Okay, So I Shotgunned Strike Witches Recently...

[Black Aeronaut]

.... Man, and people accused Kill la Kill for gratuitous amounts of fanservice...
Okay, so the thing that is sticking out the most with me is that X-11 Witch-Class Nueroi and the hive it came from... out of all the other hives, that was the only one that attempted peaceful communication... and it was subsequently obliterated by another hive.
So, we have clear evidence of there being other factions among the Neuroi.
Now, I can understand what was going on with the production... they left a hook for the next season with the possibility of peace being worked out, but apparently they changed their minds because it would probably be too long and complex of a story to work out.  Instead, better to just have them be clear-cut enemies so we can have humans stay as good guys and the Nueroi stay as bad guys.
Uggghhhhh.  I hate it when writers/producers do that.
Don't get me wrong, I love Strike Witches for the depths of character development.  These girls are about as far as you can get from being flat and 2-D as possible.  But the plot is terribly repetitive, being more or less recycled in the second season and the movie.
Anyhow... I kinda wonder what sort of story could be made if peaceful contact had been made with the X-11... and then it had been protected from the rival Neuroi (not to mention that freaking 'Warlock' monstrosity)...
Thoughts?

[Dartz]

I'm so sorry you had to experience Strike Witches....

The first five minutes left me feeling dirty for even wondering what it was.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

.... Man, and people accused Kill la Kill for gratuitous amounts of fanservice...

Quoting from the Bluy-Ray box for season 2: "The Strike Witches are Earth's last line of defense, but they'll have to learn some new tricks to survive this dogfight - and win the war on pants once and for all!"

With an official description like that, you should have known this wouldn't be a title you could show your grandparents.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

And the first-season Blu-Ray box:



(apologies for the double-post)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Black Aeronaut]

To be honest I never saw that description. I went off the bios on ANN, so I had no idea what I was getting into. :p But like I said: terrible plot, great characters.

[classicdrogn]

(...)

Eh, I watched (and kind of like) Agent Aika, compared to that Strike Witches is trailing by a factor of three or more in panty shots per unit time. Honestly what sticks out most to me are things like:

* They're puttering along on a fruit cart at little more than a walking pace, then a cat runs into the road and suddenly they're crashing at 40-50mph and being thrown ten and twenty feet from the cart, yet the only injury sustained is a mysterious puncture wound in the center of one person's chest, not scrapes or broken limbs, and on one of the kids not the grey haired grandpa.

* Before that, a tree limb bigger around than MC's waist breaks under her weight, but her tee shirt doesn't tear when it snags on the stump.

Magic and magitech get a pass, they're the unicorn in the garden, while bare legs and the MC suddenly improving (even if not enough) from an emergency pep talk are just to be expected of the genre.

* They let the MC come aboard a military ship despite loudly proclaiming her disdain for war and that she's not going to enlist.

* Didn't ask her mother about it either, though again, genre conventions.

* MC can somehow follow Recruiter-chan zooming along through the fleet formation (for which she does not get chewed out) despite not having the totally-not-Byakugan.

* The enemy is invisibly far away except to Recruiter-chan's totally-not-Byakugan, until she reports it and then it's hanging in the sky bigger than one of the escort ships.

* They somehow hear Recruiter-chan shouting this from halfway down the deck of an aircraft carrier underway and instantly sound alarms (even on the other ships) and fire on the enemy (pretty sure that was one of the escorts too, actually.)

* MC is clinging to the wall and staggering along as if she's gravely wounded or the ship is getting tossed around, despite its fhuge mass and everyone else moving normally.

That's a lot of wallbangers for just the first episode...

... I looked up X11 though, and I'm willing to keep watching at least until she appears. Rrrowl. She can be my windowing system any time.

Edit: Breaking down the walls of text, FOR JUSTICE!

But yeah, pantsu counter is only around 30ish even including the titles and credits. Aika hits that in the course of a single fight scene.

Edit 2: The bare conchs in ep7, though, even I will admit to being surprised by in a non-hentai production. Zoinks and jinkies, even.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

Hrmmm....

