News Flash: Strike Witches O.V.A. Release Date Revealed

The release date for Strike Witches OVA(Operation Victory Arrow) has been revealed! The first episode of the 3 episode series will release on September 20th, 2014! Additional info released states that the original cast of voice actresses for the main girls will also return as will the production staff for the past entries in the franchise! It is always great news to finally get a release date for something yuri and September 20th is not far off! Also hearing that the main cast of girls will be voiced by there respective voice actresses is also comforting. The original voice actresses are so excellent in bringing there characters to life having anyone else do them is pure madness! As it stands September 20th is the date to watch for more Strike Witches and I will post more info as it becomes available!

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-06-06/strike-witches-o.v.a-staff-cast-release-date-unveiled/.75274

BIG News Flash: Strike Witches and New Yuri Anime Info Released

Sorry for the late news flash but here they are! New information has been released on the upcoming Strike Witches OVA. The short mini series is known as Operation Victory Arrow and is set between the second season of the TV anime and the 2012 movie. OVA will be 3 episodes long and the show will depict the lives of the main characters as they return to there homes after the events of the second season. Strike Witches OVA is set to release in Fall 2014! :D

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-14/strike-witches-ova-release-and-story-outlined

The first preview for the upcoming adaptation of the 4-panel yuri gag comedy, Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san, has been released! The preview states that the anime will release sometime in April 2014! XD

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-17/inugami-san-to-nekoyama-san-yuri-anime-promo-streamed

Both pieces of news are amazing! Strike Witches is one of my favorite series of all time and more time spent with the ladies of the 501st is just plain awesome in my book! :D The preview for Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san was also VERY welcome! From what I have read of the manga and from what I have seen in the preview, I can tell this will be one funny and sweet yuri series! It is also a plus that the art of the anime is much cleaner and nicer than that of the manga! The very short wait for the anime(April is right around the fucking corner! :D) makes the news all the sweeter! On a different bit of Strike Witches news, the first volume of Strike Witches: Maidens in the Sky is out for purchase in North America! If you want more Strike Witches and yuri to come over to our part of the world you know how you gotta show your support! :)

So much yuri...in such a short amount of time....2014 is truly the Year of the Yuri! :D

News Flash: Seven Seas licenses more Strike Witches manga

North American manga publisher, Seven Seas Entertainment, announced today via Twitter that it has licensed three more Strike Witches manga! XD The three series are Strike Witches: The Sky that Connects Us, Strike Witches: 1937 Fuso Sea Incident, and Strike Witches: One-Winged Witches. All three manga series are set to be published in North America in 2014-2015. Seven Seas is also close to releasing another Strike Witches manga, Maidens in the Sky, in English in early 2014! It is always great news to hear of more Strike Witches media being released in English and having read some of the fan translated chapters of Fuso Sea Incident and One-Winged Witches, I am really excited for those series! I have yet to read The Sky that Connects Us but I will surely be picking that one up as well! :)

Links to the Twitter post and the official post on Anime News Network:

https://twitter.com/gomanga
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-11-26/seven-seas-adds-3-more-strike-witches-manga

News Flash: New Strike Witches Anime and OVA are not "Season 3"

Some new Information has sprung up regarding the recently announced Strike Witches anime and OVA. It appears that the anime and OVA are not in any way a season 3, meaning we will most likely not be following the beloved 501st in the new series and OVA. While I am sad that we may not be seeing new adventures of Yoshika and the gang anytime soon it also means we may be getting some fresh new faces to get to know! The Strike Witches universe is full of stories following different fighter squadrons across manga, light novels and short stories! Several girls from other squadrons have made cameos in the previous seasons and the movie as well! Not to mention some of these other fighter groups have there own levels of yuri, some more than others! ;) I myself would love to see the anime follow the 507th Joint Fighter Wing "Silent Witches"(one of the most yuri filled groups),
the 504th Joint Fighter Wing "Ardor Witches"(has an established yuri couple), or the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing "Brave Witches". What Joint Fighter Wing would you like to see in the anime and OVA? Post your responses in the comments below! :)

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-10-14/strike-witches-new-tv-anime-ova-are-not-the-3rd-season

News Flash: Strike Witches season 3 plus OVA Announced!!!

A Strike Witches event was held in Tokyo recently, and during that event a third season of the Strike Witches anime was announced!!!! XD On top of the third season a new Strike Witches OVA was also announced titled Operation Victory Arrow(abbreviated as O.V.A. hehe)! The official website for the anime has updated to post the announcements as well. So far this is all the info that is known. As time goes on I will inform you all about release dates, casting info and so forth as information is released. :) For now I am MORE than happy to be getting a third season! There is so much more that can be done with this awesome franchise! So many witches that can be shown, so many battles to see! I would love to see more yuri in this season as well! Namely the resolution of pairings that so far can still only be considered subtext (I am looking at you Mio/Mina, Yoshika/Lynette). I also can't wait to see more Sanya/Eila! *drools

Here are the links to the news article of the announcements as well as the Strike Witches anime website:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-10-13/strike-witches-gets-3rd-tv-anime-series-ova

http://s-witch.cute.or.jp/movie/

Hopefully we will get more info before the year is out! :) Till next time faithful readers!

