WAR WITCHES
~part 2~
Strike Witches
 |
Produced by Gonzo for the Summer 2008 season |
Born between the pages of Comp Ace, a Japanese otaku hybrid magazine that covers computer gaming and manga culture, Strike Witches became a symbol of Humikane's desire to spread his mecha musume concept far and wide. It was a promise of a unified world in which his anthropomorphic bishoujo heroines could thrive under the pressures of danger and the joys of folly. He spent years crafting his empire out of magazine columns, enlisting his artistic fellows to help sculpt the vision for prospective enthusiasts through manga and light novels. It was only after fulfilling his contractual obligations to Konami for Sky Girls that Humikane was finally able to wield the collective strength of all this hard work, hoisting Strike Witches off the page and onto the big screen. Yet, it would still take a short while longer for the series to truly take off into the skies.
The original OVA episode was produced and released by studio Gonzo nearly two years before the TV anime made its proper debut. In stark contrast to Sky Girls and its OVA that exhibits the full breadth of what the series has to offer, Strike Witches could do little more than present the rough draft of its concept and hope that was good enough. It's a brief seven minutes of animation with short vignettes involving the cast, showcasing the divide between playful antics and high speed combat that the series would be known for. The rest of the OVA is simply a slideshow of production work and fleeting glimpses of ideas that would be tweaked significantly in the process of creating the first season. These shots are narrated with light banter between some of the confirmed cast members in an attempt to add some flavor to the presentation.
It's a fascinating glimpse that actually resembles very little of Strike Witches as people know it now. The character designs look completely different. It's hard to ascertain the mood of the show considering the animated bits are incredibly brief and have little to no dialogue in them. But maybe the most notable difference is the absence of its prevalent casual eroticism - a concept more commonly referred to as "fanservice". There's an ironic sense of inversion here where Sky Girls had a much more revealing OVA episode that transitioned into a largely tame TV anime experience. Strike Witches kept its cards close to the chest, exposing its characters very little beyond the basic designs and personalities. It was a snapshot of a work in progress that still had much to do before all the pieces would fall into place.
Twenty-odd months passed before the 501st Joint Fighter Wing would return fully geared and ready for battle. By the time the world of Strike Witches came to life in the Summer 2008 anime season, it was a much different beast than what was previewed in the OVA. The first scene has it all - a highly engaged air combat sequence involving most of the cast against the primary threat of the story. There's a wide variety of firearms and jet fighter inspired gear on display. But perhaps the most notable quality of this sequence is the stylistic showcase of each character's underwear. For the uninitiated reader, this may seem like a gag of sorts. In a high octane aerial dogfight sequence, where do panties enter the equation? The answer is simple; they were part of the formula from the beginning.
In the many years I've been exploring moe art and expression, I've formulated myriad concepts within the canals of my brain. One of these fundamental ideas is something I've coined the "stupid world". This isn't something I believe anime invented - you could trace this idea all the way back to the dawn of animation in the early 1900s and intensified through the work of Chuck Jones and Walt Disney among others. One of the most defining pieces of Japanese animation that embraces this concept is the adaptation of Rumiko Takahashi's Urusei Yatsura, a series that reshaped the cultural landscape and sculpted a path for moe works to thrive in the decades that followed. A stupid world is not unlike our own, but it twists the rules and societal norms deliberately to create a fictional environment that can only operate under its own particular logic. It's an exaggeration of life portrayed through playful caricature and abstraction that gives the setting an otherworldly quality while still being rooted in familiarity.
Strike Witches is another bold point in the lineage of such a concept. As a slice of alternate history, the series takes place in the 1940s where World War II was completely subverted by the arrival of a non-communicative alien race known as the Neuroi. Their silent destruction and nesting of civilization leads the nations of the world to band together for humanity's sake under a unified force. It's not long before they realize that their military technology can barely sneeze on the enemy and the male dominated arm of humanity's strength has little to offer in turning the tides. Thankfully, there's still hope to be found in the power of women! The female population has the unique ability to naturally wield magic power with various applications, but the strength of said power weakens as they get older. Young girls with enough magical aptitude have the means to channel their energy with the necessary force to properly destroy the Neuroi invaders. After a breakthrough by the esteemed Dr. Miyafuji, the Striker Unit is invented to allow these girls - known as Witches - to fly into the air and eliminate humanity's greatest threat.
