Strike Witches Road to Berlin, Episode 11: Road to Berlin

Having lost her magic stores, Yoshika finds another way to help the ground campaign to retake Berlin from the Neuroi.

Episode 11 – “Road to Berlin”

Hmm.

I’m always impressed in how creative Strike Witches devises scenarios to put Yoshika next to a Neuroi that needs a broken pipe swatted up the side of its hexagonal black veneer. It’s incredible!

The Wolf Neuroi continues to impress me too with how creative it is in holding its ground. It couldn’t float in the sky anymore, so it decided to build a walled fortress on the surface of Berlin. Its back-and-forth battle with Patton and his Big Red Tank was suspenseful because I didn’t know if Patton had enough anti-Neuroi shells to take down all the walls. The Strike Witches could only cover mass aerial attacks, effectively removing them from any significant role. The Wolf was smart enough to make him destroy all the walls from the same spot too.

The big revelation about the Wolf is that it could use the concrete from the ruined buildings to construct new walls. That makes it nigh invulnerable, but I wonder if there’s a vulnerability there to exploit. Strike Witches made sure the Neuroi’s largest liability was already where she needed to be. The Wolf didn’t trap Yoshika Miyafuji under the dome with it; the Wolf trapped itself under the dome with Yoshika! Get that Strike Witch a broken pipe! Okay, fine. Mio knows Yoshika will find a way to use those secret weapon Striker Units somehow, even if she needs to swing one leg like a broken pipe.

Heh.

Yoshika, in the hospital again. Cute doctor. Not wearing a skirt, of course. Yoshika used up all her magic. The doctor thinks it will take a week for her to recover. Operation Southwind can’t wait that long. Lots of Ju 52 transports and tanks for the coming ground assault. Interesting. Patton wants Yoshika with him for a big military conference. Respect for the sergeant. You love to see it. The Strike Witches had a terrible choice in letting the Neuroi destroy Kiel or conserve Yoshika’s magic. As if “the famous Miyafuji” would follow those orders. Can Patton delay the operation by ten days? Looks doubtful.

Ugh. These old military guys measure their… military might in front of two of the most decorated and recognized Strike Witches. Not a good look, gentlemen. Generals Bradley and Patton have reputations for working miracles, so let’s trust those old warriors too. Oh! Brave Witches cameos from Gundala and Hikari. How does Hikari not recognize “the famous Miyafuji?”

Shizuka just woke up. Oh man, she’ll beat herself up over Yoshika using up all her magic. Uh oh. She accidentally spied Mio with Yoshika’s top secret Striker Units. Yoshika’s dad did something crazy again for “maximum efficiency.” That doesn’t help if Yoshika’s the only who can use them, and she doesn’t have Strike Witches’ juice. Mio orders Shizuka not to tell Yoshika that they repaired her Striker Units. If she knew that, well, the famous Miyafuji wouldn’t return to base, for once. That line from the last episode tickles me so.

Hilarious. Yoshika asked Shizuka if she hurt anywhere, and the younger Strike Witch wheeled her arm around in that anime maneuver when we all saw the bandage on her upper thigh. Aw. Shizuka cries that it’s her fault that Yoshika can’t use Ursula’s “new weapon.”

The eye catches show the other Joint Fighter Wings coming in to support Operation Southwind. The 502nd jumps in from their Orussian area. We’ll be seeing them soon in the winter 2021 season, together with the Strike Witches. Shizuka’s bandage in her eye catch is on the wrong appendage.

That Neuroi cloud broke up into many pieces. Operation Victoria has flying witch units coming from all over. Patton has a big red tank he calls the Landkreuzer Ratte. The Land Cruiser “Rat.” Perrine pronounced it “another ridiculous thing.” The Strike Witches have lots of experience with “ridiculous things.” I hope there isn’t any Neuroi tech on it, but Patton’s character seems proud enough to deny any enemy taint in his operations.

Time to launch! Aw. We can see Yoshika’s launch station next to Shizuka is empty. I feel better knowing the red paint on Patton’s “ultimate weapon” doesn’t glow and there’s no hexagonal black stuff anywhere. It must be anti-Neuroi coating or armor. He used those anti-Neuroi bombs over the Wolf cloud, so that makes sense. Aha! This is how Yoshika gets back into the thick of things on Strike Witches. She’ll volunteer to do something on that tank. It must be as a medic since the season began with Yoshika in medical school. She’s such a good main character.

Oh, watch out. Mio’s B-17 has Yoshika’s Striker Units and Ursula’s “toys” aboard. This will be huge in the next Strike Witches episode! Now, let’s see what Patton’s ground assault looks like against Wolf Dome Head. Good! The Ratte’s armor can deflect Neuroi beams! Oh. It’s good for a while before focused beams punch through. The Wolf Neuroi seems like it takes things personally.

No surprise there. Yoshika is on board that behemoth tank as a medic. I see plenty of pipes she can pick up if she gets close enough to the Wolf. Yeesh. The Wolf’s drone swarms are daunting. I love it when Erica yells in battle. Yeargh! I wonder if the Strike Witches can use Yoshika’s falling dominoes chain reaction tactic to eliminate a tentacle swarm. Lynne’s golden bullet looks like it did just that. Alright, let’s see what Patton’s big guns do. This is also good. No laser beams in there. More of the anti-Neuroi explosives Bradley and Patton’s forces used before. Boom! Got a wall in one!

Ack. One wall disassembled itself to replace the missing one. The Ratte will need to destroy them all, but at least Patton won’t need to keep changing positions. This is heavy-weight warfare. Does the Ratte have enough shells to take down the walls? Yes! Now what? There are still so many drones flying around. Can’t Wolf make more walls with them? Or does it need to keep the Strike Witches occupied? It has another trick to play. What the heck? Is Wolf picking up debris? This is more of that element manipulation. Water, Air, now Earth. It’s making a huge dome!

Things look bad inside there. There’s the old Zoo Tower Patton retreats to, but why can’t the Neuroi bust through that? Is it something to do with concrete? The Wolf Dome cuts off radio transmissions, but it didn’t cut off telegraph lines. Ha! Everyone just heard there’s one witch trapped inside the dome with Patton. The Strike Witches know who that is! Santa Mio needs to deliver some “toys” for a good girl in Berlin. Trude knows a way to get under the Wolf Dome too.

Next time on the season finale, the Neuroi will find out they’re trapped inside the Dome with Yoshika, not the other way around!

Strike Witches Road to Berlin streams on Crunchyroll and VRV.