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Post by Kyubey the Incubator on Jan 2, 2012 20:06:35 GMT -4
Hello, I thought I'd make a thread for another anime that I've become extremely interested in.
It is called Strike Witches Strike Witches is about these girls who are called "Joint Fighters" who all have special powers and kitten/puppy/bunny ears whenever these powers are active, who are taking part in a secret army organization where they fight by using these futuristic power-amplifying flight legs. The story takes place in a futuristic-WWII/Cold War setting too. The series is supposed to be a tribute to Mecha-Musume, which in case you don't know, are japanese small-girl personifications of Army Vehicles, which they resemble when they have their flight legs on. The joint-fighters themselves also happen to be based on real-world war heroes, such as Erica is based on "Erich Hartmann," and Sanya is modeled after "Lydia Litvyak." The series also reminds me a ton of Danmaku games due to how they battles turn out, like in Dodonpachi, Touhou, Ketsui Kizuna, Battle Garegga/Bakraid, Armed Police Batriders, Strikers 1945, etc. which also is one of the reasons I love it so much. The show only has 2 seasons of 12 episodes each, plus a manga series, and I heard a full-length movie is coming out soon.
The Joint Fighters are currently involved in a war against a biomechanical, insectoid, Parasitic, Alien race known as the Neuroi. These Neuroi resemble large parasitic creatures with black skin covered in a hexagon pattern and red spots too, usually the red spots being where they shoot powerful lasers from. They are capable of infecting machine beings, as for most of their fights with them are against infected ships and other vehicles (though there are a few battles against normal ones too), and I think they may be able to corrupt a living host too. They also have other special abilities such as shields and firing red lasers, some that even change direction in midair, and some powers even unique to only specific types. However, all Neuroi have a major weak point, a large red power-core in their body. Destroying this will cause it to instantly die, and sometimes this is in an easy-to find place, while others are more obscure. The Neuroi also appear to be hive-minded, as for sometimes a larger one will send out many smaller drone Neuroi, but these drones act more like extra limbs than independent creatures, and perish as soon as the one who spawned them does. Not only that, but they live and spawn in these massive floating structures known as Hives. However, their intentions are yet to be seen though. Personally I think they are really cool, and remind me a lot of the Aparoid in Star Fox, and the Ing in Metroid Prime. I watch the series mainly for the dogfights against the Neuroi though. If only there was more of those dogfights in it *sigh.*
The series is extremely cute at times, and I love the battle scenes. However, I do have some problems with it that makes it somewhat less. First of all, they don't focus enough on the warfare parts, and focus moe on their "dorm-lives." The battle scenes in Strike Witches last on average, 4 to 5 minutes, I'd prefer more of it being half an episode to a whole episode on average in combat. Also it is a bit erotic at times, which I dislike, though I have learned to ignore those parts. Like for one, the Joint Fighters never wear pants and always run around in their underwear, though this is because thier flight legs are hard to put on with pants on, and they have to be ready at all times. Not only that, but there are also a few other ones too. Nevertheless, it's awesome, and I'd reccomend Strike Witches to all of you.
So anyone else here heard of Strike Witches? And if you have, do any of you guys like it?
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Post by Jakob on Jan 3, 2012 20:40:19 GMT -4
I wonder why this sounds familiar. I don't see why, it's about as original as Sailor Moon, or Tokyo Mew Mew, or Gantz, or any anime that involves a ragtag team of superpower people with superpowers and an inability to die unless the plot demands it. Oh wait, that's why it sounds familiar... A-durr.
