Great minds think alike.
Impression
I wanted to see more of Sanya and Eila! Even hearing their names made me miss them again. I also initially wanted to watch and write this up on Wednesday, but I ended up drinking a bit too much at a Christmas dinner and was overcome by the urge to fall asleep almost immediately after getting home, and then the rest of the week caught up to me. Sort of like what happened to Krupinski in the sauna. You know, I was struck by how similar she is to me. We both think that cute girls are the best (we had identical reactions when the photo of the cute Britannian Witch came up) and I, too, would have picked Kanno, Nipa and Hikari to accompany me on a mission. The only difference is that I’m not a girl, and also I’m not having night battles with Rossmann-sensei on a regular basis. I can’t believe that was actually the eye-catch, I did a double take at first. Are they really… in that sort of relationship? I’m so jealous. I mean, it would be a surprisingly solid explanation for why Sensei gets so angry every time Krupinski hits on other girls…
I thought this week’s Neuroi battle was great. It was relatively orthodox compared to some of the other ones we’ve had so far in Brave Witches (even in comparison to the opening scene where we saw some small, spider-like Neuroi make it all the way into the city) and was a little shaky at times from a technical perspective given how ambitious it was animation-wise, but I really liked the idea behind it. Hikari unsuspectingly saving the day with her good luck charm was the best, most relieving feeling ever. I love it when unassuming plot points like that end up playing an important role down the line. I genuinely thought something bad had happened to Krupinski for a moment, and beyond the fact that I don’t want to see any of the Witches hurt, it would be very tactically damaging if someone as capable as she revealed herself to be ended up being taken out.
What I thought was really important was that there weren’t even supposed to be any Neuroi in the vicinity of the transport fleet’s route. Of course, it’s not surprising at all given the formula of each episode that one actually appeared, but given their intelligence this season I’m starting to think that they definitely know (or have means of finding out about) more than they should. Is there a spy or something in the base? Are their communications being intercepted somehow? If either one of those really is the case, how is it that the Neuroi can even understand them? Will the final battle of the season be against something as dangerous as what the 501st faced in Gallia, and will whatever’s being transported to Murmansk be enough for the 502nd to deal with it? The 502nd are also now aware that there exist human-shaped Neuroi from the top-secret info passed on by Eilanya. I don’t know whether Rall will let the others in on this, but I can see someone like Sasha putting two and two together if she notices Krupinski’s missing Striker Unit and thinks of possibilities other than it just sinking into the sea. I’m actually hoping for a continuation of what still feels like an unfinished plot thread which first started with Yoshika and the human-shaped Neuroi who tried to communicate with her, only to have Mio disrupt any possible further contact and for the Warlock to occupy the rest of the season’s troubles. Whether that means we’ll get a Neuroi Witch I’m not sure, but if we do I’m hoping it’ll be a cute girl.
“The only difference is that I’m not a girl, and also I’m not having night battles with Rossmann-sensei on a regular basis. I can’t believe that was actually the eye-catch, I did a double take at first. Are they really… in that sort of relationship? I’m so jealous. I mean, it would be a surprisingly solid explanation for why Sensei gets so angry every time Krupinski hits on other girls…”
If you look up Rossman’s page on the wiki, there are pictures in her image gallery, drawn by the series’ creator, that also indicate such a relationship (beware, some of the images you’ll find there are mildly NSFW). However, the creator also draws things that are not necessarily canonical, so up until now we couldn’t really say for sure either way. Putting it in as the eyecatch to the episode, though… to me that’s a lot more compelling evidence. I’m inclined to say that the creator does intend for them to be recognized canonically as lovers. Which makes me super-jealous! Arg!
I don’t know about humanoid Neuroi appearing here… apparently they had appeared in print works even before they showed up in Strike Witches season 1: there they were used to lure in witches to be brainwashed and sent back out to attack their former companions. In the anime, there was (or rather, there will be) another one in season 2 of Strike Witches, but it gets vaporized by the Super Hive almost immediately after it appears.
I’m going to hope that Rossman-sensei and Krupinski aren’t official just yet…
I was rather impressed by the latter this week, more due to her dutifulness and fortitude than even her significant skill. Hopefully by the time the author writes them as official at the very least Krupinski isn’t as flirty. Sensei deserves better than that!
It’s not strange for Witches to share rooms and beds though.
If they’re naked in the same bed and it’s an official episode (alongside world-building walls of text and art designs) that’s compelling enough. It’s just like how I really don’t think there’s an argument at all against the likelihood that Nanoha and Fate are lovers given that they sleep in the same bed and are raising a daughter together.
I think it did come pretty out of left field, but I don’t hate surprises! I haven’t got any particular ships (other than Nipa x Me of course) so my reaction was limited to a double take and a quiet ‘oh, wow’.
It’s been a while, but was Yoshika about to be brainwashed back in Season 1? I remember the Neuroi showing her a bunch of stuff and wanting to communicate with her, it never seemed antagonistic to me until Sakamoto showed up (and even then I got the impression that it attacked her because it only wanted to talk to Yoshika). Hmm.
I admit, Rossman and Krupinski seems a bit like an odd ship, but it does paint their interactions in a different light once you know about it, doesn’t it? I do wish Krupinski would settle down, though. With such a cute girlfriend why does she still insist on chasing after every other girl she sees as well?
Regarding the Neuroi, the explanation that I have heard (secondhand, but supposedly taken from official sources) is that the Neuroi wanted to capture Yoshika to learn the secret of her shield. Remember that Yoshika has a massive shield that’s far more powerful than any normal witch’s. However that was not really evident in the series itself, so I wouldn’t blame you for not guessing that. The humanoid Neuroi generally just acted like it wanted to communicate with her. It flew with her, exposed its core to her, and took her into the hive and showed her images about the Warlock.
Personally, I tend to just think that the motivations and intentions of the Neuroi remain too alien for me to understand right now.
More importantly, seeing the Neuroi get that second wind and pull the striker units in was an absolute treat. It was just a simple, but exciting scene! Sure the payoff might not be extensive since there’s plenty about regular Neuroi left to see as Brave Witches has shown off in tactically titillating fashion!
Still waiting for that Gundula episode 🙂 But each episode of Brave Witches has been satisfying thus far.
Plus I finally got to see the prototype Hikari articulated figure from Phat’s Parfom series! Hopefully it sells well enough to make others. While they’re more stylized than figma or other series that aim for “complete accuracy”, Parfom’s tend to have more effect/scene parts for really capturing the character! 😀
I would quite like a Rall episode too. I haven’t seen Episode 9 yet, but even if it’s not this week we can still hope!
I haven’t bought a figure for quite a while now, but I can imagine the Witches selling well, especially if they’re sculpted in certain… particular poses. I do like Phat though, even if they (as I understand it) are relatively less well-regarded compared to GSC and Kotobukiya and Alter (whenever Alter actually does something on time). I think I have a Phat Illya 1/7 or 1/8. By that I mean I definitely have the Illya, I’m just not sure whether it was produced by Phat or not. Or where it even is, come to think of it. I haven’t seen it for ages.