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ThanyTony In reply to B-MasterAnimation [2019-06-08 02:35:53 +0000 UTC]

I can't see it on the map honeslty, I have high definition scans and I can't see it where it is supposed to be, maybe I would require more definition but from what I can tell, it doesn't exist or the land  that makes the Island in Real Life is united to Faraway Land.
It would make sense given the massive difference in land compared to the real world.

But assuming it is there, it is colored as part of Faraway Land so....Gallia doesn't own it.

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B-MasterAnimation In reply to ThanyTony [2019-06-08 02:37:15 +0000 UTC]

Well, i heard in Valiant, there was a message needs to be send from St. Perrie in France. I was wondering about where St. Perrie is in the SW world.

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ThanyTony In reply to B-MasterAnimation [2019-06-08 02:43:03 +0000 UTC]

Should it exist, it would be in the same place it is in the real world, I just can't spot it in the SW's maps, the area is not that different from the real one's one.

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B-MasterAnimation In reply to ThanyTony [2019-06-08 02:46:22 +0000 UTC]

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_… here. This is what im talking about.

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ThanyTony In reply to bucue4 [2018-09-04 00:19:14 +0000 UTC]

I am sorry but I don't like that....making SW "Serious and Dark" is the worst mistake they can make, the series works because is a somewhat shonesque like adventure about a group of teenage girls in panties saving the world, a premise you can take somewhat seriously because of the good characters and excelling handling of the plot, it requires a tongue and cheek world like the one presented in SW 1 and 2 where the war is a serious bussiness, but not as serious as it can be and ultimately everything is resolved by the powetr of friendship and unity that's why it is good.

When you make it way too serious you push the series to present itself as a serious and sober story...that has girls in panties.....that DOES NOT work, one cancels the other, it's not serious enough to be taken as a dark story and it is not aesthetically sober enough for it to be taken 100% seriously, that's why Brave Witches doesn'it work, that's why it's inferior to even the first season of SW which wasn't even THAT good.

No wonder they brought back the 501 for Road to Berlin, brought back the 507 (AKA The Suomus Sex Brigade) and made that idol witches thing....I think they realized this serious aproach DOES NOT WORK, and they're desperately trying to bring back the more light hearted elements of the series.

That's my opinon....and regarding that mess of a plot...I can only say one thing....I think Robespierre half assed it in this universe, because it's insane to think deep in 20th century there are pretentions to turn Gallia into a monarchy, and....don't they realize there are evil monsters ravaging the land? Who cares about that political drama? I don't like this at all.
Thank God I mostly work with historical things regarding the SW universe so I don't have to touch these things that often.

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bucue4 In reply to ThanyTony [2018-09-04 10:48:02 +0000 UTC]

To be fair their are stories in strike witches that have been on the "serious and darker" side of tone; ranging from the Fuso Sea Incident Manga, the Misfits light novels and even the Africa doujinshi series. Granted I wouldn't want or care for strike witches becoming a complete grim dark edge fest

but so far none of the media or stories of strike witches have even come remotely close to that level enough to poke it with a 10 foot pole. The story at it's core is indeed a light hearted series, that even at it's most serious is a story and tone of hope to it and frankly I love the series for exactly that reason; it's part of the charm. It all however comes down to the balance and execution of the two tones of the series; the balance between the light hearted and the serious; and as it is the series overall has managed to successfully achieve this in my humble opinion.

But the thing though to bear in mind that while sure Strike Witches is a very lighthearted and hopeful series; their are still existing some dark and serious moments in it's lore, including some being inherent in it's historical timeline and world building. Also to say that any of the plot of the 506th is outright somber is honestly kind of inaccurate. It's serious, frankly one of the most serious stories to ever come out of strike witches to date; but while I may have initially neglected to mention it before; despite all those serious, dark and harrowing events; the 506th's light novels and it's manga adaptation amazingly manage to stay lighthearted enough and hopeful enough to be amazingly engaging. It may take itself a bit more serious then most strike witches stories, but it still has it's light hearted and humorous moments. the events at the start of Kunika being adopted into the main family to help her branch families noble position was a bit serious but it was still very wounderis and idillyic to see kunika prove herself despite the resistance of the main family of her clan, and despite some of the horrors she had seen at the start of the 2nd Neuroi War, she still remains steadfastly and earnestly idealistic, hopeful and enthusiastically optimistic; and that becomes infectious to both her squad mates and to the readers. And all throughout the events of the 506th series; the girls still rely on their freindship and hope to see themselves through this darker turn of events while holding true to their morals and ideals. Jennifer Deblanc even was at a point where she was forced to hold her captor at gun point but refused to shoot to kill, heck despite the dark events and spy hijinks the witches of the 506th staunchly refuse to kill and whats more they do everything they can to ensure that the people they are protecting and their comrade witches are safe. And even Kunika manages to reach a sliver of light and hope in Chris Quay despite herself; a women who once painted herself as "evil"; expressed the rueful notion that to live in idealistic world of hope and ideals that Kunika oft expressed: "I wouldn't mind living in a world like that....." If the 506th light novels and its manga adaptation were really outright grim dark; none of those light and hopeful moments and contrasts would have happened;, nor would they be encouraged and applauded and treated as precious virtues by the series; and yet they are. And it is not only a fit for the series; it's at the core of what makes strike witches strike witches. I see the story thereof 506th light novels and the events in them as putting those very virtues to the test and highlighting how valuable they are and how they should be treasured; and it has tested our witches in ways we have never seen before in strike witches.