• Eh, I can still see the old man accidentally overturning his tractor.  And the no-injuries vs. severe-injury is easy enough to explain.  The other girl was just unfortunate enough to find something sharp and pointy hidden in the soft grass and loose soil.
• Pretty sure her blouse is made of silk.  It was a popular option for uniforms in Japan until synthetics too the market by storm.
• Well, she is the daughter of the man that invented the Striker Units, and she is on a fact-finding mission, so she probably gets a pass for that reason.  Besides, her recruiter probably knew all along that she was gonna wind up enlisting anyhow.
• Dunno what to say about this one.  Like you said, genre conventions.
• Recruiter-chan did note that the MC was remarkably talented.
• Genre convention.  Though I don't really recall it being that bad - more like their beam weaponry is just that long-ranged.
• It's shown that they have little radio sets that come as earbuds.  Some sort of magitech, but they're as effective at transceiving radio as actual radio sets.  Recruiter-chan strikes me as the sort that keeps hers in ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME.
• While I haven't had the luxury of being on a larger ship, I can easily say that someone with little-to-no experience with combat conditions is gonna be freaked out.  She is clinging to that wall because she is rightfully afraid of being flung into a bulkhead.  That freaking HURTS!

Really, this is all little stuff that would only really matter if we're doing deconstruction.  I might, but some of the stuff that would have to change is pretty radical.  And yeah, the X-11 is a cutie... but unfortunately she gets very little screen time.
EDIT: You think that's bad?  Wait until you see Season 2's Episode 7.  Three words: naughty little bug.

[classicdrogn]

Well, I finished S1, but my reaction is honestly kind of meh except for X11 (now aka Chi Juuichi) a situation not helped at all by the Warlock being a Hasbro/Minicon-grade transformation. With Chi's plot being considered over and not further explored in the later installments (as per your original post) I think I'll skip 'em. Oh well, that's what fanfic is for.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

ClassicDrogn wrote:

---

Well, I finished S1, but my reaction is honestly kind of meh except for X11 (now aka Chi Juuichi) a situation not helped at all by the Warlock being a Hasbro/Minicon-grade transformation. With Chi's plot being considered over and not further explored in the later installments (as per your original post) I think I'll skip 'em. Oh well, that's what fanfic is for.

Which is exactly why I created this thread.  It was not to extoll on the features of the anime in question.  It was so we could see how we can improve on it.  And one of them is to not cut X-11's time so drastically short.  (In fact, if she became one of the regular characters, that could be very interesting.)
I'll be straight up with you guys, I've added SW to my lineup... sometime shortly after Macross so Garrick still has a head relatively fresh and full of military doctrine and tactics that would be applicable to their case... not to mention his Veritech.
I'm thinking of having him show up during one of Sanya's night patrols.  She'd pick up on a sorrowful and somber tune; Garrick is rarely happy to move on from a world - even if it means he's one step closer to home, he's made friends where he was at and he doesn't like leaving them behind.  Cue a rare and delightful WTF reaction when she finds the source is neither an ally nor a Neuroi... though she'll suspect the latter at first until she gets a good look at the pilot.
No matter what point in time he comes in, though, the one pivotal moment is gonna be where he goes and protects the X-11 to the best of his abilities... This will probably short-circuit the original climax as this means the probable destruction of the Warlock.  Which he'll think of as a cheap-ass imitation of a Veritech, and something that he'd only be too happy to scrap as it attacked first.  (He's gonna nail their nuts to the wall for that - even if they are the enemy, you don't blow their heads off when they got the white flag out.)
Right now, I'm trying to figure out what role the Alliance will try to shoehorn him into.  I know they'll be trying to pry every single technological advantage they can out of him, but he'll only give so much.  His arguments being something along the lines of, "And how do I know that once all is said and done and the Neuroi are gone that you ape-shits aren't gonna proceed to blow each other to kingdom come?  Because that's what'll happen.  It nearly happened in my time, and that was just with inter-continental missiles with atomic warheads."
Really, I'm thinking he'd be something of an outlaw amongst them... a pest they can do nothing about because they simply can't touch him.  He flies higher and faster than anything they have, his weaponry is potent enough to take down anything they throw at him, and if they try for the numbers game, he simply beats them with asymmetrical warfare tactics.
So, inevitably, they would probably try and strike a deal with him.  Something like this maybe: In exchange for being recognized as an Allied Element, Garrick will teach a small pool of scientists and engineers some select technologies (which ones to be decided later over the negotiating table).  In addition, he is to take part in combat operations as an element of the 501st Joint Fighter Squadron at the rank of Lieutenant (O-4, because he insisted on being tied to the Liberion (USA) Naval Aviators).  This will give him significant latitude as a command officer, however he would still be outranked by the Commander and the Sub-Commander.  (This is actually quite beneficial to the Squadron's command structure as they have no one to fill in the the gap at the O-4 paygrade - capable witches are apparently that rare.)
Thoughts?

