No less than the Embassy of Finland in Tokyo has interviewed the creator of Strike Witches about the inception of adorable Finnish witch Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen.
Finland’s Tokyo embassy operates an official Twitter account (run by “Fin-tan”), and when curious Strike Witches fans quizzed them as to whether they knew of the appropriation of the Nazi-allied nation’s top fighter ace in the form of Eila, they were amazed to discover that the embassy’s answer was “we know everything.”
This later saw the embassy courting Japanese otaku by graciously honouring Eila’s birthday and soliciting Finland shaped mascots for an official competition (this was in fact loosely based on a fairly unsuccesful 2ch thread, which itself was based on an earlier effort with bashful Britannia):
The winner:
This all culminated in the latest overture to otaku – an interview with Strike Witches creator Shimada Fumikane:
Eila can now be called the driving force behind the embassy’s official Twitter account. Fin-tan spoke with her creator Shimada Fumikane about her inception.
“The Strike Witches project began 7 years ago,” he says. “I aimed for those who are interested in WWII history and warfare, and used the aces of each nation as a motif for the characters. Those characters are the ‘dream team’ battling against the Neuroi, and that forms the setting.”
[…]
Each of the Strikes Witches is based on their respective national characters. In Eila’s case, he conferred with staff as to how to represent Finland’s character: “Her trademark monotone delivery, calm aloofness, sense of duty and compassion, and willpower, along with her cool and smart looks, all of which hide her passion, are Eila.”
[The embassy also generously plugs the Strike Witches movie]
Where Eila’s highly cordial relations with Sanya come into all this (given that it was Russia which attempted to invade Finland, forcing Finland into reluctant alliance with Hitler) is perhaps something neither he nor embassy staff are keen to dwell on.
Resorting to the antics of a squadron of young nymphomaniacs flying around in their pantsu to engage the interest of the Japanese certainly constitutes a unique marketing coup for Finland, although it is not clear whether any of the other nations so featured will be following suit…
she either has great influence or it proves how weak and spineless finnland is lol i kid finnland and eila are great
“I aimed for those who are interested in WWII history and warfare, and used the aces of each nation as a motif for the characters.”
Don’t forget the people who only watched the series for the pantsu and yuri. These guys also tend to look down and laugh at the “military buffs” who hoped for a plot in the story. To the point that some Strike Witches fans alienate fellow Strike Witches fans, it looks quite sad.
Then again, if your plot is about the world challenging a thoughtless armada of drones, it doesn’t really make for an interesting story.
I like to watch this kind of anime in both ways, from each point of view. That military side is not aimed to be taken too seriously by creators, i think…
I should move to Finland.
If you can stand the cold in november-march, and you have some good modern profession, it can be feasible.
But in time you must learn the language, after you have been using English initially which many Finns can talk.
Finnish language can be tough, if you aren`t one of those persons who can learn new languages easily and fast. I believe there is very distant connection with Japanese and Finnish, grammar and words have some similarities.
If you are after catching some cute blond girls, yes, they can be found in Finland…
Japan’s Finnish embassy is bro tier.
I have a feeling that if Chuck Yeager found out he was being turned into a big titted bunnygirl, he would probably hop a plane to Tokyo and punch Fumikane in the face.
I think he’d get a kick out of it.
Why would he waste his waning days of his life for that? He’s still a public figure in some sense and could be portrayed in various media.