History Manga / StrikeWitches

** A lot of the names are based on historical terms for the countries. The Nazis stole "Ostmark" from the historical name for Austria before it became its own realm in the Middle Ages, for example, and most of the European nations are based on Roman Provincial names. For (further) example, Spain is Hispania, Bulgaria is Moesia, and the many mentioned above. It seems that the convention carries over to Asia, where Fuso is based on a Chinese term for Japan: Fusang. Suomus is based on Suomi, the Finnish name for their country. Orussia just added an O to it's name, Karl was probably meant to be Charlemagne or another "Karl" who was Holy Roman Emperor (there were a few), The Italies use the Roman naming convention while not progressing in their unification past getting the North and South solidified, and Liberion is pretty self-explanatory. As for "Canada", it is mentioned as being a "Britannian Commonwealth" in the Strike Witches Wiki, which leaves the actual status of the country vague... Okay, it's still lame (Especially considering the many other cringe-worthy proposed names for Canada that the creators' could have just borrowed from English Wikipedia). Interestingly enough, a couple of Britannian Witches are based on Canadian archetypes, which fits in nicely with Commonwealth Air Training program IRL and Canada's contributions to the Empire's two War efforts.

** Seadon 2 ends with a nice closing shot of Shinden and Reppumaru washed up on a beach near Yamato. And then a shadow approaches them.

* ShowSomeLeg: Subverted in episode 11, when Erica tries to get a passing truck to stop, and it doesn't even slow down. Clearly, men have been desensitized by the lack of pants of every attractive female in the world, rendering this method ineffectual.

* AlternateHistory: While the period of when history begins diverging is not known, the impact is clear, with some countries having different names and different borders. UsefulNotes/WorldWarII is replaced with fighting off an alien invasion. However, all of the witches are based on real WWII pilots, including General Chuck Yeager. By a curious turn of fate, screenshots of episode 5 have been posted on Yeager's Myspace page. According to [[http://strikewitches.wikia.com/wiki/Historical_Timeline official artbooks]], while history went normally in the BC era, the divergence began when [[Creator/GaiusJuliusCaesar Julius Caesar]] survived his assassination and went to become Emperor of the Roman Empire. More divergences in history included Chingiz Khan becoming the Mongol Emperor, a war between the Mongol Empire and the kingdoms of Karlsland (Germany), UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga escaping his assassination, unifying Fuso (Japan) and defeating the Spanish Armada, and the Britannia East India Company battling the Dutch and their Fuso Mercenary allies for the spice routes which later led to two Britannia-Fuso wars before both nations made peace and became allies. Read the link for more info of the history of the Strike Witches universe.

* {{Expy}}: An special army formed only by teenagers which fight against a mysterious alien force and their powers are [[spoiler:fading away conform are growing]]. Replace the World War setting with a futuristic one and you have ''Anime/DieBuster''. Although Diebuster has a male pilot, he's barely seen fighting. So, both have only girls in action too.
** Strike Witches also shares similarities with Anime/GunBuster too. Yoshika somewhat resembles Noriko. Both are total noobs in the beginning but both quickly develop their skills.

** With it arguably questionable quality, ''Brave Witches'' in general has this in spades [[spoiler: but you'll definitely wanna slap Hikari and Takami during the final 3 episodes of the season]]

* AttackItsWeakPoint: All Neuroi have a core that is their de facto Achilles heel, and only Mio can spot it when covered by the Neuroi's body. Without Mio's abilities, the witches would be forced to rip the Neuroi to pieces just to find the core, something extremely difficult considering the kind of enemy they're facing.

* CaptainCrash: There's a couple. Standouts include Katharine O'Hare, nicknamed "Crasher O'Hare" for the number of Strikers she's managed to wreck, as well as the 502nd JFW's "Breaker Trio" of Kanno Naoe (who likes to get close to the enemy), Waltrud Krupinski (who tends to prioritize lining up a shot over watching where the enemy is firing from), and Nikka Katajainen (who's just plain unlucky).

* ChromosomeCasting: The only named characters are female.

* ClothingDamage: During the BeachEpisode, [[spoiler: Charlotte crashes through a Neuroi at the speed of sound]], wiping out what little clothing she had to begin with [[spoiler: due to friction of the air]].

* DangerDeadpan: Charlotte Yeager.

* {{Expy}}: An special army formed only by teenagers which fight against a mysterious alien force and their powers are [[spoiler:fading away conform are growing]]. Replace the World War setting with a futuristic one and you have ''Anime/DieBuster''. Although Diebuster has a male pilot, he barely seem fighting. So, both have only girls in action too.
** Strike Witches also shares similarities with [[Anime/GunBuster Gunbuster]] too. Yoshika somewhat resembles Noriko. Both are total noobs in the beginning but both quickly develop their skills.

