We have the guns. We have the ships. We'll get the master bug!
Summary:
Francesca returns from her beetle hunting expedition with a shiny new bug. It escapes, wrecking havoc by knocking out the electrical systems. It even has the temerity to ruin the girls’ enjoyment of their new outdoor hot bath by displaying a knack for crawling into their (under)pants.
With Sanya’s help, Mio realizes that the bug is a Neuroi, linked to an approaching aerial body but the threat is, inadvertently, crushed by Minna’s buns of steel, scoring her 200th kill and she is awarded the Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords by Emperor Frederich of Karlsland.
Neuroi is not the only thing that Sanya's gaydar is detecting
Reaction:
This is my favourite episode of this second season thus far, displacing Ep 4 from the top spot. All the girls get their turn in the limelight as it revels in plenty of fanservice and utter silliness – immediate comparisons can be drawn to the ‘Erica steals Francesca’s panties chain reaction’ episode from the first season but I was also reminded of the panty-stealing Child episode from Mai HiME. This series works for me as long as it focuses on the girls and their antics with an occasional battle for action relief.
Mio did very well. We got to see her relentless striving for excellence: practising sword drills on the beach while almost everyone else was still asleep and then getting the girls (whom Minna had just said were off duty) to jog around the base so that they would enjoy the baths more when they were ready at noon. And then waiting until it was exactly noon before letting any of them in. She was also splendid in the way she took command, in Minna’s absence (due to being incommunicado), fabulous command presence in the way she ordered Sanya and Erica on a search mission, put Trude and Erica on standby and used Yoshika as her runner.
On the romance front, Mio also showed her obliviousness to Perrine’s attraction (the former’s puzzlement at the latter’s disappointment of non-shared bath time) to her which always makes me laugh. But I wonder if she’s pretending that Minna never confessed her feelings for her in the previous season? Nonetheless I can’t help but feel that Minna still loves and desires the Major and this feeds an underlying tension into their conversations, like the one where Mio invited Minna to use the bath with her.
There’s no doubt, after the previous episode, that Eila x Sanya are very love-love for each other but I was (pleasantly) surprised by how chaste their relationship remains. Of course Eila would like it to be a lot less chaste and I wonder if this is not the first time Sanya has caught her with her hands where they’re not supposed to be (without permission). The combination of Eila’s bump on her head and Sanya’s accompanying blush, pout and averted eyes were just too cute.
I never get romantic vibes from Trude x Erica despite my penchant for yuri – even when Erica spanking Trude was so incredibly hot and naughty that Francesca was also fazed by the sight of it. For me, they exude a strong Best Buddies with opposed personalities feel; Trude with her strictness and rigidity about rules and authority and Erica with her laziness and playfulness. But both are united by their love of flying and are ever ready to count on each other’s considerable skills in combat – a trust that was on *ahem* full display when they discussed, agreed on and boldly acted on their anti-bug countermeasure prior to their sortie.
Of course the premise did not make any sense and I was also LOL when the episode even (butt)cheekily mentioned and then quickly passed over it. Nonetheless I thought it was analytically significant with respect to Who Did Not Get The Bug: Francesca, Shirley, Mio, Erica. I figured that the factor they all have in common is that they are not easily embarrassed – thus the comic potential of Bug Uppu Pantsu would be reduced and there would a much higher chance that said bug would be easily captured or destroyed by any of these four. As an addendum, Yoshika was the only one Got The Bug but didn’t have to expose her crotch – which, on the one hand, is logistically difficult to simply pull down, given the Fuso school swimsuit-style underwear, but which I also figure is part of being the main character’s privilege. (A bit worried by the attempt to pump up the dorama in the next episode’s foreshadowing Yoshika losing her mojo…)
I also learnt some vocabulary – the Strike Witches are often described as pantless but what we call their panties or pantsu is referred, in-universe, among the characters themselves (is this consistent across the two seasons?) as zubon which is the Japanese term for pants (in the sense of trousers) but, appropriately enough, originates from the French word jupon which, if the wiki is to be believed, referred to petticoats.
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This post was written by...
Zyl – who has written 204 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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I was totally thinking ‘panty stealing ep!’ as well lol. Fanservice silliness it might be but I totally love it. I liked the gaydar quip too btw ;p
Thanks – I have enjoyed this second season more than the first (so far) mostly because I’ve gotten to know all the characters already. AIC Spirits is certainly building on this foundation by having the episodes echo elements from the first. But I’m not a little apprehensive about what this means for the prospect of doramaz in the concluding arc though…
Darn paperwork, making the Lt Col skip out on a private bath time with the Major, even if Mio sounded like she meant it in the more general sense of “Why not join (us)” instead of specifically “Why not join (me)” but hey, I have my wishful thinking
. Speaking of which and whilst we’re on the subject… IIRC from the Strike Witches drama CDs, Minna had (or used to have?) a certain level of disdain for social bathing caused by a brazen conversation between Mio, Erica and a very mortified Perrine, and possibly what transpired after that, so it was a pleasant surprise that she had changed her previously averse opinion to a more positive one wrt having a bath in the base.
Mio might have admitted before that she’s pretty dense when it comes to this sort of thing i.e. socializing and romance, but I find it amusing in the way she makes subtle but active advances on the Lt Col, like this bath invitation and that night visit to the latter’s room after her solo singing performance in Season 1 HAっ HAっ HAっ.//Ends delusion
Btw, I was totally digging the misunderstanding when an exposed Minna screamed in horror upon seeing Mio yell “I SEE IT!” after Perrine pulled Minna’s pantsu down lol.
And oh yes, I also really enjoyed watching Trude go nuts over Erica breaching her Siegfried Line. These two certainly do make the most hilarious combination of the entire bunch.
Ah thanks for the background from the drama CDs – they sound like such great fun, have to get round to listening (and comprehending) them sometime.
Minna x Mio subtle flirting oh so good deshou!? Mio’s I SEE IT! was probably what gave Minna that little bit extra which destroyed the Neuroi core haha.
Siegfried line was fabulous. One surprising thing was how many big thick books Erica reads – though I’ve not heard of the author… And one nice thing was how Trude never ever pulls rank on Erica. Just like how Trude probably secretly enjoys arguing with Shirley, she probably gets a similar kick from yelling at Erica.