English Dub Review: Strike Witches – Road to Berlin “I Still Want to Protect”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

While Yoshika and Patton defend themselves within the shielded area, the rest of the 501st work to get in through the underground tunnels. Shizuka makes it through the shield using the Shinden, which was meant for Yoshika, but is mortally wounded, only healed by Yoshika’s magic coming back in a big way. This eventually leads to a final battle bringing about a giant floating city sized Neuroi, which the witches defeat, finally bringing peace to Berlin. But there are still a couple Neuroi nests out there, so the 501st continue their battle to destroy the enemy.

OUR TAKE

Thus wraps the third season of Strike Witches. As I mentioned last time, this series is not the most deep kind of story, mainly being about the power of courage and friendship winning out over featureless and hiveminded bad guys. As such, it’s no surprise that the main thing that wins the day in the end is the witches fighting against the seemingly impossible odds because they need to save the world and it would be rather disappointing if they lost, now wouldn’t it? Okay, that sounds a bit cynical and dismissive, but to be honest, I think this pulls off its climax in a pretty genuine way. There are several moments that very clearly highlight just how the witches are only inches away from getting screwed, making the payoff that much more satisfying. Like with last time, Yoshika is stuck inside the shield with no magic and her friends blocked off from her, but she still faces down the Nueroi targeting her and Patton with virtually no hesitation, even being face to face with several lasers firing on her at once. If she hadn’t earned her badass stripes before, she certainly has now, even before Shizuka’s near death finally got her magic back up and running.

The episode also has spectacle befitting of a season finale, with us naturally still being in the battlefield that the whole season has been building up to, as well as a relentless onslaught of enemies to really drive home the magnitude of this final battle. But to really cap it off, we have a giant floating city as the real final boss, which has the added benefit of allowing all the witches to zoom around spires and buildings and all get a moment to shine on camera. Beating is only slightly more satisfying than beating the more typical Neuroi, but it has enough oomph behind it to be up to standard for the video game end boss that it’s supposed to be. It’s a little bit disappointing that it ended that way, since I feel like it could very easily get a bit deeper than just “beat the bad guy pew pew pew”, especially given that this is 1945 in Germany of all places, but it’s still pretty on brand for the series. The ending seems like it’s leaving things open for a fourth season, with there still being a few remaining nests to be taken care of, but after such a long wait between this and the last, I wouldn’t hold my breath, though I could be wrong.