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Post by Kyubey the Incubator on Jan 4, 2012 1:57:07 GMT -4
I wonder why this sounds familiar. I don't see why, it's about as original as Sailor Moon, or Tokyo Mew Mew, or Gantz, or any anime that involves a ragtag team of superpower people with superpowers and an inability to die unless the plot demands it. Oh wait, that's why it sounds familiar... A-durr. Not to me. Personally, I think it reminds me more of Star Fox, Battle Garegga, Dodonpachi, Ketsui Kizuna Jigoku Tachi, Strikers 1945, Touhou, and a bit of Metroid. This is also one of the reasons why I like Strike Witches so much. I love those games, and this show brings back so many memories of them whenever I view it. The reason being is that the battles and warfare against the Neuroi-Infected ships turn out a ton like one of those battles in those games, and the Joint Fighters use a ton of abilities that are remakrably similar to the ones in those games. Plus the Neuroi are a ton like the Aparoid in Star Fox, and the Ing and Phazon creatures in Metroid. Also most of the vehicles that both sides use are like Futuristic versions of WWII vehicles, like most of the vehicles seen in Battle Garegga, Strikers 1945, Ketsui Kizuna Jigoku Tachi etc. Also must I mention, they don't use their powers so much as they do actual guns (which theirs are like futuristic versions of 1940's firearms), and the battles they are against are nothing at all like Sailor Moon. Big difference there. I still suggest Strike Witches. It's super frikkin awesome.
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Post by Hunter on Jan 4, 2012 4:10:36 GMT -4
You know, you talk smack about the pony show, then you recommend something like this, and it makes me wonder if you're just trolling or if your taste in TV is really that off. I mean, it reads like a parody of Japanese cartoons. You've got your mahou shoujo, your kemonomimi, your mecha musume, your moe slice-of-life (because THAT'S what viewers care about, not the freaking alien invasion), and of course your loli pantsu (because loli pantsu). And if your favorite parts are the battles that evoke a shootan gaem, why not just play the shootan gaem instead? All of the shootan, none of the silly fanservice.
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Post by Kyubey the Incubator on Jan 4, 2012 18:59:38 GMT -4
I'm totally not trying to be a Troll. I apologise if it seems that way though.
I'm just saying I like that. I also like super cutesy and cuddlyness too, and Strike Witches has both of that. I didn't know so few people care about the more unique action and combat scenes involving ships that had been Infected by the Neuroi even though I liked those parts the best, and I barely liked the "dorm-lives" scenes in it at all, and I never paid attention to the "loli pantsu" as you say. They also had to fight these evil mercenaries in it too, which also played a crucial role. In fact, the Final Boss of Season 1 was this Awesome Death Weapon used by the Mercs called "WARLOCK," and that thing was unbelievably awesome. WARLOCK was an amazing Final Boss, like Evaccaneer Doom from Ketsui and Hachi from Dodonpachi meets a Macross unit, but 10 times better.
In fact, the reason I like MLAATR, is because of both the intense cutesy and lovableness, and because the battles and stuff remind me of something out of Megaman, or Metroid (only the older ones here though), or Vectorman, but not for those other reasons. And I don't like Ponies because they aren't cutesy and lovable to me, and they are never are involved in any large-scale life-threatening conflicts of that sort. In fact, the worst villain the ponies face, Discord, the best thing he did was lay a not-so effective curse on their land and drink chocolate milk from the skies. He didn't so anythign awesome like start a large-scale war, send legions of parasitic creatures to decimate the land, or anything that involved hundreds dying and the good guys ending up being humanitys last chance of survival or anything along those lines.
Hope I made my point clear to you Hunter, why I like MLAATR, Sonic X, Strike Witches, Madoka Magika, Zone of the Enders, Megaman X, Metroid, Touhou, Star Fox, Halo, Dead Space, Half-Life, and a ton of other things so much. I personally don't think my tastes are so bad though, but I don't see why you do.
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Post by Agai Lazen on Jan 4, 2012 22:11:21 GMT -4
It's impossible NOT to hear about Strike Witches in the anime and mecha community. I'm personally not a big fan of it because of the mecha-musume factor because it just looks so friggin' STUPID. Sure, I know it's supposed to be cute, but it only belongs on paintings and maybe figures. One can get away with that because it's more about imagery and representation: some people see these fighter jets and other millitary vehicles as beautiful. Thus, using a woman or a girl to convey that beauty is acceptable.
In a war where people risk their lives and one lucky shot can be the end of you, it's hard to take seriously when there's NOTHING to protect your most vital parts. (Ooh, who needs a functioning brain and a beating heart? We need to protect those toes, goddammit!)