With that out of the way, let's the discuss the real twist of this setting! This is a world where women do not wear pants. It is regarded no differently than a fashion trend and nobody in the show has any adverse reaction to this reality. This is the contract that one must tend to when choosing to embark on this particular adventure. Normalcy reigns in a society where women have their underwear on display and no one even bats an eye at it. Even the men feel no need to gawk or assert lecherous impulses toward this state of affairs. In the military, the Witches consider their panties as an essential component of their uniform and they are treated with dignity and respect for doing so! One may wonder what sort of mind birthed nonsense such as this, but I find it rather beautiful. Many an ecchi series will pair its erotic components with shame and vulgarity, but Strike Witches isn't like that. It doesn't play the game to begin with, reshaping its world to fit the rules it desires.
These elements work together to create a visual experience that exudes what I like to call "moeroticism". As the portmanteau suggests, this is a concept that augments traditional eroticism through the lens of moe art. Arousal is a term that is often assumed to have explicitly sexual connotation in the context of human emotions, but that is only a single potential outcome. The erotic is the natural variable in which this outcome is achieved. Moe is a different input for this equation that arouses feelings of protective affection and devotion from the observer. It's a unique sense of excitement that is not necessarily romantic nor sexual, but its role as a response of passion is where the overlap between the two qualities converge. As a result, there is a natural harmonization between moe and erotic characteristics. Japanese artists intuit this concept quite easily, which is largely why it is such a consistent pillar of moe subculture. It's a unique fusion that isn't locked into one particular mode of expression. Moerotic works can be titillating as a matter of course, but they can just as easily be presented as cute or cool without shedding their erotic traits.
If an example is needed to complete the proof, then Strike Witches is an easy pick. It's the kind of series that I didn't expect to grow on me so much as I got older. When I was viewing it as a younger lad, the appeal was obviously the nonchalant nudity and the residual shame of feeling like I was watching something "wrong" like pulling up the unrated version of American Pie 2 on my parents' cable subscription way after bedtime. Now that I'm an adult with a fully formed sense of self and a healthy relationship with erotic art, I can see that the perception I had as a teenager was appropriately surface level for my age. This is a work that trades away its shame and celebrates casual sexual appeal without being drenched in it. It's far more entrenched in the realm of cool moe than vulgarity, and the nonchalance in which it contains these elements is why it has a lot more class than other ecchi works. It wields the power of the stupid world to create normality where abnormality is present in reality, and that in turn shifts the entire playing field into something a bit more fun and fantastical.
Yoshika about to endure a surprise attack of appreciation from Lynne
Our protagonist is Yoshika Miyafuji, daughter of the late Dr. Miyafuji and a cheerful student who lives on an island in the Fuso empire (see: Not Japan). Born into a proud family of female clinicians, she slowly but surely hones control over her healing magic to support the family business. Yoshika has deep resentment about her father's death that feeds her hatred for war and desire to be a lifelong pacifist. This is quickly upended with the arrival of Mio Sakamoto, the battle commander of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, who seeks to recruit our heroine into the titular Strike Witches after seeing the potential of her magic power. Initially unwilling to fight, Yoshika concedes to travel with Mio back to the Witches' home base in Britannia after learning her father was stationed at a research lab in the area. When a Neuroi attacker shows up mid transit, Yoshika gets her first taste of what the Striker Unit is capable of as she flies to assist Mio with protecting the naval fleet that was transporting them. After learning the truth about what happened to her dad, she finds the resolve to accept Mio's offer and enlists as a Witch with the lofty goal of bringing an end to the war.
From here the show quickly settles into a reliable formula of character focused episodes that combine slice of life antics at the base with a sprinkle of nebulous military drama and action scenes to tie it all together. In that respect it's pretty similar to Sky Girls, but the execution is the key difference that sets Strike Witches apart. Unlike its spiritual predecessor, this series has a far bigger ensemble cast and almost none of the important characters are male. Since men have no magical aptitude, they're stuck in a useless military apparatus while the Witches get all the heavy lifting done from their walled garden. Each character has a highly distinct design that is finely crafted down to their choice of underwear. In fact, if you watch this long enough you can basically identify characters by their panties alone! All of the Strike Witches are moe representations of real life fighter pilots from a handful of different countries. Their respective Striker Units are based on aircraft from their nation of origin as well as the weapons they use in battle. Each character also has a specific animal associated with them that manifests as cute ears and tails when they're actively using magic. They had actual animal companions in the original OVA but they were ultimately removed from the picture.
