Strike Witches Complete Series Collection   Starring (voice): Misato Fukuen, Ami Koshimizu and Chiwa Saito Manga Entertainment RRP: £24.99 MANG5246 Certificate: 15 Available 10 October 2011

In an alternate reality, 1939 did not see the start of World War Two, but rather a different aerial battle against the invading aliens’ the Neuroi. Man’s conventional weapons were no match for the invader and mankind was pushed to the edge of extinction, until it was discovered that the aliens were susceptible to magic attacks. The surviving countries banded together to collect their precious and rare magic wielders. These young girls were forged together into the fighting force that was known as the Strike Witches...

Strike Witches: Complete Series Collection (2008) is part of a mixed media project which covered, among other things, mangas, games, an OVA and the series presented here. The project was created by Humikane Shimada. The two disc DVD set contains all of season ones episodes, but not the OVA.

Whilst the show would never claim the intellectual high ground, the fan service elements are so over the top that you’re more likely to recognise the various girls by their crotches than their faces. The girls spend all of their time wearing little below the waist, apart from their pants, and often their shirts and uniform tops inexplicable get ruined during battle exposing the odd nipple. They really should have got a better tailor.

The girls are able to fight the aliens by way of mechanical leggings, the Striker Unit, which allows them to fly and focus their magic abilities. The main narrative, in between the panties, involves Yoshika Miyafuji (whose dead father had created the Striker Unit) being approached to join the Strike Witches. She is by nature a pacifist, and so is reluctant to join an organisation dedicated to war, but when her aircraft carrier comes under attack, she feels that she must act and so Yoshika goes to war. Over the course of the twelve episodes we discover that not only are the aliens other than we thought, but that their own people are plotting against the witches.

The show gets a nice, clean, 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer and whilst the idea behind the show might seem cheap the quality of the animation isn’t. For the audio, you get a very reasonable DD 5.1 English track or the original DD2.0 Japanese track, with subtitles. There is not much in the way of extras. You do get the inevitable textless opening and closing sequences, but also a commentary track for episode twelve with the ADR director Scott Sager and voice actors Kate Bristol (Lynette Bishop), and Cherami Leigh (Yoshika Miyafuji).

It is difficult to fault a show which does not hide behind any pretence. This is aimed squarely at young males, who have probably yet to get within ten feet of a real girl. The show is light fluffy, meaningless but strangely fun.

7

Charles Packer