* ImportedAlienPhlebotinum: Inverted and played straight. Inverted as the Neuroi use humanity's aircraft designs for their purposes. Played straight as humans have tried inventing technology what use Neuroi cores to fight against them. The first one ([[TransformingMecha Warlock]]) ended in colossal failure when the core took Warlock over and the second one (magic engine for ''Yamato'') was a partial success.

** In episode 8 of ''Brave Witches'', Naoe & the Karlsland trio are received a new Units.

* FallingIntoTheCockpit: During an early encounter with the Neuroi in season one, Yoshika finds a Striker Unit and takes it into battle. Despite being her first time piloting one, Mio is impressed that Yoshika was able to do all the things that she does.

* GrowingUpSucks: The Witches [[spoiler:gradually lose their magical powers when they grow older, typically they appear at 12. By 20 their shields become so weak that they can't even stop handgun bullets. That doesn't mean they lose their powers completely as elderly witches can still use spells and fly. Used inconsistently, as multiple adult witches are shown to almost as powerful as the main characters (though they do not use shields) while Mio is almost powerless and can barely fly in the last two episodes of ''Strike Witches 2''.]].

* HeartIsAnAwesomePower Carla Luksic of the 506th Joint Fighter Wing uses her surprisingly specific "ether-conducted cooling magic" ability to cool her [[{{BFG}} M2 Browning Machine Gun]] to [[MoreDakka increase and prolong its firing capability]]. She's also depicted in official art as using it presumably to [[MundaneUtility cool beverages]].

** Also Barkhorn referring to the division of her's and Hartmann's room as the Siegfried Line.

* ShurFineGuns: Appears to happen to Lynnette in the OVA, given that it happened on her first shot it's more likely she forgot to take the safety off and panicked into thinking it jammed. It happens to Shirley, too, but she gets caught in a pincer attack with literally no time to fix it.
** The Himegoe voice albums reveal Shirley has numerous problems with her gun. Like some problem's ''can't'' be fixed.
** And then in the film, Barkhorn and Hartman get one each in the ''exact same scene''. Although they're in an arguably more serious situation... not to mention CrazyPrepared for it.

** In episode 8 of Brave Witches, Naoe & the Karlsland trio are received a new Units.

* MidSeasonUpgrade: Two examples:

* AnimeAccentAbsence: The series have a MultinationalTeam, but not a single foreigner (in both the Japanese ''and'' English dub) speak in a noticeable accent.

* HealingHands: Yoshika, along with her mother.

A third season that aired in 2016, entitled ''Brave Witches'', focuses on another cast of characters, the 502[-[[superscript:nd]]-] JFW, and is set in the interim between the first and second seasons.

* AdvertisedExtra: In the ''Operation Victory Arrow'' OVA, despite appearing as the main character in the opening, [[spoiler:Yoshika only appears in the end of the episodes receiving letters from her former companions. Sanya, Eila and Mio has only brief scenes]].

* AmbiguouslyBi: Commander Minna Wilcke shows more signs of this, between her past romance with a musician and the ShipTease with Mio.

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Surprisingly averted. In a season two episode [[spoiler:newly arrived pilot Hanna-Justina Marseille]] during a routine training mission points her fully loaded and recently fired machine gun at Erica and mimes firing it as a sort of egotistical boast about catching Erica off-guard. Commander Minna witnesses this and is understandably furious, immediately cancelling the training mission and restricting [[spoiler:Hanna]] to confinement to her room, mentioning that she would have thrown her straight into a jail cell if they had one on base.

** A trademark for all witches. They create magic shields to protect themselves from Neuroi's beam attacks. Yoshika is a notable example since she can cast a bigger and stronger shield in comparison with an average witch.
** Subverted with Eila. She can't cast a shield, but she can predict Neuroi's attacks, making easily for her to dodge. [[spoiler:Played straight in ''Strike Witches 2'' when she cast a shield to protect Sanya in a space mission]].

* {{BFS}} Yoshika picks up a [[PowerGlows glowing]] one of these roughly the size of her in the trailer for the film. She effortlessly slices through a Neuroi barrier and the alien's core with it.
* BigEater: Georgette Lemare from 502nd. [[Main/JustifiedTrope Justified]] since her magic causing her to [[Main/HyperactiveMetabolism easily hungry]].

