Episode 1 - Magical Girl

The episode begins with an introduction of the historical context: in the year 1939, entities given the name of Neuroi started appearing from dark, cloudy, vortex-like formations in the sky. Their origin or goals were unknown, but they started attacking humanity and destroying countries. As a countermeasure, humanity invented an anti-Neuroi weapon: the Striker Unit. It’s a tool resembling a pair of torpedos that augments magical power and allows its user to fly in the sky by putting their legs inside them. Magic users called Witches were gathered from all over the world, and an elite task force was organized to fight the Neuroi: the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. Their members are called the “Strike Witches”.

After the opening, we’re shown a fight scene between this task force and a Neuroi. We are then introduced to our main character, Miyafuji Yoshika, climbing on a tree to try and rescue a cat. Later that day, as she and her friend Michiko are being given a ride back home by a local watermelon farmer, Yoshika recalls the disappearance of her father, leaving for his research work to fight the Neuroi only to never come back. At the same time, they are spotted by Major Sakamoto Mio and officer Hijikata. An animal runs on the road and the farmer tries to avoid it, sending the two girls flying. Michiko ends up gravely hurting herself, and Yoshika uses her magical power to try and heal her, with the support of Mio. She ends up faiting, and is brought home by the Major. Michiko is healed by her mother and grandmother, both magic users. As for Yoshika, Mio offers her to join the military to fight the Neuroi. She refuses, as she hates war. The next day, she receives a letter from her father, who was supposed to be dead. One of the two pictures it contains features Mio standing next to her father, so she decides to go ask her if her dad is alive.

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Mio says she doesn’t know, and Yoshika asks her to bring her to Britannia with her so she can find out about her dad. Aboard the ship (presumably a carrier), Mio shows her the Striker Unit, the tool her dad helped develop. We also get a glimpse of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing relaxing at Britannia, until they get alerted of the apparition of a Neuroi. Mio goes to fight it, and the war starts raging around Yoshika. Powerless, she’s told to go hide in her cabin.

Episode 2- That Which I Can Do

Intro summary: “The year 1944. the battle between humanity and the enigmatic Neuroi continued to intensify. Miyafuji Yoshika set out for Britannia alongside Sakamoto Mio in order to investigate her father’s situation. Just as they thought the long voyage was finally over, the Neuroi appeared, pursuing her fleet. The 501st Joint Fighter Wing, a.k.a. Strike Witches, set out from Britannia to rescue them.”

Yoshika, hiding in her cabin, her hands covering her ears, witnesses countless ships getting destroyed, planes being lost and men fighting for their lives. Mio gives her an intercom for them to communicate if needed, and then goes to join the fight. Yoshika feels powerless, and wonders how she could be of help. She lays her eyes on a bunch of medical supplies, and sets out to help people the best she can. She calls out to Mio, still fighting in the sky, who notices her outside and scolds her through the intercom, but is ultimately impressed by her guts. A Neuroi attack hits a turrent and harms a marine, so Yoshika tries to heal him with her magic, but isn’t able to control it well and is pushed aside by another marine who tells her not to get in the way. She expressed her willingness to help, so they ask her to go fetch bandages. As she does, the fight intensifies even more, and she gets caught in the despair filling the ship.

As the words of people telling her she’s just a kind and shouldn’t get in the way echo in her head, a Neuroi attack hits the ship and knocks her unconscious. At this moment. she has a vision of her dad telling her she must become a great person and protect everyone. She opens her eyes and sees a Striker Unit before her. The ship’s commanders, having lost all hope, are surprised to see the central elevator being in use. Yoshika appears, determined to do what she can to help in this fight.

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She somehow takes off and joins Mio in the sky. Mio tells her to shoot at the core while she draws the fire. Yoshika manages to uncover the core but is unable to destroy it, and the 501st Joint Fighter Wing arrives just in time to finish it off. Mio congratulates Yoshika, showing her all the people that she’s saved on the ship below, waving at her. Now arrived in Britannia, Yoshika visits the house the letter came from. only to find old ruins. Mio explains this place was used by Dr. Miyafuji for Striker development until five years ago, when an “accident” occured. They then go visit his grave, which features the epitaph “Use your power to protect many people”, just as what he used to tell his daughter. After that, Yoshika asks Mio to ler her join the Strike Witches, se she can use her power to protect many people.