[classicdrogn]

Hmm... a very brief, "WTF did I just see?" UFO-buzz type encounter from both sides perspective with Sanya where he waves at her, then hits the burners and zooms away when she gets over the surprise and raises her weapon could work well for a first glimpse, but I think the best time to really make a permanent entrance is during the "playing tag" sequence, perhaps just as MC-whose-name-I'm-spacing-on asks herself why she's laughing - then both of them do the startle and stand back as his valkyrie ("veritech" is a Macekism, in Macross the generic name for variable fighters is "valkyrie" after the famous SW-1 model) appears and does the same barrel-roll (but cockpit in so they can see him) around them, then transform and hover as Chi just got done with, if possibly with MC's slow extend-one-hand-and-reach added.

This also puts him in place to go G and do a Minmay-catch then slip Godammit-I-can't-remember-her-name-either into his lap or the transformation/equipment space behind the pilot seat (or a second seat if so equipped) after she gets shot down and spooks Chi off, rather than being awkwardly and precariously carried in two other witches' arms while they fly back to base. If he does have a two-seat model, the girls are small enough that one of them (probably the CO) could actually get in first and keep her on her lap, so as to not be trusting their wounded wing leader to an unknown and to let him make full speed to their base under her direction to save a little time.

Edited for second note: Yes, that maneuver is the actual one called "barrel roll," what you do to break missile lock in Starfox is actually a snap roll... and doesn't work like that at all with real missiles. Of course, in Macross they tend to sideslip during a snap roll like a gymnast dodging away on the ground, which is even LESS realistic. I expect BA knows this, but it's sadly common as a misunderstanding thanks to video games.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[BLHarrison]

A US Navy Lieutenant's pay-grade is O-3 not O-4 (the equivalent of other services Captain).  A US Navy O-4 is a Lieutenant Commander, the equivalent of a Major in the other services
B.L. HarrisonHM1/USN/Retired

[classicdrogn]

Okay, I watched S2 and the movie, since you (BA) were looking for ideas on how to integrate your SI with it... but S2 is really, really episodic, and the movie purely exists to give it a Hollywood happy ending epilogue so

Spoiler

Miyafuji doesn't permanently lose her magic

and the Prime Time Directive is restored. If you can't derail the whole thing by keeping the friendly Neuroi alive and forming an alliance, you might as well skip everything but the 100-mile-high one (since even a VF-1's service ceiling is high enough to reach that, and the Block 5+ VF-1 IIRC and the VF-4 are orbit capable on their own - heck I think a VF-0 or SV-51 could operate there within their five minute sealed-systems endurance) and cover the season finale and movie briefly, before moving on to the post-movie situation for the meat of the section, or the next world if it's a short stop.

Like I said though, the more interesting route is to derail S2 and the movie completely, by forming an alliance with the tentatively-friendly Neuroi (presumably the ones who've been on Earth all along) vs the newcomers with their fancy-pants green glowing super-hive.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

I was thinking somewhat along the same lines myself... While Garrick may seem to be able to go toe-to-toe with a Neuroi hive, they have the numbers and firepower to neutralize him still.

We see towards the end of Season 1 that a Neuroi hive can spam out more Neuroi, and very effectively at that, too. I would Imagine that if Garrick did take his VF-4 up against the green hive, he'd have to beat a strategic retreat as not even his Valkyrie is invulnerable to Neuroi Beam Spam. (His armor will resist better, but it would be about the same as the battleships we see: lesser quality+larger quantity = greater quality+smaller quantity.)

Garrick would be able to just mow through the forward line, for certain, but afterwards he'll be up against a freshly minted midguard that will probably consist of Neuroi modeled after his Valkyrie. Ouch.

The funny thing is that this is probably exactly what will happen (right after Garrick covers the 504th's retreat). Allied Command will demand that Garrick launch a solo assault on the hive no matter his protests... When asked about why he retreated... "Look, you guys may see my Valkyrie as an asset, but really it's a liability! If this thing is severely damaged then I will not be able to fix it because I have neither the parts for it, nor the ability to make the parts."

So yeah... allying with the tentatively-friendly Neuroi is the way to go. We see that at the end of the Second Season that using Neuroi tech seems to be the way to go if you want to take out a hive, so the alliance would have benefits that way.

The fun part is going to be the development of the alliance... Garrick is going to insist that the X-11 spends most of its time around him as a liaison, given he's the closest thing they got to a xeno-sociologist. Fortunately, it's an easy enough job as the X-11 seems to be, by its very nature, curious and playful. Most of what this will boil down to is showing her around, letting her ask questions, and learn about what it is to be a Human. Lots of character development to be had here.

(One idea I have in mind is that Garrick makes arrangements for the X-11 to witness a childbirth... and then Garrick dragoons the rest of the 501st into it as well, saying, "Well, with possible exception of Miyafuji*, I'm pretty sure the rest of you girls haven't seen this. And it is my educated opinion that every girl needs to see this at least once before she has children of her own." Cue the collective freak-out, along with a few subsequent hyperventilations.)

*Her because her family runs a 'general ailments' clinic back in Fuso/Japan. I'm not sure that would include midwifing, though I suspect her mother and grandmother have supervised more than a few birthings.

One other thing is that Garrick would want to tackle the problem with Striker Units using up too much of a young witch's power - it seems that while there are many older witches around, usage of Striker Units tend to 'burn out' witches at around 20 years of age (hence why so many of them are so young). Garrick will probably get help from X-11 in creating an alternate power source for the Striker Units so they don't rely on the witches themselves for power - instead, merely guidance.

To that end, Erica Hartman's twin sister may wind up setting up shop wherever the 501st is based at.

Oh, and one final thing I would like to figure out for this story...

What exactly was it that the Neuroi are after anyhow? Is it magical energy? Did they perceive humans as a potential threat? Are they colonizing? Something else?
EDIT: Mixed up Erica with Eila.  D'oh!

[classicdrogn]

I think probably that it's colonizing, but the ones that have been on earth for thousands of years have gotten curious about/less hostile to the locals - hence the tapering off of giant mythological monsters as things get closer to the modern age - before getting riled up by signals from another group/the main bunch that they would be arriving soon (the s2 super-hive group) and fighting for a while before deciding that they might have more in common with humans after all this time than their own supposed kind...

Aside from the witch-type neuroi, they don't seem to actually do much, besides maintain their hives, blow up anything that tries to get to close to one, and whatever it is they do to make more. For a bunch of scouts who've spent millennia watching humans go about their infinitely more varied lives, the prospect might seem a bit on the dull side - and depending on how utilitarian overall Neuroi behavior is, they may be expected to report to the disintegration chamber to be made into new dedicated combat units with an invasion in full swing. There's very little evidence for (or against) any motivation you may ascribe to them...

...showing MC the images of the Warlock project might have been requesting help to rescue the captured Shining Dodecahedron, now that I think of it, and that one lashing out at the humans who captured and tortured it, then made it destroy a bunch of other Neuroi before breaking free would be entirely understandable if you look at it that way.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

Hmmmm...

I think I can build that up a bit better. For one thing, if we're doing the whole "They were the gods and monsters" thing, then that would leave huge gaps of time between appearances.

I think we can break it up into two major incursions. For one, we'd have the Deific Incursion where primitive humans mistook them all for gods. And then we would have the Monstrous Incursion which probably started the Dark Ages, and thus Humans labeled the Neuroi a little more appropriately.

The interesting thing is that the Monstrous Incursion could also resolve a lot of questions about the world building going on in Strike Witches. IIRC, the Silk Road was still a thing back in the Dark Ages, so word would have gotten around and Kingdoms A, B and C were not the only ones troubled by the Monsters - Kingdoms X, Y, and Z were suffering as well. Therefore, it would have only been natural if all these kingdoms formed alliances where knowledge and materials were exchanged and even a few marriage contracts among the nobility to better shore up these alliances.

That last bit is IMPORTANT. Not only is it one of the more likely things to happen - nothing draws strangers closer together by making them into family - but it would have had a myriad of other affects. For one thing, Royal lines that would have died out due to inbreeding wouldn't have. Also, there would not have been as much of the dangerous nationalism that set nations like France and England at each others' throats - that energy would have been funneled into the more constructive pursuit of seeing who can kill the most monsters. (And in the rare case you had someone that was so ambitious that they wanted to rule more than their fair share once they inherited their respective throne... pretty sure they'd be quietly dealt with once they were found out.)

After the Monsters finally leave, you would have the natural result of so many countries switching from a war-footing to peace... The Renaissance. Only with one important difference: nobody is really at anyone else's throat at this time. They're all still kinda buddy-buddy after that hard-fought war against the Monsters.

Centuries pass, and eventually people find reasons to get pissed off at each other. Liberia (USA) is founded, but a lot of the old empires remain out of habit (Britania, Gallia, Karlsland, Romagna, Orussia). And then the monsters came back - this time, having a lot more development, we understand them as aliens from another world and call them Neuroi.

So, as for the Neuroi themselves and their reasons? Well, I had the thought that they could be after Earth for those oceans filled with Deuterium, just waiting to be filtered out. Sure, you can get it out of a gas giant, but that has hazards associated with it that makes using a terrestrial water world like Earth much more attractive. It has radiation shielding for one, and that thick atmosphere protects it from all the smaller space rocks, so you'd only have to worry about the really big ones. Also, it's loaded with iron, silica, and other useful materials for a silicon-based species, making the planet into a one-stop shop for everything they'd want.

There's just one problem - it seems to be infested with a rather virulent pest that likes to attack anything that is alien and unknown. They tried once and were either beaten back or the pests wouldn't stop worshiping them. So they left in hopes that something might happen to them - like a mass die-off, or some new species that was easier to deal with forces the pests out of the picture. Unfortunately, not only were the pests still there when they came back a thousand years later, they had somehow become stronger. The pests were not only growing rapidly, but they were making tools and infrastructure. Naturally, there was a panic as the Neuroi tried to destroy the empires of the pests. They succeeded, but only on the surface. Instead, the pests went to ground, founded new empires, and kept on fighting back, getting smarter and more capable with each battle. Every time the Neuroi stepped up their game, the pests rose to meet the challenge.

Dejected, the Neuroi abandoned the project and settled for the long game of using the gas giants and the asteroid belt.

Until one day several centuries later, a hive went rogue and went to Earth, determined to see if it can co-exist on some level with the pests. For sure, it may be an antagonistic relationship, but maybe it was possible they could communicate - the pests did, after all, just recently start using radio waves for communication.

Thoughts?

[classicdrogn]

Kinda flip-flops between aggression and just wandering off, and there's the problem of why a space-going civilization didn't just pwn completely in the Gods and Monsters eras if they were active in force rather than a small scouting outpost. That's not to say it couldn't work, but I think you'd have to set it up so every Neuroi hive is a semi-nomadic nation-state in its own right, rather than elements of any kind of unified military or political body.

That both gives an explanation for why one hive that makes an attempt and finds it more difficult than expected can't just call in reinforcements, and for why a few might decide to try getting along with those crazy carbon-units without needing to worry about reporting to some external superiors. (A stronger hive that's horrified by the very idea and wants to exterminate the infestation before it develops enough to spread further and decides the collaborationists are acceptable casualties is another matter, of course.)

Making them have a chemical basis different enough that even if they can and possibly prefer to share similar general environmental conditions they don't need to compete for resources at the level of basic needs is probably a good idea from the point of view of making it possible to coexist once communications are opened.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

ClassicDrogn wrote:

---

That's not to say it couldn't work, but I think you'd have to set it up so every Neuroi hive is a semi-nomadic nation-state in its own right, rather than elements of any kind of unified military or political body.
That both gives an explanation for why one hive that makes an attempt
and finds it more difficult than expected can't just call in
reinforcements, and for why a few might decide to try getting along with
those crazy carbon-units without needing to worry about reporting to
some external superiors. (A stronger hive that's horrified by the very
idea and wants to exterminate the infestation before it develops enough
to spread further and decides the collaborationists are acceptable
casualties is another matter, of course.)

asdfdkjl;kl;jdfasgh!!!
Yeah, I meant to include that tidbit as well, but it somehow slipped my mind.
Anyhow, I'd say that this is a good basis to build the plot around.  Garrick shows up, finds a spot to lay low and plays it all off real cagey-like by running a series of solo encounters with the girls of the 501st.  Then encounters X-11, defends the hive from the Warlock, and subsequently the larger invading warmonger-hive and uses up a good deal of his expendable weapons (missiles, bullets) in doing so.  Cue the political potluck of himself, the collaborator-neuroi, and the allies.  Then, (LOTS of) character development, crazy battles, and other things like Garrick using his Valk to run Sanya over to her family in Orussia for her birthday when it comes around again, or sharing knowledge about swordsmanship and swordsmithing with Mio.
Possible conclusion: After all hostile Neuroi have been eliminated from Earth (and probably Cislunar and Lunar space as well) Garrick, with his experience as a spacer, volunteers for a long-range probing mission to determine the location and disposition of in-system Neuroi hives.  Just as he accomplishes his objective, though, he gets the warning sign that he's about to jump (a feature Katherine implements after his second-or-so jump), and composes one final missive to transmit along with the intelligence report before he goes.

I'm sorry I can't be there to say good bye.  You girls all know that's not how I like to do things... but sometimes, Fate and her husband Murphy are cruel bastards and have other plans for us.  Before I go, I want all of you to know that I really do think of you all as family.  If I ever have daughters, I want them to all be as strong, courageous, compassionate, loving, and just plain fun to be around as all of you.  Hell, there were times I wish your were all my daughters.
Don't try to come after me.  I mean that.  Really.  Don't.  All you will succeed in doing is getting yourselves as lost as I am, and unlike me you won't have a metaphysical tether that will eventually drag you home.  And don't worry for me.  I'll be fine.  Like I said... I'm on my way back home.  My only regret is that I am going to miss all of you so much.
If you want to honor me, find yourselves good men, trustworthy men, men that will climb mountains and build bridges to reach you.  Have their children.  Raise them with me in mind.  Tell them about their Uncle Garrick and how he could stare down the leaders of the world one moment and give you the biggest, warmest hug the next.
Because honestly, I love you all.  And if there is any legacy I want to pass on, that would be it.
But just in case your hearts are aching thinking about me, worrying about where I am or what I'm doing, remember always my favorite seagull.
"If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome space and time, we've destroyed our own brotherhood!  But overcome space and all we have left is Here.  Overcome time and all we have left is Now.  And in the middle of Here and Now don't you think we might see each other once or twice?"
I will see you again.

Well, they say you should write your ending first... I think that's a good one right there.

[classicdrogn]

(Picks up a carved stamp, slams it down)

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Edit: Though, I am curious what you think of the idea that the initial contact with Chi was to try to ask for a rescue of the captured core that was turned into the Warlock.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

ClassicDrogn wrote:

---

(Picks up a carved stamp, slams it down)
==============
APPROVED
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Fund it!

Done deal.  Now I just gotta work my way over...  :pUnlike Bob, I don't really have much intention to skip around.

ClassicDrogn wrote:

---

Edit: Though, I am curious what you think of the idea that
the initial contact with Chi was to try to ask for a rescue of the
captured core that was turned into the Warlock.

Oh yes, that!  Well, I don't think she'd come right on out and ask right away... Garrick's as new to her as she is to the Strike Witches.  I think what I can do, though, is have Garrick simply 'take apart' the Warlock until he manages to rip the Neuroi core out of the thing, shutting it down.  Cue Chi sweeping in... she doesn't try to take it from Garrick - not after what she saw Garrick do just then.  Instead... well, Garrick will remark on how very capable she is of expressing heartfelt and helpless longing despite having all the expression of a department store mannequin.  (Albeit a very well articulated mannequin.)

[classicdrogn]

Eh, well, in canon the Warlock appeared just as she was showing Miyafuji images of the research being done, presumably sent by the missing core itself, and no solid explanations were given for anything. That's what leaves the question open for this interpretation, really... and you're right, especially for a TV series animation budget, they really did do a great job of having Chi communicate with body language, in what little screen time she gets.

Important link considering the adoption of the movie's assertion that the Neuroi were the gods and monsters of myth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuri
This is who they were named after IRL, apparently. Whether there's any real connection is up to you to decide in your world building.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

We'll see what happens. When I write, I tend to just leave a loose collection of milestones that I intend to reach and then just let the characters drive. We could wind up in a very different spot, much like how Garrick went from carefully managing things in Tenchi Muyo so they ore or less stay the course despite his presence to outright spilling the beans on Asahi's request... that went off the rails quickly.

As for the name... Eh. Probably just one of the many names that got bandied about (in the manner of, "Well in my country's folk tales we called the x.") that happened to stick for one reason or another... and that because the languages of most of the countries affected have roots in Old English.