English Dub Review: Strike Witches – World Witches Take Off! “Hikari, You’re Taking a Test?”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

We get to know some of the members of the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing, AKA the Brave Witches.

OUR TAKE

It seems that this series is going to be shifting perspectives every other episode, with the odd numbered episodes following the good ol 501st team that most have been following for three seasons and a movie, while the even numbered episodes will be centered on the formation of the 502nd, who are their own cast of quirky cute girls who presumably also fight the Neuroi. The 502nd actually had a proper season to themselves back in 2016 that came out between the movie and the third season and took place between the first and second seasons. I haven’t seen it myself, nor do I really plan to right now, but it seems like this group has their own section of the franchise to themselves, so it’s natural that people would want to see the two groups crossover at some point. The most that I’ve seen is some small cameos and mentions of the 502nd near the end of Road to Berlin. I guess now we’ll have a chance to learn more about them here.

This short mainly focuses on just a handful of them, partly on the training of Hikari Karibuchi with her sister Takami with some side bits with a few others on the team sending a letter. Hikari is very much her team’s equivalent to Yoshika Miyafuji, being the up and coming rookie from Fuso (at least that’s what Yoshika was in her first season). Based on how much the first episode condensed a lot of stuff about the Strike Witches into how it portrayed the team there, I imagine that the stuff with Hikari is an abridged take on her origins in the Brave Witches spin-off. Though luckily I didn’t feel locked out or that I needed to understand much else to watch their bits, so I can give this points for accessibility for new viewers, assuming anyone would actually enter the franchise from this point that is. Though stranger things have happened. Heck, it was a comedy spin-off that gave me the extra push I needed to get into Star Trek, so it’s not impossible. Though the sketches about the other three members basically could be summed up as “is tsundere, has boobs, and likes looking at boobs” so…less of that please. Though honestly, considering the series I’m talking about, this is probably just the tip of the frozen nipple. Oh well, just ten more to go!