Brave Witches – 05 – 06

I’m starting to admire Aleksandra…

Well, it’s time to get over the rough couple of weeks I’ve had and get down to the business of blogging, it’s not like I have a ton of shows to cover. Just this one, and that just feels really weird to me….But I’m back in the swing of things. Since my lead image is from episode six, let’s start with that one. Don’t worry, it won’t spoil the plot.

City of Memories

It’s home….

Petersburg, no matter what alt-universe it may reside in, will probably always have a great deal of history to it. One of the things I love about storytelling in old urbans spaces is how people adapt to them. That building, for a hypothetical instance, has been there since forever, and it may have served once specific need back in the day. But now, those denizens are gone, not forgotten of course, and the current people need to adapt the space to their use. This is sharply underlined in that Petersburg here is a place with history for one of our ensemble cast, but as an evacuated city is has little in the present. It’s something that has a great deal to do with Aleksandra’s specific power.

She was young when manifesting her power, but she had support…

I thought the direction did a good job on doubling up on quite a few things. Aleksandra has a magic giving her what is essentially a photographic memory. She can use it for a variety of purposes, but I think that the story wants to tell us that she’s trying to find the best use still; that what the comment about it not being useful in combat was about. She still growing, after all. But her duty as combat leader comes to the fore, as Nipa  is ever the trouble maker, constantly needing attention. She means well, and in the ultimate gesture manages to become a fine heroine of the piece, driven by a need to balance the scales. But it’s Aleksandra’s memories of growing up part time in the city that drives the story. Much like the Neuroi scout the end up pursuing and fighting, she is actually out of place, and trying to blend in but still not blending in, so to speak. All in all the theme of memories and the past needing to be reconciled, and the present concern driving the wheel was well done this episode. One of my favorites so far.

I don’t know who is more sorry…

It’s all about the knowing the ingredients

Wabbits…

Episode five was really goofy but still very fun. Georgette and Sadako are whizzes in the kitchen and, as it turns out, equally capable of improvising in the field. It’s all about knowing the ingredients. I like how Sadako is the scion of science and can spread that to her foodiness. I like how Georgette is shy, but still industrious. I love the reveal of Kanno being a secret bookworm. I love how Waltrud is not only an out and out yuri, but is also a terrible cook who abuses caviar. I love how the commander is solid in the face of the crisis when the other characters are lost in the blizzard, and in the face of caviar soup. It was a good episode to show off all the characters in a variety of ways and it helps provide a great balance to the typical “two character per episode” style they’ve been doing the past few.

Subscribe to their YouTube channel, next time they’ll show you how to cook a sub….

But it’s all about never knowing what you can do until you’re called on to do it. Both Georgette and Sadako are qualified witches and trained fighters, but compared to the others they both feel inadequate. Sadako makes up for that in her own mind by being the best cook in the unit, even when it sometimes feels like cold comfort for her when she feels she’s not fighting hard enough. Georgette puts her shoulder to the wheel by cleaning up after everyone. Both probably don’t need to try so hard in that regard, other’s need to learn how to cook and keep clean. But it’s Georgette that really sells the idea of feeling inadequate. She admonishes Sadako for feeling down, but you know she feels the same way about herself. They both support each other in their own way. But this time around they both are able to go the extra distance and apply the knowledge they have to fighting their own way: which face it, if they use bows and arrows, that symbolic of them finding their own way.

Doing the best with what you got…

It’s all about the extras…

Ah the primary eyecatches, so instructional…

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Wow, going from three shows a season down to one (and this time over two weeks!) is so very weird. And before anyone says anything: no, it wasn’t burn out. I can easily write 3-4000 words a week on stuff, as the past coupla’ years have shown. But the luck of this season’s schedule and everyone else’s participation chopped me off at the knees! No, I kid, it’s not any of my fellow writer’s fault. Just the way it turns out. But I’m happy to be back, and happy to be writing for a fun show, even it I don’t need to go on and on about it. As for the show itself. Well the mecha-musume style doesn’t really lend itself to the deepest of storytelling, it’s absurd at it’s face. But the Witches franchise has this very simple, yet elegant, style down to an art and science. Now if only Silver Link, as a whole studio, would stop biting off more than it can chew, the quality might improve, eh?

Early Christmas Episode?

About skylion

All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion