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In 1939, Earth came under attack from mysterious aliens called the Neuroi. No one knows what they are or where they came from, only that they did not come in peace. Conventional armies have failed to repel them. Our only hope is female magic users gathered from all over the world (most of the ones making up the cast named after existing ace fighter pilots), taking to the skies in propeller-like armors powered by their magic, with spells and aptly modified firearms as their weapons.
Aside from the evident fanservice (which makes up a good part of the visuals), Strike Witches presents what is at heart a war story, about the camaraderie between the pilots of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing (aka Strike Witches) and their battles against the unknown enemy.
The first half of the series focuses on the Witches' backstories and their interactions, after which it delves deeper in the secrets behind the Neuroi.
Strike Witches contains 12 episodes, was broadcast between July and September 2008, and was animated by GONZO.
For a superficially similar concept see Sky Girls, with which this show shares Humikane Shimada's contribution as a character designer.
Strike Witches contains examples of:
- Alternate History: We don't know when things diverged, but countries are sometimes merged and have different names and WWII is replaced with fighting off an alien invasion. Oh, and there's magic.
- In a further bizarre tweaking, all the pilots are actually based on real World War Two pilots, including one who is actually still alive.
- It seems that some screenshots of episode 5 have been posted on General Yeager's Myspace page. Yes, Chuck Yeager has a Myspace page.
- All Your Base Are Belong To Us: The entire European mainland have fallen. And then the conspiracy to remove Strike Witches from the war.
- Barrier Warrior: Yoshika can put up a much bigger and stronger shield than the average Witch.
- Beach Episode
- Beam Spam: Seriously.
- Beehive Barrier: The Neuroi seem to be made out of this.
- Better Than It Sounds: Despite the odd premise and blatant fanservice, the show has strong character development and was recognized as one of the best anime series of 2008 by the Japanese Ministry of Culture itself.
- Bland Name Product: Spem.
- Boss Rush: the final battle against the Warlock-Akagi combined mech.
- Inverted Bowdlerization by Fan Sub Group Strike Subs. Because the removal of Censor Steam in the DVD version just revealed Anime Anatomy 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.
- Cash Cow Franchise - Strike Witches more or less completely saved GONZO financially.
- Censor Steam
- Cheerful Child\Genki Girl: Francesca.
- Child Soldiers: As young as 12.
- Cliche Storm
- Clothing Damage: Charlotte, when she crashes through a Neuroi.
- This Troper would like to point out that we're talking about the Beach Episode here, and most of the cast was in swimsuits. That said, it was still rather significant clothing damage. Charlotte did lose her entire bikini after all. More fun with Skinship Gropes!
- Complaining About Shows You Dont Watch (No matter how creepy the fanservice can be, this series' hatedom scares this troper way more.)
- Conspicuous CG: England's pastures never looked as plastic as in episode 09.
- Covert Pervert: Yoshika all the way. When Mio was putting a radio in her ear, she thought Mio was about to kiss her. And her eyes and hands seem drawn to every bit of cleavage around, especially after her dream of 'flying in formation' with Lynette, her best friend.
- She's kind of excused though, being in her early teens and all.
- Also, Perrine sure has an awful strong attachment to Mio...
- Francesca would count except for the fact that she isn't exactly in the closet about it.
- Crash Into Hello: Happens to Yoshika in episode 3.
- Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: Several, but especially episode 6.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Played straight in episode 7 when Gertrude is trying to wake up Erica.
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?"
- Dead Little Sister: Minna's boyfriend.
- Gertrude's little sister is alive, though.
- Death Seeker: 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. Despite two of her subordinates being deeply in love with her and begging her not to keep putting herself in danger, making her apparent death wish considerably less sympathetic.
- Disappeared Dad: Yoshika's father.
- Distaff Counterpart: 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. Chuck Yeager's counterpart is also the first person in the Strike Witches world to break the sound barrier.
- This trope is presumably in effect because having a bunch of 13 year old boys running around without pants isn't nearly as effective in attracting viewers. At least, the sort of viewers they want.