Episode 3 - You’re Not Alone

The opening scene features two old officials discussing the arrival of Yoshika, as well as the fact recent Neuroi attack are becoming irregular, with Major Wilcke Minna-Dietlinde. Back to the Strike Witches base, Yoshika wakes up and meets up with Mio, training outside early in the morning. Wilcke then introduces Yoshika to the other members, asks Lynette Bishop to show her around and gives her a crate containing things she will need. However, Yoshika refuses the gun she is offered. Some of the girls then introduce herself (and also compare boob sizes):

• Charlotte Yeager (a.k.a. Shirley), Liberion Flight Lieutenant,
• Eila Ilmater Juutilainen, Soumus Air Force Pilot Officer,
• Sanya Litvyak, Orussia Army Flying Officer
• Francesca Luccini, Romagna Regia Aeorontica Pilot Officer
• Lynette Bishop, Lynette shows Yoshika around, then they train together under Mio’s supervision. Lynette shows performances, especially her accuracy with a sniper rifle.

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After a training, Barkhorn comes to tell Yoshika combat ability is all that matters on the front line, and she should either go home if she doesn’t want to die, or become stronger. Later that night, Lynette joins Yoshika, who was sitting alone on a dock. As Yoshika says she needs to work harder, Lynette tells her she’s envious of her strong will, compared to her who has “no redeeming qualities at all”. She reveals her good performances are only during training, and that she loses her composure during real fights. The next morning, a Neuroi appears and the Witches set out to fight it. Lynette and Yoshika stay behind. Wilcke explains to Yoshika that Britannia is Lynette’s homeland as well as the last line of defense in Europe (which has already fallen to the Neuroi), and she succumbs to the pressure of defending it during actual warfare. On the battlefield, the girls realize the Neuroi they were fighting was actually a diversion, and the real menace was flying at high speed in direction of their base. At the same time, Yoshika goes to talk to Lynette through the door of her room and expresses how she wants to protect everyone. Those word resound with Lynne. As Wilcke and Juutilainen are discussing what to do with the current situation and are about to go out to fight, Yoshika barges in and asks to go as well. Lynette joins her and asks the same thing. The four of them take off to defend the base. After it accelerates, the Neuroi is too fast for Wilcke and Juutilainen to destroy, so it’s up to Yoshika and Lynette to intercept it. Lynette tells Yoshika she can’t control her shots because she’s using all her magic just to fly, so Yoshika gets between her legs to support her and allow her to focus on shooting, and they manage to destroy the Neuroi.

Yoshika tells Lynette to remove the -san from her name, and Lynette asks her to call her “Lynne”.

Episode 4 - Thanks

Intro summary: “The 501st Joint Fighter Wing, a.k.a. Strike Witches, gained a new recruit, Miyafuji Yoshika. She and another recruit, Lynette Bishop, spent many days training. However, Lynette would not open up to Yoshika. It was because she believed she was useless. But with Miyafuji’s help, she attained her first war achievement. And so, Miyafuji made a new friend.”

Trude has a dream about her past, when she fought a battle against a Neuroi to defend a city. She wakes up screaming the name of a little girl, Chris, presumably her little sister. This morning, Yoshika and Lynne are preparing breakfast while chatting about the topic of saving everyone. Trude rejects it, saying it’s impossible. Her friends join and notice something’s not right. Trude quickly eats and leaves. Meanwhile, Perrine complains about the natto Yoshika prepared. Later, while she’s training, Mio and Wilcke discuss the matter and decide to try and pair her with Yoshika. Yoshika also manages to get Perrine drenched in water with her mop while cleaning. Trude, back in her room, remembers the events of the past: Chris became unconscious, probably due to trauma, and showed no signs of waking up. A doctor took her with him on a boat to Britannia. The next morning, while the girls have tea, Mio tells Yoshika to train together with Trude. Yoshika also starts slurping while drinking her tea (due to being Japanese), prompting once more the anger of Perrine. After that, Mio gives Trude and Yoshika their pay, which Trude asks them to do “the same as usual” with, meaning probably sending it to her sister or family. After that, in the bath, Yoshika discusses with Lynne how much the pay she just got is worth, comparing it to four thousands bowls of rice.