** Yoshika again in the end of ''Strike Witches 2''. [[spoiler: [[HeroicResolve With almost no magic power left, grabbed the Reppumaru and uses all her magic power to saves Mio.]]]]
** [[spoiler:The entirety of 501st for Yoshika and Shizuka, at the end of TheMovie.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: To save Mio from being used as a living battery for a now completely-invincible Giant Neuroi, which is implied to be able to singlehandely wipe out humanity, Yoshika uses ALL of her Magic energy to power a mighty strike that defeats the Apocalyptic EldritchAbomination. Though Romagna is finally saved, the war still goes on. And just like Mio, Yoshika's life as a witch and warrior ends as she spends the rest of her life a mundane doctor.]]

* BottomlessMagazines: Averted their heavy machineguns really do have obviously big magazines but they do run out after fighting for way too long ([[AWizardDidIt Probably 'cause they're magic?]]).

* {{Bowdlerization}}: Inverted by FanSub Group Strike Subs. Because the removal of CensorSteam in the DVD version just revealed BarbieDollAnatomy below the waistline they took the liberty to release an alternative version of episode 7 with some digital video editing to make the characters more ''anatomically correct'' in the groin area. This "uncensored" version got five times as many downloads as the unaltered one.

* CallBack: The structure of the second season's first episodes seems to follow that of the first season. For both seasons, the first episode ends in a cliffhanger with a Neuroi attack just as Mio and Yoshika arrive in Europe, the second episode focuses primarily on fighting the Neuroi and meeting everyone else, the third episode focuses on training, with the trainees having to save the day at the end, and the fourth episode has Barkhorn almost getting herself killed. The sixth episode looks to be Eila/Sanya centric. The seventh episode is base hijinks with panties stripping and lots and lots of Fanservice. The last episode Mio tries again a [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice but Yoshika saves the day.]]

* ChekhovsGun: In ''Strike Witches 2'', when Mio was talking with Minna, Minna laments on how she kept busy by their superiors and is one point away from getting a medal acknowledging her 200th kill. What better way, then, to enjoy a [[FuroScene furo episode]] than have everyone chase a butt loving Neuroi and end it with Minna killing the bug by squeezing it with her butt and getting that 200th kill medal.
** [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun Boat]]: The Yamato returns in ''TheMovie'', providing artillery support against the main enemy.

* CombatMedic: Yoshika. Like her mother and grandmother, she can cast magic to cure wounds. [[spoiler:Defied when she loses her powers, since she continues to act to help the injured ones, but in the traditional way.]]
* CombatPragmatist: This is why the Witches are used. WordOfGod states that conventional weapons can and have actually defeated the Neuroi which is why the conventional armies on-screen are shown to still engage the Neuroi instead of running away and waiting for Witch support not because they're holding the IdiotBall or setting up TheWorfEffect. It just takes a whole lot more firepower and significantly greater losses compared to Witches. As an example, the Afrika doujin/light novels show that the infamous Flak 88 is equally as good at killing Neuroi as it is with killing everything else.

* CovertPervert: Several characters have these tendencies, but Yoshika and Perrine stand out. Yoshika's eyes and hands seem drawn to every bit of cleavage around, especially after her dream of [[UnusualEuphemism 'flying in formation']] with Lynette, her best friend. When Mio was putting a radio in her ear, she thought Mio was about to kiss her. Perrine has a strong attachment to Mio, border-lining on [[{{Yandere}} extreme]] proportions.

* CrazyPrepared: Not only does Trude carry several belts and a backpack of ammo, she also has extra barrels for her MG42s.

-->'''Gertrude:''' "For a soldier of Karlsland, discipline comes first! Second is discipline! Third is discipline, and fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth are also discipline!"
-->'''Erica:''' (sleepily) "What's tenth?"

* DistaffCounterpart: The Witches are all Distaff Counterparts of real-life flying aces, and have similar names. The one exception is Sanya, who is based on Lydia Litvyak. [[spoiler:Chuck Yeager's counterpart is also the first person in the ''Strike Witches'' world to break the sound barrier.]]

** In the ''Strike Witches'' after rescuing Shirley, Yoshika accidentally grabs her boobs while she is unconscious. Use the opportunity to start to grope her boobs in front of Lynne.
** In ''Strike Witches 2'', Eila suspects the bug neuroi is in the Sanya panties. What she did? Pull off it while she is sleeping. It didn't end well.

* {{Expy}}: An special army formed only by teenagers which fight against a mysterious alien force and their powers are [[spoiler:fading away conform are growing]]. Replace the World War setting with a futuristic one and you have [[Anime/DieBuster Diebuster]]. Although Diebuster has a male pilot, he barely seem fighting. So, both have only girls in action too.
** Strike Witches also shares similarities with [[Anime/GunBuster Gunbuster]] too. Yoshika remembers a little Noriko. Both are total noob in the beginning but both quickly develop their skills.
* EyepatchOfPower: Mio

* FlyingBrick: In addition to their inherent gift magic their magic also seems to grant them super strength, flight (on brooms), and increased physical endurance. If their shields are counted then they also have nigh invulnerability.
* FrenchJerk: Perrine, ''une chienne, vraiment''...She [[CharacterDevelopment mellows considerably]] over the course of the series, though.