This is a lot coming from a fan of GaoGaiGar, mind you, where plot devices that literally break the fabric of reality come completely out of left-field and are never fully explained. Sure, you explained that they need to be ready to launch at any time, but does that mean they should be wearing the most unprotective clothing possible at all times? I don't care if it's hard to wear those with pants, just use a goddamn Gundam skirt, and you can keep your panty-shots! And there's NO excuse for the lack of head and chest protection.
I may seem a little picky here, but its design can make or break an anime. Take Sousei Aquarion, for example: Sh!t characters, sh!ttier animation, and an even sh!ttier plot. Why is it practically EVERYWHERE, then? Because the design of Aquarion itself is absolutely GORGEOUS. Each formation is subtle in their differences and it pulls off Getter-esque triple-changing without mass-shifting or cheating via the animation. Not to mention color-coordination without having to give it a new paint job every time you transform it. That's only been done one other time, with Power Rangers Time Force Timewarp Megazord, and there you have more components allowing more leverage in transformation, and there aren't even three different robot modes: just two robots and a jet.
That's a problem I had with Gundam for a while,Transforming robots and mode-changing robots have been done to death already, and Gundam doesn't even do a very good job of it! (Lookin' at YOU, Kyrios, with your exposed head and lack of locking mechanisms.) This year's Gundam AGE has a limb-swap gymmick, which has only been done by...every single Super Sentai/Power Rangers series since Gaoranger. The AGE-System also makes weapons, but it's being stupidly underused in both the series and the model kits. I don't think Sunrise is even TRYING anymore. I mean, the Dragoons were pretty cool...until every single non-grunt mobile suit ever started using them...
And that's my two cents.
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Post by Kyubey the Incubator on Jan 4, 2012 22:47:03 GMT -4
Yes, mode-changing robots, have been done a lot. But how about Insectoid, parasitic, half-machine/half-organism aliens that infect creatures and other machines and use them as a host body? How many times has that been done before? The Neuroi I find a very cool concept for their main foe. Basically they are like these giant biomechanical insects that infect and control vehicles as a host body for them to not only control, but feed off of. They are mostly black and red, with a hexagon pattern covering their skin. It was also shown that they are Hive-Minded, in that some larger Neuroi can send out smaller drones, but these drones act more like extra limbs than independent creatures, and die as soon as the one who spawned them does. Plus they spawn in these massive structures called Hives, which is like a massive nest of them. It's apparent too, that the Neuroi find their host ships to infect largely from these numerous abandoned air fields that have been seen in the series. However, these Neuroi have one massive weakness, a large glowing power core inside of them. Destroying this will instantly kill it. Sometimes its easy to find, yet other times it is in a more obscure place. Not only that, but the one Joint Fighter, Sakamoto, has the ability to scan them to find where this weak point is, and how much durability it has before it falls, also proving useful. Despite this, both sides are actually only having mixed success and one side isn't really doing much better than the other. Here's a pic of one of the many ships that have been Infected by the Neuroi in it. I think this is a much more unique alien invasion concept, and hasn't been done very often at all. The only other places I've seen this type used is in Star Fox Assault with the Aparoid, and Metroid Prime, with the Ing and the Phazon Creatures, but that's it. Also Agai, they do use frontal protection. While enhanced by their Striker Units, the Joint Fighters are able to project energy shields in front of them that block shots for a period of time. This is how they avoid most of the harm in the series.
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Post by Agai Lazen on Jan 4, 2012 22:48:29 GMT -4
Ah, sorry.
I'm glad the Neuroi chose a simple design, as opposed to the halfway, not-complex-enough-to-be-cool, not-simple-enough-to-be-interesting design of the Kingdom Hearts baddies. You'd be surprised at how disgustingly often I come across those kind of designs.
Still, would it be so hard to have some sort of turtle shell as opposed to the furry ears? I think you should at least try to cover your biggest weakness, if you're not going to wear pants.