Full discloser: At first I was admittedly shocked and even at times horrified when things started to take those heavy turns, and even seeing Chris Quay, a witch and an allegorical symbol of humanities virtues and hope, engaging in shady spy dealings, attacking a member of B-unit, actually killing two men (granted members of an extremist faction of an espionage department that would have killed her and Deblanc first) and turining out to being a well intentioned extremist; was jarring beyond words, and one of the first words out of my mouth was"A witch killing people!? Nooo this is wrong! It feels wrong! Shit's got dark!" and simply feeling stress and anxiety I have never experienced reading or watching in strike witches before. But the more i read and re-read the 506th light novels and even began translating the manga adaptation; the more impressed, the more excited and the more intrigued and hopeful I became, because despite all this story of the 506th, slightly grim and darker Strike Witches story: I could still feel that ever prevalent sense of friendship the girls had with each other, the tone of hope and idealism that I knew and loved, and seeing some more world building of the strike witches earth that show the good and the bad and you have to be able to take and accept both equally in stride, and most of all; the importance of trying to make the world a better place, bit by bit; and those virtues the series champions and upholds still are present in the 506th's story. And what's more; the values and ideals of the strike witches series that i know, love and adore are being put through one of the greatest trials in the 506th light novels in a way a degree never seen before in strike witches.... and they are holding their own, and dare I say; they are winning. And honestly; that's heartwarming and a hopeful thought of relief and assurance that serves to affirm the virtues, hope and tone of the series. The story and it's tone reflect Kunika, her character and her backstory: despite the grim and serious turns that may happen: the story, like Kunika herself: remain staunchly, steadfastidly, enthusiastically and lovingly hopeful, idealistic and optimistic and trying to see, hold onto and champion the good and best in things past the darker shadows. All with the help of your friends and the trust you place in them.

I will say that while Brave Witches was a fairly decent installment to the series; even I will admit it has it's flaws but frankly none of them have any thing to do with any supposed "serious and somber tone". We still got a very hopeful and idealistic, buddy buddy war story, but it was with different people with different challenges on a different journey. Now for the TVA release could the CGI animation have been better: yes it could have; it's by far the worst and frankly even I can't defend it. Was the pacing a bit quick in a few points; a bit but it wasn't too often or too egregious and only in maybe a few parts. The characters and world building and character interactions and some of the themes and conflicts in the story were for the most part pretty good, or at the very least decently serviceable. It may have been maybe slightly more serious then the story's involving the 501st but it wasn't humorless and was still pretty fun. It's just that maybe their were a bit more risk and stakes then from what we saw in the 501st during their first season; which isn't necessarily a bad thing against either series; it's just different.

But digressing from that; their is still a lot of serious, if not outright dark elements of the series. Aside from Belgica being a nation that views it's witches as "property of the state" (which to be fair given that Rosalie and Isabelle seem to be rather well adjusted mentally and emotionally and seem to be overall very warm, caring people; its likely that despite witch conscription Belgica may still treat their witches decently enough), their are other darker elements. Ostmark being invaded September 1, 1939 and falling at the end of that same month and everything that implies, the Fact Moesia not only allows non-witch women to serve equally under law in it's military (which is cool and great as far as equality in the military go) due to Stoyana Stoyanov 's entering the military via scholarship before she was even a witch; implies that Moesia may be forced, due to the high level of intense and heavy invasion attempts by neuroi into it's borders, to use actual, non-witch child soldiers to some degree and extent (which when youn think about is is major fridge horror). Theirs also in the Contrail of Witches series and Misfits squadron light novels the implication of witches actually at times dying in combat, and as found out in the recent 502nd prequal manga series: Liberion's support of the war on the homefront is half hearted or luke-warm at best; most are okay with supplying the allied war effort and logistics and supply but limited actual troops to the war 9at least in the time the story takes place) and Liberions leaders are struggling to try and get the Liberon Citizens to fully support and commit to the war effort and are doing their best to raise a lot of PR and Bonds campaigns to rally support; even trying to get the support of Liberion and Non-Liberion witches to help in that regaurd; since, at the very least; Liberion does love witches, then their was the fuso sea incident itself and the price Fuso had to pay for victory against neuroi invasion, the Evacuation of Karlsland and Orussia, in the Misfits the depiction of how serious the refugee crises is and several other moments throughout the series. Not all the series darker and serious aspects and events are always front and center but that dosn't mean their are no such events at all and they have no presence what so ever. The world of strike witches still may feel very beautiful, idyllic, hopeful and worth saving; but you can still feel the small, subtle weight on some of the more serious and grim, dark aspects of the series and it's world, and not just in terms of the invasion of neuroi and battles and the costs of those battles, but in the world itself beneath the surface and in the back ground. And I'd be lying if I said part of me wasn't interested in knowing or finding out those more serious aspects behind the scenes in a much more critical and engaging light.