* GenderRestrictedAbility: Male witches aren't explicitly ruled out, but the novel notes that they're even rarer than female ones.

* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Nikka Edvardine Katajainen, Suomus Witch from the novels/manga/movie, is a spectacularly unlucky pilot that destroyed enough Striker Units to earn the nickname "Jinxed Katajainen". An example of this is seen in her appearance in the film. Fortunately, her signature magic is HealingFactor.

* GroinAttack: Used to amusingly demonstrated in episode 3 of ''Strike Witches 2'' why broomsticks are no longer used for flight. That and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything other things]].

* HandicappedBadass: Lieutenant Gundula Rall, to an extent. A stray shot during the evacuation of Karlsland fractured her back, and even after nine months of rehab she had to wear a magic-imbued corset to soothe her old injury during combat. That didn't stop her from securing the title of Karlsland's 3rd greatest ace, after Gertrud and Erica.

* HotterAndSexier: Oddly enough inverted for the film, which aside from half a dozen incidental Panty shots actually ''downplays'' the {{Fanservice}} of the two TV series, and even those shots were ''nowhere'' as sexually-detailed as those found in said two series.

* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: Meet Amaki Suwa! Of course, since there's less than a minute left of the final episode, don't expect a lot of character development. The implications of this was, of course, a second season.
* LensFlareCensor: This series makes [[{{Fanservice}} liberal use of this Trope.]] It is most prevalent in episode seven of ''Strike Witches 2''. It has the glare moving around, disappearing, and reappearing as necessary. Somehow, the moon can also produce massive beams of light in all the right places. It's mostly averted in the Blu-ray and DVD releases, however.

* TheNapoleon In spite of her small stature, Kanno Naoe of the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing is known for her belligerence and "ferocious personality". Incidentally, she's described as harboring a great admiration for Gallian(French) language and literature.

** At present, there is exactly one female known to wear pants: Adolfine Galland, the counterpart to real-world ace Adolf Galland, who was the only pilot to fly without pants.

** Eventually adressed and turned on its head in TheMovie. A brief history section showing drawings and film material (including a witchyfied Saint Joan of Arc) shows witches fighting alonside men in various eras, from ancient greece to early WWII. About none of the witches wear skirts coming even close to covering everything.

* ShadesOfConflict: Subverted [[spoiler: It was later revealed that the Neuroi displaying its history to Yoshika was an elaborate and effective psyop tactic on the part of the Neuroi. Not that their wholesale genocide of several continents wasn't a dead giveaway, which excuses the military's unwillingness to negotiate, genuine willingness on the part of the Neuroi or not...]]

** Somebody in the ''Strike Witches 2'' staff really likes ''Anime/GunBuster''. In between the [[http://imgur.com/tKo4DzM SUPER LUCCHINI KICK]] and the fact the first episode is basically [[http://imgur.com/hAWoqWI episode 5 of ''Gunbuster''...]] This may be the Kazuhiro Takamura's choice: he was in GAINAX before Strike Witches, so probably it's from that. Also, the scene in [=S1E2=] where Yoshika is on elevator on Akagi, is definitely a ''Gunbuster'' reference too.

* SpoilerTitle: Subverted. [[spoiler:The title of the last episode of ''Strike Witches 2'' is “Beyond of skies to eternity”, which heavily implies Mio is going to peform a [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]]. Yoshika saves her in the end.]]

** The 502nd has the infamous "Break Witches" trio of Krupinski, Kanno and Katajainen.

* GenderRestrictedAbility

** In episode 6, Minna comments that if the Neuroi hadn't invaded Earth, their superiors (Europe's political and military leaders) would likely be [[WorldWarTwo fighting among themselves]].

** Alternatively, you may regard Yoshika as holding this in the 10th episode, but think that Mio is holding it in the 9th episode, due to her [[spoiler: charging in to attack a Neuroi herself, even knowing her shields are failing, because she refuses to listen to Yoshika's reasons for not attacking and even though she is quite aware that Yoshika has been alone and unharmed by this Neuroi for several minutes already and she can see that it is inviting Yoshika to touch its core, an act roughly equal to a human willingly tearing open its chest and allowing somebody to take hold of their still-beating heart. Even if the Neuroi are the enemy, this one was clearly acting aytpically, and prudence would have been better then just charging in blindly.]]

** Averted in some cases as most witches are friendly towards each other regardless of their serving branches, and are adored by males soldiers and officers generally. Played straight in ''Zero'' manga series when Imperial Fuso Army and Navy generals, and witches from both branches starts three-way argument in an imperial conference. It goes far enough that during a big operation [[spoiler: Navy actually dispatches a separate fleet not part of plan to steal the credit of killing the BigBad by deliberately bombarding area of operation with witches still in there, posing as friendly fire]].

* MamaBear: Try and hurt Yoshika and you face the wrath of the entire 501st Squadron!

* PistolWhipping: How about TWO {{BFG}} whipping!?

* PubertySuperpower: See ''GrowingUpSucks'', above.

** It was shown in the novels [[spoiler: that the original plan was to capture Yoshika and learn of her reflector shield defenses ability and now that it has failed. Generally the normal plan was to capture witches and then use them against each other, but it did not work so well against them as the novel shows the best way to snap someone out of it is to rip her uniform in two. ]]

*** Darth Vader's own personal stormtrooper legion and the real-life group of cosplayers that inspired the naming.

** [[spoiler: The Warlock mech in fighter mode looks vaguely like [[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Vic Viper]] especially when it opens to fire its laser...]]
** Somebody in the ''Strike Witches 2'' staff really likes ''Anime/GunBuster''. In between the [[http://imgur.com/tKo4DzM SUPER LUCCHINI KICK]] and the fact the first episode is basically [[http://imgur.com/hAWoqWI episode 5 of ''Anime/Gunbuster''...]] This may be the Kazuhiro Takamura's choice: he was in GAINAX before Strike Witches, so probably it's from that. Also, The scene in S1E2 where Yoshika is on elevator on Akagi, is definetely Gunbuster reference too.
** The second-half of Episode 5 of ''Strike Witches 2'' (set in Rome) is basically a scene-for-scene remake of/tribute to ''Film/RomanHoliday'' starring Creator/AudreyHepburn and GregoryPeck, with Lucchinni (in the role of Peck's reporter character) even re-enacting the famous "Mouth of Truth" scene.

** The Himegoe voice albums reveal Shirley has numerous problems with her gun. Like some problem's CAN'T be fixed.
** And then in the film, Barkhorn and Hartman get one each in THE EXACT SAME SCENE. Although they're in an arguably more serious situation...not to mention CrazyPrepared for it.

* SuicideMission: In the end of second season. [[spoiler:Someone needed to reach in Yamato ship in order to reactivate the engines again and Mio was the only witch with some magic energy left, but the ship was in the sky with Neurois nearby. Without thinking twice, Mio goes to the ship even with Minna menacing shooting her down in order to stop her.]]

* SuperStrength: More apparent in the [=OVA=], where a fourteen-year-old girl easily one-hands a gun so massive that it requires two grown men to carry it. Gertrude can also amplify her strength using her magic to lift and throw objects as massive as a steel girder. The SuperStrength seems to be an ability inherent in the witches, not given (but probably amplified) by the Striker Units.

* FragileSpeedster: Mio in ''Strike Witches 2'' can't use shields anymore, to compensate she got the Fuso Army to make her the fastest, most agile striker seen yet and made herself a sword that's practically a GameBreaker: It easily deflects energy beams and can instant kill enemies.

* ToBeLawfulOrGood: The sticking point that initially separates Shizuka Hattori from Yoshika Miyafuji. While Yoshika is willing to [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight disregard rules and help out everyone that she can]] despite holding an officer's rank, Shizuka [[ByTheBookCop doesn't agree with doing so]] but eventually gains Yoshika's respect towards the end of the film.

** Also, anyone who's watched ''Brave Witches'' knows that [[spoiler:Nikka and Aleksandra will also survive the events of the series since they appear in the film]].

* CuteLittleFangs: Francesca:
* [[strike:[[DangerDeadpan Chuck]]]] [[DangerDeadpan Charlotte Yeager]]

* AscendedExtra: Heidemarie, a night witch from Karlsland, gets more time screen in ''The Movie'' and in the ''Operation Victory Arrow'' [=OVA=].

** Anyone who's watched ''Operation Victory Arrow'' knows that [[spoiler:the Strike Witches will return in ''The Movie'']].
** Also, anyone who's watched ''Brave Witches'' knows that [[spoiler:Nikka and Aleksandra will also survive the events of the series since they appear in ''The Movie'']].

* GoodThingYouCanHeal: Nikka Edvardine Katajainen, Suomus Witch from the novels/manga/movie, is a spectacularly unlucky pilot that destroyed enough Striker Units to earn the nickname "Jinxed Katajainen". An example of this is seen in her appearance in the movie. Fortunately, her signature magic is HealingFactor.

