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Digital Downloads
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 21 July 2008 16:00 |
 More trouserless action from the Strike Witches, as Yoshika discovers that the urge to protect can overcome her aversion to war when Mio lands herself in trouble. Probably no surprise that when push comes to shove, she's a decent little warrior, too...
On their journey to Britannia, the ship Yoshika & Mio are travelling on is attacked by the Neuroi. In order to buy time until reinforcements arrive, Mio heads out to deal with the attackers on her own, but the Neuroi are fierce fighters and Mio soon finds herself backed into a corner. Yoshika, meanwhile emerges from her hiding place below decks to offer her support - but seeing her new friend in trouble leads her to attempt to join the battle herself...
I've seen a few complaints in reviews of episode one that the lack of trousers and skirts on the girls in Strike Witches is a black mark against the series. If you're in that category then, while this episode doesn't add any extra clothing, you'll probably be pleased to hear that there's less of a visual emphasis on the items that are missing, if you catch my drift - during the episode's extensive fight scenes there are plenty of opportunities that could have been taken to flash bits of swimsuit or whatever around that aren't taken. Let's hear it for artistic restraint. Personally, if people can praise the likes of Najica for its storyline without worrying about it's pantycount, then Strike Witches really shouldn't present a problem.
What is a possible problem, though, is lack of originality. There's very little that happens in this episode that you couldn't see a mile off, with Yoshika's unnaturally-good performance in her first time out in a striker unit being just one of many examples. There's never any doubt that she'll come good and help the far more experienced and yet still helpless Mio save the day, or that she'll find it within herself to join the war effort. The show seems to rely entirely on its visuals (both action and fanservice) to keep the audience, and while there's novelty value in that at this stage of the series it's not going to be able to rest on that for a full 12-episode run.
I'm shallow enough to be still enjoying it, though. I hope it moves onto more meaty storylines as it goes on, but for the meantime it's still good enough to merit the half-hour it takes to watch each week. Shame the free YouTube window isn't longer, though...
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