And to say that the world building for strike withes is "half-assed" honestly rings kind of false; because things are too well researched and established for that to be the case. For starters it's not that "Gallia has been turned into a monarchy", but Gallia in the series even ling before the 506th light novel came out; has always been a nation with a strong noble class, and the events in its history to try overthrow Gallian monarchy and nobility diden't pan out, wither in full or in part. And the fact that Gallian nobility had always held power in Gallia and held to Gallian traditional values and how the Gallian nation itself was fiercely protective of it's borders and territory; and it's likely that it's invasion and occupation by Neruoi struck a major chord to cause some political and possible social unrest. Many of the nations of strike witches Europe still retain nobility, noble class and even outright monarchies in some shape or form despite this being set in the 1940's. The events responsible for the crowns falling in our world don't exist and/or have changed so drastically, and thus that influences how the history, culture and societies of the strike witches world is shaped by the 1940's.  I mean heck Karlsland is culturally WW1 German Empire and transplanted WW1 Germany in the 1940's with WW2 technology and  tactics  has a Kaiser; culturally it's not WW2 Germany. Also even with the Neruoi infesting Europe, Asia and North Africa; we still see a Brittainian man with ambitions and a grudge with his rival who signed off on witch units and feeling threatened about witches overshadowing conventional troops that he and other like minded parties concocted the Warlock project to bring power against the Neruoi without witches. We see the three famous generals, Patton, Rommel and Montgomery; initially not see eye to eye with each other, disagreeing with how to best deploy the witches they so dearly loved and constantly fighting with one another to the point they almost undermined a mission to hunt a neuroi and also got themselves killed by said neuroi and needing the cutie witches to save their butts and talk sense to them. We see a young boy in OVA3 and a young girl in Contrail of witches who lost their homes and families and the lives they once knew including loved ones and outright hating witches for what they perceived as being either willfully callous and uncaring liars for the former and useless in protecting loved ones and sending a beloved witch sister who never returned from her duty, felled in combat against a seemingly impossible and powerful enemy, and despairing at the seeming fruitless futility of resisting and fighting the neuroi. Durring the Fuso sea incident the fuso Army and Navy argued and fought with each other over who should do what, deriding the witches as mere children not to take seriously. Heck even the Liberion homefont isn't fully committed because some see the problem as problem not their concern since it's not at home, and the sea protects them. But in the end it shows and highlights the importance of why humanity should come together.

Their is more to war then just the battles, the strategy, the tactics, the weapons and the soldiers alone: it's also the logistics, the PR, the politics and the people that the soldiers and witches are fighting for and the world they live in. The Strike Witches world is more then just a vague, generalized war in a nebulous and undefined Earth with a vaguely 1940's aesthetic, and frankly it should be more then that: it's a world unique and deep and compelling and rich with potential and life, and not just limited to just its battles and combat. The possibilities are their for expansive depth in the world to make it feel not just asthmatically beautiful but rich and lived in and unique to it's period setting. Even if at times they are serious, dark and even a little somber; but you must be able to see, recognize and acknowledge the good and the bad in life, as hard as it may be at times. But, in the words of Edward Elric: "A lesson without pain is meaningless. For you cannot gain anything without sacrificing something else in return, but once you have overcome it and made it your own...you will gain an irreplaceable fullmetal heart.”

As it stands, while the story of the 506th may be a different and admittedly unexpected story for the strike withes series; it isn't a bad installment in the slightest. And it's frankly just as well executed and researched as any other installment in the series. It's a commendable story, and I have grown to love it for many reasons, but i think the biggest reason of all is that; its a story that like Kunika; despite facing serious challenges and hardships; remains firmly resolute and enthusiastic in their hope, their compassion, their idealism and optimism and the value of friendship and trust in ones friends and how all those are to be treasured virtues to hold tightly.

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ThanyTony In reply to bucue4 [2018-09-05 00:32:36 +0000 UTC]

You're right about the balance the series has kept, the problem is, this story and Brave Witches breaks that balance and pushes it into the darker stuff, you know what people usually say when Brave Witches is criticized? They say "Oh but that is more realistic, so it is better" really? Threating a witch who wants to do the best to help in this situation like a piece of shit is "Good and Realistic"? Hikari encounters a lot of hostility when joining the team, the only ones who genuinely welcome her at first are Nippa and Sadako, Georgette just feels sorry for not helping her sister but she doesn't rejects her, Waltrud clearly is just interested in her for a date but she openly welcomes Hikari, but the others in the team don't welcome her, and when you compare that to Yoshika's entrance to the SW in previous seasons, it creates a stark contrast.

