Shelf Life

C+C Anime Factory

Damnably, though, they don't dive into any of the issues they raised in season one about the Neurois, which is the very reason I was looking forward to season two. In the first season, towards the end, we were led to believe that there was something a lot more complex and possibly misunderstood about these giant alien creatures. They could mimic human forms, communicate with the witches, and even play back songs from their memories. There was communication within the hive and possibly a reasoning behind the timing of their attacks. And then, as abruptly as it all began, it ended. Naturally, I thought, “Oh, that's disappointing, but surely they'll cover it in season two.” No. In season two, any interesting questions that were raised about the Neurois were erased and forgotten, seemingly flushed into a void, never to be spoken of again. Now there is a new Neurois hive, and these guys are bent on destroying Europe. Apparently this hive didn't get the memo from the Gallia hive. Instead of really addressing this, Strike Witches 2 focuses mostly on Miyafuji being super powerful, and Sakamoto struggling to cope with losing her ability to fight.

From a character development point of view, Sakamoto's arc is the most interesting. That comes with a caveat though, which is that “most interesting” is in relation to the other character arcs, which I would mostly qualify as, “not interesting at all/non-existent.” Sakamoto's struggle is that of a life-long soldier, confident only in her abilities to fight and her desire to protect, and petrified by the idea of returning to an ordinary, civilian life. Unfortunately, the season only scratches the surface of her thoughts, and the viewer is left wanting a bit more (unless, of course, the viewer just wanted to see her butt a lot, which Strike Witches excels at). Miyafuji is the only other character that's given the time of day, but her development is driven mostly by… hand-waving, mostly. She faces a mini-crises halfway through the series when she thinks her magic has stopped working, but then a whisper from her dead dad saves the day. If only all problems in life were so easily solved.

I imagine, though, that the vast majority of people watching Strike Witches and Strike Witches 2 are not watching it for gripping developments on the Neurois. That's mostly just a gripe about the loose storytelling. In terms of fun, flirty fanservice, Strike Witches is enjoyable. Sure, it's a little ridiculous that no women in this alternate world wear pants. But, to the show's credit, the few men that do exist in the series don't leer at them, or look down on them. It's mostly for the benefit of the viewer, and it's fairly innocuous to that end. It's senseless fluff, but I found myself having a good time while I was watching it. And ultimately, that's what one strives to get out of entertainment anyway.[TOP]

It's a messy system, to say the least, and it doesn't seem as though C understands it any more than we do. Our hero is a college economics student named Kimimaro. Because his parents are no longer around, he needs to work a part-time job in order to make a living and pay for school. He's invited to participate in an alternate universe “Financial District” in which he's asked to do battle once a week with other users, with his future as collateral. Together with his Asset Mashu, he quickly gains respect in this world, thanks in large part to a mysterious financial mentor named Mikuni, whose goal in life is to try and control the effects that this Financial District has on the real world. As it turns out, losing in the Financial District can have a profound effect on one's life in the real world, from erasing aspects of their past, to bankrupting entire companies.

It's an interesting idea, but the execution is incredibly sloppy. The show wants badly to tie in economics with this style of avatar fighting, but doesn't quite know how to bridge the two together. The end result is a shaky analogy that sort of raises some dark ideas about society's reliance on money, but doesn't quite capitalize on them. For instance, it's scratches at the idea that one's future is intimately tied to their net worth, but leaves the viewer to decide the significance. It also teases a bit at vague concepts like inflation and market stability, but lest anyone get the wrong idea, C isn't a show about economics—it just uses economics buzzwords as plot devices. It plays with the idea of money as weaponized power, but it mostly seems like a fun gimmick.

When you think about the analogy that the series poses, though, it's a bit weak. The fighting system doesn't seem that thought out, and actually seems more structured on a trading card game than anything actually tied into finance. A lot of details are hand-waved, and if it seems as though our hero is extraordinarily strong, it's because he has the money to blast off high-level attacks. He has a lot of money simply because the right people thought he was the right guy to invest in.

Unfortunately, with such a threadbare concept, most of the series runs a little on the dull side. Once you realize that the show doesn't really know what it's trying to say, all that's left are the fights. And because the fighting system is so poorly thought out and sparingly explained, all one has left to enjoy are the visuals. As far as the Assets go, they vary in visual excitement, from humdrum, generic monsters, to more complex and ornate ones. Once again, though, because the fight system feels so improvised, it doesn't leave much room for suspense. Assets hurl a variety of things at each other—floating orbs, glowing beams, lightning bolts—but since they don't mean anything without the implicit knowledge that the attack level is tied to one's net worth, the fights don't really show anything.

C – Control has some good ideas buried somewhere inside, but it might have been a little too ambitious. It's still interesting enough to watch a few episodes here or there, especially if the only thing you're expecting to get out of it is some generic monster fights, but don't be surprised if you find your attention span wandering.[TOP]