1

Well, I'm glad they got the download fixed. Two weeks in a row they've screwed up on what's supposed to be a trailblazer.  Not good.

I had a hard time understanding what was going on and what was said about the higher-ups in that initial flight, because of the idiotic pop-up ads over the dialogue, since I was watching it streamed. I'm really ticked about that; if they don't get their act together, it may drive me away from CR.   

2 I'll transcribe the subtitles on that after I finish watching. It isn't all that sinister.

3

I should be able to get the download and watch a clean version tonight.  Sanya's green bars look a lot like antennas, and they do seem to function that way.  It's hinted strongly that they have transmission capability, including radar.

The actions of the Neuroi are quite peculiar. Why did it home in on her, and mimic her singing?  If it were one or the other, I'd not be as confused.  Homing in on her could be the action of an ARM, easy, given that she seems to have radar.  Mimicing her singing wouldn't be unusual... if they'd ever done the same to any given radio station. 

I'm likewise confused by the end of the battle.  Did you get the impression that her father was somehow transmitting her "special song" by radio from somewhere in Orussia?  And that she was trying to transmit it back?

One other thing; we now have a confirmed age for Miyafuji (15), and the current date is August 1944.  I'm not sure the dates match up, but I'd have to go back to the first episode and look.

4

Here's the early dialog:

Wilcke: Your displeasure is written all over your face, Major Sakamoto.
Sakamoto: They call us all the way over there, and then start talking about budget cuts. Of course it shows on my face.
Wilcke: They're panicking. We're the only ones bringing any results.
Sakamoto: All they can see are their own two feet.
Wilcke: That's how warmongers are. If the Neuroi had never showed up, they would probably be fighting amonst themselves now.
Sakamoto: Just like the World War.

5

I managed to catch most of that, but the ads continued all the way through the following battle.  CR really ticked me off with that stunt.

Really.  Grrrrr.

I'll get it from the clean version tonight (if I don't spend more time checking up on the Russo-Georgian war and Beijing smog), but Wilcke's comment, combined with their conversation at the end, worries me about the direction this is going to take.

Nice touch that Wilcke and Sakamoto were visiting the Doctor's grave on the anniversery of his death; obviously Miyafuji herself had been there earlier.

Interesting thought; if the strategy of having Striker fliers is insufficient to turn the tide of the war, will we see the mecha tank musume from the manga?  (Which was just silly, but if you're going to do planes, why not ships & tanks?)

6

If there were more witches available they'd be outfitting a second squadron of Strike Witches, and probably headquarter it in the Ural Mountains, or maybe Sicily or Greece, with Sakamoto in command. They wouldn't waste rare and precious witches on tanks.

It really is beginning to sound like they're taking a page from the Stratos 4 book, which I agree with you is not a good thing.

If they do this: The enemy is really China, waging a secret war against the rest of the world

If they do that, then this series will turn out to be a total travesty. But I don't believe it. Not even Gonzo would stoop so low. (He says.)

7

When they were doing the "Here's an obscure food that I've heard is good for night vision" thing, I wonder why they didn't have Yeager haul out the carrots.

I remember being told when I was a kid that carrots were good for night vision. Something about Vitamin A. When I was an adult I learned the real source of that myth. It turns out it was a cover story used by the Navy in WWII.

Submarines later in the war were equipped with a new centimetric radar, with the antenna mounted on the top of the periscope. That permitted them to track Japanese ships very closely, especially at night. That radar was a closely-guarded secret, and it was so effective, leading to so many successful night attacks, that the Navy felt a need to explain what was going on. So they started the rumor that submarines were carrying lots of carrots for the crew to eat, because carrots improved night vision.

So that "carrots are good for night vision" story is American, and I would have liked the extra factor of a bunny-girl pushing carrots on everyone else. Too bad they didn't do it.

8 Huh. Hadn't really thought about that before. Why isn't there a Chinese girl? Lack of a historical air force? (cf. Chennault's Flying Tigers) Lack of a historical Chinese plane to model the Striker after? Don't want to remind anyone of history in OTL? The manga artist never bothered? Could one or the other of the "unknown" characters from your tarot post be a Chinese addition?

