Strike Witches Movie: Review Preview

Tomorrow sees the release of the Strike Witches Movie: released back in March 27, 2012, it seemed like an eternity between then and now. Since then, I’ve moved on to my final year of undergraduate studies and are now working on a thesis project of sorts. I should emphasise that this article is not a review. It is merely outlining my intent to make a review to the standards readers have come to expect from me (that is to say, lots of screenshots and the odd Bond one-liner here and there). The official description of the movie can be read at my review.

• This is Shizuka Hattori, one of the new characters introduced in the movie. I’m particularly proud of the fact that this post has actual screenshots from the movie (and is probably the only place online to do so right now). I’ll upload more images in due course, but for now, here are six images taken from the movie.

• The primary challenge in writing a Strike Witches related post is the procurement of a reasonable image that isn’t particularly offensive. A certain degree of maturity is required to enjoy this series for the nuances like the aircraft sounds and weapon designs.

• Old characters make a return in the movie, and fight right alongside new characters to overcome the Neuroi threat. From what I’ve seen so far, the movie is very similar to the Gundam 00 Awakening of the Trailblazer in terms of the protagonists’ roles.

• Yoshika being Yoshika. Truth be told, I would have probably passed on Strike Witches many moons ago owing to my aversions with fanservice, but I realised that it’s not particularly disruptive to the story in most series unless it’s overplayed, and at the end of the day, minor fanservice is merely a misrepresentation of anatomy. As long as it’s not being insultingly shoved onto my screen, it’s not a problem, and thus, I’ve become a Strike Witches fan quite easily.

• As I’ve come to expect of almost all theatrical presentations of anime, the graphical quality is superb. Anime movies often times feel like extended episodes because that’s what they end up being. I don’t particularly mind this factor given the fact that we have had previous exposure to a series before hand, while conventional movies distinctly feel more special because of the context: we cannot say movies like James Bond or Lord of the Rings “feel like a protracted episode” quite simply because such movies were not based off TV series. Futurama and Simpsons movies feel like protracted episodes, too, but they’re awesome anyways. The same logic holds true for anime.

• Anyone who hates spoilers is probably advised to hit the back button on their browser. Anyone who hates me for posting spoilers is a communist. I noted earlier that this movie feels like the Gundam 00 Movie because in a sense, there are similarities. This is most notable in Yoshika recovers her magic, much like how Setsuna only uses the 00 Qan[T], in the last few minutes of their respective movies. I’ll post a proper review once I’ve had the chance to take a second look.

As per usual, no reviews with screenshots exist on the internet simply because no one was able to obtain them in a practical manner. I will go over my own reasons for enjoying Strike Witches in a post to be composed in the very near future, contrary to the internet’s vehemence against its character design, the absence of trousers and the seemingly trivial story. There are indeed aspects that make it worth watching, and I will also aim to produce a reasonably detailed review shortly on my website, as well as at this blog. The movie is a shorter one, having a running time of 94 minutes.