Apart from the absence of trousers, the other main topic seems to have been the show’s distribution via Crunchyroll and BOST. It was rather amusing that something so well-calculated to provoke moral disapproval should be one of the few anime legally available within a respectably short time of its first broadcast.
At first reading I thought the above deliciously ironic too, but then I remembered that law and moral are quite different. The modern copyright law is tilted heavily towards, if not written by, the content owners at the expense of the consumers (e.g. us, the populace). Isn't it amoral? Not to menton how it depresses the development of arts, as documented by Prof. Lessig., and hurts the society in the balance as well. So perhaps Strike Witches rushing ahead is only symptomatic. It may also be a completely random event, triggered by GONZO's financial situation. After all, the Tower of Druaga was the first watcheable, DTO show at BOST, not Strike Witches. Crunchyroll's mind rays may be confusing bloggers here.
Actually, speaking of BOST, wasn’t Strike Witches the last new anime that they announced? I rather liked BOST, although it’s probably a bad sign when a site is muscled out of the top spot on Google by the Birkenhead Operatic Society and the Bankside Open Spaces Trust.
Considering that nothing came from their CEO's promises to show Linebarrels, I am pretty sure that BOST is only an empty shell of the website anymore. It will continue to exist as long as the trickle of revenue is greater than the bandwidth and hosting fees. Here's what Ms. Fan said when Liberarrels fell through:
I suppose the sharp followers would have guessed that we were originally planning to deliver Gonzo's latest title "Linebarrels of Iron" - a title which we BOST were proud to have partcipated in the subtitling process for the world premiere of the first episode at this year's Anime Expo. However, the condition of the last minute changes to the contract puts us at great financial risk which we simply cannot afford - we simply cannot pay for it as we are still a small operation without major backing. As such, except for the first epsidoe, we are also no longer involved in the localization and the subtitling process of "Linebarrels of Iron".
She may try again, but I'm not optimistic.