- Eyepatch Of Power: Mio
- Fan Nickname: "Sky Girls no pantsu", "Strike Pantsu", "Pantsu Witches"
- Fanservice: And how...
- Fastball Special: Charlotte throws Francesca in episode 12, with Francesca using her shield to protect herself and inflict damage.
- Fetish: Yoshika has quite the fetish for big breasts.
- For Massive Damage: 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.
- Foreign Fanservice: 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.
- Furo Scene
- Gainaxing
- Girls Love: In some cases the teasing between the girls appears to be fueled by genuine romantic feelings.
- Godiva Hair: Lynne during a Shower Scene in episode 9.
- Good Looking Privates: Taken a bit farther than usual.
- Growing The Beard: From episode 8 onward. Not that the first half was hideous...
- Growing Up Sucks: The Witches gradually lose their magical powers when they grow older, typically appearing at 12 and losing them by 20.
- Guilty Pleasures: Oh but it is.
- Hey Its That Voice: Viewers of Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome will likely recognize Saeko Chiba (Mio) as Natsuki Kuga, since she uses almost the exact same voice, along with several other famous actresses like Rie Tanaka (Suigintou) and Ami Koshimizu (Kallen).
- The Home Front: Even though it's an alternate universe and the enemy are aliens instead of Germans, they're still fighting the Battle of Britain.
- Idiot Ball: You will want to slap Yoshika in episodes 9 and 10.
- Image Song: In response to the fans, five image song CDs were released covering all the main characters (Yoshika got two solos, though) The CDs also included duets and covers of songs from the girls' home countries from around that era. Except for the Karlslander trio, which has the lyrics rewritten, since a Nazi song wouldn't have flown in this day and age.
- Istanbul Not Constantinople: Since Strike Witches is an alternate history, it is very guilty of this. The Fuso Empire is Japan, Gallia is France, Suomus is Finland, Orussia is Russia, Karlsland is Germany, Liberion is the United States, Italy is divided into the Romagna and Venezia Ducates, and Britannia is England. The show also refers to real life locations within those countries, and at least two real world currencies (Fuso's yen and Britannia's pounds) have carried over.
- Is Ostmark Turkey? (to fit the trope name.)
- Probably Austria.
- In real life, Ostmark was the official designation for Austria (Österreich) after the 1938 Anschluss.
- I believe that this trope should not be applied here, as this is not OUR planet. I mean, yes, Europe and Africa look the same as this Earth, but... look at the map
 ◊! There's a BIG HOLE in Eastern Asia, and the Black Sea is more like a Black Ocean; I don't even think my country exists on that map. And what about the Americas? The north looks like a badly drawn star, and the South is too small. I'd REALLY like to see an actual historic WWII anime, with a proper map.
- And that's why this trope fully applies.
- Last Episode New Character: 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.
- It's just a tease for the second season.
- Les Yay: Yoshika has some... interesting dreams about her comrades.
- Charlotte and Francesca seem awfully close, for that matter. And speaking of Francesca.... Oh, and Perrine is pretty much outright Mio's secret stalker.
- Let's not forget Minna's feelings for Mio, either. Hell, why don't we just say this show is Cast Full Of Gay and call it a day?
- Based on the events in Episode 8, Minna probably transferred her feelings for her old boyfriend (including concern for his safety) to Mio.
- Eila and Sanya.... ("Doesn't it make your heart throb?")
- Lolicon: Only in the legal and partially moral sense, since they're all early puberty and above (that other -young people- not abnormal condition).
- Possibly subverted in that, with the exception of one petty officer and one dead fiancé, none of the male cast show the slightest romantic interest in 501st. Despite the best efforts of Flying Officer Erica Hartman.
- One of the mechanics says that they're not allowed to even talk to the Witches, to avoid emotionally bonding.
- It's not the cast who're important here- it's the audience!
- Male Gaze
- Marshmallow Hell: Lynne to Yoshika in episode 3. Not that Yoshika really minds...
