6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Anime | 100% |
Foreign | 93% |
Comedy | 29% |
Action | 28% |
Erotic | 15% |
Sci-Fi | 13% |
Adventure | 8% |
Period | Insignificant |
War | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p (upconverted)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (2 BDs, 2 DVDs)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The nice thing about crafting an entertainment around an alternate universe is you get the chance to gloss over little peccadilloes like, oh, say, imperialistic delusions of grandeur that saw your country attacking numerous sovereign nations, resulting in the devastation of two atomic bombs being dropped on said country. Now I’m fully aware that some reading this review and realizing we are talking about Strike Witches after all, are going to mutter expletives under the breath, roll their eyes, and ultimately scream, “Oh, for crying out loud, it’s only an anime!” And I’m also aware that my reaction to Strike Witches may have something to do with the fact that I watched it in juxtaposition with My Way, a 2011 Korean film that doesn’t exactly paint a pretty picture of Japan both before and during World War II. Of course it’s probably unfair to judge something as patently unreal as an anime by anything approaching historical standards, but the fact is Strike Witches wants its cake and to eat it, too. While the series has a radical reinvention of World War II, making it in an alien invasion drama, it also repeatedly references both actual events and (especially) people, and yet there’s nary a reference to the Rising Sun or suicide bombers or any number of other items that most people are going to be likely to associate with Japan and that era. The problems with Strike Witches are more than just skin deep (and I’m counting my above complaint as a relatively trivial qualm), but in this case skin is part and parcel of the story as well. Strike Witches features some of the most gratuitous fan service of any anime of the past several years, with long lingering shots of girls’ crotches, occasional nudity and an obsession with female underwear.
Strike Witches is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Note to self: make sure to check whether you've put in a DVD or a Blu-ray when reviewing Combo Packs like this one. I put in the DVD first, thinking how odd it was that this looked like an upconversion when Strike Witches was of such recent vintage. I soon discovered my error, but you know what?: it didn't make a whole heck of a lot of difference, because this is an upconversion. Even given that fact, this is a strangely soft looking outing, one that does offer some appealing character designs and reasonably robust color, but which suffers from a kind of "blah" high definition presentation that never really pops the way the best FUNimation outings usually do. The best looking part of this enterprise is the use of CGI, which looks a good deal crisper than the bulk of the traditional cel animation. While there's nothing downright horrible about this transfer or even the source animation, Strike Witches is weirdly anemic looking for a recent vintage anime, upconversion or not, especially one presented by FUNimation, which regularly offers such stellar looking fare.
By far the best thing about Strike Witches is its extremely boisterous Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix, one that bursts out of the gate with a nice action sequence and keeps up a nicely consistent use of the surround channels for the rest of the season. While the voice work is a bit problematic (as detailed above in the main body of the review), the mix here is often fantastically effective. As the Strike Witches zoom into battle against the aliens, a glut of really good panning effects comes into play, and many if not most of the action sequences are rife with bombastic LFE. Fidelity is very strong and dynamic range is equally wide. For the record, there's an excellent Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix on the Blu-ray as well, which is a bit more reserved, sonically speaking, but which may be preferable for its voice work even if it doesn't offer the same level of immersion.
I may be several decades too old and considerably too married to be the target demographic for Strike Witches' odd blend of kind of science fiction-esque rewriting of World War II mixed with a more than generous amount of fan service. My admittedly potentially misplaced ire over a Japanese series "forgetting" to get into Japan's role in World War II is probably easily dismissed by those who couldn't care less if an anime recasts history in a different light. But the bizarre combination of promoting a kind of nascent feminism, with an all-girl set of heroines, against nonstop shots of panties (replete with outlined female genitalia) and other frankly sexist material is odd, to say the least, if not completely off putting. All of this would be forgivable if Strike Witches simply had a better story to tell, but when you get episodes like the "lost panites" outing, the seams (whether or not they're on underwear) begin to show.
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2008
Essentials
2008
Limited Edition
2010
S.A.V.E.
2010
Essentials
2010
Season 3
2020
Asobi ni Iku yo! / Essentials
2010-2011
Essentials
2011
2008-2009
IS〈インフィニット・ストラトス〉
2011
Limited Edition
2010
2011
2011-2012
2010
ソウルイーター
2008-2009
Essentials
2010
灼眼のシャナ / S.A.V.E.
2005-2006
Essentials
2013-2014
Essentials
2006
Anime Classics / フルメタル·パニック!
2002
Classics
2003
Essentials
2010-2011
Suzumiya Haruhi no shôshitsu / 涼宮ハルヒの消失
2010
2010
2009
2012-2013