Strike Witches #01 — Gonzo Can No Longer Afford to Draw Pants

July 3rd, 2008

 

I didn’t know things had become that desperate.

Impressions:

Impressive. This is perhaps the strangest thing I’ve ever seen. 90% of the girls in Strike Witches just have no pants on. No shorts or a skirt or anything, they just stopped dressing themselves halfway. If every single one of them had gone bottomless, you might be able to rationalize it as… god, I don’t know… pants make their magic mecha not work. My Otome did something similar after all. However, a couple of them are wearing skirts/pants, and even when they’re off duty, the pantless ones go pantless. It’s just outright baffling. What kind of insane world is this where all the females wear bloomers or panties as part of the normal dresscode? There has got to be some crazy misogynstic view to be taken here. It is interesting to watch the framing of the scenes and notice how many of them take place from the waist up so you might forget for a moment that every single character is nearly naked from the waist down. Even scientists at a formal presentation don’t wear pants… why? I guess it’s not like there are any naughty bits to cover up though…

I don’t even want to say anything else really. Gonzo’s modus operandi for the last 5 years has been "good 2-3 episodes, then a steady decline into utter garbage." While I normally do like girls with beam cannons, my disdain for Gonzo overpowers that rather nicely. The story’s basically that girls with magic powers that sprout tails and ears as they use them are fighting monsters with booster equipment. Thrilling, I’m sure. The production values for at least this episode were pretty decent at the very least. If they manage to keep those up through the whole series, it might not be too bad. I’m still baffled by the lack of pants. Of all the things to do… why that? Hell, they still wear shoes underneath their mecha boots and whatnot, but pants seem to be verboten… except for the few that do wear them. It’s just… incomprehensible to me.

OP won’t be uploaded. Gonzo is one of the studios fiercely protective of their stuff. Also, I’m pretty sure the episode’s being streamed for free with subs anyway.

Preview:

Pfft. Gonzo.

Posted in Anime | 21 Comments »

21 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Yamcha says:
    July 3, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    A world without pants… Did Gonzo read my mind? If I didn’t know any better, the screencaps make this look like the second season of Sky Girls. I’ve started to grow weary of Gonzo’s stuff… Guess it won’t hurt to check out a couple eps if just for the moe factor.

  • FieryAeon says:
    July 3, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    I imagine them going “Skirts? Pants? What are those?”

  • Anonymous says:
    July 3, 2008 at 10:34 pm

    Best show of the season.

    What do we get right after the OP plays and the show starts proper? Fucking panty shots with detailed vaginal lips, missiles and machine guns being fired off, airplane engine sounds with doppler effect, cute girls, and shit blowing up. All played to the tune of a military march.

    Give the viewer what they want, fuck yeah. That’s how awesome cartoons are made.

  • Sheryl Nome says:
    July 4, 2008 at 1:10 am

    Rip-off of Sky Lolis Girls, bla bla bla… BORING.

  • DmonHiro says:
    July 4, 2008 at 1:30 am

    I can’t BELIVE how much this is a rip off of Sky Girls…..Gonzo…you’ve fallen so low

  • Steven Den Beste says:
    July 4, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Official legal Gonzo Youtube release with subtitles is here.

    Me, I liked it a lot. Sakamoto is a nerd, for one thing.

    One of the biggest changes from the OVA is that Sakamoto is not ranking officer. Wilcke is; Sakomoto is second.

    By the way, Commenter #3 is a liar. No cameltoes that I saw, let alone anything more explicit.

  • Gangrelion says:
    July 4, 2008 at 3:16 am

    WOW!…that Eyepatch girl didn’t had a lost or injured eye, she has a magical special eye covered by her Eyepatch! This was a real surprise to me! ups! Sorry everyone! I think that this was a big “spoiler” -_-‘…

  • Kikaifan says:
    July 4, 2008 at 4:28 am

    Why can’t people just lose an eye the old-fashioned honest way their ancestors did?

    BUT if it shoots laser beams or the like I’m okay with it. Some allowances have to be made.

  • Furuba says:
    July 4, 2008 at 5:46 am

    omg it does really look like sky girls XD lol even the mains have similar hairstyles =____=|| but lol no pants(or hardly any)? ahaha that’s just hilariously weird :P~

  • Anonymous says:
    July 4, 2008 at 6:13 am

    >By the way, Commenter #3 is a liar. No cameltoes that I saw, let alone anything more explicit.

    I think your problem might be watching it on youtube :P I downloaded it from BOST, and believe me, in that higher resolution there is cameltoe a plenty.