** Barkhorn has a few lines in German in the movie and one of the CD's.

* GunshipRescue: Towards the end of the movie, [[spoiler:the Yamato arrives to assist the witches, having been able to navigate up the Rhine thanks to special flotation devices]]

* HotterAndSexier: Oddly enough inverted for The Movie, which aside from half a dozen incidental Panty shots actually ''downplays'' the {{Fanservice}} of the two TV series, and even those shots were ''nowhere'' as sexually-detailed as those found in said two series.

** Lampshaded heavily in the Movie by Shizuka Hattori, whose parents served in the Fuso military and thus is rather put out by Yoshika's attitude of helping out with chores on the aircraft carrier Amagi despite holding an officer's rank. In the second half, after meeting the rest of the 501st and seeing how they operate, she's convinced to lighten up a bit.

* OutofFocus: Good lord, the movie. Mio doesn't appear at all until the end, and Eila and Sanya (who are very popular with the fandom, to boot) get about five minutes of screentime before being stowed away until the final scene.

** In the movie's [[spoiler:final battle]], Perrine's Tonnerre + Erica's Sturm = lolified [[Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon Ideon Gun]] anyone?

** And then in the movie, Barkhorn and Hartman get one each in THE EXACT SAME SCENE. Although they're in an arguably more serious situation...not to mention CrazyPrepared for it.

It was confirmed later that Season 3 will be about 502[-[[superscript:nd]]-] JFW and will take place between S1 and S2. Scheduled to air in Fall 2016 with the overall title of the series as "World Witches"

Originaly a {{Shonen}} manga then a series of LightNovels, ''Strike Witches'' became an anime series animated by {{Creator/GONZO}} and was broadcast [[http://www.hulu.com/strike-witches between July and September 2008]]. A second season was [[http://www.crunchyroll.com/strikewitches released in July 2010]] by {{AIC}}, following GONZO's bankruptcy. Both seasons contain [[TwelveEpisodeAnime 12 episodes]], with the first half centred around the titular Witches' backstories and livelihoods, while the remainder of each season unlocking more secrets about the nature of the war between humanity and the enigmatic Neuroi. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQJXKTN5JXo A movie]] with an original story was released in March 2012. A new TV anime and an OVA were [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/news/2013-10-13/strike-witches-gets-3rd-tv-anime-series-ova announced as having been greenlit in October 2013]]. It was later clarified that [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.co.uk/news/2013-10-14/strike-witches-new-tv-anime-ova-are-not-the-3rd-season neither are continuations of the existing story]]. The first episode of the new OVA, ''Strike Witches: [[FunWithAcronyms Operation Victory Arrow]]'', was released in December 2014, showing what happened to the various groups of witches between Season 2 and the movie.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Mio's Katana in the first season is used to cut the wing of a Neuroi the size of a battlecruiser. She makes an [[SwordBeam upgraded sword]] that can bisect a Neuroi in addition to its strongest beam attack in one slice.

* AdvertisedExtra: In the Operation Victory Arrow OVA, despite appearing as the main character in the opening, [[spoiler:Yoshika only appears in the end of the episodes receiving letters from her former companions. Sanya, Eila and Mio has only brief scenes]].

** TheMovie and The Operation Victory Arrow [=OVA=] have better animation in comparison with the TV Series.

* AscendedExtra: Heidemarie, a night witch from Karlsland, gets more time screen in the movie and in the Operation Victory Arrow [=OVA=].

** Subverted with Eila. She can't cast a shield, but she can predict Neuroi's attacks, making easily for her to dodge. [[spoiler:Played straight in the second season when she cast a shield to protect Sanya in a space mission]].

* {{BFG}}: Most of the girls have heavy machine guns as their primary armament. In Season 2 Episode 4, Barkhorn gets new (temporary) weapons. A QUADRUPLE mounted MK 108 30mm autocannon and another MK 214A 50mm autocannon.

** Yoshika in the end of the season 1 [[spoiler: holding a berserk machine alone in order to protect Mio, Perrine and the rest of ship crew.]]
** Yoshika again in the end of the second season. [[spoiler: [[HeroicResolve With almost no magic power left, grabbed the Reppumaru and uses all her magic power to saves Mio.]]]]

* BodyCountCompetition: While they aren't shown agreeing to one, both Gertrude and Erica count off the number of Neuroi they've shot down in episode 8 of the first season. [[spoiler: Gertrude won, with 20 kills to Erica's 10.]]

* ButNotTooGay: Depending on how you [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation interpret]] the girls' displays of affection, there are at least two couples, plenty of hugging and plenty of couple tropes. No actual kissing however. See NoHuggingNoKissing below. This trope is finally [[http://imgur.com/DPzjd averted]] during the second season.