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Post by swoop on Jan 5, 2012 12:23:46 GMT -4
It has the “there is another one” feeling when I saw an episode of it. I thought it would be forgotten because I don’t have reason to care for it. I think it shows that the anime vibe is starting to wear out. I understand game vibe but that is not enough this is current series but it follow stuff we have seen in the 80 or 90s. I know retro coming back but they have to add something new to make it feel current.
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Post by Agai Lazen on Jan 6, 2012 1:36:56 GMT -4
It has the “there is another one” feeling when I saw an episode of it. I thought it would be forgotten because I don’t have reason to care for it. I think it shows that the anime vibe is starting to wear out. I understand game vibe but that is not enough this is current series but it follow stuff we have seen in the 80 or 90s. I know retro coming back but they have to add something new to make it feel current. Couldn't have said it better myself, dude.
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Post by Kyubey the Incubator on Feb 29, 2012 22:17:52 GMT -4
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Post by Agai Lazen on Feb 29, 2012 22:57:45 GMT -4
The second joke is pretty funny, but the characters lack anatomy or a sense of proportion. I know proportion is usually disregarded when drawing chibis, but even then there's still anatomy or at least depth. The cube Neuroi has some depth, as well as the other Neuroi you drew, but all the humanoid characters, I reiterate, lack depth to them. So far the only edge you have on me is that you actually color your stuff and add backgrounds, the former of which I'm getting the hang of and the latter of which I rarely even bother with. Observe. To be fair, I'm cheating because the character is made entirely out of geometric shapes. However, most character designs used in official anime have a sort of geometric skeleton on which the details like clothing or facial expressions are drawn. It's also good to think of a sort of camera angle you want to have, and to establish the three G's of foreground middleground and background. Example: My character's right shoulder is closer to the camera, thus it is bigger and in the foreground, while his head is behind it and therefore smaller and in the middleground, as his left shoulder is in the background and naturally the smallest. In the end, just keep practicing. Oh, and the Neuroi alarm needs to be simpler; it's on that halfway point I was talking about when I brought up Kingdom Hearts. Next lesson will be about shading and light direction!
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Post by Kyubey the Incubator on Mar 22, 2014 11:47:26 GMT -4
Well, here's another thing I'd like to say about Strike Witches
Honestly, Strike Witches isn't just that. It's all about the awesome Neuroi Dogfights, and the cool fast-paced action that's like something out of Star Fox or Strikers 1945, and the Cuteness and Cuddlyness and Moe'. And they use really cool powers too. It's not all about the pantsu, it's got more serious vibes and atmosphere to it.
It's not like Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, where they do things like do a poledance to initiate their Transformation Sequence, and their underwear morphs into Battle Weapons, and they swear constantly, and act all sexual and raunchy all the time, and fight against corny villains like "The Demons Scanty and Kneesock" who come up with plans that remind me of something Team Rocket would do, and if it weren't for their constant swearing and skimpy outfits could easily pass as villains in Fairly Oddparents or some other idiotic show like that.
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is what I'd call not-serious and mindless fan-service, for the reasons I just mentioned. Strike Witches however, is more serious and different in tone and atmosphere than that, and the villains look more serious-looking and sophistacated and aren't all goofy-looking and stuff, and plenty more.
Do you get the difference? Do you understand my point already?
Strike Witches is a very good anime. It's not just mindless fan-service like Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt is, and it has more serious atmosphere and vibes to it, and is still good.
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Post by swoop on Apr 3, 2014 22:09:00 GMT -4
Panty and Stocking is raunchy rude but that is the point. Their heathen Angels that have to do community service, and the community service is killing monsters of the week. They want go back in heaven but their temptation get them most/all of the time. They do not want to do ideal way they want their way even if there are consequences. However they didn’t went all the way as the magical striping power up moment has to be in every episode is the example. Fan pandering they do go overboard but they admit it. It is a stepping stone that still needs work which a lot of it. They had will but needed more heart and little more brains. It was WTF roller coaster with two unlikable characters to see if they have anything noble. It would have something to see what made them drop. For Panty I think it was the lies that got her. Stocking I have no idea, but that may be the reason for what she did in the last episode.
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