Strike Witches is a Japanese media mix franchise originally created by Fumikane Shimada via a series of magazine illustration columns. The illustrations have since inspired several official light novel, manga, and anime series and v ...

'' is an anime series released as part of a mixed media project by

Fumikane Shimada , is an anime and video game illustrator and character designer from Okayama Prefecture. Biography Fumikane is well known for sparking the mecha shoujo boom of the 2000s with his line of mecha musume illustrations. During this time Fumikane pro ...

, which also includes light novels and manga. Taking place in an alternate Earth in the 1940s, the series focuses on the 501st Joint Fighter Wing of Strike Witches, magically powered girls who fight against an alien race known as the Neuroi. An

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and special episodes of a series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the ...

was produced by

Gonzo Gonzo may refer to: People * Gonzo (nickname), a list of people with the nickname * Radislav Jovanov Gonzo (born 1964), Croatian music video director Radislav Jovanov, also known as Gonzo * Matthias Röhr (born 1962), German musician whose stage ...

and directed by

Kunihisa Sugishima is a Japanese anime director. Career Sugishima started his career on Sunrise in the 1980s, having worked as the setting producer for ''Heavy Metal L-Gaim''s episodes 1 to 18, as well as the director and storyboarder for other episodes. Another m ...

and released in Japan in January 2007. The first season of the anime television series was directed by Kazuhiro Takamura and also produced by Gonzo aired from July to September 2008. The series was also streamed with English subtitles on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, BOST TV and

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service owned by Sony, Sony Group Corporation. The service primarily distributes fi ...

. The uncensored DVDs were released in September 2008 and January 2009. The series was licensed by

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

and was released in a complete box set in North America in March 2010. The second season, titled ''Strike Witches 2'', was produced by AIC and again directed by Takamura. It was broadcast in Japan from July to September 2010. It was also simulcast on Crunchyroll and Funimation's anime portal. This series was also licensed by Funimation and released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in North America in October 2012. A film adaptation was released in March 2012. An

series produced by

Silver Link is a Japanese animation studio. It was founded by ex-Frontline animation producer Hayato Kaneko in December 2007 and is based in Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, ...

, ''Operation Victory Arrow'', began release in September 2014. A third season of the ''Strike Witches'' series, titled ''Strike Witches: Road to Berlin'', aired from October to December 2020. Four pieces of theme music were used for the series. The opening theme for the first series is titled and performed by

Yoko Ishida is a Japanese singer. She is known for having performed theme songs for anime shows such as '' Prétear'', '' Ai Yori Aoshi'', the '' Ah! My Goddess'' TV series and the '' Strike Witches'' series, as well as for having sung for the Para Para Max ...

, while the ending theme is , performed by members of the vocal cast. The second series' opening theme is performed by Ishida, while the ending theme is "Over Sky" which is performed by the vocal cast. For the OVA series, the opening theme is "Connect Link" performed once again by Ishida, while the ending theme is "Fly away" performed by the vocal cast. For the third season, the opening theme is by Ishida while the ending theme is performed by the vocal cast.

Series overview

''Strike Witches''

''Spin-Offs''

Television series

''Strike Witches'' (2008)

Strike Witches 2 (2010)

Strike Witches: 501st Joint Fighter Wing Take Off! (2019)

Strike Witches: Road to Berlin (2020)

''World Witches Take Off!'' (2021)

''Luminous Witches'' (2022)

Original video animation

Pilot OVA (2007)

''Strike Witches: Operation Victory Arrow'' (2014)

''Strike Witches: The Movie'' (2012)

See also

Notes

References

External links