Hikari in many ways feels like an attempted "Anti Yoshika" where Yoshika is very welcomed by the team, Hikari is mostly rejected, where Yoshika is a very powerful witch, Hikari is very weak magically, where Yoshika is a noob that "Somehow can fly strikers very well" (Which is not true, she fails A LOT even deep into season two) Hikari already has a military training....it is undeniable she seems an attempt to make a "more realistic Yoshika" and that to someone who likes SW and fans of Yoshika like myself, is insulting, and to be clear, I don't hate Hikari, I used to but I grew to like her, because...the series is just so horrendously mean toward her, that at some point you just want to shout "STOP! SHE'S SUFFERING ENOUGH!" she's mercylessly punished for "Wanting to Help" and attitude welcomed in every single incarnation of SW....EXCEPT in Brave Witches, not to mention it's a very entitled attitude on their part...as if witches where abundant in this universe, as if you could get a witch like soda on the vending machine next door....yeah witches are a valuable resource...but we're gonna reject them if they come, makes NO sense to me.

And don't come up with the "Oh they are under preasure" Excuse, the 501 were also under preasure and still found it in them to show kindness toward not just Yoshika but Laura Toth as well, so that is no excuse, if the 502 can't efficiently manage its team then it just portrays Gundla as a mediocre commander in comparison to Minna....and THAT IS NOT THE INTENTION of the series, but it comes off that way because they're more focused on making the series "Realistic" than having it actually make sense.
I could go on on and on but the main point here is not to trash Brave Witches, I could (I don't feel good doing it because there are some good things in it, but the majority is really really bad) but to explain to you my way of seeing the series, why I think this balance cannot be broken.
It's true that there are dark and serious elements in the lore but they are mostly kept in the background or as suplementary material, and this is good to keep the balance allowing the series to be lighhearted and often poking into darker topics that do have back up thanks to this background, so it doesn't come off as prententious, just a reminder of the world they live in without ruining the mood of the series.

You should have started with mentioning the lighthearted moments, I think it's evident by the work I do that I do not care or I am not a fan of "DARK AND EDGY" stuff, in fact is a mentality I DESPISE that in media and fanfiction as most of the time it's done terribly bad (In the sense that it's good because it's dark and edgy and not it's dark and edgy because it's good), you should have mentioned that. Also you misunderstood my usage of half assed, I wasn't saying the story was half assed it, I was saying Robespierre didn't do a good job at establishing the republican sentiment on France, mostly an hyperbolic sentence I admit.

ALso sorry if I come off as rude when I write this or when I wrote the last one, it's really not my intention and I apreciate you sharing that information with me, like it or not, I'll have to use it when I make stuff about Gallia from now on and I am sure I'll find a way to create something with it. I wouldn't mind if those elements are explored ina good and balanced matter and I have tried it a couple of times myself, but I always find some frustration because...let's face it, as much as we SW fans like to say that we're here for the characters and not the titties, the truth is...a BIG chunk of the fandom IS here ONLY for the titties and for the most part, they don't care about these world building story elements (Unless it appeals to their nationalities or their war mecha enthusiam) and as someone is mostly interested in SW because of its lore and characters, it's frustrating to see people mostly care about the fanservice, it's fine they can like what they

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bucue4 In reply to ThanyTony [2018-09-05 09:16:35 +0000 UTC]

I understand their are a lot of things that are on your mind when it comes to the differences between the 501st and the 502nd and the stories between them but I don't feel that they are nuanced or balanced or accurate criticisms. Though to be fair, people that claim and deride Yoshika as a "Mary Sue" (which she isn't) and Hikari is a "Discount Yoshika (which she isn't) are just as lacking and nuance, balance or accurate, critical criticism, if not worse.

To be honest for Brave witches in my viewing and re-watching of the Brave witches series; it honestly isn't too much darker than anything we have seen in the OVA series or any other more serious installments of the series. And as far as peoples claims that the strike witches series Brave Witches is "realistic" falls fat because the entire series, as much as I earnestly love it to bits, features young magical girls using plane legs  in their pantsu and hvijg animal ears and tails fight supernatural, laser shooting, regenerating, metal absorbing aliens in a more fantasy like version of 1940's earth. It would be more accurate to say that Strike Witches in general, and Brave Witches in particular in this case; are much more "authentic", given the setting. Also to say that everyone in the 502nd is "treating Hikari like crap" is not accurate either; closest person that fits that bill outright initially is Naoe, although after reading about her biographic info on who she is and reading the 502nd prequel manga; she was for the longest time hoping and expecting to fight alongside Tamaki, and being a brash, blunt, Napoleonic attitude-type girl. That and the fact that she was also expecting to fight alongside someone who would be able to be effective in combat, and to be fair as much as I love Hikari and sing her praises; you and I both have to acknowledge that she was a lower then average witch in terms of her magical potential and abilities; and was largely untested in battle save her one hasty delaying action to hold against neuroi that shot down and wounded her older sister. Plus Hikari wasnt actually originally supposed to be assigned to the 502nd, she was originally supposed to be sent to a whole other witches base on a much more quieter post on the front lines for a different unit all together and Tamaki was supposed to be assigned to the 502nd to begin with. But with Tamaki being out of action and the ace witch the 502nd was supposed to get no longer an option Hikari basically volunteered herself, despite obviously being in over her head and not being who the 502nd was expecting. for the record, this isn't to disparage Hikari because the fact she did that enamored me with her, as fool-hearty as it frankly was; I'm just stating the outright, unvarnished facts for the record.  The caveat with Naoe however was when a group of Orussian soldiers were accosting a Liberiuon reporter women; Naoe promptly started a fight by punching one of the soldiers bothering the reporter lady. Admittedly I initially chaffed with Naoe's attitude at first in Brave Witches but I eventually came to understand the reasoning's why and where she was coming from, even when most of the time she was too proud to admit it. Nipa and Sadako may have been overtly accepting and welcoming of Hikari but they frankly weren't the only ones. Georgette probably wanted to openly welcome Hikari but felt guilt and shame in being unable to better help Tamaki and was self conscious of that failing. 