- Meaningful Name: Except for Sanya, the names of the characters are gender-swapped versions of those of their real-world counterparts.
- In a neat little bit of attention to detail, the "Ilmatar" in Eila's name refers to an ancient Finnish sky goddess, an appropriate name for a flying magic user.
- Mildly Military
- Monster Of The Week: Lampshaded. Mio comments that the Neuroi no longer adhere to their previously established "once per week" pattern.
- Mood Whiplash: The show's tone becomes much more serious from episode 9 onward.
- More Dakka: The humankind being at the receiving end, balanced with For Massive Damage at Neuroi's part.
- Multinational Team: The Strike Witches are an international military unit, with members from their world's equivalents of Japan, Germany, England, France, America, Russia, Finland, and Italy. Mostly Germany though, and France's and Italy's contributions seem mostly limited to comedic relief. I'm sure that makes the show's French and Italian fanbases feel proud...
- The Britannia lady is the team's sniper.
-
Russia Orussia gets almost no dialogue outside the episode centering around her and Finland.
- Her bazooka, her humming tunes and her escort
Finnish Suomus partner do all the talking.
- New Meat: Yoshika
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Breathe deep, and repeat with me: Mecha Fighter Pilot Magical Cat Girl Lolis in Powered Armor leering over each other while being roped into conspiracy!
- Petting Zoo People: The Witches take on the ears and tails of various animals when they use their magic.
- Pink Bishoujo Ghetto: It is theorized by some fans that only females can use magic. And as the main characters are the magic users...
- 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.
- Pinky Swear
- Power Trio: The Karsland Witches.
- Erica = Id
- Gertrud = Superego
- Minna = Ego
- The Quiet One: Sanya.
- Sequel Hook: The letter from Yoshika's father in the post-credits sequence.
- Don't forget the novel about Anabuki Tomoko, and the Afrikakorps.
- Shades Of Conflict: Subverted 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...
- It was shown in the novels 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.
- Shout Out: The 501st is named in honor of the 501st Infantry Regiment, the first airborne unit in the US military.
- Hardly probable, given Japanese infatuation for all things Wehrmacht it's more likely that the unit is named after the 501st Heavy Panzer Battallion.
- That or Darth Vader's own personal stormtrooper legion.
- Show Some Leg: Subverted in episode 11, when Erica tries to induce a passing truck to stop, and it doesn't even slow down.
- Shown Their Work: Despite being a show about 13-20 year old girls fighting an evil alien threat, many WWII references were made in both moefied and non-moefied ways. The example of Erica Hartmann stealing panties was Hitler's hat being taken by Ace Pilot Erich Hartmann.
- They had to settle for her stealing Francesca's panties since there was no Hitler Distaff Counterpart, though the ensuing chaos over the issue was done well enough to parallel the situation.
- Skinship Grope: Quite a few times in the series proper, and Francesca in the end credits.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The Ending Theme after episode 9.
- Status Buff: Gertrud's trademark spell greatly enhances her physical strenght.
- Tall Dark And Bishoujo: subverted. Mio is average in height.
- The Libby: Perrine is a moderate form of this towards Yoshika early on.
- Wham Episode: Episode 10.
- Your Mileage May Vary: Some people will look past the fanservice and find themselves enjoying the story and characters. Others just can't get over how young and undressed the girls are. The latter group is more vocal and thus prone to get attention, so you can imagine what it means for this anime.
- Others, of course will mildly to greatly enjoy the fanservice and the story and characters or not (OF COURSE). This is why fanservice exists folks! *mumbles something about pretty women and handsome men being nature's way of advertising to get attention for the 'story and character'*
- Mumbling to the contrary about societal taboos, social standing, insane Japanese, consequences of being seen watching, and self-image with regards to perversion goes here. Retort based on the concept that a low-cut dress or slightly short skirt may be advertising, but there is a line and a total lack of nether coverage crosses it several times over. Comments regarding the dignity of women and sexual objectification compared to male characters, as well as pedophilic implications. Demand for alcohol.
And yes, this article has more pants than all the girls of this series combined
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