From our discussion here a couple of days ago about Strike Witches and how well it's sold, I've been thinking about just why that might have been. What is different about SW compared to some other Gonzo series that haven't done as well?

"Doing well" as far as the Japanese studios are concerned means how many DVDs they sell in Japan. As I understand it, they don't break even on broadcast. The networks don't pay them as much as their production costs. And R1 sales, if a series get licensed here, is so late as to not really figure very much in their economic calculation. (Plus the fact that American fans are cheap, and the market here isn't all that large, means that it isn't really all that much money.)

So the Strike Witches DVDs have been selling at a rate of maybe 12,000 each for their first weeks, which doesn't set any records for the industry, but which makes it Gonzo's best selling title ever.

ANN doesn't list the totals for many DVDs in their rankings, and they only started doing that a few months ago anyway, so I don't have much data here to work with. But consider:

The most obvious reason is the fan service, and the fact that the DVDs are uncensored. But SW is far from being the only title that's been done for. Sekirei did, too, but it hasn't sold as well.

I wish I could compare it to other recent series which are similar (e.g. Goshushou-sama Ninomiya-kun, or Rosario to Vampire) but I can't come up with any sales data for them.

Anyhoo, it's at least obvious that it's selling a lot better than Sekirei, which has to have at least as much fan service and girls fighting as SW does.

So what is it that's special about Strike Witches?

Here's where we get out of the objective and into the subjective. I'll tell you what it is that makes it work for me.

First, I really like the music. That may be surprising to hear, but there's something about martial music, and the general style of music that they chose for this series, which stirs the blood.

And I like the period. It's one I'm interested in, even though they're taking massive liberties with it.

The magic is neat. The variety of magic, and the way the magic is presented. The Striker Units are wonderful; stupid, but wonderful.

But the real reason the show works for me is the characterization. All the girls are good, but the characters of Miyafuji and Sakamoto make the show. They're both really interesting, and the interaction between them is also really interesting.

Sakamoto is the real prize character in the series. The fact that she's an extremely experienced pilot. The way her eye glows when she lifts her eye patch. Her strange laugh, and the way she keeps hitting Miyafuji on the shoulder. Her gung-ho attitude.

And the somewhat tragic story that gets told about her. There are several different intertwined stories being told here, but in the end I think that the series is really about Sakamoto, and the way she has to face the fact that at age 20 she's over the hill.

Sakamoto is a nerd. Her social skills are terrible, yet deep down she's a good person, an amazingly good senior officer, a skilled warrior, and...

...and a flying fool. She loves to fly. She loves being in the air. And she can't let go of that, even when flying will get her killed.

So is the series selling well because of characters, or because of fan service? Sales of the 6th and final DVD will tell the story. That'll be episodes 11 and 12, and they have the least amount of fan service in the entire series. If the Japanese are buying for the nudity, then that DVD won't sell as well as the others. But if it's really the story and characters, then it'll sell just as well as the others.

And that's what I expect. And that's why it's outselling Sekirei: that one doesn't have any equivalently riveting characters.

UPDATE: And just after I wrote this, I saw that Pete had posted about ep 8, which he just purchased from Crunchyroll. He's right; that episode is a particularly good one.

The furball in it is one of the best combat sequences in the series, and they animated it very well. That was the first time we got to see Perrine use her magical attack, which was cool. And I think it was the first battle we saw where Miyafuji was treated as a full member of the team, and did her job and did it well. In particular, her gunnery was excellent.

But seeing Wilcke in that evening gown was also nice, and hearing her singing "Lili Marleen" was good too. (That was the perfect choice for a song for her to sing, by the way.)

UPDATE: Pete responds. He explains why he preferred Sekirei to Strike Witches. (He doesn't explain why Strike Witches sold better.)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 07:50 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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