Headscratchers / Strike Witches

• It seems very odd that the anime whips out the idea of a witch losing her magic ability completely, when nothing else in the (rather extensive) setting's materials ever suggests it, and the reasoning of combat witches being so young is that adolescence is simply when their output is highest. What does a dense death-seeker like Mio know that the rest of the world doesn't?
  • Just finished season 1 and i think you missed something, she says they get weaker, that's why there is the healing mother and grandmother but only their daughter can do shields, I imagine Mio would be the same if extenuating circumstances (the Strikers) weren't bleeding her dry. She would probably end up 40 years old with her only power being her Sharingan eye.
  • But Season 2 ends with Yoshika losing all of her magic, even the basic healing stuff that her mom and grandmother can do. Somehow using Reppumaru causes her to lose not only her power as a Witch but also her magic talent altogether. Where the hell did that come from?
    • Most witches do completely lose their powers gradually after certain age, except for very few example, including Akimoto family (Yoshika's mom & grandma family side). In case of Yoshika and Shin-Reppuzan, seeing what happened in the movie, I have a doubt it may have been psychological issue.
    • The Reppumaru was forged with Mio's remaining magic, and has the ability to suck the magic out of its wielder. Maybe Yoshika's super-ultra-awesome magic that overpowered Striker units and was apparently so powerful that she couldn't even fly with a broom was like bursting a dam when she held the Reppumaru and it caused such a rapid magic flow into the sword that it "stopped up" her magic like trying to inhale too hard through a stuffy nose. Maybe. Or something.
    • One prevailing theory to explain the situation regarding Yoshika's loss and return of her magic after using Shin Reppuzan suggests the possibility that Yoshika may have done the magical equivalent of pulling a muscle and needed time to recuperate after expending her magical stamina and not quite being trained enough in proper swordsmanship or magic technique using a sword. Since it is established that witches have a pool of magic stamina that needs to be replenished after an extended period of time using strikers or their powers, or even using an excessive use of their magic then normal, while admittedly conjuncture somewhat, the theory at least holds some plausibility given how a witches magic appears to work. Plus Yoshika was nowhere remotely near the age where a witches magic begins to show signs of entropy or outright loss, so that may also be an additional factor to this theory.

• The Season 2 finale: Okay, so you're making an assault on the home base of the alien menace and you only bring 11 witches and 5 battleships. What were all the other JFWs, the 504th, the Luftwaffe, etc doing? This is the big one, do or die. Everyone should have been there if only to insure the Yamato and the fleet were protected.
  • The existence of other Neuroi nests beyond the targeted one is implied. It's unlikely witches would be stationed in Africa without an active threat there, and other hotspots could exist around the world. Pulling additional forces could have increased the Yamato's chances for success, but would have left vulnerabilities elsewhere.
  • Also, there were off screen battles around the hive that was not shown.
  • There are at least seven more major "hives" in Europe and Africa such as Plague, Black Sea, and Cairo. That's not even including the numerous smaller hives covering area between Karlsland and Orussia. So most forces are engaged in their theater. 504th was still out of commission at the time of operation, and local units were on defensive. Besides what you could see in the anime, Venetian-Romagnian fleet was present as well.

• In episode 5, Yoshika and Lynne are shown to have incredible trouble staying afloat while wearing their Strikers during beach training. So why didn't they have any trouble after crashing in the water in episode 3, after shooting down the 'Separating Rocket' Neuroi?
  • It might have just been a goof, but maybe... The Centipede's Dilemma?

