of:

"This is Laura Tóth. Her career began with one of the most hideous tragedies imaginable, and she bears deep psychological scars that manifest in extreme emotional unavailability as a result. She is tortured in a way that is entirely out of keeping with this property's usual wackiness. Also, while we're here, doesn't she have the most amazing ass?"

Which is... a bit jarring, even by World Witches standards.

--G.
I mean to be fair, she does but...
-><-
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.

The way you put this, it feels like she's headed to the no-kill shelter after you're done with the stuff here.

Well, I don't have any specific plans, but then, I usually don't and stuff happens anyway, so who knows? It's worth noting that Laura has the interesting distinction of being the only witch we know to have been thrown out of the 501st JFW, so that might be... awkward.

--G.
Trude refused to work with her, not because she's an Ostmarker, but because she's Not A Team Player.
-><-
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.

-IA.

(I seem to have entirely forgotten about Laura's existence since I read the manga, in my memory it's all the Wilma and Amelie show. Perhaps I need to read it again...)