  • Rincewind says:
    July 4, 2008 at 7:11 am

    Who knows, maybe this ends in a good series. Maybe Gonzo is now in the right path.
    After all Druaga was an awesome series… But… the wait for the second season is too long. ><

  • Twirble says:
    July 4, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    Did Druga get better?

    Ah well, I thought the lead character had a nice face so I watched it…there is a half hour of my life wasted. Why do they have to turn little girls into sex objects like that….(how old are they?)

  • ssc says:
    July 5, 2008 at 12:43 am

    For anyone wondering about the similarities, Humikane Shimada is listed as the character designer for both Strike Withces and Sky Girls (he’s also listed as the orinal creator for Strike Witches). He’s the designer of the Mecha Musume and Busou Shinki figure series that both anime series seemed to be loosely based off of.

    Strike Witches Mecha Musume (WWII era designs)
    Sky Girls Busou Shinki (futurisic designs)

  • gil says:
    July 5, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Gonzo knows how to push my buttons.

    I’m already falling for that “busty” red-head. :D

  • Strike Witches - Do I or Don’t I? « Paul’s otaku notebook says:
    July 5, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    […] Strike Witches – Do I or Don’t I? Gonzo’s latest series, Strike Witches, premiered Thursday. With the 4th of July holiday and other stuff, I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but early reviews suggest that my fears of a very fan-servicey show were not far off. (One blogger jokingly speculates that Gonzo can no longer afford to draw pants.) […]

  • gil says:
    July 5, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    Witches don’t wear pants, duh

  • EcureuilMatrix says:
    July 6, 2008 at 1:35 am

    So, if I understand correctly, it’s Sky Girls retarded cousin?

    With an even more ridiculous premise, panties cranked up to eleven and random WWII aircraft jokes?

    I like Sky Girls, but I might just watch this one only for the lulz and Hawker Hurricanes.

  • scottfrye says:
    July 6, 2008 at 7:20 am

    This is totally a rip off of Sky Girls, which I enjoyed. And they didn’t have airplane crap on their legs. That is just stupid.

  • Cookie says:
    July 9, 2008 at 9:23 pm

    This goes way beyond WTF. After the first few minutes i must of mudered that frase at least 20 times. This is a blantent attempt to draw in a ‘cetrtain’ type of audience.

  • Fallen Aizen » Kurokami - 03 - Keita, the dumb unic says:
    January 26, 2009 at 1:17 am

    […] This scene, for obvious reasons, reminded me of Shana. The red hair, red eyes, and orangey-red flames. It was bound to remind anyone of Shakugan no Shana. I think I understand how the contract works, though. Blatantly put, both Kuro and Keita’s hand will glow and then their power is drastically increased. For some reason, though, I was thinking that the contract binding them would actually merge their bodies as one. Then Keita would know it feels like to be a girl. Sort of. I mean, his right hand has the mark while Kuro’s left hand has the mark. I’m not sure about you but when I see that I think “Oh, they’re going to merge so that both of Kuro’s hands will have the contract mark.” It isn’t disappointing to see them separate, but when you expect something and it doesn’t come, you just feel a bit awkward. Oh and, who else thought in cruelty “AHAHAHAHA HE HAS NO MANHOOD!!!” I KNOW that Anime like this is NOT supposed to show naked bodies but really, a guy not having anything is just too much. They should at least make it so that they both have some pants on. […]

  • Fallen Aizen » Kurokami - 03 - Keita, the dumb unic says:
    January 26, 2009 at 1:17 am

    […] This scene, for obvious reasons, reminded me of Shana. The red hair, red eyes, and orangey-red flames. It was bound to remind anyone of Shakugan no Shana. I think I understand how the contract works, though. Blatantly put, both Kuro and Keita’s hand will glow and then their power is drastically increased. For some reason, though, I was thinking that the contract binding them would actually merge their bodies as one. Then Keita would know it feels like to be a girl. Sort of. I mean, his right hand has the mark while Kuro’s left hand has the mark. I’m not sure about you but when I see that I think “Oh, they’re going to merge so that both of Kuro’s hands will have the contract mark.” It isn’t disappointing to see them separate, but when you expect something and it doesn’t come, you just feel a bit awkward. Oh and, who else thought in cruelty “AHAHAHAHA HE HAS NO MANHOOD!!!” I KNOW that Anime like this is NOT supposed to show naked bodies but really, a guy not having anything is just too much. They should at least make it so that they both have some pants on. […]