• Is it really absolutely necessary that the witches must go without pants? I mean they could wear short shorts or a skirt and still be able to operate the Striker units. I realize that in real life it was done for fan service, but I'm talking logistically here within the world of the show.
  • In-universe most witches don't bother because it's acceptable for them to go without pants or skirts. Lampshaded in S1 when Erica tries to stop a truck by posing, and it doesn't work - everyone's used to it. Then again, Sanya somewhat compensates for the witches' lack of attire by wearing opaque tights AND a miniskirt over her underwear.
    • Underwear? Take another look, buddy. She only wear's undies when she's snuggling up to Eila. Those tights and skirt are covering her cameltoe; she's going commando.
  • SW universe simply never really developed custom of females wearing pants/skirts regularly. Although, longer "belts" are becoming more popular thanks to Romangnian fashion designers. Also, Sanya does wear a "pants" underneath her tights according to Humikane.
  • In supplemental materials, note that the uniform coats worn by the Suomus witches are long enough to be dresses, and some of the witches are wear skirts, shorts and trousers respectively.
  • An interesting detail regarding the lack of pants that might better provide a solid answer is that some scenes in the Movie's opening show that witches throughout history have gone without pants as an apparent social and cultural norm of attire that witches adopted though history and non-witch girls and women apparently also adopted themselves out of support and idolatry for witches defending humanity from the Neruoi of old. So it seems that in the witches world, witches going their day to day routine and lives without pants is apparently no more a social faux pas or oddity than wearing a swimsuit and thus seems taken as a casual social norm. The fact that what panties and swimsuits the witches wear are more closer to more contemporaneity, modern style than the style of the 1940's also bears some interesting implications and insight into the worlds social norms and view of clothing and attitudes regarding socially accepted sexual moors in general. Furthermore the reason why this may all be the case is more due to the fact witches have familiar features that seem to manifest when a witch uses her magic; it would be fair to argue that such revealing attire for witches is more of a practical necessity. Ease of accessing and donning striker units, while likely still no less true; is apparently, given the implications of evidence a secondary tangent from the primary reason.
    • Another detail above in conjunction to being a cultural social norm, this does admittedly still raise the question of why such dress for witches would be considered a very old cultural and social norm for as long as witches have been a thing to begin with... until you remember that witches have tails of their familiars appear when using their magic. Having the tails of a familiar just magically appear while wearing clothes would mean that dog, cat, horse, bird and other familiar tails that appear would likely get stuck and bunched up uncomfortably in normal clothing. This would likely not be very comfortable for the witches and could even be distracting for witches in either the day to day use of their magic or in the middle of battle. So witches have to wear clothing that is designed with this particular fact in mind and witch clothing designed to accommodate a witches magical needs; and this would explain why witches wear clothing carries the aesthetic of being pants-less. With time this eventually grows to be a social and cultural norm that is universal for witches and emulated by girls and young women who idolize witches.

• If the Strike Witches Universe equivalent of China doesn't exist, how the heck can firearms exist since they were the ones who accidentally discovered the black explosive powder while trying to develop an elixir for immortality? Wouldn't the world technically be another Fantasy Gun Control world?
  • Not to mention the compass and ton of other inventions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions
  • It's fairly daft to assume somehow ONLY the Chinese could invent it. Europe had tons of alchemists too so it's not even the slightest stretch to assume one of them blundered on it instead. Perhaps somewhat later, but not enough to matter. For guns to somehow not exist at all we'd have to assume that somehow no one on earth discovers the most basic of explosives... FOR A THOUSAND YEARS.
    • But there are indications that the Chinese state in Strike Witches does exist, only to be invaded by Manchus, or Koreans and reduced to the south of the country.
  • The Chinese civilization apparently existed until some time in middle ages, then a large scale attack from Neuroi predecessor pretty much wiped it out. So it is possible that these inventions were made before this incident.
    • The closest to Chinese civilization in the Strike Witches nation found on the world atlas is the Great Mongol Empire;it is probable that it was in fact the Mongols in lieu of China as we know it that developed the earliest black powder firearms.

• What about the Neuroi? What's their deal? I mean, you have these replicating, regenerating, laser shooting honeycomb aliens and there's nothing regarding what they are exactly? When you first saw them they were weird, alien looking and when they fought they looked dangerous and freakin' wicked. In the Doujin they cut through conventional forces with ease. You'd think their would be some sort of look into some of the mystery of the Neuroi to find some answers about what they are. Or where they came from. Or why they are even attacking earth in the first place. Like are they from space or some sort of alternate dimension? I'm not entirely, 100% sure but is possible they could be a sort of sentient,crystalline machines of some sort. But then that brings up other questions regarding biology, social structure, history and what not. You'd think they'd be revealing stuff like this at least during the second season, but apparently not. Heck they even mentioned a schism within the Neuroi's ranks, but that little tidbit is just briefly mentioned and then forgotten about.
  • Original Poster following up: as it turns out, recent developments in the various source material ranging from the Africa Doujinshi, the Movie, and the Brave Witches series, among some other source material, state or even outright show that Neuroi appeared and existed on earth since the point in history when Ancient Egypt was at the height of it's power and Neuroi in these time periods adopted more organic forms akin to various beasts, monsters and demons from myth, legend and folklore in our world, with various cases in history of "disturbances" indicating either a high amount of Neuroi activity or even outright massive invasions of Neuroi hoards. Since ancient Egypt's height of power Neuroi have existed on Earth for centuries in some way, shape or form or even in some varied level, capacity or quantity. It wasn't until the turn of the magic power revolution did the Neuroi become more active and aggressive then normal and possible at some point during or after the first Neuroi war they began to adopt more machine like forms and technology. It does leave the mystery as to where the Neuroi originally come from being unanswered so far, and it's possible that question is as much a mystery in universe as it is for the fanbase. The Neuroi's overall modius operendi and reasons for laying siege to humanity for as long as they have and occupying earth appears to be hinted that Neuroi are trying to gather raw resources (mostly metallic elements it seems)to expand their numbers, to adapt and to hold territory... although it still begs the question: to what end? The answer to that question still remains enigmatic and elusive a mystery, but at least small steps in explanation, exploration and insight into the Neuroi is being made bit by bit. In fact it seems that as more of the animated installments of the series go on the Neruoi appear to be evolving their tactics and attempting in adopting modern (by the 1940's standards at least) human tactics though it appears with mixed, if not middling results: as it seems the Neruoi are still trying to overcome a learning curb and while understanding the basic premise and idea in such tactics; seem to struggle in implementing or executing such tactics effectively or no quite fully understanding said tactics and either relying on or at least falling back on or even combining such tactics with their own, more alien logic, tactics and stratagems as a race.