Waltrud, womanizer that she is; her reasoning's for her interest in Hikari are obvious but hey she is a friendly face regardless. Edytha Roßmann however, while she was initially fairly dubious about Hikari joining the 502nd to fight despite being low skill and low magical potential; it wasn't for arbitrary or malicious reasons; she is a teacher who has seen and taught many witches, and was friends with a girl much like Hikari and who also wanted to fight but by all implications and Edytha Roßmann close to outright admitting that this friend died in battle. Edytha likely say a lot of her friend in Hikari and likely wanted to try and save Hikari from herself, although to her credit she did try her best to teach Hikari as best as she could and gauge Hikari's skill level and magical potential and making sue Hikari realized and understood her limitations and the risks; because that frankly what a good teacher and instructor is supposed to do. However, when it became clear to her that Hikari not only realized her limitations but understood them and wanted to work on improving them anyway; Edytha then decided to increase her teaching accumin to help Hikari grow and develop to meet at least the basic, minimal requirements and standards to fight in the 502nd for front line combat conditions and if she was able to meet those Minimum requirements; she would not only allow Hikari to stay but also further increase her teaching and training to build her up further. And to Edytha's credit she also helped give hikari some lessons to help her work inside her limits and use the skills and talent she did have to her advantage instead of trying to push herself too hard and too far beyond her reasonable limits; because that's one of Hikari's fatal flaws. Aleksandra I. Pokryshkin didn't reject or embrace Hikari; she just stated the facts that while Hikari had Zero practical combat experience; noted that Hikari did hold her own against two heavy neuroi air units and that should count for something; basically acknowledging Hikari's limitations while also acknowledging and at least somewhat commending her gumption, endurance and her ability to survive a fight against fairly formidable enemies despite her limitations. And Rall was willing to taken Hikari on as a trial member for the 502nd to see her put through her paces; but honestly that's her being a responsible commander given the sort of new meat that Hikari was; Rall had to make sure that Hikari could fulfill her duties and survive greater trials then she initially faced; and frankly she would be a bad commander if she just accepted Hikari without reservation, since the decision could compromise unit effectiveness and could result in Hikari getting killed needlessly; although being a fair commander she was more then willing to at least give Hikari the chance instead of outright rejecting her. And that's the kind of person that Gundula Rall is: a firm but fair commander.

The claims that Hikari is an "anti-Yoshika" in all honesty are neither accurate or fair and I have heard both people call her that or alternatively "Yoshika 2.0" and frankly both positions are not correct or factual. I know this might sound self evident but Hikari isn't Yoshka, nor is she an "anti-Yoshika: she is her own character, with her own background, strengths, limitations, personality and abilities. So her story is by it's very nature going to be different. Yoshika wasn't met with more or less acceptance or rejection from her would be comrades in the 501st; Perrine initially didn't like her presence in the unit (because she believed erroneously that Yoshika was trying to 'steal' Mio away from her" and Gertrud also told Yoshika to go home because she saw a lot of her little sis Christine in Yoshika and was likely tormented by the reminder of her own failure to protect Chris. Everyone else was mostly rather neutral or at most a bit courteous and polite, although I guess Shirley was the more outright friendly one of the 501st to Yoshika, and Lynne was accepting but held her own self esteem issues when she compared herself to Yoshika. I do agree that the notion some fans have that "Yoshika can somehow fly strikers just because" and unfairly writing her off and deriding her as a "Mary Sue" is not an accurate or intellectually honest statement, but by the same token claims that Hikari, despite training had low magical potential was made to solely be some kind of dig at Yoshika as a "more realistic Yoshika": is frankly equally inaccurate and not factual a statement. Both examples are cases of extream, emotionally based projections that aren't based in objective fact or nuanced criticality. I loved both Yoshika and Hikari from the beginning; and I still do; I am however baffled by how a lot of people seem to go on anti-Yoshika or anti-Hikari bandwagons on at best flimsy and intellectually dubious reasons and reasoning's at best and trying to unfairly compare the two with each other despite the fact that booth girls are different people in their ow right and should be taken on their own merits. And franlly the reasoning I DO get for the condemnation against both girls frankly don't hold any water. I mean heck: Kunika Kuroda is a friendly noble girl who speaks more like a commoner, is a bit of a bunny ears lawyer, but is also a staunchly idealistic and optimistic girl even despite standing in the face of serious or depressing, dark moments, and she makes friends easily due to her personality; even with people who can be annoyed and exasperated or at least baffled by her can't bring themselves to hate her in the slightest and care for her and respect her.... and yet Kunika isn't levied with comparisons to either Yoshika or Hikari; which honestly is a good thing. I honestly think that everyone on both sides of this issue as far as Yoshika and Hikari are cornered should just stop trying to compare the two witches with each other because they aren't the same or even similar people, nor do they have the same backstories or skills or flaws and the fan base should take them as their own individual characters and measure them by their own merits, and to do so rationally and with intellectually honest objectivity. As it is: the Brave Witches series was never at any point "mean" to her, she only thing you can say is that her low magic potential serves as a bigger obstacle for her to overcome. For the record; that isn't to say Yoshika didn't have big obstacle to overcome because she had a few to overcome; but with Hikari, because she has low magical potential and Yoshika had the good fortune of being blessed with great magical potential; Hikari's already challenging obstacles were even more challenging and more difficult then normal to overcome she she had to work twice as hard. And I think part of me that helped me enamor myself to Hikari quickly was for the fact that, as someone who is diagnosed as High-Functioning Autism spectrum: I could relate to and empathize with her struggles because I had to go through my own challenges that were greater and further compounded then what people would normally go through. And again: I still love, adore and empathize with Yoshika, always have, still do. And as it is Hikari wasn't being "punished for wanting to help"; i saw it as someone who wanted to help, had handicaps that would make her attempts to help others more challenging to do and accomplish, wanting too still help anyways while accepting those challenges, and trying to jump those hurdles. Also the claims that the series treats them witches as being "as abundant as soda pop" and that they 502nd are acting "entitled" are both not accurate and factual... as well as outright ignoring several important factors.