Asked why they are being paid so much, Mio answers that the government wants them to fight without any regrets and enjoy life as much as they can, since they are fighting on the front line and risking their life every day. Lynne says she sends the money to her family, and Yoshika decides to do the same. After the bath, Perrine appears again and gets into a fight with Yoshika, stopped by Wilcke. That night, Wilcke spots Trude standing alone in the dark, looking out the window. She suggests she should take some time off, but Trude refuses.

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The next day, it’s time for the formation flight training exercise where wingmen have to follow their leaders. Yoshika is paired with Trude, but as they start exercising, the alert is given that a Neuroi has appeared. Trude starts fighting recklessly and ends up getting injured and falling to the ground. Perrine and Yoshika catch her in the air and Yoshika starts healing her while Perrine defends them from the Neuroi. Trude wakes up and tells Yoshika to give up on her and go fight the Neuroi, but Yoshika refuses and explains that Trude will be able to save way more lives than she ever could. Yoshika and Perrine lose consciousness due to exhaustion, but Trude, now healed, goes back into action and finishes off the Neuroi. Wilcke slaps her and scolds her for acting so recklessly. Trude apolgoizes and asks her if she can take some time off to go visit Chris. Back at the base, Perrine thanks Yoshika for saving Trude. The next day, Trude leaves to visit her sister, thinking that she’ll have to thank Yoshika someday.

Episode 5 - Fast, Big, Soft

TIME FOR THE SWIMSUIT EPISODE!!

Intro summary: “Perrine openly displayed hostile feelings toward the new recruit, Miyafuji. The veteran Barkhorn placed the weight of her past trauma on Miyafuji and treated her coldly. It was then that a new Neuroi attacked, and Miyafuji was once again drawn into battle. During that battle, Barkhorn was seriously wounded by the enemy but survived due to Miyafuji’s healing. In saving her, Miyafuji was finally accepted by the members of the squadron.”

Yoshika has a… wet? dream featuring Lynne. She falls from her bed and Lynne, alerted by the noise, shows up. Yoshika can’t bring herself to tell her anything. In the confusion of trying to give an explanation. she ends up mistakenly grabbing Mio’s breasts, who hits her on the head with her sword. Later, Mio informs them of a training camp at the beach the next day to practice swimming with Striker Units on. While heading towards the hangar to inform Shirley, they hear a loud noise. It’s actually Shirley testing new modifications of her Striker Unit. Her goal is to reach the highest speed she can, and she demonstrates it by taking off and reaching a new speed record of 800 km/h. However, despite being a new record, is it still far from her goal of reaching the speed of sound (about 1200km/h).

Shirley explains that she used to ride some sorts of high speed bikes in the Bonneville Flats, a flat made of salt as far as the eye can see, right in the middle of Liberion. The day she got the record of speed, she heard of witches flying through the sky at the world’s fastest speed with magic engines, and decided to enroll. While the girls finally tell her about the meeting at 1000 hours the following day, Francesca notices Shirley’s goggles and decides to grab them. While doing so, she hits Shirley’s Striker Unit which falls on the ground and damages itself, with parts flying off.

Francesca hurriedly tries to put everything back as it was to hide the evidence.

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The girls are now at the beach! For their training, Yoshika and Lynne jump into the water with their Striker Units on, and start drowning. While taking a break, the two lie down next to Shirley, and Yoshika notices something in the sky. Shirley realizes it’s a Neuroi, and the alarm sounds. Shirley runs to her Striker Unit and takes off at full speed, followed by Yoshika and Lynne. Soon after, Francesca spills the beans and reveals she tampered with Shirley’s Striker Unit. Mio tries to get in contact with Shirley but the signal cuts off. Shirley, on the other hand, is going faster than she ever has and manages to exceed the speed of sound. Mio finally manages to contact her and tells her that she needs to slow down or she will crash into the Neuroi, which inevitably happens. Shirley protects herself with her magic and the Neuroi is destroyed, but her Striker Unit and clothes both get destroyed, and she starts falling towards the sea. Yoshika and Lynne manage to catch her, with Yoshika’s hands ending on Shirley’s breasts, which she starts fondling… As they bring her back, Lynne is unable to explain the situation to Mio and Wilcke…

Episode 6 - We’re The Same