In order to cleanly tie the cast together, most members of the 501st are sorted into pairs. Shortly after joining the team, Yoshika quickly befriends Lynette Bishop - a timid Britannian Witch - and the two become inseparable allies who support each other throughout the show. Mio and her fellow officer Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke from Karlsland (see: Not Germany) serve as the tactical commanders of the unit and are longtime friends. Gertrud Barkhorn and Erica Hartmann also hail from Karlsland, the latter being an ace combatant whose laziness and lack of decorum are only kept in check by Barkhorn's fiery pride. The carefree brat Francesca Lucchini from Romagna (think of the country that Rome is part of) is paired with her best friend, the busty speed freak Charlotte "Shirley" E. Yeager from Liberion (think of the country that likes the word "liberty" the most). Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen is a cool headed tarot enthusiast from Suomus (home of the Suomi submachine gun) who looks after the nocturnal Sanya V. Litvyak from the Orussian Empire (they barely even changed this one). The odd one out is the haughty Gallian heiress (spoilers: she's French) Perrine H. Clostermann who has a one-sided obsession with Mio and spends most of this season trying to antagonize Yoshika because of their shared Fuso heritage.
Perrine and Yoshika aura checking each other
The average Sky Girls episode took great care to keep even the most frivolous of events wound around the overarching narrative. Strike Witches is proudly a free spirit in comparison, gesturing at its true soul as a slice-of-life comedy with a multitude of extra steps. Each character has a reason for fighting, and the exploration of this context does keep the ultimate goal of repelling the Neuroi threat in frame. And yet, to imply this show is ever soberly riding on its drama is a simply untrue. The real driving force at play with most episodes is Yoshika becoming friends with everyone while also learning how to be a better Witch in the process. She opens Lynne's heart and gives her the courage to fight as they train together. She pushes Barkhorn to go see her little sister who was wounded in the fall of Karlsland even after getting the cold shoulder from her. She trusts in Sanya's enhanced hearing and spends time bonding with her and Eila on night patrol. Hell, she even does right by Perrine more than once even after being the subject of her bullying! The bonds between the Witches and Yoshika's magnetic personality are what allow the cast chemistry to so vibrantly blossom with each episode. It also helps that they are all different shades of gay. Even Minna, who canonically had a male lover at one point, has turned the Witch base into a female sanctuary where she longingly looks after Mio who is becoming too old to maintain her magic strength.
Of course, there's always a thrilling battle sequence to cap things off. You can't just have a military focused anime without some conflict here and there! These elements act as the seasoning to enhance the cool factor of this moe buffet. How else would they show off all the fighter plane inspired gear and lovingly rendered firearms? It helps that this anime genuinely has some wonderful looking animation even in its calmer moments. Definitely some of the best work out of Gonzo and I'm not just talking about the passionately angled ass shots. There's so much life in the way the characters express themselves and this very same energy is channeled directly into the combat scenes. Hard to argue with how unique it is to see what is essentially human dogfighting in the skies with cute girls and alien geometry. It's easy to write off a concept like this on paper, but seeing how much work went into bringing it to life really puts into perspective that creative expression isn't about how sensible an idea is but how hard artists fight to turn their vision into a tangible experience. It'd be a stretch for me to call this a masterpiece, yet it's a show that excels admirably at being exactly what its creators wanted it to be. That's a wonderful thing.
It'd be negligent of me to skip over mentioning the OP theme which is a classic anisong that I can just recall straight into my brain on demand with a cute montage of Yoshika admiring and ultimately joining the Witch crew. But it's the ED that deserves the most credit for not just being an incredibly moe charm offensive featuring the whole cast but having a different set of characters singing the ED theme with each episode. Yoshika gets to flex her chops the most, as is natural of being the protagonist, but it's nice to hear all the characters get their turn at the microphone. The chosen voices largely follow whoever got the primary focus that episode which is a nice little touch to cap off each character's time in the limelight. Naturally, the show ends with a full performance featuring the whole might of the 501st like a victorious anthem that echoes how far they've come together as a group. I didn't actually stand up and start clapping, but spiritually there was applause in the pit of my heart.