1. The witches may not be super common like soda, but they aren't exactly super rare or highly uncommon either. I think it more sits somewhere on a more Conservative middle estimate.

2. Not all witches are alike or uniformly the same: witches run the gaunt of ranging from high magical potential, low magical potential and everything in between. In addition, not all witches can or do become soldiers; others have been noted cased of witches taking other roles like making witch issue clothing imbued with magically treated fibers, magical weapon making, witch reporters and photographers, magical wartime singers (thanks to the upcoming music Idol witches series), witch instructors, witch inventors and magical engineers (engineering field), and other roles and occupations. Witch soldiers may be the more well known and popular image both in the series world and the meta; but they aren't the only witch. Not all witches fight on the battlefield and carry a gun. But that doesn't make any of those witches not on the battlefield are useless or less then; they have their place to contribute. And even for low magical magic potential witches who do serve in the war; not all of them are assigned to heavy fighting or front line duties; but again that okay because they can still contribute to the war effort in one capacity or another. And franly it makes sense; because not every servicemen in the military is a rifleman on the front-line, a tanker on a firing line or an aircraft pilot in a dog fight; their are also logistics, supply and support personnel and others who support those direct combat war fighters. Like it is said in the fuso sea incident manga: everyone has a role to play in the war, even if your one of the witches who isn't fighting in direct combat; your still helping and contributing to those who are. So in that context; sometimes its better served to send a servicemen/servicewomen where they can be best put to use.

3. The reason for some members of the 502nd handling Hikari like they did, which honestly isn't as bad and hostile as your painting it; is that first: Hikari is not only not the ace witch they were initially expecting and hoping for, and is in fact not an ace at all, but she is a low magic potential witch who had literally no combat experience save for a few minutes against admittedly formidable Neruoi air units. The concern is that those who are dubious of her are dubious mostly because they don't know how effectively she can perform her duties, fight and keep up with her squad mates. Granted save for Naoe they are willing to at least give her the benefit of the doubt to test her mettle even if a few of them still hold a few, frankly fair and founded concerns and minor misgivings. Plus they likely don't want to see a witch they have the impression is in over her head for an assignment she is taking that may beyond her capability's could end up getting killed needlessly... but at seeing her in action are able to see that she has the potential and capability to improve they are willing to see how much more she can grow and help out. Second is that the 502nd is also a front line base who are assigned to stave off massive neuroi assaults, so this only further compounds the earlier mentioned consorns and a fear of a weak link risking unit effectiveness and mission accomplishment is a fair and valid concern especially with a lot of risk and objectives and stakes riding on the line, especially with the fate of humanity and the world at stake so that has to be a factor to consider here. Third is that they wanted to make sure that if Hikari was able to meet the basics to stay after her trail period that she be able to improve enough that when it comes to the final, big scheduled objective of taking on the Neruoi Hive they need to destroy; that Hikari would be able to both survive and not undermine the combat effectiveness of hr squad when the time to assail the hive came. And frankly; while i love, adore and support Hikari as much as I do, which is a lot; given the sort of battle the 502nd ultimately faced; even with her training up till that point; I don't believe that Hikari would have been to the required minimum standard of skill or performance and experience for the initial moments of the assault of the Hive and the protection of Gustav and Dora; she would be lucky if she even survived the opening moments of that battle while not being either an ace witch or at the very least a decently skilled high magic potential witch. I do however think that once the initial, heavy fighting of the assault on the hive of the battle was passed; it would have been more her speed and better inside her potential capabilities; although as we saw it did put her to the test big time.

