Ladies and gentlemen, as we are experiencing turbulence, kindly return to your seats and ensure that your seatbelts are securely fastened; First Class Passengers, hug and cushioning will be provided
For those you won't belt up, kindly sign the organ donor card in memory of Yuzuru Otonashi
Summary:
The Neuroi’s beam disables one of the plane’s four propeller engines and, much to Yoshika’s relief, Mio orders the pilot to descend and take evasive action until a relief force arrives. The Venezia 1st Battle Fleet sights the Neuroi and engages it but, despite scoring several direct hits, have the tables turned on them. With the Witches of the Romagna 1st Wing and 504th Joint Fighter Wing unable to reach them, Yoshika deploys to draw the Neuroi away from the fleet. However Mio’s Striker unit can’t get started (due to mechanical problems – nod to Author) and she takes a flying leap directly from the flying boat, slicing the Neuroi with her new sword Reppemaru.
However the Neuroi begins to regenerate and its core even moves around to avoid Yoshika’s shots. Just when our intrepid heroine’s magic is about to be completely exhausted, reinforcements arrive; the various members of the old gang strut their stuff and wear down even this new and improved Neuroi before Mio deals the death blow, impressing everyone with her evasive speed as well as her Neuroi beam and core slicing; she’s got her mojo back! Later, Minna wrangles the necessary orders to re-establish the 501st Joint Fighter Wing with a new mission – to take down the Venezia hive.
Here comes the bride, all dressed in white school swimsuit
Let the yuri hijinks begin!
Reaction:
I had a sense of deja vu during the battle, after the arrival of the Karlslander trio, and realized that the fighting footage from the first episode (after the OP) had been recycled. I don’t think AIC is going to go Endless Eight on us so I’m not going to complain too much – there was plenty of action throughout this episode and I’m as glad as the characters to see everyone together doing Ri Majons again. I couldn’t help but be filled with awe, like the Venezia fleet commander and his XO, at Yoshika flying to the rescue and then the masterful display of team work and coordination by the legendary liberators of Gallia.
It was especially nice how Mio has gotten back into the thick of things; I had been wondering how she’d be able to be on serious active duty again after being nerfed at the end of the first season. Forging her magical sword and using it as a shield (not sure if the name Reppemaru is supposed to be funny though) as well as her improved mobility in the Violent Lightning Striker unit were very satisfying ways to bring her to the forefront again and it was so fitting that she got to deal the final blow.
Among the returned characters, I find that Lucchini’s been growing on me – just as how Rie Kugimiya has an absolute mastery of the tsundere stutter, nobody does those childish squeals of delight and disbelief better than Chiwa Saitou. Mie Sonozaki’s Trudie didn’t have that much screentime but I enjoyed her tsundere exclamation of Na-! after Minna teased her about the contradiction between her complaining about having her imouto time cut short and her declaration of wanting to get back to the fight first. Speaking of Minna, Rie Tanaka shows off her character’s command aura yet again during the fight. And persuading the higher ups to agree to the 501st getting back together; managing higher HQ is one of a Commanding Officer’s most difficult responsibilities (recalling how their most serious adversary in the first season was an internal one) – and Mio certainly appreciated that!
I did raise my eyebrows a few times: was the flag of the Imperial Japanese Navy sneaked in twice? First when Yoshika defended the Venezia fleet and then again when she protected the flying boat from the rapidly regenerating Neuroi? Given how prominently the Yamato featured in the first episode and the OP, there could be some revisionist historical bent to the series production or it could be just that, with the Vicky Zhao dress controversy in mind, I am being over-sensitive to this and not paying enough attention to the pantsu?
This post was written by...
Zyl – who has written 233 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
I have a penchant for Bishoujo, Oneesama and Yuri character dynamics. Genre-wise I enjoy drama and satire; tilt-wise I am terribly weak against self-consciously arty farty styles and reference humour. Sieg Lunamaria!
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Twice? Maybe you skipped the ending, because that flag (with a dog in front of it) is Yoshika’s emblem. Just remember that this is an alternate world, where Japan isn’t evil.
Now, if only Erica wore a swastika, this series would be better than it is by an order of magnitude.
Oh I forgot about the ED one… but Yoshika’s emblem is just really too cute.
Erica’s uniform is definitely the most SS and Nazi of the Karlslander trio. WRT lack of swastika, personally I’m glad to see that there are things that even Strike Witches won’t touch with a ten foot barge pole.
And I completely forgot to post this:
Charlotte needs to be more open-minded about the culinary delight of Octopus in the way that Kabitzin should experience the joys of natto and okra.:3
I’ve tried natto and okra a couple of times, so I owe those disgusting foods nothing!
Lucchini is growing on me too. Her voice is just too adorable. And I like her skin tone.
Actually Erica’s uniform (which is mostly composed of her leather pilot jacket) is reminiscent of Deutschland’s WWII Luftwaffe division which is where the 3 Karlsland gals were originally part of. Luftwaffe being the airforce of course. Erica’s jacket is a modified Luftwaffe jacket that German pilots of WWII used to purchase from French Civilian vendors since they didn’t have a standard issue jacket.
The only difference with Erica’s is that her’s was customized a bit more feminine. Nice jackets though but the replicas are a bit expensive. Especially the Erik Hartmann flight jacket that Eastman Leathers attempted to replicate:
http://www.eastmanleather.com/Hartmann.htm
And Erica also wears a Luftwaffe wire cap similar to the original Hartmann’s cap. Although it’s been confirmed that luftwaffe pilots remove the wire in their caps so that they can comfortably place their earphones on while inside their Bf 109 fighter planes.
Regardless, you gotta admit….Germans had the sharpest uniforms during WWII since Hitler commissioned a fashion designer to design their entire line of military wear. Just received my Luftwaffe replica but that cost me an arm and a leg lol. No regrets though.
–Wolfie
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