I think I could buy that there would be mechanical issues with looser pants that aren't present with tights or stockings.

But why are there no skirts? I'd take a particularly ambitious belt if that was all that was available... Well, perhaps something that would flap around would be an impediment to aerial operations.

Shorts! Some people say they are comfy and easy to wear! I guess they never got invented in the Strike Witches timeline, because I can't come up with even a bullshit explanation for why they wouldn't work.

The oddest thing about the whole business, and I don't know if I've mentioned it here but I've definitely mentioned it elsewhere, is that it felt like half the time (at least in season 1 of the anime), they were trying to downplay the fanservice as much as possible... and then the other half of the time it was the opposite.

>By this
>point it's just a Thing that witches Do, in order to differentiate
>themselves from normies.

There might be some of this already even without the rest of it... at least I coulda sworn there was a scene with a non-combatant witch who still dressed the same way. (In OWaW I mean... I think.)

Of course, there's also the question of whether Flandre or Remilia will ever adopt the style. They're probably already listed as witches on at least one bit of military paperwork as it is, and when in Romagna...

-IA.

(my prediction: Remilia won't, Flandre will... once)