9 I wonder how much decensoring they'll do for this picture for the DVD?

10

China lost more dead in WWII than any other country, but it never had a glamorous military the way other countries did, and yeah, it never really had much of an air force. The "Flying Tigers" were American and they only operated for about a year, and had no important effect on the war. They loom rather larger in the mythology of the war than they really should.

The thing was that China didn't have a single unified government; it was in the midst of a civil war when the Japanese invaded, and the two sides didn't stop fighting each other even as they both tried to fight against the Japanese.

The war in China is also notable for having more atrocities than any other theater in the war. Generally not a very glamorous thing, and certainly not something the modern Japanese want to be reminded of. So yeah, it's not too surprising that the Chinese have been airbrushed out of this story.

Regarding Sanya's power: I think she does have the ability to transmit, which she uses at the end to try to send to her father. But I'm certain that her normal detection mechanism is passive. Sakamoto has her eye that permits her to detect things at unreasonable distances, and Bishop has a similar ability albeit much less versatile. It is completely plausible that Sanya should have yet another alternate detection ability.

I do wonder if we're going eventually to get a list of all the special abilities that everyone has. At the moment we know Bishop, Sakamoto, Sanya (all having a form of clairvoyance), Miyafuji (healing). And it's possible that Yeager's has to do with speed.

11 Those green things were magic radar aerials, similar in shape to those used by night fighters in WWII.

As for the rockets, they lead to a couple of open questions... are they radar-guided (they seem to curve a little at times), and more importantly, if they do that much damage, why are the others flying around with LMGs and a handful of light cannon?


My assumption is that her father, knowing her special power, is playing next to a radio transmitter.  Kinda cheesy, but if you assume their families have some degree of special status in their home countries due to their service, I could buy it.

Oh... and the special weapon?  How would a baka bomb do for you?  It's already been proven that kamikaze attacks are survivable (barely), and who has the most powerful shield and the best chance of ripping through the enemy and coming out in one piece?

12

The "guidance" is the magic of the witch firing the rocket. I don't have any problem with that part. I'm just curious about the warheads.

Re your idea of the future weapon: You're not thinking in the right terms. We don't need something to stop Neuroi ships; the Strike Witches already can do that. We need something that will close the vortex.

13

Hm. I didn't take ep.7 to be particularly fanservice-y from the preview, but I was busy trying to figure out which girl they were going to concentrate on, and which one was singing.  Looks like Barkhorn for the focus and (I think) Lucchini singing the ditty.

Re: wasting witches on tanks -- given what we've seen thus far, it is entirely plausible that many or even most witches do not have "adapt to flying" as a part of their magic repetoire, and that's why there's only 11.  There are also psychological and physical reasons why someone might not make a good pilot  (Can you see Miyafuji's grandmother flying one of those things?)  If there is any research team trying to advance Miyafuji's work (the allies are idiots if there isn't one), they could be trying to adapt his work to other weapon forms, or even non-weapon uses.

Rosie the Mecha - Riveter musume, anyone?  (Ok, the chances that Gonzo will go that far are nil.)  

Regarding baka bombs, Yeager had to attain supersonic speed to use herself as one. There's no evidence that Miyafuji could do so. 

14

Re: no Chinese girl in Strike Witches.

DUH!  No Chinese ace to name her after! 

/pounds head on desk at stupidity/

15 Don't be too sure that the Neuroi are going to be targeting individual Witches.  Sanya's power essentially turns her into an AWACS.  This Neuroi was essentially a HARM or Shrike.

So far, none of the other Witches seem to have a "broadcast" magic, they're all locally-based.  Yes, two of them can see really really far, but that's not exactly the same as magic radar.

So Sanya was being tracked and attacked, but that might have been because she was a beacon.

Furthermore:  NOT a trap. 

16

Regarding baka bombs her closing speed wasn't that high - she was supersonic but she hit that very fast neuroi ship from the rear. I'm not sure the writers really thought through the implications of her direction of attack and her surviving the impact.

I wonder if the inevitable "ultimate weapon" will be a magically-enhanced nuke. Definitely a war-ender type of thing and fits in with the WWII theme. We just need a couple of the girls to power a bomber musume, and a couple to fly support.