* ChekhovsGun: In the second season, when Mio was talking with Minna, Minna laments on how she kept busy by their superiors and is one point away from getting a medal acknowledging her 200th kill. What better way, then, to enjoy a [[FuroScene furo episode]] than have everyone chase a butt loving Neuroi and end it with Minna killing the bug by squeezing it with her butt and getting that 200th kill medal.

* DeathSeeker: [[spoiler:Mio, realizing that her magic is failing due to her age and her usefulness as a soldier on the front lines is nearing its end, seems utterly determined to go out fighting. Even with Minna begging her to step down from duty before it's too late, it takes her a [[DontSaySuchStupidThings lesson]] from Yoshika to realize her mistake]]. As of the first episode of Season 2, [[spoiler:she's still dead set on fighting. It's astonishing she hasn't been microwaved by the Neuroi yet.]]

** In the first season after rescuing Shirley, Yoshika accidentally grabs her boobs while she is unconscious. Use the opportunity to start to grope her boobs in front of Lynne.
** In the second season, Eila suspects the bug neuroi is in the Sanya panties. What she did? Pull off it while she is sleeping. Not ended well.

* FragileSpeedster: Mio in Season 2 can't use shields anymore, to compensate she got the Fuso Army to make her the fastest, most agile striker seen yet and made herself a sword that's practically a GameBreaker: It easily deflects energy beams and can instant kill enemies.

* GlassCannon: Mio in Season 2 can't use shields anymore, to compensate she got the Fuso Army to make her the fastest, most agile striker seen yet and made herself a sword that's practically a GameBreaker: It easily deflects energy beams and can instant kill enemies.

* GoingCommando: Gertrude and Erica pull this in Season 2, Epispde 7.

* GratuitousGerman: The plans for the rocket boosters in season 2, episode 6 are written in really bad German.

* GroinAttack: Used to amusingly demonstrated in episode 3 season 2 why broomsticks are no longer used for flight. That and [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything other things]].
* GrowingUpSucks: The Witches [[spoiler:gradually lose their magical powers when they grow older, typically they appear at 12. By 20 their shields become so weak that they can't even stop handgun bullets. That doesn't mean they lose their powers completely as elderly witches can still use spells and fly. Used inconsistently, as multiple adult witches are shown to almost as powerful as the main characters (though they do not use shields) while Mio is almost powerless and can barely fly in the last two episodes of season 2.]].

* GunshipRescue: At the climax of the movie, [[spoiler:the Yamato arrives to assist the witches, having been able to navigate up the Rhine thanks to special flotation devices]]

** At the end of the first season, [[GeneralFailure Trevor Maloney]] comes up with a plan to destroy the Neuroi den over Gallia using a [[FlawedPrototype prototype weapon]] injected with Neuroi technology. [[spoiler: It [[GoneHorriblyWrong goes horribly wrong]], and the Strike Witches have to come save the day]]. At the end of the second season, the higher-ups come up with a plan to destory the Neuroi den over Venezia [[WhatAnIdiot using a prototype weapon injected with Neuroi technology]]. [[EpicFail You can guess how well that goes]].

* IntertwinedFingers: Yoshika and Lynne engage in this when they meet again in season 2.

* InstantRunes: The magical circles that show up when the girls take off, and the shields. Some of these magic circles are massive: in episode 8 of the second season, Yoshika's magic circle [[spoiler: has a radius exceeding the length of the Yamato when she activates her new unit. [[BiggerIsBetter Consider that the Yamato is a bit under 3 football fields in length.]]]]

* LensFlareCensor: This series makes [[{{Fanservice}} liberal use of this Trope.]] It is most prevalent in episode seven of the second season. It has the glare moving around, disappearing, and reappearing as necessary. Somehow, the moon can also produce massive beams of light in all the right places.

** In episode 4 of Season 2, the witches receive a prototype jet unit, which is capable of traveling much faster than their current ones. Unfortunately, it also drains their magic energy at an alarming rate, which Captain Barkhorn found out when it physically exhausts her to the point she faints after using it for too long. It ends up destroyed in the process and Ursula Hartmann, Erica's twin sister and one of the developers of the jet unit, takes it back to work out the kinks in it.
** In episode 8 of Season 2, Yoshika gets a new Striker unit. The reason was her magic was growing much stronger, and as a result, the old unit's limiter was kicking in to prevent damage to the engine, which severely crippled her ability to fly in it. Unlike the jet unit, this one is stable.
* MildlyMilitary: The Strike Witches don't act much like a military unit in a warzone. Then again, the actual military is a bit better about this so the mildly military attitude of the 501st is probably due to the fact that they are highly valuable former civilian volunteers. This is realistically applicable particularly when dealing with experienced and higher ranking Witches who have actually been training for longer. For on, they're Air Force Aces whom did actually have quite glamorous lives back then due to propaganda among other things. High rank Witches like Minna spend most their time realistically pushing papers while the lower rank Witches are shown to spend most of their time training, drilling or doing maintenance work or catering for themselves and running for supplies. Military law is also carried out such as with Miyafuji's eventual dishonorable discharge despite her heroics and strict hierarchy of command is also maintained, it's just that some punishments have to be lighter because they justifiably can't replace their losses.
** Lampshaded heavily in the Movie by new character Shizuka, who comes from a heavily disciplined military family and thus is rather put out by Yoshika's attitude of helping out with chores on the aircraft carrier despite holding an officer's rank. After meeting the rest of the 501st and seeing how they operate, she's convinced to lighten up a bit.

