In 1939, the alien Neuroi appear in the skies above Karlsland and soon invade most of Europe. With conventional weapons prove ill-equipped to take down the rapidly regenerating aliens, Dr. Ichiro Miyafuji invents the Striker Unit, which enables girls with magical abilities (aka witches) to fly and fight the aliens, but he is killed shortly thereafter.
Five years later, Major Mio Sakamoto of the Fuso Empire, Executive Officer of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing (better known as the Strike Witches) returns home to scout and recruit Dr. Miyafuji's teenage daughter Yoshika. Yoshika refuses, but soon receives a letter from Ichiro containing photos of him with Sakamoto. Yoshika sets off on the Aircraft Carrier Akagi to Britannia to search for her father's wheareabouts.
Tropes in this episode:
- Cat Up a Tree: Yoshika's Establishing Character Moment is rescuing one.
- Distant Prologue: The Teaser opens with the Neuroi's invasion of Karlsland in 1939, before jumping to 1944.
- Monumental Damage: One of the first things the Neuroi are shown doing is obliterating the Eiffel Tower.
- Opening Narration: The episode opens with a brief monologue detailing the Neuroi's 1939 invasion of Europe, the development of the Striker Unit and the history that followed:"It was the year 1939. They appeared all over the world without warning. We called them Neuroi. Nobody knows where they came from or what they want. But the hell they brought drove us all from our countries, from our cities... They drove us from our homes. Mankind came up with a new weapon to fight the Neuroi and began to stand up and fight. The Striker Unit: a device that heightens natural magical ability, the only thing capable of combating the Neuroi. This modern witches' broom made individual flight possible, but only for a select few who possess the power. A call went out to witches across the world to lend their skills to the battle. This elite task force organized to fight was named the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. But these young women are known by another name, simply called the Strike Witches."
- Refusal of the Call: Yoshika refuses to take part in the war that killed her father. Even when convinced to sail to Britannia in search of him, she still refuses to join the Strike Witches and instead performs menial tasks aboard the Akagi.
- Tongue-Out Insult: Yoshika sticks out her tongue to Mio after the latter leaves the Miyafuji Clinic having failed to recruit her.