I'm a proud freak. I've been aware of it for a long time, and perhaps the last decade of my life has been punctuated by coming to terms with that fact. In that respect, I think now was the perfect time to revisit this anime and the series as a whole. The me who ran a writing blog on Tumblr in the ancient times would never step up so brazenly to pay tribute to this show. I simply would've hung my head and reflexively utilized self-deprecating terms like "guilty pleasure", attempting to brush off the erotic elements like superficial filth needing to be cleansed away. Forgive me for the impromptu rant, but it really irks me that we're living in a time where even the slightest hint of sexuality in a work riles up the loudest simpletons who spare not a single thought before labeling it as degenerate art that only exists as jerk-off material. Strike Witches is not high art because it's not trying to be. It's a whimsical fantasy where girls look cool fighting sky aliens in their underwear. They can flash their butt at the camera or be naked in the bath all they want. I'm sure there are viewers out there still reliving their teenage fantasies as they ogle Shirley's sixteen year-old breasts. No big deal. We'll all be dead in a hundred years.
I believe fringe modes of expression in the arts are healthy for humanity. There's a deep well of contradiction between our beliefs and what transpires in our imagination. The cultural zeitgeist of today seeks to obliterate the nuance that has allowed the real and unreal to exist with an appropriate degree of separation. It goes without saying that Strike Witches is not a series that I would recommend to the median anime viewer whose stake in the medium is merely skin deep. Regardless of this fact, a fool like me needs to plant a flag every once in a while. There are many outspoken voices who would consider a series like this vile and depraved. Most of the female characters are younger than eighteen years old. Francesca spends much of the show sticking her shimapan clad rear end out and she's supposed to be twelve despite looking like a teenager. Art produced from the moe subculture is often warping the significance of a character's age by tying it contextual elements like personality or the setting rather than visual design. This is the phenomenon that creates archetypes like the infamous "thousand year-old loli" which are often the targets of venom spitting. Ironically, this also produces inverse cases like Yoko Littner from Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann who has plenty of erotic art depicting her appearance as a fourteen-year old but rarely faces the same scrutiny. I'm not going to deny anyone their right to dislike this kind of trope, but simple disdain is rarely ever the bog standard reaction nowadays.
Anime is a medium that still produces art with the belief that every fictional world is to some extent "fantasy" even when integrated with the margins of realism. Those who paint the canvas get to break the rules. They get to stretch and reconstruct common sense. I'd argue this is an inherent right we have as beings with the power of creation. It's true that fictional stories can influence reality, but the context of the work itself and its scope are essential to judging whether this power is being abused with due diligence. Strike Witches isn't advocating that all women should be walking around with their lingerie exposed. For a military themed story, it's barely even glorifying that aspect beyond aesthetics. Yoshika is outspokenly anti-war. Most of the military leadership is portrayed as incompetent or corrupt. This story operates in a world where national borders have been broken down and humanity has united together in spite of their differences. Women are treated with respect and dignity without having to wear pants! It's as bizarre as it is beautifully idealistic. Even the Neuroi themselves are humanized near the end of the season when a peaceful unit comes in contact with Yoshika, bolstering her to convince her fellow Witches that there's another path forward that isn't one side annihilating the other. I struggle to believe that a modicum of perversion bubbling beneath the surface is enough to invalidate these ideas.
I'm not claiming that this anime has a deep vein of social commentary to be unearthed. My long winded point is that art is often more complex than the sum of its parts. It's effortless to judge a work immediately by its surface elements. In some ways this is necessary to save the time and effort of committing to a series that clearly does not appeal to one's particular tastes. It's wise to avoid landmines and instead seek out familiar comforts or fresh experiences that are more palatable. Yet, so much of the conversation gets smothered by a pillow in favor of moral grandstanding and amassing cheap social credit. Perhaps I'm engaging in a bit of shadowboxing here, but I've seen so many relatively harmless shows (including this one) mentioned in passing conversation as if they were illegal contraband despite having official home video releases in the western world. Strike Witches is a niche otaku series and its window of appeal is not particularly broad. I'm not delusional enough to claim otherwise. Those who appreciate it should be able to do so without some obscene value judgment being imposed upon them. Criticism of a harmless moe anime should not always be paired with the inference that its fans should have a loaded gun pressed to their heads.
This isn't a spiel for the sake of my dignity. The concept of being evaluated through the context of my media intake is rarely a concern of mine. I'm simply a hermit in a cave tossing stones off the edge of a cliff. I'm dark woke. Consider this the great filter of my blog experience. We're only scratching the surface of a franchise that went on to have two more seasons, a feature film, an OVA series, and several spinoffs. This was the most optimal time to air the room out. I want to acknowledge Strike Witches for what it actually is. What would be the point of starting this writing project if I didn't fully commit to the idea? I think the most freeing thing about having an obscure blog on the fringes of the internet town square is that you can set the table however you want. This is a self-indulgent padded room where I carve my honest feelings into the walls. I didn't call this blog "Moestheticism" for nothing. Creating my own page meant constructing a space where I can whine and piss myself about serious topics like moe culture and Japanese animation. That being said, I think this train of thought has run out of steam.
This first season smoothly accomplishes its goal of being an origin story for the 501st Joint Fighter Wing and setting the glue that will pull them together on further adventures. It's less about them cleaning up the military's mess or liberating Perrine's home country than it is about Yoshika's influence as a force for good that allows her to reinforce their bonds and become a proper member of the team. Yes, it's another show about the power of friendship. Part of growing old is realizing how life affirming it is to have people you can count on; to be in the company of those who can be supportive and speak their mind in equal measure. That's a large part of why this particular thematic approach to storytelling rarely gets stale for me. Moe works are stacked to the nines with the exploration of interpersonal relationships. Strike Witches runs wild with ambition as it playfully brings its multicultural cast together with the power of tomfoolery and the trust that builds when fighting side-by-side. A profound narrative isn't necessary here. The cast is the show. That's why it's called Strike Witches, after all!
 |
Francesca turning the tables on Yoshika as Perrine watches |
The conclusion leaves a tentative sense of finality that is typical of original anime productions. Yoshika returns to Fuso to properly inherit her legacy as a clinic doctor after the 501st disbands following their successful mission. This was the only season of Strike Witches that Gonzo produced, but you'll soon find out that this series never had a dedicated studio to produce new episodes. Just about every single new entry in the World Witches animated canon was tackled by a different studio with some of the key staff retained, particularly series director Kazuhiro Takamura. This first season is best regarded as a blueprint that helped define the structure that its sequels and spinoffs would adhere to, establishing a formula of character focused episodes sandwiched between the setup and payoff for the next major plot development. It also began a tradition where the seventh episode of each season always has a remarkably silly premise that's purely comedy focused. This first offering is a chaotic slapstick chase sequence triggered by Erica stealing Francesca's panties after she is unable to find her own. Francesca then steals Perrine's underwear and, after being caught in the act, starts panic snatching lingerie across the base as the other Witches scramble to apprehend her. The seventh episode concept will return more shameless than ever in future installments.
It's truly a miracle of timing and execution that a series like Strike Witches took off strongly enough to sustain itself for over a decade. Moe multimedia franchises have largely succumbed to the changing of trends, especially those which commonly depicted ecchi scenes. Even after the cultural waves of the late 2000s and early 2010s subsided, the Witches still pressed on for quite a good while. Now that I've returned to the beginning of this series after so long, I can see why it had such a lasting impact. Niche works with a laser sharp focus like this tend to attract an audience of passionate enthusiasts. It took me quite a while to realize that I was part of that group. The characters and their stupid, whimsical world never left my mind regardless of how much time passed. I could always slip back in with ease whenever a new entry in the series aired. There's meaning in realizing you truly enjoy something and expressing that admiration without shame. My relationship with this show was one of the last chains that bound me to the noxious irony mindset that was a well-known plague in anime discussion for a long time. The desire to earnestly pay tribute to a work I've always appreciated is a large part of the reason I decided to start this project in the first place.
We don't live long enough to pretend that certain art is too juvenile or crude to be admired, especially when it moves or inspires us. I'm very fortunate to have learned this lesson early with anime like Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt and Lucky Star. There's little point in trying to fumble for a nebulous justification for why it has value when we have the power to dictate that for ourselves. I try to avoid preaching this incessantly in my writing but it was difficult to avoid this time around. Sometimes an idea wells up within you and it has to be let out one way or another. People should embolden themselves more to proudly embrace what they enjoy including the flaws and the cracks beneath the surface. It goes a long way to rediscover what kind of art stirs our emotions. There isn't always a deep or profound conclusion. It can be simple with no strings attached. Frivolous antics and camaraderie. A sense of warmth that can elicit a smile. Cute girls fighting for a better world in the skies above. The rest is noise.
Regular programming will resume next time when I discuss the AIC era of Strike Witches which covers its second season and feature film. What kind of trials and tribulations will our heroines face six months after their first major victory? The only certainty is that the pants stay off. Until then, stay moe, friends.
Minna holding me at gunpoint so I don't drop another rant next time
