English Dub Review: Strike Witches: 501st JOINT FIGHTER WING Take Off! “501st, You Can’t Fly Anymore?”

Can’t they just, like, weaponize their broomsticks?

Overview

The girls are out training with their Striker Units. Yoshika is unable to join because she claims that she no longer fits in her Striker Unit, to which the other girls start to claim that she’s gotten fat. They then start to theorize that maybe she has Spring Fever, or has a mental block, or that there’s something wrong with the Striker Unit itself.

They don’t have time to wait around for Yoshika to lose weight, so Barkhorn carries her on her back for training day instead (where she gets burned by the flying bullet shells.) They go to ask Sanya (who is the strongest, and whose weapon doesn’t use cartridges) to carry Yoshika instead. However, Sakamoto informs Yoshika that the reason her Striker Unit doesn’t fit her is because of how strong she’s gotten and that her magic is powerful enough to need a new one. Yoshika then beats Shirley and Hartmann for convincing her she was fat.

Time-skip to a snow day — the gang decides to utilize the fireplace instead of using Lucchini as a heating source. Barkhorn — who previously thought Sakamoto was training in the snow — finds her rubbing herself with a towel, naked, outdoors. Yoshika informs Barkhorn it’s a health tradition in Fuso. Perrine and Minna scold Sakamoto for her indecency while Yoshika sneaks off with firewood, chops it with Barkhorn, and they discipline Shirley and Hartmann for dirtying the room with fireplace ashes together.

Our Take

The show’s time skips are never elegant. They usually just jolt to the next plot that they can squeeze into an episode without much of a segue or fanfare. This can make things a little jarring. It’s a chibi show, which means it’s just hokey filler garbage, but it just doesn’t feel like episodes really ever have focus — they’re more-so just a collection of wacky shorts. Which would be fine, if the show ever let itself be entertaining by being less hyperactive and less, well, creepy.

They really do not care about the animation. Again, since it’s a chibi show, people should expect garbage — they’re obviously not trying to recreate Shakespeare, here, but it would at least be a little more honorable to see them try. Movements are so limited, and for a show that’s based on a series that has multiple spin-offs, one would think that the franchise has enough money to do something better.

That’s the whole pull of it, though. They don’t care about it being good. This is the click-bait of anime. The point of this show is to make money in the cheapest way possible. “You’ve heard of Strike Witches, now get ready for…Strike Witches! Again! But this time, it’s worse!” It’s fine to want to make something cute for the fans, but chibi shows like this make it hard to discern whether it really is for the fans or not.

Also, grand to see the characters all think being fat is The Worst Thing That Could Ever Happen™ — not that the show was planning on being progressive or anything, either.