Review of Strike Witches: Road to Berlin

Unfortunately I did not like this last addition to Strike Witches. I wouldn't call it a huge disappointment since there are a couple of other things in the pipeline for the series that I am excited about, but I was kind of hoping Road to Berlin would pull me through the thin fall season and it didn't. The animation work is alright and we've already gotten used to heavy use of 3D graphics, never done particularly well, in the series, which some may find off-putting otherwise. I have a personal pet peeve about how much gradient colouring there is, as it just makes everything kind ofblend together instead of standing out. But this is just a matter of opinion really. The story tone of the season is on point compared to past works; the kind of things that happen are like the things that happen in previous seasons. The characters are also pretty much like they have been previously. Voice talent brings in a good performance. Music is good, maybe a little short of previous seasons and movies that had really banging soundtracks, though sound design otherwise is extremely uninspired. If you told me they never once used a sound effect that didn't come in a stock library, I'd believe it.

Then the tyrannosaurus in the room: The script. I'll be very frank. It is boring. Nothing emotionally impactful really happens. Not only do they use plot points and story structures that the series has used before, they also reuse those things within the season. Repeatedly. In addition, it is very thick on lore, which was weak before but was so sparingly used that it didn't really matter. Baddies be and WW2-fighter-aces-become-magical-girls fight the baddies. A good Strike Witches entry is perhaps 20% canon lore driven material and 80% mostly lighthearted character drama, fanservice, slice of life, comedy, period observation. This season has the numbers flipped the other way around. You only get a couple of episodes of the of the kind of things that I want from the series and the rest is bland and repetitive. You even get a persistent gray filter over the screen to make sure you aren't enjoying yourself too much. Oh, and the OP and ED themes are just... really quiet for some reason. Maybe everything would have just nicely come together after all if the the opening theme really rocked your socks off at maximum volume and got you pumped for an exciting adventure. Instead it's mixed in at a polite indoor speaking voice level. Like an itch that you just can't scratch no matter how much you try. Argh.

As an independent work, as much as I would want it to be otherwise, Road to Berlin does not stand. The words that come to mind are generic and childish. But as a continuation to previous work, since you are already attached to the characters, it's O.K.