@ Will: Having humanoid mecha seems like it might be connected to anthropomorphisation somehow, and super robots at least sometimes wind up being humanised (Giant Robo cries, for example). But it’s not quite the same.

It strikes me that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol tied to a physical object (except in G Gundam, where it’s a giant beam cannon, but that’s just G being awesome as usual), while Uncle Sam is a character who can be much more easily portrayed doing things (primarily in political cartoons, I suppose).

Were I more ambitious, I’d go looking for a study I’m sure exists on how different cultures anthropomorphize different objects. Germans call(ed?) it the Fatherland. Russians tend toward Motherland. Americans have dual icons in the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam.

Looking back, I can’t think of all that many times where a character in anime (who wasn’t clearly a foreigner) referred to a vehicle in a human manner. It could make for an interesting study how a culture that doesn’t appear to anthropomorphize vehicles could jump so quickly to something like mecha-musume.

@ Michael: Lol.

@ Will: I’m sure someone well-versed in feminist theory would suggest the reverse, that it’s a reflection of the Japanese take on the machine-like status of women. But I won’t do that. I hadn’t thought that we tend to think of vehicles as female when we anthropomorphise them, but you’re right, we do. I read somewhere that in Russian ships are referred to as ‘he’, though – do you know if that’s true?

Strike Witches is definitely an unusual title, and there are a lot of people who really liked it. There are a lot of people who wouldn’t watch it even at gunpoint. And there are people who got five minutes in and then swore they’d never watch any more of it. Definitely a niche title.

Anyway, if you want to see it, here’s my review:

http://denbeste.nu/Chizumatic/reviews/StrikeWitches.shtml

Unless the whole of Earth has a significantly warmer climate?

@ Steven Den Beste: Fair point.

@ Panther: Well, I’d say it’s fairly obvious why a lot of people liked it. The Daily Star is a pathetic excuse for a proper newspaper, but some people prefer it. Or maybe there was a large reservoir of hitherto dormant mecha musume fans waiting to be tapped.

@ TheBigN: But what if ‘ignorance is bliss’?

@ Dorian Cornelius Jasper: I’m not entirely convinced by the idea of taking refuge in audacity. The premise is audaciously ludicrous, yes, but comercially very viable, especially considering the pre-existing figures and Shimada’s previous work on Sky Girls. Still, I suppose commercial viability isn’t really what TV Tropes’s Refuge in Audacity focuses on.

@ madeener: Cheers indeed. PT is utterly brilliant, so far. Hopefully I can produce a post on it.

@ omisyth: If anything can save Gonzo from the shame of being reduced to producing hentai, it’s Strike Witches. Though I’m sure some would say that that’s like being saved from Soviet Russia by the Taliban.

@ animekritik: What SDB said, really. It’s not something I can recommend wholeheartedly. That said, I managed to enjoy it, and I don’t believe it’s irredeemably bad.

@ adaywithoutme: I certainly agree that a lot of the frisson that we’re meant to feel is because we’re seeing something forbidden. I think that’s what I was getting at in my first paragraph. I think there is a distinction between SW and Rosario + Vampire</em, though, because in the latter panties are still (tenuously) taboo, while in SW they’re normal clothing.

Mind you, by that logic Ragnarock City ought to be really boring, and somehow I doubt it is.

@ Steven Den Beste: And presumably Agent Aika too

@ animekritik: I can only speak for myself – I’m sure Steven can explain his decision – but I don’t think I would recommend Mellowlink to many people, even though I enjoyed it immensely, because it’s too much of an acquired taste.

Wait. If you liked it and watched it several times, why do you give it a thumbs down? Doesn’t thumbs down mean you didn’t like it?!