History Manga / StrikeWitches

* PettingZooPeople: A Witch's animal traits are a result of synchronizing with their Familiars. In the novels a Witch had her Familiar die as result of a freak accident. The anime glosses over these details, probably for time.

* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Breathe deep, and repeat with me: ''[[HumongousMecha Mecha]] Fighter Pilot [[PettingZooPeople Animal-eared]] {{Magical Girl}}s in PoweredArmor leering over each other [[spoiler: while being roped into conspiracy]]!''

** The novel states that 'the vast majority of magic users are female' which, while not excluding male 'witches' completely, does show that Strike Witches is mainly a girls' party.

* ForeignFanservice: Charlotte seems to think 100% of the fat a woman consumes goes straight to her breasts, and that this trait is unique to American women. Amazingly, she seems to be entirely correct about this.

** In ''The Movie'', Yoshika is a maverick ensign who will cook dinner and swab the deck and rescue others when she has to. For this, Shizuka initially distrusts her.

* ReliablyUnrelableGuns: 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.

* RealityEnsues: When Barkhorn gets reckless by Yoshika's resemblance of her sister, she gets shot down by the Neuroi.

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

** Their have been cases and examples of witches magic manifesting and awakening at ages younger then 12; although issues of training and training competence still remain. Their are also cases of witches who are older them 20 who fortunately able to retain their magical abilities without much or any entropy of their magic, and is not necessarily as uncommon as one may think. However the fact still stands that on average that witches do still see some degree of magic weakening on average, usually to the point that at best; they are only able to continue careers outside of direct combat; taking desk jobs, training and instruction roles or support roles with little actual combat time... or at worst have to retire from the military.

A spin-off that began airing in October 2016, entitled ''Brave Witches'', focuses on another cast of characters, the 502[-[[superscript:nd]]-] JFW who also assume the self-titled moniker, and is set in the interim between the first and second seasons.

''Strike Witches'' depicts the conflict between the extraterrestrial Neuroi and humanity in an AlternateHistory; in 1939, the Neuroi invaded earth. Despite lacking understanding about the Neuroi's background or motives, it was clear to humanity that the Neuroi presented a grave threat to their civilization; this prompted the world's armed forces to mount a counteroffensive, enlisting the help of female magic users known as "Witches" and a newly developed weapon christened the "Striker Unit" (devices which bolster the Witches' magical abilities). Wielding spells and specialized firearms, they take to the skies and strive to repel the Neuroi invaders. The anime tells the story of Yoshika Miyafuji, a Fuso witch whose desire to learn about her missing father's fate eventually led her to join the battle against the Neuroi and understand what being a "[[ExactlyWhatIsSaysOnTheTin Strike Witch]]" means.

On first glance, ''Strike Witches'' appears as little more than a {{Fanservice}}-focused series. However, it ultimately presents what is, at heart, a war story about the camaraderie between the [[AcePilot pilots of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing]] (aka Strike Witches) and their battles against the unknown enemy. ''Strike Witches'' shares a superficially similar concept with ''Anime/SkyGirls'': both series saw Humikane Shimada's contribution as a character designer. Naturally, a character sheet is included and may be accessed [[Characters/StrikeWitches here]].

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 Creator/{{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. [[https://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 ''Strike Witches'' and ''The Movie''.

A spin-off that began airing in October 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.

-Musical spin-off with personifications of famouns war songstresses Ongakutai Witches slated for 2021.


The events of ''Strike Witches'' are set in an AlternateHistory; in 1939, the extraterrestrial Neuroi began their conquest of Earth. Despite lacking understanding about the Neuroi's background or motives, it was clear to humanity that the Neuroi presented a grave threat to their civilization; this prompted the world's armed forces to mount a counteroffensive, enlisting the help of female magic users known as "Witches" and a newly developed weapon christened the "Striker Unit" (devices which bolster the Witches' magical abilities). Wielding spells and specialized firearms, they take to the skies and strive to repel the Neuroi invaders. The anime tells the story of Yoshika Miyafuji, a Fuso witch whose desire to learn about her missing father's fate eventually led her to join the battle against the Neuroi and understand what being a "Strike Witch" means.

A DMM game called ''Strike Witches Kiseki no Rondo'' [[note]] (later titled as ''Strike Witches Kiseki no Rondo Blitz'') [[/note]] was released on October 27, 2015 and focused the 501st, the app was shut down on February 28, 2088.

A DMM game called ''Strike Witches Blitz'' is being released, and it focuses on the 501st.

A third season that began airing in October 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.

And as the part of the franchise 10th anniversary 3 more anume were announced:

-Real sequel about 501[-[[superscript:nd]]-] JFW subtitled Road to Berlin slated for 2020.

* DangerDeadpan: Charlotte Yeager, fittingly for a DistaffCounterpart of the [[RenamedTropes former]] TropeNamer.

* TheHomeFront: Even though it's an alternate universe and the enemy are aliens instead of Germans, they're still fighting the Battle of Britain.

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 ''Strike Witches'' and ''The Movie''.

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

* 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, bordering on [[{{Yandere}} extreme]] proportions.

* {{Lolicon}}: Only in the legal and partially moral sense, since all of the characters are teenaged. However, there is a degree of subversion in that, with the exception of one petty officer and one [[spoiler:dead fiancé]], none of the male cast show the slightest romantic interest in 501st. Despite the best efforts of Flying Officer Erica Hartmann. In Season One, Episode Eight, it is revealed that [[spoiler: due to her own experience,]] Minna has forbidden men from talking to the Witches, to avoid emotionally bonding.

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

Recent a DMM game called ''Strike Witches Blitz'' is being released whom currently focused on the 501[-[[superscript:st]]-].

* SchoolSwimsuit: More-or-less a standard part of the uniform for all Fuso witches, along with all the other girls at Yoshika's school.

** 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 is sorta the Mongolian exonym for Russia (the extra O is caused by Mongolian phonetics, [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/俄羅斯 later loaned to China]]), 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.

** 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 is sorta the Mongolian exonym for Russia (the extra O is caused by Mongolian phonetics, and the name also loaned to China), 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.

** 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 is sorta the [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%81 Mongolian exonym for Russia]], 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.