Strike Witches: Road to Berlin

Preparations for a new offensive against the Neuroi—a mysterious race of alien invaders—are well underway. The objective is securing Berlin, the capital city of the Empire of Karlsland, which is necessary for wiping out the Neuroi threat from Europe. However, as the enemy is capable of adapting to the battlefield on a daily basis, the allied forces and the current state of Striker technology might not be enough to achieve a victory.

Meanwhile, Yoshika Miyafuji, a Witch from Fuso, continues her medical studies in Lausanne. Having recovered from a recent incident that deprived her of magical power, she is eager to assist in the war effort. The call to arms soon arrives and the scattered witches of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing must be gathered once again for a final push against the enemy.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Litvyak, Sanya V. Main

Kadowaki, Mai Japanese

Hartmann, Erica Main

Nogawa, Sakura Japanese

Juutilainen, Eila Ilmatar Main

Ohashi, Ayuru Japanese

Lucchini, Francesca Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Miyafuji, Yoshika Main

Fukuen, Misato Japanese

Barkhorn, Gertrud Main

Sonozaki, Mie Japanese

Sakamoto, Mio Main

Seto, Saori Japanese

Bishop, Lynette Main

Nazuka, Kaori Japanese

Clostermann, Perrine H. Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Yeager, Charlotte E. Main

Koshimizu, Ami Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kajita, Kouji Producer

Shimoda, Hayato Producer

Tachizaki, Takashi Producer

Reviews

Dec 24, 2020

SanaeK10

Recommended

Trude punches an Su-57 with her goddamned fists. That line should be enough to convince you to watch what I consider to be the best season of Strike Witches to date (excluding Hasshin Shimasu, which is untouchable). However, if you need more convincing, the rest of the review is there for you.

Road to Berlin is exactly what you'd want and expect from a Strike Witches sequel, and apart from Shizuka's existence, it delivers on every front. The animation noticeably received a huge bump even before the BDs are out. The action scenes and 3D models look as good as, if not better than their movie ... counterparts, and the girls look fantastic in HD. Traditionally episodes 1,2,11,and 12 are the weakest episodes since they're the only plot-focused episodes with Miyafuji as the center, and here they still are the weakest episodes, but even then they're still vastly improved compared to their S1 and S2 counterparts. Thankfully gone is the formulaic "Miyafuji takes a boat ride to Europe that lasts two episodes while the Navy is useless, and the girls take down the Neuroi-fused superweapon of the season that was previously thought to be a good idea". At the very least, now, the military (in the mainline series) is finally shown to be at least somewhat competent, taking down some Neuroi or another with some degree of success, even if they still need MiyafuJesus to save their asses in the end. Yoshika's Jesus Complex is still there, and while Shizuka does receive some form of character development that makes her less bitchy, that just means she becomes even more useless than she was in the movie. I can't believe we traded in Mio for this...

Thankfully the rest of the girls fare much better, especially in their spotlight episodes. As mentioned earlier the Karlsland girls (especially Trude) steal the spotlight in this, but my favourite episode, as usual, is the Shirley/Lucchini bonding episode. Sanya/Eila's episode is fine if not as strong as before, Perriene's episode was surprisingly good, and Lynne's focus in Episode 7 is fantastic, even if she is shafted otherwise. Shizuka is useless and I dearly miss Mio's laughter.

Again, we receive little to no new information on the Neuroi, seeing as more information about them or allusions to a peace with them would mean the end of the series, and Lord knows the Production committee doesn't want to lose their golden goose. The timeline even progressed to 1946 with large swarths of the world still Neuroi-infested. Still, more Strike Witches means more Hasshin Shimasu so I ain't complaining much. The series is always better with the episodic SoL comedy stuff than it is with the action and Neuroi stuff.

RtB is a great sequel that's everything you'd want but unfortunately doesn't do that much to truly innovate or stand out on its own. It has some real great memorable moments and is great entertainment, but one wishes that they'll do more plotwise with later seasons/spinoffs.

7/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 23, 2020

robert788

Recommended

Strike Witches: Road to Berlin (2020)

Sanya remains our queen with Eila accompanying but Shizuka has made a strong entrance into the best girl league. That being a show where all girls are best girls essentially.

Although not as good as the other parts of this series in a whole it is still an excellent addition to the franchise with an ending that was exactly what you wanted and more.

As a continuation of the story, we already know this just takes off where others have left and pushes forward with the conflict. People who are new to this and haven't seen anything else I know ... question such things as the guns with near-limitless ammunition but then don't question that they have planes on their legs or how Sanya is one of very few witches with bottoms on as such. Don't take the show so seriously since it has more fan service than anything else.

The art is more polished than before and does randomly although oddly change into a CGI format at times with the girls although that stops a bit as it goes on. The girls, as usual, have great fanservice about them which suits them completely.

The OP is still a banger with an ED to boot. Generally, sounds are nicely done and SFX is used but again as the most show could just have a bit more oomph at times.

Characters develop a fair amount in the regard most are already established. You get a few stories in the show that support such things. You also get what this show does which I think is superb is the way they can change characters out by them getting too old to be a strong witch anymore. Meaning if a new season after this was to come they would have a few replacement witches to keep it fresh.

The show does do one thing that annoys me. Although whether Strike Witches or Brave Witches you always have the weak character who is strong. Yoshika who is well established as an amazing but unstable witch seems to have this thing about having multiple segments through the history purely about her losing control of magic which has got a bit old now. As seen with episode 3 she is the issue and later in episode 10, she is still an issue. One thing I wonder is I know the Shinden is secret and powerful but it suits Yoshika as the only person who can use it properly yet she barely has it.

In the end, the show is very enjoyable and although not as good as before it is a delight to see it. It finishes in a way that can stop the show but also let you know there is room to continue. The finale was spectacular.

8/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 5, 2023

Coopjmzz

Mixed Feelings

I think that I am one of those 1% persons who watch this series for WWII lore, but I must admit that is pretty accurate whit this (like the planes, the ships, the tanks, the sounds, people, etc), at levels that I could not imagine everything ok and very very well done, even the sounds of airplane engines. the history of the series in general is good enough, but the quantity of ecchi content for me is more that I can sometimes tolerate. I think if you are a person that like lore of WWII o like to see a loly girls shoot something and ... then pose in ecchi poses you will like to see. in my case is first one and enjoy watching it. but if you are person that not like one or the other just skip it.

I case of this season the star and the ending are the best of the entire series.
i hope to see more of this word.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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