Frankly Gundula Rall has always come across as being a firm but fair commander who was realistic and shrewd but respected those who had gumption and a willingness to work hard and to do so expressing noble virtues so to speak. She is far from being a mediocre commander, she's just not a "motherly" commander like Minna, but that doesn't make her bad or unfair; just different, and she still cares for her subordinates; she just expresses it differently then Minna. And the reason for this isn't "just for making things Realistic"; its just to show that this is a different story with different people with different approaches to things; and frankly it does make sense; because the 501st and the 502nd are different units filled with different people from differing walks of life.

Their are a lot of good things and a few bad things in Brave Witches I will admit: but frankly none of the bad things involve the characters, their backstories, the character interactions and the world building, if anything those are the good strong things in the series. The bad things are frankly nominally found in the terrible CGI animation quality for the TVA, average TVA hand drawn animation and maybe a few occasional points where the pacing was a bit quick in tempo but that's the worst you can say about Brave Witches. It's otherwise a good, decent series in it's own right. While I agree on the aspect of maintaining an even balance in the tone and maintaining the overreaching tone of hope and idealism is a good thing; Brave Witches frankly isn't a dark edge fest; it doesn't even come within the same star system as "grim dark edge fest". So far only the Fuso Sea Incident, the Africa Doujinshi series, a bit of the Misfits squadron and not the 506th light novel and LN Manga adaptation have been serious to various degrees, grim to a few degrees, even quite dark in some moments; but none of them has ever been "grim dark edge fests" and all of them still maintain that air and tone of hope and idealism. All of them have managed to keep that balance in their own ways. I'm not so crazy of dwelling and reveling in grim dark edginess myself frankly, and I love the many idealistic and hopeful moments of the series, but at the same time I still acknowledge the more series stuff. For idealistic moments; theirs the fact that Taki Junko was once despairing about being a weaker witch them Mio and her other comrades and her place; and yet she finds a mentor who assures and reaffirms her and lets hr known that she could take up being a commander who leads witches. Kunika had managed to make the members of the 506th's A-unit and B-unit form stronger bonds, grow closer together and become better friends and making a well intentioned extremist witch who sees herself as a necessary evil for her country; respect and wish for a world of ideals, optimism and hope that Kunika saw the world as and who repeatedly tried to appeal to that extremist witches better nature. Despite the home front of Liberion being at best luke warm in their commitment to the war effort: many of Liberions fighting men and witches are deployed to serve in Africa and Europe to do what is right and overall wish to keep doing so....and some people in Liberion are trying to ensure their Liberion troops and the war effort are supported (and heck the company that makes Coke in the strike witches worlds Libeiron has shipped and continues to ship massive supplies of coke for the Liberion fighting men and fighting witches to buy and drink at a discount so they can stay refreshed and have a little piece of home and comfort). Patton, Rommel and Montgomery managed to overcome their disagreements with each other and become good comrades and have come together to become the famed three Generals of Africa. the young boy in the 3rd OVA and the young girl from the Contrail of witches are shown and taught to re-trust the witches and to hold on hope that humanity will overcome and that the witches will do everything in their power to protect them; and young girl who once hated witches came to care for the witch that repeatedly came to save her and even became a witch who awoken to her new magical powers when she tried to save a dog who was in fact an animal spirit that wanted to protect her... and that girl realizing that to her parents and her beloved, fallen witch sister; she was their hope.

But yeah, as it is I myself don't care for the many grim dark edge fests of strike witches fanficts that seem to miss the point of strike witches and often go so far into grim dark that it becomes outright "grim derp" and makes no sense in the strike witches series cannon, even considering the series more serious, darker moments. i guess I could have made some passing mention of it but honestly I had to take a moment from doing so because I had to do quite a bit of reviews for those particular fanfics and how terribly written they are and how they missed the point of the series. That are just as bad as the many cancerous "Male Magic using Gary Stu fanfics"  i have seen in strike witches fanfic; but I can write a whole thesis on how terrible those are (and frankly I have; so at the moment I frankly need a break from it and it will digress from the point).