* NewMeat: Yoshika, at first.
** Hattori Suzuka in the movie.

* NotWhatItLooksLike: In episode 7 of Season 2, a Neuroi disguised as a tiny bug infiltrates the witches' headquarters. After Shirley's "bugdar" gets destroyed by the bug, Eila runs to her room to fetch two L-shaped dowsing rods. It points towards a sleeping Sanya. Eila seems hesitant to search Sanya's underwear, which the bug had been invading on the other girls earlier in the episode, but then does it just as Sanya begins to wake up. In the next scene, Eila explains to the other girls what happened, and has a [[AmusingInjuries big bump on her head.]]

* PuttingTheBandBackTogether: The second episode of Season 2 brings the original crew of 501st Joint Fighter Wing back together.
* [[KingIncognito Queen Incognito]]: [[spoiler: Lucchini's new friend in season 2, Maria, who turns out to be the Duchess of Romagna.]] The second half of the episode in which this happens is basically an extended shout-out to ''Film/RomanHoliday'', including the moment at the Mouth of Truth.

* RedHerring: Second season. With apparent decline (due to age) in Mio's magic power, the fact that Yoshika's striker unit goes dying on her begs for a reveal that her magic dwindles as well due to some other reason. Turns out it's the [[spoiler:opposite, she's just packing too much magic for the unit to handle. And then the season ends totally depleting all that XXL package anyway]].

* SequelHook: Not so-subtle hints include [[spoiler:The letter from Yoshika's father in the post-credits sequence.]], a novel about Anabuki Tomoko, and the Afrikakorps and the introduction of the 504th Joint Fighter Wing in the second season.

** Somebody in the season 2 staff really likes ''Anime/GunBuster''. In between the [[http://imgur.com/tKo4DzM SUPER LUCCHINI KICK]] and the fact the first episode is basically [[http://imgur.com/hAWoqWI episode 5 of ''Anime/Gunbuster''...]] This may be the Kazuhiro Takamura's choice: he was in GAINAX before Strike Witches, so probably it's from that. Also, The scene in S1E2 where Yoshika is on elevator on Akagi, is definetely Gunbuster reference too.
** The second-half of Episode 5 Season 2 (set in Rome) is basically a scene-for-scene remake of/tribute to ''Film/RomanHoliday'' starring Creator/AudreyHepburn and GregoryPeck, with Lucchinni (in the role of Peck's reporter character) even re-enacting the famous "Mouth of Truth" scene.

** Every piece of machinery, including the Neuroi, are based on something from the era. Though the second season may have moved on to include [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar later material]].
** Season 2 episode 6 has fan dubbed "Yuri Rocket" referencing Russian Yuri Gagarin who was the first person in space. Note that the launch is exactly how a multi stage rocket operates.

* ShowerOfAngst: Late in season 2, Mio becomes aware that [[spoiler:her time as a witch is running out. This is paired with rain when it becomes painfully obvious that her magic has just about run dry to the point that flight is now difficult.]]

** And then in the movie Barkhorn and Hartman get one each in THE EXACT SAME SCENE. Although they're in an arguably more serious situation...not to mention CrazyPrepared for it.

* SpiritualSuccessor: Anime/VividredOperation is basically Strike Witches with a magical girl esque twist. Makes sense, since they both share the same director.
* SpoilerTitle: Subverted. [[spoiler:The title of the last episode of the second season is “Beyond of skies to eternity”, which heavily implies Mio is going to peform a [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice]]. Yoshika saves her in the end.]]

* ThoseTwoGuys: Rather hilariously, Eila and Sanya in the ninth episode of season 2.

* TookALevelInBadass: Yoshika in the eighth episode of season 2. Not only does she OneHitKill a Neuroi, but Minna notes that her magic power surpassed the operational threshold of her old Striker.

* YuriGagarin: While the neither the man nor his DistaffCounterpart make an appearance, the entirety of season 2 episode 6 is one extended ShoutOut to his accomplishment. [[GirlsLove Yuri]] --one of them an Orussian-- are the first girls in outer space!