FanBoy's Favorite Tunes: Strike Witches Season 1

Yuri Anime Review: Strike Witches Season 1(Blu-Ray)

***SPOILERS AHEAD!***   ***NSFW IMAGES AHEAD!***

Originally starting out as a series of magazine articles, Strike Witches has exploded in popularity and has been adapted into various light novels, manga, video games, and of course anime! Throughout the franchises history all the novels and manga and short stories have followed various groups of girls and the anime is no different! The story of season 1 of the anime follows the all-female cast of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, known also as the Strike Witches! Set in an alternate reality version of World War II all of humanity has united, using women with powerful magical abilities, known as Witches, as the strongest line of defense against a powerful alien race known as the Neuroi.

Neuroi

Witches the world over use special, highly advanced technology they wear on there legs that allows them to fly through the skies with ease and also enhances there magical abilities. These devices are known as Striker Units.

Striker Unit(plus panties! XD)

The anime follows Yoshika Miyafuji as she joins the 501st to help stop the Neuroi from invading Britannia(Note: all nations in the Strike Witches franchise are the same as the real world ones. The only difference are the names. For example, Britannia is Britain), as well as to search for clues as to the possible whereabouts of her supposedly dead father. Along the way she meets and befriends all the members of the 501st, who are all fun and interesting in there own unique way!

 

Miyafuji Yoshika(Fuso aka Japan)

Mio Sakamoto(Fuso)

Lynette Bishop(Britannia)

Perrine-H. Clostermann(Gallia aka France)

Gertrud"Trude" Barkhorn( Karlsland aka Germany)

Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke(Karlsland)

Charlotte "Shirley" E. Yeager(Liberion aka United States)

Francesca Lucchini(Romagna aka Italy)

Aleksandra "Sanya" Vladimirovna Litvyak(Orussia aka Russia)

Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen(Suomus aka Finland)

Erica Hartmann(Karlsland)

 

That is quite the cast of leading ladies! O.o Despite the huge cast the show does a very good job of giving everyone there chance to shine in the spotlight to give us a chance to really get to know them and we get to know them pretty well! :D Despite the big focus on the girls, there is no shortage of great action in this show! Due to the alternate WWII setting and with the series taking place in 1944 there are tons of references to vehicles, weapons and historic battles from WWI. The Striker Units themselves are based on real world WWII fighter planes from each Witch's home country! The series does a very good job of catering to military aficionados such as myself! ;)

 

Of course, this being an anime with an all female cast, there is TONS of fanservice to be had! :D All women in the Strike Witches universe run around without wearing anything to cover the lower half of there bodies! The most cover they might have are skirts and tights! Needless to say pantie and breast shots abound in almost every scene! XD This is pure heaven for fanservice freaks like myself! ;) Adding a level of cuteness to it all is the fact that all Witches have an animal familiar.When a Witch activates her powers or puts on her Striker Unit she will grow animal ears and a tail pertaining to the type of animal familiar she has! Each animal fits in with the personality of each girl but at the same time it is just too damn cute! :P Of course this being a fanservice laden show filled with pretty girls there is bound to be some yuri! Even better is the fact that the yuri is not just used for service, there are some very strong hints of mutual feelings between many of the girls. Sanya and Eila are probably the most well know and beloved of the yuri couples in the whole franchise and there interactions with each other show off some very strong mutual feelings between them! :D Yoshika herself seems to have a thing for Lynette, as well as a thing for breasts in general! Lynette seems to also have a thing for Yoshika! Minna appears to have hidden feelings for Mio, Lucchini and Shirley are pretty attached for each other and Lucchini also has a big thing for breasts! Perrine also has a hardcore stalker lust for Mio! The yuri is very strong in this series! 

Despite the heavy service, the series has a lot of heart! The setting is unique and interesting, the action is fun, the girls ooze with great personalities, and the yuri is awesome if admittedly light in season 1. The animation quality is pretty good and consistent throughout the series and the voice acting(in Japanese anyway) is top notch with some of the biggest Japanese voice actresses in the business lending there voices to the girls of the 501st! As for the US Blu-Ray release itself the series looks damn good in 1080p and the show sounds great in Dolby TrueHD for both language tracks. Though again, I prefer to watch the series with the Japanese voice track on! :P Sadly the release comes with only one extra. Episode 12 comes with a bonus audio commentary from the US cast of Strike Witches. It is pretty interesting but they could have added so much more to this release. It IS Blu-Ray after all!

All in all this is one fun, solid, action packed, fanservice filled show! There is just about a little of everything here to please everyone! Season 1 does a great job of setting up the premise and introducing us to the large cast of girls! While it may not be a series for everyone, I can't help but recommend that you give this series a try! This show is just plain fun!

Strike Witches Season 1(Blu-Ray) overall score: 9.5/10

Strike Witches Season 1(Blu-Ray) yuri score: 8.5/10(for now >D)

Neuro