Ah so that was what you were referring to; my apologies, I didn't quite understand that so i guess the clarification was important to do. However, to be fair, I will say that their have actually been some implications of republican sentiment Gallia, although i will honestly preface this that it comes down to implications that you can only pick up both from knowing about history, the culture nuances of both similarities and equal differences between France and Gallia ... but apparently the big piece of evidence may actually be found in, of all things: the Gallian flag. While granted its not an apples to apples identical flag to Frances flag; the flag of Gallia is patterned in a way that seems to show a possible merge between the Kingdom of France and Republican Sentiment (possible) of the 1st and 2nd Republic of France. One friend of mine who is also a major strike witches fan pointed out that importance and meaning behind the various flags of the nations of the strike witches witches world. And honestly he is likely onto something given how the borders of Europe and the rest of the strike witches world, while slightly divergent enough, are still fairly close to real life. Plus before Brave Witches came out he pointed to some of the flags and noted that due to their designs, specifically the design of flags like Karlsland and Romanga that bear some passing resemblance to flags with the Nordic Cross aka the Scandinavian cross; that this would indicate that Christianity in some shape or form actually exist in the strike witches world, in turn it's  possible the other Abrehmaic religions may also exist in some form. Heck in brave witches in Orussia we see what is basically stated to be a church, and aid church apparent to be based roughly on some version of an Russian Easter Orthodox Church; which seems to lend some further credence to support this. However their is a caveat: due to a lot of other details and implications around the cultures, social norms and historical contexts and the existence of witches in the strike witches world; that the strike witches version Christianity and any other Abrehamic faith and denominations are way different then what  they are in real life and are likely more moderate, and in turn may not be the only religions in town like having a larger prevalence of various non-Abrahamic religions including pagan religions and theologies, that the roman Catholic Church either doesn't exist or isn't as powerful compared to real life, the strike witches versions of the abrehamic religions are likely a lot less radical, and at least as far as fellow man goes; is much less militaristic and less dogmatic, and likely are rather pro-witch or may even outright venerate witches as "gods chosen", "angels made flesh" or something along those lines or something along these and other lines depending on denomination.... although I can see them possibly being rather anti-neuroi, possibly in some cases militantly anti-neuroi. Although I will go on record as saying that I'm in no way religious or theistic in the slightest, if anything I'm a spiritual, anti-theistic "apathetic agnostic" but that's probably a topic for another day.... I am however a history buff so I'll stick to that and the implications the current alternate history of strike witches cannon entail, which as it is are some interesting implications from a historical and world building context at least.

I do however accept your apology and I will agree that it's is annoying that a certain set of groups in the strike witches fanbase seem to only be in it for the fan service and nothing else; but on the bright side is that their is still quite a lot of people who love strike witches for the characters and historical nods, story aspects and world building. I can confirm when I went to the 2018 Anirevo anime convention in Vancouver that i met quite a few fans of the strike witches series who actually earnestly loved, enjoyed and were fascinated with the characters and historical nods, story aspects and world building. I can honestly say that I count myself as one of those people. That being said however; I'd be lying if I said that I didn't also like strikes witches more fanservice nature in close to equal measure; because i do. But the characters and historical nods, story aspects and world building are number 1 on the list... the fanservice and ecchi nature are number 2 or three on the list. That aside, while I will say that the premise and elements of the 506th are probably the darkest they have been to date for a strike witches story; it surprisingly manages to retain that hopeful idealism in a balanced manner. And I honestly think that Brave Witches isn't that dark or as bad as a lot of people seem to be making it out to be; it's still got a good balance between serious drama and light hearted idealistic fun.

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ThanyTony In reply to bucue4 [2018-09-05 19:51:08 +0000 UTC]

I think it's all a matter of what school of "SW" one prefers, I am more of a fan od the SW/One Winged Witches school and you seem to be more inclined to the BW camp, which is fine, I hope the franchise an provide options for both of us, it's alright.

I'd pay, I'd honestly pay to find fans like the ones you mention, the vast majority I find are the fanservicey type, I don't hate them as I said, but one can't have the converstiosn one would like to have about sw which is a downer, so lucky you, I can't find them anywhere, only a couple (You included).

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bucue4 In reply to ThanyTony [2018-09-06 05:48:02 +0000 UTC]

To tell the truth I guess don't really have a preference of one particular witch unit over another; I'm one of the guy's in the camp of #allwitchesarebestwitches , and I love all the stories, characters and witch units.

But yeah, I'll admit that the pure fanservice only types of fans for strike witches are vocal minority, but with my experiences, while sizable, they are not as large or the only members of the series fandom as they appear. You can find other members of the series fandom to talk shop about the various aspects of the strike witches history, characters, world building, strikers, magic and lore, but admittedly it helps if you know where to look for them. The helma image boards have just as many people that talk about aspects of strike witches outside of  just the fan service, although admittedly their are a few folks that are the aforementioned, uncritical, arbitrary Yoshika and Hikari haters; but I'd take most of what they say with a handful of salt and for the most part they aren't worth taking seriously.... or the occasional Yuri-haters; but both are a minority thankfully and the rest of the fanbase tend to avoid and shun them like the plague.

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ThanyTony In reply to rider450since2010 [2015-12-16 00:29:06 +0000 UTC]

Yes, when it was under the Roman Empire this area was called "Gallia", in SW the Western Roman Empire dissolved very late, so many European countries have the names they had when they where Roman provinces (Spain called Hispania, Romania called Dacia, the UK called Britannia and so on).

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rider450since2010 In reply to ThanyTony [2015-12-16 22:22:31 +0000 UTC]

romania's name kind of explains why there are craptons of cheap cars in my country named logan dacia and they all seem to be a romanian brand

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ThanyTony In reply to amirrrrruuuddddddiin [2015-03-15 03:23:02 +0000 UTC]

Yup, it's Karlsland territory here.

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amirrrrruuuddddddiin In reply to ThanyTony [2015-03-15 06:11:23 +0000 UTC]

Alright, what's next

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