English Dub Review: Strike Witches – World Witches Take Off! “502nd, You’re Joining the Team?”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Hikari formally joins the team and gets to know the 502nd.

OUR TAKE

Did this episode look a bit cheaper than the others? Or did I just forget how this series always looks because of the week off between dubbed episodes? Either way, we’re at the halfway point of this comedic parody series, and since it’s an even numbered episode, this week its back to the 502nd and Hikari instead of Yoshika and the 501st. This gives a chance to get to know this team better, or at least to some extent compared to their spin-off show that I have never seen. There are even some characters who I haven’t seen yet since we’ve kind of been drip feeding them in as this show as gone on. I do get some sense of their group dynamic, though I imagine it’s not nearly as comprehensive as if I just went ahead and watched Brave Witches. Though I guess that’s what happens when you watch a parody version of a show instead of the show itself. You’re simply not going to get a genuine look at how these characters are meant to be portrayed at their best, just flanderized watered down versions for these comedy bits. And it’s not like the odd numbered episodes with the Strike Witches have been all that funny either, so maybe this is just not a great parody show overall.

What I can tell from this episode in terms of how these characters are in their own show is that there seems to be a lot of respect for Hikari’s sister, so much so that she can’t admit to them that she faked an injury to get Hikari to be more mindful of…some situation? I think? Sometimes the justification for the comedy bits kind of fall apart the more you think about them. Ah well, we’re only six episodes away from being done with this (actually, I think I should really be more conscious of how often I take up space in my reviews talking about how many episodes are left in a season. It’s not always relevant!). Next time will at least be back to the Strike Witches, so we’ll be dealing with characters I’m familiar with and will know how to comment on in terms of how their parody versions might be different from their main versions. The Brave Witches don’t seem like bad characters at all, I guess I’m just not being given a very good place to get to know them.