Spoilers for all World Witches works preceding this one will be left unmarked.
League of Nations Air Force Aviation Magic Band Luminous Witches, or simply known as Luminous Witches, is a 12-episode Slice of Life anime TV series set in Fumikane Shimada's World Witches universe. It is directed by Shoji Saeki (Mahoromatic, This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, Medaka Box) and produced by Studio SHAFT.
Set simultaneously during the first season of Strike Witches, Luminous Witches primarily focuses on the League of Nations Air Force's titular music squadron as they try to improve morale on the front lines through singing.
The series premiered on July 3, 2022, and concluded on September 25, 2022. It is chronologically followed by Brave Witches and Strike Witches 2.
Luminous Witches provides examples of:
- The '40s: As with the first season of Strike Witches, the bulk of this series is set in an alternate version of 1944.
- Amazing Freaking Grace: Ginny's rendition of "Amazing Grace" is featured as a recurring leitmotif for the series.
- Anachronic Order: The first nine episodes chronologically take place during the events of the first Strike Witches season. This becomes a very important plot point in two episodes.
- Breaking Old Trends: The Luminous Witches series breaks the standards set by the franchise:
- It features the first animated protagonist who is not of Fusoan descent note and is a non-combatant to boot.
- It's the only series in the franchise to utilize Familiars in the story.
- The titular squad's members are all non-combatants and are instead idol singers to boost morale. What's more, with the exception of Airanote and Gracienote , the real-life people each member is based on are all women instead of men. And again, with the partial exception of Aira once more, their real-life counterparts were all singers and/or celebrities instead of military men as per series tradition.
- It's the only animated World Witches series to feature the main cast as the opening and ending singers instead of Yoko Ishida.note
- Chekhov's Gun: Moffy, an ugly, fat, and lazy Night Witch familiar that doesn't work properly. Midway through the series, it's discovered that Moffy makes an excellent relay, connecting multiple transmitters to boost the overall signal, and, in the final episode, using every Night Witch possible, she relays the concert across the entire planet.
- Continuity Nod:
- The Dunkirk evacuation was briefly touched upon in the Strike Witches episode "I Will Never Forget You". The first episode's Distant Prologue expands upon this event.
- Like in Strike Witches and Brave Witches, each episode barring the final episode ends with a "To Be Continued" card.
- Both the first season of Strike Witches and the first half of Luminous Witches primarily occur in Britannia.
- Demoted to Extra: Since this series focuses on the titular singing squadron, the 501st and 502nd Joint Fighter Wings's roles have been significantly reduced.
- Distant Prologue: The series begins in 1941, which depicts Gracie's participation in the Dunkirk evacuation and Ginny's encounter of Moffy.
- Foreshadowing: The true nature behind Moffy's powers is foreshadowed through Anya's diagnosis of her in Episode 7, where she mentions that Moffy has been "overeating" and that a peculiar amount of energy ended up being stored up in Moffy's body all the while.
- It Will Never Catch On: Gracie tries convincing the League of Nations Air Force to form a musical unit to improve morale on the front lines. Her superiors are initially unconvinced.
- Lighter and Softer: This series shifts away from the ongoing war with the Neuroi to instead focus on the antics of the titular Luminous Witches, a unique squadron of Witches who don't engage in combat and are instead deployed to support their homefronts around the world through the power of song and dance, making it closer to being a Slice of Life idol anime instead of an action-packed war-themed story the franchise is famously known for. It's also the series that features the least amount of Fanservice outside of a few moments sprinkled in-between.
- No Antagonist: While the Neuroi are still causing havoc in certain parts of the world in the background, they don't have much of a presence here in this series due to the focus on the day-to-day lives of the titular Witches, who aren't combatants. One Neuroi serves as an antagonist in one episode, but while it did cause some trouble in the episode it was featured in, the group doesn't directly engage it as it's quickly taken care of by the Typhoon Witches instead after Ginny lends them her help.
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: All of the Luminous Witches are archetypes of historical singers and/or actors who were famous during World War II. For example, Virginia Robertson is based on the Scottish folk singer Jeannie Robertson.
- Overly Long Name: They're initially called the "League of Nations 72nd Joint Combat Squadron Logistics Support Squadron Aviation Magic Band", which they only use once before it's changed in favour of the ''much' shorter "Luminous Witches" after a suggestion made by a group of local children.
- Simultaneous Arcs: The series takes place simultaneously with the first season of Strike Witches. In particular, Episode 7's events run concurrently with Episode 6 of the main series, while Episode 9 takes place during the events of the final episode, as the last few minutes of Episode 9 has Grace announcing Gallia's liberation.
- Slice of Life: Unlike the rest of the World Witches franchise, this series is about a group of singing Witches trying to improve morale during the Neuroi battles
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: The reason why the 502nd JFW and the Isle of Wight Detachment don't get involved with the Luminous Witches' efforts is that they have bigger Neuroi to fry.
- Tamer and Chaster: This installment of the World Witches franchise features the least amount of fanservice and skinship in the series so far, and even its resident Beach Episode was pretty tame by World Witches standards. The Luminous Witches' outfits, from their special performance uniforms to their default military getups, are pretty modest and not too revealing. Only Mana's default outfit shows the most skin in the series, and even then, not by much. The lack of a Lovable Sex Maniac and the sparse and almost non-existent use of panty shots are also big contributors.
- To Be Continued: Once again, each episode ends with the words "To Be Continued...", except for the final episode.
