Strike Witches

(First, sorry about the MIA; something happened in real life.)

I'm not sure about Strike Witches. It's a franchise about anthropomorphisations of military planes and tanks, if my memory serves, infamous for the characters' aversions to pants.

To begin with, a very good friend, who watched/read the series, confirmed to me that it's not pornographic by any stretch of the imagination, although there are sex scenes in it. So it's not at fault from that angle. But, some of the plane-girls are explicitly underaged, (14-ish according to the wiki) some of which are involved in said sex scenes, and all of which are not wearing pants. According to him, according to the rules, it should get the Devil Icon.

(Seeing that it spans a number of smaller titles, however, we can limit the scope if it does get the Devil Icon.)

Quite a popular franchise. I'd like to hear some opinions on this, so it's open for everyone, if I may assign it as such.

The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.

First, welcome back, and good to know you're okay.

Second, Strike Witches was already discussed at length in the About Content Violations Dicussion thread, and I believe the verdict was that there's no reason for review.

edited 8th May '12 6:06:51 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

@Marq - there was no such verdict. I already voted to cut it based on the reasons outlined in Catalogue's post. It's just waiting on more votes to be resolved one way or the other.

"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.

A couple of things first, just to clarify.

The series (or at least the first anime series, which is all I know about it) is not about anthropomorphized planes and tanks, but about gender-bent young versions of real-life pilots. Charlotte Yeager is for example the Strike Witches-version of the real-life pilot Chuck Yeager.

The reason for the lack of pants is explained by the Striker Units equipped to their legs; the plane-wings that keep them airborne through magic. Some characters, most strikingly the character on the cover of the first Light Novel◊, use skirts in tandem with the Striker Units.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

Pedo-pandering, eh? That's not exactly gonna be in its favor...

Experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows.

Strike Witches is licensed in the U.S. by Funimation as TV-MA, so take that as you will.

For the record, Strike Witches apparently has an official license in this country which is the basis for arguments that it shouldn't be reviewed in the first place.

Though if there's explicit sex that probably puts it into review territory anyway.

edited 8th May '12 6:19:46 AM by Arha

Isn't it rated R though?

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer

That's an absurd explanation for not wearing pants. The chick in Gunvalkyrie didn't wear pants either, for fanservice obviously. But she's an adult. These girls aren't.

I don't really care that it was licensed here, it's still a series about underage girls in sexualized costumes.

"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.

I'd like to note that it's aired on national TV, available for downloading and streaming on XBox, PSP, PS3, Netflix and other places.

@Martello: My apologies, it was discussed in the Recommendations for Perusal thread. Specifically, I'll quote these two posts:

And before you jump in and quote the following post as a counter-argument...

... I draw your attention to this other post, which proves that DVD ratings aren't an accurate measure for our purposes:

edited 8th May '12 6:26:03 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

I'm not worried about any of that stuff. My vote is cast.

Also, mentioning ASOIF in any context for the purposes of argument is basically an "ignore me" flashing red sign. It's not even slightly related to this discussion.

edited 8th May '12 6:29:00 AM by Martello

"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.

Let's remember that the Content Policy isn't all about cutting; there are several other options on the table.

I don't even know what it is about, to be honest. I'm merely pointing out that you can't rely on the DVD rating here as an automatic reason for cut — a preemptive measure against anyone making that argument, if you will.

edited 8th May '12 6:31:54 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

Welcome back, Catalogue. I will look over the series later today and post my findings. Expect to hear back around 4-5pm EDT.

"Polite life will fill you full of cancer." - Iggy Pop "I've seen the future, brother, it is murder." -Leonard Cohen

OK, so I did a bit of digging on the issue on the BBFC website. The series passed with a 12 classification for "moderate sexualised nudity" (For the record, Season One, Eps 1-6, Eps 7-12.)

"Yup. That tasted purple."

I hope the titular witches aren't naked. O_o.

Censor steam is an edge case, although another series was cut due to too many panties :(

edited 8th May '12 6:49:19 AM by animeg3282

Only with judicious application of Censor Steam, since it only happens in Furo Scenes.

"Yup. That tasted purple."

Would it be possible to request that someone who has concrete knowledge of the series to say where the sex scenes that the characters are involved in are?

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

I assume 12 means it's approved for 12-year-olds?

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer

It means it can legally be sold to anyone over the age of twelve. It also used to mean you had to be over the age of twelve to see it in a cinema, but it's been replaced with the 12A rating in that regard which means anyone under that age must be accompanied by an adult.

There's a trope page for this somewhere.

edited 8th May '12 6:50:12 AM by Deadbeatloser22

"Yup. That tasted purple."

Let's also remember that the work is Military Science Fiction with lots of military-style battles against alien invaders; that might be a factor in the parental guidance requirement.

Sex scenes?! Strike Witches has no sex scenes!

edited 8th May '12 6:54:46 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

@Marq: Indeed, that is also my impression. However, Catalogue has said that a source has told him that there are sex scenes. That is why I would very much like to request where these sex scenes appear.

Join us in our quest to play all RPG video games! Moving on to disc 2 of Grandia!

It has been awhile since I have watched the anime but from what I remember that portion of the franchise at least lacks sex scenes. As for fanservice most characters are at least 14 with pretty much the older characters being subject to fanservice and those under 14 getting none at all provided you do not count the lack of pants as fanservice. From my understanding this should be allowed though feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

I'm seriously afraid that that person is using "sex scenes" to mean any scene that involves fanservice or sexual themes, because otherwise I would be baffled as to how the show is being aired on US national TV in broad daylight and is publicly available for download via various common game consoles (as I noted previously).

edited 8th May '12 6:59:37 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.

This is a shounen work too, so panty shots of characters around the target audience's age would not be uncommon.

"Nullius addictus iurare in verba magistri, quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes."

Also, a reminder: if there are work-specific differences, please specify which version the content comes from. This will aid the 5P in determining disposition.

Not a substitute for a formal medical consultation.