• Where exactly is it mentioned Minna's dead lover is named Kurt Flachfeld anyways?
  • The officially licensed fan-book contains a list of all various cast members in the Anime including supporting minor supporting cast and background characters: Kurt Flachfeld being noted as one such example alongside a minor biography note about him.

• In episode6 of season2, why Yoshika asking Sanya about her impression while wielding the Fliegerhammer? Does she forget that she was already seen Sanya wielding that from the beginning of episode6 season1?
  • It's likely that while Yoshika may have seen Sanya use the Fliegerhammer in battle, and maybe knows a bit of the weapon itself (as indicated in Himealbums and the 2007 OVA) it's likely that Yoshika haven't really asked Sanya about her thoughts of the weapon she uses until that point. Given that Yoshika is noted for being a bit naive an a smidgen forgetful its likely the thought to ask Sanya about her thoughts on her weapon either slipped her mind or in fact hadn't crossed her mind until that moment.

• What was the deal with General Maloney (based on the real-world RAF Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory) and his anti-witch campaign? Granted, Season 1 was pretty much a Broad Strokes retelling of the Battle of Britain, and history has not been kind to Leigh-Mallory's handling of RAF 12 Group during the Battle, but still, it seems like he was being treated rather roughly by the story- not to mention what happened to his aide-de-camp (who was based on Lord Tedder, another real-world RAF officer).
  • Baron Tedder wannabe was beaten by Trude.
  • In supplemental materials it's outlined that part of the reason why General Maloney's anti-witch views stems from a combination of factors ranging from being highly against the usage of Witches for defending Dover, likely due to personal dissatisfaction of witches being the brunt of most major Neuroi assault and repelling of capital class neuroi units and eclipsing the power of the conventional troop, the fact his long time political and personal rival Hugo Dowding was the one who established and supported the formation of Joint Fighter Wings (at the recommendations and endorsements of Kalrlsand Witch General Adolfine Galland) and wanting Brittania to gain any political and military power advantage over other nations in the war and it seems even after the war and coming off as rather power hungry and conniving; despite having much bigger and important problem's with the Neuroi treat. Given that overall backstory and context, as well as being an AU version of his real life historical counterpart and both letting their pride blind them into making bad decisions and judgement calls; it's not surprising why General Maloney wound up not being looked upon very glowingly.

• Who is Lynette Bishop based on? Unusual for this series, there is very little information available on the real life inspiration of Lynette's character. In-series she is the daughter of famous World War I flying ace Minnie Bishop (based on real Canadian WW1 Ace Billy Bishop) and younger sister of Wilma Bishop (generally agreed upon to be based on Bishop's son and WW2 pilot Arthur Bishop). Her Striker Unit code matches John Ellis, a member of the 610th Squadron of the RAF who fought at Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain. Her birthday matches Jackie Mann an RAF ace who also fought in the Battle of Britain and shared a connection to Adolf Galland. Finally there is Jackie Willis-O'Connor, the real life daughter of Billy Bishop who openly defying her mother's wishes joined the RCAF and worked as a radio operator and trainer during the war. Some fans have speculated that she isn't based on a particular person, but represents the Supermarine Spitfire itself, which would make her stand out in a series where virtually every other witch is based on a real life person. Regardless, Lynette's inspiration remains a mystery.