Strike Witches is a Japanese media mix franchise originally created by Fumikane Shimada via a series of magazine illustration columns. The illustrations have since inspired several official light novel, manga, and anime series and various video games. The series revolves around teenage moe anthropomorphic girls who use machines attached to their legs to do aerial combat. The original video animation (OVA) preview episode was released in January 2007. The televised anime series later aired between July and September 2008. A second season aired between July and September 2010. A standalone film that continues the storyline was released in March 2012 and a three-part OVA series was released between September 2014 and May 2015. A third season aired from October to December 2020. A spin-off, titled Brave Witches, aired from October to December 2016, and a second spin-off, Luminous Witches, aired from July to September 2022.