- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/24-bit), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: AB (No Region C)
- Rating: TV-14
- Discs: 4 (2 x Blu-ray + 2 x DVD )
- Digital Copies: N/A
- Run Time: 300 Mins.
- Studio: Funimation Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: October 2, 2012
- List Price: $69.98
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Series
[Rating:4/5]
It’s an alternate universe, for those uninitiated, that roughly parallels the period on Earth during World War II, and the world has been ravaged by invading alien entities known as Neuroi. Young women who have enormous amounts of magical power are recruited into the military from all over the world to battle these creatures. As the first season ended, the Battle for Britania, a rough parallel to the Battle of Britain, had come to a close. Season Two picks up with new, deadlier Neuroi appearing, and the Strike Witches must be reassembled again to protect the Duchy of Romagna. Season 2 also finds the young Miyafuji rising in power and prominence. Of course, Strike Witches isn’t all seriousness and war, as anyone who has seen the series knows. It’s a fun romp filled with cute girls, some tinges of fan service, and goofy humor thrown into the mix. It also takes time to throw in the oddball episode of naughty titillation as a Neuori bug with a penchant for flying up the girls’ underpants must be captured and destroyed. As one might imagine, this requires an awful lot of panty dropping.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Strike Witches 2 isn’t the strongest looking of the recent bunch of anime releases I have seen, but it is certainly acceptable. While the image is generally detailed in this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement and free from excessive flaws, there is visible color banding and definite motion artifacts detectable mainly in the CGI effects such as battleships and so forth.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Two fine lossless options are provided as the audio choices. The original Japanese track in Dolby TrueHD 2.0 stereo (48kHz/24-bit) and an English dub in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit). It’s always my preference to watch with the original language and, in this case, literal subtitle translation, which is superior in every way. With that said, this 5.1 mix is a very good one, with active surround channels, wonderful dynamics and clean, clear dialogue. While the stereo mix does seem somewhat claustrophobic in comparison, it is still better at capturing the mood of the series and has good enough stereo separation and panning.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
This isn’t exactly a windfall of supplements, the the audio commentaries are a nice addition to the set.
The supplements:
- Episode 05 Commentary
- Episode 09 Commentary
- Textless Opening Song – “Strike Witches 2 ~Egao no Mahou~ Performed by Yoko Ishida
- Textless Closing Songs:
- “Over Sky”
- DVD – Two standard DVDs of season two are also included in this combo pack.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
Witches rule in this cute and fun alternate take on World World II battle. The Strike Witches return triumphantly for another sexy, goofy, and clumsy romp through the skies on brooms and otherwise.
Additional Screen Captures
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
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